Happy Labor Day!

What a fun weekend!
We have enjoyed ourselves in many ways. Let me tell you about it! :)

Friday Night:
We went to dinner with teacher friends as is tradition before a home football game. We then went to the first Galesburg football game where sadly they lost in overtime. But it was a really great game. The Jr. High football teams were announced and I got to see all of Travis' guys walk the field.

Saturday:
We found a new greasy spoon to eat at for breakfast in Galesburg. It's over by Nielson school and is just a family restaurant. It reminded me a lot of Maple City Restaurant in Monmouth. Good breakfast.

Travis went fishing at Steele Dam with his dad in the afternoon and caught 5 catfish and several other varieties. I went to the Prime Beef Festival Princess Pageant. We both enjoyed ourselves doing things we enjoy.

Sunday:
We got up early and went to Lake Argile's flea market where Travis found and purchased 4 or 5 Walter Payton football cards and got a steal of a deal on a Joe Montana rookie card. We were there to look for Pez, but he already had everything we had found.

At noon we went to my dad's and I went boating with my family. Travis wanted to go, but needed to spend the day at school. We had driven separately to make this possible.

I spent the afternoon on the river. It was beautiful! I have been so good with sunscreen this summer it's unreal....unfortunately yesterday I was stupid and forgot to put it on my face. I am a red hot lobster today!

When I got home we ate a pizza and watched a movie I didn't understand on the couch. It was Inside Man with Denzel Washington. You had to think throughout the movie.....no love story so I was a goner!

Monday:
We got up early and left the house by 7Am and went to Rock Island to go fishing at Steele Dam again with Travis' dad. I usually enjoy this adventure. We go wading out into the water and fish in waist deep water.

I should have known today would be different when I saw a SNAKE on the way down to the water. Mind you I am DEATHLY afraid of snakes. So we get in the water and I"m still shaken up over the snake. We fish for about a hour and a half and things are going great, we are all catching catfish and having a good time when suddenly I get a big one and it bit the worm not far from where I was standing....I'm having trouble reeling it in and suddenly I pull up and it's a GAR...my other nemesis when at Steele dam....if you don't know what it is Google it. It's this horrible fish with a long snout and sharp teeth and they are mean! Until today I had never seen one, let alone hooked one out there. So now I'm scared to death that these Gar are swimming around me ready to bite my legs so I start doing a kick line in the water to keep the fish away from me. About 5 minutes pass and out in front of me I see a small head of something pop out of the water to get some air and it was NOT a fish.
I start freaking out, and can you blame me I mean with the snake and then the Gar, I was sure it was a water moccasin coming to bit/poison me....I kept saying what is that, what is that, what is that, but Ben didn't hear me until the stinking thing already went back under the muddy, can't see your hand 2 feet down water. So now I'm really dancing and on the verge of tears cause I'm sure somthing's going to get me....the second I finally start to relax again (about 5-10 minutes later) the thing appears again! So now I'm like, THAT, THAT, THAT THERE...WHAT ISSSSSSSSSSSS IT!?!?!?! Ben looks and says it's a turtle or something, it's not a snake Misty. I look to him to see if he's for real and then look to Travis at which point in time I receive a dirty look because I'm being a girly girl and there are a lot of fishermen out in the water today staring at all the commotion I was making....I think I was embarrassing him!

So OK, more time passes, I am ready to go by now, I have had my fill of the snake infested, Gar lurking, sneaky turtle water and Ben says well Trav what do you think, it is now that I am sure I am going to get a reprieve and we'll leave...Travis says how about around 11? I say: What time is it now, trying to seem calm and in control. Travis says quarter till. OK I say to myself I can handle 15 minutes. So I catch another fish, a catfish, and I need extra help getting it off the line because I want to be sure it isn't a Gar. So now that I've caught another one, and Travis has caught 2 and Ben has caught a couple more the guys decide to stay until 11:30!

What a Morning! And do you know what?



I'd go again in a heart beat (if I'm ever asked back after all the drama I produced today!)
I didn't even tell you about the worms that I had to have someone else hook cause YUCK I wasn't doing that, the fish they had to take off once I caught because the one time I tried that I got stung by a blue gill, the 2 or 3 times they had to restring my pole cause I broke the line, the two times I got my line wrapped up and knotted in both Ben and Travis' line, and the countless other things that just seem to naturally find their way to my fishing adventure....but those are stories for another time....all you need to know to end this entry is:


I love it out there, as long as I don't see a snake, catch a Gar, or have a mysterious dark head popping up out of the water!

These are all the fish the three of us caught. I caught 3 and the guys caught the rest. They are all catfish and one is a flat head. We now have a freezer full of fish......hmmmm....now if I just knew what to do with those....

The couch that ate our living room!

WAH HOO!!!

Our living room furniture has finally arrived...well almost all of it....but that's another story.

We have our couch as of 11:30AM today! The delivery men came and my mom was able to come and let them in since Travis and I were at school. They didn't have to take the door off the hinges which was a possible catch in the whole process. It fit smoothly through the door and right into the living room. However, now we have a LOT less space in the living room. I think I've figured out how to make it work. That is if Travis will allow his recliner to be moved to this new position. You can't see the TV as well so I'm not sure if this is a final arrangement of the living room or not. The biggest problem I see is the end table kind of looks out of place in between the couch and the recliner. What do you think?

Our 2nd leather recliner will be delivered tomorrow by Travis' parents when they come for his game. We did have both on Saturday, but when we opened one of them there was a rip in the leather seat! We have had quite the luck with these recliners I tell you!

But no worries now, we have 2 new chairs and a new couch!!!!!!!!!!

Even Buddy, with some assistance due to the cone on his head, enjoyed sitting on the new couch!

First Day of school!

Today was the first day of school. It was a long day! We started out leaving the house at 7:15 in order to do any last minute touch ups needed to the room. We got home at 7:30 tonight after a Nielson welcome back picnic for the students and families of Nielson.

Travis has 19 students with a new one coming tomorrow to make 20 2nd graders in his room. He said they were so quiet today you could hear a pin drop. I think it's the goatee! :)

Misty has 20 students in her room. Her room was quite the opposite today! Her children weren't at all scared or intimidated by her, but spent the entire morning just chat chatting away to each other. In fact they didn't even seem to notice she was there. She'll have to work on that!

Funniest moment from today in first grade:

Me: How many of you gave your mom's and dad's kisses and hugs before you left today.....

(awkward silence)

Boy C: I gave my mom knuckles!

Me: Knuckles?

Boy C: Yeah like this.....(show fist pound)

Silly me for asking such a dumb question....I guess I lived in a different era..... :) :)

One Last Hurrah

Today was the final hurrah of summer break. Travis and I both wanted to spend the day together, but we also both wanted to do our favorite summer things (which happen to be different). In the end we decided to do what we love in order to get one last glimpse of summer vacation before heading to school tomorrow.

Travis watched the USA basketball team win gold. This was very exciting for him as he's cheered them on all the way often staying up late or as in this case taping the game so he can watch. After watching them clinch the gold he headed to the Quad Cities to spend the day with his dad. They went to Steel Dam to go fishing.

This isn't fishing on the dock, or even in a boat, but wading in the water. They guys walk out into the middle of the river and fish in waist deep water. I have been a couple of times and it is a lot of fun. I however, am more trouble than fun when I go because I don't bait my own hook, I get the line tangled, I need help getting the fish off if I do catch one. Since this was the first trip of the year due to flooding, I decided to let the guys bask in it's glory....plus I think it did Travis some good to have some de-stress time before tomorrow.

Travis won the "bet" of the day catching the biggest fish...a 3 1/2 lb. Catfish. Way to go Hubby!!!

I had some of my own "de-stress" time today. After church I went with my family and did my favorite summer activity. Boating!

We also have lost out on a lot of "family day's" because of the flooding. Today was beautiful. Not to hot, not to cold, the water was warm not a lot of wind to cause big bummpy waves. Ahhhhh Summer! We found a new sandy spot where we could pull our boat up in the middle of the river and tie on to other boats. Because of the flooding pushing the sand from the sand bar away from the sand bar we were literally almost in the middle of the river and out walking around in ankle deep water. It was unreal.

Both Travis and I have had a great summer filled with lots of fun memories of family and friends. We are sad to see the free time go but filled with anticipation as to what the school year will bring.

School Days, School Days

Ahhhhhh, Back to School.....

We've known it was coming, but still in the back of our mind we have thought "we still have time"

Times Up!

Today was Teacher's Institute day. :(

We met as an entire district for about 2 hours and then dispersed into our individual buildings.

I was lucky enough to have Travis' mom, Kay, come and help me with some mind numbingly boring tasks (thanks again Kay!)

While I was trying to fight for a spot in the copy machine line to get the copies for next weeks lessons, Travis was at Nielson working on putting names on every one's things, in between building meetings.

After a short break for football practice (Trav) and a follow up Doctor appt. (Misty) we went back to school to work, work, work. We finally called it a night at 9:45PM......

We will probably go back tomorrow afternoon to put the finishing touches on things.

Travis' 2nd Grade classroom, Nielson Elementary B~1

Now that's talent...he drew these Disney character's free hand (not even looking at a picture!)

This is his hallway bulletin boards. He chose a North Woods theme. The Picture on the left has a sign that says Mr. Stecher's room. The middle picture says "Have a 'Woody' Great Time in B1. The far right board says "Stinkin Good Work" with a skunk!

These are too cute.....what a great choice, the kids are sure to love them!

Misty's First Grade Classroom, King Elementary B~3

I didn't get any pictures of my actual classroom yet, I need more batteries in my camera. I'll try to get some soon though! :)

Here are some bulletin boards to tide you over! :)

Misty's hallway bulletin board, "First Grade is 'SCOOPS' of Fun!

B-3 is Out of This WORLD!

No, Travis didn't draw this. He could have....but he didn't' have time, so I used an overhead projector and traced it. :(

Cone Head

Buddy was forced to get a cone :(

He wouldn't stop licking his wounds and the vet was afraid they may not heal in a timely manner. So I drove to Monmouth to pick up the cone. The vet assured me I would be able to put the cone on Buddy. He's had one before so I figured no biggie.....

That was the first mistake.

1)Last time Buddy had a cone, the vet put it on after a surgery so he was still drugged. When he work up it was just there and by the time we got him he had adjusted to it.

2)Last time Buddy had a cone, the vet put a SMALL on him. This time all they had was a MEDIUM. Let me tell you, there is a BIG difference between small and medium.

3)Last time Buddy had a cone, he didn't run into much, he could still eat, drink, get up the stairs to bed, walk around corners without being heard.

This time, Travis and I had to wrestle the dog to put a Medium cone on when he was fully awake and in pain from a surgery. The cone is so big he's scrapping our walls, leading Travis to believe we'll need to repaint the house by the time it's all said and done. He can't get up the stairs from outside, or to the bed with out someone holding the cone up so it doesn't catch on the stairs and he can no longer drink without spilling the majority of the bowl on the floor.

And Eating? Well see for yourself......










This is Travis hand feeding the dog his food so he can eat. It was a real bonding moment.

We can't wait for the cone to come off.....in 5-7 days.....if the wounds are healing.....and he'll leave them alone.....and, and, and and!

Swiss Cheese....no that's just Buddy

Buddy had surgery today to eliminate some of those pesky warts. These warts are hereditary and grow from what looks like pimples to something big and ugly that breaks open when he scratches them or gets a haircut....YUCK!

He had several on his feet that he licks relentlessly during the night and it DRIVES ME NUTS!!! It keeps me up or wakes me up several times a night. So we decided it was time to get them fixed before school started. I dropped him off at 8AM and we just got back from picking him up.

Buddy was in surgery for over an hour! They stopped counting the warts they removed at 40! The vet said somewhere between 40 and 50 warts have been removed. They marked all the spots that needed laser treatment with purple marker so now we have a holey purple dog!
You can kind of see the big holes in Buddy's side here. This is where the laser took away the warts...in it's place is a divot.
Since getting home he's drank 2 bowls of water. I think the anesthetic they gave him has dried him out!

Thirsty, thirsty dog!


This looks worse thank it is. The discoloration is mostly the purple marker, but you can kind of see how deep they had to go to get rid of the warts. Usually they give a topical antibiotic to spread over the wounds. However, since so many of them have been removed and it would take literally all night and morning to do, the vet said it would be OK to give a oral antibiotic instead.



While at the vet we had him check Buddy's urine for infection because he has begun peeing in the house and what do ya know they have a pill to keep dogs from peeing inside! Technology I tell you!


The bad thing is with these hereditary warts, they will come back. Not the ones that they just removed, but new ones will grow. So the vet is going to talk to a dermatologist tonight to see if buddy can take yet another drug to keep the warts from coming back. He assures us this will be more cost effective than having buddy get cosmetic surgery once a year. While there they also found he has a staff skin infection so he has antibiotics for the staff infection (non transferable to humans thank heavens!)

So Buddy is back at home, looking like Swiss cheese or a driving range for you golf enthusiasts. He has antibiotics so the 40-50 holes covering his body don't get infected. He has pain medication. He has pee medication. He has staff infection antibiotics. He has Benadryl medication. He has ulcer medication. Man, I didn't know I was going to get to be a pharmacist before school started!

A real life book?!?...

OK, first of all I never meant for this to become a nerdy book worm kinda site...and I swear it's not going to....

However, I did intend for this to show what our lives are like here at home, and as summer quickly fades and the school year looms I find myself cramming the reading material I so enjoy but never have time for during the school year.

So it's Saturday night.....we're 26 and 27.....so what do we do??????? Watch the Olympics, read and eat leftover pizza....we are a real exciting crowd I tell you! :)

Anyway on my last post remember how I was babbling on about how I sometime...ok ok most of the time get so wrapped up in my books I think they're real? I have found a BLOG that has a REAL honest to goodness western love story! Again, Travis is on the verge of finding me professional help for this "odd" hobby of reading random people's blogs...but I rationalize that this is indeed what blogs were meant for. Right????????????????

Ok so look to the left of my posting....find Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. Click! Scroll down to the bottom until on the center right side you see Love Story with a cartoon drawing of a cowboy/cowgirl. Click on the picture!
Go all the way to the bottom to read this real life book...or, er blog by chapter.

I am totally addicted! I was laughing all night long out loud in big bursts! Travis couldn't believe it was coming from a blog. I read the whole stinking thing tonight! It is a continuing story, she's not finished with it yet and I can not WAIT for the next chapter! Take some time, get a glass of tea and settle in....

If you do read it, let me know what you think...I'm interested to know if anyone else is a sappy hopeless romantic like myself.

If you read our blog regularly and are tired of reading about books...have no fear....school starts in 8 days after that you'll most likely not see another book posting for quite some time! :)

Tear Jerker....Again....

Ok, so does anyone else just sometimes need a opportunity to cry....I mean not just cry but sob...ok, not sob, but utterly just gut wrenching tears? Me too! Sometimes it happens when I'm really stressed and just need a release, or sometimes it happens just because it hasn't for awhile, and sometimes it happens just because I'm a girl.

If you find yourself in need of a good release of tears read Karen Kingsbury, Ever After. Her books, as I've said before, often get to me and I always say this is my newest favorite...this one isn't my favorite, but man oh man will you cry. I couldn't even tell Travis what was going on during one point tonight.

Someone asked me why I read her books if all I'm going to do is cry. I LOVE her writing because she makes her characters so real. Travis will say, it's O.K. it's not real. But to me, when I'm reading (and sometimes after I'm done) it is real. Her characters and story lines seem to be like people I know, or could know, or things that could, or really do happen to people. I have even "be-friend ed" her characters in the Baxter Series. (Watch out for THAT post in September when the LAST book of the 15 book series comes out!)

Anyway, read Ever After....it's a contemporary novel and quite relevant to today's world.

Krista (my Karen Kingsbury buddy)~I don't have to return the book for another week to the library....let me know if you want it and I'll get it to you this weekend.

Happy Birthday Ben!

Today is Ben's (Travis' Dad) birthday! We were so excited to get to share in his birthday celebration! Yesterday Ben and Kay came down to Galesburg and we went to dinner at the Packing House.

After dinner we came home to our house and enjoyed a fire in the fire pit, some ice cream cake from DQ and presents.

Today Travis went and helped celebrate his birthday more by going fishing at one of their favorite spots, Lake George. I was unable to go because of working at Bergner's but I hear it was quite an exciting time. Over 10 fish each were caught, Kay even caught the biggest fish....Travis! She hooked him in the ear! he he he! He's fine by the way....

All of us had a great time celebrating Ben's birthday and we can't wait until the next birthday rolls around. Even Buddy was tuckered out by all the birthday celebrating!

We wish you a Happy, Healthy, fun filled 56th year of life! Happy Birthday Ben (dad)!