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.

Catch Up

 Went on a Brine fest with Leon, Maddy and Matthew a while back.  LOVED it!  Pickles in everything in several shops around their town,  Pcikle flatbread was a favorite!

Maddy made a rubric scoring technique and we all filled in our scores after each shop/restaurant.

Even a furniture store joined in the fun!  A little pickly booze for the grown ups

And other pickly delights for everyone.  We even got a 5-10 minute massage chair tryout.  I got to try out the $10k chair, Maddy tried one around $7k and Leon fell in love with the $5k one.  He's the one that spent 10 minutes in it.  It was like pulling teeth to get him out of it.

A few of the more memorable statues we found! This one had a fish,

Jen and Aggie made me a stepping stone!  It's still curing until I can find the sealant spray.  I love it!

We make towers as often as possible and then wait for someone to knock it down with a maniacal laugh.  It's usually Aggie.

She and I pet sat for Meri one weekend.  5 cats, all curious about Aggie,

My car hit a milestone!

I started a new project!

Before

During

The after will be some time later,,,  I haven't gotten to the rebuilding part yet.  A friend is helping dig the holes for replacing two of the posts. and the stump is still there.  I'll chisel that out eventually.

Someone was giving away a little chicken coop!  So I couldn't help but snap it up!  Jen and my project next spring may involve chicks!

The Christmas stuff is out in Sam's Club already!  If you squint, you can see the Halloween stuff further down the aisle.

I found a hanging chair at the Goodwill while out thrifting one day!  Couldn't pass it up and glad I didn't.  Aggie loves it!

Dog sat for Maddy and Matthew last weekend!  I enjoyed some peace and quiet except for when a squirrel is in the yard or a neighbor is walking to his car. :)

From my project way up above about the downed tree, I burned a bunch of branches a couple weeks ago.  It was a very productive time!  

And my latest adventure.  Trying to type with a finger down.  I was attempting to be obedient in my health journey and was slicing zucchini on my mandolin slicer.  YEOW!

Ryan helped me bandage it all up and even cleaned up all the blood spillage.

It was throbbing most of the night and even after rebandaging, it still has its moments.  It seems like it doesn't hurt if I'm up and moving around.  NOT good if you're walking around the house at 2am.  But as soon as I sit down to relax and attempt to go back to sleep, the throbbing starts back up,  ick.

It just goes to show you...  A donut wouldn't do this.

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.

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!