I'VE CREATED A MONSTER!

i have been trying to talk my friend joni into starting a quilt for some time now......i've told her that she would love it and the final results are very rewarding......

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she told me i was crazy....or something like that.....

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so she finally decided to give it a try......and she enjoyed it!

here she is sitting at my machine with the walking foot in place working on the quilting.....

and here is the almost finished piece......i wasn't able to get a picture of the quilt with the binding turned and hand sewn in place....it was after all 2:00 in the morning and i was getting ready to kick her out for the night!! i was tired but hated for her to stop working on it until she was at a place where she could finish up at home with the hand stitching.......

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so what do you think??

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she is now thinking she needs to make something to hang on the wall behind her sofa in the family room.....were trying to come up with some ideas that won't be too overwelming for the second quilt!
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so.....joni if you are reading this....i am very proud of you!! i've taught you to sew and now we are starting you on the quilting! you are a natual. it is always so much more fun sewing when you have someone to sit and visit with!

NEVER TOO LATE TO SHARE

it's been awhile since my last post! i know all you die-hard fans of my blog out there have just been waiting for something new!

since it's been awhile i'll just quickly share a few pictures.

aubrey had two costumes this year for halloween. she was minnie mouse for her daisy troup (girl scout party)party.....and she wore her hawkeye cheerleader outfit for the actual trick or treating.....

and of course the fall just woundn't be fall without getting some photos playing in the leaves.....

and finally this fall.....we didn't go to our usual pumpkin patch as we have done EVERY year since aubrey was 10 months old.....it was just tooooooo cold this year and after some sickness in the house we thought it best to avoid it this year.....it has also gotten VERY expensive to go there now.....

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instead we went to a friends farm and and picked some pumpkins from his patch for FREE!

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as for what we have been doing that has seemed to keep us so busy? ...............between the three of us we have been working, playing, sewing (sorry, can't share pictures.....christmas is coming you know!) taking classes (chuck at the u of iowa and aubrey at dance), going to school, halloween parties (three of them), daisy troup meetings and homework (who whould have known that a first grader would have so much!)

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so, you will have to bear with me as there is lots more planned for the holiday season.....i promise to find the time to share lots of photos of all the upcoming seasonal festivities.

SICK KID

i got called today by the school nurse. aubrey had a temp over 100 degrees which means she had to leave school. i left work about 12:30 to go get her. when i got to the school office she was ready to leave. her teacher just happened to come into the office while i was there. i asked her if there was any work she needed to take home but she said that the kids were dropping like flies and she wouldn't really do too much "real" school work the rest of the afternoon.

so....home we went. aubrey spent the afternoon napping and i spent the afternoon sewing.

lets hope that her temp is low enough tomorrow to return to school!

STEALING CINDERELLA

october 10, 2009

the day of miss becky's wedding (aubs dance teacher)

miss becky had asked all her students in aubrey's class to dance down the aisle at her wedding. anyone who wanted to come could. she told them that they could wear ANYTHING they wanted....whether it was just a dance class outfit or a past recital costume.....

being that aubrey one and only recital outfit is turquoise blue and florecent pink, and that all of her dance class outfits are mostly garage sale finds or just plan too small, i came up with an idea. i would make skirts for all the little dancers. most of the other mom's loved the idea....one really couldn't spend the extra money....so we put our heads together and came up with a plan. most of the girls already had the pink leotard, skirt and tights combination so i desided to make a little flower/bow thingy to make them all look the same. we knew that miss becky's colors were brown and other fallish tones so i found some creamish gerber daisies brown ribbon at hobby lobby and and we were set to go. only thing was, miss becky wasn't to know of our plans until the day of the wedding......that ment the girls didn't know either! come on.....who would really tell a six year old a secret and expect her to keep it!

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so........

the day of the wedding we had much to do to get ourselves looking beautiful! curls where what aubrey wanted to add that special little touch!

life with bone straight hair means........if you ever want curls you either need a perm.........or you need velcro rollers, a very hot curling iron, and alot of patience (about three hours worth)!

the ballet shoes....

the flowers.....

a few dancing buddies......

and the complete ballet class.....

all dressed alike as a surprise for their dance teachers wedding.......

makes for one very touched ballet dancing teacher at her wedding.....

(sorry group picture didn't turn out so well!)

dancing down the aisle at miss becky's wedding to the song stealing cinderella.......

dancing with miss becky at the reception......

and finally dancing with her prince charming towards the end of the reception.

SOON

i have pictures to share of the wedding aubrey was a part of this past weekend, but have been having problems logging onto the internet from home. therefore i can't load pictures to this site....so, for my less then ten faithfull blog followers, please be patient! i promise i'll have stuff to share with you soon!

just a few apples to peal!

(we actually weighed them....approx. 150 pounds!)

aubrey is in the center of the action!

here she is directing giving out orders and making "rules" on how the apple pealing process will take place!

what fun would the day be if we didn't do a little "bobbing for apples"!

then finally the finished product!

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12 pints of apple butter pictured here.

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8 bags of apple sauce was put into the freezer

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5 - 1 gallon bags of pie filling was made

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AND.....not a dent made in the baskets of apples......so, guess i'll be making more applesauce tomorrow!

SPIRIT DAY

GO HARRISON HAWKS !!

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aubrey's school has spirit wear day at least once a month. this year i bought these cute little flannel shorts. i just love them complete with the "H.A.W.K.S" stamped across the butt!

COMPLETED PROJECT

here is a look at a couple completed projects i was telling you all about a few weeks ago......i'm just now getting around to sharing.

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i love how easy these little blocks went together. i will differently be making more sometime soon.

A CONVERSATION WITH A FIRST GRADER.

so today aubrey and i had a conversation. i am always trying to start a dialog with her on...how was your day....what did you learn at school....did you have fun at the birthday party you went to.....and so on and so forth......

today i asked her if she heard any bad words at school? no.....i haven't she said.....so that could mean A. she hasn't or B. i wouldn't tell you if i had.....

then i asked her if she knew any bad words......silence....

then....well i do know one....at this point i simply waited and thought i'd let her tell me if she wished....

is it okay if i tell you she says? well, sure, i won't be mad this one time....

well i won't say it but i will tell you what it rhymes with grass.

okay....plenty good! i guess that means i need to get off my "grass" and share the story on my blog!

DAISIES

aubrey is now a daisy..........
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a girl-scout daisy that is.
kindergarteners and first graders are called daisies. next year if she chooses to stay in girl scouts, she will become a brownie.
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so what does this mean for all of you folks? GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!
YUMMMY!
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we had a mom's meeting last night and picked a meeting night. next thursday will be her first official daisy meeting! she is just too excited!

FIRST DAY PICTURES

aubrey meets her teacher, mrs. guy at unpack your backpack night

the morning before the first day of school.

bff......aubrey and lili

one of the girls from aubrey's class last year. they are both in mrs. guy's room this year.

FIRST DAY

today aubrey is a first grader!

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where did the summer go! seems like just yesterday that we were taking her to kindergarten.

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she did really good when i took her to school this morning. last night was "unpack your backpack" where we take all her school supplies to her class room and she meets her new teacher. we also got to see who will be in her class. i was a bit disappointed that only two others from her class last year are in this years class. BUT, as she did last year she will make new friends in now time at all...........

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stay tuned for pictures later today. i'll add them when i get home from work.

MAKING PROGRESS ON MANY SEWING PROJECTS!

today, this is where i've been sitting ........

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all day....

i have been working on these little guys........

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it's called the pinnapple block.....

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48 of them put together look alittle something like this...........

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and from further away the stars appear!

then......


part of the day (or the last two days) i have been organizing my "bee inspired" blocks.
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many of them where a bit too small so i've added some fabric around them and will eventually trim them all up to be the same size.....
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the blank spot there in the corner is patiently waiting for terri's block.....it's in the mail and i'm hoping to get it real soon!!

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and finally.....
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this little number is a runner that will be used in my bedroom. it has been pieced and quiltied and the binding is sewn on and the hand stitching is all that is left to do....

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that will be done in a little bit....

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but first....

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this little girl and i are going to go play in the hot tub!

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A SEWING VACATION!

here is a peak at what i'm working on this week!

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while the hubby is away at a class in kansas city for the week i'm taking three days off as vacation days. even though i'm not "going" anywhere i'm still in heaven as i have time to complete a few quilting projects that have been piling up.

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the black and brown blocks above are a stack i'm working on right now. i have squared them up and am about half way finished setting the blocks.

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the pink and brown block shown below are all layed out right now on my living room floor. these are my "bee inspired" blocks sent from my quilting buddies. i have one more block that should be arriving in and mail any moment now! i also needed to make three blocks of my own for this quilt. i have two of them done and one left to finish but have run out of cream fabric. since i was at the fabric store first thing this morning for other supplies i'm kind of putting off another trip until tomorrow. don't want the employees at joann's to put me to work if they see too much of me.

and finally, the picture below is a grouping of "cotton blossom" blocks that im using to make a runner for a piece of furniture in our bedroom. this morning i finished up the blocks, set them and finished up the quilting. i'll share photos later after the binding is stitched into place. that's a job i wait to do in front of the TV tonight when i'm too tired to sit in front of my sewing machine!

so....that is all for now! my basement and machines are calling my name!!

MONARCH DUTY !

we don't have a pet of the feline variety, nor do we have a pet of the canine variety and i have long since killed off our bird by way of burning sticky buns in the oven, setting off the smoke alarm, giving the poor creature a premature heart attack......and we have yet to get any fish that we have talked about for some time...............

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instead the pets we have are temporary. each one is only with us for a short time. it's the perfect solution for a child that wants to care for something and parents that don't want to do all the work when said daughter finds other interests to occupy her time.

so what is our solution for getting aubrey a pet? callapitters (yes, spelled incorrectly..... spelled just like the way aubrey pronounces them)

tonight was time to let two of her callapitters go. for the last two weeks we were on cocoon watch. patiently awaiting the time when they would mature into what i think are some of the most beautiful butterflies around.
morgan, our next door neighbor, releases the first monarch. it flapped it's wings for a bit then was spooked by a couple giggle girls that were anxious to release the next one.
we have two more that should come out of there cocoons in the next day or so and four other callapitters (well maybe only three.....i can't seem to find the fourth one in the case......as he is only about a half inch long) that are happily munching away, preparing themselves for the next leg of their journey.

ANOTHER COUPLE POSTS FROM OUR FAMILY WEEKEND!

the only thing that would have made this event better was a day that would have had temps in the upper 90's ! but we all know what kind of summer we have had this year.

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grandpa, chuck, and brian headed to the golf course and us girls had a tea-party and a water balloon fight. not sure who exactly got me all wet, probably ava, but the seat of my shorts ended up soaked. carson and aubrey thought it best that i was the target. and, as you can see from the last picture, ava really gets into the game!

carson, aubrey and ian on the way home from our family photo session at wild cat den.

earlier in the day we all went to the "great river days" parade. like most small town parades it was short and lots of space in between entries. one of the highlights was seeing all the WW2 veterans. way to go ROGER !! these were the veterans that got to go on the last honor trip to washington d.c.
that's roger in the very back on the far right!

as for the kids, their favorite part of the parade wasn't any ww2 veteran but the candy that was to be had! each had their own bag and could grab as much as they wished. of course they all shared if one in the group couldn't get their share.

the fashion at this years parade was over the top! the first day of august and you would have thought it was october already. jackets for everyone! even grown-ups. AND check out that head band on holly ! boy do five/six year olds have a knack for style!

as the parade ended aubrey convinced her cousin carson that it would be a good idea to give her a piggy-back ride! aubrey will do anything to get out of walking!

SUNDAY AFTERNOON TEA-PARTY

here is another selection of photos from our family weekend get together. these photos of are after kevin and family had gone home to chicago and the rest of the "boys" had headed out to the golf course. we started the afternoon with a tea-party.

aubrey and carson baked a cake and frosted it with sprinkles.

carson served up the tea.

here we need a group photo before sitting down to eat and drink our tea.

FIRST TIME IN FOUR YEARS !

it has been a total of four years that our entire family has been together all in one location. we spent the entire weekend together getting family photos done, eating, playing and catching up with everyone.

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saturday started with watching the muscatine great river days parade. (pictures of that later maybe). from there we all got ourselves cleaned up and headed out to wild cat den state park for our family photo session. when i get those pictures back from our photographer i'll be sure to share them!

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after picture time we spent the rest of the late afternoon and evening playing and eating in back yard.

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the girls hung blankets on the clothes-line and made it their stage. they did little snippet performances for us. jillian was the announcer and carson the producer, director, costume coordinator, boss.

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the kids ate on a big blanket on the ground. perfect spot for them to bond and be to themselves!

here brian and chuck take a breather. dinner was a seafood boil with iowa home-grown corn, potatos and onions. shrimp, crawfish and sausage topped it off our feast.

the boys did most of the work. chuck is here supervising brian and dad as they cut potatos in half.

the girls spend their time at the blanket eating hotdogs and corn on the cob. notice my daughter doesn't have an ear of corn on her plate. this is where her great-grandma hilbrant would be rolling over in her grave because she isn't acting like a proper little hilbrant!

brian and shannon digging in to a hearty meal.

chuck, theresa and kevin eating their share. mom and dad are in the backround.

dad is manning the gas grill while chuck is taking care of the seafood boil. chicken for mom, hotdogs for the little kids and more corn that wouldn't fit in the boil pot.

and one of the last pictures for today. a sweet moment between my youngest two nieces. hadley and ava share a toy. don't blink because this moment won't last long. that was a VERY popular toy this weekend!

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as the weekend came to an end i thought back on the highlights and what i enjoyed the most. it was the time that we just spent together. kids running around playing and enjoying being with their cousins, the adults just sitting around talking and catching up on plans for the future and chatting about old times.

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here's hoping it doesn't take so long to do this again.

GOLF PRO IN THE MAKING ?????

helping daddy celebrate his birthday! aubrey joins him in playing a round of golf!

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we have a little nine-hole course not far from our house that is part of the "first-tee" program. along with the regular nine hole course they also have a little three hole course just for kids aubrey's size. the price is right too! it only cost her a dollar to play as many rounds as she wants!

FINISHED PROJECTS !

i am pretty happy with what i've accomplished this week in my sewing room! i finished three blocks for my "bee inspired" quilting group and got those mailed out.......

i finished quilting this one pictured (my first on my new machine)...... and i spent one lunch hour and part of one evening finishing up the binding........

i've also started working on another quilt. i have about 20 blocks done on that one. not sure yet how big that quilt will be....i guess i'll make block until i get board and then call it big enough!

A BRAND NEW SMILE

this isn't the first tooth that aubrey has lost but it is the first one on top. it was also the easiest one to come out with the littlest amount of drama!

STAR

i have finally finished my june quilt block for donna! first vacation then troubles getting the size just right but i do like the finished results. hope donna does too!

PICTURES OF VACATION

i'm finally taking some time to share a couple pictures from our vacation. i hope to find time to add more soon.

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we started our trip on a dark and early saturday morning. after finishing the last minute loading the truck of supplies, we loaded up the girls (took a little family friend with us. i called her our rented daughter!) our first stop was the henry doorly zoo in omaha. we spent about 5 hours there then drove on to kearney, ne. there we spent the night and let the girls swim. the picture above is leaving the hotel for the next leg of our trip. colorado here we come!

here we all are at sprague lake. this is one of maddie's favorite places. i think aubrey would have rather been back at the cabin.

now...the following pictures are of the girls doing the bungie trampoline. i really wish it was free because this would have entertained the girls for hours on end! they got to jump three times during the week and by the end of the week were each doing back flips.



we had a wonderful time on our trip. only a one little problem with the new truck but i think we have whipped that problem into shape.

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we have been back in reality for about two weeks now and i'm already anxious to go on another trip.

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stay tuned for a picture of aubrey's new smile! hopefully i can get it loaded tonight for you.

I HAVE RETURNED!

i have returned from a wonderful vacation, have been back to work almost a week now. i am still working on folding and putting away the piles of laundry from our trip. my computer is also back amongst the living and we finally found time last night to get it put back in place and hooked up again. soon, i promise i will download our vacation pictures for you all to see. in the meantime i have been trying to sew at least a half hour each night to get myself back in the swing and to also catch up on some of my "bee inspired" blocks. i'm way way way behind. i should have them ALL done and in the mail this weekend!

look for some pictures soon!

BUSTED

Our computer has decided it no longer wants to turn on. Yippee!! So now I need to have it fixed or get a new one. Not that I'm attached.....I just don't want to spend the money.

It seems like everything is breaking lately. Friday evening we had a big storm and we lost our patio table. It flipped over in the wind and the glass top shattered all over the deck and into the flower garden. Later that night is when we discovered that the computer wouldn't turn on. Storm related? Don't know.....monitor still works and everything else plugged into the power strip is still operational.

So...In less then a week we are going on vacation and I will not be able to post ....I think it's a good time to take a blogging break......I hope that my three or four loyal readers will still be here when i rejoin the blogging community! AND when I return from Colorado I'm hoping that I'll have a computer at home that is in good working order!

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EDIT:

chuck just sent me this photo from his phone....

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this how chuck ended up spending father's day. they had a daddy, daughter round of golf at a local nine hole course. this course has a very short three hole course on the grounds. just perfect for the attention span of a certain six year old that i know.

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price is also right.... $3 for adults and only $1 for kids for as many times around the course as they care to play.

the quad city air show was this weekend. as they played golf they got to view some of the show. here are the navy blue angels putting on there show.

the recital was a huge success! i cried i was so proud! she preformed with no hesitation and smiled for the crowd the entire time!

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here are just a few pictures from last night. we couldn't take flash photograghy so all the pictures were from home and outstide the school.

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aubrey has been invited to join "broadway kids". a class that meets for a half hour longer and does two preformancies at recital. she has said that she wants to take that class. we can begin that this next week or wait till school starts. haven't decided yet when we start for sure.

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tomorrow starts summer school. we wanted to have her in some type of activity this summer and this will be perfect since i work during the day. she is really looking forward to going and i believe there are about seven or eight field trips planned so far.

LAST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN !!

the traditional picture the morning of the last day.

i gave my camera to elvira to snap some pictures of aubrey and lili on the last day at school. here are aubrey's friends from left to right: lili, olivia, aubrey, kylie and christian.

waiting to go inside.

after school, elvira took the kids to mc donalds for food and play. here is aubrey with icecream on her nose!

after i picked aubrey up from elvira's it was time from the recital rehersal. this is one of the only pictures that turned out well enough to share. she is the third one from the left. tonight is the real deal and if rehersal is any indication then we will do just fine tonight. she said she couldn't see us and we were right in front of her. she tends not to dance when i am watching.

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so, wish us luck tonight! and lets hope it goes as well as the rehersal did!

CATCHING UP

i am a bit behind in posting so here is what has been happening in our lives during the last few weeks........ aubrey had hawaiian day at school. she needed something to wear so i whipped up a little skirt with a cute little tropical print. it was so easy that i have since made another skirt with a different print.....
last saturday was picture day for dance. here is aubrey in the costume she will be wearing for her recital coming up on the 6th of june. i went to my twice yearly scrapbook weekend, leaving chuck in charge of her hair and getting her to pictures.....he did great as i knew he would but i think that all the estrogen flowing though out the dance studio that day was a bit much for him....we got the proof back and they turned out wonderful. above are pictures he snapped after returning home.

aubrey and chuck went to a friends farm to help out last week. aubrey collected enough soy-beans to plant in our entire back yard.

each year she grows so much.....soon she will not be able to pose for this picture.....

i have also did some sewing during the memorial day weekend.......here is my contributions to nettie's quilt. i really like how it turned out.....and the flying geese pattern was so easy that i may just have to do some blocks of my own with this pattern.

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during the last three weeks my office has undergone some big time changes. one of our partners is going off on his own and in his wake three others are leaving with him. as i'm sad to see them go, i am excited for the changes it is bringing me. i have in the past filled in on client payroll when needed but now i will be in charge of that on my own. i have learn so much the first week and am excited to be learning much more. AND although our computers crashed about five times the first day, i did survive and did meet all my deadlines..........

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during the memorial day weekend i caught up on some sewing as well as took aubrey to the zoo along with my friend joni and her two youngest kids. we had a good time even though the weather was hot that day. hopefully i can post pictures soon.....

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so back to another busy week......