Progress!

Glenn has been keeping very busy at the property!  The plans are FINALLY at the building department for approval and the date to drill the well has been set!

The plot is level now and footings are going in - at this writing, the footings for the house and garage are done, just waiting for approval from the county.

 The septic tank has been installed and Glenn is now digging the trench line to the leach field.

 Luckily, the weather has been fantastic and we're praying it holds so the shell can get up before Jan. 1st - only time will tell!

Fun Times and Scooter Rides

Burger King was the suggested place to eat on Saturday night!  I was proud of the kids for ordering apple slices instead of french fries - but the gal ended up giving BOTH apples and ff!!  Oh well!!

Sunday morning was gorgeous!  I walked to the park while the kids rode their scooters.

After lunch, Kylan came over to play with Evan and the neighbor girl came to play with Kenzie - they all had their scooters so we decided to go to the park!  After waiting patiently for me each time to cross the streets, we were finally at the park.  The kids rode ahead down a long hill and I was just coming out of the alleyway when I glanced to my right and saw a kid go flying off his scooter - my first reaction?  Glad it wasn't one of MY kids that just went flying and as soon as that thought came to mind, I realized it WAS one of mine!!  I was still at the top of the hill so started running down and a lady from the picnic area ran over till I got there.  Evan was crying pretty hard of course and looked pretty skinned up - but luckily it didn't look like anything was broken!

So we headed back to the house with Evan hobbling beside me as I carried his scooter!  Poor kid!!  we called mom and dad and that made him feel better of course!

Later I fixed snacks for the kids - they always love it when I cut up fruit and mix it with marshmallows and serve it with toothpicks!

Kylan stayed for dinner that evening and we made snack pizzas!  They turned out great!!

Jessi and Gary came home late Sunday night and had a great trip!  I said my goodbyes Monday morning and headed home - but not before grabbing a wonderful cup of coffee!!  It was a great 4 nights of babysitting!

Babysitting At The Keppy's

Babysitting grand kids is always fun without "mom and dad" around!  And since Gary and Jessi were heading to CA. for a conference, the kids and I knew it would be a great time!

I headed to Denver on Thursday with plenty of time to stop at the house and get organized before it was time to head to the school to pick up both of them - it was fun seeing the school and waiting on the playground with Kenzie until Evan got out of school!  It was drizzly and cold out so no outside play time for any of us when we got home!

I taught the kids a new card game that first evening and we had fun playing that!

 It seemed strange to get the kids up and ready for school - sure brought back memories of doing the same thing with my kids!

I decided to clean Jessi's house for her so scrubbed away Friday morning and then Jaime picked me up for lunch!  It was fun to catch up with her and we went over there Friday evening so the kids could play!

Saturday morning we headed out to meet Jill and the kids at the WOW museum!

 I DETEST driving in Denver but had a great route as took E470 most of the way which is a toll road but not very busy!  The cousins were all excited to see each other and we arrived at opening time!

 Evan spent most of his time here, grinding and grinding!  He loved to see how much he could get in the bowl!

 There were a few new exhibits and this one was so cute - it was right beside the grocery store!

 Parker had to try to hoist himself up - and yes, he did get up a ways!

 We all had to try the bubble machine - Aleah tried and tried and finally got a bubble up around her but of course I missed it!

 Jill and I did a few things but mostly just hung out watching the kids and taking pictures - the place is small enough that they can mostly just go from activity to activity - we all brought a picnic lunch and enjoyed it outside!

 I did capture Evan with the bubble!

 One final picture at the train station!

We decided to get ice cream after the museum so we drove to DQ - the line was long and there was only one girl working most of the time till another showed up!  It wasn't the best of times during that but we survived!  Because we were at a different location, I didn't have directions to get back on the toll road but Jill explained where I should go - of course, I missed the turn off because it was called something different but eventually I got on it!!

A fun day but I was ready for some down time...............To Be Cont'd

Confessions of a Retiree

Retirement - I'm almost 2 1/2 months into it and I LOVE IT!  Have I woke up any day and had absolutely nothing to do?  NO - between finishing up the business, deep cleaning my house, camping, and a trip to Iowa, it's been pretty hectic! Not to mention all the planning of building a new home!   But I AM looking forward to that day when I do wake up and say to myself - there is NOTHING planned today - what should I do?

Before I retired, I would ask my retired friends what they did all day?  I just couldn't imagine!  They all advised me that they were busier than ever and the time just flew!  I NOW understand - even though I do spend some days at home, the days just fly and I find plenty to keep me busy!  I have spent a couple of afternoons on the couch with a book but certainly not enough!!

So far, here are the things I love about retirement!

1)  NOT having to set an alarm!!  Even though I usually wake up at the same time I've awoken for the last 40 years, I have the pleasure of rolling over and going back to sleep or getting up - my choice!!

2)  NOT rushing through my exercises, showering, eating breakfast and getting ready for work!!  It's so nice to do it all at a relaxed pace, knowing I don't have to be somewhere!

3)  Calling my friends and talking as long as I want to without worrying about a client walking in that I need to take care of.

4)  Doing my housework during the day instead of on weekends or in the evenings.

5)  Having coffee on the deck!

6)  Camping during the middle of the week instead of the busy weekends!

7)  Getting groceries and running errands whatever time of day I want to do them instead of early mornings or lunch hours.

8)  Walking into our old business, knowing I don't have to deal with employees any more!!!!!!!!

9)  Staying up a little later at night if I want to, knowing I don't have to get up early!

10)  ENJOYING my house - just being at home!

SO there you have it - several reasons why I'm loving retirement!!

Iowa

We enjoyed seeing Cheri, Patrick and Kyson while we stayed at Patty's house - Kyson is just a wonder when it comes to football - ask him any question and he sure seems to know the answer - I did like his prediction of the Broncos and the Seahawks being in the Super Bowl again!!

Patty, Leonard, Glenn and I all piled in the pickup and headed out to the farm - it's always fun to see how tall the corn is!!  We also went to the South Church and walked around the cemetery - it's such a beautiful spot out there and I never tire of seeing it!

Then it was out to the Loess Hills overlook!  I hadn't been out there in quite a while and Leonard made the journey interesting, telling us who lived where!!  The views from the outlook are amazing!

 Rain came again that afternoon and we really thought it might clear up for the band later than night but it didn't - the band was cancelled!  Patty and I just decided to stay home again and have peach fizzies!

 One last cup of coffee on Patty's beautiful front porch!

 It wasn't too hard to say goodbye as Patty and Teri are both flying to Colorado in a couple of weeks for our annual "Sisters" weekend!!  Glenn and I headed down to his mom's house on Monday!  Her yard needed a little bit of attention so Glenn decided to brave the humidity!  The grass was still pretty wet from all of the rain so we wrapped plastic bags around his good tennis shoes!!

 I waited a little bit too long to snap this picture but it sure was a beautiful sunset!

We visited with lots of relatives over the 2 days at Lolly's house and Tuesday night we went out with Geri and Carl to the casino to eat!  Dinner was great and it's always fun to catch up with them!  Later we went back to their house for cards - and if I'm remembering correctly, I actually won a game or two!!

4:15 came mighty early on Wed. morning but we had to hit the road early to catch our 6:40am flight!  Another great Iowa trip with lots of memories................

A Trip To The Midwest

Time for our annual trip to Iowa to see the relatives!  And who can complain when we have $50 round trip tickets with a nonstop flight from Denver to Sioux City!  Frontier had a great special that we took advantage of - good thing we booked early as the flight was full AND right before we left, we found out that Frontier is discontinuing flights to Sioux City for the winter season!

We had never flown into Sioux City before and there was no choice of flights as only one flight a day goes that route - the times weren't great but we weren't complaining.  Our plane was to arrive at 10:15 that night and since it's such a small airport, Patty suggested I call the rental car company and make sure they would still be open at that hour.  So I pull out my paperwork on the car and duh, I had booked it out of Omaha, not Sioux City (we had always flown into Omaha so guess that's what was stuck in my brain when I booked the rental car!!).  Anyway, I got the Omaha car cancelled and a new one set up out of Sioux City and they would be open till 10:30.

When we arrived, Glenn had the rental car paperwork in hand so he could go right to the counter to get the car before it closed and since we were seated in row 5, it worked out pretty good - I was to go get the baggage.  Well, we had NO IDEA how small this airport was - there was only ONE baggage carousel and it was right beside the rental car place.

Luckily the Sioux City airport is at the south end of town and only a mile off the interstate so it was easy to get to Soldier from there - Omaha would have taken us longer as there is still a bridge out.

We made it to Patty and Leonard's NEW HOUSE about 11:30 that night and I couldn't wait to get the grand tour of their home - I had seen lots of pictures but had a hard time piecing the layout all together.  Their house is beautiful and what a joy it was to stay there!

 Friday night Jim and Brenda came in so we could have our farm meeting and eat together.  Jim brought some great steaks with all the trimmings and we had fun catching up and eating!

 Saturday noon we headed to Onawa to meet Todd, Neal and the gang!  Did I forget to mention that it has rained a LOT in the midwest lately!  We were meeting at a park and parts of it were underwater - you even had to step through water to get to the picnic tables!!  Here's Jenn and Maggie!

 The 3 cousins:  Maggie, Nedelle and Chance

 Maggie just wouldn't stay out of the water and her parents finally just gave up and let her play - the water was so deep in places, she could almost swim!

 Neal cooked us up some yummy brats, hot dogs and zucchini!

 After we got back to Soldier, we headed uptown that evening to eat a chicken dinner at the community building and then checked out all the motorcycles!  Since it was Labor Day Weekend, the big rally was in town - all kinds of campers and tents all over town (despite the rain) - and lots and lots of bikers!  We headed into the bar to check out a new poster that had been put up recently.  Patty had told me about this poster and I can't for the life of me remember having posters printed up like this but we must have!

Below is the poster of the band that I used to play in - and someone had written down all the members names that had been in the band at one time.  Calvin, Barry, John and I were the original members - oh what memories I have during that time back in the 60's!!

 I KNOW I look a whole lot different than I did then - in fact, I was just in jr high and many people who saw me playing the guitar on stage thought I was a boy as it was pretty rare to have a girl in a band those days...............

We didn't stay long downtown as it started raining again..............Patty's couch was a whole lot more comfortable than a crowded noisy bar!!  To Be Cont'd..........