Morning gals. Just a bit nippy this morning but no more rain, thank goodness.
Jean: That is funny about Ian. Jack said it bothered him too much to put the tap light in the end of the hall as he sleeps on the side of the bed that looks out into the hall so I stuck it on the wall in the bathroom and it shines into the hall enough to see down it and not trip on Butterscotch if he is parked somewhere as he is a concrete block, he doesn't move. That is funny about your friend, but scary because I do a lot of that stuff. Most smokers are not cleaning nuts though so that is odd. I can say I don't do the carpet deal though. Our carpets are beyond hope until we can find the $$$ to replace them all so I gave up and put other rugs down to cover them up. I wonder if she does something I do and that is empty wastebaskets all the time. I see a piece of kleenex and I have to pick it up and put it in the main basket in the kitchen.
Jack had to work late again yesterday so dinner was a couple hours late so of course I got heart burn when I went to bed, ugh! I have to have several hours between eating and going to bed or I get heartburn and regurge, which I did last night.
My cleaning list for my sister seems to be getting longer, what is with that? It is just little things to do at the last minute, but I keep thinking of things. I also put on last minute errand stuff like taking the dog to the groomer, getting car washed, etc. I am going to have to remind Jack of a couple little things that have been driving me nuts and he is the only one tall enough to take care of it, like replacing light bulb in kitchen, there is a tiny piece of dark string hanging from the vent in the hall and it looks like cobwebs and the worst, there are two screws screwed into the ceiling in our bedroom with heavy string hanging down from them. When my dd and sil had moved out, they stored all their Ebay stuff here for a couple years. He used to photograph his stuff in the bedroom and had hung fluorescent lights from the ceiling and Jack for some reason had taken all the other screws and string out except these two and they drive me nuts. He just keeps forgetting so I need to nag him some I think.
We got a call from Thomas last night and he was excited to tell us he made all "E's" on his report card so he got a little smiley for each one and then a big one for having all "E's" I told him Nonny and Granddad would have to buy him a nice present for doing so well. He is such a character at this age. He was telling me what he was going to do for his birthday this year (it is in June) and I heard the cat meow in the background and ask him what was wrong with Stoney. He told me she just wanted outside, but to hold on that he was going to ask her. I heard him making meowing sounds to the cat and came back on the phone and I asked him what he said to her and he said he told her to have a nice day, then said, oops it wasn't day anymore so he laid down the phone, I heard him meow some more than he was back on the phone telling me he told her to have a good night. Well of course, that started something so pretty soon he said he needed to talk to their dog so he is bowbowing but pretty quick he came back on the phone and said, "Oh, ick, dog cooties, he just licked me!" I think he may have gotten a little too close talking to Marty! He just keeps me in stitches when I talk to him. He was telling me that he wanted to have like a video tournament at his birthday party and that I could take a turn. I told him I would probably be pretty bad at it to remember I was bad a Kerplunk and he said that was ok because Kerplunk wasn't like video games and something about helping me get past the first level if I needed his help. That boy, what a nut.
Good Afternoon, Flowers! The sun is shining again today and it is a tad warmer than yesterday. All of a sudden it is towards the end of the week and I haven't accomplished as much as I had hoped. Time sure has a way of slipping by. I did find a receipt yesterday and it was put through as a debit to our account; I, of course, signed the 'old fashioned' charge slip and stuck it in with all the others. It was a debit on our last bank statement with the same date as a couple of Maui charges and I questioned the bank about it. It came back as an internet sale which I knew it couldn't be -- it turned out I bought a knife that was being demonstrated at Menard's way before we went to Maui and had to pay for it at the demonstration itself. Now I remember! The company is from NJ. Guess it pays to clean out drawers as well as saving receipts!
'Gma' -- I don't remember about the wastebaskets being clean. I do remember, as I look back, she would coffee and visit at other people's houses more often than inviting us to her house. She really wasn't a warm cozy kind of person, but yet wanted to be included in everything that might be happening. I don't like to eat late because I don't like cleaning up the kitchen late and I really don't like going to bed on a full stomach. I feel like I should be up and doing something to work off the calories a bit. I had to laugh at your screws and strings . . . sounded like it was leading up to something kinky rather than an ebay story! Ian likes to talk on the phone and if I answer he will make small talk but then always wants to talk to Grandpa. If Bob isn't home then Ian wants him to call back! I know how I rate!
Well, I need to keep moving. Amanda has to go to classes this weekend to renew her license and Jason talked about bringing the kids over here. I'm meeting a retired teacher for lunch on Saturday; she has moved out of town and I always look forward to seeing her. Have a great day!
Good morning from Memphis! I was up early trying to get some show tickets online for next weekend while my sister is here. One of the casinos has a cirque de soleil type show going on cheap so thought my sister might like it. Besides, it keeps her busy and keeps me from going insane with her. I love her to death but like I said she is difficult to put up with. Besides not being able to afford it, I don't think she is much of a gambler so I can't keep her busy that way!
Jean: Jack usually answers the phone at night so it is he that Thomas gets to talk to first, but it doesn't last long, mainly because I think Jack has a hard time hearing him on the phone then I get mr giggle puss. He is much closer to me than to Jack and we talk much longer too. I think all grandkids gravitate to one or the other grandparents. Zowie will probably be grandma's girl. I just happen to be a boy person so enjoy them a whole lot more than girls and always have for some reason. I am closer to my nephews than my nieces I think.
I don't know if I will get back in here over the weekend or not. We have so much to do with the rugs and the deck and all and I have to squeeze in the commissary somewhere in there. If I don't everyone have a great weekend and I will talk to you Monday.
Happy Friday from Iowa! It is cloudy and windy with a few snowflakes falling willy-nilly. I have my 'to do' list ready to go but needed to send an email so thought I might as well check in here while I'm online.
'Gma' -- OK, I'll bite! What is a cirque de soleil show? You can tell I don't get out much! Maddy is my girl hands down! If Jason says anything to her she will make a beeline for me. Zowie is her mother's daughter although she is warming up to me as time goes by. Kolby loves everyone and just grins at anyone who happens to look his way. He is alot like Ian in that respect. They are growing up much too quickly. I can just imagine you and Thomas on the phone! I hope you get to check in this weekend . . . maybe while Jack takes his nap!
My first load of laundry is done and needs to go in the dryer; too bad there isn't a robot that could do that for me. Have a great day!
Good morning gals! I am just waiting until Jack stirs around so I can shower and head out to the commissary. I kind of did too much yesterday and paid for it last night having my left hip killing me and my right lower back so I was pretty miserable all night. I would go to the recliner and the heating pad, then back to bed, then back downstairs and I finally settled in upstairs around 2:30 and slept but not soundly.
Jean: Oops, sorry, a Cirque show is this crazy comedy, acrobatics, all around strange set of stuff and they have I think 5 different kinds in Vegas. The title means Sun Circus but it is definitely more than a circus. There are no animals. We went to see Mystere last time we were in Vegas, but they have one that is done completely over water, one that I guess is kind of racy, a new one that is completely done to Beatles music and a couple others. They are really expensive, with the "O" water one going for upwards of $150-$200 apiece. I think I paid $100 apiece for ours, but it was a spectacular show even if it was weird. I actually wasn't sure I was going to like it, but boy oh boy. They had a part where everyone was on stilts and another part where it was just two guys in like ballet tights and they did acrobatics together and man some of the things they did were amazing. The costuming is WOW. Anyway, this show is supposed to be like that, acrobatics, what they call conceptual comedy, which probably means no one can understand the comedy in it . They do things with those ribbons gymnasts use and they have huge balls they bounce around, stuff like that. I can just see my sister hating it! Luckily, these tickets were CHEAP! It must be so much fun to have so many grandkids and they are all so different. I would like just one more at least, but who knows. I told Jack yesterday I am probably the only mother who encourages her son to have sex!
Everyone have a great day and I will talk at you later.
Good Afternoon, Flowers! No sunshine again today, but there is always hope for later in the day. I met a couple of retired teachers for lunch, and we took up space for 3 hours. Of course they wanted to know all of the scoop from school and some of which they knew more than I did. One I used to cat-sit for and she has moved to MN. The other one has a son who was in Jason's class and she lives in a little nearby town, but I never see her either.
'Gma' -- Thanks for the show explanation! Bob listens to a comedy radio station in his pickup and some of them talk so fast I never do "get it." I hope your sister does enjoy it if nothing else that you made the effort to entertain her. May your aches and pains be gone by now . . . . don't work so hard!
I've goofed off long enough so now I need to get some cleaning done. Jason and the kids are coming over tomorrow while Amanda is in class. I thought they might come today, but he said he had to stay home and clean house.
Morning gals! It looks like it is going to be a beautiful day here today once it warms up some. We are going to tackle the deck today and get it done. I bought some power deck wash to get rid of bird poo. I need to buy some jangly windchimes to keep them away from the trees because the like roosting in ours as do chip and dale. I call the two pain in the behind squirrels we have that.
We got a shock yesterday so I ask for prayers here. My sil (dh's sister) called while I was at the commissary. Her bday is Tuesday and I sent her a card and a Dillards gift card. Her oldest dd is 26 and was just diagnosed with MS and to double zing the family her 20 year old son is shipping out to Fort Benning to complete jump school than straight to Afghanistan.
I lost my military ID card somewhere in the commissary yesterday and got up to pay and you have to show it to check out. Man, what a mess. The lady directing traffic to the registers walked the whole store and didn't find it and I did a little and found not a thing. They gave me a courtesy check out, but they didn't have it at the money cage either so I will call today. I had to show it to come through the gates of the base and I remember sticking it in my left pocket and my keys in my right pocket because I didn't want something like this to happen. I sure hope someone turned it in as that is gold to a military or retired person. It ties to my medical insurance, my shopping, even getting onto the base itself. Which would mean if they don't find it, we have to go and have it replaced on the Tues my sister is here because Jack has a city holiday that way and he has to go with me as he is my sponsor UGH!
I need to go and get my morning chores done downstairs so that when Jack gets up we can eat some breakfast and start on the deck.
Faye: That is such a pain to have lost your ID. It is a hassle to get a new one. I just did that but mine was renewal. I was lucky as we were the first in line....got there at 8:45AM and doors opened at 9AM. If you can do that you might be able to sail right through without wasting half a day. Maybe that is just gab and they will have found your 'lost' ID. I hope so. I hope you can still have a good time with your sister. How long will she be with you?
Jean: It is always nice to meet up with old work chums and rehash the 'good' old days. I love to get together with pals from work and find out how much has changed and how I am even happier to be out of there. You may have said the Jason had to stay home to clean house with tongue in cheek but today I find the younger people do split chores more than our age group ever did. A man would hardly ever clean during the early years of our life but now I see it happening more and more.....it is a good thing.
Not much going on in my neck of the woods. Spring is here but it is Winter cold. Next week is April and I can't believe how the year has flown.
Good Evening, Flowers! I am tired tonight! Jason and the kids were here for most of the day. Ian has enough energy for two kids and his most favorite thing is to be outside now. He doesn't sit still for 30 seconds and his mother is beginning to worry he will be a kindergarten flunk-out! I keep telling her he is only 3 and will be close to 6 when he starts kindgergarten. He is so smart that I wonder if he will be bored in school. I hope not.
"Gma" -- I hope that someone will find your ID and turn it in for you. That is a panic attack for sure. I have never lost my driver's license, but dread the thought of having to go through the hassle of replacing any of the important things in my billfold. I just read a hint about making a copy of both sides of your credit cards so that if lost or stolen, you would have the acct. number and 800# to report them. I will keep your niece and nephew in my thoughts and prayers. I hope she will be able to manage the MS and live a fairly normal life. Is she married and have children? My sil in diagnosed after having her second child. She had some symptoms after her first child was born, but the doctor thought it was first time mother jitters. She was/is a hypochondriac so changes doctors every few months when she doesn't like what they are telling her.
Gloria -- I am having a hard time thinking about going back to school tomorrow! I enjoy being at home! But I also like the paychecks. I really do work with a nice bunch of kids so can't complain too much. In talking with other mothers, I don't think the younger generation is into keeping house like we did when our kids were little! My daughter's philosophy is that she will spend time with her kids when she is home and to heck with the housework! She does what she can after they go to bed or she and Will will speed clean on Saturdays/Sundays when they are both home. Jason and Amanda's house is small so anything out of place makes it look messy. Ian's big toys are downstairs in the family room, but he won't go down there unless someone is with him. Zowie likes to crawl into the toy basket and throw everything out! I am reminded of how fortunate I was to be able to stay home when the kids were little.
Well, I need to figure out what I'm wearing tomorrow and probably iron it. It is supposed to be cold this week -- in the 30s with some rain/snow. It is hard to believe that April is just around the corner. Daylight Savings Time starts next weekend, right? I wish THEY would pick one or the other and leave it alone!
Good Monday morning everybody! I didn't sleep well last night, but I feel pretty darn good this morning. I already have a load of rugs done and in the dryer and am going to tackle the hallway shampooing because there isn't furniture moving only a quilt rack and a little fabric and bamboo cube storage seat and the only thing in it are a couple blankets. I am going to tackle Jack's office since I have asked him about a bazillion times to dust and straighten up in there and he hasn't yet. I made a promise to him when we moved here that his office was off limits to my cleaning except I vacuum in there and take down the curtains and wash them and put them back up. Now with my sister coming, I want it straightened up since he leaves the door open all the time so guess I will do it myself!
They did have someone turn in my ID as I called yesterday. I told her I didn't know when I would be out there to get it because I live in Southeast Memphis and it is way out northwest in another town. I wanted them to mail it, but I knew they wouldn't. You have to show your ID at the gate now so I have to go through the rigamarole of either having Jack go out there with me or dealing with the gate guard to get through the gate to go pick it up.
I agree with both you ladies. Men of today do more than our generation and back, though my hubby is great about helping, he just needs to be asked. One thing he helps me with every night is putting the clean basket of clothes away (he carries them upstairs for me too) and helps me clean up dinner and load the dishwasher etc. I also think that housework is not something important to most younger women today. They either pay for someone to do it or it doesn't get done. I think they are so busy compared to when we were younger. I stayed home with my kids too so I was able to keep house, but even when I worked full time and at night no less, I always kept a clean house but then I had "trained" the kids and hubby not to be messing up the house all the time.
Jean: That you have to go back to work this morning. Jack got to come home early on Friday because he had overtime and just took it as comp time instead, but I know the closer he gets to complete retirement the happier he will be. He has 9 years until he can retire. It is nice because unlike some spouses, he doesn't get underfoot and we go and do stuff when he is home. I am looking forward to being able to pick up and go to see my son anytime we wish instead of having to plan it around his vacation days etc. I have never missed not working. I thoroughly enjoyed working all those years for the law firm, mainly because there were a lot of perks and I have some close friends there including my younger sister, but I don't miss working. I seem to always find things to do here at home and I have my guys to keep me company.
Gloria: My sister will get here sometime early this Saturday evening and she is heading back home on Wednesday. She works with the bus department for her school district and they are on spring break. She works year round though and is just taking vacation time. She told Jack on Saturday she was all excited about coming down, but told me she wasn't a few days before that so I hope she enjoys herself. I am going to try and give her a good time while she is here and give her a driving tour of things like Graceland and Beale street and such. Take her over and show her where my dd lives and stuff like that besides the 2 nights at the casino hotel, the show and the gambling. I also promised her Memphis BBQ so if she is tired when she gets here I will have Jack walk across the street to the BBQ place and if she isn't we will go to Corkys.
Well gals, I need to get up and going. I want to check on a sweater and pants I bought yesterday. I tuned into QVC and they had Quacker Factory stuff on and so much of that stuff is so cute. I am including a pic of the sweater. It doesn't show on this pick, but it has cute little daisy and lady bug button covers and the lady bugs on the sweater itself are 3D so to speak. I bought a cute pair of white knit ribbed pants to go with it.
Happy soggy Monday! It has rained all day long here. . .better than snow any day, but it sure is gloomy. It was a typical Monday after a long vacation. Our music department returned from a trip to FL at 3 AM this morning so none of them had to be in school until noon. Some others decided to extend their vacation and take another day off. Actually it was pretty quiet and I like it like that. We had another BORING reading meeting after school; it is geared for elementary so doesn't even apply to us but because we got federal money for the whole program we have to sit through an hours worth once a month.
Bob is at church for practice and left a message on the answering machine saying he would cook tonight. We will be eating out!
'Gma' -- I'm so glad someone turned your ID in! You could just shut Jack's door and then make a big production of letting your sister peek inside when he is home and can hear you! I have to give Bob credit as there was nothing that I did when the kids were little, that he didn't also do. He is still a big help to me when I'm getting ready for card club or just in general. I don't always like the way he does things , but I either redo later or let it go if it's not important. We load to dishwasher differently and he always teases me about that. The sweater is cute! Do the QVC sizes run pretty true? I've never ordered clothing from them but they do have some cute things.
I need to change clothes and get moving. Have a nice evening and a terrific Tuesday tomorrow!
Evening ladies! I would probably be in bed by now, but we had some Lowes errands to run for the house and we ate out and now I have a mega case of heartburn. I guess I will be sitting up until the meds kick in. All I ordered was Bob Evans chicken salad fruit plate. Wouldn't think that would kill me but boy it is bad.
Jean: I haven't bought a lot of stuff from QVC clothing wise, but the couple I have bought ran true to size pretty much. My problem is I am so much bigger in the hips than on top that I have trouble with tops fitting over my behind and tummy. Hope you have better experience with "Bob's cookin'" than I had with "Jack's." We did all that hard work on the deck Sunday afternoon and I went out this morning and the bird's had pooed all over it AND my patio furniture. All the dark berry stuff too so I hope I can get it cleaned off my furniture without it making huge stains before my sister comes. I am going to leave it until Saturday to do. I bought a wind chime but I am not sure it will make much of a difference keeping them away.
I went out to get the mail and saw that my neighbor on the left just up and moved out today. She must have been in one huge hurry because EVERYTHING went and her too! I didn't even know she was moving. She hasn't even lived here a year yet. That means that the guy that owns it has two empty now, that one and the one directly across from us. They moved out about a week ago and boy did they tear up the place, holes in the garage walls, etc. The guy that owns these two used to LIVE next door to me and had for years and years. Real nice couple, wealthy too and they moved out when they had a fire in their condo and had to live somewhere else for about a month. I guess they went and bought a house. They don't have any children and are probably in their 40's at least. Anyway, I digress. This guy put THOUSANDS of dollars into upgrades on the two condos. He put in all new tile and carpeting in, he paints everytime someone moves, he walled in the garage and redid the garage floors all really nice so I imagine their rent is pretty steep than the jerks across from us tear it up. I saw someone over there this last weekend working on it.
Well, I am going to sit and read for a bit then go back to bed when the heartburn seems to be at bay. I feel better already so maybe it won't be long.
GOOOOOODDDDDD Morning! It is overcast and things are wet outside, but it isn't raining. I heard birds so went out and gave my wind chimes a nice big jangle to shoo them off, which it seemed to.
I ordered a pair of white pants at Roamans as I couldn't find what I wanted elsewhere, paid $22 for fast shipping and I see on the site that I have to contact them for shipping status. I had a go round with them a month or so ago about shipping and canceled my order with them and now I have this. I wanted the pants to go with the new sweater I bought that will be here tomorrow. I wanted to wear them to the "cirque" show on Sunday afternoon. URRRRRRR! Makes me mad when companies do this sort of thing.
I got a call from UPS last night to let me know they "dinged" the driver's file that lied and didn't leave my package. I went over everything with this lady too and told her there was no way this guy even attempted delivery. I was right, it wasn't my regular guy. I wondered about that because my regular guy is really really nice and has delivered late to me a couple times.
We replaced the dryer or I guess I should say, Jack replaced the dryer vent yesterday so I hope it works better. We have cleaned it out of lint several times and it will be ok then start to leak water underneath. We found a tear in the aluminum on the old vent so we are hoping that is what caused the problem. We shall see. Today's project for Jack is patch some wallpaper that has come loose in spots. We have a little tiny spot in the downstairs bathroom chair rail, then I have sunflower wallpaper and border in the dining room and the border flowers are "cut out" style and the tips in one section have come loose then the bigger job is the ratty stuff in the upstairs bathroom I didn't get a chance to rip down and paint so we have to glue different places back where it has come loose. I am not a huge fan of wallpaper in the bathroom because of the humidity. I can't see how it could not come loose.
Well, as the 7 dwarfs say, "hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go." Better get started on the day. I am pretty caught up with almost all of the stuff I can do, but I am going out and blow leaves and gunk out of the garage this morning. I noticed a lot of stuff from the empty place next door got blown into our garage when they went over there and blew everything out to the walkway between our condos. I ended up picking up toys and all kinds of crap they just blew out onto the walkway and never picked up and I had cleaned all our leaves up a couple weeks before that and my yard ended up with a pile from them again and when we would open the garage door, stuff would blow in so now I have to clean it! At least for now, I am empty on both sides! I was missing some bricks that run along my sidewalk up to my deck and couldn't figure out what happened to them. The row has cement poured into them and they are original fixtures so are old and some of the concrete sections are coming loose, but I haven't ever lost bricks. Guess what, they were in the yard next door!!!!! I had washed a bright red rug that is fuzzy from my dh's office and went into their backyard to shake off excess fuzz and saw them. I also found 2 sections of the concrete from two of the blocks on the roof of my garage! They came onto my property and took them then threw them onto the garage. I know the stuff was mine because none of their bricks were loose and missing and these were just haphazardly thrown into a corner with pieces of concrete tops! No wonder I disliked them so much! What creeps!
Have a good day gals and I will talk at you later! Gail you need to peek in here girl!
Good Evening, Flowers! The sun was peeking out finally after it being cloudy all day; we got up to heavy fog. My day started early with a 7:15 breakfast at school followed by a staff meeting at 7:30. I spent the better part of the day trying to get a BD student to write his speech the way the teacher wants it done; he went to Mexico for 2 weeks and can't figure out why she thought he would have most of it done when he got back. My other challenge would sit and shrug his shoulders every time I asked him where his different class assignments were. I finally threatened to keep him after school and he admitted that he left everything at home today. I have a feeling he will be taking freshman classes again next year.
'Gma' -- We have a crop of black birds that have discovered the bird feeder in the last few weeks. There was not a bird in sight all winter long and now they are all over. We also have a squirrel feeder and when the squirrels dig through looking for their favorites, the rest goes flying to the ground. The blue jays sit and wait below; they are so pretty but they are a scrappy bunch! The outside cats just sit and watch the show. Maybe if you got one of those lawn ornaments that are whirly, your birds would be afraid of it. Can the bricks you found in the neighbor's side be replaced along your sidewalk? It's hard to believe that some people live the way they do and don't take better care of their homes.
I skipped WW tonight -- I didn't want to face the iron monster since I ate all weekend, yesterday, and today! I don't know what is wrong with me, but I am hungry!
Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday! We have 47 days of school left!
Good morning gals! Hope all is well in your part of the world. Looks like a nice day here today in the 70's.
We got the wallpaper repair done last night and I blew out the garage floor and then power washed it is so it is fairly clean now. I also starched and ironed my placemats and napkins with my new iron. Jack bought me this fancy iron several months ago and I had yet to use it and boy was it nice. I couldn't believe the difference between it and my old one. For one thing it has a digital warming read out, it shuts off by itself and has all this things you can do with it. I was just amazed how nicely it ironed my stuff as it was 100% cotton and you know how that can be to iron sometimes. I took down my lace panels in the dining room this morning as they looked a bit smoky from candle soot and they are just about done.
I am fit to be tied with Roamans. I finally got someone to email me back about my order and they had cancelled it. They had some stupid excuse for it and wanted me to try again, but it made me mad so I told them to forget it and went and order a pair twice as expensive at Catherines online and had them overnighted so they should be here today along with my new sweater. Granted they are a nicer pant, but the other ones would have been fine. I am fed up with the Brylane stores (Roamans, Jessica London, Lane Bryant, Chadwicks.)
We are down to one big job and a couple little ones then we are all set for my sister. Jack is going to shampoo the rest of the upstairs rugs tonight after dinner then all we have is for him to change a light bulb in the kitchen and I have my weekly cleaning to do that I normally do day to day, but decided to wait and do one floor on Thur and one on Friday then clean up the patio on Sat.
Jean: I went out and heard birds yesterday morning so gave my wind chimes a good jangle and they took off. It became windy enough yesterday that the chimes jangled on and off most of the day. I got a little spooked last night when we went to bed. I heard something going on next door and she has moved out. The lights were on though including the back ones and looked like maybe the owner was over there. It was a little disconcerting at first, though.
Well, I need to check on my lace panels to see how they look, get them dried and hung back up and get one with the day!
Steel Magnolias #8
It is just little things to do at the last minute, but I keep thinking of things. I also put on last minute errand stuff like taking the dog to the groomer, getting car washed, etc. I am going to have to remind Jack of a couple little things that have been driving me nuts and he is the only one tall enough to take care of it, like replacing light bulb in kitchen, there is a tiny piece of dark string hanging from the vent in the hall and it looks like cobwebs and the worst, there are two screws screwed into the ceiling in our bedroom with heavy string hanging down from them. When my dd and sil had moved out, they stored all their Ebay stuff here for a couple years. He used to photograph his stuff in the bedroom and had hung fluorescent lights from the ceiling and Jack for some reason had taken all the other screws and string out except these two and they drive me nuts. He just keeps forgetting so I need to nag him some I think.
I think he may have gotten a little too close talking to Marty! He just keeps me in stitches when I talk to him. He was telling me that he wanted to have like a video tournament at his birthday party and that I could take a turn. I told him I would probably be pretty bad at it to remember I was bad a Kerplunk and he said that was ok because Kerplunk wasn't like video games and something about helping me get past the first level if I needed his help. That boy, what a nut.
Ian likes to talk on the phone and if I answer he will make small talk but then always wants to talk to Grandpa. If Bob isn't home then Ian wants him to call back! I know how I rate! 
from Iowa!
Zowie is her mother's daughter although she is warming up to me as time goes by. Kolby loves everyone and just grins at anyone who happens to look his way. He is alot like Ian in that respect. They are growing up much too quickly. I can just imagine you and Thomas on the phone! 
in Iowa!
You may have said the Jason had to stay home to clean house with tongue in cheek but today I find the younger people do split chores more than our age group ever did. A man would hardly ever clean during the early years of our life but now I see it happening more and more.....it is a good thing.
Jason and the kids were here for most of the day. Ian has enough energy for two kids and his most favorite thing is to be outside now. He doesn't sit still for 30 seconds and his mother is beginning to worry he will be a kindergarten flunk-out! 
I have never lost my driver's license, but dread the thought of having to go through the hassle of replacing any of the important things in my billfold. I just read a hint about making a copy of both sides of your credit cards so that if lost or stolen, you would have the acct. number and 800# to report them. I will keep your niece and nephew in my thoughts and prayers. I hope she will be able to manage the MS and live a fairly normal life. Is she married and have children? My sil in diagnosed after having her second child. She had some symptoms after her first child was born, but the doctor thought it was first time mother jitters. She was/is a hypochondriac so changes doctors every few months when she doesn't like what they are telling her. 
You could just shut Jack's door and then make a big production of letting your sister peek inside when he is home and can hear you! 
in Iowa!