Kari, Micah and I took off for California last Mon. It was the first time any of us had spent time there and the first time K and M would see the ocean- pretty exciting!!! The main focus of the trip was my foot surgery, but the surgeon I found is a bit of a miracle worker, so it was a vacation at the same time. If you have a bunion or know anyone with one tell them about Dr. Moy in Lake Forest CA. He does more bunion surgeries than anyone in the US. The surgery and recovery has been painless, ...

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind... It began with Susan and Kari's decision to come to IA for the family reunion with me. It would surely be an adventure especially with the three babies going along. We headed out Thursday night and drove for 13 hours until we reached great grandpa's farm. It was fantastic to have our whole immediate family together once again. The farm was filled with babies this year~ the next generation. It was beautiful to see how the importance of famly has been ...

So I've started to play softball again. It's crazy, ha? After about 10 yrs.- I even threw my cleats away, so today I went and got some new ones. I got on the team through people I met at the rec center on the volleyball league. It's been fun!~keeping me active, and meeting new people. I'm on two coed teams now. I finally feel like I can sprint to first base without a load of bricks tied to my feet! It's been fun mainly because nobody is extremely competitive- just out there to have a good ...

A few weeks ago I bought a new puppy!!! She is a 5 month old Douge De Bourdeax: french mastiff. She is very sweet and loving. Matilda (or Tilda) is the first puppy I have had, and I can't believe how wonderful she is. I probably would have gotten a dog a long time ago had I known how much joy they bring...  Unfortunately, there was a piece of her duclaw that wasn't removed properly at birth which caused an infection. Today she had it removed and seems to be doing fine. This is my first puppy ...

Today I put in a new kitchen faucet. Yipee! I think it had been dripping for months. Tonight a guy is coming over to finish...(hopefully, I've said this before quite a few times and kept running into roadblocks) ...the drywall in my bathroom from the chimney/water damage. What a relief it will be to have that done! Recently, I painted my bedroom olive green. The trim around the floor was still raised from when there was carpet there, so I put it back down on the floor. Behind my faucet I ...