Cookies, cookies, and more cookies!

I had a really good time with the girls yesterday, can you believe it...no finger licking. This is Julia rolling dough around a candy bar center. We cut the mini bite size candy bars in half and wrap them in sugar cookie or snickerdoodle dough. Ummm Ummm good.

Only one down fall, my youngest son's ex, never answered my calls to pick up Milaynah till 2:30, half way through making cookies. She moved 45 minutes away so I asked her if she could meet me half way. When she said no, I offered to go the whole distance to pick up Milaynah and keep her till Bryan got off work. Bryan was suppose to pick her up at the baby sitters after work anyway. She said no because she had to leave for work in an hour and still needed to shower. Which didn't make sense because I just offered to save her a trip to the sitter. She then said Bryan was not suppose to get her till today. He called me to ask how it was going and if I was able to get Milaynah, I told him about the conversation and he said, looks like I will have to take my court papers tonight when I go pick her up. He keeps court papers in his glove compartment just for the times when she is being difficult. He has had to call the county sheriff several times just to pick up his daughter. The sheriff looks at the papers and orders her to get Milaynah ready. I don't understand her thinking when she knows that he will do what ever it takes to see his daughter when it's his visitation.

That little girl is his whole world and he wants her to be a part of our family traditions. I scheduled the cookie time on a day that she was suppose to end up with Bryan so that it was on his time. I thought it was easier for her too, since she wouldn't have to take her to the sitter. We even schedule our holidays around his visitation so that there is less drama.

She is so moody, there are times when I can pick her up and take her on an outing just the two of us and she is fine with it and she's very friendly when I pick her up. She has even had her mom meet me half way after wards to get Milaynah. She hates my oldest son, Michael because he gave Bryan the money to fight for joint custody. He even got the lawyer to get a clause in there that if something happened to Bryan, Michael would have her for two weeks during the summer and so would I. I have never seen two brothers as close as Michael and Bryan. I wonder if that was part of it yesterday. Thing is, Michael and my daughter-in-law were both at work. The only ones at their house was Julia, Angelic and myself. Oh, and china too.

I will make time to get them together for some cookie making after Christmas, maybe we will start a new tradition of baking New Year cookies. One way or another, she will be included. I suspect that since she is only four, there will be finger licking again.

We will see her tonight and all will be good.

Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope Santa is good to you all.

Thoughts of an unemployed dead beat

I have not been called to work for 2 weeks now and my unemployment has run out. I was hoping to get more hours from my part time job, but I've only averaged 9 hrs a week for the 4 weeks I did worked.

I heard they passed an extension for the 99'ers. Apparently not. I have mixed feelings about that any way. If they are getting these extensions by raising the deficit, I think it's wrong, even if it does benefit me. They should get it by cut backs, and we all know they could trim some fat. Personally, I would prefer a JOB. I need medical. I was turned down for individual insurance...not that I could pay for it if I could get it. I need to feel like I can pay my share. If it wasn't for Rich I would be living in my car. Now that I can't even pay for gas It would pretty cold. Some times I wonder how he is going to be when I don't have the unemployment any more and can't contribute. I'm about to find out. It's not like we are married and he has to deal with it.

I apply for work everyday. My resume states that I worked at the same place since 1976. That is a dead give away that I'm over 50. I can't help but think, it's a strike against me. It appears to most people that I'm actually older than 52. Taking into consideration that most people start working at real jobs a few years older than my age when I started at 17. My resume reads like I'm more like 55 or older. Plus, I've been out of the job market for 2 years. Then you have the people who are out of work and have degrees and I only have a certification. Who wants me when they can get someone with a degree and experience. I just applied for three jobs this morning. It's the 1st thing I do every morning. I can't just stop trying.

Still. no word from Accountemps. I wonder if they get paid by how many people the recruit. I know they have allot of people with degrees and accounting experience. I just don't think they should tell me they will start placing me in entry level positions and then never call or return my emails.

Now that I'm depressed...ENOUGH OF THAT!

I'm stalling to call my son's ex so that I can pick up my grand daughter. We are baking cookies at my oldest son's house. I make cookies every year with the kids. This will be the 1st year that Milaynah will be with us. She has finally reached the age that she will go with me without mom or dad. Her mom works 2ND shift and I don't want to be too early for her. This will cheer me up.

Last night, I made three different kinds of cookies, brownies, cheesecake-lemon bars and fudge. I sent two trays to work with Rich. One for a co-worker...Tom and his family, who have become close Friends...THEY RIDE...and one tray for the guys to enjoy with morning coffee. Rich had to drop off the tray for Tom and his family at their house because Tom was not at work this morning. His wife emailed me and thanked me for being a good friend, saying she has been sick and not able to bake for Christmas. It makes me feel good that it will help make things a little easier on her. I have 2 trays left, one for my son's house on Christmas Eve and one for our house on Christmas day.

I made the cookie dough for today last night. I've found in the past that the kids get bored easy. Young kids have such a short attention span. This way they get to do the fun parts...forming the cookie balls, cutting out the shapes, and decorating. We save these cookies for the family...it doesn't matter how much you tell them...no licking your fingers...someone will lick and put them freshly licked fingers back into the dough. This happens allot when we get to the frosting. Rich got to witness the whole thing one year when I did it here at our house, it was so funny when my grand daughter tried to give him a cookie. He really didn't want it because he had just seen her lick her fingers before handing it to him. I gave him a look and he knew he better suck it up and like it, whether he did or not. This is what being grampa is all about. You lie. The cookies were good...even with the licked fingers.

The spirit of giving

I am so excited; I won a Dell notebook in the holiday drawing at the school bookstore. I have wanted to get Rich one for two years now. Since I share my laptop with Rich and he only uses email and internet, I have decided it is a perfect gift for him. I am installing printer drivers, virus protection, and setting up all his internet favorites, email contacts, etc. right now. It's so perfect for him. Yes, it’s a smaller keyboard...he uses the search and peck method any way...plus we have a USB keyboard he can use if he really hates the smaller keyboard. I love giving!

Because money is tight this year, I decided not to buy for my kids and concentrate on the grandkids. Well laid plans of mice and men…and some women. That’s easy to do for my oldest son and his wife, since they have everything they need. My youngest son is not so fortunate. He has not been able to find work in the field he is certified in, so he's taking parts off cars at a junkyard. It’s work, not the kind he would like to do and not much pay, but I am proud that he is at least working and willing to do what it takes. Point is he works outside and in case you’re not familiar with Northern IL weather, it’s freaking cold here! Being a mom, I can’t stand the thought of him working in the cold without the right outer wear. I bought him insulated Carhartt bib overalls. Of course I can’t buy for one and not the other so I am officially over budget on Christmas. That’s ok, it feels good.

So my wish for all of you…may giving bring you the same happiness it brings me.

Shopping with an 8 year old

I picked up Julia for our shopping spree. They got a new dog. It's a black Pug named Puggy Sue. How clever! Their other dog...born 2 days before Julia...a big American Bull Dog named China, with jaws and a bark that is totally intimidating, is a little jealous. When I came in, the pug was jumping on my leg and China decided to jump too. I am 5' 8", when she jumps on me, she is up to my shoulders. Fortunately, she listens good and as soon as I told her to sit she was sitting. She is not suppose to jump on people and this was a first. Every time the pug came near me she got in between us and sat in front of me till I pet her. She seems to like me but she always barks when I leave with one of the kids and I wonder if she doesn't like me taking them out of the house. She is very protective of the kids and my daughter-in-law...especially Julia.

On the way to the mall, we were chair dancing in the car with the radio turned up loud, just having a good time. I gave her $50 to spend on anything she wanted. I had to remind her at the first store that we would be coming right back past it on the way back so if she saw something she liked we could get it later, after we looked at a couple other stores.

We stopped for ice cream and I stopped at the newsstand and got some instant lottery tickets and won $15. Julia had an extra $15 dollars to shop with.

The next store we went to, her bill was just under $59. I reminded her that she wanted a TV pillow from the first store we went into and she only had $6 left. After the cashier realized Julia was paying for it herself, he reached under the counter and pulled out a coupon for 20% off. He said, "let's see if this helps". We were able to go back to the first store and get her the Minnie Mouse TV pillow she wanted.

I always take them to dinner after shopping...her choice this year...McDonald's.

Todays headline!

5 hurt in chain-reaction crash near Hampshire

Five transported in crash: About 15 cars were involved in a crash Sunday that began at about 10:45 a.m. at Route 72 west of French Road and continued for several hours as additional cars hit cars already involved. According to a Kane County Sheriff’s Department spokesman, there were no serous injuries and the exact number of vehicles involved was not immediately available due to the whiteout conditions. Route 72 was closed until about 3:15 p.m. while officers and paramedics sorted out the accidents. According to a Hampshire firefighter, five people were transported to area hospitals and 17 people refused medical attention. “It sounds like cars kept hitting each other or going off the roadway” before Hampshire police and Kane County sheriff’s deputies could close the road, Lt. Pat Gengler of the Kane County Sheriff’s office said. “The whole thing was a big mess.

That's our headline for today. Hampshire is about 5 minutes from us. It's a small town...not as small as ours...but small enough. We set out to do some Christmas shopping and where we had to turn right, you could not see anything to the west. We were glad to be heading east. Rich said "if the mall was that way, we would be turning around and going home." We decided to keep going since it looked better in the direction we were headed, with the plan of turning around if it got too bad. We got to the mall and home without a problem

When I checked today's news, I couldn't believe people would drive into a white out when there is a chance to turn around. It looked like a wall of white just 20 feet to the left of the intersection, you literally could not see anything.

We finished up our shopping for the grand kids and when we got home, I just had to play with the doll we got for Milaynah. She loves dolls and animals...this doll came with a dog on a leash, when you push a button on the leash handle, the doll asks the dog if he wants to go for a walk and the dog wags his tail, his ears start to flop, he pants and barks. There are about 6 different interactions between them. We got Julia...who is a real girlie girl...a wii dance game. She wants to be a cheerleader someday and loves any type of dancing. I bought them each an outfit last week but I wanted them to have something fun from us too, this should do it. My two oldest grand kids...teenagers, ugh...will be getting Visa gift cards this year. I got Rich a banjo case and strap for his new banjo and a CD. I am going to make a big cookie, Christmas breads, and candy tray for my sons and daughter-in-law.

Tomorrow is Julia's 8th B-day and I will be taking her shopping and out for dinner. I started doing that for each of them when Angelic started wanting sleepovers for her B-day party. This way they get thier social time and I get one-on-one time. The kids love thier special time with Grandma. Works for me! I really look forward to thier B-days.

School update

I have completed all my classes this semester as of today. I have all A's and I graduate for my Vocational Certification in Accounting and Office Technologies on the 17Th...WITH HONORS!!!

I have my next semester all lined up. I am only taking 6 credit hours this coming semester because I want to be able to work full time if the opportunity is there. I have a Saturday class for 1 credit, and a Tuesday night class for 3 credits and 2 independent study classes at 1 credit each. The 3 credit is tax accounting, then I have a Quickbooks ll, a tax software class and an advanced Excel for 1 credit each. They are all classes I will need for an Associates Degree.

I am starting to think that I should start taking some classes in medical terminology and Phlebotomy. That way I could widen my job scope. Any suggestions?

Belated Thanksgiving

Today was our day to roast a turkey at home since we were out of town for Thanksgiving. I am sooooo stuffed! My youngest son was here with his daughter and a few of our friends. Along with the usual dressing, and sides, I made a pear pie, key lime cheesecake, and our friends brought the pumpkin pie. It was fun to see my granddaughter again. She's four and finally past her shy stage. She answered the door when our friends got here and invited them in. I'm glad she is finally become friendly, but this could be a problem. She has gone from painfully shy to over trusting.


My friend is still in the hospital and still, is only able to have ice chips. I think it is the white blood cell counts that they are watching. Hers was at 19 on Friday when we went to visit her. It is at 14 today so she is finally going in the right direction. By the time she gets home she will be completely healed from the Gallbladder surgery. When I had mine out, it was out-patient and I was walking to the post office on the second day. I didn't have gallstones, mine just pooped out and was barely working. I am thankful that mine was so easy. They expect she will be able to go home Tuesday or Wednesday. She is so depressed being there for so long. She's worried about her job and her kids and just basically getting cabin fever. I'm sure once she gets home, she will do much better.

Job update

I am working part time at the local printing co...a block and a half away. The wages are better than the part time jobs that I have applied for that would be a 1/2 hour drive, so I am thankful for that, but I feel like I am right back where I stared. I started out in the bindery at the last company I worked for and after raising my kids and going back to school I was promoted to the position of estimator. I ended up running that department and revising the whole system, which had not been updated in...who knows how many years. Now I'm back in the bindery and have not heard one thing from Accountemps. I was somewhat down when I was reassured by a friend that she never got a call when she signed up for Accountemps. She is now an office manager and controller for a company that she was placed with through Kelly Girls. Next step...sign with Kelly Girls.

Talking about the friend above...she has been in the hospital since Thanksgiving. We took them to a feather party at the Eagles Club with us and they won four 23-24 lb turkeys, 8 lbs of bacon, and three 22-23 lb hams. They came to our house for breakfast the next morning bringing with them bacon. She was in horrible pain that night and refused to go to the hospital. Then on Thanksgiving, it happened all over again. This time she went to the hospital being dragged by her husband, kicking and screaming. They found that she had been passing gallstones and needed to have her gallbladder removed. She waited too long and developed pancreatitis, a fever, and high blood pressure. They put her on antibiotics and blood pressure med's and a liquid diet. The fever and white cell where down enough on Wednesday to do the surgery. She is still there, her white cell count went up again and the fever is back. It doesn't help that she found out through the grape vine, that her 18 year old...straight A student...son was driving a car with no brakes. He was leaking break fluid and didn't have the money to buy any so he just drove it any way. His argument was that he needed to get to school. She told him her car was just sitting in the driveway...take it!!! At 18, shouldn't he know better? And what about the people who decided to tell her about it, rather than to deal with it for her. Her husband who is the kid's step father was at the hospital and didn't know about it, but what about his father...he couldn't call him and say...dad, what do I do? It just angers me that people can be so STUPID! I mean...drive a car with out brakes...tell some one who is in her shape about it...who does that???? If he would have said something to me, I would have just asked her husband or Rich to look at it so Sue didn't have to be dealing with it. She should be concentrating on getting better and not dealing with adult children who can't make a sensible decision on their own.

We went to MO. for our Thanksgiving. We visited a friend of mine that I have known since I started in the bindery at the age of 17. It was a good visit and good food. I am making a turkey dinner this weekend so that we can be with our kids and a couple of friends.

I just got a call that I am needed to run an inserter. I owe, I owe, it's off to work I go!!!

I hope every one had a great Thanksgiving.

Not just one job but two!

OK...so they are two half jobs. But it's a start.

I went for my interview for Accountemps and scored in the mid 80's on all my tests. So....I was accepted as a temp!!! They said they would be contacting my references and if all went well with that, they would put me to work. My references are great so that's not a problem.

Yesterday I got a call from the printing company here in town. I went for a meeting with the production manager and they want me to start part time tomorrow. I applied last June and I got an interview on the spot because of my experience. Then his brother lost his job and he hired him instead. It's a very small company, only 4 full time employees. They have allot of mailings for the holidays, the first one due on Wednesday. It's only part time and only when they have a large work load. It's something to get me by till I can get something real. I can still work there weekends and nights when he is busy, even after I get a full time job. It wouldn't be the first time I worked two jobs. I told him about the Accountemps position and he said he understands that comes first.

Beaver dams

It just occurred to me that I did not post the beaver dam explosions. Here they are!!!

No beavers where harmed in the destruction of this dam. The beavers are all scurried out before the explosion. I tried to upload the video but the file is too big. Too bad...it's pretty cool looking.

The beavers make dams in the creeks and then the farm fields flood and the crops are ruined. Plus the farmers can't get the tractors into the fields. If you notice the handle of the shovel in the dam, It is just into the dam deep enough to get the charges into the dam. These beavers are serious about their dam building. The guy in the water (Tristan) is actually standing on part of the dam. The water was backed up pretty bad up stream.

This is what the Illinois boys do when they have a dynamite license. This and old silos that need to go to make room for new development.

I went with for this one pictured, today they went and blew up another one.

In a rut!

I have been thinking of giving up the blog for a while. I have only boring things to post. Other than the CA trip, I really haven't done much other than go to school and look for work. We haven't even done much on the bikes this year. I do miss our yearly bike trips.

Rich has been working on his 1968 Roadrunner. That's kind of exciting to watch. It was originally a stick and he wants to make it an automatic. I still haven't given up on trying to convince him to stay with the stick. He said he plans to drive it all the time in the summer. He doesn't want to go through all this work to drive it once a month to a car show and he wants to be able to drive it with out the hassle of shifting.

Can you believe he thought this was red when he painted it last? Talk about colorblind!

As for me...maybe things will start to make a turn for the better soon. I have had two interviews...one was for on-call work to fill in for the teenie-boppers that don't show up for work on Friday and Saturday nights on Macys' sales floor. I applied for clerical work or part time retail to try to get my foot in the door for clerical. I am not going to devote Thursday through Saturday to sitting around waiting for the phone to ring to replace someone who has poor work ethics and can't get their buts to work when they have agreed to. Sick is one thing, but we know that in the life of a teen, social activities come first. Plus, working a few hours one or two days a month, if that, wont pay my bills. The next interview was for a bookkeeping job...they hired someone with a bachelors degree. Probably a blessing in disguise...it's an hour drive in good weather. 45 minutes of that is on country roads so in the winter I can only imagine how long it could take. We get some pretty bad snow drifts out here in the farm land.

I have an interview with Accountemps on Tuesday. This is three interviews in 9 days, could this mean that the economy is starting to pick up, or am I disillusioned and heading for more disappointment?

On the bright side...I will graduate December 17Th with HIGH HONORS!!!! How cool is that?

The drive out and three days at the Villa

We left home on Thursday about noon and got into Omaha in time to join my nephew and his family for dinner. I have two nephews in Omaha but could only see one at a time since they are not speaking to each other. They are my brother Joe's boys. The oldest is 3 years older than me. He said that he felt like I was more like a sister than an aunt because I spent allot of my summers with them and we are so close in age.

The next morning we had breakfast with my other nephew...this one is two years younger than me. I met his daughter for the first time. She is only seven and adorable. He had her later in age because his first wife was not able to have kids.

Friday we were on to Denver. Again...in time for dinner with Rich's Aunt and Uncle. At the end of the night, his Uncle started to cry a little. He is the last one of his generation alive. It is Rich's, mom's, brother. He is 89 years old. We stayed in Denver and got on the road early Saturday morning.

We stopped at Arches National Park. It was very hot that day and after a few hours we were ready to go. If you click on the picture to zoom in, you can see 2 arches in the distance.

We stayed in Richfield, UT Saturday night. The next day we headed to Vegas.

Interstate 15 runs through the north west corner of AZ. That stretch of highway runs through the Virgin River Gorge. The highway runs through the Gorge along the river. It's looks like you are going to drive right into the mountain. I would love to do that road on the bike. I remember going through there 32 years ago on our way to visit my sister and brothers in CA and it was just as I remembered it. To remember a stretch of highway that long tells you how spectacular it really is. Of course, pictures can't do it justice. You look up and it's like looking up to the top of a rock sky scraper.

We stopped in Vegas for a couple hours. Rich lost $40 and I left $45 ahead. He said he should have just took the money out of his pocket and handed it to me but that would be no fun.

Sunday evening got into CA and visited with my sister and her family and my late brother, Lester's family for a few hours over pizza and then stayed in Temecula, CA.

We drove into San Diego and took a walk on the beach and watched some people surfing. Then we drove past the Villa we would be staying at to get a look see. We couldn't check in till the next day, so we got checked into a motel for the night and then went to meet Rich's daughter, his ex brother-in-law and his partner for dinner...pizza.

The next day we checked into the Villa...IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!

We had the whole place to ourselves. The views of the ocean were beautiful. If you click on the pictures with the rocks you will see Rich exploring with his new step grandson. The second picture on the rock, Rich had just jumped off the rock and was waiting for Kameron to jump.

In the next picture, they were looking into a cave. They said that someone had a mattress in there. They said that it looked like someone was living in there. I don't know how they could because the tide comes right up to it.

The proud father and Bride.

And now, for the highlight of the trip...the bride and groom!

Last night on the road

We are in Rolla Mo and will be home tomorrow night. We stopped at a place we stop at anytime we are in the area. Elbow Inn, Devils Elbow, MO. It's a biker bar we always have fun at. Friendly people...we even got free dinner.

Wedding went good...will post pix when I am recovered.

It's been a great trip!!!!

Getting things done.

We've been pretty busy this last 2 weeks.

• We went to the annual dance at the fire department.
• Our town had the annual town parade and party.
• Rich's boss brought his 56 Chevy out for the car show.
• I had lunch with the girls I used to work with.
• I have been working hard on homework so that I don't have to be a slave to it while we are gone.
• I have everything we need for our trip.
• I actually had a job interview with a company that just relocated 10 minutes from us. It is a large company that does international work. I was their first interview...wish me luck!!!!
• We had our annual bon fire party.

Today, I was recovering. I really didn't drink that much last night but, I had a headache like I had been drinking like a sailor. I only had 4 beers all night. Maybe it was a food reaction. I always make chili and everyone brings a dish to pass.

Next week will be busy too.

• Monday, I have school and we have plans to go to Buffalo Wild Wings after I cut Rich's hair.
• Tuesday, I have an appointment for a hair cut and it is Rich's B-day, instead of celebrating, we will be at the A.B.A.T.E meeting.
• Wednesday, I have school then I'm taking Rich out for dinner to celebrate his B-day.
• Thursday and Friday, I plan to make a bolero jacket to wear with my dress for the wedding.

We haven't been able to ride much this summer and we were just talking about how much we both missed having a bike trip this year. We have been putting money aside for our trip to CA and for a nice, cash gift for Jennifer and Dave.

This labor day weekend was labored for Rich. He worked on my car all morning Sat & Sun. He got everything done except for the back brakes. I'll never understand why car makers do the things they do. This year Cavalier was built with two different 2.2 and one 2.4 engines and the back brakes had either of two different size drums on any of the three engines. You can't just go into an auto parts store and say...I have this car and need shoes...you have to actually measure the drums to know what size to get. He is getting the brake shoes today after measuring the drums over the weekend. It's like everything that year was an after thought and just kinda mix and match as we go type of thing.

Monday we got to go on a ride. We logged 310 miles, hit a little rain...just enough to get wet...we saw 35-40 mph gusts and it was still a good ride. We haven't got much riding in this summer. We had allot of rain early on. Then we got so busy with other things...friends needing help...garage sales...grandkids...car repairs...etc.

Last Saturday night we went out dancing and again, was approached on the dance floor to teach dance. I appreciate that people think we look good on the dance floor but we are there to have fun, not walk people through dance steps. We would get on the dance floor for a couple line dances and we had people getting between us and on all four sides of us, going in different directions trying to follow us. We ended up yelling the out the counts and pointing to the direction they needed to go. If we got up for a swing, we had people trying to follow and running into us. We got out there for a real fast dance with allot of spins and turns and the singer in the band jumped off the stage and into our path. I squeezed real hard on Rich's left which is our signal to let each other know something is in the way on that side and he just got around him. Places to dance around here are so limited. The office manager at our dentist's office gave Rich a $80 discount on his last cleaning and x-rays in exchange for dance lessons.

I just got a call from my step daughter between the last paragraph and this one...lasted two hours. Good thing I put her in my fave five! This wedding is really stressing out every one. I was just talking to her future mother-in-law last Saturday and she was heading out to look for yet another dress. She has three and is still looking for the perfect one. Men are so lucky, they just wear what they are told to wear and they're done. Rich has been worried about our basement. The neighbor built a garage next to us and hit a drainage pipe, now when it rains we get allot of water in our basement. If the sump pump quit working, we would be in trouble. We got my son to agree to come and stay here while we are gone. He has heating, air and plumbing experience and could handle anything that might happen. One less thing for Rich to stress about! We are really looking forward to the wedding but we'll be glad when it's done.

Maintenance

We have a truck (97 Dodge Ram with 54,000 miles), my car (An 02 Cavalier with 150,000 miles) and 3 Harley's. We have decided to take my car because it’s cheaper on gas than the truck and since we have to take formal wear, we can’t take the bikes. Good thing Rich is a mechanic. I bought plugs, wires, oil, two oil filters…one for when we get back…coolant, radiator flush, air filter, trans filter and fluid. The car runs great and it has been a very reliable car. I bought it new and have never had any trouble with it other than a front wheel bearing, fan relay, muffler clamp and the normal brake pads and rotors. Oh…and a battery.

Rich has been doing a little each day to get it maintained for the trip. As he was under it, greasing the rear, he noticed that one of my brake lines is almost rusted through and some rear brakes would be in order for crossing the mountains. He will be stopping today to pick up brake lines, pads, water pump, timing chain and gear. He has been researching when these things go out on the Cavaliers and according to the info he has gathered, I am over due for the pump and chain to go. He has heard that when the chain goes, it usually takes the engine with it. He checked the price of the chain and gear kit and it’s only $50...better than replacing the engine or getting a new car. When you have one this good, you don't mind putting money into it to keep it good.

I have a little over $100 in it from the items I just bought and I’m guessing the drums ~ $30, chain and gear kit ~ $50, the lines will be cheap enough, pump, ~ $40…maybe about $250 - $275 total in parts plus ~ $400 in tires next week. Having a mechanic in the house…PRICELESS!!!!

This blog wouldn't be complete without a pix of the mechanic!

Short rides, a train and allot of big ships.

Friday we took a 45 minute ride for dinner...mostly for the ride. Then on Saturday, we rode 35 minutes to a party. That was it for our weekend riding.

We would have been riding on Sunday but we took the train into Chicago to see The Tall Ships at Navy Pier. It was 94 and very humid. This summer we have had so many days in the nineties and allot of humidity. I don't do well with humidity, so for me it was a rough day. About lunch time we started looking for food. By this time it was so crowded, it was an hour and 45 minute wait for lunch any place on the pier. We started walking and in about ten minutes we found a place with only a five minute wait. It was a nice walk. When you get away from the pier and the thousands of people, you have cool breezes that make the high temps bearable and almost pleasant. We had lunch...myself, a cool refreshing salad...everyone else, a big huge burger and fries. I could have stayed in the city exploring as I love to do in Chicago...but...the guys wanted to go back to the pier and board one more ship called the bounty. Us girls decided to go find some refreshments in air conditioned surroundings and told them to call us when they finished the tour of the Bounty so we could meet up. We no sooner sat down and the phone rang...one 1/2 to two hour wait in the sun, with hundreds of people in one spot waiting to board. They decided it was too hot for them too.

We got there early, boarded allot of the ships and had a good time before it got too crowded. I don't like crowds so after lunch, I would have been happy walking the streets of the city away from the crowded pier. I love Chicago, I can spend a whole weekend going to the museums, zoos, and just walking the streets looking into the shops on Rush Street. I prefer it when there is nothing going on in the city. I would have loved to stay for some of that but, the friends we went with were done once we were done with the ships.

Here are some pix of the ships...hope you enjoy!

Busy...busy...busy! and...something for Lady Rides Allot

Allot of things have been happening since my last blog.

I had a garage sale...made just under $200. Not too bad...it pays for the dress and shoes I bought for my step daughter's wedding.

My cousin was at the nursing home when I went to visit my Aunt Babe. He said to her, Look who's here. She looked up and smiled and called me by name...she recognized me, yea! She's not as social as she used to be. She is quiet and just listens and smiles.

After our visit my cousin and I made plans for the 4 of us to meet for dinner later that evening. It was good to visit with them. They are living our dream. They have been full time RVer's for eight years now. When we retire, we want to get a 43' toy hauler that we can live in and become snow birds.

One thing I noticed...I always thought my oldest son resembled my ex's family and had no resemblance to mine. I tried to figure out where he got his forehead from and never could. It turns out he looks allot like my cousin. After looking at old pictures I see he takes after my grandfather as much as he does his dad's father. I could always see my father-in-law in him but never my family till I sat with my cousin for a while. He reminded me of my son several times, in both the shape of his face and in mannerisms. How strange is that...the mannerisms that is.

I did get to ride to Champagne/Urbana to see my sister-in-law. I rode down on Tuesday and came home on Wednesday...149 miles...not a bad ride. We had a good visit and I was glad I went.

My friend that just lost her mother asked me to help out with the estate sale so I was there Thursday and Friday with her sister-in-law. The rest of the family works and they wanted two people there at all times. On Friday, my friend stopped over to the house after she got off work. I noticed she was looking around the house at the bare walls and looked like she was about to loose it. I asked her to come into the kitchen with me and she just lost it. She grew up in that house and it was real hard for her to see everything going out the door. It brought back memories of when I lost my mom. I hugged her and just let her cry. After nearly 5 minutes and a big wet spot on my shoulder from tears, she was OK for the rest of the night. We got a pizza and headed to her house and just hung out for the rest of the night.

On Saturday I spent the day trying to find shoes and a bag to match the dress I decided on for the wedding. I got a call from my step daughter while I was out, asking me to speak at her wedding. Wow...our relationship has come along way. She hated me in the beginning and nothing I could do would change her mind. I never understood why. I wasn't the cause of her parents split...I met Rich after his divorce was final and I always treated her good. She finally apologized to me after she started dating a guy with kids and had trouble connecting with the girl. They now have a good relationship but it took a while. She said she finally figured out that her parents had nothing in common with each other in the first place and she has thanked me for making her dad so happy. She had to be a step mom-to-be to see it.

Saturday night we went to a place that we used to go to all the time. It was closed for a couple years and recently reopened. We danced so much my legs ached, especially after walking the entire mall that morning. While we were there, someone approached us and asked us if knew where a certain town was. We said, yes we live there. She said she was working for the park district and trying to put together a dance every other Friday at the old school. After seeing us dance she wanted to hire us to lead/teach dance. I told her we are out of practice and real ruff. She told us that she couldn't tell by watching and that we looked great together. She said that when he spins me I just follow so effortlessly...little did she know I was constantly watching his face for signs of his next move. I used to feel every move coming without even thinking about it just by the way he touched me and where his hands went. I have to really think about it know. We have tried to teach some of our friends and it's hard for me to teach a man. I'm used to following, not leading. Plus...no offense meant....allot of men have absolutely no rhythm and can't even feel the beat of the music. We agreed to try it for one Friday and see how it goes.

These pix's are for Lady Rides Allot...Sunday we went riding with some friends. I am not going to say where...can you tell where these shots were taken? Hint...it's near your old stomping grounds.

School started yesterday so I need to get busy with my studying.

My Aunt Babe

My Aunt Babe is the best. She is the last of my mom's siblings and she reminds me so much of my mom, who died 25 years ago. She is witty, classy, loving and has a great sense of humor. I like to listen to her stories of how her and my Uncle Ray met and about their younger years. Me and Rich liked to tease her a little. She used to love to dance and they would go to dances every Sat night till my Uncle went overseas for the war and picked it back up when he came home. I asked her if she ever drank when they went out. She said, not much, just a little Gin once in a while. That gave Rich ammunition and he said, “you don’t mess around; you go straight to the hard stuff, or was Uncle Ray trying to get you drunk.” She laughed and told him that she did some drinking but never too much. Dancing was too important and you couldn’t dance if you were drunk.

I used to love to watch her dance at family parties and weddings. She could really go. After her husband couldn’t dance any more, her and my Uncle John would dance. He danced the jitterbug till he was 91. He broke his back trying to help someone change a car engine and never danced again. He died at 93. I have to say he had a good life. I think my memories of watching them dance is what made me love dancing so much. I remember at a party at my Uncle John’s house one time, he moved the kitchen set to another room and he and my oldest sister did the swing till I thought they would drop. She was 18 years older than me. It must have been really cool to grow up in that generation.

I usually go and see my Aunt every couple months. I haven't been to see her in at least 3-4 months…school got in the way of that. I decided I needed to call her last Tuesday and ask her out to dinner next Sunday before school starts. When I called I got a recording that her phone was disconnected.

I finally got a hold of my cousin today and he said she has vascular dementia and they had to put her into a nursing home. I talked to her the week before mother’s day and she seemed fine.

Last time I visited, she showed me the same pictures as the last visit. I just figured she forgot that she showed them to me. She knew who everyone was, but it was strange that she told me my cousin’s names…as if I didn't know them. How could I have missed that? She probably didn't realize who I was at that moment.

During that visit, I had taken some old rings to show her to see if she knew who they belonged to and the history of the rings. She didn't recognize them but she remembered her mother’s engagement ring and that I have it. She was supposed to get it but she felt my mom deserved to have it after taking care of my grandmother for the last 12 years of her life. In 85, I tried to pass that ring on to her after my mom died and she refused it, saying that it was given to my mom and there for it was now mine. I know she knew me at that point in the visit. I wonder if her state of mind can change that fast.

My cousin told me that last time he went to visit, she told him that the red jeep in the parking lot was my Uncle Ervin’s and that he worked at the nursing home. My Uncle Ervin died before my mom and that was in 1985. It saddens me to hear that, me and Rich always commented on how sharp she was so late in life…she is 86 or 87. I look at her health as a look at the future into mine. My health has mirrored hers in every stage. The thyroid, borderline diabetes, and hysterectomy. It seems I take after her more than my mom in the health department. I hope I am as sweet as she is when I’m older.

I am going to meet my cousin at the nursing home today to visit her. I hope she remembers me. She has always been very close to my heart.

We have to be careful of getting so busy we put off visits. I spent the whole day yesterday with my grandkids from my oldest son. I wanted to spend some time with them before we all go back to school. I took them to see Step Up 3 and then we went back to their house and played UNO. I want to take my youngest son’s daughter next week. She is too young for Step Up 3 and the older ones would be bored with Disney. I put in a call to her mom and haven’t got a call back yet. She is mad at my son because she wanted to change his visitation with only a 5 minute notice and he wouldn’t go for it. She tells me I can see me granddaughter any time I want so we’ll see if she feels that way when she is made at him. I don’t want to do it on one of my son’s weekends because he doesn’t see her that much.

I still want to ride down to Danville and see my sister-in-law before school starts. I have wanted to do that for a while now. I have to just do it. She is the wife of my brother Joe. I spent a lot of summers with her and she is not doing too well.

This has been a long post, guess I just needed to get it out. I feel like she is the last living link to my mom and I hate to think that she will soon be gone. Wish me luck that she will remember me today. I’m taking pictures and being hopeful. :)

It's been really crazy...some good...some bad.

The good...

• We did a run for ABATE.
• Spent time with friends.
• Spent time with my grand kids.

The bad...

• A wake
• A funeral

The friend of mine that had the hair clip mishap lost her mother on Friday so I've been trying to be there for her as much as possible.

The crazy...

• Searching for a Mother of the bride dress that will meet the approval of the bride and Rich.
• One that I feel comfortable wearing, at a price I can afford.
• One that will work with a chocolate brown tux.
• A four day garage sale. What a pain, but it paid for the dress.

These are the dresses I bought. These are dresses that I am willing to wear...Not that I am excited about any of them. I will put it to a vote between the bride and Rich then after I decide I will take back the not chosen...Any suggestions?

Motorcycle rights!

I am a member of ABATE. This is an excerpt of an email I received this morning. If any one would like to read the whole article, feel free to email me and I will forward it to you. This is just one of the many ways that ABATE stands up for our rights. Maybe if you agree with what they are doing to protect our rights, you may want to join up with your local ABATE group. The membership is minimal compared to what they do. You may even meet some new riding friends. You can find my email address on my profile page.

A mandatory roadside motorcycle stop may be coming to a town near you, reports the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF). Recently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has asked for applications from law enforcement outfits to apply for a new pot of taxpayer money designated for pulling motorcyclists off the road to lecture them about safety.
The MRF strongly opposes this sort of discrimination against motorcyclists. “Pulling over law-abiding motorcyclists does not make anyone safer and is huge waste of taxpayer money,” said Jeff Hennie, Vice President for Government Relations and Public Affairs for the MRF.

The dangers of hair clips

Most women have used...or at least seen these hair clips. This is a story that might change your mind.

Last Friday, we went to a friends house to go out for dinner. We had planned on riding. We got there and after our friend got the bike out of the garage and to the bottom of the driveway, his passenger started to mount-up. The drive way is on a hill so there is a dip at the end. He is only a 29" inseam and rides a bagger. When she got on they went over. She was wearing one of these clips and it broke apart. The combs from the clip went into her scalp. She had blood down her arm, dripping from her elbow, down the front of her, between her breasts and down the center of her back. It looked like she split her head wide open with all the blood. She was naturally shaken after seeing all the blood. She said she was a little dizzy, so rather than take chances, we called 911. The paramedics were pulling pieces of this clip from her head and it looked like she needed stitches. So off to the hospital she went.

It turned out that the sharp edge of the clip that was left after the combs broke off, scraped a quarter size piece of her scalp off...hence...the heavy bleeding. The combs that they had pulled out had just broke the skin and not serious. No stitches, just ALLOT of blood.

So to all you girls that wear these, you may want to try and alternative method of putting your hair up while riding. I usually do a pony tail with several bands down the length of the pony tail with a bandanna to keep the strays out of my eyes. I rarely use clips but I will not be wearing a clip any more after this. Too many sharp edges when they break. If she was not wearing it, we would have just cleaned up his and hers skinned elbows and been on our way.

Cleaning out my cell phone pix

Cell phone pix are not usually very good but when there is no other camera around, they do just fine in a pinch. The 1st one is a scan that I copied to my cell.


This is my oldest grand daughter a little over a year ago. Her hair is normally a dark strawberry blond with gold accents. I like her natural color best. Her dark eyes and medium skin are such an uncommon combination with the strawberry blond hair, especially during the summer when it is allot lighter from the sun. Both of these were taken in the winter, before and after she colored it. That's what you get when dad is a red head and mom is of Mexican decent. Maybe I'm just a proud gramma...but I think she is absolutely beautiful. I think my son is about to have his hands full. I just hope he is strong enough to control himself with the boys that are sure to come around. He's already having trouble dealing with the boys calling and talking about cleaning his guns when ever she starts dating.


This is a storm we was trying to out run a few weeks ago. We just made it home when it caught up to us. It was only about 6-7 pm and getting very dark. As dark as it was by the time we got home, you would have thought it was later.

This past weekend we rode to Starved Rock. On the way we stopped at a roadside rest area. Hopefully you can see what we saw in the trees. It was filled with shoes. I always wonder what is the purpose of tossing shoes into trees.

Closer to home we stopped for a beer and we ran into some people from our town out playing with there toys.

This got Rich working on his 1968 Plymouth Road Runner. He bought the car new and drove it for years. He ended up parking it in the garage because it needed work and it has been sitting since we moved here. He has an engine for it that he took out years ago because it used too much gas and he had to use the car to drive back and forth to work. He said it would pass anything but a gas pump. Having a stay at home wife and raising two kids, he couldn't afford the gas and had to put a smaller engine in it. This engine is supposedly worth quite a bit. It was a limited edition Commando something...I am not good at remembering engine spec's. He had traded his train set for it when he was about 18. He plans to put that engine back into it. He talked about putting an auto trans in it...I looked at him and said, no way! I had a couple sticks when I was younger and I liked them, I do agree they are a pain in traffic. It's not like he is going to be driving it everyday everywhere he goes.

He has been working on it every night for a couple hours after work, getting it stripped down. After he gets it stripped, he is going to take it to work and steam clean it and start doing the body work. His boss has a 56 Chevy that he rebuilt and wants Rich to do the Plymouth at the shop. He will probably do the body work and any welding there, but he wants to be able to do most of it at home. I'm getting excited for him.

I hope he lets me pick the color...he's color blind. Not real bad, he just has trouble with shades of reds and oranges, and shades of blues, purples and black. You could put pink or orange in front of him and he would swear it was red and dark blue, purple and black all look the same to him.

I will have to start taking pix of it and posting his progress.