Under the Big Top

Thursday night I hosted book club under my Big Top (aka my living room). Seventeen people crowded in to see the show, er, discuss the book "Water For Elephants" by Sara Gruen. We dined on circus foods including hot dogs, chips, tater tots, fried chicken, fruit, caramel apples, peanuts and those sugary circus peanut candies. Mmmm. Your mouth is watering, isn't it? We were also treated to some Lemony Wickets (gin-laced lemonade drinks) provided by Carrie and Robin. Pictured here are some of the crowd from bottom right -- Jaime's head, Molly, Kasey (a new member), Cory, Suzanne, Tara and Kathryn:


Here is Denise making a point. I can't remember what the point was after making her do this over again so I could take the picture. Thank you for posing beautifully for this! But she said it with conviction. A lot of conviction.

One of the highlights of the night was seeing Robin walk through the door with a turkey carcass (it was made out of fabric) on her head. Her birthday is around Thanksgiving, so that's why the fascination with the bird. It all made sense when she explained it. And no one thought twice about why she might be wearing turkey attire. We're just that accepting. Also pictured here are Lori L., Amy, Kerry's foot, Carrie's foot, Lori B.'s foot and Jaime's arm. Not pictured besides me: Peggy, Diane and Bonnie. Sorry ladies!

The time spent discussing the book had to be close to a record. It seems like we discussed for almost an hour and that's pretty darn good for us.

On a sad note, we had no Book Club After Dark this time. It must have been because Brenda wasn't there to entertain us.

It wouldn't have been a circus theme without some cotton candy, and Bonnie showed up with this bag, which we passed around:

There's still a little bit left in the bag, which is still in my kitchen. I checked the nutritional contents. Yes, it's pure sugar (and air) but it is only 330 calories for the whole bag. That surprised me for some reason. Overall the book was a hit among everyone who'd read it. And most of us had. It was a good time.

Happy 18th, Katie!

This is what my niece, Katie, looked like about 18 years ago. Wasn't she sweet? I think this picture was taken the day she went home from the hospital, at least she's wearing the same going home outfit her brothers wore. Katie always loved me best when she was little. She might still say I'm her favorite. :-)

When she was younger she was a bit of a screamer. But she has two older brothers, so can you blame her? She never screamed at me and always loved it when I came around (I was in college when she was born). Now I love it when she comes around. In fact, she and her Mom (my sister, Teresa) came to stay with me this past weekend.

This is what she looks like now:

Gorgeous, huh?
(photo credit to Red Door Photography in Great Bend)

Victoria plays volleyball

Yesterday I took the afternoon off and visited my friend, Laurie, in the hospital. She is recovering well after her surgery and rumor has it she went home this afternoon.

After the hospital visit, my parents and I attended my niece Victoria's volleyball match over at Wichita Collegiate. Victoria is in the eighth grade and plays on the "B" team. They kicked some booty and ended up winning the first two games (both on Victoria's serve, I might add). She has a right fine serve and was happy we were there to cheer for her team. Even though the gym wasn't air conditioned and it left like it was 99.9 degrees in there, we were glad we went too.

Visit from the folks

My parents, Sherrie and Larry (they rhyme!) were in town for a visit this week. This is a picture of them lounging in my living room tonight. After I took this picture, my Mom said, "You just took that of Dad, right?" Yep, sure I did.

I get my love of reading from my Mom, who grew up in a poor household so she and her sisters read books to stay entertained. I get lots of other things from her, too, but for now I'll leave it at that.

From my Dad I get a multitude of things as well, namely his sense of humor. I also got from him the knowledge of how important it is to check the oil in my lawnmower on a frequent basis. I told him at dinner tonight (proudly) that I put oil in the mower the last time I cut the grass. He just about fell out of his chair.

They go home tomorrow. It's sure been nice having them around, even though I spent some of the time working on my Mom's blasted computer.

'80s Music Revisited

Saturday evening I attended a show at Cabaret Oldtown. I usually love their shows. They're hip, they're fun and the last one I saw there (Menopausapalooza) was a real winner. The current show is a celebration of '80s music and while it did get my toe tapping, it wasn't my favorite show they've ever done. To the left is a picture of the program cover.

Now, I don't mean to be all anal, but really, the apostrophe? Why do people do that? It's not possessive, it's plural! And they spelled gnarly with an 'e': gnarley. I know it's slang and I shouldn't have that grammar stick shoved so far up my backside, but this is a professional theater doing a professional show. Welcome to a huge pet peeve of mine.

I even pulled out the dictionary thinking I might be mistaken about gnarley. And I can admit when I'm wrong. Most of the time. Although the Webster's definition of gnarly is and I quote "gnarled", there is no entry for gnarley. I even went to wikipedia and searched for the slang there. No entry for either gnarly or gnarley. Nothing! I guess they couldn't have used the Pac-Mac icon as an 'e' unless they thew an extra letter in somewhere. Maybe that was their justification? So, weigh in with me here fellow bloggers. What's your take on it?

Here's our Totally Gnarly '80s group:

Laurie, Joyce and me -- all of us graduated from Newman back when it was still Kansas Newman College. Photo credit to a tall guy named Big Al that Joyce knows. We still had fun despite the bad program cover!

Prison Broken

So, my TiVo picked up 7 minutes of the "Prison Break" season premiere last night. It was 7 minutes of indecipherable garbage. So off to the FOX website I will go to see if I can watch the episode there. If not that, then I'll read the episode update. So boring compared to watching Michael and Lincoln act out the episode. I'm sad.

I finished reading my book club's September selection "Water For Elephants" instead of watching television last night, which is probably a better way to spend the time anyway. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this book. I loved it. Such an original story and I loved the way author Sara Gruen told the story through flashbacks of the 93-year-old Jacob. My opinion: you won't be sorry if you crack open this book. Two enthusiastic thumbs way up!

90 degrees in September? Ugh.

Well, I'm not sure I like the forecast for this week. It's supposed to be hot and windy. Both of which make me cranky. When September hits, I like the cool to come right along with it. And the wind? Well, I've been having satellite interference with my local channels caused by my neighbor's tree, and it is a lost cause when it's windy. Which means the season premiere of "Prison Break" tonight will probably be an hour of dead air on my TiVo. Nice. I'll probably end up watching it on my computer since I won't be home to watch it live.

On a more positive note: my parents are coming for a visit later this week. My Mom is in a couple of china painting clubs here in town since her local group went defunct earlier this year. She'll be at one group on Thursday and the other on Friday. They meet once a month except in the summer. As an extra bonus this time, my Dad's coming along with her. He'll be running errands (buying exciting things like hydraulic oil and frequenting places like Knight Machine) for his business. He's a welder, by the way. He has owned his own business for as long as I can remember, but he's been a welder now for over 49 years. He says he's going to retire next fall when he turns 68. We'll see. Rumor also has it that he'll be shopping for a new (to him) pickup to replace his current heap.

A couple more from the weekend

I couldn't resist taking this shot of Zach in his overalls sitting in my Dad's recliner on Sunday. My Dad lives in overalls. He wears them to work and would wear them to church except he doesn't think it's appropriate. So this is Zach's attempt to look just like his Grandpa Larry. Look at him sitting up like such a big boy. It won't be long and he'll be crawling all over the place. Can't wait.

This is Madi (my cousin Jason's daughter), my niece Jessica, and Coco the Great Dane. Or as we call her, The Horse. Coco belongs to my brother and his girls (Jessica and Victoria) and she's really a very sweet and docile dog, but people are afraid of her. It's not hard to see why. But Madi's not afraid of her at all and she'll stand for hours and be petted by little hands.

Takin' it for the UW

Tuesday morning I rose early and worked the corner at 21st and Amidon hawking special edition newspapers. The proceeds from all papers sold goes to support United Way. Above is a poor photograph of my good friend and co-worker, Linda, who was a volunteer at my corner. She was the busiest person on our block and worked it like a professional! We did OK, although not as good as last year. When I got back to The Eagle, I saw our managing editor sitting on the floor counting out what her corner brought in.

Overall, we raised over $21,000 for the cause and that's not too bad for four hours of work.

Weekend with the folks

When I wasn't at the fair this weekend, I spent the rest of the time at my Mom and Dad's house south of Ellinwood. I got to see both of the babies and most of the rest of my family, too. This is a picture of my nephew Zach in his new bouncer/walker that I found for him at a garage sale last week. My Mom watches him one or two days a week and she wanted something that he could sit up in and play. This fits the bill. We put him in it Saturday for a test run. It was a hit!

Sunday at church I saw my cousin Jason, his wife Heather and their two-and-a-half year old Madisyn. I haven't seen them since our family reunion in July. It's always good to catch up, especially since Jason spent five days in the hospital with pneumonia a couple of weeks ago. He's on the mend now and we're all glad. This is a picture of Madi and her baby outside church:

Jason, Heather and Madi came out to eat lunch with us on Sunday to celebrate my Dad's birthday which was this past Tuesday (September 11th--he turned 67). My Mom fried chicken and we had mashed potatoes and gravy, too. It was delicious.

Caden was there with his parents (Andrew & Rachel) but he slept through the festivities when he wasn't eating (just the milk please, no potatoes and gravy yet). I snapped a couple of pics while he was sleeping in his car seat, though. He had that halfway between sleep and wake thing going on. Every time I'd take a picture he smiled after the fact, probably because he knew it would make me crazy. He's sure getting big and his double-chin is making him look more like his great auntie (me) everyday!

Fair fun

I went to the Kansas State Fair last Friday. Took a vacation day and worked a two-hour shift at the Newman University booth (my alma mater). The shift was easy and it got me free access to the fair for the rest of the day. On the way to Hutchinson that morning, my friend Laurie (she is a Newman grad, too, and worked the same shift as I did) stopped at the Carriage Crossing restaurant in Yoder for breakfast. Pure heaven. I was too busy eating to take a picture of the plate. But you won't be disappointed if you ever decide to eat breakfast there.

At the fair I was delighted to see this sign in the restrooms:

My Mom is a germ freak and is constantly washing hands and encouraging others to do the same. I always knew you were right and now I have proof!

I also got nose to nose with this camel at the Hedrick's petting zoo:


Then Laurie and I attended the Gretchen Wilson concert that night. I know about two of her songs, but I went anyway. It was fun except for the stand-all-through-the-concert-and-spill-beer gals to my right who were blocking the big screen so I couldn't see a whole lot. Oh well. They were having fun. Here's one picture I took at the concert that I didn't think turned out half bad considering we were all the way up in row 29 of the grandstand:


I went back to the fair on Saturday and worked another shift at the Newman booth with another friend, Kathleen. I was too delirious to take any pictures that day. Sue me.

Happy birthday, Heather

Earlier this week I took my friend Heather out for lunch to celebrate her 31 years on this planet. We had the soup, salad and breadsticks at Olive Garden and it was wonderful. It's been way too long since I've eaten there. Heather, who doesn't care much for sweets, wanted the tiramisu. Who am I to deny? We shared it, but here's a picture of her with it before we dug in (actually it was after she dug in and before I did):
Happy birthday, Heather. May you celebrate many more anniversaries of your birth!

Open update

I am sad to report that Tommy Haas lost in straight sets to a very unattractive Russian (name omitted to protect his privacy). Andy Roddick lost last night in straight sets to Roger Federer. The best news of the night: Andre Agassi was a guest commentator of the match with John McEnroe and Ted Robinson. They made a great team and I hope they have Andre back to commentate in the future. He's not only bald and sexy, but he has some insightful things to say!

To answer some of your comment questions...
1. Yes, I've played tennis in the past (not for about 3 years). I started playing when my friend, Joyce, asked me to take lessons with her. We were in our early 30s at the time. We made a pact that no pictures would be taken and there would be no laughter at another's expense. We both enjoyed it thoroughly.

2. Tommy Haas is slightly hotter than Agassi. I think it's the German accent that tips the scales!

I consider myself incredibly LUCKY to have gotten to watch Agassi on Centre Court at Wimbledon when I went four years ago. He was amazing. Or maybe it was just the experience of standing in the queue and then getting a ticket on Centre Court. But that's another post for another day.

Tennis, anyone?

I have a confession to make. I'm a tennis fanatic. Junkie. Lunatic. A super, hard-core fan. If there's a major tournament on TV it's likely that I'm watching it. If I'm at work, I check online for match updates between tasks. Especially during January (Australian Open), late May/early June (French Open), late June/early July (Wimbledon) and late August/early September (US Open).

Some people look forward to September because it's the start of football season. Not me. While I do relish the thought of cooler temperatures and the start of Pansy Mania Days at the local garden center, I really enjoy Labor Day weekend and the first week or so of September for the fact that the US Open tennis tournament is in full swing in Flushing Meadows, NY. Don't misunderstand, I like the other majors. I attended Wimbledon four years ago and it's one of my favorite tournaments. Wimbledon is proper and the fans are polite. But the US Open is gritty, in-your-face tennis and with New Yorkers in the stands sometimes it's anything but polite.

Although I've never been to the Open physically, I'm there emotionally at this time every year. This year's matches have been some of the best I've ever watched. The five-set match Monday between American James Blake and German Tommy Haas was one of the best ever. Haas is one of my all-time favorite players (right up there with Andre Agassi) even though he's never won a major tournament. Usually I will cheer for the Americans when they're playing or whoever is the underdog. I do love Blake's game and he's come back from a neck injury and is playing some phenomenal tennis, so Monday I was a little schizophrenic during the match. But in my heart I was rooting for Haas. And he came up with the goods.

Tonight there's a match between American Andy Roddick and arguably the best ever Swiss player Roger Federer. Guess where I'll be? That's right, in my recliner. So don't call me unless you're sure it's a commercial.

Fun at the lake

I was invited to hang out with some friends at the lake where they live today. Luckily, I got my work done this morning so I could go have some fun. Their homeowner's association has a big feast three times each summer: Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day. They smoke a variety of meats including chicken, pork tenderloin, ribs and sausages. It was all incredibly good. Everyone brings a side dish to share and I made a cake (from scratch!) using my Mom's zucchini cake recipe. I slapped some store-bought cream cheese frosting on it and -- delicious.

Izzy is doing what I wanted to do after eating all that good food:
But I decided not to sleep in the grass. We went swimming in the lake for a bit instead. Some people went tubing:


Then Isabella found a "bathtub" in the sand so she decided to go for a dip. Ah, the life! At one point she even dunked her head in.


Thanks to Steve, Jennifer and Bella for inviting me to their party. I had fun as always!

Painting Labor Day

This Labor Day weekend I spent a great deal of time up on a ladder painting the overhang on my house. My house has guttering around the entire perimeter. So not only is gutter cleaning in the fall and spring lots of fun, but when it comes time to paint there's a lot of trim to touch with a brush.


I had my gutters removed in the spring so I could paint before they came to put the new ones up. It's taken me a while, but I finished that task this weekend. The left photo is a corner of my house before painting and the right is the same corner after.

Much better. Now I can call the gutter guy to come and install the brand spanking new gutters.


And this is where I sat and enjoyed the backyard for a bit this morning drinking coffee and patting myself on the back after I finished up the painting around 9:30. Such a good feeling.