: ) Penny Pics Post YAY!

So, I haven't blogged much this week...here's an update. The house went to see was fantastic, Allen loved it too. But...was not for us...the owners picked another couple to rent to. Probably they didn't have dog...who knows. Oh well.

Josh and Caleb have spent the last three nights over at our house because the air conditioner at my mom and dad's house went kaput. Mom and dad have a little air conditioner for their room so they have been ok, but it was a miserable temperature in the rest of the house for Josh and Caleb. I'm pretty sure Caleb thinks he is in heaven, not having to get up early in the morning to take care of chickens, no chores, and all the video game playing he wants. LOL!

We are going to Sturgeon this weekend! YAY! :) We can't wait!

We have a few green tomatoes growing on our tomato plants. They look very healthy. I can't wait til we have so many tomatoes to eat we have to give em away! :) My container garden drowned, all except for my basil, which some how has miraculously survived. Next time I will do it differently. It's a live and learn process for me! The dang bugs and rabbit ate up the two pepper plants we had next to our tomatoes. Sad, I know.

Well, I would like to say tomorrow was my last day of work, but it's not. Overtime on Saturday, ummm...YAY! :)

Love you all!

Wonderful weekend, not so wonderful start to the week...

So Saturday was a lot of fun! We went to the farmer's market with Mom and Dad, then in the afternoon we went to my parents house to go fishing. We had to wait until the evening to go fishing because of the storm that blew through the area. Right before the storm we managed to get a look at just how many blackberries are about to be ours in just a few weeks. I am NOT exaggerating when I say that there are enough out there for 10 people to pick berries ALL day and still not have picked them all. It's CRAZY, and I'm very excited. I will be making my first ever attempt a canning, blackberry jam....MMMM! :) Saturday was also nice because my Uncle Steve and cousins Zach and Morgan came fishing with us, oh and the grilled T-bone steaks my dad fixed and heavenly peanut butter pie my mom made!

Sunday was of course father's day. It was really neat to surprise Pop Pop! I really think he had no idea we were all going to be there at church. Lunch at the mexican restaurant was great too! (Thanks again Grandma and Pop Pop.) We didn't get to see Phil for fathers day, but he was definately in our thoughts. I'm so grateful to have a father-in-law who has shown me fatherly love since the beginning, even when he wasn't sure about me and whether or not I would be any good for his son! He has played such a huge role in making Allen the man he is today. Allen has learned to be an amazing husband from the example of his father and someday will get the chance to be as good of a dad to our kids as Phil was to Allen.

This morning, Allen got a speeding ticket! Sooooo....the overtime money I will be earning on Saturday morning is already spent. Allen's pretty upset about it, but I just told him it happens. I've had a few speeding tickets before too...we will pay the ticket and he will slow down on Harrison street. Life goes on of course, but not a great way to start the week.

Tomorrow night at 5:30 is our appointment to see the house in Hannibal. We will keep everyone posted! Wish us luck!

Love you all!

Grilled Awesomeness!

This is what we had for dinner last night. It was amazing and if it wasn't kind of a pain in the rear to make, I think we would eat it every day! It's probably going to become a regular weekend meal for us though!

If early morning stuff is for the birds...

What's all this third shift stuff for....the bats? UGH! I miss my hubby!

Tomorrow is pay day Friday, YAY! :)

Thankful for Thursdays...

Because it means tomorrow is Friday!!!!!! Hope everyone has been having a good week!

Monday ... SIGH.... AGAIN....

Well, it was back to work today. As always, it was just as hard as ever. Saturday we had an awesome time at Kate and Seth's house. They are such great hosts! It was so much fun to get to hang out with our friends and get to meet some new people too! We feel so lucky to have found some great people that we can count on here in Quincy.

Sunday was so wonderful to get to celebrate with my whole family the love of my grandparents. We were able to see some family members that really, I only ever see at funerals. When were kids we used to take a lot more trips to Iowa. Allen and I were talking, and we better find out when all of the family reunions are so we can go. Luella , a dear old church friend of the family's is 83 years old and she said something to me that makes a lot of sense. She asked why we always wait so long to get together, it's either an anniversary or a funeral and by then it's too late. She says we need to be with eachother as often as we can. "Don't wait,"she said. How true!

Well, there was an ad in the Hannibal paper last week that I about fell off of my chair when I read it, 3+ bedroom, 2 baths, stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, walk-out basement, detached one care garage, $550 per month. Which is actually $10 cheaper than our little place now. Well I called the number and left a message , two messages, and didn't hear anything back. I called a few times this weekend and again this morning with no luck....so I just figured it wasn't meant to be, but today she called me back! She's going to show it to us next Tuesday at 5:30. She has no problems with "a couple of pets", and the place has central heat and air, all electric appliances. We have all of this criteria we have come up with for a new place to rent in Hannibal so we can be Missouri residents again, closer to the family. This house fits ALL of the criteria except one...location...it's in a good part of town, in the fact that it's not a dangerous ghetto part of town, but it is right off of the main road through Hannibal...yikes..so we won't know until we get a chance to look at it. The thing is about renting is, that we will never find a place that is absolutely perfect, b/c that's how it goes when you rent, when we buy we will get that "perfect" place, but for now while we are still saving towards that down payment, there are some concessions we will have to make. So , I have tried to come up with all the good things about the house , and it's location. Meanwhile, my hubby , the negative one, is coming up with all the bad ones. Ying and yang, that's us, then after we look at the place on Tuesday we will be able to come to a decision. We will keep you all updated! PRAY FOR US! :)

50 Years!

Congratulations to my grandparents! Yesterday was their 50th wedding anniversary and today we celebrated with them at a reception in Hannibal. It was wonderful, and they were wonderful, but it's been a long weekend and we are getting ready for bed. More about our weekend tomorrow! Love you all!

Farmer's Market Find

Well today seemed to be slim pickins at the Farmer's Market. Mostly onions, gooseberries, and potatoes, and turnips still. There was a stand today selling what they claim to be "garden fresh" tomatoes, but they were selling them out of commercial type boxes. I'm just not sure about that...besides we have our tomatoes plants growing in the back yard. We will probably just wait for those. I only bought a bunch of red onions. Well, as a far as produce goes. I also bought the most amazing chocolate crossaint I have ever had. In fact the most amazing pastry I've ever had period. I'm enjoying it now as I'm typing this blog with a cup of coffee. There is little local german bakery up town called My Koog that always has a stand at the market, but we have never stopped to buy anything from them, but today since I didn't buy a bunch of veggies I thought, "What the heck." I bought one for me and one for Allen. He's still sleeping so he hasn't experienced this wonderful pastry yet. If you are every in Quincy for breakfast, I highly recommend a chocolate crossaint from My Koog's. www.mykoog.com

Made it through Friday!

Oh yes I did! :) Now Allen just has to make it through his Friday night and let the weekend begin!!!

There has been this one neat medium sized spider outside the door everynight this week, that I have left alone and let be. I think it's a friendly sort of spider, but tonight I noticed there are two of them right above the door...I'm not sure about this...the spiders may have to be relocated. I don't want them inviting all their little eight legged friends for a party on my porch and then later in the house.

Speaking of spiders, I haven't uploaded the pics yet, but the last time we were at Allen's parent house we were in their shed and on a tractor blade was the biggest spider I've even seen outside of captivity. It was nearly the size of Phil's hand!!!! I will have to post the pics later.

STEAMY!

Whew! It's steamy hot tonight! I think it's hotter and much more stickier now than it was at noon today. YUCK! Thank goodness for central air! :) I'm getting ready to take a shower and go to bed, but I've been sooo good about posting something everday this week, lol, I figured I didn't want to ruin my streak. Don't really have anything to say. I'm excited about this weekend. We have a housewarming party for a couple friends of ours on Saturday and then on Sunday we are going to celebrate my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary! :) Fridays are soooo long when the weekend looks so good!

Just a thought...

If you are not committing insurance fraud, then why spend 15 minutes of someone's time explaining to them that you would never commit fraud, when you have not been accused of anything?

I heard the screams of my herbs...

I heard the screams of my herbs and lettuce in my container garden over the torrential rain earlier this evening. I don't know much about container gardening, but I'm pretty sure the plants are drowned! I went out there after the storm passed and dumped as much water off of the plants as I could, but they were all beaten down. My lettuce was almost big enough to cut a enough for a salad, now it's a sad sight. :( We will see if my little garden can recover. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Oooo and the lightening bugs are out! LOVE THEM!

Awww....isn't he sweet!

I came home from work today to these beautiful flowers that my wonderful hubby bought for me today! They are gerber daisies w/ a few sun flowers. What a nice thing to come home to! :) Of course the picture is junk because it was taken w/ my cell. I cannot WAIT to get a new phone in October!

LOL!

Look who is going to help me do dishes tonight! It's SHREK! LOL! We found this little green guy in the bottom of our cereal box! I don't think I've pulled a toy out of a cereal box since I was a little bitty kid! He really makes me laugh!

One more day of the insanity...

I know it's been a short work week, but whew! am I glad tomorrow is Friday! On Saturday the plan so far is to go "girls only" shopping with my mom, while Caleb and Allen stay home and play the PS3. Depending on the weather, the four of us might go play tennis together after shopping. Then I think in the evening we are planning on a game night at Grandma and Pop Pop's. So, I'm really excited, and tomorrow is going to be a LOOOOONNNG day!

HE SAID WHAT?!?

Today was a strange day...I think everyone is all out of whack because today was Wednesday but it only felt like a Tuesday. I don't have much to say tonight, so I will just leave you with two quotes of the week. Note, these are actually from the mouths of people I have talked to this week. I cannot make this stuff up!

Winner for most egotistical statement of the week: "You tell her that God does not answer the phone at 8 a.m, and not to call me until after 10 a.m.!"

Winner for most inappropriate comment of the week:

Him:"What was your name again?"

Me:"My name is Amber"

Him: "Amber, that a nice stripper name."

Me: "Uhh.."

As always,

It was another wonderful weekend in Sturgeon that was simply too short. We had a great time spending time with the family. The weather was perfect! I was able to learn a little bit more about Allen's extended family which was neat. We're both so lucky to have such loving families that have touched our lives in so many positive ways, and continue to touch our lives even from beyond the grave. I used to think that Memorial Day was a morbid day, but as an adult, I can see the true value of a day set aside to spend some time remembering our loved ones that have passed on before us. Of course, they cross our minds many many more times than just once a year at the beginning of summer, but a special day for remembering is still nice.

The tomatoes in our backyard are looking pretty healthy! :) And my container garden has completely taken off! Very exciting!

Tonight we had bbq chicken sandwiches and fresh vegetables with ranch dressing for dinner. We had a green pepper from the store, some farmers market green onions, and for the first time ever, we tried a veggie I bought from a farmer and his wife on Saturday called a Kohlrabi. Its a german vegetable and it's name literally translates into "cabbage turnip". It looks sort of like a turnip and is part of the cabbage family. I wouldn't say it tasted strongly like either one. It has a very mild, slightly sweet flavor, that is reminiscent of cabbage. It's crisp and juicy like an apple. It's LOADED with potassium and vitamins, low calorie, and high in fiber. A fantastic raw veggie. LOVED IT :).