I cannot believe it is June 26 already. Time is FLYING, and I wish it would slow down just a little! Tom came back from North Carolina Saturday night. He had a great time. Sam has only had one day home, and now she and her mother are going to Mexico for a week. The trip was a gift from relatives in California for Sam's graduation. She isn't very excited about going, but I hope she has a great time once she is there.

We haven't been doing much around here. The canvas covering on my lawn swing (which I dearly love but have had for nearly four years now) finally became dry-rotted and tore. Jerry wanted to throw it away but I thought we could try to save it. Andy drilled lots of little holes in the metal tubing of the frame and we webbed it like a lawn chair. It turned out great, and with the cushion on it, you can't even see what's underneath. My swing is saved! Andy was very proud of himself for drilling all those holes. He pretty much fixed the whole thing himself. I'm pretty proud of him too.

Not very newsworthy, but we installed a new toilet yesterday. Weren't you just dying to know that?! The neighbors must have thought we lost our minds yesterday. (Well, we have, but that's a story for another day!). We were really trying to avoid the expense of buying a new toilet so we had been trying to fix the old one. It just wouldn't flush correctly, resulting in having to flush it 2-3 times (or more). We just fixed our septic system last summer, and didn't want to fill it needlessly now. We tried everything. We plunged like crazy - didn't help. Jerry went up on the roof with the hose and blasted out the vent up there - didn't help. I took a little sharp stick and checked EVERY LITTLE HOLE around the inside of the rim to make sure water could flow into the bowl freely - didn't help. I used a snake (toilet auger, if you will) and fed that just as far as I could - didn't help. Yes, I actually did these things myself. Finally Jerry took the toilet up and carried it outside. He put it up on cinder blocks and filled the tank and flushed it several times. My sides are still hurting from laughing. There is something so very wrong with hearing the sounds of a flushing toilet out in your yard (or worse, seeing one!). Anyway, we couldn't find anything wrong. We finally decided it was time to retire the old porcelain and go to Lowe's for a new one. Boy - they sure have changed in 20-some years! The toilet we replaced was the original one that came with the house, and the house was built in 1981. Anyway, now everyone's happy! Maybe the old one could be a planter............

I am anxiously awaiting word from Mike and Linda. I will be an aunt again sometime today or tomorrow when Aaron William will make his debut into the world.

We are planning Andy's birthday party for July 3rd. He wants to go bowling like we did last year. We are looking forward to it, as we always enjoy bowling - only this time we get cake and ice cream afterwards too!