I couldn’t believe it was true…

I couldn’t believe it was true.

My eyes filled with tears,

I must have aged 10 years,

I couldn’t believe it was true.

Sadly, it is true.  The blogs we have been posting for 5 years and more will be gone in a flash come March 2011.  Yes, WLS will move them to Word Press and I did try that with one of my spaces that I don’t post on very often.  It is very blah looking.  Your posts are imported with the photos that are part of the blog included plus comments.  And that is about it guys, nothing else is moved.  For my main space I downloaded to my hard drive,  It took a few minutes and the photos in the posts are nothing but Xs. I had 5 blogs on spaces.  I have deleted 2 of them completely, moved one and still have my main space and recipe space to decide on.  I have downloaded the photo albums I wanted to save and deleted the rest.  In March I will delete my main space.  I will try and find a home for my recipe space as it is one I have dedicated to Jim.

I have been on a grocery shopping binge this morning.  First to County Market where Del Monte canned veggies on sale @ 50 cents each along with a coupon where you buy 12 cans and get $2 off, plus lots of other good bargains,  Then on to Kroger where I stocked up on TV dinners.

This week has been a tough one for me while I am winding down from a big rush of company last week.  I miss my sister even though she did holler for coffee a lot and I don’t drink coffee anymore.  LOL  It is lonely again.

I got my all combined flu shot last Friday with no adverse reactions.  Now I have had a pneumonia and flu shot this year and I hope to be protected.

For some reason I have a headache today so I think I am heading for a couple of Tylenol and the recliner.  Still don’t have my back door finished.  It is in but still needs lots of trim work done on it.  I am heading to Walmart tomorrow to get lots of heavy duty weather stripping.

I hope you are all having a good week.

Beth

Oh what a week…

My sister is home safe now having arrived home about midnight last night.  We had a wonderful time and it will be lonesome around here for awhile until I get used to the quiet again.  We didn’t get to do all  we wanted to and her husband has informed me that I would have to be the one doing the traveling next time as he missed her so much.  So maybe I will get up the courage to get on that plane next year.

My son came to visit us on Friday.  I was really happy to see him as I hadn’t seen him since early June.  He brought me a box of the lovely hand made chocolates that I like so well.  My brother and sis in law visited on Tuesday.  They were just back from a cruise to Mexico, so for my birthday I got a T Shirt with Puerto Vallarta printed on the front and a pink sweatshirt that read “Don’t listen to my sister, I am the favorite” on the front of it, plus a tote bag and other items from Mexico.  My daughter and son in law gave me a beautiful birthday cake and took us all out to eat yesterday at Red Lobster in Peoria.  My sis brought me Willow Tree “Sisters by Heart.”  Pictures below.  They are so beautiful.  When facing each other they interlock hands in prayer.

And now I am so tired it will take me a week to get rested up.  It was worth it though!!  Thanks again to all of you who sent me emails, cards, and gifts!  As our old blogging friend Al used to say “Love Ya.”

Beth

Thank you!!!

 

Thank you to all of you for the emails and birthday cards.  I appreciate them so much.  My blogging friends are the greatest!

 

The delivery man from the florist shop bringing me flowers and a balloon from Kerrie and Jaiden in Australia.

A beautiful scarf from my Twin!!  I purchased this jacket to wear with it.

Because of a mixup in the mail Twin sent me another scarf.  So now I have an early Christmas present.

My Christmas present from my Twin.

These lovely bracelets are from my Sis in Michigan. 

Birthday cards.  Thank you so much all of you for thinking of me.  I love you all.

Beth

Wednesday, short update and a bit of a rant…

I am truly enjoying having my sister’s visit.  Yesterday my brother and sister in law from close to St Louis came to visit us.  We had a nice visit and ate lunch at Kouri’s.  I am waiting for pictures that my bother took with his great camera equipment.

And that leads me to my first rant.  I am taking my new camera that I bought back to WalMart.  It takes fuzzy pictures for some reason.  Below is a picture of my sis that I took today with my old camera.  I am not in the mood to buy another camera now as I am thoroughly disgusted.

And now since I am on a roll, I will go on to my second rant.  Just as my company came yesterday they came over to put the new back door on.  He did not finish up and came back today so I have had to hang around the house all day and still more work to be done.  Then tomorrow the comcast guy comes to the house.  Rae and I haven’t had a chance to run around hardly at all.

I miss all of you and I will catch up next week.

Beth

Checking in…

Just checking in to let you know my sister is here and we are busy having a good time.  I will visit with you all in a few days.
Beth

Dreary Thursday…

all day long.  We did have a forecast for rain last night but so far nothing.  It is a typical fall type day in the heart of Illinois.  I wouldn’t mind some sunshine but I will take the day anyway I can get it.   I am thankful for each new day and I always hope that I can make the best of it.  Not always easy to do sometimes, but still, that is my goal when I get up each morning.
I do feel a bit sad today.  This would have been my oldest sister’s Corrie’s birthday.  Even though she has been gone for a long time I still miss her and have good memories of her.  She married when I was a small child and I do remember feeling bereft when she left.  Actually she and my next older sister married the same year at a very young age.  I can remember having dreams about them and hoping they would come back home.

This is the only picture that I could find of Corrie.  That is her oldest son Mike.  I am not sure when this picture was taken. I am sure I have some more pictures somewhere.
I have been to Walmart this morning and purchased a new camera.  I have the battery charging right now and I will take some pictures to try it out later today. 
I am waiting impatiently for my sis (Rae) to come,  She is flying in on Saturday and will stay until my birthday on the 25th.  What a wonderful birthday present.  Actually the 25th is my Twin’s birthday too.
I hope you are all having a great day.
Beth

Tuesday, all day long…

and I am stuck here waiting to see if management comes to check out my back door and the hallway.  Of course I have been waiting since August 25 and no one has shown up yet.  I did call and remind them yesterday so I will have to stick around here this morning to see if anyone shows up.  I am not holding my breath though.
Sunday afternoon at the Marigold Festival was nice.  There were so many booths we couldn’t check them out.  We had to park some distance away and walk to the park.  After a couple of hours I was pooped and I had to beg my daughter to bring me home.  I did manage to take a few pictures and get a gift for my sister which I hope fits.

This is a shot of the lagoon which is at the park where the festival was held.  That is the Miller Senior Citizen’s Building in the background. 


And even though my Cardinals are not doing so great now, this was my favorite booth at the festival.  If I still had my own home I would have purchased this.

There were so many tents/booths that we couldn’t look at them all.  I would have loved one of those pictures.  Lots and lots of Halloween stuff there.

Just to give you a general idea.  There were over 300 booths/tents there.

Sweatshirts of all kinds to be found, ranging in price from $10 to $50.  The ones I found that I liked were not in my size.

Another picture of the lagoon.  There is a walkway around the lagoon and many people go there every day to walk for exercise.  In fact, after all of that walking my daughter and I did in the afternoon, she and my SIL went out there in the evening and walked several times around the lagoon for exercise.  I don’t know how this came to be called a lagoon but that is what the local folks call it.
It was a very nice afternoon.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Beth

Yesterday, Nice!

Yesterday morning was rainy and chilly.  By late morning it had faired off in time for the Marigold festival.  Jim’s nephew Mike and his wife Celeste arrived just as the rain was stopping.  My daughter and SIL picked me up and we met them at Applebee’s.  Then we went to my place for lots of laughter and reminiscing.  It was so much fun.



















Take a look at the load in this chair.  That is me on the left, Mike in the middle and Celeste on the right.  Will my chair recover?  Inquiring minds want to know.  LOL

Thank you to  Mike and Celeste for stopping by to see me on their way home to Wisconsin.  It was a wonderful visit.  I know Jim was smiling down at all of us having such a wonderful time. 
Later on this afternoon my daughter and I are going out to the festival to check out the crafts.  Supposedly there are over 300 craft booths there.  I will take my camera along and hope for a chance to get a picture or two.  I have been looking for a new camera as my Olympus is getting pretty old.  I don’t like the Kodak one I have so I rarely use it.
This all for now.  Catch you all later.
Beth

Marigold Capital of the World…

This weekend begins the start of the Marigold Festival 2010.  This will be my first year to be living here while the festival is taking place.  I plan to attend some of the activities on Sunday after church.  Probably not on Saturday as I will have visitors here, unless of course they want to attend some of the events.  Pekin is the Marigold Capital of the World.
This picture of marigolds is courtesy of Here I am Carrie.  Thank you Carrie. Please visit her blog spot.  She has many awesome photos.
A beautiful young lady by the name of Jordan Davis has been crowned Miss Marigold 2010.  Her picture is below.



My street was oiled and graveled or whatever you call it this afternoon.  Below is a picture of the action.  I hope it is dry in the morning as I need to make a grocery store run.


I  spoke to my friends Anne and Bill today.  Bill was Jim’s best friend.  He has been undergoing treatment for cancer and has not responded well.  Please remember Bill in your thoughts and prayers.  Anne’s sister is also in the final stages of cancer.  My heart goes out to these two old friends of mine.
I hope you all have a great weekend.
Beth

Good Morning Sunshine…

and a lovely morning it is.  The Irish half of me wants to break out in song while the Dutch half of me, well, it wants to break out in song too.  So, I guess I will sing a little song for you all.  Better cover your ears as you have been warned.  I have no talent at all when it comes to singing.

It was in the upper 40s again last night and right now it is 57 degrees, high to be in the upper 70s.  This is just about as good as it gets.  Later I will be going to the post office.  I have several friends with birthdays this month so I need to mail some packages.  I love September; it is my favorite month of the year even though I grow a year older.  We won’t think about that, will we Twin.

The city department has my whole street marked ‘No Parking’ today.  They will be filling in cracks with asphalt for the next few days and it will be messy.  YUCK!!

I cleaned thoroughly yesterday even though no one really cares.  ;-)  I am having more family visit on Saturday.  Jim’s nephew Mike and his wife Celeste from Wisconsin.  I can’t wait to see them as they are two of my favorite people.  I have had more visitors since I moved here than I had the past year at home.

OK, that wraps it up.  I have my motor running for a great weekend.  I hope you all do too.

Beth

Hooray, not for 6 months…

I am just home from a visit with my primary care doctor and the good news is I don’t have to see her for 6 months.  I did make her very well aware of the attitude of the doctor I saw last week.  My primary care doctor is great but she is an internal med specialist and she thinks I need to see a specialist for everything that I have wrong with me.  I personally see no need to see a specialist if I happen to burp the wrong way.  ;-)  (Imagine what I was going to say, but was too nice to say it).

My daughter takes me when I go to the doctor in Peoria.  The traffic was all backed up this morning on the McCluggage  Bridge that crosses the Illinois River from Tazwell County into Peoria.  Fortunately the traffic didn’t get backed up until we were on our way home.  I sure was glad she was driving instead of me. 

When we got home, we had the buffet at Godfather’s Pizza, picked up my meds at the Walgreens across the street and came home.  For some reason it all wore me out and now I think I need to rest.  There was a Perry Mason movie marathon on Encore yesterday so I set the DVR to record several of them.  I have stuff to watch while I rest a bit with my eyes closed.  lol

Yesterday I ate with my daughter and son in law.  Brats, potato salad, corn on the cob and dessert.  It was all good.  The sweet corn right now is delicious so we need to enjoy it while it is in season.  And now I will make this announcement, SUMMER IS OFFICIALLY OVER.

I hope you all have a great week.  Stay safe and be happy!

Beth

Guess I better tidy up the place…

“A couple you've known for a long time could visit you at your home today, Libra.”  This was in my horoscope for today.  I read my horoscope when I think of it just for fun.  I am not hooked on it, I just take it at face value.  However, many times things have happened as predicted.  So, perhaps I should tidy up the place a bit.  LOL
Lovely sunny cool morning.  It is 52 gorgeous degrees right now.  I am getting ready to go out and embrace the world in a few minutes.  Then there is always the dreaded bathroom to clean later.  Perhaps I should do that right now before my unexpected company arrives.  Oh well, I will just shut the bathroom door and hope no one needs to open it.  Kidding of course.
Nothing exciting happening around here.  I hear sirens almost every day.  I turn on my scanner and I am able to pick up a lot of frequencies.  It is about 15 years old and far from digital.  I would love to buy a  new one and program it on the computer.  Most of the Peoria frequencies are digital now.  Maybe I will get that for myself for Christmas.  I am waiting to see about the E-book if Santa Claus in the form of my brother brings me one.  ;-)  Are you reading this little bro?
Yesterday was uneventful.  I walked a couple of blocks to a garage sale and then stopped at another garage sale when I was out in the car.  Nothing but junk at either one.  I am not talking about another man’s treasure, I mean junk that should have been bagged up and put in the garbage.  I love garage sales.  I rarely buy anything, I just love talking to the people there.  I always liked having a garage sale too because of the interaction with people and seeing folks that I hadn’t seen for awhile.  Of course this was in a small town where everyone knew what everyone else was doing.
I better boogie along as I need to get out soon.  I hope you all have a peaceful happy day.
Beth

Finally Friday…

 

It’s finally Friday,

I’m free again.

I’ve got my motor running

For a wild weekend.

It’s finally Friday,

I’m out of control,

Forget the working blues

And let the good times roll.

~ George Jones ~

 

Well, I am long past the age for a wild weekend but I do still have memories.  LOL!  And I do love George Jones.

Yesterday I had a nice surprise visit from Jim’s niece Julia and her husband from Florida.  They have been going to RV rallies all across the states for the last few months.  The one that they are at now is at Henry IL north of Peoria.  It was really good to see them.  They are not through with the rallies yet and will not be going back to Florida until November.  It was really good to see them, did make me miss Julia’s mom Phyllis (Jim’s sister) and my Jim.  Phyllis died just a few weeks before Jim.

I have changed the bedding and have the laundry done.  I do so miss having a washer and a dryer, plus a garage.  Otherwise I am quite content.

Here’s hoping you all have a nicely wild weekend.  Stay safe over the holiday.

Beth

What a dream…

Oh what a dream I had last night

I sat up in bed, shaking with fright.

And I also was moody.

You see, it must have been Toodie.

I dreamed I had cut off my hair

And that should never be.

Cause you see, my hair is

Already as short as Jamie Lee’s.

Seriously, I did have this dream last night and it woke me right up.  I have been having an awful time finding a beautician that I like.  Finally last week I got one that gave me a halfway decent haircut, then I had to go and cut it all off in my dream.  I can remember once cutting my own hair.  That was when my daughter was a baby and I had long heavy hair.  My daughter cried with colic all of the time and I didn’t have time to take care of my hair properly so I chopped it off really short.  I kind of liked it so I have kept my hair pretty short now all of these years.

My visit to the new doctor Monday was disappointing.  I met another doctor who equates himself with God.  Mid 30’s, arrogant, and condescending.  ‘Nuff said about that because I don’t want to raise my blood pressure so early in the morning.

Yesterday was uneventful (I am thankful for that).  Today I am doing laundry and wondering if I am interested enough to do some housework.  Nope,  didn’t think so.

I need to run next door and check on my laundry.  When I get back I will come and visit you all.

Beth