This is some of the sweet corn Wanda and Mark brought for us a week ago. We ate some that day and the rest we vacuum sealed and put in the freezer.
This is Doug's smashed finger.
Ouch!!
What a fun finger to injure, don't you think?

Saturday Update

I had two free meals yesterday. The first was in Green Square Park. It was put on by Alliant and the downtown ass_ _ _ _ _. I had a grilled chicken sandwich, pasta salad, pickle, watermellon, brownie and a Dew. I second was paid for by our site manager. It was Chinese from some place I never heard of, I don't even remember the name. I had Mongolian beef with fried rice. There weren't any vegetables in the rice and there were more onions than beef.

Starting Monday I will be tracking the steps I take each day through the 10000 Staep a Day challenge through our Cigna health plan. I could win an Ipod. We received our pedometers yesterday at work. It is very nice with a compass that you press to open the cover that has the settings buttons inside. I enter my weight and stride length and it keeps track of my steps. The steps will be logged at a Cigna web site and I am supposed to be able to calculate how may steps I need to take each day to maintain my present weight or to loss weight.

Last night I took a 45 minute walk in the downtown area around the library and over to Walgreens. I was only able to take a total of 6868 steps yesterday. Although I think I need to figure out exactly were to wear it to make it work best. Some times I walk clear across the house and it only records 2 steps. Oh well, I have until Monday to try and figure it out.

Last night Bobo paid us a surprise visit. She called after 9:30 to tell Doug she was in town at Katie's and she wanted to stay the night at our house. It's too bad it is so hot and muggy right now. We had to block off the day kitchen area and let her sleep on the couch because her room was too hot.

Friday Update

Friday at last! I have one more full week and then one full week of vacation while Elaine and John are here.

Wednesday when we got to the office and the main elevator was shut off and no one had gotten there to unlock the door coming from the freight elevator or the door in the stair well. We were unable to find someone to unlock the doors and turn on the elevator until after 8. Needless to say, we got a late start answering the phones that day. Yesterday was pretty uneventful. Except I did get quite a few angrier than normal customers. I noticed they were all from southern states, hmmm.

It is also very cold at work. This is because right now we have no way of regulating the air conditioner. It stay about 64 all of the time. Very cold for me, but I know Doug would love it. My hands stay pretty numb all day.

We have been mostly watching the Olympics all week. I wish they would quit focusing so much on volley ball. Also, the US track team has been pretty disappointing.

I hope everyone has a good Friday and a wonderful weekend.

Have a great day at school Thomas and Diedre!

Wednesday Update

Yesterday was an interesting day at work. The elevator worked when I first got there in the morning. However, by first break you could only use the stairs and the elevator never started for the rest of the day. It is just as well, because even with the carpeting and wall covering pulled out it still smells really bad.

It took us until about 8:30 to get our IP phones working. Good news though, they originally told us our old phones would never be brought back because Armstrong Centre was switching to a new server and our company did not want the expense of switching our phone system. Armstrong Centre informed us yesterday that they are not getting the new server after all. We even found out we could log into the old phones, however not all of the functions are working.

I have to use the laptop for my main phone for now and the desktop for my other work. However, I can use both for whatever I want. So it is nice to have two computers to work from.

Tuesday Update

Today we start working back at the office. They have not opened the sky walk yet. And I guess only one of the elevators in our building is working. This makes me a little bit nervous, because before the flood every now and then one of the elevators would not work. And it wasn't always the same one. I am going to miss working from home because I won't be able to dress in my shorts and a Tool t-shirt any longer. Back to the dress code.

Monday Update

This weekend went by way too fast. It looks like this might be my last day working from home. Yesterday the gazette had an article that said some Armstrong Centre tenants will be moving back in Monday or Tuesday. I wonder if Art Mart will be coming back? Not this week because they were on the 1st floor, but some time.

We had lots of good food yesterday for Soup Sunday. Hot dogs, brats, hamburgers, chili, cole slaw, broccoli-tomato salad, creamy cucumbers, sweet corn (fresh from the Jordan field), chips and salsa. And for dessert we had a cheese cake that Jamie brought. Everyone stayed around until a little after 8 and then we bagged up the corn Wanda and Mark brought to us. We already had it blanched from when we cooked supper. We left it on the cob and vacuum sealed it.

Well that is all today. Have to take out the trash you know.

Sunday Update

Yesterday was a productive day. In the AM I spent about an hour and a half fertilizing and weeding the garden. I also mowed along the side of the garage and the back yard. The weed killer Johnny sprayed has killed most of the crab grass. Next year in early Spring we will have to put down grass seed.

Yesterday afternoon was a little more relaxed. I had lunch and did some reading. I also figured out the next 2 weeks menus and wrote the grocery list. Around 4 I went to the store. This was the first time since Monday that I had gone anywhere outside; other than the yard. I guess that is the only down side of working from home. I can live with that though, because it is so much more peaceful working from home.

I am finally going to post those pictures of Thomas & Diedre's house that I promised.

What a nice house.
What, two garages?
I'm so proud of both of you!!
Tired and happy movers.

Nice view from the back yard.

Stray cats that the neighbor lady takes care of.
The high school and it's wondeful wind turbine.
The first good harvest from our garden. Looks good doesn't it!

Saturday Update

I don't have much today. I will still be working from home on Monday. They are putting some pipes in the ceiling at work. I'm not sure what I will be doing this weekend. I do know I need to finish mowing the yard. I only got to the front yard so far. We are starting to get ripe tomatoes and I will be picking green beans soon.

Wednesday Update

Yesterday I worked from home. It was very relaxing. I did not have to hear the back and forth bickering of my co-workers. Mao also did not bother me like I thought he might. Talking into the headset must have made me look crazy to him. Working from home must have worn me out. I was very sleepy from about 7:30 on last night. I could barely stay awake to watch the Olympics. I did get to see Phelps win a gold medal. His Mom was very excited.

It is just a few days away from Thomas and Diedre beginning their teaching careers and I am very excited.

Monday Update

I'm back!!!

Mediacom brought us a different modem today. So far we have internet. But, as always that could change. Tomorrow and Wednesday I will be working from home. Highway Equipment needs their conference room for a sales conference. We still don't know when we get to go back to the office downtown. If the internet holds up at home, I might be given permission to work from home until we go back downtown. I hope that will happen so I don't have to drive so far.

Tonight is the 2 hour season finally for The Mole. I still think Craig is the Mole. I will probably be wrong though. It is so hard to pick the mole.

I'm excited for Thomas and Diedre; their first day of teaching will be this Friday. That is all for now. I might post more in the morning.

Tuesday Update

The weekend was very busy. It was also a very good weekend. I love Thomas and Diedre's new house. The kitchen and family room are a toss-up for my favorite room. We took pictures which I will post at a later time. I still don't know how to get them from the camera to the computer.

Small towns are so great. There is a small theatre with one showing a day at 7:00, they were showing Walle. The court house building is very beautiful. My favorite has to be the Aloha Fountain. It even has a real soda fountain. It reminds me of my childhood. Thomas also met one of his future students working there.

The local motel was cutting corners a bit too much. The air conditioner was not quite big enough to cool the room and the over head fan did not work. They also had unplugged the refrigerator and did not bother to let us know. We actually had to stop at Pamida to buy a fan to circulate the air in the room. It did help to cool the room.

Thomas and Diedre are settling in to small town living nicely. They are being given fresh vegetables on pretty much a daily basis. They especially enjoy the sweet corn. They are already planning their garden for next year. It sounds pretty impressive.

On Sunday we went to Justin and Jamie's new house. Also very impressive. I'm not sure how to describe it. There a lot of rooms, a nice bar in the basement and a huge back yard. I love the huge willow tree.

That is all for today's update. Have a great day and stay cool everyone.

Thursday Update

Yeah, this is my Friday. I have tomorrow off to go up to Eldora and help Thomas and Diedre with their new home. I can't wait to see the house. I just hope we will get some alone time with Thomas. I love small towns and it will be nice to get away for a day and also see what Eldora looks like. Yesterday Doug bought a new bed for Thomas and Diedre. Tonight Mark and Wanda are going to help us haul it home. After that we are all going out to eat.

Today is the last day we can work from Mt Mercy. We still have not found an alternate location and it looks like we won't be able to go back downtown until the 18th. They are looking at Highway Equipment out by the airport and if that doesn't work out a place in North Liberty. I'm not too thrilled about either place.

Sunday Update

I am sore today because yesterday I trimmed the evergreens out front and also cleaned the gutters. Up and down the ladder too many times. Today I need to fertilize the garden and do some clean up in the basement. I'm not looking forward to cleaning the basement. But, it needs to be done. Mao has been very confused ever since Tommy brought some of his things up from the basement. Every night before going to bed, he has to take me to look in both rooms at the boxes. What a silly little cat.

Thursday Update

Tommy is coming home today. I can't wait to see him. The only boxes I have are rather big and his books that I have been packing are very heavy. I hope he doesn't mind too much.

It looks like our next temporary work place will be on the edge of Marion at Involta. It is off of Hwy 13 a few miles north of Walmart. Those of us living in Marion are happy about it. The rest of my co-workers have been complaining so much that our supervisor had to send an email stating there would be no more complaining as the move was not going to be for that long.

Tuesday Update

Chloe paid us a visit yesterday afternoon and stayed the night. I'm so glad I was able to see her for a little bit. We didn't do much last night. Salad with chicken strips for supper. After supper I washed dishes. Then at 9 we watched The Mole. I think Craig is the Mole. Hopefully it won't rain today and the temp stays down, because I need to mow the lawn. It was just too hot this past weekend. Random thoughts coming out again. That is all.

Monday Update

It was a very good weekend, although too short as usual. It also rained too much and now we have water in the basement again....

Friday night we watched a movie "in Bruges". I really enjoyed it. Saturday morning I planted some flowers I bought at the Hy Vee garden center. They were marking down everything during the last week of the garden center. I bought some wave petunias and two different colors of small carnations (yellow and pink).

Saturday afternoon I went over to my Dad's to get the boxes for Thomas and Diedre. It took three hours, because everything with my Dad takes forever. He wasn't sure what he wanted to unpack and he left a lot packed. Mostly because Elsa has way more ugly pillows, blankets and sheets than the two of them will ever need. What took the most time was getting rid of all the bubble wrap, paper and styrofoam peanuts that was inside every box.

Sunday was great because Thomas and Diedre came over at about 2:30 and stayed for supper. The Mongolian beef turned out very well. It was way too hot outside, so we ended up cooking everything inside. Diedre also enjoyed the key lime pie. We had a good group; Doug, myself, Thomas Diedre, Jamie, Hunter and Johnny. Mark and Wanda didn't get back from Florida until around 7:30, so they did not show up. Everyone was gone by 8, so the rest of the night was pretty quiet. It was a good thing, because Doug was not feeling too well again. He relaxed and I washed all the dished from supper.

The rain just never stops this year. It is raining again right now. I hope it is done before I have to take the trash out. Well that is all for this update. Have a wonderful Monday everyone.

Saturday Update

Not much going on here. Yesterday Doug gave me a scare. I called at lunch as usual and he told me his back was really hurting. He was lying on the floor trying to find a comfortable position. Later when I called back he said he had passed kidney stones and his back was better. Although he did have a restless night and I think he my not be finished passing the stones. I hope he gets back to feeling better soon.

This afternoon I will be going over to my Dad's to help unpack more of their boxes from the move over a year ago. The empty boxes will go to Thomas and Diedre for their move. Fun times.

This morning I fed Mao and went back to bed. A little while later he was meowing like crazy. When I finally got up again, I went to the basement and found out what he was trying to tell us. There was water in the basement again and he would have gotten his feet wet on the way to his litter box. He was very relieved when I moved it to the landing.

Friday Update

Yeah, it's Friday!! Happy three day weekend Thomas!

I don't have much to update about. It rained very hard for a while last night. I had started watering Wanda's garden before I found out it was going to rain. At least I didn't have to water mine. By the time I got home I had received a warning from Thomas about the rain, plus the sky was looking very ugly.

Other than going to work, this has been a very lazy week for me. With the central air broken you don't really feel like doing much. I do have to contact my Dad to get some more moving boxes for Diedre and Thomas. If he hasn't already cleaned his gutters, I will probably be asked to help with that. Plus, I will probably have to help unpack some of the boxes he has in the basement. Sounds like fun doesn't it.

Monday Update

The birthday party was a huge success. Lots of Chloe's friends showed up. Jamie, Justin, Johnny and Hunter also showed up. Almost everyone ate the turkey burgers, which really surprised me. I think they were surprised how much they liked them as well. After eating, everyone watched Chloe open her birthday gifts. Chloe was very excited and happy with everything. Then we sat on the patio and talked until dark. We had a fire and Ross brought the makings for S'mores. We ended up talking on the patio until almost midnight. I was so glad I did not have to go to work today. Chloe said it was her best birthday ever.

Happy 20th Bobo!!

Saturday Update

I can't wait to give Chloe her birthday gifts. I think she is going to love them. I wrapped all but one gift yesterday. We are still waiting on something for the main gift. Hopefully it will come today. Otherwise we will have to wrap it anyway and give that part later.

This morning I am cleaning Thumper's tank so I can start using the new filter we bought for him. I hope it helps keep the tank clean. I wanted a canister filter, but they are just too expensive. This one will go inside the tank and work in as little as 2 inches of water.

If the weather permits I will try the new mower and see how I like it. Funny thing is we probably did not need to buy it, because after we got home from Sears Doug figured out what was wrong with the old one. Oh well, Tommy and Diedre needed a mower anyway. Now if we could just get the air conditioner guy over here to take a look at our air conditioner we would be doing well. Hope it doesn't get too hot and humid today. Chloe might have to sleep on a couch in the cooler part of the house.

Friday Update

I have a 4 day weekend in honor of Bobo's 20th birthday weekend. I still need to get wrapping paper to wrap the gifts. Too bad it is so hot. I have things I would like to be doing out side. We are going to take the mower in to Sears this afternoon to see if they will fix it since it is a Craftsman. It would be nice to have it running good again. Or better yet to get a new one.

Sunday Update

This has been a very quick 3 day weekend. Friday I weeded the garden and we had some excellent stuffed chicken grillers. Then we went to the Jordan family reunion to shoot off fireworks. It was fun. Yesterday I was lazy all morning. In the afternoon I went to Sam's and Walmart. I then went over to visit with my Dad and Ilse for a while. I told Doug they really need to come up with some new stories. After I left their house, I went to Hy Vee Drug and bought 4 plans for $0.27. I planted the green stripe tomato and tomatillos in the garden. I still have 2 pansies that I need to find someplace to plant. Today I plan to mow the yard. Exciting!

Happy 4th of July!!!!!!!

Thursday Update

Yesterday at work I was getting ready to leave and it started to down pour, so I thought I will wait a little bit before I leave. Then while I was waiting the sirens went off. They never actually told us what to do in this case, except go to the tunnels. We were never told where the tunnels were. I thought well I can just go to the ground floor hallway. When I got downstairs the rain had let up and a bunch of women were trying to figure out what to do, they were not told what to do either. I decided to just go after talking with Doug. Not much chance of a tornado hitting Mt Mercy anyway.

Today we get to leave at 3:00 for the holiday, yeah! I hope today goes fast. Not sure what we are doing for the 4th. Not many people will be around. Everyone is either working or has other plans.

Monday Update

This weekend went very fast. Yesterday was fun though. We celebrated Deb and Matt's birthdays. Deb brought her sister Katie and her sister's new baby, Levi, along. Hunter also showed up again. I guess he likes the food and conversation. The riblets were excellent and so was all the other food. After eating and talking for a while we went outside and had a fire in the pit.

This will be a short work week due to the 4th on Friday. With the strange weather and the recent flooding, it just doesn't seem like it should be the 4th already. This week and part of next, I will be in charge of picking up the mail for my company. That means an extended lunch for me. I have to drive from Mt Mercy to the Hy Vee Drug on Mt Vernon Rd. I had to ask Doug to make a business card for me to use when picking up the mail. He did a very nice job on it and I think it looks better than the one my supervisor has.

That's all I have for now. Have a good week everyone.

Sunday Update

The internet is working just fine for me know. Yeah!!

I slept in this morning until almost 8. Guess I was tired from all the OT last week and then going out with Mark & Wanda last night. The food at Hamburger Mary's is very good and you get a lot for the money. Who knew you would get such a big plate of Chili Cheese Fries for $2.99. And they said Mary's Handbag was just a little sampler. Sorry, that was a meal for two. Fried Twinkies are not my favorite, but the raspberry sauce was very good. It was fun watching Gayla perform on stage.

Today we celebrate Matt's 18th birthday. That means I need to get going. I am making the birthday cake and potato salad. I am just glad the weather will be cool for the next few days. With the air conditioner broken, it may have gotten rather hot in here with the oven on.

Friday Update

It figures, my only way into College is having my work relocated to one. I like the room we are in, however, the Internet phone is not ideal. It is hard to hear most callers and sometimes they have trouble hearing me. Most people are understanding that we are not running 100%. Others don't care if we were flooded and get very verbal about it. So, it is business as usual.

The cable man came to fix our connection problems to the internet yesterday. He gave us a new modem and it was working faster than ever. Just my luck I connected just long enough to login to hotmail and my blog and then the connection failed. It says connected, but pages won't load and it keeps saying connection was reset. I'm not as impressed as Doug was yesterday. Aaargh.

Trash from Theater Cedar Rapids.
Trash piled up along First Ave. NW.
Trash near the Asian Market on First Ave. NW.
Time Check Park.

Displaced garage.

A&W during the flood of 2008.
A&W during clean-up after the flood of 2008.
A&W during clean-up after the flood of 2008.

House at 319 5th Street NW where the kids and I used to live.
Notice the water line is even with the porch railing. This house had the yellow notice.
House at 330 G Ave. NW where I lived for 13 years, 7 of which I had kids.
The 2nd story which was not touched by the flood was unlivable
when we lived there. This one has the pink notice.
I don't remember the house number for this one. It is on 5th Street NW 1 block from Timecheck. It was given the yellow notice. We lived here for about 1 year before moving to the other house on 5th Street.

Friday Update

It has been strange working from home these last few days. I never thought I would see the day. It will be coming to and end after today though. They have found a temporary work place for us until we can go back to the Armstrong building. Starting Monday, I will be working at Mt. Mercy College. At least I did not have to answers the phones while I was working from home. I would have been nice to have a laptop at home, instead I will be using one in the new work place instead. The city of Cedar Rapids just reeks right now. Every now and then you get a whiff of the smell. I guess it is pretty nasty smell over at Johnny's house and I can't imagine what it smell like downtown.

Mao can't understand why I am at home all of the, but ignore him through most of the day. Several times he has jumped onto the dining room table and knocked over the flowers Cathy Thomas gave me. That is all I have for now. It is time for me to shower and get ready to set down at the computer to work for the day.

Green Porno by Isabella Rossellini

(Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

The Paramount Theatre's front doors, seen Monday, were blown in when floodwaters overcame the historic venue Thursday, leaving its Wurlitzer organ under water. Most of the furniture had been moved.

Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette

Muck and debris litters the floor at Zins on Monday, June 16, 2008, in southeast Cedar Rapids.

Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette

Appliances lay on the sidewalk after flood water smashed in windows at Smulekoff's Furniture along First St. SE on Monday, June 16, 2008, in southeast Cedar Rapids.

Enter to win a lifetime of Maytag kitchen appliances!!

o

Thursday Update

Wow, a lot has happened since my last update. We had a wonderful birthday party for Doug on Sunday. The kids showed up. Chloe had been telling us all along she would not be able to make it due to work and then when Thomas and Diedre pulled up, Chloe popped up from the back seat. What a surprise. Ross even showed up!

Work has been very busy and after work I have been making preparations for the grad party on Saturday. The rain and water just won't quit. Yesterday at 12:30 they evacuated downtown Cedar Rapids which included the building I work in. I do not know how long it will be before we can go back to work. They are calling it the "500 year" flood. And of course it is raining pretty good right now.

Free Ayn Rand classroom books. For teachers only.

Friday Update

Last night Doug and I went to the city council meeting. We accomplished what we went for. After the meeting we went to Red Robin to celebrate Doug's 46th birthday. We got stuffed and came home around 9:30. I got sucked in watching the new Green channel and didn't go to bed until about 10:30. I'm a little tired this morning, but Mao decided to be very vocal this morning and I couldn't sleep a little later than usual. Chloe is coming home for a visit today, I hope she can stay late enough so I can see her. I suppose it will rain again today and I will never get a chance to mow this grass field of a yard we have going. Have a wonderful Friday everyone.

Happy Birthday Honey!!!!

Thursday Update

I finally got the rest of my garden in last night. Now I wish the rain would let up for a few weeks. I can't wait for this weekend. We can finish painting and shiska stuff on Sunday!

Monday Update

Saturday morning I slept in until 7. I must have been very tired! After breakfast, I started to plant the garden. I only got a few plants in as I decided I needed to get more topsoil and some compost. I cleaned up and went to the bank, Walmart and Hy Vee Drug. When I got home Doug helped me unload the topsoil and compost from the van. By this time it was time to go to Amber's graduation party. We meet Mark's grandfather, father and stepmother. His grandfather told an interesting story about a tornado in Mt Vernon a long time ago. He had seen it coming and drove his tractor back to the barn. He sat on his tractor in the barn through the whole thing. He is lucky the storm did not take the barn. It did take the roof off of his house though. After we left Amber's party we went to Sears to buy the birthday/father's day gift Thomas and Chloe picked out for Doug. It is a Kenmore Stainless Steel gas grill. In looking at the reviews, the only thing most people complained about was the assembly because there are no clear instructions and the fact that the food sticks if you do not spray the grill.

Sunday was another busy day. Once again I worked in the garden. First I mixed the topsoil and compost. After it was mixed I put some in planters and the rest I distributed through the garden. In the planters I put the Big Boy, German Queen and purple tomato. I also put a Big Bertha green pepper and zucchinis in planters. I got about half the garden planted before the sun came over the garden area and it got to hot. I still have 15 tomato plants to put in and green beans to plant. After planting I had lunch and then went to Menards to buy paint for the bedroom walls and a new fan. We put the fan together when I got home and then took a break for a while. Around 3 we started painting in Chloe's room. We have the ceiling completed. Mark and Wanda stopped by just as we were finishing up. They stayed for a little while. We did not eat supper until around 9. Needless to say I was tired. And I never even got around to mowing the yard. I will have to do it after work one of these nights. I will also have to fit in the rest of the garden.

The Mole starts tonight, so I will have to make time to watch it. Yeah!!

Friday Update

Rain, rain , go away. I am tired of all this rain. We have the garden plants and need a nice day in order to plant them. It looks like we will have water in the basement yet again this weekend. I have been working lots of OT this week, so there is not much else to write about today. Have a good Friday and try to stay dry.

Monday Update

Thomas and Team Depot helped clean up after the Sunday storm in Dunkerton yesterday. He says they pretty much picked up what was left of a whole house. Once again, we are very proud of him. Yesterday morning I cleaned up the branches and sticks in our front yard from the storm we had in Marion on Sunday night. I also started to prepare the garden for planting. This year we plan to have cucumbers, eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini, green beans, assorted tomatoes and green peppers. Last night we had a BBQ. Wanda and Mark came along with Wanda's mom, brother and sister. Johnny, Jamie and Justin also showed up. After Johnny, Jamie and Justin left we went inside and looked at graduation pictures and then played Apples to Apples. It was a lot of fun.

Oh no, Thomas has finally graduated!!!

It's official and he has the diploma to prove it.

Our beautiful Raven has graduated too!!

Way to go Thomas! We are so proud and wish you luck in your teaching career.

Love, Mom and Dad