Sweatshop

JP has enlisted everyone to make craft objects d'art for her LSW Speech Team fundraising.

JP was trying to lay out Scrabble tiles to make Christmas ornaments and L thought it was fun to bat all the tiles off the table. The extra room upstairs is now craft central with a cat-proof door.

The reading glasses had to come out yesterday to cut out a paper house with an x-acto knife.

Birthday Sushi

For CP and CG's birthdays, we all went to Blue Sushi down in the Haymarket. CP LOVES sushi and all things Japanese. He even tried some tako (octopus).

GP on the other hand, does not like sushi, fish, or anything that smells like fish. He moaned and groaned the entire time until his Kobe-beef steak arrived. Then his discomfort magically disappeared and his attitude improved.

New Fridge

After we got the new dishwasher, we realized how out of date our other kitchen appliances are. The white plastic on our old white fridge had turned yellow. When we purchased it ten years ago, we didn't realize that there is such a thing as a counter-depth fridge.

Our new fridge is 6" less deep than our old one. This makes a HUGE difference in the kitchen! The narrow space between the fridge and the corner of the island is no longer a bottleneck. JP is very happy! It's looking like a whole new kitchen. The stainless is much more compatible with the color of the countertops that she's been wanting to replace.

Next: sell the old fridge and get a new microwave with the proceeds. After that, save money for a while and get a new range for our birthdays.

Land of Enchantment

I spent this last week on the road between here and Juarez, Mexico. We were supposed to fly down on a Sunday afternoon, work at our Juarez plant on Monday, and return home on Tuesday.

Instead, we missed our connecting flight in Dallas by two minutes and spent Sunday night there. There were two later flights out, but both (and the first two in the morning) were sold out and over-booked. We spent our time in Dallas trying to locate a hotel and rental car in El Paso. Our original hotel reservation went from $130 to $200 per night when we requested to extend our stay two nights. There are not enough hotel rooms in El Paso. Not enough rental cars, either.

Our plant had its "Owner's Day" fiesta on Tuesday, so we couldn't work there that day (hence the two-day trip extension for a 2-minute delay), so we visited some of our suppliers without a rental car. We used a cab, bummed a couple of rides, and finally were lent a car from a sympathetic supplier in New Mexico. 

We finally had our chance to go to Juarez and assist with the launch of a new model that we moved there this year. It was nice to go home on Thursday.

Christmas Crafting

JP has been working on making trinkets for the holiday wreath auction fund raiser for the LSW speech team. So far, she has a bunch of knitted coffee cup sweaters...

... and a stack of wooden snowflake ornaments, ...

...and miniature Buddy the Elf  sweaters (with matching hats).

Homecoming 2015

The boys didn't have dates this year, so they went together for homecoming. They were both sweaty messes when they returned from dancing all night. GP met a cute girl he's been watching and discovered that they had gone to elementary school together.

Return of the Monarchs

This year we've seen quite a few Monarch butterflies flitting about. This one was tired and thirsty.

Make Lincoln 2015

Both boys were excited to hit this year's Make Lincoln event. This year it was moved to a city park so that there would be some parking and it wouldn't be crowded like it was last year. The highlight for both boys was The Oculus Rift - it's a virtual reality headset that senses where your pointing your head. I was more impressed with the video game they were playing that was written by some local kids.

Final Pool Day?

We continue to have summer weather into September. Can't pass up an afternoon at the pool. We watched a thunderhead pop up 80 miles away as the sun set.

Death in the Kitchen

Our 10 year old dishwasher finally gave up its ghost. We've repaired it several times over the years and I wasn't in the mood to do it yet again. JP has been complaining that it just doesn't get the dishes clean. 

The new dishwasher is SILENT!! We didn't realize how loud the old one was until we ran the new one and had to check to see if it was actually running.

All our old appliances are white on white. The new stainless dishwasher really makes them look out of place. Time to start upgrading the kitchen. 

Game Day!

For the Husker's season opener against BYU, we spent the day at the G's pool with our next door neighbors and their girls. GP spent Friday night at his friend's house after they all went to the LSW game. They must have stayed up all night, because he spent most of the afternoon asleep on a floating chair in the pool.

The game was a good one; we were ahead by one point until the last second of the game when BYU connected with a hail Mary.

New Strings

The strings on CP's bass were getting nasty so I broke down and got him a new set. I still don't understand why six guitar strings are $3 and four bass strings are $20. 

CP learned how to clean up and condition his fretboard. 20 minutes later he was back in business belting out some tunes.

Sun Deck is Done!

Last weekend we shoveled 8,000 lbs of granite chips from the driveway to the sundeck and then hooked up some lights. We are done!

JP's mums have really taken off and filled out.

It Runs in the Family

L has been losing weight and not looking well the past couple of months. We've been dreading taking her to the vet. A blood test confirmed our suspicions: she's diabetic and will need two shots a day. My insulin is $60 for five vials; hers is $140 for one. I get to use cheap insulin pen needles; she needs full-on syringes. 

My friends at work raised their eyebrows when I told them we had to take our cat to the vet. When I told them she needs shots, they all offered to give her a shot of a different kind out behind the barn. Caring for a cat is not part of the native Nebraska way of life.

LSW Season Opener

Last nite we took GP and his friend to their first official high school football game. It was "pajama night", so both were decked out in flannel pajamas with all their other friends. At one point, the student section started throwing 200 teddy bears up in the air. GP was sweaty and hoarse by the end of the game. 

Yesterday at work I learned a new phrase: "You can't swing a dead cat over your head without hitting two people you know." It refers to being from a small town where you know everyone. At the game, we unknowingly sat down across the aisle from four people we know. Lincoln truly is a dead-cat-swinging sort of small town.

LSW beat LSE 16 to 14 - great football game!

Sweet Potato

Last weekend was absolutely gorgeous. 80 degrees, no clouds, no wind, and nothing major to do other than sit in the pool and work on the house. JP pulled out all the annual flowers from the deck pots and replaced them with fall mums. We also pulled weeds from the basement window wells, built a level base for the wheelbarrow shed that was listing 10 degrees to starboard, and worked on the sun deck (and my tan).

One of the ornamental (purple) plants was a sweet potato. Not bad for growing in a pot on the deck.

Zarf

JP's latest knitting adventure is coffee cup sweaters, better known as zarfs.

1st Day of School (Again)

This year both boys are back in the same school. CP is driving them both, so JP has her mornings back to herself for workouts. GP is a freshman this year and he's loving it. Except for his math class, but he'll get over it.

Pizza on the Grill

While in IL, JP picked up a glazed pizza stone at Williams Sonoma so that we could keep up with our friends that have one. It, plus JP's bread dough, makes for the best thin crust pizza in the world. 

The boys eat them as fast as they come off the grill.

Last Trip of the Summer

JP took the boys to IL for one last roadtrip before school starts next week. They hit Galena and had fun there, as usual. They ate at an Italian restaurant that JP and I have always wanted to take the boys. I wish I could have been there.

GP resisted temptation and bought nothing! He's saving his funds for a new video game system for his birthday. 

10 Years

It's hard to believe that we've now been in Nebraska for 10 years! I forgot the whirlwind that surrounded our move here. I had been working for a week and living at the Holiday Inn in Beatrice while JP packed the house and helped the movers load our hoard into a truck. I flew home and JP picked me up at O'Hare and we drove to Lanark to see the gang there one last time.  

We celebrated with lunch at McFarland's Irish restaurant down in the Haymarket. The boys found that they love Irish food. Except for the peas.

When we moved to NE, the boys were small and my hair was dark. The only one that hasn't aged is JP - she looks the same as she did 10 years ago.

Snowballs in Summer

JP's snowball bush is going crazy this summer. 

Her roses took a beating last winter; she had to trim them way back. All of her TLC has paid off and they are back into full blossom production mode. 

Bye Bye in the Car

This summer we've been spending every weekend at our ex-neighbor's house & pool. M doesn't like the water, but she does like to go with us. She starts to get excited when JP pulls out the pool bag and towels. Some days it's just too hot for a black dog to be out in the sun, so M gets dunked in the pool. When she gets out, it's straight to rolling in the grass to get the smell of cleanness off of her.

Sun Deck in the Sun

The sun deck summer project has been our slowest summer project ever. I think it's because it's not very technical - just dig out the sod and fill it in with stones, right? All of our other projects were thought out, planned, drawn up in CAD, and budgeted. This one has been scraping along with no real planning or funding. 

We finally got the 96 blocks for the edging put in place. A $15 diamond saw blade on the circular saw was able to cut 51% through the thickness of each block. We built a fixture to position the blocks for the second cut on the backside to finish off the other 49%. We still need to get the top layer of gravel hauled it. Right now the deck surface is 4" below where it should be; it's just the crushed limestone base now.

Speech Camp

This year LSW didn't host the summer speech camp; instead, it was held at UNL. The boys packed up their suitcases and lived on campus in a dorm for the 4-day event. When they arrived to check in, they were a bit apprehensive when they only saw the sign for Wrestling Camp on the door. It didn't take them long to realize that there were other summer camps going on (cheerleaders & girl mathematicians) and the dorm was filled with kids from all over. They had a blast and are now ready to leave home and live at college forever. GP was enchanted with the dorm food. 

Thanks Gramma & Grampa!

Tulsa Hard Rock

JP took a few days to go down to Tulsa to see our old neighbor and her daughter. They stayed at the Hard Rock Casino. JP Loves casinos and the nightlife! Just ask her.

Rocket Boy

Our neighbors' nephew came to Nebraska for six weeks this summer again. He's a really cute kid and full of endless energy. We took him to shoot rockets last year and he loved it. This year we built a classic Big Bertha (thanks B&B!). He gave it a custom green paint job (his favorite color). As the launch date neared, the wind forecast looked sketchy, so I picked up some B engines instead of the usual C's. The wind was blowing 10-15 mph the night of the launch, so we enlarged the hole in the parachute to ensure a rapid descent. After shooting an old rocket as a test to see how far the drift would be, we shot the Big Bertha. It was a flawless flight and a safe landing. We were able to repack it and shoot it again without incident. We had a happy rocket boy that night!

Summer Fun

CP has been enjoying the company of a cute girl this summer. We went down to the Railyard for movie night and caught American Graffiti on the big screen. I forgot what a good movie that is! I gave CP some $$ and told him to go and have fun, but 10 minutes later they showed up and sat with me throughout the movie.