Karwoski Life

It’s hard to believe we’re coming up on September already – the summer is winding down, kids are heading back to school…crazy. We’ve had a busy couple of weeks, but full of lots of good times with family and friends. We celebrated Lissa’s birthday back on the 15th with grilled steaks and all the fixin’s including homemade ice cream. It was a beautiful evening (in between showers) and the weather held off perfectly for us to get our grilling going and enjoy some time out on the deck. This past week was the Iowa State Fair – an institution around these parts. I decided to take a day off of work and take Matt through the fair just the 2 of us. Normally we go during the afternoon/evening, so it was fun to go during the day and experience it in a different way. We wandered around checking out all the usual stopping points…the horse barn, the big bull, the freebies in the Varied Industries Building. We, of course, managed to sample some of our favorite yummy fair treats…and also tried some ...

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So I went to visit my parents in Texas last weekend. With everything going on these days, I figured it would be a good chance for me to get away for a few days and enjoy some good old fashioned quality time with my folks. They’ve had their fair share of stresses and worries these past few months as Dad continues to search for his next job. I figured they could use something happy to look forward to…like a visit from…ME! I’m just so glad I went. It had been a long time since I had some time to just sit and talk with both of them…no distractions, no particular agenda, just us being together. It was so great. Mom and Dad live near a town known for their awesome water park, Schlitterbahn. A friend of mine has long wanted to go there herself and would often ask me if we were going to go there when I visit my parents. Just the other week Jenny asked me if I thought we’d go…I sort of laughed it off and said nah…but then it got me thinking…could we? Would we? I asked Mom if she thought they’d...

Where oh where does the time go? Honestly all last week I kept meaning to sit down and write a little about the weekend before and all of the usual goings on….and then before I knew it another week had past and more goings on happened and here I am at the beginning of another week wondering where to start. I hate to just sit here writing a recap of our weeks/weekends…but we’ve just been doing this and that and enjoying so much of it, I can’t help it. So…I apologize for the ramblings…. A few weeks ago Matt and I decided we really wanted some shade for our deck. Ultimately we’d like to build a pergola over it that I can plant some climbing vines on like we had at our old house…but trying to figure out who/when/how to actually get it done is a whole ‘nother topic. So, we set out to see about getting an umbrella for our table – thinking that would be nice. We shopped around a bit and finally picked one we both liked. We rushed home that day and quickly went to work setting it all up on t...

Happy belated Fourth of July!! We had a great long holiday weekend. I had Friday off work for the holiday and took PTO on Monday so we enjoyed a good, long weekend together…and it was great! Friday was a little bit of a bust…we had plans to go to another IA Cubs game and check out their big fireworks display (as some of you know, I am QUITE fond of fireworks, so I was very much looking forward to it)…well as the afternoon wore on the weather got more and more questionable as rain moved in. The game was delayed, as we watched the rain come down from home…eventually they did play, but we just decided to stay in since the weather was so yucky. We knew we’d just be sitting out there in the rain and be miserable. Saturday we decided to try plan B…head to the Good Guys’ Car Show out at the fairgrounds. Typically Matt goes to the car show each year with the guys…but this year we decided to go together. And I’m SO glad we did. I had a blast! We both did. We got out there around noon and found ...

At the request of certain friends...here is the picture of Matt on vacation...1992...just before we met. It still makes me smile every time I look at it.

Well summer has officially arrived in our neck of the woods. We had been enjoying beautiful ‘cool’ weather in the 70’s…but I do believe those days are behind us now. We jumped right into summer with both feet…highs in the upper 90’s and heat indexes in the triple digits. It’s hot…just plain hot! Last weekend, before it got SUPER hot, we had a great time running here, there, and everywhere. Friday afternoon I wandered around the Des Moines Home Show with a few friends. It was rained nearly the whole time as we scampered from house to house under our umbrellas…and I couldn’t help but giggle as I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Here I am touring these ridiculously expensive homes with features and fixtures beyond comprehension, with my jeans rolled in big cuffs, wearing the required blue booties (which somewhat resembled elf shoes) over my sandals (which I could barely keep on my feet with the booties on), my hair a humid mess…it was great! By the time they loaded us back on t...