Our Little Spot on the Web

Worth the Reminder and the Read

2011-07-21T07:23:00.000-05:00

Hey troops!
It's been a while between posts but this came across my email today and I felt compelled to share it. I rarely forward emails but this one is worth a look.
If it offends you, I won't apologize. I will, however, say a little prayer for you and your skewed sensibilities because, I assure you, they don't match mine. For everyone else - God Bless you for being in your right mind.

*******************************
My great great grandfather watched as his friends died in the Civil
War, my grandfather watched as his friends died in WW I, and my father
served and watched as his friends died in WWII. I served and watched
as my friends died in Vietnam .
None of them died for the Mexican Flag.
Everyone died for the U.S. flag.
In Texas , a student raised a Mexican flag on a school flag pole;
another student took it down. Guess who was expelled...the kid who
took it down.
Kids in high school in California were sent home this year on Cinco de
Mayo because they wore T-shirts with the American flag printed on them.

Enough is enough.

The below e-mail message needs to be viewed by every American; and
every American needs to stand up for America .
We've bent over to appease the America-haters long enough.
I'm taking a stand.
I'm standing up because the hundreds of thousands who died fighting in
wars for this country, and for the U.S. flag can't stand up.
And shame on anyone who tries to make this a racist message.
Let me make this perfectly clear!
THIS IS MY COUNTRY!
And, because I make This statement
DOES NOT
Mean I'm against immigration!!!
YOU ARE WELCOME HERE, IN MY COUNTRY!

Welcome!
To come through legally:

1. Get a sponsor!

2. Get a place to lay your head!

3. Get a job!

4. Live By OUR Rules!

5. Pay YOUR Taxes!

And

6. Learn the LANGUAGE like immigrants have in the past!!!

AND

7. Please don't demand that we hand over our lifetime savings of Social Security Funds to you.

If you don't want to forward this for fear of offending someone,

Then YOU'RE PART OF THE PROBLEM!

When will AMERICANS STOP giving away THEIR RIGHTS???
We've gone so far the other way...

bent over backwards not to offend anyone.

But it seems no one cares about the

AMERICAN CITIZEN

that's being offended!

WAKE UP America !!!

Happy Easter!!!

2011-04-24T13:59:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter everyone!

We hope you're all enjoying a wonderful Spring day wherever you may be and a happy Easter along with it. It's sunny and 63 here - the first sunny day we've had in recent memory and it's lovely. Brenda and Greg, Dan and Josh were here to help us celebrate with Easter brunch. I had to do the brunch thing because Josh's bus back to Duluth left at 1:10 so dinner wasn't gonna work. So, I did my best to put out a spread that would rival Granite City, and all things considered, I think I did okay. Of course I have a ton of fruit salad and cheesy hash browns left but we'll cope.
The photo here is of my Easter decor. The little boxes were the place holders for each of us (a little mini basket of sorts) and the green glass bowl holds chocolate eggs and jellybeans. I figure we'll overdose on Chocolate sometime Tuesday.
Josh will be back home for good in 3 weeks (not sure where the school year went but it sure flew by fast) and hopefully by then Spring will truly be here for good as well.
We'll probably be seeing Dan again in a couple of weeks for Payton's first birthday party so that will be nice. After that, the month of May pretty much disappears with something planned for nearly every weekend. Other than Payton's birthday (Josh's too for that matter), I have my card stamping event for the troops next weekend, Josh moves home the 13th and on the 15th Rich and I are going to a wine and pizza tasting at a local vineyard (Elk River) for our anniversary. At this point, I think the 20th may be open but that could be a myth, and then we're looking at Memorial Day. Hold onto your lug nuts kids...we're in for a wild ride!
Who knows what the rest of the summer will hold. Not much travel I'd wager. With gas prices going through the roof, I anticipate a LOT of staying at home to save money. Considering the fact that it costs us nearly $100 in gas just to go as far as Fargo and back, that gets to be a bit spendy for a weekend. We'll see what happens I guess, but it would help if Rich could find a different job. In the meantime I'm going to assume we'll be staying home most of the summer. Not all bad really - if I can get Rich out on his bike on a regular basis we could have some fun exploring the trails and getting some much needed exercise.
Now that Brenda and Greg are home I'm hoping we can spend more time this summer tooling around with them. The only problem I see there is that Rich and I are REALLY out of shape so we need to get some "training time" in before we go out with them or we're likely to keel over prematurely. This would not be a pretty sight.

And... on that note...I'm going for a walk with the dog!
Enjoy the rest of your Easter!

So long Spring Break, hello Spring?

2011-03-20T09:17:00.000-05:00

Hello!
Josh goes back to Duluth today, or I guess I should say, I'm taking him back today. He's been home all week which has been very entertaining and Dan came over for dinner last weekend so that was a nice treat.
Now we begin that last long stretch before Easter and then the end of the school year. On the upside, our snow seems to be steadily melting and it's been fairly warm and sunny lately which is SO very much appreciated. We even had a little steady rain last night so that's made inroads in the level of snow in the yard. We're down to only 2 1/2 feet of snow at the end of the driveway now! Whoohoo! I've heard whisperings of more white stuff for this week but I'm choosing to play ostrich and just change the station I'm listening to. I figure the odds of finding one that will tell me what I want to hear are just as good as the odds of finding one that's right.
Rich is now contemplating a new job search for reasons I'm not allowed to go into here but with any luck we can turn things around again and maybe even find something closer to home. We both drive 15 plus miles one way every day so reducing some of the mileage would be a blessing.
I'm happy where I am but am also insanely busy. My one week lull at the beginning of every month has temporarily (I hope) disappeared in the wake of several large and time -consuming projects that are not normally on my monthly radar. I love all of the variety and we've had some recent personnel changes in our department too that are shaking things up a bit. I'm too busy to worry much about it but it's also nowhere near as frightening as what I've experienced in the past.
On the home front, we're pretty dull. I bought a new bicycle in February (wishful thinking I know) but I am dying to get out on it just as soon as the snow is gone and I can go for a ride without freezing my butt off. Walking in the 40s is entirely different than whizzing along on a bike in those temps. Anyway, Spring is more than welcome to arrive anytime!
On another, more crafty side of things, I'm organizing another card-making event for the troops in May. So far I have 11 people signed up and am hoping to recruit at least that many more. I did this last year and we managed to donate over 400 cards to the US troops through an organization called Operation Write Home. This year we're making 10 new cards (2 of each card) and half of them get sent to the troops. You can do the math...the more people I have to participate the more cards we send. Anyway, I'm having fun organizing all of that. Complete details are on my 5inkyfingers stamping blog if you're interested, know someone who might be interested, or want to help out in any way.
Well, I better quit here and roust the college kid. He said something about needing groceries yesterday and we're picking up another friend to take him back with us at 12:30 so the next couple of hours could be a bit of a whirlwind.
Hope everyone is doing well!
Later!

Tree trimming day

2010-12-11T18:26:00.000-06:00

With a blizzard raging outside today, we spent the better part of the day indoors listening to Christmas music and puttering. Well, other than Rich's first pass at clearing the driveway that is. I spent 4 1/2 hours trimming our tree and wrapped up writing out all of our Christmas cards. Rich helped with the ornaments on the tree and the pets did their part by wandering around aimlessly and acting as stumbling blocks. I still have some rearranging and decorating left to do but I think I'll save that for tomorrow. In the mean time, I thought I would share photos of our tree in it's various stages. Enjoy! We're going to. *smiles*

The tree sans any decorations. That's 9 1/2 feet of Frasier Fir and it smells divine! You can see I wasn't kidding when I said the animals were underfoot. This is pretty much where Buster insisted on laying all day. I only tripped once. I'll let you figure out what color the air was following that.

Here it is with the lights. 1,080 in all. Go ahead and count them. I dare you. This part took me 2 1/2 hours and yes, I know I'm anal about how the lights go on the tree.

Next came the pearls. Eight strands- each one 24 feet long. Yeah, that's a lot of pearls but it's also a BIG tree!!

Here it is with the ornaments. Pretty much ALL the ornaments we own. It's been a while since we needed to use that many.

Finally! The angel which, due to height restrictions, I was not able to reach. Rich did the honors and, isn't she pretty?

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you enjoy the holiday season wherever you are.
Love, Toni & Rich

Changing Seasons

2010-10-29T21:12:00.001-05:00

Well it's looking more and more like Winter is just around the corner. Our temps have dipped considerably over the last few days and a day without a nasty wind is almost a pipe dream. Sigh... I guess it has to come around sometime, but personally I wasn't quite ready.

Last weekend we got our first taste of blustery winter when we were up in Duluth visiting Josh. I can't say the weather was too great, but we had a fun time with Josh just wandering around Canal Park and the mall and hanging out at the hotel.

This weekend we're hanging around home and I'm hoping to make some headway on several card projects that I'm hopelessly behind on. Halloween falls on Sunday so, with any luck at all, I won't have to deal with that at all. It's a good thing Rich doesn't mind answering the door because if it were up to me we'd turn off the lights and skip the whole thing. I suppose I better pick up some candy tomorrow huh? I think we're carving our pumpkins tomorrow night. Rich found a couple of pretty good ones last week so now we just need to decide which patterns to use. I toyed with designing something with the UMD Bulldog on it but I don't know that I'm feeling all that ambitious about it now. We'll see I guess. There's always the standard issue halloween cat or haunted house.

The weight loss plan is progressing nicely. We've both lost quite a bit, but I'm down two sizes and am roughly half way to my goal. The weather has been a bit of a problem for us since neither of us is all that wild about walking the dog in gale force winds or rain. I did dust off the elliptical last week though and gave that a whirl. It was so much fun I can't hardly wait to hop on it again. Yeah. Need any swamp land? Seriously though, once I got over the re-discovery of muscles I didn't realize had atrophied and warmed up a bit it wasn't all that bad. At least until I stepped off, feeling all energized and my knees wobbled. Guess I should have paced that a little differently given that the thing has been gathering dust for several years. Oh well... I only had to crawl a little to get upstairs...

Other than that, we're not up to much around here. Netflix helps to keep us entertained, the animals help keep us just this side of insane, and the occasional bit of news from Dan and Josh keep us from feeling like we're rattling around the house. Sounds like tons of fun right?
Hope everyone on your end is doing well!
Later!
Toni

Fleeting Weekends

2010-10-17T20:53:00.000-05:00

Well, we had a very nice weekend visit with Mom. She came down Friday with her friend Jan and went home today. Thankfully our weather cooperated so we could get out for a walk and not freeze to death.
We also tackled a couple small jigsaw puzzles while she was here which, as most of you know, has a way of whittling away most of a day if you aren't careful. We also re-discovered the irritation of the missing puzzle piece thanks to one of three pesky animals. We haven't been able to identify the actual culprit, so they're equally to blame. I'd love to find it under something at some point in time, but if Buster ate it, I have absolutely no desire to ever see or touch it again.

Rich and I are a full 7 weeks into our renewed diet plan and have collectively lost nearly 30 pounds. Glory Halleluiah! I figure I have about 10 pounds to go before I can safely go shopping for clothes that fit me again. Until then, I'm cinching in the belt (when I remember to wear one) and walking around with a silly grin on my face because I'm so pleased to have made it this far.

The boys are both doing well. Dan was over today while Mom was here so we caught up a little on what he's doing -which is not much. He is toying with possibly going back to school however, for which Rich and I are very glad. The trick is finding a program he would enjoy.

Josh seems to be coping with college life just fine. He came home for the weekend a couple of weeks ago, which was great. He was just a little homesick I think so it was nice for him to come home, crash in his own bed (apparently the beds in the apartment are horrible) and see some of his friends. I'll admit it was nice for us to get a little face time with him too.

Hope everyone is doing well!
Have a great week!

So College life agrees with him and thank GOD for Facebook!

2010-09-11T09:02:00.000-05:00

Josh's move to Duluth went really well. The school gave us a great set of directions that totally avoided the road construction on 35W and around the campus, and despite not getting the student move-in help that we thought we could expect, a third floor apartment, and no elevator, we managed to get his stuff moved in with a minimum of fuss. The exercise did serve to illustrate for Rich and I how horribly out of shape we are however. We're working on that, but that's another story.

Yes, I cried on the way home. I knew I would and this first week has just plain sucked, but we're both coping. I will say that having an empty nest isn't all it's cracked up to be. In fact, right now, I hate it but I suppose it will get better. Yes, I know I sound like a whiny baby but I'm not going to apologize for missing my kids. There. I said it.
I've been very good about not contacting Josh (per our instructions from orientation) other than a couple of text messages to make sure he was alive and had everything he needed. He did call last Saturday night which was almost enough to take the edge off of missing him. Facebook has become my pipeline to what the kid is up to and by all reports, he's having lots of fun. Molly, the girl in the photo is somewhat of a mystery to us since we haven't spoken to Josh but she takes great photos and she shares a ton of them on his Facebook page! Funny thing? She's from Fargo! I had to laugh at that. What are the odds?
So what about Dan?
Well, I spoke to him this week and he sounds great. I did ask him if he might like to move back home but he declined. Hmmm. Imagine that. I think I even offered to bake him cookies. He still said no! Actually he just finished moving downstairs in the house he's sharing with Bryon and Crystal. Apparently it's been quite an experience because when they got down there, the discovered water damage and mold that the guy who was living down there didn't feel the need to report. Idiot. This meant a whole slew of repairs to both the drywall and the pipes so things are a bit chaotic at the moment. He likes having the extra space to himself though.
Work is going well for him. He's mostly driving for the company he works for which isn't necessarily his dream job, but he's happy to be employed! Unfortunately, they keep sending him on these all day driving treks to the edge of nowhere. I think he "gets to" drive to Sioux City, IA (and back) on Monday. Yippee. I suggested that he give my friend Sherry a call on his way back (she lives in Fenton, IA) and visit with her for a while, but it would mean taking a circuitous route back and navigating a 1 ton truck on dirt roads to get to her. Upon further thought, I think he decided that might not be such a great plan. He was up in Bayfield, WI a month or so ago which is a beautiful area, but I doubt he really appreciated the scenery. The good thing about these extended trips is that they generally mean a phone call from him asking me where in the heck they are?! I also get updates on his status colliding with birds while he drives, (apparently this is a recurring problem for him), and his opinion of dunderheaded drivers who think stopping a 1 ton truck on a dime is easy. Let's remember that the truck weighs a ton - the plate glass he is hauling weighs a bit more. I guess I don't blame him when he offers the stupid drivers driving lessons in sign language!

Well, folks that's all I have for now. Aren't you proud of me? Two posts in the space of a week and a half! What's the world coming to?

later!
Toni

Two days left

2010-08-31T21:24:00.000-05:00

Greetings!
Well, Josh leaves for college on Thursday. He's been sorting, doing laundry, and packing for a few days now and I think we're almost ready. Other than loading it all in the car that is. So far he seems to be maintaining his enthusiasm for going. I, on the other hand, am looking at his departure with an ample share of trepidation and sadness. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited that he's beginning this new chapter in his life. I just know I'm going to miss him. I'd also like to note that when Dan moved out I felt the same way, but knowing he was just across town somehow made it a little more manageable. I'm not sure how to explain this other than to say that maybe because he's the baby I'm having a harder time with it. Anyway, Thursday morning we'll be up bright and early for moving day. Me? I'm packing an extra box of tissues for the ride home...

Summer's here...You can tell cause it's HUMID!!!

2010-07-14T20:21:00.000-05:00

Whew! It's a hot one ladies and gentlemen! The thermometer hit 95 at about 4:15 this afternoon and I just about wilted walking to my car. We had sporadic rain off and on all day so it's been one of those summer days where your hair is guaranteed to go flat if you even think about going outside, the dog prefers the indoors where the floor is cool to lay on, and a dish of ice cream is dinner.

My flowers are flourishing thanks to all this hum-didity as you can see here, and hopefully my patio cherry tomato "tree" will produce something we can actually eat. Both plants are growing like crazy and have fruit on them but it remains to be seen whether any of it will turn red.

Josh is off to Sonshine Festival down inWillmar, MN and won't be back til Sunday so Rich and I are on our own for a few days. I suppose it's good practice for when we officially become empty nesters in September. I won't even go into how much I know that's going to suck when the time comes.

Dan is now back to work (Thank you Lord) and we hope that holds for the duration. He did a very good job of budgeting for unemployment though and we're very proud of him for that. He's hit that ripe old age of 23 where Mom and Dad aren't quite the dim bulbs he thought and can even be depended upon for good advice from time to time. : ) Hmmm...Who called that one?!

For those of you who haven't actually laid eyes on the boys recently - here are a couple photos.
The one of Dan is from the 4th of July weekend. We went up to the lake and caroused with the Sacrison side for a couple of days.
The shot of Josh (and a Lego Woody) was taken out at the MOA on Dan's birthday. Josh and I did a little wandering around the mall after dinner and of course we had to have a photo. I'll interject here that, if you have not already seen Toy Story 3, I don't care how old you are, it's wonderful. We all loved it from beginning to end so make sure you go and see it. You won't be disappointed!

Now that we have Josh's graduation out of the way I can't say that we have a whole lot planned around here. Of course, I'd still love to get a few small projects, like a fence for the back yard and new carpet downstairs done, but since we have college tuition looming, it may be a while before I get my wish.

Well, I've probably yammered on long enough for now.
Hope you're all enjoying your summer!
love, Toni

25th Anniversary B & B Weekend

2010-05-16T11:58:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! Rich and I just got home from a weekend B&B trip to Menomonie, WI. We haven't done the B&B thing for several years but we figured for our 25th anniversary we should do something special. The B&B we picked was the Country Comfort Inn just outside of Menomonie, WI and the owners were delightful. The house is absolutely gorgeous and thanks to a king-sized dream of a bed I had the nap of a lifetime yesterday afternoon! Bliss! If you're looking for a great place to stay we highly recommend it! They also have a big open room downstairs that would be ideal for a scrapbooking/stamping weekend, so I'm practically drooling at the prospect of gathering a few girls together to do that sometime. Heck, maybe I can even entice Judy, the owner, to join us! She let it slip that she used to stamp... I don't think she realized what a can of worms that opens up for me! ha! Loren, her husband is a hero in the kitchen so I know if I could get a few girls to go we'd all be hard pressed to leave! I had smoked salmon for the first time as part of our breakfast and I have to say I'm impressed. It was great! Anyway, we had a wonderfully relaxing day yesterday wandering around Menomonie and exploring one of their nature trails. The trail actually meanders along the river that runs just behind the inn where we stayed and it's a great walk. Mother Nature cooperated beautifully for us and gave us a bright, sunny weekend to enjoy. Now I'm sitting out on our deck enjoying a cup of coffee and the first real sunshine we've had in over 2 weeks. I'm going to try and clear out a flower bed or two later but for now it's just so nice to just sit here and soak up some sun.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend! We've got several projects to accomplish now before Josh's graduation party on the 12th so I'm really glad we took the time to get away this weekend.

Take care! We hope to see many of you on the 12th!

Jury duty, the latest cold virus and exploding microwaves

2010-04-02T17:21:00.000-05:00

Well now, that caught your attention didn't it?

This week has been one to remember that's for sure. I received notice on the 30th that I am to appear at the Federal court house in St. Paul at 8:00 am Monday morning for jury selection. I've been on the jury wheel since last September and have been "on call" since the first of March. Lucky me. The on call bit is for a two month stint whereas the jury wheel is a year-long deal. I thought I was getting lucky coasting through March without getting the notice to appear and then, lo and behold, I came home Wednesday to find the darned letter in the mail. So, the rest of the week then became a mad scramble to get my desk in some sort of order in case I get stuck on some lengthy murder case that prevents me from going to work. Now, before any of you ask or suggest that maybe I'll get put on the Denny Hecker case, I won't. Primarily because it's all pretty much done now, except for getting the weasel to pay his debts but also because there would be a definite conflict of interest since Rich worked for him. My luck, I'll land on a product liability case or something equally boring. Not that I'm eager for a murder trial either- I'd just like to get put on something that doesn't threaten to numb my brain. We'll see. Whatever it is, let's hope it's a short trial.

The cold virus snuck up on both Rich and I although it would seem Rich is faring better than I am. I fully intended to go into work this morning but at 4:00 when Buster of the tiny bladder insisted he needed to go out and our two feline nuts decided my stomach was a good launching pad I got up and soon discovered the meaning of a reeling headache. Seriously, I thought my head was going to roll right off my shoulders. That being the case I watered all the animals, phoned my boss and crawled (yes crawled) back to bed. I think I emerged again around 11:00 but I probably could have slept for another couple of hours if it hadn't been for the fact that my back was screaming. I'm feeling marginally better now, but the headache wants to linger.

The exploding microwave was a bit of a surprise to all of us. I guess to be honest, it didn't explode precisely, but I have a new microwave regardless. I can't tell you what the previous carousel tray was made of - I would have sworn it was glass - but apparently the little plastic turntable thingy melting was enough to also melt, blister, and crack ( in several places) the pseudo-glass tray. This all occurred in the midst of a conversation we were having about the laptop that we need to get for Josh for college. The program he is going into requires a Macbook Pro which, if you know anything about Macs, means the price tag is going to throw at least one of us into an apoplexy. Can you say starting price of $1700???? No, I am not kidding. We're sincerely hoping that the school will offer some sort of "you have got to be kidding who can afford this" poor parent discount, but we won't know that until later in April when we tour the campus.

For those who are wondering, it looks like Josh has pretty much decided on going to the UofM Duluth. He apprently was not as enamored of St Cloud State as we were, but we'll see what Duluth has to offer and go from there. We tour the campus on April 23rd so I'm hoping jury duty doesn't put a kink in that. Personally, I don't know that he's going to like the distance from home all that much but I have a feeling that's going to be one of those things he has to discover on his own. He graduates on June 6th and his open house is set for the following Saturday. Announcements are done and will be going out in the mail in another couple of weeks. One nice thing this year, the ceremony is being held at Mariucci arena on the UofM campus so we don't have tickets this time limiting the number of people who can come. So, if you want to, you're more than welcome to come to the ceremony itself. Watch for your announcement for all the details.

Well that's probably more than enough rambling from me for today. I have a couple of aspirin and a pillow calling my name...
Happy Easter everyone!

The kid's got talent part 2

2010-04-02T16:31:00.000-05:00

As promised, here are a couple of photos of Josh's winning art piece. My apologies for the lengthy delay in getting them posted here. I've had them on Facebook for a bit but forgot I'd promised to update here as well.

Anyway... here they are if you haven't already seen them.
Toodles!

Toni

There's a little bit of Spring in the air...

2010-03-21T19:33:00.000-05:00

Well, after a couple of days re-visiting frosty 20s and 30s we had a beautiful, sunny 50 plus degree day today. Glory halleluia! You really don't realize how wonderful 50 and sunny can be until you've lived through several months of winter in MN! I am really hoping this warming trend continues now. We had a taste of 60s last week and got spoiled! At least all of the snow is gone.

I've just finished wrapping up some major chunks of preparation for my Stamp A Stack for the Troops (and You!) event that I am hosting next month and boy, does that feel good! Still lots to do, but I crossed a major hurdle anyway. Now I just have to hope that lots of people sign up!

Hope you all had a great weekend!
Later!
Toni

The kid's got talent

2010-01-23T08:01:00.000-06:00

Good morning, afternoon, evening... I suppose it all depends on when you are reading this right?
I've been pretty lax again posting here, but we had some exciting news to share with all of you and I finally had a little time to assemble my thoughts.
As most of you know, Josh has a bit of talent in the art department. Yeah, I know...this has the makings of another proud mama moment right? Well, bear with me.
First a little background:
This year he signed up for an AP Art Studio class at school which, at times, hasn't been quite what he expected but has since improved. He's now at the point where he has to assemble a complete portfolio of what he can do for presentation later this Spring at the art show. He's a senior so he'll have an entire wall dedicated to his stuff. That in itself is pretty cool. Anyway, the portfolio consists of 11 or 12 different pieces all done with a specific theme in mind, plus a couple of alternates. His theme is duality so most everything he's doing has a definite contrast to the elements. good vs. evil, black vs. white etc, or shows some sort of inner struggle. There's a little bit of self-portrait in a lot of them too because he's used himself as the person or people in the drawing. I wish I had some pieces to show you here, but at the moment they're all works in progress or he isn't ready to take photos of them yet. I will post photos as soon as I can.

So, now the exciting news:
Early this year he did a piece that required him to take a photograph of someone or something, convert it to a plain black and white image and then recreate it using a fine tip Sharpie marker and white paper. Josh chose to take photos of himself in a classic James Bond pose looking at the camera with his hands clasped together so his fingers form the shape of a gun. Here's the fun part. The drawing is done so that all of the gray and black areas of the photo are made up of words, phrases, movie titles, and the actor's names who've played James Bond. In the darkest areas, the letters are small and close together and sometimes, overlapping, and in the lighter areas the letters are larger or spaced apart a little more. When you see it up close it looks a little ragged, and you can see the words he's used, but when you stand back about 4 or 5 feet it looks like a photograph. I'm telling you, it's wild! Apparently someone else thinks so too. This piece was on display in the main office at school for about a month and has now been awarded a MN Scholastic Arts Gold Key award! It is currently on display at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in their gallery until February 21st. . After that, if it's selected as one of the top 5 Best of Show the original piece will go to New York for a competition there. If not, a digital copy will be sent for entry into the show, so either way Josh's art is headed for New York! Pretty cool huh?
I'll post photos of whatever I can as soon as he's ready to relinquish them, or we get them back from his art teacher.
Have a great day everybody!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T16:50:00.000-06:00

Well, for anyone who was dreaming of a white Christmas. We've got it! Here it is! Now do you want some???
Rich has plowed the driveway twice (it was about a foot deep each time) and Josh shoveled off the deck this afternoon. I think we're between waves again but maybe the worst of it has passed. We've not had a need to go anywhere so it's not been an issue, but Dan said driving up here this morning was a bit of a challenge. We sent him on his way before it got dark.
Otherwise, we're pretty much recovering from dinner which was more than a little filling. Mom and I already finished one doozy of a jigsaw puzzle and I have to admit we're a little gun-shy about starting another one. Especially when you discover 3 pieces missing because the kitties absconded with them! Grrrrrrr..... It was a new puzzle too!
I'm not sure what we're doing tomorrow- as little as possible probably! Anyway, we hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas!
Hugs to all!
Toni

It must be December

2009-12-10T20:08:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone!
Well, Jack Frost managed to find his way home this week. I admit we really have no room for complaint considering Fall really hung around for a long time and November was snow free. However, for all those people who can't seem to get their act together to drive in it, I wish you would just get off the road. Consider public transportation if you are so skittish about driving in the snow. Seriously. You live here don't you? Are you really surprised that we get snow every year? Okay, I'm done ranting now.

On a happier note, last weekend we put our tree up and got it all decorated. The kitties think this is wonderful of course because we've now provided them with a seemingly endless supply of breakables, roly-polys and beads to chew on, bat around and (hopefully) make that lovely smack-tinkle sound that makes mom and dad crazy. I am convinced that the pine scent is another form of catnip because the two of them have been positively psycho ever since we brought it in the house. I figure by Christmas they'll both be stoned out of their little minds and exhausted from tearing around the house.

Josh, who is now working at PacSun is finding out what the retail world is like during the holidays from the other side of the cash register. The benefits to this are that he has a much better appreciation for what the workers put up with from crabby shoppers, and he's also finally able to bring home enough money to make a car payment to the bank of Mom/Dad.

Christmas is fast approaching of course, and I'm trying to get in the spirit. Really I am. Other than the tree, I've only put out a few other decorations but I suppose I'll tackle the rest this weekend. At some point I'll head up to Fargo to get Mom for Christmas here with us but I'm waiting to hear from her as to when she wants me to come and get her. At any rate, we're looking forward to having her here for a few days. I have the week of Christmas off (Glory Halleluiah) so we should be able to pack in a serious mountain of jigsaw puzzles in that amount of time!

Well, I need to get a load of laundry done before I collapse in bed so I better quit for now.
Hope all is well with you and yours!
Catch you later!

Yummmmmm....Apple Pie fresh from the oven

2009-10-18T16:51:00.000-05:00

Can't you just smell it??? I had to share this because it's probably the one and only fruit pie I have ever made that didn't bomb on me. Granted, I didn't toil overly much on the crust, but who am I to question ready-made? Besides, it looks better than anything I might have done! The pie itself is apple-cranberry, well Craisins actually, but I can attest to the fact that it tastes as good as it looks and the whole house smells like pie. Yum. Rich is off in pursuit of Vanilla ice cream because I killed the last of the Cool Whip when I had my slice.

The reason for this little burp of domesticity (is that a word?) is that we just finished peeling, coring, slicing and chopping three grocery bags of apples that I received from a friend of mine. We now have 26 quarts of apples in the freezer all ready for pies, crisps, cobblers etc. I thought about making apple butter with some of them but by the time we finished all the peeling etc I was happy to see them in bags. Wouldn't you?

Now, I'm going to enjoy the rest of my Sunday! Josh and Laura are on their way (he worked today and is picking her up on his way home) so I also need to remove the "hag" mask and pull myself together before they get here. Hope I have enough time...

A little snap of Winter

2009-10-11T16:01:00.000-05:00

Hello all! Well it would appear that Winter is knocking at the door already. We woke up to an inch or so of snow yesterday morning and temps in the mid-20s. Friday we were in the 50s and I, for one, as perfectly happy with that. Unfortunately I didn't think to snap any photos before it all melted away, but I think I am happier that it melted away than I am disappointed. Sorry, but despite that fact that I spent the entire day and most of the night yesterday making our Christmas cards, I'm just not quite ready for Winter yet. Besides, we have a kitchen window to replace before the weather really turns nasty on us.

For those of you who are shaking your heads at me because "My GOD it's only October - Why in heaven's name would you need to worry about Christmas cards this early" I say: "Yada, Yada, Yada. If you've ever hand made a card, you know that it takes a little time, and when you multiply that by 80 cards, you know you need to devote a day to the project. Besides, I don't think any of you have ever told me NOT to send the card or expressed dismay at how they turned out, so I will assume you think it's okay that I am a bit "premature" in getting them done. : )

Last weekend we went up to visit Rich's parents. Usually we head up there over Labor Day, but we had some projects to work on here at home that required a long weekend so we postponed the trip this time. Unfortunately it was kinda rainy all weekend so we spent a lot of time watching movies and playing cards. It made for a quiet weekend but it was nice to see Rich's parents, his sister and her kids; Matt and Heather again.

Well, believe it or not, I have a few more cards to make today, some laundry that's crying out and a dog who needs a walk so I'm going to quit here and catch you all again later.
Take care!
Toni

No, we have not dropped off the planet

2009-10-07T19:51:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know I am truly pathetic about posting here regularly, and I apologize. If I have to make any excuse at all it's that I am generally pretty tired of computers when I get home at the end of the day, and at the same time I'm trying to limit how much time the cyber-monster eats out of my day.

With that said, I do have a couple new things to share. Well, one anyway. You already know that Josh now has his own car, and I figured it was probably time I shared a couple of photos, so... here you go!
Along with the car and subsequent mobility, he is also now spending a LOT of time with a certain young girl (Laura) who we all like quite a bit. Unfortunately, I have no photos of her, nor would I post them here if I did, but suffice it to say she's smart, pretty, and so unbelievably nice, you really can't help but like her. Honestly, I look at her and wish I'd had the poise and self-confidence that she does when I was her age. Since Josh has no shortage of confidence himself, they make a good pair. I have been advised however, that they are not an official couple yet- but they are dating. I'll let you know if that changes. ha!

Actually, this year has already been fairly eventful for the kid. Classes are going well for him and he seems to like them all well enough though he's not all that wild about having to do a sculpture for his art class. I guess you could say his interests for art are pretty much limited to drawing which is unfortunate if he plans on doing anything with his art beyond high school. In the mean time, he's been asked to work on the school paper as their illustrator and his design for this year's Homecoming button was chosen so he earned a little notoriety for that. That news combined with having our front yard "decorated" for Homecoming made for an exciting week last week. Actually the last bit was sort of humorous in an "OH MY GOD" sort of way. The photo doesn't show it very well, but there were several bands of saran wrap stretched across the driveway between trees, Josh's car and the basketball hoop that I had to cut through in order to back out of the garage, and the lawn was littered with plastic forks. Oh the joys of having a Senior in the house!
Finally, I finished building a website for Josh so he can take orders for the charcoal drawings he does from photographs. He hasn't received any orders yet, but if you know anyone who might be interested, please pass the website along! Click here to visit the site. I've also added the link to my list of favorite places for future reference.
On a closing note, I know I owe several people a phone call. If you see this before I call you- I'm SORRY I am so slow to return phone calls!!! Please be patient. I WILL call you back eventually!

Where, oh where did August go?

2009-09-06T17:46:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! August managed to whip right by us. Josh is now only 2 days away from his Senior year of high school and lamenting, just a bit, how quickly summer has gone. Of course weatherwise we've had another of those on again off again summers. August, for example was cooler than July overall and we even had a week or two where there was a definite nip of Fall in the morning air. Makes dressing for work a challenge!

Probably the biggest news we have for August is that Josh bought his first car. He finally managed to get a job over in Maple Grove at one of his favorite clothing stores but that meant he needed a car to get there. So, we did the usual searching and researching of various models until we found one we could all live with. He is now the proud owner of a 1999 Volkswagon Jetta. Navy blue, light grey interior and a trunk big enough to fit a couple bodies in. Seriously. The back seat folds completely flat and two adults could lay in there without much trouble. So far it seems to be running just fine; we can only hope that it won't give us any expensive problems down the road.
As for Josh's new job, he was pretty pleased to finally get in at PacSun over in Maple Grove. Panchero's, as you know, was giving him a bit of a hard time not to mention doing an admirable job of screwing up our holiday plans, so we're happy he was finally able to leave that job behind. Now he can say he's done his fast food stint! Now the challenge will be in reigning him in on his wardrobe spending. He gets a pretty substantial discount (actually we do too) so I'm sure we'll be having a few discussions about making sure we have enough moolah to pay for his new wheels, insurance etc. Ahh, the joys of automobile ownership!

School starts on Tuesday, and I think (hope) we are all ready. My credit cards are squealing a bit so I think that says it all. Anyone who tells you that boys are cheaper to outfit for school doesn't know Josh. Anyway, I think the only thing we don't have ironed out yet is his parking permit for school but that's a first day of school sort of thing. His class schedule doesn't look too terribly daunting and his tougher classes seem to be spread out pretty evenly so with any luck it will be a good year for him.

This weekend we're tackling a few of our leftover projects here at home before our weather turns ugly and we can't do them at all. Rich got the deck sealed a few weeks ago but we still have the pergola and the posts and rails to do so that was our project today. We finished the pergola except for a couple of outside boards and tomorrow we'll tackle the rails. Yay. I had hoped to paint the downstairs bath this weekend too but pitched in on the deck instead so Rich wouldn't have to do it all. This volunteer effort unfortunately included clambering up on top of the pergola to get all of the boards from above while Rich worked on them from below. I've never been a fan of heights but since I was the fool who suggested we do it that way I couldn't very well whine about it. I have a feeling my knees and back will be doing more than enough wimpering tomorrow though. Yeah, I know. Suck it up. On the up side (pardon the pun) it was a beautiful day to be outside in the sunshine as opposed to stuck inside painting the bathroom.
At any rate, I hope you're having a wonderful Labor Day weekend wherever you are. Now, I'm off to soak my weary bones for a few minutes...

Manual Labor...is overrated!

2009-08-13T21:47:00.004-05:00

Witness the weary homeowner...
After three days of working out in the hot sun in 90 degree weather, because of course the home repairs had to be on the South side of the house, I think Rich has just about reached his limit. Can't say as I blame him. I think he's sweated off about 10 pounds climbing up and down ladders, hammering and staining. He replaced the fascia board on the back side of the house and put a coat of sealer on the deck. The deck sealing isn't completely done yet- we still have some touch up on the deck itself plus the rails and the pergola to do but I offered to help with those. The point was to get it back to where we could use it this weekend.
We're going to have a full house as it turns out. Rich's parent's will be here tomorrow night and Mom is coming on Saturday so Josh and I have been working on getting the house cleaned up while Rich tackled all the outdoor tasks. With the heat and humidity being what it is I think Josh and I had the better end of the deal! In any case, the house is clean, the laundry is almost all done, and tomorrow we'll take care of the Mother Hubbard's cupboard problem.

Have a great weekend!
Toni

Happy Birthday to Me!

2009-08-08T06:56:00.003-05:00

Hello! Yes, I know my birthday was yesterday but by the time things settled down here yesterday, I was pooped and just went to bed. Still trying to shake off the cold virus that I caught last weekend.
Anyway, I had a very nice birthday all in all. I took the day off from work so I was able to sleep in a bit, had a birthday lunch with a good friend of mine, got my nails done and called Mom and spoke with her for a bit. Dan and Twyla (my best friend) joined Rich and I at Granite City for dinner-unfortunately Josh had to work, and I wasn't able to get in touch with Brenda and Greg because the cell phone numbers that I have are apparently not working anymore. Not sure what is up with that, but it was a bummer not to be able to have them join us for dinner in any case. Guess I need to check Greg's Facebook page and see if I can glean any info there! For all I know they're off travelling already!

My gifts were pretty wickedly cool too! Rich bought me a new digital camera that also shoots video, Dan picked up a matching camera bag for me, and Twyla gave me some honest-to -God real French perfume that she picked up when she was in France with her students this year. It smells divine too. : ) Josh made me a card of course, and gave me an iTunes gift card so all in all, I was pretty spoiled this year! Nothing wrong with that... ha ha ha!

Today, Josh and I will be spending the day at a little carnival. He's agreed to sit outside our Optometrist's office and do charcoal sketches of people for the day, which should be very interesting. I asked him if he was nervous at all and he said "maybe a little", but I have a feeling he'll get over it quickly. I'm sitting with him in case it gets busy and he needs help. Yesterday we mounted up a few samples of what he's already done for display and I've made up some signs and postcards for him to hand out. Today, he's doing both complimentary sketches (paid for by the Optometrist), as well as more detailed ones for a small fee. The postcards are for people who might want a really detailed picture like the ones he did of Leonard Nimoy, Clint Eastwood and Audrey Hepburn. For those, people will need to prepay (through Paypal) and email him a photo that they want duplicated and then we'll mail them out. If he can do a few of these he could make a nice contribution to his car fund. Anyway, temps are supposed to be in the 90s today and mostly sunny. Right now it's raining so I really hope that moves off before 10:00 so we aren't dealing with that when we're setting up. I think we are supposed to have a tent to sit under so that will help, but the rain would still be a real pain. Charcoal and water don't mix all that well you see...
In any case, I'll be bringing my new camera along so maybe I'll have some photos to share later.
For now, I guess I should get moving. I need to make sure that we have everything we need for today plus do a little cleanup around the house here before we go.

Catch you later!
Toni

Free weekend - no painting!

2009-07-26T17:20:00.008-05:00

Hello! I know it's been a bit since I put anything noteworthy out here but I was holding off until I had things wrapped up with the bathroom project. I now have photos of various stages of the project if you want to see.
I agonized over what to put on the walls to break up all the white and finally decided on a fern stamp set that I've had tucked away for a while. Sadly enough I think I originally bought it with this in mind... oh well. We're happy with how it turned out and the guys are pleased that it isn't too girly. Guess I can't blame them there.
I still have the ceiling in the downstairs bath to paint but that won't take all that long and I have a few vacation days coming up in August so I'll probably do it then.
Josh has a one day job coming up on the 8th of August to draw sketches of people at our optometrist's office. He's looking forward to it I think and has been practicing on various subjects. He steers clear of doing family though so count yourself lucky if he does one of you! Anyway we've been picking up art supplies here and there to get ready for this. I think I will probably go and spend the day with him so he has a helper in case a line develops. How cool would that be?

I just finished a box of about 80 cards for our dentist's office. They had called a few weeks ago asking if I would be willing to make an assortment for them (they're paying me of course) and I finally eked out enough time to get them done. I raided my box at work too just so I could do a little refresh there as well so my next project is to get that box refilled! Good thing I love stamping!

Other than that, we're pretty tame around here. Today was a beautiful sunny day so I've spent the better part of the afternoon enjoying it on the deck. Tomorrow it's back to the salt mines...

I'm going to leave off with a recipe for a salad that I've been whipping together quite a bit this summer. I think I finally have the kinks worked out (no cheese - Josh doesn't like it) but it's one of those that's open to interpretation. Anyway, I thought I would share it in case you're interested.
Have a great week!

Toni

Strawberry Chicken Salad
Serves 4

1 bag Romaine lettuce*
12 ripe strawberries, sliced
1/4 cup each: dried cranberries and pecans**
4 chicken breasts, cut into strips and cooked. Allow time for cooling slightly and divide into 4 servings.
Honey Lime dressing (recipe below)

Divide the lettuce into 4 bowls and top with sliced strawberries (3 per salad). Add cranberries, pecans and chicken. Serve with honey lime dressing.
*any sort of nut will work. I've used those nut, cranberry and raisin mixes from Target (Market Pantry)cashews or even peanuts. You just need something for a little crunch.

Honey Lime Dressing:
3/4 cup light vegetable oil
1/4 cup lime juice
1/3 cup honey
1/8 tsp ginger

Dressing lasts for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.

The whiff of paint fumes

2009-07-02T21:08:00.002-05:00

I've probably killed several brain cells this week inhaling primer, paint and varnish fumes, but I have to say, now that the end is in sight it's been worth it. I had today off so I spent the entire day painting and varnishing and then topped off the evening with the installation of a towel bar, TP holder and robe hooks for our towels. For those who have seen our bathroom, you know how limited my wall space is so I opted to use 4 robe hooks for our towels rather than a longer towel bar. Rich and I hung the new light fixture while we still had daylight to work with, and the new shower curtain is hung. All we have left is to finish the cabinets and get all the doors and drawers hung in place. Those are coming along though. A little more varnishing and we'll be ready to install the new hardware and get them back on the cabinets. Whew! I'm pulling photos of the project together and I'll post those either in a slideshow or web album link as soon as I get them all uploaded.
We're heading North for the weekend so tomorrow morning we'll be up with the chickens to get out of here early. Josh has to stay behind this time because his pain-in-the-A@#$@#% employer didn't feel the need to post his schedule until yesterday and despite his asking for the weekend off he's scheduled for both tomorrow night and Sunday. Nice huh? Besides treating him like crap they pull this. I'm officially boycotting Pancheros. Join me in my crusade... PLEASE!
My apologies for making this so short, but I still have to pack and do a couple of loads of laundry before I go to bed so I'll catch you later!
Happy 4th of July!

The bathroom project continued...

2009-06-28T10:21:00.004-05:00

Hi again!
The bathroom is almost finished if you don't count all the painting I need to do. Yay! I think the final drywall/ceiling finishing and re-installing the toilet will be done tomorrow so we'll be able to use the facilities again. Double yay! I still have cabinet refinishing to get done but I'm not too worried. We've got a beautiful non-humid day shaping up today so I may get a little of that done later.
Yesterday, I spent the day with a couple of friends making cards for an organization called Cards for Heroes. We made 81 cards in all. It sounds like a lot, but we made multiples of 6 of most of them so with three of us it didn't seem all that bad and anyway, it was fun. We had a kinda rainy day so I didn't feel bad about being in the house.
This week I hope to tackle all the painting in the bathroom so I can call that whole project done. I'm working out the details on what I might stamp on the walls. They're going to be white this time with a stripe pattern but I think I need something to break up all that white and anyway, I have towels to match! ha! So, I guess you could say there's still a fair amount of work to do but most of it is on my shoulders to finish.
Guess I better get moving...
Enjoy your day!
Toni

Bathroom Saga part 3?

2009-06-24T19:13:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I'm not sure what installment I'm on for this project, but the bathroom is coming along nicely. I came home yesterday to a fully installed tub/surround minus the faucet and spout. Those went on today along with new drywall , repaired ceilings in both bathrooms and the first layer of mud. I think the new tile floor goes in tomorrow along with some smoothing out of the drywall and ceiling repairs.
It is at this point where I step back and admit how deliriously happy I am that we hired someone to do all of this. It's not been without its share of glitches and snags and had Rich and I tackled it on our own I figure we would have finished sometime next December.
As for my cabinet refinishing project, I am off to start the sanding so I can get moving on the staining. It's a bit humid today so I'm limiting my project for tonight to the vanity since it's cooler in the house.

More later..

Bathroom remodel - the saga continues

2009-06-22T20:46:00.002-05:00

Well, after a weekend of ripping and shredding, stripping and scrubbing, (Poor Rich spent most of the weekend destroying the bathroom and I spent it stripping cabinets) we were able to hand over the responsibility for putting it back together to our remodeling "crew". Okay, there are two of them, but they're already making progress. Tonight when I got home they had the sub-floor in place where a gaping hole had been this morning and were wrestling with the plumbing and the tub. It's not hooked up yet, but it's close and oh, how wonderful it is to see a shiny new tub there! Yay!
Thanks to Tim, we were able to figure out the puzzle that is the toilet drain in relation to the sub-floor- yes it sucked big time getting that all pulled apart - but we are thankful to have someone we could ask at that hour of the night. Sorry Tim! I didn't look at the clock before I called!
The dumpster was delivered this afternoon sometime and is waiting to be filled; a project I thought we might tackle tonight but then I was told to leave it as Johnny and Dan - our repair guys - said they would take care of it for us. How stinkin' cool is that?!?
Anyway, I'm gathering that the tub and plumbing connections associated with that are a major hurdle so I have a feeling they'll make some decent progress tomorrow. To be honest, it's tough sitting at work waiting to go home so I can see how much they've gotten done. Josh isn't paying all that much attention to what they are doing so pestering him for updates is pretty much a useless proposition. I don't think he quite grasps the importance of my knowing... oh well...

Well, I'm going to head off to bed as it's getting late, and my battery is dying anyway. Besides that, it's still 92 degrees out here (I'm on the deck) and I'm starting to wilt.
I'll be back with an update tomorrow if I can!

Bathroom demolition and other Summer fun!

2009-06-20T05:58:00.004-05:00

We've finally taken the plunge and started demolishing our upstairs bath. Reconstruction begins on Monday morning so we have today and tomorrow to finish ripping out the tub (Can't wait to see what sort of disaster that brings unhooking the drain - yikes!), the rest of one wall which is surrounding various pipes, and the floor. I have a feeling today is going to be a dusty day!

Last weekend I went over to Lowes and bought all the new stuff we're putting in including faucets, towel bars, tile, tub and surround. Our credit card is squealing a bit but I'm so excited to have all of this under way finally! Given the state of the room right now- we've sort of passed the point of no return so we're committed now.

I've been taking photos a little at a time and am planning on doing that going forward as we get new stuff installed, so when those are ready I'll post them so you can see. The goal is to have the whole thing pretty well re-assembled by next weekend- barring any unforeseen disasters of course.

Josh wrapped up his Junior year Thursday and is now trying to work as many hours as he can so he can get a car. Unfortunately Panchero's (where he works) is doing their best to make him quit so they're making his life miserable at every opportunity. Part of me says- this is a learning experience for him (we all have to deal with crappy employers at one time or another) the other part of me says, "What the heck?!?!" Having been in his shoes, I can tell you it really sucks when your employer suddenly turns on you and everything you do is not good enough. Needless to say, he's looking for something better, but so far isn't having any luck. We keep telling him to hang in there - at least he has a job for the time being.
On the upside, his report card for 4th quarter showed up in the mail yesterday and he made the B honor roll again with two A's (Band and Advanced Art Studio), one B (Advanced Placement European History), and a C (Honors Chemistry). Whoohoo!!! Remember back at the beginning of the year when I said he had a tough year ahead? Well apparently I didn't need to worry. He's had darned good grades all year.
We had is Senior portraits taken last Thursday over in Anoka at the same photographer that we used for Dan. They really did a good job-I have a feeling we're going to have a hard time choosing again. I'm going over there later this morning to pick up all the proofs. Josh thought I was nuts to have them done this early, but we needed to get the yearbook photos in pretty early and the weather was good so I saw no reason to wait. I think he was concerned that his "look" might change between now and his Senior year or something. Yeah, whatever...

Well, my pal Twyla is headed over later this morning to stamp up some cards with me for a card swap we are doing so I better bail here and get the stamp room cleaned up for that. I did a little remodel project down there a while back too, and it made a world of difference in my storage space. Now, the perpetual problem is getting myself into the habit of putting my toys away when I am done! ha!

Oh, I almost forgot! Rich has his own blog now! We sat down the other night and I walked him through setting one up. So far it's kinda small because he just got started, but even I have to admit he does have some interesting stuff out there. Anyway, here's the link: Rich's Pocket Universe Hop on over there for a visit! I've also added him to my list of blogs/websites so you can find it going forward.

Take care! Catch you later!
Toni

Sunny Sunday

2009-05-31T17:54:00.002-05:00

Hello again! Yeah, I know...two days in a row right? No, I am not sick. We just had a really nice weekend -two days of sunshine to enjoy and we finally cleared out the front flower beds. Grubby, tiring work, but at least the weeds have been beaten into submission for the time being. Of course now I have huge gaps to fill. Drat. Next on my list, a little walk with the Round Up! Of course, I have to wait for a less windy day, but hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate this week.

This afternoon the three of us went to the theatre to see the new Disney-Pixar movie "Up". It's pretty good, and I know it's getting all sorts of great reviews. It's in digital 3D which, let me tell you, is a far cry from the days of old when we had to wear those cheesy blue and red paper glasses. We still wore 3D glasses, but other than the Clark Kent styling, were pretty much like regular glasses. Anyway, it's a good movie in that typically Disney-good sort of way.

Well, since it's getting toward the dinner hour, I guess I'll quit here and get something started to feed the starving children. ha!

Have a good week!
Toni

Happy Saturday!

2009-05-30T09:31:00.005-05:00

Hello again!
I'm so glad it's Saturday! I know we just finished up a "short" week, but why do these allegedly short weeks always seem so long?
Our Memorial Day weekend up with Rich's parents was blessed with good weather so we spent part of the day at the Shady Hollow flea market on their opening day, and found a few treasures to bring home. Well, I found some treasures... I guess Rich is just more selective because he didn't find anything he couldn't live without.
Sunday I headed into Fargo and spent the day with Mom. We took a drive out to the Horace cemetary, visited Dad's grave, and wandered around for a while. Interesting wandering through a cemetary trying to remember who all those people were. Mom, of course, remembers a good share of them and did her level best to help me conjure up a face to go with the names. I had to chuckle though, when she did the "You remember {INSERT NAME HERE}...they went to school with {INSERT NAME OF SIBLING HERE}" thing. When you are 14 plus years younger than all but one of your siblings, the chances you actually knew these people is pretty slim. Especially when they died young and you were four at the time. Oh well.
We went to a movie in the afternoon. It's a little tricky finding a show that doesn't offend Mom's sensibilities, but it's hard to go wrong with Disney, so we saw Night at the Museum-Battle of the Smithsonian and I think she enjoyed it. Other than it being a bit loud that is. After that we grabbed a light dinner (we both spoiled our appetites with a gargantuan tub of popcorn) and then I had to head back to Detroit Lakes.
Monday we headed home to a distressed dog who conveyed his upset in the most disgusting manner possible (I'll let your imagination work for you there). Needless to say, I wasn't a happy camper when we got home. Ahh, the joys of a long weekend...
The rest of the week was fairly uneventful though busy. In other words- pretty much the usual. Thursday I went to a friend's house and taught a quick little card class but otherwise didn't accomplish much. I've been teaching a monthly card class at work for over a year now but I haven't taken the show on the road-so to speak- since I gave up the whole demonstrator gig. I have to say it's a lot more fun just teaching than selling!

Well, I'm hoping to clear out a couple of flower beds this weekend so I should probably get going on that. I'm going to leave you with the link to a really cute video someone shared with me this week. It's of a 90 year old couple - married 67 years- doing a little impromptu show at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Believe me, it's worth watching. Here's the Video.

Cruisin' into the Holiday Weekend

2009-05-20T20:24:00.002-05:00

Hello all!
Well we're headed toward a three day weekend - yay! I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a little R & R. I'm not sure why but weekends seem to disappear in a blink lately. Maybe we're trying to fit too much stuff in but Monday mornings sure seem to slide into view quickly!

I still haven't finished with all the flower beds but I guess there's still time. Our temps have been swinging between extremes lately too - 60s one day and 90s the next. It would seem we're skipping Spring again this year. What the heck is up with that?!

Last Sunday Rich and I drove down to Redwing for the day and that was fun. We had a beautiful sunny day to poke around. We'd hoped to find some antique treasure to bring home with us (our anniversary gift to each other) but all the really quirky, hole-in-the-wall antique places that we used to like are gone now unfortunately. Actually, there's a really beautiful antique store right downtown Redwing that's full of furniture. I think I had just commented to Rich how the recession didn't seem to be affecting them when he spotted a coat hook. I'm sure you're thinking the same thing I was - What in heaven's name would we need a coat hook for? So I asked the question. Rich's reply was, "I didn't say we needed it - it's just that it's the only thing here we can afford!" Sadly, he was right so we came home empty handed. Oh well... them's the breaks I guess!

Well, I've been tagged to call Dan and work my motherly "charm" on him to convince him to go along this weekend to see Rich's parents. We'll see how charming I am I guess. ha!

Anyway, have a great weekend everyone! Enjoy the extra day and hopefully a little warm and sunny weather along with it.

Sunny Sunday

2009-05-17T07:25:00.003-05:00

Hello again! Just thought I would toss out a little update before I head for the shower and my hiking shoes respectively.

Rich and I are treating ourselves to a day down in Redwing, MN for our anniversary. 24 years tomorrow already. Even I have trouble believing it sometimes. Anyway, we thought we'd toodle around down there, hit a few antique stores etc, have lunch at the St. James Hotel maybe, and then head home again. We used to go down there and stay at a B&B but we haven't done that in quite a while. Anyway, I'm happy to see the wind has finally died down and the sun out so if our temps hit the mid-60s like they were predicting it should be fun to walk around exploring.

Yesterday we tackled a toilet repair so this trip comes as a welcome reward! Why do plumbing repairs always take so darned long and do they really need to be so frustrating?? Honestly, I've never met a plumbing issue that didn't piss me off and make me crabby. Anyway, after an entire morning of fighting with corroded bolts, Rich finally wrestled them apart and we made some headway. Now I just have one really small drip from the water line connection that I need to solve but at least the toilet doesn't run constantly.

Josh is wrapping up his last quarter for the year, and brought home another great report card from the last quarter. Considering the difficulty of his classes landing a spot on the B Honor roll two quarters in a row is pretty darn good I think so we're very proud of him.
We're also pleased to report that all three of his drawing projects this year are being featured in the art show at school. He has one more Advanced Art Studio project for the year to finish; this on is a theme-driven deal. His chosen theme is movies - big shocker there, I know - but he's got a really cool concept going that I think will be great when he's done. I'll post photos when I can but right now it's still in the designing stages.

Dan joined us for dinner for Josh's birthday a couple weeks ago and again on Mother's Day for brunch so we're feeling pretty privileged to see him twice in one month! He's doing pretty well though and we're happy about that. Bryon and Crystal do a good job of dragging him out of his shell and into group activities. I know he thinks the world of both of them so their living arrangements must be working out pretty well. No girlfriend on the horizon it would seem, but not for lack of trying. I think he's become a little used to not spending a fortune on a girl and all her little whims. Can't blame him I guess, but it would be nice to see him get out a little more again. Oh well, all in good time I guess.

Well, I should probably hit the shower and get a couple other things done here at home before we head out, so I'll close for now I think.
Take care everyone! Have a great day!

We've Got Mailbox!

2009-05-02T19:57:00.003-05:00

Whoo hoo! We're happy to report that we now have a glossy new mailbox in place of the formerly dilapidated, sad thing we had.

I can now meander out to get the mail or paper without shame! Well, maybe as long as I don't go out in my bathrobe...

I'm sure the mailman is thrilled considering he can now both reach the box without leaning halfway out of his truck and the door actually stays on when you open it.

So anyway, now it's up to the rest of you to fill it up! ha!

Actually, the mailbox was more or less the start of my Spring outdoor cleaning. Once Rich got it installed I figured I better get going on the rest of the yard. We finally had a sunny day today so I started tackling the raking. A word to the wise: it's a really good idea to rake your leaves in the Fall when they fall. Winter snuck up on us last year though and we didn't get the yard cleaned up like we should have. I paid for that today. With Josh's help I was able to clear out most of the front yard, one side of the house and part of the back yard before my arms gave out and Rich took pity on me to finish it up. Three Ibruprophin later and I think I may live. Good thing because tomorrow I need to finish up the rest. Yay.

I've decided to devote a little more time to my flowers again this year, hopefully with the help of my pal Lynn who actually knows what she's doing in that department. Last year I let everything slide so I have a LOT of weeding to do again. Drat. I am counting on Lynn to steer me in the right direction for what to plant to fill in the rather large gaps in my garden plan. Why all the stuff I've planted in the past can't just cooperate and grow like it's supposed to, I have no idea. Apparently I didn't inherit Dad's gift for gardening.

Well, I'm off to a comfy spot on the couch where I can rest my aching bones before I crawl off to bed.

Catch you later!

Summer was on Thursday this year

2009-04-26T09:47:00.003-05:00

Hope you enjoyed it! That's it for this year. So sorry. Well, okay maybe we'll get one more day of Summer this year. Maybe, but Wednesday it was 60 something, Thursday it was 83 and the last 3 days have been in the 50's so I am sure you can see my point. (sigh) On the upside, and yes, this is the upside, today it's raining which means that the ground will thaw enough to start gardening again and hopefully we can get our new mail box installed. Someone said they were going to do that this last week, but...hmmm. Not sure what happened there. : )

Josh did a great job of entertaining us last weekend. The dinner theatre at our church was great. It's delightful how a group of people of all ages can put together so many different skits.

Most of them are take-offs from Saturday Night Live but there were a few from Mad TV and The Tonight show plus some game shows. They're all cleaned up for the church-going crowd of course. Anyway, we enjoyed our spaghetti dinner and the show, and believe it or not Josh does seem to have an affinity for the stage. Gee, who called that one? ha!

Well, the rain seems to have abated so I'm going to see if I can light a fire under that whole mail box project...ha!

Catch you later!

Blueberry or Cherry?

2009-04-13T19:37:00.005-05:00

Well, Easter dinner came together almost like I planned it...he he he! We had a nice afternoon with Brenda, Greg and Dan here, and I now have enough leftovers to feed us for the rest of the week. Whoo hoo! We'll all be heartily sick of ham by Wednesday, but them's the breaks. (evil laugh) So, what's with the blueberry or cherry thing? I made little individual parfait cheesecakes for dessert. Sorry, no leftovers...

I think I may have mentioned a while back that Josh was taking a Drawing II class and was working on some challenging projects. Well, lo and behold we've actually SEEN this marvel for ourselves! He had two projects back to back that I just had to shake my head at because at no time in my life was I ever capable of drawing like this. Steve and Bruce could probably do it and Tim has been known to create some extraordinarily cool stuff too, but I can't lay claim to being the cause of Josh's talent. Actually I think he gets a little from both sides, because Rich's mom paints some beautiful stuff too and I just try to be in line when she decides to part with it!
Anywhoo... below are a few shots of the latest art projects. Yes, I know I am boasting, but cut me some slack; I'm his mother.

This first one was a combination of three separate images that he pulled off the Internet. They're all from that Watchman movie that came out a while back. It's done in pastels and graphite. The photos I have here were taken just before he finished it so there are a few details- mostly on the girl's face and her hair that he hadn't quite finished yet- but you get the idea anyway.

The second one is also a combination piece but is done entirely in charcoal and chalks. His assignment was to combine an inanimate object, a musical instrument, a piece of fruit and a flower all in one drawing. He started with the saxophone, lily and dragon fruit (the pink and green spiky thing) and was also going to work in a rocky shoreline. I'm not sure what happenned to the latter, but partway into the assignment he mentioned to the teacher that he thougth the saxophone was going to be really hard and wanted to change his musical instrument to the guitar instead. His teacher responded with "I think you should leave the saxophone in but you can do the guitar too." Josh's response was something along the lines of "Oh, gee. Can I?". I think that's where the shoreline disappeared actually. Anyway, the perspectives on this one are kinda strange because it really doesn't seem like there's an "up" side, but the saxophones are on the bottom.

Now that I've finally left you with something interesting to look at, I'll close and head toward my laundry room.

Happy Easter Everyone!

2009-04-11T10:25:00.005-05:00

Wow, I have really been a slug lately with news of what's going on with us. I'm blaming our crappy weather on some of that, but I think I really need to get over it and move on. So, here's hoping you're all having a happy Easter weekend!
I popped into Bruce & Beckie's website earlier and realized I am REALLY behind on keeping up with what they (and probably everyone else in my family) are doing. I'm thinking I better get on the phone and quick!
Today I am pondering what to do about dinner tomorrow. I left everything to the last minute again so grocery shopping is on the to-do list for today. Yay. Me and every other fool who didn't plan ahead and I hate grocery shopping anyway! I've been a horrible sister there too as I haven't called Brenda and Greg to see if they have plans either. Yes, I AM hanging my head in shame. Should probably call Dan too huh??? Hopefully I can redeem myself and pull it all together today.

On a humorous note, Josh is participating in the annual dinner theater show at our church next weekend. He's in a skit that mimics the American Idol / So you think you can dance sort of show and he's the host - a Ryan Seacrest sort of guy. His character name is Jackson Riverstone. Catchy huh? Anway, I need to get tickets so we can see his acting skills on stage again. After all, he WAS the LEAD role in his 2nd grade production. He played Freddy Fish. lol!

Otherwise there isn't really a lot new going on here. I took Buster to the vet for shots and a checkup last week and found out he has a thyroid problem so now he's on meds for the rest of his life. We're blaming some of his weight gain on that, but we're ramping up the exercise program (God knows my hips can use the help!) and cutting his food back a bit too. He's considered a senior dog now- which seems crazy in a way, but sort of drives home the need to keep him in shape too. The kittens are a couple of maniacs but they provide a fair bit of entertainment as well. Just not a 3:00 in the morning. Why is it that animals can tell time so darned accurately and never seem to oversleep the alarm?

Well, Josh needs to pick up a couple of things for his costume and I do have groceries to pick up, so I'll close here for now. Have a great weekend everyone!

Oh, I almost forgot! I'll leave you with a really cool show- just in time for spring! Check out the slideshow below. It's called The Daffodil Principle. Enjoy!

Thank God for Volunteers

2009-03-29T18:36:00.002-05:00

Hello all! I'm sure most of you have been following the news about the Fargo flood and I know some of you are either dealing with it directly or know someone who is. Our prayers go out to those people. The reports today are that the river has crested at 41 feet and appears to be dropping but the colder temps are partly responsible for that so it's not over yet.
I spoke with mom earlier this week and she's fine. West Fargo isn't threatened really but she is heartily sick of snow and weather. They were "blessed" with another blizzard last week. Apparently it was 44 and sunny one day and blizzarding the next. I picked up more than a little disgust in her voice when she called to give me the update. Can't you just hear her?
Here in the Twin Cities we're enjoying a balmy 46 degrees with lots of sunshine. Unfortunately we're supposed to get another 4-6 inches of snow on Mon-Tue. Yay. So glad I live here.

On another family-oriented note, and for those of you who may not know, Sarah (Nathaniel's wife) has had a rough time of it lately. She had surgery for a brain tumor on the 18th which went well. She has a difficult road ahead of her but apparently has a positive attitude about the whole thing. Daniel was here yesterday and mentioned that Bryon and Crystal had been spending a fair amount of time visiting with her along with, I am sure, volunteering to stay with her while she recovers. So, our thoughts are with all the Kemmers on the south end of town as they deal with the challenges ahead.

Here at home, things are pretty much running on an even keel. Our bathroom project hasn't, as of yet, gotten off the ground but I am hoping to rectify that soon. It all starts with a call the the contractor who was recommended to us so we can see what it might cost. That's also the biggest hurdle to get over- you know, that gasping of air when they give you the estimate? Anyway, more on that as the project progresses.

Lots of prayers going out to flood victims and surgery recoverees! We're thinking of you!

Sleet outside - Warm Fuzzies inside

2009-03-10T12:37:00.002-05:00

Well, today started off fairly normal, but Josh forgot his art portfolio at home and needed it for 3rd hour and we're projected to get hit with more of that white CRUD that seems to be the constant norm around here so rather than drive to and from work, home, school,work and home I bundled up some transportable projects (not all that easy when you work in a Mac world and live in the PC world), and came home. I'm currently taking a break from the delights of script writing but will have to get back at it pretty quick here. The upside to all this is, of course, while the masses are fighting sleet and snow later today - if it turns to that, I'm already home with the cats and dog for company. Two of the three are curled up right nearby and one is "sunbathing" under the desk lamp. It's a tough life. At least she's not walking all over the keyboard. I'm also getting a few loads of laundry don, dinner is defrosting, and with any luck at all I'll finish everything so I am that much farther ahead tomorrow.

For those who might be following our latest home improvement saga- this past weekend Rich and I went shopping for tubs, showers etc to replace the current problem children. We've pretty much decided to just rip it all out (minus the toilet and sink) and start over. We know we have water damage on both the wall and the floor and we don't want to contend with mold issues so we're going to bite the bullet and just do it right. This means manual labor of course, but I hope it won't be too bad. I think we're going to do all the demolition ourselves and then hire someone to install the tub and shower. I'll do the tile too now that I more or less know what I am doing thanks to Nathaniel's guidance with the downstairs bath. Anyway, with any luck we'll have a new bathroom sometime in April.

Well, I better get back to my script. On the clock you know...

Spring Ahead - coming up!

2009-03-03T19:21:00.004-06:00

Hooray!!! We set the clocks ahead this weekend so that means all the snow is going to go away and the flowers are going to start blooming and the grass is going to get green... yeah, well a long winter really kills the gray cells you know?

We really don't have a lot of new stuff to report. Josh is off this week on Spring Break, so of course Rich and I are really jealous. On the other hand, there is a fair bit of laundry getting done. : ) Rich and I are both busy at work, which given the economy and all the layoffs happening around us, we are grateful for. I'm learning a new software program at work and that's kind of fun but at the same time it adds a little more to my already full plate, so squeezing in the time to go through the various tutorials and play around with the program is a challenge. If I can get a handle on it I'll be able to create Flash files though which is pretty cool. Makes me wish I had the software here at home! Oh well.

Rich is part of a dwindling department so his desk never really gets cleared off but at least he's still employed. All in all it's been a rough year for various family members so we're glad for our good fortune.

Josh is doing well in school. He has another challenging quarter going with Honors Chemistry, AP European History, Drawing II and Band. The first two are probably the most difficult but he's pulling through. Drawing II got slid in to replace an extra math class this year and he's happy about that because, FINALLY, he has an art class again. I have to laugh though because Josh has a definite, and I mean definite, preference for pencil on paper drawings. He rarely, if ever, uses color and if he does it's usually a single color on plain paper. Like when he picks up a green Sharpie in lieu of a plain lead pencil. Get what I mean? Well, this drawing class requires a little more variety in what he uses and what his subject matter is, so he's having to break that mold a bit. I can't wait to see what he's done but I suppose I'll have to wait til the end of the school year. darn it.

On the home front, we are looking at some bathroom repairs again. Do you ever wonder why the home improvement stuff that pops up as part of the joy of home ownership is never the cheap variety? I swear, if I have to repair the ceiling in the downstairs bath one more time I'm going to scream. This would be attempt #3 and I detest doing drywall. Maybe because we've fixed this particular ceiling twice already in the last 2 years. (sigh) The upstairs bath is actually the cause of our problems downstairs, and unfortunately also involves repairing drywall. It also probably means a new tub and surround, and paint. The latter actually makes me a little sad because it means painting over all the flowers I stamped along the ceiling. Again. : (

Are we done yet?

2009-02-19T21:07:00.002-06:00

Honestly, will Winter never end? I don't know about you, but I was perfectly content with the 30s and 40s we were inching toward just last week, and then this morning we woke up to a miserable 2 degrees. I guess I should be happy it was ABOVE zero, but still. The ice on our driveway, which as most of you know, faces North will probably be there until June at this rate. I've decided I'm going to become a meteorologist. I figure it's recession proof. Other than politics, what other job can you have where you can be consistently wrong, and still get paid. I maintain that most of them just search the Internet for the least offensive forecast they can find, hedge their bets a bit and viola! Crummy forecast = paycheck.

Thank you for listening. Just needed to get that off my chest.
I hope that those of you who are lucky enough to be somewhere warm are enjoying it. I also hope you won't tell me how hot it is where you are because if you do, I have one word for you. WAAAA! Yes, I'm jealous and I'm happy to admit it.

Well, I'm off to bed. One more day this week to wrap up and the weekend is here! Yay! Hope you all enjoy that too!

Snow Days - The Good Kind

2009-02-14T22:25:00.003-06:00

It's been a while since I posted anything interesting here- my apologies. I've been preoccupied with stamping lately and the other blog I have going for that but I thought I would share a photo of Josh from last weekend's Snow Days Dance. He went with a group of friends, and as you can see, a very pretty girl whom he claims is just a very good friend. I have to hand it to the kid- he sure knows how to attract pretty girls! In any case, the dinner with his friends and the dance were a lot of fun, and he spent the rest of the week lamenting the fact that it went so fast. He's already pondering who he's going to ask to go to Prom and I'm wondering why he doesn't ask this one! Oh well, I imagine he will figure it out.

DC Photos

2009-01-28T20:50:00.002-06:00

As promised, here's the link for the photos from Josh's trip. I've also added the link at the left side of the page.
There are roughly 200 photos in the album- which is about half of what he actually took. I've weeded through them to post the cream of the crop.

Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/5InkyFingers/2009DCInaugurationTrip#

DC 2009 Through Josh's Eyes

2009-01-25T10:27:00.005-06:00

Cool! This one little word pretty much sums up Josh's trip to DC. He came home Wednesday night safe and sound, souveniers in hand, weary from his travels. We didn't get to talk to him while he was gone, but texting seemed to work fairly well for keeping in touch. The trip was jam-packed with memorials and museums, and of course, the inauguration ceremony on Tuesday. Josh was one of the lucky ones who got a ticket to the seated area for the inaguration so his place in the mobs of people was considerably nearer the Capitol. Something along the lines of 300 yards away directly behind the reflecting pool! The only real downside to the experience was the cold that day. The temperature was in the mid 20s, but there was a 10-15 mile an hour wind out of the Northwest so it felt more like 10 degrees. Brrr... Good thing we packed those hand warmers! Other than that, he said it was all pretty awesome. Despite the crowds, the general mood was friendly and excited, and Josh did get to see Senator McCain briefly riding in his car.

I now have somewhere in the neighborhood of 375 photos to scrapbook- only a portion of what he actually took. I was delighted to learn he's got a great eye for photography but this also means its harder to pick and choose which ones to use. I'm including a small handful here, but I'll also post a link to the rest so you can peruse them at your leisure when you have time.

All in all, it was a great trip. Josh wants to go back again sometime to see some of the things again during daylight or when the crowds aren't so heavy. Understandably, there were a few things on their list that they didn't get to see because of long lines or delays, but for the most part they seemed to hit the high spots on their tour list. He had a good time and that's really all that matters. For my part; I'm just happy to have him home again.

3 a.m. Wake-up Call

2009-01-18T10:52:00.004-06:00

We saw Josh off to Washington DC this morning at the unholy hour of 5 am and not without a little motherly worry to accompany him on his journey. Now, while I fully comprehend that he is 16, highly capable of watching out for himself and not a stranger to airline travel, you have to remember that this is a new experience for all of us. Shipping him off to the Boundary Waters in July with a group of church friends is entirely different. For one, there's no plane involved. I won't even go into the whole Security Level Orange thing that will undoubtedly follow him everywhere he goes. The fact that there's a need for that sort of thing is the worrysome part. I hope he has the time of his life. I hope he soaks up as much history, travel excitement and fun as he possibly can. But, I'm still going to worry until he's safely back home again.

With that said, without a doubt he is in for a wild 4 days of historically relevant and exciting sights. His flight this morning includes a layover in Indianapolis so as I write this, he's milling about the airport there waiting to catch the connecting flight to DC. When they finally arrive, sometime just before 2:00pm, they'll promptly dive into a sight-seeing tour that includes Arlington National Cemetary-Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Changing of the Guard, Kennedy Gravesites, the Challenger and Iwo Jima Memorials, and finally, a stop at the Pentagon City Mall. All before 6:30 pm! After that they're headed toward the hotel just long enough to check in and dump their bags before they head off to the Inaugural Dance. They won't return to the hotel until 10:30. End day 1! It's a good thing he's young and resilient because personally, that whole itinerary wears me out just thinking about it.
The rest of his trip is essentially more of the same until Wednesday when they come home. Tomorrow they'll spend the day at the Sept 11 Pentagon Memorial, Capitol Hill (they may have a tour of the interior if our MN Representatives come through for us) but if not they'll have a tour of the grounds, the Supeme Court, and Library of Congress. After lunch they'll hit the National Archives, the Holocaust Museum, and the White House for a picture stop. After dinner they'll go to Lincoln Memorial, the Korean Memorial, Veitnam Memorial and finally Kennedy Center. This is probably their easiest day because on Tuesday (Inauguration Day) they have to be up and out of the hotel by 4:30 am so they can get over to Capitol Mall where the ceremony and parade takes place. Nothing actually happens until 10:30 am and the parade doesn't start until 2:00 pm. Now here's the fun part. Everything is outdoors, temps are supposed to be in the low to mid-30s. DC is expecting some 4 million people to this event. We were informed last Monday that (at that point in time) they had one porta-potty for every 7000 people (yuck!) and that there are no tents, sheltered areas or refreshment stands anywhere. Hold your water everyone! Predictably, the general plan is to try to get as close to the ticketed areas as possible but really, regardless of where they end up, as long as they're along the Mall, the Jumbo-trons should afford them a good view. I guess we'll find out when he gets home how good it was. I would imagine that by the time they get back to their hotel that evening they'll all be more than a little chilled and tired. Thankfully their evening is pretty much free from that point.
Wednesday is their last day but they are scheduled to see Mt Vernon and their choice of one of the museums in the Smithsonian Complex before they head for the airport and home.

Josh has been duly tasked with collecting postcards everywhere he goes (for that scrapbook I need to start one of these days) and taking lots of pictures. Hopefully I'll have photos to post when he gets back. Other than that all he really needs to do is enjoy the experience. In the mean time, I'm going to be the typical Mom, and worry about him until I see him again. Keep him in your prayers won't you?

Back from the Land of the Nearly-Dead

2009-01-10T21:34:00.006-06:00

Well, I can say with certainty that we are thoroughly sick of being sick. Rich caught this season's CRUD the Friday following Christmas and passed it along to me a week ago Wednesday. It's nasty stuff and really puts a damper on vacation. Today, I am finally starting to feel somewhat normal although my nose is still a war zone. Rich seems to have finally slogged his way through it so I expect that I'll be fine by the middle of next week. Josh, bless his healthy little heart, seems to have dodged the bullet this time around which is good since he'll be getting on a plane in another week.

The upside to being sick, if you're looking for one, is that lying about watching movies can be pretty entertaining when it takes all your reserves of energy just to crawl to the bathroom once every 3 or 4 hours. Thankfully, we signed up for Netflix over the holidays so a steady stream of entertainment is at our fingertips whenever we want it. If you aren't sure what it's all about, zip on over to their website (the link is in our list at left) and check it out. They've got OODLES of movies, TV shows etc to choose from, and many can be downloaded right to your computer. Rich figured out how to hook up his laptop to the tv so we can "project" on the bigger screen, which eliminated the need for extra equipment. Otherwise, for the movies we want that aren't included in the Instant View list, we just request the DVD. It's pretty darn cool and has the potential to save us a bundle on movie rentals! Anyway, there's my commercial for the day...

Hope everyone is healthy on your end... Catch you later! My Nyquil is calling...

Happy New Year!

2009-01-03T11:09:00.003-06:00

We hope that you all had a very merry Christmas! All in all, I'd have to say our holidays were pretty nice. We had the pleasure of having Mom here for a few days over Christmas, several days of vacation all bunched together, fairly decent weather, and Santa was good to all of us. I think the only downside - other than having family members scattered hither and yon- is the cold virus that both Rich and I managed to catch. Not sure why that is, I certainly didn't have my hand up! Anyway, we're slogging our way through it. Lovely way to spend the last few days of your vacation, let me tell you.
Tomorrow we're wrapping up the last of our Christmas gatherings with friends and after that the tree comes down. It's pretty crunchy so it's definitely time for a walk to the boulevard. The rest of the decorations will follow suit though, I didn't put as many out this year as I have in the past so it won't take long. Lois and Lana will no doubt be wondering where their prickly friend has gone, but to be honest, if I have to chase them out from under there one more time I'm likely to go ballistic. Thankfully, we've only had 2 casualties which was a surprise considering how determined they are to play with the ornaments. I saved everyone the joy of cleaning up kitty uck by leaving the ribbons off all the packages. We'll see if I can graduate to bows next year.
Monday we're all back to work and school for (gasp!) a full 5 day week. I figure by Wednesday I'll have waded through all the crisis projects that have arisen in my absence, and will feel like I might accomplish something useful by Friday. I made the mistake of checking my email last night so I already have an inkling of what awaits my return. Likewise, Rich knows he has over 100 emails to sift through when he gets back (he decided to join us for a week off this week) so I am sure he's as thrilled about Monday morning as I am. Oh well... that's the price you pay I guess.
Well, my dust bunnies are calling so I'd better start chasing them. Important guests coming tomorrow you know...
Happy New Year everyone! Here's hoping 2009 is a little brighter than all the predictions!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-20T12:34:00.004-06:00

I hope that this post finds all of you in high Holiday spirits and ready for Christmas! Here in the frozen tundra we call Minnesota, we're pretty much ready. The tree is up, lit and decorated, packages wrapped (though they do lack ribbons and bows at this point: more on that later), and we've shipped anything that needed shipping. I finished our cards early this morning and Rich mailed them for me a little bit ago, so...gosh I think we've got this holiday thing pretty well in hand!

The aforementioned tree went up a couple of weeks ago with nearly all of the breakables nearest the top, and the non-breakables at the bottom, where I was reasonably sure they would become kitty toys. I was praying that neither kitten would climb the tree, but as they are both a couple of little monkeys, I wasn't holding my breath. The first week went really well and they both seemed content with batting at the lower branches and ornaments: I was even bold enough to announce that they were leaving it alone... Well, you know that old saying about "speaking too soon"? Yeah. You guessed it; no sooner had I said it than one of them had to make a liar out of me. Last Saturday I caught Lois mid-way up the tree, broken ornament on the floor and a look of terror on her face as I came tearing out of the kitchen. I'm not sure if the commotion was enough to deter her from ever doing it again, but at this point they've both been content to admire it from the floor though they persist in walking about amidst the packages underneath and given their mutual love of ribbons we've left off all of the usual ribbon and bows until a little closer to the date. I'm pretty sure they would shred anything we put on them so, for now, they look a little bare. I did remember to put tags on everything this year however!

Josh is now enjoying his Christmas break from school, and trying to pick up a few more hours at Pancheros at the same time. He's managed to earn and save a fair chunk of money for his trip to DC next month but every little bit helps. He leaves on January 18th and returns on the 21st, so the trip is coming up fast. Despite the outcome of the election, I think he's still looking forward to the trip. I told him to keep his political opinions to himself while he was there lest he come home in a body bag for -God forbid- voicing his opinion. It's bound to be a momentus occasion regardless, and I know that he'll enjoy seeing the sights of the Capital.

I will be off work beginning the afternoon of the 23rd and won't be going back until the 5th of January. Ahhh, bliss! Almost 2 full weeks of rest and relaxation. I can't hardly wait. Josh has his license now too, so I won't necessarily be required to shuttle him about unless I need my car for something of my own. Mom will be here Tuesday night to spend the holiday with us, so we're all looking forward to that. I see a stack of jigsaw puzzles with Mom on the horizon! Rich will be working much of the time I am off which is a bummer, but he didn't stockpile his vacation like I did. I tend to do that every year just because I love having the Christmas / New Year time period off. Rich prefers to take days here and there throughout the year I think.

On a final note, before I post this and get my sorry arse moving...

Many of you will note that my cards this year are missing a couple of elements. Namely a photo and letter. I admit it seemed odd sending the cards off without them, but since I try to keep things updated here pertaining to what we are doing, putting it all in a letter again seemed redundant. I realize that not everyone has access to this blog, so I tried to write a little in the cards for those folks. You know... like in the olden days?!?! As for a photo- getting one of Rich, Josh and I (without Dan) seemed a little sad, but pinning our eldest down for a photo was impossible, so... the photo above of Josh, Lois and Lana seemed like a fair substitute. At least it's recent!

With that said, We wish all of you a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Blessings to everyone!

Christmas Lights

2008-12-03T17:47:00.003-06:00

Or lack thereof...

Well, it doesn't look like we're going to get our lights up this year. Not sure what happened there other than a general sort of lazy... However, a friend of mine sent me this nifty video that puts anything we might come up with to shame. Enjoy! If the link below doesn't work, just copy and paste it into your browser. I'll see if I can find another spot within the blog to post it as well.

http://www.break.com/index/amazing-christmas-light-display1.html

Happy, Happy, Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T21:15:00.003-06:00

Well, we've done about all the gobble-gobbling we can do for one day. Well, all of us except Josh, who is of course a bottomless pit. I don't plan on eating tomorrow at all.

We hope that all of you had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving. We had the pleasure of entertaining Brenda, Greg, and our other kid... Dan. Remember him? We haven't seen his face in a while so it was nice to get a refresher. As an added treat, we had the chance to talk to my brother Bruce too. Anyway, Greg helped to remind me that my blogging skills are getting rusty because I still had Bruce and Beckie's old website listed in our links for favorite places. I have now fixed that little error, and you can now zip on over to their space on the Southern coast of NC.

Tomorrow is, of course, the biggest shopping day of the year, and if all goes well, I'll be firmly ensconced on my sofa with a cup of joe about the time the rest of the world is fighting the mobs of idiots who think it's necessary to shop at 5 am. Honestly- there just isn't a deal good enough to drag me out of bed on my day off at that ridiculous hour. Besides, there's that online thing that doesn't require that I leave home at all to shop!

Well the clock is inching toward my bedtime, so I'm going to quit here and see if I can chase a few sugarplums... toodles!

The First Snap of Winter

2008-11-16T14:09:00.007-06:00

Well shucks, I guess we had to get it sometime, but I have to say it was nice to have Fall lingering about for so long. Last week we woke up to our first real snow of the year which of course made the morning commute a challenge because nobody can remember from one year to the next how to drive when the roads are "Winter wet" as opposed to "Summer rain wet" though in this particular instance there was no real difference. In any case, the bare inch of snow we had was melted before noon when the temperature creeped its way toward 40 again. Now we appear to be in that state of limbo where there's enough wind to require a jacket and we get rain practically every day. We’re also enjoying the semi-annual clock change so the chance of seeing daylight is almost nil except for an hour at lunch and the 30 minutes between arriving home and fixing dinner.

On the up-side - lest you think I've nothing uplifting to report, Thanksgiving is coming up soon and with it a couple of days of vacation/holiday time. Nothing wrong with that picture!

Josh is doing pretty well in all his classes, and has now started 2nd quarter. His counselor went over his schedule for 3rd and 4th quarters and managed to get his Algebra 2 class moved to his Senior year which lightens his load a bit. In place of the Algebra class he how has one quarter of Drawing II and possibly an advanced drawing class in 4th quarter.

The kittens, Lois and Lana, are both growing and doing well. They're wonderfully snuggly and fun to have around though we've given up letting them sleep with us at night because sleeping is rarely their priority after 9:00 pm. Clearly they get ample rest during the day when we are all gone.

Other than that, there's not a lot new going on. We're starting to look toward the holidays and our plans there. Work and school are going as well as we can expect - better for some of us than others- but as we're all employed we're not complaining. Hope all is well with all of you!

Take Care everyone!

The Windy City

2008-10-23T18:03:00.005-05:00

Okay so we don't get out much, as most of you are well aware, but we did make a trek to Chicago at the end of August just before school started up again. Not sure if I mentioned that previously or not, but if I did consider this the follow up. Duane and Giselle, our hosts for the weekend were wonderfully accomodating and it was nice to see a little of Chicago again too. We spent most of Saturday wandering around Millenium park which is probably the coolest inner-city park we've ever seen. Chicago is wonderfully "artsy" so seeing sculptures and statues, fountains and floral gardens all jumbled together with cafes isn't the least bit unusual. Sadly, I forgot our camera back at the house so the only photos I have of this part of the trip are on my cell phone.

Sunday we shopped and wandered around home improvement stores. Duane and Giselle are remodeling an old house so we tossed in our opinions on various countertops, appliances and cabinet styles. I'll be curious to see what they end up choosing, but that's for another trip! Monday we threw ourselves at the Museum of Science and Industry in a 3 hour whirlwind tour just before we loaded our stuff in the car and headed for home. The MSI was high on my list of stuff to do while we were there, and I have to say it was worth it. Hopefully we can go again another time but we did manage to hit most of the high spots. One of the exhibits is an actual German U Boat that the US captured in WWII. It was towed back to the US via rivers and lakes, and finally "planted" underground at the museum. We skipped the inside tour more due to time than anything, but it was still fascinating. I highly recommend it if you're in Chicago anytime. I doubt the sub will be going anywhere soon! Other than the sub, there's a full size airplane and locomotive that you can walk through and an interactive model train display that, all by itself, is a delight to see. In short, it's a great museum, full of stuff for all ages.

Travel going forward will probably be pretty limited given the economy and price of gas, though the latter seems to be dipping of late. No complaints there! Josh will be flying off to Washington DC on a school trip in January for the Presidential Inauguration and a REALLY fast tour of the capital. He's been fundraising all summer for it and most of his paycheck is feeding the kitty for the trip. I have to give the kid credit - he's working hard to pay his way.

Well, I'd better hit the post button and get going on the dishes. Funny how they pile up when you're not looking...

The Pitter Patter of Little Feet

2008-09-29T20:24:00.006-05:00

Welcome Lois & Lana! After 4 whole months, we collectively caved in and adopted two 10- 1/2 week old kittens. They are quite possibly, the friskiest pair of kittens we've ever had, so we're all (dog included) getting used to having two little fur balls flying around the house at mach speed. Buster is actually accepting them pretty well, and aside from a little initial hissing the girls are getting more comfortable with him. I'm doing my best to make sure Buster doesn't feel left out but he seems like he's perfectly fine with having them around. I think he's still waiting to see when he gets the green light to actually PLAY with them!

The names are courtesy of Rich. He and Josh watch a LOT of Smallville which, for those of you who don't know, is a weekly series about Superman before he became Superman. Lois, as in Lois Lane, finally made an appearance in Season 4. Lana, was Clark's "first love" apparently, according to the writers of this particular series. I was more or less booted out of the naming process this go around, but since they didn't come up with anything I couldn't live with, I'm going along with their choices. Besides, they fit somehow.

So far, the most often asked question seems to be "How do you tell them apart?". Well... Lana is the smaller of the two, her fur is silkier and pure black. Lois is fuzzier looking and she has very faint tabby stripes that make her look slightly less black. Personality-wise, Lois is a little more cuddly right off the bat and a little more timid. Lana is more daring and has already decided Buster is nothing she can't handle. We'll see what they have in store for us!

Change is good...right?

2008-09-16T20:44:00.003-05:00

Well, here we are mid-way through September already. Josh is well entrenched in the whole school routine and we're all enjoying these last fleeting days of summer. Fall peeked around the corner last week and I gave thought to putting the summer clothes away and pulling out the down comforter. (sigh) This week we're back to 80s again. Maybe I'll just hold off a bit on that comforter...
For those who have not heard yet, last week we took the plunge and dropped our land line here at home. It still seems odd not to have a home phone and while I do spend a fair bit of time on my cell phone (yes, I admit it!), having it on me at all times is an adjustment. Anyway, if you don't already have our individual cell phone numbers, send me an email and I'll give them to you.

Freshly Sharpened Pencils

2008-08-26T19:43:00.004-05:00

Well, we've dented the pocket book once again with the annual school shopping expedition and Josh is now ready to roll into another year of school. His schedule came in the mail today (See the torturous schedule below), and while he seems to be taking it all in stried, I am trying to control my shudders. Here's his lineup for the year unless something get's juggled around. Brace yourself. It's not pretty.
Quarter 1:
P1: Gym
P2: Honors Band
P3: AP Language & Composition (aka AP English)
P4: Honors Chemistry 1

Quarter 2:
P1: AP European History
P2: Honors Band
P3: AP Language & Composition (aka AP English)
P4: Honors Chemistry 1

Quarter 3 & 4
P1: Algebra 2
P2: Honors Band
P3: Statistics & Probability
P4: AP European History

In addition to this, Josh is hoping to continue working at Panchero's on Friday nights and weekends so he can save for his trip to DC in January and a car. Apparently any social life he is planning on having will have to occur between shifts at Panchero's. I feel sorry for the kid, but he (at this point anyway) assures me that it will all be fine. Me, I'd be crying in the counselor's office.

Dan seems to be happily settled into his new digs and pops his head in periodically to appease his mother who misses him like crazy. Delilah, his cat, has apparently established herself as the "cat with attitude" in their house and has repeatedly been seen slapping cousin Bryon's cat upside the head. She's no sissy, that's for sure.

Rich and I are plugging along doing our thing. I'm plotting out our Christmas cards, and stamping whenever I get a chance. Work is going well, and things are picking up so I am a little busier these days. Rich is in the process of interviewing for a new position within GE but it's early days yet so we'll have to let you know of his progress there.

Hope everything is going well for all of you!

Till next time...

Empty Nest...

2008-07-25T19:41:00.002-05:00

Josh took off for the Boundary Waters last Sunday morning, and left Rich and I to our own devices for a week. Not that there's anything wrong with this, but it is now Friday night, he's supposed to be home in another half an hour or so, and I am not the least bit ashamed to admit I can't wait to see him. It's probably a really good thing that it will be another few years before Josh moves out because at this point in time I think the whole "empty nest" thing is the pitts!

Summer is quickly winding its way toward a new school year (yes, I hear both the groans and the cheers when I say that), but like it or not we'll be shopping for pencils and notebooks again before we know it. I'm sure Josh is thrilled about that idea! Of course, he's probably just as annoyed as I am that there are Thanksgiving decorations coming out in the stores already. I mean really! Is that absolutely necessary?!

Well, I'm off to get the kid. Hooray!

Our Own Extreme Home Makeover

2008-06-01T07:11:00.005-05:00

May turned out to be home-improvement month with the departure of Dan from our midst early in the month, and an anxious 16 year old waiting in the wings for his new bedroom makeover. I can now say I have had my fill of repairing drywall, taping, priming, painting and re-carpeting for a little while. Thank heaven for Josh and his help with his portion of the transformation process, because by the time we finished his room I was completely shot. I was duly rewarded with a nasty cold/flu virus that laid me out flat for 3 days. There's no justice...

Our projects started with the transformation- and yes, it IS quite the transformation - of the guest room. Formerly known as Dan's room. This is where I re-learned the joys of reparing drywall as my darling son had managed to put not one, but two, substantial holes in the wall during his time there. Don't you just love boys? Anyway, I devoted all of Mother's Day weekend to repairing the damage, taping, priming and painting. The result, I will proudly say, was worth the effort, and we now have a place for overnight guests to stay! See photo. Dan was a little surprised when he saw it, but he did admit that he thought it looked nice. Anyway, for those of you who have been making up excuses not to come HERE to visit, I'm not listening......

On to Josh's room and the demolition of Memorial Day weekend:

Our youngest, bless his heart, has been steadily outgrowing the furniture we bought back when we moved into this house. While the bright red bunkbed and matching red-white and-blue dresser set was great for two small boys, Mr. long legs has rapidly outgrown them both in height and years. To correct this, we decided to make his room a little more adult looking with the addition of new carpet, new furniture, and we finally ditched the chair rail that divided his walls in half horizontally. He liked the colors that I picked for the guest room so to save a few pennies I mixed the two colors I used there together (two shades of a soft country yellow-gold). We pulled the carpet that the cat managed to shred and replaced that too. We did the installation ourselves, and I can say with certainty we won't do that again. All Hail to Carpet Installers Everywhere!!! What a hideous job. Anyway... three coats of primer later to cover the navy blue that some idiot thought would be a good idea for the bottom half of the wall (me), I was ready to paint.

This is the point at which Josh dived into the project to help. I think he was getting a little antsy about having to sleep in the "girly" guest room. Tired mom? Too bad.. let's keep going and get this done. Ah, the energy of youth... Anyway, to bring you up to date, I started the priming on Saturday morning. Early. This took all of Saturday to accomplish and part of Sunday. Two coats of paint hit the walls on Sunday, and somewhere around 11:00 pm I finally gave up and went, aching, to bed. Rich incidentally is, at this point, sick as a dog so I'm trying to accomplish all of this as quietly as possible so he can rest. Monday morning, Josh was raring to go and happily pulled staples from the old carpet pad, and hammered nails to even out the floor. By Noon we had the floor prepped and ready for the new pad. I begged a reprieve for lunch before I fell over. By 1:30 we were laying down new pad -a really noisy project I might add - and by dinner time we were done. Now by this time, everything aches and I am ready to quit and pick it up tomorrow. No such luck. "Let's do the carpet tonight Mom!" " Oh gee son, can we???" After a quick trip to Home Depot to rent a carpet kicker and another break to eat, we hauled the carpet in and started that project. Rich, who isn't getting any sleep anyway, and who was feeling marginally human, helped with this task. Good thing too. I understand how the carpet kicker is supposed to work, but I don't have the necessary OOMPH to make it a success. Unfortunately, we were a little too successful, because by 8:30 we were ready to re-install the baseboard, and "since we were on a roll" someone decided he wanted to sleep in his new bed too. I think I crawled into bed (literally!) around 11:00, and oh joy, crawled out again at 4:30am.

The rest of Josh's furniture was assembled in good time, though not by me. By Wednesday, I was battling whatever bug Rich had and spent the rest of the week in and out of bed. Now I ask you, what sort of reward is that?!?!? I guess the reward is in how nice Josh's room looks now. No photo at this point but I'll see if I can get one soon. For now, I'm going to grab my cup of rapidly cooling coffee and see if I can find a sunny spot on my deck to enjoy it.

One Chick out of the Nest

2008-06-01T06:58:00.002-05:00

Well, folks, we now have one less chick in the nest. Dan moved out at the beginning of May into a house in Bloomington with his cousins. He took the snotty cat with him, so Buster is in doggie "I now have everyone's full attention" heaven. So far, from what we have been told, things are going well, and he seems to like both the proximity to work and the independence our little "shove" has given him. I admit it; I am guilty of giving him more than one nudge toward the door, but only because I love him. Sometimes you have to help them grow up so that they appreciate where they came from. In any case, he calls fairly frequently and visits from time to time, (without the expectation of dinner!) so I think he's made the transition fairly well. We'll see how long it takes him to invite us down there for dinner...

Guess who's 48???

2008-04-21T18:43:00.003-05:00

Rich celebrated another birthday on Thursday and we did what we could to help him have a good one. We went out with some friends last night to a place in Maple Grove called Dave & Buster's. It's essentially a Chuck E Cheese for adults and for those of you, who through the joy of procreation, have "enjoyed" the limp pizza and warm soda delights of Chuck E Cheese on more than one occasion, this is a welcome change. Half the place is a fairly classy restaurant and the other half is an arcade minus all the little kiddie games and rides. They even serve "adult" beverages and have an under 18 must be accompanied by an adult rule. So... the number of screaming children running around is minimal! yay! Perfect for crabby old women like me.

Josh is next up on the birthday parade. He turns 16 in May and Dan will be 21 (gasp!) in June. Somebody else has a birthday in August but I think we're skipping that one this year. ha!

Something other than the weather...

2008-04-11T20:23:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I posted my weather lament already, so now I'll move onto what most of you might consider "news".
First off, the kids are both doing well. Josh just finished his 3rd quarter of 10th grade, and promises us he passed everything. As I have not yet seen a report card, I cannot comment. I do know that he is really glad to have his AP History class out of the way even though he really likes that stuff. At any rate, he's rapidly finishing up another year.

Dan is getting ready to move at the end of the month here (we think?) The exact date tends to vary depending on who you ask, but in any case he's started packing up his stuff. I think he's a little surprised at how much he's accumulated over the years! The good news is, we uncovered his carpet! The bad news: It's just as ugly as it ever was! Delilah, our cat, will be making the move with Dan which means we will be catless for the first time in 23 years! We'll see how long that lasts. The cat-lover in me predicts it won't be too terribly long before we have another furball to fill in the gap.

Rich and I really don't have a lot of new info to report. We're both pretty busy at work, but that's nothing new. If we ever get warmer weather I have a couple painting projects to tackle, and we'll probably replace some carpet this year. Oh, and that fence I keep hoping for to keep Buster from wandering about the neighborhood.

Well, it's been a REALLY busy week, and I'm pretty well worn out, so I'm going to fold for now and come back later when my othewise brilliant wit isn't quite so dull...
Take care everybody!

We're skipping Spring this year...

2008-04-11T20:09:00.002-05:00

Honestly, can you believe this weather? Spring, as I recall, is supposed to have started by now, and instead all we seem to be doing is wobbling back and forth between Winter and, well... more Winter. Sigh... I hope those two days in the high 50s and low 60s we had last week aren't all we're going to get this year. For those of you who are basking in sunshine, soaking your toes in the ocean, or generally walking around barefoot... well, you just hush. We're not listening. Deep down, we know you are all green with envy that we are enjoying such a lovely Minnesota Spring and you are missing out.

No news is good news...

2008-02-23T08:45:00.004-06:00

Just a little update to a previous post. I've not heard anything from the previous employer and don't expect I will at this point. Drat. I pretty much had my response all worked out too... : )

Phoenix for the Weekend

2008-02-23T08:11:00.004-06:00

Hello again! We just returned from our too short vacation to Arizona, where it was a balmy 72 degrees, sunny and generally speaking, a nice break from the frozen tundra and sub-zero temperatures.

We had a nice visit with Rob and Gloria, puttered around a flea market looking for treasures we couldn't live without and took a quick tour of Luke Air Force Base. For me, the most exciting part of the trip (relative reunions excluded of course) was our jaunt out to see the Grand Canyon. If you've never been there, it really is amazing. I snapped as many photos as I could while we were there but, as is often true of photos, they hardly capture the grandure of the place or the beauty. Anyway, I've included a couple here. For those who might be planning on going there, plan for a FULL day. Our visit was only about 3 or 4 hours because we had a 4 hour drive to get there and back from were we were staying. Also, we went in at the South entrance at the South Rim, so we only saw two of the lookout points. There are about 7 others if you begin at the East entrance of the South Rim. Weather is generally cooler there this time of year too. It was 54 the day we went but sunny and gorgeous so despite the snow on the ground we went wearing light jackets or sweatshirts. That in itself was a treat! Anyway, we missed a lot because of our abbreviated trip, but it was still awesome to see.

Oh, the irony...

2008-01-28T19:56:00.000-06:00

So, last week I had a phone call from a friend at my old job. Actually, I had SEVERAL calls from people I used to work with. The topic: My boss who quit. QUIT, after 6 1/2 months on the job, and just 3 days prior to the annual sales meeting. How's that for a twist? The most popular question seems to be "Would you consider going back?" It's an interesting question, I'll grant you. I'll be interested to see if the next call I get is from someone who thinks the answer might be "yes." Stay tuned....

Oh, my God, he'll be driving soon!

2008-01-28T19:38:00.000-06:00

Joshua started Driver's Ed last week and through the wonders of youthful exhuberance for a topic of great interest, Rich and I are now "complete failures" as drivers, and "Really need to pay closer attention to what we are doing behind the wheel.". Whose brat is this anyway? So, here's the recap of day 2 Drivers Ed.: I picked Josh up at school because his class ends at 5:00 so there's no bus. Considering our temperatures were hovering in the single digits or lower last week, I thought this was pretty darn nice of me... Anyway, once he got in the car, he informs me that he's not going to talk to me the rest of the way home. Hmmm. This is odd. This kid NEVER keeps silent for that long. I figured he'd never last. So we pull into the driveway, and I stop so he can get out of the car but instead of opening the door, he turns to me and informs me that "I failed". "Failed what?" I ask. "The test", he says, and proceeds to tell me everything I neglected to do on the drive home. "Get Out! I said. Who made you the expert driver all of a sudden?".. " No really mom, we just reviewed this stuff in class today, and you failed." " No", I said, "Get out of my car!" Honestly. Of all the nerve.

I have to admit though... I am paying closer attention to what I am doing. It's clearly all part of an evil plan... We'll see who he tries to shmooze out of the car keys when he needs to take the test...

Piano Man

2008-01-28T19:24:00.000-06:00

So, we bought an electronic keyboard just after Christmas. I have to interject here that this was actually Rich's idea because he had decided that maybe we should be doing something a little more diverse with our time than sitting in front of the boob tube. He thought it would be fun to learn a musical instrument and suggested a keyboard. So... we pooled a couple gift cards and bought one. So far, neither of us is Liberace, and probably won't be anytime soon, but it's fun to play around with and I, at least, am finding that I haven't forgotten all those piano lessons entirely! For now we're both starting back at the beginning with single-hand songs and a rudimentary review of how to read music. I think the refrain to insert here is, "practice, practice, practice..."

Happy New Year!

2008-01-06T09:55:00.000-06:00

Yes, I know I said I was going to be better about updating this... Stuff happens people... stuff happens.

Any Whoo...
We had a wonderful Christmas. As earlier reported, Mom was here with us and we had a very nice visit with her. Our weather was a little dicey but we just huddled up indoors and amused ourselves with movies, crosswords and YES!!!! jigsaw puzzles. I can now say I've had my fill of jigsaw puzzles for a little while. Especially after we assembled a new on one Christmas Day only to have a piece missing. How frustrating is that?!?!?

Thanks to everyone who sent cards and letters and photos. What a treat it is to hear what you're all doing and see what you look like this year! My apologies to anyone who was hit with a "postage due" on our card. Honestly, I did try to make them as flat as possible. Darn it, I guess I have to skip the ribbon next year.

After this week, we will all be back to work full time. Rich took some vacation time over Christmas as did Dan. Josh was off school for two weeks and of course, relished every minute. I, being the new kid on the block at work, had to work a couple odd days between holidays which made nearly every day I was there seem like Monday. It's nice to know that tomorrow when I go back, it really will be Monday! Funny how getting back to a five day week can seem like a blessing sometimes!

Well, I really need to get dressed and hop on those resolutions I made... As it's 10:00 am and already 36 degrees outside,(pretty nice for January in Minnesota) I am thinking I will take the chubby dog out for a walk. That ought to take care of one of those resolutions, or at least whittle away at it.

More later. I still have to tell you about the electronic keyboard we bought to amuse ourselves, and Rich's suggestion that we get one in the first place! Yes, there's a story there... Stay tuned.

Oh Christmas Tree...

2007-12-15T20:53:00.000-06:00

Well, here it is mid December already and I've let another three weeks slide by between updates. Sorry about that!

The holidays are soon upon us, and though I've been a slacker keeping this blog current, I've not been slacking in other areas. Our Christmas gifts have almost all been purchased with only a couple of exceptions. Everything is wrapped and those that needed to be mailed went out in the mail today. Our tree is up and decorated and the plan is to get the rest of the holiday decorations up this weekend. Our cards, which have been done for a month now (the stamping part anyway) were paired with photos or letters or both today, and will land in the mail on Monday. Whew! See?? I told you I had been busy! In between all of these projects I've also been putting together various home-made gifts for friends and co-workers which I must admit is a lot more fun than studying ever was! Unfortunately, creativity doesn't come without a cost - my stamp room which was all neat and tidy is, once again, a bit of a disaster area. Gee... maybe it's time I weeded some stuff out again... ya think???

Next weekend I will be driving up to Fargo to pick up Mom for Christmas. I had two days of vacation that my boss told me I had to use before Dec 31 so I have a short week coming up and an extra day for New Years as well. Now let's hope the weather holds so I don' t have to drive to Fargo or home in a blizzard. So far, with the exception of a couple days, we haven't really had much more snow. The temperatures on the other hand have been nasty. Definitely a lack of degrees out there some mornings!

As I mentioned, we did get our tree up this week. Dan was drafted to help go bring it home (I didn't want to sacrifice my paint job to scratchy branches) so it was pretty easy getting it from the tree lot to our driveway. We picked a Frasier again - they're such pretty trees and they really hold their needles a long time. Plus they're soft so winding the lights doesn't involve any bloodshed. Of course, this project couldn't go entirely smoothly - I had to replace nearly all of our lights this year, and then we went a little nuts and bought three boxes of 350 light sets. I think when it was all said and done we put all but one string on the tree. With the addition of the single string of 100 that actually DID work from last year, we've got about 1025 lights in all. I told you we went a little nuts. It's REALLY pretty though! I'll post a photo later if I can get a decent shot.

Well, my bedtime is here, and since the dog is already snoring that must mean it's time for me to turn in too!
Catch you all later!

Gobble Gobble!

2007-11-22T16:52:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Here's hoping you're all enjoying a relaxing Turkey-Day afternoon and the benefits of a healthy dose of tryptophan! We've only had one succumb so far today, but I'll admit the idea is tempting!

Tomorrow is, of course, the biggest shopping day of the year starting at 4 am if you are so inclined. I'm trying to puzzle out why anyone feels the need to be out shopping at that ridiculous hour but I suppose there are those who can't resist. Rich may head out for a bit, though not at 4 am. Personally, I plan to be examining my eyelids for holes at that hour and will see what I find cyber-shopping later on after I've had my coffee. Heck, I don't even have to get dressed to do that!

The rest of the weekend will undoubtedly be lazy all around. There are any number of things we could all be doing, but it remains to be seen how industrious we are when it's all said and done.

Dan announced that he's thinking about getting an apartment sometime within the next 6 months or so which gives us something to plan for in the way of birds flying the nest. I'm looking at it as an opportunity to clear out some of the miscellaneous furniture and stuff I've been saving for him and am also curious to see what his room really looks like underneath all of his "stuff". I think, if memory serves, the carpet is a reddish- brown???

Josh finished out the first quarter with a decent set of grades, and earned himself a spot on the B honor-roll. Way to go Josh! Only three more quarters to go!

We got our first real lingering snow last night, and the temps are plenty frosty to go along with it. I think our high today was 26 degrees or some such thing. Sigh...I guess Winter is here.

Well, that's about all I have to impart at the moment. I was reminded earlier this week that I really have to get busy and keep this updated and new for fear that my "readers" will languish without any new wisdom from this quarter. So... in the interests of keeping all of you entertained, I will attempt to set aside my lazy tendencies and refresh this more frequently. Well, I'll try anyway...

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007 Tricks or Treats

2007-11-04T08:09:00.000-06:00

Happy "Thank heaven that's over for another year" Halloween. Most of you know how much I detest this particular holiday but forgive me if there are a few of you who believe it's all great fun and think I am nuts. Such is life. My one token nod to the whole thing every year, and subsequently the only real part of it that I truly enjoy, is the pumpkin carving. Especially when we get together with friends and do it as a group. The over-age snotty teenagers who descend on my doorstep every year, I could live without, but don't get me started... Anyway, this year, sadly we couldn't seem to coordinate our pumpkin-carving night with the usual group of friends so the four of us did ours on our own. The combined photo above shows the results of our labors. They all turned out pretty well, but none of them were all that involved this year and we were also somewhat limited by the size of our pumpkins. Usually we pick patterns that are much more intricate but I think Rich is the only one who really did anything the least bit involved this time around. Oh well... I'll tackle something bigger next year!

Carver and pumpkins are as follows: The cat in the upper left is mine, the smiling kid in the upper right is Josh's (his own design), the grinning face in the lower left is Dan's and the witch and moon in the bottom right is Rich's. Enjoy!

Joshua's Confirmation Day

2007-10-28T20:19:00.000-05:00

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend Joshua's confirmation today! We all appreciate your coming and I know that Josh was pleased to see all of you. For those who were unable to attend, I've posted a few photos from the afternoon and have included a few excerpts from our ceremony Message. Our Pastor and Director of Youth Ministries used Dr. Seuss' to deliver their message which, may seem a bit odd, but in reality was my favorite part of the ceremony. I think that's because the quirky way that Seuss wrote fits Josh and his personality so well. In any event, below are some of the key points:

Congratulations! Today is your day.You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away!
“Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.”

“Except when you don’t. Because, sometimes you won’t.
Fame! You’ll be famous as famous can be, With the whole wide world watching you win on TV.”

“I’m afraid that some times You’ll play lonely games too. Games you can’t win ‘cause you’ll play against you.”

“You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So . . .get on your way!

Most of the photos are self-explanatory, but the one of the drawing is a shot of Josh's Expression of Faith project. After a few false-starts he chose to draw Jesus on the cross. Without sounding overly biased, I have to say the kid's got talent. This was the result of 30 minutes of work the day before it was due. Nothing like a little pressure to encourage the creative spirit...

Anyway, enjoy the photos, and again, for all who could join us today, thank you. You helped to make it a very special day.

Fruits of our Labors

2007-10-23T21:26:00.000-05:00

Hello again! It's been a bit since I updated this with anything resembling "new news", so I figured I should get busy. Thankfully, I actually have some news to impart!

First off, Joshua brought home his mid-quarter report card a week or so ago and blessed us with a respectable array of grades. His school is on what is called block scheduling, which basically means he only has four class periods a day but they are each roughly an hour and 45 minutes long. This system, in my mind, is pure genius. Homework is reduced drastically because they have more in-class time to finish stuff, and there's just less to cope with in terms of subject matter. Since Josh's first quarter is a bit challenging, it can make a huge difference in how well he does. Anyway... back to the report card.

Grades were as follows as of Oct 1:

English B+,
Band A-,
AP American History C,
Biology B-.

Not too shabby huh? I'll insert a little side note here about the C in American History. This is actually a college level class, for which he has the potential to earn college credit if he passes the AP History Exam later this year. We're not complaining about the C. Conferences were last week to review all of this and they went well. It always helps when the teacher likes the kid and vice-versa and when the grades are good.

On another note... pardon the pun, as previously noted, Josh moved ahead to Concert Band this year and is doing very well. His teacher thinks he's the cat's jammies and I think the feeling is mutual. For those of you who are in the area and might be interested there is a Holiday concert coming up on Monday, November 12th at 7:30 pm. It is in the Champlin Park High School Auditorium. If you need directions, or want to come, let me know and I can see about getting there a little early to get tickets and save seats.

Finally, I am happy to report that I finally received my diploma from college. I promptly framed it and hung it in my cubicle at work where I can somewhat giddily (is that a word?) admire my handiwork on a daily basis. For those who secretly wondered if my whole college career was a myth... ha ha ha!!! I have included a photo of aforementioned diploma here. Hooray!!! Now I can say I really did it! There is such a thing as closure.

Well, I'm off to bed now. Catch you all later!

The Red Door

2007-09-29T18:58:00.000-05:00

Well, lo and behold, I finished painting the front door finally and am pretty pleased with the result. The rest of the house thinks my choice if color is questionable, and even those who get that red is my favorite color are shaking their heads at what I have done. I'm pretty much ignoring the nay-sayers though and am enjoying the fruits of my labor. Besides with the holidays right around the corner it's going to look great - especially when I swap out the Fall foliage for some holly and berries. At any rate, it's done and I managed to finish it in under 6 months! Ha!

For those of you who happen to agree with my choice, the color is Cherry Cobbler (Behr) and I bought it at Home Depot. How can you go wrong with a name like that?

Viking Voyage

2007-09-21T18:14:00.000-05:00

Wow! That one little word somehow manages to sum up the transition I have made into a new job. For those of you who have been anxiously awaiting news on how things are going, or have called or emailed me asking... well, here goes.

Monday morning I was up bright and early and ready to leave the house by 5:00 am. I didn't have to be at the new job until 8:00 am, but what can I say? I was ready to go. After I got over to the other side of town, explored the neighborhood a bit and concentrated on not getting lost, I walked into Viking Electric for the first time as an employee. From there, I was greeted by the receptionist and my new boss. Once I deposited my stuff, oggled my new flat screen monitor and computer (It's a MAC... more on that marvel later), met with the HR Manager and filled out the requisite paperwork, I was deposited back in my boss's office (Carol) who proceeded to take me around the entire building and introduce me to (I swear) nearly every person there. By the time I'd shaken hands with Viking employee # 25 the faces started to blurr. I know that in 10 or 12 years or so I will know all of their names... Actually, that's probably not too far off the mark as there are over 250 employees in this one building alone! That's more than the entire workforce of JH Larson! Whew! The rest of the day was pretty much a blur. I know I had time to play with the computer and learned to navigate that a bit, but beyond that I don't know how much I accomplished. I will say however, that regardless of the size of this company, I don't know that I've ever been so warmly welcomed by everyone I met there. The names still elude me but they have really welcomed me with open arms no matter where in the company they work.

The remainder of this week has proven to be a steady increase in stuff to do, nearly all of it creative and fun. I think I am finally getting the hang of this whole Macintosh thing, though it still surprises me quite frequently by doing things I don' t expect. Virginia, my counterpart, has been wonderful in explaining these anomalies to me, not to mention being extremely helpful and friendly. She's also terrifyingly creative and talented so I'm hoping she can teach me a thing or two! Carol, my boss has designated herself our protector in that she's doing her best to catch any new requests coming in before they get dropped on either my desk or Virginia's out of turn. Having come from an environment where my inbox was fair game for anyone with an "idea", this is really refreshing!

So, all in all my Viking Voyage is going pretty well. I'm slowly getting to see the familiar faces of our manufacturer reps which really helps to make me feel like I haven't left the planet entirely, and little by little I'm feeling like I belong there. I figure my biggest hurdles now are to stop referring to JH Larson as "we", to train myself on all of the little idiosyncrasies inherent in MACs, learn multiple passwords and, memorize the names of all of those employees I met on Monday.

Okay, employee # 25; What was your name again?

Quilts, Puzzles & Community Theatre

2007-09-15T15:31:00.000-05:00

I have decided that there is nothing more refreshing than a couple of days with Mom. When our temperatures dipped a bit and my painting had to be put on hold, I snagged a couple of days and headed up to Fargo to spend time with Mom. A couple of years ago I had decided to try my hand at making a few small sampler quilts, but since I know absolutely nothing about the process, Mom had been drafted to help the inept to learn how. Unfortunately, life got in the way of me actually taking the time to go up there with my bag of goodies and the whole project was sidelined. Anyway, given all the free time I had this week, I figured now was a good time to set off and rectify the situation. Bless Mom for her patience because believe it or not we actually got two samplers done while I was there. They're actually a matching set that hopefully I will get hung in my foyer before winter. My grand plan originally involved making 4 different samplers that I could swap out with the seasons. We'll see how long it takes me to get the other 3 put together! Oh yeah.. that would mean I have to get my craft room sorted out...

Once we wrapped up the quilting project, (My neck was killling me from sitting hunched over the sewing machine), we tackled the requisite jigsaw puzzle. I say requisite because puzzles, as my siblings will attest, are a staple of any visit to see Mom. The upside of course is that we all enjoy doing it. Oddly enough neither my hubby or kids see their appeal, so getting a puzzle fix generally involves Mom in one way or another. Just one of the reasons I like having her come to visit.

Finally, in a burst of inspiration Mom suggested going to see a play. Living in the Twin Cities we rarely, if ever, get out to see a live play, and I have to say it's a real shame. Back in the "OLDEN DAYS", when I was active in the theatre doing costumes and such, Mom and I used to go fairly often, but let's face it, $65 plus for a ticket down here is a little steep for the budget. Not so in Fargo! Mom and I went to the opening night of the FM Community Theatre's production of "The Way the Other Half Loves". It's a comedy, sort of a British farce, that was actually quite good. Incredibly, the price of a ticket was only $12.00 and we were only 5 rows from center stage. Can't beat that now can you?

Anyway, now I'm home and looking at the rest of the weekend ahead of me. I think I hear my paint brush calling...

Laugh yourself silly!

2007-09-11T08:50:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I am lazing about this week (well except for getting up EARLY to meet friends for breakfast or coffee before they trudge off to work) and I decided to pay one of my favorite websites a visit. As you all know, I love to stamp- cards, walls, scrapbook pages, you name it! Well, a month or so ago I paid a visit to a website called SplitCoastStampers and was instantly hooked. Having wrapped up all my schoolwork I jumped into the fun to be found there and submitted a whole slew of cards that I and my buddy Twyla have made. For those interested, the link to the site is included in our list of favorite websites. ANYWHOOOO... Today I was wandering about the site and came accross this link to a listing that was on Ebay. The listing in itself isn't all that interesting to me, but the absolutely hilarious description that the seller posted will bring you to your knees laughing. Take the time to read it. You'll laugh out loud, I promise! Here's the link. If it doesn't click through, highlight the whole works with your mouse, copy and paste it into your browser and it should go work then. Enjoy!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675&ru=http%

Ahh, the life of leisure...

2007-09-09T09:09:00.000-05:00

Well, for the next week anyway. My new boss at Viking called me with good news and bad news last Friday. The bad news was they aren't going to be ready for me until the 17th of Sept. but the good news is I get another week of leisure before I dive into a completely new arena. So, I'm enjoying the slightly cooler Fall temps and taking advantage of the time to get some things done around home. For starters, yesterday I stopped over at Home Depot and bought a gallon of "Cherry Cobbler" red paint with which I am going to transform our currently non-descript front door into something with a little more snap to it. I also have a craft room that is threatening to become a monster so I plan on getting that whipped into shape as well. Along with some pre-determined breakfast, lunch and morning coffee dates with former co-workers, and a few other fun things for the week, I figure I won't have any trouble at all filling up my days.

Friday, for those who have been following the saga of my job change, went very well. Karin, my JHL boss, received a 4 hour crash course on the high points of my desk, I managed a few minutes of goodbyes with people that included hugs and hand shakes and a multitude of well wishes, and a few more minutes with Human Resources and another co-worker who I had a rather large project going with. Hopefully I managed to alleviate somewhat the "deer in the headlights" looks that I witnessed upon arriving, but from this point they're pretty much on their own. I wish them all the luck in the world.

As for the rest of the family, Josh is well immersed into his first quarter of his Sophomore year, and as predicted, likes his teachers. His AP American History teacher is apparently highly amusing and really goes out of his way to make it a fun class. Since this is becoming Josh's focus for a future career, we were REALLY happy to hear this. In band, he skipped one band level and is playing this year with the Junior level Concert band. For those who don't know, or remember, he plays alto saxophone, but at some point this year will add baritone sax to his repertoire. He's also taking 10th grade biology and english this year so we can't really say he has a light quarter. He seems determined to keep his grades up though and for this reason is not all that unhappy about not having a girlfriend. Girls are a distraction I'm told.

Dan, who is working full time, announced this week that he is finally being granted his own table to work on. Apparently this means he has some sort of tenure with the company and likely means he's less liable to be laid off as he was this Spring. From the standpoint of making sure he pays his Mom & Dad Co-signed car payment on time, we're all happy about this. Hopefully it holds up under pressure. At any rate, he was pretty darn pleased about the whole thing and it's always nice to see a smile on his face.

Rich, is battling the agony of a lackluster staff and is working like a dog to stay ahead of all of their errors and lack of support. The three of us here at home are to the point where we'd fire them on the spot and boot their sorry butts out the door, but apparently GE is exceptionally cognizant of the risk of lawsuits so the process to get rid of crummy employees requires a lengthy process of documentation and second, third and fourth chances before any action can be taken. Don't you just love lawyers?

I think for now, this pretty much sums up what is going on with the four of us. Thanks again to everyone who's been so encouraging with my job change etc. It's been a busy couple of months but it's great to know I have such a strong support network!

Short Day

2007-09-05T10:35:00.000-05:00

Well, just like I figured, I was only at work this am long enough to pack up my things and leave. My former boss was very pleasant about the whole thing however, and wished me well. She even helped me to haul everything out to my car. So, all things considered, it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as I feared it might be. The sad part is that I wasn't given the chance to say goodbye to anyone which is a real bummer. Ironically, I've been asked to come back in on Friday which should be interesting since I am no longer an employee!

On the up side, I have the rest of the week to relax and regroup for a new job. Weather-wise I couldn't have planned it better if I had tried! Gee... what will I do with all this free time??? I think I hear my stamp room calling...

I got the job!!!

2007-09-04T18:49:00.000-05:00

Yes siree!!! I was tendered an offer last Thursday (pending the requisite drug screen) for the position I was hoping for with Viking Electric Supply. When I actually start will depend on the reaction I get when I go back in tomorrow morning.
I tendered my resignation today and I can say with certainty that it is not a lot of fun to give notice even to an employer that lately hasn't been all that wonderful. After waiting on pins and needles all day for news that everything was a "go" from the new employer perspective (Yes, I passed the drug test) I was finally able to resign. Ironically, my boss was out of the office for the afternoon so I handed my resignation letter off to the HR Manager instead. For my nerves, this was actually much easier than I expected, but I know that tomorrow will be a completely different story. I say this because I've had a couple of phone calls already from various individuals curious to know what was going on and I managed to learn that the news of my departure is causing a bit of an uproar. For starters, they're not too happy that I'm not sharing where I am going, and second, I'm sure there's a fair bit of panic at the thought of having to juggle all of the projects on my desk. To top it all off I am sure they're irritated as all get out that I would have the audacity to quit. So... as I said, tomorrow will no doubt be interesting. Ironically, I'm sorry that it had to come to this. I really will miss many of the people I have worked with for the past 9 years, and up until recently I've really enjoyed both my job and the company. Nevertheless, I'm planning on a short day tomorrow.

More to follow on contact info at the new job once I'm settled there. Thanks to everyone for all the encouragement and support over this life change.

Freshly Sharpened Pencils

2007-09-03T09:58:00.000-05:00

Well, it's that time of year again! Back to school time!! Well, for some of us anyway... Josh starts 10th grade tomorrow. Hard to believe how fast our Summer zipped by. He seems to be looking forward to the return though, and is busy wrapping up an AP American History summer reading project today. I think the plan is to be a little bit lazy today once that project is done. Can't say as I blame him!

The rest of us will trudge back to work tomorrow after our little Labor Day weekend break. We returned from a visit with Rich's parents last night and today we're doing all that last minute stuff that always comes before a new school year or a new week. With any luck at all I'll manage a little time in the back yard with my golf clubs!

More later!

It's a Car Shopping Week Apparently

2007-08-26T11:18:00.000-05:00

Having already boasted of my own new car experience, parts of this may be a little redundant, but to top things off, Dan is now the proud new owner of his first real truck. Yesterday, he and Rich went dealer-hopping to see if they could find a new truck for Dan. Up until recently Dan had been driving the Infinity that he purchased from his uncle Greg. Unfortunately, the transmission started to fail and the cost to replace it was daunting. So... with more than a little pleading and 20-yr old reasoning Dan made a pitch to trade the Infinity for a truck. I am happy to say we were able to talk him out of the Chevy Silverado GAS HOG that he had his eye on and found him a smaller, albeit snappy looking, Ford Ranger. Initially, the idea of 1) driving a FORD, and 2) a Ranger, didn't seem all that appealing to him, but having seen what is available for his price range and perhaps agreeing somewhat with our logic that the Silverado would in all likelihood escalate his gas budget into the rafters, he warmed to the idea of a smaller truck. With all that said, I think the photo of Dan and his new wheels pretty much says it all. Along with the joy of having new wheels, Dan is also now counted among the millions who make monthly car loan payments.

As for me, I'm still thoroughly enjoying that new car smell! Here's the photo that I promised yesterday.

Graduation Party Thanks & other news

2007-08-25T07:08:00.000-05:00

Thanks again to everyone who was able to make it last week to my graduation celebration. I appreciate everyone making the trip despite the less than stellar weather! Thank you too for all the cards and gifts and congratulatory wishes. I hope you all had a good time!

As for any other "announcements", at this point I am still playing a waiting game though I did receive news yesterday that was a little encouraging at least. I'll share more later, I promise!
If this is a little ambiguous, my apologies, but hopefully those of you who are in the loop understand what this whole convoluted paragraph is about...

On another note, I'm happy to say I'm the proud new owner of a brand new Toyota RAV-4! Some of you might recall I was talking at the party about trading my Honda CR-V in for a newer model. We ended up switching our attention to the RAV-4 when we found out what a good deal we could get plus the fact that it was much closer to our price range than the CR-V. At any rate, I now have a brand new set of wheels! My first EVER new car! I drove all the way to and from work yesterday inhaling that wonderful new car smell. How come they can't bottle that, and why doesn't it last forever? Photo to follow...

Meet Ron Weasley (aka Josh Sacrison)

2007-08-11T09:09:00.000-05:00

Okay, this is one of those "Proud Mom" things that I just had to share. Partly because I am wholly biased toward what a great couple of kids I have, but also because despite the fact that he is now 15, and at the age where most kids start to believe their parents are LAME, I am always thrilled when Josh is willing to spend time with me. For those who don't get to spend as much time with him as we do, he's truly one of the funniest kids I know, and I'm happy to say, hasn't discovered that I am LAME yet.

So, a few weeks ago when the last Harry Potter book came out our local Borders book stores had this "All Hallows Ball" event to ring in the last of the book series. Josh and I are both avid fans of the books, so since the event fell on a Friday, he and I headed over to Borders around 9:00 pm (My bedtime ordinarily) to take part. Along with a spelling contest and a few other games, they had a costume contest. As part of my agreement to be out so late, and yes, wait in line at midnight to get the book, I told Josh he had to wear his Halloween costume from last year. (He went as Ron Weasley, and believe me the resemblance is uncanny). He grumbled a little but agreed to do it. So, in one of those rare moments when as a mother I come out looking like a genius, he entered the contest, and amid (count them) a couple hundred screaming "fans" won by a landslide. I say fans because he was also approached 4 or 5 times by various people who asked if they could have their picture taken with him. (A real hardship for such a shy boy) HA! For his trouble, he earned a Borders gift card and a paper crown to wear as the King of the Ball. Now, I ask you; How many 15 year old boys do you know who would 1) attend such an event with his mother, and 2) enter a contest like this one? Now you know why I think he's so much fun. Incidentally, we did get the book, and by 1:30 am we were both tucked into bed. I, of course, was sleeping because, while he's a great kid he wasn't about to let me read the book first. (I had to wait a whole 3 days!!!) Anyway, the photos were taken after we got home while he was still in costume, and I was still partially awake.

The wonder of Air Conditioning

2007-08-11T08:28:00.000-05:00

I learned this week that there are few things more miserable than 90 degree temps and no air conditioning. For those of you familiar with the high humidity of Minneapolis in the summer, you will know what I am talking about. To a point, even I can handle a little heat. (Maybe there is something to be said for "dry heat") However, when it is 75 plus degrees when I get up in the morning at 4:15 am or so, the lack of AC is pure torture. I gave serious consideration to skipping putting anything resembling makeup on my face given it was only going to slide off again before I got out the door but vanity prevailed. Rich cleverly chose to head into work early for a little time in the on-site gym which meant he could shower and dress there. I'm not proud, I'll admit I was jealous!

Anyway, Rich and I have learned after owning two homes now, both of varying vintage, that appliances generally never fail unless it is a major holiday(Christmas or New Years) or we are expecting a houseful of people (Dan's confirmation). Replacing them is a pain in the patookus, and always EXPENSIVE. This was no exception. When our compressor blew on the Air Conditioner we called our friendly Centerpoint Energy Service Plus guy and asked for a visit. Upon finding out that our Service Plus plan does not cover the compressor on an AC unit, and after picking myself up off the floor at price tag to get a new unit installed, I said a couple of prayers and called work. This was also one of those times I was very happy to be working for a wholesale distributor who sells this stuff. Long story short... we have a new AC and the house is once again bearable. Our vacation fund is empty again, but I'm not much fun when I'm hot and cranky so hopefully Rich sees that he made a wise investment... : ) For those of you who will be visiting us next weekend, I'm happy to say we aren't going to try and roast you while you are here!

Yes, I FINALLY graduated!

2007-08-08T07:54:00.000-05:00

For those of you who have not heard, I finally finished school last month. After nearly 4 years of what seemed like an endless string of text books, essays, papers, quizzes and exams, I finally completed my last final exam on July 24th. I cannot begin to tell you how liberating it is to not have any more textbooks on my horizon! Of course this means that I now have "unlimited" time to get all those projects going that have been in limbo for four years. Rich and the boys are thrilled at this prospect! Well okay, maybe not. At any rate, my goal now is to accomplish a few things around home that I've let slide for all this time, and see if I can't get my house and yard back in shape the way I would like it. But first... We are celebrating the fact that I finally finished with a party here at home on August 18th. I'll be the first to admit it's a bit odd to be planning my own party, but it seemed sort of weird making my own graduation announcements too and I managed to get past that. Hopefully many of you will be joining us for this auspicious occasion! Bring your lawn chairs! This will more or less be a repeat of the festivities we had at Dan's grad party... with a few more adult beverages! Hope to see you soon!

35W Bridge Collapse

2007-08-05T21:20:00.000-05:00

It occurred to me today, that a few of you might be curious about how the 35W bridge collapse affects us here in the Twin Cities.

For the most part, we really aren't located near enough to the bridge for it to affect our commute to and from work. Dan works in Minneapolis but given that we live on the NW side of the Cities his travels to and from work don't take him anywhere near the bridge. (Thank Heaven!) His commute may end up taking a little longer with the excess traffic now forced to change routes, but that's something we'll all have to live with for as long as it takes to get the whole thing fixed. Rich and I both work in the suburbs either to the South or West of where we live so our path to and from isn't affected much at all.

Thankfully we rarely ever travel that particular portion of the Cities and we're a little embarassed to say we didn't even know the bridge had collapsed until we received a phone call from Rich's mom asking if everyone was okay. However it happened, we were all occupied with something other than the TV that evening. I will say it was nice to receive so many out-of- town phone calls from people we don't get to talk to often enough! Thanks for all of your concern! We appreciate it!

Sunday Aug 5th, 2007

2007-08-05T08:17:00.000-05:00

This particular shot is from a recent family trip up to Detroit Lakes where we spent the weekend mingling with long lost relatives. For those of you who have not seen Rich for a while... he's the skinny guy behind Josh in the yellow. Somewhere in the last 8 months I lost half of my hubby...

This weekend we are once again enjoying the company of relatives thanks to the marriage of nephew Bryon and his bride Crystal. This is also the reason this particular post will end here, as I need to get off my duff and get ready to go to the gift opening.

More later... I promise!