Happy Halloween

Facebook Depresses Me

I am done with facebook. All of my friends just keep posting all of the pictures of them with their grandchildren doing this and that and it just makes me miss mine more. This week they are all talking about watching their grandchildren trick or treat.....

Won't she be a beautiful fairy princess!

My sister ran across this beautiful picture on the internet. I grew up in this Church. It is so beautiful on the inside. I spent many, many happy times in this Church. We had wonderful pastors and Sunday school teachers. I could walk to the Church. It will always be special to me.

Dr. Paige Conducting

Paige will be conducting the Messiah over the Christmas holiday. It will be broadcast online so I will be able to watch it live. Pretty neat!

Be Thankful!

Be thankful for the health and safety of those you love. Hold them close and dear because they can be gone in the twinkling of an eye. Our cousins' 30 year old son died tragically in a an accident last night. He leaves behind a wife, children and his parents. You just never know....RIP Michael.

Seasons Change

We took a ride on the lake today to see the beautiful fall colors. I was a little disappointed because the colors weren't nearly as brilliant this year as they were last year. But it was a beautiful day for a ride. I hate to see summer end, even though it wasn't such a good summer for many reasons. Thanks to sister-in-law for this picture!



This is Sharon and Phil cruising by us on the lake. We spent quite a while at their new home site today; it is going to be so nice.

Gene worked so hard to get the yard at the lake in good shape and then the Water board decided to connect us to the sewer system and they came and tore the yard all up. They filled in the main pipeline, but there are still dozer tracks and such in the yard. Oh well, a project for the spring.

Fiddler on the Roof?

No, it's just Gene putting the gutter guard on the roof of the lake cabin. Either real brave or real stupid.....You Vote!

Freindship

"Friendship is the inexpressable comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words"
George Eliot

Me and My Friend Bonita

It is wonderful to have a friend that you are so close to that even when you haven't seen each other in months, you are so comfortable with and the conversation is easy and just plain fun. Time and distance can't come between true friends. I miss my friend a lot. We had a great day!

I Am Excited!

My friend, Bonita, is coming for a visit tomorrow and I am really excited. I haven't seen her in a while so we have a lot of catching up to do. It worked out well that tomorrow is my day off. I am also excited because I found my memory stick for my camera!

Things are looking up here, but Mom and Daddy have a few problems. They have a leaky roof. My sister was over there and discovered the leak, so she had to find a roofer. Fortunately, she was able to meet with the roofer today and they temporarily fixed the leak until they can get us an estimate to replace the roof. Always something.....................

These last couple of days have been filled with frustration. First, I am still looking for "things". I finally found the cord to my mp3 player, so now I can upload my favorite radio podcasts again. Since my computer crashed I have been searching for my favorite URL's. The crashed computer was old, but I had all of my "favorite" files on it I did not write down the URL's for most of them, so I have been searching for them on my netbook. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my little netbook. It is great. I can throw it in my purse and take it anywhere since it weighs practically nothing. But, I am not wild about using it as my "main" home computer. I don't think it fits on my computer desk....too funny...take a look.

Now if I could just find the memory stick for my camera! Sheesh, I am worried about myself.

I am sure missing my sweet grandchildren. Robert sent me a picture of Sarah enjoying a cookie!

On a happy note, I did find my lens cover for my camera while searching for my mp3 cord!

Lost All Day

This has been one of those days that I have spent looking for "things". First I had to look for a new box of contact lens. I had the box for my left eye, but I could not find the box of right eye lens. So, after searching all thru the house and car, I decided to just sit down and think about it for a while. Hm, I thought to myself, I wonder if I had left it in the suitcase that I took to Crystal Lake. So I drag the suitcase out and lo and behold there they were in the outside pocket along with a pair of black pants that I had been looking for this week.

Then my desktop computer crashed. It had the dreaded "blue screen" syndrome. I knew that I had a virus, but I was hoping that spybot would take care of it, but no luck. My spybot version was just too old and would not allow me to download an update. But I really can't complain, the computer was 8 years old and has served me well. I went out to the garage and got an old hard drive that had belonged to my daughter and connected it. After a little "tweeking" I got it to run, but the audio card is out and it has a few other little problems. So, I guess I will be shopping for a new desktop soon.

I have an auto download on my "dead" desktop of "Coast to Coast AM" which I love to listen to at night, so I had to switch it over to my netbook. Ok, all done, no problem doing that. I then decided to download the files onto my mp3 player. Well, I have looked and looked for the UBS cord that came with my mp3 player....no luck......I give up...............

Just a lost day.....................

5 Weekends in a Row!

Sheesh, for 5 weekends in a row I have spent a day in bed with a killer headache. Must be the change of seasons. Todays headache was one for the record book I think that I am allergic to Fall. One of the major side effects of a sinus headache is the fact that I want to eat constantly when my head hurts. I can feel the weight going up, up, up...

I had hoped to run over and spend the day with Mom and Dad, but it wasn't meant to be. Hopefully, I will get over there sometime soon. I worry so much about them...I wish they would move over here and be happy. But they say they are happy where they are, so I guess it is best they stay there.

I did manage to clean a closet today. Unfortunately, I didn't get rid of a lot of clothes. My weight goes up and down so much, I hate to get rid of things, even though I know that I need to. When you have clothes that you haven't worn in years, you need to get rid of them.

Not much else happening today.................................

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy birthday to my sister! I won't say how old. I am afraid of her :)

It is a cool and rainy day,

So, what's for dinner

Vegetable soup and cornbread! What could be better?

Memories

We went to Richmond to close on Paige and Robert's house today. I am glad that they sold it but it sure brought back a rush of memories......playing with Aaron in the yard....walking up and down center street with the stroller....Sarah coming home from the hospital. It was wonderful having the family all together.

What's for Dinner?

Monday's are bad days...back to the old routine. State workers did not get Columbus Day off.

So, what's for supper? He had bologna sandwich and red raspberry crunch with ice cream....She had peanut butter and banana sandwich and red raspberry crunch with ic cream!! :) Healthy eating on Monday nights at the Clarks!

Oh well, if you can't be healthy, be happy!

Chuck and Melissa come for a visit.

Chuck has talked to Coach Cal at several events. Here he is getting his book signed.

Fall sure is coming in slowly this year. The leaves haven't turned much at all. I usually get some great shots of the leaves turning at the lake, but looks like we have a few weeks to go.

Tammy, Melissa, Chuck and Me at the lake

Melissa, Chuck and Me

Melissa and Chuck.....it was great to see them.

Me and Melissa. They were in Lexington for a wedding this weekend; and of course a trip to Keeneland!

Melissa and Tammy.

A Few More Pics of the "Taste of Clay County"

My friend Faye also had a booth at "A Taste of Clay County" She won the award for Best Dessert and it was well deserved. Her daughter is a breast cancer survivor, so she had a Breast Cancer Awareness Theme. She is so talented. She can make any craft or food that you can imagine.

This is Gene getting all set up for serving.

One for the Memory Book

When we were visiting in Crystal Lake we went out to eat at a really good local eatery called "Andy's". The food was really good and the place had a 1950's atmosphere. When we were finished eating I noticed the table next to ours ordered ice cream and it came in those old time metal dishes and looked really good. I asked Paige if I could order Aaron some chocolate ice cream and she said "ok". So I had the waitress bring him a bowl and he took a couple of bits and looked up at me and said "Mimi, I wuv you". Too cute.

It is amazing how some memories are embedded in our brains. I have another memory of Aaron that always makes me smile when I think about it. We were having a bridal shower for Drew and Lindsay in the cafeteria of the middle school. I was all the way across the cafeteria from the entrance. Paige and Aaron came in the door. Aaron saw me across the room and started running, as good as an almost 2 year old can run, shouting "Mimi, Mimi" the whole way across the room and he was running and looking down at his little feet and pumping his little arms until he ran and jumped into my arms. It brought tears to my eyes then and does to this day
.

Guess Who

Guess who won the top award at the "Taste of Clay County" Out of 30 plus chefs, Gene won the master chef Award for his Apple Dumplings and Ice Cream! It was too funny.

Dust in the Wind!

We decided to take the road less traveled on our way home from Crystal Lake. We took a wonderful two lane road down through central Illinois and then another two lane road east and we got on the interstate just north of Indianapolis. It was a very interesting drive. The land is "flat as a flitter" and is one corn field after another and then you come upon the huge, huge, wind turbines. It was really neat to see all of them, but very few were actually turning. Anyway, this little road did not add much time to our trip and was so much more enjoyable. I think that interstate travel is so boring and within 5 minutes of getting on the interstate, I started gettting sleepy.

When they start to harvest the crop the dirt flying through the air is unreal. I can see where it could get to be a traffic hazard. The houses in this area are so far from each other and from any town. Since I grew up in a coal mining camp, with one house right beside another and hundreds of kids to play with all the time, I can't imagine living this isolated, but I imagine that they would never consider living in a subdivision.....each to his own, thank Goodness.

Commando Sarah

Sarah is so cute when she crawls she doesn't get up on her knees, but just pulls her body forward with her arms. She reminds me of a soldier crawling under the wires in training. She will drag along the floor and then prop up on her left arm and look around.

"Hm, I think this radio needs a little tuning"

She has such a sweet smile!

and even a sweet frown.

Happy to be with the babies again. I sure miss them.

Choo Choo

We visited the Railroad Museum that is close to Crystal Lake. Aaron loves trains and wants to ride on all of them. Here we are riding on the trolley that goes around the "Buzeum" as Aaron calls it.

Here is Aaron standing on the front of a train that we were told was driven by Casey Jones. I'm not sure that I believe that is true.

Sarah wasn't too thrilled about the whole thing, mostly because she hates to wear a hat, but it was rainy and cold so the hat was a necessity.

Here Paige and Aaron were touring one of the train cars. It was really neat to see all of the old train cars.