Happy Friday! I hope you all had a good week and that you are headed for a relaxing weekend! I wanted to let everyone know that I have Blaine's new address. If you are wanting the new address before I might see you then send me a note and I will email it to you.
Blaine is doing well this week! He will be moving to another location sometime soon which is why his address is changing. It has been hotter there this week than usual, but I guess the temperature here has been getting hotter as well.
Have a great weekend everyone! Keep Blaine in your prayers for a safe move for he and his platoon!
P.S. I love you pea pod mate! Stay safe!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
A lucky day for everyone
Hello! I am sure you will all be surprised to see posts from earlier today as well as now. Earlier I didn't have time to be blogging about everything that is going on. Now I am thinking I have enough time.
Let's see I guess we'll start with an update about my foot. I went back to the doctor last Thursday and he seemed to think that my foot was getting better. He gave me an ankle brace to wear for the next two weeks. I have to have that on or the boot and so I've been trying to work on only wearing the ankle brace. Sunday I went back to my boot to wear for the festival since I knew I'd be walking around and on my feet all day. Which turned out to be a good decision and I had hardly any pain the next day in my foot. It feels better I guess, although sometimes it is still pretty painful.
My time in Leesburg visiting and Matt and Sharlena was a treat to get away. It was nice to be able to talk to Blaine while I was up there too. We went to Shipshewana one day which is an amish settlement. I have been there before and I really enjoy going there and going in the shops to look at things. I picked up a piece of artwork for my piano room as long as some gifts for people. It was nice to see Matt and Sharlena as well.
Last week was nothing major for the most part. I went shopping with Mom and Grandma on Tuesday and did some work on my classroom as well that day. Saturday I spent a lot of the day baking for the church picnic on Sunday. Which is where things get interesting in this post.
On Sunday July 20 the St. John's Church picnic was held. This is something that is done every year and is always something that provides for an interesting day. This year was no exception. I got to wear the boot all day which was enough excitement for me since everyone that knew me, and some that didn't, asked me all day what happened to my foot. It was the same story each time and it gets a little old to tell all the time. We always work in the Bars and Bells booth because Mom is responsible for that booth. I got there at 10:30am and it was already steaming hot. We knew the weather was supposed to be reallly hot and steamy during the day with a slight chance of showers or storms. That seemed about right since it always rains on the picnic it seems like. Sure enough around 3:30 in the afternoon it looked like it might rain and we soon got word that it was going to storm. It was enough of a rain and storm to run off some of the people that were there, but nothing was too bad and there were still people around. The evening dinner crowd wasn't nearly as big as it might usually be. Around 6:00pm we had the grand raffle. At the end of the raffle we got word that there was another storm on the way. We always tear down the same night as the picnic and with the storm coming in it was decided that we should at least try and get the tents on the ground in order for them to weather the storm better. Unfortunately we only got one tent on the ground prior to the storm hitting. It came up much quicker than anyone thought it would and it proved to be more dangerous than it first looked. The tents we realized were not going to make it through the storm. They began to collapse and bend up like they were made of toothpicks. It was like nothing I had seen before. There were people trying to hold onto the tents to keep them from going onto each other and trying to get them on the ground. People were standing on the buckets trying to hold down the tents as well. Soon we realized there was not much that we could do to save the tents and that we needed to get out of the storm. I have never been out in a storm this bad. I started by trying to help out with the tents and soon realized they were coming down and I had to get out of the way because with the boot I wasn't moving fast. So I headed around the side of the church and then onto the porch of the hall. I was standing there watching and realized I should be taking pictures of everything going on. So I went and got my camera and started snapping. Eventually people came into the hall from working with the tents to take shelter from the storm. It wasn't long before the tornado sirens began going off. We then realized we had to head from the hall into the basement in the school. So there was a mad dash for the school and the basement. We stayed there until we were given the all clear and we headed back to the hall. We tried to work on the tents again but the lightening was just too much. It was by far the scariest thing I've been through in a long time. I am still surprised at how lucky we were to have nobody hurt through all the tents falling and the storms and everything that happened that day. All of my pictures that I took are posted on my picasa page. The link is http://picasaweb.google.com/gellert.k At this point I'm not going to post the pictures on my blog just because it will take so long and there are so many pictures. I encourage you to take a look though.
This week has be uneventful so far. Monday I had lunch with Mom, Grandma, Grandma's sister Jean and her daughter Debbie, and Pam. We headed to Batesvilile to the park to chat for awhile and had lunch at Lil' Charlies. It was a nice day. Last night was cleanup at church and then I headed to Mom's and dumped the pictures of the picnic onto her computer. Today I lounged around and got somethings done and now I'm hanging out with Amber. Tomorrow is shopping with Amber too! We are going to have fun!!
Blaine is doing well. As you saw from the earlier post he will be moving to another location in Iraq sometime this week. I'm still not clear on the details but I know you can't send anything until he moves because his address will be changing. I will post the address as soon as I get the new one and until then just keep him in your prayers because he will be moving around in the country some until then.
Until later this week sometime! Have a great week!!
P.S. I love you baby! Be careful and be safe!
Let's see I guess we'll start with an update about my foot. I went back to the doctor last Thursday and he seemed to think that my foot was getting better. He gave me an ankle brace to wear for the next two weeks. I have to have that on or the boot and so I've been trying to work on only wearing the ankle brace. Sunday I went back to my boot to wear for the festival since I knew I'd be walking around and on my feet all day. Which turned out to be a good decision and I had hardly any pain the next day in my foot. It feels better I guess, although sometimes it is still pretty painful.
My time in Leesburg visiting and Matt and Sharlena was a treat to get away. It was nice to be able to talk to Blaine while I was up there too. We went to Shipshewana one day which is an amish settlement. I have been there before and I really enjoy going there and going in the shops to look at things. I picked up a piece of artwork for my piano room as long as some gifts for people. It was nice to see Matt and Sharlena as well.
Last week was nothing major for the most part. I went shopping with Mom and Grandma on Tuesday and did some work on my classroom as well that day. Saturday I spent a lot of the day baking for the church picnic on Sunday. Which is where things get interesting in this post.
On Sunday July 20 the St. John's Church picnic was held. This is something that is done every year and is always something that provides for an interesting day. This year was no exception. I got to wear the boot all day which was enough excitement for me since everyone that knew me, and some that didn't, asked me all day what happened to my foot. It was the same story each time and it gets a little old to tell all the time. We always work in the Bars and Bells booth because Mom is responsible for that booth. I got there at 10:30am and it was already steaming hot. We knew the weather was supposed to be reallly hot and steamy during the day with a slight chance of showers or storms. That seemed about right since it always rains on the picnic it seems like. Sure enough around 3:30 in the afternoon it looked like it might rain and we soon got word that it was going to storm. It was enough of a rain and storm to run off some of the people that were there, but nothing was too bad and there were still people around. The evening dinner crowd wasn't nearly as big as it might usually be. Around 6:00pm we had the grand raffle. At the end of the raffle we got word that there was another storm on the way. We always tear down the same night as the picnic and with the storm coming in it was decided that we should at least try and get the tents on the ground in order for them to weather the storm better. Unfortunately we only got one tent on the ground prior to the storm hitting. It came up much quicker than anyone thought it would and it proved to be more dangerous than it first looked. The tents we realized were not going to make it through the storm. They began to collapse and bend up like they were made of toothpicks. It was like nothing I had seen before. There were people trying to hold onto the tents to keep them from going onto each other and trying to get them on the ground. People were standing on the buckets trying to hold down the tents as well. Soon we realized there was not much that we could do to save the tents and that we needed to get out of the storm. I have never been out in a storm this bad. I started by trying to help out with the tents and soon realized they were coming down and I had to get out of the way because with the boot I wasn't moving fast. So I headed around the side of the church and then onto the porch of the hall. I was standing there watching and realized I should be taking pictures of everything going on. So I went and got my camera and started snapping. Eventually people came into the hall from working with the tents to take shelter from the storm. It wasn't long before the tornado sirens began going off. We then realized we had to head from the hall into the basement in the school. So there was a mad dash for the school and the basement. We stayed there until we were given the all clear and we headed back to the hall. We tried to work on the tents again but the lightening was just too much. It was by far the scariest thing I've been through in a long time. I am still surprised at how lucky we were to have nobody hurt through all the tents falling and the storms and everything that happened that day. All of my pictures that I took are posted on my picasa page. The link is http://picasaweb.google.com/gellert.k At this point I'm not going to post the pictures on my blog just because it will take so long and there are so many pictures. I encourage you to take a look though.
This week has be uneventful so far. Monday I had lunch with Mom, Grandma, Grandma's sister Jean and her daughter Debbie, and Pam. We headed to Batesvilile to the park to chat for awhile and had lunch at Lil' Charlies. It was a nice day. Last night was cleanup at church and then I headed to Mom's and dumped the pictures of the picnic onto her computer. Today I lounged around and got somethings done and now I'm hanging out with Amber. Tomorrow is shopping with Amber too! We are going to have fun!!
Blaine is doing well. As you saw from the earlier post he will be moving to another location in Iraq sometime this week. I'm still not clear on the details but I know you can't send anything until he moves because his address will be changing. I will post the address as soon as I get the new one and until then just keep him in your prayers because he will be moving around in the country some until then.
Until later this week sometime! Have a great week!!
P.S. I love you baby! Be careful and be safe!
Address Change
Hey everyone! I am planning on a full update for later today, but I wanted to post as soon as I could about Blaine. He will be moving to another location in Iraq sometime this week. That being said if you have packages, or letters, or anything you are thinking of sending to him please hold off. We don't know for sure if he will be receiving them yet or how he will get them. If you have sent something in the past week please let me know so when he and I talk again I can let him know what to expect or ask about. I will get the new address out to everyone once he is to his next location. Thanks! Check back later this evening for another post!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Missing freedom
Well I hope you all had a fabulous 4th of July and that it was a relaxing time. My 4th was a good time that was spent with family.
Thursday night the 3rd I went to the Gellert's for dinner with Cory and Jessie. It was a yummy dinner of course. It was nice to catch up with Cory and Jessie as well. I hardly see them and they have a lot going on to keep up with these days!
Friday my Mom, Dad and I finished up the painting that needed to be done at the house. We painted the entry way and up the stairs as well as the landing upstairs. It was a ton of work. There is so much trimming and stuff that is hard to get to in the hallway and up the steps. We started right around 8 and it took us until 2 to finish. All in all everything went smoothly. I have touch ups to do now and then everything will be done for the most part. I have pretty much red paint left and so I'm thinking about maybe painting a wall in the powder room....we'll see. After that I was way pooped and so I showered and decided to rest in my bed for a bit watching a movie....it wasn't too long and I woke up an hour and a half later. Ooops. I went to dinner with my parents after talking with Blaine for a bit. Then we came back home and I watched some fireworks on TV and it was time for bed!
Saturday was the family party at Pams. Saturday morning I got up early and worked on putting the house back together in case people came over to check out the paint. After cleaning and hanging up the pictures and such I worked on my fruit salad for the party. After finishing the salad I got some time to just relax and catch up on some TV that I had taped. Blaine called me on Saturday too! It was so nice to actually get to talk to him and hear his voice. We get more accomplished during those conversations too. He is doing well and was excited to get to take part in a cookout that they had on the FOB for the 4th. I headed to Pams for the party around 4 and had a great time. We had fabulous food, great company, and gorgeous weather. It was nice to get to see some family that I hadn't seen in awhile. I have pictures that I will try to post later on this week if I get the chance.
Sunday was just a lazy day that I like to have. Sleeping in, lounging and then spending a bit of time with the fam.
Monday I had dinner with Donna Tanner and her 3 boys. It is so great to see her and hang out with her. She is such an awesome teacher and a great friend and person to have on your side. Her boys are awesome too! They are so funny and really smart. It is hard to believe how big they are! It makes me feel old!
Tuesday I got a real treat for the next 10 days. I went back to the doctor on Tuesday for my foot. I actually went to a foot and ankle doctor this time. He was much more thorough and I felt much more comfortable about what was going on and his diagnosis, even though it is not fun. He took more x-rays and then looked at those. According to the ones he took I pretty much broke a bone in my foot. So now I have a boot on my foot for at least then next 10 days and likely longer than that. The boot goes from my toes to about 1/2 inch below my knee. It adds about 2 inches to the height of that leg as well. That meant that I had to go and get new shoes that were also tall for my left foot. So mom was kind enough to tote me around and look for cheapo flip flops that made me tall. (Thanks mom!!) I finally found what we were looking for at the 3rd place, Target. So now I am 2 inches taller and wearing a giant boot on one foot and platform flip flops on the other. It is quite out of character for me. Oh well, go figure that the first time I break a bone in my body I would be living by myself and having to deal with everything alone.
It has been an interesting week. Tomorrow I am headed to northern Indiana to visit with Matt and Sharlena. Mom, Dad, and Grandma are going along too. I am ready to get out of my house and take a trip. It might be a bit eaiser without this boot though. Oh well....we'll see how it goes and I'm sure there will be pictures to share as well.
Blaine is doing well this week. He has gotten a lot of packages and is getting to share some things with the other guys. My mom and I made his favorite cookies to send to him last week. He was so excited to get them and he has already eaten 2 of the boxes we sent. He says that he has plenty of chapstick and also plenty of foot powder for the rest of the time he is there. He is thinking that they may get to move into a building somtime soon. Which I'm sure would be nice for him but also probably maybe a pain to have to move everything again.
I hope you all have a fantastic end to your week and a good weekend! Until next time!
P.S. I love you sweetie!! I miss you tons and tons!!
Thursday night the 3rd I went to the Gellert's for dinner with Cory and Jessie. It was a yummy dinner of course. It was nice to catch up with Cory and Jessie as well. I hardly see them and they have a lot going on to keep up with these days!
Friday my Mom, Dad and I finished up the painting that needed to be done at the house. We painted the entry way and up the stairs as well as the landing upstairs. It was a ton of work. There is so much trimming and stuff that is hard to get to in the hallway and up the steps. We started right around 8 and it took us until 2 to finish. All in all everything went smoothly. I have touch ups to do now and then everything will be done for the most part. I have pretty much red paint left and so I'm thinking about maybe painting a wall in the powder room....we'll see. After that I was way pooped and so I showered and decided to rest in my bed for a bit watching a movie....it wasn't too long and I woke up an hour and a half later. Ooops. I went to dinner with my parents after talking with Blaine for a bit. Then we came back home and I watched some fireworks on TV and it was time for bed!
Saturday was the family party at Pams. Saturday morning I got up early and worked on putting the house back together in case people came over to check out the paint. After cleaning and hanging up the pictures and such I worked on my fruit salad for the party. After finishing the salad I got some time to just relax and catch up on some TV that I had taped. Blaine called me on Saturday too! It was so nice to actually get to talk to him and hear his voice. We get more accomplished during those conversations too. He is doing well and was excited to get to take part in a cookout that they had on the FOB for the 4th. I headed to Pams for the party around 4 and had a great time. We had fabulous food, great company, and gorgeous weather. It was nice to get to see some family that I hadn't seen in awhile. I have pictures that I will try to post later on this week if I get the chance.
Sunday was just a lazy day that I like to have. Sleeping in, lounging and then spending a bit of time with the fam.
Monday I had dinner with Donna Tanner and her 3 boys. It is so great to see her and hang out with her. She is such an awesome teacher and a great friend and person to have on your side. Her boys are awesome too! They are so funny and really smart. It is hard to believe how big they are! It makes me feel old!
Tuesday I got a real treat for the next 10 days. I went back to the doctor on Tuesday for my foot. I actually went to a foot and ankle doctor this time. He was much more thorough and I felt much more comfortable about what was going on and his diagnosis, even though it is not fun. He took more x-rays and then looked at those. According to the ones he took I pretty much broke a bone in my foot. So now I have a boot on my foot for at least then next 10 days and likely longer than that. The boot goes from my toes to about 1/2 inch below my knee. It adds about 2 inches to the height of that leg as well. That meant that I had to go and get new shoes that were also tall for my left foot. So mom was kind enough to tote me around and look for cheapo flip flops that made me tall. (Thanks mom!!) I finally found what we were looking for at the 3rd place, Target. So now I am 2 inches taller and wearing a giant boot on one foot and platform flip flops on the other. It is quite out of character for me. Oh well, go figure that the first time I break a bone in my body I would be living by myself and having to deal with everything alone.
It has been an interesting week. Tomorrow I am headed to northern Indiana to visit with Matt and Sharlena. Mom, Dad, and Grandma are going along too. I am ready to get out of my house and take a trip. It might be a bit eaiser without this boot though. Oh well....we'll see how it goes and I'm sure there will be pictures to share as well.
Blaine is doing well this week. He has gotten a lot of packages and is getting to share some things with the other guys. My mom and I made his favorite cookies to send to him last week. He was so excited to get them and he has already eaten 2 of the boxes we sent. He says that he has plenty of chapstick and also plenty of foot powder for the rest of the time he is there. He is thinking that they may get to move into a building somtime soon. Which I'm sure would be nice for him but also probably maybe a pain to have to move everything again.
I hope you all have a fantastic end to your week and a good weekend! Until next time!
P.S. I love you sweetie!! I miss you tons and tons!!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Happy early 4th everyone!
It is hard to believe I know but I'm glad that the summer is already half over. I am probably the only teacher in the world that is ready for school to start again. I'm ready to have that distraction again and to see those people again. I am also excited to start the new routines and new schedule that is coming this year.
Anyways back to summer things. This past week was pretty hectic for me. The Dearborn County Fair was this week and I went to the cattle show to see Trey and Carson who both showed cattle. They did a good job and we were all very proud of them! I think that their familes would agree with me. The following pictures are from the show! The first picture is of Carson during her class of showmanship. She had an advantage in the division however since she was the only one in the class. :) Still....Great Job Carson!!!
Here is Trey showing one of his cattle. He did a fabulous job and I was very proud of him. I know Blaine would be as well. Great Job Trey!!
This was our view of main street heading south. I was just amazed at how you could see people lined up along the street waiting for the parade to start. I think that there were probably just as many there for the rest of the parade too if not more even despite the weather. About halfway through the parade we were met with a huge downpour and storm. It was terrible to be in the parade with that rain I'm sure. We just put up our umbrellas and still got wet! We had a good time though. Right before the parade started there were 2 blackhawk helicopters that swooped in over town and got as low as they could. It was so cool!
Pap lead the parade with the other members of the firing squad. He is in the front row on the fari right. Unfortunately this is the only picture I have of it. He did a fabulous job and we were all so proud of him!!
The Bicentennial events are over now and it is a bit of a sad thing! It was so neat to participate in something so neat as this! I don't know that I will ever get to be at something this neat again. The next time something like this occurs in Brookville I will be 75 and who knows what that will be like. I am glad I got to be there for the events and see the cool things that went on.
Blaine is doing well these days. It is most definitely getting hotter there and he is noticing it. Some of the guys are starting to get leave and take breaks from being over there so things will probably changing some for him when people are gone and such. Who knows really. The following picture is from one of the guys in his platoon. It is not in his room, but something that he has seen overthere before. It is called a camel spider and they are native of this region. The thing looks absolutely disgusting to me and it creeps me out! They do sometimes bite but are not venomous and will sometimes appear to follow the soldiers aroud to get into the shade the make with their bodies. Hopefully Blaine will not have to deal with any of them in his room. Ewww!!
I hope you all have a fantastic 4th of July! Be safe and take care!
P.S. Sorry it wasn't before 9:45 mom! LOL
P.P.S. I love you sweetie! Hope you are doing awesome still! Can't wait to chat again!
Anyways back to summer things. This past week was pretty hectic for me. The Dearborn County Fair was this week and I went to the cattle show to see Trey and Carson who both showed cattle. They did a good job and we were all very proud of them! I think that their familes would agree with me. The following pictures are from the show! The first picture is of Carson during her class of showmanship. She had an advantage in the division however since she was the only one in the class. :) Still....Great Job Carson!!!
Here is Trey showing one of his cattle. He did a fabulous job and I was very proud of him. I know Blaine would be as well. Great Job Trey!!
Of course I can't forget Klay! He's such a cutie and a great helper at the fair I'm sure. 
Oh yeah! Katie Coyle came down to visit from Chicago too! She arrived on Wednesday evening and was able to stay until Friday afternoon. That meant she got to experience the fair with us! She was not quite as thrilled to be there as the rest of us but she was a great sport and I think enjoyed it some. ;) The bad part was that the weather was horrible that night. It stormed for a really long time and was pouring down rain for a long time. It was nice to get to spend time with her and it was nice to have another person in the house with me.
Friday night was the second night of Canoefest Idol. For those of you who missed it I sang a song called "Come Home Soon" by the group named SheDaisy. It is a beautiful song and one that I truly love. You can find a clip of it at http://www.brookvillephotos.com/video/video/show?id=2164730:Video:350 . If that doesn't work head to http://www.brookvillephotos.com/ and follow the links for the video section. My name is correct this week so don't let it fool you! I must say that I am really glad that I did this. I reallly put myself out there and I didn't do half bad! I didn't win or get any place but I was someone who stood up on stage in front of thousands of people and sang! It was a great moment and one that I'm not going to forget.
On Saturday we went to the Bicentennial Parade in Brookville. It was a huge deal for Brookville and one that the town and everyone who was there won't soon forget. We headed up to our seats around 1 for the 2:00 parade. It was absolutely amazing to see all the people that were there! Here is our gang that hung out for the parade!
This was our view of main street heading south. I was just amazed at how you could see people lined up along the street waiting for the parade to start. I think that there were probably just as many there for the rest of the parade too if not more even despite the weather. About halfway through the parade we were met with a huge downpour and storm. It was terrible to be in the parade with that rain I'm sure. We just put up our umbrellas and still got wet! We had a good time though. Right before the parade started there were 2 blackhawk helicopters that swooped in over town and got as low as they could. It was so cool!
Pap lead the parade with the other members of the firing squad. He is in the front row on the fari right. Unfortunately this is the only picture I have of it. He did a fabulous job and we were all so proud of him!!
The Bicentennial events are over now and it is a bit of a sad thing! It was so neat to participate in something so neat as this! I don't know that I will ever get to be at something this neat again. The next time something like this occurs in Brookville I will be 75 and who knows what that will be like. I am glad I got to be there for the events and see the cool things that went on.
Other than those events nothing much has been going on here this week yet. I hear rumors of a lunch with friends from school this week and then Friday is the 4th of course.
Blaine is doing well these days. It is most definitely getting hotter there and he is noticing it. Some of the guys are starting to get leave and take breaks from being over there so things will probably changing some for him when people are gone and such. Who knows really. The following picture is from one of the guys in his platoon. It is not in his room, but something that he has seen overthere before. It is called a camel spider and they are native of this region. The thing looks absolutely disgusting to me and it creeps me out! They do sometimes bite but are not venomous and will sometimes appear to follow the soldiers aroud to get into the shade the make with their bodies. Hopefully Blaine will not have to deal with any of them in his room. Ewww!!
I hope you all have a fantastic 4th of July! Be safe and take care!
P.S. Sorry it wasn't before 9:45 mom! LOL
P.P.S. I love you sweetie! Hope you are doing awesome still! Can't wait to chat again!
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