October Movie Month

Ok - so if you have not done Redbox DVD rentals yet, you gotta try it now. It's the most affordable entertainment you can come across this month. Here's a link to a post I made on Dealofday.com. I just put in the info that was in the emails I got from Redbox.

We like Redbox. Basically, during October you can rent up to 15 movies and pay $5 plus tax. Now tell me you can get around 30 hours of entertainment for cheaper than that.

Yesterday

I lost my crankshaft pulley on the drive up to the Cities yesterday, taking with it a couple of belts, making my battery light go on and lose power to a lot of stuff. That was a real downer. Luckliy, I was paying attention to how far the next exit was and everything worked out so I could get off the highway (with construction, no shoulder, and down to one lane) and pulled into a Wal-Greens parking lot. My neighbor John, who owns the gas station, came up last night and towed my car home. Guess what Andy gets to do this weekend.

We ate @ Woody's Grille in Eden Prairie. It's a nice place. I highly recommend the Creme Brule Cheesecake. Mmmmmmm! We're at the Spring Hill Suites right now. It's a very nice place. Would highly recommend it. Almost missed breakfast though, got up at 8:50 (ended @ 9am) & ran downstairs and grabbed some stuff to take back to our room. The room is a suite (obviously, by the name) and has a fridge & microwave, so we kept things cool and reheated until we were actually ready to eat.

Have a headache this morning,but I am sure it will pass. We're going to go the Arboretum this afternoon and maybe run some errands, and then finally meet Jill & Tim (she is in town for a conference & they are both running the Twin Cities marathon on Sunday) and have dinner @ Buca's.

Recent Purchase

We just bought this Tahoe today. Great price on it. It has an exhaust issue, so we dropped it off at Exhaust Pros tonight and they will get it fixed. Now we have to sell the truck.

Weekend Re-Cap

Friday: Had that conference all day. It was pretty good. Andy & I went out for Chinese (huge buffet and we ate WAY TOO MUCH!) and then "The Ring Two" and "Ladder 49"

Saturday: Went to rummage sales in the morning until it started to POUR! Found some good deals. We also did some home improvement work. Finally finished the upstairs hallway. It needed to be trimmed out around the floor. Andy did most of that. I did the caulking to fill in gaps by the door frames. Damn! I love the caulk. It looks very nice now and that area is all finished. I guess I shuold take some pictures now and post. Sent out invites to a Wine & International/Specialty Beer Tasting Party that we are going to have next month. That should be fun. Rented & watched "Million Dollar Baby" and "Guess Who" Don't rent Guess Who, it's not worth the money. It pretty much sucked.

Sunday: Didn't really do a who helluva lot. Did some grocery shopping and laundry, took a nap, made Lentil Tomato Soup, and drove to the Cities to pick up the Tahoe. Yup, that's it. Just got the invite to Jenny's Halloween Bash on October 29th. I want to go, but not sure if I can get Andy to go. He hates dressing up. I might have to bring a friend with me.

Next Week: It's our anniversay (4 years) on Thursday. So, we are going to stay up in the Cities that night. I think I will be **cough, cough** sick to work on Friday. We are staying at the Spring Hill Suites in Eden Prairie. We'll go out to eat. The plan is to eat at Buca's. We talked about going to see a play, either at the Plymouth Playhouse (8pm show of the Church Basment Ladies) or at the Brave New Workshop (8pm show of The Brave New Others in: Five People to Avoid in Heaven), but we'll see how we are doing on time. We might just decide to go back to the hotel and crash. And on Friday, as long as the weather is nice we want to go to the Arboretum and possibly the Imax (@ the zoo.) But we'll see what we have time for and feel like doing.

Something to Aspire To

So, this guy apparently must not work if he can spend almost 70 hours sitting on the couch, and almost 77 hours standing on one foot and 100 hours bowling. Who the hell kept their bowling alley open for that long in the first place? I am willing to bet he didn't have to pay anything to bowl in exchange for all the publicity they would recieve. And who has 16 Guiness World Records? What do he do - sit home and look through the record book trying to find a record to break. Maybe I should buy the most recent book or go to their website and have each of the kids come up with a record they think they could break.

Larry

Larry is such a poser. The moment he sees the camera he turns into such a ham. I had to take a couple pictures of him. The poor thing still doesn't get it that he is too big to fit into most things, but bless his soul, he still tries.

Come & Gone

Another weekend has come and gone. Although it was a very tasty weekend (no particularly forgiving to my hips though.)

Friday - Went out to El Tequila (had shrimp fajitas & plenty of free chips & salsa)

Saturday - Went to that auction I mentioned (just a bunch of crap, bought nothing), planted tulip bulbs in new (this year) landscaped area and covered with red cedar mulch, went to the party @ Cathy & Keith's house and had lot so great food (gumbo, rice dishes, crawfish boil, bread pudding, pecan pie, watermelon, chili, buttered garlic beans, keg of beer, Handgrenades, many other dishes) and played volleyball and had a campfire too.

Sunday - Went to an auction here in town (more crap, only spent a buck), then went over to the outlet mall and bought new walking shoes and some snacks & Harry & David, ran to the Cities to pick up some stuff and stopped @ Subway & DQ (had a Turtle Pecan Cluster Blizzard - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!)

Guess I better put on those new walking shoes and burn off some of that Blizzard.

Need a Kidney?

I saw this ad (#12). Some dude is selling his kidney for $200,000.

A Cleaning Lady

So, I think we are getting a cleaning lady. People that Andy work with often wonder why we have not already gotten a cleaning lady and I think it was for a couple reasons 1) we couldn't budget one before and 2) I was thinking they would cost as much for one in the rural area as in the Twin Cities (foolish girl.)

So, a co-worker had recommended his cleaning lady and I met with her last spring and she only had an opening on a Tuesday, which is not what I was hoping for. I was looking for a Thursday or Friday. That way I knew the house would be all cleaned before I had people over.

She costs about 50%-75% less than some people in the Cities pay. So, really she is a bargain. She is only going to come every other week and I am mainly goingt o have her clean bathrooms (since we use 3 of the 5 on a regualr basis and I hate cleaning the bathroom). And dusting - she can do dusting - there is always dusting to do.......And vaccum the stairs, that never gets done often enough and there is always cat hair on the stairs.......

I've never had a cleaning lady before.....I feel so special.....

Sure, I can clean my own house, but if I can pay someone a little money to do the jobs I hate, then we all can be happier......and I can schedule happy hours at my place every other week......guess we can start drinking down the plentiful supply we have in our bar......

This Weekend & Next

This weekend -- well, what can I say. It started out with a 3-hour Happy Hour at my place. Alicia, Trudi, Linda & Misun came over. It was a good way to end the first week of school. I didn't need it until Friday, and when Friday came I REALLY NEEDED IT! I like to have people over to my house for drinks for several reasons: 1) it's cheaper 2) no smoke 3) plenty of snacks available 4) clean bathrooms 5) more privacy. Then Andy & I went and rented Hide and Seek. It was a pretty freaky movie.

Saturday: Not much happening here.....went to some rummage sales.....found a lot of crap! so I only spent 75 cents.....stayed home in the evening and made us a nice meal and homemade strawberry pie.

Sunday: Another day of sitting around.......I can ge used to this......only ran out to pick up a few groceries and met Carrie & Kyle @ the Muni for some drinks. Made Eggplant & Spinach Lasagna, which is in the over cooking as I type.

Next week -- LOTS of meetings....welcome back to work....yikes!

Next weekend -- Cathy & Keith are having a New Orleans party on Saturday night....I guess this was something they were planning before Katherine...she just wants to cook a bunch of food....I have some Hand Grenade mix I had bought in New Orleans and never used, so I think I will bring that with some vodka (don't have the grain alcohol it calls for.) I asked her if she plans to flood her house too. Probably bad taste.

During the day on Saturday Andy & I plan on going to this auction (click on Saturday's date). Looks like a lot of nice stuff. I am excited to go. We've only been to one auction this year and it rained so we didn't stay long. Auctions just get my adreneline pumping (maybe that's why I am addicted to ebay so much). This one is indoors, so it will be fine either way.

Sounds Interesting...

I think I want to go to this Open House for the U of M Southern Research and Outreach Center. I have never been there, so it will be nice to see. Plus - free food & wine. I'm game. I think I will offer it as extra credit to go to for the classes I teach at the community college. It fits in nicely with both classes I teach there in the evenings.

I am going to this conference on Adlerian Play Therapy in 2 weeks. I am looking forward to that. I get 5 conference days per year to go to (it's great being contract into the school district, as there is more flexibility.) I used 2 conference days in March and now one this month. So, guess that means I have 2 more to go.

I Made It!

I slept like crap last night because I was so excited about being back at work from summer break. I made it through the first day of school. When is the first break? No, I'm just kidding. We have some really challenging new students and one of our 4 periods is overloaded -- too many kids. You know what happens when there are too many kids with emotional and behavioral disturbances are together -- well, I can tell you it isn't good. They certainly don't sit around scrapbooking. So, we'll have to do some arranging of schedules to make sure big problems don't arise.

Innocence Stolen

Well, my innocence was stolen much before this. But this still does not make me happy. Andy had his Rio Carbon (mp3 player) in the garage and left it there last night and it was stolen. Fuckers! Didn't steal anything else, even though we have a lot of tools in there. So, it makes me believe it was probably teenagers. When Andy talked to the Sheriff he had no idea what an mp3 player was and said, "So, is that like an iPod." Yes dill-hole, it is. I sometimes hate that mp3 players are only known as iPod, just how all copy machines are either copy machines or Xerox Machines, or all tissues are Kleenex and all gelatin products are Jello. One brand gets known for an item and that is all people can associate with it.

Anyways, it sucks that his Rio was stolen and that we now have to feel like our little town is less safe.

The Long Weekend

Friday: We went to Carrie & Kyle's House. We were going to go out for dinner, but decided to run to Papa Murphy's & the liqour store instead -- which allowed the guys to watch the Vikings game while the girls talked. Kim & Travis joined us a little later. Andy got drunk.

Saturday: The morning I ran errands (bank, library, Farmer's Market, Fleet Farm, & get a dvd from Redbox) all in a 1 hour time frame. Then went over to the outlet mall to check out their Labor Day Weekend bargains. Found a bunch of recipes to make with my stuff from the FM. Cooked & watched Finding Neverland. Also watched Shark Tale on HBO. Then we sat in the candlelight and talked. The storms were pretty bad and I figured the power just might go out anyways.

Sunday: Pretty much stormed all night and morning. Ended around 10:30am. We had a Flash Flood Warning for our County & the one above us until 11am. Some more cooking. Made Raspberry Scones (ate some for breakfast) and have Chicken Wild Rice Soup in the slow cooker. Watched The Grudge and In the Army Now on HBO. Also, went to see March of the Penguins at the theater. Should not have gotten a Diet Coke that late at night. Read "The Undomestic Goddess" all last night and finally went to bed around 3am. Also, did some caulking of windows in the house, maybe that will help with the drafts in the winter. I'm not done yet (since we have sooooooo many windows and they are almost all 6-pane) but it's a start. God, I love caulk!

Monday: Made some Banana Cereal Muffins. They don't really rise much, but they sure taste good. For some reason I was really in a "homemade" cooking mood this weekend. For dinner I made homemade tomato soup. Never had that before, was very tasty. And some open-face ham,veggie& cheese sandwiches. Yum. Also ran to the outlet mall again. Went to a few stores I didn't go to the other day.

Tomorrow: Back to work. School starts.

Another Redbox Code

Code: LABORDAY to get your free night rental.

Farmer's Market

Today was a great day to go to the Farmer's Market.....there is so much produce ripe for picking.....so that means so many choices. I decided to pick up some stuff that I did not grow myself. I bought a lot of stuff.
* 1 Eggplant (Plan to make Eggplant Lasagna with this)
* 2 Yellow Tomatoes
* 2 Zucchini (my plants seem to be done producing) (Want to make Chocolate Zucchini Bread)
* Small Basket of Okra (never cooked this before, thinking about making some seafood gumbo)
* HUGE head of cabbage (am makaing cabbage rolls & cabbage soup tonight and still have leftover cabbage)
* 3 Onions (1 yellow & 2 purple)
* Jar of Pico de Gallo (she claimed it was very spicy...to me it's very mild)
* Bunch of Bok Choy (going to use this in a Chicken Stir Fry)

All that for only $6.50, pretty good I say.