My Birthday

Wow, I had a very fun birthday. Everyone at work gave me fun stuff. I got champagne, a 96 box of Crayola crayons, which I LOVE. , a dragonfly pin, socks, a squishy light up thing, a cake, a Godiva drink, candy, more candy, a Pepsi, lottery tickets, a journal, lots of hugs, a book, more candy, (wish Brock was here), a tee shirt, and cramps. It was fun. Except for the cramps. Today I am meeting a friend at Chili's for a birthday lunch, then her and her boyfriend are taking me somewhere i have no idea. I can't wait to see. I was treated to Fazoli's last night by my sister in law and niece. YUM. It's good to be Fifty. I also got a bunch of cool Mary Englebriet stuff from my sister Barb. Thanks Sis. Joey sent me a very, very funny story about if there was a surprise party, using all our old neighbors and teachers. I was laughing so much I cried. She is so creative. Molly and Brock called me. Brock said "Come here gramma, I miss you" of course I started to cry. I am saving up money to go there. When I don't know. But I'm goin. So anyway, my 50th Birthday was great. Except that Bob was away, and the cramps.....Thanks to everyone who sent me wishes and ecards and love. Gail

Gotta Love Fall in Colorado

Fall in Colorado is so beautiful. The Aspens are at their peak this weekend. I hope to take pictures.
Work is not that easy this year. Many troublesome kids. Much is due to how they are raised or how their mothers took care of themselves while pregnant. How any woman could take illegal drugs while carrying a baby inside of her stupefies me. Stupid! Who gets the bad end of this deal? The Child!
Next week (my Birthday week) I have to do night child care from 4:30-9:30. YUCK. That is after working all day and taking the bumpy washboard road bus route, an hour and a half , twice a day. Oh my bladder. Haha. Yes I am a whiner. Oh well, I made it this far in life. Ok gotta get to the bank. Love and smailes...Gail..Happy Fall, All

KIDS ARE A HOOT

Oh how funny kids are. Here I am, a new school year where I work. This year I am in a room with 17 - 3 and 4 year olds. HELLO. Today was the first day we had them. For the most part it is so fun. We have one little, adorable boy who is autistic and a handful. He weighs about 40 pds. He just does not sit still. God, please give me patience and guidance with him. On the other hand, we have another little boy. He has a big smile and I think a crush on me. We sit down for lunch and he starts singing to me..."I wanna kiss you all over, and over again" A song from the 70's. It was so funny. I said "Do you know more songs like that?" He starts singing...
"Maggie, I think I got something to say to you." A Rod Stewart song. I loved it. He is just the cutest thing. His older brother LOVES 70's music and this kid really listens. It made my day. Then all the rest of the day he asked me if I could ride his bus home with him. Oh so cute! I am also now a bus monitor. So I have to help the bus driver, and ride the bus to pick up the kids and take them home. It was very hot on the ride home so we pretended to eat ice cream cones. All I wanna do is nurture, and show kids there is so much good in this world to learn. Good stuff. SOME of these kids have the crappiest home lives, it would make you cry. Smoking around them, parents in jail, parents on drugs, no parents. It is yucky and some of them are starving for love and attention. All I ask is for God to help me. Help me guide and listen....So that's all for now. I will fill you in on more funny stuff.
I do want to say a few Happy's. Happy Birthday niece Katie, Happy Birthday great nephew Isiah, Happy Anniversary nephew Greg and his bride of 17? years...Cheryl in Malaysia. God love and Bless you all..........Peace

Good-Bye to a wonderful man...................

Just want to say pretty much what Mandy said in her blog..
A dear friend of mine died last Friday. John Pelka from Buffalo Grove, IL. I have known John over 30 years. He was ever so gentle, kind, loving, handy, smiley, and a real Harley loving, christian, family man. He leaves behind his awesome wife Karen, their son Joe, and their daughter Steph. A wonderful family. He is in the arms of our Jesus now. Free from pain, and hurt. The thing I picture, is when John got to Heaven he looked around to see my sister Lin. Lin doing her funny, 'LIN' dance welcoming him to the streets of gold. That's just one person John saw there. So many others who have gone before us. Please keep the Pelka's in your prayers........You will be missed John....Peace

SUMMER'S OVER..........BUMMER !!!!!!

Hey all, I am trying to get back into the swing of working again. I start Monday. :( I know I should be happy, but it's been such a fun summer. So much travelling, seeing family, seeing friends, being with little Brock. Then having Barb and Pete coming out here. The ranch. Man it was all so fun.
A few not so fun things. When little Izzy was in season we went out and bought her a $19.99 diaper. So Pilgrim couldn't get to her, and so the mess stayed in one place. Well.....we took a 2 day trip to New Mexico to see Bob's sister and her hubby. Well we kept the diaper on 99% of the time. Oh but that 1%. Bob was packing the car and called the dogs and they didn't listen. He looks to where they are and Ah-oh . Yes folks Izzy is due to have babies Sept. 12. It's Bob's fault. tee hee. I did my best to always have that diaper thing on her every minute except when she went outside by herself. Anyone want to buy a Rat Terrier puppy? It will be a registered breeding. Both are in UKC.
This week the crew from 'TRADING SPACES' were in Canon City!!! They were working on a Rafting Company lodge. So cool. I didn't get to see any of them but it was so cool to me knowing they were here. That show should be on TLC in two months. My friend told me they all stayed at the Best Western where she works. The designers were Laura and Mario.
Tonight Bob and his brother Randy went fishing in Pueblo and I went to our near by coffee place for a night of music. Two young guys in their 20's. Aaron and Chris. They live near Boulder but they both are from Wisconsin. So weird. So on their break I went out to them and told them I used to live in Lake Geneva and Delavan. They lived in White Water which is very close. Small world. I requested a John Prine song. And they sang it so well. I love John Prine, Harry Chapin, & Steve Goodman.
So anyway, back to the beginning. I start work again Monday. My heart isn't in it yet. I am having many thoughts about work. Do I want to stay in the child care world? I hear three different teachers want me as their aide. So that's neat. Do I want to change careers? I have been praying non-stop about what God wants me to do. I'd like to work from home. Just waiting on God. If you feel lead, please say a prayer for me. Along with that prayer, please keep praying for John Pelka, the Konrath family, Julia Lee, and my dear friend Kelley....I love them all. Healing...
Have a blessed week ahead all. Love and hugs...Gail

Sad news..... :(

Just a little note. I just heard my old friend from Ingleside IL. passed away. She had a staph infection in her leg, went to the hospital and four hours later she died. She leaves behind a husband Tom, a son and a daughter . Her name was Linda Konrath. Please keep her family in your prayers.....thanks...Gail ........GOD BLESS YOU....

MY SISTER WAS HERE !!!!!

Life can be so fun. This last week was great. Barb my sister and brother in law, Pete came out on Thursday and we packed so much in the 2 1/2 days as we could. Ate at The Windmill Restaurant in Salida, CO. We showed them the local sites. The 13 prisons, the World's Largest Rocking Chair, Goodwill, the school where I work, the Royal Gorge Bridge, Bob's yummy cooking, shopping galore. So many laughs I am still sore from smiling. I hope they enjoyed the chickens. Barb got to get an egg from the chicken coop. We took them up to the Ranch near Monarch Pass. We went on a great horseback ride with Bob's dad. I didn't realize what a great horse back rider Barb was. That was fun. I don't think Pete liked riding horses as much as Barb. Bob's Dad was a great tour guide and showed them all the cool horseshoe art he has made. He even gave them a horseshoe frame he made. I have the coolest Father in law. Saturday, we went to Trinidad to help our cousin Laurie with her "Relay For Life" stuff. That was awesome. Barb and I decorated lots of luminaries for loved ones who were honored and have survived cancer, and for loved ones that have passed of cancer. Pete was on stilts doing balloon animals and magic, and Barb and I did face painting. She is also way better at that then me. We got to be with our Uncle Ray (our dad's, funny brother) and Jodine his wife, and our other cousin Lois. Family is great. I hated saying good-bye to Barb and Pete. But like all good things, it had to end. It was so FUN!!!!!!!! Thank You Barb and Pete for everything. Come back again soon!!
Today was our church's 10th anniversary. We had a picnic at the park for the people. We served the community over 800 sausages, and tons of salads, chips, desserts, lemonade. Bob helped cook those 800 sausages. I took pictures. Our church wanted to show the community Christ is so important in every ones lives. Caring for one another. That's what it's all about. Not the Hookie Pookie. LOL. Bob and I came home and napped for 2 hours. I love naps........zzzzzz
So anyway, I have had a very great summer so far. It is nice not working. It is nice having Bob home, and doing fun stuff with him, and having visitors.
LIFE IS GOOD.....Until next time.........PEACE

I LOVED ILLINOIS, EXCEPT WHEN IT WAS HUMID....

I am home again. The last two weeks were FUN. I want to thank all the people who drove me around, took me out to eat, had me over, made me coffee and just all the fun. I had so much fun going to Willow Creek Church, the Northbrook Bike Races, Superdawg in Chicago, NBC Studio, the Jewelry show in Rosemont, IL, the train rides, the bus rides, Lincoln Park Zoo, Brock's pre-school, coffee shops, bar-b-ques, friends houses, seeing family, it was all so great. Of course the best part was just being with Brock so much. He is funny, silly, goofy, naughty (sometimes), he is a riot!! I love him more than anyone would ever know. I totally can't wait for him to be old enough to come visit us in Colorado. He kept telling people he was going to gramma's house to feed the chickens. And now he can. I came home and Bob had built two chicken coops . It is so neat to watch the chickens look for bugs and stuff. Bob did a great job. I am happy to be home, but really miss my Brock. I thank everyone who I was with. Molly and Mike, thanks for everything. Barb and Pete, thanks for the chocolate on my pillow. My family rocks!!!!

ILLINOIS......Fun Fun Fun

I'm having lots of fun here.

Yesterday with my sister Barb, Pete, sister Joey , Katie and her five little ones. and I got to go to 'Willow Creek Church'. The best! So much fun. Barb, her grandson Denver, Brock and I went to the Abraham Lincoln Cemetery yesterday and saw where our mom and dad's ashes are. A beautiful plague with their names on it and the dates. It's a military cemetery in IL. My dad would be proud! Today is the third year since my sweet mother passed away to be with Jesus. Three years. Wow. I miss her still so much. :(

I got to pick Brock up from pre-school today and when he saw me he yelled, "Gramma!!!" Then he ran and jumped into my arms. Yes folks, and that's why I love being a grandma so much. They love you just for you. He doesn't care about my clothes, he does think I am funny, cuz I make him laugh. He doesn't tell me to go lose a few pounds. He just loves me for me. We have so much fun together Brock and me.

I got to see my best friend Barb today again. We had iced coffee drinks that she made. Boy were they great. We did a little shopping and laughed a lot, looked through her computer at all their photos, I just love being with Barb, This is my friend that has loved me and been there when no one else really was. She has loved me through all the mistakes I've made and all the sadness I've had, and tons of fun stuff too. I love her so much. She is the reason there is 'Best' in Best friend. Thank you Barb for lovin me for the last 15 years...

Ok gotta get to bed. Busy day tomorrow. Brock and I have stuff to do.....Molly has to do lots of hair.

Prayer requests... Please pray for my dear friend John Pelka who has been in the hospital for weeks. He is fighting cancer. Also for my friend Eva, who is still in pain from her second knee replacement. Thanks everyone. I am a big believer in the power of prayers...That's how I got Molly....Peace xo

I can't spell

Sorry I spelled ILLINOIS wrong. I am having so much fun here, I forgot how to spell it.... Love, Gail ..........Tomorrow off to my sister's home..:)

I'm IN ILLINIOS...NOT ILLINOIZZZ

Good Day. It is Friday the 20th of July. I am watching Brock today and having a blast. This boy is so funny. He loves to make people laugh. He dances with his little hips wiggling. He had me sing the "Where is Thumpkin" song more times than I can say. We sing the "Ittise Bittise Spider" song together. He is so awesome.
Molly colored my hair again. looks good. Darker than what I am use to. Tonight we go to a cook out at my best friend Bar and Jim's house. they have three kittens. Brock will love them. Molly too.
Ok gotta get a move on. Brock and I are walkin up town for sidewalk days here. Love......Gramma Gail

7/08/07......Oh goofy me.

I forgot to put this in my blog yesterday. Bob and I went to a bookstore in Pueblo, before the movie. Well, I go up to this couple sitting down looking through a tattoo magazine. Well I had to show them my new tattoo. OK so I start looking at magazines and talking to Bob. I pick out my magazine and force of habit I swing my arms forward and backwards. Well I didn't realize 'that guy' was right behind me. I swung my magazine back hard and hit him right in the "man parts". Ouch. He froze and just stood still gasping. I turn around and I can't stop saying "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry". And having a little bit of my sister LIN in me I was also laughing. Shame on me. Oh I felt so bad for that guy. He kind of waddled slowly back to his girlfriend, and sat down. He wasn't mad at me just in pain. Bob said I turned so red. I felt bad but it was kind of funny too. Just had to add that. Hope you all had a good laugh. Ciao for now....Gail

07/07/07**************So Cool

Oh wow, it's 7/7/07. Sounds lucky to me. I have my plane ticket to WI/IL so I guess I am lucky. I will be there from July 16-31. A nice long relaxing trip. I plan on seeing all my family and doing fun stuff. But more than anything, I want to spend days playing with Brock!!! Yea.
So much to write. I was bummed I missed my families 17 hour Slumberfest. That sounded so fun. See my nephew, Greg's blog on this.
I gotta tell you the weird, funny stuff that has happened in the last couple days. Last weekend, there was a car show at a strip mall near us. I got to hold an albino snake around my neck as I was holding a three foot long alligator. Ok, no big deal. Yesterday I was sitting in the car waiting for Bob at Wal-Mart and a butterfly flies into the car and flies around me, then lands on the bottle of water I had in the car. It sat there for a little bit, about 4 minutes then flew off. So weird. Then we get home later that day and a cute, little bat is perched up on our porch. Cool. Ok A few weeks ago I put up and filled a hummingbird feeder on our porch and I have seen ONE hummingbird drink from it, BUT.... I see this beautiful bright yellow bird drinking from it all the time. It's a hummingbird feeder. I just feel blessed when I get to see such neat and different things in my life.
The other day Bob and I went to the ranch my in-laws take care of. We saw fireworks in Gunnison Colorado. Very good ones! Bob's dad, Bob's brother Ray, Bob and I went fishing the next day. It was mighty fun but I was the only one who didn't catch a fish. That's ok. I had fun. They caught rainbow trout.

I love Colorado so much. The beauty of this state overwhelms me. The endless mountainsides of trees, the huge mountains, the rivers and creeks, the different colors of birds, the rock formations. So much to absorb. I love it here !

Bob and I are looking for a house of our own to buy. It is fun and hard work all at the same time. We found one house I loved in town that had nice bedrooms, two bathtubs, fruit trees, raspberry bushes, flowers, trees, and I loved it. But, Bob wants to have a chicken coop and maybe a pig or two, so we can't get a house in town. We did find another house in the same town we live in now. It is above our price range but, we may try to make a deal. A cowboy lives there and it so happens he goes to the same church we do. And it is on a couple acres. The next door neighbors have alpacas, horses, cats, and I think I saw a donkey. It would work out well so say a prayer. God knows what will happen. It is all in His hands. If we don't get that house, we will find something. God will show us...

Bob and I saw the movie "Evan Almighty" today. Very cute !!!. Go see it. Then do the dance. Funny stuff.

Tomorrow the American Bulldog puppies will be six weeks old. Wow that went fast. Bob and I will go over and give them their first shots. I can't wait to see how big they are. I hope they can sell them all for the price they are worth. They sure are beautiful. Anyone interested?

Ok I've rambled on and on again. Just trying to catch you up on life. Have a fun filled weekend and next week too. Until next time................ Peace

AOL Pictures - Welcome

AOL Pictures - Welcome

Vacations Rock

Hey, Just got back from California,Utah, Oregon,and Idaho. Saw the Redwoods. So beautiful!! I loved California. The people were so nice and the ocean too. I got a hooded sweatshirt at the REDWOOD HARLEY DAVIDSON place in Eureka, CA. I love it...Then since I have a tattoo from New York, I thought it would be cool to get a new one from Redding,California. So I did. Yes, this makes 11 tattoos. I collect them. I have them from WI,IL,CO,NY,CA. I know some people just think they are stupid or gross. But hey, everyone of my tattoos, means something. Mom, Dad, Lin, Bob, my love for flowers, now for Brock. This new one is for my grandson. My next one will be for Molly......:) SSShhhh don't tell her. I don't care what anyone thinks of me having tattoos, I love em.
It is nice having Bob home. Right now he is in the yard on a riding lawn mower. He loves it. All his stuff is all over the living room floor. I am biting my tongue. I am doing load after load of laundry. We only have a stacked washer and dryer. It takes forever to dry anything. So I should be done some time next month. ha ha.
Bob and I bought an oil painting in OR. We were walking all over Klameth Falls,OR. We went inside this art place and saw a bright colorful oil painting of three Chili Peppers. Well, the coolest part of this is the artist, Linda Scott, who painted it was there. We love it. We hung it right in our living room. I collect chili pepper things. We love this picture!
We went to a California cheese factory. Very cool, got to sample so many wonderful cheeses. We got to watch them make curds. Curds are my favorite snack cheese. They gave us a sample of them as they were making them. They squeek when you eat them. Oh so good. Oh have to tell you, Klameth Falls, have no falls..We were bummed. But we did go to Crater Lake, and Multnomah Falls. So awesome. Well, that is a lot of info for one blog. I'll end here. We had lots of fun. I love to travel.....Peace

I'm in Redding, California

Hi from California, We are having so much fun. I love CA. We have seen beautiful mountains, the Redwoods, Wow. And waterfalls. It is so beautiful, our country. We are having lots of fun being together after 7 weeks apart. I missed Bob.
Ok, we are off to OR. to Crater Lake. Peace out Yo.....Gail

ON MY MIND............................

June 15th. Here I sit at the computer. So much on my mind. It is warm outside. 76 degrees. I have fans on.
I leave this coming Monday and now I have a dilemma. Bob and I wanted a fence out back so the dogs could run around without running away. I wanted the fence like link fencing. Small so no dogs could come in, and our dogs couldn't get out. Bob put up this huge hog fence outside in the back yard, about 2 Mn's ago. I wanted smaller holes in the fence, but Bob wanted hog fencing . Well, he put an electric wire around it and that worked about 2 weeks total. On and off. Now Izzy has figured out she can walk through the holes in the hog fence. I found her outside of the fence today. Great! My friend is staying here to watch the dogs, while I am gone. I don't want to have her go out looking for the dogs. AAAGGGHHHH. Its always something. Last time it was our since past dog Fay, She ran away the day before we left for IL. Then we get a call from CO. in WI, saying someone found her. DOGS!!!!

On a better light.....
Today was Bob's brother Randy's Birthday. He is single so I called him . He came over and I cooked him a Pork Chop Birthday dinner, with chicken Alfredo, Asiago bread and Mountain Dew. He ate, opened the Tee shirt I got him, then had to leave (phone call) to help his other brother with tools. I am just glad I had the chance to celebrate his Birthday. He is an well digger and works so hard. And gets so dirty. He is a very sweet guy. I love him.

Last night I cooked dinner for Bob's other brother (there are 5) and his wife Melissa. Rex helps a lot hooking up our computer and helping me try to fix the stupid electric fence. But, I love cooking for people. It was fun.

I just have lot on my mind. I am a worry wart. With Bob being gone so long at a time, I am not loving that. Like I've said before, I don't know HOW military families do it. Its not good to be apart so long when you are married. It sucks.

I did spoil myself today. Raspberries and Blueberries were on sale so I got three little containers of raspberries and one container of blueberries. Yum. they are so good. What a good price. $1.00 for the ras. $2.50 for the bl.bs. Yippie for good fruit.

Well, the carpet still looks real nice. I love cleanness. Is that a word? Monday I fly out to meet Bob. Lucky me...........

Happy Father's Day to all you Dad's and Grand Dads. Love, Gail

CLEAN CARPET.....YIPPIE I O

I'm so happy. I have been complaining for months about the look of our living room carpet. It's off white and it was so gross. Spots, coffee, dogs, pop. Well I finally called the carpet cleaning company and they were here the same day. I am so excited. Our carpet now looks brand new. I don't want to walk on it. The guy who did the work had his cute son with him . He was 8. As the dad used the machine, the son sat in it and went for a ride while dad cleaned. So funny. I showed him my collection of Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. He liked them. Then he saw the frame I have of pictures of Brock, Molly and Mike, and it is covered in buttons that are glued on. I told him "I collect buttons too." He says, "You collect Hot Wheels annnnnnnnnd Buttons? Wow." We also talked about spiders, snakes and the talking Catfish (from Bass Pro) we have outside. He kept walking by it to hear it talk or sing. Kids are so cool. I am just so happy that this carpet got this clean. I so recommend Chem-Dri. Well that's it for now. You can sure tell I don't have an exciting life when I write about carpet cleaning........Sigh

Yippie...................

Jimmy crack corn and I don't care... I'm up and back on our new home computer...Yippie... My brother-in-law came over and hooked everything up for me. I am so excited. Thank you Rex!!!

This morning I went to town and went to a very cool auction. It was all western stuff. Cowboy sculptures, horse blankets, saddles, bronze statues, roping ropes like cowboys use, antlers of all kinds, western pictures, stuffed elk, deer, Bambi, porcupine, bear hides. It was the best. I bid on a lot of neat stuff, but only spent $12.00 on some old horse bits for my father in law. He makes toilet paper holders with them. They are really cool. I had so much fun. I got a sunburn on my face. It has been a fun day.

BUT....we had a huge and long hail storm here today. We have a tin roof and it sounded like a train was going by. I took lots of pictures after. It was gumball size hail. I was just waiting for it to break a window. Very scary. It lasted for a bout 20 minutes. The dogs played in the hail after and loved it. I made hail balls and threw them for Pilgrim and Izzy. It is always an adventure with Colorado weather.

Ok, thats all for now. 16 days til I see Bob.......:)

Happy Birthday in Heaven MOM

I miss my mom. She is in Heaven. Today she would have been 78. I miss her witty sense of humor. I miss her hugs.....Love you Mom.....Gail