The Sandstroms

January 30, 2012

2012-01-30T21:28:00.002-06:00

Oh what a day. Its never a good sign when you get an email at 2:15 telling you that there is an impromptu department meeting in a half hour to be at. Yes, more layoffs today - about 30 people, which equates to (now) about 8 % of our workforce. Of course right now I've heard bits and pieces of the 'list', all of which are people Andy and I know, have worked with for many years, and we call our friends. Only one person was cut from my department, but many other areas were hit harder.

So because of Andy's appointment at the Mayo (I'll get to that in a bit) he wasn't at work today. So when I called him on my way home to ask him if anyone called him - he said no. When I proceeded to tell him of some of the people that were unfortunate - including many in his department, he was a bit worried. So he called another coworker to get more info. Just as I got home and we were talking about it more, his phone range, from an unknown St. Cloud number. We were both a bit worried - what if this was his call? We were even more worried when the voice on the other end was our HR rep. Thank God she was just calling him to let him know what had happened today and to let him know he was 'safe'. What a relief. He has a department meeting tomorrow because his area was really hit with the cuts - and they need to regroup as they were already short-staffed. So many changes to come.

So after letting this whole work thing sink in, I had to get Andy's update from his appointment at the Mayo Clinic today for his sinus issues. He had a good appointment with one of the doctors there that solely focuses on sinuses (whereas the ENT's here in St. Cloud all do Ear, Nose, and Throat - so no specializing). She looked over his previous scans and also took some new photograph pics inside his nose (that he got to take home - quite interesting!). He also got a test done for a specific enzyme that if present in his system - show reaction to certain fungi/mold; this isn't a yes/no test but more of a degree of sensitivity to see if that is what is causing this. He also got a new prescription for a different steriod drug that he takes via a nasal rinse. That, along with his current 30 day course of strong antibiotics is what he is to do for now. He has another appointment there the end of March to see where things are at, and to go over test results. At that point - we'll have to see what state he is in and determine if another surgery is needed. We're just very glad that he is finally seeing someone who specializes in this area and is working at one of the best medical facilities in the world - which feels a bit more reassuring.

Other than drinking half a bottle of wine to...hmmm...drink to employment? (that sounds odd), we didn't do much else tonight. I think that was enough stuff to take in for one day.

Goodnight.

January 29, 2012

2012-01-29T22:19:00.001-06:00

Just got done watching the final episode of Kourtney and Kim Take New York (which in our words was deemed 'The Divorce Special') as opposed to the 'Wedding Special' a couple month ago. Not sure which is more sad - that I sat for an hour and watched it, or how their relationship fizzled so quickly. Oh well, it was only an hour.

Emma came home from her sleepover around lunchtime - of course with the 'sleepover hangover'. I asked the question 'what time did you guys get to bed? or shouldn't I ask?'. I didn't get an answer - so it was probably really late, or really early depending on how you look at it. It must have been late because, on her own, she took a nap this afternoon. I don't think that kid has taken a nap, willingly, since she was 3. So yeah, she was tired.

Andy is down in Rochester tonight. He left early this afternoon and is spending the evening at his parents, so that he didn't have to fight any traffic in the morning. He has his appointment at the Mayo in the morning with one of the best ENT's specializing in sinus issues. So hoping for a good appointment for him and that he gets some answers or next steps.

For something to do this afternoon Emma and I went to St. Cloud State to check out the Just for Kix dance competition. It felt sort of odd going there without having Em participating. But it was interesting to watch her old teammates compete too. Her team that she was on last year took second today and did a great job. I guess we just can't get enough of watching dance!

I was reading an article on msn.com tonight with the title 'Is it expensive to be healthy?'. I do think it is partially true, especially when it comes to food. The foods that are the least expensive are those that are the least healthy (let's see...Ramen noodles for 10 cents, Mac and Cheese in the box, Hot dogs). And the healthiest foods - especially fresh fruits and vegetables are very expensive. It is unfortunate that some people don't have the option to obtain foods that will keep them healthy, and in turn end up having health-care costs that rebound because of it. It is a strange cycle indeed.

That's all I know tonight. Goodnight.

January 28, 2012

2012-01-28T21:12:00.002-06:00

Saturdays like this are what Saturdays are for - fun times and relaxation.

We were able to even sleep in a bit this morning as Emma didn't need to be at school til 10 for the dance show. I love when we can sleep in, get up and start a pot of coffee, and leisurely read the paper as we eat breakfast. That is the best part about Saturday mornings - the leisure.

The dance show went great today and I think a lot of money was raised for ALS, between the admissions, the raffles, and the concessions. All proceeds went to local ALS research, so this was completely a non-profit event. Teams from Catholic schools Benilde-St.Margaret's, Totino-Grace, Academy of Holy Angels, and Cathedral New Ulm were in attendance with their kick and jazz teams. I worked the doors - which was pretty easy as most people that come to these shows understand that you can't come and go during the dance performances. Emma's team did great - and it was their last performance of this season. Now we can just watch the Varsity next weekend at their Section meet and then hopefully on to the State competition mid-February.

Andy had a chance to get out and go ice fishing today on the Chain of Lakes in Richmond (near where I grew up). His friend Terry's girlfriend has a place on the lake - so they invited him out for fishing on the chain. He had a good time and caught a couple small walleye but not enough to keep and clean (at least in his book!). I was hungry for some fresh fish - so hopefully he'll catch some in the next few weekends.

Emma made plans with her dance friends for a sleepover at one of the girl's houses. So it is just Andy and I here tonight. We had a wonderful dinner - I grilled two steaks, made a salad, and then made a new recipe for Creamy Cheesy Potatoes. Those were awesome. So easy - just potatoes, cream, S&P, and shredded cheese baked in the oven for an hour. Can't be more easy than that and oh were they good. Definitely a keeper.

Can you believe January is almost over already? I love it. No big snowstorms or cold weather in sight either. I think I can handle Winter if this is as bad as it gets.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

January 27, 2012

2012-01-27T21:30:00.000-06:00

Loving this lazy Friday night. Sitting downstairs with Andy, watching TV, playing on the computer, and sitting in front of the fireplace with the dogs. So nice.

Emma just got home from the mall - typical place for a teenager on a Friday night I guess. One of her friends that is on her dance team happens to live here in Sauk Rapids, so they made a plan to spend a few hours at the mall together tonight. I think Emma is learning some good money management as she was pretty proud of her purchases that she made with her remaining Christmas/birthday money/gift cards - telling me how much she saved. Sounds like she had a fun time too.

I enjoyed my day off today - but it all goes so quickly when you aren't at work. I slept in (yeah!) and spent the rest of the morning doing house catch-up with laundry and cleaning. I did squeeze some fun in - by doing some bargain treasure-finding at Good Will (I got 7 pairs of awesome quality name-brand shoes and boots - so cool!), wine shopping, and Target shopping. I was a nice mom and even picked up Emma from school so she didn't have to ride the 'dreaded' bus home too. All in all a nice day off.

Andy got the call today that he has an appointment Monday already at the Mayo Clinic for her sinuses. We have been waiting for a call for about a month or so now - from his ENT referral. Today was the call and you basically take what is available. So Monday he'll be down in Rochester to see an ENT at the Mayo who will have all of his records and scans, etc. Hoping that maybe he'll be able to get a different view on things and maybe some answers.

Tonight I made one of our favorite meals - Fiesta Lime Chicken. It is a copycat recipe of the Applebee's dish of the same name that I found on a blog a while back. I've made it three or four times and every time we enjoy it so much. It sounds more complicated than it is - you marinade the chicken, grill it, then put it in a baking dish, top it with the sour cream mix and some cheese and broil. So much flavor (actually even Andy could pseudo-taste it tonight).

That's about it tonight in this household. Tomorrow Emma is dancing in the Catholic Jamboree for ALS, I'll be working the doors, and Andy is planning to head up to the cabin to check it out since we haven't been there for a while. Sounds like a good day for all.

Goodnight.

January 26, 2012

2012-01-26T21:11:00.001-06:00

I am so happy that we might be (knock on wood) over the bad part of Winter and January is almost over. It was actually still light out at 5:30 when I picked up Em from practice. Can't complain about that stuff.

For once I can say that I'm actually quite happy at my job. Boy, its been a while since I've typed something like that. I can't say that the stability of the company is stellar (who knows?). But I have been having a good few months and my project team that I've been working with has been rolling out some great stuff. We just ended a 'sprint' - which is a couple weeks worth of work, to deliver a bunch of promotional capabilities that our Marketing team can use on our e-commerce website. I did a demo of what we accomplished yesterday in front of about 20 people from both IT and business and they were very happy with the work that we were able to achieve. It finally feels good to be rolling out quality work that the business clients are very happy with. Good stuff.

Andy and I did a date night tonight - this time we went to Old Chicago, a joint known for pizza and beer. And that's what we had - pizza and beer (well I had wine, but Andy had beer). I haven't been that overly impressed with the food there in the past, but we thought we'd try it since we have a few gift cards that we bought for a dance fundraiser for there. Our pizza tonight was actually really good - a deep dish with sausage and pepperoni (okay - the diet was off the hook tonight). I definitely would order that again. Of course our conversation was mostly about work, per usual. But I'm glad we take the time to get away each week - even for just dinner.

Emma finished up her projects for the Bacteria chapter in Science due tomorrow. Here are pics of her bacteria cookies (the candy/frosting represent the three different shapes of bacteria). And then she created a vocab board game to learn about the facts of Bacteria. I didn't have the heart to tell her (after she created it) that she spelled pursuit wrong. But this is science, not English - so I think it should be fine. :)

I have the day off tomorrow - yippee. No real plans, but that's okay. I love days off like that.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

January 25, 2012

2012-01-25T22:03:00.000-06:00

Andy and I are watching the finale of Top Chef right now. Getting down to the final 5 chefs tonight. So exciting!

So the good news is that my back is actually finally feeling better tonight. Thank goodness because those pain meds really mess me up. I took one before bed last night and then didn't feel good for a while as I tried to fall asleep - my stomach was feeling yucky. Then I woke up in the middle of the night in pain again - so I took another one. The pain subsided but when I was at work this morning I started to feel dizzy and nauseous again. I made it through fine, but I haven't taken another pill since. It is kind of sad when you have to pick between dealing with pain vs. dealing with side effects of drugs. Just very happy that tonight I'm feeling better all around.

Emma loves to bake - and she has been (brown nosing) to her teachers by bringing them their favorite cookies. Oh well - whatever works I guess. She also has another science project due Friday for a visual replica of bacteria. Since she went with a cake last time, for the cell project, this time she is making frosted sugar cookies decorated with bacteria (i.e. different kinds of candy/frosting representing the different bacteria shapes). Probably the yummiest bacteria her class will ever eat I presume.

I happened to be reading the St. Cloud Times website tonight, which I do on occasion at night to catch up on the news of the day. I pull up the site and in bold title it states that our CFO has been let go and is done at the end of the month. I find it odd that the employees find out about this via the local newspaper before we are informed at work. Hmmm. Very odd.

That's about all I know for tonight. Goodnight and may we all have a wonderful night of sleep.

January 24, 2012

2012-01-24T21:31:00.001-06:00

My Tylenol with codeine dose is just starting to take a little effect, so if I start typing nonsense - blame it on that.

Yes I went to the doctor today about my back since I didn't have a clue what the deal was. Turns out the doctor doesn't really know either - so I got the diagnosis of 'muscle strain' even though (believe me) I haven't done anything physical that would cause a muscle strain. I feel better though going through all of his questions - and he did take four x-rays too and didn't see anything there. Yeah, when he said 'we should take some x-rays to rule out a tumor' - I was a little freaked out. Thank goodness the x-rays came back fine. I guess I'll go the course with the pain meds for a couple weeks and if it doesn't get better, then I'll go back. Andy says it is 'karma' for not being sympathetic enough to his back woes. Phooey.

So reality check happened when I had to step on the scale today at the doctor's. Ugh. I didn't like what I saw. I have been avoiding the scale at home thinking that if my clothes still fit, that's a good sign. But I had to face it when I watched the digital numbers go up. So tonight for dinner - we had a healthy meal - tilapia, steamed broccoli, and brown rice. And no snack tonight - it's not necessary, right? Now I just need to get on that exercise plan, but with this back stuff it makes it hard. One step at a time.

I had a dance parent meeting tonight at Old Chicago (oh yeah - while I ate my tilapia healthy meal at home, most of the other parents pigged out on pizza). We have to help plan and organize this dance show for ALS on Saturday, which is kind of like a replay of the dance show we hosted a few weeks ago. Good thing we got one under our belt so we all know the different pieces of the puzzle. We're not having flowers at this show - so I'm off the hook there. But I signed up to be a door monitor (i.e. the mean people who don't let you come or go during a performance). Hopefully I'll still get a chance to see Emma dance too.

I have an app on my cell phone from Weatherbug that shows at the top of my phone screen what the current temperature is wherever I am at. I had to laugh this afternoon when I looked down and it said it was 76 degrees outside in Sauk Rapids. Hmmm. Just for a minute I giggled and thought, boy wouldn't that feel good right now. They must have fixed their bug cause it says it is 18 now. Bummer.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

January 23, 2012

2012-01-23T21:34:00.001-06:00

I'm bouncing as I type. I'm sitting on the stability ball instead of a chair tonight at the computer. I'm hoping it is helpful for my back. Not that we needed another person in the house with back pain, but yes - since Friday night I've been also dealing with lower back pain. Not sure what my cause is, but hoping it goes away on its own. Now I am more empathetic to Andy's pain that he's been dealing with for over a year. It's no fun.

On days like this I'm thankful for leftovers (or gulp...even a frozen dinner). To think of having to bundle up and go out to the cold car, drive in the snow, to try to get some lunch is so unappealing. Today Andy and I both had our turkey dinner leftovers from last night; tomorrow we'll have to rely on a frozen meal (although I'm partial to the Byerly's Wild Rice Soup which is actually good). Anything is better than going out in the cold.

Tonight for 'dessert' I had a piece of toast with my mom's raspberry freezer jam on it. She gave me a few jars last time I visited and it is so yummy. Tastes so fresh and reminds me of 'butter bread with jelly' as a kid. Thanks Mom.

Emma's last dance show of the season is on Saturday at Cathedral. It is a fundraiser called the Catholic Jamboree - where all of the Catholic High School dance teams from the area come together and raise money for a cause. This year we are hosting it and the cause is ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) since it has affected the father of two of our dancers. I think it will be a nice show - not too long and with some really great teams.

We're trying to be more health-conscious around here (must be the time of the year). One thing that Emma and I have been doing lately is for a snack we are sharing a smoothie, that we make homemade in the blender. We take some crushed ice - letting our freezer ice crusher do that work - and dump it into the blender. Throw in some lowfat vanilla yogurt, some milk, some fruit, and whip it up. We've done it with frozen strawberries, pineapple, or banana with a little peanut butter. Good source of fruit, calcium, and protein - and it kind of feels like a 'treat' too.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

January 22, 2012

2012-01-22T19:58:00.001-06:00

Tonight a friend of mine posted a link on Facebook to her sons' classmate's Caring Bridge site. It is a 12 year old girl who just found out a week or so ago that she has liver cancer. Yes twelve years old. They are unsure if it is curable - but are seeking treatment at the Mayo. It just kills me to think that a girl Emma's age who was just a normal teen a month or so ago is now fighting for her life. Hug your kids - and say a prayer thanking God for their health.

I really, really, really dislike driving in the Winter. Did I mention I really don't like it? I headed down to Albertville this morning - even though I wasn't meeting Em's dad til 1:30. I tried to beat the frizzle that was already starting mid-morning here. I'm sure glad I bought a jug of the windshield washer 'de-icer' stuff before I left, because I certainly needed it. the rain was very light, but it would freeze on the windshield as soon as it fell. I was glad to get back home and stay put for the rest of the day. I'm foreseeing a yucky commute tomorrow too. Spring please?

It was Thanksgiving all over again tonight at our house - well, in the way of food that is. I had a turkey breast in the freezer that I put in the oven this afternoon. I also made a new recipe for Cheesy Potatoes that will replace my previous version - I like this one better as it has no 'cream of whatever' soup in it - all fresh ingredients. I didn't go so far as to make real stuffing - Stove Top won out there. But it was a pretty good meal for mid-Winter, and by now the 'sick of turkey' feeling had worn off from last Fall. Nice to have all the kids here too.

Emma mentioned in the car today that she wishes it were Summer. I do too. I'm sure you can tell that Winter is my least-favorite season. When you walk outside and all you can think about is how cold and blustery it is, it doesn't make it fun to do anything out there. I dream of the days of laying in the sun by a lake, reading a book, and feeling the warmth of the sun on me. Ah...for just a second I was there. Only in my dreams I guess, at least for a few more months.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

January 21,2012

2012-01-21T21:57:00.001-06:00

Watching 'The Notebook' tonight on TV. Such a good love story movie. I still tear up every time I watch it.

This morning Andy went into work, while I was able to sleep in. We are still cleaning up at work from the big sale so he went in to help take care of some things. On a cold day like this I was thankful to just curl up in bed and go back to sleep.

I enjoyed leisurely grocery shopping today. When I can go by myself and I'm not in a rush, I find grocery shopping to be a fun activity (I know...kind of weird). I'm always on the lookout for new foods to try. My find today were the Laughing Cow cheese varieties - they come in a pack where each piece is just 35 calories. And they are yummy too - bonus!

I tried a couple new recipes tonight that I found on Pinterest. One for a copycat recipe for the Olive Garden salad dressing which actually is quite close to the original. And then I made a crispy baked pork chop recipe - but that one was more effort than what it was worth. Oh well - some are keepers and some aren't and that's okay.

Looking forward to getting Emma home tomorrow but not looking forward to ice and snow on the roads. Praying that it stays away for the drive time.

Goodnight.

January 20, 2012

2012-01-20T22:41:00.001-06:00

Sitting here on the couch with Andy watching old rock videos and concerts via You Tube on the TV. I guess when you get too old to go to rock concerts you end up watching them on TV on a Friday night. Oh well.

It is odd in that it is a Friday night and Andy and I are kidless, as we say. Emma is gone to her dad's this weekend and Ivy is babysitting, so a free night for us. We went out for dinner and drinks at our local joint Jimmy's and are now just hanging out watching our music concerts in front of the toasty fire.

Had a nice lunch out today at Panera with my sister. That place is a gold mine - it is always hustling and bustling with people. Probably cause the food is so quick and yummy. Anyway it was nice to catch up with my sister.

Looking forward to a Saturday with absolutely nothing on tap. Can't wait to fill it with whatever I choose. Those are the perfect weekend days.

Goodnight.

January 19, 2012

2012-01-19T20:54:00.002-06:00

Brrr. This is too cold. I can't warm up tonight. The thermostat says it is 70 in here but I just don't believe it. Time to turn on the fireplace I think.

We had a happy hour tonight for my coworker whose last day is tomorrow. We had a nice time at RJ's bar - eating, talking, and reminiscing. It is hard to realize that you won't see someone that you've spent 40+ hours a week with for 13 years. Hopefully we'll stay in touch - and there is always Facebook!

It is Sno-Daze week at Cathedral this week, ending tomorrow with afternoon festivities. Boy does that bring me back to my high school days. The Sno-Daze activity 'program' was one of the scariest afternoons of each year of high school. Well, some people thought it was 'fun'. I always wanted to stay home that day. Basically at my high school they would pick people from each grade to participate in 'fun' activities. Although these activities were nothing I would call fun - they were pure embarrassment. Like the passing of an orange from one person to the next relay thingy. Or how about the pie eating contest? Or, hmmm...run across the gym with a rubber ball between your legs and see who wins. Yeah - those sound 'fun' don't they? Hopefully Emma will have more fun with her Sno-Daze activity program tomorrow afternoon.

Our dogs are bored out of their wits lately. We can tell because they start to pick on each other and argue. Plus - there is always the licking of the stainless steel appliances; yeah that is happening too. And they are just plain old annoying - always wanting attention. So it is time that it gets nice out again and they can get out and about with more exercise.

I recently finished a book called 'Unplanned' written by Abby Johnson, a former director of a Planned Parenthood office that had a life transformation, left the organization, and became pro-life and joined The Coalition for Life. My friend Sue borrowed me the book - and I highly recommend it, if you are interested in the topic and enjoy true stories. She tells the story from both sides of the fence and what she encounters on her journey as she decides to leave her past and become pro-life.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

January 18, 2012

2012-01-18T21:42:00.002-06:00

Okay, so I must admit - as much as I dislike snow, when it was falling this afternoon it was kind of pretty. But that's the only positive comment I have about it, so I'll stop typing about that.

As much as yesterday was a productive day at work, today seemed very unproductive with lots of meetings and running around. I sometimes have meetings in our 'other building' so that takes about 10 minutes to get there and 10 minutes to get back (and it isn't so fun in the Winter). Plus I had to leave early for dentist appointments, so it unfortunately was not a productive day.

Yes, Emma and I had our bi-yearly dentist appointment for cleaning and x-rays. Emma has only 4 'baby' teeth left (molars) to lose - and to-date she has had no cavities. She must get her teeth genes from her father, thank goodness. I, on the other hand, get told as per normal that I need another crown at some point. Eventually all of my teeth will be fake (okay - that's extreme) - but I have already had four crowns and I know there are a few more that will eventually need one. I refuse to do no more than one per year though. Maybe I'll 'spring for one' this Summer. Fun huh?

I tried another new recipe for dinner tonight - a Broccoli Cheese Soup from Pioneer Woman, which was perfect for a snowy cold evening. I don't think I have ever made a completely homemade broccoli cheese soup, ever. Emma reminded me of that since this is her favorite kind of soup. I'm not sure why I haven't before since this was really easy and tasted wonderful. Definitely in my keeper soup recipe file now.

One of my longtime co-worker and friend has her last day at CM on Friday. I've worked with her for 13 years - and have sat at a desk next to her for many of those years. It is bittersweet as I am happy that she has found a new opportunity, but also sad that I won't get to see her on a daily basis. We are having a happy hour for her tomorrow night - and I'm sure we'll shed a few tears in the process. Thus is change.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

January 17, 2012

2012-01-17T21:42:00.001-06:00

When your kid asks you why they need to know the dates of the Revolutionary War - ever in their lives - what do you say? I must agree. I have never been asked that question in my life, nor do I think I ever will, except maybe while playing Trivial Pursuit or something. Some things I just can't explain. But I helped her 'memorize' dates and names and battles of the Revolutionary War tonight. My theory - get through the test and then you can clear that block of info out of your brain and make room for more important stuff. But don't tell her Social teacher I said that.

I had such a productive day at work today. I had no meetings and no major interruptions and I got a great deal of work done on my project. Those are the kind of days of work that I like. When you feel like you took two steps forward instead of two steps backward. Hopefully tomorrow is another great day like that.

I cooked tonight - and it felt great! I made a new recipe called Garlic Lime Chicken that I found on Pinterest. It is basically a sauteed chicken breast - but it is the spices and the lime juice that really make it special. I moved it into my 'keeper' file to make again someday. We paired it with wild rice and roasted asparagus and a great Riesling wine. Oh it felt good to eat good finally after a week of 'quick' meals and fast food.

Spent hours sorting through paperwork and working on taxes tonight. Oddly, for the first time ever, I think we'll get to record our medical expenses on our taxes as they are a high enough percentage of our income - sad, but true. Between Andy's two surgeries and various medical expenses, Emma's trip to the ER over vacation, Ivy's cast on her arm early last year, my crown on my tooth, plus my eye expenses - it was a crazy year for medical expenses. Hopefully that is a one time occurrence and this year is better in that arena.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

January 16, 2012

2012-01-16T22:00:00.001-06:00

Crazy day at work today - we were planning to end our 25% off sale last night, but due to our system issues, it got extended until midnight tonight. So another busy, busy day on our websites - which is good, but also frustrating for people that can't get their orders placed. Hopefully this huge sale was all worth it to everyone and that we get caught up the rest of the week. I'm sure we'll be dealing with fall-out for quite a while based on the huge volumes of orders. Poor Andy is working his late shift tonight - I'm guessing I won't see him home for quite a while.

I'm such a sewing novice. I sure wish I knew more - as Emma is really getting into this new hobby. So tonight she wanted to go to Wal-mart and check out their stock of sewing stuff - since it is close and cheap. So we did - and we bought backing for her quilt and batting and a few other things to finish that off (God help us!). And then she also bought a clearance 5 yds of some cute flowy pink material for $3 total (sounds like a good deal?). And then she wanted to buy a skirt pattern and other fabric, but I had to put a hold on; one thing at a time I think. It all scares me. I should have listened better to my Home-Ec teacher Mrs. Barrett when she taught us how to sew in 7th grade.

Once in a while I share here about awesome products that I love...and this one is one that I've grown up with, as my mom always used it. It is Lestoil cleaner. If you ever have ANY stain whatsoever on your clothes - even the worst set-in grease stain, this stuff can get it out. It is a miracle cleaner. There is no need to buy any stain sticks or sprays or anything else to 'pre-treat' stains. Just pour some of this on your clothing stain, rub it in a bit, let it sit for a while and then throw it in with your other laundry in the wash. The stains will come out - I guarantee it. Awesome stuff. If you can't find it at Target or Walmart - try your hardware store.

I'm excited to try a new recipe for Garlic Lime Chicken tomorrow night (I'll put in the link tomorrow if it is good). I have been 'pinning' tons of recipes to try on the Pinterest site and I need to start cooking. It seems with Andy working late Monday's and the rest of the week being busy, there tends to be only one or two nights during the week that I get to really cook a meal. Plus - if I don't plan ahead I end up throwing a pizza in the oven or making spaghetti or tacos. So tonight I planned ahead and I'm trying a new recipe - looking forward to seeing if it is any good.

Goodnight.

January 15, 2012

2012-01-15T22:00:00.001-06:00

Sunday night came too soon again. It never fails. And I'm not a lucky one that gets MLK day off of work. Oh well.

Andy went out today for his first venture ice fishing this Winter. He met his brother John and friend Larry out on Goose Lake - out in eastern Minnesota. They caught some small walleye but nothing big enough to keep, unfortunately. I was hungering for some fresh walleye - but maybe next time.

Emma and I made a trip out to my Mom and Roman's out in Cold Spring this afternoon. Emma has been eager to start using her new sewing machine that she got for a Christmas gift, so we stopped at Craft's Direct on the way out and picked up some fabric. Thank goodness my mom knows her way around sewing machines - so she helped Emma get going. I'm sure if I would have tried to help her here we would have both gotten frustrated and given up. Emma was a speed demon and got almost a whole patchwork quilt put together in one afternoon. Just needs to sew the strips together and get a backing put on it. And she's already talking about her next projects.

I'm a little worried about work tomorrow. CM had a sale that was supposed to end tonight at midnight, but I see (via Facebook) that they've decided to extend it through tomorrow night due to 'systems issues'. Oh no. Not a good Monday to be a member of the IT department. Not that there was anything I could have personally done to prevent it, but it is unfortunate that something happened. Hopefully things will be working better tomorrow and everyone can get their orders in.

Did you hear the big news story about the Italian cruise ship that capsized? Oofda. Talk about a bad day at work (since they say it was caused by human error). If there is one thing regarding vacations that Andy and I agree on - is that we never have any desire to take a cruise, anywhere. Something about being on a boat with thousands of other people that I don't know, and stuck inside a tiny room for sleeping. What about that sounds fun? This news story just adds to the belief that we never need to go on a cruise.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

January 14, 2012

2012-01-14T21:52:00.002-06:00

So I guess it does snow and get cold in Minnesota in the Winter. I guess we can't complain - a dusting of snow and temps still above 0 aren't too bad. But I was getting used to seeing brown instead of white and not having to wear gloves.

Weekends are for cleaning, at least in our house. With the busy-ness of the week, it tends to all really fall to the weekend. Knowing that unless I ask my husband to help, he doesn't usually participate, I asked him to help and he did (although I'm sure he could have thought of many other things to do!). The great thing about when Andy helps clean is that he is a very thorough cleaner - and he finds things to clean/fix that I don't normally 'see'. Like today he chose to vacuum, but then ended up fixing an electrical outlet, completely cleaning a leather chair from top to bottom, and re-caulking around the kitchen sink. And I only asked for vacuuming. :)

We had a nice time this afternoon meeting Andy's brother John and sister-in-law Melissa for drinks and dinner in Milaca. They were in the area looking at potential property to buy, so we met them to catch up since we haven't seen them since Thanksgiving. We had some good laughs about many things - but the most interesting thing I think is how similar Andy and John are and how we can all relate to each other and the goings-on of our daily lives. Definitely need to get together more often as we had a great time.

Emma helped me give Cooper a 'peanut butter' haircut tonight. Basically whenever I give Cooper a hair cut of any sort, it is impossible to get him to stand or sit still. The only thing that seems to work is a spoonful of peanut butter. So Emma is in charge of holding the spoon as I quickly cut where I can. No, it isn't perfect, but I took off quite a bit of hair and some matted pieces too - which was my goal. Beats paying $70 for a groomer to do it.

We ended the night watching some silly shark attack movie on Netflix tonight. Something Emma picked out - as it was right up her alley (sharks + scariness). Essentially it was a bad attempt at something similar to Jaws, so nothing I'd recommend. But it was enjoyable just sitting on the couch with the fireplace burning and dog on lap with Andy and Emma enjoying their movie. Nice Saturday night.

Goodnight.

January 13, 2012

2012-01-13T22:44:00.002-06:00

Ooooh...Friday the 13th today. We lived through it and nothing odd happened. Thank goodness.

We had our Dance Booster Club Steakfry tonight at the VFW here in Sauk Rapids. Honestly I had no idea what to expect. I've been to plenty of fish fries in my life, but never a steak fry. I was in charge of a group of six of the girls (since all the dancers worked) that cleared the tables and reset the place settings. We worked from 5-6:30, which was actually a nice shift since it didn't get busy til about 6. Seems like it was a good crowd - at one point almost all of the tables were full. After our shift we all sat down and ate and actually the steak was quite good, I must say. Now I can say I've experienced a VFW Steak Fry (oh and a meat raffle too)!

We just watched a wonderful movie that we rented from Netflix called The Help. This is a new release that was probably in the theater just this past Summer. I had heard good things about it - so decided to add it to our queue. What a great heartfelt movie. It is essentially about a young author who during the 60s decided to write a book about the African American maid's point of view on the families for which they worked and what they went through in their lives. Very powerful and I'd definitely recommend it if you haven't seen it.

About ready to head up and brush my teeth - which is so exciting these days! For one of Emma's Christmas gifts we bought her a Phillips Sonicare Toothbrush (electric toothbrush) - and recently we bought additional heads for it so Andy and I can use it as well. What a cool thing! Feels like when you are brushing it is like being in the dentist office and having your teeth cleaned by the hygienist. I don't think I'd ever go back to just a regular toothbrush anymore - I just love when you find a cool product like that.

Saturday and nothing really going on - so we can all sleep in!! Finally - it seems like forever since we've had a free Saturday morning. So looking forward to that.

Goodnight.

January 12, 2012

2012-01-12T21:35:00.001-06:00

It is mid-January - and that means the start of tax work. Tonight I typed up the Property Tax forms - for the renters and sent those off so they have their info on rent paid for the year. I also started doing our 2011 taxes using the H and R Block online service - using the info that I've received so far and estimates for other numbers. If all goes as my estimates show - we'll be about even for our Federal taxes. That's good - as last year we had to pay in a few thousand. Although it would be nice to see a big refund, we'll be okay with breaking even.

I've been involved in a new project at work the last few weeks to implement new options for us to offer various promotions to our customers on our website (basically catching up with what the normal e-commerce sites offer). Things like - if your cart is $X, get a product for 50% off (as an example). We're creating a way for the business to basically come up with whatever combination they want (within means) and they can launch the promotion on their own without any need for IT resources. So it will be a huge gain for our marketing teams to hopefully increase product sales. Kind of fun to be involved in the type of development project that you know will have good financial results.

Andy and I had a date night tonight - at The White Horse, which is a bar/restaurant in downtown St. Cloud. We had only been there once and thought it was just so-so. But Dylan got us a gift card for there for Christmas, so we went there to try it again. We were both happier with our food this time around. We shared three appetizers, a Spinach-Artichoke Dip (which was really good), Catfish Fingers (yummy), and Grilled Shrimp (Andy's choice). I am so glad that we take the time to schedule a date night about once a week -- it gives us a chance to totally focus on each other and spend quality time together.

I stuck to my comment that I made last night and I did a few exercises using the exercise ball tonight. Okay, not a ton of exercise - but I at least tried out a few things. Andy has a book that is filled with various exercises that you can do with it - so you could do an entire workout using the thing. For some reason it seems kind of 'fun' using this ball-thing, so maybe that will entice me to stick with it. Also - the big gray bouncy ball is sitting in the middle of the living room (so it's not like I can 'forget' about exercising when it is staring me in the face every day).

That's all for tonight. Really glad tomorrow is Friday. I'm having lunch with a former coworker, that I'm looking forward to. And then tomorrow night is our big Steak Fry for the dance booster club fundraiser. Emma and I work at 5 - clearing and setting tables at the Sauk Rapids VFW and then all of us will eat when the shift it done. Fun, fun.

Goodnight.

January 11, 2012

2012-01-11T21:58:00.000-06:00

It is already the last week of the first semester of school. What does that mean to me? That means we are halfway to having an 8th grader and a 10th grader. Time, please slow down a little bit. Not quite ready to be an empty nester yet.

I told Andy tonight that he could 'full up my love tank' by doing some 'Acts of Service'. If you've read the book The Five Love Languages, you'd know what I mean. :) My friend Sue borrowed me her copy of the book and I've been reading it this week. The theory, essentially, is that everyone has one of five "love languages,” a primary way of expressing and interpreting love. The five that he has defined are: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch. I haven't finished the book yet, but I figured out that I'm an 'Acts of Service' person, meaning that the act of having one do something for me (i.e. vacuuming, cleaning, taking out garbage) is something that to me speaks volumes. On the other hand Andy and I figured out he is a 'Words of Affirmation' which means he appreciates when I use words to show my love and appreciation to him and that means more than the other languages. Probably more than you wanted to know...but I think this author has a great concept and I'd highly recommend the book for anyone.

I've been 'pinning' away recipes on the Pinterest site the last few weeks, categorizing recipes into ones I want to try. My goal for the upcoming year is to try at least one new recipe every week. I've been failing in that area the last month or so and I want to get back on track, since cooking is one of my favorite hobbies. I have lots of recipes built up to try, I just need to plan when and get the groceries. Stay tuned for some new recipes linked here (assuming they are good!).

Andy has been rolling around on the exercise ball all night tonight here in the living room. He is trying out all kinds of new exercises using the ball - like crunches and push-ups and stuff. I feel guilty sitting here on the computer as he is exercising. Maybe I'll have to try it out myself...tomorrow night. :)

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

Dance Pics from Tonight

2012-01-10T22:18:00.002-06:00

Look at those smiles

I LOVE this picture.This was after they announced the third place, and second place, so they knew they had gotten 1st but were just waiting for it to be announced. They all have smiles on their faces - and the Varsity team is looking on from their right - so happy for their 'little sisters'.

The First Place JV Kick Team with Coach Katie

January 10, 2012

2012-01-10T22:14:00.002-06:00

Late night for the family tonight. We just got home from Emma's dance competition here in Sauk Rapids, where Emma's team took first place (woo hoo!!). Also the Varsity Kick team took 2nd and Varsity Jazz took 1st. So it was a great night for Cathedral dance - lots of fun.

It was a crazy day at work and I am foreseeing craziness tomorrow. We have a sale that starts tomorrow that is 25% off all of our products (yeah - if you like CM products - go for it, we'll take your order!). But it was something that was decided quite last minute so there was a lot of scrambling today to pull this off. My fear is that something won't be quite right or we'll have system issues (ugh). When things are thrown together at the last minute like that, there is more risk that something got missed. I hope I'm wrong and we'll have a peaceful day with high sales. That would be nice.

So as I was going through the mail yesterday, I noticed all of the normal junk mail (much of which goes directly in the recycle bin). Things link credit card applications, magazine subscription requests, catalogs, etc. One envelope though that looked like junkmail I thought I'd open since I noticed it had a real stamp on it. Lo and behold there were two $1 bills in it along with a survey from Arbitron (I think that's the company) that does surveys about TV usage. At first I'm like - yeah right - who would be stupid enough to send everyone two bucks - they can't be real. But I studied them and yes, they were two real dollar bills. And if you filled out the survey - they said they'd send you $5 more. Seems too odd to be true, but seems to be legit. Weird? Anyway -- if you get a letter in the mail from these people, don't just chuck it - there might be real cash in there.

The last day of 'Spring' I think today. They say there is actually something called snow coming tomorrow. What's that? The worst part of the whole thing is driving in it. Or I should say, avoiding those that don't know how to drive in it. Hoping that it passes us by completely.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

January 9, 2012

2012-01-09T22:13:00.001-06:00

A have a silly song in my head, that goes something like this "Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species." Yes, I was helping Emma with her 7th grade science and she is studying taxonomy and classification. For some strange reason, even though it was been over 20 years, I still remember the seven levels of taxonomy that I learned from Mr. Buerman. Probably one of the only things I remember from 7th grade science - and what good has come from it? Well, I can help my daughter remember the same seven levels based on the goofy 'song' that I used to remember them. I guess that's worth something.

I walked out of work today and as I was walking to my car, I thought about how much it felt like a Spring day. SO WEIRD? The only thing better than a normal Spring day is that it was completely dry. Typically with temps in the 40s, in the Spring, it is all wet and melty and muddy. But it was nice and dry - but really odd. I keep thinking that it must change as some point. But I'll take more days like this any day.

Have you become an online bill-payer? You'd think with me being in the profession I am, with my love of computers, that I'd be totally converted. But I'm not. I think it is because I love the detail-ness of the checkbook balancing and writing out bills/checks manually - and I'm probably the last of my generation to still write checks. Anyway...with all of the busi-ness of the holidays and the dance stuff going on lately I noticed that I have a few bills due in a couple days. So tonight I ended up paying about five of my bills online. I can't say it was too difficult - but when they prompted me with the questions of 'auto bill-pay' I still declined. I can't part with my check writing yet.

Looking forward to another night of dance. The season will be coming to a close soon but tomorrow night we have a dance competition close to home - at the Sauk Rapids High School, just a hop, skip and a jump from our house. I'm not sure how many teams are competing, as I don't have the details yet. But I'm thinking the Cathedral teams will do well. Hopefully tomorrow I can get some decent pictures (still haven't got my camera skills perfected yet though).

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

January 8, 2012

2012-01-08T21:47:00.002-06:00

How can it be Sunday night already? Wow this weekend went fast.

Well - we found another reason that Andy needs to get his sinus issues resolved. Yesterday we had made a pizza in the oven for lunch and as we were eating we heard a 'pop' and couldn't figure out what it was. I did think it smelled odd in the house shortly after - but couldn't find a source of that either. Today I turned on the oven to make something and ten minutes later it was simply cold inside. Even the stove top didn't heat up. After some investigation Andy found that the 'pop' that we heard yesterday was one of the wires on the back of the stove was completely burnt up - SCARY. I know if Andy had been able to smell, he would have known right away, but since he can't smell a thing we didn't put two and two together. Luckily my husband is so handy (and has a great father who is our 'help' hotline) and was able to do some wiring work and fixed the issue. We were in business again for dinner tonight after calling the other hotline (Dominoes) for lunch!

We celebrated Emma's birthday meal tonight for dinner, which was very odd. Hopefully next year we can do it closer to her birthday but it just didn't work out with everyone's schedules this year. It just didn't seem quite right to sing 'happy birthday' when she's been 13 for two weeks already. But anyway...we had her meal of choice - Sesame Chicken over rice, Egg Rolls, Baked Beans, Root Beer, and Ice Cream Cake for dessert. The candles were blown out and I think I noticed 4 that didn't go out right away....hmmm hopefully that doesn't mean 4 boyfriends!

All the kids were here for dinner, so I'll give an update on everyone, since I don't get to share as much about Ivy and Dylan as we don't see them as often. Dylan is about to start up his third semester of college tomorrow at St. Cloud Technical college, with plans to be completed Spring of 2013. He is looking for a different job currently - applying at various banks and car dealerships to find something that goes along with his interests of Sales and Marketing. Ivy is finishing up the first semester of Freshman year at Cathedral and is actually going to switch to Tech High School starting next week. Cathedral wasn't a good fit for her and she is anxious to be at Tech where most of her friends from junior high attend. She is also looking forward to turning 15 in April and getting her driver's permit (yikes!). And Emma, well I type the most about her since she is usually here - but she is enjoying 7th grade at Cathedral and is busy, busy, busy with dance - which finishes up for her in a few weeks.

So we gathered tonight to watch 'The Kardashians' - yes, even Andy gets roped into it. Unfortunately he was the one that predicted, long before Kim and Kris got married, that they wouldn't last. So now when they are playing the last episodes taped before the looming divorce announcement, Andy refers to the shows as the 'Divorce Episode' (in comparison to the big 'Wedding Episode'). Sad, but true. Even more sad is that we sit and watch this stuff. Oh well.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

Emma's Birthday Celebrations

2012-01-08T21:29:00.002-06:00

13 Years Old

Hanging out with friends on New Year's Eve

Courtney, Emma, Lauren, and Julia

Emma's Birthday meal - Sesame Chicken over Rice, Egg Rolls, and Baked Beans. Root beer to drink and Ice Cream Cake for Dessert.

January 7, 2012

2012-01-07T21:38:00.001-06:00

Back home again after a long day filled with lots of dance.

It was a nice time - and a great turnout thanks to the nice weather and lots of great dancing. Andy and I were able to go to the first show at 2 and watch, so we were able to see all of the dancing. Emma was in the 3 of the dances - her JV Kick team, her Fall Performance team, and the famous 'Guy/Girl' dance, which was really fun. After that show it was straight into 'work' mode for both of us. Andy worked security and I worked the flower booth. Everything went as smooth as it could and after a bit of cleanup, we headed home. I'm anxious to see how we did - as this was our big yearly fundraiser for our booster club and since everything seemed to run so well we hopefully brought in our proposed budget or higher.

Tonight we're all relaxing in the living room, watching the movie 'Up'. Yes, it is an animated movie, but if you haven't watched it I highly recommend it. Both Andy and I loved it (as well as the girls) the first time that we watched it. Just a cute movie that everyone loves.

Being that the weather has been so nice lately, I had to look at the ten day forecast just to see how lucky we might continue to be. It doesn't look bad. Just a slight chance of flurries mid-week but clear and 31 by next Saturday again. If we can get through all of January with temps like this - it will be amazing. January is the time when normally we get a day or two with such cold wind chills that they cancel school for a day. We are very fortunate. And I love it.

Well, that's it for tonight. Looking forward to curling up on the couch, dog in lap, and finishing the rest of the movie.

Goodnight.

January 6, 2012

2012-01-06T23:00:00.002-06:00

Friday night and excitement is in the air. Well, dance excitement I guess. Emma's first Cathedral Dance Show is tomorrow - the show held at her school, with our team as hosts. It is a big fundraiser for our booster club - thus guess where Andy and I will be all day? It should be a fun time though. I just got home from there tonight - as we had to decorate everything. Looking forward to spending the day there and all of the excitement.

Fridays are supposed to be the easy days at work. Normally they are, but today was a busy one for some reason. Most likely because we'll all been off days the last few weeks - so this week everyone was back in the office in full swing. So lots of meeting and brain work today. The thing I have to remember to tell Emma when she asks questions about why she needs to learn some of the stuff she does in math is that someday, sometime you might use it. Today I sat with two of our system architects trying to figure out how to apply discounts to order items with multiple quantities and avoid rounding issues when we need to transfer the data to another system. Whew. Lots of number crunching and formulas (even had to figure out where to place the parentheses in our formulas to make the numbers work out properly).

On the topic of work...I went to the grocery store tonight to pick up a few things and even though the store was pretty empty, I ran into 3 other people from my work in the 30 minutes I was there. I guess we all wait til Friday night to grocery shop!

Andy got a call yesterday from the ENT clinic referral person basically telling us that it might be weeks/months before he gets in at the Mayo Clinic. I guess it is very difficult to get an appointment there, even with a referral. They are still trying and luckily Andy's ENT has a connection there. But basically when we get an appointment - we have to take it. There is no asking for a different date/time. So praying and hoping that he gets an appointment sooner rather than later and we can get some answers on his sinus issues. Can you imagine not being able to smell or taste for over a year? So frustrating for him.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

January 5, 2011

2012-01-05T21:54:00.003-06:00

I looked at the temperature on my phone around lunchtime today - 51 degrees...on January 5th. It felt like a Spring day. How weird? But I love it. Melted a lot of that leftover snow away. Let's keep it up.

How do you teach a teenager time management skills? I tried this week. I knew it was going to be a crazy week for Emma. With the dance show on Saturday they've had practices til 7:30 or 8 Monday, Tuesday, and tonight for all of the different dance acts. So I told her last weekend that any homework/projects she can do over the weekend or on Wednesday night would be good - since the other nights are going to be busy. So I get a text from Emma after school let out and before practice started that read "I'm so stressed out!!". Ugh. What did she do last night? Worked on a gift for one of her dance friends cause she "didn't have any homework." What is she doing now at 9:38 pm? On the computer typing a paper for a project that is due tomorrow. It was really hard to say "I told you so," but I refrained. Some things have to be learned through experience I guess.

Andy and I had a nice date night tonight with dinner and shopping. We went out to Olive Garden as we both enjoy their food and we had a gift card from Andy's boss for a Christmas present that we could use there. Yummy food as always. It is funny though - our entire conversation from sitting down to when we left was about work. I guess that's okay, but sometimes I wonder what we would talk about as much if we didn't work at the same company. :) Anyway...we had a nice night and ended up doing some shopping for Andy at Macy's for shoes and dress shirts for work. All in all, a nice night.

I'm sure you've probably heard about the sophomore from Benilde-St. Margaret's school in St. Louis Park that got hurt in a hockey game and is now paralyzed - told yesterday that he'll never walk again. It was such a tragic accident and a reminder of how quickly one's life can change. Some people fault the danger of the sport of hockey, however accidents like this can happen in so many ways - whether it be in a sport or a car accident or a fall of some sort. Just a tragic reminder that we need to cherish and be grateful for what we have - especially our health.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

January 4, 2012

2012-01-04T22:15:00.000-06:00

Happy Wednesday. I have to have something to celebrate - and the week is half over. Only a couple more days til the weekend!

I think Emma is officially taller than me. We were doing some shopping tonight and we were walking into Barnes and Noble and I looked over and I think I looked up, slightly, which was very weird. I always thought she'd be taller than me. When she was 2 years old I did an online calculator thing that based on her age and her parents' height (of which neither of us are tall) - it determined she would be 5'11'' at adult. I'm not sure that will be too far off. I guess we'll see if she stops growing within the next year or two and where she ends up. I'd say she can just stop now. :)

It is odd, but we haven't done Emma's 'Birthday Meal' yet. Her birthday was on the 26th and she was at her dads. Since then we squeezed in our fondue night, but other than that we haven't all been together. We are planning to get it in on Sunday night - but it feels slightly weird singing 'happy birthday' when she has been 13 for over a week already. Oh well - we'll all still enjoy the food choices I'm sure. On tap for her menu is Sesame Chicken (I'm supposed to make it like the Chinese restaurant in the mall I'm told), rice, egg rolls, baked beans (always on her menu), grapes, root beer, and ice cream cake.

Andy and I are trying to gear up for getting into better shape this year (as I'm sure everyone is right now). But one thing that Andy thought we should get is one of those exercise balls. He has a book that he got from someone at work with various exercise - stretching and endurance - using the ball. So tonight I was at Target and noticed them on sale for $12, so I got us one. Andy has been rolling around on it doing some kind of exercises tonight as I type. I'll have to try it out too - as I've never really used one. Should be interesting...hopefully we don't fall off of it and break something else!

That's about all for tonight. Have to watch the finale of Top Chef and see who gets booted!

Goodnight.

January 3, 2011

2012-01-03T21:36:00.002-06:00

Well, made it through the first day back. And it was a busy one. Started out kind of weird though - as I couldn't log into my computer (I thought it was a sign or something). But the help desk guy got me all fixed up and back logged in. It did feel good to be useful though - and productive for once (outside of the home, that is).

I walked into school tonight with a bottle of wine - felt very awkward, like I wanted to hide it or something. We had our monthly dance booster club meeting tonight and no, we didn't drink at the meeting - although that might have made it more interesting. We all brought a bottle of wine or liquor that we're going to put together in a basket for a donation to the Athletic Association fundraiser. So by the time everyone came we had a whole table-ful of booze. Looked kind of strange in a high school library!

I didn't have much time tonight to make dinner before I left for the meeting, but I was able to squeeze in a new recipe for Homemade Chicken Nuggets. It is so simple - I'm not sure why I don't do it more often as something to do with chicken breasts. You just cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces, do a eggwash/breading process, and then fry up in a pan for a few minutes. So easy and so much better/healthier than the overbreaded frozen chicken nuggets that are full of fillers.

I looked ahead at the 10 day forecast and it is looking pretty good. 30s and no signs of any blizzards. I can honestly say that we've been very lucky this Winter and if all MN Winters were like this - I'd be fine. Hopefully tomorrow the sun will come out and the warmth will melt that last layer of glaze ice that is on the side streets yet.

Andy had an appointment today with the ENT (again). Last time she was supposed to set up a test/appointment at the Mayo Clinic for further testing and that never happened. After two more phone calls/messages - still nothing. So Andy made an appointment to see her today and of course there were a few excuses of why they didn't do anything - but she said again that she is going to set something up so that is our next step with these sinus issues as there really isn't much she can do anymore. Frustrating, but glad we are hopefully moving onto a next step.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

January 2, 2012

2012-01-02T20:57:00.001-06:00

We've come to the end of vacation. Tomorrow back to reality. I could really get used to this not working stuff though (at least for a few more days!).

Emma made some plans today to meet some friends at the mall - a typical activity of teenagers I guess. So I dropped her off there for a few hours and I wasted a few hours at Goodwill. I love looking for treasures, especially when I have time to spare. I spent time looking through all the books and the home 'stuff'. I ended up scoring two brand new Home Interiors jar candles for two bucks a piece. I also (thought) that I scored a new hand mixer - since mine went out a few months ago. Unfortunately I should know to not trust things at Goodwill that require plugging in. I got it home and something is goofed up with the mixer blades as they seem to hit each other when I turn it on. So not all of my treasures I found were treasures - but they accept returns (for 7 days) so I'll be heading back there to get rid of this faulty mixer.

So one of the entertainment features at the dance show on Saturday is that the girls do a 'Guy/Girl' Dance. It is kind of a tradition and all of the local high school dance shows have a similar act. All of the girls have to ask a guy to participate in a dance that is choreographed and performed at the show. So Emma asked one of her guy 'friends' from her class and tonight was the first practice. Not sure who was more nervous - the girls or the guys. I was anxious to pick her up to hear how it went. Sounds like it went well. She even got a text from her guy friend afterwards saying "that was fun". So now I'm looking forward to seeing this act on Saturday. Should be interesting.

As I was bringing out the garbage to the curb tonight to get picked up in the morning, I got to thinking that I'm going to contact our garbage company and request that they start picking up recycling on a weekly basis. We have a large container for both garbage and recycling. Garbage is picked up weekly and recycling only every other week. Every Monday night when it is a week for recycling I see people wheeling out there recycle bin overflowing - or many having bags/boxes of stuff sitting alongside their bin that doesn't fit. In this day and age - most people recycle as much as they can, and most people end up with almost MORE recycling than garbage. Time to write an email I do think.

That's about all tonight. Andy is working his late night, so hopefully he'll be home soon and we can catch up on our day.

Goodnight.

January 1, 2012

2012-01-01T22:07:00.000-06:00

It's weird typing 2012. I guess I'll have to get used to it. :) Happy New Year!

Well I think I was sound asleep by about 10:30 - at least I think the last thing I remember is hearing the sports report on the 10 pm news, so that sounds right. This morning I asked the sleepover girls if they really stayed up til midnight and the answer was 'of course' followed by 'didn't you hear us?'. Uh, well Andy and I must be sound sleepers because we both slept right through their noise. I guess that's a good thing?

Yeah Emma had a case of the sleepover hangover today (i.e. teenager crabbiness). It is to be expected though I guess. When teenage girls don't get enough sleep they are just plain ornery. I probably was too when I was her age and had been at a slumber party the night before (although I don't remember as such). Thank goodness she is in bed now and can sleep in tomorrow morning as there is no school yet til Tuesday.

I had a cooking withdrawal episode today. It had been too long since I really cooked anything real (i.e. other than pizza, spaghetti, grilled cheese, etc.). So I was bound and determined to make something real and new for lunch, even if that meant a bigger than normal meal. So I found a couple recipes that I had 'pinned' on Pinterest to try - a recipe for some sauteed brussels sprouts with bacon and a recipe for a honey glazed pork chop. Notice I didn't put the links here - as neither were worth putting on my keeper list. They were both just 'okay' and I'm glad that I had an opportunity to cook, but not worth sharing/keeping for future.

Christmas is put away, the decorations that is. I'm sorry - but I can't go past New Year's day, by that time I'm just tired of it. It always seems to take longer to put away than it does to set up doesn't it? I didn't mind it though - I enjoyed wrapping up all of the ornaments and all of the memories that go with them. My favorites are the ones the kids have made over the years in school and brought home. So cute.

I had a wonderful dinner out tonight with my friend Sue - we tried out Texas Roadhouse for the first time tonight in Waite Park. The restaraunt has been in town for about 6 months or so, and we'd both heard good things about it but had never tried it. We both were very happy with our food - and would definitely go back. We also had wonderful conversations and I'm so happy that she traveled the terrible roads to come meet me for dinner (as I'm sure it was treacherous driving with the ice and wind).

So we all get to sleep in tomorrow - Emma doesn't have school yet, I took the day off (as probably 80% of the people are doing), and Andy works his normal late shift Monday. Looking forward to one more day of rest before the craziness of normal life sets back in.

Goodnight.

December 31, 2011

2011-12-31T20:52:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year's Eve! Hopefully you are safe at home and not traveling in the winter storm warning.

Andy and I were kicked out of the living room by four thirteen year olds wanting to watch Dick Clark's Rockin Eve. So we are upstairs holed up in our room watching Transformers (you'd think there would be a few good movies to pick from on TV but unfortunately not). Yeah its Transformers, Cool Ranch Doritos, and some Leines Honeyweiss to bring us to the New Year. Although I bet we'll be asleep before 11. :)

Yes Emma has a few friends over tonight for a birthday/new years party. As the saying goes 'It's all fun and games until someone gets kicked in the mouth.' Yeah there was a bit of excitement earlier in the evening when the girls decided to try to do Emma's dance team dance and someone accidentally got kicked in the face. Happened to be a friend with braces and one of her teeth started bleeding and felt loose. After a call to her mom who then called the orthodontist they thought she'd be fine with ice and ibuprofen. Needless to say there is no more dancing on the agenda tonight. They opted for a board game of Apples to Apples - a little less risky.

As I reflect on this year all I can think is that it feels like a blur. Andy was telling the kids the other night that when you get older time just goes faster - he wanted to see how he could mathematically prove it somehow. It's just weird how that happens. So my mantra for 2012 is to slow down, appreciate each other more, and not sweat the small stuff cause in the long run most of it doesn't matter anyway.

Good night.

December 30, 2011

2011-12-30T21:45:00.001-06:00

My days are all messed up. I felt like last night was Friday and today feels like a Saturday. I guess that's what having days off of work does to a person.

So...we got snow. Although most of it is already melted, there is still a white coating on the grass. But driving in the stuff this morning wasn't fun - and is exactly why I can do without the stuff. I'm hoping for the 40 degrees they were predicting for tomorrow to melt it all away. Let's get back to brown-ness and clear roads.

Had a nice time shopping with Emma this morning - and I didn't spend a penny, except for a little food court lunch. She did all of the returns/shopping today and was happy with her purchases. One of her favorite stores had 50 percent off of the entire store, which she thought was pretty cool. It is nice that she is older and can manage her money and expenditures - which is a part of growing up.

I had a dance board meeting today with the new varsity coach (long story - but lots of changes in the dance program in the last couple weeks). We met up at the Caribou Coffee to get acquainted and figure out what loose ends we have for the upcoming dance show we are hosting at Cathedral next weekend. There are so many details, it is important that we get everything figured out as there are many teams from various schools/dance companies invited and it is our biggest fundraiser. So it was nice to get out of the house, enjoy a cup of coffee, and have good conversation this afternoon.

Tonight Emma babysat at the neighbors, so Andy and I took advantage of the DVD player and TV and watched our latest Netflix movie - Water for Elephants. I thought it was pretty good, Andy wasn't quite as impressed (you know - he thought it was kind of a chick flick and predictable). I thought it was enjoyable - so I guess if you are a woman, it is more of a woman's movie. Anyway...it was something to do on a Friday night. We're old - this is our entertainment. :)

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

December 29, 2011

2011-12-29T22:03:00.000-06:00

Is it snowing where you are tonight? It hasn't started yet here, but I've seen the radar and it is definitely coming. Good thing that it is going to be 40 this weekend - so whatever falls won't last long. I can handle this kind of Winter.

Emma is home. I met her dad this morning and got her and her billion presents that she received into the car and back to Sauk Rapids. It is nice to see her and have her back home after missing her presence for a whole week. As Andy said tonight -- it isn't quiet in the house anymore!

She enjoyed showing me all of her wares - especially the new sewing machine that she received from her grandma. She has all kinds of ideas of things she is going to sew. Unfortunately her mother (yeah me) has no idea how to sew. I haven't really used a machine in years - and the best I have done is a patchwork quilt back when I was about Emma's age. I guess we'll have to learn together. Hopefully we can find a beginner's class at one of the local shops in town - that would be a good experience for both of us.

We had our annual Fondue Fest tonight - since Ivy and Dylan can't be here on the actual New Year's Eve. So we celebrated early - with all of the usual yumminess. A couple new items added this year were pretzels (the baked kind) for dipping in the cheese fondue as well as cut up pepperoni for the pizza fondue. Other than that - we had most of the usuals, with the steak in the oil definitely being the center of attention for everyone. For dessert I think the fresh strawberries and pineapple in the chocolate are the hit for everyone. All in all it was a fabulous meal - and I think everyone enjoyed the tradition.

It really feels like a Friday to me tonight. Probably with not having to work tomorrow and us having our meal with the kids - it just doesn't seem like a Thursday. I am glad it is though - and that I have the day off tomorrow. Emma and I are going on a shopping mission - she has a few things to return and lots of gift cards to spend. So she has a whole plan of where we are going and what we are doing. Hopefully by now most of the 'after Christmas' buzz at the mall has worn off and there will be less people. Looking forward to a fun day off.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

Sandstrom New Year's Fondue Fest 2011

2011-12-29T21:54:00.004-06:00

All ready to dig in

Cheers

Yum - Dessert

December 28, 2011

2011-12-28T11:02:00.000-06:00

Ah, it's Friday. I mean Wednesday, but my Friday - as I have the next two days off of work. I like these short work weeks.

I think both Emma and I are ready for her to come home tomorrow. She sent me a text yesterday saying that she was looking forward to coming home. Luckily she's had plenty of goings-on down there to keep her busy - with family gatherings, a couple trips to the Mall of America, birthday meals, and good quality time with her dad. But a week is a long time when you are used to seeing your child on a daily basis. So ready for her to come home and get back into a normal routine.

I fulfilled some 'dance mom' duties last night. I am the co-chair of the flower duty at the Cathedral dance show coming up on January 7th. What does that mean, you ask? Well I didn't have much of a clue either when I volunteered about a month ago. But at every dance show there is a booth selling flowers to parents and other guests, who purchase for their dancer. Many times the purchaser writes a special note to their dancer, which gets attached to the flower(s), and then is hand-delivered to the room that the dancer is assigned. We do it two-fold - because all dance shows offer this and because it makes a little bit of money for the booster club. So, last night I spent a couple hours cutting out paper and attaching ribbon - which will be used for the notes to attach to the flowers. I am foreseeing the next couple weeks being a bit crazy with dance activities - so this is only the beginning.

Tonight Andy and Dylan are gone out to a movie - a good father/son activity. It seems with school and work it is difficult for them to find activities to do together, so I'm glad they are making the effort to do something. Plus - they get to watch their 'guy flicks' and I don't have to sit through them!

As Andy and I were eating Chinese last night, maybe it was the guilt setting in, but Andy brought up that maybe we should try our 'Biggest Loser' competition again. I completely agreed as we both have fallen into the snack-trap and gained a few pounds in the last six months. I thoroughly enjoyed my Chinese food though and suggested we wait until after the new year to start calculations. He agreed. :)

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

December 27, 2011

2011-12-27T12:58:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday to my brother Tom today. Halfway to 90 (45 years young!).

Well, both of us were back at work today - me working my normal shift and Andy working a late shift today. There were very few in my department at work and it was really quiet. Andy's department on the other hand is hopping with post-holiday returns, late delivery issues, and end of month ordering. I guess it all depends on what part of the company you are in to determine what kind of busy-ness you will encounter.

On Sunday when we were at my Mom's we got to talking about our window situation. We have bad quality windows in our house (the original owner worked at Trimpac and must have gotten cheap quality windows for a good price). Anyway...we know the windows aren't the best and have been experiencing quite a bit of condensation in the Winters. After talking about it with my brothers - realized it is more common these days to have condensation and probably isn't worth replacing the windows. One of my brothers suggested using the 3M kits to cover the windows with the plastic sheeting for the Winter. So yesterday I purchased a kit - I think Andy and I will tackle that tomorrow night and give that a try.

I've blogged about it before, but I'm not good at parting with money - call me frugal or cheap, but yes spending money is difficult. Luckily Andy is similar - although not as extreme as I am. I've been contemplating buying one of those Keurig one-cup coffee machines for (I think) a couple years. I have looked at them in the stores so many times and yet I always think -- we have a coffee machine, we don't need another. As the years go by more and more friends and family have them and love them. Even Dylan has one that he uses daily. Maybe I'll part with some money sometime this week and buy one. But then I'd have to buy the coffee cup things to brew the coffee. Ugh. Decisions, decisions.

One of Ivy's best friends got her driver's permit last week; of course when you turn 15 that is the first thing you look forward to. It is a bit scary - not only that her friends are starting to drive, but that she'll be 15 in a short 4 months. It was a little scary when Dylan started driving, but I think it is different with girls. More things to think about - with friends and cell phones and distractions. I'm envisioning a crazy few years ahead. God help us. :)

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

December 26, 2011

2011-12-26T21:42:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday to Emma today - officially a teenager at the age of 13. I can't believe it. So grown up.

What a nice day it was today. We broke the record here in St. Cloud - I think the temp recorded today was 49. Wow. It was breezy but it actually wasn't a cool breeze. I think everyone was shocked at how warm it was - and pretty much everyone was out and about today too. Dylan mentioned that he even went long boarding today (i.e. skateboarding) - the day after Christmas.

Andy enjoyed the nice weather today by going pheasant hunting not far from home - near Little Rock lake. He ended up with one pheasant and a tired dog. Only a couple more days of the year to pheasant hunt as I think the season closes the 1st of the new year.

I had a day of 'catch up' - when I'm alone in the house I tend to clean and do laundry and organize life. And that's what I did today. It felt good to just get the house back in order. I was tempted to de-Christmas the house, but I decided I'd wait til New Year's (although it was very tempting).

I started thinking about our New Year's Eve fondue fest tradition today. We are having our fondue night on Thursday, a bit early, as Ivy and Dylan have a wedding to attend on New Year's Eve. So I went looking for ideas for fondue tonight on the Internet. What is interesting is that there aren't that many blogs or sites that had a lot of fondue ideas (other than the traditional cheese, oil, or chocolate). I was hoping for some new exciting and unique fondues and didn't find much. Maybe I'll have to invent something new myself. Hmmmm.

That's all for tonight. We're both back at work tomorrow. I am working just Tuesday and Wednesday, but Andy is working the entire week. I think I can handle a two-day week.

Goodnight.

December 25, 2011

2011-12-25T19:50:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a wonderful day spent with family and friends.

It was just Andy and I today out at my mom's with Emma being gone and Ivy not feeling well today. So we headed out to spend the day with my family. Amazingly all of my nine siblings were able to make it on Christmas day - which was wonderful (I only wished I would have gotten a picture of all of us). Of course there was lots of food and lots of game playing. I enjoyed a couple games of Scrabble with my brothers Chuck, Bob, Tom, and Steve. I didn't win - but I had a fun time anyway. Always fun to see and spend time with my family.

Andy laughed tonight as I broke out the Gurney's catalog that I got in the mail this week and announced that it was time to place my seed order. Yep, I'm ready for gardening season (already) and had fun tonight picking out my seeds. Each year I learn a few things and determine what I want to plant again and what I can just skip. I have figured out what hybrids of plants I like better than others too. I decided this year I'm skipping planting spinach since it never produces well anyway. I'm also skipping lettuce - since it always tends to get grub worms on it before I even get to harvest it. Of course I'll keep my standards of green beans, varieties of peas and cucumbers and some other favorites. My new additions this year are rhubarb - I'm going to find a location to plant a rhubarb plant so that hopefully in a year or two I can get enough to start making some rhubarb desserts. I'm also going to plant a cantaloupe melon plant that produces small melons and hopefully is more contained than a large melon plant - for our small garden. Looking forward to planting already.

I talked to Emma today as she was on to her (I think) 4th Christmas get-together. There are so many families to see on her dad's side and she has been enjoying seeing all of her extended family members. She was most excited about her gift from her Grandma Jan (for her birthday) - a new sewing machine. She has all kinds of ideas of things she is going to sew with it. Kind of a fun, and useful gift.

Tonight we are enjoying the movie "Serendipity" on TV. It is actually a movie that Andy introduced me to a few years ago - as it is one that he likes too. It is kind of a 'holiday' movie as it occurs around the Christmas holiday. It is a cute love story surrounding the theory of fate or 'serendipity'. Definitely one to rent if you like John Cusack and love stories.

I can't believe Emma is going to be 13 tomorrow. Officially a teenager. Yep - that makes me feel old. Another reminder of how quickly time flies and how fast those kids grow up. Hug 'em and tell them you love them as much as you can - -

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

Christmas Pics

2011-12-25T19:36:00.000-06:00

Me and my mom today

I thought it was cute how my young nephews were sitting intently watching "The Christmas Story" movie this afternoon.

Who's this guy?

My god-daughter Kallie opening her DQ Blizzard maker that I gave her.

December 24, 2011

2011-12-24T22:14:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas Eve!

Per normal, our Christmas Eve is just a day for Andy and I as the kids are all off to their own places. So we always plan out our Christmas Eve dinner to try to make it special. This year we enjoyed New York Strip steak on the grill and Cilantro Lime Shrimp. You never know when you purchase a steak if you are going to end up with a good one - but we were lucky tonight because the steak was wonderful. Definitely a meal to remember.

I did actually do some shopping today, believe it or not. I had to return something at Kohl's and so I looked around there, went to Macy's for a bit, and made a stop at Target too. The crowds weren't too bad - actually much better than it has been in weeks. So I enjoyed some time perusing the last-minute sales and ended up buying us a new video game for the Xbox - an extreme sports game, for the fun of it that Andy and I played tonight (yep, kids at heart).

For the first time ever I watched the entire movie 'It's a Wonderful Life'. I've watched bits and pieces over the years but never the entire film. Andy has always said it is a good movie and others too. So tonight seemed like a good night to just sit and enjoy it. I have to say - I'm very glad that I watched it. I thought it was a great movie - no wonder they play it on NBC every Christmas Eve - it is a classic.

That's all for tonight. Get to sleep so Santa can come.

Goodnight.

December 23, 2011

2011-12-23T21:21:00.001-06:00

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

Had a very lazy today which was really nice. Other than bringing Emma down to meet her dad and doing a little grocery shopping, I didn't do much of anything today. I guess that is really what you are supposed to do on a day off of work.

I did make a meal of fish that I found in the freezer today. A couple walleye and a couple crappies - made for a perfect sized meal for Andy and Ivy and I tonight for dinner. My favorite breading, I've discovered is using Panko Crumbs (Japanese Bread Crumbs) that you can find in any grocery store near the regular bread crumbs. I coat the filets in flour, then dip in egg, then coat in the Panko crumbs and they fry up nice and crispy. Definitely the way to bread meat and fish.

Andy and I watched a movie tonight called 'Fracture' with Anthony Hopkins. It was just an okay movie - quite predictable actually. Plus Andy is sooo good at predicting movies, he always figures out the plot and ending about 30 minutes into the movie. So really it is usually he and I watching to see if his prediction comes true. 95% of the time he is exactly right. He should have been a movie writer.

Tomorrow I'm not sure what is on tap. It will just be Andy and I enjoying Christmas Eve here, as it tends to usually be. We've already planned our Christmas dinner - steak and shrimp (surf and turf) - but other than that, we'll be playing it by ear. It always ends up being a nice day for the two of us.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

Christmas Pics Tonight

2011-12-22T22:35:00.001-06:00

New PJs

New coat

Cooper opening his new pig ear

Abby got one too

December 22, 2011

2011-12-22T22:26:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday to my brother Bob today. Hope you had a grand day!

Both Andy and I finished up our work week today as we both have the day off tomorrow and on Monday for the Christmas holiday. It feels nice to have a little break from work and time to spend with family. I am looking forward to a nice long weekend.

I spent the afternoon today volunteering, as I have in the past few years, at Catholic Charities Toys for Tots program. I enjoy taking part in this event each year and being able to help out families in need to help make their Christmas a little brighter. Most of the parents that I helped were so thankful and appreciative. One story in particular touched me - as a father of two that I helped pick out a few gifts for his kids said that he was so thrilled because just today he got the news that he was offered a job and accepted. His family has been struggling the past few months as he has been out of work. He was so thankful to everyone that has donated and was happy to be able to make his kids' Christmas a little brighter.

What a wonderful night we had tonight with the kids. This was our Christmas celebration night and we started out by having a lasagna dinner with all the fixins. And then we opened gifts - which was such a fun time. I love seeing the kids light up when they open something. And I really like that all of the kids now are old enough that they get each other something too. Andy and I even got some nice presents from the kids, even though we didn't need anything. Emma gave me a new kitchen apron and a mug and gave Andy a new shirt. Ivy gave Andy a new shirt and me a bracelet. And Dylan bought Andy and I a gift card to a local restaurant. Such a wonderful night.

We ended our night with watching the movie 'Elf' with the kids. I just love that movie - I could watch it 20 times and still laugh. I am typically not a Will Ferrell fan (the actor in the movie) but this one just is so funny and a great movie for all ages. If you haven't seen it - I definitely recommend watching it this holiday season.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

December 21, 2011

2011-12-21T21:00:00.000-06:00

Another birthday today - Happy Birthday to my niece Paris who is officially an adult at age 18. I remember going to see you in the hospital the Winter of my freshman year at college. Now you are soon off to be in college yourself. Just another reminder how time flies. Hope your day was wonderful.

Every morning when I drive into work I listen to the radio station KDWB (Twin Cities pop station). Between Thanskgiving and Christmas every morning they do something wonderful - they grant a Christmas wish to a deserving family. People write in and nominate a family - and explain why they are deserving. Many times it is because a tragedy happened in the past year or the family is struggling basically from no fault of their own. For example, yesterday the wish was for a family whose 10 year old daughter is losing her hearing - and eventually will be completely deaf. For Christmas the only thing this girl had on her list was to get a new good set of hearing aids (can you imagine being 10 and just wanting hearing aids?). Anyway, a family friend wrote into KDWB to nominate this family (with no knowledge to the family) and they picked her as someone they would grant a wish for. So a company based out of the cities, Starkey, that produces hearing aids - donated a new set of hearing aids for this young girl; other companies/people donated as well - and the family received many wonderful gift cards and gifts. They were so thankful and appreciative, and surprised. If you want to listen to the podcast of it, click here. To make a long story short, I listen to these 'wishes' every morning as they do when around 7:30 and it makes me tear up every morning to hear the stories of families who struggle just to get by. Makes me so thankful for all of the blessings that we have.

This afternoon Emma got together with her friend Lauren to exchange gifts (reminded me of myself and Sue getting together to exchange gifts at their age). So Emma finished up her gift last night - which was a scrapbook that she made of all of the pictures of the good times that her and Lauren have had over the years - at dance, sleepovers, etc. It turned out really cute and I'm so glad that I work at a company that produces such quality products because I'm sure it will last forever and will be treasured for many years. Very proud that, on her own, she came up with the idea of making this for a gift. Maybe my years of scrapbooking and values of memory preservation are rubbing off on her.

It the time of holiday food and potlucks. Both Andy's department and my department held potlucks for lunch today (nope - I didn't plan this one either). Lots of good food, as always - and then the leftovers sit out for grazing all afternoon, so we basically eat all day. On top of that, someone brought in bagels from Panera for breakfast. I'm so stuffed I feel ready to pop. And the holiday foodness is only just beginning. I'm foreseeing an upcoming week of cookies, candy, and all kinds of other goodies. Oh well - if everyone gains 5 pounds, then it all just evens out right?

We got a few flurries today - so all of those that needed a white Christmas, I think we're good now right?

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

December 20, 2011

2011-12-20T21:50:00.000-06:00

So begins the week of birthdays in my family...happy sweet sixteen to my niece AvriElle today. Hope you had a wonderful day! Are you really old enough to drive?

So now that we have the furnace working - there must be something else that goes wrong right? Yep. Our upstairs toilet isn't flushing well lately. Slow flushing - and sometimes it doesn't flush at all. Lots of plunging lately. Anyway...tonight Andy and I were downstairs and Emma was upstairs and all of sudden I heard 'Moooommm....the toilet is overflowing!!!!' (just like that). Yeah, that was fun. Could have been worse (if you know what I mean) - just water. But lots of towels to wash and a floor to clean. Definitely on the list of things we need to figure out soon.

After years of drinking wine, Andy and I finally agreed on our favorite kind of wine - Riesling. We've dabbled in Chardonnays and also in the various reds, but we always come back to Riesling. So tonight, as I was at the liquor store stocking up, I decided that since we know what we like, we'll just experiment with different kinds/brands within the Riesling category. Kind of odd that it took us years of drinking different wines to decide on the kind that we really like (glad we both agree though!).

Are you a gifting couple or a no-gift couple? Andy and I made the decision long ago that we weren't going to do the Christmas gift thing (or birthday or Valentines or Anniversary for that matter). So there is no pressure - from either side to figure out how much to spend, what to get, etc. etc. It is kind of funny when we hear about others that struggle to figure out what to get their significant other and we have no worries. If we decide we want to get something together, like for the house, we'll buy it. And if we want something for ourselves, we buy it too. It works out good. And then throughout the year - if we see something that the other might like, we might get it (i.e. my wine cork opener the other week). Anyway...it works for us.

That's about all tonight. Couple more work days to go and then off for a nice long Christmas weekend. Can't wait.

Goodnight.

December 19, 2011

2011-12-19T21:54:00.003-06:00

Smells like fresh baked Monster Cookies in the house tonight. Emma has been baking again - this time to make little gifts for Andy's employees for Christmas. I just bagged up the cookies in cute bags, attached a Target Gift card and added some ribbon. I think they will like them - (I would). :)

For some reason I'm feeling like this week is crazier than it should be. I thought since I had our gifts all bought and wrapped that these last few weeks would be a breeze. But this week is kind of crazy with things sneaking up on us. Tonight was getting the gifts ready for Andy's employees. Emma has a couple big tests yet this week in school. Both Andy and I have work potlucks on Wednesday (I opted for chips this time!). Emma's godmother is stopping over Wednesday to bring her present, so that will be nice. Emma also needs to get together with her friend Lauren to exchange gifts (sometime?). We have our Christmas with our kids on Thursday night with a lasagna dinner too. And then Friday morning Emma leaves to go to her dad's for a week. Whew! Plus Andy and I work through Thursday, and I volunteer at Toys for Tots on Thursday afternoon. Yeah, now that I type it out it does sounds kind of crazy. We'll get through it though and I'm sure it will be a wonderful week.

For some reason as I was driving home from work today I got to thinking about all of sudden how quickly the kids are growing up. A song came on the radio, "Someone Like You", by Adele - which Emma's choir group sang at her concert recently. It is such a grown up, beautiful song - and they sang it so wonderfully it brought tears to everyone's eyes. Anyway...it made me realize how grown up they are and how quickly this school year is going as it is almost half over already. I always say that I'm glad that they are the age that they are (I don't miss the baby stage at all) - but I'm also getting a little sad that the next few years are going to go by so quickly. Little moments like that make me remind myself to slow down, take everything in, and don't sweat the small stuff. Pretty soon - I won't have anyone to remind to 'pick up your clothes off of the floor', and 'turn off the TV', etc. etc. and I bet I'll miss it.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

December 18, 2011

2011-12-18T21:44:00.000-06:00

What a beautiful ~~Fall~~ , I mean Winter day. Didn't it feel more like October than December today? I walked around the yard a bit, cleaning things up and checking on things. Kind of weird for the week of Christmas to be walking around the backyard with no coat on. But I'll take this, any day!

Yesterday I was all set to take some really good pictures of Emma at her dance competition and yet again I was disappointed. I had done some research last week regarding the settings that I should have on my camera to get the best action shots (quick shutter speed) and in a gym (not good light). So I had it set to go and guess what - WAY too dark. I can't get a good combination of enough light and a speed that allows me to get a good shot without blur. So frustrating. After spending that much on a camera/lens I would have thought I would have been able to get some great pics. Maybe I need to just play with it more and keep trying. I must be doing something wrong.

Thank goodness we have a dance dad who is a professional photographer and takes tons of pictures throughout the season - and gets them to us at the end of the season. He also is taking individual shots of each of the girls - and Emma had her session today at their home. I was so amazed at the great pictures he was able to take today in such a short time. So, I don't feel so bad not getting great shots - as he has some excellent pics that we'll be able to have.

My funny for the night...Andy asked Emma to bring him down a pop from upstairs as he was watching TV. Emma grabbed a Diet Coke (i.e. caffeinated) and Andy popped it open and started drinking it. 'Uh oh, this is Diet Coke. I can't drink that - it is too late." Mind you - this was at 7 pm tonight. Definitely a sign of getting old, don't you think?

I was so impressed with the $4 Gold 'n Plump Bake it Easy Seasoned Whole Chicken that we had for dinner tonight. Couldn't have been ANY easier. Basically it is preseasoned and in a roasting bag. You just open the outer package, place it in a baking pan and two hours later you have a moist, seasoned, yummy roast chicken for dinner. I paired it with Pioneer Woman's Potato Bundles and a salad for a great dinner. Definitely would buy one of those whole chickens again - we did the Lemon Pepper one, but there is also Mesquite and Sweet BBQ versions.

That's about all tonight. Ready for a 4 day work-week. Goodnight.

December 17, 2011

2011-12-17T22:39:00.002-06:00

Soaking up the quiet here tonight. Emma is long asleep after an exhausting day of dance. Andy is out at Brooten tonight with his cousin Jeff, where he was pheasant hunting today. And I am here, relaxed (and yawning as I type) and enjoying peace and quiet tonight, with my Cooper on my lap of course.

Up at 5 am on a Saturday? Craziness. Yep, Emma's bus took off bright and early at 6 am from school. Don't tell anyone but I drove her there in my pjs (thank goodness I didn't get pulled over or something). Unfortunately I really didn't even have time to get back to bed as her team was one of the first to dance. So I got myself ready and headed down to Richfield.

Her team did well, and her dad, stepmom and brothers even were there to see the dance. But unfortunately they didn't get an award today. Many of the teams from the twin cities area are much better than the local teams, so we were anticipating some hard competition. There were 9 JV teams and Emma's team placed 6. However, the Varsity team took 1st place (Yippee!) out of about 15 or so teams, and the Jazz Varsity took 3rd. So there was a lot of excitement. Let me tell you though - it is quite stressful being a parent of a dancer. Especially with these team dances, since each dancer has to essentially dance flawlessly, otherwise your team gets docked points. I'm not sure I'm ready for a future of a Varsity parent (maybe will stick to JV for another year or so). :)

As I was driving through the cities today I thought about how just a few years ago how I never liked having to drive down there. I had a couple places I knew how to get to (i.e. Mall of America) - but other than that, I'd hate having to find my way around. I've grown more comfortable with it as the years have gone on. And now, with having the Google Navigation on my cell phone - it makes it soooo much easier. Basically I put in (or say) the address/place of where I need to be, the GPS figures out where it is and from there - it tells me exactly where/when to turn to get there. I just listen to the computerized-lady's voice tell me when I'm going to need to turn and what direction and I get there. It is just so cool! Anyway - it makes traveling to get to places you are unfamiliar with so easy.

That's about all for tonight. Tomorrow - Emma is having dance pictures taken. Other than that, looking forward to having Andy back home and I'm making a whole roast chicken for dinner (on sale at Coborns for $4 - what a bargain).

Goodnight.

December 16, 2011

2011-12-16T21:49:00.000-06:00

I'm addicting to pinning. If you don't know what I mean, then you haven't gotten sucked into the site Pinterest.com. It is the latest 'thing' in social media sites - and basically you can 'pin' pictures/links to other sites that have ideas. I'm usually stuck on all of the awesome recipe ideas people have or gardening ideas. But there are so many other things out there too - like things for your home, tips and tricks, pretty much anything you can think of. Definitely have found tons of ideas just in the last couple weeks.

Had a nice lunch with my sister today at Grizzly's Wood Fired Grill in Waite Park. Unfortunately the wait for the food was a bit long, and my sister found a bone on her chicken pizza (eeks!) but my food was good AND they completely took care of my sister's lunch, so no charge. The conversation was great too - and so nice that we can get together every once in a while.

Emma has a big dance competition tomorrow in Richfield, so it will be a very early morning. Her bus leaves school at 6 am - I'm hoping I can drop her off and come home and crawl back into bed for an hour or so. She dances at 10 am so that doesn't leave much time before I have to head out too. I'm anticipating a very long day as awards are not until after 4 pm. So all, in all, an entire Saturday devoted to dance, again. It is always a fun time though and so exciting to see how they do.

Have you eaten Dominos Pizza lately? I hadn't had it in years - probably because I swore I'd never eat it again as I didn't think it was that good. Tonight I didn't feel like cooking so on the way home we pass right by a Dominos in Sauk Rapids. I went in to see if they had any 'hot and ready' pizzas there and he had one left at the moment. So I took it (heck - dinner for 3 for $6 - YES!). And I was totally impressed. They must have changed their crust recipe and sauce recently and it was really good. And yes, I think I'll frequent there again -especially with it being hot, ready, cheap, and right on the drive home. Um - maybe it's a little too convenient!

That's all for tonight. Time to hit the hay. Thanks to God for no snow! :)

Goodnight.

December 15, 2011

2011-12-15T21:27:00.000-06:00

Watching bits and pieces of the Republican Presidential Debate that is on TV tonight. Of course we know Michelle Bachmann the most, and also Newt Gingrich, but some of the others I am less familiar with. Interesting to watch and see how they communicate and what they opinions are on the issues. Definitely will be an interesting upcoming election year.

The beginnings of the 'nobody works the end of December' weeks are upon us. It is really evident with the placement of Christmas on a weekend, and being that we have company holidays next Friday and the following Monday. Each day when I come in to work more and more people are deciding to take vacation days in the next two upcoming weeks, I included. I decided today that I'm taking off on the last couple days of December and January 2nd, along with the normal days we get off. Basically - productivity is next to nil the end of December, and with the amount of vacation days I have in my bucket, I'm going to join the crowd (which will not be at work).

Had a date night with Andy tonight and for a change we went to Green Mill. Haven't been there in quite some time and since we couldn't find any parking downtown, where we had planned to go to DB Searles, we ended up in the parking lot at Green Mill, which had plenty of space. It was still happy hour when we got there - which meant good deals on drinks and appetizers. We each got an individual pizza on the happy hour menu and a couple drinks and ate for less than $20 - now that's a good date night, and the pizza was yummy too.

Realized this week that the dogs' underground fencing collars must both have dead batteries. Yep - the other morning found Abby sniffing around ON the trail. Tonight Cooper was barking at a dog walker on the trail and basically following them. So, new batteries are on order (I'm hoping it is the batteries and not a fence issue!). Those sneaky dogs sure can tell when their collars aren't working. I'm presuming a few shocks will occur once the batteries are replaced.

That's all for tonight. TGIF tomorrow. Yippee!

Goodnight.

December 14, 2011

2011-12-14T22:04:00.001-06:00

It's Wednesday night - that means Top Chef night on Bravo TV. We're on a commercial break right before the selection of the chef that will go home. So I'm taking the 5 minute opportunity to blog.

Tonight the girls and Andy left for a bit to take a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. When they got home I knew something was up as they were all huddled in the kitchen acting kind of odd. Then they called me up there as they had bought be a gift back with them. They bought be a surprise wine cork remover that is really cool. You just place it over the bottle, push the button and it removes the cork. I happened to see one of these at the parent party that I was at this weekend and thought it was cool. I hadn't even mentioned it to anyone and they must have read my mind. Fun to get a little present here and there. :)

While I was at home tonight I spent some time looking online for ideas for a storage option in the kitchen. For years I've been talking about building a pantry or something so we have more storage in the kitchen (or otherwise I have to start getting rid of some small appliances!). I kind of decided that a major construction project was out of the question, so I thought that a good option might be a buffet in the dining room that had good storage in it. After looking at many online, I got to thinking how if my dad were still here - I could probably show him a picture of something and in a week he'd have it made. He was such a master with woodworking and able to make pretty much anything. I guess I'll have to actually go to a furniture store and see what my options are there.

I'm glad it is Wednesday - half the week is over. Looking forward to finishing up the last few days of work and then having a nice relaxing weekend.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

December 13, 2011

2011-12-13T22:28:00.001-06:00

Is it really only Tuesday? Why do the weekdays go so slow and the weekends go by so fast?

It was my first official night as the Dance Team Booster Club Secretary (it's officially - they swore me in). So I brought my laptop with me to the meeting and took very detailed notes during the meeting. I just finished up refining them so I could send them out. Three pages of notes - yeah, we talk a lot. That's what happens in an hour an a half meeting. So much information - hopefully I captured it well for everyone. It will definitely be a busy few months ahead with all kinds of fundraisers and dance shows and then after mid-February we should be done for a bit and can take a breather.

I have a new project that I've been assigned to at work in the last week and it is stumping me. Typically when I am working on a project for some new enhancement to our systems, I can typically see the solution in my head from the beginning. This time there is functionality being requested that I'm not sure how we can technically meet based on our current systems' capabilities. In a way it is kind of fun - because it is challenging. On the other hand, I feel very 'dumb' so-to-speak that I can't find a solution. Hopefully I'll be able to put my brain together with some other people and help get to a system that will work.

I LOVE that there is no snow on the ground at that it was close to 40 degrees - in mid December. This is so up my alley. I hear people complain about 'no snow for Christmas' and that MN should be white at this time of the year. Sorry - I am so happy that it has been as nice as it has been. Snow is for the birds and I especially hate driving in it. With all of these dance competitions out of town, it has been a blessing that I haven't had to deal with more than what I have thus far. Hoping it stays nice through the weekend, as we're traveling to Richfield on Saturday.

I think that's about all for tonight. Ready to hit the hay.

Goodnight.

December 12, 2011

2011-12-12T21:57:00.003-06:00

It's time to do something. Yes, I've gotten to the point where I need to make a plan to get in shape. It is only going to get more difficult the next few weeks with Christmas upon us, so I decided now is the time. So...I'm going to make use of this Netflix subscription and utilize the many exercise videos that they have available for instant streaming. I watched (I was just checking them out - not actually 'doing') a few tonight and there are some pretty good ones out there, so there will be lots of variety. Plus - I can do it in my home, on my own time - which is a bonus. AND, Andy said that he would do some of them with me too, so that is super good. I'm kind of excited actually.

It was an odd Monday today because Andy switched with a coworker and worked a normal day shift today. Typically he works a late shift Monday night. Instead he is working late tomorrow. You kind of get into a routine each week with that schedule and I'm kind of all out of sorts. It was nice, however, to have him here tonight, because I won't be home tomorrow night anyway with meetings and such.

Because it is colder out, I'm getting more into using the Crock Pot to make dinner. Tonight I made a meal that we've had a few times called Slow Cooker Pepper Steak using sirloin and peppers and onions that cooks up really nice in the slow cooker. The meat gets so tender after a full day - and it is wonderful served over rice. Pretty easy too.

I signed up to volunteer next Thursday at Catholic Charities Toys for Tots event. I have done this for many years and always enjoy helping out there right before Christmas. It is a good reminder that there are many families out there that are less fortunate who are SO thankful to be given wonderful gifts for their children. The great part is that they not only get a few toys - but they also receive a set of hat/mittens for each child, a few books per child, and some basic school supplies. Most of the hats and mittens are hand-knitted by women in the St. Cloud area, who spend time all year getting ready for this event. It is just a good program to be involved in - and I'm glad I get the opportunity.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

December 11, 2011

2011-12-11T21:27:00.001-06:00

It is officially Christmas season - the Cannon Ball candy has been made.

Yes, Emma and I did our holiday baking today. We made cut-out cookies that we frosted. We made the peanut butter blossoms with the Hershey's kisses. And of course we made Cannon Balls - the yummy peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate, which has been a family tradition since long before I was born. I think probably a dozen of those have already been eaten - so good, I just wish they weren't so bad for the waistline!

Andy and Ivy came back this afternoon from Rochester. Sounds like they had a nice family get together down there. Hopefully all of us can take a trip down there sometime soon so Emma and I get a chance to see everyone as well. One of Andy's 'gifts' from his parents was one of his old high school yearbooks. We had a fun time paging through and finding him in the pics tonight. Such a cool guy - too cool to smile in the pictures - funny!

I was just thinking that I didn't leave the house today at all, which is very odd for me. Typically on a weekend day I at least make a trip to Target or the grocery store. And today I didn't have any need for anything, so I stayed in the house, busily baking and cooking all day. Funny that I didn't even think about that until now.

I guess I'm officially the secretary for the dance booster club. I had offered about a month ago when they asked for a volunteer but hadn't heard back - assuming they found someone else. The president sent out the agenda for Tuesday night's meeting and lo and behold my name is listed as Secretary. Okie dokie - I guess I'll be taking notes and everything else that goes along with the job. That's okay - I'm glad I got into the position as I'll get to know more people and it is much less stressful than Treasurer and having to deal with the checkbook.

I made our favorite Creamy Wild Rice Soup tonight for dinner, using turkey that I had cut up and frozen at Thanksgiving. Yum, yum - and so glad there are leftovers for both Andy and I for lunch tomorrow.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

December 10, 2011

2011-12-10T22:55:00.001-06:00

Wow, what a long day. But a good day - all around.

Just got home from a dance parent get-together tonight, which I forced myself to go to. Well, not forced, but before I left I debated about just getting in my jammies and hanging out at home alone for the night. But...I went and I'm glad I did. I had a fun time, conversing with the other parents, drinking wine, eating munchies and enjoying a night out. For introverts like me, whose husband isn't even in town - this is a big deal. I held conversations with people I didn't know and enjoyed the night.

Everyone at the get-together was in a great mood - as all 3 dance Cathedral dance teams (JV Kick, Varsity Kick and Varsity Jazz) took first place today at the Albany meet. It was the first '1st' place for Emma's team and they deserved it - they did a great job and a vast improvement from last week. It was also fun to watch the varsity teams - as they always do so well too. The other St. Cloud team in attendance, Apollo, took 2nd in both Kick and Jazz too - so again, the St. Cloud area teams are in the forefront of the dance mecca, which is really neat to see.

Ivy and Andy are down in Rochester tonight; they left this morning to head down for the Sandstrom Christmas celebration. Sounds like they had a great time with family tonight and were just closing in for the night. They'll be back in town by tomorrow afternoon, after Andy gets in a little hunting time in the morning with his brothers.

Emma got asked to babysit at the neighbors tonight a few weeks ago. When they asked and said the time was at 5:15, I didn't think anything of it, since the competition today was supposed to be done around 3. Well, when it got to be 4 pm and we were just doing awards I knew it was going to be tight. The bus pulled into the school parking lot at literally 5:10 pm. We booked it back to Sauk Rapids and I dropped her off at the neighbors at 5:16. WOW - that was close. Thank goodness everything worked out - and she was able to get to her 'job' and the parents were able to get to where they needed to.

I have to mention tonight that it was 16 years ago today that my father passed away. As I was sitting in the gym at the dance competition, I had thoughts of him and how I miss him at certain moments. I'm sad that he never got to meet Emma as I know he would have loved to get to know her -- there are moments when Emma giggles or says something goofy and I see just a little twinkle of him in her. I only wish they would have had the chance to meet, although I know he is looking down on her from up above.

That's all for tonight. Tomorrow is definitely a morning to get some sleep after a long busy day.

Goodnight.

Dance Pics from Today

2011-12-10T22:50:00.001-06:00

December 9, 2011

2011-12-09T21:08:00.001-06:00

It is warm and cozy in the house tonight - which I'm very thankful for on a very cold night. The furnace guy from Fred's Plumbing and Heating (which I highly recommend) came out this morning. He did a full inspection and cleaning and determined the cause of our issue - a condensation tubing that was completely corroded and cracked. He replaced that and we are back in service, although he did recommend thinking about buying a new furnace as this one is the original one that came with the house. Just thankful for warmth.

We had a little scare in the backyard tonight. Andy let the dogs out and after a bit they started barking (as they do sometimes when someone is on the trail). Andy went out there and lo and behold there stood a coyote - in our yard. SCARY. He got the dogs in and we all watched the coyote move across the trail down by the pond. Now I'm a bit scared to let the dogs out at night, especially for Cooper. Who would have thought that we'd have coyotes in our city lot backyard?

I had a nice day off of work and got all of the things checked off of my list. One thing I had planned to do was bring a few of my dress pants into an alteration shop in the mall to get the hems fixed (as I'm not a sew-er and I thought it'd be a cheap fix). Well as soon as I noticed their prices on the board for hemming I turned around and left (I could buy a new pair of paints for what it wouldn't cost to get my 3 hemmed. So onto a different solution - my favorite new product - Stitch Witchery. It is fusible bonding that you put inside the hem and iron it - it worked awesome and it looks great. Thank goodness for products like this - oh and it was about $3 for a roll, with much left over.

I made one of our favorite pasta dishes tonight - Baked Ziti, which is similar to a lasagna-type of dish. Yummy pasta, with my homemade spaghetti sauce, and cheese - doesn't get much better than that.

Tomorrow Emma and I will be up bright and early to head to another dance competition - this time in Albany. Her bus leaves the school lot at 7 am, so yes, no sleeping in for us. Andy and Ivy will be headed down to Rochester to join in on the Sandstrom Christmas hosted by Andy's brother Jim. We'll miss the fun - as it is always a good time with the Sandstrom clan. Very thankful for all of us that there is no snow in the forecast.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

December 8, 2011

2011-12-08T21:22:00.001-06:00

17 days til Christmas - are you counting?

This is the first year that I can remember that I feel completely relaxed about Christmas. Gifts are all purchased (the only 'people' I forgot were the dogs' stocking stuffers). Cards are all sent. Plans are all made. So that leaves the rest of the month to just relax, enjoy Christmas concerts and get togethers with family. I like it. Sure beats that stressful feeling of having too much to do and too much going on.

I've also finally come to accept the fact that we'll never really have a 'normal' family Christmas. I remember when Andy and I were first married I tried to make sure that all the kids were here on Christmas day and we'd open our presents that day. It never turned out. Everyone was always rushed to get somewhere else and we'd end up having a half hour to open gifts. Plus it was always impossible, especially for Emma to get to see all of her other side of the family. So, based on Emma's input - she decided already last year that she is going to spend most of Christmas break with her dad and his families. She is doing the same this year. That also means she is gone on her birthday; the older she gets the easier that is I guess. So...instead of fretting about it, I've accepted it - and we plan our Christmas with our kids before Christmas - usually a few days before. This year we are having "Christmas" on the 22nd. Dylan doesn't have to work that night, the girls have their last day of school before break that day and we are all able to be together. And all will be good.

I am so looking forward to having the day off tomorrow. It is going to be a 'me' day, selfishly. I didn't really get my 'me' time during the Thanksgiving week as Andy was around most of the week too (which wasn't a bad thing) - but I didn't get my time alone to regroup. It sounds kind of weird, especially when my coworkers all ask "so - are you doing something fun with your day off?". I always so, "no, not really - just catching up on stuff". And then they seem like I should be disappointed or something and truly I'm not. I love having the day off and just being alone in the house - cleaning, organizing, cooking, planning, etc. etc. I literally need these days once in a while to re-energize. It is the introvert in me I guess - I gain my energy from solitude.

For dinner tonight we had fried hamburgers, in a pan. I don't typically make hamburgers in a pan - I'm more of a grilled hamburger kind of person. Probably because my hamburgers never taste as good as my mom's. Not sure if she has better meat or better technique (probably the latter) - but her burgers are always good. Always. She's had enough experience - we used to have a tradition of having burgers for 'breakfast' on Sunday mornings when I was a kid. Yep - you read it right. Burgers for breakfast. I guess it was something that my dad did even before he and mom married and the tradition kept on. I forget when we stopped doing that - probably when most of my siblings had moved out, but I still remember the taste of those burgers and how good they were. They were definitely better than the ones I made tonight.

Goodnight.

December 7, 2011

2011-12-07T21:45:00.001-06:00

I'm feeling at ease tonight. Do you ever have one of those weeks where you feel like all kinds of details are juggling in the air and if one falls - you'll deal with the fallout of three other things? This week has been one of those weeks. But today everything seemed to fall in place exactly as I hoped it would. So all is well and my mind is feeling happy.

Sometimes, okay many times, at work I work on things that never come to fruition. Not sure if it is bad planning or that bad processes, but often we are assigned projects that we invest a lot of time into and then part way into it, the project gets cancelled. I had that happen today. Well, they called it 'postponed' but usually when that happens it never gets picked up again. Or when it does, there are so many changes that you can't rectify much of what work was previously completed. It is slightly frustrating, but I guess it is part of the job. It is just much more rewarding when you can start a project and take it all the way through to the completion, whether big or small.

I was helping Emma study tonight for a science test and the topic was completely uninteresting and complicated to me (the same as it was when we learned it in 7th grade). The topic is genetics and heredity and things like recessive genes and dominant genes and many other words that I didn't know and can't remember. Of course it doesn't interest Emma either - or probably any other 7th grader for that matter. The funny thing is that her teacher tells the class that "it isn't about memorization, it is about learning the material." Yeah, yeah. Okay, in some classes and topics, yes I agree. But in cases like this - I recommend memorization and cramming before the test (and letting your mind blank out as soon as you turn in the test). Sometimes our brains just aren't big enough to remember things that you don't need to know in life. Right??

Tomorrow is my Friday as I took the day off on Friday. It's been a weird, crazy week - so looking forward to an extra day to the weekend.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

December 6, 2011

2011-12-06T21:09:00.001-06:00

Happy St. Nicholas Day. I totally forgot about it myself until I notice someone posting about it on Facebook. Oops. I still always love the traditions - and another excuse for getting candy around the holidays is always welcome. I remember as a kid getting things like nuts and fruit and some Christmas-y candy after St. Nick would knock on the windows (and scare the crud out of me). Luckily I never got any coal or anything left for the 'bad' kids, but I have heard stories from my older siblings of things like that. Maybe they were just stories though. :)

I had a nice lunch today with my friend Sonya. We get together every few months for a lunch since we both work in town. Today we had subs at Bo Diddley's and good conversation. So nice to have all friends who know your entire history and you can pick up a conversation after not seeing each other for months. Very thankful.

It is officially and entirely cold. When I walked to and from my car today in the work parking lot I remember thinking that is is wayyyy tooo cooooolllld. I even ran to my car on the way out so I could get there faster. I am not looking forward to months of this. It is not suitable for human beings. Why can't everyone that we love just move south (or at least for the Winter right?).

I made Baked Macaroni and Cheese from my America's Test Kitchen cookbook tonight for dinner. If you've never made real mac and cheese (not the kind in the blue box) you should try it sometime. It is so much better - especially with crunchy bread crumbs on top and good cheese sauce. Plus it is something all of us enjoy - which is a good thing when you are cooking for a family.

Andy and I took a quick trip to Sam's Club tonight - as Andy is researching prices for new tires on his truck. So he got submerged into tire shopping and of course I got submerged into the food and other things offered at the mecca. Of course we left with a cart-ful - but only stuff that we normally would buy anyway AND the price was good, like bottled water, frozen chicken breasts, and a few other things. Plus bonus- I found a blue sweatshirt in exactly the Cathedral blue color so I have another apparel item I can wear to dance competitions, for only $9.98.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

December 5, 2011

2011-12-05T21:49:00.001-06:00

Busy but fun night tonight. Had Emma's Christmas 7/8th Grade Choir Concert at Cathedral. It is fun to see all of the tween kids all dressed up and interacting. Lots of laughs, pictures, and fun. And some great singing too.

I lost Abby this morning. Well, not really. I usually let the dogs out once before I leave for work and like normal Cooper was at the door waiting, but Abby was nowhere to be found. I looked around and found sleepy dog curled up in her kennel. Andy had put her fluffy puffy dog bed in there last night. It must be realllly comfy in there - because normally she never goes in her kennel unless we make her. It wasn't worth it to her to go outside and go potty - so she just stayed in her cozy kennel. I probably would have too.

Our furnace is still kaputy. Is that a word? Probably not, but that's what I call it. It works, I guess. But it never gets up to the temp that it should be. And it takes forever to get it up one degree. I got a certificate for a furnace checkup and cleaning that I'm going to schedule this week and we'll see what the plumbing and heating guy says about it. Something is just not quite right and it is getting too cold to be having problems.

It felt like we were in a snowglobe this morning. The snow was falling, kind of. But it was also blowing up and sideways slightly. When we were inside the office with the huge windows around us - it literally felt like we were in a snowglobe with the glistening snow all around us. Kind of cool, for snow that is.

I LOVE Erberts and Gerberts subs. If I had to pick a sub place - they would be it. Sorry Subway - they are tons better than yours. The bread is wonderful - and then they cut out the middle of the bun and put it on top - and it is doughy and yummy. And then the toppings are great too. I always get the Boney Billy which is a turkey sub - and it has sprouts on it. I never really would buy sprouts but they taste wonderful on a sub. Anyway - just had to throw in a plug for Erberts and Gerberts since we had them for dinner tonight and it was as good as always.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

Emma's Christmas Choir Concert

2011-12-05T21:44:00.001-06:00

Emma's 7/8 Grade Girls Choir - Em is in top row (of course!)

They did a few songs with the guys too.

Emma and Lauren

Taylor and Emma

Emma with Molly and Aliina

Dancer Pics

2011-12-05T21:41:00.001-06:00

Emma and Maddy

Some of the team

Dance girl posing

December 4, 2011

2011-12-04T21:03:00.001-06:00

Is it Sunday night already? Craziness.

I must have needed some sleep or something - as I slept (literally) til 10 this morning. I know - it sounds like I'm lazy, but I'm of the mindset that if you sleep that long, there must be a reason. Andy's been snoring like a freight train lately due to his sinus issues, so I think that has been keeping me awake. Anyway...it felt great to get a good night's sleep.

Christmas cards are signed, sealed, and will be delivered this week. That was one of my tasks this afternoon - to get those all ready to go. It is kind of a fun task actually - so I don't mind it at all. Looking forward to seeing what cards we receive in the coming weeks too.

We celebrated Dylan's birthday tonight with all the kids here - even though his birthday was on Friday. Dylan picked the meal of Grilled Salmon, Crushed Potatoes, Apples, Grapes (and we threw in green beans even though Dylan doesn't really eat any vegetables - just to round out the meal). And then he chose Funnel Cakes for dessert. I'd never made those before - but it was pretty easy and fun too. It was nice celebrating and making memories.

The kids are catching on that we need to be planners (maybe I'm rubbing off on them). But as we were dining tonight we figured out which days works for everyone to open presents at our house, since we always have to pick a day before Christmas as they are all off to their own places that weekend. And then we figured out an alternate night to do our New Year's Eve fondue - since Ivy and Dylan's aunt is getting married on New Year's Eve. Glad we can still make time for these traditions - and that they are the ones prompting the planning. :)

That's all for tonight. Tomorrow will start another busy holiday week with Emma's school Christmas concert.

Goodnight.

Pics from Tonight

2011-12-04T20:53:00.001-06:00

Dylan's Birthday Meal - Grilled Salmon, Crushed Potatoes, Apples and Grapes

Getting ready to dig in

The birthday ~~boy~~ man

Dylan picked Funnel Cakes for his dessert.

The kids - Ivy, Dylan, Emma

Cool sunglasses

December 3, 2011

2011-12-03T20:19:00.001-06:00

Long day. Very tired. Lots of driving and sitting. That kind of sums it up.

We all were up very early this morning. Emma to get ready for her dance competition. Andy to get up for hunting. And me to get up for being Emma's taxi to school to get school to hitch a ride on the bus. Hustle and bustle and we were all out of the door by quarter to 7. Way too early for a Saturday morning. :)

The dance competition was a very long day - but it was a good time too. It was so fun to see Emma's team perform for the first time - as I have never seen the dance prior to today. Plus some of the girls on her team have never danced in a competition before, so this was a whole new experience for them. Here are some of the highlights...

Emma's team performed well - and they 'placed'. They awarded 4 places in her category and there were 7 teams. So they were 4th out of 7 - which is good since most of the JV teams are made up of much older girls. Emma's team is all 7th and 8th graders.
The varsity kick team took 3rd and the jazz team took 3rd as well - both were out of about 20 teams respectively, so they were pretty happy with that for their first competition of the season too.
Sartell took 1st in Kick and Sauk Rapids took 5th. So 3 out of the top 5 teams were from the St. Cloud area. Pretty cool beans.
Emma's coach from the previous 3 years at Just for Kix is the Sauk Rapids Varsity coach - so she was there and it was fun to watch her coaching a high school team. Interesting that I could pick up on similarities between their team's moves and Emma's teams dances when she was at Just for Kix.
Sitting in bleachers for 7 hours gets really long - and makes for a sore back.
I don't have enough blue and gold apparel, I guess. It is kind of a prerequisite that if you are a Cathedral dance parent you wear blue and gold to competitions - and you all sit together.
The parents were all going out to Old Chicago when they got back in town. Um, I just spent the last 7 hours with you people (no offensive) but I'm going home.

The ride home was another story. By the time I got out to the parking lot there was 2 inches of snow on the ground and still falling. The roads down there in Chaska and all the way until I got through Maple Grove were TERRIBLE. I heard from Emma that one of the other girl's mom went in the ditch. Everyone drove about 30 mph all the way from Chaska to Maple Grove. Definitely a white-knuckle driving experience and very glad to get north of it.

Andy is staying out in Brooten tonight with his buddies. He hunted most of the day with his friend Larry (who he has been friends with since grade school). He said they worked pretty hard all day and only got one pheasant between the two of them. Sounds like maybe it should be the end of hunting season soon? :)

I think I could hit the hay right now and it is only 8:30. I'm excited to sleep in and then excited to have all of the kids here to celebrate Dylan's birthday tomorrow. Great way to end the weekend.

Goodnight.

December 2, 2011

2011-12-02T21:56:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday to Dylan - 22 years old today. These kids of ours are getting so grown up so quickly. Looking forward to celebrating with him on Sunday.

So glad it is Friday (but then again when aren't I?). It was way too busy of a day for a Friday. Typically Fridays are my catch up day when many people are out of the office and hardly any meetings. Today I had many meetings and everyone seemed to be in the office - and busy too. So the weekend was something I was looking forward to all day.

Andy and I just got done watching a movie called 'The Road'. The movie is a few years old and I hadn't remembered anything about it - but Andy's brother Jim recommended it. It is A post-apocalyptic tale of a man and his son trying to survive by any means possible, in a nutshell. It worked for both Andy and I - as he likes futuristic type movies and things that I say 'aren't real'. Where I like reality - or at least movies that I understand what is going on at any given moment. So this served both of us well - futuristic but also understandable. It is a little gruesome, but I would still give it about an 8 out of 10 if that is the type of movie that interests you.

Emma had a curfew tonight. Not imposed by me, but by her dance coach and captains. Everyone had to be in bed by 9:30 in preparation for the first competition of the season tomorrow. She is all set to go - bag is packed and she just needs to get up and get dressed, as they do all of their hair and makeup and costume when they get down to Chaska. The bus leaves the school at 7:15 am (and probably won't return til 7:15 pm). I'm not sure exactly when I'm leaving to drive down - but according to all the other dance parents, everyone gets there when the doors open. Um...that's 9 am. They don't dance til afternoon. Yeah, I'm not quite getting this whole thing yet - but I guess I will understand better after tomorrow. Should be interesting.

Andy, meanwhile, is heading out to Brooten tomorrow for more hunting (isn't hunting season almost over?). Anyway...his cousin Jeff is out there with some friends and a few other buddies are heading out there too for the rest of the weekend. I'm presuming more birds will come home and embrace the freezer.

That's about all tonight. I need to get to bed too. Sounds like a long day ahead.

Goodnight.

December 1, 2011

2011-12-01T21:59:00.001-06:00

Happy December. A December 1st with no snow on the ground is a good start from my perspective. Let's hold out as long as possible please?

It is a quiet night here as Emma is staying over at a dance friend's house along with some others from the dance team. There is no school tomorrow (teacher inservice) but they do have dance practice. So it works out nice that this friend's mom, who doesn't work outside the home, is able to take the group of girls to practice during the day. Small blessings like that for moms that work help a lot.

Andy and I took advantage of the quiet night and had a date night for dinner. We tried a new bar/restaurant that has been around for about a year or so called The White Horse. It is in an old bar in downtown St. Cloud that both Andy and I used to go to (when it was still a bar) in our college days. So it was kind of fun to see it now renovated into a restaurant. The food was so-so, but it was still fun to get out and experience a new place for a change.

I finally have some presents under the tree; not having any kids here makes for a great night to do some wrapping. This year I avoided gift bags because I think teenage girls get tempted easily to peruse their presents a bit when you just stuff it in a bag with some tissue paper. So everything is wrapped up in boxes with lots of tape. So no peeking! Not sure why I care - other than that I like them to be surprised when they open their gifts.

I threw a roast in the oven tonight that we'll eat for dinner tomorrow. I love the smell of a beef roast in the oven - especially with the method I use to make it (thanks to my sister-in-law's recipe). It is mixing a packet of onion soup mix with about a half cup or so italian dressing and a jar of beef gravy. Then you pour it over the roast (I always use eye of round cut) and cook it long and slow at at 325. I usually make it the night before, cool it in the fridge, slice it up and then reheat the next day. It makes the best roast beef ever. I promise.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

November 30, 2011

2011-11-30T22:01:00.001-06:00

Can you believe it will be December tomorrow already? Doesn't seem right when there is no snow on the ground, although I'm not complaining at all. :)

Emma and I were on the weirdest mission tonight. On the prowl for makeup - not any makeup, specific makeup for dance team. Yes, they provided a list of specific brands and colors for all of their makeup - so that everyone matches. Well, when you have a total of about 50 girls between the varsity and JV teams all wearing the same makeup, and probably all shopping for it this week - it puts a strain in the inventory of the local stores. We started at Ulta - which only had the blush, but they were out of the eyeshadow and lipstick shades (not that they didn't carry them - they were out of the specific colors). So we tried our luck at the local Walgreens in Sauk Rapids - thinking that nobody would go there. They had the lipstick but not the eyeshadow. Nope - we went to 3 more stores before we found it at, get this, Walmart. Yep - they had 3 left. Crazy - probably spent $5 worth of gas just driving around to find specific makeup. WOW.

We just got done watching a new episode of Top Chef tonight. They had to cook a progressive dinner for some ritzy rich families in Dallas, Texas. I think I would have gone nuts if I had to cook for these people. I don't think I could have put up with their silly requests and hot shot attitudes. Makes me glad to live in a middle class neighborhood in Sauk Rapids.

It always seems to be crazy in December with so many things going on and this year will be no different. I create a calendar for our family activities that I post on the fridge - and almost every day in December has something on it. Between dance, Christmas concerts, birthdays, Christmas parties, New Year's Eve, etc. etc. - there is always something going on. I have a feeling that I'll blink and it will be 2012. Gotta tell ourselves to slow down and enjoy all of these moments that we get to have.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

November 29, 2011

2011-11-29T21:47:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday to my Mom! Hope you had a wonderful day and won big at the casino yesterday!

Today was one of those crazy busy work days when you can't keep your head on straight. Thank God that I can multi-task, as that saves my sanity. I went from one topic to another and one meeting to another all day long. Plus we're dealing with fallout from system issues/load issues from over the busy online shopping weekend as I predicted. Plus, it is almost the end of the month. So I think we're in for a few more days of craziness before some quiet sets in during December.

It is kind of a Christmas for me every day when I get home from work and check the door for packages. Today a few more items came - and it is kind of fun for me to open the boxes and see what I ordered. So far, so good. Everything is coming as expected. Yippee for online shopping!

Tonight for dinner I tried a new chicken recipe, although it is fairly similar to some that I've made before. It is a recipe called Parmesan Chicken that uses a garlic and oil marinade and then coats the chicken in Panko crumbs/parmesan cheese before baking. For more flavor I also added some Italian Seasoning to the crumbs. Definitely a thumbs up from everyone and pretty easy too.

More dance stuff tonight. I had a meeting of the chairpeople for the Cathedral Dance Show that is held in January. It is a huge fundraiser for the team - and an annual event. I get sucked into helping chair the Flowers. If you've ever been to a dance show you may have noticed that they have a table set up where people can buy a flower(s) for their dancer to give to them after the performance. I usually don't get sucked into it - but lots of people do. And we sell the flowers for more than we pay for them, so it makes us some money. So I and another mom (who has done it previous years - thank goodness) are running with that. There is a lot to go into these shows with decorations, concessions, advertising, promotions, security, you name it. I learn more and more every day. Definitely a great way to meet the other parents though too - especially for the introvert that I am.

That's about all tonight. Goodnight.

November 28, 2011

2011-11-28T21:39:00.001-06:00

Wow, today felt like I haven't been at work in a month - I was so 'out of it'. I don't think I was the only one though. Even those that were just off last Thursday and Friday were kind of feeling that way too. Just takes a few hours to get back in the swing of things after having time off I guess.

The first of the online-ordered Christmas presents arrived nicely and as-expected at the door today. I think between the mailman and the UPS guy - we'll be getting deliveries every day now for the next week or so with the different orders I've placed. I finished off with a few more things today being it was 'Cyber Monday' and all. Can't pass up freebies and free shipping on stuff I was going to buy anyway. I love a deal. And I love avoiding the crowds.

I'm doing furnace/thermostat investigation tonight. I've been noticing the last couple weeks that the furnace will kick in but then shut off long before it reaches the desired temp on the thermostat. In my research I've been finding people that had similar problems invested in a new thermostat that solved the issue. It doesn't seem to be an issue with the furnace 'kicking in' and we're still getting hot air coming out of the vents. I'm hoping that if I buy a new thermostat that it might solve the issue. Probably worth the cost vs. calling a heating guy to check it out (to tell us the same thing). If anyone has any other ideas - let us know.

So Emma's dance practice tonight was 6-8:30 because practice space is tight right now at Cathedral with all of the Winter sports in high gear. When I picked her up tonight her first response was 'Mom - it is already 8:30, and I wanted to be in bed by 9!!'. Okay. Weird kid that she is mad that practice went so long that she won't get to bed as early as she wants??? But okay. I'm good with that. Let's keep that thought process going as the years progress and we'll be on a good track.

We've been experiencing a little Internet slowness in the past week so I've been working with a kind man from Duet Internet to help me troubleshoot the issue. It is really nice that they are a small, local company and the tech guy personally emails me back and forth every day with options and new ideas on what they are going to do to help. If it were Charter I'd have to wait two weeks for some guy to come out to the house within a 4 hour time window and then they'd probably just tell me I need a new modem. So even though it is a little slower than normal - at least it isn't 'out of service' AND I like the personalized service that we get. Still very happy with our decision to get rid of Charter Internet.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

November 27, 2011

2011-11-27T20:33:00.001-06:00

Our Internet is being flaky tonight. I noticed a few other people on Facebook were posting the same thing and wondering if there is a lot of traffic due to pre-Cyber Monday sales. Everyone seems to be doing a lot of online shopping this holiday season.

We had a great day at my Mom and Roman's celebrating Thanksgiving. It was a treat having catered in chicken for our meal (a nice change up from turkey) and everyone brought something to share for the meal as well. All of my siblings were there except one brother who was out of town. There were quite a few that watched the Vikings game and the rest of us played games - including, of course, Scrabble. We played 5 rounds - I won 3 out of the 5, so not too bad (I blame the losses on bad letters!). We also played group Solitaire, which if you've never played can get a bit rowdy. As many people as can fit around the table, playing solitaire - but playing off of other people's piles - as quickly as possible. Lots of fun and laughter and a great day.

I forgot to mention a recipe that I made last night for dinner that was really good. The recipe is called 'Better than Takeout Orange Chicken' and I must say it is better than the mystery meat that you sometimes get at Chinese restaurants. Good chicken breast, fried and then coated in an orange-y sauce. Yum. A little putzy, but definitely a keeper.

I'm foreseeing a week of dance mom craziness. Emma's first dance competition of the season is on Saturday in Chaska. I have no idea what time yet - nor what time the bus leaves. I have no idea what their hair needs to be like or what makeup they need to have. She doesn't have her dance shoes yet - still on order. And we have a week full of dance practice and a parent meeting on Tuesday. From here til mid-February I think we'll be eating, breathing, and living dance. Yikes. Doesn't bode well for a planner like me who wants to know every little detail well in advance. I have to remind myself to roll with it I guess.

Back to the grind tomorrow. I haven't been to work since the 17th. That's 10 days away from work. I'm imagining the catch up that I'll need to do and it is giving me heartburn already. That's the only bad part about taking vacation - the catching up you have to do when you go back.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

November 26, 2011

2011-11-26T21:09:00.001-06:00

What a lazy night. Andy and I just got done watching a long movie called The Town with Ben Affleck. I thought it was just okay and Andy thought the same. Oh well. They can't all be academy award worthy.

Do you ever buy something and then for the life of you you can't figure out what happened to it? I am positive, well pretty sure anyway, that I bought a jar of salsa today at the store. So tonight when I pulled out the coordinating chips and couldn't find the salsa I was extremely puzzled. Maybe I'm going senile or something. I'll have to maybe check the trunk. Things have been known to roll out of plastic shopping bags.

Andy came home from Brooten this afternoon from hunting. Sounds like everyone had a good time and many birds were shot. Yep more pheasant in the freezer. Oh I must start meal planning I guess.

Tomorrow we are going to my mom's house for our Becker Thanksgiving. I hear rumor that mom is having chicken catered in instead of turkey. When I first heard that I was a little surprised. But after having turkey so many times this month I'm turkeyed out. So looking forward to that and seeing all of my family.

Goodnight.

November 25, 2011

2011-11-25T20:17:00.001-06:00

What great weather we've had the last couple days. Didn't even really need a coat today. And last night Andy and I took a two-lap walk on the trail, which was snow-free by the evening. We're getting a little spoiled again.

I am happy to say that about 90% of my Christmas shopping is done and I did the majority of it in my pj's at my computer. Online shopping is awesome. With all of the sites that offer free shipping and all of the same sales as in-store, it is soooo much easier. It is also easier to compare prices between different stores if you are looking for a particular item. All three of the kids gave me their wishlists by yesterday - which made the shopping process much easier. I feel like we're prepared for the holiday and now we have weeks to just relax and enjoy the season with family and friends.

Emma did bribe me into going out to the mall today - but we just went for a couple hours. By the mid-day the crowds were not bad at all. No lines really and we parked pretty close to the mall doors too. Emma got her shopping done for her siblings, and dad/stepmom, so she was happy about that and got some good deals too. Even with the thinned-out crowds though I was ready to get out of that place within a few hours. Yes, I must be getting old - I really like shopping from my home better.

Andy is out at Brooten tonight with his brother Jim and Jim's boys Nate and Mark. Sounds like they had a great day of pheasant hunting today and will do a bit more in the morning. Jim drove all the way up from Rochester - and so this is a treat for him and the boys to get in some good hunting (and guy time).

Emma finished up the Christmas decorating this afternoon - and has moved onto baking. I'm so glad she is being so helpful as I'm wiped out tonight after the week of Thanksgiving prep. The house is all in order for Christmas and a pan of bars is baking in the oven. Ah, so nice to have kids that are old enough to help with this stuff.

That's all for tonight. Not sure what's on tap for tomorrow - but we'll make sure to take it easy and enjoy the last couple days of 'vacation'.

Goodnight.

November 24, 2011

2011-11-24T21:06:00.001-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I am very thankful for wonderful family, great friends, health, and happiness.

We were blessed to be able to spend the day with our kids, Andy's parents who came up from Rochester, Andy's brother John, wife Melissa, and daughters Molly and Natalie who drove from Lindstrom. The food was great, but the company and conversation were better. I wish it could last longer but the time seems to go so quickly.

So Emma was gung ho about doing this Black Friday shopping thing at midnight, because according to her 'everyone' was going. I said earlier in the week that I'd "think about it". Well, after being up early, cooking all day, and cleaning up I'm slightly exhausted and in no mood to enter the crowds and fight for things I probably don't need. So we decided (or I decided) that we can go sometime tomorrow after most of the crazies have gone home. Most of the deals are still going by mid-day tomorrow for anything that we'd want anyway. Plus then we can sleep in - yahoo!

It is odd tonight having Andy here. Every other Thanksgiving night he's headed out to Brooten for pheasant hunting with his brother Jim. Jim couldn't make it this year, but is coming up tomorrow -- so Andy is heading out in the morning. We enjoyed leftovers tonight and watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Horton Hears a Who on TV. :)

Emma decided that she couldn't wait until tomorrow to put up the Christmas trees and decorations. So she started the process tonight. One tree is completely up. The other is started. The funny thing is that we tried to find Christmas music on the radio and none of the stations I could get in the house were playing it yet -- I'm sure by tomorrow it will be all over the radio.

That's about all for tonight. I posted some pics below but I'm keeping the family Christmas card pic a secret. But we have a few nice ones that we took today that I could share below.

Goodnight.

Pics from Today

2011-11-24T20:59:00.001-06:00

Daughter and Mom. We were trying to figure out if we look alike. What do you think?

This was going to be of Andy and Abby and then Cooper snuck in - so cute!

Andy and Patty

Emma and Cooper

Andy, Dylan, and Ivy - oh and Abby

Andy, kids and dogs

November 23, 2011

2011-11-23T21:53:00.001-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving Eve. The turkey is roasted, the tables are set. Just have a few more dishes to make tomorrow and we should be set for feasting.

Since I have the week off I've tried to squeeze in some appointments, like this morning I had my yearly eye doctor appointment. Here is a funny for ya - I'm sitting in the waiting room and there are a couple older women also waiting for their appointments. The lady came out to call out 'Patty' and walked right past me to the older women. At first I didn't figure it out - but she told me that after looking at how bad my eyes were on the chart, she figured it must be someone older. Nope - that's me. According to my eye doctor today I'm in the top (or bottom?) 2 % of all people as far as how bad my astigmatism is. He has similar eyes, so at least he can feel my pain. The good news is that my prescription didn't change from last year, so I just was able to order new contacts for the upcoming year. The bad news is that my vision is nowhere near 20/20 even with new contacts. So I have to live with the best they can do for me. That's all I've got.

Andy is to the point of not knowing what to do on his days off. It hasn't been so bad that he's decided to go into work - but he has admitted to boredom today. So I put him to work - having him help clean the bathrooms. He did an awesome job. I guess I just have to remember to ask more. :)

Had a wonderful afternoon in the kitchen today. I roasted the turkey and sliced it up so that is ready to go and made the gravy with the drippings. I prepped some veggies and cheese and crackers for appetizers. I made homemade cranberry sauce (soooo much better than the stuff in the can). And I made a loaf of banana bread just cause I had bananas that needed a purpose. Tomorrow morning I'll finish off the rest of the dishes and then we can just sit back, relax, enjoy the food and the company. Looking forward to that.

Since I was cooking all day Andy and I decided on a date night tonight. We had appetizers and wine (somehow we downed a whole bottle?) at Granite City. The food was really yummy, or the wine made it better, I'm not sure. But it was a nice dinner out. And then since we were right by Old Navy, we stopped in - since if you have an Old Navy credit card you could get the Black Friday deals today. Their jeans then were only $15 a pair, so we each got a pair and a couple of shirts for $7 a piece too. Much easier than getting up at 5 am and dealing with the crowds.

That's all for tonight. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Goodnight.

November 22, 2011

2011-11-22T21:40:00.001-06:00

I have a new addiction and it is called 'Words with Friends' (aka Scrabble). I learned today that there is an app on my cell phone that I can play this game on too - from anywhere. This is dangerous. I'm actively playing about 10 different games of 'aka' Scrabble - some with friends and some with people I don't know. Family - you have been pre-warned - I am getting revved up for our competition on Sunday.

Wow, was I lazy today or what? I can say that because I know tomorrow I will be busy all day with cooking and prepwork. So today I lounged around all morning doing close to nothing before I got myself ready. And I'm not feeling even a bit of guilt. Okay, well maybe a little bit.

Andy actually got out and did some pheasant hunting today in Brooten for a few hours. He was eager to get out since he has felt a bit cooped up the last week. So he and Abby headed out this morning and came home with two birds - that have been cleaned and added to the freezer. I really need to get on the bandwagon and plan some meals around these game birds. In Andy's words I need to 'respect and appreciate' the birds. Okay. Yeah. I know.

Instead I went with the more domestic poultry - chicken - tonight for dinner. Normally when I buy chicken I go the easy route and get the boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Sometimes I wonder if the kids even know what chicken on the bone looks like. But anyway...tonight I actually made chicken, on the bone, in the oven and it was wonderful. I forgot how good roast chicken on the bone is - such great flavor and much cheaper too. I kind of followed a recipe, but adapted it a bit. I sprayed a baking dish, put the chicken in (after cutting down the breasts into smaller pieces), brushed the skin with melted butter, added salt and pepper and some fresh minced rosemary (this added tons of flavor) and then threw in a few tablespoons of white wine in the bottom. I baked it at 400 for about an hour and it came out perfect. Most of the roast chicken recipes have the temp so high and the time too low - that it doesn't seem to ever come out right. But 400 was hot enough to crisp the skin, and an hour was long enough for all of the pieces to cook to doneness. Yum.

Andy and I are both feeling like the week is so quickly slipping away. Tomorrow is Wednesday already. Time sure flies when you aren't working doesn't it?

Goodnight.

November 21, 2011

2011-11-21T21:21:00.001-06:00

Oh how I love days off of work. Sleeping in past 6 am is such a joy when you know that others are getting up and ready to go into work. And it is only Monday. ;)

You never realize how dirty your carpets are until you steam clean them - and then you think 'why didn't I do this earlier?'. Today I went to the local hardware store and spent $25 to rent a Rug Doctor to clean all of our carpets. Good investment - as I got all of our carpeted rooms done in a couple hours and felt so good to get all of that yucky dirt out of there.

Andy is off this week too and we were feeling like a snack this afternoon so we went to Coborns and bought a meat and cheese tray (is this what people do when they retire?). Yes, we made a trip to the grocery store because we were hungry for some good meat and cheese - oh, and a coffee from Caribou. We felt kind of piggy as we snacked on our goodies. But it was really yummy - and we saved some for later (we weren't THAT piggish that we finished it).

Another new recipe tonight for dinner (I'm loving my cooking time this week!). This was another Pioneer Woman recipe for Short Ribs in Wine and Cream - very decadent and full of flavor. The mix of the beefy goodness with the wine and the rosemary was really yummy. I even made the mushrooms (and I'm not a mushroom person) and they weren't half bad either. Another one for the keeper file.

Are you going to shop on Black Friday? Emma has been asking for the last couple weeks - as she wants to go since all the hoopla excites her. I am not one for getting up early, so the plan this year for stores opening at midnight is a little more intriguing. I could stay up til then - and it might be kind of an adventure. We'll see how the ads look and then I'll decide if I'll be venturing out with the other crazies.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

November 20, 2011

2011-11-20T20:51:00.001-06:00

I love that Emma is at the age where she, on one day, is in a tizzy because she forgot her makeup bag and on the next she can put on snowpants and build a snowman in the backyard. Cute.

I love this with the sun setting in the background.

Emma and her snowman

It was a day of 'foodiness' in the house with lots of Food Network being watched and lots of cooking - just what I love to do on a Sunday when it's chilly outside. There was a live show on Food Network today called 'Thanksgiving Live' where it was a 2 hour special that allowed viewers to call, Skype, Twitter, or Facebook questions in to popular Food Network stars about Thanksgiving cooking. I love Thanksgiving food - so this was right up my alley. I actually literally watched the full two hours it was so fun (gosh I'm a dork!). And then tonight there was a new episode of the Next Iron Chef that Andy and I watched for an hour too. Gotta love Food Network.

I also did some cooking - trying out a new recipe for a stew tonight that I had bookmarked for a while called Beef Stew with Beer and Paprika from the Pioneer Woman. Yum, yum, yum. I think this is our new favorite stew recipe. I wasn't sure about the beer in it - but it really adds a good flavor after this cooks for hours and thickens up. Really good. I also made some popovers to go with it, but wasn't impressed with the recipe as they didn't 'pop' as much as they should have. And then tonight Emma and I tried a recipe for Nutella Hot Chocolate. Emma had the idea to buy Nutella a while back and now it is sitting in our cupboard not getting eaten, so when I found this simple recipe for hot chocolate I thought I'd try it. Really yummy actually - especially with some whipped cream on top.

It will be nice to sleep in tomorrow. Both Andy and I have the whole week off of work, and so looking forward to not having to get up and get ready in the morning. I think jammies til 10ish is in order.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

November 19, 2011

2011-11-19T20:45:00.001-06:00

Thank God for snowblowers. We ended up with about 8 inches of snow here today in Sauk Rapids - which was a bit more than they predicted. I heard they even shut down a portion of I-94 west of St. Cloud because it was so bad. On my little venture out to the grocery store this afternoon - the roads were very slick and full of snow (no plow in sight). I was very glad to get back into the garage and stay put the rest of the day. How many more days til Spring?

Speaking of groceries - I shopped for the groceries for Thanksgiving today, along with about half of the population of Sauk Rapids. I guess if you were claiming your turkey based on your turkey stamp card, today would probably be the day to do it since you need some thawing time before Thanksgiving - thus the rush at the meat counter today. After I checked out with my groceries (since I needed the stamps to earn my turkey) I filled up my trunk and headed back in for my claim. I had enough stamps for a 10-12 pound turkey, but not enough for the 12-18 pound bracket. I'm not sure if the butcher guy was being nice or if he was a little blind, but he ended up giving my an 18 pound turkey. I didn't complain (and wasn't about to correct him with the line of people behind me waiting for their turkeys), so I was happy with my nice-sized turkey, which is thawing right now in the fridge.

I happened to be perusing our bookshelf today and started looking at our Blog Books from year's past. Every six months I print a book of the blog posts from the previous six months - and it makea a nice book for keeping. I went back to three years ago, when I started this blog and was reading up - comparing what we were doing 3 years ago to now. Kind of funny - but the Saturday before Thanksgiving three years ago - guess what I was doing? Yep - grocery shopping. Andy was up at the cabin, checking it out to make sure all was good after deer hunting season. Abby was healing up from her hunting incident in which she got cut by barbed wire and had staples put in. The kids were off at their other parents' houses and there was no snow on the ground. So some similarities, some differences. But kind of fun to look back and read about it - even if it was only 3 years go.

Have you ever heard of Pinterest? It is a fairly new website that I learned about a few months ago where you can sign up for an account and then 'pin' your favorite things to your board. I haven't started one yet, but I probably will. I know my sister is using it and I know Creative Memories has started to do stuff out there. The concept is that you pin some of your favorite ideas or recipes or really whatever you are into, and then if other people find your 'board' and have similar tastes they can follow you or vice versa. The thought is that there are other people in the world with similar tastes that you can get and share ideas with. I think the main thing I might use it for is for recipes. I did a little perusing tonight and it is fun to look at others' boards that have similar food tastes to find new recipes. Might be a bit addicting.

Enjoyed one of our favorite lazy night meals tonight - Waffle Fry Nachos. An old recipe I cut out from a Taste of Home magazine many years ago - and is still a good easy standby when it is just Andy and I here.

That's all for tonight. Probably another lazy day tomorrow. I'm planning a new beef stew recipe for dinner and maybe some homemade bread if I get really ambitious. And Emma will come back home too. The weekends go so fast.

Goodnight.

Icky

2011-11-19T16:49:00.000-06:00

We got about 8 inches here in Sauk Rapids. Thank God for snowblowers.

November 18, 2011

2011-11-18T20:21:00.001-06:00

Long day today - very tired. Glad that it is Friday night and the start of a whole week of vacation.

Andy wasn't feeling that great today so he decided to stay here tonight instead of heading out to Brooten for hunting. Turned out that his buddy and son who was going to hunt with him also were not feeling good, so they didn't make it out either. Might be a good thing that everyone stays home anyway with the snow coming. We heard 4-8 inches for the Brooten area and with no real 'roads' per se that lead to their hunting land other than field roads, people might have been snowed in.

I just got an 'emergency' call from Emma. She is down at her dad's and discovered she forgot her makeup bag here. I reassured her that she can live for 2 days without makeup and her brush (I'm sure she could find another brush there). She lived for almost 12 years without makeup before she started wearing it regularly this school year. But now she thinks she 'needs' it. Literally there were tears. I reminded her that today I went completely without makeup myself (long story) - and I'm 36 years old. That triggered a "Really? You did?" Yeah and I bet nobody cared either (and neither did I). I think that calmed her a bit. Nothing a good night's sleep for her won't solve either.

Ready for the weekend. My lists have been made and it is full steam ahead on Thanksgiving central. Tomorrow I'll do my main grocery shopping as I have to get the turkey for the meal - and get it in the fridge for thawing, so it is thawed when I roast it on Wednesday. So much fun stuff ahead.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

November 17, 2011

2011-11-17T21:03:00.001-06:00

It was our lucky day today. Well, it felt kind of lucky anyway. Andy and I had a date night tonight and went out to dinner at Jimmy's here in Sauk Rapids. We got done eating our yummy baskets (of food, that is) at the bar, and decided to invest $20 in pull tabs. This is kind of unlike us - mostly cause we're cheap, but secondly because we never seem to win anything. But we figured we'd try it. As I was opening them and not winning anything, I made the statement that my parents always seem to win on pull tabs when I was a kid. Just as I said that I opened up the first tab on the one I was playing and lo and behold - $100. I've never won anything more than a buck on pull tabs. COOL. Paid for our dinner and our groceries that we bought afterwards. Fun.

Our Thanksgiving potluck was excellent for many reasons. I was very excited that so many in our department participated - probably 95% - so about 35-40 people. We also had wonderful food - and such a variety that we completely filled out the traditional Thanksgiving menu and then some. But most of all, it was so nice just to sit with coworkers, enjoy an hour of relaxing and socializing, and be thankful - for it has been a crazy weird year in our department, but it continues to improve every day.

Emma's dance practice ends at either 5:30 or 6 depending on the day, and it isn't good for my pocketbook. That is, I usually leave work before 5, so that leaves a half hour or so to 'waste' before I pick her up. It isn't enough time to go home and come back usually. So I end up either running errands - which is nice, OR going shopping and spending money I don't need to spend. Tonight I only had about 15 minutes to waste, so I stopped at a great used bookstore downtown called Books Revisited. It is such a neat shop - with tons of used books, it is easy to get sucked in. I found a hunting book for Andy that he didn't have (which is odd - since he has most books written about bird hunting or hunting dogs) so I decided to get it for him, and I found a book that Emma might like for her English book report assignments, plus I found a cookbook (like I need another one right?). Anyway...I need a new hobby otherwise I'm going to go broke waiting for dance practice to finish.

My vacation starts tomorrow after work. Andy is going hunting, Emma is getting picked up from school by her stepmom and I am free all weekend. I am looking forward to some quiet time catching up at home and getting ready for next week. Perfect time to have when it is supposed to be cold and snowy outside.

Goodnight.

November 16, 2011

2011-11-16T21:46:00.001-06:00

The aromas of turkey have filled the house tonight. Tomorrow is our annual IT Thanksgiving potluck and I'm in charge of the turkey. So I roasted two turkeys tonight and made gravy. The house smells awesome.

I wasn't sure how I was going to pull off two turkeys - but I decided to do one in the oven and one in the roaster oven. I've never actually roasted a turkey in the roaster, I've always just used it to heat up things. But I was amazed at how well it worked - and how quickly. The turkey in the roaster was actually done about 45 minutes earlier than the one in the oven and also was very juicy. The downside is that it doesn't have the crispy roasted skin that you get in the oven - but it is a nice alternative when you need to make two!

I've learned something new tonight (via Top Chef) - I guess enchiladas are supposed to be made with corn tortillas and not flour tortillas. When you use flour tortillas then it is essentially a burrito. The things you learn on primetime TV huh? I also learned that if you ever get to be on Top Chef, never buy pre-cooked shrimp. It is a big no-no.

I heard it is really supposed to snow on Saturday. Not the 'flurry' stuff but real snow - accumulating. Uck. I'm not ready for that yet. And it is too cold already. This 21 degree wind chill today was enough. I can't imagine what the 50 below wind chill that we get in January is going to feel like.

That's about all tonight. Goodnight.

November 15, 2011

2011-11-15T20:59:00.001-06:00

Just munching on some sliced sharp cheddar and some triscuits. Yum.

It is only Tuesday and it feels like it should really by Thursday or Friday. Not sure why this week is dragging on, but when that happens, it seems like it happens for everyone. I mentioned in a meeting this afternoon with a few coworkers, "I can't believe it is only Tuesday." And everyone was agreeing with me. Isn't that weird how that works?

I am going to start making lists tonight. I'm actually feeling a bit behind on my Thanksgiving week lists. I'll need a to-do list, a grocery list, a cleaning list, and probably a few others. Next week I have the whole week off of work, like I usually do the week of Thanksgiving. So I am trying to cram as much into my days as possible including a couple errands and appointments that need to occur too. It's one of my favorite weeks of the years - so I'm really looking forward to it (and crossing things off of my lists). :)

I hear Andy on the phone in the background with his cousin Jeff already talking about their hunting trip next Fall. I guess it is fun for them to plan ahead. Sounds familiar.

Ivy has a friend over tonight who is going with her to school tomorrow for 'Bring a Friend Day'. It is Cathedral's way of recruiting other kids from other schools to come to their school, although I'm not sure that it has real great results. Rather, I think it is a way to bring your friends to a day of school that don't go to that school, and then they get to play hooky. Emma even mentioned today that the principal gave everyone a speech about what the purpose of the day was. Hmmm...I think it might be time for them to figure out another marketing mechanism as I'm thinking the purpose might be a bit abused. But that's just me. Oh well.

Emma and I made a stop tonight at Barnes and Noble. Emma has to read a book every three weeks in English and then do a book report. She just finished up her last one and couldn't find anything good on her bookshelf or in the library. So we scoped out the goods at the bookstore and she selected a book to read. I'm glad she still enjoys reading and finds joy in getting a new book. I really don't remember enjoying it (at least fiction) past about 3rd grade, so she must get that gene from someone else. I'd much rather crack open a cookbook or a magazine than a novel. Hopefully that will stick with her through the years as I'm sure it is a positive hobby to have - and learning is gained as a result.

That's all for tonight. Stay warm.

Goodnight.

November 14, 2011

2011-11-14T22:06:00.001-06:00

We have a sleepy Abby tonight. It was one of her twice-yearly appointments at the vet for a checkup, shots, and today she got a teeth cleaning. So she is wiped out and kind of loopy tonight staring into space. Hoping that by morning she is over her anesthesia and back to normal.

One of our perks at work is that every other week a massage therapist comes in and does 15 minute chair massages for $10. I haven't signed up for a while since it happens to be in the opposite building than what I work in. But I figured that today I'd go over lunch hour. I never realize how kinked up my neck and shoulders are until after I get a massage. It is amazing what even 15 minutes can do for a person. I am a firm believer in the power of massage and I'm always surprised at how these people can find the knots and know exactly how to work them out. Very worth the $10.

Picked up a rotisserie chicken from Coborns tonight for Emma and I since it was just the two of us. I've tried roasting a whole chicken before but it always seems to turn out that part of it is dry and overdone and other parts are not done. I'm always amazed at how good these rotisserie chickens are - moist and flavorful. Oh, and makes for an easy supper too.

Emma has a science test tomorrow so I was quizzing her tonight on the terms. It is actually kind of fun (in a strange way) relearning some of this stuff that I haven't even thought about since high school. Mitosis, diffusion, osmosis, and other cell processes. I remember having to learn the 'phases of cell division' in Mr. Buermann's 7th grade science class too. But in Emma's words, "why do I have to learn stuff that I'll never need to know ever again?". I remember saying those words too when I was her age. I still don't have a great answer for that one.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

November 13, 2011

2011-11-13T21:46:00.001-06:00

I can't believe it is Sunday night already. These weekends need an extra day or two tacked on. Not enough time to just relax.

Andy wasn't planning on going anywhere today but his cousin Jeff called up this morning and said that he shot a deer on the land in Brooten and couldn't track it. So Andy drove out and after about two hours, they were able to find it. It was a nice six point buck. Jeff was sure glad to get Andy's help as he wasn't sure he would have found it otherwise. I guess they were literally on their hands and knees trying to track this thing. That's when snow does come in handy for deer hunting.

I lured Emma into joining me for Turkey bingo at one of the local churches. I remember going with my mom when I was a kid and thinking it was pretty fun. It was $5 a card (for all afternoon) and they had over 30 games. Every other game was a turkey for the prize and the others were gift certificates to local businesses. After only a couple of games, I was lucky enough to get a bingo - and won a turkey. Emma wasn't so lucky. I thought my odds were pretty good though - as there was probably close to 200 people there. We had a fun time playing and people watching (and listening to the "awww's" when someone yelled Bingo!).

We celebrated Andy's birthday dinner tonight with the kids. His meal of choice was Pan Seared Shrimp (done two ways - one with garlic butter sauce and one with chipotle lime glaze), Rice Pilaf, Oriental Coleslaw, Japanese Zucchini and Onions, and Key Lime Pie for dessert. It turned out pretty good, if I can say so myself, being that the shrimp, rice, and pie were all new recipes that I hadn't made before. The kids also bought Andy a Jerky Maker/Food Dehydrator which I thought was a great gift. I think between his wild game and then misc. other uses - that it will probably get used quite a bit.

Tonight the movie 'Elf' was on TV. I have seen it quite a few times and we actually own the DVD. But yet every time I see it on TV I have to stop and watch - and always end up laughing. It is just a cute movie - with lots of hilarious moments. If you have never seen it - I highly recommend it, especially around the holidays.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

Celebrating Andy's Birthday

2011-11-13T21:44:00.001-06:00

Andy's birthday picks - Pan Seared Shrimp, Oriental Coleslaw, Zucchini and Onions, Rice Pilaf, and Key Lime Pie for dessert

The kids got him a Jerky maker/Food Dehydrater

November 12, 2011

2011-11-12T22:26:00.001-06:00

I can't believe it is 10:30 already. This day sure flew by quickly.

I didn't even get to sleep in this morning, but that's okay - it was for a good purpose. I got up, got ready, got my Caribou coffee and went to GB and Co Salon to get a hair color and cut. I covered up all those pesky grays again and this time I got a shorter cut. Yes, actually noticable. I was ready to get something fun and easy and to get rid of the split ends. Definitely a nice relaxing morning.

It was another dance show day around here - this time at Apollo High School. Kind of the same drill as last Saturday - two shows with pretty much the same dance teams. So Andy, Ivy and I went to the 2 pm show, watched the great dance teams and then headed out. While Emma stayed and hung out with her teammates til the 6 pm show. I took a few pics below although I really wish I knew better how to use my camera to take better pics (I'll have to actually read the manual or something!).

So Andy and I attempted to be social tonight and go to the dance parents' party. The time of the party was 8:30 to ? so we drove to the house at pretty much 8:30 and nobody was there. Well, one car, but that doesn't count. So we drove around for about 10 minutes and went back and still nobody. Ummmm. We decided to just give up - as we needed to pick up Ivy and her friend (whose mom was also going to be at the party) at the movies at 9:30 anyway. Turns out I guess everyone got there around 9. Oh well. By that point we needed to get the girls back here anyway. I guess we'll try it again next time and know that we need to be really socially late.

Tomorrow one of the local Catholic schools is hosting Turkey Bingo. I remember growing up and playing turkey bingo at our church and enjoying it, although it was more fun winning the money than the turkeys. I think, if the girls are willing to go, we'll give it a try and see if we get lucky.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

Dance Show

2011-11-12T22:19:00.001-06:00

Emma and her friend Taylor

In position - ready to start.

Big smiles

November 11, 2011

2011-11-11T20:22:00.001-06:00

Happy 11/11/11! Did you do anything special today at 11:11:11? I totally missed it myself. I looked at my clock at 11:18 this morning and said oops. Emma said in school that her teacher set his alarm on his phone for the exact time and then all the kids made a wish. I know some coworkers at Creative Memories had a little party at 11:11:11. When I mentioned to Emma that I missed it, she said "well there is still 11:11:11 PM", to which I replied that I'd most likely be in bed asleep (just like I always am on New Years Eve before midnight). :)

I stumbled upon a new game on Facebook tonight that is basically the same as Scrabble, called 'Words with Friends'. It is almost exactly like the Scrabble app except on this one you can choose to play against random people. I know - it sounds a little goofy, but it's just words. So I currently have 3 games going with random people - essentially playing Scrabble. I'm currently in the lead in 2 out of 3 games, but only in the early stages of all. It is kind of embarrassing to say that on a Friday night at 8:40 I'm sitting at my computer playing online Scrabble with strangers. Boy I must be getting old.

Tonight it Andy's 'late' Friday night. He actually hasn't worked late on a Friday for quite a while since he's switched with almost all of his coworkers to get lots of Fridays off for hunting this Fall. So he is due for a late night of work on a Friday. I think Ivy is actually keeping him company there tonight while he finishes out the end of his evening. They only have about 20 minutes to go (if all goes well).

So I may have mentioned before, but the dance parents for Cathedral are a pretty social and tight-knit group. So tomorrow there is a dance show at Apollo High School (sort of the same thing that was last weekend at Tech) that Cathedral dance team dances in. So after the last show the parents are all invited over to one of the dancer's parents' home for a get together. It is a social event but also a fund raiser for the booster club. They have a plan to play pool, darts, 'Let's Dance' on the Wii, and poker, with half of the 'kitty' for each going to the booster club and the other half to the winner of the tournaments. I'm not sure that Andy is game on going or not. We'll have to see how the day plays out tomorrow. On one hand it might be kind of fun. On the other hand it is WAY out of my introvert comfort zone. We'll see.

That's about all tonight. Goodnight.

November 10, 2011

2011-11-10T21:47:00.001-06:00

Happy, happy birthday to Andy today. I think he received lots of birthday wishes today - which is always fun on your birthday.

Andy and I went out to lunch today to celebrate - his choice. He chose Mexican Village since he was craving Mexican, plus they give out a free birthday meal of your choice. So he had the Chicken Fajitas, which came sizzling hot to our table and I had th Poco Loco. Unfortunately we didn't have time to eat his bonus Fried Ice Cream, so we had to pass, since we had to rush back to work for a meeting. But it was a fun and yummy lunch anyway.

In the crock pot this morning I threw in one of our favorite, easy soup recipes Crockpot Pasta Fagioli - which is very similar to the soup of the same name served at Olive Garden. Since I browned the ground beef last night and prepped the veggies, this morning I just had to throw it all in the crock pot and turn it on. So nice to walk in the house to a meal already prepared, that tastes really good. I LOVE the crock pot.

Tonight was conferences at Cathedral so we all went. I went with Emma to see her teachers. Andy went with Ivy and her mom to see her teachers. Of course both girls do fine in school, so no major issues other than the normal socialization since they are both 'social butterflies'. I heard from many teachers about how many friends she has and how nice she is to everyone - so that is nice to hear. It is nice when you can go to conferences and don't get any negative reports. Makes it pretty easy.

One of Emma's assignments tonight for Health class (since they are starting their drug unit) was to interview a parent about use of cigarettes or chewing tobacco. Andy's rap is much worse than mine, so she decided to go with me as her subject. Yes, I smoked a few cigarettes in my stupid teenage years, but not until I was in college. I was happy to answer the question about 'why did you quit' saying that it really seemed kind of stupid and I didn't get the point of it. I'm guessing that the use of cigarettes and chew is even much less prevalent today even than when I was in high school, hopefully. I think the more we know about the health concerns, the less likely it is that young people start (or continue even if they try it). Hopefully our kids are smart enough to stay away from that stuff and make good choices, we hope.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

November 9, 2011

2011-11-09T21:58:00.000-06:00

Watching the end of the Top Chef episode on Bravo with Andy tonight.   I just love food competitions - and learning about new and different food combinations.

Had a nice lunch today with my sister at Olive Garden. So nice when we can meet for lunch and catch up on life.   Of course the soup, salad, and breadsticks are wonderful as well as the service. Perfect lunch.

So the Duggars announced yesterday that they are expecting their 20th child next Spring. 20. WOW. Hopefully everything goes well through the pregnancy and the baby is healthy. I know many people are a little critical of their decision to continue to add to their family, but I think that they are great parents and a great family, so good for them. I thought it funny though as they were discussing it on a morning radio show this morning, they asked listeners - 'if anyone listening has a family with more than 8 people, call in and you'll have a chance to win something'. I didn't call, but I could have! :)

Turkeys are on sale - in case anyone is wondering. We were at Target tonight and they had them for 79 cents a pound (although they probably will even go cheaper in the next week or so). I bought 2 as I am the official turkey roaster for our department potluck next week. Yep - I'm roasting two 15 pounders on Wednesday afternoon/evening, for our big meal on Thursday.   Quite a bargain at 79 cents a pound when you think about that you can hardly find a pound of ground beef these days for much less than $4.   Time to stock up and fill your freezer with turkey!

It is the eve of Andy's birthday tonight. He turns a young 46 tomorrow. We are celebrating his birthday meal with the kids on Sunday night, but tomorrow Andy and I are going out to lunch together to celebrate on the day.   I'm sure, knowing his coworkers, that he'll have all kinds of fun activities planned tomorrow.

That's all for tonight.

Goodnight.

November 8, 2011

2011-11-08T21:34:00.002-06:00

I walked out to the mailbox tonight to get the mail and I guess I'm still in my happy place thinking that it isn't cold yet. So I didn't wear a coat. Brrr. Yep, it is chilly.

Tonight was a Luchiano's night (pizza, that is). I am a marketer's dream in that I easily get sucked in by coupons and deals. This morning I got an email from Luchianos, the local pizza joint here in Sauk Rapids, that they are having customer appreciation days - and sent a coupon for $5 medium pizzas. So guess what we had tonight? $5 medium pizza. Plus I have 'points' built up with them so we got free cheese bread too. Complete dinner with a big salad for 4 people = $9.80. What a deal.

Andy's birthday is coming up on Thursday and so of course it is time to plan the birthday meal. Tonight he finalized his desired menu...Pan Seared Shrimp, Rice Pilaf, Sauteed Zucchini and Onions, Oriental Colelaw, and Key Lime Pie, with a good white wine. Sounds good (I guess I'll have to eat shrimp though - not my favorite) - hopefully it all turns out as he is anticipating. I feel a little pressure after the depressing bacon wrapped scallops from a few years ago that didn't turn out so great (that gets brought up jokingly every once in a while).

I haven't blogged much about Andy's health issues lately, but they are still there. His back has good days and bad days, so he lives with it. Not sure how much can be done at this point - I guess we'll just keep watching that. But his sinuses are another story. He had another appointment with his ENT today and they did another scan of his head and his sinuses are basically in the same state that they were in May before his last surgery, so no forward progress. Next step is that his doctor is seeing if they can do the Mayo Clinic test here in St. Cloud or if we need to drive down to Rochester for more tests. We need to get to the point of figuring out the root cause of why his sinuses don't stay cleared up - even after surgeries. In the meantime he will continue with his twice daily nebulizer treatments, which seem to at least keep it from not getting worse. It is just so sad that he has absolutely no sense of smell (and therefore taste). Tonight I pulled out one of those cologne/perfume inserts from a magazine and gave it to him to have him smell it (it was really strong) and he couldn't smell a thing.

That's about all for tonight. Tomorrow Andy works late for someone else, so it will be kind of a goofy day around here (I wish I could sleep in too!).

Goodnight.

November 7, 2011

2011-11-07T21:52:00.001-06:00

How many meals in a row can you at a certain meal? I ate leftover turkey for lunch today and a little bit more for dinner tonight - that's 3 in a row, and I'm done. I have to freeze the rest and make soup or something. I think Andy is usually done at 2, and no more. So in other words - we usually plan on not making more than what we can eat for our leftover lunch the next day otherwise it seems to go to waste.

Tonight was the monthly Dance Booster Club meeting at Cathedral. It was a big attendance tonight now that competition season is underway. I never knew that there were so many things to know about high school dance. I've been involved with dance, in general, since Emma was 3. But this is all so much more complicated than Just for Kix. There is also an opening for the Secretary position due to a girl quitting (and thus her parents quit the club too and opened the position) so I said I'd do it if nobody else REALLY wanted to do it. I got a little sucked into the pressure of 'the younger kids' parents should volunteer - so they can do it for more than a couple years'. So, we'll see if I get the lucky spot or not. I guess taking and distributing notes from the meetings isn't so bad. At least I wouldn't have to be the Treasurer and deal with the money headaches.

It was dark when I left work today (sniff, sniff). Oh how the Winters seem so long when it gets dark so early in the evening. This is one of the things about Winter that I dislike the most (second of course to snow and cold). I miss the days of long warm evenings - when it is light outside til after 9.

So the doctor got charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson. Good. Andy and I watched the Dateline and 20/20 specials about it last Friday night and I'm totally convinced that this was his fault. The fact that he didn't call 911, but instead called his assistant. And - then he had the bodyguards 'clean up' the place before any police got back there to investigate. And the fact that he kept administering this lethal doses of that drug was terrible to begin with. I am surprised however that the max sentence is 4 years. Really? Just four years? Something is goofed up with that sentencing term.

That's all for tonight. Must be a crazy night at work for Andy as it is almost 10 and he still isn't home. Hopefully he makes it home soon.

Goodnight.

November 6, 2011

2011-11-06T21:44:00.001-06:00

Don't you just hate the feeling when you have a piece of hair stuck in the back of your throat? I've been drinking and munching on crackers trying to get rid of it and it is still stuck. Hmmm.

Today was the day that we had to listen to the sermon about 'tithing'. Yes, the actual word 'TITHING' in capital letters just like that was displayed on the large screen in front of church as our priest told us what percent of our income we should be giving to the church. Now I've heard different sermons over the years about stewardship and giving, but never to the effect of this one today. Literally, on the screen he gave an example, "If your yearly income is $30,000, then the amount you should be giving is a minimum of $1,200." It was a bit on the extreme side. I prefer the slight hinting/nudging versus the all-out calculator version of a sermon. Oh, and they are also sending out a card in the mail to everyone this week, that we have to fill out and turn in next Sunday that pledges that we'll give our amount. WOW. That's all on that, other than that I think their plan might have the opposite effect on some people.

I think Ivy broke a world record for hours that a teenager can sleep in a day. I think she said she went to bed at around 11 last night and when we ate lunch at noon she was still sleeping. Andy let her sleep since he knew she needed it. He kept checking on her to make sure she was okay. She literally slept til 4 pm (which since this was daylight savings day essentially was 5 pm). What is that like 17 hours of sleep? Oh Goodness. That might explain my post from lastnight. :)

So today was the big turkey pre-Thanksgiving test day. I had brined a turkey using Alton Brown's famous Food Network Good Eats Roast Turkey recipe from last night until this afternoon. Then I roasted it and it was ready to eat for dinner tonight. What did I learn from my cooking experience today?

Yes, it was more flavorful and a bit more moist, but not sure it was worth the effort and the ingredients involved in the process. I think the standard roast turkey that I normally make is just as good.
I made mashed potatoes and I learned that, as I have the past 6 years, I will be making Cheesy Hashbrown Potatoes for the real Thanksgiving meal as mashed potatoes are very unpredictable and stressful. I used Yukon Golds tonight and the mashed potatoes turned out pasty, not smooth and creamy. Very dissappointintg. I like predictability and cheesy hashbrowns are very predictable and less stressful.
Making the turkey the day before the meal is ESSENTIAL. I'm not sure how people do it on the actual day. I was so busy running around in the kitchen tonight - timing everything right, carving the turkey while the gravy boiled over and then dealing with the mashed potatoes. The key is - - get as much done the day before and the morning of, and that way you can relax and enjoy the time with your guests.

So all the kids were here to enjoy the early turkey dinner and apple pie dessert. We rarely get to see Dylan other than these Sunday night dinners, so he adds a good balance to the family. It just seems more well-rounded when he is able to join us. Anyway...it was nice to have everyone together to end the weekend.

Other than that - we watched The Next Iron Chef tonight on Food Network. That's one of my new favorites along with Top Chef on Bravo on Wednesday nights. Food + Competition = Good TV.

That's all for tonight. Goodnight.

November 5, 2011

2011-11-05T21:29:00.000-05:00

Long day today. Ready for bed at nine.

Moody crabby teenagers in the house today. Ugh. When did teenagers' lives turn into complete full social lives? I don't remember going out much at that age. I was happy getting to go to some high school football games, a couple school dances and a couple sleepovers a year. Now they expect to be going everywhere all the time. God forbid they might have to spend one night of a weekend home with their family. Double ugh.

It was a dance show day today. Emma danced at both the 3 pm show and the 7 pm show at Tech. I went to the 3 pm show and it was literally 2 hours, so it seemed way too long to me. But there was a lot of good dancing and its always fun to watch Em dance. Its only the start of many more to come.

Today was also my pre turkey dinner prep day. I'm brining a turkey that I'm roasting tomorrow night for dinner. So I made the brine this afternoon and tonight I poured it in my big water cooler with water and ice and submerged the turkey. This will be very interesting to see how it all turns out tomorrow.

That's all for tonight. Hoping for a good night's sleep and a peaceful day tomorrow.

Goodnight.