Frannie the Model

Do y'all remember our mini goldendoodle Frannie? She's all grown up now and turning 7 in August! Look-- she has her very own special pillow!! Couldn't she be a model?? :)

She's such a crazy floofball at times. While she'd love to catch a rabbit or baby rabbit -- her favorite thing to chase (and maybe eat??) are toads! Yes, we have toads in our neighborhood and yard. They drive her crazy as she wants outside a lot to go toad hunting! Ugh -- so gross. I'd post a toad photo - but they are not at all attractive -- take my word for it. And they are fast moving. Kinda wish they'd move next door!

Lawn Mowing 101 or Did I Mow the Lawn Correctly???

Hi friends! Guess it's been awhile since a post from me! I'm gonna try to pop in now and then when I have something important (ha!) to say. So, today I'm talking about mowing the lawn - fascinating, right! We've had rain every single day for the last couple of weeks and the grass has been growing like crazy! I'm back to mowing as our lawn guy lives outside Lincoln, so a bit too far for him to come here. I'm sure I could find a new guy, but we are getting it handled. Rick usually mows the front and I mow the much larger backyard [patting myself on the back for taking on the larger space]. See backyard photo below with lovely walking path behind us!

Important to know our next door neighbor to the west is Meticulous about his lawn! We share a bit of lawn in front - like 3-4 feet I'd guess, but DO NOT MOW his side. OY!! He had his wife send me a text when Rick mowed his portion in front! He makes me nervous whenever I mow or run the weed whacker. I kinda have the feeling he's watching to see if I cross over onto his part. He does have cameras set up around the house (security, you know). Is that crazy or what?? It's not like he's the Lawn Czar but it feels like it!

Since Rickster has not felt the best, he hasn't done a ton of planting like he did at the old house. Plus, the soil here is like clay- really hard red clay We spent so much time and energy digging up some spots for plants in the front and it still does not look that great. But, I felt like i'd been beat up the next day. Clay soil is not for the weak of muscle or heart. Sooooo, whatever we got planted that day was it and we called it good. We put in a few tall grasses and hostas as they will come back next year. Also found a couple of hanging baskets at Walmart that are simply beautiful!! Hope to be back soon with a more interesting post - xoxo

Happy New Year -- I'm BAACCKKKK!

Hello Friends! Well, I took quite a bit of break, didn't I. Guess I kind of lost my "mojo" for writing blog posts. Well, the kids got older and more private with their lives. I can still write a bit about them, Moms can do that - right!

Instead of trying to go back and catch all up, I'll do a brief (ha!) summary of what's happened. Maddie graduated from a Radiologic Technologist program and is working full-time at orthopedic clinics throught the city. She "floats" based on needs spending a couple days at one and a few days at another location. Some clinics are more favored by her than others, of course. It really shocks me at how rude some patients can be. Someone brought their dog in a couple weeks ago without a leash and it bit one of her coworkers who then had to get a tetnus shot and go on strong antibiotics. The dog owner said it was the rad tech's fault. Not a good day at that clinic.

We did a ton of work and put our house on the market last summer! We lived there for just over 30 years and it was 100 years old. It sold in 9 days!! Yippee! Great that it sold fast for what we wanted, but still hard to leave a home where we raised our kids and spent so much of our lives. Missing the neighbors and neighborhood. That was a huge project to get some repairs and updates on the house and get rid of 30 years of excess. Still can hardly believe we got it done! We moved about 50 miles away and are closer to Maddie, yet still close enough to visit and get to medical appointments at our old location.

Our new house is a lot smaller and only 3 years old! It's an open concept with a walk-out deck on main floor to a lovely fenced in yard and a walk-out lower level. While we definitely miss the old house and neighbors, we love the new one. It's in a new are, so not many trees around yet and can get very, very windy! definitely an adjustment. We have a lovely walking path behind our house so that gives us a nice walk and a good amount of space between our neighbors behind us. Our pup, Frannie, loves it!

My older sons are doing well. The oldest has a medical practice near Lincoln and my other son moved to Jacksonville Florida. He's certainly happy to miss cold and snow! We love to visit him and join him at Disney World. I think I need to plan a trip there soon!

Mr. Tennis (hub) has had a rough year of medical issues. It's been difficult to say the least, but he finally seems to be doing a bit better. He had a huge surgery at the beginning of December 2025 and recovery is slower than expected.

I'm not working currently - being driver and medical aide for Hubs has kept me busy. I'm hopeful to find a part-time position in the future. Still have loads of boxes to unpack or dispose of!

This month of January seems to be going on forever, but I'm so happy that sunset is now a bit later and we have more daylight! Have a great weekend all!

Summer Solstice

Hello friends -- well, once again, I'm behind in updating -- but that's ok. As I always say, better late than never!

A quick update to get me closer to the current date! :) We celebrated Easter with family (at Philip's) and I did another Saran Wrap game -- this time the spring edition. It was loads of fun!

I also made a Martha Stewart quiche that was extremely tasty. But, tell me this, how does Martha get so much accomplished?? However, my quiche almost looked like a pizza -- didn't taste like pizza though. Working at Von Maur continues to be fun and gets me out of the house about 4 days a week. Of course, that means I'm not getting a ton accompished at home, but que sera sera right!

Maddie is BUSY finishing up her Radiologic Technology program. She'll finish up at the end of July and I promise to post more about that when it's closer. We did get some grad photos done recently. More to follow later!

March Update - Spring Break

Hello Friends!! OOOPS -- I missed my March update deadline that I imposed on myself, so guess it's ok that I'm a little late. Better late than never!

Anyway, so during the middle of January and an incredible way below below-zero temp time and mucho snow, Maddie and I decided we needed to make a plan to get out of town!! And go to the beach! You know where we usually go . . . Disney! Well, this time we went to Tampa Bay. We needed a beach and Tampa sounded right and close to some beaches though we had never been there before! It was a very quick trip - I think we stayed 3 nights. Connor joined us from Jacksonville and was our driver extraordinaire! The traffic there is kind of nightmarish-especially for a chicken driver like me!

We hung out at the hotel some, went to the downtown river walk (that may be what it's called) and went to Clearwater Beach! Oh my word!! The BEACH!!!!! I had been longing for some feet in the sand for a while and the sand there is so smooth and soft -- not crunchy or rough at all. LOVED IT!!!

While there, we went on a river tug boat to see the dolphins! Amazing that we beat the usual spring break crowd, so our tugboat - Little Toot -- had only about 20 people on it instead of the usual crammed-in 50 people! The dolphins were so amazing. They followed the boat and came alongside it and gave us a show over and over. It was really a highlight of the trip. I'd post a video, but am clueless as to how to do that, so just take my word for it!

That's the pirate ship above -- we should have gone on that one too!

The weather was warm enough for the beach for Maddie and so I was able to get a few photos. She said she's always wanted photos at the beach and we got a few! It was a more relaxing trip than Disney where we run, run run. We still love Disney though, but a change was good. After such a fun trip, the rest of March seems like a blur.

Maybe it's a bit of a blur because I got a new job! I'm working in the Children's and Gift department at Von Maur. Von Maur is where Maddie and I usually do our Christmas gift-wrap jobs. I felt like I needed a little job, so am working 4 days a week and around 25 hours a week. It's been fun and such a nice place to work. Very calm and everyone is super nice. I will admit it is a bit tiring. Usually I have two 9-hour shifts a week and those can be killers on my old lady legs and feet. But, it's working out well for now.

As always, I will try to post more regularly - but we will see about that, won't we! Take care and stay tuned!

February 2024 Update

Ooops -- I missed doing my February update! So, here's the lowdown on the highlights of February! We finally celebrated Christmas with the littles! They had been sick at Christmas, so it got postponed - a couple times. Kind of nice to have it in February. We had a brunch and I made the MOST DELICIOUS quiche -- had carmelized onions, bacon and gruyere cheese. It was a big hit with everyone! In fact, it was gobbled up fast and my usual ham and cheese quiche was mostly untouched!

Whoever heard of blind baking the crust?? I had no idea - but now I know! Interesting!

I had prepared that fun Saran wrap game for Christmas and had totally forgotten what all I wrapped up. We had so much fun passing that around and seeing what would come up! I think Jane called it Pass the Parcel (maybe its called that on the Bluey show???). Anyway, everone had a blast and lucky Dorothy got the very last prize! It was a little gift card container with a $5 bill and 5 $1 dollar bills! She was so excited. A few photos follow! We will definitely be playing that again!

Stay tuned! I'll try to actually get my March post up in March!! :)

January 2024 Update

Hello Friends!! I've been meaning to update the good old blog, but have gotten a bit distracted! My goal for 2024 is at least 1 post a month. When I last posted in November, I believe I was talking about getting ready for Christmas and working in gift wrap at Von Maur! I know it sounds silly to love a part-time seasonal gift-wrapping job, but both Maddie and I love that job! We meet up with our friends from previous years there and, while it can be super busy, it is lots of fun too. And who doesn't love wrapping gifts in gorgeous paper and realizing that someone is going to be thrilled to receive the gift amd the givers are delighted to have their purchases all wrapped and ready to go!

Miss M turned 22 just before Christmas! Her classes and finals had been completed by the time of her birthday. With it being so close to Christmas, it is sometimes difficult to get together to celebrate! But we managed it this year with a birthday day dinner at one of her favorite places and we had an ice cream cake! It was delish! Connor was in town for the holiday, so that made it extra special and a very nice guy that M is dating was also able to attend. We all loved meeting him and getting to know him a little.

The weather at Christmas was very warm and it rained like crazy on Christmas Eve, so we were unable to light our luminaires. That was a first in the 30 years we've lived here! The weather this year has been pretty crazy with at least a week of very sub-zero temps! But we are supposed to hit 62 today - the last day of January with the sun shining brightly! We just got through a few weeks with those super frigid temps and 15+ inches of snow and then dreary cold temps, so we definitely are enjoying have the sun out and some warm weather.

We had planned to be with the whole family on Christmas Eve, but some of the littles were sick, so we had to delay that. We're actually celebrating this weekend - Christmas in February! Instead, Maddie and I made a quick batch of chili and invited her guy to join us for dinner! Maddie and I did a quick clean sweep of the house and all the "stuff" sitting around. It was loads of fun and I must say, I do love my chili! :)

Now that we're nearly finished with January, there is a light at the end of the long winter tunnel! Sending good wishes out into the universe for all. Stay tuned and I promise to try and update more often!