2014 Recap and Reflections July - December

July 6th is Jess's birthday. We spent it quietly. Work on the deck was progressing. Our 4th of July was also a quiet one. 

I photographed a splendid sunrise on July 18th We got red and pink blossom hibiscus plants which I planted in our back yard. 

My summertime walks were fabulous. I love our neighborhood, a mix of residential, farmland and a nature trail.

It is a favorite pass time of mine to go to Faces Plus Salon and Day Spa in Kansas City to have my hair cut and styled by Vall Villa.

August was a delightful month. Jason, Noi, Drake and Perresa came from St. Cloud, MN to visit us. We visited, played games, ate wonderful meals, went to Jesse James Farm and visited with Heather, Chris, LaKai and Kevin while Jason and family were here.

The deck was looking better and better. 

The farmland photo of 8 11 2014 was taken not far from our home.

September involved Jess painting the deck, work progressing on the bay window area, we planted iris, hyacinth and daffodil bulbs and Jess poured a cement retaining wall at the west end of our big garden spot in the front yard. We are excited to see what sprouts in the spring.

One of the fascinating aspects of living in our neighborhood is that we often see cows grazing in the field not from from our home. They are there in the spring and late fall and possibly in the winter. I believe they graze elsewhere in the summertime.

A bigger view of our wonderful mural.

On October 6th Jess and I went to pick up our mural that Holly painted for us of the view from an Italian seaside eatery. She did a fantastic job on it. Jess and I love it very much. It brightens our everyday.

It was LaKai's birthday. Jess and I went to her family's home to wish her a happy birthday. I enjoyed that very much.

The KC Royals made it to the world series games. It was so exciting. Good job Royals.

My autumn walks were glorious with such bright colors, fresh smells and crispy leaves to walk on.

Kevin and Jeremy, his friend, came to see us on the 30th of October. A few days later they were off to Colorado Springs, CO. I so glad that we got to visit with them before they left.

 

November 9th was Jess and my 22nd wedding anniversary. We celebrated on the 10th by going to the Kansas City Zoo and had a great time there. They had added several exhibits since we were there last. Loved the polar bear, penguin and sea lion exhibits. It was also awesome to stand next to the Kangaroos while they were spending time out of there enclosure.

I brought the hibiscus plants indoors for the winter. I cleaned them off, gave them water spritzing baths, took off dying and dead leave, did pruning on one of the plants and gave them Miracle Grow. They tend to go in shock when transplanted, which they were from the ground to a large pot. Since they have recovered some they are both blooming again. 

On Thanksgiving Chris, Heather and LaKai came over for dinner and to visit. We had a good time.

 

This December 6th I had a delightful time decorating for Christmas this year. It was wonderful having a fireplace to decorate. We also got some colored lights to put on the mantel. I discovered some interesting reflections with the Christmas lights on the wall. They were so beautiful.

On the 17th we had about 3 inches of snow fall.

On Dec. 27th Mary, her daughters Krista and Kezia and her son Jay came to party with us. They are all so much fun.

On Dec. 28th Heather and LaKai came over. Chris was not feeling well. I love having family and friends coming to visit.

Yes Jess and I have had a year full of changes. Most of them have been good changes. We didn't think it would be possible for us to start owning a home at this stage of our lives. We are so thankful for this opportunity.

 A May 25, 2014 photo of our home.

 HAPPIEST OF NEW YEARS TO EACH OF YOU. MAY YOU SEE HOW WONDERFUL YOU ARE.

 

2014 Recap and Reflections January to June

 2014 has been a year full of many changes for Jess and me. As January rolled in we had been on a quest, for about 3 weeks, to find a home to buy. Our search really kicked into high gear starting on New Year's Day when we were in Tonganoxie, KS. While there we decided to check out the homes for sale. We saw many Reece Nichols for sale signs. The homes in Tongie were too expensive for us but when looking at the Reece Nichols web site, on Jan 1st, Jess saw a home at 104 Fine St. in Excelsior Springs, MO. There was a box to check if you wanted to have and agent show you the home. On Jan. 2nd Jim Beaty called us and showed us the house.

We were able to enjoy the views from our 6th floor apt. at the Northtown Lofts through February and into the first two weeks of March. I loved watching the Sochi Olympics. It is always a pleasure to go to Faces Plus Plus Salon and Day Spa to have Vall Villa cut and style my hair. 

We wanted to buy the house of Fine St. if the price was right. The price was lowered. Through Jim's help we made an offer on Feb. 17th.. We then found out some else wanted to submit and offer too. That made things tricky for a day or two. We made a 2nd offer and it was excepted. The home was a foreclosure and needed a furnace and air conditioner. It also needs TLC. The home was built in 1973. It has good bones. We closed on Feb. 27th. YiPPy!!!

 March was moving time again. We had moved into the Loft's from the home we rented for 7+ years on 23rd Ave. in NKC exactly a year ago on the 15th of March 2013. We used the Dodge dually truck and Buffalo Bob truck to move our belongings to the Fine St. house on the 15th of March.

This is Buffalo Bob. 

This is our Dodge dually.

 

Between closing and moving in we took up the very old, stained, smelly carpet, the new furnace and AC was installed.We took out a section of kitchen cupboards so the fridge would fit. Jess took out the thorny bushes at the entryway.

Before moving I enjoyed going to the movie with Heather and LaKai on March 9th. On March 26th Mary, Jess's sister and Kezia, Mary's Daughter came to visit and see our home. We had lots of fun.

It was interesting for me to live in a historic building, The Northland Lofts, NKC, MO. The building was built in 1912. Jess didn't care for living there so much. There were challenges to living in an apartment with smoke detectors going off in an apt. and an alarm going off in all apts. All were to leave their unit and go outside until the fire dept. personnel check things out. There were the numerous inspections to get ready for. There was the noise and cigarette smoke from the hallways. There was striving to keep our music etc. down as to not get written up. There was using their pay laundry facilities. I enjoyed talking with residents and staff. Both Jess and I loved the newly painted and updated apt. we had. We also loved the view.

 

The 1st of April Jess took down the cracked mirror and the wall paper that was under it in our dinning room. 

For an early birthday celebration for me Jess, Phil and I went to the movie on April 6. 

Jess worked hard getting the texture off of the entryway walls. He then patched, sanded and painted primer paint on them.

We pulled out the old diseased shrubs and planted tulips. I loved working in a garden area again.

 May 5 Jess finished putting primer paint on the wall where the mirror had been, after patching and sanding it.

 Spring walks were very enjoyable. I mowed the back yard for the 1st time. It is a lot of space to mow. I love mowing though.

I made a book for Seth's 1st birthday. I also made him a scruffy doll. I enjoyed using my creativity and making these items with love for Seth. I got the idea for these from Pinterest.

  

In June Jess worked on the bay window area and the deck. He put new sheet rock up, sanding, taping the seams and putting joint compound on, after cleaning out all the debris (wasps and bird nests) that had found there way into the nooks and crannies of the wall. On the deck he was taking out the vertical boards on the railing to refigure the spacing, putting them closer. He added new boards where needed. I worked on weeding the front yard.

We enjoyed the squirrels and sparrows. Eventually, when we couldn't hear any baby birds in the nests, Jess took out all the old nests in the awning. We decided it would be better for them not to nest in the awning.

We had four squirrel frolicking in our front yard and trees. They were fun to watch.

We have beautiful sunsets here in Excelsior Springs.

 

 

What I am Hungry For Part 1

One of my greatest passions is birds. It makes my day to see and hear 

Cardinals, Doves, Orioles,

 Robins

 Sparrows

 Hummingbirds

and our own finches (Societies and Zebras). 

So I hunger to be around birds. They warm my heart.

I also love to decorate with a bird theme. Thanks to Mary Ann Carter for the Welcome Sign with a bird on it and for the bird painting.

Some of the Places I've Lived Part 3

"Some of the places I've lived" continued. As I left off in Part 2 Hans, the children and I were moving from Ontario, CA back to Ogden, UT. in April 1992. When we reached Ogden Hans and some of the children stayed at his parents' home. The other children and I stayed at Hans' sister Renate's. By June Hans' dad and mom had purchased a home on 29th St. for the children and I to rent. That was beyond sweet. Hans and I were still just friends in my mind. I tried to communicate that to his parents.

In July 1992 I got a job as receptionist/secretary at Weber Community Health Center. I could walk to work and worked with some very nice people. I held that job until Sept. 1993. 

In August I re-met Jess Ware at a church dance. We new each other from being in the Institute Choral together at Weber State College in 1969. We had a great connection after our second meeting at another dance, 2 weeks after the first. We saw each other almost every day. We fell in love and married on Nov. 9, 1992. Jess has 4 children: Julia was 19 years old, Monica was 16, Rusty was 14 and Jeremy was 10. Julia was engaged to be married and lived at Aaron's house with Jess. The other children lived with their mother in Centerville, UT.

Before we were married Jess and I found a home for us to rent in Sunset, UT. While we lived in Sunset we had some family trips. We went to Genola, UT Jess' sister Patty's dairy farm near Utah Lake May 1993. We met Julia there. We went to Capitol Reef Natl. Forest in Utah while traveling to see my mom Alice in St. George July 1993, UT. We lived in Sunset from Sept. 1992 until Sept 1993 when we moved to West Valley City, near SLC to be closer to Jess' work. September 1993 was also when I quit my job at the health center because we were moving.

I remember our entire family being interviewed by the owner before we were selected to rent the West Valley Home in Sept. 1993. While living in West Valley I was a Girl Scout Leader. I really enjoyed that. Heather was in my troop. We lived in West Valley City until July of 1994. Jess had been laid off from his job. The owner of the house didn't want to work with us so we moved.

Our next residence was 5599 Le Chateau, Kearns, UT, Jess's good bachelor friend Aaron's home. While living at Aaron's our family was split. Jason and Bryan lived with their father in Ogden. Heather, Kevin, Shane, Jess and I lived with Aaron, soon followed by Tammy and Jeremy. Every other weekend Aaron's home was full. Nine Children would converge for weekend fun. Aaron was very patient. He's such a kind man. During the time we lived at Aaron's Jeff died in Aug. or Sept. 1995. Jess, Heather, Kevin, Jeremy and I went to visit Jeff's mom Marge in Anaheim CA so she and Heather and Kevin could have some healing together. We went up the California coast to visit with Jess's Aunt Erma in Medford Oregon.

In May of June 1997 Jess went to his sister Mary's in Topeka, KS to look for work. He found a job and came back to get us in August 1997. Jess, Jeremy, Bryan, Heather, Kevin and I were bound for Kansas. Tammy went on to live in an apartment with room-mates when she began attending community college. Shane had friends to stay with. Jason also had reason's for staying in Utah. I feel good that this time they each had a choice. We lived at 6799 SW Fieldwood Dr., Topeka from Aug 1997 - July 1999. In May 1998 Jess, the kids and I went to Dallas, TX to visit Jess' brother Richard and his family. While living on Fieldwood Jess changed jobs. He was working in Lawrence, KS but took a job in Lenexa, KS. So he had a long commute. We decided to find a house in Lawrence to rent. We did and moved from Topeka to Lawrence in July of 1999.

During this time of moving Aug. 1999 Bryan, Heather, Kevin and I took a trip to Virginia to visit Tammy who was a nanny there. We had a very good time in. Kudo's to Jess for carrying on moving without our help. He had a lovely lily plant for me as a welcome home gift. We lived in Lawrence for over six years. During that time Bryan, Heather and Kevin graduated from high school. (Jeremy had moved back to Utah in the Spring of 1999). Jess and I went to Mammoth Caves and Warner Robins, GA in July 2002, Hutchinson, Ks and Oklahoma City, OK Feb. 2004 Madison WI and Lake Michigan June 2004. There were the trips to Utah; to Ogden for Jason's HS Graduation June 1999, to Ogden and SLC for Jeremy's High School Graduation then onto St. George to visit my mom June 2001, to Ogden and Provo for the Ware Family Reunion in June 2005. Jess was laid off his job in Lenexa in late Sept. 2004 the company was being dissolved and shut it's doors for good in the summer of 2005. In Sept. 1999 I started working for the Lawrence School District at Prairie Park Elementary School which was within walking distance of our Bonanza St. home. I was trained and worked in Special Education teaching children with autism. I held that position until Nov. 2005.

Returning to Utah seemed the best choice for us at the time. Jess, James (Jess's brother who had lived with us since Dec. 2000), and I moved to West Jordan, UT and lived with Jeremy and his wife Raysha, Devan and and in Jan. 2006 Daric. In November 2005 we again packed up a U-Haul Truck and off we went. Heather and Kevin had their activities pretty setup in Lawrence. While in Utah it was nice seeing and hanging out with our kids and their families. In Dec. 2005 I started training and was later hired at ADP working as a telephone customer service rep. helping people with their medical flexible spending accounts. That job lasted until April. In Aug. 2006 Jess and I headed to the mid-west again. Jess was coming up empty in SLC when it came to getting work. We are so thankful for Raysha and Jeremy letting us live there. However, it was time to search for work elsewhere.

When we first got back to Topeka we stayed with friends Gary and his adult son Chris. Their place was not far from the house we lived in on Fieldwood Dr. Jess did get a job and we moved into a rental home in North Kansas City. Jess would get to work in 15 minutes.  I didn't go back to work until Sept. 2007. At that time I worked for the North Kansas City School District as a Paraeducator in SPED at Ravenwood Elementary again helping children with special needs. I loved it. I worked this job until my unexpected retirement on Feb. 11, 2013. On a retirement Social Security income would not sustain us living on 23rd Ave. We needed to reduce our utility payments and rent. We looked at apartments in the Northland Lofts and found one that we loved. We moved from our NKC home to the lofts in March 2013.

Our apartment was on the 6th floor. Our 7 large windows faced the east. We had a beautiful view. The loft staff were nice and helpful. We managed to downsize quite a bit before moving. I got some beautiful photos of sunrises, storms, seasons. We seemed to have 4 or 5 notices to get ready for inspections. We had one inspection. The last six months we lived at the lofts someone on our floor was very discourteous about their cigarette smoking and it would waft into our unit. It was not pleasant. They raised the rent on us by $10 that coupled with other things we decided to look into other residential possibilities. Jess came across some information that got his curiosity peeked about looking for a house to buy. That is what we did in Dec. 2013. By the end of February we had contracted to buy a home in Excesior Springs, MO thanks to the excellent work of our wonderful real estate agent Jim Beaty with Reece-Nichols in Kearney. We moved out of the lofts in Mid-March 2014 and into the Fine St. house.

 We love living in a home again extra-specially a home we are buying. It is a split-entry home built in 1973. The renovation are coming along slowly. What we have done already, particularly Jess, has made a big, positive difference.

This ends my posts about places I've lived. I wanted to add
relationships, employment and travels to help the reader have a
greater understanding of how each of the places I've lived has
influenced my life. I have omitted some of the places I've
lived. I didn't mention all the places I've worked. Thanks for viewing my posts.

Some of the Places I've Lived Part 2

Places I’ve Lived 2

"Some of the places I've lived" continued. In the summer of 1969 I began working at Farr’s Ice Cream, working in the plant, sacking product, doing assembly line work, separating the yokes from the whites of the eggs, pealing peaches and other tasks. I worked 3 summers and 1 winter at Farr’s until August 1971. After graduating from college in June 1971 I traveled with friends to Grand Teton Mountains in Wyoming (July 1971), to Arlington, Virginia to visit a boy friend (Aug. 1972). I Lived on 16th St. in Ogden with a girl friend from July to Nov. 1971 when my friend got married. I then lived in North Ogden and on Jefferson Blvd Ogden, With two friends who were sisters, from Nov. 1971 to Feb. 1972. During these months I would still visit with my parents and spent the night at their home on some weekends. In February I moved back home. I lived with another friend in an apartment on south Harrison Blvd June to August 1973 when we both moved back to our respective homes.

Early in the year 1973 I started working at IRS as a data transcriber. When the job ended in April of 1973 I began working at Hill Air Force Base in Clearfield, Utah, about 10 miles from my home on Quincy Ave. I worked as a data entry/keypunch operator until August 1974 when Hans and I were preparing to move to California.

Hans and I were married on February 14, 1974.  After we were married we lived in two Apartments in South Ogden before moving to an apartment on 9th St. in North Ogden.

At the end of August we moved to Southern California. We lived in Buena Park then in Anaheim. While living in these two cities I worked at El Toro Marine Air Station in Irvine. I was a supply/data entry clerk. In 1975 or 1976,  during the time we were living in Anaheim I quit my job at the marine air station and began working for Nevada/Pacific Bell in the city of Orange as a data entry clerk working on payroll information.

In November 1977 we moved into a brand new home we were purchasing. We had watched as it was being built on land that had been a grape vineyard. The home is in Etiwanda (Rancho Cucamonga) California. While living there our daughter Tammy was born (1978).

In August 1978 we moved from California back to Ogden. We lived at 2154 Quincy, just a half a block from my parent’s home from Aug. 1978 – Nov. 1979. While living here our son Shane was born (1979). I worked part-time at the Weber College Fitness Center in the child care center watching members’ children. While I was at work mom and dad watched Tammy.

By Dec. 1979 Hans, Tammy, Shane and I were living in a North Las Vegas,  NV apartment. In January 1980 we moved to 255 W Basic Ave., Henderson where we lived until Feb. of 1982. Our sons Jason (1980) and Bryan (1982) were born while we lived on Basic Avenue. In Feb. 1982 we moved to 255 W Van Wagenen just a block away.

Moving happened again in July 1983 to 1104 Oak Ave., Ogden, UT. This time it was the children and I. Hans moved back to Ogden a month later. We were no longer married but stayed friends. We saw each other every day. He lived with his sister.
We lived on Oak Ave. until August of 1985 when the children and I moved to South Ogden. We lived at 3613 Porter Ave. Aug. – Oct. 1985 and 3721 Adams Ave. Oct.1985 – Apr. 1987.  In the fall of 1985 I met Jeff Baker at a dance. We feel in love and married in Dec. 1985. Jeff had two children Diana born in 1981 and Keath born in 1982. Heather and Kevin were born in Nov. 1986 while we were living on Adams Ave.

California here we come again. We moved to Pomona in April 1987.  806 Vassar was our residence Apr. – Jun. 1987. We then called 2489 Alder Street, Pomona, our home until June of 1988 when we moved to 438 N Holmes, Ontario, CA. About the time we moved to Ontario Hans moved back to California living not far from where we lived.

 When we lived at 438 N Holmes we had many very good experiences. The kids had good friends for the most part, the boys loved cub scouts, we got to go to Disneyland once and we went to the LA County Fair several times.

         
We had 2 dogs, many cats and gold fish. While living here I was granted a final divorce from Jeff in December 1989. He kept coming and hanging around the house though. In April 1992 I, Hans and the kids moved back to Ogden. Hans and I were just friends and co-parents.

 "Some of the places I've lived" to be continued.