Whirlwind

The past three weeks have been a whirlwind of activities. So be prepared for a gi-normous post tonight, beginning with the most recent and working backwards. . .

Yesterday was Jacob's 17th birthday. I can barely believe that he is 17 - it was like yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital. He had a pretty nice day, I think. We grilled brats outside and had sour kraut and potato salad with it. He chose cheesecake for his cake.
We went to the farm for opening weekend of deer season this past weekend. We had no luck with the hunting, but loads of fun shooting! Our newest family member also went along for his first hunting experience. We have an exchange student from Berlin living with us until the end of the school year. Unfortunately his first host family didn't work out, and he was left with no where to stay. He and Jacob have a class together...and the rest is history. His name is Markus, and is a really nice, polite, and courteous young man. I think he will fit in terrifically with our family, and are looking forward to getting to know him better.Obviously, when they found the box of rubber gloves in Grandmothers kitchen, great minds must think alike:)

Text Messaging Woes
Our Jacob is not much of a phone talker...but he has become quite the texter. He has done wonderfully with the $10 texting plan that has 200 non-ATT texts and unlimited ATT. But...Apparently he has made some friends who are non-ATT. To the tune of 600+ texts over the 200 limit...at .10 each. Needless to say we have changed to the $20 texting plan with is unlimited.

Finally, I was tagged by The Lutheran Hen to tell you seven thing about myself that you wouldn't know. This isn't as easy as you'd think. I'm supposed to tag 7 more people, but my brain is too tired, so if you're reading, consider yourself tagged!

Seven things about me:
1) I am an only child (probably almost as spoiled then as I am now!)
2) I played trombone in high school. (Can you get any nerdy?)
3) I would love to be able to sing and dance.
4) My favorite cake was always my grandmother Bibby's marble cake with chocolate icing.
5) I absolutely hate, hate to clean the bathroom.
6) I hate to exercise - never feel the endorphine things
7) My favorite band growing up was The Who, but now am fond of Kevin Fowler.

That was not the least bit exciting. *sigh*

Our Anniversary

Today is our anniversary. The first meal we ever ate as husband and wife was a steak finger basket from Dairy Queen. Every year (almost) we celebrate by going to Dairy Queen and having steak finger baskets. Tonight was no exception. Here we are in the parking lot! We've been married 23 years. It seems like yesterday I was walking down the aisle. God has showered me with blessings all these years. Allan being the best of them all. I treasure every minute spent with him. We pledged to love each other for richer or poorer, in sickness and health. We've certainly been through richer or poorer, and thankfully more health than sickness. Whatever path we've been on, it's been made easier being on it together. There's a Johnny Cash song called 'Rose of My Heart' that we both love to listen to.

Rose Of My Heart

We're the best partners this world's ever seen Together as close as can be But sometimes it's hard to find time in between To tell you what you are to me You are the rose of my heart You are the love of my life A flower not faded nor falling apart If you're tired, rest your head on my arm Rose of my Heart. When sorrow holds you in her arms of clay It's raindrops that fall from your eyes Your smile is the sun come to earth for a day You brighten my blackest of skies You are the rose of my heart You are the love of my life A flower not faded nor falling apart If you're cool let my love make you warm Rose of my heart So hard times are easy times, what do I care There's nothing I'd change if I could The tears and the laughter are things that we share Your hand in mine makes all times good

Nice Matters Award

I received a very nice award last week from Toni at Special K Family. This is my first award, and I'm glad it's for being nice. This is something I try very hard to be, even when I'm not feeling very nice. So I'm going to pass this award to two other ladies who seem to be very nice themselves. Juloyes at the Accidental Pastor's Wife and Constance at Slim Pickens from My Brain, give yourselves a nice pat on the back. I think you are both kind and loving ladies. The people who know you in real life are blessed to have you! Check out all three blogs, they are great!

The Sixth Target

The Sixth Target by James Patterson. I finished reading this today. It has all the things you love in a James Patterson book. Short chapters, fun characters, and a good mystery. I enjoyed reading it, but somehow it didn't keep me riveted to the pages like his books usually do. Maybe I just have other things filling up my mind!

Did anyone catch the Women's Murder Club show on TV Friday? Any thoughts? I personally did not really like it. It seemed fake. Only the reporter seemed real. Now granted, I don't watch a lot of network TV. I've never watched any of the CSI shows (even if the Who does sing all their songs:), so maybe this is just how these shows are. I'll give it another week, but I'm not impressed so far.

Time Flies...

And here I am at 10:40 on Sunday night still waiting for towels to dry. My work for tomorrow is done, and the weekend has flown by with no blogging on my part. We DID have a productive weekend though. We repaired some boards that had fallen down on our back patio cover. Finally remembered to look for hummingbird nectar, and now our feeder is in business. It is hummingbird season, and they are SO cute. Already buzzing around - and did you know they chirp?? Who knew... My clothes line came on Saturday, and Allan has it all installed. Can't wait to hang out towels - they are going to smell soooooo good. The housekeeper comes tomorrow - I'm almost giddy:) And our cats finally are doing their job. Found mouse remains in Jacob's room after church this afternoon. I suspected we had some rodent friends again, but haven't set the traps yet. I guess tomorrow I'll set some out. Ginny must be the mighty hunter, because Bob certainly isn't. Once, we heard one of the traps in the cabinet snap, we looked inside and put both Bob and the rat terrier in front of the door and opened it. The mouse got out of the trap, ran around, and both cat and dog looked at each other and refused to budge. They are definitely NOT earning their keep!

Tomorrow we have our first PTL meeting/Open House/Meet the Teacher night. I hate this stuff - enough said. Then next week, Parent Teacher Conferences for the first report card *sigh*