2010 New Year's Resolution

I'm hoping that by putting this in writing that I will keep it. I don't have any truly bad habits, but this New Year's I would like to make a few resolutions.
1. Lose about 30 pounds.
2. Get in good cardiovascular shape. It's embarrassing when walking up a flight of stairs with your co-workers and your out of breath. At least when I was pregnant I had a good excuse!
3. Yell a lot less,
4. Hug a lot more!
5. Get more organized at home (my desk at work looks great!)
6. Clean my house more often!
7. Use less resources (you know, turn off the lights, use less water, etc.)
8. Be more budget conscious.
9. Be more understanding of others.
10. Find a good hobby. Any ideas?

Welcome!

Natalie Mae.
We proudly welcome our newest bundle of joy. Our nugget was born on December 9, 2009 at 10:11 a.m. She weighed 9 pounds, 7 1/2 ounces and was 21 inches long. Unfortunately for me we had to have another C-Section so my recovery will be longer, but little Natalie did not want to come out and my body did not want to let her! She was worth the 9 days of waiting. She is perfect in every way, she even lets me sleep a solid 3-4 hours at night already. I am completely in love with this little girl! The Prince is enamored by her also. He wants to hold her all the time and enjoys giving her kisses. The husband loves to have her sleep on his chest and cuddle her. In other words, our perfect little Christmas present has arrived. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season.

Trepidation and Preparation

So if this child decides not to join us in the world tonight she will be entering the world sometime tomorrow. I have a scheduled C-Section tomorrow morning, but I'm hoping that we can still do a VBAC if my body allows. Right now I can just hear my inner dialogue,
Body: "uh, you want me to do what?!"
Baby: "you need to contract and dilate so that I can come out."
Body: "where do you think that's going to happen?"
Baby: "right down there!"
Body: "nuh uh, find another way!"
(Yes, everything in my life has it's own monologue.)
So, we've found another way. Unfortunately I have to have a C-Section since the Prince was a one. Apparently there is a high risk for hemorrhaging with an induction and a prior C-Section. I'd rather not have to deal with that so we're going with whatever the doctor suggests. I've been on maternity leave since November 30th, so I'm also preparing for a fight with my employer's insurance company to give me a little more time off (with pay) as well. Otherwise I have been sitting around, wondering if every tiny pinch or kick is finally the start of labor. No luck.

Trepidation: I'm scared of having to deal with another C-Section (scar, pain, soreness, etc.) My recovery the first time was really nice and everything went well, but I now have a three year old home with me and I won't get to nap/rest quite as much as before. I also have some fears of the hospital bills themselves. I remember what the Prince cost and I'm not looking forward to those bills again! Yeah I know, I shouldn't be thinking about that sort of thing right now, but in my life, it's a big factor.

Preparation: I'm making a nice pot roast in the crock pot today (actually my mom is...it's wonderful to have a great mom that comes just to clean and cook for me!). This will be my last non-hospital meal for awhile and hopefully it will last a couple days (freeze the meat tonight!) after we get home. My mom and I (I'm very little help these days) have been cleaning all day and preparing for when I return from the hospital.

I can't wait until I can FINALLY hold this little girl in my arms...and have a glass of wine!

'Tis the Season!

I truly enjoy the season between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It seems busy at the time, but how much fun is it to eat wonderful food, bake amazing cookies, and decorate the entire house? I'm still waiting for this baby to make it's debut, but one way or another she's coming out on Dec. 2nd! I can't wait for the house to smell like sugar cookies and pine needles (even though I have a fake tree, it always smells like pine needles during Christmas!!) I can't wait for the little Prince to get super excited about Santa coming and watching all the great old cartoons that I enjoyed as a kid. I love watching all the great Christmas movies such as National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Scrooged, Elf, It's a Wonderful Life, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original) and all those great claymation cartoons! I also love the new cartoons and traditions that we always seem to come up with. It's definitely my favorite time of the year, and this year I'm so very lucky as I will be home on maternity leave until the middle of January!
If I don't get back to you all before the holiday season is over, I wish each of you and yours a wonderful holiday season and a very Happy New Year!

Still Waiting...

Just a few words that are on my mind!

Yes, I am still waiting for this tiny little jelly bean (according to my doctor she's not so tiny, but you know) in my tummy to make her worldly appearance! In her defense she technically isn't due until next Monday, but I have always thought that I would deliver on or before Thanksgiving. I'm not afraid of her birthday in years to come, but I am afraid that I will be without my little Prince on a very precious holiday! Unfortunately because of this H1N1 craze the hospital does not allow children under 5 to visit at all! I'm hoping I can convince them that since he has been vaccinated that he is of no harm to anyone and hopefully he can get into the maternity ward after this little girl is born. We'll see. I'll miss my little Prince, but I'm sure I'll be super busy with my new little bundle of joy.

Waiting for Baby.

At 37 weeks I feel like I can't grow anymore! However, my doctor says that I will continue to grow about a pound a week in the last few weeks. Yikes! I'm heading to the doctor once a week now and I could go into labor anytime. I'm really torn on this though, you see, I'm completely ready physically. The baby is matured enough, and my body is definitely ready to deliver. I'm even starting to have contractions now and then.

However, I'm torn because I'm not sure I'm emotionally or mentally ready for an actual birth. I had to have an emergency C-Section with the Prince because I was diagnosed with HELLP Syndrome and my blood was not clotting (a major problem in child birth). I was unconscious during the birth (to regulate my blood pressure) and don't remember much laboring at all. This time around I plan to try a VBAC, and I'm mostly concerned that my huge WUSS patch will show and I'll become a wimpering pile of goo. I also tend to get really cranky when I feel out of control and I'm afraid that I will alienate all of the nurses and staff at the hospital, not to mention my husband and no one will want to be around me!

Not only am I not sure that I'm mentally ready, but I'm definitely not prepared either! Everyday on my way home from work I go through all the items that I plan to do when I get home: make dinner, clean the living room, do laundry, clean my room, etc. However, I always seem to just veg out on the couch until 8:30 and then head to bed. I thought I was supposed to be nesting or something! Then again, I do curse my laziness every morning at about 4:30 a.m. (seriously, every single morning!) when I get up to use the restroom and stumble over a laundry basket or my ironing board that I can never seem to put away.

In my defense, I've had some chronic lower back pain for the last two months that no heat, massage, or a chiropractor can make better. This really prohibits any extraneous bending at the waist so it's hard for me to pick stuff up off the floor. This is where a three-year-old comes in REALLY handy! The problem there is to get him to put the items away, rather than just play with them and drop them in a different place on the floor. When he's in the mood, the Prince can be a really big help!

There is just so much to do to prepare for a birth!

• Get all my insurance and paperwork in order to be able to leave work and still get paid! Who would have thought that a simple Maternity Leave would require numerous forms, confirmation numbers, phone calls etc. and I STILL have to touch base with my work after the baby is born to make sure the dates are all correct. Talk about red tape!


• Get all my numbers and other items needed during or after the delivery. You have to call work, the insurance company, a pediatrician, and of course family and friends to spread the news! It's exhausting just thinking about it.


• Make sure all my loose ends at work are tied up. This is more than just making sure the phone gets answered after I leave...I never thought I would be this in-demand! I guess it's a good thing.
  
• Pack a hospital bag. Nope, I haven't even washed her clothes! Thankfully I had the forethought of washing all of the hand-me-downs from her big brother before I packed them away, so at the very least she'll have a onsie and some pants to wear.


• Find all the baby stuff that has been stored away and rumbled through two moves!
  
• Since most baby stuff is pretty cute regardless of the color, I've decided that the little girl rolling around in my tummy can stand to wear a lot of blue (hand me downs from her big brother!) We did go to Babies R Us the other day and bought a bunch of items on clearance with a gift card that we received. So she does have some girlie clothes too!


• Search for all the pieces for the baby swing, crib, and monitors. This is interesting because all the cords look the same except they aren't! I did find the monitor items and tested them to see if they worked...the Prince thought they were walkie talkies and had a blast listening to mommy talk to him from his room.


• Clean, clean, cook, clean! I have the biggest fear that when I get home from the hospital I will be overwhelmed with the cleaning that has yet to be done (because let's face it, I'm a huge procrastinator and the odds of it getting done before hand are slim!) I actually had a dream the other night that a big Sesame-Street-style pile of dishes was chasing me down the street. Did you know it's Sesame Street's 40th anniversary! I guess I've been watching too much news coverage on it...but I digress. I also wanted to cook a few meals ahead of time and freeze them. My husband's idea of cooking is either chili or dial for take-out. Since we are still a one income house I don't think eating out more than once a month is in the budget! I also hate the idea of eating out of a cardboard box since my main goal post baby will be to loose all the weight and then some.

So you can see that my list is long. I'm technically not due until the end of the month so I still have some time. I'm also making the 25th my last day at work (it's the day before Thanksgiving making sure that I have two extra days and an extra weekend tacked onto my leave!) so I know I can do some stuff then. I just hope the birth goes well and there aren't any unexpected issues! I'll keep you updated on the impending bundle of joy to come in (hopefully) the near future.

Why does D-TV have to be so D-ifficult?

Digital versus Analog.

I know, I know for the last year or so (more since Obama delayed the switch) we have been hounded by the digital conversation of our ever so important television programing. First of all, I think it's all a hoax. I honestly have a theory that all those government approved digital converter boxes will someday turn into converter transformers and take us all hostage. Or, when the government finally gets their way and we all have government sanctioned health care, these boxes are going to start emitting gamma rays and making people sick to scour up some money for Washington. Okay, so those theories are a little anger driven, but I wouldn't be so angry if our digital television actually worked. I did get the government coupons (I'll be damned if I'm paying $50 for a $10 POS!) and we got two converter boxes to go in our house.
I seriously think that these boxes were made by some poor Chinese boy who was getting paid five cents a day to work in a sweat shop. They weigh nothing at all and if you've ever seen Jurassic Park you know that if its heavy its expensive. The buttons do not work well at all. And when I mean they don't work well, I mean they don't work at all! You can push the volume button and the channel will change, or you can push the 2 button and the damn thing will turn off! Recently I've started just mashing the controller with my hand to see what comes up...it's my own little game show.
This is all beside the point because I truly believe that I am suffering from ADD since we got the new digital converters. You see, you can be watching a program and all the sudden the screen will scramble and the picture will go out. This happens at least every 4-5 minutes (depending on the channel) and it's extremely frustrating when trying to watch football or any sort of programming. At least with analog you could enjoy the show even if there was a little static. Now I'll be sitting there waiting for the punch line to a joke and
*oh look a penny!*
There is one good thing about the signal scrambling all the time; since I get so frustrated I rarely want to watch television anymore!
At first we thought perhaps we need a boost for our TV to get the signals. Since the genius that designed our house used foil wrapped insulation ('cause it was the cheapest) you'd think that our house itself would act like one giant coat hanger, but I'm afraid that it's the exact opposite. We purchased a middle of the road digital antennae and put it up under the overhang of our house. This helps only when the sky is clear, there are no airplanes overhead, there are no cars driving by, and the butterflies outside flap their wings twice. I live on a very busy street in the Twin Cities, minutes from a major international airport and a mere 3 miles from a busy small engine airport, and it takes effort to get all those butterflies to get in synch! However, I can see both sky lines if I'm standing on the roof of my house! I do NOT understand how a digital signal can get scrambled from 10 miles away?!?
I think the true conspiracy theory was made by the cable companies.
[in my best evil gangster voice]
"Just in time for a giant recession, let's take every one's television away, see, so they HAVE to buy cable. Yeah. We can make it really cheap for the first three months, see, to reel them in, then smack them with the real costs of $100+ per month, see! Yeah, that's the ticket!"

Like I said, lately I haven't been watching much television so it doesn't bother me too much (except for Sundays when football is on!!) However, in a little over a month, I will be home all day long and even with my multitude of movies I seriously think I will be stir crazy by the time Christmas gets here! I guess I will just have to invest in TV on DVDs.

Hmmm, another conspiracy?!?

Happy Birthday Prince!

So this last weekend was the Prince's birthday. He chose to have a Spiderman themed party and I pretty much went with it. I served Peter Parker Spidey Punch, Green Goblin Guacamole, Doc Oct's meatballs, and Venom's Caramel Apple dip. I didn't really make anything special, I just renamed everything for the occasion. I have this thing in my brain, call it guilt for being a working mother if you must, but I HAVE to make his birthday cake myself. Don't let me pull too hard on your heart strings...I use a box cake. This year, with the Spiderman theme I was really at a loss for what I would do. I thought briefly about buying one of those cake pans from Michaels, but since I'm also incredibly cheap I didn't want to invest in something that I would probably never use again. So I searched for a few ideas via the lovely and amazing Google. I found someone had made a street scene with Spiderman saving the day. While I didn't get too involved with the cake process (he's only three and it's going to be eaten!) I came up with this.

I purchased the Spiderman figurine and it actually worked out really well. Here are some pictures that explain how it was created.

I started with two yellow cake mixes. I baked one mix in a regular 9X13 inch pan, and the other cake mix was split in two square pans. I baked the cakes on Wednesday (for a Saturday party) and froze them so the would be easier to work with.

I used bamboo skewers to support the buildings. These went all the way down through the base of the cake.
I frosted the cake from top to bottom. I used an entire recipe of cream cheese frosting (from Betty Crocker's New Cook Book) for the structuring of the buildings and the outside. Then I had to make another batch for the base of the cake.
We used spray food coloring to make the grass look more "real". Although it is a cake based on a comic book so either way it would have been okay.After a couple hours of sitting out, the towers did start to lean. In the picture above I had to "shim" the building on the left even after I frosted it. *Tip from a Novice: always have a little extra cake to use for shimming or propping up the cake* Also, by the time I got the base covered with the new batch of frosting the buildings' frosting had hardened a little. Therefore the spray food coloring didn't soak in very well (you can see the near disaster in the picture above). I just used the rest of the second batch of frosting, dyed it red and re-frosted the buildings.
I purchased black frosting in the tube (black frosting is all over the place since the Prince's birthday is in October!) since I have no idea how to make black frosting. I then used icing to make the street "dashes" and Hersey's chocolate bars are the windwos. We thought the skewers looked like antenea's so we left them, but you can clip them down with a utility scissors or wire clippers, then frost over the top. Be sure to remember that there are skewers inside before serving!

Adding Spiderman to the top and we were set!

I did write Happy Birthday on the street. We tried to make a white chocolate spiderweb, but I over cooked the chocolate (damn my multitasking) and I had no time to go out for more. There was so much more we could have done (added cars on the street, or crushed chocolate cookies on the roof to look like tar), but I thought this turned out well for my first try (and sometimes less is more!)

Now let's see what I can cook up for his 4th birthday!! Happy Birthday my little Prince!

Skeletons in My Closet

In preparation of our impending bundle of joy (or more for the impending guests that will inevitably be stopping by) we've decided to really organize our house and it's contents. This would seem like a nice weekend project right? WRONG! You see, there is no closet organization whatsoever in our house. The majority of our closets were left unfinished, and I'm lucky to have a hanging rod in my bedroom! There is only one teeny, tiny closet for the entire downstairs living area and until a couple weekends ago it was packed full of unpacked boxes (yes, we've lived in this house for over a year and a half and I still had boxes I had not unpacked...out of sight, out of mind!) The closet is now cleared of it's debris and dons a brand new hanging rod! I can actually hang up all of our winter coats and random sweatshirts! We plan to add shelves in there too for some additional storage of boots, shoes, and other essentials.
Another project that is underway is finishing our basement floor. The utility/laundry/storage room will be tile, and the "bedroom" and the someday-it's-supposed-to-be-a-bathroom-but-never-while-I'm-living-there-I'm-sure will have flecked epoxy paint (like you might see in a garage). I'm hoping we can get this finished before Thanksgiving, but time seems to be ticking away pretty quickly! In addition, the husband is back in school full time and finds juggling work and homework isn't quite as easy as some make it out to be. Hopefully once this is complete we can move some of the stuff that takes up room in our spare room down to the basement and actually have an office/guest bedroom/playroom (hey, I'm a multi-tasker and that means every room in my house will be too!!)
These projects, of course, are on top of the regular stuff you need to have organized by baby-time! Cleaning and organizing all the baby clothes, setting up the crib, making new padding for a found glider rocker (and when I say found I mean the Husband found it on the street corner next to the garbage cans...makes you wonder why they threw it out - hence why I'm making new padding for it!!), finding all of the baby items (bouncer, bottles, breast pump, swing, blankets, etc.), oh yeah, and preparing mentally for another newborn!!

Whew! That sounds like a lot. But the countdown is on...

Winter already?

Monday mornings are hard. This does not even count when they have a 2" blanket of SNOW on top of them!! I woke up Monday morning to a snowy wonderland outside. I have to admit it looked really pretty! I am also glad that it came extremely early in the season since this will make my allergies finally subside. I guess this is the earliest accumulative snow fall for Minnesota in 24 years. Either way, the snow did not help my commute! It also doesn't help that I threw away my snow brush just a week ago thinking that I would have plenty of time to get a new one. My old one only had about three of it's original 8 "teeth" for scraping and it's bristles were all over the place. I had to dig through the husbands car to find his...luckily he had one! I've also discovered that scraping the windows and brushing snow off of a full-sized SUV with an 8 months pregnant belly is not an easy task! Breathless and weak from starvation (not really) I was off to work at a decent time and even made it to work early that day - yeah me!!
On the other hand, the Husband didn't have much work to do so he decided to keep the Prince home for the day and have a Daddy Daycare day. They were able to build a snowman (the snow was just perfect for it!) and they cleaned up the kitchen, did puzzles and made Jell-o! Now for a three year old, that was one heck of a great day. When mommy came home he was so excited to tell me about it that most of it came out in jiberish. Daddy had to interpret for me just a little. I was so jealous!!
I guess my turn will come in about 7 weeks when I get to stay home with both the kids. Of course going outside will be a challenge as well as playing with him, but we'll figure it out!

Hello Fall.

So Fall has officially and figuratively arrived! We had about two weeks in the middle of September where I really thought Summer was going to make a comeback, but alas...Fall has won over. It's been about average high of 50 degrees and raining constantly. I think we've had an inch and a half of rain in the month of October (yes in the last 6-8 days). I seriously considered building an Ark! And did I hear the S word bantered around this morning on the news?!?! If the sun hadn't come out yesterday I almost thought I forgot what it looked like!


I do enjoy the changing of the seasons, but it would be nice if they changed gradually. Going from a high of 75 to a high of 47 over night is not gradual!! It also doesn't help that all my maternity cloths are made for summer and half my shirts no long fit over my belly (uh, how embarrassing is it to be visiting with the Executive Vice President and realize afterwards that your belly was hanging out!!) Luckily, I've become a wardrobe ninja and can fix most major problems with the grace and agility of a Panda. *this joke would only be funny if you've seen Kungfu Panda a zillion times like I have*


So, now that it's Fall, what is on the docket for us? I'm so glad you asked!!

• The Prince's birthday! I absolutely love planning parties. I can't wait until the Husband and I are both working and we can afford to A) own our own house and B) have more parties! For my very favorite soon to be three year old we are planning a Spiderman party. I figure it will be easy to find spiderweb decorations so close to Halloween and of course the little man loves all superheros, we just happen to have the Spiderman movie for him to watch over and over and over. I also plan to create a cake with Spiderman walking up a building...yeah, we'll see how it works out. My backup is to have cupcakes!


• Halloween! I really enjoy this holiday. Mostly because I really enjoy candy, and it tastes even better when it's given to my adorable child. We usually go out with a good friend of mine and her son (who's the same age as the Prince) and last year we had a ball! The boys loved the idea of getting toys and candy and my friend and I took turns snapping photos and giggling at our handsome terrors.


• FOOTBALL! I love watching football and now that my Vikings are 4-0 it's even more fun to watch them. I'm officially a fan of Favre, but I attribute a lot of that to the fact that Minnesota hasn't has a decent quarterback in many years. He may be "over the hill", but age is truly a frame of mind. We'll take him!


• Baking and enjoying the smells of Fall! I really enjoy baking and cooking for my family. I have yet to find a kitchen big enough for my taste, but hopefully someday I can design my own. Right now I make due with what I have. I love making apple crisp, dumpling soup, stews, and cookies (among other things). I'm willing to try any new recipe that comes my way. I really enjoy the smell of things cooking and baking...it's better than any candle Glade can come up with! I remember my mom always used to bake late at night (now I know it's because you have WAY more free time once the kids go to bed!!) and every once in awhile I would drift off to sleep with the smell of banana bread or pumpkin pie wafting through our house. To me, baking just smells like home.


• Thanksgiving. This holiday combines my love for cooking and eating. Plus, there's an added bonus of friends and family in the house! I love to entertain for my family, however, this year I may have to take a rain check because of...


• The impending birth of our second child!! This is really the best of the best of Fall for me. I'm so excited to have the holidays off this year and it will be a lot of fun to get to know the little girl inside me during the "Most Wonderful Time of the Year"!

Look at this belly! I still have two months left!

So these are my favorite things about fall. I have to say my favorite thing about any season is sharing it with my friends, husband and kids. It's always more fun to take a walk with someone while entrenched in good converstaion or to enjoy a park through the eyes of a three year old. Whatever you do this season, take time to really connect with the people around you and make sure that you enjoy yourself too!

Bye, Bye Summer!

Fall is here (at least technically). Yesterday at approximately 4:00 central time Fall arrived like an old friend. It doesn't really seem like we had much of a summer this year. We didn't get above 90 degrees the whole month of July!! I remember as a kid coming to Minnesota for a week during the summer...it was ALWAYS hot and muggy. I just thought that was how it was during the summer! Not the case this year. I wasn't too upset about it since I've been pregnant it's nice not to have to deal with the heat and humidity. It does however make the winters here that much more unbearable. Come about January 5 or 6th the Christmas buzz (that literal tingle you get in the back of your head between Thanksgiving and Christmas from the constant sugar intake!) has worn off and you realize...now what? It's nice to look back at summer and remember those dire days when you are sweating just by sitting outside, not so much this year!
As an ode to summer I always like to look back and reflect upon the things we did...

• Though it wasn't quite summer, our trip to Phoenix for one of my best friends wedding was sort of the start of our warm weather excitement. Not only did we get to visit with old friends and participate in a beautiful wedding, but the husband and I got to see the Grand Canyon for the first time (okay, technically the husband has been there before but he was very young and had very little recollection of it). We hiked around and wandered wherever we wanted as the little Prince was safe at home with Grandpa and Grandma!
• Trip to Montana for my 10 year class reunion. The husband got to see all of my classmates (good and bad!) and we got to experience a good ol' fashion rodeo. The Prince enjoyed it for about 10 minutes and was then more enthralled with his cousin and wandering around the stands. I didn't get to enjoy it as much as I had wanted to because I couldn't imbibe nor did I have any inclination to stay up past 10 p.m.! Oh well, I guess I can wait until our 20th!
• Independence Day. The Fourth of July is always a great deal of fun. I love fireworks and fortunately we live fairly close to downtown and were able to view a great display for free! The Prince was really enthralled with them and that always makes it so much more fun.
• Visiting Como Zoo with my mom, sister, niece, and nephew! We had a great time seeing all the animals and of course visiting with my mom and sister (and family) since they live so far away!
• Our first wedding anniversary! We celebrated with a movie and dinner at Ichibon's Japanese Steakhouse. The food is way over priced, but the fried rice was to die for!!
• The husband's birthday. Click here for my post on our evening!
• Random day hikes in Afton State Park, up north at Lake Superior, swimming in the St. Croix River (and other random lakes), and visiting with friends and family are always great parts of summer.

Summer is one of my favorite seasons. The lakes and water sports, sitting on the deck drinking a cold beverage, camping, not wearing a coat, flip flops, picnics, and swingsets are all things I enjoy during the summer.

Until next year!

Are you ready for some football?

So this weekend was the season opener of the 2009-2010 NFL football season. I have to say that I'm a pretty big Vikings fan. In the Twin Cities you must either be a Vikings fan or a Packers fan, and sometimes things get pretty heated. The heat is on now that Brett Favre is the Vikings QB. It's still weird for me to see his mug on TV and not feel some slight disdain for him. Considering he was our rival leader for something like 16 years.

I love watching the Vikings and following the players and their stats. It does get more interesting if they are good and winning, but I'm a devoted fan and like them even when they lose. Of course, we had to go out and get a new antenna for our TV since up until now we've just used a dinky one for our upstairs TV which is about 12" (no cable for our family until the husband gets out of school!) We watched the game intently on our nice big TV in the living room and I must say it's much better to watch a game when you can actually see what the score is without getting an inch away from the screen.

Of course, the Vikings wouldn't be Vikings unless they made things a little interesting. At half time I was a little worried that last year's team had shown up! With Adrian Peterson getting IV fluids on the sideline and our offensive line letting Brett get sacked numerous times the outlook didn't look too positive (the Browns were actually ahead!) It's been my experience that if the Vikes are behind at half time, they will most likely win the game. If they are ahead at half time, they will probably spoil it and lose. Of course in true Vikings form, they rallied in the second quarter with Adrian scoring two touchdowns and Brett not throwing one interception for the whole game! Also in true Vikings form they allowed the Browns to get a 90 some yard punt return for a touchdown, and in the fourth quarter allowed them their first offensive touchdown in the last 7 games. These are garbage stats to me since the final score was 34-20 Vikings and let's face it, a win is a win.

I also had to watch some of the Packers-Bears game to see how our division is shaping up this year. The Packers didn't look too great and the Bears looked even worse! Just while I watched Cutler threw two interceptions and lacked any control of the field. The Packers' Rodgers didn't look to great either, but he did throw a nice end zone pass to save the day. Serves all those Bears fans right. It seemed like even the announcers were routing for the Bears! This Cutler QB is a rookie and I didn't see much talent in the second and third quarters that I watched. I guess that's good news for the Vikes!

"Why am I not on a fantasy football league?" you may ask. Well, I'm sort of selfish in my devotion. I really only follow the Vikings players and I don't really care about other teams wins or loses (except for those in the NFC North of course!) I don't think I would be really good at keeping a team up and running, plus in about two months I'm going to have a whole lot of things on my mind with a new baby! Maybe next year?!?

Next week we are facing the Lions in Detroit. They happen to be the worst ranked team in the NFL and haven't won a game since last season...however! One should never count the Vikes out for handing a losing team their first win. Whenever there's a strange and horrible stat for one team, the Vikings are there to break the streak. I'm betting they will win but since I'm not clairvoyant, I don't plan on speculating what the point spread will be. I just hope we keep up the good work!

GO VIKINGS!!!

Spontaneity, usually not my thing.

One would think since I live in a thriving metropolis that I would never get bored.

They would be wrong. This weekend was a prime example. Granted, the State Fair is going on and if you believe the ads its the best State Fair in the country. It's also a lot of money! They charge you to park, to get in the gate, to eat, to play, and to entertain. Not only that, but you have to deal with crowds and crabby people (I'm usually dubbed their queen for the day). The only time I've ever gone to the fair is when I've volunteered and got a free ticket. Don't get me wrong, I think it's definitely a place to visit at least once! The Renaissance Festival is also in town this month. Again, it's roughly $20 per person just to get in the gate! Then they charge for food and beverage and anything else they can get. Needless to say I wasn't in the mood for crowds or any type of food on a stick.

So what is a poor country girl to do? Drive to the country of course!

Minnesota has a great jewel in her crown when it comes to Lake Superior. My only gripe is that the lake is too damn cold to swim in. Since it's so massive (width and depth), the water only gets to about 50 degrees during the summer. I guess when it's 90 degrees outside it might be refreshing, but this was not the case.

Sunday morning we decided to take an impromptu trip north (it's about a 2 hour drive from the cities) and we took in the "beach". I use quote here because when I think beach I think swim suites, sunscreen, towels, umbrellas and a nice cold Corona with lime. Lake Superior has everything a regular beach has except seashells and warm water. We wanted to take in the aquarium, but decided that we didn't want to spend $15 per person to see a bunch of Northern Pike (the aquarium is all local fish). So we drove up to Gooseberry Falls. I'm pretty pregnant now so I didn't want to take a major hike, but Gooseberry is perfect. It's got paved trails and the water was pretty low which proved well for some splashing around for the Prince. That was his favorite part!

I'm not too keen on impromptu or spontaneous things, but every once in awhile we all need a little spontaneity in our lives. This was a perfect afternoon with my loving Prince and husband. It was about 67 degrees out with clear blue skies, not too hot and not too cold. One could not have ordered a better day!

Take Care!

Birthday update.

I mentioned a few days ago that it was my husband's birthday back on the 14th. I planned to make Pad Thai for dinner that night and bake a blueberry ginger cake for dessert served with cinnamon ice cream. Here's how the rest of the day went down...

4:30 p.m. - I had a pretty crappy afternoon at work so I definitely did not feel like slaving away on a dinner for the next two hours let alone spending about $25 on ingredients I didn't already have on hand. I figured for about the same price we could go to my husband's favorite hole-in-the-wall-totally-skeevy Thai restaurant that surprisingly has great food.

5:30 p.m. - still waiting for the husband to get home from carousing with his cousins.

6:00 p.m. - finally the husband is home and we are off to Grand Ave.

6:15 p.m. - I really should have known better. Grand Ave in Saint Paul is one of those kitchy neighborhoods that used to be a slum and is now all the sudden really hip and cool. We get to the location and Josh says "hmm, they must have changed the name." It did dawn on me that the name changed because the owner changed and it looked really over-the-top hip, but I didn't say anything.

6:25 p.m. - we found a parking lot and successfully navigated the busy street (what with a 2 1/2 year old and pregnant wife that can't run it took some navigating, let me tell you!) We walked into the tiny restaurant and I knew that we were in for a surprise. It was a little warm, but manageable at the time. The hostess asked where we would like to sit...um...how about those tables outside that looked lovely and comfortable in the evening breeze. NOPE, those are reserved. Okay, then why did you ask us where we wanted to sit since the only other table available was right next to the kitchen and bathroom. I asked the hostess how long this establishment had been open, "oh, we've been open forever! I've worked here for at least a year." I guess when you're 18 a year is forever.

6:26 p.m. - we sat down and the Prince thought it was really cool. You see this place was so hip that the tables were placed into holes in a raised platform. Sort of like sitting on the ground and as comfortable as it sounds.

6:30 p.m. - the waiter finally comes out with waters and menus. Four minutes with a busy little child seems like an eternity. My husband asked the waiter if the place had recently come under new management (we knew that it had at this point, we just wanted some vindication!) He said that the gal that owned it purchased it from a old couple about 2 years ago...approximately the last time my husband had patronized the place. This made complete sense to me. Well, we were already here and I was hungry so we approached the menu with trepidation. My upper lip is starting to sweat.

6:35 p.m. - we ordered (me being frugal) the cheapest entree on the menu and an extra plate for the Prince. I looked around for a sign of air conditioning, but didn't see any.

7:00 p.m. - seriously melting away!! This place was so hot inside that I thought I was going to pass out (okay, I exaggerate slightly for effect). Thankfully the door opened every once in a while and let a small breeze in. I tried to eat as fast as I could, but when you're that hot you just aren't hungry! I pondered the thought process behind the owners decision to build a platform table out of 2.5" particle board (the husband was astonished they would use that thick of wood 'cause apparently it's expensive) rather than installing some sort of air conditioning. I guess Thai food is best eaten in it's original Thailand weather...sweltering!

7:15 p.m. - the waiter asked us if we were interested in any dessert, but I just needed to get the heck out of that place so we gracefully declined and asked for our bill.

7:25 p.m. - my ice water is long gone as well as the ice out of the husband's empty soda. I'm trying desperately to keep the Prince from dropping his toys down the crack between the wall and the table while the husband eavesdrops on the near by table of ladies that have had just a few cocktails (it wasn't difficult!) GETTING ANGRY!

7:30 p.m. - Finally! The waiter brings out our bill and I ask for change.

7:35 p.m. - the waiter brings our change. I can see why this took five minutes because the register was all of about two feet from our table. He's obviously a veteran as I had $30 in change and he brought me a $20 and two $5's...silly boy. Had you brought me some $1's I would have left you at least a decent tip (I wasn't about to leave him a $5 which is exactly what he wanted). As it was I scrounged to find change to leave him 10%...serves him right for making us wait for ever.

7:37 p.m. - we finally escape out the door right as the party that reserved the outdoor seating arrives. Figures.

I must say, the egg rolls were pretty damn good and I'm not a fan of egg rolls, however, I'm never going back there again.

As for Josh's cake, he loved the soft and sweet flavor, but I completely forgot about the ice cream and we ended up eating it for breakfast the next morning. The recipe would make great muffins!

Why Paper?

So a couple weeks ago was the husband and I's first wedding anniversary. I tried and tried to think of something special that we could do to commemorate this lovely event in our lives. I got a few suggestions from friends and family:

You should go to the same place you went on your first date! Well, the husband and I met at a bar where we were both playing sand volleyball. Our first date was mountain biking at Theodore Wirth Park. After that we sort of starting hanging out at each other's apartments, we never really had that "sweep you off your feet" sort of relationship (which is possibly why we've lasted as long as we have...no great expectations to live up to, yeah?) As all three of my loyal readers know I am currently about 6 months pregnant so neither of these were a good option.

You should recreate your wedding meal or visit your wedding site! We got married in my home town in Montana and our wedding meal was an assembly of family recipes and a roasted pig. Great for a crowd, but not so practical to make for two people! Also, driving 920 miles one-way to visit our wedding site was out of the question. We actually were just home in June and we were able to take a ride up to visit the tiny country church we got married in so we already sort of did that.

You could give the traditional 1st wedding anniversary gift of paper. Who comes up with this stuff? Paper, really? I am not sure I've ever requested paper as a gift in my whole life. Some suggestions were plane tickets (too expensive), concert tickets (again, too expensive), a picture (thought about this, but it seemed more of a gift for me than the husband) so we settled for some movie tickets and a dinner at the Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse in downtown. It was actually really fun to be downtown on a Saturday night and Mother Nature gave us a really neat light show to watch as we meandered back to our parking space.
According to About.com the following is for the first five years of anniversaries...
1st
Traditional: Paper
Modern: Clock
I don't know too many people my age that go out and buy clocks or paper (unless it's for your printer).

2nd
Traditional: Cotton
Modern: China
How about a nice glob of cotton? I got it free out of the vitamin jar! Now that's frugal!

3rd
Traditional: Leather
Modern: Crystal
Finally, something that makes sense! Here is a good excuse to get me a nice leather jacket!

4th
Traditional: Fruit or Flowers
Modern: Appliances
I don't know too many women that would baulk at a nice bouquet of flowers so that makes sense, but appliances? Most girls don't want a vacuum or a toaster as a gift! The only exception here might be a Dyson vacuum 'cause those are more expensive than all the appliances in our kitchen combined! Then again, I would probably be pretty upset that he spent that much money on what is essentially a chore so he loses either way.

5th
Traditional: Wood
Modern: Silverware
Again, if my husband brought home a gift of silverware...he'd probably get a fork in a very uncomfortable place. I guess wood might be a good idea, depending on where your mind is (I'll let this one slide...it's a family show!)

So, whoever came up with all of these gift ideas should probably not quit their day job. I think diamonds, a nice dinner, or flowers are always a good direction to go.

This year we had the whole night kid free (except for the kicking in my belly!) and it was really nice to be able to share dinner, a movie, and my feelings and love with my husband.

Happy Birthday Husband!

Today is my husband's birthday!

To celebrate, I am making him Pad Thai (by request) and a blueberry gingercake with cinnamon ice cream - neither of which I've made before. I'll let you know how it goes!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Why do we always want what we can't have?

Yesterday we noticed that we were missing one of our cats.

I tried to remember the last time I had seen her and I realized that she hadn't been in any of her usual spots that morning. She almost always has to be in the bathroom when I'm in there. She always sits on the nice clean towels (which is kind of annoying since she sheds all over them) while I take a shower. My conclusion was that it must have been Sunday afternoon, I remember playing with her and the husband's cousin's little girl. Sunday we had a few people over and Ginger probably slipped out the door unnoticed. She usually just runs outside and stops realizing that she has no idea why she wanted to be outside, just that she needed to see what was out there. I keep telling her, "Ginger, you don't know anyone but us. You have no front claws and therefore no defense. Think it through buddy!"

She just wanted what she couldn't have.

Perhaps we should have let her outside with supervision so that she could explore and wander with some safety. I somehow can't help but feel that it's our fault that she felt compelled to run away. Shouldn't we have heard her cries that evening? Shouldn't we have had some sort of sixth sense knowing that she wasn't in the house?

I've been able to maintain some sort of emotional stability since I'm still holding out hope that one of our neighbors found her and is just keeping her until her owners come looking for her. Yesterday we set out a can of tuna and one of our other cats, Milo, spent the afternoon in his carrier outside. We were hoping that some familiar smells would lead her home. Unfortunately the tuna was covered in flies and Milo ended up just taking a nap. No sign of Ginger.

I made up some flyer's today and had 30 printed. The husband is going to walk around the neighborhood handing them out and hopefully will find a lead. It rained heavily last night and I was hoping that I would find her curled up on our porch this morning. No luck.

Well, here's to hoping that a feisty house cat can make it on her own out in the real world. I can't say I blame her...I too think the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. This experience so far has taught me to appreciate what I have, and to know that change isn't always for the better.

I hope you come home soon Ginger!

UPDATE: Ginger was found at 10am this morning and brought into the Humane Society!!! We are so happy that she is alive and seems to be well. The husband says that she looks pretty worked over (perhaps a small scrape with a gang of alley cats?) and she was so tired she could barely hold her head up. Poor thing. First order of business is to make sure she is healthy with a vet check-up, then to get a collar!!! Hopefully she's had her fill of the "real world" and won't try to do this again...somehow I doubt that! We are so happy that she is home.

UPDATED UPDATE: After posting bail of $30 to the Humane Society, Ginger was then taken to a vet hospital where she was treated with a shot of antibiotics. It seems as though a car may have ran over her and she may have been drug for a few feet. Fortunately she has no broken bones and the only real damage is to her teeny tiny paws. The vet assured us that those would heal and her back claws would grow back. Luckily we are good Bob Barker followers and she is spayed (whew, no kittens in our future!) Right now she is just exhausted and recouperating in solitary confinement (for her own protection from our other two cats) in our upstairs bathroom. She is expected to make a full recovery after she gets a bath! Let's hope her "catting" around was enough for her. We did buy her a collar and an ID tag!

Hey, Where Have You Been?

Hey folks! I know I haven't posted for a while, but I've been a little busy. The husband and I recently found out that we will be adding a new addition to our family! I'm due at the end of November and I've just recently been able to start the day without my face in the toilet.

Now, I admit that when it comes to nausea I would rather just get it over with and feel better (if not for just a few minutes) than spend all day having that "should I or shouldn't I" feeling about running to the bathroom. I have always had a weak stomach. I remember getting so excited about being in a play in grade school that I worried myself sick (literally) and wasn't even able to be a part of it. However, with all that said, I do not remember having this big of an issue while pregnant with my prince. I do remember some nausea, but it usually went away the second I ate something (which solves the "how did I gain 50 pounds when only 8 came out baby" dilemma I had). This time is completely different, my nurse scolded me for loosing 6 pounds between my first check-up and my second. I wanted to yell, "I can't keep anything down let alone want to eat every 2-3 hours!", but I refrained and just smiled and nodded when she lectured me about not skipping meals and to keep snacks on hand at all times (this doesn't help if you see the snacks about 10 minutes later on the way back out). However, recently my stomach and I have come to an agreement. I will eat one slice of toast with a ton of peanut butter on it prior to 8:00 a.m., but I won't eat anything else until after 10:30 a.m., and my stomach won't pitch and turn while I'm at work. It's a solid system that has been honed for the last 5 weeks.

I've also been plagued with giant headaches, a wonderful UTI, and a huge amount of fatigue. This, and a small amount of intuition, leads me to think that we're having a girl. Plus I think some Karma has been thrown in there for my husband who still thinks if he has a girl she will be boarded up in her room until she's 40. Honestly, I do not care which way it falls. I know, I know every mom says that "as long as it's healthy" crap. While healthy is always the major goal for my family, I would almost have some slight admiration for someone who is willing to admit that they would rather see a fifth appendage than worry about the fetal heart rate...hey, at least they are being honest! I really don't care if it's a boy or a girl. If it's a boy I think that my prince and him will have a wonderful time growing up and playing together. If it's a girl, I will be able to buy frilly dresses and polish her nails. Either way, I'm not too enthusiastic about repeating all of this anytime soon, but I'm sure I'll forget about it in about two years so who knows!
I think my sister said it best once, "post-natel memory loss is God's way of ensuring siblings!"

Despite what I've complained about here I am truly excited to have another little bundle of joy. I think my prince will be a great big brother as long as the baby does whatever he says and doesn't touch his big boy toys! It's always exciting to add to my mom and dad's growing family brood!

Chocolate always tells the truth!

I saw this on someone's blog and thought it was fun. Take a peak and let me know if it worked for you!!


1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10)

2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)

3. Add 5

4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759 ...If you haven't, add 1758.

6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number

The first digit of this was your original number(i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week).

The next two numbers are

YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)


THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2009) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS.

Did I just say that?

I realize that it's inevitable that we will all turn into our parents at some point in our lives. It just makes sense...you spend a certain amount of time with someone, you'll start acting like them eventually. I'm extremely lucky in that I had wonderful parents that brought me up to be an upstanding citizen, I know right from wrong, and I am trying to instill the same morals in my own offspring. Here comes the scary part...
The other night at dinner we were all eating very nicely when my dear prince decided that there was a dinosaur in the kitchen. He has a very vivid imagination and refused to eat anything until something was done about this monstrosity. I reached back into the reserves of my brain thinking that this would be a great opportunity for him to learn how to scare off dinosaurs, demons, ghosts, goblins, and anything else that might scare him all by himself!
"You'll have to roar louder than him and he'll run away!" This was like a green light to a two-year-old. He roared loudly and the dinosaur left the kitchen. Unfortunately, this turned into a really fun game (for him) and dinosaur after dinosaur we had to roar loudly. After about two seconds this got on my nerves and I told him to settle down and eat his dinner. Thus, the tantrum ensues.
"Carrots are good for your eyes!" - something my father told me many times!
"You need to eat so that you can grow up to be a big boy!" - another gem from my folks.
"If you don't sit down and eat your dinner, you're going to bed hungry" - you guessed it.
"There's no crying in my house"
"Stop crying or I'll give you something to cry about!"
It was at this point were I started to freak out a bit. You see, this was a famous quote from my dad, and he always meant it! I have to admit that a few of my mommy threats are empty, but this night I was willing to set him in his room and leave him there until morning.

[This reminded of a quote from Friends. Rachel was talking about how she was turning into her father, "I was trying so hard not to turn into my mother, I didn't see this coming!" One of my favs, sorry, I digress. ]

My parents are great and they did (and still do) have quite a few knowledgeable tidbits to pass down. It's just a little scary when they come out of my mouth without me even thinking about it!!

By the way, Happy Mother's Day to my mommy!!

Achoo!

Oh, excuse me. Did I sneeze on you? My bad.
[sound of rushing water]
Oh, I see you are admiring my portable sink...
[squirt, squirt]
and my super industrial strength microbial antibacterial soap.
Yeah, I'm just being cautious about this H1N1 influenza virus.

First of all, I work for an Ag business so calling it the swine flu is really bad for business. Secondly, it must be a slow news week since the H1N1 influenza virus can cause someone to sniffle and it's suddenly world wide news justifying a media news brief that interrupts my regularly scheduled program. Soon we'll all look like the Chinese when SARS came out, walking around with the surgical masks on. I understand the whole idea of not wanting to get any influenza virus let along one originating from a pig, but I think there have been about 6 deaths world-wide reported which pails in comparison to the roughly 35,000 deaths from the regular influenza virus every year. I definitely understand those people with low immune systems should be on high alert. I can imagine that even a cold can turn into a rather big deal when you have no resources to fight it off!
I think if you are planning a flight in the next couple weeks you would really have to weigh your thoughts on how much the trip means to you versus getting sick, but don't you really have to do that anyway? I know every time I get on a plane I feel like crap for a good week afterwards. It's called sharing oxygen with a confined group of people from who knows where carrying who knows what...the convenience of getting somewhere far faster than driving is just worth it sometimes. If you have an immune deficiency you probably shouldn't be traveling like that anyway since even the common cold can be life threatening.

Stop making such a big deal out of this please! Move on the next moderately interesting news story.

Update: So I recently was told that there were some 30,000 people that died of the H1N1 influenza in Mexico. This does not sway my opinion since it's still around the same number for the regular flu and the Mexico health care system isn't anything like the US. I still say people are making way too big a deal!!

Spring Fever!!

Okay, so I have to admit that I have been having spring fever for the last couple days. From inside, the weather looks wonderful! However, in the morning when you walk outside it's still 32 degrees (that is still the temperature at which water freezes!) It's supposed to hit about 60 degrees this weekend, but I'll believe it when I see it.
I must say, I'm not always a huge fan of Spring. Ever since my son was born, I've had horrible allergies! Usually the spring allergies aren't too bad, whatever blooms in the fall is what really gets my water-works going. There are wonderful things about Spring however...yep here comes another list!

• Easter. This is always a great holiday and it's usually a surprise as to whether you will get snow or sun. This year looks like sun!!
• Tulips. My favorite flower! These wonderful creations bloom every spring. Unfortunately I have not lived in one location long enough to make it worth my while to plant these myself, but I do enjoy everyone else's beautiful flowers!
• Bon Fires. Bon Fires are the best when it's just a little chilly out. During the summer it usually stays too warm in the evening to enjoy one of these, which makes Spring the perfect time of year to stoke up the fire!
• Babies. All animals alike are having babies this time of year. My sister not excluded! My nephew was born in March and it appears as though he fits right in like he's always been here!
• Thunderstorms. I love the excitement of a good thunderstorm. I've enjoyed them slightly less since I moved to the upper mid-west where tornadoes are prevalent, but I still get a kick out of a solid crack of thunder and a flash of lightening!
• Green Grass. I always marvel at the changing colors here during each season. Spring is spectacular since the Twin Cities transforms into the Emerald City! Every piece of grass glows greener during the spring and everywhere you turn it looks amazing.

It took awhile, but it appears as though Spring has finally sprung here in my frigid state. The mornings will take awhile to get warm, but eventually I will be complaining about mosquitoes and humidity!! Happy Spring to All!

Vacation's Over...

Top 10 reasons why no one wants to go back to work.

10. No one wants to go through 250 emails in one morning.

9. You have to explain your trip over and over and even your best story starts to sound pretty lame.

8. You have to unpack.

7. Those people that never knew you were gone get mad because you didn't return their email - even after you pointed out that the "Out of Office Assistant" was on and they must have received a notification.

6. You can't wear a bikini, flipflops and a ponytail to the office.

5. Your suntan starts to wear off.

4. You can't remember what you were doing before you left!

3. You cleaned your desk before you left to suck up to the boss and now you can't find anything!

2. Everything seems REALLY urgent to everyone else, but you're still in vacation/free spirit mode.

1. You can no longer have a drink with lunch...at least not without getting fired!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Our family celebrates this day every year without fail. With last names like ours, it's hard not to! The tradition that has rang throughout the years has always been corned beef and cabbage. My sister's family usually watches the Quiet Man, but we prefer the Boondocks Saints. Both are great Irish movies! I also have made Irish Soda Bread with Irish Whiskey butter (much better the second day) and other variations of Irish cuisine. As always, you have to have a green beer. My mom used to make our lunches on this day and everything would be tinted green, from the peanut butter on the sandwich, to the green jell-o, to green Kol-aid. What a great holiday!

I found a few myths and legends that they had listed at the MSN wesbite. I've picked out a few that I thought were pretty interesting.

• In Ireland, the potato crop was traditionally planted after March 17th.


• Blue, not green, is the color originally associated with Saint Patrick. “St Patrick’s Blue” is used on Ireland's Presidential Standard or flag, while the Irish Guards sport a plume of St Patrick’s blue in their bearskins. The emphasis on green is thought to be linked to “wearing the Green”, a symbol from the 18th century on, of sympathy with Irish independence.


• According to legend, on the day of Judgement, while Christ judges all other nations, St Patrick will be the judge of the Irish. - What happens if you are part Irish and part German?!?


• As we all know - Since 1962, tons of green dye are tipped on St Patrick’s Day into the Chicago river, although the quantity has reduced, for environmental reasons, from 100 to 40. - Let's just hope it's biodegradable or the fish might look like Blinky on the Simpson's!

Whether you're looking for your Pot O' Gold or enjoying a green beer, St. Patrick's day is a great day of traditions and fun. You better be wearing green or the leprechauns will pinch you! Most importantly, everyone is a little Irish on March 17th!

Daylight Savings...is it really saving my sanity?

As most of us know this weekend was Daylight Savings and we were all suppose to SPRING FORWARD. If you do not know this, then you got quite the surprise when you were an hour early for work this morning!
We set our clocks forward an hour yesterday morning and all day I was completely screwed up. I understand that the reasoning behind this "time savings" is to help with energy. Uh, last I checked in the upper Midwest the sun doesn't really make that big of an affect on the global heat until late April. Even Wikopedia says that most energy saving studies are unsubstantiated.
Benjamin Franklin started this practice to save on lamp oil at night. This was back when people woke up with the sun. Nowadays, I get up at 6:30 AM whether the sun is up or not! I realize that this is only going to last a couple weeks and then the sun will be up that early too. It's just the initial change is hard for a night owl like myself. I can typically get more done between 9:00 PM and 11:00 PM than I can between 7:00 AM and 11:00 AM, but that is because my brain is already active and working. Plus my son being in bed is another major factor!
Speaking of my adorable son. He was wide awake last night at 10:00 PM and wide awake this morning at 5:00 AM (to his little internal clock it was 4!!) I'm not sure why he was awake and wouldn't go back to sleep, but since we are currently trying to break his habit of climbing into bed with us, I was awake too! It seemed fruitless to keep fighting with him after a half hour since I was already awake and I wouldn't have time to go back to sleep. So we were all up early this morning.

The most unfortunate thing is that he gets to take a nap this afternoon and I don't! Needless to say I'm not a fan of the Daylight Savings, even it if means I get an extra hour of sleep in the fall. Energy savings be damned.

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess!

I love, love, love Dr. Suess!!
How amazing can one writer be that his books can span generations of readers! One of my favorite includes Green Eggs and Ham which was written on a wager. Dr. Suess' publisher bet him $50 that he could not write a book with only 50 words and so he did! The 50 words are:
a, am, and, anywhere, are, be, boat, box, car, could, dark, do, eat, eggs, fox, goat, good, green, ham, here, house, I, if, in, let, like, may, me, mouse, not, on, or, rain, Sam, say, see, so, thank, that, the, them, there, they, train, tree, try, will, with, would, and you.
Green Eggs and Ham was published in 1960 and became the fourth best selling English-language children's' hardcover books of all time. In 1999, the National Education Association conducted an online survey of children and teachers, seeking the 100 most popular children's books. On both the children's and the teachers' lists, Green Eggs and Ham was ranked third, just above another Dr. Seuss book, The Cat in the Hat.
I'm not too particular to the recent live film adaptations of Dr. Suess' work (particularly the Cat in the Hat with Mike Meyers and The Grinch with Jim Carrey - just creepy!) I personally think that Suess' characters were never meant to be live, thus the creep factor. Horton Hears a Who is an all animation adaptation and is one of my son's favorite movies!

Oh Dr. Suess an ode to you, if I may
You are such an inspiration for children today.
So many stories of yours to read
The fantabulous characters are there indeed.
Green Eggs and Ham and the Cat in the Hat
Just two of my favorites to read as I sat
The Grinch and the Berenstein Bears are grand
I'll never forget Brother Bobby's Banjo Bagpipe Bugle Band!
The Zizzerzizzer Zat and Wombigglefords
Just a couple of new Dr. Suess created words
I've extended some people their knowledge of you
I hope it's reached just a few more than a few
March 2nd is your 105th birthday, I say
Happy Birthday, Dr. Suess, Happy Birthday today!

Snow Day.

Yesterday it snowed. It snowed a lot. We got about 7.2" according to the morning news, but we really can't complain considering we've only had about 3 notable snowstorms all winter. I kept hearing all day about the schools that are closing and the businesses that are shutting down so their employees could go home. Mine was not one of them.

Throughout the day I kept checking the traffic cams on my route home to see how the traffic was. I wasn't in a rush to get out on the roads with complete morons. I checked for the first time at about 2:00 pm. The roads were noticeably busier than normal and everything was really starting to slow down. I was actually thankful that I didn't get out there with everyone else. By about 3:45 pm I was ready to confront the weather and the traffic. I had mentally prepared myself to be patient with the complete idiots that cut into the spot that I have left for a safe traveling distance. I had succumbed to the notion that it would take me an hour to drive 10 miles. I had checked the traffic and planned my route carefully.
I trekked out to my car wishing that I had some snowshoes because our parking lot had not been plowed at all and I was shuffling through 4 inches of snow. I reached my car and thought
"wow, my back window is really clean!"
It was then that I realized that it had rolled down.
On a side note, I really want to beat the crap out of the engineer that decided to put a button on my car remote that rolls the back window down automatically. This is the absolute most retarded idea I can possible fathom for a car. Needless to say this is not the first time that I have done this. Anyway, back to my story...
I dearly hoped that I had just happened to roll it down while walking out to my car...nope. There was about 3 inches of snow in the back. I have an SUV which the back is completely closed off from the front (sort of like a truck bed, but with a roof and sidewalls) so at least it didn't get all over in the cab. I still had to clean it out so I spent about fifteen minutes brushing snow off of some lawn chairs, a sleeping bag, a box, and a pool toy (what?) and I made a mental note to clean the crap out of my car! Luckily I found my ski gloves in the backseat so the snow removal was much less troublesome that trying to do it with my bare hands!
So now that I had cleared out the back of my car, it was time to clear off the car itself. Not only was it snowing, but the wind was blowing so the sides and windows were pretty easy, but the windshield had about 6 inches of snow piled onto it. Not the light fluffy kind, the heavy wet snow. Every time I brushed off the snow my scrapper would slide under the "crust" that had formed so I decided to forgo the scrapper and just use my arm. It took me about 20 minutes before I was seated in the drivers seat ready to pull out of the parking lot (I was completely covered in snow by the way!)
I put the car into reverse and nothing. I added a little more gas, nothing. Great, now I'm stuck! Thankfully, I have 4 wheel drive (now that engineer was SMART!). Now I was on my way!
Traffic wasn't that bad. It really only took me about 20 minutes to get home because I'd mapped out all the back roads. Even taking back roads poses new problems such as the roads were not plowed. I thought it was pure comedy when I saw these tiny sports cars trying to maneuver their way around these streets. My SUV was a champ so I didn't have much problem.
I only hope that this is one of the last storms of the season, however I'm sure we still have a solid month of winter left. I may curse having to pay for gas during the summer, but in the winter I love my big SUV!

Holy Floating Bananas Batman!

I would like to draw your attention to the small box at the bottom of my blog. Go ahead, I'll wait for you to scroll down.

This box is a feed of simple and otherwise less known facts from history that are associated with the day's date. Forty-two years ago today (January 27th) the "Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and other Celestial Bodies" now known as the "Outer Space Treaty" (whew, I'm glad they shortened it. I ran out of breath just reading it!) This treaty was opened for signature to the US, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union - that's Russia for all my younger readers - on January 27th, 1967.
When I first read this my initial reaction was "hey, I'm glad no one can take over the moon and point nucs at the US!" As I thought a little more I became almost disappointed that Marvin the Martian can no longer create his huge telescope looking devise and point it towards Earth. What will Bugs do now? I guess he will just have to keep bugging Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam. My THIRD thought was a little more nerdy than I would like. I'm wondering if this treaty is the start of all the treaties they talk about in Star Wars? Like, the words of the Outer Space Treaty will be etched into some super galactic stone, and they will write books that will be passed down from generation to generation...the ramifications of this treaty could spawn a intergalactic war someday!

The best part about this treaty is those that test it's strength. A Canadian artist Cesar Saez is planning to float a giant helium-filled banana over Texas in 2008...
I can't make this stuff up.
Apparently the Canadian and Quebec Arts Councils support this with a straight face.
Here's a few links to see for yourself how odd and extraordinarily bored people must be in Canada.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/MYSA010707_18A_NZ_State_banana_2a4a874_html6116.html

http://www.geostationarybananaovertexas.com/en.html

Noting the January 7, 2007 date of this web post, I could not find any substantial evidence that this did or did not actually occur. The website is no help either as most of the pictures are completely worthless. This guy sounds like he's a little obsessed with phallic objects floating over what is a renowned Republican state. Whoever names their kid Cesar is just asking for it anyway.

Well, check out the feed sometimes. It's not always this weird I promise!

Why can't I finish things?

So, my fridgid state has not yet reached above 35 degrees and this weekend was no exception. It was single digit highs and below zero lows, so we stayed home...all weekend long. I started getting stir crazy Sunday afternoon, so I devised a plan to start a homemade blanket. I was planning to use all my t-shirts that I never wear anymore. It seemed for a few years there I was getting a t-shirt for anything I did! I have shirts from concerts I went to, kickball teams I was on, shirts from highshcool, grade school, and college. I have volunteer shirts, sports shirts, and souvenir shirts. They are all going to be made into one useful thing.
The husband was thrilled that I had stopped watching Gilmore Girls and I was cleaning out the plastic tote that housed all of these unused items. I layed them all out. Measured how much of the shirt I was planning on using. I drew up a diagram on some graph paper and I was finally ready! My plan was simple. I was going to have a 2" border around the whole thing (made up of the scraps from the shirts that were cut up) I was planning on using the back of the shirt for the back of the blanket, and all I was going to have to do was sew in a straight line.
I was pondering where to start when I all of the sudden realized that I was going to have to sew in a straigh line for a very LONG time! At this point it was already 5:00 pm...it had taken me all day to just think up a plan! Well, now it was time for me to make dinner and then I would have to get my prince cleaned and off to bed soon. I folded up all the t-shirts, placed the already cut ones into a plastic bag, the scraps into another bag, and everything back into the tote.
Hopefully next weekend is just as cold!

Why is it so COLD??

The upper Midwest is known for it's unpredictable weather. From tornadoes to heat waves to cold snaps...I just can't wrap my mind around what's going on sometimes!

We are in the middle of a VERY COLD "arctic blast" - is how the weatherman put it. In my book, once it gets below 10 degrees it really doesn't matter what the temp is anymore, it's friggin' cold! Today for instance, we will have a high of -5 degrees...that's right folks, a HIGH of NEGATIVE five degrees!! Can it really be considered a "high" if it is negative? They should just say "the warmest friggin' freezing temperature for today is..."

I'm sorry, when did I move to Antarctica? Actually Antarctica was 7 degrees warmer than here!!

There are so many things I hate about winter (and thus starts my pining for spring!)

• Dry skin. My hands always bare the brunt of the cold, dry weather. No matter how many times I put on lotion, my hands are always dry and cracked.
• Rush Hour Traffic. You would not believe how many retarded people come out of the wood work after it snows. It could snow only a half inch and people are still skidding off into the ditch, driving 20 mph on the interstate, slamming on their brakes on bridge decks, and cutting in front of me when I have clearly left only enough room for braking time between me and the car in front of me (that's not a spot for you, it's safety!)
• Getting into a cold car. I hate having to sit in the parking lot at work freezing my butt off while the car warms up. I've been told by all men and any mechanic that i need to let my car warm up when it is that cold outside...uh what about me?
• When your eyes water or when you start coughing because the air is so cold. I honestly felt like wearing my ski goggles to work today!
• When people constantly complain about the weather. It's fun for a good opener to a conversation, but let's leave it at that will ya?
• People that are going on vacation right now. Inevitably there is always that schmuck at work that is going to Hawaii or Mexico this time of year and can't stop talking about it. Yeah, you're awesome, we get it.
• Wet puddles of melted snow all over the house. How hard is it to take off your shoes? If you don't like wearing just socks then you should get some slippers. You know who you are!
• Hats. I hate wearing a hat after I've spent time doing my hair. I would just brush and go, but then you have that one girl at work that always has perfect hair and makes you feel like a slob (she happens to sit right next to me).

Well, I hope that my loyal reader enjoys the weather, because soon we will be complaining about the mosquitoes and the humidity. It never ends!