In Focus

How was your day? We can always have two answers for that, depending on what we focus on.

Bad day: Carter slept through alarm for 10 minutes. Moldy bread for sandwiches. No milk for Carter's lunch. Didn't get lunch break until 1:15 p.m. Finally got to the mailboxes at 4:10 p.m. Stormy weather. Humidity is 100%. My throat hurts.

Good day: Carter's back! Lots to do at work. Managed to get a workout at lunch. Get multi-tasking crown for proofing pages while on the recumbent bike at the fitness center. Had the willpower to say "no" to Shivers. But had KFC so the boys could "eat like kings" tonight. Rained all night so didn't have to mow front yard. Have someone to tuck in again.

Put them all together and my answer to "how was your day?" is just "It was a Monday." Right? A little of everything.

All together now...

Our little Austin clan is back together again. This morning after church I headed over to Menomonie to meet my brother in a parking lot to exchange the goods. I shouldn't really say exchange since he gave me Carter and got nothing in return. I was more than OK with the deal!

On the way back, we stopped in Eau Claire to shop at Scheel's (a major sports store). I wanted to find a Celtics NBA championship T-shirt for hubby and some new biking shorts for myself. After finding those, we perused the clearance racks and found some Vikings items (for the record, there were Packers items on clearance, too, so no comments about the value of my team, please). Carter found two Adrian "All Day" Peterson T-shirts. He couldn't decide between the two so he somehow convinced me to buy both as a "welcome back home present." Ahh, things are back to normal again!

Didn't do much the rest of the day. Unpacking, post-Up North vacation laundry, then some project to go through Carter's shirts and see which ones he's outgrown. Why the urgency to do this his first day back? When he first stepped out of my brother's car and hugged me, I said he looked like he grew an inch taller while he was gone. So at this rate, he figures he'll be outgrowing some clothes by the time school starts.

Yep, it's good to be all together now .. With all this logic back in the house.

You Are My Sunshine...

What a beautiful, sunny day today. Anyone who was camping or doing any outdoor activities for the long holiday weekend was spoiled this year.

This afternoon we had a 50th wedding anniversary party to go to on the river, well next to the river. The gentleman in the couple was Jim's former boss when they both worked in sports at the newspaper. Wonderful, wonderful guy.

Nice day to be sitting on the banks of the Wisconsin River and talking old times. I got to go on a pontoon ride, too. That was fun. Even though there were no kids at this party, I kept thinking how Carter would have enjoyed the boat ride, etc.

I sure miss that boy. We both do! I realized today that I am going to have one heckuva time when he goes away to college. Unless he really he ticks me off in his teenage years!

Anyway, I am meeting my brother Ron somewhere about halfway between us on Sunday so I can get my baby back. I look forward to one of his back-crackin' hugs and just looking at him ... and just listening as he tells me story after story on our way back home. I miss my sunshine!

40-something and loving it!

Forty, forty, forty. I always wanted to shoot a golf score in the 40s -- and today I did it!!

Figures it took all week to get it right. (Or maybe I just had to be 40 for it to happen!) We picked up our friend Scott in Waupaca and headed over to Hortonville this morning to Eagle Creek Golf Course.

When I got a par on the first hole -- something that has never happened to me -- I figured I was in for a good day. But golf is golf. You par one hole and get an 8 on the next. There's no freebies for the inconsistent! By the 9th hole, I had a self-imposed "time out" just to get my head on straight.

At the turn (that's what we call the transition from the front 9 to the back 9), we grabbed a quick bite to eat and were on our way. There must have been something in that brat, I tell ya, because I finally pulled my head out of my ... cart ... and golfed. I told Jim, "OK, it's time to get back to the basics." And that was the trick. Easy half swing like a beginner and lots of concentration.

I don't pay attention to my cumulative score as we're going. I just play it hole by hole so I don't get psyched out. If Jim would have told me I had a 39 going into the last hole, I probably would have carded an 11 just because my pea-brain wouldn't have been able to handle the self-imposed pressure! That's golf. Man, I love that game.

So my final for 18 holes was an even 100. I'll take that score topped off with some fun and laughs under a nearly cloudless sky. What a wonderful way to wrap up the week.

I better sign off. Hubby's got steaks going on the grill. Then I think we'll skip the fireworks in town. Really, we've had enough excitement for a non-vacation week, wouldn't you say?

Happy Independence Day!

Extended Extravaganza

Today is hubby's birthday. Do you sense a theme here? We just keep on celebrating in our household. First my birthday, then our anniversary, then Jim's birthday. Typically, we try to do something special to commemorate. Maybe dinner or golf or something. This summer, it's turned into a week-long extravaganza. Love it!

Boy did we have some sincere guilt, though, this morning when Carter called me at work and said he wanted to come home. I think he was just a bit tired. He normally wouldn't be even close to missing us when he's having all that fun Up North. We couldn't get ahold of him the rest of the day (he was out having fun, too) so we assume he's recovered from that brief bout of homesickness.

Jim and I went out to lunch today with some friends at work and went to the races tonight. Sorry, there was no cotton candy machine or spinning wheel for Jim's birthday. Just me.

Jim's nephew Colin, who is 14, has moved up from the 4-cylinder class to superstocks this season. This was the first time I'd made it out to the track. Wow, what a big car! During the feature, he seemed to be holding his own OK in about 5th or 6th place when he nudged the guy in front of him and they both were sent to the back of the pack with just 5 laps to go. No way to recover from that. Every week is a learning experience for him, I guess.

After the races, there were fireworks! So we got home pretty late but don't get to sleep in for our day off Friday. Have a tee time over near Appleton so we'll have to leave the house by 8 a.m. I guess it's all part of the fun in our extended extravaganza!

Guilty Pleasures

My sister made a comment on my blog yesterday insinuating that it was brief because I didn't have time to write much thanks to my new found alone time with hubby. Yep, that's pretty much the case. We almost feel guilty about all this fun we're having -- but not quite.

When we got home last night we ventured into town for a Legion baseball game. It got started an hour late so we didn't stay for the whole thing. Figured we should get home early enough to call the boy. He had another fun-filled day getting spoiled by another aunt. It's tough being a kid, I tell ya.

This morning it rained and thundered pretty good in Iola. For awhile there Jim and I thought we might be forced to actually sit home for a night. But it cleared up in the afternoon and got rather steamy (the weather, that is).

After work, we headed east of Iola to a little golf course called Glen Cairn, tucked in the middle of farms and fields. A nice little course. A bit hilly. Got quite the workout toting those clubs around! I had a few pretty good drives I was happy with so I can't ask for more than that. I mean I could have hoped for a par or two, but I missed those opportunities, sometimes by inches. But that is golf!

On the way home, we called Carter who was at a Dairy Queen somewhere getting dropped off by one aunt and being picked up by Grandma and Grandpa. Again, I say, it's tough being a kid, I tell ya. He was very excited to tell me he went to a flea market today and found two great finds: a Randy Moss Vikings jersey ("For only a dollar, Mom!") and a hardhat (I think he said so he's "safe when you and Dad wrestle," but it might have been our cell phone connection that got that one a bit fuzzy.)

Since Carter mentioned ice cream, I convinced hubby to stop at the King Cone in Amherst (they have flavor bursts like Shivers). About 10 miles down the road, we came upon at least a dozen flashing lights at an intersection. Every emergency vehicle imaginable tending to people from at least two smashed up cars that somehow landed in the nearby field. We were detoured around it and met at least two more State Patrols headed to the scene.

I said some quick prayers and thanked God we had the sense to stop for ice cream. Who knows, those 5 minutes may have made the difference. Jim said it also helped that I had to take some extra swings on the golf course (is he saying I stink?), because that ate up a few minutes, too. You just never know.

We are grateful for the fun we're having this week. And now, even more grateful, to be home safely in our quiet little nest.

P.S. Just saw on the news that two people died in that crash. We are now even more thankful for our safety and, as always, the many blessings and pleasures God has provided us.

Wedded Bliss

It's our wedding anniversary today so it's kind of cool we have a bunch of dates lined up this week. And although my hubby jokes (I think) that he's been married so long, he no longer looks both ways before crossing the street, we are happy.

A co-worker asked how many years we've been married. I told her "Just 6." And she responded, "Don't say 'just 6' -- that's a lot compared to some people!"

What's our secret? I told her, "Well, Jim accepted years ago that I am a whack job. And just last week, I accepted it, too."

I love that man!