Day 203, Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Today is John's 39th birthday!  Happy Birthday to the best Son-in-law we could ever ask for.  Unfortunately, John spent most of the day at the Dr., getting chemo treatment. The nurses brought him balloons and had him wear a lei around his neck.  He has Hodgkin's Lymphoma, less than one year after having Diffused Cell B Lymphoma.  Please keep him in your prayers as he fights this battle again!

Day 202, Monday, July 21, 2014

Cindy and I worked on this Button Farm Album Kit.  We bought the same one in April when we went to Creating Keepsakes Convention in Collinsville.  Love it!

Day 201, Sunday, July 20, 2014

This arrangement of photos has been on this wall for a very long time.  Sometimes, I add new ones to the frames, but the frames stay in the same spot.  I had to replace the frame with the kids caricature as it was broken and would fall apart.  I decided to take them all down and spray paint them black.  I have them all replaced, but they smell like paint, so they are in the garage until there is no odor.

Day 200, Saturday, July 19, 2014

Nate installed a new faucet in the kitchen sink today.  The old one was leaking.  I found the leak when I was cleaning out under the cabinet.  He had a hard time getting the old one out, but the new went in very easy!

Day 199, Friday, July 18, 2014

I transferred our Habanero pepper plants to the ground this morning.  They were in a flower pot and Nate read they should be 18 inches apart to bear fruit.  I didn't see the peppers, as I was worried about keeping the roots intact.  We found three peppers tonight!

Day 198, Thursday, July 17, 2014

I cleaned out the utensil drawer yesterday morning.  I tossed these three tools in the garbage as we had either new ones.  My boys were not happy about getting rid of these three things, so I got them out of the trash bag and washed them.

Day 197, Wednesday, July 16, 2014

I got an invitation to the "New Menu" party at Panera Bread.  Jim and I got to make our own small baguette to take home.  We got to try several new sandwiches, soup, pastries and a drink for $5 each.

Day 196, Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Coco and I walked at Coal Miner's Park this morning.  We walked 2.4 miles.  We stopped several times to get a drink.  I have a collapsible puppy cup for him to drink out of.  He loves to walk and smell all the odors from the other animals in the woods. 

Day 195, Monday, July 14, 2014

Got my hair cut today.  I don't know if this sign is new or not.  Today was the first time I have ever noticed it.

Day 194, Sunday, July 13, 2014

I hate taking medicine, but I have to, so I fill up my pill container on Sunday for the following week.  I always forget if I have taken my pills or not, so this keeps me on track.

Day 193, Saturday, July 12, 2014

Where is Coco?  He is so silly.  He will wrap himself in this blanket and then he can't get out!

Day 192, Friday, July 11, 2014

My lilies are all gone now, but this one was sitting so pretty in someone else's yard that I couldn't resist taking a picture of it.  I am so thankful I walk every morning.  The dew was still on this flower.

Day 191, Thursday, July 10, 2014

No, I am not buying a new truck, just walking while I get my oil changed in my car.  There were rows and rows of new trucks.  I can't imagine buying one of these vehicles, must less filling it up with gas every time!

Day 190, Wednesday, July 9, 2014

My Fitbit tracks my sleep pattern or rather my lack of sleep.  The dark blue is where I am sound asleep, the lighter blue is my restless time and the pink is when I am awake!

Day 189, Tuesday, July 08, 2014

Wishing I was in Portland having the most delicious lobster roll ever!

Day 188, Monday, July 7, 2014

I see lots of amazing flowers while I am walking with Coco.  This purple one was so pretty this morning shining so bright in the sunlight.

Day 187, Sunday, July 6, 2014

I have been writing quotes on this chalkboard in my kitchen.  Sometimes, I think we get so caught up in the things we HAVE to do, that we forget there are lots of things we CAN do that will make us happy!

Day 186, Saturday, July 5, 2014

This photo doesn't really show how different this cloud looked.  There were many layers to it and the sun was shining from the back and all the front layers were really dark.

Day 185, Friday, July 4, 2014

Happy 4th of July!  I took some pictures at the stadium tonight.  Jim sent me a link to a tutorial for my camera and I think these pictures are the best I have taken so far.  I am not a professional for sure...but I keep trying to learn how to use the DSLR!

Day 184, Thursday, July 3, 2014

Happiness Is...changing my ornament every month!  Thanks to Stacie and John.  I usually have this display on my desk at work, but since I am off for 5 weeks, I brought it home to enjoy!

Day 183, Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Puppy Spa Day!

Day 182, Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Poor little Jordan!  Their family is on vacation in Myrtle Beach.  Looks like Cody is ready to squash him like a bug!  Hope they are having a good time!

Day 181, Monday, June 30, 2014

When I bought the succulents this year, I wasn't sure I was going to like them or keep them alive.  I am happy they are doing so well.

Day 180, Sunday, June 29, 2014

Worked on my computer most of the day off and on editing the 1,500 or so pictures we took on our vacation.

Day 179, Saturday, June 28, 2014

We flew out of Boston at 8 a.m.  My last shot of the Boston shoreline.  Hope to go back there sometime!  We had a 3 hour layover in Chicago, which turned into almost 4 by the time we got off the ground!

Day 178, Friday, June 27, 2014

We drove back to Boston, stopping at the New Hampshire Welcome Center, which is also the largest liquor store in New Hampshire.  Ate Moose Tracks ice cream and caramel corn for lunch.  Returned the car and shuttled back to the airport and then shuttled to the Hyatt Hotel for our last night in Boston.  We took the water taxi to the harbor and ate an early dinner of our last lobster roll.  We watched a group of black men doing acrobats and dancing at Quincy Market.  Grabbed some bagels for a snack at the hotel.

Day 177, Thursday, June 26, 2014

We had planned to visit 6 lighthouses today.  It was cold and foggy, but it wasn't raining.  We had seen the two at Cape Elizabeth, which left 4.  We went to the Portland Head Lighthouse first.  This is the most photographed lighthouse in the United States.  It is located in a state park.  We decided we didn't want to see any of the other lighthouses after visiting this one!  We ate lunch at the Portland Lobster Co.  Home of the best lobster roll, EVER!  We walked around the wharf.  We ate dinner at the Portland Lobster Co and had lobster roll, again.

Day 176, Wednesday, June 25, 2014

We rented a car and drove to Portland, Maine.  We stopped at Kittery Outlet Malls and Cape Elizabeth to eat lunch at the Lobster Shack.  We had a whole lobster that was plucked out of his holding tank, cooked right there.  We ate outside on the patio with the fog horn going, the waves crashing against the rocks, the seagulls flying around us and the wind blowing a cool ocean breeze.  But the time we got to our hotel it was raining and very foggy.   

Day 175, Tuesday, June 24, 2014

We rode the trolley to the Old North Church and walked the Freedom Trail from the North End.  We went to Paul Revere's house, too.  We stopped at Mike's Pastry and had a snack...cannelloni's.  We  got back on the trolley and went to Beacon Hill.  Had pizza for lunch and walked the area window shopping and admiring the architecture.  We had a time getting to the red line, so we went back to the hotel and ate dinner at Margarita's.

Day 174, Monday, June 23, 2014

We used our GoBoston cards to board the Trolley.  We got off at Fenway Park.  We at lunch and took the tour behind the scenes.  Jim is sitting in one of the seats on the "Green Monster".  It was very interesting and a beautiful day.  We also took the Boston Harbor Cruise at the end of the day.  We ate dinner at Quincy Market...Lobster Roll.  We sat on a park bench and watched a mime for about 45 minutes.

Day 173, Sunday, June 22, 2014

We bought our "GoBoston" cards on line and started the day at the Aquarium.  We went on the Whale Watching Cruise and it was AWESOME!  We saw so much activity, feeding, breaching, tail and fin slapping!  This is probably my favorite picture of two whale tails.  You can see how close they were to the other whale watching boat.  We had mechanical problems with our boat and it took almost 3 hours for the return trip.  We ate dinner at the Green Dragon Tavern, which is the oldest Tavern in Boston, dating back to 1657.  We had lobster rolls for dinner.

Day 172, Saturday, June 21, 2014

We left Peoria, flew to Chicago and on to Boston.  We checked into the hotel and walked to the beach where I got to dip my toes in the ocean.  We rode the "T" to downtown and walked around until we found the original "Cheers" bar.  Had a great dinner and bought the kids Cheers souvenirs.  Great way to begin our vacation.

Day 171, Friday, June 20, 2014

Jennifer brought us sunflowers to enjoy for the last few days of work.  I was busy all day today, getting packed and ready to go on vacation.  Tomorrow, I will be in Boston!!

Day 170, Thursday, June 19, 2014

Mrs. Smith is out for the summer!  Today was my last day to work for the 2013-2014 school year.  This year seemed to last forever, as we had to use 7 emergency days.  So happy to have a few weeks off!

Day 169, Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Cindy and I went to eat lunch with Meg.  She just had a new baby boy.  His name is Knox.  He is a handsome little man!

Day 168, Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Another page in my art journal, using the old text paper and my watercolors.  Found the flower shapes on Pinterest.

Day 167, Monday, June 16, 2014

My red iris and yellow day lilies are doing great.  You can't see in this picture, but the red ones are about 3 feet tall.

Day 166, Sunday, June 15, 2014

This is my Happiness Is... for the month of June.  Love Charlie Brown and his gang!

Day 165, Saturday, June 14, 2014

Jim and I went to Galesburg to the Dick Blick Outlet Store.  They sent me a postcard with a coupon!  I got a few new black pens and some other interesting finds.  We ate lunch at the Packing House and walked downtown through the antique store.

Day 164, Friday, June 13, 2014

I like this plant stand for my new plants.  It also folds flat for storage.

Day 163, Thursday, June 12, 2014

Marrgie invited me to go to the Speakeasy Art Center for a Zendoodle class.  

Day 162, Wednesday, June 11, 2014

We took the Tiger Time Line photos down and started assembling the scrapbook for Jennifer.  This is her first year as a principal.  She has a photo a day for the entire school year.

Day 161, Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Cindy and I went to the resource room to check out the new smart table we just got.  It looks and acts like a giant ipad.  I can't wait for our students to begin using this thing!

Day 160, Monday, June 9, 2014

Yes, it's June.  No, it isn't snow.  It is cottonwood and it is laying on the ground like snow.  My sinuses are killing me!

Day 159, Sunday, June 8, 2014

Got the end of my pointer finger with the knife while I was cutting our salad for lunch.  I didn't get any stitches, just cleaned it out good.

Day 158, Saturday, June 7, 2014

It rained really hard for several hours this afternoon and evening.  We went bowling at Sunset Lanes.  We bowled two games and ate dinner at Kouri's.

Day 157, Friday, June 6, 2014

We ate dinner at One World Cafe'.  The first friday of the month, the local artist have an open house in downtown Peoria.  We walked down the alley from one of the studios.  There was sign painted on the bricks that said, "Park Jim".  Had to get a picture of that!

Day 156, Thursday, June 5, 2014

I bought 2 pounds of strawberries recently.  They are really sweet this year.

Day 155, Wednesday, June 4, 2014

I attended school here from 3rd to part of 7th grade.  It isn't being used as a grade school any longer.  I walked to school everyday.  I walked home everyday for lunch and back to school for the rest of the day.  I can remember walking those halls, climbing those steps, singing in the gym and learning to paint in the art class.

Day 154, Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Nikki had a card class at the Miller Center.  We made some nice cards.