Book club at the Arboretum

A couple of weeks ago (I'm a slow blogger) my book club met at the Bartlett Arboretum. Robin, one of our members, is the proprietress of the Arb and graciously hosts the October meeting so we can enjoy the surroundings. It is such a relaxing, not to mention beautiful, place. Here are some of my favorite snaps from the day.

Suzanne and Tara, two of my carpool buddies.

Suzanne prepares to take pictures of herself while twirling.

My twirling self-portrait.

The group discusses the book "Twilight" and the brand new Spirit Stick Book Club blog.

Lemon hat

I got this gift quite a while ago, in fact on my last trip to Ellinwood to see the family. It's another one of the long list of things I've gotten to commemorate my upcoming 40th birthday. To see what else I've gotten, click here and here. It took me a while to figure it out, but I think I've done it. Those who are responsible for the gifts, you will have to correct me if I'm wrong.

Summer vacations when I was a kid were few and far between. My dad is self-employed and getting away was always a bit of a challenge, not to mention that money was sometimes very tight with five kids in the house. But when we did go somewhere, it was usually to Colorado. My dad always drove. Window rolled down. Left arm resting on the door of the car. His arm always got incredibly sunburned on those summer vacations. I believe this story comes from the summer of 1978, but again, someone will have to correct me if that's not right.

I was nine, but since my siblings are so much older than I am, they were all busy with summer jobs. It was to be the last summer my oldest sister, Teresa, would go on a family vacation because she got married the next summer. On the drive out to Colorado, Teresa punched me in the nose for no reason. My mom was quick with the camera (she'd actually remembered it on this trip, usually she forgot the camera) and she snapped a picture of me after the punch, obviously shaken and surprised. And then she got a picture of Teresa after the punch, clearly jubilant and celebratory. I wish I had them to post but I don't. That's how the trip started.

Later on that trip, Teresa and I felt there was some unjust occurrence between our parents and ourselves. I can't even remember why we were mad at them. I do know that it was after a stop at a Sonic or similar drink stand along the way. Our method of annoying them and making them pay for whatever transgressions they'd carried out against us was to eat the lemon wedges out of our drinks. For some reason we thought this would teach them a lesson to never cross us again. We laughed and giggled for a long time in the backseat of that Thunderbird while our faces reacted to the sourness of the lemons.

Good times.

Whirlwind OKC trip

This past Saturday my sister Teresa, niece Katie and I went to Oklahoma City to visit my nephew Christopher and go see "Rocky Horror Show" at the Lyric Theatre. Christopher was the costume master for the show and out of all the variations of the show I've ever seen, these costumes were the best. I even knew some of the cast members, so that always makes it more fun.

Before the show, we went out for lunch with Christopher at Iguana Mexican Grill. Excellent food. We got the queso and it was served in this dish shaped like Oklahoma.

Also, the salsa was to die for. Seriously the tastiest I've ever had. I snapped this picture of Katie and Christopher before we left the restaurant. Aren't they cute?

Aside from a choking incident by the driver (me) on the way back to Wichita that night, the day was fantastic.

I won!

Yesterday the Altar Society at my church had their biggest fundraiser of the year, Quilt Bingo. There were 20 quilts that people won (not me) by playing bingo. I never get any good bingo cards. Ever. But there was also this beautiful queen size quilt in blues, yellows and neutrals that was given away in a raffle. This year I only bought $5 in tickets because of the whole jobless thing and I won the raffle quilt! I couldn't believe it. I was helping to sell bingo cards and was outside in the hallway at my station when they called my name. I got several high-fives on my way through the room.

I think this means my luck is changing for the better. A job is just around the corner, I can feel it.

I found a pair

Of shoes on West River Boulevard, that is. Usually I only see one shoe which makes me wonder what happened to the other. But this time it was a pair. And that was weird enough for me to stop and take a picture.

Recycling

This week I went to the recycling center all by myself! Inspired by my friend Jennifer, I purchased some plastic containers several weeks ago and started my own recycling program. All it cost was the money for the containers and my gas down to the Pro Kansas Miller Recycling Center in south Wichita, which only has to be done every month or so. This is a picture of me in the car waiting in line with my stuff in the back seat.

Once inside, it didn't take long to distribute my recyclables into the various bins. Here's a shot of other people doing the same thing.

It's a busy place on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, since that's the only time during the week that it's open. It's also open on Saturdays from 9 to 3, and I would imagine it's a lot more crowded then. It doesn't cost much to get started, but the feeling of knowing that I'd done something good for the environment this week was priceless.

Zach's nighttime rituals

Part of my trip to Ellinwood to see the family included spending an evening with Zach and his parents, Mark and Terri. When I pulled up to their house, I could see Zach in his high chair eating his supper. He saw me and I opened my car door and waved to him. He enthusiastically waved back. It's so nice to have that unconditional love and have someone be happy to see me since lately it's been rejection letters or non-communication from potential employers. I needed that so much.

I got to observe Zach's bath, which was pretty funny. Like most kids, he sure enjoys running around naked. I chased him back into the bathroom after he escaped. Notice how he's checking to see if I'm behind him. He likes to splash around in the water and play with his toys, but he likes to be squirted with the shower attachment the best.

Once his bath is finished, his daddy comes to get him and dries him off and gets him ready for bed. After he's in his jammies, they go through the ritual of turning on his night lights and asking his bear on the lamp that grandma painted for him to watch over Zach as he sleeps. Sweet. They end the evening with Zach getting his milk fix and then crawling onto the couch with daddy for a few minutes before they both retire for the night.

Notice that Mark's clothes are lying on the couch behind them. He gets up for work very early so he lays his clothes out ahead of time.

The painting house arrives

Monday morning just after the fog and cloudiness had burned off, my mom's painting house arrived. She ordered an outdoor building to house her painting things so that it will free up room in their house. It was made to her specifications by a company near Hutchinson. On the right are the blocks before the house was set in place. On the left the delivery guy was turning around to get the trailer into position. That's my dad you can see in the picture.

Once he got into position, he made that trailer do things I would have thought impossible. It could go forward, backward, sideways and crossways independent of the pickup. And he did most of it via a remote control. It was truly amazing. It took only about an hour from start to finish and the last-minute tweaking he did to get it set correctly on the foundation blocks.

This was my mom going into her new little painting house for the first time. I have to admit it's really quite adorable with the white paint and the red trim.

The building is unfinished inside, but once the sheet rock goes up and the electricity hook-up is complete, it will be a nice place for her to paint and house all her surplus china, of which she has a ton. Stay tuned for pictures of the finished inside someday.

A much-needed change of scenery

I spend a lot of time in my house during these unemployed days. Don't get me wrong. I love my house and being in it does not make me unhappy. But I needed to get away from these walls for a couple of days and look at something different. A trip to Ellinwood to see my family seemed in order. I needed a family fix. And boy, did I get one!

My first order of business upon arriving was to attend the cake and ice cream party for my niece Katie's 19th birthday. Even though she got a promise ring from her boyfriend, Frank, they both assured us that marriage is a long way down the road for them. Like after they've graduated from college (they're both freshmen) and have jobs. I hope they do wait so my brother-in-law Kenny won't have a coronary. She's still his little girl and he's not ready to watch her walk down that aisle just yet. Me either. Teresa (her mom) made her a red velvet cake, but some people preferred the store-bought decorated white cake. In this picture her big brother Andrew is messing with her.

The next day I spent some time with Terri and Zach when they stopped by my mom and dad's house. Then I went with my parents to the St. Joseph's parish picnic. It's not really a picnic, but a catered affair. We dined on fried chicken (one of my dad's all-time favorites), mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, green beens and bread. The catering was done by a place in Hudson, Kansas, called the Wheatland Cafe. They do a very good job. I sat with my cousin Jason, his wife Heather and their two kids, Ethan and Madisyn (pictured at right). After the meal when the kids were outside playing games, I got sidelined into a couple of games of pitch with the older folks.

My card-playing pals: Joy, Karen, Lorene, Gilbert who didn't play, Rachel and Paul.

Razzleberry casualty

I'm sad to report that last Thursday (yes, I'm a week late posting this) when I hosted book club at my house, the razzleberry pie that Tara brought ended up on the floor. It looked absolutely divine, but my kitchen filled with people and the pie ended up sliding onto the floor. The razzleberry color actually makes the carpet look better, I think. As you can see from this picture, Tara's shoe was also a casualty and Suzanne looked on with shock as they waited for my reaction. I laughed hysterically because I really do hate that carpet. And Tara's shoes? Well, she threw them in the trash because she said they were uncomfortable anyway.

One of the highlights of the night for me was receiving flowers from Bonnie. They are a beautiful purple color, which fits in nicely with my colorful house. I enjoyed them here for a couple of days and then took them with me to my parents house so my mom and I could enjoy them there. Dad tolerates but doesn't really enjoy flowers.

We all liked the book "My Antonia" by Willa Cather. And some of us even loved it. I especially loved the detailed descriptions of the Nebraska countryside and identified with the small-town aspects of the book.