mostly being an aunt...

I haven't blogged in a long time, I guess blogging is not my thing.  But I can't sleep so I thought I would blog tonight.  Tonight I blog.  Blog is such a bloggy word doncha think?   I am trying not to drink so much pop and today I went most of the day without one, I suffered a horrible headache from it, which made me sick to my stomach...not good.  I am feeling better now, in case you were wondering.

You know what...I love being an Aunt.  Why? Well when you have nieces and nephews like mine how could I not love being an aunt.  I first became an aunt on August 3, 1983, I was twelve.  I was excited about being an aunt!  My mom and I spent most of that summer in MO, waiting for Renee to be born, then she came and all she did was eat and sleep.  How boring is that...Then the following year when she turned one I spent most of the summer at my sister and brother-in-laws house.  I slept on the couch and Renee would wake me up every morning by slapping me in the head and saying "DA! DA!"  In case you were wondering, she still calls me "Da", but she doesn't slap me in the head anymore.  I became an aunt for the second time December 25th 1984,  Rhonda Faith came into the world on that day.  We were in MO for her arrival too!   Then a few years later, June 26th 1987, Nicole Lee and a few years later, October 4th Marcus John.   I have such fond memories of my nieces and nephew!
My mom and dad and I moved to Missouri in 1988 and we lived with my sister.  So I became very close with Renee and Rhonda.  Renee and I rode the school bus together.  I was a Senior and she was just starting Kindergarten.  I remember waiting for the bus with her on the first day of school.  She said out loud, "Goodbye Saturday Cartoons!"  I looked at her and said, "Renee, we don't go to school on Saturdays"  I was glad to be able part such knowledge to her!  Of course living with those two, we did have some "fighting" moments.  I know one time they upset me about something, can't remember what, but I do remember a few minutes later they were at my door singing "Friends are friends forever, if the Lord's the Lord of them..."  How sweet is that?  Living so close to them for all of their "growing up" years brought a lot of fun times.  So glad I had a video camera to record a lot of that.

Sometimes I feel that I so missed out on Nikki and Marcus, because of the distance.  I remember one of our visits back to PA, Nikki was maybe 2 or 3 and she and I were playing and having a good time, then I left with my parents to go to West Mifflin.  When we got back, my sister Debbie told me that Nikki kept asking when "That girl" was going to come back.

Then there is Marcus, my buddy and tricker forever!  Marcus is a sweet guy!  He is sincere,  I remember after visiting the last time I was home in 2008, Keith and I were getting ready to go and he was asleep on teh couch.  I asked Debbie if I should wake him up to tell him goodbye,  She said "of course"  So I did, and he got up gave me a big hug and said, "I am going to miss you Aunt Dawn"

Some of the best times were times When I was with all four of them.  Those times were few, but they were the best!  I remember a mean game of basketball, and also playing dictionary..."A potato...What?"  (you had to be there)  oh yeah and it ems...(items)  (had to be there on that one too)  Memories I will always cherish.

Renee, Rhonda, Nikki and Marcus are adults now.  It is kind of hard to believe.  All grown up living life with its ups and downs.  Each special to me in their own special way.  I love them dearly, no matter what!

Guess what else,  I am a great aunt too!  Kadin and Jeriah are too wonderful for words.  I got to spend some time with them this past Saturday.  I enjoyed watching a Christmas movie with them on either side of me.  I even enjoyed Jeriah's surprise attacks which always ended in a hug!  Probably in a blink of an eye they are going to be adults too.

Anyway I am one proud aunt!  I know my writing skills stinks, but my aunt skills are good!

Dumped in the Skunk...

Well, I survived the colonoscopy! Yay! I am so glad that is over. I have to go back next Friday for a follow up, but the Dr. said she thought everything looked good.  The Dr. that did the colonoscopy is my brother-in-law's sister.  I have known her for 30 years, it was nice seeing a familiar face in the operating room.  I guess it was the operating room.  Anyway all is well...now on to other topics.

Keith bought a canoe from my grandboss's boyfriend.  What is a grandboss?  That would be my boss's boss.  I stole that phrase from a friend, who I am sure doesn't mind.  Anyway we got this canoe and finally got it registered we took it out on Geode yesterday to be sure that it didn't leak.  It didn't, so today we took it out on the Skunk River.  Last October Keith rented a canoe and he and his daughter went down the Skunk, he said it took them about 4 hours to get to Lowell, so we thought we would get up and head on over and canoe down to Lowell from Oakland Mills, We started at 8:45 am, thinking we would be done at lunch time...

We got started and headed down the river, we had a head wind that slowed us down.  By 11:00 our rears were sore and we weren't real sure where we were at, we came to a rock bar so we decided t stop. The picture above is the rock bar where we stopped.  So we stopped here for a few minutes.  I tried to pee which didn't work because I peed on my shoe.  The we decided to move on, We paddled down a little more it was about an hour and a half later and we came to a sandbar and we decided to stop again because our butts were sore and we still weren't sure how close we were to our (half way) point. (we were supposed to be at the end!!)   We stopped for maybe 10 minutes, then we decided to move on.  So we get into the canoe successfully, then Keith tried to reach for his cooler which was behind him. (he moved it so I could walk to the front of the boat without having to step over it)  Anyway his cooler got stuck on something and he leaned...you shouldn't lean in a canoe..So I am in the front and the canoe is tipping from one side then the other then...Yep, tipped over!  As I was falling into the water, these thoughts quickly passed through my mind.  "We are tipping. I am going to fall in.  I am going under. I am going to drown.  Wait, no I am not, I can touch the bottom"  Then I hear Keith telling me, "Dawn you are Okay, Get your bag, You are okay get your bag"  He kept saying that until I got my bag.  Then I grabbed my bag, and felt my pocket and said.,"Oh crap my cell phone."  I grabbed my stuff and marched off onto the sandbar.  I was not a happy camper.  But then my mood changed.  We got the water out of the canoe and hung out on the sandbar for a little bit.  Keith called his mom and asked her if she would meet us at our halfway point with some sandwiches.  So we got back into the canoe and successfully launched  We got to the halfway point and Jeanie met us there with cheese sandwiches, banana bread, apples and water.  Let me tell you that was the best tasting cheese sandwich ever made!  We ate and got back out on the water, we almost tipped again, but I saved the day with my mad balancing skills.  So when Keith and Lindsey made this trip from this point on it took them 2 hours, with the headwind we figured maybe 3.  We pressed on for a little while longer came to another rock bar it was about 2:40, we stopped again at our half of apple and then pressed on.  From this point on we paddled like mad.  Keith said I was Dawn the great paddler from the "Peed Foot" tribe.  Such a sense of humor he has.  I told Keith that I would never be so happy to see Lowell in my entire life.  For those of you reading this who knows Lowell you will find the humor in that statement.  We paddled like crazy, then we went around the bend and I saw the Lowell bridge.  I cheerfully yelled, "Is that it?"  Keith confirmed it was in fact the bridge and we paddled on in there and got out at around 3:30ish. It was a long day, but fun!  Hope you enjoyed reading about our canoeing adventure.  We are sore and burnt!  I asked Keith when our next canoe trip would be, his answer...Not Tomorrow.    

The Worst Part is the Prep...

The last time I blogged I was 39, now I am 40! And you know what, it is not that bad being 40.  I think I will always admit to my age and not say I am 39 and holding.  I am getting older and with age comes health stuff.  I have to have a colonoscopy, How the heck do you spell that word????  I looked it up and spelled it the way it said and it is still underlined.  Oh well, who cares how it is spelled.  Anyway, I am a little nervous about this...and yes I know "The worst part is the prep the day before"  If I had a dollar for every time someone said that to me, I could afford to have this procedure done!  lol  I have never been "put under" for anything before and that I why I am nervous.  So if you have a minute and want to say a prayer for me, I would appreciate it.  

On a more serious note, a young man who  went to school with my nieces passed away yesterday, he was hit by a car in St. Louis, MO.  He was only 29 years old.  I, personally did not know him well, but several of my facebook friends did. Would you pray for his Mom and his friends.  I'd even say put them before prayers for me and my silly nervousness.  Life is short.  And so I quote Rascal Flatts..Love who you Love...if you are reading this...I love you!

Grandma's love.

Yesterday Keith and I went to his great aunt's memorial service.  I didn't know her well, I had met her a few times.  She was a sweet woman.   The hospice minister who was with her during the last 13 months of her battle with cancer shared stories of her life that she had shared with him.  One of them stuck in my head and brought tears to my eyes.  He told of her going to Disneyland with her grandkids and riding one of the water rides there.  Nobody could believe that this "proper" woman would do this.  Then the minister said, "She loved her grandchildren so much she would enter their world."  As soon as he said that a memory of my mom playing basketball with Renee, Rhonda, Nikki and Marcus (and me) popped into my head.(I have video of that day too)  That quote could also be said of my mother.  She loves her grandkids so much she enters their world.  I believe they know that.  Aunt Dawn loves them too.

all about Springfield...

I haven't blogged in awhile.  I thought I would today.  Last week I went to Springfield for Nathan's graduation.  Renee walked for him and accepted his Master's degree.  If you would like, you can read about it on her blog, here.  I just want to say that my niece Renee is a class act.  Over the years I have watched her accept many awards and such, I know this was the hardest one for her.  She is just awesome.

I wanted to share this too,  Robin, my sister gave me one of the bulletins from Nathan's funeral services.  When she gave it to me I had my parent's van and I put it in a folder so it would stay nice.  I guess when I switched vehicles I put that folder in my trunk and forgot about it.  When packing the car to head out for the trip I look in the trunk and there peeking out of the red folder was Nathan's smiling face.  Almost like he was saying, "Thanks for coming"  At least thats how I took it.  I thought it was kind of cool.  (I didn't get to share this with you Renee, every time I was getting ready to,  somebody else said something)

  It really was a great few days in Springfield.  We ate at several yummy places.  Renee also took us to "The Cup" Springfield's version of Georgetown Cakes.  They were yummy.  And while in Springfield we saw the "World's Largest Fork"  And here is the story behind the fork.  While eating supper Thursday night, we all were talking about driving and directions and finding places.  Keith said, "I can find anything."  So the conversation turned to The World's Largest Fork and Renee said, "It is somewhere in Springfield, find that for me."  So, when we got in the car Keith said to me, "Lets find that fork for Renee and take a picture."  So, we did and it just so happened that while we were there this guy walks out of the office building and says, "I bet you guys are here to see the fork.  I'll take the picture so you both can be in it."  And there you have it.  We printed the picture put it in a magnet frame and gave it to Renee. (Who was very impressed)

I was very surprised at the southern accents in Springfield.  Not everyone had one but some did, the guy that ran into my car in a parking lot did.  We were slowly backing out and he hit us.  Keith got out and the guy said in a pretty thick accent, "Didn't do much damage to mine"  Well no it didn't because you are driving a big pick up and I have a little Saturn.  I have a big black mark on my bumper.  Anyway then he said, "Good thing it happened in the parking lot."   Keith's reply, "Yeah, we don't have to call the cops"  Not sure but he might have had a few.

We also had some Krispy Kremes and was waited on by a not so nice lady, who rushed me in ordering my doughnuts.  I don't like to be rushed on such an important matter.  Oh almost forgot the hotel.  The latch on the door didn't match up

The real freaky part about this is, Keith posted this picture on his facebook page and wrote, "How high was this maintenance guy"  and the next night it was fixed.  FREAKY!!!

On our way home we stopped at Ha Ha Tonka State Park, it is where we saw Big Foot.  You may laugh but it is true.  It is a cool place.

It was a really nice weekend and something to blog about.  So there you have it.  Maybe I will blog some more.  It is fun!  Hope you enjoyed it.


 

almost not simple...

I noticed that I haven't blogged anything since March 14th.  I guess I haven't had much to say...or I have been working a lot of hours last week and this week and next week that I have been too tired.  Yep that is it!  I do love my job though!  So sometimes those extra hours I don't mind so much.  Even more so when pay day comes.

So, I have been the little Rallier ( I know that is not a word, but is what I am...one who rallies)  It has been kind of fun going to these things with Keith.  Everybody coming together for one cause, besides church stuff, I have never been a part of something like that.  The rallies have been mainly about Union stuff and standing with the working class.  Listening to some of these people talk has changed my mind on some things...but this blog is simple thoughts so...it shall stay that way.

Okay back to simple thoughts... I have been listening to this song a lot lately.  I just love what it says, plain and simple.  have a little faith, must appreciate, every single day, don't give up, no!

I have always loved Amy Grant and still do, this entire cd is really good.

On another note...I have been doing a Jane Fonda walk out in the morning and have been taking my lunch to work, and have been eating healthier and I am losing weight!  Although the scale messes with me and says one thing one day, then the next, something totally different.  I know you are not supposed to check your weight everyday, but I do.  Anyway I got some jeans that fit me again, so I must be getting thinner.

Oh and if you haven't heard yet...We got a building for Hopefully Yours!!!!  I am super excited about it!  People have been so nice, and have donated a lot.  Can't wait to get back there.

and you know what, I am so truly blessed, and I wish blessings for you.

I shall return...

and the password is...

Well, I haven't written anything for a few days, mainly because I have been lazy and the other is because I keep forgetting my password.  Not Good!  I don't know if I will ever get into my hotmail account again.  I changed the password, then forgot it...Then when I chose to answer my security question it said that my question is....What is my password?   If I knew that Mr. Hotmail, I wouldn't be on your dumb Windows live help page.  ahhahah.  I just can't believe that I chose my security question to be "What is my Password?'  And of course now that I can't get into it, I am pretty sure that I remember what my new password was.  And on this so-called help page I can't find anywhere to comment on it.  I still haven't heard from them about sending me a new password.  So in the past few days, I forgot my hotmail, gmail, and this morning when I was about to log in to facebook i forgot that password to, but it came to me within minutes. Otherwise not much going on here.  Thinking about making brownies, thanks to my niece Renee who recently talked about making some.  Anyone see the movie In the Wild...True story....ever notice how most true stories have awful endings.  It is a pretty good movie, just an awful ending.  Netflix it.  Okay well I am off to make brownies.

Twenty Minutes...

Tonight Keith and I went out to dinner at Napoli's (a local restaurant) Anyway, we got there around 7pm and there was a large group of people, but they left soon after we got there.  Another couple came in and then there was one other lady sitting in the front part of the restaurant.  Apparently this one woman knew one of the waitresses, because this waitress starting yakking to her about everything.  You name it she yakked about it, loudly.  She talked about how the world is going to be taken over by technology, so you better get with it.  She talked about how people get fired over their facebook statuses, she talked about the French and how they get 5 weeks vacation and work 35 hours a week.  She talked about how sometimes she just turns off her cell phone because she just wants to be by herself.  At one point I looked over to the other couple and caught the women's eye.  We gave each other the "this girl is driving you crazy too huh" look. Then she started in on Pawn Stars...She was driving me crazy.She yakked loudly for over 20 minutes. I am serious!  Finally, Keith got up to see if the juke box was plugged in...it wasn't.  So then he started playing some music on his phone.  The couple looked over at us and motioned to turn it up.  We just laughed.  Finally she got the point and shut up and turned the jukebox on.  As we were leaving the guy from the couple said, "Well, I learned a lot.  I don't have to watch Good Morning America for 3 weeks now."   Things like that used to not bother me.  But this chick was getting on my nerves!  I wanted to just say, could you please Shut up!  yoy and double yoy!  I have learned as I grow older that people annoy me.  My dear friend Amy made the comment to me the other day, that she didn't realize I was a Gemini like her.  (I am really not in to that astrology stuff) but anyways she said.  I have never seen your evil twin.  You were always so nice when we were kids.  I laugh at that because, sorry to say, my evil twin comes out a lot lately.  Maybe not evil, but my not nice twin...Not proud of it but, hey it happens.  What annoys you?

When I reread this it kind of reminded me of the book, "Hey Kid".  If you have never read this book you should, its a good one.  By the way, when I reread this I found a lot of errors, but I am not gonna fix em!

Dust In Your Face...

In case you were wondering...still no rabbit head.  That is a good thing.  I wonder if she...ate it...yuck, why did I think that? Gross.

 Keith has been in Des Moines for some union (AFSME) stuff at the Capitol.  I love that he stands up for what he believes in.  I also love his patience with me on this one and all of my questions...like, "What is that Walker guy doing?"  "Why did those people go to Illinois?"  "What is collective bargaining again?" "Is this Wisconsin stuff going to happen in Iowa?"  "How does this affect you as a state employee?"  He patiently answers questions like this from me just about every day.  Cause I don't get most of that political stuff.  Simple Mind!

Today while job coaching at work, I fixed a vacuum!  The filter part fell off, so I put it back on...oh, and I learned that the red button just above the filter is the on/off button...don't push that until you have the filter and the cover back on...otherwise you will get a bunch of dust in your face...just sayin'. It is not like I am speaking from experience or anything.. ;0)  there is a wink for ya Renee.

I would like to leave you with  this quote from my mom about gas prices..."They just need to drill, but they are too afraid that they might kill a moose or something."  I laugh every time I think about that.

Well, I guess that is all for now....

My First Blog...

So, I thought I would start a blog...Why?  I don't know.  Just something to do I guess.  I am calling my blog Simple Thoughts From A Simple Mind, because I don't plan on going too deep on things, mainly because my brain can't get too deep.  I am not the best at writing either so that is why it will be simple too.  There will probably be a lot of grammatical errors and stuff, so if you are picky about that you might not want to read what I have to say.  But you just might miss out on some exciting stuff too.

Today my simple thought is "How awesome are the shopping carts at Target!"  I was leaving Target today, pushing my cart out to the car and thinking, "Wow, this is such a smooth push."  I have decided that Target carts are the luxury carts.  The wheels don't shake, or stick.  They are sturdy.  Tell me where can you find a better shopping cart than Target?'  I don't think there is one out there.  If you find one, let me know.

Another thought is..'Why are bras so expensive?"  I bought one today for 10 dollars and it was 30% off!  What is up with that?

On another note...Gidget killed a rabbit today.  And I am glad I did not find it, although the head is still out there somewhere...the thought of it just grosses me out.

Well I guess that is it for my first blog.  Hopefully it will get better.