New Year's Eve

Finally! Snow! I'm so happy about it. Everything looks so wonderful after it snows. I can't believe it's taken this long to snow! As of right now, we have 5 to 6 inches on the ground. It's still snowing like a mo-fo. The redneck neighbors are already driving up and down the street on their snowmobiles. Maybe this means a good start to the new year?

We got a new phone. I don't know if you can see it, but it's between the shredder and lava lamp. It's hard to see because it's camo. Just blends right in. Our other one bit the dust, so I let DH get this one. The rings on it is ducks, bear, elk, loon, etc. Right now we have it set on goose honking. It's pretty cool to see the dogs when it rings. Their ears perk right up. Man, I need to dust!!

DH and I are spending a quiet New Years at home. Enjoy, everyone! See ya next year!

Favorite Christmas Memories

I thought instead of re-hashing my Christmas for the 500th time, I'd share some of my favorite pictures. This is my Dad holding my niece. Isn't she darling? She's 9 months old.

This is my niece again. She crawled over to the presents, hoisted herself up, and started digging into them. Her brother wasn't too happy about it since the one she's holding is his. After I took a couple of shots of this, he took it from her and hid it.

This is my nephew, blowing out the candles from the birthday cookies for Jesus. Yes, normally it would be a cake, but my aunt decided to make cookies this year instead.


This is my whole family. SIL, brother, nephew, mom, dad, niece, me and DH. This is also the time I realized I either need a new camera or I have to get this one cleaned. Nice spot on my mom's face.

This is my cousin (who hosted Christmas) and her 8 month old daughter showing us how she can walk. Yes, it's a camo dress, but it was cute. She's got a couple of pounds on my niece (the daughter, not my cousin) and I think that's why she can walk now and my niece can't. Plus, she could sit up first too. She's got cheeks that you just have to pinch!

This is a wooden plaque made out of a picture of my Grandpa (Dad's dad) when he was bear hunting in 1952. He died when I was 5, so I never knew him very well.

The one thing I didn't get a picture of was all of my cousin's on my Dad's side. My Grandma wanted a picture of all of us. She then proceeded to tell us how much she loves us and gave us our inheritance. She knows she's not going to be around for much longer and wanted to make sure we all got it and she could see us enjoy it. It was very moving, much more so than I could ever write here. This is the same Grandma I posted about who's 95. We all bawled. I'm so glad they took the picture first!

Overall, a great Christmas. We're celebrating with DH's family on Saturday.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone! No, this isn't my house. I just thought it was cool. Tomorrow we do the big celebrating. We go to my brother's house around noon to open gifts with my immediate family, then go to church where my parent's got married, celebrate with my Mom's side, and then go to my Dad's side. That's just Christmas Eve! Christmas day we will spend at my in-laws. We're doing the gift thing with them on Saturday, my sil and her bf are in Florida with his family this weekend. Hope Santa brings everyone what they want!!

P.S. This is my 50th post! Yea me!

My Elfamorphosis

Hey, I just made a total elf of myself. Check me out by clicking the link below.http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=71fd5c990514d0e9f7c9daaG06122118

95 years and counting....

Tomorrow is my Grandma Florence's 95th birthday. 95. I can't even imagine it. I can't fathom how much change she's seen. World War I, World War II, the Cold War, invention of the TV, Movies, Cars, Airplanes, Computers, the Internet. The list goes on and on. When I was born, she was 65, so she's always been "old" to me. I've never had an extremely close relationship with my Grandma, but I do cherish every minute I've spent with her. She's now got ALS and emphysema, but is still living in her house. She's got a life alert necklace and has someone come look after her a couple times a week, but mainly she's still living on her own. If we ever had to put her in a nursing home, she'd be done for. I really wish that I would be able to have her meet my kids, but as the years go on, it seems less and less likely. I do hope that if I get to be her age, that I have as much strength, determination, and will as she does.

Happy Birthday, Grandma. I hope you continue to have a great life! I love you!

Damn the switching back and forth!

I downloaded IE 7.0 last week. DH wasn't happy about it and said that our bank stuff wouldn't work now. I guess they had sent him an email or something about it. So, I reverted back to 6.0. Guess what? Blogger wouldn't work for me. And DH said he liked 7.0 because it was faster. DAMN the DH! So, I'm back on 7.0 and everything is okay. Thank God.

I had a good time this weekend. Finished my Christmas shopping with my friend Linda. Got groceries after a long time trying to eat everything we had left in the house. Slept about 13 hours on Saturday night. Got laundry done yesterday. Good weekend.

This is a layout I did of my friend Tex who I met over 14 years ago. It was his 30th b'day last Monday, and I didn't have enough time to put this up. Anyways, he's the guy in the upper left picture. We met at a Youth Gathering in New Orleans in 1992. We've actually kept in touch all these years! He's a great guy who's now married with a baby boy. So, happy belated birthday Tex! Here's the second page of the layout:

And, yes, that skinny girl in the red shirt in the middle of the pins is me, circa 1992.

Official 2006 Christmas Card!

Here is the official 2006 Christmas card for our family this year. I made the signs in the picture, and had a grand plan of having the dogs sit in front of the decorated fireplace looking all cute with the signs around their necks. Needless to say, I then woke up and realized that they would not be up for any of that! So, I went with plan B, waiting until they were good and tired and placing the signs in fron of them. Actually, almost every Christmas card I've sent out with them on it, they've been in some state of sleep. It's easier that way. In case you're curious, Orion is on the left and Baron is on the right.

Am I First, Bonnie?

I just got back from my friend Bonnie's Scraproom unveiling. Believe me, it was worth the trip! She's got everything so cute - she should go into scrapbook decorating! Her house was also very cute and cozy. And her hubby, Greg, was the best host with all that estrogen in there!! I didn't take my camera (stupid me!), but here's a couple of pics of the gift bag she handed out.

Thanks again, Bonnie. Everything was wonderful!

Weekend Productions

Even though it seemed like I did more talking than working, I did get a lot done this weekend.

Here are some boxes I made for my co-workers. One of them loves Elvis, so I made one especially for her. I made some Christmas trees that I got from Crafts Direct for $1.

I decorated some barrettes for my niece.

I finally finished my "C"!! Now just to hang it up in it's place of honor....

Here's some of the details on it:

From the top of the "C" - hubby and my initials.

From the side of the "C" - est. 2000 - the year we got married.

Overall, it was a great weekend. There's about an hour I could have done without, but otherwise it was a blast. I don't think I've laughed that hard EVER!!

Too Nice?

Sometimes I’m too nice. Last night, I went to Target to pick up some pictures. There was only one pack there, but I could have sworn I had two to pick up there. I asked the lady behind the counter if there was another one. She checked their computer and said that there was one on there, but she couldn’t tell if it was the order I just picked up or another one. She reprinted them for me, but they took a long time. While I was waiting, I realized that I had sent the pictures to Wal-Mart, not Target. So, instead of admitting my mistake and telling her that she was wasting her time, I just sat there waiting for my pictures. After about FIFTEEN MINUTES, I decided to just leave, so I told her I’d come back for them. I never did. Why, oh why, do I sit there and waste my time, trying to save face?!?? Maybe it’s the whole Upper-Midwest Passive Aggressive thing.

I’m going scrapping this weekend at a retreat house in WI. It’s near my hometown, so I think my Mom is going to stop by. Actually, she better, since I have stuff to give her. It’ll be fun to scrap all weekend. I have to get some things done for Christmas, so hopefully I’ll be motivated and get everything done. I’ve already ran out of Christmas Cards (I made 60 of them) so I need to make more of those. I need to come up with a better plan for next year with those. Maybe I’ll do them digitally and just have them printed out. This whole cutting and gluing thing is getting to be a bit much with so many cards.

I’m trying to make the day go faster. I just want to leave to go scrapbooking, but I can’t leave yet. Damn the used up PTO!!

Have a good weekend. I’ll probably post Sunday.

I've been Tagged!

Okay, Bonnie, Here I go!!

A - Available or single: Neither (aren’t they the same thing?)
B - Best Friend: Todd, Karin, my bitches (sorry, did it say one?)
C - Cake or Pie: Pie
D - Drink of choice: Mt. Dew
E - Essential item you use everyday: Computer. Need it for work and to update this thing.
F - Favorite color: Green
G - Gummy Bears or worms: Gummy Worms
H - Hometown: WI
I - Indulgence: Shopping and Scrapbooking
J - January or February: January – my DH was born then. Oh and Linda too.
K - Kids & Names: Orion and Baron. Furbabies count too!
L - Life is Incomplete Without? Naps and Scrapbooking
M - Marriage Date: June 24, 2000
N - Number of Siblings: One brother
O - Oranges or Apples: Oranges
P - Phobias or Fears: the boogieman
Q - Fave Quote: Bitches! Oh wait, that’s not really a quote!
R - Reason to Smile: My niece and nephew
S - Season: All of them. I get sick of one and then another one shows up
T - Tag 3 or 4 people: Linda, Tara, Nancy
U - Unknown Fact about Me: I can’t roll my tongue
V- Vegetable You Don't Like: Green Peppers
W - Worst Habit: Nail biting
X - Xrays: Mainly have had cat scans, but some xrays too.
Y - Your Fave Food: Cream Cheese Wontons
Z - Zodiac Sign: Aries – April 4

Thank God for your Blessings

My Mom just called me here at work to tell me that my Aunt and Uncle had a fire at their house last night. Luckily, they were not hurt. The smoke detectors were working and woke them up. I guess one of their cats was killed. If it would have been last week, they would have been out of town and their house would have burned down. They think it started in the bathroom because of faulty wiring. My Aunt just had new carpet installed and had redone their kitchen (the bathroom is right off the kitchen) in the past year. At least they were okay. My other Aunt and Uncle have an apartment that is fully furnished and not being used right now that they can live in until they are able to move back in to their place, which is so lucky.

No matter how stressful your Holidays have been and will get, just remember that it’s the safety of your friends and family that truly matter. Things could always be worse.

Party!

Yesterday was the TCS Christmas party. It was really great to see everyone and celebrate the holidays. If only we could figure out a way to do the gift exchange before we get there! :) I was able to get a huge part of my Christmas cards done, so that was nice. I'm hoping to finish them up this week. I'll try and post one when I'm done.

My parent's are coming up for dinner tonight. It's really strange because they only ever come to my house for some reason - there's really not a reason for this visit. They think it's too far to my house, since I live over an hour away. I don't think they realize that it's the same distance from my house to theirs as it is from theirs to mine. I told DH that it feels like their coming over for an intervention or something, and he said that he was thinking the same thing. Hopefully it's just dinner and that's it.

Thanks for the great day today, bitches!

Well, I'm glad I got that figured out...

What Drug Are You? Your Result: Heroin You enjoy feeling light, floaty, and airy, almost saturated with happiness. You like to not give a care in the world and like to concentrate on only one thing at a time. Ideal Jobs: Artist, Musician, Counselor
LSD/'Shrooms
Marijuana
Methamphetamine
What Drug Are You? Create a Quiz

Christmas Decorations

Most of my Christmas decorations are up, so I thought I'd post one of my favorite decorations.

This is my nativity set. It's Willow Tree by Demdaco. I love their angels, and decided I'd love to have the nativity set too. My Godmother has gotten me most of the pieces the past couple of years for Christmas. Finally I was able to complete the set last year. I love how simple everything is and how "crafty" the pieces are. My favorite has to be the camel, which is on the far right hand side. It's so cool. It even has a chain for a rope hanging off of it.

It's sad that I can only display this once a year!!

We don't have a Christmas tree up this year, and didn't last year either. We got an electric fireplace for our living room a couple of years ago, and now we don't have room. I'm not too happy about it, but it's the way it has to be for now. I'm hoping to get my house collection up soon. I'll try and take a picture of that when it's up too.

Say What?

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
Boston
The Inland North
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Thought this was funny. Try it out and post your answers!

This sucks. I'm at work right now. I should be shopping. Who doesn't give their employees the day after Thanksgiving off? Obviously my employer. I LOVE shopping the day after Thanksgiving. It's so much fun. But now I'm sitting here at work writing in my blog. If I had a second of time off, I would have taken it today. I guess this is a good reminder to not use all of my vacation before now. And, yes, I will bitch about this the day after Christmas too.

Well after all of my whining and complaining, this weekend turned out good. I watched most of the Office season 2 on Friday night, and then went to my hometown on Saturday. Went to the best italian place for dinner and then went to my alma matter for a play. They did Crazy for You. It was spectacular. I was really jealous, though, because they never had an auditorium when I went to school there, even though we had a great music department and had a lot of people involved in the local theater scene. This all happened because we (and the people before us) were good and strived to be great. It would have been nice if it would have been us up there, but it was nice that the next generation was able to have it and make good use of it. I did figure out that the kids in the play were in second grade or younger when I graduated. How depressing!!

I had a great time with my nephew and niece this weekend. I tried to get my niece to walk and say "Auntie Cole", but it's hard when her only word is "mama". My nephew wanted me to hang out with him all the time and even told his mom that he loved his Auntie Cole a lot. Doesn't that just melt your heart? Glad I sucked it up and didn't miss it.

Heard from DH on Sunday. They've gotten a couple of bucks and some does. DH said he got a really small doe, so hopefully he'll get something else too. A big buck would be nice. But not big enough that he wants to get a mount or something. I really don't want that in my house.

Took Baron into the vet on Saturday, he's got another ear infection. $108, antibiotics three times a day and ear drops twice a day isn't my idea of fun, but I don't want him suffering any more. Plus, I think it can make them deaf if you don't take care of it, right?

Well, another week at work. Only 5,000,000,000 until I retire. Too bad I only have Thursday off this week. I'm going to miss my shopping!!

Well, I'm feeling a little better than I did when I posted last. Hopefully this up-turn will continue.

Very excited about the mail today - got the Office Season Two on DVD!! And CSI Season Six. CSI is for DH for Christmas. We have the other seasons too. I'm going to watch part of the Office before I actually watch the Office tonight! How cool is that!

I also had something funny happen at work today. I had to set up a laptop for a school district that is buying a computer program from us. One of the bags had these strange "International Symbols" on it. I actually found it so funny, I scanned it at work!!

First of all, the bag wasn't big enough to fit over your head - let alone while singing. Second, is it okay for the baby to have the bag on their head when they're not crawling? I don't think the bag was even big enough to fit a newborn's head in. Plus, the bag had two small holes, making it almost impossible to suffocate even if you could get your head in it. No, suffocation isn't funny. These pictures are!! Oh, I even made copies of this for a bunch of people in my office, they thought it was so funny!

I've been in a sort of funk lately. I don't know if I'm overwhelmed by the Holidays coming up or just not happy at work the last couple of weeks. I have a terrible habit of committing to doing things and then really not wanting to do them when it comes time. I can even be super excited for something and then get almost depressed thinking about it when the time comes for the actual event. Case in point, this weekend I'm going to WI for a deer hunter's widows weekend. It's something I've been doing for 7+ years now. We go shopping, to dinner and to a play. It's usually very fun. Well, this year, only my Mom and SIL are going. We're not shopping. SIL has to stay home until 4pm with my nephew and niece until the babysitter comes, so most likely, we'll be sitting around their house. I just don't want to go this year. But if I don't go, my Mom will wonder if I'm mad at her. Yes, she's just as irrational as I am. It will be a big "thing" for a couple of weeks. What makes it worse is that we have Thanksgiving at my parent's house next week, and so I'll get all the questions again, why weren't you there? Are you mad at me? Is it something I did? So, the question is, what's worse? Doing something I really don't want to do and possibly have a good time? Or put up with stupid questions? Or, just tell my Mom the truth that I don't want to do it and still put up with the stupid questions? Basically, I want to crawl into bed for a couple of months. Maybe that would help. And, yes, I'm on antidepressants. Strong ones.

I was upset after Tuesday that some of the people I voted for didn't win. Sometimes, you find out something about someone you voted for, and you wish you could have known before the election. He wouldn't have gotten my vote.

Exciting night here at our house. DH wakes me at 3:30am for me to help him - with a deer!! I guess DH's friend hit one on the way to work and called DH to come and help him. It was dead in the ditch, but not very banged up. When the highway patrol came, DH asked if he could have it. And he said yes! He hasn't actually gone deer hunting yet this year (he'll go in WI in two weeks) but he's gotten a deer already! Let me just tell you how excited I was to help get that thing out of the trunk of our beater. I don't think I was much help cause I was spazzing about it so much. I don't mind hunting and I'll eat venison, but I'm not big on how it gets to my table. As I type, there is a deer carcus in my garage. What a lovely thing to come home to! Then, after we get this deer out of the trunk, DH tells me when we're in bed that he was hoping to get a little something! I told him, no, not when you make me drag a deer out of the car! That negates any sort of "something something" that might happen!! Especially at 3:30am!!

Linda and I went shopping in MG on Saturday. We had a great time exploring the shops there. Although the coolest part of the night had to be when we went to JoAnn's Etc. They have the coolest assortment of letters there (like A,B,C, not the ones you'd write at summer camp). The best part was the HUGE letters they had. Here's the one I got:

Isn't this cool?!? I don't know what I'm going to do with it, probably decoupage it. But it's going in my living room. I'll take a picture of it when I'm done and it's up. Probably won't be for awhile. Linda got the letter "R". I wish I had a cooler letter, but I'll have to do with C. We were goofing around saying "C that over there?" and "R you going to get that?". It was fun. Oh, they retail for $7.99, but they're so cool they're worth it!!

Have you?

Just a reminder to everyone to get out on Tuesday and
Vote!!

If you don't know who to vote for, I can either tell you, or you can check out who's running in your district by checking out the following links:

Minnesota

Wisconsin

Find your state

100 years ago, women were fighting for the right to vote. Honor them by getting out on Tuesday and VOTING!!

I'm Nicole and I approve this message.

Happy Birthday, Bro!!

Today my big brother is 35 years old!! I know he'd hate me telling all of you that. He really hates getting older. The picture above is my bro tracing his son's body with chalk. I wish I had access to my mom's photo albums, because she has a lot more embarrassing ones of him! But this was the best one I had of him. It's always been interesting for me to see other people and their siblings. My brother and I are 5 1/2 years apart. We had a couple of years when I was in middle school when we would fight, but we never were at each other's throats. One - that's not our nature (we both hate fighting) and two - I think we really got along. I never really had to grow up in his shadow because he was in sports and I was in music. He wasn't great at school (even though he has his masters now in telecommunications) and I was. Now, we still get along great. The best part is that he and DH are best of friends. I get along with his DW. I'm nuts about their kids. It's so cute you almost have to puke. But I'm happy to have him around. Happy birthday, bro - I love you!

Addendum to my previous post - Yes. I do watch too much TV. It's not like that's all I do. A lot of time I'm scrapping, doing cards, cleaning, playing with the dogs, etc. I think a big part of it is that my DH works nights and it's my way of coping with being alone. I don't have kids, just me and the dogs. And as much as I've tried to make them, they don't talk back. It's too quiet to not have the TV on. I don't turn it on until 7pm, but after then, when it starts getting dark (or is dark, this time of year) I almost have to have it on. Even right as I go to bed, I have it on until I'm ready to sleep. If I can't have my DH with me, at least my TV friends are there. Some nights, yes, all I do is watch TV. Other nights, I barely see what's going on, I'm doing so much other stuff. I guess my question was more, what do you think about what I watch, not how much.

Wow. Tomorrow is Halloween. I can hardly believe it! What's crazy is that more than being excited for Halloween today, I started thinking that I needed to get started on my Christmas shopping! I'm also in a panic about my Christmas cards. I'd tried to pose the dogs tonight to take a couple of pics, but they weren't too cooperative. Hopefully I can get an idea soon and at least have what I want to do planned out. Then I can get my supplies and start working on them! I usually make mine by hand, so the more time I have, the better.

I really need to get to my email. I'm so bad with that. Nothing that exciting ever happens, so it's hard to respond a lot of the time. I do eventually get back to everyone, but some times it's a month or so. I do feel guilty about it. Maybe some day I'll have an exciting life to email people about. I think I'd bore them with my TV schedule. And, yet, I write a blog. Ironic, I know. Maybe I should give you all my TV schedule!! :)

Monday:
7:00 How I Met Your Mother
7:30 The Class
8:00 Flip Channels
9:00 Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Tuesday:
Watch CSI Miami and Weeds that I taped yesterday
9:00 Law and Order: Special Victims Unit

Wednesday:
7:00 America's Next Top Model
8:00 Flip Channels
9:00 Top Chef or CSI: NY (not decaded to either)

Thursday:
7:00 Usually Survivor
8:00 Grey's Anatomy
9:00 Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Dual
9:30 Watch taped CSI

Friday: (if I'm home)
7:00 Ghost Whisper (if it doesn't look too scary)
8:00 Las Vegas or What not to Wear

Saturday:
Whatever - no set schedule

Sunday:
7:00 Simpsons
7:30 Whatever is after the Simpsons
8:00 Desperate Housewives

Yes, I have no life.

Any of these shows surprise anyone? I'm interested in hearing what you think....

My friend Linda talked about politics on her blog the other day and inspired me to take a crack at it. My basic philosophy on politics is that Governments job is to take care of safety and roads. Everything else should be dealt with by the private sector. Safety includes police, fire, army, and all that jazz. If that was all they dealt with, our taxes would be so much lower that we could afford to give to private organizations that would help the homeless, poor, etc. What about schools you ask? I think they should all be private. If they were, we would know where all of the money was spent and what was going on. If not, people would send their kids somewhere else. There’s just not enough accountability now. The worse idea in the world is to have universal health care. It doesn’t work anywhere else, no matter what anyone tells you. If the Government got their hands on all that money, we’d be worse off than we already are. It’s not that I don’t trust the Government; I just don’t trust them with money. They seem to screw up everything they get their hands on. We chose to fight for our freedom from England over taxes, but now things are almost as bad. At least we have representation, but that’s about it. This is why I vote Republican most of the time. They usually go for small Government. USUALLY. I was also listening to talk radio today and they were talking about why people choose to not like a celebrity after they find out their politics. For me, I'd rather not know. It really ruins it for me when I find out that my favorite actor or actress is a member of PETA or something like that. There is nothing wrong with belonging to that group, but I just don't agree with it. It just puts a bad taste in my mouth. Tell me what they're wearing, who they're dating, not who they're voting for. Maybe it's because my parents never talked about politics around me. They still won't tell me who they voted for!!

Now on a lighter note - all you scrapbookers out there HAVE TO check this out!! It's so funny!

Ah...Tracy is going to kill me. Is this really what I'd do to the woman who introduced me to my DH? Really? Pay back's a bitch! ;) This picture is in my dorm room at UMD in the winter of 1996 after I became friends with Tracy. She is the blonde, face-down, getting hog-tied. Why, do you ask? Because she let us. The other person in the picture was my roommate Anne. We had too much fun with jello shots that night. I'd show you other pictures, but that wouldn't be fair to Tracy. I'm just hoping she doesn't start a blog and post pictures of me. We lived together two years, so I know she's got dirt on me. Now she's married to her college sweetheart and has a baby. To think she turned 30 yesterday. You gotta remember the good times!! Love you, Trac! Hope you had a great birthday!!

I've been thinking a lot about how I thought my life would turn out compared to what actually is. When I was in HS, I thought I'd live in the city, probably Minneapolis, with some high powered advertising job. I'd live in a loft apartment with modern decor and date artists and musicians. Wow. I don't think my life could be more different. Living in the sticks, just an admin for a dealership, living in a modest house with more of a country, shabby chic decor, and married to someone completely opposite from an artist or musician (although he did play in band in HS). Some very small part of me wishes I could have lived that other life, it sounds so glamorous. But think of all that I would be giving up. DH, the dogs, scrapbooking, fresh air, less stress at work, nothing but pluses. It's nice to mull over what could of been, but I'm happy right where I am.

I did the coolest thing tonight! I missed Gray's Anatomy on Thursday and I was able to watch it on my computer! How cool is that! It freezed up a couple of times and I had to start it over (but still able to fast forward to where I was) but otherwise it was great! Maybe people have been doing this for a long time, but I'm also the girl who just got an iPod and they're celebrating 5 years today. What a techno loser I am!

This weekend ROCKED! I had a blast scrapping with Alli, Linda, and 12 of the craziest ladies you've ever met. I barely got anything done, I was laughing so much! You gotta love going into the north woods and kicking it with 16 scrappers for 4 days. Too bad we can't do it more often.

Too bad work had be such a let down. I think everyone waited until today to have their problems. Too many issues from deliveries this summer. Too little time. At least the day went quickly. Hopefully the rest of the week will too.

The dogs are fighting right now. Orion is chewing on Baron like he's eating corn on the cob. Baron was running around like a maniac a minute ago. I have to go and tell them to stop chewing on their brother. Night.

I'm super excited! DH and Orion got home this afternoon! It was great to see both of them after a week. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder! Then, tomorrow, I'm going to a Scrapbook Cabin in Motley, MN until Sunday! How cool is that! I was just there in August, and now I'm going back. It'll be fun to hang out with my friends Linda and Alli - they're always such a blast to be with. I'm sure I'll end up laughing more than scrapbooking, but that's really what it's about - the fun! You don't take off two days of work to get done as much as you can - you do it for the fun! If you're interested, the place is called Raspberry Ridge.

Happy Birthday, Alli!

Can you believe this mail day?!?! I hardly know what to do with myself! What am I going to do first? Read a magazine or play with my new iPod which is finally here!!! I usually don't get mail days this good! Okay, I'm off to play with all of my new toys!

Baron and I went to Chuck and Don's Pet Food Outlet tonight. I've never taken either dog to a pet store, but I've always wanted to. DH thinks that they would be too much trouble, so he's never wanted to take them. Baron was a little freaked in the car, but he settled down after awhile. We first walked through the dog food area, just so he could get out the "smell" in him. I'm sure his senses were having a field day! Then we went over to the treat and toy area. He tried to grab a couple of things, but I didn't let him. I was really surprised that he was a good boy for the most part! He did come out of his collar a couple of times (damn DH for thinking he needs it to be so big!) but he stayed right by me while I put it back on. They do tempt the dogs with treats out in the open at their level, but he didn't get any or really even try and get any. We got a couple of marrow bone filled with peanut butter and a chuckit! jr. I think he really liked it. I'm sure he'll have to tell Orion all about it when he gets home so he's jealous! He got his bone when we got home and we'll probably try the chuckit! tomorrow or Sunday.

Now I just feel bad! DH and Orion just left. Baron is going around, looking for Orion, and whining. Doesn't he look sad? He's only been away from Orion three other times - when he got fixed, when he had surgery, and when Orion went to North Dakota last time. And that's been since he was 4 months old. Now he's 5. He just seems lost without him. And there's nothing I can do about it. Just give him lots of belly rubs and attention!!

Baby it's cold outside! There were actually snow flurries here today. I could see my breath when I let the dogs out tonight. I wore my winter coat to work. The water in my fountain on the deck was frozen. All of this in October! It's not right! I like cool, fall weather, not cold!

DH leaves tomorrow for a week of hunting in the farthest northwest corner of North Dakota. He's super excited. I'm excited for him and excited to have some time to myself, but I will miss him. Orion is going with him. Baron is staying home with me. He's too much of a Momma's boy to go away for a week. At least I'll have one heater staying home with me in this cold weather. I know I should take this time that he's away and really clean the house, but that sounds boring. Oh sure, I'll do some of it, but not enough.

Tomorrow there's a sales meeting at work, which means all of the salesmen will be there. Normally, they're on the road and only in the office once or twice a month. It's fun when they're all there. Not much work gets done and we usually all go for lunch. Then it's Friday and the work week is done! Woohoo!!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Nephew!

I just got off the phone with my nephew, he said that he was almost three (really three today) and that he had birthday shrimp for dinner. He also said Happy Birthday to Gramma when I told him Happy Birthday. I'm sure he'll get it soon enough. This is a pic from his birthday party last weekend. DH and I got him this shirt. That's Diesel 10, a naughty engine from Thomas The Tank Engine. Why he's his favorite, I have no idea. But it made the kid happy, so I got it for him. If you're ever looking for a great place to buy Thomas items - check out AllAboardToys.com.

Had a pretty good weekend. DH and I worked around the house. It's unusual that we're both home on weekends, DH is usually hunting and I'm off shopping or scrapping, so it was nice to be together. He dethatched the lawn and I did laundry and cooked. I don't do much cooking, we both work opposite shifts and it's hard to cook for one, so it's nice to do it every once in awhile. This morning we ran errands and I took a nap when we got home. I love naps! Hopefully I can fall asleep tonight, otherwise work isn't going to be much fun in the morning. DH also made goose jerky this weekend. It's the only way to eat goose. He does a good job with it.

Nothing too exciting, but it was a great weekend.

Words of advice for the day - Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.

That's it for today!

Happy 60th Birthday Mom!

I love you!

My Mom and I - June 1981

It sucks that the Twins lost again today. Hopefully they can win the next three (yea right) and move on. MN professional sports never do that well, so it's nice to see the Twins actually in the playoffs.

Tomorrow is the open house at work. I have to blow up balloons (with helium luckily) and help set up and then help tear down at the end of it. At least I won't be bored most of the day. Hopefully it will go smoothly.

The Schwanns man should be here soon. I'm needing strawberry bars and drumsticks. Okay, need is a strong word, but it sure feels like a need.

I'm really bummed. My new iPod should have been here yesterday, and it's still not here today. I'm super excited to get it and try it out. Hopefully it will be here tomorrow. It's coming from Canada, so I don't know if that's holding it up or not.

If you didn't check out my post from the 1st that I put up late, you should. It's of two cool houses I saw on the Parade of Homes.

Here's wishing for Ice Cream and iPods!

I got out my fall and Halloween decorations tonight. This is one of my favorites. DH and I went to Salem, MA on our Honeymoon and this was my souvenier from there. It's not that scary, but I think of that trip every time I look at it. It's raining like a mo-fo here. I think we're even getting small hail. I was hoping to take a picture of it, but it was too small. The dogs are NOT happy about the thunder. Baron has finally moved more than 2 inches from me. I hope it doesn't last too long, or I'm sure it's going to be a long night!!

This one's for you, Linda....

He's watching you!!!

FTF?!?!



What is going on this week? Three school shootings in 3 school days? My question is - how did this all start? Who decided it was okay to do this? I've never been so pissed off at someone that I wanted to shoot them and others around them! I think the worse part about it is that most of these shooters do all this damage and then kill themselves. Thanks. You take our children's innocence and you're not even going to stick around to tell us why? Selfish. Pure Selfish. I remember I was in college when the Columbine massacre happened. I watched CNN and the like for two days straight. I couldn't believe what was happening. Now, I found out that the school in Wisconsin is the same one my cousin was the Assistant Principal at two years ago. It very easily could have been him. And now an Amish school? They stay out of society for religious beliefs and we're going to bring them this? I'm sure they'd rather start with a tractor or phone, but no, we'll just jump right into the senseless slaughter of their children. I'm sure they're running to join the mainstream as I write. Is it even worth bringing a child into all this? How do you explain this to any child? "Now, school is supposed to be a place to learn, but some day, if a kid you pissed off comes to school with a gun, that might be it!" Good luck to all the parents out there who have to try and make sense of this themselves, and then to their kids. Now I'm just starting to think even meaner thoughts. I better stop while I'm ahead. I was going to post pretty pictures from this weekend, but the internet was slow and now you got this. I hope the shooters rot in hell for what they've done. Peace to all of the families and friends of the victims. May God save all our souls - we obviously need it.

Had a great weekend at home! My Mom and I went to two different Parade of Homes houses - they were so cool! This one was made out of recycled and reclaimed materials.

This is looking from the second level to the kitchen. They had this old metal roofing over the kitchen.

This was the door for the little girls room. I love the hardware and how the middle of it opens!

They actually made their guest bathroom to look like an outhouse! How creative!! By the way, that is rusty well water - get your mind out of the gutter!

Cool floor to ceiling bookshelves made out of Barn Wood. I love library ladders!

The second house was built by the same builder. This was was more to my liking. They even had a dog room in the basement!

The had two of these fixtures above the dining table. There wasn't any room for art, so it was a cool idea that they used such decorative fixtures.

The whole basement was a winery theme. It wasn't exactly what I'd have, but it looked great and made the basement look less than, well, a basement.

This was the mural they had painted on the back wall of the basement.

This was the door to the wine cellar. All of the trim in the winery area was this color and technique.

I promise that was the last picture!

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round....

Big things going on at work. They fired the admin in Iowa. Basically without warning. In addition, one of the salesman made a mistake that will cost him $2400 per three buses. Ouch! As usual, T turned it around and made it my fault. It was HER account before mine and SHE was the one that worked with him. But now that he's my salesman, it's my fault. Ever since I started getting more responsibility in the company, she needs to tell me almost on a daily basis how I'm not doing something right or show me the mistake she made and yell at me to never make that mistake myself. Some days I want to quit. But for the most part, I like the job. I even like T as a friend. It's the working together part that's killing me. Too bad there isn't anyone else with as much knowledge as her in the company. I know a lot of this won't make sense to anyone else, but it's nice to get all of this out. I really can't talk to anyone at work about and that makes it hard.

Grey's Anatomy was awesome tonight! I'm going now to watch CSI, which I taped. I hate that they're on at the same time. Oh well. Thank God again for the VCR!!

Can't wait for this weekend! Scrapping tomorrow night with my bitches, celebrating my nephew's 3rd birthday on Saturday, and celebrating my mom's 60th on Sunday! Fun fun fun!

Last night I got a call from the DFL party (although they didn't give out that information right away) to participate in a survey. I usually will do surveys, mainly because a Sociology prof I had in College said that if you ever expect to do research, you should participate in surveys. It made me think, and now I do them. Anyways, the guy had an accent that made it very hard to understand him. The survey also had a bunch of big words in it that the guy couldn't pronounce - and the kicker - he kept asking about Michael Bachman and Patty Wetterling (they are running for congress in my district). The thing is - it's not Michael - it's MICHELE! I had a hard time not laughing, and then I was missing his questions. The whole thing was crazy. As some of you know, I do lean to the right politically, so it was fun to answer the questions that the "other" side was asking. I'm sure I gave different answers than the rest of their sample. And the complete nonsense the candiates say about each other!! I was shocked I didn't hear "Michael Bachman thinks baby tossing is acceptable and has voted for it 500 times!" And no, I'm not naive to think that the GOP isn't doing the same thing. I'm sure they're saying that Patty Wetterling will take everyone's money and distribute it evenly to everyone!" or something like that.

I just took this picture of my dogs "fighting". They're so funny some times. Most of the time, it's like having two 100 and 80 pound kids around with the mentality of a 2 year old. But I would be so lonely without them. It's just me in the house at night (DH works 2nd shift) and I would be scared out of my mind without them here. But when they're crazy and won't do anything but bark and growl at each other, it's a bit much.

I was watching Ray Liotta on David Letterman last night and he was talking about meeting his birth parents (he was adopted). It went fine, but not as well as he had hoped. I've been asked many times why I don't want to meet my birth parents. Most people say they wouldn't be able to stand not knowing - I don't know if I could stand knowing. I've grown up with a good life and great parents - I just think that searching would open Pandora's box. You can't just say, "Oops! This didn't work out, can we just forget about it?" I guess I'd rather not know than find out something terrible or worse. Maybe when I have kids I'll feel differently. I am excited that when we finally do, that I will know someone else with my same genetics. Weird as that may seem, but right now, I have to repeat "I'm adopted" every time I'm at the doctor's and they ask about family history. They still ask me, "so you don't know your history?". NO. Sorry, I don't. I have some information from the time I was born, but my birth parents were 19 and my birth grandparents were 40. Not much shows up by then. Sorry. I just wish they could stamp - ADOPTED on my file and get it over with. Even if they check my family history, they say, so you're adopted? Do you know your history? I understand they have to make sure, but still. NO. I don't!

On a different note, I've been feeling pretty crummy (no pun intended!) about my weight lately. I know I'm fat, but I didn't think I was getting THAT fat. Pictures I've seen of me lately have looked more like this, but with more in the boob area:

Okay, all jokes aside, I really do feel crappy. My clothes aren't fitting, I can't stand looking at pictures of me. I want to do something about it, but I'm too lazy. I JUST WISH I'D GET OFF MY LAZY ASS AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! But then, while I'm wishing, I'll wish that it will all melt away and I won't have to get off my lazy ass.

Okay, enough whining. I'll leave you with a funny from work yesterday. I have to do surveys for every new bus and truck that we sell. I contacted a school yesterday and was going through the usual questions, when the customer said he would have rathered have his lettering on the bus done in paint. I told him that we usually use vinyl because of the cost and it makes it easier when you want to take it off. He said that their school had gone to a volleyball tournament and some kids had peeled off the "L's" on their beltline so it read _______ Pub ic Schools! Oops! He said that wouldn't have happened with paint! I tried not to laugh and told him that we would send him some L's as soon as possible!!