GO PACK, GO!

Football season is upon us and this Packer-Viking game was a nail biter! We won but it was scary and stressful. I like a larger margin but it was a win! This was the anniversary couple, many more!( with Packer victories!) The food was exceptional, especially the home-made dip provided by Doug and Melissa. The Festy burgers provided a nice compliment to the meal. Unfortunately the crock pot exploded on the stove so the beans hit the ground-hope that it never happens again, what a mess.Thanks to Walt, the die hard Viking fan who bets every year on a win-sometimes he gets lucky, not so this year! It is always nice to beat the Vikings, especially with the traitor at the helm:) Thanks Walt for the Godiva chocolate truffles, they were scrumptious. I did share them with Tony.

Projects Galore-Woodworking Season

This is the sewing room prior to remodeling. This project was long overdue. Tony is designing a large cutting table with cupboards and I am anxiously awaiting the finished room. Mark will plaster the walls and ceiling in November, then the floor needs refinishing. I think we may rent a machine and do the floor ourselves.
So many projects, a new base for the TV is first on the agenda and shares the stage with Pella Windows, the first one goes in this weekend.I will be busy with the painting in the sewing room and our bedroom, Mark is plastering that room too.

1/2 Days and Loving It!

This is so cool, I don't know how I got everything done when I worked fulltime! There is much more time for sewing, gardening,shopping,and taking naps! My class is awesome this year, I can hardly believe how quiet and responsive they are. What a difference a year makes! My job share partner is twenty-five and this is his first year. The students love him and he is technologically talented! So far, so good!

If I Had Known Grandkids Were This Much Fun....

The train is always a point of interest for kids and grandkids! Harry and Ella were quite helpful with the track and train with it's balky performance thanks to the humid, rainy July we have experienced this summer. Brian was into cleaning the track and proved to be a valuable asset to Tony as far as removing debris from the track and polishing it up for super electrical connections.

Bay Beach and the water park proved to be popular not only with Harry, Ella,and Andy but their parents due to the hot weather. Harry and Ella enjoyed some water slide action as well as practicing strokes for swim lessons.
Where else in WI can you enjoy an amusement park for a mere $.25 per ride? Some rides do require two tickets but it is still a steal for entertainment! There are many little tyke rides and I do believe Andy rode on all of them!

Summer Fun

The summer flies by when you are having this much fun! We went to Door County last weekend and had lunch at the old CC Club on the corner of the intersection in Fish Creek. Fantasic lunch, somewhat limited menu, but the view for people watching is great! The upper deck of the restaurant is outside and quite pleasant.
There is not much that compares to the view of the Green Bay and Lake Michigan. We did plenty of biking and enjoyed the view at the beach, the pristine blue water, sailboats, and cruisers.We never noticed all the girls in bikinis! (You know, the ones your husbands never see!)

American Girl Dollbed for an American Girl

The order came from Ella, please grandpa, I need a bed for Julie, my American Girl Doll. It really did not take that long and Grandpa had fun creating it! Computers are truly amazing. Grandpa has designed and built seven beds for grandchildren-the bed for Julie was easy, same design and much smaller!

Do you think Julie and Ella are pleased?

Rain,Rain,Go Away!

We are getting rain, rain, and then more rain. Enough! We are five inches over the average for July and the ground is totally saturated.

All Aboard

It seems that even with time off we just couldn't get around to cleaning the track, re-leveling it, wiping down the train wheels, and get the train running. It is just like a real train, lots of grunt work to get the track and train ready to roll.

Finally, all is completed and we are sitting back on the screen porch watching it snake through the gardens. Some of these are roof shots, Tony insists he won't fall off!

Birthday Surprise

Tony absolutely spoils me!

Mother's Day

I guess I had better acknowledge Mother's Day prior to Father's Day which is just around the corner. The flowers were gorgeous and the candy delicious. The cards meaningful and the e-mail messages heartfelt! Thanks, thanks, thanks, I am so blessed.

lv, mom

Never Ending

The gifts keep arriving, this is rather unexpected and quite nice. I could get used to answering the door with such surprises arriving on a daily basis! Gerber daisies, hanging floral arrangements, and edible creations-yummy! Cards galore with many meaningful thoughts and messages are much appreciated.

Surgery-May 12th.

I am anxious as most would be when you undertake the replacement of a hip. After years of waterskiing, snowskiing, and biking, it just plain wore out. The arrival at 6:30 A.M. escalated my concerns about surgery, pre-registered but necessary to arrive and wait for two hours! All went well, the doctor had no complications and the anthesiologist certainly knew what he was doing! I would post a graphic of the scar but it is quite gross. When you marry a woodworker be prepared to know measurements, 7.8 inches and many, many, staples!
The nurses were wonderful and the CNA's were great with the exception of one who perhaps will find another field.







An added feature of my abode for four days was the view of the Flight for Life as it approached and landed right outside my window. (twice) There is no place like home though and it is great to be recuperating with pain diminishing on a daily basis. Thanks to all for your thoughts, prayers, calls, visits, flowers, food, and candy!

Spring and my Favorite Tree

It is with anticipation that we await the arrival of spring. We have no doubt of the arrival when the crab apple tree blooms. The tree is absolutely gorgeous but when the wind blows, disaster for the ponds. The beauty far outweighs the fallen blooms.

Grandkids and Kids At Play

Brian showed us he still has the skills for playing the piano, he demonstrated the electronics of the piano in case you don't know how to play!
The grandkids had a great time with the birthday candles for Tony's birthday cupcakes. We had candles that would not blow out and CJ and Andy loved it! I think the adults did as well. These are just a few shots of the best reasons to visit Utah.So many toys, easy entertainment for all the boys!
Brian and the boys.

Margaret and the boys.

Western Vacation

We delivered the beds! Two of them are anxiously awaiting CJ and Eli until they get a little older and this is a snapshot of Andy on his new bed.
The snow was tremendous, Tony spent a day skiing with Brian. He did not take the camera! This was a day at Solitude with Margaret and Barry.
The weather could not have been nicer, a great day for all. I relaxed in the chalet and did some knitting while Tony, Barry, and Margaret tuned their ski skill.

Anticipation

We planned, packed, hit the road by 4. Tony worked daily on the beds, DONE! We were excited to be heading out. I took off two days early from work and the time flew by quickly. I can not believe how quickly!
This trip was different! We were relaxed, took our time and arrived Friday at Brian's. We spent two and one half days driving, three days with Brian's family and three days with Barry's family. Then, two and one half days driving home again. The drive was uneventful, roads were clear, called ahead for lodging, thank goodness!(lots of sports competitions had filled hotels)
We made good time, no accidents, but $4200.00 damage to the truck from the blowing sand, gravel,and snow in Wyoming. I remember spending the night at Little America last year, we didn't call ahead and the Inn was full, slept in the truck. Very comforable (heated recliner seats) but not quite as nice as a hotel room.(Silverado, of course!)
This year we got to Laramie and could not continue. If we had made it to Rawlins, we would have been OK but I-80 was closed the next morning for that stretch, bummer. We waited 90 minutes at a truck stop. Such a traffic experience on I-80, cars and semis as far as you could see when the road opened, just like a big city traffic jam.
Parleys Canyon had a rollover and we were caught for 90 minutes in another traffic jam. Unreal, I'm not sure who was in the rollover that blocked all three lanes but the car did not look good. Prayers needed for that person for sure.

Fog

A delay in school! Thanks to the fog we had a two hour delay today.(Probably due to the 34 car pile up earlier in the week when no delays were called. Thank God, no one was killed in that horrible crash. There were no trucks involved so that was most likely the life saver. They called the delay so late, I was already gone for my usual breakfast meeting. That's OK, I had no problem returning home to take some additional time for relaxation. I have begun knitting again: so far this year; two scarves and one hat. I have two afghans in progress. It is always nice to have an unexpected break of this sort in one's daily schedule. We have had so much fog this month it is unbelievable! The rain came Thursday and most of our snow is GONE!

Anxiously Awaiting Flower Season

Margaret and Barry, I thought I would send a picture just in case you forgot what my car looks like!

The Years Fly By So Fast

Time flies when you are having fun! Where did the years go? It seems like just yesterday when we were young.
The weather was much warmer in Madison when we got married, in the fifties. What happened to global warming?
This was a gift from Barry and his family,the fruit was absolutely delicious. What a surprise! Thank you for remembering our anniversary of 46 years!

The Joys of Having a Boiler

Today I learned how to flush the boiler! Our home has three systems or loops that use water for heating. Two are for steam heat and one is for hot water heat. This is a complicated procedure and Tony has written four pages of instructions that are explicit.

It took an hour but was quite easy, just time consuming. This has to be done four times a year and you need to add chemical to the boiler to keep it functioning well. Whatever we did, did not work for the boiler keeps flooding and the steam heat does not seem to be working correctly this evening. Thank goodness we have a heat wave, it is all of 23 degrees so we will survive. We ran out of chemical and the hot water lines still seem to have air in them so Tony is putzing with them to get the air out of the lines. I hope he is successful, it is nice to have heat in Wisconsin in the winter. We really need some additional research and a new tank for the water system, this dual system still needs tweaking.

Dinner and Movie Date

Last night we went on a date. We went out for dinner at 1951 Club and then to a movie. An awesome movie,"It's Complicated." We had fun and we were home by 9:00. There were many parts of the movie that hit home.

Tony is busy making beds today and I am relaxing away the day. I did get some chores finished and a tad of grocery and shopping done but now I am cruising. That's probably just what I need after a long week with conferences. we have the second set this coming week and I will be pleased when Friday rolls around again.

Almond Bark

This is so easy to make and just a tad in a cup makes a great gift. Melt the white choclate in the microwave by weight. Watch carefully, it burns from the inside. Break the chocolate chunk in two pieces as you melt it, usually about halfway through the process. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper, stir in sliced almonds, about one cup,pour on wax paper to cool and break into pieces when cooled. You can sprinkle red or green sugar on the bark while warm for a more festive gift.

Christmas Memories

Unfortunately, we took the camera with us to Doug and Melissa's home but neglected to take pictures. This is a shot from last year but we still look the same and the gingerbread house was a hit again this year. We had a wonderful visit and the dinner was awesome, thanks again for inviting us Doug and Melissa. Our visit with Bob and Diane was memorable and we need to get together more often. Thank goodness we have two weddings this coming year! The kids were unable to make it home but we were excited to Skype the opening of the gifts with CJ, such fun, thanks for including us, he was so excited!!! I have included pictures of the coffee cups, so you can see what they look like. We absolutely love them and get to look at the boys every morning as we sip our favorite brew. The home made carmels, licorice, and divinity were melt in your mouth as usual. Thanks again for the memories.