[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers!
I'm taking a 10 minute break to check email and then have to wrap birthday gifts for Miss Madaline! I totally forgot that part, I think because I bought everything several weeks ago when we were in Sioux City. I've done my cat chores and ran into town to buy a sympathy card for a pet . . . DH's secretary had to put her dog down yesterday due to kidney failure. He was old but still the same he was her "kid." She said it was the first time in 37 years she hasn't had a dog in the house -- she does have 2 cats that adopted her as strays and now live inside with her.

Maggie -- Welcome home! I put #31 on this thread . . . that'll keep whoever just drops by to read on their toes!

"Gma" -- I call DH "Mr. Tidy House" because the piles drive him nuts too. When I taught Kdg. I had school stuff all over everywhere! The fuzz balls and dust bunnies can sit on his plate and he wouldn't notice though! Just kidding, but he doesn't see the dust and splatters in the kitchen, on the stove, etc.

Not much else is going on here. I need to keep moving or else I won't be ready for the big party tomorrow!

Jean -- from Iowa!

[Maggie]

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

The fire has been contained for I don't hear the whirrly birds anymore. They were keeping an eye on the hot spots and droping those bags of water they pick up from various places around here.

Since we were out of electricity during the time I was doing my glass works I didn't get done yesterday what I wanted to do. I made up the slack today though. I am currently making 5 little butterfly boxes to sell at the Christmas Bizzare in November. I have been asked to join a group of locals that do that each year.

Hope all is well with everyone these days. I will go catch up on my thread reading now. I should have done that first before posting but as you see I didn't.

[Maggie]

Thank you Fay for that Cinnamon Roll recipe. I ran it through my Master Cook program and here are the nutritional stats it came up with.

369 Calories
20 g. Fat
1 g. Fiber

And for you WW point counters that is 9 POINTS

[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers!
I have laundry going and need to iron some slacks for DH to take with him when he leaves later this afternoon. He has a 3 day meeting in Des Moines which begins at 7:30 tomorrow morning. In his younger days he used to get up early and drive the 2 1/2 hours but now prefers to go down the night before and hang out with the other agents. I like that too because then I don't have to get up early, worry about him driving in the dark, having car trouble on the way, etc.

Yesterday was a fun day although it was so windy we couldn't take the boat out or enjoy sitting outside. Maddy was her charming best as Ian was also. I don't know if it was the wind or the hub bub birthday activity of everyone being together but I was tired last night! We all slept later this morning, had a leisurely breakfast, and my "mom" left to go back to her daughter's house and then back home again. I just feel lazy and like a nap might be in order this afternoon!

Maggie -- Are the boxes in the shape of a butterfly or do you put a butterfly on the lid? They sound cute whichever way you make them! I'm glad to hear the fire is under control and hopefully out by now.

I need to keep moving or I will fall asleep! Hope you all have a great day doing something fun for yourself!

Jean -- from Iowa!

[Maggie]

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

It is 94 here as I type at 2:10 PM. We ate out as usual for the noon meal after chruch services. I had a great salad with the dressing on the side and dipping my fork in it and hardly used any of it that way. My sandwich was a BLT which I enjoyed every bite. The cook knew it was for me so gave me lots of lettuce and tomato on it ~ made a huge sandwich with mostly veggies that way.

JEAN the box lids have a cut out butterfly on them. I have cut out yellow, blue, red, orange and pink butterflys for the lids. The lids have clear glass filling in the edges to make them square. The rest of the box is clear glass with various patterns in them making it not just plain clear glass if you get my drift. Some are wavy and others have what looks like water drops in it. I use copper wire for cute little feelers and colored matching glass beads for the openers. I am doing so many butterfly boxes because Mariposa means butterfly and folks like to have them.

Have a wonderful afternoon folks. Cowboy is at the store as I type buying some low fat ice cream and diet root beer so we can have some floats. I will think of ya'all as I am sipping it in front of a fan. OH and that remings me. Swamp coolers do use electricity. They are called that because they use water for the cooling instead of the air conditioner coolant stuff.

[gma22]

Jean: The little rug rats go back to school today. Our school system is such a mess I don't know how long it is going to take to recover. One school they cut 75 teachers and aides leaving them with 25. It is a real mess, but they should have seen this coming years ago, that and our new "had to have" a pro basketball team so we had to build a new $250 million dollar stadium without a bond issue. We still owe something like $20 million on the last place we built and it will sit basically EMPTY!

Maggie: Like I said, you need to make the rolls for special occasions only as they are delicious but not without consequences! Oh, I will get with you in about 3 weeks and get the stuff ordered, money sent and whatever. We have a huge expense this payday to take care of first! Hope things are better where you are now. Are the swamp coolers that same as the evaporative coolers people use in the southwest on top of their homes? That is what we had when we lived in New Mexico. Huge things that sit on the tops of the flat roof houses.

Better get my rear in gear I guess. It is going to be on the 90's here again today. It cooled off last week and it was so nice to sit on the deck on Sat with Jack and read and BBQ.

Have a great day girls

Faye

[Jean]

Good Morning, Flowers!
It is a cool 62° and sunny in my corner of the world. The weatherman says it is going to be a very windy day but so far it is a calm one.

I need to get started on laundry that I didn't do this weekend. With DH gone, I also need to get the recyclable stuff hauled out to the curb for garbage pickup this morning. Otherwise it is back to the sorting and pitching project since I don't have to go anywhere today.

Maggie -- The butterfly boxes sound cute! I am assuming that mariposa is Spanish, right? As I said before, you have far more patience that I do.

"Gma" -- I think the whole nation needs to take a look at their education system and get on the same page. Of course, I also think that raising children should go back to the basics (manners, respect, etc.) being taught at home before they ever start school! I also think way too much time and money is spent on sports! We have teachers who coach and will beat the kids out the door after school. Almost every day a student will stop by looking for some sort of help and the teacher is long gone.

Well, have a great day, Flowers! I need to get busy!

Jean -- in Iowa!

[gma22]

Jean: I may be stepping in muddy waters here, but when it comes to teachers a great many of them teach for the paycheck not the love of teaching. I so wish I had followed through and gotten my teaching degree as I would have been an excellent teacher. I have always loved teaching, even got to experience it in high school through a program I started for seniors interested in teaching. In our small town all three schools (elemen, jr high and high school) were connected so I talked them into a program where seniors interested in teaching who had enough credits to graduate and had a study hall would "teach" for that hour in the elementary. I had a third grade class and the teacher was very generous as she left me the class for the hour on my own with whatever it was she wanted me to teach! One of the hilarious things was one of the boys in the class was the son of my youth leader at church. I had gotten engaged in Feb of '72 and he had gotten a little confused and told the whole class, while the teacher was still there I might add, that Miss Haynes was pregnant. Whoa boy! I hurriedly explained his mistake. Today it wouldn't raise an eyebrow, then the wig came off!!!!!!! lololol

Everyone have a great day.

Faye

[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers!
It is a cool 63° with a windchill of 61°! The windchill part just cracks me up! I have been off running errands and having lab work done. I go in Friday for a 2 hour glucose test and I'm not looking forward to that. The doctor said that since "they" lowered the "normal #s," the amount of people who are in the prediabetes range have sky-rocketed.

The sun is shining and there are big poofy clouds in the sky. I have an appt. at 1:00 to have a lens replaced in my glasses. I scratched it so it is my own fault. I called on Friday when it was supposed to be in, yesterday, and again today. I wonder if they ever would get around to calling me. Wal Mart didn't have the kind of toothpaste I like and the GRRRRRR goes on!

"Gma" -- There is no doubt about it that teaching is a great second income for a family. I'm sure there are some who do it just for that reason. Iowa is one of the lowest paying teacher salary states in the U. S. At one time AZ and CA were the highest -- for special ed. anyway. My kids had teachers who should never have ever been allowed in the classroom and then there were others who were real gems. I still maintain that coaches shouldn't be allowed to teach. Not that they can't be a good teacher, but that the sports world has way too much influence in the classroom. My daughter, to this day, maintains that the government/history/psych. teacher (who was the football coach at the time) had no time for anyone who was not in athletics. She had a hard time in his classes while #1 son (who played football) breezed right through his classes. I pointed out to her that life is not fair and she might as well get used to it. I had to laugh at Miss Haynes being pregnant rather than engaged. Are you related to Al Haynes, the retired pilot, who landed a disabled aircraft in Sioux City 15 years ago?

I've got to get moving! Hope your day is going well!

Jean -- from Iowa!

[gma22]

Jean: As fars as I know I have no relative of that name, but I am distantly related to Elwood Haynes an inventor of one of the first automobiles. He is some great great great uncle or something. Teaching is one of those jobs that can't be just a job. I think the teachers you remember best are the ones that were the best. Some of the hardest teachers I had were also some of the best I had. One of the worst I had was a biology teacher where I was in his son's class. His son and his clique got all the attention and those of us who struggled did just that. I barely passed that class because I couldn't get any help from the jerk. My favorite teacher was a HUGE womanizer. In fact, I had to sit up next to his desk all the time because I would get mouthy with him, but in truth we had a great relationship. He was my government and economics teacher and boy did he know his stuff. I heard he went to prison years later for some kind of shooting incident or something I think involving gambling so you never know.

Maggie: How are you this morning. Sent you info about the houses. I know they will be wonderful.

Like Jean it has turned chilly here in the evenings. It is only in the low 80's which is about 10 degrees cooler than normal. The pool is cold but I only have a month until it closes and I have to go back to walking so I want to use it all I can.

have a great day girls.

Faye

[Jean]

Good Morning, Flowers!
We had two extra volunteers for the coffee shop this morning so I bailed out and came home after the rush. I need to keep working on my "house" project and couldn't see wasting my time standing around chatting with the others.

It is a cool 56° in my corner of the world! The clouds are rolling in so I am wondering if we are going to get some rain. We have family coming from MT this weekend and they are hoping for hot weather to enjoy the lake activities.

"Gma" -- I remember a teacher I had in junior high -- it was his first year of teaching and he kept me after school for talking to another girl. It happened to be my piano lesson day and my mother was waiting for me. She came inside looking for me and was not too happy with the teacher since he didn't keep the other girl. I have better memories of my elementary teachers and I think because most of them were unmarried and took "above and beyond the call of duty" interest in each student. Enjoy your pool time!

I need to get busy! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Jean -- in Iowa!

[Maggie]

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

You gals sure can share some of your cooler weather here. It is 1:30 pm as I type and a grand 92 degrees. It gets down to the 70's at night so it is good to sleep with just a fan going and a sheet for covering. But my showers sure don't last long during the day.

Talking about ancestors ~ which don't make a difference to me though but I have some famous and nortious ones in my tree. Nathaniel Hawthorne is in the tree and also Jesse James. Quite a stretch between the two don't ya think. Good fruit and rotten fruit do come from the same tree though.

And now about teachers. I had a coach once for a teacher and I did tell him (privately) that if he showed favorites to his team players he would get reported because I would snitch him out in a heart beat ~ for back then it was a "no-no". (I had "juice" because I was a school officer and had a direct line to the principal. ) Anyway during the year "we girls" sat at the front row table (Biology) and the jocks sat behind us. When it came test day the good ole coach switched us around so those guys couldn't cheat off our papers. He warned them that they HAD to make a good grade or he would have to kick them off the team ~ orders from on high. Kewl. I never had to report him. Fair is fair and we had a good year.

I am going to go get some ice water. Type at you later.

[gma22]

Well, my morning started out just nifty! I took Jack to work this morning so I could run some errands. He works way back off the main roads just past a state park and you guessed it....I came around a bend and bam right into a deer! I hit him going 55 and tore up the front of the car. He/she ran off so I don't know how much damage the animal sustained. It tore through the whole front panel where the engine is and though I can drive it, it looks like the car has its mouth open. I have never had an accident and have no clue how to go about doing the insurance so Jack was going to call them from work and then call me. I think we have a $250 deductible but I don't know if we have car rental insurance or not. If not, we have to foot the bill for that when the car gets fixed. I am still shaky and very upset but there is no way I could have avoided it as I was coming out of a curve and I guess it had crossed the other side of the road while I was in the blind spot and then right in my lane when I came out of the curve. I guess I am a big weinie, but I had a perfect driving record and this shook me up pretty good.

It will probably be cold in the pool but I need to get into it anyway and try and de-stress so I don't eat over this. I am a nervous wreck and I hope I didn't hurt myself as my lower back hurts a bit. May just be nerves though and relaxing will help if I can.

You ladies have a good day

Faye

[Jean]

Good Morning, Flowers!
It is a COLD 53° as I type and the furnace has been running off and on since last evening. This weather is sure confused but I hope it holds until September which is what this feels like.

Not much is new in my corner of the world. I need to vacuum up the cat fur and do some ironing. Someone said that a woman's work is never done and how true that is!

Maggie -- 92° sounds pretty toasty good right now!

"Gma" -- I'm sorry to hear about your deer accident! I hope your back is sore from nerves and nothing permanent. If you have a low deductible, don't be surprised if it gets raised after your car is fixed. I'm thinking ours is now $1000 and that's what DH has most of his clients at since it makes the premiums quite a bit lower. Knock on wood, we've never had a deer accident at 55 mph . . . did have one years ago going about 20 mph on a gravel road and ended up having a whole new fender and grill. The dumb deer ran along side the car and then decided to cross in front. Our area has so many deer accidents it is scary.

Well, I need to get movin'. Have a terrific Thursday!

Jean -- from Iowa!

[gma22]

Morning ladies.

Maggie: Like you, I couldn't load it either and ended up going to my drop down and pulling up the last time I had posted to get it to load.

Jean: I am a-ok but pretty shaky for most of the morning. I went and froze at the pool and worked out for an hour and that helped with the over all effect. We carry a low deductible because we have a "luxury" type car and the repairs are so high. Looks like this may cost around $3000! YIKES! They shouldn't complain in all the years we've had it we have never filed a claim on it!

hToday is clean the house day. We are taking dd, sil and dgs to Olive garden tonight for sil's birthday, which is Tues. My sil is unusual to say the least and wanted banjo lessons for his birthday so that is what I bought him! They are leaving for a Gulf shores vacation on Thur so hope all that nasty weather is gone by then. I bought T a video game for his Game boy to take. That little stinker called me a couple days ago from the pet store wanting to know if I would buy him a rat for Christmas (he knows I have a huge rodent phobia) I said no and you know why and he giggled and said, Nonny, what is your bad attitude about rats? (the boy is only 4 and talks like a teenager) I told him I didn't have an attitude but he wasn't getting a rat. Pause pause pause pause, so how about a mouse, giggle giggle giggle. He is his granddad that is for sure!

Gotta go and get started. I bought a new comforter set for my bedroom and have to drag the mattress off the bed and all and want to get the whole condo cleaned today so better hope to it.

Faye