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!!!

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!

Mothers Rock!

 HELLO!!!  What a glorious Mother's Day it was!!  

I even took a nap!

My Daughter-in-law and Aggie made me some stepping stones for my garden!  We need to glaze them in something to seal them, but I'll research that in a bit.

Aren't they cute?

Ryan gave Jen and I both the lilies!

The bouquet and vase on the left were for Jen from Maddy & Matthew. Maddy made the vase!

The bouquet and vase on the right were for me from Maddy & Matthew. They took a class in glass etching and made the vase!

Up close!  It says Happy Mothers day in one of the ovals and Love Maddy & Matthew and the grandpups in another!  I love it!

Meri gave me a hydrangea bush and a fern for the porch!

I'm still trying to decide where to plant it but oh I will!!!!

The kids made a brunch for lunch!  Caramel french toast casserole, hardboiled egg/spinach dip with bagels, deviled eggs, bacon and mimosas!  perfect...

And during a coffee on the porch this morning, we caught a bird feeding a worm to her young!  Tiny little hungry beaks facing up to her for more worms.  SO cute!  I didn't get a good shot because they kept popping their heads down.

Anyway, on Saturday I replaced the fuel filter on my mower and it works like a CHAMP now!  And then Sunday, I got an afternoon nap after all the festivities!  whew!  I woke up feeling like it was a 3 day weekend.

I'm ready for another one!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there!

We're going to the Zoo! Zoo! Zoo!

 How about You, You, You?

You can come too, too, too!

We're going to the Zoo! Zoo! Zoo!

That song gets in my head and I can't shake it!

On Wednesday of last week, I heard that my sister and some of her kids and grandkids were in Des Moines and going to the zoo that morning!  I'm not THAT far away and talked to my boss about taking the morning off to see her.  He said SHURRE!

So after attempting to wake up Leon unsuccessfully (he literally grumbled, "I don't WANT to go the zoo!", off I went!  and had a wonderful time with Ruth Ann and company!

Ruth Ann wouldn't let me pay my own way into the zoo since it was my birthday and when the worker heard that, he said, "We have things for you!" and let me pick out a birthday sticker and gave me a free pass to ride the train!  I'm not going to ride the train alone, so I had some of our party come with me.  A couple of my nephews, grand-nieces and a niece-in-law.

I was headed home around 1ish and got a call from Leon, who had just woken up. "Where ARE you?!"

"Um, I went to the zoo and am on my way back!"

Immediate tears!!  "You went to the zoo withOUT me?!!!"

It took some convincing to explain that  he is a sleep-liar like his dad.  I had asked him 3 times to go and he said NO.  So I promised him that we'd go again on Saturday.

And yes we DID go on Saturday too!  It took some convincing to get him to get out of bed that day too!  Cripes he needs to get to bed sooner in the evenings!!  School is starting in a month.  Might need to wake him up 15 minutes progressively earlier each day until then.

Jen, Ryan, Aggie and a niece and her family joined us and also my mother-in-law.  

I got there early enough to score a free wheelchair loan so she wouldn't have to walk all around it.  So I got a workout! Which I needed anyway.

So MORE fun at the zoo and the kids enjoyed their time immensely.

Leon is only looking like that because he tries to discourage me from taking pics.

I need to be sneakier.

And Aggie got to hang out with a 2nd cousin and the 2nd cousin's cousin!

If you can't tell, Aggie is the smiley one.

Lots of pool time this summer.  Aggs is enjoying the water a lot and Jen is enjoying our family pool pass.  She said they were going to be pool rats this summer and they're making use of it!

And we played Yardzee and with bubbles on the deck one day and I noticed that we were caught on our security camera. Gotta save those memories!

Anyway, that about brings us to current. My life is a rush and here we are.

Terrible Twos and Other Changes

The twins turned 2 years old this weekend!!  And we were invited to their party on Friday.  Ryan and I attended.

They got twin cars!  One was built before the other and they fought over it pretty hard.  But then their dad finished both and then they fought over each one individually.  If Luke was in one, then Nova wanted it.  If Nova was in one, then Luke wanted it.  We finally got them in their own cars and then they either played bumper cars and hollered when a wheel got caught on a carpet edge, or Nova stood on the car threshold and leaned on the door, tipping it over.  She did that repeatedly...  

 

That might explain her crabby looks when the cakes came out.

They each had their own cake, which were beautiful!  

Then on Saturday, I sewed my little heart out!  Well, I cut out 4 bridesmaid dresses!!  Then Maddy and Matthew invited me to go on a walk with them that afternoon.  Whew!  I needed a break from sewing, so that worked out.

We walked down a path I didn't know existed.  Well, I KNEW it existed, but didn't know how long it was and it's even longer than what we walked, 2.8 miles to a bridge that we'd always admired.

There were some lovely places to take pictures along the way.

The dogs looked great for Maddy and Matthew's pic, but we got Zola's butt for mine.

We turned her around for a better one.

When we got to the bridge, Matthew jogged back the 2.8 miles to the car.  Maddy, me and the pups started walking down the gravel road instead.  So I got in about 4 miles worth of steps on Saturday!  My legs were beat.  They were pretty sore on Sunday but much better on Monday.  I just need to keep walking!

Then last night, I worked on the yard.  I hadn't felt like working in the yard last spring out side of making sure it got mowed.  So last spring and this spring leaves, weeds and yuck junk needed to get cleaned up.  I drug around a big tarp, cut all the dead bits off the landscaping and raked it onto the tarp, then took it out to the yard waste place in town.  A tarp made quick work of the patio and around the front fence.  There is more to do though and it'll get done this year.  I hope.

Ryan started a new job this week and I'm keeping an eye on Leon.  Making sure he stays on task with his schoolwork and other stuff.  We've worked out a system that if he completes 90% of his responsibilities on a chart each week, he'll earn a wee bit of money.  If he gets 100% of it done each week, then he can make a bit more than base allowance.  He's gung ho now!  But still doesn't want to brush his hair.  That might be the 10% each day...

Meri's Ryan is also starting a new job soon!  Everyone's lives are changing!  More on that later...

Have a good Tuesday!

Labor of Love & Money Saving Tips

Two great things happened today. No Three!!!  

1) I worked out this morning!  3rd time this week.  I WILL get back into shape!!!  

Gourd is a shape, right?

2) I was looking to get some expenses down and called my cell phone company to see if I could switch to a different plan or put a couple of the phones, that rarely leave the house, on a basic data plan. The woman on the phone kept apologizing for keeping me so long as she dug back through my history to see when I'd switched to this plan.  I THOUGHT it was March 2021, but it was actually in 2020.  I didn't see why she was so adamant to find out exactly when, but she knew what she was doing so I worked on my computer in the background.

Well guess what!!???!  When I switched over to this plan 14 months ago, it was set up incorrectly and I was overpaying by $50 each month.  

Yep - do the math and I now have a credit balance on my cell phone bill of $700!

wow...

As my dad would say, "It's better than a kick in the butt." and YES it is...

3) And the 3rd great thing that happened today.  But first an explanation of it.

When Robb died, Ryan had started playing Dark Souls 3 as a pacifist in his free time. Not wanting to kill anyone, just play the game for fun and help other people play. I totally get his mindset.

  

When the twins were here, it was a common sight to see him holding one of them on his lap with their bottle while he reviewed/edited video on the living room computer.  He recorded over 7 hours or more of the game until he reached the very end, winning the game as a pacifist.  

No one thought it could be done, but he had a vision and did it.

Over the last couple months, he's been working on the scripts and also recording the voice overs for the first episode in Robb's closet.  Then last night, met his own personal deadline of getting the first episode done completely.  He posted it on Youtube and is so proud of his creation.  The first episode is 1.75 hours worth of the game with him giving tips on how to play as a pacifist.

Here it is.

He'll be working on the voice overs for the next 3 or 4 episodes over the next month or so.

I am so proud of him getting this project off the ground and the first installment done!  If you get a chance to watch it or know someone who loves that game, let me know what your thoughts and I'll pass it on.

Robb would have been so proud of him too!

Is It F(random) Friday AGAIN!!!

 I am SO glad it's Friday!!!  It's been a crazy week.  

I get to have lunch with one of my girls today before her new job starts Monday!  See you soon sweetie! 

Meri and the bride came by yesterday for Jess to try on the dress.  She said YES! but with a few modifications.  I expected that!  

I'm so glad the crinoline finally arrived!  I had given up and almost reported them missing.  But then remembered, we have a security camera right on the front porch!!!  So I went back and looked at the exact time it was supposedly delivered and yep, there it was on my porch... 

Then where did it go???

I flashed forwards and backwards through the camera history until the exact moment it disappeared.  AHA!!!!  

So I asked Ryan where it was.  Oh... It had been sitting in plain sight, opened, with books stacked on top.  He's been sorting through Robb's books lately, so books are stacked all over.  We haven't even touched the ones packed up in the garage...

Oh and get this!!  I was watching more of Modern Family last night (11 seasons!!!  The commitment...!!!  I take breaks... In season 7) and I saw this!!!  I had to take a pic of the tv and sent it to Maddy to see if she noticed anything. 

AND SHE DID!  Cam is drinking out a mustache cup exactly like the one she gave Ryan several years ago as a gift!!  Ours has a chip in it but we still use it.

She didn't buy it because of the show.  Just a coincidence.

Oh and I just got a call from my bestie and the nursing home is OPEN again!!!  Yay!

I'll stop in and see her this afternoon.  She's been lonely.

Anyway!!!  On with my day and kick off to the weekend!!!

Who's Laughing Now?

We had Taco Tuesday last night!!!  It was so great to see Maddy and Matthew again!  I haven't seen them in person since before my quarantine about 3.5 weeks ago.

Jen baked some seasoned fish and I pureed up a can of chipotle peppers for her to add to some mayo, sour cream and other secret ingredients because I don't remember all she threw in there.  Oh my that was good for fish tacos!!  And it went fast.

I also made some spicy refried bean and had beef taco meat in the crockpot and all the fixings, thanks to the rest of my family!  The fish was the winner last night so there is plenty of beef left and that is OK!  Knowing my son, as I do, it will get eaten up fast.  He could eat tacos for every meal and 2nd meals in between.

Dylan, our renter, asked me about Wordle yesterday morning.  He'd seen everyone bragging about their word guessing smarts on FB and wondered what it was.  I explained it to him, because I just discovered it within the last week or so myself.  

There is one puzzle a day and only 6 tries to find the right word.  Example.

guess 1:  F R I E D         < lets say the R turns yellow and the E turns green.  That means the R is in the word somewhere else and the E is in the right position of the word.

guess 2: L A G E R     < E and R are both green. 

guess 3:   A F T E R          < ER is green, F is yellow

guess 4:   R E F E R       < bing bing bing!  You got it in only 4 tries!

So anyway, WORDLE is the puzzle of the day and it is super popular right now.

After dinner, we raced on the historic WORDLE puzzles from a year ago to see who could finish theirs first.  Meri's bf Ryan is very good at it!  As is she.  That must be how they spend all their dates...

Anyway, Dylan gave me a puzzle and said he'd like to see if I could figure it out.  So after I got stuck on the zeros, ones and eights, I made a new rough draft and printed out enough copies for everyone for last night.  

Robb would have loved this.  He was a math wizard!

We all sweated over it before, during and after dinner and actually came up with solutions for all of them!!  I'm so glad Matthew was a MATHLETE in high school!

Aren't we a smart bunch?!  I can't find the word S W E A R in WORDLE but I can certainly find the square root of a number!

The teachers didn't know what they were saying when they said we wouldn't always have a calculator in our hands when we're adults. HA!  Yes ma'am, we will...