Thursday, June 28, 2007

Busy, busy, busy!

Seems as if my life has gotten very busy as of late! And since I don't want anyone worrying about where I am, this post is to let you all know that I won't be blogging as much....maybe a week or two between posts. I'm not quitting or taking a hiatus even, just don't have the time to do it justice right now.

I'll still be popping in periodically to read and leave a comment though!

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer so far!

Hugs

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Photos from Steve's graduation open house.

Here are some photos of Steve's graduation open house. I know, I said I would post them last Sunday, but I got very busy with other things....grandkids, and this is the first chance I have had.


This is one of my favorite photos. I took this while they were all looking at some of the items on the table containing photos and mementos of Steve growing up. They are from left to right: Uncle Doug, Steve, Uncle Brian and David.

Here are some other photos of Steve's open house.




Steve and his Great-Grandma


Steve and his Aunt Sherry


Steve's mom, Michelle, resting in the shade.


Glenn and Drew enjoying some of the goodies!

And finally, the CAKE!!!!

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Today's Plan

It is now 9:12 AM. I have been up since 5:30 AM. Today is my oldest grandson's graduation open-house and I promised my daughter, Naive, that I would make the meatballs. They are cooking in the crockpots as I type this.

I should have some wonderful words of wisdom to impart to him on this day. I don't!

I want to tell him how proud I am of him. How he has exceeded all expectations I had of him. What a joy he has been to me and the extreme pleasure he has brought into my life. I want to tell him what an extraordinary young man he has become. I want to make sure he knows how much I love him. And how much success and happiness I wish for his bright future. But most of all, I guess I want to let him know how pleased I am that he has ensured already, at his age, a place in Eternity for himself. I don't know what else a parent or grandparent can hope and pray for!

Tomorrow I will post pictures of his open house party.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Downtown traffic.....


is not my thing! It has been years since I had to be in downtown Grand Rapids....up until this morning that is.

Doug (middle son) has not had a drivers license in years. Originally it was suspended due to a couple DUI tickets and then not issued for back child support. He has also been ticketed and arrested for driving on a suspended license. But unless he drives to work, or I take him and pick him up every day, he can't pay the court ordered child support.

He has decided in the last month that he can't go on living this way....he needs to make some changes in his life. Very good decisions on his part. There has been a bench warrant out for his arrest for back child support since April. So he took it upon himself to contact Friend of the Court for that county and spoke with a Bench Warrant Officer. And the BWO worked out a deal with him, telling him he could sense Doug's sincerity in wanting to take care of this matter and put all the nonsense behind him. So he went to bat for Doug, and told Doug he needed a certain amount of money from him in the next few weeks and he would take away the bench warrant AND reinstate his drivers license. Doug called Amber's mom and asked her to write a letter stating that he had paid her $XXX. in child support and he would make sure that the Friend of the Court received $XXX.

But, I am getting ahead of myself here. I had to drive to the next county to get to the courthouse where the Friend of the Court's office has always been located. I had to find a parking space and park at a meter and dump all my change in it and then walk 1 ½ blocks to the Courthouse. After going through the metal detector and sending my purse through the x-ray machine and asking them which floor I needed and having them tell me the 3rd floor, and going up to the third floor and not being able to find the Friend of the Courts office at all, I finally found someone to ask and they said the Friend of the Courts Office was 3 blocks down the street (in the opposite direction of where I had parked).

By this time, I know my meter is ticking off the minutes and I don't want to receive a parking ticket. So I head the 3 blocks down the street in a fast walk (almost a jog). I finally found the office where I could deliver that money today and spoke with the same BWO and brought the paperwork home with me stating that the bench warrant has been rescinded and a paper for Doug to sign and return to his office and he will turn it in and Doug should have a valid driver's license within 7 days after that. Then I practically ran the 4 ½ blocks back to my car just as the meter was going to click "EXPIRED". And the meter maid was on the opposite side of the street checking the meters and it would have only been minutes before she crossed to the side I was parked on. I high-tailed it out of the snarled traffic and got on the south bound freeway and headed home. I was back here by 10:30 AM.....MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Wednesday, June 13, 2007



This beautiful bloom is from a plant called a Clematis. It was given to be a couple years ago by my son Jeremy and his wife Heidi and their little boy, Trent for my birthday and Mother's Day. Last year it didn't bloom at all and I was convinced that I had done something wrong transplanting it from pot to ground. As you can see, I was very wrong and I'm very glad about that!

This is a perennial plant so once it is established, I don't have to worry about it except to make sure it gets enough water. My kind of plant! ♥ It has stunning large flowers from spring through fall and this vining plant will climb structures or larger shrubs and trees. This is the third bloom in a matter of the same number of weeks.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Ahhhh......



Working in a factory is hot, hard work. My hubby does this for a living. He worked all week near a furnace that heats up laminate to glue to office furniture. It is probably at least 20 degrees hotter in that part of the factory than it is standing outside in the parking lot.

So when he finally is done after working 6 days, nothing feels quite as good as taking off that pair of hot, heavy old work boots and planting his size 10½ bare feet in the nice cool grass!

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Female cardinal


Drew spent the day with me yesterday. Late in the afternoon when 'Bumpa' came home from work and we were outside in the driveway, Drew asked for a drink. I came in the house to get him some chocolate milk and glanced out my kitchen sink window and there sat this big female cardinal on the bird bath just staring at the window.
Well, she was posing so nicely that I just had to take her picture. Pretty, isn't she?

Sunday, June 3, 2007

The other day while standing at the kitchen sink washing some breakfast dishes, a bright red male northern cardinal decided to land on the bird bath and take a bath. It was quite fun to watch, but I was unable to get a photo of him through the window, so I found one on the Internet.


Later that same day, a cedar waxwing showed up to take a drink. This time the blinds were open but in my haste to reach for the camera, I frightened him away! But he did look just like this one that I also found on the Internet.



And the last photo today is of Amber ready to take a dip in the pool to cool off.
And this picture, I was able to take.....just before she jumped all the way in and got me all wet. So, I got cooled off too! LOL