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

It was -7 degrees on my way into work this morning. When I pulled out of the garage it at least said 20 to start with! Oh well. I posted this picture because with all this cold we've been having I want to be there. At the river. At my boat! Bruce and I are both so ready for spring. I guess since February is here Monday that means only 2 more months until we can start getting ready to open up the houseboat. I tell my kids not to wish their lives away all the time, but with this weather I'm really wishing this winter would be done and gone. Yep, looking forward to spring. I guess for now we will have to be happy with our heatwave forecast for Sunday. 20 degrees. Wow-get out the bikinis and suntan oil! Everyone have a great weekend.

Okay I know it is after Christmas and this wishes everyone just that, but I love Simon's Cat and just realized there was a new one. Definitely could once again be Gizmo when she goes outside right now! Enjoy

Yep-even though he looks possessed in this picture you have to love a teenager that will not only pose for a picture while in mid haircut, but will be happy about appeasing his Mother while doing it. And never mind the kitty treats, recycling, and other junk on the counter behind him. I just really enjoy this kid and not feeling the greatest about the “baby” only being at home 3 more years after this. I mean I already had to learn to survive without the “favorite son” going off to college. What ever will I do with my time? Certainly won’t be spent doing haircuts in the kitchen. Maybe by that time I will be doing “Grandma” haircuts??????? Time will tell I guess. No pressure I swear Cole & Ashley!

So for the lack of “interesting” pictures lately, last week I made homemade chicken soup and changed it up a bit.  The result was AWESOME if I do say so myself.  The only thing different that I did was add a can of diced tomatoes with green chiles, and a can of beans that I found in my susan that I had bought by mistake.  It was spicy and delicious.  Sometimes you just have to change it up a bit and be brave.  I tend to make the same crap all the time, so was glad that I tried something new.  I’d say everyone was happy that I didn’t stick to the same old stuff.  Happy eating!  And what  do you throw together for a homemade soup?  Recipes welcome!!!!  Have a great Monday and week everyone. View Full Album

It's been one of those weeks and I am so glad that it is Friday. And yes I have been a slacker when it comes to the blog lately. Just too much going on of late I guess. Aren't these bottles of wine just too funny? Ashley sent them over for Thanksgiving and they actually were pretty tasty, and both made in Iowa I believe. (Can't check because we drank them!) I love the "mad housewife" label. How clever for a bottle of wine! Well I think it is 5 o'clock somewhere, and I am heading out of the office until Monday. Everyone have a great weekend despite the forecast! Will we ever see the sun again???????

View Full Album Last week when we had all that snow Gizmo thought that she just had to go outside and check out the snow. Well, you can see by her paw prints that she made it to the edge of the deck and then was back at the door in no time. And yes the picture in the middle is some snow still on her back not dandruff. We have very clean cats in this house. In fact Gizmo showers at least twice a day with one of us!

So I didn't pick too good of pictures for this post, but tomorrow morning we head out with Helen & Louie to go to Waukon to stay at our good friends Kevin & Ann and have a ton of fun! So here is a picture of my boat on our float from last fall, and if the other picture turns out (since it isn't showing while I'm posting) that is some of our boats moved north to Tami's for the winter. We are having the Houseboater's Brunch this weekend at TJ Hunter's which is very EXCITING as the last few years at Clancy's has officially sucked and been overpriced! Looking forward to roadtripping with Helen & Louie again tomorrow and our hospitality from our very great friends Kevin & Ann. I only hope that his t-shirt that we ordered him (Mr. Have Somebody Else Fix It) shirt shows up in the mailbox before we leave. If not I guess he will get in come April when we open up the boats. Everyone have a good weekend and stay warm!

This picture is from Odneal Christmas 2008 but oh well. You never like it when I post pictures of you on here so I don't think it will matter which one I pick. I think this is a good one! Hope you have a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mom O., and make Jr. take you out for a nice lunch or dinner and some gambling maybe. At least I hope that you are having warm weather to enjoy your day because we are certainly sick of this snow and cold! See you in March!

Yep, these are two of the best! We all enjoy being around each other and I think that is a very special and lucky thing to have. I cannot imagine being in a family that I couldn't stand my in-laws. Life would be hell. I actually always look forward to spending time with these ladies, and hope that maybe Sharon will take me up on the offer to come to the houseboat this summer whenever she wants. We (well okay me mostly!) would love it! And just ask Helen-I bring her a Bloody Mary EVERY single morning that we are in the marina or camped on the sandbar together. And she makes a mean Screwdriver after the Bloody's are gone. Geez do you think most of our weekends involve cocktails? Oh well-you only live once! And boy do we seem to do it up right!!!!!

I decided that I will just post a picture of some of my favorite people every time that I get on the home computer since I never seem to have time to do posts and slide shows like I want to. And the posts I did over the weekend that were supposed to post 3 days in a row I apparently messed up on the posting dates because they all posted the same darn day. Anyways, here is Louie & Helen at our family Christmas in front of Sharon & Bart's tree. Okay, really it is Sharon's tree because I am pretty damn sure that Bart had nothing to do with the decorating of it! So, I have many favorite people in my life and these two definitely are at the top of the list with many others (see I cover myself very well!). So, glad that we get to spend so much time with you two in the summer, and don't know what we'd do without being able to stop by on our way home from W'loo when we are thirsty! Oh, and don't forget the awesome roadtrips to Waukon. I think we are taking one o

Well I never get phone calls from Bruce during the day at work usually and on December 17th I got one from him on my cell phone. He said that he cut his thumb pretty bad and had been at Occupational Health and had to see a surgeon at 1:00 that afternoon. So he called me again when he was actually getting admitted to the hospital. The surgeon was in surgery and way behind but they knew that he was going to want to go in and make sure no tendons were injured. Well, I wasn't going to go up and pace the hallways while he sat bored to death in his room, so we decided that I would just stay at home and if he was going to get released that night I would get a ride to the hospital to pick him and the truck up so there wouldn't be a vehicle left there. Yes I had this arranged. Well, after not hearing back from him for hours I called and got the nurse's station on his floor and got more information out of them than Bruce knew. To make a long story short, he had surgery around 8:00 o

Here is a picture of my mother & father-in-law at our family Christmas (and Bruce, Ty, Bart & Louie around them). We used to have a joke gift every year that included a new "sheep"-yes you heard me right SHEEP -and the last few years it was out of circulation. Well actually Tyler picked the box with ALL of the sheep from years past and didn't want to give it up just because. So this year I had done some cleaning in the attic and came up with the box. I asked him if he cared if I added it back in to our gift exchange and he told me it was okay. Well, obviously Jr. got the box (I think he might have even stolen it from someone else) and from the looks of this picture he looks way too thrilled to be opening that up! Look out next year everyone . I think there were almost enough sheep in there to cover us all. Got word from Mom & Dad O. that they arrived safely down south for the winter. May they have a warm, sunny, and healthy winter. We will miss them, but know

So I've been taking a lot of time off from the blogging over the holidays to just spend time with family and do things that I want and needed to around the house. Here is the cut back version of Christmas presents this year at our house. And of course Gizmo would have been the BEST present ever to anyone, but unfortunately she escaped before the present unwrapping occurred. We had a great Christmas and New Year's and I hope that all of our family and friends did also. May 2010 be a much better year for everyone! I will try and get back to posting at least a few times a week for those of you that care and check daily (Rick-:-), and we did have quite a lot going on the past few weeks so I will try and catch all of that up on the blog this week. I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I have decided that I am going to try and make 2010 my best year yet so far, and I have set many goals for myself to be a better person for me and my family in many ways. I hope all of you (