Wheel Party

Last night we had a "Wheel" Party. Some of the church staff and Grandma Mary gathered at our house for homemade soup then proceeded to the basement for popcorn dessert and "Wheel of Fortune" starring our favorite (and only) daughter-in-law, Lori. We had such a great time just being together to celebrate the big event. Of course Lori won hugely and if you missed it you missed a super-exciting show! We screamed and yelled as much as the winning celebrants. How did you like Pat's remark that they were making sounds only dogs could understand? Wow, it was an exciting night and not one that many of us will ever duplicate. Congrats, Lori! You made us proud.

PS. We even received an email from a Fed Ex pilot friend who watched it from Paris, France!

Partial group of diners




Preparing popcorn




Eagerly anticipating the upcoming show




Gathered in the basement for the big show on the big screen




Cheering when she wins big!

Will Wonders Never Cease

Well, after 5 years, I finally did it. I made the valances for the kitchen windows. I found the material years ago but could never decide on the style. In the end I decided to sheer them on rods and do my best to get it all straight. Deke mounted 1x2's on the wall and mounted the rods and brackets to them. Now all I had to do was sew evenly! They are all mounted 6" above the casings and are fully lined. Took forever! But it's done and now I can relax and enjoy the view.

It's Freeeeezing

Okay, who can beat this one?

Going Stir Crazy

We got another 4 inches of snow today so we decided to get out and walk in it. So much fun with the flakes hitting our faces. However, under this new layer of snow is a very treacherous layer of ice. We about landed on our backsides numerous times, but it was good getting out of the house.

The church was closed down Mon-Wed but Wednesday was Deke's official birth day, so our youth pastor and his wife trudged out here in their Jeep to celebrate with some cake and ice cream. Tonight we visited with our good friend, Opal, our 95 year young inspiration. She recently had a mastectomy and is recovering from that trauma. But she's a trooper!

Back at it again




Our Japanese Maple is covered with snow

Opal

Groundhog Predicts Early Spring

Today is the second day Indiana has endured a horrific snowstorm. We've been in the house for two days and the birthday boy was going stir crazy. So this morning, we got out and shoveled out the driveway. Now here's the rub; we had to first take a scraper to break up the crust before we could shovel it! And then, each shovelful weighed a ton! What a back- breaker. Anyway, about an hour into our labor, Farmer Bob showed up and dug us out. He saved us about 14 hours of work!

So we are having a great Groundhog Day, celebrating Deke's birthday and being together. Tomorrow will return us to a normal day and we'll start the grind again. But in the meantime, we're having fun being socked in.

Using a scraper to first break up the snow









Farmer Bob to the rescue









The infamous Farmer Bob




Deke watching while Farmer Bob does his thing




Tidying up




The hope of spring! That's a robin watching us shoveling!
Does he know something we don't?

Happy Birthday to Three

Yesterday the Jones clan met at the Ken Jones' house to celebrate Dianne, Ken and Keith's birthdays. We try to do this every year. Notice that I typed "Keith"- when in Jones' households, we always refer to Deke as "Keith" as that is his true middle name and the name that his family has called him since birth. It was altered during college/Air Force years. Don't even get me started about name changes etc. But just for clarification, we will refer to my husband as Keith for this blog.

As I was saying, we try to get together to celebrate these 3 birthdays at once as all occur within a nine-day period. So yesterday after church we all assembled for a brunch/birthday bash. It was doubly nice for Keith and me as we got to see Ken and Marian's gorgeous, newly remodeled kitchen for the first time. What follows is a photo gallery of our afternoon together.

L-r Cindy, Dianne, Marian, Gr Mary, Keith



Just in case you didn't get it the first time...



Ken kneading Marian's neck to relieve the pain of cooking (something she does very rarely)



My reaction to Ken's stronger-than-Starbuck's coffee

Max giving us his famous Purdue professor bandleader pose (Watch for Max at all Purdue home games leaning on the first tier railing as he awaits his cues to conduct the mighty Boilermaker band).

L-r (Keith's elbow) Max, Dianne and Gr Mary



The 3 birthday honorees

Obligatory blowing of the candles. Quick, can anyone tell me the flavor of the birthday cake?

Paintin' Nana

When we took home C-Bear this past weekend, we ended up painting the last room in the house that still needs painting- the master bathroom. Really it was just on a whim, but we got to work and got it done in short order. My job was to do all the trim so I put on Mark's old jeans and T-shirt and got to work. I trimmed and Mark rolled. Deke get out the digital to take some pics but we never got beyond my trim job. It might be because I am usually the photographer and since the photographer was busy with other things, she just didn't do a thorough job of photographing the progression. So....... maybe the Illinois family can complete this blog by showing you the finished product. The floor still has to be laid, so the final pics might be awhile in appearing, but one of these days you will see the gorgeous bathroom.

While in Illinois, Deke came down with a terrible case of the flu and spent a whole night and a day in bed. One time I came into his room to see if he wanted under his covers (as opposed to on top of them), when he replied, "Don't even touch me; I don't want to move." I really didn't think he should have made the trip home on Sunday, but he insisted, so I drove the 5-hour almost non-stop trip and arrived home only to tuck him into bed again. He finally returned to work on Wednesday. Believe me, you don't want what he had!