We lost a great man

We lost a great man on Saturday.

My father passed suddenly at the young age of 59.

He will be missed by all.

TGFBTN!

That would be "Thank God for Big Ten Network"!

This weekend was the first Indiana Hoosier football game that I have seen on television since I have moved to Hawkeye Country (with the exception of when they play Iowa).

It was wonderful watching the Hoosiers STOMP on Indiana State for the first victory of the year. I hope this is the start of a very long winning streak. I missed the feeling of Memorial Stadium watching it from Iowa - so I guess that a trip to B-ton is in order! A little Irish Lion and a tour of campus to ease my aching heart.

OH and watch for me on TV - I will be in the stands at the Iowa/Indiana game on September 29th....it's sold out -(Iowa Homecoming you know) but I have procured myself some tickets! WOO HOO! Love to have a repeat of last year.....

GO HOOSIERS!

A little banged up.

A little banged up., originally uploaded by Chepner.

So far it's been a rough week.

There was an (almost) antique "Old Oaken Bucket" (IU/Purdue rivalry trophy) on Ebay that I wanted. A Purdue pharmasist out bid us....on our anniversary. BUT Mr. Chep got me flowes to cheer me up. :-)

My wrist has hurt since last week Thursday after hitting balls at the driving range.. I finally decided to have it looked at today. While in the doctor's office I was informed that there was an incident involving my car. Involving a 90 year old lady, an 85 Caprice and my car (pictured here). Guess who didn't win? Good thing was no one was injured. Not in this accident anyway.

Come to find out I will not be joining the PGA any time soon. It appears I may have cracked a bone in my wrist. The x-rays are being sent out for a second opinion but he's pretty sure it's cracked.

I'm grateful no one was hurt in this little incident. I did my best to reassure the little old lady that it was OK - and all that mattered was she was OK (her son-in-law was giving her enough grief).

Hope everyone else is doing OK!

One of My Best Adult Birthday's of all Time!

June 4th was my birthday. It was a Monday. I worked.

Many times birthdays as an adult - suck. This year - mine proved to be quite the contrary. Let me tell you how it started....(it actually ended up being a birthday week....)

Monday, June 4 (my actual birthday)

8AM Arrive at work. Day starts as normal.

10AM my friend Lego arrives. She comes bearing gifts! Balloon, mini cake and a PIRATE card (which plays music and is BEAUTIFUL I might add)! All very exciting. This draws attention to the fact it's my birthday. (I don't normally TELL people it's my birthday - but will mention when asked - not one of those "it's a secret" people) ANYWAY....

3PM staff meeting. I arrive to find a pink box with more gifts! My Chicago friend MM gave me all kinds of Bath and Body goodies! What fun!

4:30PM go home early (it's my birthday) husband takes me out to dinner! WOO HOO! Get birthday $ from Mama Hep (I spend it well later on...you will see)

Tuesday, June 5

8AM Arrive at work. Find a faculty member leaving my desk. She gives me a hug and says happy belated birthday and left me a "delish" strawberry danish....YUMMO!

9AM Boss SB comes to see me and leaves some work on my desk and a thank you card along with a little "treat"

Wednesday, June 6

Mr. Chep takes me out for dinner at the casino!

Saturday, June 9

Miss Kellscraggly takes me out for a girls day out in CR. I had my very first pedicure - very nice I might add. It took a long time for me to get used to the idea of someone touching my feet (in fact I turned down a pedicure once with Mama Hep - starting to regret that now that I have experienced it....so if your reading and you want to go for a pedicure next time we're in town.... ;-)

Kelscraggly and I got lots of great deals and I got fancy feet!

It was a great week!

Thanks to everyone for making my week wonderful!

Creation of WhibFest

Kelscraggly and her fiance "Whit" have been hosting weekend smoking events ever since Kelscraggly's dad gave Mr. Whit a smoker for Christmas (it's the gift that keeps on giving - and gives to all of us! We love it Mr. S!)

Any way - during one of the smoking practice sessions we came up with an idea to celebrate the smoker.

It would be called WhibFest. It would have t-shirts, a logo, the works. BYOM of course (bring your own meat)

Last week I was "hired" (will work for free smoked pork is my motto) to create the logo and website. I have had a lot of practice in Photoshop lately - and I'm getting a little better I might add!

I have created a "small" monster.

You can see it here

Yes, I did the logo and the blog. I am also the official photographer.

The date for WhibFest 2007 has not yet been set - but I look forward to EVERY practice session!

Happy Mother's Day!

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Pleasantly Suprised

I have to admit.

I haven't blogged in awhile because I switched to the new "blogger" and frankly - didn't like it.

I decided to read a few today (Kelscraggly had some cute photos to share from last night so I commented) and I noticed some new features on some pages. So....I took a tour. I was happy with what I found and decided to throw a few words down to let you know I am still alive. (Those that still check on me that is - you know who you are *wink)

It's been a crazy few months....but we are still around and doing OK.

Hope everyone else is well!

Stolen from WriterMother

1. Can you cook? Yes. But I hate to clean up. OH and I like to bake too.

2. What was your dream growing up? To have large breasts. Be careful what you dream/wish for.

3. What talent do you wish you had? Sewing.

4. Favorite place? Nestor Falls, ON Canada.

5. Favorite vegetable? Iowa Sweet corn (sorry Ange - I have been converted.)

6. What was the last book you read? Let's Go to New York City (On a budget)

7. What zodiac sign are you? Gemini.

8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Ears pierced - tattoos...no. Dad told me I would go to hell if I defaced my body. Now I'm just freaked out by germs and needles.

9. Worst Habit? I have to agree - I talk while I pee - but if you ask Mr. Chep my worst habit he would say leaving my shoes out. Drives him NUTS!

10. Do you personally know anybody on Blog? Writermother, Kelscraggly and Mile High Hoosier. I have met some way cool people though along the way...although I don't get around the country like Ange to visit them! :-)

11. What is your favorite sport? To watch: college basketball (March Madness baby!) To play: Beer Pong.

12. Negative or Optimistic attitude? Optimistic. For the most part.

13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator lift with someone of the opposite sex? If it was anyone other that my husband probaby freak out. I hate elevators.

14. Worst thing to ever happen to you? It can't be as bad as half the people in the world have it - so not worth mentioning.

15. Tell me one weird fact about you: I have a folded earlobe.

16. Do you have any pets? One dog. She's spoiled rotten. Ask anyone.

17. Do you know how to do the macarena? Yes - and it was banned at our wedding reception because we both hate it.

18. Is the sun shining where you are now? Indeed it is.

19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary? Clowns freak me out.

20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be? I would reduce the amount of hair on my arms (no shaving or waxing is NOT an option)

21. Would you be my good angel or bad angel? I am too chunky to sit on people's shoulders.

22. What color eyes do you have?Blue.

23. Ever been arrested? No I left B-ton during the 500 to avoid jail.

24. Bottle or Draft? FREE. That's how I prefer to drink it.

25. If you won £10,000 today, what would you do with it? First I would convert into US dollars to make $3000 and then put a down payment on a house.

26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew? Whatever is handy and keeps flavor for more than 3 minutes.

27. What's your favorite bar to hang at? Yeah - I concur with WM - no bars. Unless you count hanging towels.

28. Do you believe in ghosts? Yes. They lived in the basement of both houses in Hobart. None of my dogs would go in the basements.

29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time? Spare time? Clean I suppose. I guess I wouldn't call that spare eh?

30. Do you swear a lot? Yes - and I work hard to keep it under control at work. Caca is a favorite.

31. Biggest pet peeve? Spotted mirrors.

32. In one word, how would you describe yourself? Fun.

March Madness and Trips out East

Well....it has begun.

March Madness. If I wasn't already working non-stop 8am-6pm I might be wrapped up at work.

Good thing it's been a fun project. I have been able to play with my artistic ability - and I created a video to submit for our quarterly Inspired teaching contest. I think I wowed them with my skills. I have to admit. It was fun.

We found out a week ago that Mr. Chep is being sent to NYC for training...and he's taking me with! WOW! I am thrilled! I have been trying to figure out our itinerary since we will only have one DAY in Manhattan - so we need to decide what we can only see during the day. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Hope you are all well!

Ice Storm 2007

icy branch, originally uploaded by Chepner.

51 Degrees.

Sounds warm no? How about inside your home?

Eastern Iowa was hit was a NASTY ice storm that knocked out power at our home for 23 hrs. When we were pretty sure that we were going to lose power we decided to crank up the heat in the house to 75 degrees. 23 hrs later we were down to 51 degrees.

BRRRR.

Hope everyone else is warm and toasty!

Winter has arrived

Skimming the surface, originally uploaded by Chepner.

Yesterday Mr. Chep and I went down to the roller damn to ring in the official arrival of winter.

When the rivers and lakes up north freeze over, hundreds of eagles move "south" to feed and play in the unfrozen waters of Iowa. More specifically - the roller damn in Cedar Rapids.

OK...so most of the Iowa waters aren't unfrozen....in fact it's been below zero for most of the week. This makes it easy to find the majestic birds.

It's a sight to see....all these beautiful birds of prey diving into the water for food. We have been before as have most people in the area I am sure, but every trip to the river during these winter months is a reminder that despite the cold, nature has a way of working through the tough times.

Hopefully people work the same way.

Five things you don't know about me....

I took this from WriterMom in order to get back into the swing of things.

I have many things on my mind....it's just a matter of getting it out on paper. So let's start with this one.....

Five things I can do because I am not a size 2: *Same disclaimer as WM....no offense to the size 2's - but I was never a size 2 (I think I skipped that size)

Change out a toilet without assistance:
When I worked for the parks department we had 3 rental properties that we also managed. In the 6 years that I worked for LCPRD I changed out 3 toilets. Yes - I can move a toilet by myself. Scared?

Empty a FULL 55 gallon garbage can in a dumpster that stood over 5 feet tall (I'm 5'3")
Nothing like lifting a trash can and thinking "What the hell is in this thing?" Empty half - set it back on the ground, look inside and find a pig head staring back at me. Didn't even freak out.

I married a man who is 6'5" and 220+ he's the first man to make me feel 'petite'.
Boys in high school were afraid I would kick their ass. I probably would have. I probably would have been able to kick my husband's ass in high school. It's rough being tough. Right WM?

I can change my own tire.
I have been able to change tires since I was about 20. Removing the lug nuts with a tire iron and then throwing the tire in the back of a 1-ton pick up truck was a daily task for me back when I worked for the park. This reminds me that my sister still tells her friends about the time I had to fix my truck. Bought the book, did the troubleshooting and fixed it on my own. NO man - NO help. All me (and the book). She was impressed. I believe all it proves is I can read and follow directions!

I have dropped, cut to size, split and stacked at least 10 trees (I have cut and split more than I have dropped)
Cords and cords of wood. Man did I hate wood. Now...it sounds like a nice break from my job. What I wouldn't give for a little quite time out behind the maintenance barn with my chaps and a chainsaw....ahhhhh....

So there it is.

Five things you don't know about me............

Sarah's Baby Shower!!

6 weeks to 37 weeks gestation, originally uploaded by sarahsflickr.

You're invited to a Baby Shower!!!

For: Sarah (see beautiful Mommy above)
On: Saturday, February 3rd, 2007
At: 12:30 pm., Tucson, Arizona time.

To attend, please:
1) Create a gmail account if you don’t already have one.
2) Send your gmail address to Ron at: ron@stamant.org
3) On Saturday, log on to gmail chat and Ron will invite you to our new blog pals chat room. If you have any questions on how this works, email Ron.

Don’t know what time it is in Arizona? Try this link: Time Zone Converter and look for America/Phoenix.

Sarah and Baby are registered HERE: