Our Quick Weekend Trip Home!

Ok, sorry its been a while since I have posted! I just haven't found the time! So here is what we have been up to lately!
The weekend of Oct. 13-14, Shane and I headed home for the weekend. It was my nephew, Matthew's 2nd b-day that weekend, and my niece's Zoe 2nd b-day on the 4th, so we went home to see them. Most of Shane's family was in town as well for a party his uncle was having. Its nice when we can go home and see so much family! The first slide show is of Matthew's funny faces, he couldn't get enough of making faces, then having to see them in the camera!

Here is a slide show of some other pics from that weekend.

After we got home from Nebraska, it was only a few days until my mom and dad arrived to install my new furnace and c/a! we are so appreciative and thankful for all my dad's hard work! thanks dad...you are a huge blessing! they ended up staying for 5 nites! during all the work, we were able to squeeze a trip to the QC and went to a movie....dad was in luck that a western was playing, '3:10 to Yuma'! it was a really good movie! mom and i also got to shop for a day too! i was sad to see them go!
This next slide show is some pics from their visit. While they were here, I got 12 pumpkins to make seeds, so mom could take home with her for Britni & Brad.

I still need to take some pics of the new furnace and post them! Now Shane and I are starting the process of finishing the office, which I am very excited to do! Shane is working on electric, adding more outlets! Then we can drywall and paint, and hang cabinets, then get carpet! Needless to say, Shane is staying busy with home projects, as well as, been busy at work. I have several sewing projects that I need to get to, plus I am the mudder and sander and painter around here, so will been busy with that. And I also enrolled into an Intro to Photoshop CS2 class thru our local college, which has been really fun! There are about 4 other classes I want to take after this one! Bella is doing good, I think she misses my mom though, she gets double the loving then!!! Well, I think that updates us for now! We are just thankful each and everyday that God blesses us with!

Happy Birthday Matthew & Maya!

Happy 2nd Birthday Matthew & Maya!

I am so glad I got to celebrate your birthday with you Matthew! Maya, we miss you so much and love you!

Weekly Update

It's another beautiful Sunday here in Iowa! I think it even reached 90 degrees. Our week was good and pretty much uneventful. Bella got a hair cut and can finally see again. I love having her shaggy cuz she is so darn cute, but it is a lot harder to take care of and I figured it was time when we were playing fetch and I threw the ball and she ran full speed into the wall b/c she couldn't see! Poor girl yelped real loud and came running to me, and I felt terrible I couldn't stop laughing!
Anyway, I posted some before and after pics. I don't have much else to take pics of, so Bella is what you get to look at!
Shane and I spent the weekend hanging out at home. Yesterday, I cleaned and worked in my sewing room, while Shane mowed the lawn and worked on cleaning out the garden some. We went to church today and went to a thing they were having to help people find a small group, so we signed up for one. Of course Shane watched football this weekend, and I don't think he was very happy...the Huskers and Chiefs both lost!

Shaggy Bella

Bella can see again!
I always tell my groomer, Kelly, that I feel like I leave with half a dog when I pick Bella up after a haircut!

I had Kelly leave Bella's tail furry, Bella really doesn't have a tail, just the illusion of one! I think it looks like a 3rd leg in this pic! ha!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Today my beautiful niece Zoe Anne O'keefe turned 2! Happy Birthday! I can't believe you are already 2! We love you, and wish we could be with you to celebrate!

Brief Update and Pics

Hi Everyone!

Hope everyone's week is going well! Shane and I are doing good. He is staying busy with work and of course he is loving football season. I tried to get him to commit to taking me out on a date this weekend (I just want dinner and a movie), he first said "No", and then I reminded him that his Huskers and Chiefs would not be on TV this weekend. So then I got a maybe out of him. Of course he will still have to listen to the games. So I am gonna take that maybe as a yes, and plan on it anyway! Each year I am with Shane, he insists on watching more and more football, which I think he has always done, just not with me around. Apparently he is breaking me in to having to watch football all weekend long. I guess thats okay, since I broke him of the one rule he gave me when we got a dog: "the dog does not sleep in the bed", needless to say, Bella sleeps with us now! :) It was a rather long, gradual process to get it done though...it took a year! (please take note that i actually spelled 'took' correctly, as opposed to 'toke', it is my most commonly misspelled word, not b/c i didn't know how to spell it, but just a very bad habit. my mother finally called me on it, and i decided i would try to break the habit, so this is for you mom...took, took, took, took...).
anyway...last Thursday I had severe pain and swelling in my left cheek while I was eating lunch. After 2 trips to the doctor and a CT Scan, we discovered I had a stone in my parotid gland. (I figured that out on my own, thanks to google). Anyway, I was set up to see a specialist on Thursday to get it taken out, when by the grace of God and all of your prayers, I was able to push it out this morning! I looked up pics on the net to see where the duct traveled and began rubbing in that direction yesterday where I had a sharp pain. Last night I looked in my mouth and could see a white dot in there and tried pushing it out with no luck. But after a miserable nite of tossing and turning and not be able to sleep b/c of the pain, I woke up to that white dot closer to my duct opening, so I pushed for a while, and after some sharp pain, out popped a white, jagged rock! and a bunch of other crap (I will spare you the details)! Talk about relief! My doctor still wants me to see the specialist tomorrow just to make sure everything looks okay.

Below are some pics from Shane and I's Sunday walk at the bike path. God blessed us with a beautiful weekend, and I actually was able to get my husband away from football to go for a walk with Bella.Bella and me ( I am using Bella to hide my fat, swollen left cheek)

Bella watching the ducks, there were about 15. She got bored pretty fast with them.

I guess Shane and I were easily entertained! It was quite humorous watching the ducks dive for food. (so is this what my dad is referring to when he always tells me that my short hairstyles look like a 'duck's butt')

Congrats Britni & Brad!

I want to say congrats to Britni and Brad on expecting another baby! Britni is 8 weeks pregnant and is due May 3rd, 2008! With this baby, Shane and I will have 10 nieces and nephews! I asked Zoe last nite if she wanted a sister or brother, she said a sister, and when I asked what she would name it, she said Zoe! Silly girl!

Baby Blackman is a Boy!

I just wanted to post to let you all know that Jared and Missy are having another boy! They found out a few weeks ago! We are so excited for them to have another boy, since they have such darn cute boys! Now I can start on Missy's diaper bag, I can't wait!

Top: A picture of the Blackman Zoo!

Bottom: A picture of Matthew Jared Blackman, just to prove that they do have cutest darn boys! (i stole these pics from Missy's blog!)

Projects I've been working on...

Ahhh...the weekend was nice and relaxing! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Here are some pics of the projects I have been working on with my new sewing machine.
Missy - I wanted you to see what that blue-jacks fabric looks like as a diaper bag. For yours we can use brown as an accent color like i did on the one below, or we can do a blue, or white. And we can design the quilt however you want! and of course, we will use the baby's name on it! hopefully these pics give you idea on if you want a light, medium or dark wash jeans to make yours out of! This one was made out of a pair of medium wash Big Star jeans.

Front

Back

Side

Inside

Quilt

I still need to finish the quilt, and make a matching burp rag...and find it a home, as well as a home for the one below!

Front
This diaper bag i made out of some really cute pink & blue antique looking fabric i found and a pair of Gap jeans.

Back

Quilt

Burp Rag

Inside

Congratulations Lindsey & Jared!

I wanted to say congratulations to Lindsey and Jared on their engagement! We are super excited for you two! Who would have thought 5 years ago (i think it was 5 years) when i told Lindsey i had a friend that she could maybe go to prom with, that you two would now be getting married! God works in mysterious ways, either that, or there just must be something about prom! it worked for Shane and I too!

this and that...

hey everyone!
i hope everyone had a wonderful labor day weekend! it was nice to have a long weekend! shane and i went to lincoln this weekend. we actually stayed friday nite with my cousin tracy and her husband, ethan in omaha, then i spent most of saturday hanging out with tracy, while shane went on to lincoln to see his family and go to the Nebraska game. as you all can guess, my husband is very excited that football season is now here! thats all i heard about the last few weeks!
we celebrated shane's dad's 50th birthday with shane's family. i hope he enjoyed his birthday! sorry, we didn't get any pictures of the weekend, so i have none to share!

we have alot of family with birthdays this month, so i want to give a shout out to all of them:

Sept. 2nd - Tom (shane's dad) turned the big 50, so i guess he can now join AARP!
Sept. 5th - My dad, Carson (happy birthday daddy, we love you!)
Sept. 7th - Nathan (our nephew turns 1!)
Sept. 15th - Sharon (shane's mom)
Sept. 21th - Aunt T
Sept. 23rd - Janice & Tanner (shane's sister & brother) (yes, they share the same b-day)

i think i remembered everyone, if not, i apologize.

Tanner & Krista come out to see us!

Shane's lil' brother, Tanner and his girlfriend, Krista came out to Muscatine to see us! They were here Sunday thru Wednesday! We really enjoyed having them out here and it was nice to get to know Krista more. We toke them shopping in Coralville and went to the movie "The Bourne Ultimatum" and out to eat at Las Lomas one day. And another nite we toke them to the Button Factory! Thanks for making the trip guys! Tanner & Krista

Shane, Tanner & Krista

God is AWESOME!

So here is the story...

while I was home the last weekend in July, my mom, gramma Cena and I went into town on Sunday because the sewing place "Silver Thimble" was having their once a year huge sale! Their sewing machines were marked down quite a bit. I had teased Shane that I was gonna buy me a new one (of course, he said "I don't think so"). When we arrived at the store they had a table set up out front and a jar for you to put your name in a drawing to win a Pfaff 2038 worth $1900! So of course I get all excited and fill my name out and tell my mom and gramma they had to put their names in too cuz I really needed a new sewing machine. Mom fills her name out and puts it in the jar, but my gramma doesn't and says 'oh, I never win anything anyway.' My mom and I insist she fill her name out, and she said 'oh do it for me then', so my mom fills out her name and info and puts it in the jar and I then say a prayer over the jar!
We proceed into the store, where I drool over the machines. I sit down and take a look at one worth about $500 on sale, thinking how nice it would be to have a machine w/ Dual Feed and one that I could free motion quilt on! We looked thru out the rest of the store and I bought some bobbins and we left and went out for ice cream!
Low and behold a few hours later my gramma Cena calls to ask just how much I really love her because she WON the drawing!!! Below are some pictures of my new sewing machine! Not only does it have dual feed and I can free motion quilt on it, it also has over 70 different stitches, threads the needle for you, and does so many things by just a touch of a button!
What an incredible Blessing from GOD!I already have made a trip to JoAnn's Fabric and am starting on some projects...I will post pics when I get some done!

Bye, Bye Furnace!

I was blessed enough to have my mom with me for the first 2 weeks of August! We had a great time just relaxing and enjoying each others company. We did a little shopping and also went to a movie! We also had my massage therapist friend over to give us massages! Dad came to get Mom last weekend and we spent Friday morning taking out my old cast iron furnace. What a chore! Dad sawed the sheet metal into pieces and then toke a sledge hammer to the rest and broke it up into small pieces. Mom and I loaded it into buckets and hauled it out of the basement. There are pictures below showing the stages.

Mom, Chase, Me and Bella

Dad and Shane unloading Dad's pickup after he arrived with our new furnace and central air in tow.

Of course no job can be completed without beer (sitting on top of the box)!

My new central air unit!

My next door neighbor boy had all kinds of fun in the box the central air came in!

My old furnace before the work began.

Dad

The furnace getting smaller!

This is a picture of the original cast iron furnace that was used to heat the house using coal when the house was first built in 1910. It was later wrapped in sheet metal and ducting was put up and was converted into a gas furnace.

Dad is breaking the cast iron furnace into small pieces with a sledge hammer, we then carried it up in buckets. I didn't even count how many trips I made, I just kept telling myself that each trip was one less I had to make!

The last pieces of the furnace to go.

WOW! No more furnace!

Dad's pickup was completely loaded down with the sheet metal and iron!

I don't think we could have fit anything else in the pickup!

We hauled the metal and iron to Muscatine Metals to recycle it. We ended up with 1460 lbs of metal and iron and got $102.20 for it! I have to say that it was the hardest $102.20 I ever had to earn!

Dad, Shane and me w/ my new furnace!

Dad and Shane taking the new furnace downstairs

Spot where my new furnace will sit!

Chase making himself right at home at my house!

I just want to say thanks to my mom and dad for all their generosity and help with the furnace! It was hard work, but it was fun to be able to spend that time with you!