Happy Birthday, Darling hubby!

 
Who knew Halloween could be so special....besides the trick or treating? Hope you have a great day, darling!

Meet Simon!

 
Clancy and Tessie have a new brother, Simon.....Simon is an English pointer mix and he has come to live with us (I know, I am turning into one of THOSE kinds of people!). I have inherited Simon from a good friend's niece. He has been here before and I knew he was a good dog....I am sure Clancy will have a great time trying to "turn him to the dark side". For those of you that know Maddy....isn't this what she would look like if she were #1 a boy and #2 huge.?! My eldest son is wondering why I wanted to try and kill Clancy with Play exhaustion. These 2 play constantly together. Tessie, on the other hand, would jump for joy- if she could get her hips to move- that Clancy now has someone else to torture!
This is what they do pretty much all day long.
 

Happy 30th Birthday Tommy!

 
ok ok, I will never get around to calling you "Tom". You will always be "Tommy " to me. You are a wonderful nephew and even though you are making me feel old by turning 30, you are awesome. You had the good taste to bring Becky into our family and now the one and only great nephew who couldn't be cuter. Hope your day was happy and aren't you glad I had the good sense to have Shannon on your birthday? What better present than a girl cousin? lol

(I know I am a day late but I wanted you to have top billing on the blog as you are older)!!

Happy Birthday, Shannon!

 

Both of these pictures catch the essence of your personality. Hope you have a great day! Love from the mothership.

Happy Birthday, Jeffrey!!

Happy birthday, from your loving aunt. I remember you coming up with Papaw and not liking my cooking....too healthy for you and anxiously looking forward to your McDonald's meal with Papaw....and your brothers.....I'm glad you came to visit in spite of my cooking!!!

UFO

 

Can you see the 2 fighter planes that did a fly by at the University of Illinois and University of Michigan game last night? Nah, neither can I....guess I need to do some work on night photography....but let me be the first to tell you that they were moving pretty fast!! If you enlarge this, you can see some redlights on the right hand side next to the thing that might be a moon......the lights on the wings..... Here are some pictures of the band...which is awesome...at the start of the game..... the teams come in running with their school flags......the cheerleaders do push ups(guys) and back flips(girls) every time the team makes a touchdown...enlarge the photo to see it all.
 

Fall Colors

 

I wish I had thought to have the husband put in some fall colors like this at our house.....now....almost too late....winter will be here pretty soon.....this was taken at the Morten Arboretum. I have this posted here as well...

Blog Action Day

Think globally, shop locally

On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.

Blog Action Day is about MASS participation. That means we need you! Here are 3 ways to participate:

* Post on your blog relating to the environment on Blog Action Day
* Donate your day’s earnings to an environmental charity
* Promote Blog Action Day around the web

Lots of our stuff ends up in landfills. While we were out on Saturday, we saw the above sign, made by some girl scouts. I think this qualifies as an environmental issue. I would love for everyone to be on board environmentally. This is what the girl scouts made out of their old stuff.
 

College visit

My Motherinlaw is an amazing woman. Besides having had 10 children and keeping good tabs on all of them...she has 22 grandchildren that she really keeps up with. She also drives everywhere she can....She is 87 and is in full, complete possession of her mind and body---well, she is a bit deaf(don't laugh, in laws, I KNOW she is more than a BIT deaf) but she refuses to wear hearing aids. When asked why? she says she doesn't want to look old. When you get your laughter under control, feel assured that I asked her that if you aren't old at 87 when are you old? and she responded.....anyone 10 years older than I am is old. Ok, having said that, she was driving back from Arkansas and she decided to stop and visit one of her granddaughter's(my daughter) at college as she was driving back to Chicago. She arrived at my daughter's house at 10:45 PM where they fixed her something to eat(she lives in a Vegetarian co-op), showed her around the place (13 people live there), made sure her car was parked in an area it wouldn't get towed(you know how police in college towns are), visited with the granddaughter and her roommates and then drove 3 hours home. Not only were her roommates impressed that she came for a visit, they couldn't believe she was going to drive 3 hours home at such a late time of the night....Like I said....she is an amazing woman.

Two girl cousins

 
It is always so great to see 2 of the girl cousins together. These 2 love to get together but it doesn't happen very often as one of them lives in Hong Kong....The one in flip flops is mine and the other is my (husband's) niece...

Why I should never leave home

My husband and I have this "thing"...ok ...not a rule but an agreement.....
I take care of the inside of the house and he takes care of the outside....
not as clear cut as that..there are exceptions....for instance...
he plants the garden and I weed. I plant the flowers...I weed. I want a room painted inside...his job...I need something repaired inside(garbage disposal, leaking faucet.) his job.
So.....yesterday I went to see a University of Illinois football game with a friend who had an extra ticket...I only do this in order to see my daughter and take her to dinner....not a big fan of ANY sport but it is fun to go with my friend and we enjoy the ride down and back....as I come into the kitchen, I notice it looks strange out of my window.
Apparently when asked "how I like that crab apple tree with the diseased leaves" and I responded.."I really like it...just spray it to get rid of the disease" translated to my darling husband as
CUT IT DOWN

I guess I can't leave home again.....until we are REALLY clear on whose job is whose and what I REALLY meant.

Happy Birthday, Clancy!!!

 

It's Clancy's first birthday and he has a LOT to celebrate. He passed his CGC class!!!!!(Translation......Canine Good Citizen class). This means he did 10 things he was supposed to do....sit when a stranger comes up to you, sit while a stranger pets him, grooms him....walks on a leash without pulling, doesn't sniff other dogs when we pass them in the street(without permission), sits and stays, down and stay, comes when called(ok --I thought he would flunk right about here...but he THRIVES on working in the classroom), can be left with a stranger for 5 minutes without barking, pulling, jumping or being a nuisance and plays well with other dogs....this is the first step in his becoming a therapy dog. They(dog trainers in my most recent classes with him) think that with his exuberant personality he is a good dog to go to visit in nursing homes (no fear of wheelchairs or so they think)....I'm still on the fence about that but so far so good!
He received a scarf(shown) and he had a birthday hat and a new stuffed, squeaky toy. All in all, a good day for him!

A nice Italian lunch

 
I went to visit my daughter at college and her friend from grade school was visiting as well. While the football team (Illini) won against a ranked team (Penn State), we were enjoying a bottle of wine and good food and company.

The Three Colors of Labs

 
I might just as well rename this blog my dog blog......hey, but it's MY blog I can post what I want.....Anywho...this yellow lab is TANK....isn't that a great name???? He is my god daughter's dog and we had him for the weekend. TANK and Clancy had a GREAT time playing ball together....And I love that I have all 3 of them, the chocolate, black and yellow lab together. What a hoot!
 
 

A rant.....

My younger sister and I are a lot alike(truly...so is our older sister like us...she just hates to admit I am right on this!!!) however...in one way are we ALL alike....and that is in rules......Many times in life, whether it is work or play, there comes a point where a line has been crossed.....and then you get the CHARMING side of our personalities....we claim we get this charming trait....bluntness.... directly from our dad ....

My sisters and I all have professions that have rules.....and we follow them. So don't be surprised when you are trying to get around the system...whatever it is....because you are "SPECIAL", -and I don't mean like Clancy is---or you're ill, or hormonal or frustrated or think the rules are for all but you........and we chose to remind you that there are RULES to follow and because YOU failed to plan for them.....this, in no way, makes it ok for you to yell, scream, be disrespectful, ungracious and flat out mean ....and think we won't make a comment on it....Because you would be WRONG. Here's a little tip for you.....it is hard to make me(us) feel guilty over YOUR bad behavior. Take responsibility for your bad behavior and apologize...or ...here's an idea.....behave in the first place.

A great picture

Isn't this a great picture? Look at those dimples....if we could all be as happy as this!!!

The inlaws or "outlaws"

 
I married a man that is the oldest of 10. Here is a picture of all of us in laws at the most recent family wedding. We did this picture by marriage order...in other words...when you married into the family...I am the first (#1) daughter in law -and as it works out...the oldest in law.....by 3 months....#5's wife is only a few months younger than I am(she is in the pink dress) and we are both the same age as brother # 6....tells you I married an older man! We constantly tell each other that all 10 of the kids had the good taste to marry well! This is our Mother-in-law with us and we all agree we have the best MIL ever.(For those of you that can count.....sister #2 was actually married first but that marriage ended after 25 years in a divorce and brother # 7's wife was unable to come in from Singapore).We are a very International family--In order from me.....I am from West Virginia, K- Maryland, B-Chicago, O-Beijing, K-New York, G-Shanghai, S-Indiana, and J-from Germany (L-who was unable to come in from Singapore...is from London via Vietnam)....All 10 accounted for! OK Mom....did you keep up? I apologize for the picture as it is not very good quality....

A FIRST place dog!

 
AWWWWW. Look at me!!!! Aren't I special??

Who would've thought that Clancy would come in first place in his dog obedience class as well as the most improved dog in the class?? Certainly not me....especially after his styrofoam escapade!

A very funny video!

I thought this was very funny...hope you do too!

The wedding party

Here is a picture of the wedding party...I love the colors in this....