Our summer is coming to a close with many plans for the next several weeks. Bobby and I will be going to FL next week to celebrate my parents 40th wedding anniversary. We will leave on Thursday the 27th and return on Tuesday Aug. 1st.

We will be home for a couple days then we will head to Arkansas for a surprise for Bobby’s mom. We will be in Arkansas from the 4th – the 7th. His sister, brother-in-law and their son from Alaska, his sister from MO and her two sons Brian & Bradley and his brother and wife from St Louis and their two boys are planning a surprise for their mom. Ma will celebrate her 80th birthday this year and one of her favorite games is BINGO. We just purchased the bingo game and plan to have some fun family time with her.

After we return home on the 7th, Bobby’s sister Rita and family from Alaska will be coming to TX for a visit with us from the 9th – the 13th of August.

Kristy’s boyfriend comes the 14th for a few days and then they will be off to Michigan for the fall semester. We are looking forward to seeing everyone soon!

Jennifer, I loved Mr. Barr, he was my absolute favorite teacher, hands down in HS. He never ceased to amaze me and I remember listening to his stories and to be honest, I could never get enough of them. Here is a sketch that Mr. Barr drew of me when I was in the 10th grade. I don’t remember how I got that honor but he was just a great man. Mr. Barr and company oops I mean class used to tease me that there were ‘Boot Birds’. I can’t remember how that came about but anyways… that’s why you see he also signed ‘Boot’ as well as his name on the bottom of this pic.

I’ve often wondered about Mr. Barr and how he is doing. I know Olean passed away several years ago and I think of him from time to time. I hope he’s doing well these days.

I’m recovering from another morning in the studio and a few earrands. I met with the Wednesday group and we had a great time of it. Monika had me over to her house for lunch and we had a nice little visit together. Then I made my way to Costco to get a few items, stopped to get gas, and then to the PO, now I’m finally back home relaxing from a very productive day. I think I’ll go for an afternoon siesta to recharge my batteries before Bobby gets home from work. Ahhhh…

I came across some of my early drawings this week. I was in my teens when I first had a passion to draw and would stay in my room for hours on end with pencil in hand. Most of these were drawings in my early teens and I wish I would have dated them. I have many other drawings but have no idea where they all are but I would like to share a few of my very first pieces.

Faces were something that appealed to me, many different kinds of faces with all sorts of expressions. I revisited faces in college immersed in my teacher’s way with art. Who knows, one of these days I may have to pick up that pencil again.

It was a challenge for me to draw my hand in the positions that you see but a challenge is something I always enjoy.

The shoes were just a fun medium that I took pleasure in as different objects had a way of striking my fancy.

It was quite a productive weekend and at the ‘top of the morning’ my thoughts turned towards Christmas. I know it’s the middle of summer and pretty much sure that I’m the only crazy one out here, but do you realize we will be putting up our Christmas decorations in just 4 months?

The last few years we started our little routine of putting up our Christmas trees, lights and decorations the week before Thanksgiving. When we first got married we only had one tree but I dreamed of having a tree in all the main rooms of our home. It took me a while to convenience Santa that the other rooms in the house needed a tree too. Mrs. Claus now has a tree for all the main rooms in the home shedding the wonderful spirit of Christmas. I’m already looking forward to all the goodies we purchased after the holidays last Christmas. We waited till the sales dipped to 75% off and bought till our hearts were content. Mr. Claus loves the spirit of Christmas as much as his Mrs. and he purchased a buggy full of outside lights. Mr. Claus plans to wrap our trees in lights this Christmas and the Mrs. is ecstatic. Mr. Claus also takes care of all the Mrs. trees indoors by hooking them up to timers. The trees all turn on by 7:00 AM and turn off at the stroke of midnight each day. We are sure to have lots of Christmas cheer all through the home this year.

Alright, I’ll let everyone get back to their regular summer fun events already in progress and I will get back to my summer fun too.

Lauren decided to defer college for a year to teach English in Guatemala. She has always wanted to travel internationally, like her dad and me. Initially, she thought about joining the Peace Corp. Unfortunately, if she waited until after college, she would have to begin paying her student loans. By traveling prior to college, she gets to fulfill her dream, without having to worry about those financial obligations. She will teach there for one semester, from early August through the end of October. Lauren decided on Guatemala, because she has a friend who is already teaching there and because they speak Spanish. She also wants to become more fluent in Spanish and what a great opportunity.

After she’s finished in Guatemala, she plans to spend some time in Texas with here with us before getting back to work to save for college. She plans to attend NYU in the Fall of 2007.

Give me a program and I will run with it, no fear. I love to stumble thru using every possible feature. Toss me a book and I will learn a program inside out. Ask me to install a program or ask me to do any type of quick fix, and I’m good for nothing. I get nerves thinking I’m installing something wrong and that there will be all sorts of problems with it because it’s not done right.

Tonight Bobby purchased a new virus protection for our computers and he asked me to give it a try. I took the CD reluctantly and placed it in the drive with fingers crossed. When asked for the License Key #, piece of cake, I can do this. About the time I was feeling proud of myself and ready to give myself a pat on the back, it asked a question but not so simple for me. Bobby was sitting behind me over on his computer but he was watching unbeknownst to me. When I turned around to get his attention he had this huge smile on his face. He knew I was flustered and with a chuckle and a little smile he told me to relax and to read it saying “you can figure it out.” With his support I didn’t feel so nervous and I was able to get this program installed. Now that’s an accomplishment for me and thanks to Bobby for giving me that extra nudge to go ahead. I know I will never be a computer technician but I may be able to get over a few of my fears.

Kristy is flying about this morning preparing to fly to Michigan to visit her boyfriend (Adam) for a week. I’m getting bombarded with all kinds of questions.

• Does this purse match this outfit? I let her know my basic rule and that is to match her purse, belt and shoes.
• Can I wear these shoes with this skirt?
• She dyed her hair black and has questioned me daily how her hair looks. How should I present his mother with the gift I bought? I’ve given her several options but she will do just fine.
• Do you think he will like this belt & buckle I got for him? She bought her boyfriend one of those huge TX buckles and it’s just plain enormous and hilarious. No doubt about it, the city slicker is getting a big Texas ‘HE LLo’!

Adam will be flying here the end of August to drive with Kristy back to MI. Kristy wants her car on campus this year but oh what a drive. We look forward to meeting him and spending a few days with them before she goes back to college. One of the places we want to take Adam is to Billy Bob’s Texas – The Worlds Largest Honky Tonk which is located in Fort Worth AKA Cow Town USA. That’s one of our favorite places to dance so we are looking forward to that event. Adam will fit right in with his buckle if he brings it.

I must be leaving with Kristy to get her off to the airport. Then I’m meeting with Bobby for a lunch date and then some food shopping.

I’m busying myself with the chores of the house today. There’s a little ironing that I must get caught up on and the house needs another cleaning. As Bobby was leaving the house this morning, he asked what I was going to do today. When my reply was to clean the house he said “I thought you just cleaned it”. It’s crazy that the things here on this earth plain and simple do not stay clean for very long.

There are a number of things we want to continue working on this weekend and the main event will be to continue working in the garage. Bobby still has quite a few boxes of his mom’s to get thru and he is doing a great job getting thru all her things. I’ve inherited her very nice cookie sheets that are ‘the bomb’ I might add. I also have in my possession her beautiful set of old hickory knives, some great cookbooks, and many groovy kitchen gadgets. The things I have from ma are priceless as Bobby remembers those cookie sheets from when he was a little boy. There’s nothing like receiving gifts that keep on giving.

I’m not a grandmother but I refer to myself as grandma all the time. I keep my sweater in our two cars at all times. You see, grandma needs her sweater to keep her arms warm when hubby needs cooler temperatures. Even though Bobby’s car has duel climate controls, I still get cold in the middle of summer. Grandma also needs her sweater with her when she enters restaurants and takes plane rides. Grandma’s needs her sweater pretty much wherever she goes and if she forgets in her old age, hubby will retrieve her sweater for her. By the time I become a grandma I’ll be used to the name for sure.

My hubby while cleaning the garage left the little comfy cozy rocking chair out there. While hubby is out working in his garage in the middle of summer or the dead of winter, grandma likes to join him by sitting in the little cozy rocking chair AKA grandma’s chair. She also likes to assist whenever needed and Bobby’s favorite words to me while I’m out ‘assisting’ rather keeping him company is to “be pretty”. That cozy rocking chair has much to be desired. It is old and stained, has grease all over it, but it is so comfy, cozy and rocks which is grandma’s favorite part. I know Bobby would like to get that chair out of his garage and when I asked Bobby about the chair I was sitting in, he said he would leave it in his garage just for me. He knows grandma likes comfort and enjoys being in his company so he is content to leave that ugly duckling of a chair in his garage just for me, that makes me smile.

I wish I could have known Bobby when he was a little boy, even though he’s 6 years older than me I know we would have been the best of pals. We often wonder what it would have been like to be best buddies all of our lives but we are thankful for what we have now together. He is my best buddy taking the best possible care of grandma. Thanks Darlin’.

I’m proud to be an American this day and each and every day of the year. I’m reminded of our many travels overseas and visiting many of the Asian countries. While living overseas, we were treated like royalty all the time. We couldn’t step out of our apartment without hearing hello repeated by all the little children. Imagine large groups of children repeating (hello, hello, hello, hello, hello) over and over till you were on to the next group who would start it over and over again. Oh the children there were so beautiful to me and they always brought many smiles to our faces. I can still hear those sweet little hello’s echo in my mind.

A side note about children in Korea. Children played in the alleys and were sprinkled everywhere as the earth was their playground. Very small children 2 and 3 year olds would be with their siblings playing even into the evening hours. So when driving thru the alleys and roads we would do the little toot, toots with the cars to move the children off to the side of the road so that you could squeeze by them. One thing about Korea is that there was no fear of child abduction, robbery, mobs or any of the sorts, so the feeling of security was top notch.

Bob and I traveled much of Korea while we lived there and we were stopped quite often by people wanting to take our picture. Many times teenagers and adults alike would ask if they could get their pictures taken with us. One day while I was strolling alone in the open market I had an older woman stop in front of me. She turned around and faced me and bowed to me repeatedly. I have no idea who she thought I was as I’m only human like her and anyone else on the face of the earth. It’s not who we were but where we were from that made us so special. One evening while Bobby and I were walking home from a nice dinner, we had a woman follow us to our home. She got on the elevator and followed us all the way up to the top floor as we lived in the company (Lockheed’s) penthouse (overlooking a beautiful river). We didn’t know we were being followed but when she did not choose a different floor we knew something didn’t seem right. She then started talking to us and wanted to come in. We welcomed her into our home and it was like she was in Little America. She was so happy to see us and she longed to live in America. She’s been here (America) once before and stayed for several years but her husband was unable to get his visa so she returned back to Korea. I could tell stories upon stories but the bottom line is that we are a blessed people and I never want to take our freedoms for granted. America is our Home Sweet Home and what a joy to call America my HOME!

Our garage space is looking brighter by the minute as we have been on our mission organization kick for quite some time. Bobby filled the truck with miscellaneous bits and pieces that we no longer want. One being that golf club set with the nice golf bag that he has not used in quite some time. It’s freeing to eliminate the things that once cluttered our lives. Everything needs a place to call home.

We decided to donate to The Salvation Army this time. It was amazing to see their trucks backed up to the docks unloading unwanted things from people just like us. The place was buzzing with workers, trucks and forklifts moving large objects from one place to the next. I couldn’t help but notice this enormous copy machine which must have had at least 25 sorting slots. I watched them pick up the copier and I wondered where that copier had been. I also wondered where it would go after this and who would buy it. As I was thinking about this they were moving it with the forklift and taking it to its new home… THE DUMP! I watched him transfer that machine to the huge and I mean “HUGE” (at least 9’ tall x 18’ long) dumpster in the back. Up he pulled up to the dumpster lifting that machine up to the clearance then tilting the forks and dropped the machine. The machine plunged into that dumpster with a loud thunder and by all indications, I’m pretty sure it will never copy another piece of paper ever again. When taking another look I noticed not just one but two huge dumpsters over there. Apparently other people donate their junk to Salvation Army. I wonder how much of our stuff went in the dumpster too?