Scrapbook retreat & what I've been working on at home

Taj Mahal

Elephant ride in India

Smokin' the hookah!

Meeting the Dalai Lama in Japan.

Florence

I gave a KIVA loan to a woman in Cambodia so she could buy some pigs.

Jim & I had a game night this past winter.

Floating on the Current River with the family last year.

Visiting Pawn Stars in Las Vegas.

The demise of our Bradford pear tree. (don't mind the toes!)

My pond & gardens in Florissant (boy, I miss them!)

This layout had a fold-out which I don't do too often but Barb helped me.

One of my favorite flowers.

Me & Angie

Our Integra-sealed deck

Our French lop rabbit from when the kids were young.

Some of the characters Jim & I met on our resort in Jamaica.

Next up - cousins scrapbook retreat at Kentucky Lake - woo hoo!!!

What's in your backyard?

Friday evening I was getting dinner ready and out my kitchen window I spied this owl.  I started yelling to Jim who was upstairs but he couldn't hear me because he was playing his guitar so I ran up there to tell him to look out the window.  I then ran back downstairs and grabbed my camera to get some photos.  Unfortunately, my flash kept going off so I didn't get that many good shots.  We can hear the owls quite often at night but haven't seen one so up close & personal.  It was pretty cool.  He knew we were watching him because he turned his head and stared at me in the window a few times.  He stayed there for about 5 minutes and then he flew away. 



Jim's Collection

I bet you didn't know that Jim likes to dress up once in a while.  I don't mean like a cross-dresser, just crazy wigs & masks & stuff.  Here are some pictures of his different looks...

Jim in his "bandana with attitude" that I gave him for his birthday.

Jim in his half mask that I found at the Goodwill store.

Jim always dressed up & painted his face like Ace Frehley from Kiss when we went to Mardi Gras and he lost his wig so he asked me to cut this one for him.

I guess I didn't too good of a job because he bought this Ace Frehley mask on-line.

I love my Sonicare!

Yesterday morning I went to the dentist for my 6 month check-up. The girl who cleaned my teeth told me that there was hardly any build-up and she commended me on doing a good job at home. I credit the Sonicare toothbrush (the best investment ever and I wish I’d bought one years earlier!) I bought a year or two ago when I was told that I had bone loss due to not flossing properly. At that time, my dentist said there was some medicine that she could insert into the worst areas which may or may not help to get rid of the inflammation & rebuild the bone. I think the cost was $45 per application. I told her to do the 2 worst spots and I’d consider the rest at a later time. Anyway, I was freaking out thinking I would lose my teeth so I went to a specialist who told me stuff I didn’t really understand so I decided to do nothing. So since that time, I’ve been waiting for my dentist to mention about the bone loss again and she never has.

Anyway, when the dentist came in to check my teeth after my cleaning yesterday, she told me that I had chipped part of tooth #15 which is the last tooth on the top left hand side. The thing is that it has a very large filling and if the tooth starts breaking off I could have problems so she advised me to get a crown. After she got done checking my teeth, the hygienist said she needed another x-ray of that tooth so we went back into the x-ray room. As she was pulling my chart up on the computer I told her about the bone loss dilemma a while back and commented that nobody has said another thing about that and I was wondering why. She looked at my chart and said the reason nobody has said anything more is that everything is either the same or better and they would only say something if it was worse. Really? They made a very big deal about it back then so I’m skeptical. Could it have been an easy money-maker? I’m not sure and I want to believe that my dentist isn't like that. I’ve been going to her for many years and I even drive back over to Florissant because I don’t want to go to a new one. I think the hygienists do a good, thorough job on the cleanings and I’ve been to other places a couple of times when my insurance changed where I didn’t get the good, thorough job. One time I remember that the hygienists at the new place only cleaned my front teeth. Another time they only flossed some of my teeth. So, needless to say, I think I’ll stick with the dentist that I know does a good but perhaps too thorough of a job.  

My part of the cost of the crown would be $285 which isn't that bad but I don't want to rush into anything so I think I'll wait.  It doesn't hurt or bother me at all and I think the tooth has been chipped for quite a while.  I'm going to practice Ronnie's philosophy, "if it isn't broke don't fix it!"

Memories....

Last Sunday Jim & I took his Dad to see his sister-in-law, Aunt Helen at a retirement home in Wentzville.  It was the first time he had been there and he’s been checking out retirement homes in the area recently.  It was also the first time I’d met her because she’d been living in Florida for years.  She’s 84 years old and very chipper.  She was well-dressed & talked like no tomorrow.  Her apartment was very nice and the retirement home was a family-owned place and we met some of the family that were working while there.  They were very nice & knew all the residents by name.  It reminded me a lot of where Mom was at Brentmoor before it was bought out by the conglomerate.  We all went to lunch and afterwards we dropped Dad & Helen back off so they could have some time alone to talk while Jim & I went to Rural King to pick up some bird seed.  There was another lady at the home that Helen had met who knew Dad so he met up with her, too.  When we went to pick him up, he was in a hurry to get out of there.  Ends up, his girlfriend, Jo called while he was talking with Helen and he was supposed to go over to her house.  Jim & I hoped that at their age, there was no jealousy going on.  Anyway, I teased him on the way home that he’d have the pick of the crop if he moved into that home because we only saw women.  We dropped Dad off and I guess I didn’t realize how much the home reminded me of Mom until Jim asked if I was okay and the tears started.  It’s coming up on a year since we lost Mom.

Rollin' Down the River

Last Friday was my home girls “skip” day from work and we went on a float trip. We went back down to Ozark Outdoors where I’d been a couple of weeks earlier for our family float trip. We decided to go on a 5 mile on the Courtois River. There were 10 of us and we got 3 canoes & 1 raft. The bus dropped us off & we all got everything into our respective boats & took off.  We went about 200 yards and pulled over onto a gravel bar because it started pouring down rain. We could see the starting point and were trying to decide if we should just go back or continue on. We proceeded to start drinking while waiting for the rain, thunder and lightning to stop. I thought it was a perfect time to bring up a story in the newspaper I had just read the week before. There were these 2 guys and 1 girl floating in a canoe on the Gasconade River when it starting raining & lightning so they pulled over onto a gravel bar. The next thing the guys remember is waking up. There had been a lightning strike that ended up killing the girl. Well, needless to say, the girls weren’t too happy hearing that story! I look at it like, if you’re going to be unlucky enough to get struck by lightning, it’s your time to go. After about 45 minutes the rain stopped so we continued on down the river. Everything went smooth and we did end up pulling over again later on because of rain, thunder & lightning but we managed to have a great time. Hey, if you drink enough, a little rain doesn’t bother you!

Meet the Parents

When we heard they were coming to town, Jim & I looked forward to meeting Brian’s parents. We were kidding around all week about “meeting the parents” & “meeting the Fockers”. I was kinda nervous about it because I wanted them to like us. I decided to have them over for dinner and planned on barbecuing. When I asked Angie what to make she said “hamburgers”. When I asked Angie what kind of wine to buy she said “St. James”. I told her that was cheap wine and didn’t Brian know anything better but she said he didn’t. Strike 1 for Angie. So it just so happened that my cleaning lady came that week so the house was looking good. I cut some flowers from my garden and had several vases full that I thought looked pretty. They were supposed to come over at 5:00 and I had done the barbecuing early because I didn’t want to be all sweaty cooking since it was over 100 degrees out. I made potato salad the night before, spinach casserole, tomato salad, an olive & pickle tray and brownies.  Everything was ready and I was sitting in the family room waiting for them when I hear Angie come in through the kitchen yelling “helllllllooooo”. I couldn’t believe she brought them in through the garage!  Strike 2 for Angie. Then I see Brian carrying a big bowl of --- you guessed it --- potato salad! I told him that I made a big bowl of potato salad and he said, “I told Angie to text you last night to tell you that my mom was making potato salad!” Strike 3 for Angie.

Jim & I were introduced to Dee & Lloyd and there wasn’t a lull in the conversation for the next 5 hours. They were very nice. We talked a lot about travels because they’ve travelled all over the world. At one point I asked Dee to come into the dining room with me and I showed her our family picture and told her that we have 37 in our immediate family. When she replied that she was an only child, I felt kinda bad. Not bad, but sorry for her because it’s so fun having a large family. Everything was going good and we were talking about different places we’d been when Jim told me to tell them the story about the ghost. I had my scrapbook album with the ghost picture & story in the kitchen area so I got it out and showed them while telling the story. If you don’t know the story, here’s a short version:  Jim & I went to a castle in Copenhagen and while I was taking pictures Jim was videotaping our tour. When we got back & I had my pictures developed there was a figure in one that neither Jim nor I recognized. There were only 2 other couples on the tour so we knew it wasn’t them. So we watched the video Jim had taken and the figure was in the video, too. I’m sure most people think we’re crazy but we swear it’s a ghost. We even have a brochure from the castle that has a picture of the King and you can tell he’s the ghost by his collar & hair. So I told the story and the next day I thought, “they probably think I’m a nutjob or something!” Anyway, it was nice finally meeting Brian’s parents and Angie said his dad commented that we were nice people. Success!

The Boss says to update my blog!

I’ve been pretty busy since Janice left to go back home.  Jim & I have refinanced our house so we will be saving $$$ on our monthly payment since our interest rate went down.  I also protested my real estate taxes due to the appraisal we received.  I had an appointment on July 29 in front of the St. Charles County Board of Equalization and a guy from the Tax Assessor’s office.  Things went well.  They had called me and asked if I could come in earlier than 3:30 so I went at 2:30.  I brought my appraisal along and also a couple of (low) comps from the area.  The people were very nice and I presented my case well.  They looked over the information I provided plus a few comps from the appraisal and said they had enough information to make a decision.  They told me that it would be the Board of Equalization’s decision and the Tax Assessor had no say and that I would get a letter within the next 2 weeks.  When they asked if I had anything else for them I said, “no, I rest my case”.  But I couldn’t leave it at that.  I had to open my big mouth and drop a name on them.  They all looked at me with these blank looks on their faces and I realized that the name I dropped wasn’t on their Board.  Leave it to me to embarrass myself.  It turns out that the person I named is on the St. Louis County Board of Equalization.  Oh well, they told me I got 2 extra points for coming in an hour early. Subsequently, I got the letter and I won my case so my taxes will be lower for 2011.

Barb's a big cry baby....

Proof that we didn't pick Barb's first harvest!!!

                                           

More family time...

When we left Barb’s house after our sister’s weekend, Janice rode back to St. Louis with Janet & I to spend a couple of days. I had come up with the idea to go on a float trip Monday so we all met at Ozark Outdoors and went on a 9 mile float on the upper Meramec River. Janet & Ronnie weren’t too happy that they didn’t arrive on time to get in on the decision about what river and how many miles to float because earlier we had agreed on a short 5 mile float on either the Courtois or Huzzah, however, when we talked to the lady we settled on the upper Meramec because the others would only take a few hours.

Anyway, after a rocky start we ended up having a great, very hot day on the river. There were no major catastrophes and nobody tipped. Janice did manage to pull a “Parvez” and flip Jennifer out of their canoe in the first mile though. And Patrick & Meagan struggled at first – going from side to side – before they got the hang of it. The river was flowing pretty good so we didn’t have to paddle all that much and there was plenty of time to stop and get cooled off because it was 98 degrees out. We finished the float around dinner time and Matt suggested we stop at Skippy’s in Leasburg for dinner before driving home.  It was a fun day.

You know it was hot if Ronnie got in the water!

I nickamed Janice "Panama Red" because of her hat.

Eating lunch

 

What we've been working on

After we had our deck integrasealed, Jim decided that we needed to do something about the rain water run-off under the deck because the staircase had shifted away from the deck a couple of inches.  So we created a couple of dry streambeds that would steer the water away from that area.  Jim did almost all the work himself because he had two truckloads of rock that had to be wheel-barrowed from the driveway to the back and I really couldn’t help with that so I played supervisor.  After the rock was done he did the same thing with mulch.  I think it turned out nice and we’ve already had some heavy downpours and the rain seems to be diverting nicely.

Before

Jim's a hard worker!

After

We realize that it won't stay this nice & clean but we're enjoying it while we can....

Invasive things

A couple of weeks ago Jim & I saw a program on the National Geographic channel about the Asian carp that are invading our rivers across America. I had already been aware of the Asian carp because I had seen other news pieces about them being in the Mississippi River and how they jump out of the water & can knock you out if you’re hit by one while boating along. Anyway, they are very invasive and the experts have determined that they’ve now reached Lake Michigan. Scary stuff if you ask me.


This post is not about the Asian carp but about another invasive species from Asia. The Bradford pear tree is a cultivar of the Callery pear which is from, you guessed it, China. I had read a while back that Bradford pears were very invasive and taking over roadways in the Northeast. I found it hard to believe that they were invasive but now I’m convinced. Jim cut down our Bradford pear tree when it split in two during a storm a month or so ago. Now, where the stump is there are a million little babies. Take a look at the pictures and you can see how far away from the stump the little “trees” are growing – some as far away as 10 or more feet. How’s that for invasive?

And I won't even get into feral pigs......

Some things are worth the money....

Anyone that’s been to our house recently knows that our deck was looking pretty bad. There were at least 3 layers of stain that were all blotchy and peeling so when I got a flyer from Integraseal with a discount coupon in the mail I showed it to Jim and we decided to get a bid. The salesman came out and as I was showing him the deck I mentioned that my brother had gotten them to do his deck. While we were sitting at the table going over stuff, he asked my brother’s name and when I said Matt Zimmermann he said, “oh yeah, Matt – he works at GM and lives in Lake St. Louis”. So I got an even bigger discount but the price was still pretty expensive. Jim & I discussed it and decided to get it done because there’s a 20 year guarantee and we wouldn’t have to stain the deck anymore.

A few weeks later one guy came over and power washed & integrasealed the deck. I couldn’t believe that he could do everything by himself in one day but he got it done. We had moved everything off the decks and from the patio underneath and the guy brought tarps to cover the mound of furniture and even the garden because it was quite a mess. He cleaned up afterwards and we left everything where it was because he came back the next week to sand the decks which was another mess because there was sawdust everywhere. Anyway, everything is done now and Jim & I spent last weekend cleaning & putting everything back in place.

Here are some before and after pictures.  We could have the deck stained but then we’d have to keep it up every few years so we’ve decided to go au naturel.  We love the look of the cedar and hope it doesn’t turn gray for a few years.