Monk has left this world............

In college, I met up with a person that has turned out to be a life-long friend. While in college, her family embraced me as one of their own - to the point of when I walked in the door for one of our weekend visits - they would bypass Anner and come welcome me. The family always knew that when I was in town biscuits and gravy would be served for Sunday breakfast by Granny (no one has ever topped hers or Viola's gravy) - Monk, was Anner's dad and he gently passed away last night, the world has lost a genuine nice person. A sweet, ornery, stubborn cuss who I loved the minute I met him. He drank Black Label beer (yuck), made jewelry as a hobby and LOVED to give me trouble.


He never knew Anner taught me to drive a stick in his Ford pick-up truck, taking me on Missouri back-roads that if I made a wrong move I could easily plunge off the side of the road - he always threaten when we went to the bars he would be sittin' on the porch with a shot-gun to ensure No-One came home with us - he nevered followed through and the best was when had spent the weekend at the 'cabins' and were returning home, Anner and I worn out and hung over from a weekend of soaking in the sun, float trips, cards and of course beer were sleeping in the back of his pick-up truck on the way home - it had a cab over it, but the tail gate was down. We think he forgot we were back there, when we came out of our sleep haze we realized our feet were hanging off the back end of the truck's tailgate moving close to sliding out the back and driving through town -

He was a a wonderful soul, I will miss him! Take good care of him Lord.

Didn't get to my bedroom

Alas, it is always the way - the one thing you want to get accomplished, 100 other things get in line before it. I did managed to get all the downstairs done and finished now awaiting the arrival of my new furniture - painted the upstairs hallway & trim last night - ugh, it really needed it - again damn kids and thier dirt! - lol.

Lawn is mowed so neighbors won't complain, cleaned up the gardens and the back yard a bit, big dog tends to have some fun with old soccer balls - there are dead carcasses laying all over with bits and pieces - since the homeowners association president lives behind me I have to be good - managed to get my #'s on my mailbox - another homeowner assoc. thing, we all received notices from the neighborhood nazi that we were not 'up to code'. Course they want us to spend $80 to purchase a new mailbox from this authorized company that has 'special letters' on it that you can't get anywhere else - and you can't buy just the letters it is the whole thing - screw that, we all bought various letters from the store and put them on ourselves -

Got my garage back to some order so I can get my car in, now waiting to get rid of old furniture, I am donating it to the St. Vincent organization course they are scheduled to come on the 14th, along with my new furniture. I feel good about all I accomplished, but sadden by the fact I have to wait a little bit longer to get my own room done - lived in this house for 6 years now - all the rooms have been painted once or twice, sadly mine still has the cheap white that was on it when it was built......

Halloween is just around the corner, and for once I have my decorations out a little early - for some reason this holiday has become as big as Christmas around here when it comes to outside decorations. Mine are not all that elaborate, the neighbors have those big blow-up things, lights for the gutters, etc. - course, it also takes them another 2 weeks after halloween to get them taken down. I am truly trying to get a jump on things here before winter sets in, the air is cooler so it is not to far off.

Off to get the regular chores of laundry, dishes, bills and packing done. Alex and I are off to lovely Champaign, Il for a soccer tournament. Tonight I hope to go out a bit and play some poker, the cards have not been good to me of late, and when they were - someone always had just a tad better - course, folded a 3/4 un-suited last week, the flop came down 3,3,K - that would of given me 3 of a kind, then with the turn card came a 4 - damn, full house and I would of raked in a pretty penny - it's sometimes about the choices you make - just like in life! But my table buddies all said they would of folded that hand on the raise as well - great, thanks for the comforting thoughts - I wanted all your chippies!

~ Have a great weekend all! ~

Update > Pictures from Alex's Soccer Camp

Alex went to Chicago in August for an International soccer camp and to visit grandma/grandpa - here are a few pictures from her visit. She had a blast with her camp and going to the zoo.

She made a new friend to visit now when go to Chicago.

Received the best camper/player award from the coaches who were from Scotland and Liverpool.

Progress.....

Tuesday was a wash with getting my hair done in the morning, picking up all the supplies I had run out of and Alex's ortho appointment and then the school task force meeting until 9pm, I managed to get the walls in the family room trimmed out, but that was about it. I figured since the evening was a wash with the meeting and such - well I went out and played some poker with the gang, didn't make top 20 or the final table - but was close (22) - just couldn't get the cards - but the jaegar bombs were going down well!

Alex will be getting braces within the coming weeks, I am so excited that I now get to resume that $100/mth for the rest of her life - not that bad, but geez, just got Kelsey's braces off in July. The girls are going to talk to the Drs. see if they can get me a little more of a break on record and installation fees since I am a return client AND I choose to come back to them versus going to the ortho that my dentist recommend. That would be a nice break., but they are very good orthodontists and their prices are competitive with what I hear others having to fork over. The poor girl is missing 2 teeth below (they just ain't there) so they will have to allow for spaces on both sides for a bridge to be put in and she has 2 extra teeth above that will need to be pulled so her eye teeth can come down - she is all messed up! This too shall pass!

Today I got up early as usual to take Alex to school, took a little time in the morning to enjoy coffee and my paper - I mean I am on 'vacation'. I started today's tasks with finalizing the trim and rolling the family room walls. Onward, I noticed the main hallway wall is all scuffed up and needed trimming - got it done, finished the ceiling where I missed a few spots and the trim in the kitchen, living and part of the dining room (my arm got tired and I had to move things) - With enough painting for a bit I switched over to cleaning up the kitchen (it was a mess) and cleaning the areas of the carpets the cats decided were their own - okay that was nasty - but I managed to get them all cleaned up and the family room has the carpets cleaned as well. So I am now awaiting the carpets to dry so I can clean the windows, put back the stuff that is going stay when the new furniture arrives (did I mention it has been put off 2 weeks) and declare that room done! Woo Hoo. The kitchen needs a few touch ups over some oops and a second coat over the trim and then it waits until my Coke machine and refrigerator get moved out to the garage - probably in 2 weeks.

Next on the list......a shower, damn I stink!

No, have to finish out the trim going up the stairs and re-paint the wall section of the stairs that has received some serious damage by kids - not pets. I am looking at the upstairs hallway walls and wondering if I should just go ahead and paint that before getting into my bedroom - I am thinking I might - we'll see how I feel tonight.

Tomorrow, seriously, I am going to start my bedroom - start something, cleaning the walls - trying to figure out how I am going to paint the middle of my vaulted ceiling - tearing everything away from the walls - something, I will get something done to move my bedroom forward - this was the whole reason I took off - go figure.

Now off to that shower -

Work, Work, Work.........

This time home repairs, I have taken the week off to get some painting done around the house. As with all projects, this one started off finally getting my bedroom painted - if you seen the earlier post, the paint patches have been on my wall for just about a year now, and the project creep has gone from there............

Leeann & I out Friday, just had hair done -

As my plans developed during the month, I happen to have purchased some furniture that was too good a deal, well since I am going to be painting and have the time - might as well put a new coat of paint on the family room and the ceilings haven't been done or the trim finished. But wait there is more, my brother just upgraded his kitchen (which looks fabulous) I am getting his side by side refrigerator, in order to bring this into the house, I need to move the old refrigerator (paint behind it) and since we have a refrigerator dolly what a great time to move my coke machine (paint behind it) to the garage so it may wait to be repaired - but if i am moving those out to the garage, I have to move all my shelves and workbench to the other wall so that the coke machine & refrig will be outside the door. Okay, I am good with this so far. Now, Menards has rolled insulation on sale, hmmmmm, since I am moving all the stuff from the garage walls, now might be a good time to put up that insulation so I don't have to move the coke machine again for awhile (my diet cokes freeze in the garage in the winter). You can see where this is going and notice my bedroom is dropping on the list - I really, really hope to get it all done!

Shopped to get all supplies on Sunday ( well most) - Put up enough of the insulation to cover moving the garage stuff and make room for the refrigerators (still need to get a few more rolls of insulation - shopping again). Today, I moved all the old furniture out into the garage, put pre-treator on the carpets (damn cats), painted all the downstairs ceiling and the family room trim. I now am in need of a trip to lowes to gather more trim paint, wall paint (thought I had more) and two more rolls of insulation - that will be tomorrow, for tonight, I am trimming out the walls in the family room and using the last bit of that paint I have. Stayed Tuned to see if I get finished, Furniture is delivered on Thursday - woo hoo!

A Mother's Soccer Heartbreak....

As a single mom you try to divide your time between the girls activities, household chores and upkeep, work and occasionally some play. This evening, it was the lawn that had been calling my name. After a busy weekend, rain and some just right temperatures it had grown to 10" on some blades - I could no longer hold off mowing, it had to be done and tonight!

Kelsey was scheduled to play Lawrence North this evening, it was an away game on the north side, chatting with her this morning I eluded to possibly not attending to get the lawn done, she was okay with it since they are the #1 team, she felt they would play the starters most the game and she might not see a lot of action tonight.

Well, came home and got the lawn mowed, I can actually see the dog now. Checked my phone and one of the soccer mom's had called - I called her back, and that is when the heartbreak began.

It's just about the end of the 1st 1/2, Kelsey is playing forward - she normally plays mid-field - Megan, the other forward took the ball up and got boxed in, she lofts it over to the middle and up comes Kelsey to finish off for the GOAL! 1/2 buzzer sounds and the score is 1-0 Center Grove - and I wasn't there to see....... it hurts I could of been there, but made the wrong choice - the grass could of waited another day....... Congrats Kelsey - I am so proud for you!

Labor Day - Is No days of Rest

Friday night we were off and running, the girls headed to the HS football game, we were playing Carmel so the helicopters were flying circle over my house, the canons were going off and traffic was awful (they lost to Carmel, 49-7). Knowing my children were safe and happy for the evening I was off to see REO Speedwagon at the Ribfest - we stuffed ourselves full of pulled pork and a wonderful Pina Colada and sang along to many songs of our youth - they still sounded good. The girls being the responsible kids they are were home and in bed by 12:30am....good girls - their mother on the other hand, with all intentions of going home after ribfest, got dragged into the midnight poker game, which led to having breakfast at 4am - Kelsey said to me - 'you got in a 5am didn't you?' - yes, yes I did.

I managed to get a few things done Saturday after I arose for the day - not easily though - the lawn needs to be cut, but I just can't bring myself to it. Kelsey worked until 5pm and by 6:30pm we were all off with some friends to see the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young concert - it was awesome and reminded me of how the music I grew up with had such powerful messages behind them - there are a few today but none with near the impact. The evening was slightly chilly but we enjoyed it immensely - the older girls like it as well - Alex, she fell asleep on under a blanket - but said she liked it alright, but it all sounded the same - lol! We got to see the downtown fireworks from where we were sitting so we enjoyed several shows for the evening - we got in a 1am, exhausted and an early morning facing us -

5:45am - OMG, I don't really have to get up do I? Please, Please let me sleep in, roll-over and snuggle down....in my dreams, up and off to Bloomington (about an 45 minute drive) for the first of 2 games for the day - 8am start time - UGH......we finally get there, I reload my coffee and sit to watch our first game, we lost - not a good start to the weekend. Alex and I got home, did a few things - again, my intention was the lawn - but that didn't happen - we crashed - up again to go back down to Bloomington for now a 6:15pm game, Kelsey joined us so I had my family for some together time - it's been awhile - they won this game 1-0, much better and a boost to the team, we enjoyed a family dinner at Olive Garden, went home and crashed again with full bellies.

Okay a little better, but not much - up and ready for a 10:30am & 3:30pm games, we head out. Kelsey worked today. These games ended with a 4-0 win and 1-1 tie - both were good games and enjoyed by parents and kids. On our way home, stopped in my sister in law's brother's house for a cook-out, enjoyed good food and good company and we were off again - a living room set caught my eye on Sunday while reading the paper and I decided to take a look, it is being delivered in a week - I am so excited! Catching up on bills, getting ready for the week and the lawn still has not been mowed! ;)