Road Trip Tales

I believe it was crossing over the Iowa River on our return trip that I said "Iowa River, I think we have crossed over a river named after the state in every state we have been in." Sure enough, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota all have rivers with the same names, and we crossed each on this trip. That of course led to the next question...how many states have rivers with the same name? Well, I pulled out the handy State Farm provided atlas and began to research my question. (I was not driving!) Thank you State Farm and Bonine! On the road I found 12 staes that have rivers with their same name. Once home though, I wanted to verify my findings. Turns out when you search Wikipedia and look at the rivers in each state there are 16: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas River (Kaw River), Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. What exciting things we can learn on road trips.

There's no place like home.

So, our week long Christmas celebration has come to a close. We are back home and reunited with the dog. We will get the cat later. Aside from the weather related delay on Saturday, the rest of our trip went very well. We were fed amazing spreads of food. We got to visit with family and spend time playing games, socializing and even just hanging out. We saw National Treasure 2. (Nick and I also watched the 1st) Both were better than expected, but we liked the first better. We also saw Hairspray. It too was better than expected. We gave and received wonderful gifts.

We are also thankful that our church has been blessed with such wonderfully talented musicians. For our Christmas Eve service we sang 2 hymns I had never heard of. This isn't uncommon, but the 2nd one, I don't think ANYONE knew. Its a bad sign when the song has 3 verses and even the "organ" player stops in the middle of the 2nd. We did sing a pretty neat version of Silent Night that included a banjo. Yup, a banjo. It was pretty neat. We did not get to sing Joy to the world. I think it just isnt the same with out some Joy.

Our return trip started at 5:15am. I tend to suffer from some motion sickness (remember our cruise?) so long road trips aren't always fun for me. My mother-in-law recommended Bonine. It worked remarkably well for me. I wont say the 14 hours flew by, but it sure did help to be able to sleep, read and look at an atlas for long periods of time. My atlas story will come in a bit.

We got to MN and went right to my parents house. Saturday morning we went to my Grandma's house to move her out. She was moved into an assisted living place. She hates that it isn't "home" yet, but seemed to be pretty agreeable to going to the room for meals and MAYBE looking into the activities they have planned. I think she will adjust and find it isn't as bad as she has made it to be in her mind.

My mom's siblings and kids (minus one of the kids) came to her house and we celebrated Christmas and family. We had a lot of fun and a lot of food. Today (Sunday) we celebrated as a family with my parents and brother. We ate MORE food and exchanged gifts and watched some football.

We arrived home a little while ago and unpacked most of the car. We have quite a few treasures. We got quite a few DVDs, which isnt a bad thing with the writers strike still going on.

Anyway, I think that is all for my holiday update 2007. We plan to continue our tradition of New Years eve trilogies, we just haven't decided which it will be yet.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and wish you great things for 2008.

just kidding....

so I said I wasn't going to blog until our return...but we have a bit more time on our hands than we expected... we are just north of Des Moines, Iowa in Ankeny. We got to Ames and stopped for some food. A few minutes after we were back on the road, the wind and snow started. Apparently the storm was sitting right over Des Moines. It wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the wind. Where there isnt much to stop it (like trees or buildings) it whips across the 4 lane interstate like nothin. When we made the decision (a few minutes into the snow) I called the Marriott in Kansas City, MO to cancel our reservations. I also got the number to the Ankeny Marriott. It seems it is one of the very few places to stay. They had a room and were just 6 miles down the road. In the 10 or so miles we drove, there were no less than than 20 cars in the ditch. There was a group of about 8 all in the center ditch. We saw a truck overturned in the bushes along the road. Basically, it would have been waaaaayyyy to long of a trek to make it to KC.

We took it as a blessing from God that the Marriott was so close and had room. The "best" part, is we are across the street from the Kum and Go. What a horrible name! They seem to be all over in Iowa though.

It does look like it will be a 2 hour drive to get to the Waffle House tomorrow morning, but I think it will be worth it!

Santa Claus is coming to town!

In about 3 hours we will be leaving MN to begin our week long Christmas celebration. It is my goal during that time not to check my email or blog. That being said, feel free to leave messages, but I probably wont reply until after we return to our home. -Do you think Santa will know where to find us this year??

We will start out on our trip to Arkansas today, and stay in Kansas City, MO for the night. That is about half way. We will leave tomorrow morning and make the rest of the trip after having breakfast at a waffle house. I have never eaten at one, so this will be an experience for me. On Friday we will leave in the morning and drive straight thru to my parents house. We will be there for a few nights. Then return home for new years eve. We will not be doing our "trilogy" night this year, but I think that is OK.

Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a great holiday, blessed with family and friends and the joy of the season.

being sick is icky!

It is Thursday at 7:30. We leave for Arkansas for Christmas on Saturday. How packed and close to ready to go am I? Not at all. Gifts are wrapped...does that count? Ive been sick for the last 3 days. Something about that just doesn't lend to packing boxes and suit cases. I did get the cat packed up and ready to spend the week at my clinic.

On the bright side, it's been a few years since I've been excited about the gifts I am giving. This year, I am very excited about them. I think we did a great job of getting good things, and staying within our budget.

My next project is to work on the iTunes mix to put on my iPod for the 14 hours in the car. I think Ive got a pretty good mix of some good Christmas tunes (Tina: I don't think feliz navidad is in there) minus the "Christmas Shoes" song. I don't like it.

I do like this song...and here is a whole new way to enjoy it. I hope they have understanding neighbors!

Everything I know I learned from TV

Im a big fan of the "get a mac" commercials. I really do enjoy them. They make me laugh. Truly, everything I know about Macs, I learned from the commercials. I don't know that much about PCs, but Ive used them. I kind of know how to get them to do what I want. I haven't used a mac in about 16 years. (yup, since I was in high school) My husband has used a mac. He enjoys it. Apparently they are pretty good computers, because most people I know that have used them, really like them. Its really sad when "computer people" (like my hubby) start talking about macs vs pcs, because I really get lost! But lucky for me there are catchy commercials that tell me I could be hip and trendy and use the easy computer just by getting a mac. Good thing those commercials are out there!

Have you seen the "holiday" get a mac commercial with the claymation animation and the catchy song?? its great. I could find that one, but here is one to enjoy!

introducing....

Zachary! My good friends Mary (she was my matron of honor) and Nate had baby number four this past September. Since life has been a little hectic with Nick starting school, we were slackers about getting to Farmington to meet him. We finally got down there last weekend. Though, I think we played our cards right as that means he is about 2 1/2 months old now, and interacts a bit more. Anyway, he is a super kid. Here is a picture of us.

Ah, we like cheese...

I make no secret of the fact that I am not the type of person that knows titles of songs and who sings them. Nor am I great at knowing lyrics. Apparently when words have music behind them, I have a hard time understanding them. I like music, a lot, but this just isn't a gift I have. Usually, this just doesn't come up very often. I try not to sing along when other people are around unless I KNOW the words.

One occasion where this came out, I actually that I asked, because I honestly didn't know: Last Christmas season, I was probably scrapbooking and listening to my Christmas cds. I have a collection of 3 disks that has everything you can think of, and then about 30 more songs. Some, I had NEVER heard of. One of these songs, I could not figure out for the life of me. What on earth does "we like cheese" have to do with Christmas??? So, I braved the laughter and torment and asked my wonderful and very knowledgeable husband.....Whats this song? I believe the answer was a strange look and then "Huh?" So I explained...I have always thought they are singing "we like cheese." Laughter ensued. Ok, at least he didn't know the answer either. So I consulted the cd insert (no, I hadn't in the 5+ years I've owned the cd), only to learn that the song is "All we, like sheep" from Handel's "Messiah." I have never heard it other than this one disk. I'm not sure if it is just this arrangement or this choir singing it, but it really does sound like "we like cheese." Maybe I should send in the recommendation for a cheese commercial.

On a similar note...have you heard people sing "deck the halls with balls of holly" rather than boughs of holly...yeah, i DO have that one right.

Merry Christmas!

interpreting a dream...

For the past 10 years or so I've had a semi-regular recurring dream. I have it about once every 2-3 months, sometimes a tad more often. It is a dream where all my teeth fall out. In many of these dreams I try to put them back where they should be, but they keep falling out. Sometimes I'm in a car, sometimes in a room, sometimes at work, other times....I'm not sure where I am. But usually all my teeth fall out over whatever time frame this dream is. My most recent dream included the fact that some of my teeth are "restored" and the implant posts fell out along with the bridge of teeth.

What does this all mean? Well, there are many books and web sites with theories on what dreams mean. It could be a fear of being rejected, fear of my beauty fading (yeah right, like that could happen), fear of rejection, fear of losing power, putting my trust in human made things rather than God, telling lies, and my personal favorite: fear of losing my fortune (money).

Well, thats a lot of options. Apparently dreaming about teeth falling out is a pretty common dream. I, however, have a different take on the whole interpreting of this dream. About 10 years ago I was in a car accident where I lost 5 teeth and damaged others, ultimately having another 4 pulled. I now have very extensively restored teeth. Do I think MAYBE that has something to do with my dreams? I'm leaning towards that. Maybe, since I have spent so much time, energy and money thinking about and dealing with my teeth, it really is a dream that means little more than the obvious: I'm afraid to loose my teeth. Could it be that simple?

'round about 'round about goes the little mousey

Ok, I would really like to know who thought that roundabouts would be a great idea to have in MN. Apparently when the people decided the lower risk of severity of accidents with roundabouts was a great thing, they didn't consider all the extra up keep that would be required with snow falls. Things like plowing, sand and salt...maybe advising people that they should slow down a little more when turning around a circle that small....

I wasn't a big fan of the roundabout idea when it opened in the fall with good weather. I really don't like them now.

on the bright side...its snowing in December in MN. Must be a product of global warming. For me, it just isn't Christmas time with no snow. For me bare trees, brownish green grass and cold weather aren't enough to get me in the holiday spirit. My husband assures me it is perfectly normal for "Christmas to look like that." silly Florida boy!

Relocating a house

It was a sad day in Waconia. For Thanksgiving we went to visit my parents and then some other family in Carver County (that part was not sad, it was rather happy). It has been two weeks since we have been to Waconia. In that time, the house I grew up in was cut apart and moved. This first picture is from November 3rd. This is how my house has looked for the past 15 years.









Now, it looks like this.


Yup, the house and all the trees has been replaced with a big pile of dirt. It's a little sad to see this instead of the house that I called "home" for so many years. But it is nice to know it has been relocated, which means someone will "flip" it and it will go on to be home to another family. Here is another angle before and after.



Before









After

Vikings came thru

As some of my loyal readers know, I am a pretty die hard Vikings fan. However, I'm also a realistic Vikings fan. I have a NFL Mastercard. This gives me points per dollar spent that I can redeem for football related rewards. This August, Nick and I decided we would cash in points and cancel the card. We were able to get a pair of tickets to a game. We were pretty excited and picked the 11/18 game vs. the Raiders. Well, many of you know, this has been a "rebuilding" season for the Vikings (again) and were a fantastic 3-6 going into the game. With the Raiders sitting at 2-7 we were not all that excited about going anymore. But we didn't talk ourselves out of going and went, knowing we would have fun, and could always leave at half time if we wanted to. Besides, we had pretty good seats. We didn't get to see Adrian Peterson play, due to his injury, but we did get to see him when he came out for warm up. Our seats were sect 117, Row 3 seats 15 & 16. This means were were behind the goal on the "home side" the section next to where the Vikings come running out of the tunnel, in the 3rd row. It was pretty neat to be that close. The downside is there are 36 rows of seats, so we had to go down 33 rows of seats, and back up them....75 steps each way. We didn't make many trips.

Anyway, there were some great plays. We sat next to a guy who lives near New Germany, small world! And the Vikings won. Its always better when we win. The cold and rain, waiting to get on the cramped light rail train is that much easier to deal with when your team wins.

This is all we got to see of Adrian Peterson. He is the one not wearing the hood.

$60,000 Necklace

On Thursday I had the opportunity to go with a friend to Wixon's "Girls Night." This is apparently an annual event. They invite all their female clients and their friends to come to the store for cheese and wine and cookies. They also offer free "gifts" and the opportunity to try on anything you want. Well, I tried on an awesome necklace. The site doesnt have a picture of it, so I cant put it up, but it is basically a "chain" made up of 1/2 carat diamonds that are 2 separate halves. There is a 3 carat emerald that connects the 2 halves of diamond chains, with some diamond chain extending lower than the emerald. Great description, I know. Anyway, it was fabulous! and a mere $60,000 (yes, that many zeros!) I also tried on an emerald and diamond ring. The emerald was HUGE! Pretty rare for an emerald to be that large and that flawless and that green, and be natural. The emerald had to be at least an inch and square. And the setting was all diamonds, not chips, but cut diamonds. Around the emerald, down the setting, around the setting, down the band, on the sides of the band....all diamonds. Did i mention not chips. Yeah, I had a ring on my hand that had a price tag of $115,000. yup. I could never wear a ring like that. but I did have it on! Its kind of neat to have that kind of bling on your person, even if just for a moment. I also got to try on several other earrings, pendants and bracelets, all much more reasonable at $5-6,000. I think one pair of earrings was only $1000. Seems like pocket change after the ring.

My recommendation, if you get the chance, try on the spendy stuff!

theAlley

So, as many of you know, Nick and I are part of a church plant. The church is called theAlley Church. We hold worship at Cottage Grove JR High. We recently found an opportunity to rent a store front. The board has looked at the space and got details. Our next step is to present it to the congregation and find out what they think. We plan to make a decision in early December. We request your prayers for support and direction as we approach this decision.

a nice 66 degrees!

Bless the guy from Rumpca that was able to restore our furnace to working condition. Turns out it was "real dirty" and impressive to be working at a mere 35 years old. Our furnace is older than we are. Hope it holds out a few more years! Oh yeah, and some thermal coupler blah blah blah...needed replacing.

The Great Update

So, its been a while since I've written much on my blog. This update may be a little long, but serves to update you, my dedicated readers (all 3 of you), on what has been happening. (This may also be a good place to check out for prayer requests....) For simplicity sake, I'm not going to try to get dates right.

on the "family health" front: my grandma has been diagnosed (the best they can) with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Currently she is scheduled for some follow up/work up testing at the Mayo in December. Its been tough especially for my mom. My mom already does almost daily care for her father who is in a nursing home with alzheimer's. She also does most of the household stuff for Grandma already. Around the same time as my Grandma's diagnosis, my dad had some health issues. He seems to have gotten things worked out and is doing well. (praise God for that!)

My parents had an additional blow right around that same time. They have been working for a year with a company that wants to buy their property and build a Walgreens. they had a new house lined up. that house fell thru, so this past weekend, Nick helped my mom move everything they could into a rental home. they will stay there while looking for a new home.

You may be asking "why did Nick help your parents move?" well, first off, he is a fabulous person! and second, i would have helped as well, except i was already signed up do a Relay For Life conference. I had a great time and learned a lot. Ive got Relay on the brain now though. As most of you know (because I hit you up for money) Nick and I participated in the first ever Cottage Grove Relay for Life in July of 07. I am part of the planning committee for the RFL 08.

In September of 07 we kicked off "the Alley Church" in Cottage Grove. This is the church plant we have been part of planning for some time now. So far we seem to be on the right track. We are seeing new faces and generating a buzz in the city. The men's group has kicked off (Nick is participating in this) and the Women's group kicks off in 2 weeks. the Kids programs are under way. So far it has been a great experience for both of us. The board has recently been talking about looking into finding a more permanent place for worship. We have a few leads.

Nick has started Pharmacy school. He has a 4.0 gpa right now. Thats right...Mr Smarty pants.

I continue to work my vet tech job, counting down until my husband is a pharmacist and i don't have to work full time anymore.

If you remember my post from some time in July when the AC went out, it was a really hot weekend...well, we currently don't have a working furnace, which is unfortunate because this week has been kind of chilly here in MN. Its also unfortunate because that certainly means a large bill to get it working. hopefully its something simple like the flux capacitor again.

A few weeks ago we had dinner with some friends. it was great because it included playing wii and preparing supper with a big flame that set off all the smoke alarms in the house. it was fun!

I think thats all I have for today's update.

awwww!

A great big hug for Uncle Nicholas!

I love my Cub..

I had an interesting experience at Cub (the grocery store) on Monday. I was excited when I heard the Musac system playing New Kids on the Block. Ah, memories of the good 'ol days. But then when I was leaving, I came accross one of "those people." You know the people that the rules dont apply to. The parking lot is being re-paved. They have half blocked off and is all torn up. She had stopped her car, gotten out, moved the cones and proceded to drive thru, with no regard for the fact she wasnt supposed to. Do you think she put the cones back where they were? Nope. I was irritated at the time. I am afterall a rule follower. Now I find it curious that the thought process would exist to make some one move the cones, drive in an obviously off limits, under construction area, and not give it a second thought. I will just keep following the rules...

A new place to party...

So, my dad's family likes to get together and party. This past Saturday the reason was a couples shower for my cousin and his wife to be. Another cousin and her husband have a houseboat and invited us to enjoy the day aboard the boat and cruise down the Mississippi. We boarded around noon and headed out from Treasure Island around 1pm. We got to go thru a lock. It was pretty cool. It was cool...a new experience for the family. Hopefully we will be invited back. Here is a picture of some of the group standing on the third "floor" taken from the second floor front of the boat. (yeah, i dont know much about boats and terms.....)

Think Micky in the movie with the magical brooms...

So here is the scoop. About 5 months ago Chester (our 10 year old dog) had some lab work done that revealed he had a low Albumin. What does that mean? Albumin is a protein found in the blood. So its low...big deal. Well, kind of it is. This low value means either his liver doesn't make enough or his body is losing it someplace (through stool or urine). So this week we have followed up with some lab work and found his albumin is much lower, at the point where it could start to cause some edema or ascites (fluid retention). Albumin is a major component in maintaining normal fluid balance and volume with in the blood and body. What does all this mean? It means the crazy dog that runs around and plays with the cat is actually quite sick on the inside. He just doesn't seem to know it.

Now where does that Mickey mouse thing come in? Well the condition Chester has is called Protein Losing Enteropathy, or PLE. The hard thing is there are several different conditions that can cause PLE, such as intestinal lymphangiectasia(think Fantasia with lymph on the front and a "jEk" in the middle), cancer, congestive heart failure, IBD, etc, etc.
*I kept trying to call lymphangiectasia - lymph-antasia*

What does that mean? It means we are considering our options for treatment and doing the best we can to spoil him rotten (more so than he is) to make him comfortable while we still have him.

Another Tuesday

Tuesdays have historically been busy. I don't like them. Today, we were short a person, and very busy in the afternoon. For some reason, it seems Tuesdays (more than other days) everyone has a problem with their pet. Today, we saw skin problems (usually allergy issues) and we saw pee problems. Yes, working in the animal field, we deal with a lot of pee. We had "leaky" dogs. We had dogs with infections. We had cats straining to pee. But the prize of all problems today...goes to the ruptured anal gland. Anal glands are scent glands that lots of animals have. Luckily, people do not. These glands store stinky fluid that is supposed to express every time said animal goes "number 2." Thats what is supposed to happen. Sometimes the ducts get clogged, or the fluid is thick and they don't express like they should. If it gets really bad, the fluid keeps building and building and much like a zit, has to burst someplace. Now the poor pooch has an additional opening into the anal gland. Its not pretty, its not comfortable and its really really stinky! The absolute worst part of the whole process is when some of the fluid lands on a staff member. It is a smell that is not going away any time soon. ICKY!

Move Over Arnold Palmer...

make room for my dad!

I learned today that my dad took 2nd place (in the senior devision) in the tournament at the golf course he frequents. I also learned that the winner of the senior class is a frequent golf companion of his, as is the winner of the junior class. Dad got a trophy and everything! Next we are going to have to get him a green jacket.

Here's to you dad!

"I should really find time to blog"

As I was signing in to my blog account, Nick was saying those very words. So, in the days since I have last blogged, a lot has happened. We have sod, we have a "new" bathroom, we have cleaner upstairs carpets, Nick started school and I have worked a little bit extra. We have been pretty busy at work. I spent an extra hour on Tuesday helping unplug a cat. He had an obstruction in his urethra, which means he couldn't pee. (is it ok if I say pee?) If cats dont pee for 24 hours, it could be deadly. Then, on Wed. we had all kinds of cases that were kind of rough. We had a dog that was run over by a 1 ton trailer. The only damage that seemed to be done was the dog had cancer all over her chest. Not such a great "incidental" finding. We also euthanized several pets in the last two days. BUT the most notable work event was the passing of our clinic cat. Ozzy was a purebred Persian cat. He came to us about a year ago because he had chronic intestinal issues. A week ago today he had a flair up of IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease). This was a flair up that, despite all our supportive care and supervision, we couldn't pull him through. His immune system gave up, followed by the rest of his systems He passed away last week very early Saturday morning. He is greatly missed by all of the staff and many of the clients. I think even a patient or two might miss him.

Its a small (LCMS) world after all...

Ive come to realize this fact several times...but this weekend I was reminded of just how small the LCMS world is. As some of you may know, Woodbury Lutheran Church (WLC) is planting a church, theAlley Chuch. This past Sunday was the "sending" from WLC. Our church does this as part of the worship service for all of its missionaries. As part of the leadership team, Nick and I were involved with 3 morning services, followed by the potluck to recognize and celebrate Pastor Ben and worship leader Brian. During the potluck we sat at a table with Pastor Paul Pfotenhauer. 40 years ago (almost to the day) Pastor Paul was sent to start WLC. He is the "founding Pastor." As we sat and chatted over hotdish and salads and potluck fare, he asked Nick and I where we were from. When it came to my turn and I said Waconia, the table gave me the collective "Ohhhh." I was a little nervous about the response, but Pastor Paul followed that up with asking about New Germany. Well, of course I'm familiar, I have a lot of family from there. (Small world) His dad was the pastor out there. Huh, yup in deeded. He recognized the family names I told him. Today I asked my mom about it, and she remembered the name. He went to the same high school as my grandparents. He probably was in class with a few of my relatives. His dad confirmed my Grandpa. My Grandma should recognize the name and maybe even remember him. She should remember his father for sure. I'm sure looking back at some of the church records we would see the name in more than a few places. A small world indeed.

After the potluck we spent some time with our niece and then headed back to church for the 4th service we would participate in. We volunteered to usher for the last time at WLC, since there weren't any scheduled. Nick was the Communion assistant for the last time at WLC. He also did a little soundboard operating. We were sent from the last service of the day. The launch isnt until 9/16, so it didnt quite sink in that we were done at WLC....but it was still pretty emotional. After the final service of sending, we went with a group of leaders to Dairy Queen to celebrate. Mmmm ice cream! A great way to end a long day.

Simple Joys in life

It is of course, my right as the aunt to brag about Micah. But isn't she so CUTE!!! We were blessed with the opportunity to see her 3 days in a row. We got to witness some very cute moments. We also "tricked" her into eating shrimp and crab, two foods that mom and dad don't eat, so her aunt and uncle need to expose her to. Today was one of those days...it wasn't bad, but nothing fantastic. That is, until we got to our niece's house to being a few hours of Micah entertaining. Have you ever noticed how the whole world seems to disappear, or at least become a whole lot less important when you hear the shriek and laugh of sheer delight. Even better, when its for no particular reason. That right there is just one of many reasons that God made babies. Followed closely by the wide open mouth kiss that a 16 month old gives.

Totally Global!

Singapore has now been added to the lists of countries that have experienced my blog.

The excitement that is.....

the Carver County Fair.

Once again, the CCF did not disappoint. Nick and I went along with our friends Paul and Kim. Its been a tradition since last year. We dined on such great things as Cheese Curds, chicken drumies, onion rings, and a corn dog. We also tasted the deep fried PB&J. Not bad. We also got to hear the wonderful sounds of the Semi pull! woo hoo! We visited animal barns and got our fill of fair activities.

Bionic teeth

Today marks yet another milestone in my life. After 9 years and 3-4 different "stages" of progress, my teeth are now functional and look really nice. on March 6, 1998, I was in a car accident that led to 9 years of dealing with teeth issues. I cant yet claim them to be over, but they seem to be getting done. In '01 I started to have trouble with my top front teeth. They were changed to implants, finished in June of '02. Then, in June of '06 I had all that metal and porcelain removed and started with what would be a very long journey to have my gums and my teeth restored to a much nicer look. Its been a long, expensive road. My mouth is now worth about $176,000. Its a good thing I invested as much as I did, rather than just go shopping. We struggled with the loan as it is....but its all good. I already tested out the new chompers tonight with BLTs. They were yummy, and much easier to eat when you can bite down into them. Anyway, Im happy to have teeth that work!

I have to push the pram a lot.....

Sunday was a beautiful day. We woke up early to take care of a cat before going to the early service at Church. From there, we stopped at the Farmer's Market in Woodbury. I felt awesome buying locally grown produce from the farmers and saved some money doing so. the melon was perfect, the tomatoes...YUMO! Im super excited to have a farmers market so close.

We headed off to see the 2:00 performance of SPAMALOT. "A new musical Lovingly ripped off from the motion picture 'Monty Python and the Hoy Grail'" If you are looking for a performance that follows the movie pretty accurately, this is not the show. They took liberties in several places. But it was good. One of the things that impressed me the most, was the budget. Im used to seeing high school productions, or community theater at most. (Ok, Ive seen a few productions at the Guthrie, but still...) This show had singing, dancing, costumes, lights, scenery that changed and an orchestra. Overall, I really enjoyed it. There were a few snags along the way, but it all worked out in the end.

A decade ago....

It's hard to believe, but Chester turns 10 today. He's officially a "tween," at least if he were a kid. But, since he is a dog, he would be pretty close to a 60 year old man. To celebrate, he got a green bean. He did get extra attention this evening. We totally indulged his needy, "pet me" face.

On the topic of milestones, we are now less than a week away from me getting bionic teeth. Not that my teeth arent already bionic, but after next Monday, I should have permanent, bionic teeth again. What does that mean? Well, it means I can eat pizza with out a fork again. It means I can eat subway or any other sandwich I'd like to eat. It means I don't always have to try to find a way to get small pieces of food, or hope for a way to break/cut it. It means when we go to the dome, I can eat my own Dome Dog with out my husband needing to cut in into pieces like I'm 2. Basically, It means my life gets a little nicer. In my opinion, the best part of that is I wont need to be seeing my dentist every other week. Not only that, I don't have to worry about my front teeth bridge popping off and when I'm going to make a trip to their office to get them fixed.

:)

Ode to the Minute Clinic

It doesnt happen that often, me calling in sick to work. But Thats what happened on friday. I left work early on Thursday and came home and slept. By the time I woke up at 9pm, I was miserable. I called in for Friday. I slept on and off Thurs night. Friday I did the same. I slept some, was awake for watching Judge shows, slept some more, more TV, etc. I had the typical flu/cold stuff, fever off and on, cough, sneezing, sore throat. Saturday I was feeling a bit better. But then Saturday night hit. The most uninterrupted sleep I got was about 2 hours. My throat was so sore and there was nothing that was making it better. At about 8am I got up and decided to check out if there was someplace I could be seen on a Sunday. I wasnt excited about an emergency room visit, and copay for a sore throat. I remembered a friend saying something about a Minute Clinic at CVS in Woodbury.

So I went online...google "Minute clinic" and it brings up their homepage. There is this little box where you type in your zip code and it will bring up the local clinics. What do you know, the CVS location is open at 10 on Sundays. So we went. Someone got there right before I did, so I had to wait about 10 minutes. Then Linda called me in. In my whispery, raspy voice i told her my symptoms. She decided to do a strep test.

Its been a few years since Ive had strep...but I had it many times as a kid. I had forgotten how fun it is to be gagged by the swab as they collect their sample. I also remember it was later in my youth that they had the "5 minute test." which i was told has a 2% false negative rate. The test was negative. Good that i havent infected people with strep, bad that my throat will get no relief from a prescription. Linda told me the usual stuff: gargle with salt water, drink plenty of fluids, OTC drugs to help with symptoms....i dont think she told me to get sleep, but i intended to do that. So, for just my typical co-pay i was seen on a sunday, for a sore throat. during all of this, my husband mentioned that Walgreens will be getting something like a minute clinic. What a great idea. Its nice to have the option for something routine to be seen someplace other than the ER. Thank God for whoever thought up the idea and for the nice people that work there!

Blogging...the "international language"

add Poland and the Philippines to the list of countries that have been graced by my blog...

Dom. Republic, UK, Mexico, France....I'm totally global!

Celebrate good times, COME ON!

At the start of the Relay for Life day (Friday) I had every intention of soaking up the day and blogging about the event. I'm going to blog about the day, but much to my surprise, my thoughts are more about my dad than the event as a whole. Ive always known my dad as a good man. He's always been the type of dad that not only told, but demonstrated "doing the right things." Upon learning that my husband was going to be the Relay for Life kick-off speaking, I called my parents to invite them, knowing they wouldn't want to miss it. My parents did the typical "what can we bring, do you still need stuff"....that kind of thing. My dad helped me raise money from his family..."hey, give me $10, you too, i need ten bucks...its for relay for life." Friday came and I was busy fluttering around making sure that I had everything done, talked to the people that needed talking and made sure my position as luminaria chair was completed. During this time, mom and dad hung out, reserving the best spot to watch Nick's speech. Both really liked it. The survivors lap was next...what a great thing to see 14 people in purple shirts walk the track united as survivors as the small but noisy group cheered them on. the next lap is the survivors with caregivers lap. Now, I didn't know Nick during his cancer treatments, let alone care for him, but I do take care of him now...so I walked with him. So...this is where I get a little teary eyed. at about 1/4 way around the track, my parents were standing, waiting to cheer us on. For anyone that knows my dad, he doesn't make decisions if he doesn't have to. He is very much a phelegmatic whose love language is acts of service. There was a lady walking without any family or caregiver. My dad didn't hesitate or look back, or even say to my mom that he was going to walk with her. He jumped on that track, took her by the arm and walked with her the rest of the way around the track. After the lap, he was choked up and rather upset that her family wasn't there to walk with her. "I just don't get why her family wouldn't be here for her..." My dad has a lot of things that are important to him, but i would rate the top three as family, golf and work...not always in that order. Since his mother passed away in 11/05, Ive seen the effort to show his family how important we are. It truly did pull at his heart to see this woman that has survived cancer walk without someone there to show they were proud of her.

Nick, surrounded by the other survivors


Dad continued to impress me as he walked the track for 2 hours....even though he wasn't part of a team. He also helped set up and light luminaria. Maybe next year he will want to be on a team.

So, aside from the impact of my dad, the entire event was pretty neat! I was the top fund raiser with $940. Nick and I surpassed our goal and raised $1,020. Team Rx was the first team to sign up and also raised the most funds with $2500. Not to brag, but, ok I will... Nick and I had more funds than 3 whole teams raised. Total amount raised by Cottage Grove RFL: $15,000. The event coordinator thought there were about 550 luminaria total, I had 80. That was a lot to set up. I did something right though, as by midnight many of the candles had gone out, bags fell over or burned. I only lost 2.

my section of luminaria still lit up.

Overall, it was a good event that was much better than I feared it might be. Nick and I have talked about how we want to be involved next year. It should be fun!

Today, July 15, is the first anniversary of our marriage. We are celebrating by hanging out and not doing much. Its been great! The current temp (at 3pm) is 79 degrees. Its a far cry from the 101 degrees it was at wedding time (3:00) last year.

Mexico??

We can add Mexico to the list of countries that my blog has been viewed in. AND, I've been googled! If only these visitors would make their presence known.....

Transformers! More than meets the eye

So, in case some of you hadn't noticed, it was really hot this weekend. Our air conditioner has been broken for the past week. On Sunday and Monday, no big deal, but on Tuesday when we turned it on and 6 hours later it was hotter in the house than outside, I realized quickly there was a problem. On Sunday it didnt seem to cool the house, so I turned it off and thought it just couldnt keep up. That, sadly, is not the case. So we had Nick's parents staying here, with out AC. It was too bad, but then Saturday rolled in. Saturday was hot. Both of us worked was nice because we both work in buildings with AC. After an evening with Nicks family, the house was 90 degrees at 10:30pm. It was gross. So we went back to my in-laws and slept in their basement.

The cool escape of a basement. It reminds me of my childhood when we had one little window unit that started out in my parents bedroom and then graduated to the living room. At some point in time we got central air. I dont remember exactly when that was....but we had it. My high school days I do remember the house being kept a cool 65 degrees in the summer. A wonderful way to sleep!

So after a blissful basement slumber we went to early church, hung out with Nick's parents and read the sunday paper. We had lunch, watched some random cable tv, then headed off to see Transformers. Not only was this an excuse to go someplace air conditioned, but it gave us the excuse to see a movie we wanted to see.

I really liked the movie. It was a leap for me to see Bumble Bee as a Camaro. back in the day, I did have the Bumble bee. Mind you, I only knew there were two teams, one bad, one good. the Autobots were good the Decepticons were bad. there was a Megatron and someone else big....and most of them were cars or some other kind of automobile. I do remember the boombox guy, Soundwave. I played with him and his transforming cassette tape Rumble or Frenzy. (i dont know which we had).

So, back to the movie.... I liked the movie. I liked the robot fighting action, I liked, for the most part, the amount of plot that was developed. I wasnt left thinking, who was that again? My only complaint is that when the robots started fighting, it was hard to tell who each part belonged to.

Tomorrow the AC guy comes to see what can be done. I also have a dental appointment to do what should be my second to last step. It should be the last thing i need to do before getting permanent teeth again. In just 3 short weeks I should be able to eat sandwiches again. I will be able to bit into pizza. NO more silverware for me! It will be all hands and biting teeth. WOOHOO!

Here comes the bride...

On Saturday, Nick saw his little sister marry a great guy. That means all 4 kids are married off now. It brought to a close a week of family, stress, planning details, schedules and a bit more stress. The ceremony was lovely. The reception was great. Seeing family and meeting some I've never met was fun. Several of Nick's family came up from Nebraska. It was the first time I had met his paternal grandma, his aunt and uncle and a few cousins. I also got to meet an uncle and family from his mom's side. It was a lot of fun talking to them and getting to know them. I did however feel very short. Nick comes from a family of tall people. Me, not so much. below is just one of many pictures that illustrates this:this is Nicholas, me and cousin David (I just met him this weekend...he is in the Airforce)

Dancing with my wonderful husband to "our song." Steph had the DJ play all the songs of her brothers throughout the night. It was really cool.

Micah's job was to walk down the aisle, assisted by Uncle Nathan, and look cute. She did both very well, though the latter seemed easier for her.
And, of course, the bride and groom. Corey and Stephanie just hours before the big moment.

For any of you that know the Schutz family, you know we are a picture taking group. From Friday-Sunday, there were 1009 pictures taken. Yup, thats a lot of memories.

Today, July 4th the big plans have pretty much been to clean up the house and just relax for a while. So far we have done both. Rollie is about 30 minutes out from the cities. We will be picking him from the airport. He will be staying with us for a few days. Tomorrow Sue will join us. Saturday until sometime next week they hope to get in some good Micah time. We plan to grill steaks and hang out tonight. Tomorrow its off to the German restaurant in Hudson. This is the same place we discovered for my birthday. We took Nathan and April (my in-laws) there on Sunday. They really liked it so we figured we will keep taking people there.

Its just 9 days until the Relay for Life. We are about $200 short of our goal. If you would like to donate, its not too late!

"Happy Birthday America!"

the greatness of a counter

so, last week I installed this nifty counter on my blog...looking at the stats this morning, Ive had 2 hits from countries other than the US...one from the Dominicain Republic and one from France. pretty neat huh! And in just one week. It is pretty cool seeing the stats...but I do wonder, who of my apparantly captive audience has the mondo screen?

FUNDUE!

The small changes I made to the cheese fondue were awesome. The meal went well and everyone loved it. Next time they host us...they cant think of anything that would top it....yummy fondue!

Fondue...

Or do you mean FUNDUE? We are having Dr and Mrs Dick over this evening. This will be our second time at entertaining friends with fondue. The first was when Paul and Kim came over last summer/fall. It seemed to go over pretty well. I have a few tweeks to the recipes I used and hopefully the cheese fondue wont be quite as stringy. It was good, stings and all.

Yesterday we cashed in a wedding gift from Michael and Aimee (my in-laws). We went to see Triple Espresso. It was Nick and his brothers along with wives and his sister, Stephanie and her fiance Corey. They are getting married this weekend, so this was their gift as well. It was really pretty funny. I would recommend going, but maybe a later show. The show does rely heavily on crowd participation, and with the older crowd that was at the early sunday show, they werent as lively as we were. Anyway, its at the Mucis Box Theatre, check it out!

counter

I have braved the crazy technology world and installed a counter on my blog. Now, this shouldnt put you off of reading my blog, but now I will know if anyone out there reads this....

on another note, we are close to half way of our goal for the Relay for Life fund raising. Aside from being poorly planned thus far, it promises to be a fun evening. It kicks off at 6pm with a speach from my very own husband and then a survivors lap. after that....several teams take to the track. 9:30ish is the luminaria lighting ceremony, which as Ive been told so far, the luminaria that we have raised will be the majority of them out there...so keep buying them so we can light the whole way around the track!

Another thing checked off the list....

Today Nick and I made a 2 hour drive to Darwin, MN to see the "biggest ball of twine in MN." 'The worlds largest ball of twine constructed by one man' lives in Darwin in a wood and glass enclosed shelter. Darwin has a populaton of about 200 people. The town is made of of 5 businesses, the Twineball Tavern, The Twineball Inn, Twine Antiques and 2 that don't have twine in the name. We did the photo opp of me standing infront of the glass enclosed structure when an older, white haired man came rushing out of the twine ball info souvenirs museum and asked if we wanted to go in. Of course! so we got to take our pictures inside the building with the twine ball. We got to touch the twine ball! And we ran around it. Because we could.

So really, we were going to Litchfield which is 6 miles west of Darwin. The annual "Papa George Golf tournament" was held today. This is an excuse for my family to get together, golf, then eat, drink and play cards after. Its a fun time. It meant a 2 hour drive for us, but we made the trip totally worth it with our side trip. It also gave me an opportunity to fund raise for the Relay for Life. My family dontated $160. I also collected recipes from 2 more people. I have 2 people left to collect from. The Moonen cookbook will be done before we know it. Ive only been trying to collect recipes since September of 06, but the Moonen family aren't always quick to respond.

Tomorrow I have the day off, as I do Tuesday. I took a few days off just because. Ive been able to get a few things done and also just relax a bit. Its been great.

The water heater drama comes to an end....

We have a house. In this house is a water heater. Last week my husband called me at work and asked something to the effect of 'did you notice if the water heater is leaking?' My reply "I dont know anything about water heaters." I believe that was Wed. On Friday Nick and his brother had disconnected and removed the water heater and were working on installing a new one. Now, Nick has done a fabulous job with various projects around the house...but lets just say that its a good thing his future is Pharmacy school and not plumbing. There is a long story that goes along with a weekend with out water....and it isnt Nick's fault. Im no stranger to "complications" coming up when projects are attempted at my house. It played out something like this:

Nick: We got a new water heater, we will get it installed today.
Me: Dont blow up the house.

Nick: We ran into an issue with soddering the pipes.
Me: Dont blow up the house!

Nick: We got the water heater connected, but another pipe is leaking now.
Me: What do we need to do to fix it? Dont blow up the house!

Nick: The neighbor was here, he helped. but this other pipe.....back flow from upstairs....
Me: WHAT?!?! is this gonna blow up the house?

Nick: I think we better call Phil.
Me: Great idea, he wont blow up the house, and I can run water again.

So, basically between Friday and Saturday we went from having no hot water to having no water. We could turn the main line on when we needed to for short periods of time, like to flush the toilet, but that was it. So until Tuesday when Phil (our "handyman") could come out, we were showering at the in-laws and eating elsewhere. You may not know this, but our house is pretty small. So we had quite the obsticle course going with bifold doors off the frame, tools, the "furnace room" emptied into the bedroom and office, the office displaced to get into the closet....etc. It was a mess, and very frustrating. However, I did realize thru all that, that not everyone has hot water on a daily basis. Not everyone has the blessing of their house being a mess while something like the water heater is replaced. I decided I shouldnt complain about it. That just so happend to coincide with Phil being here and fixing all the pipes. Thank God for Phil.

Last night we were in business with water that was even hot. Nick was great with helping getting things cleaned up. We got dishes done and the downstairs vacuumed. I got laundry put away (we washed it at my parents house) and the rooms back to order. *sigh of relief*

I got an ipod nano for my birthday. Ive been working on selecting just the right songs to put on it. but it does mean I can clean up 2 of my 3 music storage places on my computer. Now its just the itunes!

I watched So You Think You Can Dance tonight. I was excited to see last years winner, Benji, return to dance with his sister. I really liked him.

To sum things up...all is right in my world....

My friend....

... Otodectes Cyanotis, AKA the ear mite. We see these little bugs about once a week. Its been a dry kitten spell the last few weeks (its not kitten season) so it has been a while. We got to see them today. Its always fun to smear out the swab on a microscope slide, add a drop of oil and a coverslip and watch them swim around in the oil. For those of you that have never seen it, I recommend it. I dont have a video handy, or a camera scope to post that...but check it out, its bound to be someplace on the web!

American Idol is on right now. The RESULTS SHOW. Jordin will win. I love Blake, I really do, but Jordin will win. Its ok though, Im sure Blake will beat-box his way into opportunities. Speaking of results shows. We did watch the Dancing with the Stars results show last night. For those of you that missed it, Apollo Ohno won. I like him. I was glad to see him win.

Party Planning Weekend

Those that know me well know I am a planner. I plan things. Thats how I work. I dont like to stray from my plan. I dont stray well. This weekend I had the privilege of planning two events. Nick and I celebrated our 29th birthdays together on Saturday. We had many friends join us for some grilling out action. We played a little Apples to Apples and generally had a good time. Nick also learned he likes some wheat beer.

Sunday was a little bit bigger challenge. I was in charge of planning the majority of the DOCK meeting for the church plant. We did "DOCK in the park." It was really fun and we had a great time. I arranged to get some pork loin thru my brother. He was really sweet and partly cooked it for me. I just had to finish it up and shred it. I added BBQ sauce to one and turkey gravy to the other (slightly smaller portion). I also made a pasta salad. I had planned for chips and a lettuce salad, but those people didnt show up. I think we had about 50 people (i forgot to count) including kids. The only thing we ran out of was cups. We had left overs but not so much that we will be eating it for weeks. It was a good time

We had a great weekend and really a good time with both events, but about 5:30 last night (right about the time Ben started preaching his sermon) we both realized we were totally exhausted. Not a great thing to realize when there is still 20 minutes left in the service and we were the ushers. We got home, warmed up some left overs and totally crashed on the couch.

Today we celebrated Nick's Birthday early. I made a new recipe of "creamy mushroom soup" and steak on the grill. Nick seemed to like it. Tomorrow Im taking a break from cooking and am going to make one of our "Let's Dish" meals.

alles Gute zum Geburtstag zu mir

So, American Idol is left with 3 great performers. At this point, its pretty much down to personal prefrence. I like Blake. I like Jordin. Melinda is great vocally, but doesnt do it for me performance wise. Just something about her I'm not a fan of. I have to say, I'm hoping for Blake to win it. I, however, don't vote, so...what America decides....

On to more important matters. Last night my wonderful husband took me out to celebrate my birthday. My birthday is on Thursday, but he works until 10pm, so that wasnt a great option. We first stopped at Shane Co. Turns out one of my side diamonds was loose, so they took my ring to fix it. My left hand is naked now! From there we went to "Winzer Stube German Restaurant" in Hudson, WI. Ive never gone to another state for the sole purpose of celebrating my birthday. Ive also never had authentic, German restaurant fare. We started with Frische Champignons in Krauterbutter. (mushrooms in garlic butter) SOOO yummy! I had Schlemmertopf Hochwald (beef tenderloins, spatzel and mushrooms in a cream sauce) and Nick had Wienerschnitzel mit Pommes Frites (breaded veal cutlet pan fried, with friech fries, anchovies and capers). As the menu stated...if it isnt Veal, its just not the same....apparently a well known fact among rocket scientists. Anyway, our impression of the restaurant was great. It was not over crowded yet not empty. The food was fantastic. We will definately return, and likely with our parents, maybe even some friends. It was great. After we came back home, I was surprised with two gifts. Bring it On and a mandolin slicer. Both items were high up on my list. It was a great birthday celebration. Now I just need to work on topping that for my husband next week.

Happy Mothers Day

To celebrate Mothers Day 2007, we did not spend the day with either of our mothers (but we did call) instead, we spent the day with our niece, Micah. We took her to "Llama Magic" at the Washington County Fair grounds. In the 2 hours we were there, we saw Llamas, sheep, goats and dogs. Micah liked the dogs the best. She also liked banging her hands on the metal gates. It made fun sounds. We took her home after church. While we stole Micah, her parents were able to go see Spider Man 3 and then go to dinner. The best kind of Mothers Day, one where you get some time off of being a mom.
Micah and a lamb

I did spend several hours with my mom yesterday. We had a garage sale at her house. We have done this on Mothers day weekend many many years. (but not every year) I made $75 and Im pretty sure my highest priced item was $3. Most things were 25 or 50 cents. Most of it I just needed to get rid of.

Tomorrow I have my 4 week surgery recheck. It sounds like we may be ready to go to the next step in a few weeks. But depending on the timing, it may have to wait until after my sister-in-law, Stephanie's, wedding.

I have an appointment to get an estimate for new blinds in the house. The current ones are getting kind of trashed. The cat likes to chew on the bedroom ones.

After Nick's last final on Monday, he is taking me out to celebrate my birthday. Its a surprise where we are going. Then I spend the rest of my week getting the house ready for our birthday party. YAY!

I love the smell of napalm in the morning

So, Nick found this website and we were going thru it tonight. What a surprise to realize how many movies I havent seen. (AfI's 100 years, 100 movies.) Kim would be disappointed...

Speaking of movies, we saw Spiderman 3 on Friday night. I rather enjoyed it. Granted, we went in with no expectations. I have talked to my share of people that didnt like it, but I did. It was long, but felt it kept moving. It wasnt long for the sake of being long. I am not a comic book fan, so I appreciate that they give background and history on the characters and how they come to be in the position they are in.

Nick and I also watched Indiana Jones - the Last Crusade last night. Until 2007, I had not seen any of the Indiana Jones movies. Ive now seen all 3. I liked 1 and 3 pretty well...didnt care that much for 2. it was alright.

Upcoming movies Im looking forward to: Shrek 3, Pirates 3, Transformers (yeah...crazy), Ocean's Thirteen, Simpsons Movie and Bourne Ultimatum....thats a lot of threequels.

Im sure there are more...but thats it for now.

I dont have an accent...

Ok, so I took this quiz....and to my surprise, I have a MN accent.... go figure. 28 years, 11 months and 3 days in MN and I speak the part.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: North Central "North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
The West
The Midland
The Inland North
Boston
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Wedding Album

I spent 12 hours working on my wedding scrapbook yesterday. It is for the most part finished. I have to decide on including gift opening pics, and add some "embellishments" to some pages. YAY! I got to see my friend Tricia yesterday. That was very fun! It has been determined that the group of 4 of us that were friends in high school and remain, for the most part, in contact even now, 11 years after graduation, are all cradle robbers. Very interesting.

I do have a busy day planned today. I need to do laundry and make food for the week, and also get groceries if needed. We want to spend some time with our niece and we usher at church. Nick has homework and I hope to finish my book today. Lots going on...better get started.

Creepy Crawlies...

I pulled 187 live ticks off of a dog (not mine) today. Ive had the creepy crawlies and heebee geebees all day. At least the dog didn't have maggots. (thats always its own special treat!)

"the Cooker of Good Food"

I have a title. Nick gave me that title after super tonight. I made tacos. They were good tacos. Prior to having tacos, we used a wedding gift card. We used the "Let's Dish" gift card we got from some of my cousins and aunt and uncle. Several weeks ago I had checked out the menu and decided that the April menu looked better than March or May, so I decided to sign up for April. For 8 meals (which is what we got) it is about 2 hours. It was really neat because once the ladies tell you how things work, you really are on your own. They don't hover and watch that you only put 1 tsp of garlic in your mix. They do ask that if you substitute, do vegie for vegie, that kind of thing. So, each meal has its own station with a sign (8 1/2"x11") that tells you what you need for supplies (ziplocs) and how to make the recipe. They tell you when you sign up that everything can be split except a few of them, and those were usually the beef or the crock-pot items. They will split the beef ones for you if you ask. They just have to get the knife and cutting board. Each has instructions to line the "crock" (a bucket type container) with a large freezer ziplock and then add specific quantities of stuff. Its all laid out for you and pre cut and some partially frozen. Once you have added the appropriate items to the bag "gently massage" the bag to mix ingredients. This process was dubed "mangling the meat." That is what we are doing in the picture. So after almost 2 hours we took home 8 meals all freezer ready and divided so we can make a few servings at a time. We are ready to entertain! I would do this again if the opportunity came up, but I won't be doing all my meal prep this way. They are on to something with the ziplock though...

Man cleaning....

Nick made his wonderful chocolate chip cookies today. We have a church plant meeting tomorrow and that is what we are bringing for the pot luck. Then he had the wonderful idea to take some to our neighbors. So we did. We visited with them for a little bit, got the tour of the house, met the dogs....and this led to an impromptu get together at our house. They were just sitting down to supper, so that gave us an hour to make our house visiter ready. We "man cleaned." The house has the appearance of being clean, but really there are things stashed just out of sight. We played Apples to Apples with Mark, Joanna and Rodney. We have chatted and made small talk in passing, but never hung out with them. It was a fun evening. Its nice to have next door neighbors that arent creapy.

I also worked on my scrapbook for a while and watched the Fellowship of the Ring and half of the Two Towers. Good times.

Tomorrow is my last day of taking 4 extra medications. I'm excited!

Side effects

For those of you that have never been on steroids....avoid it if you can. For those of you that have, I feel your pain. Increase in thirst and dry mouth are 2 of the side effects of steroids. Im on steroids after my oral surgery. I finish them on Sunday and I cant wait. Yesterday alone I drank between 3 and 4 liters of water. Thats a lot of water. Whats worse, is I drank that much and still felt very thirsty all day.

And then there were 6

So, after weeks of being one of "those" American Idol fans...you know the kind...they whine about the outcome but dont vote. I have never voted, but I continued to be irritated that Sanjaya remained in the competition. HOWEVER, tonight, that changed. I was sad to see Blake, one of my favorites, in the bottom 3, but was extatic to see Sanjaya go home. I dont wish the guy bad...I just dont want to watch him anymore.

Today was my first day back at work after my gum surgery. It was a long day. By noon I was ready for a nap. By 6pm (clock punching time) I was dragging. I made it home and heated up some soup. (Thanks mom!) I have pretty much been living on soup, pudding and mashed potatoes. mmmm! lucky for me I have 4 flavors of soup and 3 flavors of pudding. Now, its off to bed.

Under the influence ....

of vicodin.

I just wanted to leave an update for anyone checking in (and thank you for doing so). My surgery actually happened today. The doctor successfully grafted some tissue from the roof of my mouth to my gums. I will see if we can take some pictures tomorrow.

I can tell by the length of time it is taking to write, and the number of times i have to keep correcting the same word...it's time to go to bed.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!

The Triumphant retrun of Asia Minor...

My 2 year hiatus from Guster is officially over! On Tuesday night my friend Kari called and said she got us on "the list" for a private Guster show happening on Wed. night at the Northrup in Mpls. Count me in! It has been 2 years since my last show (offically 1 year, 11 months & 19 days) so a free show at a great venue...I was psyched to say the least. This was the first place I ever saw Guster perform, back on August 1, 2002. Since then I have seen Guster in concert 15 times in 5 states. I tell you this, not to brag, but to help you understand the level of...addiction... I have met the band 10 times (this means Ive stood outside the bus, usually in less than favorable weather, to get a chance to say hi and have something autographed). For me, 2 years was a VERY long time. It has also been 2 years since Courtney, Kari and I have been to a show together. Long overdue.

So this show was a UofM student only show. Tickets were not sold but were earned by volunteer work. Something like 20 hours would earn a student 2 tickets. Well, we were on the list. Only when we got there, we werent on the list. But Kari apparently knew the right names to throw around because the ticket lady believed her, and her +2 status and handed over the 3 tickets and after show "meet 'n great" passes. We enjoyed an awesome show! In the 2 years since I last saw them, they changed up a few of their classics. The drummer, Brian, plays most of the songs with his hands (no sticks) so Im guessing that years of touring and looking at years ahead, he had to back of a bit of his "Thundergodness" and call it an "update."

This show was part of what Guster calls their "Campus Consciousness tour." Basically, sell tickets to shows at colleges (biggest fan base) and "educate students about the environment." Ryan (the leader) stated that they wanted to raise awareness and educate about global warming, but its been offically solved. Afterall, its snowing in April! So there you have it, global warming no longer exists.

At any rate, I loved the show. We got to meet the band afterwards. It was very cool because we also ran into a guy that we saw at the May '05 show. It was very cool to recognize and be recognized by a fellow fan that I havent seen in years.

We left the show (didnt have to pay for parking) and as is tradition, we stopped and ate at Perkins. When I got home after a fun evening, it was 1:15. Yes, I did get up for work this am, but definately can tell Im not in college anymore. Its rough being out that late and then getting up for work, but I would do it all over again!

Guster rocks!
"Asia Minor" With Brian, aka, Thundergod

Peoples court...

Im sure Im not the only one, because they have a line up of 4 Judge shows in a row starting around noon....but Im strangely drawn to watching them. Maybe a bit of "Im glad thats not me." Maybe a bit of "Gosh, there really are people out there that have that problem..." Probably a bit of both. Today, as has been the plan for the past 3 or 4 Mondays, I get up around 8am, go work out at Curves, and then run random errands for the day. Today that meant I went to Wal*mart to get light bulbs (which I later learned Nick got from Walgreens) then stopped at "Let's Dish" to check the place out...maybe schedule a time to use our gift certificate...and then went grocery shopping. Mondays also mean food prep for the week. While I was cooking, I watched Peoples court, Judge Maria Lopez and Judge Joe Brown (Im not positive that what they were, but you get the point) Its amazing the things people end up on TV court shows about. My favorite part is when the nick-name the cases: the case of the "faulty" futon. and my next favorite part is when the judge calls them names. Its great. I do miss Wapner though. He was hardcore.

So next monday, April 16th I am going in to try that whole tissue/bone grafting stuff again. This time my 2 doctors and the guy that makes the parts all met and discussed what could be done and how. Hopefully this time is more productive. It should be, as this time my mom will be going with. She will make sure they do everything right.

We had dinner with some friends tonight. His name is Dr Dick. He and Jen got married in October. We havent really seen them since, so it was nice to get to hang out with them again. Its always fun getting to spend time with them. Its really pretty neat that between the 4 of us, we are all in the medical field, but all in different ways. Its neat.

We celebrated Easter with 8:30 service ushering, dinner at the in-laws and then a 3 hour nap. It was wonderful!

Here starts another work week.

Hump-day

It's Wednesday. I don't really have anything significant to write about.

did you know on this day in 1614 - Native American Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe.

and now, here is a little funny....it does take a very special person to be in the veterinary field...



I think its hilarious! and so true.

Have a great day!

Weekend Update

So,you may have noticed, its been a week since Ive posted. Well, let me update you on my week.

Monday night Rollie, Sue and Stephanie (my in-laws) arrived. I had a church plant meeting. Nick spent the evening with his family.

Tuesday I worked and then headed over to Michael and Aimee's house to meet up with the family. We went for dinner (very yummy) and came home to a dog and cat that insisted they were neglected.

Wed and Thus were typical schedules.

Friday I worked half a day (Nick did not work) so we could celebrate Micah's first birthday. We had lunch with the family at Applebee's. The rest of the afternoon, I enjoyed the company of the family, and I took a nap. Some frinds joined us to celebrate Micha's birthday some more. This time we had cake, presents and lots of fun!

Saturday I got my eyes checked so I could FINALLY re-order contact lenses. I've been wearing glasses to squeek out as long as I could. We got tax money back, so Sam's Club opitcal here I come. After a 20 minute wait for my appointment start. (by this time I knew I was inching close to being late for the wedding shower) I got to see the very nice eye doctor lady. She was great and didn't scold me for using generic solution or using disposable lenses until they hurt my eyes. She said both are cool to do. whoohoo!

I got to my in-laws about 5 minutes later than the time we wanted to leave, but we got to Owatonna on time...so it was all good...right?

So my Sister-in-law, Stephanie, is getting married on June 30. This was her bridal shower from his side of the family. It was a fun shower with no "fun" shower games!

Saturday night Nick and I watched "the Breakup." It was a decent movie. Not one I would buy, but glad I rented it.

That brings me to today. We slept in a bit. I spent about 3 hours organizing and going thru my pile of recipes. I have been working on compiling the "Moonen Family Cookbook" and wanted to get a few things organized before I started typing it. I have a whole PILE of recipes. I went grocery shopping today. Cub had some great deals that I couldn't pass up. Shrimp was BOGO.

As is our typical Sunday, we went to the 5pm church service at Woodbury Lutheran. We ushered. We came home and watched Simpsons and Family Guy. I'm updating the blog and will be getting things ready for tomorrow.

With all the rain we have had, our Sump Pump has been working overtime...thankfully its working!