Ho, Ho, Ho...

Wishing a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my sisters, near and far away!
Hope is GRAND.
Lois

Mary Lou's Summer Vacation!!!

Dennis and I took a trip to South Dakota with my sister, Jane and her husband, Tony. We had a great time. Here are of couple of pictures of what we saw. We saw, Devil's Tower, Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park and the Badlands. We ate lunch at Wall Drug and also, stopped to see the Corn Palace. Here are a couple of pictures.

Cindy at Niagara Falls Canada

Convention 2007 - North to Alaska!

Sister's of Summer Potluck Mixer

We will be having our summer social (pool party)at Aggie's house on August 18th. The invitations are in the mail with all the details and everyone should receive them in a day or two.

Also enclosed in the envelope is the invitation to Beginning Day and all the details for that too.

We all have had a very busy summer so far, I know that we have been VERY BUSY. I think that we all deserve a little R&R for ourselves for a change.
Well try to stay cool and don't think about your electric meter spinning like a top because the air is going. Ha.

See you all soon.
Lois

Movie Night with the Sisters

Great Pizza! This is the Draggo. We highly recommend it!
We had dinner at The Cellar, then saw "Licensed to Wed" with Robin Williams. Dessert at Steak-n-Shake. Good evening.

Lois?

New Baby Ahlberg

Joseph Michael Ahlberg arrived at 1:08 AM on Thursday July 12, 2007.

He weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz. and was 20 inches long. He looks just like big brother Jacob.

Karan

Movie Night July 17, 2007

Greetings Sisters! Just a reminder our Movie Night is July 17 beginning at 5:00 at the Cellar. Doesn't that pizza look delicious? Oh, I can smell it!

Keep cool, Cindy

Just fooling around...

Rememberace of our Sister

We Will Miss You Julia!!

As our hearts break at the loss of our Wonderful Sister and Friend, we also know that she is our Guardian Angel now.

She will be watching over us to make sure that we enjoy every minute of our lives and family.

That we remember to laugh a lot and have fun, to do fun and goofy programs, get homemade treats from Hy-Vee, that any secret sister gift can be made if you have glue and that being "Queen" is the best.

But the most important thing that I will always remember is to "Have the Courage to stay strong and positive when life gets you down" and to
"Never Give Up"!

Wishing you comfort.
Lois

Summer Book Club Selection

The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family.

The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered.

The Glass Castle is truly astonishing -- a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar, but loyal, family. Jeannette Walls has a story to tell, and tells it brilliantly, without an ounce of self-pity.

Sisters, you're gonna love this book. I've finished it and it was fantastic! I bought my copy at Target for about twelve bucks. It's also available at Amazon for nine dollars. This is a great book for the beach. Now just to find a beach...Lake Storey? Nah, I'd prefer Daytona!

Have a great summer, Cindy

Sit, Relax, Enjoy Your Life

Occasionally, we need to set aside some "me time". Take a few minutes, an hour, whatever and reflect. I like to go to my favorite coffee shop and sit, relax and just daydream. I found the following on the 'net this week. It's from the magazine, Body & Soul. It really made me think. Feel free to print it off and put it on your fridge. It's a keeper.

Ten Thoughts on Whole Living

1. Your home is more than the sum of its walls. Make it a sacred space.
2. Creativity is a lifestyle, not simply an activity. Let is expand you.
3. True forgiveness springs from love, not regret.
4. Learn something new. Emphasize the trying, not the succeeding.
5. Spend some time in the dirt. You'll be amazed at what nature can inspire.
6. You don't have to have a perfect body to feel great in it.
7. Define yourself by who you are, not the roles you play.
8. Find rejuvenation in five minutes of silence.
9. Contribute to abundance. If you no longer need something, pass it on.
10. Find direction in your life by looking where you want to go, not where you don't.

Have a good week,
Cindy

Founder's Day Dinner

We ladies we pulled it off!!

Other than a few snags things went pretty well that day. We had a lot of good comments and that was good to hear. The cakes were a big hit, especially the raspberry one.

There is one thing that we did not get that day and that is OUR chapter's group photo. All of the dinner photos are posted now on our web site.

The only thing that is depressing about Founder's Day is that is means our year is almost up and our summer chores are upon us. Ha. But we have our summer socials to look forward to and of course that involves more eating. Ha.

See Ya soon

Lois

Happy Easter Peeps!

Best flavor in 2008! They never get old!



Peeps on the Barbie - this is so, so, bad; don't tell Karan!



The Evolution of Peeps

Oh Baby! It's 1970 again!

You know you're a child of the 70's if...

• You wore that rainbow shirt that was half-sleeves, and the rainbow went up one sleeve, across your chest, and down the other.

• You made baby chocolate cakes in your Easy Bake Oven. You washed them down with snow cones from your Snoopy Snow Cone Machine.

• You owned a bicycle with a banana seat and a basket. You even owned roller skates with metal wheels.

• You thought Gopher from Love Boat was cute.

• You had either a "bowl cut" or a "pixie", not to mention the "Dorothy Hamill" because your mom was sick of braiding your hair.

• You wore a poncho, gauchos, and knickers.

• You begged Santa for the electronic game, Simon.

• You had the Donnie and Marie dolls with those pink and purple shredded outfits.

• You had homemade ribbon barrettes in every imaginable color.

• You even had a pair of Doctor Scholl's sandals (the ones with hard sole & the buckle).

• You wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder really bad; you wore that Little House on the Prairie-inspired plaid, ruffle shirt with the high neck in at least one school picture; and you despised Nellie Olson!

• Your hairstyle was described as having "wings" and you kept it "pretty" with the comb you kept in your back pocket.

• You and Your girlfriends would fight over which of the Dukes of Hazzard was your boyfriend.

• Every now and then "It's A Hard Knock Life" from the movie, "Annie" will pop into Your brain and you can't stop singing it the whole day.

• You had Star Wars action figures and you made Shrinky-Dinks too!

• You even asked Your Magic-8 Ball the question: "Who will I marry...David Cassidy, Bobby Sherman, or Rick Springfield?"

• You completely wore out your Partridge Family, The Monkees, and Carole King albums.

• You used to tape record songs off the radio by holding your portable tape recorder up to the speaker.

• You thought Olivia Newton John's song, "Physical" was about aerobics.

• You wanted to be a Solid Gold dancer.

• You had subscriptions to Dynamite and TigerBeat.

It's Time To Vote!

The time is upon us to vote for "Girl of the Year". Do you know who you will vote for? We will be voting at the next meeting on March 8th, so get your thinking caps on.

Until then keep warm..

Lois

February Service Project

Just a reminder - Don't forget to bring 2 dozen cookies for the Red Cross Thursday night. I made my famous (?) cream cheese spritzes with pink and green sugars. Spring is on it's way! Don't you just love this weather? Anyway, we'll be meeting at Elaine's home about 7:00 p.m.

I'll see all of you soon!

Cindy Andrews

Time

Time can be an enemy, yet sometimes be a friend.

There is a time that we all grow, and then a time we mend.

Time that seems to make us late, can sometimes make us cry.

There is a time we call our life, and then the time we die.

Time is used to measure days, we spend here on this Earth.

It helps divide the times in life, and re-calls all from birth.

It is a constant from this world, and then it fades away.

Taking all within its grasp, and making a new day.

Time it seems can measure space, and all ones distant travels.

It rushes us throughout our lives, and then delays arrival.

There's always time for disappointment, and appointed time.

But time that's somehow wasted, seems such an awful crime.

Time can not be bottled, nor packaged in a bag.

But when it's managed wisely, time seems not to lag.

This timely realization, sometimes is not remembered.

Events that seem so timely, though cherished may be squandered.

And now you have, your space in time, for all that it is worth.

To you it seems, a grand old time, your life upon the Earth.

But you will see, that time flys by, and empties your lifes cup.

So make it count, this thing called time, before it's all used up.

- Author Unknown

*For those of you who haven't heard, Karan's best friend, Peggy Martin died early Tuesday morning at St. Mary Medical Center. Please keep Karan in your prayers.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Candy! Candy! Candy!

Enjoy the day girls!

"The New Queen"

I would like to present to you the new

Preceptor Mu Tau Queen "Carole Batterton".

Faye crowned our new queen just before our dinners came and as you can see Carole was quite surprised!!

The evening was a lot of fun with GOOD company and LOTS of laughs!!!

But our meals were a different story. It was VERY dissappointing. Almost everyone's dinners were barley warm, the bake poataoes weren't even hot enough to melt butter and weren't all the way done. Del, Russ and Kim all got Prime Rib steaks, the waitress gave Russ and Del the wrong steaks at first, then she ended up giving Kim & Russ the wrong steaks. She ordered the 8oz. and was given Russ's 12oz. and it wasn't noticed until it was too late.

We politely complained to the waitress, no management personnell came out to talk with us, nor was anything adjusted on our bill except for changing the charge on Kim's ticket to the larger steak. The waitress even asked Russ if he wanted her to get him the other 4oz's of meat that he didn't get. Can you believe that?

So for those who were not able to attend, you only missed out on the good company and lots of laughs and be thankful that you missed the meal. The coffee was good though!!Ha. Ha.

Until next time;

Lois

My New Look

Yhoo Sisters... What's up? Some of you may not know but I am VERY particular about my hair. I have talked a blue streak about getting a different hair style, but when ever I would get to the salon I would chicken out every time and come home with the same simple trim up. Well I finally did it. I finally got some guts and got a new hair CUT. Ha. I got about 3-4 inches cut off and put some layer in to help it have more body and fullness. I LOVE It!! I has been very easy to style in the AM when I am running late for work. Ha. (had to put that in there). The pictures aren't that greatest, but I took them myself with my phone camera. Just wanted to share my new look.

See you at the meeting.

Lois

My Weekend

Hello sistahs! As you can see, Mom and I are already on the Presidential campaign trail for 2008. We went to Davenport, Iowa, Sunday morning and met Senator Hillary Clinton. What an experience! I'll give you all the details at our next meeting.

In the meantime, bundle up and stay warm. Cindy Andrews

Book Club

Mary Lou's current book club picks. Books may be purchased through Amazon.com. A link is posted to the right of the screen for your convenience.

"75 Year Flash Back To Black & White"

It's black & white night at Julia's House on Thursday, January 25th at 6:00p.m. You're attire is to be black & white. The movie will be in black & white. And yes, our treats will be black & white! Delicious, hot, buttery popcorn will be served.

We will have a short business meeting before the movie. The scheduled program is "My Sister, My Friend" by Julia.

Welcome!

Hello sisters!

This is our first post to our blog. I'll be unveiling it soon!

Cindy