This is a picture of my aunt Sandy and me. She is my mom's sister. For years people have been telling me that I look just like her. I think maybe we do....It is funny that we look alike because I have aways tried to model myself after her as I grew up. She has always been so independent and strong. I don't know if I did very good but I keep on trying :)
The pictures were taken on my phone, I not sure why they turned out so fuzzy, I think maybe the phone was not held steady.

Today we leave for Vegas! I am super excited to be going. After a stressfully week last week it will be nice to just have fun and relax. We were going to leave early tomorrow morning but we decided to leave tonight so we can take our time and spend a little more time in the Grand Canyon. I am excited to see it since I never have. One more thing I can take off my Bucket List!

Today I am watching Oliver because Christa is having her wisdom teeth cut out. She was so worried about it that it made me laugh. All three of the girls are such dentist babies. They did not get that from me since I have had enough dental work done for all three of them!

Dexter is at the vet today getting groomed and then he and Morgan are going to Amy's house while we are gone. I hope Dexter behaves himself, he as been very feisty lately! Hooker dog!

Well Oliver is up from his nap so I better go get him.

Later Sharon

Today we said goodbye....

                                                     "Who was Clarence Trenda"

Clarence was a loving husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great grandfather.

He was born and raised on a farm in North Dakota. At the young age of 20 he went to visit a cousin in MN and met his wife to be, Albina, at a dance. Who would have know that they would be blessed with 74 years of a beautiful marriage.

Through those years he had many trial and tribulations.

At age 80 he had a cardiac arrest but was politely told by the Bishop that heaven's doors were not open on Sundays. And so he remained with us another 15 years.

When he was 90 he was very sick and in the hospital but managed to pull through with flying colors.

He was in the hospital 3 times within the last year but managed to be able to return to Three Links each time. As his daughter said " he's just like the energizer bunny," he keeps going and going...

Clarence was a very hard worker and made sure that his children learned to be hard workers as well. Even though his first four children were girls they were taught to work the fields, bale hay and milk cows. He also spent a lot of time with Albina in the gardens they had and took great pride in selling the vegetables at the farmers market in Northfield.

Besides his hard work Clarence and Albina enjoyed traveling. they were able to visit many countries, went on a few cruises and also did some gambling at the casinos. Clarence also enjoyed going to the horse races.

Besides his hard work and entertainment he was very strong in his faith and made sure his children were also raised with a strong faith.

He leaves a legacy of his extended family to follow and will be missed greatly.


Goodbye Grandpa

This is my space.....

              This is what my sewing room looked like before I got started with my remodel, also notice the chair because I did a little remodeling on that too....

              The room had  ugly dark paneling on one wall

                  This was the big wall before I did anything to it

                                 Another shot of the paneled wall

         This is the after! The panel wall is now painted white and the chair is now painted to match the room

       This is a shot of the big wall. The ceiling panels are messed up because we are putting another light  in.

      I painted all the doors and we got some baseboards and I painted up. Rick put it on for me. On the wall is part of my sad iron trivet collection.

 Here is my sewing cabinet. I wish I had taken a picture of it before. It is just a junk cabinet that was not worth anything. Since I could not afford to have the sewing cabinet of dreams made I decided that I would just paint the one I had. I think it turned out good.

 I got the thread holder the day after Thanksgiving for half price. This is what started me wanting to fix up my sewing room. I just could not hang it up until I had the room looking nice.

 I found this old advertisement a long time ago when I was going through some old magazines. It was in a bridal magazine that my Mom had from when she got married. The hooks and eyes and needles I have had forever, they came in a box of old sewing stuff that come from an auction. The other things are mini trivets

 I love this shelf! It came out of Rick's Dad's garage. When his Mom moved out of the house we were looking around the garage I saw it. It was covered it dirt and had at one time been painted white. I took one look at it and knew I had to have it. It is perfect for all of my sad irons. I have been collecting them for a long time and it nice to be able to display them.

I had these frames so I painted them up to match the room. I am going to put some vintage sewing patterns in them. I could not bring myself to paint the the chair that I use when I sew since it is a real antique.

I am so happy to finally have my sewing room almost done. The only thing left to do is to get some shades for the window and Rick needs to install one more light for me. I think it turned out very good. The room was so dark and does not get hardly any natural light since the window is under the deck. I wanted it to be bright so I pick out  some fun bright colors. I love antiques and was happy that I was able to display some of them in my room. I now have a room that I am going to be excited to use when I am sewing.  I guess I will need to start a new sewing project now!

Later Sharon

Painting, sewing class, pizza and HEAD LICE!!!

Josie wanted to wear a summer dress so she put a shirt under it, in a 3 year old's eyes they match because they both have flowers on....

                                              Sewing class at the Jensen house

                                              Learning how to cut out a pattern

                                                                 Cassie's finished skirt

So on Friday Amy calls me in a total panic. She was pretty much hyperventilating on the phone. She said Liam had a letter in his school folder that said head lice was going around school and to check your children for it. Well this set Amy into a panic, she was sure she had it because her head was itching like crazy. She wanted me to check her head for it, she said she was on her way to my house! So like a good mommy I checked her head as she panicked even more. It was pretty funny, her neck was breaking out in hives as I was checking her because she was in such a panic. She  DOES NOT have head lice! She was all panicked for nothing. If nothing else I got a good laugh for the day.

Thursday and Friday I pretty much spent the day in the basement painting. I got the first and second coats on all the trim and the first on the doors on Thursday. Friday I finished up the doors and got two coats of paint on the walls. I really like it, it is so much brighter now. I had hoped to get at least the primer on the sewing cabinet but I ran out of time. I did manage get it moved back into the room and get all the handles taken off if it. Hopefully I will find time to get it painted this week.

Saturday I went up to Cassie's house to give a little sewing class to Cassie and a couple of her friends. They had decided that they wanted to make a simple skirt so they got all there supplies and we were off. I taught them how to cut out a pattern and how to read it and then helped them all sew it. They all did good and I think they all had fun. The skirts all turned out nice and even fit them all :) I think next time we will work on how to put in a zipper and buttonholes. 

Once sewing class was done Linda met Cassie and I and we went up to Minneapolis. I had gotten a deal on Living Social for glasses at EyesWear  It is a little shop in Minneapolis that just sells the glasses, they do not do eye exams there. Anyhow the deal was for $9.00 I could get up to $310. on glasses frames. So I figured it was worth going up to take a look. I ended up getting a $250 frame for $9.00. It was a good deal. My glasses with the lenses were $336. Since my glasses two years ago cost almost $500. I decided it was worth the drive. Hopefully they will be in before we go to Vegas. He said that they are usually done within two weeks but they were very busy with the Living Social deal so it might be a few days longer.

After we got my glasses Cassie, Linda and I went to Pizzeria Lola for supper. Linda had heard about it on some food TV show and wanted to try it out. Well we got there and it was packed, they said it was going to be an hour and half wait! So we decided to get take out since that only took 20 minutes. We got our pizza and ate it at Cassie's house. It was very good. I would like to go back sometime when it is not so busy and actually eat at the restaurant.

Sunday Amy, Christa and Cassie and I did a little shopping. The girls had some gift cards from Christmas that they wanted to use and I wanted to get a few clothes for Vegas. We managed to get a lot of shopping done in just a few stops. Christa was excited because Cassie had found a new yarn shop for us to stop at. They had some beautiful yarns. Christa and Cassie might even take a knitting class at it.

While I was gone Rick got all the trim put up on the sewing room. I was so happy that he was able to get it done since he had thought he was going to be gone all day but his plans got changed.

I am still fighting off  a cold. I am just congested and don't feel 100%. I  had zero energy last night when I got home. This morning I still feel like crap but I am sure I will survive.

Later Sharon    

Betrayed.....

I am so sad and feel so betrayed by Lance Armstrong. He was one of my hero's. It was because of him that I fell in love with biking. I bought his books and thought of him as this great man that came back from near death to win the tour de france 7 times. I always believed in him when he said that he did not dope. Over and over people said he was doing it and I always  believed him when he said over and over again that he did not do it. Now he has come out and told us all that it was a lie.....he did dope and he did lie to us all.  I watched his interview on Oprah the last two night and the whole time it just made me so sad. He has betrayed his family, his fans and most of all the Livestrong foundation. He did so much good for the Livestrong foundation, raising so much money and helping so many people. When you think of those yellow bracelets you think of Lance Armstrong. I feel sorry for the foundation and hope that people can separate them from Lance Armstrong and still support them. I hope that Lance Armstrong really does learn how to be a better person and really is telling the truth now.  I think he has hit bottom and now is his chance to do good.....I hope he will. I want to believe again.......


Later
Sharon

“When you think things are bad, when you feel sour and blue, when you start to get mad... you should do what I do! Just tell yourself, Duckie, you're really quite lucky! Some people are much more... oh, ever so much more... oh, muchly much-much more unlucky than you!” ― Dr. Seuss

Not really a great picture but since I don't have any other pictures  to put up today I thought I would share this one. It was taken at my Aunt Monie and Uncle Joe's 50th wedding anniversary party last Sunday.I guess I should also say that it is a picture of my Mom, Dad and sisters.

Last Thursday my ear decided to betray me again and block up with wax. It so sucks not being able to hear. I did as the doctor tells me to do and put hydrogen peroxide in it to try and get the wax soft so it will come out. Well by Sunday it was getting way worse and not coming out at all. I had Amy come over and try and wash it out with the bulb ear cleaner thing I got at Walmart. No luck again. Amy said I had to get the Elephant Ear Washer since that is what the doctors use and it has way more pressure to get the wax out of the ear. So I went on Amazon and found it and ordered it up.

I know it sure does not look like much for what it cost me! But let me tell you it was worth every cent of the $25.00 it cost! As soon as I got home from work yesterday I went to Amy's house and had her use it. I am  happy to report that I can hear again!!!! Amy is like my hero now! Josie wanted to know what was in my ear that was plugging it up so I told her I had pumpkin seeds growing in it. It was pretty funny she was pretty concerned about it. Josie and Eli watched the whole time Amy was working on it. When I was all done I had Josie look in my ear and she was happy to report that all the pumpkin seeds that were growing in my ears were now gone. It was cute.
Eli was so happy to see me. He could not stop hugging me, he is so cute :)

After I left Amy's house I had league. I am happy with my new bow. Last week my wrist get very sore from shooting because of how I was holding the bow. So Rick put a rubber grip on it and this week my wrist did not get sore at all. I was happy with how I shot last night, it was fun.

Today is my last day of work for four days. I am excited to have the weekend off again. I am going to the eye doctor on Thursday and then I should have the rest of the day and all day Friday to paint and work on getting my sewing room completed. Hopefully I can get a lot of it done. I am going to be busy Saturday and Sunday. Saturday I am giving a basic sewing class for Cassie and two of her friends. It should be interesting.....Sunday Cassie, Amy, Christa and I are going to do a little shopping. I HAVE to get a few new clothes for Vegas :)

That's it for today

Later Sharon 

Just one more thing.....

So I have all these vertical ridges/lines on my fingernails. Since I always hear that how your fingernails look can be a sign of sickness and since I love to internet doctor I figured I better look it up. Well I found out that those ridges are a sign of aging! Gosh just one more thing to look forward to as I get older....ugly fingernails :)

 Last night when I got home from work Rick and I went cross country skiing. We went out to Courthouse park just south of Waseca. It is a very nice park and although they don't groom the trail they are in pretty good shape considering how little snow we had. Since we did not get out there until 5:00 and it was dark out by then we did not go to far. There is a huge hill that we usually go down but I did not want to try it in the dark so it will have to wait till next time. It was fun to ski in the dark but I don't think I would like it if we did not know where we were going. I don't think that we skied at all last year so it was fun to get out again. Hopefully we get some more snow so we get to go out again.

I have been trying to pick out paint colors for my sewing room. I want something that is brighter then what is in there now since it is a basement room without much natural light. Also there is a paneled wall that I am going to paint-it is so ugly now, it is a dark, dark brown. I hate paneling! I hope to get some paint and get going on it on my days off. I don't have anything big planned on any of my days off so I should be able to get at least some of it done. I am going to paint my sewing machine cabinet too to brighten it up.  I have a bunch of ideas on what I am going to put on the walls for decorations. I am excited to get it done and make it a room I want to be in. Maybe when it is done I will do even more sewing :)

So that is it not to exciting but I figured I better update for the week....
Later Sharon