Baby Owen

really?

Has it really been four days since I've posted? Sad! I've been busy- a very good friend of mine lost both parents in a car accident last Friday. The funeral was Wednesday and I just spoke with him today- we're planning a sleep-over with some people from work. He doesn't want to be alone in their big house....understandable. Keep Craig and his family in your prayers if you think about it. Simply heartbreaking.

Nate's parents are in town tonight to celebrate his birthday- (a little late, but everyone has crazy schedules). We're going to O.C.'s at S.P..........see if you lincolnites can figure out the secret code. His family is such a joy to be around, I'm really looking forward to tonight.

And....next weekend is CAMPING!!! Nate, Mike, Chris, Renae and I are headed to Colorado for some outdoor adventures. Should be a lot of fun....I can't wait!

I need to go....must get showered and ready for dinner.

Happy Birthday, Roommate!

Today is my good friend and roommate, Levi's, birthday. He's a whopping 23 years old and Johnny is talking about a keg of Guinness for the celebration. I'm not sure that'll happen- but it does happen to be Levi's favorite beverage (as far as I know) and would be thoroughly enjoyed for weeks. Instead, I think we'll go out for dinner somewhere and have a nice quiet evening. Levi didn't want a lot of fuss.....quite opposite of my expectations on MY birthday! :) In other news, today is my last day of vacation. I go back to work tomorrow- which I'm pretty excited for. It's great to have a break, but I'm ready to get back and see all my friends. I stopped in to check my schedule and stayed to visit with people for about an hour. I'm very fortunate to have great friends at work....

Oh, Megan, this is for you. Here are our plants. They're GROWING!Cam is still afraid of me, therefore I will not be able to take her on walks. John took her yesterday morning AND MOWED THE LAWN! I was so excited...and it looks great. We even remembered to take the trash out without you here! This is going to be a great time of growth for the three of us! HA!

I'm off to find some lunch and take a birthday present over to nate's sister, Emily. Hope everyone is doing well!!!

still eating the muffins

Believe it or not, this morning I still had 1 1/2 muffins from Tuesday. I am currently working on finishing them up because they'll be bad by the time mom and dad get home.

maddie is standing here watching me- I think she's waiting for me to get the hint that she wants to go on a "w"....... and since it IS our last morning together, I think I'd better take her one last time.....because it makes her so happy.

So, I'm off to walk the beast.

A visit from a furry friend

Today I asked Maddie if she wanted her friend, Izzy, to come over and play this afternoon. She said yes- in that secret dog sort of way. So, I called over to the neighbors three houses down and asked if Izzy could come over to play. I met Julie on the sidewalk and Izzy was pulling so hard to get down here that she was crying- in a great "i can't wait to get there" sort of way. She's a black lab- only a couple of years old- very good dog. She and Maddie are having a great time running and exploring together- they even drink water at the same time. Talk about BFF!
In the meantime, i've been going through the garden, checking on everything. It isn't much, but I found some peas and cherry tomatoes that were ready for pickin'. I ate them and shared a few with the neighbor man, Doug, who is out tearing up landscaping stuff- building a new brick walkway.
I love this neighborhood stuff....walking around visiting with everyone, sharing produce, helping pull 2x4's out of the lawn. This makes me excited about one day having a house of my own to take care of and neighbors to love. :)

I went for lunch with a great friend from kindergarten. Mason's just bought a house and has his first job as a high school teacher. It was so fun to catch up.

I also stopped by Lori's house to return a movie. Crystal and the crew's dear mom is such a blessing. She has a moped that she bought to toot around town in and I took it for a spin this afternoon- one of my highlights from this week, for sure!

day 4

I'm wrapping things up today, visiting some final friends and then going back to L-town tomorrow. Nate's company has their annual barbecue tomorrow evening and some of his college friends will be in town as well. It'll be good to get back into the normal swing. Although, it has been really great to be here with Maddie and to visit all of the people I love here.

There is one flower remaining on my vase of stargazers from Nate. It's opening up a lot- will probably wilt tomorrow afternoon.

I had a dream that I had been "promoted" at work and moved out to be the lead in the "Barnes and Noble Gas Station". Strange.

Rented Music and Lyrics last night. Kind of disappointed. I would recommend "Because I Said So", instead. Much better. I also went to "Knocked Up" yesterday with Kristen. You can probably predict the type of movie it is and most likely enjoy it if you're not looking for an academy award. Lots of vulgar language, but it was overall a typical "one of those" movies. Not too bad.

I'm going to eat another one of my fabulous muffins and watch the morning show or the today's show or good morning America.......the possibilities are endless!

Muffin Tops

This morning a good friend of mine and my mother's came over for coffee. I whipped up some blueberry muffins- with HUGE muffin tops. :) Until today, and for the past year or so, the term "muffin top" has come to be a kinder term for "love handles". Little muffin tops that spill over the tops of pants......but today, I was reminded of what the origin of the term- and they tasted mighty fine.

I present to you, the muffin tops (and the muffin bottoms):
Coffee with Kristin was a great blessing- she's a lot of fun. This afternoon she's hosting Bible study at her house for a very small group of women from our church. (maybe 5 or 6 ladies) I'm my mom's stand-in today, as she's still on vacation with my dad and can't make it.

I still haven't found out who left the chair for me. I'm beginning to think that the poor old thing was just weathered and gave out one fateful afternoon. Good thing it was me and not one of my parents. They're not slowing down yet, but my youthful body was probably the best candidate to take the beating on the cement. Came out of it without a scratch. :)

I also mowed the lawn today- something I haven't done in years. Literally. Years. One of our neighbor men was out (not the mean ol' George), and he probably laughed his way through the late morning watching me try to maneuver that mower around all the landscaping and sloping tree roots. Another fun thing I was able to to prior to mowing was pick up Maddie's land mines. Taking care of a house is a lot of work. Watering all the plants, watching the garden, picking up dead birds found in the yard......my goodness! It's a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.

I need to finish getting ready for Bible study. You can count on more posts later. :)

Dirty little trick

See that chair there? Looks comfy, doesn't it? That's what I thought too.....

Until I sat down and found my bum resting on the cement. Someone played a trick on me.
The culprit?

I have three guesses: One of these two.....
This one.....
or this one.....
I'll do some further investigating and let you know what I find out.

For now, safely on a wooden chair,
Heather Lea

Puppy Love

I'm on vacation!!! Well, sort of. My parents are in Virginia for vacation, so I came home to stay with the dog, Maddie, for the week. I'm a sucker for big dogs.....so this is a good place for me to be right now.

Nate came home with me for the weekend to hang out with my folks and others at our family reunion. It was really fun to have him here...for him to see where I'm from and spend time at our home doing what we normally do.

Here's my girl sleeping after our walk around the lake yesterday evening.
I almost got her to stay still long enough for this one....
Then we started the wrestling match.
She was winning at this point.......
I have a feeling I'll be posting quite a bit this week. My "assignment" is to go through my stuff in my old bedroom and get rid of things I don't want or need anymore- which could be quite a lot of it. I may need to take "blogging breaks" if I get too overwhelmed!

all i can do is keep breathing.

Nate brought these stargazers over on Tuesday night before Jazz in June. They're beautiful. My computer camera doesn't do justice, but I think I'm at least improving on my angles with it! :)


Wednesday:Thursday:
They keep getting prettier and prettier. And There are two on top that haven't even opened yet. I'm going to take them home to my parents' house with me. We're headed to a family reunion this weekend and then I'm staying for the week to watch Maddie while they go on vacation with Ray and Ruth.

I've got to get going. I'm working on a birthday present for Mr. Nate. Hope everyone is well!

torrential downpour

We're having a bit of a storm. That bike path that I showed you the other day? This is what it looks like now. Yikes.
My goodness......anyone want to go for a swim?

Levi and I were watching a family of ducks struggling to get everyone out of the water and onto the safe shore. This is crazy. Levi was just about ready to go for a run ON the bike path when it started raining.....would have been pretty funny to see him trudging through knee high water trying to make it home. Ha.

there's one minute of your day

I'm home from a crazy weekend. It was great- wedding rehersal and dinner Friday night in G.I. with Nate and his family, Brownie's wedding Saturday in Sioux Falls, and a birthday bash for my good friend, Leslie Sunday evening in Lincoln. Lots of running around, lots of people I care about a lot. I'm tired, but happy.

I'm off for now. Hope everyone is well.