This heat wave

I am already tired of summer and it's not August quite yet. I moved here to Iowa in 2002 and can't remember having such a long streak of hot and humid weather like this. I know they say it's not the record for here, but just being here for 9 years, when we had hot days before they didn't last for real long stretches of time. Of course when winter comes we may complain about too cold, lol. But seems I can't take the humidity as much now as when I was younger.  I miss the days of temps in the 70's and lower humidity :)

the weather

i would love to see a week or 2 go by without any rain, we had more rain last night and it was so windy out, need to check the yard out and see if a lot of branches are out there. lots of lightning last night, I had a hard time sleeping, I got about 6 hours of sleep at best. I wish I could get this rain to some people who need it. The good news is we might get 3 or 4 dry days after today. i sure hope so, we need some quieter weather, although it will be hot and humid too.

Amusement parks

The other day my husband got some tickets from work for us 4 still here to go to Adventureland in Des Moines a week from tomorrow, so I'm praying for good weather, not rainy and not real hot. I've been to some amusement parks in the past, been to Hershey Park, which was a lot of fun, and yes, i did have some chocolate although not as much as you would think, lol. I've been to Adventureland 3 or 4 times I think before.  The first one I ever went to was Valley Fair in Minnesota, the church youth group used to go down there every year for awhile. I only went 3 times I think, but 2 of them were fun and one was kind of up and down as I couldn't seem to stay with one group  of people for a brief time, no one wanted me for some reason, LOL. I used to like rollercoasters, but when I got sick on one the last time I was at the Minnesota one, I quit going on them. I've gotten older and hence don't go on many high rides like I did when I was younger. The only high ride I'll go on is the ferris wheel and also the water log ride(closest thing to rollercoasters i will get, lol).When the rest of the family wants to ride rollercoasters, actually daughter and husband, youngest son and i will go somewhere else. My favorite ride? mmm, maybe bumper cars or some car ride thing and the water log ride. oh and the underground train ride as well. Hoping for some fun, I could use some fun :)

Memorial Day

I am thankful for our troops who serve in the military. It isn't easy or fun being away from family and friends. I was briefly in the Army in 1980 after high school, got an honorable discharge, just was so young and couldn't take it well, but it does serve a purpose to get discipline in a person's life, having to depend on other people too to help you out. My husband was in the Coast Guard for awhile and we moved around a bit and we did meet some great people on our travels. Please continue to pray for our troops, no matter what side of the war you are on( for it or against war). I get so mad when someone blasts our military and wishes there was none.  I'm not a big war person myself but I do appreciate our troops and don't blast them personally. God bless the USA!

Sad day for Twins and baseball fans

I wasn't into baseball when Harmon Killebrew played but being born and living in Minnesota for awhile, heard about Harmon a lot and how great of a player and person he was. When I think of the Minnesota Twins, Harmon, Kirby Puckett and Rod Carew come to my mind first although I can think of other former and current players now too. Harmon passed away this morning at age 74 in hospice, he had cancer. :( He will be sorely missed by everyone. I heard he was a great person in life, which is even better than being a great player like he was. RIP Harmon Killebrew.

a little vent about a news item

I saw the story on the news about the Alaina lady from North Carolina who has stage 4 breast cancer who is going to lose custody of her kids to her ex husband because she has breast cancer. That judge who made the ruling is heartless, and doesn't care about what the kids want. The ex husband who fought for the kids should be ashamed of himself, he has no feelings at all either, very cold man. and the physologist who said that kids don't need to be around cancer people, I think that person is living in a dream world. You can't stop life's harsh realities. I prefer to like positive and uplifting stuff, but can't deny the existance of bad stuff like cancer either. That poor  young mom Alaina doesn't deserve to lose her kids, but judges nowadays aren't very good.

Remembering my mom

Mothers Day is coming up and I'm sitting here thinking of my late mother. She died way too soon, in Sept. 2000. Breast cancer was what killed her :( She was not older than 60, she was 59 I think. I was blessed enough to see her a few months before she passed away. We had our 20 year high school reunion and stayed at her place for a couple nights. For the most part, we were pretty close, I've been told before I looked and sounded like her a little bit, with the red hair and voice a little bit. We had our little disagreements like all people do, but for the most part, we got along good. We both became Vikings fans :) She taught me how to be respectful and kind and although she had her faults, she was a very loving and wonderful mom, and i miss her, especially on Mothers Day and on her birthday in August. Her birthday was 3 days before mine. I'm so glad she became a Christian the year she died. My Aunt Joanne was a big help too watching over her when I wasn't around. She loved her grandkids, i wish she could have lived long enough to see them grown up. God bless all the moms out there and every day a mother should be told they are loved and appreciated and shown that too, not just one Sunday a year.

Pet peeves

One of the things that bugs me is when a person who has tried to call here or on my cell phone says "I couldn't get ahold of you because of a busy signal", that irritates me, unless it's an emergency, like say one of my kids and husband got hurt and they couldn't get ahold of me, then they have a right to complain but otherwise, just so tired of people saying that for non emergency situations. Another pet peeve of mine is people being impatient with me either by emailing or snail mailing, if a person acts real rude to me and tries to be pushy that will annoy me a bit. Yes, I am in a good mood :-) just saying a couple times this week people have been a little irritating.

weather

after hearing about the storms down south, it makes our weather seem nice, even though it's cool this morning. I am praying for the people in Alabama especially where people lost their lives, sad that almost 200 people lost their lives due to storms the last few days. I live in a state where tornadoes show up too, hopefully we'll never get one here, like a lady at the grocery store today said, if there ever was one here, it would destroy our town of 1800 people. The sun is peeking out sometimes and then clouds block it again. kind of wishing for 70's weather right now(tomorrow might be a day like that, yeah).

snail mailing

I've been pen palling for a few years now and I enjoy it a lot. Some people don't understand why do it but I like it, I've made some wonderful friends that way. sometimes I"m slower than I want to be and I hate that. Life can get busy sometimes, I know May will be a busy month around here. How I got into it was actually in the mid 90's through some friendship books(fbs for short) and a magazine or 2. Most of those early days people I don't know what happened to them but there's a couple I've reconnected with. Had to stop temporarily due to some issues going on at home years ago, got back into it again when we moved to Iowa and I never want to stop, even with stamp prices going up a little bit.

Easter

hard to believe Easter is almost here. We call it Resurrection Sunday here because of Jesus rising from the dead and he's the reason we can celebrate life. We used to have our kids easter egg hunting in our yard and a couple other places in the past but that was a long time ago. The church we go to now has it's annual Easter breakfast before the service starts and the food is good. In another church a few years ago, we did a musical and that went well, a lot of work but it was fun. I love chocolate too, but Easter is definitely not about the easter bunny and eggs despite the commercials you see on tv. Have a blessed Easter!

Reading

I love to read, have loved to read since I was a kid. My favorite books are the Bible, and any inspirational biographies and also sports books. Don't ask me to read horror books, hate those or suspense ones either. I will read books, magazines, sometimes newspapers, although I can think of better newspapers than the Des Moines paper, lol. Right now I'm reading a Guideposts magazine, waiting for a book on a St. Louis Cardinals player to come in the mail one of these days.

Facebook

Boy, Facebook is having a bad day, a few of us have complained it's not working right today. According to my notifications, on my first post of the day on facebook, there should be more than 2 people showing up responding, there was 2 or 3 that had responded, but couldn't find their post.  And my daughter  had major problems getting in her account. When facebook works right it's fun, when it's not working right, it's very annoying. i am thankful for facebook for relatives finding me and me finding old friends, but today hasn't been great, actually this whole week on facebook has been kind of a bummer at times for me. Thanks to those who were able to talk to me on there. :-)

If I had married a Packers fan

The whole thing about my husband's hat(he's gone at the moment0 made me think of if I had married a Packers fan, a big one, the relationship would have had to be very solid and great to handle the teasing that comes with Packers and Vikings games. My husband doesn't have the allegiance to any sports teams except Iowa State University and some iowa schools. The day I wear a packers jersey is the day I have black hair, lol, and I don't dye my hair, lol. I really want a Vikings shirt now, I have some, but want to get a newer one. The Packers may win more Super Bowls, but I will die a Vikings fan :-)

Starting over and over...

I've attempted to blog on here 3 or 4 times today, the other times I just sounded so self blah, and I said no way am I going to sound like that, when I have a lot to be thankful for :-) Does anyone feel sometimes like they don't matter much to some people? That is what i was feeling but I am trying to keep things in perspective. Real friends don't give up on you when you are feeling funky, like i have been this week. It hasn't been a bad, bad week, like Sunday was, but it hasn't been as good as last week either. But I'm alive and there are things to be happy about. Thanks to my friends, who have stood by me through good and bad. Friendships mean a lot to me. I appreciate you!

my thoughts on school lunches

I noticed yesterday that a Chicago school was banning kids from bringing lunches from home. I think that's ridiculous, but I'll get into that shortly. When I was a kid, I did eat school lunches, for the most part I didn't have a problem with them, like a few people do, the only thing I didn't eat much of was peas, lol.  It was tough trying to get lunch done in time sometimes, because you only have a certain amount of time to eat but for the most part, I had no problems with lunch. Now as for the Chicago school that banned bagged lunches, their motive may be to have children healthier and I think schools are trying to serve more healthier stuff and get rid of snacks and sodas, but at the same time I think the government, especially Michelle Obama, is trying to dictate what parents should make kids eat and what not. I think from what I've read from friends and that, most parents do serve healthier food in the bagged lunches, just some maybe have something that is considered "unhealthy".  I don't like the government telling parents what they can and cannot eat or do for their children. Let parents decide what is best for the kids,not the government. No parent is perfect and we all make mistakes, believe me, I have, but don't like being told by Obama what we should do. Thanks for listening to me. :-)

Good thing baseball season is long

I haven't lost hope in the Minnesota Twins yet, it's early, but I'm not exactly crazy about the start they are having. Thankfully they've shown in the past they can come back, just have to keep the faith. Mauer will get his hitting going I'm sure. yes, I am disappointed with the slow start, but sometimes  you have to laugh at some people who call themselves fans who panic this early, i've read some tweets from Twins fans who are a little worried already about the season. I supposed Cubs and Cardinals fans are doing the same thing, wondering what is going on. And the Red Sox too. Go Twins!

my favorite outdoor activities

this may not be a whole long blog, but oh well.. when the weather is nice, I prefer to go out and enjoy it. I like to read, or write letters outside. I also have played tennis at the local park and that's a lot of fun, who cares if i'm only average at it, lol. I have also played badminton in the past, but that's been awhile, but I enjoy that. Walking is another thing I should do more than i should, used to like doing it a lot but got lazy at it when winter came. Playing Frisbee is something I've loved doing since I was young.

feeling homesick

There have been times since I've lived here in Iowa that I miss my old  homestate of Minnesota. When people at church or at school activities talk about Iowa and I feel leftout because I don't know as much on neighborhoods and people it saddens me. I am from Duluth and proud the Bulldogs college hockey team won the championship for college hockey, yet when I shared my enthusiasm with my sports loving pastor, he kind of shrugged it off, like he did when I mentioned the football team last fall winning Divison 2 championship. It's like I feel like a misfit here, sure I had fun with the women last Friday night a little bit at the women's meeting, but no one  is from minnesota, no one seems to share my interests much, i'm not as outgoing in church as others are, i just feel so sad. today was a rough day, starting to battle a little headache, i miss Duluth right now, cold, snow and all. I was up in Duluth last year and wished we could have stayed longer than we did. I'm sorry to vent, there are times living here I don't feel like I belong here, no one seems to give us as a family some good quality time talking or going out to dinner or anything. The neighbors here aren't real friendly either except for a couple people across the alley when we've been able to see them, but living in iowa has  not been my favorite time of my life. Thanks for letting me vent, that is what is on my heart for today. hope to have a better blog tomorrow.

Music

I love music, I'm on the worship team at church every other month and I love it! I love music in general but don't like hip hop, heavy metal, rap, alternative stuff. I like Christian, oldies, a little country and some American Idol music. I don't get into Lady Gaga or Katy Perry and others like them at all. I started liking music as a preteen, loved the Osmonds, especially Jay, liked Bee Gees, Barry Manilow and started getting into Christian music as well. The Imperials were my first group I loved, loved David Meece, Michael W. Smith and eventually 4him, Avalon, Michael English, Casting Crowns. I don't listen to radio much like I used to, I like my cds and yes I still have cassettes. :) This may gross people out but I liked disco too and KC and the Sunshine band I liked(oops, put Bee Gees down before and they had some disco hits, lol). Music helps me out when I'm feeling blue a little bit, when my mom died in 2000, the 4Him song "Where There is Faith" was big in helping me out mood wise. Oh and I love Chris Tomlin's music a lot too! His concert in February was great! Now I feel like singing, but I'm not totally alone, so I'll just sing in my heart.

American Idol season 10

2 blogs in one day, wow! lol. I think this season hasn't been my favorite season of American Idol since I started watching since season 4, but it has been better the last 3 weeks. Now Pia was a front runner and I thought she would make the finale, but I was shocked she left. But unlike a lot of people and judges, I'm not cursing America out for it's choice to go home. I thought she was the best female this year, but I'm just not going crazy over it like a lot of fans are. It is a tv show after all :) Although I should have told myself that in season 7 but that was a different year(8th placer that year should have stayed longer). I'm just not wild about the mentor and producers they have this year or the guest stars either(except for one person, Lee). I thought this was a shocker this week, and I bet things will get worse now. And is it me, but the language this year has been a whole lot worse and sensual? I mean every year there's cursing especially during auditions but this year the language has been horrible. :(  Okay enough venting, lol.

animals

We have no pets here(as we used to have pets in the past but no responsibility from a couple people here) but I do like animals mostly. Don't like monkeys, lol, or most insects although I like butterflies. I like tropical fish, my late mom used to have those and also birds. Most birds I love to watch except crows. I should have watched the cam from Iowa where 3 Eaglets were hatched recently, that was big news. Dogs, I'm not fond of pit bulls and a couple other breeds. I like most cats. Back to birds, it's always a good sign for spring when robins come around. I've noticed a couple fat robins lately, lol. I used to have a hamster for a school project years ago. I like zoos but haven't been to one since our last visit to St. Louis a few years ago. I love dolphins. this is a light hearted subject, but I do like cute pictures of animals and baby animals. :)

Facebook and twitter

I'm thankful for the good things that Facebook has done. My sister found me on Facebook, and we hadn't talked in quite awhile, found some old church friends from years gone by which is really cool. And some old schoolmates as well. I know facebook can drive a person nuts sometimes when it acts up, but having some good church friends and schoolmates on facebook is cool. Twitter can be kind of fun at times, but also not as fun really. I do prefer facebook as my closest friends are on facebook and I can type and do more but on occasion Twitter can be fun too. I've been on facebook longer, when I first started, I wasn't doing too much on there, then got into games, haven't done as much games lately, I prefer talking on there. Oh and my cousin found me on facebook too. Thank you to my facebook and twitter friends for wanting to be my friends.

my adult years(long one)

Okay, to finish this 3 part series, becoming an adult was exciting and yet scary too. After my first boyfriend dumped me, didn't find a boyfriend until Jeff, my future husband, came along. We met in 1985 at a singles Bible Study group, got married on June 28, 1986. Our first date was Valentines Day, 1986, didn't date too long, lol.  We got married at my church in Duluth, which was mentioned in my previous post. By the way does anyone read these? (besides Larry, lol).  we had our honeymoon part in Wisconsin Dells, part Iowa(don't ask about that, that was NOT my idea).  we moved for 6 months to Staten Island, NY as my husband had Coast Guard school. I enjoyed seeing the Statue of Liberty while out there, but wasn't fond of the apartment building we lived in. Went and saw a baseball game, Twins at Yankees, took the subway to that. Twins won by the way :) Then we moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and found a good church called Trinity Christian Center.  Went to a couple Cardinals baseball games and some Blues games for hockey, real enjoyable.  Ben was born in 1988, at Scott AFB in Illinois.   We then moved to Duluth, Minnesota for another round there and loved the location we were at, we weren't too far from the store, drug store and other misc. things. Problem was bad traffic, it was a busy street. Of course, went back to my old church :) Elizabeth was born in the same hospital I was, St. Mary's. :)  (1991)
We then moved to St. Louis for a second time, had some great neighbors in the neighborhood, probably my second favorite neighborhood Ive ever lived in. Again, went to a couple sports events, went to the same church and Scott was born in the front seat of the car in front of the emergency room entrance at Scott AFB. that was in 1993. We then moved to Pasadena, Maryland, not far from Baltimore, and I was in the choir at Abundant Life Church there and I enjoyed that. It took awhile to get used to neighbors there though. We then moved to Monroe, Iowa in 2002 and have been here since. :)

My teenage years

Oops, forgot to mention in one post, I got saved at age 9, got baptized at age 10. Now on to my teen years. I probably had an occasion typical teen attitude sometimes, but I didn't get into any trouble with drinking, sex or smoking. I went to Washington Jr. High School(which is now used as something else I think) and Duluth Central High School, which is in it's last year. I had gone to a Baptist church and then it closed and I started going to Glad Tidings Assemblies of God(now the River Church), met a lot of great friends there and I had the best youth pastor ever in Rob Dean! Went to youth group there and that also helped keep me stable and not getting into things as well. My funnest times were going to amusement parks and other youth stuff. Hard to believe I've known Chuck Cox and Rob Dean for 35 years now. Joann almost as long but not quite. Graduated from high school in 1980, went into the Army after high school, didn't last long, I just wasn't emotionally there and I got honorable discharged a few months in, then I got a job working at Jenos for a brief time. Packing boxes and other misc. stuff.(pizza). Had a boyfriend while leaving the army but that didn't last long. I was dumped. For the most part my teen years were good. Oh, was briefly part of the youth Bible Quiz team, but it only lasted a short time as a few people dropped out and we didn't have enough to compete in things.

Feeling nostalgic, my younger years

I'm starting a series of memory flashbacks this week on here, might only be a few days this week that I do it. I hope I don't bore anyone, lol. I don't remember much before 4th grade due to moving around so much(went to 5 elementary schools in Duluth, Minnesota), but do remember things when i moved to Homecroft(still part of Duluth, lol). oh, going back, my mom told me I was a small baby, only 5 pounds and 6 oz. at birth. My maiden name was Kourkoumelis(my teachers and a few of my classmates had troubles with that name pronouncing it, lol). Yes, that is greek, but I don't consider myself greek, didn't know my father and my mom did tell me I had a lot of Irish in me.
Anyway, moved to homecroft, we lived in a good neighborhood, first avenue north, became friends with some kids across the street and just enjoyed life. Took the bus to school. You know, I think all my elementary or most of them, and my junior high and my senior high are closed now. :( My high school's last year I think was this school year. I remember going to my grandma and grandpa's house in the country once in awhile. I still remember the times I had there, fun times. :) Will continue with teen years tomorrow.

Football and the lockout

To continue the sports theme, as a big football fan, I'm disappointed in both the players and owners for being greedy and having this lockout they are having. I think both sides are at fault for making fans disappointed, but fans being fans they'll come back to games when they do settle things, thankfully it's not football season at the moment :) I do hope for a better Super Bowl matchup for the next Super Bowl. I don't think my Packers and Steelers friends(yes, I do have a couple Packers friends, even though the Vikings are a cooler team, lol) would like me saying that. I couldnt even watch the whole game even with new commercials. But does anyone else think athletes are overpaid nowadays? Most of us normal people don't even get a tenth of what a low paid football player gets, low pay according to them that is, lol. I admit I'll probably still watch football, can't break an old habit I've had since I was 10. lol. But a little miffed at some people for their stance on things.

Baseball season

Hockey season is winding down, my Wild won't make the NHL playoffs, baseball is starting up and I have high hopes. I'm a huge Twins fan, have been a fan for a long time.  I really hope they stay healthy this year, Ron Gardenhire did such a great job managing last year, with all the big name injuries and pitching woes and sometimes even hitting woes at times. I just wish we didn't have to play the Yankees in the playoffs. The Yankees seem to be the Twins in regular season and postseason a lot. I do hope for new champs this year, I wasn't pleased the Giants won last year, although they are better than a couple other teams I know. Looking forward to seeing some games. I think this weekend, the Cardinals may be on here. In my area, the teams that get shown the most are Cubs, Cardinals, White Sox, sometimes Twins if a Chicago team isn't playing on tv, or the Yankees or Red Sox.

car problems

Today's topic is cars. I'm not a huge fan of car talk, especially compared to my husband who could talk cars for hours with anyone. Our van's started acted up yesterday and my husband had to get a ride home from a co worker yesterday. He took our other car today, which has issues of it's own to be dealt with. We don't buy new cars, can't really afford new payments on new cars for one thing. Since we've been married, Jeff has bought over 10 older cars I believe and over 3 motorcycles. My husband may have to stay after work(the van is at work) and try and fix the starter on the van.  I wish we had a vehicle that could be consistantly good year after year. 

Where did spring go?

Overnight and early this morning, we got 1 to 2 inches of snow and it's around 30 degrees right now. Seeing snow on the ground isn't exactly making this person happy. :( It's supposed to be spring according to the calendar, but it hasn't felt like spring the last few days at all. It could be worse though, I see Duluth is still getting snow, I do miss it a lot despite the weather. I do hope the weather gets better, I think Saturday might be a good day from what I hear. Spring and fall are my favorite seasons of the year. :)

My first blog and my new cell phone

Hi, this is my first blog on here. I may not write the most interesting stuff on here, but I will say what is on my heart and mind. I used to blog on myspace but I don't go on there much anymore, it doesn't work as well for me as it used to. I much prefer facebook and twitter for social networking and I like to email from my yahoo address as well. We had gotten a new cell phone company this past weekend as our old one wasn't that great. We still have our old phone number from the other company, I have to get used to the new phone. It only has the basics and not the fancy camera and internet stuff. Slowly got used to it. Wish the first person to call wasn't the school as they called saying my son was sick and was going home early today :( He's doing better now. :) Well, I hope to write most days on  here. I will write on things from church, to American Idol, to family stuff to other misc. things.
Carry