December 23, 2012

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted. December flew by with lots of activities just like everyone else. Today was the first day a couple of friends and I went snowshoeing. With no snow last year we didn't go even once. So this is what I hope will be the first of many this year. Bring on the snow!!!!

November 22, 2012 Thanksgiving Day

Today is Thanksgiving Day and my Dad's 87th birthday. Since we celebrated last weekend today there were no special plans. So, we went with David and the Ponders to the First Reformed Church in Prairie City for our noon meal. This was the 5th Year that Lori DeBruin and her family have made a Thanksgiving meal for anyone that doesn't have special plans. This was our first year to go. The food and the company were very good. Then home for an afternoon nap as Jim watches a football game and I attempt to watch a movie between sleeping and coughing with the new cold I have acquired. Tonight zi am planning to attend worship service at the Women's Prison in Mitchellville. I think it will be quite uplifting.

November 18, 2012

I can't believe it's already been a month since I last posted. Last Friday night the group I tap dance with through the Des Moines Public Schools Adult Education performed multiple times at the East Village Holiday Promenade. It was a fun time. You can't really see me in the picture but I'm behind the lady in the yellow boa (the teacher). This weekend we also celebrated an early Thanksgiving and my dad's 87th birthday which will be on Thanksgiving Day this year. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!!!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY ! ! !

Today is Caleb Burton Wilson's 3rd birthday. Tonight Mike, Leah, Caleb, Jim, myself, my dad and a cousin of Leah's went to Pizza Hut to celebrate. I couldn't wait to give Caleb his Toy Story cowboy boots that have cacti (plural for cactus) that light up. He loves them. The only problem, he wants to wear his pants inside the boots so he can see the lights. He had no interest in eating just relighting the candles and blowing them out over and over and over again.

October 14, 2012 - confused

When I typed the post below I did include double spacing for my paragraphs but it all came out as one HUGE paragraph. I don't know why.

It's Been Awhile October 14, 2012

Well, it's been a very busy last two months as I haven't taken time to make any posts. You've probably given up on me. Going back to school was very stressful this year. I don't know how to explain this so a person not in the field of education can understand it other than to say the way I have been delivering instruction in the past is no more. Everything changed and it changed for everyone so everyone is stressed because this is an occasion when change wasn't welcomed. Enough said. I still can't say I know what I'm doing but I'm not feeling as stressed. My fall has also been busy playing in a bell choir at a West Des Moines Church. Not sure that was a good decision on my part but I said if I committed to it I would do if for one year so I don't feel I can back out now. I also couldn't say no when asked to help start a bell choir in Monroe, Iowa. I'm not good at saying no. Let's see if I can play catch up. The month of September brought Jim's 70th birthday. Just family celebrated his birthday the weekend of Labor Day. We have actually gone camping a couple times this fall. Jim and I took time for ourselves and went to Lake Rathbun. It was a beautiful weekend. Temps were cold and perfect for sitting around a fire. There were approximately 90 spaces available and only 10 units there so we had the place to ourselves. We also went to Dolliver State Park up by Fort Dodge with two of Jim's children and our friends the Ponders. That was also a virtually perfect weekend. The fall colors were in bloom. We did some hiking. That state park is just as nice as the infamous Ledges. We are hoping to make this an annual event. It seems as though every weekend is busy with something. I gave up my tickets to the ISU game last weekend just because I just wanted to have a day at home. For instance, last week was this busy: Monday went to work at 7:00 stayed until 8:30 p.m. because of Parent Teacher's Conferences. Tuesday, left work early so Jim and I could tour some nursing homes. Got back home and was late leaving for bell choir practice in Monroe then had to hurry back to PC to lead theh lesson at U.M.W. then on to my dad's to fill out paperwork. Back to work Wedensday morning at 7:00 and stay until 8:30 for PT conference. Back to work Thursday and Thursday night an extra bell choir practice in Des Moines for our concert on the 20th and then on the tap dance class. Friday I actually had off but spent the day moving things for Mom, picking up Mom and moving her to Trinity Center. Had about 1 1/2 hours at home to relax before we moved furniture. So I think you can understand why I wanted Saturday at home. Now it's Sunday. I've been to church and taught Sunday School but now I need to get motivated to go back to school and get ready for the next week. Jim has been busy in the garden, going on tractor rides and football games. He will be cooking the 2nd annual chicken noodle dinner on October 27 at church and purchased 90 lbs of chicken this week. OK. I think I'm minimally caught up. I'll try to do better.

August 7, 2012

It's been a little over a month since my last blog, but July has been excrutiatingly busy. So let's catch up.... 1) Alicia brought ice cream cake to celebrate her change of jobs. Next year she will be teaching at Altoona Elmentary. She will also be working on her Master's through Morningside College. The 2012-2013 school year will have all three of the Walker/Wilson ladies working for Southeast Polk. I will be at the 6th grade center for my 3rd yeard and Leah will be a 1:1 associate with a bd 2nd grader at Four Mile Elmentary (where I use to teach). 2) The weekend following the 4th of July Jim's niece and nephew and family came down from Minnesota and camped. All the kids went to our pond at the farm (which is filling extremely slow because of lack of rain and snow) to cool off. If you remember that was a very very hot weekend. 3) On July 9th my Dad had hip replacement surgery. He came home on Friday the 13th. That should have been an omen. The next day he developed huge water blisters on his leg. Because it was the weekend they just told him to keep his leg up and come in on Tuesday. They put him back in the hospital to keep his leg elevated 20 hours a day. He came home again on Thursday and was on bedrest with his leg elevated for the next 12 days. I became a part-time nurse; twice daily changing the dressing on his leg. I'm not changing professions. Anyway when Caleb came to visit on his first stay in the hospital, he took over great-grandpa's bed. Mom has been having pain for over six weeks and while Dad was in the hospital one night I took her to the emergency room. I'll just shorten that story by saying on Sunday, July 22 Jim and I transported her from the hospital to Courtyard Estates an assisted living facility that is strictly a Memory Care facility. It's been a difficult transition for her but on her good days she states the food is good, the people are nice and it's a nice place, just not home. It is a very nice place and another lady from Prairie City is there and that has been a very positive help.

Then came a bizzare wind storm. It didn't really seem like a wind storm, but it was windy outside. Jim and I were sitting on the front deck watching our maple tree blow around. It never rained. The next morning I looked out the window and saw our major shade tree on the west side of this laying down. Never heard a thing so don't know when it happened. Thank goodness the temps cooled down and on Friday night several friends plus David and Alicia and our next door neighbor came and helped with cleanup. We are blessed with friends. I brought Daddy out to watch to break up his boring days. So now I have one week left before I go back to work. Oh, I forgot, last weekend Jim and I went to Minnesota for the weekend. We visited his brother Roger on Friday. Saturday we went to the University of Minnesota Arboretum. That is a fabulous place and we highly recommend it; and kid friendly too. Saturday night we went to our favorite place, the Plymouth Playhouse to see the current Church Basement Ladies: A Mighty Fortress is our Basement. It never fails to delight and entertain us. Jim was told there is suppose to be a fifth play coming out next year. Something to look forward too. Because this was longer than my usual posts I didn't proof read it, so excuse my errors. :)