Elvis-inspired Joke!

A burglar enters this ‘empty’ house and begins to survey the scene. All of the sudden in a small voice he hears, “I can see you and so can Jesus!” He jumps in surprise and looks around. No one is there—“I can see you and so can Jesus!” He looks all over again and in the corner, half-hidden, is a mangy parrot, “I can see you and so can Jesus!” The burglar rolls his eyes and says “What are you really going to do, you are nothing but a stinky parrot,” The parrot says, “but Jesus is a Rottweiler!”

Where did July go? Can we get a Mulligan!

OH my gosh…I woke up this past week and realized July is GONE!

I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to blog or hardly sit! In the past two weeks, Dan and I have gone and done SO much! I’ll start with me…I’ve attended a Toastmasters Meeting, a Kiwanis Meeting, was nominated for President of the Dickinson YP, hit 90 days of being a Pampered Chef Consultant, painted, flew to Nebraska to visit the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, had my haircut, did two Pampered Chef parties, and had strategic planning at work---phew!!! Daniel hasn’t been sitting at home either—he is down to 5 days a week, and Thank God! But he’s been to Grand Forks to have a boy-weekend. One of his close friends, Chris, is going to Kosovo with the guards in August and the buys wanted to throw him a good-bye party. Dan has also become eligible for a promotion and will go through the training and take the test sometime in August! He’s been becoming a regular at the gym again and is the chief dog-walker in the house!

One ‘little’ surprise that Daniel came home to this past week was that when he took off to Grand Forks, I decided to paint a majority of the inside of the house. In fact—every room in the upstairs is different than when we moved in! I’d like to do a shout-out to Aunt Janice for helping with the bedroom! I’m not putting pics up, because those that are coming to the housewarming party (on 8-8) will get a full unveiling and I want to make sure the surprise is intact! But to give you a preview I bought dusty rose, seasonal green, seafoam, muslin, harvest wheat, crisp toast, elephant gray, teal, and firewater! Hooray for color. You’ll have to ask Daniel for his reaction, it did take a couple days to get used to it!

This past weekend, Nancy and Larry came. It was a great day; we went to breakfast and headed out to the golf course! This was our first official time golfing for the season and all things considered, we did really well! It was great for them to take us because it reminded us that we really enjoy going together and we need to make time to go. Daniel got a 2 on one hole…he lost two balls and then gave up! I only lost one for the whole day, but when you aren’t hitting them very far—you don’t have to worry about searching too far! I won’t mention how many he lost!

Just to let you know what’s coming up, If you are reading the blog…you are invited to our housewarming party—it is on August 8th come anytime in the afternoon! Also we are having a rummage sale on August 15th….you can buy our slightly loved things or drop things off for us to put out!

One Room Renovations! Hooray for new-ish Bathroom!

Well…this week, we were just going to rip the paneling down in the bathroom and it went full bore and redid the bathroom! It doesn’t even look like the same bathroom…..it’s amazing. Three Cheers go to Jack and Kim! We owe them sooo much…Dan and I put some hours in but couldn’t have done it without them! Here are some working pics….In order, they are taking the paneling down, putting the plaster up, painting the wall, painting the ceiling and ripping up the sticky floor, and finally putting the floor down...

and the ending result......

On Wednesday, we were in the middle of the bathroom renovation (we didn’t have a sink or a toilet) when the tornado hit. On Thursday, Jerry gave us a tour of the tornado’s path. The devastation was so saddening. There is suppose to be another storm in the coming week…I’m hoping we continue to be safe.

Thank God, We are Okay.

Dan and I are okay and so are Janice and Jerry! We are very fortunate. Our house got weather like I’ve never seen. The rain came down in a sheet, the streets were flooded, and the wind was whipping trees. We watched most of it from the porch in between working on the bathroom. We only lost power for seconds at a time. Lola didn’t even wake up!

Janice and Jerry were in the middle of the storm. They were incredibly lucky…and only came away with trees all over and a one on Jani’s car. I’ve included some pics that were taken the next morning, if you'd like to see them larger, just click on them…but I will reiterate…We are safe! Thanks for thought and concerns!

Saturday, In the Park…Think it was the 4th of July!

What a great weekend! The weather and sun were perfect…in fact, I got a little too much sun and developed some a burn so that I looked like an American flag with my blue shirt on.

On Friday, Kim, Aunt Janice, and I went out to the Gladstone school to see the craziest rummage sale I’ve ever been to. We have been to the house before; it is where we got our bookcases and picnic table from. They had every room in the house filled and it’s the Gladstone High School and its only one couple! Dan and I wish them the best of luck in their move to New Jersey.

Saturday…My family came to spend the 4th and take in some of Roughrider Days! We took in the parade with a few local Dickinsonians (Janice, Jerry, Kim, and Ed). I was surprised at how long (and loud) the parade was!! I even got some candy for Jerry! Then the whole family went to the Arts Roundup at DSU Campus. It is not as big as the Mandan Arts in the Park, but it was a nice little showing of Dickinson. Dan's main motivation for going was reward of Kettle Korn!

We had a little cook-out with hot dogs, hamburgers, scotcheroos, and vinegar/cream salad. It was a great day, filled with fun and family and ended watching the firework show in the park!
Many times I have this let down with holidays—especially New Years Eve, where you get excited for the day and it actually comes and your mind plan was much better. This was very different, I actually couldn't have planned such a good day!

I helped out with the Stark County Fair this week. It was fun to see the differences in how the counties operate. I judged Beef Showmanship in the Livestock Round Robin and Ceramic and Drawing & Painting at the Static Achievement Day. I remember how much these two events meant to me when I was in the 4-H’ers shoes and all the prep that was put toward the outcome.

Odds and Ends: Elvis has "the cone" off his head and we owe Christa and Jeff a new cone! I visited Williston and Beach this week for work—both very differentreasons and results. If you are in Beach, stop at La Playa Mexican Restaurant! My assistant, Elena, started at work this week—she has a great sense of humor! Our corn in the garden is not knee-high, but the peas are! Below are pictures of Elvis and Lola "getting to know" each other, the lilies in my garden, and Daniel dusting...I couldn't resist candids of any of these!