Labor Day Weekend Re-Cap!

We had a great weekend at the cabin! It was great to spend time with all of my family, especially my niece and nephew! Here's a picture of my niece trying to climb on the coffee table. I think she was successful!
Here is my nephew and my cousin's daughter going tubing behind the boat - it was their first time trying it and they loved it!
My nephew - I can't believe he's going to be 4 this fall! He's getting so big!

And, in other great news, The Office Season 3 arrived today! Yippee! Guess what I'm doing tonight? :)
I hope everyone had a great weekend! And thank God for short work weeks! Gotta love them!

Labor Day Weekend

Not much exciting going on this Labor Day weekend. We're going up to the cabin like we do every year. I treasure these times since I get to see my 96 year old grandma. I also get to spend a lot of time with all of my family. It's something special and something most people don't get to (or want to) do.

Another exciting event this weekend - Kristen and Scott Stafne are going to be on the Jerry Lewis Telethon this weekend! Here's the information for when they'll be on:

--Nationwide--
Late Sunday night around 11pm West Coast time (1am in Minnesota) - profile and interview

--Locally in MN--
Monday around 12 noon - replay of profile

I'm hoping to catch them, but TV is spotty around the cabin. If you want more information about Scott and his struggle with ALS, you can check out their website. Best of luck to them and here's hoping they raise a ton of money for ALS research!

Have a great weekend and congratulations to Mark and Alli who are getting married this weekend!

THE OFFICE SUMMER VACATION

So cool! I CAN'T Wait!!!

Extreme Home Makeover!

Linda and I went to see the Extreme Home Makeover house they're working on here in Minnesota tonight. It was so cool! There were tons of people working on the house and everything was happening so fast! Neither of us had our real cameras, so we had to use camera phones. The story about the family can be found here. They are gone until Tuesday. They tore the house down yesterday. How crazy that they can build a house in that amount of time! If you're interested in seeing the house, you can go any time. There's a map and everything at this site. Wear comfortable shoes - it's not easy walking around there!





The show will be on in November for their 100th episode. And, no, we didn't see Ty! They're in Wyoming for the weekend doing another house. Talk about extreme!

It Rained Again Today...

I took this with my camera phone while driving home today for lunch. I love how the delay made the windshield wiper look curved! Tomorrow, they're predicting sun for the afternoon - I hope they're right!

Okay, Seriously, Rain, Rain, Go AWAY!

I'm happy that we got rain. Really, I am. We needed it. But, could it quit for awhile? Along with the gloomy weather? I don't have SAD or anything, but I could do with a couple nice days. Hopefully the weatherman is right and we'll have some this weekend.

Things that have been getting me down:
1. Crabby people at work - it seems like everyone is crabby this week
2. The post office - they screwed up our mail when we went on vacation - I finally got my Cocoa Daisy kit this week!
3. This week seems to be going slowly!

Things that are making me happy:
1. My Cocoa Daisy kit is here! I can't wait to use it!
2. It's Wednesday! That much closer to the weekend!
3. This picture of the dogs when we were on vacation. They would sit and watch us when we went outside. It was cute!
4. I almost have more tomatoes ready to be picked!

Alright, I guess it's not so bad if I have more good than bad things. But I'd still like some sunshine! (and I'm sure I'll bitch about that too! Hehehe!)

Rain, Rain, Go Away?

Although the rain we've been getting has been greatly needed, it doesn't make for a great weekend. I drove in the rain on Saturday to see my good friend Karin H. We hadn't been able to hang out together for a couple of months, so it was great to catch up. I then drove in the rain on Sunday to see my friend Farrah. I've been helping her make her kids' birthday invites for the past couple of years, and last year she came here, so I made the trek down to Rochester (sorry Tracy - wish I would have more time to visit you too!). It wasn't too bad, but it makes me sleepy! My Mom called me in a panic last night - SE Minnesota had received a TON of rain - lots of flooding - and she thought I might be caught in it. It was nice of her to worry about me, but I was fine. I was a little annoyed she interrupted Entourage, but I got over it when she was so worried!

I got the coolest thing in the mail on Friday! Alli made me this frame! I didn't get a great picture of it, but I wanted to show it off. It's so cute!! Now I have to get the boys to behave so I can get a good picture of them in it. Thanks again, Alli!

Thank you also for all of the supportive comments I've received in the past week. I really appreciate all of them - and all of you!

Be Careful What You Ask For

I’ve been contemplating what to do about a certain issue for a couple of days now. Recently, my name has been drug through the mud without me having a chance to defend it. Since this is my public forum, I decided to create my own chance.

I was scheduled to go on a retreat in a couple weeks with some of my scrapbooking friends. I had paid my deposit and was planning on going. The coordinator started up a Yahoo group to help us plan everything. At this time, there were two spots remaining. Something has come up, and I will not be able to attend. I let the coordinator of the event know this and everything seemed fine. After another person dropped out, I could have sworn that there were two spots available. This made me think, well, if my spot is now covered, I should get my deposit back. I waited for the coordinator to contact me, but she never did. Last weekend, before leaving on vacation, I asked for my deposit back by emailing the coordinator. I guess this was my first mistake.

While I was gone, the coordinator contacted the owner of the retreat house about their policy of refunds. The owner said that they did not give refunds, which would make sense. She is only dealing with the coordinator and wouldn’t be involved with individual refunds. The owner then went on to say that some coordinators have a strict non-refundable policy on their deposits. Others take a poll of everyone else going to see if they should give a refund. The coordinator of my group decided to take the issue to the Yahoo group, of which I was no longer a member of, since she removed me after I dropped out.

I had no idea any of this was going on. I had no opportunity to defend myself or answer any questions. Since I had not posted to the world that I was on vacation, not everyone knew that I was gone or that I had been kicked out of the group. I received this notice on when I returned home: “As a group we have discussed your request, and the group concensus was that no deposit shall be refunded.” First I was pissed. Why did this need to be brought to the whole group? Wasn’t the coordinator strong enough to make her own decision? Then I thought better and wonder what was going on if there was the same amount people going, probably paying the same amount, but my deposit was still with the coordinator? I then sent this in an email: “…Thus I felt if someone else had taken my spot, I should get my deposit back. If this is not correct, please let me know.”

The response I got back was not friendly at all. It wasn’t, sorry, you remembered incorrectly. Actually, this is what it said: “You are incorrect. At the time you dropped out, we only had one overnight spot left to fill. As one spot had been taken. When you both dropped out, we were left with 3 total spots to fill. As of today, those spots still remain open. Sorry, but the group concensus was that no deposits would be refunded. Period. Whether the spots are filled or not. Hope that is now clear.”

You know what, it is clear now. Thanks for being so rude about it.

I deleted the emails with this information prior to all this going on, so I can’t prove any of my theories. I do hope that the group said they wanted the non-refunded deposits put towards snacks or something and that the coordinator isn’t keeping it for herself. Then I would be okay with it.

I know I put the coordinator in a bad spot by backing out. If I could turn back, I wouldn’t have signed up to go. This isn’t about the money. Really, it isn’t. I just feel blindsided by this whole thing. People who said they were my friends are now treating me like shit. I wish that I was able to give my piece and would have been heard from on this matter. I’m sure there are people from the group who think I’m selfish for even asking for the money back. Again, it was never about that. I was only doing what I thought would be fair. People have bullied and stepped on me a lot in my life. I thought what I was doing was trying to prevent that.

I guess what I’ve really learned is, don’t sign up for things with a deposit without knowing 100% that you are able to attend. The price for getting it back is more than just money.

* ETA - BonnieRose - I did email the coordinator personally. She left me the previously mentioned email. I don't know what else I could have done to make my thoughts more clear to her.

I miss The Office...

Vacation

I'm back from my week vacation. It was good, except for the crappy bed and no air conditioner! We were up on Mille Lacs Lake at a cabin. Here's a picture of the fish I caught with the lure I made.
The sunset was so beautiful last night. I loved that the pink of the sun was reflecting into the water. As nice as a week of vacation is, I'm glad to be home. Now off to work tomorrow.

DH has been Simpsonized!

Dh finally Simpsonized himself. The one the generator did was a little different, so he changed it to look more like him - down to the gray shirt that he always wears! I thought that was funny.

We also finally got some rain today. Not too much, but any would be a help now! I think I'm still going to have to water my flowers and veggies tomorrow. We could use a week of straight rain. It would be depressing, but the plants need it right now. Actually, they needed it a month ago.

Sara Bareilles - Love Song

A cheesy video - but I'm OBSESSED with this song! I think I listened to it about 500 times this week. Enjoy!

Ants are the Least of Our Worries

May God watch over the victims and rescue teams as they try and get out of this mess. One can only hope that the few deaths they have already reported are the only ones.

Not Your Aunt's Ant

We have an ant problem. I think it all stems from this little problem back in June. I think the ants are looking for water, and they've found it in my bathroom. I put out ant poison, but right now, I feel like I'm running an ant buffet. I saw less than 10 on Monday morning, got the poison Monday night, and by today, there are over 100 ants in the bathroom. Not fun. Hopefully they will go away soon, but I'm thinking it's going to be a long road. At least they're small and not cockroaches or something like that. I saw one of those in Tulsa in the woman's bathroom. I screamed and ran out of there so fast! You can't tell me cold winters aren't good for something when we don't have those types of bugs! Now every time I go into the bathroom, all I can think of is ants. Don't step on the ants, make sure the ants don't crawl on me, etc. I might get some more powerful stuff to put out when we're on vacation if they don't seem to go away before then.

I've been Simpsonized!

Dh and I saw The Simpsons Movie last night - it definitely delivered! We laughed so much throughout the whole movie. I was nervous that it would be disappointing, but it wasn't! I highly recommend it to any Simpsons fan.

And now I'm a character in the movie! You can go to Simpsonize Me.com and make your own!

The Joys of a Camera Phone

I got the coolest thing tonight! I FINALLY got something that will get the photos I take on my phone off of it and onto my computer. That itty bitty card goes into my phone, holds the photos, and then connects into the drive to load onto my computer. So cool! Now I have to share some of the photos I took with my camera that I had wanted to share a couple of months ago!
Back on Mother's Day weekend when I was selling some plaques, I saw this plant holder. I thought it was so cool, but I had no good place to hang it and someone else ended up buying it.
This was probably in May as well. It was SUPER windy out and the potato fields near my house hadn't been planted yet. I felt like Dorothy! Normally you can see for miles across this field.
This was tonight. I thought the sky was beautiful, even though it didn't turn out the best out my windshield while I was driving.
Hope everyone has a good weekend. I think DH and I are going to see the Simpson's Movie tomorrow night. D'oh!

DAMN it's Hot!

This is insanity. I live in MN not NM! I can't imagine being my neighbors without air conditioning! It's too hot to not have it. Even the dogs don't like being outside right now! Hopefully the weather people are right and we'll get some relief starting tomorrow night.

On Point

I thought I'd start out this one with another picture of my garden. This is one of my Daylillies. I love that it's two-toned.
Orion always has fun in the garden. He loves the two birdhouses I have in it - and loves that they're occupied. He points his little heart out, waiting for those birds to flush.
I always yell at him to leave the birdies alone, but he never listens! :) I guess his instincts are too much!
Oh, and other good news! From Perez Hilton's blog - "The America’s Next Top Model host and producer has just signed on to keep the show on The CW at least through 2010." Yippee! My guilty pleasure is here to stay for a couple more years!

Beyonce - Ring The Alarm Parody

After a stressful week, a little laughter!

Summer Beauty

Gotta love Phlox, Lillies and Black-eyed Susans from the garden!

7am to 3am

That's how long I stayed up on Saturday! It was so totally worth it! Linda, Beth and I went to a class taught by Kristina Contes. It was her Right Now class. This is a picture of our class - Kristi is in the middle. Also, Wes (the director of Scrapped!) was in our class! Kristi was in his movie, and they had never met, so he wanted to meet her and take her class.

Here's the awesome minibook we made in the class. The pictures were taken before I did my journaling.



Also, everyone who was in one of Kristi's classes was entered to win the new Dare book, which won't be in stores until August. I WON! Both Kristi and Nisa Finn were teaching and were at the crop that night, so I had them both sign it too.
A great day, hanging with my bitches, taking a class, shopping at MOA and scrapping. What more can you ask for! Oh - and actually winning something! :)

Tell me your Secret

I'm a huge fan of PostSecret. If you don't know what that is, it's a blog that post secrets every Sunday that people have sent in. I love reading it every Sunday.

I just found this site too. Angela Daniels has people send in their Scrap Secrets to her. Some of them are funny, some are serious.

This one is definitely me! I have WAY too much stuff! My Scrap Secret? I love buying stuff - but I don't always have something in mind to use it, and some times I never use it! I'd really like to be like Beth, who only buys what she uses. At least that's a goal! Oh, and I'd like to be like her because she's classy too - but that's another topic for another time.

Christmas in July

I think about Christmas presents year-round. The day after Christmas, I start thinking about what to get people next year. I love giving presents - so it's just that more fun when you find something perfect - no matter what time of year! What probably got me started on this is my family does dollar gifts every year. Just my immediate family. What you do is get everyone a gift for a dollar. Now with Dollar Spot, it's a lot easier, but it used to be HARD. If you can't think of anything, there's always lottery tickets, but that's boring, and no one ever wins anything more than $5. So, I start with the after Christmas sales to see if I can get something great for a dollar!

What got me thinking about this is something I saw in this month's Real Simple Magazine:

My Godmother and cousin LOVE corner pieces of anything - how great would this pan be?!?! Now if I can find one with out edges for my SIL who loves middle pieces....

Anyone else do this? Find anything great already? Please tell me I'm not the only one who's nuts about Christmas presents!

What's Your Name?

DH and I were talking about what our Porn names would be the other day. (Don’t ask me how we got started on that conversation!). In case you don’t know how to do this, take your first pet’s name and the name of the street you grew up on. He’d be Spike La France. I’d be Cotton Frear. I think we’d have a good career with those names!

Okay, now it’s your turn!

Felt!

Linda and I went to Joann's the other day and bought some felt to use in our scrapbooks. We got some regular felt and some stuff that had been stiffened. I used the stiff stuff in my Cuddlebug. Here's the result:

It was much cleaner than the normal felt. I really like the look of it.

Happy 4th of July!

Holiday Weekend

This weekend DH and I spent at our cabin with all of my family. When I say all of my family, I mean my Dad's side - 1 Grandmother, 5 siblings, 4 spouses, 10 grandkids, 6 spouses, and 10 great-grandchildren. Oh, a stepchild and girlfriend too. Between our cabin and my uncles, it's packed! This is what we do every 4th of July weekend. Here's a picture of the 10 great-grandchildren - they range from 8 to 6 months.

My Mom has a garden at the cabin that is beautiful. She's got a ton of lillies - and this plant has 28+ blossoms! Isn't that amazing? The stalk is HUGE to support all that weight!

She's also got a hen and chick plant that is flowering. I've never seen one flower! It sort of looks phallic! We're really interested in seeing what kind of flowers it has.

I slept a lot this weekend to help get over this cold. I think it's starting to go away, but not quite yet. I blow my nose more often than I'd like during the day!

No vacation until the 4th. At least there's one day I don't have to get up early!