~~ODNEAL FAMILY BLOG~~Port of Readlyn, Iowa

  Well, you know the fish that I said we've had forever and I didn't think it would ever die? Wednesday night after we got home from the game I was walking through the living room and said "I'd better feed Priest". Well, Priest was laying at the bottom of his bowl. And not moving. And looking a bit nasty. So much for the beta fish we've had for 5-6 years that I thought would never die. I only cried for a few minutes (hours)and then Bruce flushed him down the toilet! Kyle said he thought it died because we played a catholic school team Monday night and beat them. Yeah, whatever!!!!

The Wapsie Valley Warriors were victorious last night in the substate game. It was 27-0 at half and ended up 33-16. Good job team and good luck Monday night at home against East Buchanan. Let's get them this time!

    Tonight we play Mason City Newman for the first substate round. Good luck Kyle and the Warriors. Play Wapsie Ball!

Just some pictures of the crazy cat. The one on my shoulder was Saturday-she was literally wrapping her paws around my neck like she was hugging me. The others were taken last night. What a crazy cat. And whoever said cats don't like to be upside down or on their backs don't know Gizmo! And of course she just had to nap with Bruce-she loves to do that. What would we ever do without her for entertainment?????

Last night the new members of the National Honor Society were inducted. There was 13 new this year, and 7 already in it. Kyle had to say quite a bit since he is the "president". It was short and sweet. Taylor handed out tokens of membership instead of having to speak! Kyle did a good job and I thought it was funny that Mr. Eschweiler kept referring to him as "Mr. President".

So Saturday afternoon after doing some cleaning, laundry, etc. I decided to catch up on some scrapbooking instead of heading up to the attic like I had planned. I managed to get a "few" pages done, and then wouldn't you know it I ran out of the puffy squares you put behind pictures to make them stand up. I was so mad. So now I won't be able to do anymore until I make it to Hobby Lobby (hate that I have to do that!), and my kitchen has totes and crap piled up along one wall. Great! I hate clutter.

  Yep picked up these beauties Friday when I got groceries (a whole $2.99 at Aldi's) just because I love fresh flowers! Hope everyone has a good week!

Oh, and Kyle did get new pants to wear, and I even scrubbed his uniform yesterday and didn't ruin anything! I think he was a little nervous when I told him I was soaking them. But I used Spray & Wash this time and not that bad stuff!!!         Here are a few shots that came out okay of Kyle (#14) and the team Friday night at Valley. We start the playoffs Wednesday night at Mason City Newman. Go Wapsie!

  Yep yesterday was a strange Iowa day. It was very windy and there were some snow flurries/chunks falling from the sky for a while. it was enough to make our deck white for a while. Readlyn had trick or treating last night and I hardly saw any kids out and about due to the weather. Too bad for the kids! Not ready for that white crap quite yet!

Doesn't Gizmo look "innocent" sitting by our beta fish Priest's bowl? She had just circled completely around it and then laid down acting innocent. I think she would love to figure out how to get ahold of him. That fish will not ever die I don't think. When we got him there were two in the same container. And now he's been around I think for at least 5 years. Tyler is having a talk with Giz after I scolded her for terrorizing Priest!

This is what I always have used in the past and it works great. This is a new product I decided to try and see if it saved me scrubbing time. Well, last night I for some reason thought they looked different so I held them up to the old uniform pants and they definitely are lighter. Kyle asked me what I did to his pants. The horror! I swear that besides the different spray I soaked them exactly the same. I told him noone would notice since it will be dark out. Yeah right, there are tons of lights on a football field. He was hoping to get a new pair today before they leave, or he'll just wear his old "yellower" ones. Guess I won't be up for Laundry Mom of the year anymore!!! (The ones I "ruined" are on the left-old ones on the right).

Happy Birthday to my youngest (well the youngest of the three) brother today. I believe he is 47 today (he was 6 years ahead of me in school but I think 6 1/2 years in age-yes I am still much younger than him!). Hope you have a great birthday and may you have many more!

  My brother Rick gave me two 5 gallon buckets of tomatoes from his garden so I of course couldn't let them go to waste. I'm sure it will be the last of the season. Bruce helped me and we got done in good time. It is an exceptionally "hot" batch. I was worried about not having enough peppers but I think I must have went overboard on the jalapenos and habanero peppers. It will make some great chili during this cold Iowa winter!

  Yep another week gone by and more scrubbing and soaking. Wapsie lost Friday night in OT to Central Elkader 29-27. We were down 7-21 with under 3 minutes left and came back to tie it up. Still make the playoffs, but from the film we should have won the game because Elkader's TD in overtime wasn't in. Can't do anything about it though. Last regular season is tomorrow night at Elgin. Supposed to be wet and cold. Go Warriors!

  This is one of Gizmo's favorite things to do when I have a clothes basket ready to be folded. I always put it up on the barstool and fold at my counter. Well if I leave it there for any length of time she loves to jump up and lay on the warm clothes. No wonder we go through lint rollers like crazy!

  Bruce put on a glass storm door on my laundry room (the one to the left) thanks to the fact that Louie & Helen got a new one and gave it to us. We don't use that door too much except in summer when I go in and out to the clothesline. I think it looks much better than just the steel door on and it matches the other door. Might be more energy efficient this winter also. Another fall project taken care of yesterday.

  Spent the weekend getting some outdoor stuff done. The boys pulled up what was left of my plants in the garden and I put away the tomato cages. I thinned out my hostas and transplanted 15 along Bruce's shop and took the rest to work to plant some out front of there and then send the rest home with my boss for his wife. And just had to hang out tons of laundry this weekend because I don't think there will be too many more weekends of that. What a beautiful weekend we had. Not looking forward to what is coming!

This is what Kyle's football pants look like pretty much after each game. One would think that the quarterback should not get that dirty. Well this quarterback runs the ball quite a bit, and also plays defense so he gets hit pretty hard some games. The flower is from last Friday night. It was "senior night" and the boys each gave their Mom a rose when we walked with them out onto the field. So every week I soak and scrub, soak and scrub his pants just so they can get filthy again. Good job Wapsie on the 35-0 win over Postville. Now lets play tough and beat Central Elkader tomorrow night! Go Warriors!!!

Yep today Bruce turns the big "45". These pictures are a card that he received from friends of ours that ALWAYS remember to send birthday cards (thanks Kim!) and thought it was too cute not to share. It reminds me of Bruce, and of Tyler when he was little. Not that Bruce has crying fits anymore (well not too often-ha ha!) it just reminds me of him in the face. Anyways Happy Birthday honey and I hope you have a great day!

  Here are some pictures from our pontoon boat ride that Stewart gave us all on Saturday. Tried to get pictures of everyone. We had a nice long ride and a really good time!

  We took a long pontoon boat ride Saturday with everybody that was around. Here is one of the many pictures of the beautiful leaves overlooking the marina in Lansing, Iowa. Will post more when I get a chance. Some pictures are breathtaking. Just decided to do a quick post before leaving work today!

Okay, just had to share (brag) a little here. Taylor told me at Ty's game last night that this year at Wapsie Kyle is President of The National Honor Society and she is Vice President. I think that is an honor isn't it? Hmmm....have no idea what that means they have to do, but it sure sounds good on those scholarship applications I would think! Congratulations to both of you! I think......