Trying to get a few things done before we leave. One important one involving this gorgeous huge oak tree behind the house:
Mom and I have been wanting to climb it for years. Today was the day. Didn't actually go very far up (K and Dad were concerned for our safety) but did have a wonderful time taking pictures of the view, and each other:
My mums are gorgeous this year...providing wonderful color to my flower beds. So excited to see what all I can grow in NC!
It's trips like this one that make me so thankful that K and I travel together sooo much better now than we used to. Some of our trips early in our marriage were spent with neither of us in the best of moods. But we've been much better the last several years...and that proved to be a good thing on Thursday. We were headed back to the airport and K was wanting to have lunch. I thought it would be better to just go to the airport and have lunch there so we would get the rental car back in time. Once we got through security, we were headed towards a food court when K's phone rang. It was the company he was interviewing with calling to say that our flight was cancelled, and we were going to now fly to Chicago (instead of DFW) and then back to Wichita, putting us in almost 4 hours late. We decided to go to the gate and see what was up since we had just checked in and had not been told about this cancellation. When we get to the gate, there was a flight leaving at that moment to DFW, and it had empty seats! So, we skipped lunch and got on board. Luckily we had snacks with us and we were quite happy to have waited for lunch!
...and we get to enjoy this week of nothing-ness before we are off on another location visit next week..
We had a really nice trip to Wichita/OK. Friday we attended a family friends' memorial service...it was a really wonderful tribute to a wonderful man. Then we headed to another family friends' newly built home for an amazing evening of friendship and food. Yesterday was K's step-dads' 70th birthday party. Had a great time making him worry about how we were going to roast him...but we were pretty darn nice! Was a lot of fun to see friends that we rarely see. So I'll share pictures of a couple of those friends. First up is Todd, showing off spurs that he hand crafted for his wife...what talent! I put in a request for a pair of my own! Too bad my first name isn't Jennifer, or she might have not made it home with this pair!
The new dark purple end zones are awesome looking:
And here are K and I at the stadium:
And the best part of all (well, besides winning!)? We got some much needed rain...that started just as the game was finishing! We went prepared with our rain ponchos, but since they were predicting thunderstorms, we weren't too excited about the idea of a rain delay, but with 45 seconds left in the game, the rain began to fall, and the lightening filled the sky soon afterwards. Woke up this morning to 1.25 inches of rain! Not enough by a long shot, but much appreciated!
Let's see...on the crafty side of life, I completed a bunch of scrapbook kits this week. I admit that they don't stretch my creativity like designing my own layouts, but they are super easy to get done, and it's an easy way to get things scrapped. I tend to use my own designs more when I'm wanting to tell more of a story, or a more important story...I never feel that kits 1. give you enough room for long journaling, and 2. feel personal enough for the important things. But, they are a fast and easy way to scrap every day pictures that might otherwise just sit in the photo albums but never be seen by anyone. I also finished up a couple more Prima Live projects, but I don't have pictures of them...have to remember to do it when I have good outside light to use or they come out pretty yellowed in the light indoors.
And he wouldn't move. She ended up leaving him there for ~30 minutes and doing something else until he decided to relocate. Not that he's spoiled or anything! Actually he just celebrated his 14th birthday last Friday (9/9, the same day as grandpa Ron's), so he can get away with most anything these days. I am about a 5th of the way through getting my rag quilt edges snipped...and we even got to try it out unfinished after having a kitty accident in bed at ~11pm Saturday night. Slow and steady is my mantra for getting it finished, but I am getting rather excited to have a blanket on the bed that still covers me even with dogs in the middle weighing it down (seriously, if you have never slept with 50-70lb dog blanket-weights on blankets that barely go down the sides of the bed to begin with, especially on cold winter nights, you don't know what kind of frozen body parts you are missing!)
And just one of the many deer we see on our way to work. It drives the pups nuts when they go jumping out of the fields and across the road in front of us. There are a couple spots where they tend to cross, so we have at least learned to be on the look-out for them to avoid having a collision. In one spot there are a couple of does with fawns (one has twins) who still have their adorable spots who we see quite often, and in the other there are several bucks and does that cross. This is one of the does, but her fawn took off and I didn't get a picture of him.
K was at interviews this week. They went really well, and we expect follow-up to be coming soon. While he was away, I was home sweating in the heat and humidity doing chores alone. My parents were awesome and kept Bode & Lucky, so that Ardee & I hung out on the farm together. He is so good and easy to deal with (i.e. he eats well and doesn't run off), and I feel a bit more secure having him here...heck, he barked at the horses one night when I was trying to defend Chelse (the old horse) so she could eat all of her feed. He seemed to enjoy the special attention of getting to run the place on his own...he didn't even seem to care when K got home, while the other 2 smothered him. Poor middle child needed the extra attention! Here we are on our way into town one morning.
K has been letting the horses graze the lower field below the barn on weekends. They like the plentiful green grass, and it has slowed their hay eating a bit. Plus Chelse usually doesn't join them, and that means she gets to graze and drink and do whatever she pleases without them bothering her. When they get bored, then they start acting like goof balls...which ranges from running all over bucking and snorting, to exploring, and this is the indication that they need to be rounded up and returned to the fenced in pasture. Thus K usually sits out to watch over them, but this can be quite boring if they are behaving, because they may graze happily for hours. Saturday he decided to mow while he waited, since he'd still be able to monitor them. I was working on projects when he taps on the door and tells me I need to come outside. I walk out the walk-out basement, and look up the hill to find this:
Yep, they had decided to explore the back yard. Now mind you that if you were riding or trying to lead them through the gates into said yard, they would have a fit! They left precious little 'piles' and then headed back on out and continued to explore until K finished the mowing.
And here is my helper this morning as I finished sewing the last of the rows on...I guess it has Serine's seal of approval!
The big bummer is that the days are becoming noticeably shorter. Hate the thought that soon we will hardly get to see the sun during the week. But, I am getting some nice sunrise pictures.
The neighbors had cows out a few mornings this week...the dogs went crazy as we drove past them.
Did work on a few layouts, and watched some more Prima live classes...so have lots of ideas swirling in my head. But of course, despite all the supplies I have, I don't have the critical things needed...like specific colors of embossing powder. But I have all kinds of ideas for Christmas presents now...hmmm...how long do I have to get them done before Christmas?? Since we are planning to be moving this fall, I'm hoping to get a lot of things done now, as I expect that I won't have much free time leading up to the holidays this year.
And the cuties in the backseat...Bode and Ardee on our way into work. Ardee usually growls at Bode and won't let the little one touch him...just like human siblings! But sometimes when everyone is rather sleepy, we can all snuggle together!
On Thursday, the women from my department went out to lunch at Umi to celebrate the August birthdays. It was a total blast. I had never been to a Japanese steakhouse where they prepare your food in front of you before...too fun! And super yummy too! The two of us present who had August birthdays even got serenaded twice...once by our chef with a little flaming onion 'cake', and then again by our waitress with fried bananas and ice cream with a candle on top.
On Friday I took mom & dad to the Midwest Genealogy Center. They were wanting to do some family history searches, but don't really like driving in Kansas City much, so I volunteered to take them when we weren't able to find a farm-sitter so we could attend my HS reunion. I figured I'd be a good sport and play along and see if I could find anything about K's family there. Boy was I mistaken...I'm pretty sure I printed and copied more than they did, and I can't wait to go back to see what else I can find! And, as a bonus, we got to see Bettina from Glass Dragon Bears, whom I haven't seen in well over a year (and I added a super adorable elephant made my B to my collection). Anyway, the Genealogy Center is amazing, the staff are super helpful, the building is chock full of resources, and I highly recommend it to anyone in the Midwest looking to do some family history research.
Yesterday we had this monstrous frog hop into the garage, followed closely by Chuckie the cat. Let the cat inside and put the frog out in the flower bed...hope he made it home safely.
As I went outside to take pictures this afternoon of the lo's I completed this week...it was thundering and looking like it could rain again. It is supposed to be quite a bit cooler this week, so bring on the rain I say (if nothing else, it means we don't have to water the garden and the flowers as much...our water bill is almost as extreme as our electric bill).
I didn't get a whole lot of crafty things done this weekend...spent more time cleaning and gathering stuff for layouts. But I did get a few layouts completed that have been sitting around waiting for me for a while.
Then a layout about doing laundry on the line...one of my most loved parts of summer.
Then a couple of simple layouts I did on some canvas that I painted Christmas Eve last year.
