In case you are wondering...

Tonight was the Relay For Life of Cottage Grove area kick off. In case any of you wanted to check out my personal fund raising web site, click here. Don't worry, I will be sending out emails to hit up everyone soon! Feel free to check it out.

1 day 'til kickoff

The Relay for Life of Cottage Grove Area is kicking off tomorrow! That means I will have my personal fund raising page up and running...and you can all look forward to donating! Yay! Anyway, If you want more info on how you can get involved, let me know!

I am making cookies for the kick off event. They are ribbon shaped with purple frosting. They are good.

This week I am also making a new recipe I got yesterday. Poppyseed chicken. It's very tasty. The 50g of fat per serving probably has something to do with that...but all things in moderation, right?

a much needed thaw

For those of you not keeping track, we have had almost a week of sub-zero temps. Yes, even the "highs" for the day were below or barely above zero. If you don't know how cold that is, its REALLY cold. On Friday it was starting to warm up. It was so "warm" in fact, you could step outside and not have your nose hairs instantly freeze. Yesterday was about the same. Today it is hovering around 32 degrees. The inch of snow we got yesterday morning is nice and slushy now. Tomorrow's forecast includes rain. Wednesday the forecast calls for a high of -1. Seems this global warming "early thaw" is going to be short lived. So goes life in MN. It is infact MN, it gets cold here.

Next Sunday is "The Big Game" (don't want to get in trouble for using a protected name) but I'm not that excited about it. On the one hand, it would be cool to see a team go 18-0 and be perfect. On the other had, I don't like Randy Moss and would rather it not be his team. On the other hand, I don't know that Eli and his team has what it takes to pull it off. On the other hand, the have gotten better, and the did almost pull it off last time...I think thats enough hands. My pick, Giants by 6.

Idol's back

American Idol is back. I'm not sure if I think this is good or bad. I like Idol, but at the same time, I don't need the reason to watch more TV. And really, the first few weeks are funny, but they do get a tad long. How many "worst auditions ever" can there be. The guy that waxed his chest...pretty creepy! And the "stalker" guy....CREEPY! Im excited that this year they are going to focus on "Who they are" and not on famous people talking to them. I do like Simon, usually. He could be a bit more soft and fuzzy, but then he would be Paula and throw off the whole balance of the show.

A Clean Bill of Health

For those of you that follow along and are concerned....Chester was at the vet yesterday. He, like many dogs and cats (and people) in their "golden years," has kind of a laundry list of issues. The first is the low Albumin level (serum protein) that we seemed to have ruled out all of the causes for, but haven't figured this out yet. The good news is his numbers are back up, close to normal. He seems to be pretty stable from that stand point. The other issue he has had lately is a front leg lameness. He limps pretty well on one of his front legs, we just couldn't figure out for sure which it was. The list of rule outs for a 10 year old dog is cancer, arthritis or soft tissue injury. There is no sign of cancer on his x-rays. He will be on pain medications for the rest of his life already, thanks to 2 knee surgeries, but don't think he will be like Dr. House popping a Vicodin every 3 or 4 hours. He will get his yummy chewable Rimadyl twice a day. He does like them. He ate 14 of them once. (i dont recommend this!) The other issue he was seen for was a decrease in appetite. If you know chester, or any of my pets, you know a missed meal is something noteworthy. For him to not gulp down his food the moment it hits the bowl...I get a little concerned. We again, didn't find anything to be concerned about right now. Don't get me wrong...he eats, just not with the enthusiasm we are used to from him. He also has bad breath with tartar on his teeth, he is starting to loose some muscle mass and has little lumps and bumps growing all over now. But these are all part of being a 10 1/2 year old Brittany.

an anniversary

Tonight Nick and I went to W.A. Frost to celebrate the 2 year anniversary of our engagement. 2 years ago tonight we got engaged. 2 years ago tonight the snow was slushy and melty and it was warmer than 1 degree.

A few things about tonight stand out for me. First, my husband can parallel park. As he will point out, it wasn't perfect on the very first try, but it was quite awesome. Me, not so much with the parallel parking. He says his brother's mutant power is the ability to parallel park.

Second - get the duck! Ive had duck a few other places and it has been ok, but this was awesome!

Third - we had a waiter that seemed to genuinely like his job. He wasn't hounding us every other minute, but paid enough attention for us to know he was still there. He made recommendations about the desserts, he kept the drinks adequately filled (but not so often that if you took a sip he refilled it) and he talked enough and made conversation enough to know he was still human and not just performing the tricks of a well trained waiter. I give him a 4.5 out of 5.

the other notable thing, both Nick and I have indents on our ring fingers from our wedding bands. neat.