Yesterday was my birthday and I must say I had one heck of a day.  It started with opening presents. I love presents.

I got exactly what I wanted and more.  I received birthday wishes from friends and family. DK bought me a sewing machine and a Kindle. I had been asking for a sewing machine for at least a year now.  Why? I see things I like in the store, but the colors are wrong or it just isn’t right. I figured what better way to fix that problem than to make exactly what I want. Right?

This morning I made these.  Shown are the front and the back. I am happy with them.

In the afternoon I went for a walk with Andrew, down loaded some books on my Kindle and read for a couple of hours.

In the evening Rich and Debbie took us out for dinner at 7M. It was super yummy!

Finally finished off my day with a few cocktails.  It was an awesome day!

Technically Summer will be over in twelve days.  But I must agree with Michele it was really over the day after Labor day. It is also time for me to stop screwing around and get back to blogging.

I had a wonderful Summer and I hate to think about it being over, it makes me sad.

Here is a quick breakdown of how I spent my Summer.

June

1. Baseball
2. Baseball
3. More freaking baseball
4. Many evenings spent outdoors with a cocktail or two

July

1. Hallelujah baseball is finally over
2. Sent Andrew to Oklahoma to spend the month with his uncle and cousins
3. Did some much needed spring cleaning. (washed walls, tops of cabinets, that sort of thing)
4. Took a few afternoon siesta’s
5. Missed Andrew
6. Quit smoking (July 31st)
7. Most nights spent with a cocktail or three in hand

August

1. Andrew is home
2. My niece Amber came to visit and we tried to spoil her rotten
3. Gained 10 pounds (should of kept smoking)
4. Andrew started school
5. Andrew started football
6. Only an occasional cocktail and zero of them had outside enjoying the evening

September

1. Started exercising
2. Cut back on my T.V. watching
3. Read a self help book
4. Started dieting, again
5. Haven’t had a drink since Sept. 4th (diet)

Finally, my summer ended with a fabulous family trip to the Lake of the Ozarks with two of my favorite people, Rich and Deb.

My nephew Austin, from Denver, has been given a free ride to the 11th best college in the nation. Behind such great schools as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cal Tech, MIT and Stanford. He will be attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach,  Florida this fall.

Super smart kid with common sense to boot. We love this kid!

It’s hard to believe that he will be going off to college. I still remember him as a 1 1/2 year old learning how to slide down the stairs in his onsie.  Where or where has the time gone?

Awesome!

It’s hard to believe that a week has gone by since my last post. Here are a few highlights from last week.  Several things happened yet everything is still the same.

I started growing my own green chili, since I can’t find any in Omaha.

I made a new door-hanger, if your interested let me know and I will make you one.

When out for Fat Tuesday, first time in about 16 years.  (Man, am I getting old!)  We met up with the Ball’s and had a great time. I even managed to take a photo of my favorite bartender Matt from the Upstream.

That was my week in a nutshell.

On your birthday,
I wish that all your dreams come true.
May your day be filled with love and joy.
Wonderful gifts and a drink or two.

On your birthday I wish for you,
Treasured persons to embrace.
A day of happiness filled with grace.

On your birthday I wish for you,
A day surrounded with laughter.
And may the hugs and kisses you receive
be remembered for ever after.

I wish you surprises, playfulness and cheer.
I wish you simple pleasures and a great year.

~Nancy Kusleika(believe it or not)

We finally did it!

It only took us about a year. We were waiting for it to die on it’s own, but it didn’t. There were many, many days I wanted to swing a bat at it.  Some days I just wanted to pick it up and slam it into the ground. It truly was useless, although it did provide some entertainment every now and again.  It never did much, it just sat and stared, watching our every move. It was old and fat and it was just time to put it out of it’s misery. Every time we saw it we were reminded how much we disliked it. How many times did we wish it would just die, die, die?

We finally did it! We have officially declared it dead. It didn’t die on it’s own, we had to help. We picked it up and threw it in the basement, until we can dispose of the body.

Yea! We did it! We bit the bullet and bought a new television for our bedroom.

Today is my Dad’s 66th Birthday and I wanted to wish him a happy day.

Like most children, I could have sent him a Birthday card or maybe even a present.  Instead I think I have all the time in the world, plenty of time to do what I need to do.  Then before I know it…bam…it’s to late.  Worthless child I am, I am.

Instead of a card he gets this post.

My Dad

• Smells like diesel
• Taught me the dangers of drugs and alchol
• Has a heart bigger than his brain, sometimes
• Has always put family first
• Looks and sound like a tiger, but is really a kitty that likes to be rubbed behind the ears
• Has many, many stories to tell.
• He has jokes too, but I never understood the punch line because he was too busy laughing while telling the joke.

My dad is a nut, a good guy and I love him. I wish him a truly happy day today!

This weekend I flew to Colorado to see my brother, who recently returned from his 3rd tour in Iraq.  My mom, my sister Fran, and my sister in law had a welcome home party for him.  I was torn on whether or not I should go, I had Solveig’s wedding on one hand and my brother on the other hand.  In the end I chose my brother.  Here is a quick review of how my weekend went.

I flew in Friday afternoon rented a car, picked up my sister Anna and her two kids, Austin and Amber and arrived at my mom’s house around 11:30 pm.  It was a long afternoon and I was ready for a nice cold beer.  So off to the bar I went with Anna and my brother.

WOW!  It was one beer right after the other.  Drinks were coming from all around.  I swear everyone in the bar bought us a round. I am 100% percent sure that only happened because we were with my brother.  I am sure I had at least seven drinks before the bar closed at 2:00 and I left four full bottles on the bar.

Saturday was his welcome home party.  I started drinking around 3:00 and finally had my nephew Austin drive me home a little after midnight. (I think)

Sunday my dad had a Carne Asada, a.k.a. a barbecue.  Here is a picture of the bulls horns that my dad killed two days before.

Sunday I only had one beer because I had to drive back to Denver to catch my flight early Monday morning. Those that were not driving were not so lucky. My uncle Benji brought out the Mezcal my other uncle made. Yup! Made! Honestly, that stuff is more like white lightning, it will numb your face and pucker your A hole.

Vern

Franchiskia

Ginger

Maria

Richard

Here is a little saying about Mezcal “para todo mal, mezcal y para todo bien también” (for everything bad, mezcal, and for everything good, too.)

While shopping in Denver we had to stop for a little snack.  So delicious!

This first cup of yogurt belongs to my nephew Austin.  In general he is a very healthy kid. He works out daily, and 99% of the time he stays away from junk food.  I guess it’s nice to be an aunt that only visits once a year, I can guilt him into eating junk food just one time. (I know, I know, I am so evil)

Austin’s yogurt topping consist of  kiwi, cookie dough, chocolate chips, nerds, animal crackers, cheesecake, sprinkles, cherries, and chocolate syrup.

My sister Annaliza’s yogurt contains almonds, peanuts, chocolate chips, chocolate syrup, and raspberry syrup.  Hers, was by far, the most boring of the bunch.

Andrew’s had chocolate yogurt, chocolate chips, chocolate chip cookie dough, m&m’s, caramel, and cherries.

Mine contained animal crackers, gummy bears, boo berry cereal, almonds, and cherries.  I think I had to many gummy bears.

I saved the best for last. This one belonged to my niece Amber and it had gummy bears, gummy worms, cheesecake, m&m’s, chocolate chips, sprinkles, rock candy, chinese marshmallows, chocolate syrup, and cherries.  Believe it or not, she ate the whole thing.

I really wish DK would open up a yogurt shop, like now. It really was a lot of fun creating our own concoctions.