HOT (HOT-HOT) TIME IN THE SUMMERTIME

I think everyone in the US can understand me when I say that this has been a really hot summer.  We, fortunately, have now had a break from the heat for several days.  So thankful.  Have tried, the last few summers, to tough it out and not put the air conditioner on (much) - but this year's heat brought us to our knees.  We were fortunate that our A/C for the upstairs (we have 2 central heating/air conditioning systems for our house) even ran.  It's been pretty unreliable at times!

Fourth of July was fun - a church friend who drives a semi cross country - picked up a truckload of fireworks on one of his runs.  He asked mom and dad if he could set them off out at the Atalissa farm and invite the church family out.  We had haystacks for supper (and some other yummy stuff) and then when the sun started to dip out of site - the show began.  It was very nice.  That is such a beautiful place to gather - out there on the farm.  Some call it the "cottage" - but to me it is the farm and HOME!! - not a cottage.  I think that is why I like it out there so much - because it is where I grew up.  I never lived at the house where mom and dad live now.  All the other kids lived at their current home.  (We stayed there when we first moved back to Muscatine - but I'm talking about as a kid.)

The farm was the setting for another event this summer - a farewell soire' for our little Kate - who has moved to Georgia.  She is now engaged to her boyfriend Chase and we look forward to their wedding, whenever comes around.  She has a job there - and Chase took a different position with the company he was with here in Muscatine.

Tonya - Mark's daughter - had a new baby our most recent "grand" addition to the family.  HIS name is Holden.  He is the (1. Dayton  2. Reese  3. Jaimee  4. Tanner  5.  Holden)  FIFTH "grand" addition!  Our family is growing!  But WAIT -- speaking of growing ... there is another little "grand" perking away over there in Orland Park ... Ryan and Rhiannon are expecting their 2nd child in February - one week before Jaimee's 3rd birthday.

We had a super fun trip to Pennsylvania/Maryland a month ago.  Deb and Jill (Randy's sisters) and their families live in Gettysburg, PA and Myersville, MD.  We hadn't seen either family for a few years (yes, I said YEARS).  Thanks to Rhiannon and Jill's expert planning service - Randy, me, Ryan, Rhiannon and Jaimee all climbed aboard the Kia Sedona Express and drove out!  We had hoped Nick could join us, but he couldn't get off work.

It was a long drive but not horrible (about 15 hours) - when we got there we were greeted by sisters sitting on the front lawn of Jill's house waiting for us!  What a sight for sore eyes!  It wasn't too much longer after we got there and it was  time for us to take our SEGWAY tour of the Gettysburg battlefield.  I rock at SEGWAY!!!  (I say that proudly because I'm not the most physically adept person that walks the earth ... and I knew if there was going to be a hiccup in the plan ... it would be me being involved in a tragic SEGWAY accident.)  I envisioned being on the front page of newspapers across the country because of the freakish nature of whatever doom would befall me on that SEGWAY! (and the accident would of course be caused by ME ... of that there was no doubt!)

But I Seg'd this way and that without a problem.  I want one!!!  I can see me now walking to the garage, stepping onto my segway and riding all the way to City Hall.  I'd seg right into City Hall, press the elevator button and ride up - segging again to my office.  It would be so cool - and I would LOOK so awesome doing it.  Alas!  that dream died when I GOOGLED THE PRICE of the Segway ... a mere $6000.  Not happening!  Sigh!

There were other fun things that we did - a boat ride through a cave and visiting.  We were so thankful that Deb and her family were willing to drive to meet us at Jill's so many times.  That was nice!  We loved every moment of our all to short time!

Last weekend we went up to Red Wing, MN - to Randy's 40th High School reunion.  Whoa!  That was a LOT of old folks in one location!  Uff da!  *smile*  But a good time was had by all.  Thank goodness Gene and Kathy Littlefield were there -- Kathy and I 'hang out' together when the guys have these things.  She's fun to chat with and lets the guys flit around and be social without their wife anchors!  Note the Mardis Gras beads ... they passed those out to the women, but I gave mine to Randy!

This is Randy and Clark (back) and Ken and Gene (front).

Dave couldn't be there ... but the guys called him and chatted a minute!

We drove to the Twin Cities area after the reunion was done - and checked into our motel - a GORGEOUS place.  We were so happy when we walked in - because our Friday night accomodations were not nearly that posh!  And imagine our discouragement when the guy said they made a mistake on our reservations and there was NO ROOM for us.  Here it is after midnight ...

But they QUICKLY added that they had made us a reservation at the Fairfield Inn that was next door and the night's stay would be FREE!!  They were in the middle of remodeling (this was in Eden Prairie, MN) but the room we were in was done and it was okay - and AWESOME when you consider the FREE part of it!   SCORE!

The next day was extra fun too ... we met up with another of Randy's sisters (Joannie) and her family at the Mall of America where we had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.  Joan and Kirk's little girls are adorable and it was so nice to see them.  We'd only met Scarlett one time - when we were invited to her ONE YEAR birthday party ... and she is six now!  Josie we'd never met.  So we felt very happy to spend time with them all.  We can't let so much time elapse ...

And then there is our Jaimee -- naturally I think she pretty much tops out the adorable meter ... here are a few reasons why ...



   

She's going through her "dress" phase ... loves to wear dresses!  And don't you love her little flip flops?  We got those (Jaimee and me) at JC Penney's cuz they light up when she walks!

Tomorrow we're headed out their way after church - it's been a month since we've seen them and it is time!  Gotta get our Pharr-phix!

Love to all!
V



HOT FUN IN THE SUMMERTIME!

Gasp!  It's only ONE week. ONE week since my previous blog 'letter'.  It was nice to hear from a couple of you folks last week after my letter!  You've inspired me to "do it again".  Not a super exciting week - so be prepared for many deep ... long ... YAWNS ...  (did I make you yawn?) 

My dear SIL Bellie ... you are to blame.  She kept saying "are you watching the Casey Anthony trial?" and I'd say "no" -- she would tell me how interesting it was.  So for the last 3 days I've been pulling it up on You Tube to listen to some of the previous days trial - and now going to a website to listen as it goes on.  Not sure what it is about it that is so addicting ... but IT IS.  I can pull it up on the internet - and then put the window down and just listen at work.  Kind of like TALK radio!  So Bellie ... you got me!  *wink*   http://www.wftv.com/caseyanthony/index.html  This is the link of where I am listening to the live trial.  Pretty good coverage!

So last Friday I needed to go pick up the furniture for my afternoon job.  The common area furniture at Fulton Place gets lots of use (and dare I say ABUSE?) - after almost 5 years it was really really nasty.  Who knows what was on the seats?  And the back was ripped on the little sofa and ... I have $2000 in my budget to do things each year for the residents.  Last year we updated the computers and bought new computer room chairs.  This year ... furniture.

There is this place in Moline -- quirky little place with an odd little man that runs it.  But the furniture seems to be a fairly good quality and the prices are not too bad either.  We found this place after we bought our stuff last fall - and wished we had stumbled on them earlier.  Not sure we would have changed what we got, but ... who knows.

He has a lot of samples in his small space - but then tells you that you can get this couch in THAT fabric, etc.  So what I ended up doing was buying a love seat and 2 chairs (which is what we had there already) - I chose a textured microfiber and a kinda funky coordinating fabric for the seats and back of the chairs.  I usually don't really care for the feel of microfiber - but this textured stuff doesn't feel the same and has a more "luxurious" look to it.  I waffled on the coordinating fabric - should I get it all the microfiber?  Or should I get a coordinating "safe" patterned fabric.  I decided to go with my initial 'funky' choice and I like how it looks.  Lots of people have complimented the choice - saying it's really cool.

I upgraded the foam - it is supposed to be sturdier and last longer.  He said it's used in places like hotel lobbies, waiting rooms, etc.  Places that get some good traffic.  So we'll see!  It wasn't that much more and we really do need any extra 'umph' out of our furniture that we can get!

My new rule is (and I've been drilling this into the resident's heads for FIVE WEEKS while we waited on the furniture to arrive) -- no food, no drink and no sleeping on the new furniture.  They can eat at the tables in the common room, but not the furniture.  The sleeping rule was because on of our guys likes to lay on the loveseat and sleep - sometimes all night.  He has a little problem in his own apartment where he wakes up to go potty but doesn't make it further than the side of his bed.  So I'm pretty sure the spot that I had cleaned out of the carpet in front of the sofa might have been from him.

So with the talk of furniture.  Hmm?  We did get new furniture last fall.  And everyone who has been at my house (especially my family ... *smile*) knows I'm an ogre about my furniture.  NO PETS!  I love my new stuff and I know it will get ugly soon enough ... so anyway, last week we had a guy here talking to us about INVISIBLE FENCE (which we are not going to buy) for the dogs.  I remember looking at him as he was writing and talking to Randy.  The thought went through my mind ... "I hope he doesn't write on my furniture."

Well, guess what I discovered AFTER he left.  A 1/2 inch black (blue?) inch mark on the seat of my loveseat.  OH NO!  Well, not to fear - we protected our investment when we bought it with >>>>drumroll<<<< INSURANCE for furniture that covers if something happens to the furniture.  So we begin the process to basically find out how to remove the ink from the leather.  Come to find out (from the insurance company) that ... they can't help us.  Why? We do NOT have insurance on our leather furniture after all.  We have insurance only for cloth furniture.

Those of you who know what "going Ludke" means will understand ... Randy "went Ludke" on the poor insurance and later store people.  We didn't buy any cloth - why in the world would we have an insurance policy for cloth?  The store finally got the situation squared away with the insurance people - and we now DO have coverage and a "technician" will be contacting us shortly ... which reminds me, I think today was the "shortly" that they implied!  Oh well, it's Sabbath - won't worry about it now.

It seems like it's one thing after another the last few months in the demise of all property owned by ... US!  And now it is the water softener.  Water softening for us is not really an option.  It's a necessity.  My dishes are WHITE and my hair feels icky.  So we had the "Hey Culligan Man!" man come ... YOWSERS - for only $XXXX and your first born son - you can buy one, or for only $XXX and a fatted lamb you can rent one.  So we're looking elsewhere.  We did learn stuff from the "Hey Culligan Man!" man ... we have 20 parts of something hard water and our water has an odor to it that has to be treated with bleach periodically.  So basically we learned the 20 parts of something thing - the rest we knew.

Last Sunday was Dean and Edyth Wooten's 50th wedding anniversary celebration.  CONGRATS to them - and to their family ... it looked so pretty with all of the beautiful peony displays.

This is me pinching Dean's behind.  He pinched mine about ...

well, a LONG time ago ... thinking it was the bottom of his beloved! 



Jaimee and Ryan spent the week in Arkansas at Ryan's mom's house.  Sounds like there was lots of swimming at a pool in town and they had kitties which Jaimee loved!  The word is that she lost one of the kitties - at least when they left they still couldn't find it.  She would carry them here and there - putting them in laundry baskets, trash cans, on the bed, etc.  So did she put it somewhere?  Or is it hiding from her?  They drove all night last night, getting home about 9:30 a.m. today.  After a bath, some clean clothes, breakfast and an episode of Mickey Mouse Club - Jaimee retired to her own little bed for a FOUR HOUR nap!

Hope you all had a great week.
Much love to all -- Happy Sabbath!
V

SUNSHINE AND SAUNA

Used to be I'd try to 'blog' a letter to everyone on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.  Now it's almost a quarterly basis.  I'm not sure why - maybe because life has such a monotone hum to it that seems useless to tell about it!

None-the-less, I will try to tap-tap-tap a few thoughts as a greeting to you all!  (Then it will be YOUR turn to tap-tap-tap back!)

Our most recent "fun" was last weekend.  Our little Jaimee came to visit us for the weekend.  It is the second time we've done this since they moved to Orland Park last year.  The adults drive to Princeton, IL and make the switch ... one of us trading a quiet car ride for a car full of life! and visa versa.  This time I drove alone to meet Rhiannon and Jaimee ... and our great weekend began.

Randy couldn't come - as we had scheduled to have his dog neutered that day.  We NEVER have to go through her being in 'heat' again.  Oh my ... ugh!  With Nick's Ti here - and being a boy - it was TORTURE for him and for us the whole time.  He wailed and howled and whined and ... while she wasn't making all the noise and being obnoxious she wasn't doing anything to change his mind either!  We decided NO WAY were any of us enduring that again.  She did very well - we were afraid she would be in a lot of pain.  Maybe she was, but other than sleeping a lot while the anethesia was still in her system - once she woke up she never really acted all that uncomfortable.  They did laser surgery and her wound looks a lot smaller and neater than Rhiannon and Ryan's Rory dog looked.  That little dog was very uncomfortable when she got her surgery.

So J and I rode together - I hoped she would nap on the trip (she's been taking nearly 3 hour naps of late) -- she slept ONE hour.  Despite that lack of sleep she was an angel for the next couple of days.

Jaimee knows that Gwranma and Gwranpa live in Ma-tine.  And she was very happy to be going to Ma-tine, though I think the poor little 2 year old must think Ma-tine is about a thousand hours away from Orland Park.  She's so ready to stop by the time we get her here. 

Our first stop was to go for a golf cart ride.  Randy has a friend with a golf cart and so Jaimee, Randy, and I rode the golf cart.  Jaimee got to steer.  Thank goodness for wide open spaces!  She looked SO pleased with herself.  A little scared, but thrilled at the same time! 

Then we came on home.  We played marble-works ... that is the thing with tubes that fit together and you drop marbles in the top and they roll, spin, jump - whatever - all the way to the bottom.  The kids had that when they were little, so we pulled it out for her.  Mostly she let me play with it (trying to build something viable) while she pulled the rest of the toys out of the baskets! 

It was so hot.  Felt like it was about 1 degree for every one of Jaimee's perceived hours of travel - when in reality it was in the mid 90's.  So hot.  I finally broke down and turned the a/c on - and thankfully when we went up to bed the upstairs a/c worked.  Sometimes over the winter it leaks out enough freon that it needs charged.  We were very grateful that it worked for those 4 or 5 days of hot and hotter weather.  It's now off - and while we are not enjoying the extreme humidity (the sky has a haze to it from all the moisture hanging in it), we are thankful for the coolness of the air.

Late Friday evening - just before Sabbath - Randy and I took Jaimee to the Mississippi Mist - a beautiful fountain on the riverfront made especially for little ones to run and play in.  She enjoyed it - though the air off the river and the sun setting did give her a bit of a chill.

Sabbath afternoon after a VERY VERY long nap we (Jaimee and I) went back down and met my brother Mark and his little grandson Dayton.  Dayton seemed to love running in the water, but Jaimee preferred not being in it.  It surprised me that she didn't.  It was nice to spend the time visiting with my brother.  I think we're both pretty much in love with our little people!

Here's Mark helping Dayton wring out his soggy wet towel.  (Towels are prone to becoming soggy when they are tied around one's neck - Batman/Superman/Super Hero style! - then they get too heavy to be of any use when you have to fly away on a moment's notice to save the world!)

This the only thing I took a picture of Jaimee doing at the Mississippi Mist, enjoying a fruit juice bar (Dayton had one too):



You can see the rusty/red color of the fountain area - and in the background the Mississippi River. 

Gwranpa and Jaimee played in the basement for a little while just before bedtime Friday night.  I ran down when I heard them both calling for me.  (One was saying BRING THE CAMERA and the other was saying GWRANMA.)

We are looking forward to our trip out east in a few weeks.  It's been far too long since we've seen Debbie and Gary (and family) and Jill and Mike and Abbie.  We're going to do a segway tour of the Gettysburg Battlefield.  I think that sounds fun - unless you need to have some sort of athletic abilities to ride a segway -- like superior balance or something ... then it might be a little more taxing!  They have a pull cart that Jaimee will ride in behind her daddy or someone.

There were several things listed on Jill's email to Rhiannon (she is our little agenda planner - sorry I didn't get back to you via phone Deb ... I had just gotten J and it takes about all my concentration to manage a 2 y/o -- not like it was when I had my own little ones.  I'm out of practice!  So anyway, that's why I asked Rhiannon to get ahold of you!  And you guys -- don't feel like you have to entertain us all the time.  Okay?

Perhaps we can visit with Joan and Kirk and girls for a little bit in August.  Randy got notification that his Class of 71 (that's far less painful than saying 40th class reunion) reunion is The first weekend of August.  Do you have time for us?  Maybe we could throw an air mattress on a floor someplace for a night?  Randy has really been missing "home" and this is a great excuse to head north!

Our little Kate (Gail's girl) is moving to Atlanta.  Her Chase has already gone there for his job - and she is following.  We have a farewell soire' next weekend for her.  It feels like she is still too little to make those kind of big decisions on her own!  Sigh!

Wyn and Andy are house hunting.  We were privileged to accompany them while they looked at a couple on Thursday.  Both houses were good homes and they could be happy in either one.  One had lots of that old-time character with woodwork and stained glass windows and some beveled glass windows (which I love because they create a prism effect when the sunlight dances across them at just the right angles).  We definately are praying for God's guidance as they choose a home - either here in Muscatine or in one of the surrounding towns.  (I'm partial to having them close ... but there are other factors besides Auntie V to consider! -- as Kate (see above) is demonstrating! *smile*)

Okay - looking at the clock I see that I should have been in bed awhile ago.  Even on Sabbath I have to plan to get up and get moving!  We pick up a gentleman at the nursing home to take him to church (which in a way is a good thing because it keeps us reasonably 'on-time').  Also tomorrow is potluck, so I have to load up my food and such before we go. 

Aunt Nita - haven't heard from you in a bit.  I know you were having a rough go of it - hope you are getting your strength back.  Miss hearing from you.  Kathy - you have sent a couple of things recently - thanks.

Take care all -- much love.
V

PS  Have you noticed the weather patterns?  More and more I am convinced that Jesus will be coming back soon.  Remember ... He loves us all and wants us all! 

NOT EVEN GOING TO TRY ...

... to fill in the gaps that is! 

Not sure what's going on.  Life seems to whirl by at a breakneck speed most of the time.  Always running to get from one place to another and yet, when you go to put it down on paper.  Not that much has happened.

The most noteworthy thing (in our little lives) is that our baby girl is now 2 years old.  She is going to be one sorely disappointed little girl though when next year rolls around.  You see THIS year her mommy and daddy took her to Chuckee Cheese on her birthday and she got a couple of birthday surprises. 

Then Mama and Papa were anxious to be with her for her birthday.  So the Sabbath after her birthday we got up and drove to Davenport for church.  From there we headed east to Orland Park, arriving about 3:30 p.m.  We spent a few hours with the kids and after Sabbath we went to a restaurant for supper before we headed home. (Yes, that same night.)  We couldn't resist asking the restaurant to sing Happy Birthday to Jaimee.  So they did (complete with giant brownie and ice cream and a great big candle!).  When they got done Jaimee said "Again!"  But they didn't do it again.

And now this weekend we are gathering at my mom and dad's house for a pizza and cake gala event ... still with this 2 year old in mind.  So like I said ... next year when her birthday rolls around and it only lasts ONE day ... she's gonna be mighty disappointed that it isn't a 2 or 3 week ordeal like when she turned TWO!

The good thing about the 2 or 3 week birthday ordeal for Mama and Papa is that we get to see the kids more often!  Like I said we drove over the first weekend, then Jaimee and Rhiannon came this way last weekend (so Rhiannon and I could go to a craft show in Des Moines on Sunday), and this weekend the whole Pharr-phamily is coming here for the weekend again.

Did I say craft show?  I should have said CRAFT SHOW!!!  It is Iowa's Largest Craft Show ... at least that's what their little brochure said.  With over 300 (??) crafters.  But then as they list all of this particular craft even organizer's Iowa shows they show one in Cedar Falls at the UNI dome with over 350 crafters.  They must be talking square footage size?  I don't know.  But it does make one yearn to head to Cedar Falls just for comparison sake anyway!

For the last ... while ... but especially the last 6-8 weeks my poor old body has felt like the body of someone who is not nearly as young as I am.  I pop like a popcorn popper everytime I get up and move.  I limp - to the point that my boss, who never seems to care enough about anything in my world to comment, said "why are you limping?"  He noticed!"  So I've been going through life with a snap-crackle-pop-pop-pop and a limp-slide-limp (don't limpy people usually drag a leg around too -- well, maybe you can erase the slide portion of that description ...)

Thinking maybe our ever so comfy bed wasn't all that comfy anymore we bought a memory foam mattress topper.  A deep luxurious ONE inch deep.  (Stop laughing -- I TOLD Randy we shouldn't buy it.  I TOLD him we should shop around.  But he liked the price.  Grrr!)  But we both seemed to get up in the a.m. a little less stiff.  So we shopped (this time we DID shop) and have ordered a better foam topper at 4" of  memory foam.  It should be here Monday.

I ramble don't I ... sorry!

All that mattress topper talk made us think that maybe we should stop in at Slumberland where we bought our family room furniture to get a copy of the warranty we were supposed to have.  And while there we talked to the sales girl and she showed us the Temperpedic mattresses.  We were curious.

It was just like in the three bears ... this one was TOO HARD!  this one was TOO SOFT! and this one was JUST RIGHT.  She had us lay there on the JUST RIGHT one for a few minutes.  THEN she used this magic wand and made the head of the bed lift a few inches.  It felt so yummy.  The the magic wand raised the foot of the bed a teeny bit too.  Felt like we were sitting on a softened pad of butter.  All smooth and luxurious and ... we sat there and we sat there.  All the while she was telling us how our backs were relaxing.

Then it was time to lower us back to flat.  Slowly, simultaneously ... our heads and feet went down.  As it lowered she said "can you feel this in your back?"  And I'm thinking YES! (ouch!) YES! I can!  I got up and my back felt like the whole cast and crew of Cirque de Soleil had walked on my back.  I felt like a twisted (but still smiling politely at the nice lady) pretzel woman!  I limped, I shuffled .. I probably even DRAGGED my leg.  My whole lower back and out into my hips felt horrible.

Eventually 24 hours later it had relaxed a little (I think I got a back spasm or something) -- but today I went to Sharon Goddard's chiropractor.  He does a thumping machine technique.  I think it is better - not sure if it is 100% better, but I don't feel like I'm limping.  His treatment was an hour long.  He seemed to be able to identify (without me telling him) the places on my body that were tender.  Then he used the 'thumper thing' to pop the little bits and pieces of me into different shapes. 

He said my coccyx was messed up.  Then he said my something else (in my lower back/hip area) was messed up.  Said I had three ribs out of place in the back and one out of place in the front (huh?).  My jaw was out of whack a little (thump-thump) - said that was probably causing me headaches.  I had had a WEEK long headache the previous week.  But I didn't tell him that.  Randy says he's a "quack".  People can't use thumpers to heal people.  But ... Sharon says he helped her.  And I guess time will tell if he helped me.  I know for at least the last 8 hours I haven't limped and my back feels better.

Oh my ... I better stop.  The kids will be here soon.  They thought about 9 or 9:30 p.m.  I'll have just enough time for a few little girlie squeezes and hugs before she goes to bed.  And then I'll have to head that direction too.

Take care everyone! 
Love ... V

ALMOST FAMOUS and other stuff!

Hey all!  Been awhile since I last authored an original Ludke-ville!  I had to go back and re-read the last one so I'd know where and when it was!  Almost a month ago!  Talked about our get togethers and Randy singing for church with Jaimee.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YToi4tYRz4

What's been up?  Hmm?  Well ... it's Iowa.  It's January.  It's cold!!!  (As in VERY -- went outside yesterday and thought "ahhh it feels so good!"  Looked at the thermometer.  It was 21 degrees.  A full 30 degrees warmer than the previous day!)  Seems like so many are saying how they want to move away.  I agree it's cold.  But I suppose no matter where you are there are good things and not so good! 

And yet - life goes on.  Stuff happens!  Randy had a birthday.  I am gonna have one this week.  Nick has one on the last day of the month.  We're all growing older right in front of your eyes! 

There was one PARTY WORTHY January birthday.  Reese, JoDe and Josh's (JoDe is my sister Joy's daughter) little girl turned FOUR YEARS OLD!!  The party was at Gr'ma and Gr'pa Hinkhouse's house.  Pizza, cake and presents ... what more could you ask for?  We enjoyed catching up a little with Josh's family. 

Our Pharr-away family (Ryan, Rhiannon, Jaimee Pharr) were able to be home the weekend of Reese's party.  Jaimee had been asked to do special music for church.  She practiced and knows Twinkle-Twinkle, Arky-Arky and Jesus Loves Me.  But being only 22 months old ... sometimes what you practice for and what you get aren't exactly the same!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I99myekU55M

Randy and I have gone to two of Griffin's (sister Gail's son) high school basketball games.  I'd never been to a high school sporting event, so it was fun.  At 1/2 time they take a $1 from people and let them shoot the basketball.  Guess you win a prize from Taco John's or something if you actually hit it.  I told Gail "come on!", she didn't want to.  But she ended up coming down.  We both shot.  My shot didn't hardly get farther than the end of my fingertips (yes, I'm THAT good!).  Gail was closer.

This last Tuesday we went again and this time we noticed that where as LAST TIME there were no other females in the shooting line - THIS time there were quite a few teen age girls.  We started something!  So we went down and I got almost UNDER the basket and shot.  I hit the backboard and it bounced back.  I grabbed it quick and reshot -- nothing again.  Gail on the other hand stayed at the appointed spot and she shot!  She hit the RIM!  Oh ... it was awesome!  I wish so bad it had gone in. 

As it was we figure we are almost famous!  When we were done shooting a little kid came up and gave me the "high-5" with KNUCKLES!  You know only COOL folk do the knuckle 'high-5'!!    And as we walked back to our seats we could just feel everyone looking at us with pride and admiration.  (You remember it your way - I'll remember it MINE!)  Yup!  We are ALMOST FAMOUS my sister and I!

Speaking of sisters.  Our dear sister Bellie (Mark's wife) learned last night that her Tita that lived next door to her parents had died.  My heart has had a lump in it's throat all day thinking of how she must feel - being so far away from the Philipines at such a time of loss.  We love her to bits, but it isn't the same - I'm sure - as her family there.  Please remember her and her family in your prayers.

We're still looking for a 2nd vehicle.  We decided not to keep the YACHT.  It was an amazing car with LUXURY written all over it.  I mean it cushioned your bottom, it warmed your bottom, it did everything except scratch your bottom.  The delay in finding something has let Randy hone in on some more specific types of autos that he likes or doesn't like.  I think he still has it in his mind's eye that he likes the amenities of the YACHT.  I doubt he'll be able to get all of those things, but we can hope!

Next weekend after church, we're going to drive over to Orland Park and see our Pharr-away family.  We are really looking forward to it!  

Better get back to my laundry.  After working in our bedroom and bathroom for a couple of hours earlier today - I came away with quite a pile of laundry.  Have the bedding washed, just need to get it back on the bed.  Ahhhh!  Love clean sheets.  I think they make you sleep better!  But bedding aside, there are still plenty of loads to do! 

Take care - keep warm - while you're confined inside - drop us a note! 
Remember Jesus loves you - and is coming soon!
V

WEDDING RECOLLECTIONS

This isn't a new post - it's harks back to a December 21st - 8 years ago ... Rhiannon and Ryan's wedding.  I was cleaning out my computer files a little bit ago and came across it. 

Wedding Recollections


I survived! The reception hall and the church are cleaned up. My garage stall is full of things I need to sort and find a place to put. I have cake I have to cut up and store in the freezer. So there are still several things to do - but for the most part our wedding is over.

Friday was rehearsal and other than being an emotionally charged mess - it went well. It all seemed so chaotic and wild and everyone was saying my name ... "Vonda ..." "Vonda ..." But we got through it and were able to get home and pick things up here a little bit before Randy picked up my 18 pizzas for our REHEARSAL pizza dinner! We got the pizza and pop all here before Sabbath and enjoyed a giant pizza feed with many people here. It was fun.

Sabbath we went to church - Randy sang in the Christmas program, so that was kind of nice (he sang Joseph’s Song ... He likes that song because Joseph sings "not bone of my bone - or flesh of my flesh ... And Randy can relate big time to that!") My sister in law and I made two HUGE lasagne’s and some rolls and my good friend Gloria had made two peanut butter pies (which everyone loved) and cookies and breads and we added all that to the church potluck and fed our guests that way. The school gymnasium was full!

We came home for what seemed like a brief time - and then it was time to begin getting the bride ready for the wedding. She and I went up early to the church and got her pretty dress on her. She just looked so pretty (remember this is MOM talking! *smile*)

The decorations, when all in place in the church were very beautiful. My sister in law Debbie was such a help. She just stepped in and took over putting up the decorations I had prepared and did a fantastic job. I was able to put out some of the things and then when the photographer started Randee and Ryan's private 1/2 hour photos - Randy and I ran home (5 minutes) and changed and got ready and then went back up to the church. I had been having the same dream for several nights - that I had gained 40 pounds and my dress wouldn't fit. So ... was relieved to find that not only did I NOT gain 40 pounds, but the dress still fit! Whew! (My husband cleaned up real good too and looked handsome to me in his tux.)

My Nick looked pretty cute in his tux as well. But I think the one who was the best looking in his tuxedo was Colton -- 2 years old. He was just precious.

I was extremely emotional during Friday's rehearsal - but Saturday I wasn't nearly as teary and actually felt pretty calm. Randy had mocked my tears and emotional state (though he DID really pitch in and help me so I wasn't so stressed that last day or so). When our daughter arrived in her spot to take her daddy's arm to begin their walk - tears welled up in both of their eyes. I caught a glimpse of them as Nick signalled it was time for me to walk with him down the aisle to my seat. I mouthed "I love you" to her and we went. My Nick looked so tall and handsome (again, remember this is MOM talking!) and I took his arm and he took me to my seat.

Then the guys came out onto the platform, and the flower girls began to come down the aisle - sprinkling petals all the way. Colton -- 2 years old was just precious, acting very much as we 1/2 way expected a baby to act in a wedding. The little flower girls were sprinkling their petals along the way and somehow Colton got distracted from his walk to the front and began STOMPING on the petals all the way down the aisle. STOMP - STOMP - STOMP ... oblivious to the fact that the bridesmaids had started down the aisle toward him. It was funny!

The girls in their purple dresses came in with their bouquets. Having had them in our home for the last couple of days we knew how much these young girls LOVE each other (there was no designated Maid Of Honor as they are all such good friends) it was kind of emotional to know they were, in a way, losing one of their girl gang - or at least there would be a change in the dynamics of the group!

And then ... "The song" began "here comes the bride" ... And we all stood. And as I turned to see my Randee, there in my line of view were my precious parents standing there looking toward where she would come. Dad with his barely seeing eyes and my mom so pretty ... On THEIR 50th Anniversary ... It was an emotional moment.

And then I could see her. She had gotten to where she needed to turn and come up the aisle. My niece adjusted the long train of her dress and she started down. And her daddy’s eyes and her eyes were both glazed with tears (and SMILES on their faces). When they got to me they stopped and I stood by my husband as ‘that boy’ came to get my girl. The pastor asked who gives this woman (woman???) -- and we said "we do". Then we hugged and kissed our baby good-bye and he kissed his mamma as well (yes! She came and was there!! PRAISE GOD!!)

They proceeded to the front where they kneeled together as Pastor David Lincoln began the service with a prayer. The sermonette was wonderful - serious, with a light hearted touch and just wonderful. (David grew up in our Muscatine church and is about my age, so we’ve known each other for many years. He was a farmer for a number of years and felt called into the ministry. He is a wonderful minister and drove from near Des Moines several times to be a part of our wedding. We were fortunate to have him officate. )

He pronounced them ‘man and wife’ and the singers sang "From This Moment" as the kids did their unity candle. One of the bridesmaids was able to step in for our missing vocalist and the song so good you would never know that they hadn’t always planned to sing together. And in a way it was more special because Amber was Randee’s former roommate and a special friend. As the song finished and Uncle Mitch returned to his seat and Amber returned to where she was standing - the bride and groom turned to face the congregation. It was at this point that Pastor Dave was to introduce them to the assembly ... And he FORGOT - he just stood there. So you could see Ryan kind of whispering and the light bulb come on in Pastor Dave’s eyes ... Ooops! And he made some jovial remark that made everyone laugh and it wasn’t so much a boo-boo as it was a HIGHLIGHT and he introduced them and told Ryan he could kiss his bride. It was so sweet!

The groomsmen and bridesmaids and flower girls all walked out, followed by Randee and Ryan -- and they ushered their guests out of the church which was really a neat thing! Thanks to whoever of you suggested that! It really was cool. They got to meet and greet their guests.

I had a good friend who took ‘charge' of the reception and so I knew that was in good hands and didn't need to go there and check things out. She had all the trees plugged in and the candles lit and the luminaries out and lit. The soup was on and warm. She made sure the cakes got set up in the proper spot and everything was in readiness for the guests as they arrived. We had one section for the bride and groom and another for the 50th anniversary.

The weather wasn’t bad - and we probably would have been okay with food that wasn’t warm, but the soup served in BREAD BOWLS was a hit. I heard over and over and over what a neat idea it was and how delicious the soup was (thank you sister Joy!!) . You would have thought I had invented a bread bowl - I was pleased that everyone really enjoyed it so much. My sister Gail did the punch and it was a slushy yummy mixture of fruit juices, strawberries and 7-UP. Not only was it tasty, it was pretty too! That was all I tasted that evening ... punch, because eating anything was NOT going to work with my nervous stomach (a FIRST!!).

The kids toasted each other or whatever you call that when the intertwine their arms and sip their punch. And they fed each other wedding cake. They looked so happy!

I had panicked and bought a sheet cake. BAD idea! I had more than plenty of cake, but I think mostly it was because the soup and soup bowls was so filling.

Mom and dad seemed to be having a good time with many guests of their own and many that were ‘shared’ guests (church family, family and friends).

We had music available to play in the background, but it was pretty loud with talking - so we didn’t keep the music on very long. We did play the "Chicken Dance" a few times. And once Randee, Randy and Uncles Mike and Gary all got up and did it together. It was funny. It was to be a commemoration of them all turning 50 in the next few months. Randy goes down on Jan. 7 and then Gary in February and Uncle Mike in April. 50-50-50!! So we all got a kick out of that. When they turned 40 - we had the 40 Y/O Olympics and they did cartwheels, sumo wrestling and other zany competitions to show they still had "IT"!

For me one of the biggest blessings of the reception was when Amber and Sammy - who were both in the wedding party - stood up and got the crowd’s attention and each did a toast to Randee and Ryan. They talked about their friendships and all - and most importantly both recognized God and asked for God’s blessing on their newly married friends. I thought it was such a beautiful testiment to these really good kids and their relationships. I was proud of them.

About 10-ish the Bride and Groom exited and probably within an hour or 1 ½ hours - the party had totally broken up and we did a bit of clean up and then came home ourselves.

A PERFECT WEEKEND

It snowed all day Friday.  I don't know anyone who truly LOVES frigid cold, but I also don't know anyone who doesn't think the earth is gorgeous blanketed in a fresh fluffy layer of snow.  Beautiful. 

And so began the perfect weekend ...

I can still hear the walls echoing laughter, chatter and happy times.  From the moment our marrieds walked in with their little girlie - the house came ALIVE with activity and sound.  It was Friday night.  There was lasagne and garlic bread and lemon peppered chicken.  Randy and I went to bed anticipating our weekend with family.

On Sabbath we went to church.  There was a musical program.  Randy sang "Joseph's Song" - and for the 2nd year he held Jaimee in his arms while he sang.  Truly a little more of a gamble this year than last, since this year she is a very active nearly 2 year old - and last year she was a lively, but more manageable 10 month old.

It was every kind of precious (at least to our family - but judging from a teary eye spied here and there around the sanctuary - I think others were touched by it too).  First of all - the song.  Ohhhh.  It is so amazing.  Joseph pondering a child that he knew was not a biological child of his.  A child he could already sense would be the love of his life.  A child that he had the responsibility to raise.  A child that he could only imagine what it all meant.

And then there was Papa holding a blonde little girl with a big ribbon in her hair and a glittery green dress with white fur cuffs and hem.  He started to sing.  She looked at him lovingly.  She touched his face.  She layed her head on his shoulder.  She looked around.  She tried to put chapstick on his lips (she was holding some), as she whispered to him "whips" (lips).  She waved at someone in the congregation ...  and well ... if we can get Papa to cut this little piece of video out of the service video I will post it.

After church we talked to my brother Mark and his wife Bellie.  Mark was very hungry.  We invited them to our house because we had lots of food to eat and could use a few more hungry mouths.  They were a fun addition to our lunch.  (I forgot to set the left over lemon chicken on the table, I warmed it up so Bellie could have some.  She likes chicken.)  They went home, we put the dishes in the dishwasher and plugged in the crockpots of soup for the evening.

After Jaimee's nap, she got to open her presents.  We didn't do an exchange all around because we had just had a great vacation to Florida - so it was all about the little one.  She didn't know exactly what to do at first, but soon got the hang of it and seemed to LOVE gift opening!  She got a dollhouse, a baby doll, a shopping cart, an Arial 'Barbie' doll -- which upon opening she exclaimed "HERmaid" instead of Mermaid!

Around 6:30 or 7 p.m. our family began to arrive for REINDEER GAMES! 

REINDEER GAMES?  - it includes food (thank you Joy for bringing pretzel sticks!!), family, fun and a super secret mission each year!    I can't divulge a lot of details - but it was super fun! 

Rhiannon, Ryan and Jaimee had not yet met our newest family member - Tanner.  They were sick at Thanksgiving and couldn't come.  They all think Tanner is about the cutest little man on earth.  And EVERYONE thinks he is a mini-Josh!  Being told that Tanner is Reese's brother, Jaimee thinks he is her brother too.

Because of an oversight, we had to amend our super secret mission which ultimately allowed even more family in on the super secret mission.  When the super secret mission was finished, we began other evening fun. 

MANY of these pictures were taken by Bellie and Mark - I plagarized them!  I only got a couple of good pictures on my camera *frown*.  I hope they don't mind me sharing them!

We dressed the Claus's.  The girls were a team.  Each team was given access to the exact same supplies - wrapping paper, tape, pins, clips, ribbon, etc.  Fifteen minutes was the time frame.  The boys were to dress Mr. Claus, the girls were to dress Mrs. Claus.  I don't know exactly what went on in the front living room (green carpet) where the guys were.  But I know there was a huge flurry of activity in the family room (tan carpet).  When the timer rang - even the guys conceded that the girls had won.  Colton was Mr. Claus (as you can see in the pictures above) and Maggie was Mrs. Claus.  She was adorable!  NO DOUBT!

Bellie brought her Karaoke machine - which is very awesome.  Somehow it connects to your TV and speakers.  All you have to deal with is a microphone.  On the microphone you can tap in the numbers of one of THOUSANDS of songs and it is ready to go!  Some of our group are pretty good.  I'm not one of them!  But I had fun trying and they didn't kick me out!

You'll have to watch this You Tube video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRiP5EiS240
I wish I had grabbed Rhiannon's phone earlier - to record more of the song and dance!  When I got around to it - much of the song had gone by and our latin dancer was tired!  She's been taking ZUMBA for a few years off and on ... that's an exercise class that does latin dancing for their routine ... whew!!  I don't know why the movie is on it's side!?  But you can still get the effect!  I promise there was nothing stronger than diet gingerale served at this party!

I feel as if I'm failing miserably at describing how great of an evening it was.  I have smiled inwardly and outwardly ever since.  Thank you to my wonderful family -- I love each and every one of you more than I can say.

Thank you Jesus for coming to this earth for me, for my family, for everyone!  I pray the Holy Spirit comes to each person I love and stirs our hearts with a yearning for Him.

Holiday blessings to all my family and friends!
V

DADDY - BROOM BROOM MAMA'S HOUSE!

Tis the season to be with our family.  The snow fall is beautiful, but on the otherhand with my marrieds headed this direction in the snow ... it makes me worry.  I just got a text message from Rhiannon saying that the tiny girl in the back seat keeps saying "Daddy!  Broom broom Mama's house!"  I'm assuming that is tiny girl language for HURRY UP DAD!!!  Gotta love it!  "Broom broom Mama's house" ... just too cute!

Since last night I've baked chocolate chip cookies, ginger/molasses cookies, Pride of Iowa cookies, cake balls, lasagne, vegetarian Swedish meatballs (a first time on this recipe for us!), Special K patties, lemon pepper chicken (the real deal), cheesy potato soup, started soup base for vegetarian chik'n noodle ... and I don't recall what else. 

Oh!  Sharon Wooten shared a jello recipe with me via her Christmas letter.  It sounded good and I made it.  Has banana, strawberries, pineapple all together in a strawberry jello.  And as luck would have it - it seems to actually have set up for me!  I'm atwitter.  I have the WORST luck getting jello to set up for me.  Nick looked at it in the fridge and said it looked really good.

Now, my feet, legs and back are yelling -- "SIT DOWN!  Do something else besides cook in the kitchen!"
So with my final potato peeled and most of the mess cleared away (the dishwasher needs to finish it's load so it can be reloaded) ... I'm sitting down and saying "that's all she wrote" for today.

It's Sabbath and Christmas Eve -- interesting to think that people all over the world tonight are focusing on Jesus.  At least I hope they are.  We've gotten so lax here at times that I'm almost embarrassed.  To think about the Creator of our world - pausing from His heavenly duties and coming here ...

Yesterday was my brother Marv's birthday (Happy Birthday little brother!) - and today is my son-in-law Ryan's birthday (Happy Birthday son!) ... Ryan, Rhiannon, mom and dad had their wedding anniversary on the 21st.  Eight years for Ryan and Rhiannon and 58 years for mom and dad!

Visited at mom and dad's house on Wednesday.  It was the first time since Thanksgiving - with vacation etc.  I was happy to see dad looking better.  His color was so much better than Thanksgiving and he seemed to be more 'with it'.  He obviously felt better.

For those of you who know Aunt Nita - she had a scary encounter with ... okay I don't know what she encountered - but it was scary!  Not sure I have all the details.  Seems as if her appendix ruptured back in October and somehow the infection had encapsulated.  Then a few days ago it ruptured and sent the infection into her body.  They had to do emergency surgery which seems to have gone well from what I understand.  She will be in ICU for a few days and then when released will stay at Kelly and Margie's house for a few days.  I think she must be a little bit like her older brother (my dad) in the toleration of pain.  I would think she would have had some pain involved in the whole appendix situation.  I'm such a weenie that its hard for me to understand.

This weenie had a close encounter with a BIG OWIE today.  I had finished using the stove and was preparing to go on to another recipe.  I started clearing off the counter and throwing stuff away, wiping, etc.  I had my wet rag and started wiping off my stove top (flat top) and all of a sudden hot steam permeated the rag and hit the palm of my hand hard.  The burner was still really hot.  I have a couple of spots on my hand that are tender, but I sincerely thought I was going to have much-o blisters all over my palm.  I think by tomorrow with a little time and Emu oil - I'll be good as new.

Have you heard of Emu oil?  I was at a craft show a few weeks ago and came away with several Emu products.  I really don't know why - except she sat me down and rubbed some of it across my shoulders and neck and it felt so good.  I liked how it smelled (though others tell me it smells like Icy-Hot or Ben-Gay or something ...).  What really caught my eye was that on one of the posters touting Emu Oil's many many benefits ... was that it was good for thinning skin.  I've had a terrible time with my forearm skin being paper thin (maybe not even that thick) and any time one of the dogs touches me I get these blood blister things under the skin.  Even while on vacation Randy got me a massage - and the massage lady made one of my arms ge that red stuff under the surface. 

So anyway I'm counting on Emu oil to fix that -- and I've been using it as my morning moisturizer and really like it.  I'll either look smashing when I'm 97 or ... I'll have feathers!  (Emu is a bird.)

We took my Kia van to the Kia van hospital a couple days ago.  We knew before we left for Florida that something was wrong with it.  But we thought it was something simple like the thermostat was going out or something.  Nope! Nope! Nope!  I don't know all the techno-mumble jumble for it - but the bottom line is it needs a whole new engine.  OUCH!  We think with the new engine the van is still worth fixing and the cost of the new engine is cheaper than buying a different vehicle.

Speaking of different vehicles.  The road yacht is going back.  The guy we bought it from is looking for something a little different for us.  It's a wonderful automobile.  We took it to Florida and it was like travelling in a recliner - so comfy!  But the mileage isn't exactly what we want.  The guy we got it from is super to do this for us.

Well - I sure wish my son in law would "broom broom to Mama's house"  I'm getting anxious to see them!  But seriously I don't want them to "broom broom" too much with the snow and road conditions.

Remember to stop and thank Jesus for all He has done for you.
V

VACATION TIME

Can you say cold?  Now say it really loud .... COLD!!!  That's what our vacation was and what our lives are even still.  Yes, it is a little colder here than there - but not so sure it's all that much.  Here, we are inside most of the time.  There, we were outside most of the time.  I wore three turtlenecks AND a heavy wool sweater and two pair of socks most days while on vacation.  One or two days I added a winter coat to the mix.  My face and hands got a good tan, but that's about it!

We started off by meeting Ryan and Rhiannon in Paducah, KY - made a stop in Nashville to have lunch with friends of the marrieds -- Luis and Nicole!  We headed over to Savannah, GA where we met up with Stephanie (Randy's sister) and Steve.  It was rather late and dark *sad frown* but they were generous enough to take us on a nice driving tour of some of the historic parts of Savannah.  I could tell in the dark that it seemed like a place I would LOVE to see in the light of day.

It was good to see where Steph and Steve live - I like seeing people's homes and then when I talk to them (by computer, etc.) I can picture them in their environment.  Their house is really cute - with lots of character and crown molding and beautiful fireplace.

We had 'sort of planned' to go manatee/dolphin hunting in a kayak - but Keith wasn't there (he was in Iowa) and it was WAY to cold to even think at all endearingly about a water sport.  We did stop at Daytona and while it was none to warm, it was the most comfortable weather time we had.  So thankful for that bit of sun and warmth while we walked the beach there.

On over to the Orlando area where through the magic of Ryan's incredible 'deal finding powers' - we spent the night at a nice motel.  The next day we went to the magical land of Disney.  Randy had done the 'online check in' - so we were free to go do the parks.  Arriving back at our motel room around 11 p.m. (tired, and oh so tired!) we found that our reservation had been messed up.  We had reserved a room (that holds six) in the tower of the Contemporary, with a bay view.  The room they reserved for us had a bed ... A bed ... I guess maybe it could have been a bed for six, but not this six! 

After some persistant 'Ludke-ism', they found us TWO rooms in the new wing of the contemporary.  And they made noise like they would 'comp' us for the problem.  A good night's rest and some more persistant 'Ludke-ism' - we ended up being comped back about $900 for their error.  We all felt like it turned out okay.  Being so tired at the end of the day - it was good to have the extra room to spread out.  Two bathrooms was nice, etc.  And the $900 was good as well.

Jaimee's favorite (only?) movie is Finding Nemo.  And she loved anything she saw with Nemo and any of his little sea friends.  It was great seeing her react.  She also loved seeing Mickey and Minnie.  It is impossible to even come close to describe how fun it was to see her with Mickey and Minnie. 

The good thing about a family with a baby is that Disney (and the other parks too) - do baby swaps.  That means that you all stand in line and when it is finally your time to go - someone stays with the baby, the rest go on the ride.  Then as soon as they are done, someone else stays with the baby and they all go another time.  Randy and I were good with that!  We would enjoy the ride once -- and for the most part the kids all got to enjoy the rides multiple times.  There were a couple times when Rhiannon sat out with the baby. 

When it was time to come home we were hearing about a big snow storm.  So we pulled out our phones and started listening to the TV to hear what was going on.  We left bright and early on our departure day - and drove and drove and DROVE!  We were watching live doppler radar on the phone and realizing our best choice would be to drive as long as we possibly could to try to beat the storm. 

This time we parted with the marrieds in Nashville -- they headed their way (to Orland Park) and we headed on back to Muscatine.  They got home about 3:30 a.m. after driving straight through with only stops for gas (with a quick potty and grab a snack).  We drove until 4:30 a.m. and finally were hitting into snow.  Got to the point that you couldn't see the road or the sides of the road or the ditch that runs along side of the road or other cars that drive on the road or the snowplow that you KNOW is running ahead of you ... Nick was driving at that time.  He navigated us to a motel in Lincoln, IL where we crashed into our beds so thankful to be safe, warm and able to stretch out.

The next day was more of the same type of driving, but only about 3-4 hours of it (sorta slower pace driving).  We got home and put our things away - then the guys went and picked up the dogs from the kennel.  Not sure who was happier - the guys to get their dogs or the dogs to get their guys.  Ryan and Rhiannon left their dogs home.  A neighbor they just met a couple of months ago watched the dogs.  They also have a Shiba Inu - so they brought their dog down to run and play in the back yard with Tucker and Rory.  Sent Rhiannon movies of the dogs playing in the snow and laying on the couch etc. 

The last couple of days of vacation Rhiannon had a sore throat and headache - cold coming on.  (Can't imagine why!) - then Jaimee showed signs of the same thing on the ride back.  Randy succumbed to the illness almost immediately upon arriving home.  Between him sneezing and coughing all over, and a coworker when I went back to work ... I am now doing the same song and dance.  UGH!  Nick has it too.

Anyway, we're back and into the old routine.  We had stamping night last night.  It was really fun.  We had SEVEN projects.  The plan was that everyone could make three cards of their choice.  But as it turned out there were plenty of cut projects so we let everyone make as many as they could.  It was great!  Some brought refreshments for the holidays and of course that was just the 'icing on the cake'!  (Not to mention I was so hungry!!)

Hope your days are well and your life is full of the gift of family and love and God's grace!

V

When viewing the photos below - if you hover on the picture you can read the captions.

CH-CH-CHANGES

Always something in the works it seems!!! That's mostly a pretty good thing. Think about it. As long as something is in the works it means we are active and have a purpose.


The Ludke family has not vacationed a whole lot in the last few years. With a tiny girl in our family we started planning and saving toward a trip to Florida. Date was set, reservations made and the anticipation began.

I put in for vacation in September, and two weeks ago a project came up at work that needed me to complete before leaving. I will spare you the details of all that. But it was a huge relief to walk out of both jobs feeling pretty much like things will be good while I am gone.

One thing that did go on during this week that leaves me firmly placed between the GL in glad and the S in sad. For the last dozen or more years I have operated an online networking group called Vonda's Vine. It's been really fun over the years, but requires many hours a week. I'm tired of it and had decided to end it at the end of September. Long story short, the Lord provided a person to buy my Vine and continue it. It's sorta sad because of the time and history I have with it. I'm glad because it takes a lot off my plate.

Yesterday we left on our much ant icipated vacation. Fun fun! Within 5 miles I had rescued Randy from his first ever hair in the ear. It had to be plucked or it would have bugged me a
tll the way to Florida. Today after eleventy-seven hours in the car together we are just thankful for a stretch of highway without bickering... are we there yet?

Jaimee my darling girl rode with us most of the day. What a great little riding partner she is. Not one second of fussing all day, and we've been on the road for a good 11 or 12 hours.

Next stop will be Savannah to basically say "hi" to Stephanie and Steve. Stephanie is Randy's youngest sister.

Well, my one little finger stirred of poking around on my phone keyboard.

Happy birthday Mark!!!!

Love to all.
V

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Wow, Thanksgiving has come and gone.  There were some GREAT parts of it, and some sad parts.

The sad part was that my married kids have had the flu bug hit their house in a powerful way.  Ryan pulled a shift in the ER and believes he was exposed to the bug there.  He got really sick for a couple of days.  Just as he was determining he would pull through ... Jaimee Rae got hit.  She threw up every 20 minutes for a couple of hours one night.  Poor sick little girl.

Mommy Rhiannon was busy cleaning up bedding and washing things to kill germs - remember we have a vacation to go on next week - first with Ryan and then Jaimee.  They decided to not come on Thanksgiving, but MAYBE come on Friday for Sabbath and Saturday night GAME NIGHT at our house.

But then the bug got her.  She was a sick girlie too.  Fortunately Jaimee was on the mend and Ryan was able to care for her.  As of tonight (Saturday night) outside of a tender tummy after eating, she is feeling better.  So hopefully the worst is behind her.

I missed them all - felt like a big hole in our Thanksgiving.  The other holes were that Joy and her kids were in Florida with Keith's family and  Kate was with her family up in Minnesota.  We were blessed to have our friends the Downey's with us again this year and Wynter and Andy's friend Chris was back to visit.  We've met him before.

One of the GOOD things that happened was that for the first time in a LONG time Holly and Joe were back.  Holly is my brother Mark's oldest daughter.  Joe took some nice pictures of the family that was there.

Dad, as many of you know, has not been doing real great.  That is why we moved the celebration back to mom and dad's house.  He got to be there with us in his recliner.  All the noise we made didn't seem to bother him much as he seemed to enjoy knowing we were all there, though he can't see us.  Mom and dad (Gene and Shirley) got to meet 12 day old Tanner (JoDe and Josh's baby - JoDe is Joy's oldest daughter, Tanner is Joy's 2nd grandchild).

LOTS of good food.  OH MY!!!   Probably the MOST ever.  None of it was bad.  So we were all happily chowing our way through games of FARKLE, conversation, a little Karaoke, laughter, and simply enjoying the day.  Seemed like everyone was in a good mood, didn't hear any cranky remarks or see any crabby actions!  YEAH!!!  It was just a very good day.  Wish everyone could have been there, but ... nothing we could do about it.

Later we, Randy and I, went to Mark and Bellie's while they worked on a computer.  When we got home we worked on the church bulletin and then since it was almost midnight we headed over to Walmart.  DUMB!!!  I've NEVER seen the parking lot that full - EVER.  And inside?  Not ONE cart to be had.  People were elbow to elbow waiting for midnight when some of the bargains were to begin.  Others were forming lines for the super bargains that started at 5 a.m. 

All we really needed was a ream of paper so we could print the church bulletin.  We had it and a couple of other things we'd picked up as we walked around in our arms.  When we got to the front of the store ... the lines were ENORMOUS.  Now, I don't know about Walmart in YOUR area - but here in Muscatine it seems that there is ALWAYS a long wait at the checkout.  I hate that.  Seems to me that a company that puts their owners on the richest people list every year - could somehow make it so that there was enough checkers to get you in and out in a reasonable amount of time.  With that said - the lines were even longer than normal.  We just put our stuff down and walked out the door.  NO WAY.

Since we are going to Florida next week - we decided except for Baby Jaimee we aren't going to do much for Christmas.  I think we all agree that we don't need a trip AND presents.  So we aren't shopping seriously.  Kind of nice to be able to just go out and be IN the WILDNESS and not PART of it!  Whoo hoo! 

Yes, we are heading to Florida.  First time in years and years!  The whole family is going - all of us ... Randy, me, Nick, Rhiannon, Ryan and Jaimee.  We'll have plenty of family time - probably to the point of GET OUT OF MY FACE by the time it is over.  (We're all sharing accomodations!)  Our time is limited - but had kind of thought about sliding through Savannah to see Steph and Steve.  Randy finally called Steph, but we haven't heard back from her.  So that may not be something we can do this time.  And then we want to go over to Edgewater where Keith lives.  There is a river they can kayak down to see manatees and dolphins.  Think we'll try to be there on a Sabbath to enjoy that little nature adventure.  Again though - our trip planner (Randy) I don't think has made contact with Keith to get the details, so we'll have to see how that works.  What we do know is we'll spend a few days visiting Mickey Mouse.  We're all anxious to see how Jaimee reacts to the excitement of it all.

It's almost midnight -- I turn to a pumpkin at midnight, so better head up to my bed (aka pumpkin patch).  Tomorrow is the Goddard thanksgiving.  I plan to go for a little bit.  I always get a couple of pizzas to take.  I'm not cooking!  Pizzas always disappear and there isn't anything to take home to clean up.  Works for me!

Love you all!  V

Here are pics of our Thanksgiving gathering - some with my camera and some I copied from Holly's FB page!  Hover over the pictures for titles.

STANDING CORRECTED

I guess I WOULD have been surprised if a PANDA bear had showed up in my house - with all the eucalyptus going on here yesterday.

I've been corrected that it would have been a KOALA bear that would be here for the eucalyptus.

CHECKING THIS OFF THE LIST ... now on to THAT!!

We started a new book yesterday afternoon at our small group.  We hadn't met for a month or so, and so it was time to resume.  Now that it is winter, I think we should start our group an hour earlier - like at 4 p.m. instead of 5 p.m.  It's a nice way to end the Sabbath, but as it is now - Sabbath is over when we start.

Never-the-less we read a couple of chapters and then ended with prayer.  People seemed to linger, which was fine.  We visited and one of the topics that came up was about things you could and could not take on an airplane.  Medications - over the counter - etc.  One person was ticked because they took her hive medicine - another said they had a large container of eucalyptus oil that they were able to take on (after some testing). 

From there we talked about some of the benefits of eucalyptus oil - rubbing it on a diabetic's sore feet was what this particular couple used it for.  Seemed to alieviate the pain of it for awhile.  Hmmm?  Something deep inside my memory - seemed to recall (YEARS ago) buying a big thing of eucalyptus oil.  Where is it?? 

Most of the crowd left - I needed to go to Blaine's for some buttermints for the shower.  Another of the ladies wanted to go to Walmart and look at a camera and wished Randy would look at it with her.  So we decided to do that.  Then a third lady decided "I wanna go!!" -- so her husband headed home and the four of us (with Randy as our chauffeur) headed out on a fast paced - fun filled Saturday night of adventure.
Started with a stop and the nearest convenience store for a soda all around (except the driver - who #1: was the designated driver after all, and #2: hates carbonation!).

Then to Walmart we went ... oooohhhh..... ahhhhhh.  Even got let out at the door!  We walked around in there and did our own individual shopping - including a couple of cake mixes for my baby shower cupcakes, they got baby shower gifts, no camera was purchased ... and then we headed to Blaine's for the buttermints.  Nope!  They were closed.  Boo-hisss!!!  Now what?  Well, we did the most logical thing that four old people in a car could do!

We headed home!  We took Marian to her house and dropped her off.  Then we took Barb back to our house where her car was.  Randy and I came in the house.  Whew!  It was nearly 9:30 p.m.  I mixed up and baked my cupcakes - 2 boxes of mix worth - and went to bed.

In the morning today I came down to check my email.  My mom had sent a forwarded email about ... EUCALYPTUS OIL.  Go figure!  The talk the night before and now an email.  WHOA!!!!!  This is spooky weird, right?  Admit it!  *wink*    So here I was with a sore throat that I thought was getting better, but isn't.  And coughing.  And sneezing.  Do I really have eucalyptus oil?  Where is it?

I found the oil - took a shower, used the neti-pot (ahhhh!!!) and then rubbed eucalyptus oil on my feet and covered them with my socks.  I also rubbed some on my neck (sore throat inside, remember?).  I went about getting ready for the shower - and felt pretty good.  A few hours later I started coughing again.  More E.Oil on the feet, added socks - and did just fine.

Crazy day!  If I'd seen a Panda Bear somewhere in my house (don't they only eat eucalyptus leaves?) - I wouldn't have been a bit surprised.

So the time for the shower came -- 2 p.m.   I had wondered if, planted in the middle of a Sunday afternoon, anyone would come.  And yet there they were - the few, the proud, the ... - well people came!  I was so relieved.  But no guest of honor.  No mommy, no baby, no daddy (I thought he was going to come with them), no 5 year old sister ... at 2:10 p.m. with people sitting there waiting for it to begin -- I called them.  No answer.  BUT they called back and said they were about to leave.  Okay...about 2:30 p.m. they showed up.  Two cars containing 6 people.  We had us a baby, a mommy, a daddy, a 5 year old sister and some other relatives -- ready set GUESS WHAT KIND OF BABYFOOD IS IN THIS LABEL-less JAR!!!!

We ate cupcakes and nuts and buttermints (I went back to Blaine's early this a.m.) and punch.  We opened gifts.  People visited and got to know the family a bit better. 

Mom and Joy - you were not there physically but you WERE there.  Gilbert's sister was one of the relatives.  Her name is Erma (pronounced AIR-ma).  A number of years ago she attended church.  Her and four little kids.  She remembers BOTH of you clearly.  Said she thought Joy was so pretty and nice.  Talked about Colton who was little - she had a little one about his same age.  Said my mom was so nice and she liked talking to her.  She even seemed to know Mark.  Anyway she said to say 'hi'. 

Their little girls were getting bored with the 'shower scene' and began to roam the house.  Could they go on the deck, could they look at my house, could they go upstairs, could they go in the basement, could they jump on my furniture?????  I'm nice.  I'm friendly.  I'm pretty sure I can overlook most things.  But I said "no, you can't jump on my furniture" - then I asked "You don't jump on your furniture at home do you?"  They got sort of 'deer in headlight' looks on their faces -- which I interpreted to mean -- "Sure we do, doesn't everyone?!" 

But seriously all in all it was a really nice shower ... and weekend.
V

LOVE FRIDAY NIGHTS!

Friday night is pizza night at our house.  Or I should say USUALLY pizza night!  Been that way since the kids were ... uhm, KIDS!  It's just the easy Friday night - it's almost Sabbath - meal.  (Of course we love pizza so we're up for pizza on just about any night - or day for that matter!).

So here I sit munching on a piece of Papa Murphy pizza and enjoying the quiet that a Sabbath brings.  It's even QUIETER than normal, because we don't have a TV on our main floor right now.  Generally we tune into 3ABN - a Christian TV station - and listen to that. 

With Thanksgiving right around the corner and vacation just around the next corner - things are shifting into a higher gear here!  At work - it is necessary to get as much done AHEAD of time so that while I'm gone it isn't piling up so much.  The UP side to that is that the days race by faster than you can imagine.  The DOWN side to that is that the days race by faster than you can imagine!

I've had a raw sore throat for 3 days now.  Prior to that I had a headache and scratchy/burning eyes for over a week.  The throat, at least tonight as I type, feels like it might be a bit better than earlier.  I didn't stay home from work, though there was a day or two that I was tempted.  But read the paragraph just above this one to know why it really wasn't even an option!  Therefore, all the other folks at work will be sore-throated when I am gone to visit Mickey.

Last Sunday was fun.  We had been invited to a baby shower.  We being Randy and I.  My cousin's daughter is going to have a baby in March.  They did the shower now, while she is back visiting from California.  It was a 'family' shower.  The guys went in the basement and talked and watched football while the girls figured out what kind of baby food was in each jar - the labels were gone, and other fun stuff.

Kim, one of my cousins had brought a TRIKE made from diapers.  It was so cute.  I'd seen cakes made from diapers.  But never a trike.  This Sunday I'm having a shower here at our house for a lady at church.  I decided to try my hand at it.  It looks sort of cute (Kim's looked better) - and mine feels like it wants to fall apart.  I need to figure out how to better secure the 'tires' together.  I don't think this three-wheeler would pass a state inspection!  NO LICENSE FOR YOU!!!!

Here is what it looks like now - I think I'll tune it up before Sunday:

  

We're so looking forward to having our little Jaimee come to Mama and Papa's house.  I guess we aren't the only ones missing someone.  Every night when she goes to bed they sing Jesus Loves Me - she knows the words and tune pretty good.  Last night she didn't sing the words.  But she sang "mama-mama-mama" to the tune of Jesus Loves Me.  Awww, right?  *LOL*

Hope your week was a good one! 

Love you all!  My feelings won't be hurt if you decide to drop me a newsy email letter, I promise! 

V

WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT!

We've needed a different '2nd' car for quite awhile.  The one Randy drives now, is one my mom had and replaced with her current car.   It's a white Mercury Mystique.  It's actually been a fairly good little car. It replaced a blue-ish Mercury Mystique (that used to be Jill and Mike's). 

Jill and Mike gave the blue-ish one to Ryan and Rhiannon shortly after they got married.  They drove it until they were a leery of driving it any longer -- seemed like one thing or the other always needed fixed.  Randy drove that car until it could barely motate down the road, then he got mom's.  And now the white Mystique is hobbling down the road with a shimmy and shudder, bleeding oil all the way ... hoping it survives to the end of the tank of gas!

Not being as adventurous as our son Nick (who flew to Washington state to meet his auto), or our daughter and son in law (who had a vehicle trucked up from Florida site unseen), or my brother Mark who went out east to pick up his new wheels.  All their deals had been secured via the internet and they've done pretty well with their aquisitions.  Still and all ...

Upon the recommendation of our friend and former pastor Steve Shaw, we called a fellow church member in Clinton.  He has a car repair shop and sells used autos.  We decided to trust his judgement and expertise.  Basically, all we wanted from a 2nd car (which would become our 'good' car - since our van is a 2003 with a ton of miles on it now!) - was some good life left in it, wheels and air conditioning!  So we put it into Roy's capable hands.  Told him we weren't in a HUGE rush - maybe within a month ...

Couple of days later Randy called me at work saying that Roy had found us a car at auction.  Roy was enthusiastic about it -- in good shape, pretty car, all the bells and whistles, etc. etc. (you know, stuff that puts a spark in the eye of the male of the species).  Randy told me the name of the car ... 2003 (same age as our 'old' van).

Not knowing exactly what it was I Googled the car ... Hmmm?  I started getting  a huge grin on my face as I began reading quotes in different articles like:

*  Grandpa has better taste than you think, and more leg room too!
*  Comfortable land yacht  (hence the 'whatever floats your boat ...')
*  This car's senior citizen demographic ...

I think you get the gist of what was going through my mind as I read about car.  Luxury all the way.  EVERY bell and EVERY whistle.  BIG and roomy (remember our family sports some taller people!).  Gas mileage that meets or exceeds the van.  And a good low price!  All that is great -- and seriously funny to me!

Nick agrees its nice, but also states that we've either definately finished the slide into 'old age' or dad (Randy) has become a pimp!  *LOL*  You hush Nicky-Jo!

We do like the car and hope it will take us many miles down the road of our 'golden years'!  It was kind of funny as we took a little spin in it - we're hunting around at the different features it has ... but the feature that tickled us both the most was that it had the little anchor things so we could hook a car seat in it for Jaimee!  What fun would ANY car be if we couldn't take our little girlie with us if/when we have the opportunity!

You know what?  God is SO good to us!  We are blessed to have a car that is pretty, comfy and runs.  And I think we're blessed to know that we are blessed.  THANK YOU GOD for answering prayers!

So my friends, at the end of another very busy week of lots of training (at my morning job) for new software that we got on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday -- which required full days down there and working the other job in the evenings, etc.   And again today a full day because someone was out of the office ... I say HAPPY SABBATH and may God bless!

ANOTHER WEEKEND ... ahhh!

First of all - for those of you who don't know, dad is in the hospital.  Like the bad daughter I am, I have NOT been to see him.  I plan to travel there tomorrow for a visit.  I love you dad (and mom) -- hard to tell, I know!

Here is a message mom sent to several (I assume, because it started out "Hi All"):

Want you to know Gene was doing much better laying there in VA. He hadn’t eaten a thing since Tuesday Noon. They want to clean him out and take tests to see if they can determine what is causing the diarrhea. Yet they think maybe his lack of strength was because he isn’t eating enough. He doesn’t want to eat, I always made him something for each meal or gave him a nutrition drink and yogurt or soymilk or juice of some sort in place of or with other food. Now they’re not giving him food at all and expect him to have firm enough bowel movement to test for the organisam that may be causing the diarrhea. That can’t happen without solid food, I don’t think anyway.



They tested him and found that he has MRSA and immediately removed him from the room he shared with another man, also, removed the other man from the room and went about cleaning the room. He is in a room by himself and they are very cautious handling him. Me too! Guess it is very contagious and can make a person very ill. I asked how he got it and they said maybe the hospital or anyone can be a carrier and not be ill. Who knows?

But I want you to know he is doing much better, more alert. Not sure about his walking as they haven’t tried that yet. Therapy will come in today, they say also a dietion will be in to see him today.


Must get ready and head up there now. Thank-you all for your prayers and concerns. They are heard and answered.

I have been praying for dad (and mom) - and I beg you to petition heaven on behalf of them both.

Last week after church we went to mom and dad's for lunch.  Had pizza, salad (very yummy Joy), ice cream cake and some other things.  Dad had turned 80 on the 29th and Bellie had turned '29' on the 30th!  Gail and John had an anniversary this month and I know there are November birthdays coming up (Darren ... HB2U!) 

The little kids put on their costumes for a little picture taking!  We had such nice pictures of them last year, so wanted it again this year!  Here is a picture from last year - so you can compare how much they've grown and changed in one year!  (I'll share this year's pics at the end -- so you keep reading!  *LOL*)  Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'm not prejudiced - but aren't they just about the cutest little folk ever!??

Reese (2)  Jaimee (8 mos.)  Dayton (3)



That night (last Saturday night) - we had a bonfire church social at our house.  Unfortunately, we seem to have lost about a tree a year average since we've lived here.  Well, maybe not quite that bad, but still 8 or 9 trees probably.  So we have a pile of wood, nicely dried and ready to go!  Our friend Kelly was in charge of the fire!  I think he could have been a pyromaniac if he hadn't chosen truck driving as a career!  He makes GOOD fires.  Big and hot.  A few friends, some weinie roasting sticks and some weinies ... we had us a bonfire.  Sang a few songs to see Sabbath out and then roasted and ate and talked.  The evening couldn't have been more beautiful.  I was so thankful.

Some folks came into the basement and karaoke'd with Bellie.  She got a new super karaoke system and has 2000+ songs to sing!  Josh, JoDe, and Reese stayed after the rest had gone.   We sat in the basement ... Ryan, Rhiannon, Randy and I with the Watsons ... it was so nice to sit there and visit with them.  We just love them to bits and pieces!  Tanner was doing a little polka or something inside his momma!  We were watching him move around while JoDe struggled for a comfy position.  (BTW he was overdue then and still hasn't made his appearance).  Here's what his mommy wrote today on Facebook (sorry I didn't ask first before sharing it JoDe Lee!)

Baby Boy, tenant, has 4 days in which he can gather his belongings and promptly vacate the premises. After which, he will be physically removed from the property. He's being evicted due to breech of contract and destruction of property. Expansions only to the FRONT of the house, w/in reasonable limits, were discussed. ...Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back of the house were also made.

Remodeling and gutting of the house were never approved, nor were changing the initial layout and base structure. And due to the property damage, there are now leaks in both the upper and lower levels of the home. Any further problems will result in immediate and forceful removal. I appreciate your cooperation. 

Sincerely,Mommy (your "landlord")

Back to Saturday night -- while we visited little Reese sat on my lap - she was very tired, but is such a nice little girl.  She had gotten some stickers when they went trick-or-treating.  They were small little 'fingernail' type ones.  She asked if she could put some on my fingers.  We both agreed they would look so pretty,  she finished up one hand and then the other.  Out of fingernails, she asked if she could put them on my forearm.  I told her sure, but then suggested she could put one on each button of my blouse.

She adhered one to the first button and then leaned very close ... maybe 8 or 10 inches from my face ... and said in a sweet little SERIOUS voice.  "You have to take them off before you wash your shirt.  You can not wash clothes with stickers on them.  You have to take them off first."  I didn't laugh outloud, but I was sure chuckling on the inside.  Such grown up advise from a little bit of a girl.  I had to wonder what experience taught her that lesson!

Speaking of cute cute cute -- you gotta love a call that says "I have to share a 'cute' with you.  Rhiannon was taking Jaimee to Target this week.  She told J she could bring her dolly and stroller to push around Target.  As they got in (or out) of the vehicle a plane flew over.  Rhiannon hears a little voice - "Hi pane, hi pane" - turning to look at J, she sees her sweet baby girl waving dolly's hand at the 'pane' and saying "hi pane'.  20 month old cuteness!

Next week will be a long one - with way too many working hours to fit into the average working week!  I'm being required to work full days at my morning job because we got new (whoo hoo!!) software and the guy will be here from New York to train us.  That plus my afternoon job that has a few things I HAVE to get done next week ... will make for some long days.  BUT I get extra hours -- and that will make for a better paycheck!  And that is ALWAYS fun!

So I know - "this is getting long Vonda, I have to go to the bathroom ... get to the end already!"   - so okay I'll say good bye and hope YOUR week was a good one - now hurry off and go potty!  *wink*

Later!  V

Oh yes ... hover your cursor over the pics for the titles.  I don't really think you need the titles, but you should read them just in case there is a quiz later or something!