Decluttering.............

June 1st is the magic date to list our old house - which means we have been working diligently to do all those things to the house that should have been done 7 years ago when we moved in!  Glenn is beside himself as I make him list after list after list...................But it's all stuff I can't do so he's stuck doing most of it!

I'm happy to report that we're getting close to being done INSIDE the house!  We have spent countless hours measuring and cutting trim, staining it and putting it on where needed - which is basically most everywhere in the house!  The hardest areas were to put the trim around the logs!  One major item that needed done was to redo the deck door and front door trim  - Glenn spent most of yesterday doing just that - and I've spent all morning trying to clean up sawdust - yuck!!!  But they both look great and now they just need staining which will have to wait till tomorrow as it's been snowing since yesterday and it's cold and messy outside so would be a little tough having the doors open while I stain!

Saturday I started to declutter the house - I'm a pretty simple person so don't have a lot to move but the office was the worst as I had all my scrapbooking items in there - I basically just packed it all up (as I know I won't have time to scrapbook in the next few months) and the results are amazing!!  The office looks SO much bigger now and prospective buyers can actually visualize it as a bedroom now!

I also have taken all the "personal" pictures down and am redecorating with other things - I like this simplified look more each day!!!  (Although the pictures will go up in the new house!!!)  I'm doing a room at a time and once that gets done this week, I will probably start the deep cleaning of each room which shouldn't be too bad either!!

There s a lot of work to do outside and many things I can help Glenn with once this weather breaks!  But he will have to sort all  his stuff in the garage before I start hauling it up to the new house!!  A couple days ago he built a couple of makeshift lean to sheds and will cover them with tarps to put all his garage stuff in until his workshop is built!!

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Yesterday was the annual 4-H auction - even though it was snowing like crazy, I ventured in to see if I could get any bargains!!  I didn't spend nor get as much as last year but still was happy!! 

I love this ceramic tea pitcher ($6.00 - what a bargain!!!) and it looks perfect on a little table downstairs where I formerly had a personal picture!!  And this "scentsy" was perfect as it matches my kitchen now and will look great in the new house as I plan to decorate with "trees" as my theme in the living room!

Also picked up a gift certificate to a local restaurant, a free oil change where I always get my oil changed, a cord of green wood and a $100 credit towards skidster work - the guy had this last year and we used him for many hours and Glenn said we needed him again so this will be perfect!!

So all in all a good time and great bargains!!

A Special Time With Kylan

A couple months ago, Jaime asked if I would babysit Kylan for 4 days while her and Brad flew with Rayna to Minneapolis for a volleyball competition!  And before I knew it, the time had come to head to Denver!!

After a wonderful massage, I headed to Denver to get all the details the night before they flew out!  Also to practice ONCE more on Aspen, their dog - he has diabetes and has to have a shot twice a day - YIKES - I didn't feel I was very good at giving him shots but I did do all right the next few days!!

The kids got off early Thursday morning and I took Kylan to school and then headed back to the house to do a few things before Jessi called - and when she called, I headed over to her house to help her organize the basement!  Organizing is my speciality and before long, we had the basement done!!

I picked Kylan up from school and we had a great evening together - he LOVES fresh fruit so I had made a point to get groceries that morning with plenty of his favorites!!

 We woke up to a mountain of heavy wet snow to the tune of almost 6".  Jaime's poor lilac bushes were flattened so I went out and shook snow off of them so the branches wouldn't break off.  But this is what they looked like first!!

 I didn't think to go shake their aspen trees and noticed later that day when most of the snow had melted that one tree had 3 broken branches - Darn!!

Jessi had invited me to come to her office for an "official" chiropractic treatment in the office and lunch - of course we did lunch first and it was great!!!

 We had just pulled back into her office parking lot when my cell phone rang - I didn't recognize the number but did answer it and it was the school wondering why I wasn't there to pick up Kylan.  He had been waiting for 15 minutes and they finally sent him to after school child care!!!  Apparently Jaime missed the memo that school was only 1/2 day on Friday!!  YIKES!!!  So I had to fore go my treatment and head back to the school to get him picked up!

Saturday Evan and Kenzie came over for the morning - we had fun playing games!!

 Later that afternoon the Keppy's and Kylan and I went to a church sponsored event on sponsoring a child in another country - it was very interesting and informative and the kids got a lot out of it too!!

Sunday Jessi and I FINALLY got to go out for coffee!!  And then it was on to sorting baby things to get ready for the baby's arrival in a month!! 

Kylan had a free personal pan pizza coupon from a reading program so we got pizzas to go and had an early dinner that evening.  And then it was time to drop Kylan off at Jessi's so I could head back home!!  It was a great 4 days but I was sure glad to head back to the mountains!

Work Day

At Easter, it was decided that Robby, Gary and the 4 kids would head down the following weekend so the guys could help Glenn on the house!  Jessi had a conference and Jill had to work so I would be watching the grand kids!!

They all arrived on Friday afternoon and settled in for the weekend!

 Gary and Robby helped Glenn all day Saturday and they got a lot accomplished!

 The kids and I made a list of all the things they wanted to do which totalled 10 different things!!  We did make it through most of them!!  They loved seeing the new house!

 And they had so much fun playing on the rocks as it was a gorgeous day!!

 I told Aleah (who wakes up very early) that she could NOT start talking to Kenzie in the morning until 6:30 or I would make them take naps!!  And by golly they didn't start talking until 6:30 so we all got a good night's sleep!!

 One of the things they love to do is to play on the pool table - Parker looked so cute in his hat that I just had to take a picture!!

Robby and his kids headed home early Sunday morning - Glenn, Gary and Evan headed out to do some rock hounding and Kenzie and I just stayed at home - my allergies were in crisis mode and I wasn't feeling good at all!  But all in all, one fun weekend!!

Easter - Part Two

 Coloring eggs is always fun - no matter if you're dyeing them, painting them, or rolling them in colored shaving cream! 

 After lunch and Easter gifts, the kids played outside with their new toys!  And of course we had the mandatory Easter egg hunt in the back yard!  This year each child had their own "color" they had to find and that made it a little more interesting!!

 What a cute cousin picture!!  Even though there's a big age difference, Rayna does have fun with the little girls!!

 Easter dinner was delicious as usual - I made pistachio dessert (aka My Green Heaven) so we took a picture to text to Cindy and Rene.  We sure have many memories of our Easters together!!

 The Keppys and Smiths headed home early evening - Jill and I headed out for a much needed walk and then spent the evening relaxing.

Easter Sunday was beautiful - we all dressed in our Sunday finest and headed to church.  It was an amazing service!

 The Easter Bunny arrived while we were at church so the kids had fun checking out their gifts and doing another Easter egg hunt!!  Whew - 3 egg hunts!!  But oh so much fun!!

Glenn and I headed for home after Jill served a great lunch.  Once again there was traffic but at least the way home took 1/2 hour less...............Another fantastic Easter!!

Easter 2015

Spring weather is always appreciated at Easter and Mother Nature DID cooperate this year!  We headed to Ft. Collins about 1:00 on Good Friday, hoping to miss the traffic - but that wasn't to be - 4 hours later we FINALLY made it to Jill's............so much for good intentions...........

The Keppy's were already at Jill's, having came straight from their spring break vacation so I caught up with them as Glenn went with Robby to go car shopping and a little fishing!

Saturday dawned beautiful!!  Once again, the little girls got to open their Easter presents before the others so they could wear their matching outfits to the Easter egg hunt!!  They looked so cute!!

 Soon the Smith's arrived and then we all headed to the church!  What a great looking bunch of grand kids!!

 The program this year was a ventriloquist and he was great!!  At one point he picked 3 guys to come up on stage and Robby was one of them - the 3 guys were human puppets and the voice the guy gave Robby was a high female voice - I'm not sure I've ever laughed as hard as I did - it was SO FUNNY!

 After the program, it was outside for the egg hunt!!  It's very well organized but of course over in a few minutes!!

 Notice that bright blue Colorado sky!!!   I love this pic of the girls with the Easter bunny!!

And then it was back to the house for more fun!!  As you can tell, Jessi is VERY pregnant but SO CUTE!!

Next up is coloring eggs!!!  To Be Cont'd..................

Let's Take A Hike!

Tuesday also dawned bright and beautiful!  We did some shopping and errands in the morning and then headed to Coronado Heights which is outside the town of Lindsborg.

Coronado Heights is a scenic overlook and park that was built in the 1930's by the Works Progress Administration.  It was built as a picnic area and a castle like building was included which is built out of Dakota limestone!

We decided this would be a "cool" place to have a picnic as it was nice and cool inside of the building!

The massive fireplace looks like it is well used for BBQ's!

We hiked around the area for about an hour and then headed into Lindsborg to drive around - it's called "Little Sweden" and there were these cute animals all over town!!  You could certainly tell it was a Swedish town!!

Back in Salina, Joleen took me to lunch at a great Italian restaurant called Martenelli's - excellent food!!  And then it was back to her house for the rest of the afternoon with drinks and appetizers!  Becca and her kids came over for a while and we spent the rest of the evening watching a movie!

Wed. morning it was time to head out again for home!!  What a great time in Kansas!  Thanks so much for the hospitality Joleen!!

A History Day

Monday dawned bright and sunny in Salina!  We met Becca (her daughter) for breakfast and coffee at Moka's and talked and talked and talked...............It was great to catch up with her again!!

Then it was out to her and her husband's business - BrightBuilt Autos!  They refinish and repair older trucks and cars in this huge building!  I snapped a couple pictures of Becca standing by some showcase autos!!  Gosh they are cool looking!!

We headed then to Abilene (KS of course!!) and went to the Dwight Eisenhower Museum - it was excellent!!!  There were rooms and rooms full of exhibits - a lot on World War II which was so interesting to read as you walked along and we really enjoyed seeing a lot of Mamie's outfits and hats!!  Also toured the house Dwight grew up in and that was interesting too!

It was a gorgeous day out and we sure enjoyed the outing!!  After ice cream we headed back to Jo's house - Becca and the kids came over for Happy Hour!

All the trees and plants are blooming already in Ks. and the streets are lined with trees like this!!

It was such a great day - with one more full day ahead!!

Kansas Bound

Salina, Ks. here I come!!  My best friend Joleen moved to Salina last Nov. and it was time for me to visit her!!

I headed out early Sunday morning for the 7 hour (plus stops) drive to Ks., armed with snacks, water and CD's to play!!  I hadn't forgotten how windy Ks. was (from a couple of camping trips) but I was really hoping  I wouldn't have to drive in the wind!  But KS hasn't changed and the wind was horrible driving across the plains!

But I persevered and by mid-afternoon reached Joleen's house - it was so fun to see the house she is renting as now I can picture it in my mind when I talk to her on the phone!

 After a house tour and unpacking, we considered going for a walk at the park BUT decided to head to a Mexican restaurant where during March Madness they were serving $1.00 margaritas and 8 cent bowls of queso cheese dip - yup, you read that right - 8 cents a bowl!  We each consumed a couple of bowls apiece with chips and our total bill was $2.87!!!  WHAT FUN!!

We did end up taking a walk in the park after our Happy Hour, ate dinner about 8:30 that night and watched a fun movie together!!  What a great start to my stay!!