Tammy's 40th Birthday

Remember when you were young? I sure do! Here's a picture of some of you when you were young. You may recognize everyone except my dear friends Dan and Judy's first child, Angie . The cute little girl to your right. All the rest of the kids are from the Rehfeldt clan and are your neices and nephews.

Well, Ronald 's boys are the oldest then there is Tammy...who turned 40 January 26...so the rest of you will follow suit soon. (Ron's boys are Steven, the one with the hat on, Daniel is next to Steven and Chris is the one toMichelle's right.) Can you all name the other three boys in the middle?

We all had a great time at Tammy's party. My sister Louise, Tammy's Mom made 3 different kinds of cakes and they were all delicious. (yes I had a sliver of each...how big a sliver...I'm not saying.) Louise made Tammy's favorite..Banana! It was so moist and the walnuts added such a great taste to it. Chocolate and Lemon Cake were the other two...My favorite was the lemon cake...even took two pieces home so Gary & I could still enjoy Tammy's birthday.

We had pizza from Giuseppi's along with a tossed salad that Louise had made.

So Tammy is now 40 and that little blonde girl near Angie is Tammy...where or where did that time go?

Sarah, a dear friend and former roommate from Maranatha, was able to spend the day with her.

So I close this blog with a picture of the two of them! Happy Birthday Tammy!!

Check out my Slide Show!

Brielle's First Movie

Brielle Kathleen Arrival!!!

This morning while deep in sleep, the phone rang and the voice on the other end said, "How quick can you get ready?" It was my daughter, Ann-Marie informing me that Uncle Billy had phoned her to say that he was taking Candice to the hospital.

Ann-Marie had to pick me up since my car is in the shop again. So I hurried around and was ready when Brett and she got here.

Candice did great!! Brielle arrived 10:35 a.m. Weight: 7lbs 12oz. Lenght 20 inches. Ann-Marie and I were priviledged to be with her when Brielle came into this world. She is a beautiful beautiful baby...as you can see.

Thanking the Lord that Mother and child are doing great.

Check out my Slide Show!

Tornado hits Poplar Grove

On Monday January 7th, 2008 after dropping my mother off at River Bluff, I headed home. It's only about a fifteen minute drive home. It was after 2:00 and I wanted to get home before the predicted heavy rain were to come.

Arriving home, I started baking some brownies. The heavy rain came & I was so glad to be inside. (Later this week, I found out from my brother Dave, who was out by cousin Joyce's farm, could only drive at 20mph because of this heavy downpour.) Sometime before 3:00 the sirens went off here in Rockton. Going to the computer room, I asked Gary what the siren was for. "Tornado Warnings." was his replied. "Shouldn't we be in the basement!!" was my immediately reply. Looking out the window he didn't seem to think so..(a man's response???) Perhaps at that moment we should have looked out the windows in the back of the house. It may have made a different response. At any rate, we turned on the TV in the computer room and a Tornado had been sited near Rock Cut State Park...now folks that not very far from us. The Tornado, was headed towards Poplar Grove. At around 3:19 it did alot of damaged to that area. Some home were leveled and Edward's Apple Orchard got hit very badly.

In the Fall for many of us in Illinois, going to Edward's Apple Orchard has become a family tradition. It's such a beautiful place to pick apples. Many of us have old photos of us with our kid(s) riding in the horse driven wagons to apple groves to pick apples. Afterwards we would all enjoy the hot cider apple and homemade apple pie.

Yesterday, (Thursday) Gary and I took a drive out to Edward's to see the damaged for ourselves. It was seemed so unreal what the Tornado had done to our beloved place. The slide show will tell the story. They lost almost all of the out houses. Their home will have to be replaced. The owner says they will reopen, but may be smaller in the beginning.

Aside from no harm to anyone life..the one miracle is that the Tornado did not destroy their groves of trees.

As Gary and I were leaving they had a sign out front: THANKS FOR ALL YOU PRAYERS. Let all continue to pray for them and others who lost so much as a result of this storm.

Watch Those Sale Receipts!!!

Why is it that it is always so much eaiser to leave our thinking up to other people? I know it makes life so less hectic. Now we have to add another responsibilty to our already stressed out life:0). (at least at times) I remember one time Bob saying to me, "Use your brain not mine." (Thanks Bob...now I really have to do that...you're not here so I'm on my own!)

Anyway, to the point of this posting. We (Mom, Louise and I) had just finished lunch and I was instructed by my sister, Louise, who I always obey to take Mom home. Since she had picked her up I guess I could take her home. Although Louise looked around Beef-A-Roo and said, "If you don't want to, I'm sure someone here would be willing to do it" (Go for it Louise!!) I know, I know...it runs in the family...we are so easily distracted.

I needed to stop at Hilanders to get a few items. Mom said she didn't mind waiting in the car while I did my shopping. I even had my short list of items that I needed. Now what Rehfeldt goes into a store and doesn't have time for the sale aisle?...especially the after Christmas sale.
(I'll just hurry down it!) Now to the point...they had these baking and party cups 75% off! Orginally they we $1.49. Ann-Marie had made these out-of-this-world chocolate candies for Christmas and these were the cups that she had used. So I thought I would pick some of these up for her... being the nice Mom that I am. To make sure I woud get 75% off, I asked the cashier to let me know how much they would ring up. After scanning the first one, she said, $.37. Great, I'll take these four. After all the groceries had been rung up, my total seemed a little high. But I know it doesn't take much these days for that to happen at a grocery store. So as I'm headed for the door, looking at my receipt. Hummm...the first party cups rang up $.37..the other three rang up (guess what)...yup $1.49!!. When I showed my receipt to her, she couldn't figured out what happened, but sent me to Customer Service to make the correction. On my way, I'm checking my receipt for other Christmas items I picked up. (Yes there were other items on sale too). And again they had overcharged me for the 75% off the Christmas Cards. You know how many store have items posted: Their price $18.00, Ours $9.00. Well, they were only giving me 75% off the $18.00.....no no no..shame on you. Well to make this long story somewhat short...I recieved a credit of over $8.00. And all ended well. Except I think Mom was wondering how short my grocery list really was.

Just a reminder: Check those sales receipts!