Happy Independence Day!

Yeah! I love the 4th of July - not only for the fireworks and great food and fun times, but because it's only 4 more days until my birthday!

Katia and Ian came and visited for the weekend. It was so fun to have them here! They got here later on Friday so we just relaxed and ate once they got here. We took our time getting going on Saturday but ended up shopping in Omaha. We found a pirate costume for Ian (his current obsession! Have you ever listened to Veggie Tale's "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything over and over and over - try it sometime!) and some other fun stuff. We even had time to stop by the Just Desserts place - yum! After we got home, the boys, Chris and Ian, had quite the water fight outside while Katia and I threw together a quick dinner. Sunday was church and then the swimming pool - it was the perfect day to go swimming. Just the right temperature and not too crowded. We came home, changed and grabbed a snack and tried to rest before heading to our friend Cherie's house for a barbecue and fireworks. It was a very nice and relaxing evening. Ian crashed on the way home and it wasn't long before we all headed to bed. Poor Chris had to work on Monday but I had taken the day off to see Katia and Ian off. We got them packed up and on the road before noon. I was able to get in some quiet time, a good workout, a library trip and grocery shopping before coming home for a quick nap. We made homemade pizza for supper and crashed pretty early.

Today we've taken it pretty easy. We both slept in and kind of putzed around this morning. This afternoon we headed into Harlan to the laundromat. We have a washer and dryer, but we have these huge quilts and blankets that almost don't fit in our washer - and they don't dry well in our normal size dryer either. So we loaded them up and took them into town. We had the place all to ourselves and squeezed in a game of Trivial Pursuit while we waited for our stuff to dry. We followed all that excitement up with a round of disc golf at the park and then headed over to Westphalia for their annual Parish Picnic and chicken dinner. Now we're home for th evening and relaxing. It's nice that we have such a short work week ahead - Yeah!

This weekend we're taking it easy again, hoping to spend some time with friends on Friday night and spending a quiet evening at home on Saturday (seems like we don't have many of those lately). Then next weekend we'll be in Sioux City to see my sister Roma and her husband Rob and little guy Ryan while they're back. We're so excited about that! The following weekend after that, I'll be crazy getting ready to head to the NOPHNRCSE conference in Orlando. I fly out Sunday morning and get home on Friday. I'm very much looking forward to seeing my friends and co-workers, but honestly, Orlando, in July - if a hurricane doesn't sweep me away, there is a good chance I may just melt!

I just realized that it's already the first week of July and my thesis still isn't done. I MUST get to work on it! It's been difficult to really sit down and write. I am definitely not feeling inspired but I'm thinking I may just need to inspire myself - like now! My thesis is a bit different from the typical thesis as it's not a research thesis but a creative thesis. Yep, I basically get to write 60+ pages of my own poems and stories. Not a bad thing normally, but I am not feeling creative in the least, even my crocheting and scrapbooking have suffered. I would so love to have the majority of the work on it done by the time the fall semester starts up so I don't have to worry so much about deadlines. We'll see how much I can manage to apply myself.

Anyway, things are pretty ho-hum here in Renae-land. Hope you are all doing well!