My Dandelion Wishes

Happy Thanksgiving from cold wintery Iowa to all my family and friends

TJ and I fly out tomorrow morning. We are packed (way too much stuff) and have cameras, phones, DVD player, kindle all charged. Chargers are all packed:) We just need a good nite's sleep and we are set. It will be good to be home, get grounded to my roots, see family and eat eat eat all that home cooked food. Tj may have to roll me back to Omaha to the plane. Wishing all my family and friends a wonderful holiday

Such a busy weekend for me. The time is flying by and I am not nearly completed with my long to do list. TJ and I fly out to Iowa for Thanksgiving with my family on the 19th. Sad that Jenn and her family can't go. They will be missed!!! Reservations for shuttle pick up made today so in that area I am done. Now packing and getting all the little things I need to remember to take with me have not been started. Plus I have four days to get all those pesky work related things taken care of. Yikes I need to get going that is for sure. I spent most of my morning waiting for Cox Cable to come install new internet service. Mine was slower than dial up!! Finally he arrived and of course was it an easy installation?? Nope, but you all figured that right? In a little over an hour the trench was dug, holes drilled into the house, cable run and viola I have super fast internet again. Love love love it. Yesterday was my day just for me. I needed a creative break that is for sure. I ...

Happy Birthday Jennifer. Or as you have let us all know it is your day of excellence!!!! Despite all of our teasing of you being another year older we all love you so much. I am so proud of the woman you have become. You are the best mother to Sadera and Anthony, a great support to your husband John and the best sister to TJ. I love that we are closer than we have ever been. Your sense of humor, your compassion, your willingness to always help others you zest for life make you unique and special. Happy Birthday dear daughter

It was a pickling day at my home yesterday. Jenn informed us that Bountiful Baskets was offering pickling cucumbers these week and TJ jumped on the wagon. He ordered 100lbs of pickling cucumbers. Yes that is most certainly correct. We all thought he was crazy but of course he insisted that he figured it out and that was correct. WRONG!!!!!! We have 50 lbs sitting in my kitchen needing to be processed:) It was a fun day filled with near misses of slicing fingers, steam burns, dropping a few filled jars as they were a bit hot coming out of the canner. Luckily none broke, laughter and the end result of 20 quarts of dills and 24 pints of bread and butter pickles. TJ was generous and split them with all of us. Now could we buy pickles in the store cheaper?? Probably but cucumbers+ spices+ lots of vinegar +equipment + family = priceless memories. And the best part my sinuses were clear! Probably from all the vinegar and spices cooking but it was a good day! So pickling 101 began: ...

It seems that I blinked and October rushed in and is soon to rush out.It has been a very busy month with a visit from Colleen for 3 weeks,classes, lunches and dinners with family and wonderful friends and work. After Colleen left it has taken me a week to catch up, clean up and get back to a normal routine. We did have so much fun while she was here and I am sure she is as tired as I was. From what I hear she is back in her Cali nanny routine and all is going well with the 2 girls. So yesterday turned out to be a high tech day for me. I have wanted an iphone since the first came out but waited till I could upgrade. Yesterday was the day!!!! TJ was a sweetie and came in from Casa Grande to go with me. We had the fun bought , registered and ready to use within 10 minutes. So fast. Love my new phone and now need to learn all of the features ha ha. I was disappointed as they didn't have any cases well cases that I wanted so a pink bumper is on till I find the case I want. Wh...

Today marks the closing of The Presbyterian Church in Early , Iowa. As I write this the closing ceremonies are being held. This is the Church that at least 4+ generations of the Struchens worshipped. There were many baptisms, confirmations, weddings and funerals all held in this Church. I was baptized, attended Sunday School and Vacation Bible School here, confirmed as a member of the Church here, and married here. A tradition held by my parents, Grandparents and Great Grandparents. So it was with a heavy heart as I read Dad's email saying that today was the final day of Church and that the closing ceremony would be held. Many good memories of this Church Last year Dad and Mom rescued this little wooden folding chair. I sat on a chair like this every Sunday for our Sunday School class. I was also lucky enough to receive one of the old hymnals

And so 3 days off have come to an end. It has been a whirlwind of celebrating Colleen's birthday and stay here in Arizona. From lunches with friends, shopping till we dropped, printer lessons, good old girl chat it has been a fun, energizing as well as exhausting weekend. Today the weekend concluded with a brunch at TC's restaurant with Colleen's inlays, brother-in-law and sister-in-law. I was so lucky to be able to join them. and so as I said before the weekend is coming to a close. Time to think of getting everything lined up for the work week. The beautiful Jew family Jan, Colleen,John, Daisy and Roy Colleen Roy and Daisy Colleen Roy and Daisy In between running around I managed to finish 2 swifter duster things. If you are like me whenever I was ready to dust I had run out of the swifter duster cloths. So when I saw this easy pattern to make reusable ones I decided to try it. It was so easy to make them and it is good for the environment as there is no disposi...

Happy Birthday Colleen. Wishes for a great year filled with family, friends and wonderful events sent your way!! The Birthday girl arrived at 9 am Saturday morning to start her celebration. Of course first stop was Starbucks for needed coffee and a pumpkin muffin for me and a banana for Colleen. Ya you can tell who eats healthy :) After fortifying ourselves with beverage and food we headed out on our marathon day. 1st stop was Mystic Paper . Lots of new goodies to be seen and purchased, classes to sign up for and visiting. From Mystic it was on to Fiber Arts where we were in awe of the beautiful yarns especially the hand dyed ones. We both ended up with needles and yarn to make socks.. Well let me tell ya I have the stitches casted on and now am stuck guess we will see if I can figure it out. From Fiber Arts to Scrapbook's etc . Do you begin to get the idea we were on a mission??? Lots of shopping completed everywhere we went. So, since it was sweet Colleen's Birthda...

Today is the 1st day of 3 days of celebrating Colleen. Colleen arrived a week ago and today was really the first day I had to indulge in a girl's day of play. We met Earleen and Annette at Urban Tea Loft in historic downtown Chandler for lunch. The lunch surpassed all of my expectations. It was delicious. Following lunch we headed over to Merchant Square for a little antiquing. Seems we all came away with some beautiful things. I was lucky to find laces and some beautiful vintage linens as well as some jewelry. Colleen enjoying our wonderful warm weather:) The group Annette, Earleen, Colleen and myself. It was a wonderful day of friends, laughter, good food and great shopping. Tomorrow day 2 is actually Colleen's birthday and we are off early am with a big list of places to check out.

Oh my goodness September is almost over. I seem to still be in August and soon it will be October. My new Halloween Banner is courtesy of Sandy . Love this banner and even though it is still in the triple digits I am dreaming of cooler temps, soups and casseroles (my comfort foods). So again it is Sunday afternoon and time seems to have accelerated and my weekend is gone. It was a very busy weekend starting with a trip to Michael's for what we thought was a duct tape demo for making costumes. Alas it is next Saturday. Oops wrong day. Sadera is duct tape queen so we were all disappointed well maybe not Anthony that we had the wrong day. We did manage to pick up a few things for craft projects to get us into the Halloween mood. After our failed Michael's trip we headed to Olive garden for soup and salads. Good food and good to be with Jenn and her family. One of these days TJ has got to drive in from Casa Grande and eat with us. So far we haven't convinced him. Aft...