Better Late Than Never!

I had the privilege of attending a wedding in Hastings, MI on August 23. My good ScrapShare friend, Diane was getting married. She also invited another SS friend, Jen who lives in Dayton. I invited Jen to come stay at my house on Friday night and then we could make the drive on Saturday morning.

Here we were on Friday night....

Any guess as to website we were on?

If you said ScrapShare, you were right!

We got up very early Saturday morning, got ready except for the wedding clothes and took off for Michigan. We stopped for breakfast first since we knew we'd miss lunch. After leaving McD's, it took us just about 3 hours to get to our motel in Battle Creek. We chose to stay there since Hastings is between Battle Creek and Grand Rapids. We were able to get into our room before check-in time. We freshened up, Jen checked ScrapShare and let them know we were on our way to the wedding and then we took off.

We made it to the church in plenty of time. Diane had told us that we could come into the dressing room and hang out with them until the wedding, so we did! It was great to see Diane again as well as Tiffany, the photographer and another friend from SS. And, then there was Heidi! Another SSer only she came in from British Columbia! I've been wanting to meet her for a long time and now I have.

The wedding was very nice. Also, short and to the point! We got to hang out and watch Tiff take the pictures of the wedding party. Diane had invited us to hang out with them between the ceremony and the reception knowing that we were from out of town and there would be several hours between them. So we did.

After the pictures at the church, there was a caravan of cars that headed to a park to take the outdoor pictures. It was actually a part of the campus where both Jim and Diane work. There were several buildings on the property with this beautiful gazebo and several ponds. Very nice! It was pretty windy and it didn't take long for the veil to go bye-bye! The wind whipped it right off Diane's head! After Tiff took the pictures she and Diane wanted, we took a picture of the SSer's. Jim used Tiff's camera and I gave mine to the best man. Bill didn't do too bad....



Then it was off to the reception. When we got there we hung out for a few minutes in the parking lot. The wedding party would be entering at a specified time. During our waiting time Jen checked her cell phone and saw someone had tried to call her. The same number had tried to call me so I knew right away it was Manda..... another friend from ScrapShare. I had given her both our cell numbers. She had wanted to come to the wedding only she lives in California and had a niece getting married the same day! Diane, Heidi, Jen and I all talked to Manda. I got pics of the other 3 talking to her. I think Jen got one of me, but I'm not sure. Here's Jen holding "Manda" on a stick while talking to her.



The reception was a lot of fun and the dinner was so good. And, the wedding cake.... what can I say, Diane had my favorite...... chocolate/chocolate! Well, she had white and I think lemon too. But the chocolate was to die for! The DJ played a lot of fun songs and I don't think Heidi and Laura ever got off the dance floor! Jen and Diane were out there almost as much. I did get this old body out there for a couple songs. Of course, since they were songs from "my" era, it was easy to dance to them!

Tiffany was going to leave about 9 so we took another pic of the SS group. Laura took it with Diane's camera and it turned out pretty good. I've seen it but don't have a copy of it yet. And, we had to take our "crocs" pic. Diane gave Heidi and Laura a pair of crocs as part of their gifts for being her attendants. Jen had a pair for the reception and Tiffany had a pair on pretty much all day. Of course, Diane had on a pair, that girl lives in them! I'm not a fan of crocs but last December I bought a pair since they finally came out with one that was cute. So I had on my crocs too......



Yep, I'm the oddball in the pic.... but at least they are crocs!

The reception was winding down before 11 so Jen and I headed back to the motel. We were tired since it had been a long day. We got back to the motel a little after midnight and got ready for bed. We both got on our laptops to post pics on SS of our day. Jen posted a few and I couldn't. For some reason, photobucket was not cooperating with me. I couldn't upload any pics. Jen was able to download some of my pics to her computer and she posted one of the group to SS. When I downloaded my pics I found I took close to 200 on my 2 cameras! Now there were some duds but overall, I'm happy with most of 'em. By 1 a.m. we turned the lights out and went to bed.

Our trip home on Sunday was uneventful. It was a fun weekend overall.

Pepper Found A New Ball.....

A few days ago I had finished a workout using the exercise ball. Pepper came over and started sniffing at it.

So, I put him on it! Now, I did have my foot and knee stabilizing it and was holding on to him with one hand.

Then he laid down.

I took my hand away and only my foot was stabilizing the ball.

I can do anything to him and he takes it!

(Paige was a big baby when I tried it with her..... those pics aren't as cute!)

39 Years Ago.....

Jul 20, 1969: Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong was the first man to walk on the Moon.

I was 14 years old and on vacation in Carter Caves, Kentucky. My parents, my cousin, myself and another family we were with watched it on a black and white TV in the motel room.

Why would we take time out of our vacation to watch this on TV?

Neil was from our hometown, Wapakoneta. Actually, my parents knew both Neil and his parents. His parents lived right around the corner from us (I could see their house from my bedroom window which today is my office/scraproom). My grandparents were very good friends of Neil's parents. And, in high school, my Dad had dated his sister a few times.

It was also a pretty big accomplishment at that time and who knew where it would lead.

Now that is one childhood vacation I'll never forget.

When I started digi-scrapping, one of the first layouts I made was this.



And, yes that is a true autograph on that picture. The picture was given to my parents by Neil when he was home for the homecoming celebration in September, 1969. It still hangs proudly in our family room.

An exciting moment in history and a proud memory for my town. Wonder what the 40th anniversary will bring next year?

Friendship....

I've been doing a lot of digital scrapbooking lately and have found several websites that have daily challenges. One site, GottaPixel has a lyric challenge once a month. In May, it was for the lyrics of a song called One Friend by Dan Seals. As I read the lyrics I thought of one person and knew I had to do a layout in honor of our friendship.

We've been friends an awful long time. I don't remember a time without her in my life. We may not see each other very often since our lives are so very different.... she's got an almost teenager and I have no kids. But, I know I can count on her if needed. She and her husband were my saviors during the ice storm in January 2005.

This week is her birthday. So, my friend, hope your birthday is a happy one and know that I will always love you.

Here's the layout in your honor!

Independence Day

Besides being a national holiday and a day off work, in my small town it is also the day of the St. Joseph Festival. #58. That's more years than I've been around. The festival is held at the county fairgrounds which just happens to be south of my house by a couple of miles at the most. In fact, my driveway is in an almost direct line with the infield of the race track.

When we moved into this house in the mid-60's, the trees between our house and the fairgrounds were not that tall. We could sit on our front porch and see the fireworks that went high in the sky. Over 40 years later, I still do this. Even though the trees have gotten taller, I can see the fireworks from my driveway.

Tonight I sat at the edge of the garage with my camera on a tripod to see if I could get any decent pics. Got to love digital.... can take as many pics as I want and it doesn't matter if there are bad ones. I don't have to get them printed to know!

Here's just a few that I thought didn't turn out too bad.











Grand finale....


I wasn't alone tonight either. My neighbors to the east were in their driveway also watching the fireworks. They had the family picnic at their house this year.

Hope your July 4th was a good one!

Goodbye Uncle John....

You will be missed. The Marker clan reunions will not be the same without you. Who will go in the water in their clothes because it is too hot? Who will be the friend to all?

Rest in peace and know that you are loved.

In the Dark....

Early this morning Paige started barking, not continuous but several times. I told her to stop but she wouldn't. That's when I realized that the table fan and the fan on the central air weren't making any noise. And, my clock was not lit up.

Uh-oh.

Power outage.

Must be because of the thunderstorm we were having.

I realized what was irritating Paige. The battery backup for the computer. Now I turn my computer off every night but leave the battery backup on. So I came to the office and turned it off. Grabbed the flashlight off the desk hutch and went to the living room to look at the one clock that runs off of batteries.

5:05 a.m.


OK, I had planned on going in early today so being up this early would have worked. After all I am wide awake. But I can't see to get ready. I'm not about to take a shower in the dark. And, putting on makeup..... No thanks.

So we go back to bed. Needless to say I do not go to sleep, just toss and turn and can't get comfortable. A little while later I decided to get my cell phone and see if it has an alarm I can set. It does so at 5:30 I set it for 6:15 just in case the power doesn't come back on. Then I look out my bedroom windows and the neighbor across the street has a light in his kitchen window.... so is it just me??? Still too dark so I get back in bed.

The alarm goes off at 6:15 so I get up and look out the window again. Another house across the street has a light on. So I take the flashlight and go to the basement to check the breakers. All OK there so I know it just isn't me. Now the houses behind me that are on the same transformer.... one house I can't see any lights because the main room in the back has no window facing my house, another area is a porch they don't use and the only window in the back I've never seen a light. The other house behind me.... the couple are on vacation so no lights at all! I went onto the screened in porch and looked at the house to the east of me. It doesn't appear that they have lights either.

So it is now close to 6:30. I use the cell phone to call work and tell Vicky that I just might be late.... She laughs and says they'll see me when I get there. I'm looking out the front window at this time and the guy across the street is getting ready to leave for work. So I run to the front door and yell at him. He was nice enough to come over and open the garage door for me, let me back my vehicle out and close it again. I just can't get it to stay down when I put it down with no electricity.

It is now light enough that I can sort of see to get ready for work. Makeup was a challenge in the dim light but they said it looked OK at work. When I was getting ready to leave, I couldn't find my cell phone. Well, I finally found a phone that would work without electricity and called the cell. Found it!

And, off I went to work. Got there on time :)

One of the service directors also lives in this area and he was also without power. About 7:45 he told me that he was headed home to hook up their generator when his wife called and said it was back on. Big relief.

When I got home at 4:30, the clock in the kitchen showed it had been back on for 9 hrs 10 min. That put the power coming back on around 7:20 a.m. About 5 minutes after I left.

And, the rest of my day.....

was just "out of sorts".

Meh.

Happy Anniversary Mae and Tom!

I had the privilege of attending a celebration for a 60th wedding anniversary today. Tom is my Mom's cousin and I've known them all my life. It was a good time.... seeing family I haven't seen for awhile. Also had a chance to catch up with several acquaintances of my parents from years past.

Their daughter did something rather unique. She had guests either bring photos or memories to write about. She had the supplies there for creating scrapbook pages. Some pages had been done prior to the celebration and were already in albums. Such a nice idea. I found a picture earlier this week with the 3 of them in it so I printed it and took it along then made a page right there!

I've been doing digital scrapping for 5 months now and took the liberty of doing my layouts for today already. I'd like to share those layouts. Here's the double page spread.



A close up of the left side:


And a close up of the right side:


Here's hoping there are many more years to come!

It's Been A Long and Rough Month....

It actually all started in April with my doctor's visit. Because of some information I shared with her she ordered a cardiac stress test and Holter monitoring and a visit with a cardiologist.

The stress test was May 1 and I picked up the monitor after the test. I wore the monitor for 48 hours. On May 9th, I saw the cardiologist. He didn't like the results of the stress test. With the amount of exercising I had worked up to last year, he felt I should have been on the treadmill a heck of a lot longer than 4 minutes.... Basically, my heart rate got to the target level too fast. So he wanted me on meds and ordered a heart cath. I had the cath on May 15 and had some restrictions for 48 hours. Other things (such as strenuous exercise) were limited for 2 weeks. The results of the cath were overall good. Arteries are good, heart is healthy. But I have a heart that "spasms".

I had a follow-up appointment with the cardiologist on May 23. The condition I have is normally found in smokers. I'm not a smoker. So he couldn't tell me why I have this. I'm on a medication twice a day and will see him again in August. I may not have to be on the medication forever though so I guess that is good news.

On May 27th I had an appointment with my regular doctor again. She had my results from the cardiologist and based on his findings, she does not like my cholesterol numbers. So she upped my cholesterol meds. And, now my BP is considered "low" so she cut my BP meds. We talked about the causes of a heart that spasms..... I asked her if second hand smoke could do it. She said "yep". My mother smoked for the 1st 30 or so years of my life as well as when she was pregnant with me.

I also had a mammogram on May 19th (results are clear!) and the other female on the 27th (no news is good news!).

Then there was the eye doctor appointment on May 8th. Not much change in my prescription but I could bump up a level on my bi-focal. I decided to get new glasses because I have been having trouble with both pair I have now so she bumped the prescription. On the 16th I went to pick up the glasses.... As the girl was doing final adjustments to fit me, they broke! The girl I normally work with on adjustments wasn't there that day so I said I'd be back on Monday and pick out a different frame (I had tried on about 30 to get this pair!!!). Went back on the 19th after the mammo and found a pair. They came in on the 23rd so I picked them up before going to the cardiologist appointment. So far, so good considering my fav girl wasn't there to adjust them. I wasn't able to get there this week when she worked so I'll run over on Monday. I think they are off just a little but not enough to cause major problems. Oh yeah, I look pretty good in them ;)

I'm about doctored out now.....

To top off the month.... On my walk with the dogs Thursday night, I fell down. Hard. On stone. Wanna see?





Now, don't go blaming my babies.... they didn't have a thing to do with it!

I ache all over but other than the leg, I'm "unmarked". Here it is today...



Pretty, huh?

Boy am I glad tomorrow is a new month....

Is it rabbit hunting season yet?

Every time I turn around this weekend I see rabbits!! They are all over the place. Of course, when the dogs see them, they.go.nuts.

In a matter of 5 minutes I saw this...

back yard...



same guy...



front yard...



this guy running down the street...



back to the back yard...



now off to the side and the neighbor's yard...



close up, excuse the screen...



and the neighbor's yard. there are 3 rabbits in this pic, 2 close by and 1 off in the distance...



Just awhile ago, they were out there again. This time one was right next to the patio enclosure and when Paige put her paws up on the window sill, it took off.

Oh yeah, we saw one flat on the road during our walk last night. Could be a wild summer...

Has Spring Sprung in Ohio?

I've been able to take a few walks this week since there were some days with mild temps and no rain.

The one thing I look forward to every year is this tree in a neighbor's yard. On the 16th it looked like this:



Close up:



On the 18th, from a distance walking towards my house:



and closer to it:



And today from my driveway:



Here's another tree I saw on my walk last night:



Yep, I think spring is here.....finally!

My emotions are better....

Talking to Dad last night really helped.

Even though it was only cataract surgery, I was worried about him too. Just being so far away and not able to be there at times like this bothers me. With losing Uncle Bill and going to the visitation Saturday, I was just on overload. Now that I know the surgery went fine, I feel much, much better.

sigh............

Ever read your horoscopes?

My horoscope for the day....

You're feeling a bit overdrawn, emotionally speaking and would probably rather have a quiet day at home than have to deal with all the madness of the day. Still, you should get past it without losing your mind!

How true this is! Let's just say that yesterday was very emotional and draining. Because of that I did not get much sleep at all. So I'm physically tired and emotionally drained.... I should be doing housework and laundry, the regular Saturday things that got put off because of the funeral visitation.

Guess I'll just do what I want today. Scrapping sounds nice and relaxing....

**********

So much for doing what I want today....

So far I'm on the 3rd load of laundry. Also have put some stuff away so the house is looking a little neater.

I really wanna scrap.

Rest in Peace, Uncle Bill.....

A wonderful man passed away yesterday.

A wonderful father, grandfather, uncle and friend.

Anyone who met Bill loved him. He was funny, entertaining, smart, witty, and an all around nice guy.

His first career (that I knew) was as a high school teacher and basketball coach. Know how many of the young men he coached still called him "Coach" 30 years later? Lots of respect there also.

His next career was as a salesman for LaChoy Foods. The people he met and made friends with during that time was also astonishing. He's got friends all over the country and this was long before the internet!

I was lucky enough that he married my mom's sister. Growing up, we spent many wonderful times in Archbold with their family. His 3 children are like siblings to me. Sue and I are only 14 months apart in age so have always been very close. Her kids call me "Aunt" even though I am just a cousin....

12 years ago on Leap Day, my aunt passed away and now her DH joins her. I hope that they are forever together....

To one of the most loyal OSU Buckeye fans I have ever known....





Say hi to Woody!

Love you always!

Blizzard is OVER!

Well, the forecasters were pretty accurate in one regard. The snow ended right around 4:00 this afternoon!

This was what I woke up to this morning....




At 9:30 my neighbor cleared my driveway....




By 1:45 we had this much additional snow....




And after it was all over around 5:00....




Aren't these the cutest faces ever?







I do have to admit that I love the look of untouched snow....





My cousin stopped by around 5:45 tonight and shoveled the sidewalk and cleared some of the driveway up by the garage door. It was his friend that lives across the street that had cleared it earlier so he didn't have as much to clear as he thought. He said city streets weren't all that good but that's the usual around here.

I'm staying in yet tonight and we'll see how things look tomorrow. I don't have to go out, but there are a couple errands I could do.

Hopefully this is it for the year.....

but something tells me it won't be!

Beginning of a Blizzard in Ohio.....

We had a winter storm watch then warning for this weekend. Late afternoon it was changed to a blizzard warning. When I left work at 4:00 it was snowing but not too bad. The streets weren't too bad and there was about an inch of snow on the ground.

Of course, Pepper and Paige were enjoying the snow....

Here's Pepper just having fun!




Here's both of them checking out the neighbor's back yard.




And, here's Pepper playing in the backyard 2 hours later.




It is still snowing, the roads are snow covered and the plows haven't been out yet. I'm guessing we've got a couple of inches. Tomorrow is supposed to be blizzard conditions. The warning is until 4:00 p.m. Who knows what we'll wake up to!

Thank goodness I have no plans to go away this weekend. My cousin and his sons will be clearing my driveway but we decided Sunday would be OK especially since this is a storm with a 1-2 punch....

I.am.SO.ready.for.spring.

In Like A Lion.....

Out Like A Lamb?

I can only hope!

Well, not exactly true as Sat and Sun were rather nice days. In fact, On Sunday I took the dogs for a walk to check out the construction of the new swimming pool.

But today..... ugh.....

Rain all morning then it turned to an icy rain and sleet. When I left work at normal time, I had to get help to open the doors of my SUV. Completely iced over! With the defrosting going full blast inside the SUV, I attempted to scrape the windows. After about 20 minutes I got enough of a view out the window to drive home.





I made it home in one piece. Here's the SUV after the trip home on the slushy/icy streets.




Around 4 1/2 hours after I got home I went out to the garage and noticed that most of the ice was still on the SUV!!!

And, one of my favorite photos to take.... my hens and chicks although this time they are covered with ice.





Oh yeah, we're supposed to be getting snow on top of this.

And, needless to say the river is already flooded so there's a very good chance we'll have more flooding like we did in February....

Is it spring yet?