I realized it has been SOOOOO long since I last posted so I thought I would try to make a dent in what has been going on in my life. I just talked to a friend on the phone that I haven't talked to for a while and when asked, "So, what's new with you?", it made me stop and really think. It's just a whirling dirvish some days!
One of my first problems this summer came when I noticed one day while washing a few dishes by hand, that I had ants in my kitchen. This is a new problem for me in this house. As old as this house is and even in my previous kitchen before the remodel, I didn't have the problem of ants. So I went to the store and bought a few of those little "ant motels" as Mike called them. Apparently the ants didn't feel like a vacation as they weren't checking in and the problem persisted. So, one day while perusing my current addiction, Pinterest, I found an interesting possible solution. (For those of you who are not familiar with Pinterest, it is probably because you are a straight male or simply have no interest in recipes, home decor, fashion, hair and beauty tips, sarcastic quips or picture of hot movie stars. I now have my daughter addicted and she is cursing me for this!) The tip was to mix one cup of sugar with 3 Tbsp. of boric acid and 3 cups warm water. This makes enough to last forever! All you do is to soak a cotton ball and place it in a lid, like a twist off lid from a bottle of water. Place it out where the ants can get to it and as you can see they flock to it. I left a little drip on the window sill and this just attracted them right to it. The next day -- no more ants. I took some into my mom's house as she was having a few ants in her kitchen. I had my daughter place a few little lids around and she hasn't seen any more ants either. This really works -- score one for Pinterest!
It's been a little stressful in my life now with two kids looking for jobs and not with much luck. Just when Gabby was at her lowest, a job came through and she will be working at Petco (she is an animal lover through and through -- not her mother's daughter!). Now she needs to find a place to life in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area and she will hopefully be on her way back to independence. I think living back here with Mom and Dad was starting to drive her a little crazy but I think that Grandma and Grandpa were getting used to it and likin' it! She was always doing some kind of errand or chore for Grandma and Grandpa but she was glad to do it.
Micah has been scouring Dubuque for jobs and has an interview with Hy-Vee this week. I told him to be sure to take his "friendly smile" with him to the interview. God willing he will have good news next week of a job landed! Otherwise he will have to come home and work with pigs the rest of the summer -- :P !
My dear parents just keep pluggin' along with their lives. Dad is, for all intents and purposes, deaf. He does wear hearing aids and has seen a new doctor and audiologist but there is really nothing more that can be done for him at this point. He did however, trade his new truck in for an even newer truck. He said he didn't like the radio in the new truck -- kind of a moot point for someone who is deaf, isn't it? Anyway, he needed the tax write off (poor thing!) and got one that hopefully is easier for him to get in and out of. This one has all those bells and whistles that he will probably never figure out half of. He is kind of excited to use the back up camera. He has never, even in his younger days, been a good backer-upper so we'll see what this little gadget can do to help him.
My parents' good friend, Lola Eisenman, passed away this week and this is going to be a tough adjustment for my mom. When Lola was in the hospital in Britt, I took my mom up to visit her. My mom was just waiting for my dad to be done with some skin cancer surgery anyway so I put her in a wheelchair and wheeled her up in the elevator. The moment the doors opened and the nurses saw her (she's a familiar and entertaining face for them!) she said "I'm NOT staying! I'm only here to visit!" She can always bring a laugh with her wherever she goes. We went in to see Lola and Mom knew then that she was in a bad way. That was on a Wednesday and Lola was transferred to Mason City the following Saturday. She passed away Wednesday night. My mom had been told that the family was being called in on Wednesday night and she just knew that this was the end. Mom and Lola talked on the phone at least once every day. The two of them go back a long way and now my mother feels even more alone. I am so glad that I got Mom up to see Lola when I did as that was the last time the two of them got to visit.
We have been hurting for rain like everywhere else (except Duluth, MN maybe) and finally got 1.6 inches this past week. It came down at a nice pace with no accompanying winds or storms. We could use more but we'll be thankful for what we got.
While out for my morning walk on Friday, I noticed that our St. Bernard, Mugsy, had one side of his neck that was particularly swollen. When I see that there can be some sort of infection brewing that close to the brain, I know that is not a good thing for man nor beast. I told Mike about it as I was getting ready for work and he went and looked at it and said he would have to take him in to the vet. So, he called the vet and made an appointment for him to be seen (honestly, we really have to make "appointments" for dogs to be seen?!? what happened to just dragging them into the vet's office and saying, "What's wrong with Fido?" It's not like they're real people!) Gabby and Mike put Mugsy in the back of the truck and headed for town, praying that they wouldn't see any cats in town as Mugsy doesn't have a collar OR a leash so if he were to jump out....oy! Mike literally drug him into the vet's office and he had a complete exam...yep, even his temperature taken! He only weighed 130 lbs. which I was surprised at. He did have a slight fever and the vet had to shave the spot that was swollen and incise and drain it to see what would come out. He got a shot of antibiotic in the butt and now Mike has to give him pills twice a day for the infection. Not sure of what caused it, but he is looking back to his normal self once again.
Mike and I celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary on Saturday. We went for a drive to West Bend to the grotto where they were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Grotto of the Redemption. It was a beautiful day for a drive and for the walk through the grotto. I hadn't been there since I was in 4H, which was just a few years ago. It's nice to go to places like that now that we don't have kids to drag around and whine that they're "hot" or "thirsty" or "tired". We just sit there and watch other people with their kids and wonder why in the world they would bring them to a place such as this. Not that I didn't enjoy my kids but I am SOOOO glad those days are behind me now and Mike and I can come and go and do things at our leisure. Yep, those days are finally here. I hope you can pick out the St. Michael and the human Michael in the picture...kind of a "Where's Waldo?" mind blower for ya!
The rest of the summer doesn't seem to let up in the 'busy' department. I have two weddings to play for two weekends in a row. I think I have gotten them squared away with the order of the mass for their programs. Now I just need to get the music mailed to one of the singers and wait for the weddings to happen...oh, maybe I should practice a little too! After the weddings, Hobo Day will be upon us and I am bound and determined to be out of town for that weekend, possibly a week. I have suggested a vacation to Mike which he is reluctant to do and he has suggested taking a road trip to who knows where. I said I would ride with him in a car on a vacation only with the promise that he didn't yell at me when I am trying to give him directions. Of course, Gabby cracked up when I said that. She remembers what it was like in the car when we were in Virginia this past winter. He needs to work on his patience a little and maybe needs to trust that I am not a total airhead and sometimes know where I am going. I may be boarding a plane somewhere alone if he doesn't get something figured out soon. (Shoot, now the song "Leavin' on a Jet Plane" is in my head!!!!)
This coming week brings the end of the fiscal year at work so everyone will be scrambling to get all the loose ends completed. I can't believe that June is coming to an end already. Let the countdown to Christmas begin!!!
One of my first problems this summer came when I noticed one day while washing a few dishes by hand, that I had ants in my kitchen. This is a new problem for me in this house. As old as this house is and even in my previous kitchen before the remodel, I didn't have the problem of ants. So I went to the store and bought a few of those little "ant motels" as Mike called them. Apparently the ants didn't feel like a vacation as they weren't checking in and the problem persisted. So, one day while perusing my current addiction, Pinterest, I found an interesting possible solution. (For those of you who are not familiar with Pinterest, it is probably because you are a straight male or simply have no interest in recipes, home decor, fashion, hair and beauty tips, sarcastic quips or picture of hot movie stars. I now have my daughter addicted and she is cursing me for this!) The tip was to mix one cup of sugar with 3 Tbsp. of boric acid and 3 cups warm water. This makes enough to last forever! All you do is to soak a cotton ball and place it in a lid, like a twist off lid from a bottle of water. Place it out where the ants can get to it and as you can see they flock to it. I left a little drip on the window sill and this just attracted them right to it. The next day -- no more ants. I took some into my mom's house as she was having a few ants in her kitchen. I had my daughter place a few little lids around and she hasn't seen any more ants either. This really works -- score one for Pinterest!
It's been a little stressful in my life now with two kids looking for jobs and not with much luck. Just when Gabby was at her lowest, a job came through and she will be working at Petco (she is an animal lover through and through -- not her mother's daughter!). Now she needs to find a place to life in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area and she will hopefully be on her way back to independence. I think living back here with Mom and Dad was starting to drive her a little crazy but I think that Grandma and Grandpa were getting used to it and likin' it! She was always doing some kind of errand or chore for Grandma and Grandpa but she was glad to do it.
Micah has been scouring Dubuque for jobs and has an interview with Hy-Vee this week. I told him to be sure to take his "friendly smile" with him to the interview. God willing he will have good news next week of a job landed! Otherwise he will have to come home and work with pigs the rest of the summer -- :P !
My dear parents just keep pluggin' along with their lives. Dad is, for all intents and purposes, deaf. He does wear hearing aids and has seen a new doctor and audiologist but there is really nothing more that can be done for him at this point. He did however, trade his new truck in for an even newer truck. He said he didn't like the radio in the new truck -- kind of a moot point for someone who is deaf, isn't it? Anyway, he needed the tax write off (poor thing!) and got one that hopefully is easier for him to get in and out of. This one has all those bells and whistles that he will probably never figure out half of. He is kind of excited to use the back up camera. He has never, even in his younger days, been a good backer-upper so we'll see what this little gadget can do to help him.
My parents' good friend, Lola Eisenman, passed away this week and this is going to be a tough adjustment for my mom. When Lola was in the hospital in Britt, I took my mom up to visit her. My mom was just waiting for my dad to be done with some skin cancer surgery anyway so I put her in a wheelchair and wheeled her up in the elevator. The moment the doors opened and the nurses saw her (she's a familiar and entertaining face for them!) she said "I'm NOT staying! I'm only here to visit!" She can always bring a laugh with her wherever she goes. We went in to see Lola and Mom knew then that she was in a bad way. That was on a Wednesday and Lola was transferred to Mason City the following Saturday. She passed away Wednesday night. My mom had been told that the family was being called in on Wednesday night and she just knew that this was the end. Mom and Lola talked on the phone at least once every day. The two of them go back a long way and now my mother feels even more alone. I am so glad that I got Mom up to see Lola when I did as that was the last time the two of them got to visit.
We have been hurting for rain like everywhere else (except Duluth, MN maybe) and finally got 1.6 inches this past week. It came down at a nice pace with no accompanying winds or storms. We could use more but we'll be thankful for what we got.
While out for my morning walk on Friday, I noticed that our St. Bernard, Mugsy, had one side of his neck that was particularly swollen. When I see that there can be some sort of infection brewing that close to the brain, I know that is not a good thing for man nor beast. I told Mike about it as I was getting ready for work and he went and looked at it and said he would have to take him in to the vet. So, he called the vet and made an appointment for him to be seen (honestly, we really have to make "appointments" for dogs to be seen?!? what happened to just dragging them into the vet's office and saying, "What's wrong with Fido?" It's not like they're real people!) Gabby and Mike put Mugsy in the back of the truck and headed for town, praying that they wouldn't see any cats in town as Mugsy doesn't have a collar OR a leash so if he were to jump out....oy! Mike literally drug him into the vet's office and he had a complete exam...yep, even his temperature taken! He only weighed 130 lbs. which I was surprised at. He did have a slight fever and the vet had to shave the spot that was swollen and incise and drain it to see what would come out. He got a shot of antibiotic in the butt and now Mike has to give him pills twice a day for the infection. Not sure of what caused it, but he is looking back to his normal self once again.
Mike and I celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary on Saturday. We went for a drive to West Bend to the grotto where they were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Grotto of the Redemption. It was a beautiful day for a drive and for the walk through the grotto. I hadn't been there since I was in 4H, which was just a few years ago. It's nice to go to places like that now that we don't have kids to drag around and whine that they're "hot" or "thirsty" or "tired". We just sit there and watch other people with their kids and wonder why in the world they would bring them to a place such as this. Not that I didn't enjoy my kids but I am SOOOO glad those days are behind me now and Mike and I can come and go and do things at our leisure. Yep, those days are finally here. I hope you can pick out the St. Michael and the human Michael in the picture...kind of a "Where's Waldo?" mind blower for ya!
The rest of the summer doesn't seem to let up in the 'busy' department. I have two weddings to play for two weekends in a row. I think I have gotten them squared away with the order of the mass for their programs. Now I just need to get the music mailed to one of the singers and wait for the weddings to happen...oh, maybe I should practice a little too! After the weddings, Hobo Day will be upon us and I am bound and determined to be out of town for that weekend, possibly a week. I have suggested a vacation to Mike which he is reluctant to do and he has suggested taking a road trip to who knows where. I said I would ride with him in a car on a vacation only with the promise that he didn't yell at me when I am trying to give him directions. Of course, Gabby cracked up when I said that. She remembers what it was like in the car when we were in Virginia this past winter. He needs to work on his patience a little and maybe needs to trust that I am not a total airhead and sometimes know where I am going. I may be boarding a plane somewhere alone if he doesn't get something figured out soon. (Shoot, now the song "Leavin' on a Jet Plane" is in my head!!!!)
This coming week brings the end of the fiscal year at work so everyone will be scrambling to get all the loose ends completed. I can't believe that June is coming to an end already. Let the countdown to Christmas begin!!!
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