My Husband is the Sweetest

See that bottle to the right. It is just not any bottle of hot sauce. It is just the most fantastic hot sauce, well, at least in my opinion.

So, where can you buy it? Not here in the US. You need to go to Costa Rica. We have brought some of this back with us both times we went. And I always run out before we can get back there. Honestly, it's worth the trip to Costa Rica for us to just go there to eat the food (& buy some to bring home) and drink their coffee (which we have run out of too, but that is easier to get here in the US.)

Anyways - about a month ago I ran out of this delectable hot sauce.

My wonderul husband had been looking online for places to buy since before xmas, but it was always being shipping from Costa Rica and the shipping was awful. For the price of shipping a few bottle you may as well have bought a plane ticket and bought it yourself. And we would have went to Costa Rica this year for vacation if it were not that our spring break for the school district happened ONE WEEK TOO LATE for me to fly with my being pregnant. Damn it!

So, what does this smart man do? He put an ad on Craigslist asking for someone's help -- if they are going to Costa Rica, would they mind picking up some for us.

So, yesterday he sends me an email (after I asked about dinner) asking me to make some Pinto de Gallo (I more or less make this recipe, but on a smaller scale, and top it with my Chilero) because he was craving it. Well, I had been too and had just bought cilantro so that I could make it, but it would have been the first tie I have eaten it without my hot sauce and I am not sure I would like it as well (I emailed him that.) He was just eating it up, because some chilero was dropped off by people to him at work that day. So, he said I could not have had a more perfect response. He was so excited about his surprise.

Then he gets home and I tell him a package came in the mail for him. He tells me it's the rest of my b-day present and I should open it. And what's inside but two bottles (1 large, 1 small) of Chilero and 2 bottles of Banquete Salsa de Tomato Ketchup (Andy loves this stuff, it's ketchup, but with just the right amount of kick, it's actually made by Heinz, but they only make & sell it in Costa Rica.) Anyways, I was just giddy and said, "Oh, so this is why you wanted the pinto de gallo, WAIT! I didn't tell you before you got home that you got a package, how did you know?" Then he walk into the kitchen and come back wth a bag with 4 small bottles of Chilero (one guy bought 3 and another bought him 1) and said they were dropped off today and my response over email was perfect.

So, now I have 1 L bottle and 5 S bottles of Chilero. I am having pinto de gallo all the time. I also love it on eggs. I might even try it on other things. I always had to ration it before so that I didn't run out before we got back to Costa Rica, so I only at it on my scrambled eggs and my pinto de gallo (or any other Costa Rican dish I made.) I might even allow other to try it. And Andy has his salsa ketchup now (I like it too, but it was a favorite of his.)

I did happen to notice that the expiration date on these items was the month I get spring break next year. Maybe we'll have to take the baby to Costa Rica. Momma needs her Chilero!

Freebies

I could be cleaning or reading, but I decided to surf for freebies instead (at least it keeps me away from ebay.)

Here's the list:

Baby Stuff
Organic Baby Food
Beechnut Bowl
Gerber Promise Pin
Oxiclean Baby
Ensure Healthy Mom Drink
Earth's Best Organic Baby Rice Cereal
Diaper Bag Tag
Developmental Guide
Mustela Gift
DVD: 'BabyTalk Presents You and Your Baby'
Growth Chart



Fitness/Health/Diet
Magazine Subscription to Smart Moves
Nike Dance DVD

Beauty/Health
Advil Allergy Sinus
Sore No More! Natural Pain Relieving Gel
Vitabath Gelee
Dove Energy Glow
Vital Radiance
Poise Pads (need this stuff after I have the baby)
Rimmel Lipstick
Vitabath Shimmering Body Lotion
Dove Advanced Color Care (for lightened hair)
GUM Proxabrush
Maybelline Makeup
Degree Deodorant


Food/Beverage
Lipton/Tazo/Bigelow Tea
Costa Rican Coffee (Glad to see this one. We like our Costa Rican coffee, I just can't find it aywhere.)
Nescafe (14-single serve samples)
Teaology Tea
Dentyne Gum
Krispy Kreme Donut (New flavor - Creamy Caramel)

Home/Garden
Vegetable Seed Packet
Reynold's Slow Cooker Liners
Wildflower Seed Guide
Charmin Extender



There are plenty more things out there, I just posted the things I signed up for and seemed interesting to me. These were all valid as of 3/29/06. I don't guarantee how long they will be good for.

New Microbrewery in the Twin Cities

Just thought I would check out the website to the newest microbrewery in the Twin Cities, Surly Brewing Company. It's in Brooklyn Center. I read about in the RAKE. The hubby & I will have to go check it out after the baby is born and they are ready to give tours. Or maybe he'll go check it out with his brothers.

CLR is Amazing!

I just have to give some praise to CLR. See, we have this old house and even with all the plumbing problems we've had that made it so we had to replace much of the pipes over the years, there are still these really old pipes in places. One of these places goes into our main bathroom on the the second floor. The problem with these old pipes is they are rusted inside and when water runs through them the rust residue settles on our white bathroom sink and white bathtub. How annoying! Until now, I could (at best!) fade the rust residue be using a bleach cleaner on the white stuff, but getting it off the drain in the sink has just note happened. But I used this CLR today on it and it is COMPLETLY off the white in the sink and mostly off the silver drain (still goning to scrub a little more on that.) But I just had to tell you that this stuff is great. Now to go tackle the tub.

The Weekend.

Friday - Folded LOTS of laundry. Andy doesn't believe in folding his own laundry -- just lives out of baskets. So I think I folded about 9 baskets of laundry, 2 of which were mine that I just washed that day. Sad. Did A LOT of cleaning upstairs. Picked up some groceries.

Saturday - Andy worked on the Omni w/ Chris. I baked an apple pie & rhubarb (had rhubarb frozen) coffeecake muffins, cleaned & did laundry (again, although now I am just washing stuff for spring cleaning).

Sunday - Went to th Meditation Center, ran to Menards, Hy-Vee, & Big Lots. Went to a surprise b-day party for David (Happy 34th!). Came home, then left and made multiple trips trying to find a grill to buy; bought a grill (see post below.) Now, waiting for the Sopranos & Big Love (although I think I will just Tivo Big Love, as the other 2 nights I watched it it gave me wild dreams and kept me from getting really good sleep - maybe I'll just watch it tomorrow morning.)

This Coming Week - Not doing a damn thing. It's spring break and the doctor said I am 1 week too far along to fly (Oh, but he tells me he's going to Disney World with his kids - thanks for telling me that fucker! My family doc told me he was gone on vacation this week too, but he's going skiing in Colorado with his family -- that I don't care much about. It was the sun I wanted.) So, what am I going to do on spring break. Probably just clean, cook, watch movies, & read, maybe try to get together for lunch with a couple people, but not much else. I picked up 3 books & 3 movies from the library.

Grill-Envy

Not sure if it's like penis-envy or not. But anyways - we needed a new grill. The one we have did the job just fine for 6 1/2 years, but now it was getting to the point that we going to need to invest some money in it to fix it up, which we would not have minded doing, but we just couldn't find the size of grill racks we needed to replace. You can see that our top grill rack had worn through (the stones are on top because Andy as cleaning below, he also thought we would probably need a new burner before the year ends anways.) So, above is the old grill. One of the big things we were looking for in a new grill was that the racks were thick & sturdy, which these are. This new grill is made by Brinkman. The picture to the right is of the new grill from their website; it currently sits in the box in the garage. But my! Isn't it a nice looking grill.....it is a HUGE MONSTROSITY! We might have to do a little rearranging on the back deck to fit this baby there. It has 6 burners (WOW!), 60,000 BTU, 800+ Sq. In. of cooking space, a side burner (which has a cover so it can be a side table to match the other side), The bottom is all enclosed & everything (hence the doors.) It's pretty impressive. The box says it weighs 211 pounds. That's crazy. Guess we'll be doing a lot of grilling! Glad I bought all that hamburger & steaks. Who's ready for a picnic?

Can You Grapple This?

If there is some new fruit at the supermarket, I am all about trying it. Last night I picked up a 4-pack of Grapple (long a). Actually what it is, is a Fuji Apple somehow infused with artificial grape flavor & water. Not too bad, a little expensive. Was worth it to try it, but I'll probably just stick to real grapes and plain Fuji apples.

Holy Moley!

I had an appt. today with my Family Doc to have him check out these moles that developed last summer. One is particularly bothersome because it is raised quite a bit and gets knicked when I shave. So, he checked them out and said they looked benign & gave me some long fancy name for the type of moles they are and an explanation that they probably developed because of some trauma to that area (bug bite, puncture of some kind, etc.) So, he froze them (which feels like little bee stings) and said the area should dry up and flake off within 3-4 weeks, with no scars or anything. If they don't go away from that, then I can come back in and they will do outpatient surgery and carve them out (but I'd have a scar from that) and they would send them to pathology. But he said if they are what he thinks they are (whatever that long name was) then this should work just fine.

Remembering a Funny Story

Today, on my way up to the Cities for a conference I drove by this semi that was pulled over to help someone change a flat tire and it made me remember a funny little story that happened to me (about 10 years ago now - man, am I getting old).

I was 19 years old and was making the 5 hour drive across WI with my 18 year old friend Jeni to go back to my hometown for a visit. We left very early in the morning or late at night (whatever you want to call it) and started our journey. It had to be about 6:30 in the morning when all of a sudden I heard a loud sound and the car started driving funny; Jeni was sleeping. I pulled the car over to the side of the road and turned on my hazards. Jeni woke up and asked what was going on & I told her I think we had a flat. Upon inspection, we discovered that we indeed had a flat. Shit! We're about 10 miles from the next town and about an hour left to my parents house. Dammit! Neither one of us ever changed a tire before, but we knew we could do it. So, here we are, 2 teenagers sitting along the side of the road looking like blond idiots trying to figure out what we were going to do next. (I had AAA, but what good was that going to do me w/o a cell phone. Now things are different.) Then, all of a sudden this semi pulls off the side of the road behind us. Nothing is scarier than seeing a semi coming straight for you. They had 2 adult guys & seemed to be one guy our age in that semi and they got out and asked if they could help. Wow! This had the makings of a horror movie already. We said we were fine & were just going to put on the small donut spare and be on our way. They insisted that they do it for us. We were nervous, but let them. Hell! We sure didn't know what we were doing. They go to pick up the cover over the spare, and what do you know -- several bottles of booze & cans of beer are stashed there. I wonder how those got there. Hmmmm....considering we were going back and my friend Mike & I were throwing a party at his parents house while they were gone, well, it couldn't have been mine. Shit. Yes it was. Of course, we felt this urge to explain, but didn't. We just offered them a beer @ 6:30am. The young guy took a beer and watched while the older two replaced the tire and also he sat & flirted with Jeni. She found him kinda cute. The older guys finished & I offered them the only money I had in my wallet (which for some reason I remember my dad telling me to keep some emergency money, in case of an emergency, like paying someone to change my tire.) They didn't take it. We drove to the nearest town, all the time wondering what would have happened if Jeni would have exchanged numbers with that guy. We fantasized about going on Oprah and telling the story how she met her husband @ 6:30am when these guys stopped to change our tire and we offered them a beer. Crazy girls.

We did have our party and we were even more crazy then. Most of the people there didn't leave the area by too far or went to schools in small cities, I was the only one who actually went to a big city, so they were pretty shocked when Jeni & I were dancing provacitively with one another. We loved doing that, because it pushed people's boundaries & shocked them (which was fun to do.) I was mad at this one guy I was friends with because he was dating my middle sister (he was a freshmen in college, she a freshmen in high school) and Jeni was going to do all she could to help me out with that. It first started with me yelling at him through Jeni -- see, I wasn't talking to him & didn't want to look at him. And when you're drunk you get bright ideas like having one person make the motions & wave their hands like idiots while the other person stands behind them and does the yelling. I couldn't possibly look at him & yell at him, so she had to do one. The logic of a drunk college girl isn't always the greatest. She took it one step further (all on her own accord) and decided to make out with him and leave some hickeys on his neck (he couldn't possibly go out with my sister with hickeys from another girl.) It was pretty funny & she thought she was funny for doing it.

It was a weekend full of stories. The next time she came back to my hometown with me didn't start off too different. That one started with being pulled over for speeding (which I never got warnings for, always tickets), but I'll save that story for another day.

I just felt like sharing the story as I remembered it today. I had a chuckle from remembering it.

Uneventful Weekend

It was a pretty uneventful weekend. Friday we just ran to Taco Bell & picked up some stuff, then attempted to get a DVD from Redbox, but it was broken. So, we watched a movie we had at home we hadn't see, The Pledge.

Yesterday was our 2nd of 2 baby classes (which you can read about on the baby blog.) We were home in the evening & watched Spanglish on cable and Andy had commented on that the egg sandwich he made looked good (you know, the one where the yolk spills out & he had a beer there to drink), and I had to agree and had to make some. Also tried a different variation on making the homemade yogurt, which turned out better this time and made some Cabbage & Rice soup, which was pretty good.

Today, I went to the Meditation Center and then some grocery shopping at the co-op. I finally decided to joing the co-op so that I could take advantage of the member-only specials. Oh, and I slept like crap (which you can also read about on the baby blog) and have been sleepy all day. Now, I just need to go make this portabella mushroom & gruyere cheese tortellini I bought and long with some toasted french bread & watch some Sopranos.

Another Light Fixture Replaced

So, we replaced another light fixture in the house. The new one gives us so much more light. We really like it. It is the the stairwell going from the main level to the 2nd floor (kinda on that landing before you decide which whay you want to go up tot he 2nd floor areas) and gives us some much needed light there. I am holding the old fixture (as Andy took it down before I got a picture of it.) and the new fixture is lit up nicely.

Another Snow Day

How nice. Another snow day.

I got up and looked out the window and was disappointed there wasn't much snow. Checked the school district website and sure enough - school was delayed 2 hours. Go figure.

I was a little confused, so I turned on the TV and watched the weather and they said that areas south of the metro got 1-2 inches and then even 5 miles away they got 5-6 inches because there were these pockets in the storm system. So, a pocket must have been over our house because the school district we live in also closed, although many of the kids in our school district live in the country, which makes bussing hard and school closes more easily here.

Anyways - I've been waiting for the district I work in to close and just a few minutes ago it was announced closed. Now to work on some more projects around the house. There are some more ugly light fixtures we want to replace (bought some new fixtures @ Lowe's the other day.) So, we'll see.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yes, today is my birthday. I have to work, which is always a bummer to work on your birthday. But I get to go to the doctor and listen to my baby girl's heartbeat this afternoon, so that's cool.

Andy gave me my birthday presents. I got the Fit Mama Post-Natal Workout (I asked for this; I have the pre-natal one and like it, although I haven't used it very often to be honest.) If you notice, the DVD is separated into 2 sections of 6; the first section is for you to do by yourself and the second section is for you to do with the baby. I did a bunch of research online abuot the videos marketed out there towards moms and all the feedback was that you either needed short segments to try to get a 10-15 minute workout in, or get a video that allows you to workout with the baby. This has both.

And he bought me the Logitech - mm22 Portable Speakers. It's marketed towards the iPod, but it has 3 different sized holders to put the mp3 player in, so my Rio Carbon fits great. He thought I might like to use it to bring to the hospital so I can listen to my own music there. It can be plugged in or run off batteries, and comes in a nice carrying case, so we can take it with us when we travel. I really like it.

And finally, he got me a "Hot Mama" maternity t-shirt. I was trying to stay away from that stuff, but you know Andy, he's a funny guy. He saw someone at our baby class last weekend wearing one and thought I should have a maternity shirt with something silly on it. He wanted to find one with something really clever on it, like these here, but this is what he found. I can't find a picture of the actual shirt online. Basically it's a dark,bright pink shirt with white writing that says "Hot Mama". I will have to wear it and get a picture taken for the baby blog. Later though.

And tonight, the plan is to go to dinner @ Timberlodge. I signed up part of Timberldoge's b-day club, so I got a $10 coupon emailed to me. We have done this for both of our birthdays for the last few years. Last weekend I got a free blizzard (BOGO) compliments of Dairy Queen for my birthday for signing up for their Blizzard Fan Club. Coupon comes in your email. We both got a pecan cluster blizzard -yummy! I also got a coupon emailed to me from Buca di Beppo for joining their Buca eClub. Their coupon is for a free dessert. Not sure if we'll get to use that one. And finally (actually, there could always be more coming in my email today, who knows, I don't know what I all signed up for.) I got a coupon from Cold Stone Creamery for joining their b-day club. You get a free cone, but it expires 5 days from your birthday and I am not sure that we'll get to one. But we'll see.

Are You Ugli?

Well, I am. I'm into the Ugli Fruit. It's supposed to be a hybrid tangelo from Jamaica. And it sure is ugly(i), but it tastes great. I think it's like a cross between a grapefruit & a tangelo & orange. I eat it just like I eat a grapefruit. I had bought one when I went grocery shopping this weekend and Andy & I each ate half. They were so good I went back today after work and bought some more and just finished eating one. I highly suggest trying this fruit. So tasty.

Straight River Days?

Straight River Days is our town festival, which lasts a weekend. It is usually the last weekend of June, and events are started to be posted that lead me to believe it will once again be the last weeked in June.

The Women's Club Parade (they sponsor it) is on Friday, June 23rd @ 7pm. There will be a dance in the park following the parade. The White Sidewalls will be playing. If I remember, they are pretty good. There is also food served, a beer tent (well, beer pavilion), some small rides, traditional carnival trinkets for sale.

The other thing annouced is that there will be a street dance at the Muni on Satuday, June 24th. The band is Janie in Wonderland. We went to that street dance w/ same performers last year and had a great time (lots of music from 80's, 90's, & today).

The other things that happen that weekend is: City-wide rummage sales all weekend (the last few years I usually hit around 50-60 sales, it's crazy!), baseball tournament, volleyball tournament, kiddie tractor pulls, Mud Races (these are fun to watch!), & various other events.

Woohoo! Snow Day!

Excellent! School is closed - no work for me! I got up and it was 2 hours late and so I just surfed the internet, as I couldn't get back to sleep. But now I see we are closed. Yea!

My Weekend.

Friday we went out to eat at the Peppermill. I also made some Refrigerator Bran Muffins.

Saturday consisted of 6 hours of baby classes, made some homemade yogurt in the yogurt maker I just got, made some LF Chewy Oatmeal & Fruit Muffins, & went to a Ladies' Night @ my friend Jessi's house.

Sunday was a lot of sitting around surfing ebay. I ran to the Wal-Mart Super Center & picked up groceries, a new ironing board (somehow the frame on the old one I have had for about 9 year collasped), & new shower curtain stuff (I read a tip somwhere, I think in a baby magazine, to try to fit in a shower while still keeping an eye on an awake baby, to put up a second shower curtain that is a clear plastic & rod behind your decorative cloth one so that you can see out it at the baby you have sitting in an exercauser or bouncy seat -- I thought it sounded like a good idea, and for $12 it's a pretty easy thing to do), neighbor Cindy came over to visit for a while, and now I'm waiting for the season 6 premiere of The Sopranos to air, at which time I will cook some cheese ravioli, french bread, & salad for supper. Andy & I like to dine on Italian food while we watch it. It's out thing. Right now Andy is installing the rear speakers (which involve mounting & running wire) for the surround system (which we've had for over a year now - until now we just used the other speakers.)

Out with the Old, In with the New

Friday we went and bought new ceiling fan, since the light fixtue on the old one (shown here with Andy starting to take it down) went kaput. It was ugly -- something from the early 80's. So, it had to go. But it just never made it to the top of our priority list until now.

We wanted a new fan & light fixture installed before the baby came, and we're starting to get down to the wire now.






Here's the new fan. It wasn't too bad of an install. It helps if you read the directions first rather than just look at the pictures. We might have gotten it done a little quicker. But we certainly didn't have the trouble putting this up like we did with the one in the hallway.

Anyways - isn't this one so much prettier?

I like the shape of the blades and the brushed nickel. We were pretty particular about the light fixture. I didn't want anything that bugs could easily crawl into & die. How gross is that to look up and see dead bugs in the light fixture? So, the lights had to either be completly enclosed ot hang down (not up to collect dead bugs - gross!). And with those stupid Asian beetles that come out in the fall (although this year their presence was not has prevalent as in years past), I was not going to provide them with any final resting place.

A-OK from the Dentist

I went in for my 6-month cleaning yesterday afternoon and all is good in my mouth. What just cracks me up, is we've been going to this dentist for about 4.5 years now and he says my tiny old fillings I got when way back when - we're talking elementary & junior high here are still holding up just fine and we don't need to replace them. But the dentist we went to 5 years ago, before we moved & before this guy, what to take them all out and replace them. She said they needed to come out and were not going to last. Bah!

I think someone needed to make a fancy house & car payment. I'm glad we swicthed when we moevd. She was kinda rough on our mouths too. She also kep trying to convince me to get my teeth lasered to whiten them, my teeth don't look very discolored - not more than any other normal person. Boy, she must have needed a lot of money.

Yummy Weekend

I thought the weekend was filled with lots of good food; I did a lot of cooking, with the exception of Friday night. Friday night we went to McD's and got Filet'o'Fish sandwiches (I was feeling in the mood for fish, which has not happened at all in 7 months) and sundaes. We also ran to Lowe's and picked out a ceiling fan for our bedroom since the current one went kaput a while back and I want a new light & fan put up before the baby is born. So, now it's bought and hopefully we'll get that put up before April.

Saturday I spent the day cleaning, doing laundry, doing dishes, and cooking in preparation for the Fondue (cheese) party we had. It was a good party. Lots of good food. Had 3 other couples over for that and had some fun.

Today I went to the Meditation Center and did a 30-minute sit and then they had Rita Gross there for a Dharma talk in place of the second sitting. That was interesting, gave me stuff to think about. Then went to the co-op for some groceries. Came home and made up some lasagna & apple cake (a recipe I had made when we had the B&B that was liked) for dinner. I usually make 2 small pans, eat one & freeze one. Andy's brother Chris is here to help him work on the project car, so I made one pan with no veggies. Chris isn't exactly fond of the healthy food I keep in the house or how I stick veggies in everything, so in order to not scare him off one final time I decided to make food he would approve of (& picked up some Mt. Dew for him too.)

Next weekend we start our baby classes for 2 full Saturdays. I know Andy would rather not have to spend all day Saturday (getting there at 8:30) doing anything but sleeping in, which his days are numbered for that. Saturday night I'm going to go to Jessi's for a ladies' night and Sunday we are going to service @ HOM and to their Love Feast afterward.

500th Post

Woohoo! This is officially my 500th post to this blog. Congrats to me!

Days of Our Lives

After reading about Tim tracking stuff through Tracksys, I decided to do it as well. It's interesting to see how people come across your site and what they seach for theat brings them to it.

Someone was looking up what will happen between Shawn & Mimi, and I thought I do have thoughts on it.

What I think will happen is that Mimi will find out she is pregnant with Shawn's baby. She thought she couldn't have children, but it turns out Lexie was wrong. I can't decide if it would make a better story for her to find out before or after Shawn finds out Claire is his. I could see her keeping it a secret so that she can have her won family with Shawn, but then I can see DOOL re-creating the Claire/Zack storyline and making some complications for Shawn & Mimi's baby where it would need a blood transfusion, and for some reason Shawn won't be able to donate and Mimi will say that Claire is a match. Bonnie will try to say it's because Shawn matched Claire before, but Mimi will finally screw up and spill the beans. Then Shawn will be left to choose which woman/mother he wants to be with: The one he has always loved (Belle) or the one he grew closer to and has a sick child with (Mimi). And to make the storyline even more complicated so that it is not an easy choice for Shawn, Belle will really be pregnant with Phillip's baby.

This is just my prediction, by no means do I have any real idea what will really happen. Guess we'll see.

Maurices is Coming to the Outlet

I ran over to the outlet mall to pick up something for this weekend and saw that there is a big Maurices sign outside one of the storefront. It's on the S side, same side as Old Navy, Pac Sun, Big Dogs, & Rue 21. That side is turning into clothes for teens, whereas the other side is more geared towards adults.

Trying the Email Post

I thought I would try this out again and email my post. If I remember from last time I tried this, it took a while (like several hours) for this to be loaded on the blog.

 

I am so sick of it being grey out. I think I detest the grey-ness this year even more than other years. Not sure why.

 

I don’t have really anything interesting to say.

A Daddy Post

Andy finally posted again on the baby blog. He's such a sweet guy. I feel bad about posting anything on there in a while since I would like people to read what he wrote. I don't want it to get lost in all my posts on there.

Blogger Banned!

Bah! Blogger is banned @ work as a "Non-Productive Site". What this means for me is that I can't get in to type a post or leave comments anywhere. I can however still view blogs. Apparently they have identified blogger.com as a site (which is how we type blog entries and type blog comments), but blogspot.com (which is how we view a blog) is not identified.

Another Redbox Code (#2)

This is from an email they sent out:

Go to your favorite redbox and use the code: APE to obtain a free onenight’s rental on any film. Good Sunday through Thursday, February 27 -March 23.

A Weekend in WI

The drive to & from WI wasn't too bad. We had to stop twice on the way there and three times on the way back (although that 3rd time was for Andy.) It only made out 5.5 hour trip about 15-20 minutes longer having to stop more than once.

Friday night we had birthday cake for a delayed 50th birthday for my mom (her birthday was in January) and Saturday was my dad's 50th birthday party. We had this western murder mystery party theme going on for it. Both he & my mom seemed to have enjoyed themselves, so that was nice. Everyone really got into dressing up in costume. There were some really good ones. The funniest part was at the end when we were cleaning up and my sister Steph noticed that my dad was wearing her FBI sweatshirt. Here's how the conversation went (or at least close enough):
S: Dad, why are you wearing my FBI sweatshirt?
D: I thought I was supposed to. It was sitting there with all the rest of the clothes your mother laid out for me.
S: Didn't you see my pajama pants sitting there too?
D: **Teehee! Ha! Ha!** I'm wearing those too. (And proceeds to take down his jeans and show us the pajama pants he is wearing underneath.)

OMG! It was just the funniest thing. I was laughing so hard that my eyes started to water. So funny.

After the party we came back to my parents' house and took naps, then I talked to my sister Stepg for several hours.

Today - got up, got ready to leave, left at noon and began our trek back to MN and I sit here now watching the Simpsons.

Sitting here @ Blue Monday

I decided after the 9am sitting at the Meditation Center that I would come over to Blue Monday, grab a coffee and blog a little. There is something a little different about blogging in a coffee shop than sitting at home on the couch with a laptop. No bad or good necessarily, just different.

I ordered this Guatemala decaf.......it's ok, but I don't think I would order it again. I am not sure how dark of a roast this coffee is, but my preference is towards a light or medium roast & not dark.

So, anyways, the weekend.
* Friday - nothing. We stayed home and that was about it.
* Saturday - picked up the Tahoe, ventilation all fixed now. Went to eat at 43rd street grill, made a huge-amount of chocolate chip cookies (I would like to say the baby wanted them, but mom wanted them too.) And then waited for someone to show up to pick up some stuff we were getting rid of on Freecycle. Goodbye boxes & bags of flowers & swags from B&B days.
* Sunday (today) - well, like I said I went to the Meditation Center, am now at Blue Monday, am going to go pick up some stuff @ Just Food Co-op, and then hopefully someone else will show up from Freecycle to pick up some other stuff (purdge, purgde, purdge), and then up to the Cities for dinner @ Molly's. April & Jason (& Kallen too I imagine) will be with us. April is due about a month before me, so it will be interesting to see what I should look like in a month.

Next weekend we head to WI for my dad's birthday party. Should be fun having to stop every hour of our 5.5 hour trip to have to pee. I wonder how long it will take us to get home. Tomorrow is President's Day - so no work for me. Yeah!

Snow Day!

I got up @ 5:30, hoping to see that school was closed, even though there is maybe an inch out there. Nope - on schedule. Well, I still had some time to sleep before I *really* had to get up to get ready. So, an hour later I get up, warm the shower and check the school website. Schools are closed! Woohoo! Turn off the shower and go back to bed.

Not much as really accumulated out there, but I guess the bulk of it is supposed to happen this afternoon/evening. Wind speeds are supposed to be around 30mph, and temperatures are in the single digits (& supposed to stay there through the weekend).

So, I think I'll try to get some stuff done around the house, make some crepes with berry sauce for breakfast (another great recipe for the crepes -- LC, LF, & WW worthy). Maybe we'll get the crib put together today.

Then I'll have to work tomorrow, but Monday is a school holiday. Yeah! Another day off and that day I won't have to stalk the district website to see if we are in session, I can just keep sleeping.

Valentine's Day

We had a pretty nice Valentine's Day. I got up a little early to work on breakfast, since we were going to sit down and eat breakfast together, but I also ended up going on a little scavenger hunt. When I went into the bathroom there was a card & some chocolates and a little note in the card that said that one card would not do and there were other cards throughout the house. He had 30 of those valentines with personalized messages on them through the house & my car. I have to count them, but I think I am still missing 2. Also, some more chocolate in my purse.

Breakfast was started the night before, it was a slow-cooker apple-cinnamon oatmeal. Fabulous! If anyone wants the recipe it's great! Low-cal, low-fat, high fiber, low WW points, high on flavor and very filling. I made some 'chocolate caramel brownie' coffee and bowls mixed with minneolas and blood oranges, some oj & sparking water (served over ice in our wine goblets). Oh! And we topped the oatmeal with a little whip cream. So Good. It's definitly one for the recipe book. I got out our nice silverware and the china to eat on, the cloth napkins, lit the candles on the tables, and put the roses I picked up on the table. Very nice.

In the evening we rented a movie, Broken Flowers , to watch together as we cuddled on the couch. It was a decent movie, but no conclusive ending. So, if you like conclusive endings, you do not want to watch this movie. And I made a nice dinner of toasted whole wheat french bread, salad (w/ romaine, spinach, carrots, cucumber, tomato, & green onion), spaghetti w/ homemade sauce (tomatoes, spinach, mushcrooms, onions, in a sauce & my own seasonings) & meatballs, and some sparkling water. Again, candles, flowers, china, nice silverware, wine goblets. A nice dinner -- which will make nice lunch leftovers today.

And then Andy gave me some candy hearts -- my favorite. I prefer them over chocolate any day, but chocolate is nice too.

Another One Bites the Dust

Weekends that is......

Our weekend was pretty low-key.
* Friday night we stayed home and I made supper and we watched tv.
* Saturday morning I had my half-day meditation retreat (started @ 7:30). It was a pretty good retreat, mde me think. Our yoga instructor had a mental breakdown (seriously, she had to be taken to the ER from the Meditation Center) so instead of doing yoga we listened to her rant and ramble for that time. The rest of the retreat was pretty smooth and I leared a lot more about Buddhist rituals, which was kinda neat. Then we ran some errands and I made dinner at home and fell asleep to the Olympics, only to have Andy send me to bed which ended up waking me up and then surfed for a long-ass time.
* Sunday (today) consisted of grocery shopping, buying & delivering roses (40 of them to Andy's parents for their 40th wedding anniversary, we brought them to the restaurant they were dining at as a surprise, going to HOM, and finally we went out to eat to Boca Chica (beware, the salsa is pretty spicy and I normally like things pretty spicy). The service there was really good and we received our food quite fast. We've been enjoying going back to HOM. It kinda sucks that it's an hour drive each way to go, but we have never found any other place like it and we enjoy going. We signed up to go to their Love Feast (we did this once before - met some strange people that just did not get Andy's sarcastic sense of humor) for their 2nd meal in March. So, it will give us a chance to meet some other people who go there. HOM is very much not your "traditional" religious community, and we like that aspect about it. I don't think either of us ever "enjoyed" going to church, ever, until we were introduced to HOM by Kendra & Tim. So, anyways, it's nice to be going there again.

Valentine's Day Plans -- I'm going to make a spaghetti & meatballs dinner and we'll sit down at the dining room table (we don't actually eat a lot of meals at the table, usually just weekend breakfasts and the occasional dinner, many dinners are spent in front of the tv) and rent a movie and snuggle. We don't need to do anything fancy to show each other that we love each other & want to spend time with each other. Really, the only thing we are doing differently is renting a movie, otherwise we always eat dinner together (just not always at the table). Movie rentals are usually a weekend thing.

Living in a Grey World

Yuck! Won't the sun come out? Winter in MN is so Blah. I feel like I am living in a grey world. The sky is grey, the tree trunks are grey and the branches are empty, the grass is brown, my car looks grey from the road salt residue. Yicky. I just want the sun to come out.

My Weekend.

Started out Friday night with dinner @ A&W. Mmmmmm.......deluxe cheesebuegers, cheese fries and root beer floats. Then popcorn & a movie. We saw Grandma's Boy. It was pretty funny.

Saturday AM we had to drive to one of the community college campuses to drop off the Tahoe. One of the perks of teaching for the community college is that periodically you get services done for free/reduced. At Christmas, all staff can get either a free manicure, pedicure, or makeover. I have done this twice in 4 years teaching for them, both times I got a pedicure. And they also will send out an email letting yourknow they are accepting vehicles for repair. They let you what kinds of things they are teaching that semester and then you submit your request and they let you know if they can get to it and if it fits within their parameters. Last year I wasn't picked, but this year I was. So, they are going to check out the ventilation (not blowing air out the defrost area) and the check engine light is on.

We stopped and had brunch at the Lakeside Creamery & Cafe, nice little place. Then came home and vegged out for the rest of the day.

Sunday I went on a cleaning rampage -- Andy was happy about that, as we are getting rid of excess clutter. Then he went to his brother's for a SB party and I went to Carrie & Kyle for a SB party (it was Carrie's b-day.)

Soap Gripes

So, I tivo (is it really a verb?) Day of Our Lives and Passions daily. Pretty soon the winter olympics will start on NBC and I won't be able to watch it, but for now I have some comments.

DOOL:
Ok - Chelsey is such a BITCH! I want her to get locked away. She's so selfish and a backstabber and just plain ole mean.
We all know eventually everyone will find out that Shawn is Claire's father, so yes Mimi, you are right, you should tell him. Because he will find out you knew and didn't tell him. But you know what I think will happen -- when she tells Shawn, he & Belle will hook up even though she is still married to Phillp, and then we'll find out that Mimi is pregnant (they make too big a deal out of that she can't get pregnant again for her not to wind up pregnant) from that night her & Shawn spent together. And then he'll have to decide between the married woman who he has a kid but has always loved with or his fiance who is pregnant with his child.
I never really liked Carrie. She was always too goody-goody (until she hooked up with Mike), but she's back to being goody-goody and that's just boring.
With all the schemeing that Lucas is doing, he is no better than Sami. I still think they will end up together.
Who the hell is Alex North? I HATED him in the beginning, and then he was beng all ushy-gushy with Marlena and that was annoying (thank god for tivo to quickly get through that). I didn't like that they were turning him into a good guy. I'm glad they made him bad again. He may be more interesting to watch now.

Passions:
I just love that Theresa is in control. This will be so much fun to watch. I hope she makes Gwen pay for everything. I can't stand Gwen. Although I don't want her to end up with Ethan. He's a pansy-ass and she deserves someone with a backbone and some balls.
Sheridan drives me nuts. I just can't watch her. And Chris is even more annoying.
What is with these strong women on Passions who like pansy-ass guys. I mean - come on Pilar. He's never going to love just you. Katherine drives me nuts too. I kinda like Rachael. She's tired of all the shit that went down and is doing something about it.
I wonder what type of excuse Kay will give Fox for turning down his proposal. I like those 2 together and I hope she makes Ivy and Vanessa pay for being meddling bitches. I am glad they stopped showing Chad and Whitney - their song & dance was annoying. We'll find out in a few years, or maybe after she becomes a full-fledged nun that they really aren't related. Noah is turning out to be a pansy-ass just like his father. I thought maybe he would be differnt, but nope.

Wild Grape Jam

I am devoting a whole post to talk about Wild Grape Jam.

My mom gave us kids a variety of homemade jams at Christmas. One of mine was Wild Grape Jam. It's been a long time since I had WGJ and I missed it. I forgot that I missed it. I opened that jar today and it was so delicious. There is just something different about WGJ that you can't get in regular ole grape jelly. You miss that tangy wild flavor.

I made my Natural Ovens Bakery Whole Grain bagel (if you have never tried their bagels, you are missing out, you can find them in the natural foods section or store) and topped it with the WGJ. Don't bother addng butter, it takes away from the natural tanginess of the jam. I wish I had made 2 bagels, as I really want another bagel with WGJ.

I am not sure if Andy likes WGJ, but that doesn't matter. I don't think he experienced WGJ growing up and might like the sweetness of plain 'ole grape jelly. There will be more for me if he doesn't.

So - great job on the Wild Grape Jam mom! Gifts of WGJ are welcome anytime. I've had the peach jam too and that is good. The pear has not been opened. Mmmmmmm.

Redbox Codes

Just got an email from Redbox about FREE rental codes for the month of February. Yeah!

1/29-2/2: GROUNDHOG
2/5-2/9: FEBRUARY
2/12-2/16: ABRAHAM
2/19-2/23: PREZ

Take notice that the dates are Sunday - Thursday. So, not good on Friday or Saturday.

I always like when these come out.

My Weekend

I was feeling more social than I have in a long time, so I actually got out of the house a little more. Andy was indoors (actually since Wednesday evening and is taking antibiotics for a sinus infection, but now he thinks he may have a cold virus on top of it), with the excepton of me dragging him out on Sunday evening.

Friday, I met with Carrie & Kyle and went to dinner. I was quite chatty and I think that may have annoyed Kyle. Sorry Kyle.

Saturday, I took an hour long walk with Linda & her kids at the Nature Center. It was nice to get out and get seom fresh air. Then ran errands and spent A LOT of money on groceries. I honestly think I stocked up for enough food for a month. And then for dinner I made Spinach Cream Soup....mmmmmm! That was exactly what I needed. I like spinach.

Sunday, I made some lowfat whole grain cranberry banana muffins as part of breakfast. Dinner I made some chicken fried rice (very tasty.) We went to HoM for their 5:30 service.

Beauty & the Geek

Ok - I admit it, I watch this show. Last year I only watched the last couple. Honestly, there is nothing else of interest on, so I started watching.


But I gotta complain about one of the geeks -- Chris. What a dumbass!

He's smart, but has absolutly NO social skills whatsoever. He's just rude & mean and doesn't get it. This guy knows book stuff and pop culture (c'mon he knew Gwen Stefani's clothing line name), but he has no idea how to relate to other people and doesn't seem to have an interest in relating to other people. He just wants to prove everyone he's smart. But being smart at everything will only get you so far. If you can't get along with people, you've got nothing.

You can tell no one wants him on the show. They all hate him. Even his teammate hates him. He screwed her over big time by making her switch to him. They made it through the elimination round last night, but unless they start winning competitions, they will ALWAYS be going to the elimination round.

It says he's "Only Kissed One Girl" -- who was that? An aunt? Grandma perhaps?
I don't know that he will ever kiss another girl ever. He needs to not be so cocky. He tried apologizing for his behavior, but it didn't seem sincere basically because he still doesn't understand that he doesn't get people.

Plus, the fuckwad was dissing on Psych majors (at least 2 of the contestants are psych majors) saying it was a soft major. Hmmmm.......trying getting a kid in your office who is suicidal, or one that is seeing things, or one you know could have a psychotic break any day.....I could never imagine how he would relate to them. He couldn't. He can kiss my ass. The stupid fucker.

Long Weekend Trip

The highlights of our trip revolved around food. We discovered Popeye’s biscuits – so very tasty, and we discovered Gelato (Wow! Is that stuff fantastic.) I think I may have to make some of my own in my ice cream maker. They had a sign in the store saying it was so much lower in fat & calories than ice cream, but it sure didn’t taste like it.

The hotel was nice. We liked that it was a 2-room suite, so one could be sleeping and wouldn’t hear the other watching tv, it was actually pretty sound-proof. Right now I am typing outside our room, apparently once you get to our room the wireless connection is lost (we were the last room in the row). So, a bit of an inconvenience. It was also nice to have a room with a kitchenette in it, that way we could keep cold beverages and reheat food. The hot breakfast (they cooked) was a nice freebie, but I kinda wish they had fresh fruit too, which we bought at the grocery store and had a stock of food in our room.

As far as attractions are concerned. We went to the Pier in St. Petersburg and that blew. Then we drove along the beach towns there. We also went to the outlet mall about 45 minutes out of Tampa. I bought some more maternity pants and some cute items from Children’s Place for the baby. We went to Lowry Zoo. The baby elephant w/ mom was very cute. The zoo was pretty nice, but it seemed like EVERYONE there had a kid or 2 under the age of 5 with them. Andy was freaked out by a rhino there, as it had a very erect penis and it seemed to follow Andy as we moved away (kinda like when the eyes of a painting follow you.) I was more freaked out by the chimp with the semi that seemed to have splooged on itself. Ewwwww…… I would recommend the zoo, especially if you have kids. We tried to check out the Tampa Bay History Center, and after some difficulty finding it and paying for parking, turns out the place is closed until further notice. We also went to MOSI, which basically sucked. Lots of the stuff was broken and it was less than half the size as the Science Museum of MN. The IMAX was about Mount Everest and was pretty good. People who climb that are just nuts. I would say yourself the admission price on MOSI and try some place else.

Tampa seems to like businesses that us ‘n’ in everything, like Kash’n’Karry, Beepers’n’Phones, Beer’n’Kegs, there are more I just can’t think of them.

For food places, we checked out Popeyes (since we don’t have those by us – highly recommend the biscuits), Mama Mia’s (a pizza joint, decent pizza), Shells Restaurant (a chain thing in FL, seafood type place, the food was good),Krispy Kreme (yes, we have those in MN, but I only ever eat any when we go on vacation), MacArthur’s Deli (got sandwiches and salad, was ok, would have preferred Subway), The Bamboo Club (in International Plaza – which we would have found that place before tonight – highly recommend it. HUGE portions.) and Scully’s Hut (in Madiera Beach, decent food). Oh, and we can’t forget the gelato place called Gelateria del Duomo (A MUST!)

The weather for the entire trip had highs of 80+ degrees. The sun wasn’t out much until today and it was fantastic today, mid 80’s and sun. We actually sat out by the pool for a while. I’m not looking forward to seeing snow in MN and feeling the cold, but oh well. Looks all week it is supposed to be in the mid-upper 30’s and no pre-cip, which is amazing for January.

Decreased work time

Well, a couple years ago they extended the school day for students by 20 minutes, but did not extend the teacher contract day and were not honoring vouchers for meeting times outside of the contract day. That was a pretty big sore spot between the teacher's union and the school district (among other things, but it is something that affects me).

So, starting next year they are taking away the extra 20 minutes, which means the students are dismissed at 2:30 (at the high school, start & end times are staggered throughout the district to accomodate bussing.)

Anyways - I am paid on a 12-month contract and need to be present when kids are (including summer school) and then any meetings outside the school day that I may need to attend. I basically only can take vacations when the kids have off from school.

But the decrease in time means 59 hours accumulated that the kids are not in school & I may or may not leave at that time due to meetings that may be scheduled. But the possibility to leave @ 2:30 is there and that makes me happy. I wish they wouldn't wait until next year to reinstate that.

Why I Exercise......

Sometime I just need to remind myself why I am doing this, as a sort of intrinstic & extrimstic form of motivation. Also, I thought it would be good to post my reasons, as some people might not have thought of that as a reason.

I'm not in elementary/junior/high school and no one is forcing me to exercise. Although when it came to gym class there were plenty of girls in class that would walk up & down the court in the direction the teams were going and just gossipped the whole time, you know those girls. I was NOT one of them. I actually took pride in being able to steal the ball away or kick some boy's ass on the court. Please tell me why you choose to exercise.

• To prevent additional weight gain or lose weight (exercising builds muscle, which will increase your metabolism and cause you to burn more calories in your every day tasks.)
• To look better in my clothes & out of my clothes (who wants Oprah flags anyways, tone those arms ladies!)
• To be able to eat more (Hmmm.....didn't see that one coming did you. Well, I like food and like to eat. I enjoy preparing and consuming food -- but not in any sort of pathological way. And if I am burning more calories I can consume more.)
• To catch up on reading my magazine subscriptions (I have a lot and the only other time I read them is when I am taking a bath.)
• My animals need the exercise too. If I go for a walk outside, I bring the dog. If I exercise in my exercise room, my fat cat Larry joins me and runs all over the weight equiptment. He would never do that if I didn't go exercise, he would stay sitting on the couch. But his favorite is when we do yoga. He lays right next to you and does stretches right along with you -- it's neat.
• I will be a role model for my children. (Children learn in their early years by modeling and thier best source fo modeling behavior comes from their parents. They will continue to model as they grow up, but they also begin to learn your value system and if they learn you value exercise, then that is something they will value as well. Now, if I could get Andy to move a little more. I don't think his parents moved too much when he was growing up.)
• I work out some of those kinks in my back/shoulders/etc. It loosens everything up.
• Stress-relief......need I say more.
• To hang out......I sometime like to workout with another person so that we can talk. For me it works best if we are walking and we walk roughly the same pace, or if we go to the gym and can used machines side by side at our own pace. I exercise not just to hang-out, so I don't want to be going too slow.
• It helps to keep my cholesterol at a decent level. You would think that at under 30 years old I wouldn't have to worry about that, but I do. There is a long family history of heart disease on my maternal side and my mom lost 2 siblings before they were 50. The first time I had my cholesterol checked (3-4 years ago) I was surprise it was over 200 (not a good thing) and I made minor changes because I ate a reatively healthy diet, I just added in more fiber, took supplements, and started exercising more. That helped and lowered my cholesterol.
• I want to be able to keep up with my kids and not be gasping for breath as I run after them (that is once I have them and they are old enough to run faster than me.)
• I find workout clothes very comfortable and like to buy them & wear them.
• I teach a walking/jogging class at the Community College and who wants to take a class like that from a fat person.
• It is supposed to help you get back to your pre-pregnancy weight faster (I'll let you know about this one) and helps you to not gain more weight than needed during pregnancy (seems to help.)
• It is supposed to help with endurance during labor, to have a shorter labor, reduce the risk of tearing or needing an episiotomy (do I need any other reasons?!?!?!), decreases the risk of a premature birth, helps prevent gestational diabetes, and reduces the need for a c-section.
• I think a lot on the treadmill and come up with topics for my blog (actually, exercising is supposed to increase brain power due to the increased consumption of oxygen and increased blood flow. Also, helps reduce your risk of developing Alzheimers.)
• It can be fun. Really -- it can.
• I need to be able to carry around a baby in a carseat and not feel wiped from doing that.
• I actually like seeing my muscles work. We have mirrors up in the exercise room and if I can see my muscles working, it's pretty cool. It's sad when I am all flabby and soft and can't see my muscles hidden under there.
• I want to.

It's a Crazy World Out There

Check out this post on Cat Woman's site: The World is Nuts.

To give you a preview of what you will find:

In Lebanon, men are legally allowed to have sex with animals, but the animals must be female. Having sexual relations with a male animal is punishable by death.(Like THAT makes sense.)

Another One Gone

Weekend that is -- Andy slept for about 12 hours on Saturday. He better appreciate it while he can.

Friday we had Andy's work holiday party. It was nice time. Good food, decent music, Andy got some gambling time in (it was a caino theme). We managed to get our table to get called to go to the buffet line early by one of the guys at the table telling the wait staff that there were 3 pregnant ladies at the table and they needed to eat (yes, 3 of us at the table were really pregnant and REALLY hungry.) I was going to just go up and start getting my food, but some people were afraid of getting yelled at by the waitstaff and wanted permission.

Saturday we stayed home during the day and relaxed. Then in the evening we went to Javalive and they had this group there called "Happily Ever Laughter". They were pretty good. The best we have heard there in a while. Andy bought their recently released cd. I like going to Javalive because the music is a decent volume and there is no smoke, plus you don't have to wait until 9pm to see a show. We also watched "Puddle Cruiser", a pretty awful movie. Made by the same guy as "Super Troopers"and has the same cast, but are much younger.

Today -- relaxing again. Then to the Cities to go to Best Buy to pick up some stuff, House of Mercy, and then finally we went to the Mediterranean Cruise Cafe for dinner. The food was good, but a little pricey. We had a coupon from our Happenings book, but it wasn't good on a ton of items and especially not what we really wanted. I liked da Afghan better than this place.

And tomorrow -- no school, so another day to relax and I'll go to my Meditation Practice Period in the evening.

BTW - Temperature in Tampa for Friday is supposed to be mid-70's and upper-70's on Saturday, Excellent!

Worshipping the Porcelain God

Our cats were worshipping the porcelain god a few days ago. You can see there is nothing interesting in the toilet.

I caught Lucy trying to drink out of the toilet (which she never does, but has apparently has learned from Larry.)

Then he had to come barging in to see what she was looking at and she just watched him, taking notes perhaps.

Meditation

So, last night Andy & I went to the practice session Buddhist Meditation Center. It was not structured for the person who has never meditated before and has no experience with it. I didn't think we would have a sitting right off the bat and then have instruction after. As soon as the sitting time started it dawned on me that Andy has probably never meditated before and has no idea what is is doing.

I think that was a very long 30 minutes for him. He said he was ready to go insane during it because he has this constant ringing in his ears from damage to them from years of playing the drums. He said the only thing that saved him was the music coming from a bar down the street. I am even more convinced that Andy could benefit from meditating, but he just isn't in that place right now. Maybe some other day.

He was so frustrated with the whole experience that he was contemplating homicide if anyone annoyed him more. So, guess meditation won't work for Andy at this time.

The practice sessions are 30 min. of sitting time and then an hour of discussion & lecture. There are 5 practice sessions and 1 half-day retreat. I will continue to go to them. The book we are reading for our assignments is by Awakening Loving-Kindness by Pema Chodron.

We plan to go to House of Mercy on Sunday. Since we moved out of the Cities we have not been back there, but we have not found a place we like, like we liked HOM. So, we're gonna go back and see what we think. We may not like it or we may. They may have changed, or we may have changed. So, we'll see.

Another thing - I think family may think I am the whole "reason" behind our feelings on baptism and organized religion. I am just the messenger or the voice. Andy laughs that he ruined me.

Funny.

I saw a bumper sticker today that I found funny. It said "I Never Thought I Would Miss Nixon".

Last Trip for the DINKs

I just booked our last trip as DINKs (Double Income No Kids). It will only be a long weekend that I have coming up because of a day off from school. Can't swing the spring break trip this year since it occurs too late and the doctor said I can't fly then.

So, a long weekend trip means we need to fly domestic. So, we're going to FL, Tampa to be exact.

I booked it all on Orbitz. I am a bit of a reasearcher with a need to be thrify, so I made up all these spreadsheets looking for the bext deal.

We are flying Midwest Airlines. Chose them because we wanted decent seats (2 large leather seats in a row); they call their flights business class. Non-stop flights were significantly more expensive and MWA only has a stop in Milwaukee for 40 min., so not even a stop really. So, that became our choice. I might have paid the extra money to fly 1st class on Sun-Country, but since I am not drinking it makes it not as worth it, and we still get the same types of seats on MWA (just no free booze for Andy.) We have liked flying MWA.

Booked a mid-size car through Avis. Could have been really cheap and got the economy size, but for the extra $40 (entire time) it is worth it to have more room and not have Andy complaining that his knees are tickling his nose.

I wanted to stay some place decent. For some reason I kept convincing myself to spend more money on everything -- TOTALLY NOT LIKE ME. I kept thinking would I look back and regret spending the extra money for a nicer place or would I regret not spending it -- or the chance everything would have been fine and there would be no regrets. I decided to spend more money, besides we're only taking a long-weekend break and aren't going someplace for a whole week.

We are staying at the The Best Western All Suites Hotel - Busch Gardens. The things that did it for us was the suites (has a 2 rooms each w/ TV, kitchenette, sitting area), free hot breakfast, free wireless interent in the room, king-size bed, 2for1 happy hour in their bar & grill, free ping pong tables and pool tables, heated pool (most pools in Tampa I find are heated, but you don't want to go to one that isn't), free parking, etc. It seems much more resort like than hotel like and I want more of a vacation.

Granted, we could have stayed at even nicer places, but I didn't find spending the extra money to be worth it, once I found this place.

We thought we might go to the Museum of Sciene & Industry, Lowry Park Zoo, The Pier, & Yuengling Brewery. I know - a pregnant lady going to a brewery -- well, I don't have to drink it, and since I am not normally a beer drinker I don't feel so bad, but I do like doing the tours and some places also brew root beer & cream soda at them. Andy thought that Yuengling was just in PA, but apprently their other location is Tampa. Go figure. Not sure if we'll do all those things, as we want to do a lot of sitting too.

We are all about the relaxing sitting vacation with a few events thrown in.

Thoughts on Breastfeeding

Ok - Alison - here you go. I don't think you will find me arguing much here.

My mom said she stopped breastfeeding us kids when we were about 6 months, got teeth, and could bite her. Who wants their nipples bit? Ouch!

But I have talked to other mothers who have nursed past the acquisition of teeth and they said that the baby will quickly learn they don't like the response (they get scared too) from mom when she is startled from being bit and the baby learns to keep their teeth away.

I have done quite a bit of reading about the benefits of breastfeeding and I have always planned on breastfeeding (as long as my body will produce enough milk to feed my child and my child can digest it.) Although, I had always thought I would stop around 6 months, but over the last 6 months I have done a lot of reading about how they recommend feeding until the child is 1 year old and that breastfeeding that long really helps them develop a strong immune system, breastfed babies tend to not become overweight children as often, there are also studies to show that breastfeeding helps increase brain development, as well as attachment with the mother.

So, I guess between 6-12 months for me.

Now, the flip side of this, is I think there has to be a time when you call it quits. I don't want to personally knock people who breastfeed past a year, because that is their choice. My choice will be that once the child can walk up & get it or ask for it, then it's been too long for me. But if they are in school and you are still breastfeeding, then I think there is honestly something twisted going on and a mother should get some therapy to find out why she insists on getting her needs met by having a child who knows his ABC's and can tie his shoes latched on to her chest.

I am also not sure how I feel on public breastfeeding. Our society is not very accepting of it and I am not sure that I really want to whip my tit out (or even have it concealed) in front of people that I don't feel completly comfortable around & who wouldn't feel comfortable with me doing it. What drives me nuts about public breastfeeding is the women who feel they need to do it to make some kind of statement and feel they are entitled to it and that if someone is not comfortable around it then it is that person's problem. What I want to know is what is that mom's problem that she can't be considerate of others? I think you can breastfeed in public and not call attention to yourself and there are wonderful tops and dresses that disguise the breastfeeding, but when it borders on public nudity -- then there is a problem.

Playing with Barbie Dolls

For some reason I started to think about when I used to play with Barbie Dolls and thought I would blog about it and see if there were things that people played with a little longer than what was "typical" for their age.

I use the term Barbie Dolls loosely, because between my sisters & I we didn't have a ton, so I used any other small doll or action figure we had as "barbies".

It was in 8th grade that I stopped playing with dolls. I was 13 and the last time I played with them I was bored and it was xmas break. I remember thinking I was too old for this stuff and this would be the last time and I needed to grow up. It was the last time. A couple of months later I had to grow up and get my first period.

When I played with dolls I never made them talk out loud, the conversations always occured inside my head and I played quietly just moving the dolls from "house" (which was a bookcase that was segmented off to make apartments or dresser drawers as houses) to "house". I rarely made a sound. I wonder why that was that I never made my dolls talk outloud. I don't ever remember making them talk out loud. Maybe I did once and was made fun of and stopped. I would make my dolls deal with issues I was learnng about or that were going on in my friends lives (sex, boyfriends, divorce, popularity, etc.) I guess it was a way for me to think through the issues myself.

When I worked with junior high kids they frequently would take action figures and other toys and do play therapy with me as they worked through issues that were bothering them. I guess in a way I was doing play therapy on myself. I don't do much play therapy with high school kids now, but I do some.

I guess I just felt like sharing that information today.

Favorite Desserts

I was thinking about my favorite desserts the other day. I like a lot of desserts, but are my faves:
* Anything with carmel & chocolate together (mmmmmm!)
* Plain cheesecake (or could have raspberry or chocolate w/ carmel topping)
* French Silk Pie (drizzle some carmel on the top and you have heaven!)
* Dolly Madison Raspberry Zingers (not a big fan of coconut, but you don't taste the coconut in these, just the raspberry)
* Plain vanilla ice cream or even better with carmel sauce on it (don't really like the hot fudge stuff though) Haagen Dazs makes a Light Dulce de Leche that is fabulous.

Ok - so give any dessery with raspberry in it and I love it or stuff with carmel & chocolate together.

My favorite candy bars are carmello & Rolos - go figure, huh! Or those hershey kisses w/ carmel in them.

What a Week!

It was so nice having time off to sit around and do nothing. I am finding the idea of having to work tomorrow very disheartening.

So, what did I do. Well, not much. A lot of sitting. Went to WI for a few days for xmas with my family. We went to the doctor and found out we are having a girl and then entertained many phone calls from people about that. Took time to visit with one friend. Surfed ebay (A LOT!). Went out for Mexican food & rented a couple of movies on New Years' Eve. Ran a bunch of errands (mainly to get out of the house daily). Saw King Kong @ the movies w/ Andy. Had 3 new windows installed in our bedroom & master bath (what a difference that makes - no drafts and sooooo much quieter). And now today I am de-christmasing everything while Andy tends to some plumbing (that always seems to be an on-going job for him).

Yup, I think that's it. Time to go de-christmas now.

Ultrasound

For info about our ultrasound, check out our baby blog.

What Celebrity Do You Look Like?

Compliments of Alison's Blog, check this out. It's kinda fjun, as you can see by what I did below.

Here are my results: Consuelo Velaquez, Anita Ekberg, Katherine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Cate Blanchett, Sophie Loren, and below that it's less than 50% match. Not sure how much I look like any of them, but interesting nonetheless.

I did my friend Jessi and what I came up with for her is this message: Sorry, no faces were detected. Guess she has her own unique look.

When I did a picture of Kendra it gave me: Naomi Watts, Demi Moore, Olivia Newton-John, Julie Christie, Halle Berry, Sophie Marceau, Hillary Swank, Aaliyah, & Isabelle Allende.

I did the picture of Tim from their blog profile and here's what it gave me: Saif Ali Kahn, Kevin Smith, Marat Safin, Michael J. Fox, Billy Bob Thorton.

When I did Andy I got this: George W. Bush (Yikes!), Juan Antonio Samarach (Who?), Michael Douglas, Dennis Hopper, Alain Prost. I don't think that Andy looks like any of these either.

I scanned in a different picture of me and got different results: Julia Roberts, Jodie Foster, Meg Ryan, Kate Winslet. Again -- I don't think I look like any of these.

Letting Go.....

It all started about 6 years ago in grad school when I was taking a class on CBT and I volunteered to use myself (in front of the class) because I was frustrated with the interactions with my brother. It was that moment that I chose CBT as my theoretical basis and began to apply it to my life. It started out slow with choosing how I react to being stuck in traffic and then started applying it to have I react to other people.

I think I have done a fairly good job at being able to separate what things I can make choices about and which things I have not control over, the latter mainly being other's people thoughts and actions.

Oh, I am certainly not perfect. Far from it. But I sit here at 5 in the morning thinking about how I am frustrated that people do not let go of things from the past and keep drudging it up. Honestly, I wish they would let things go, especially when things have changed. But I realize that I cannot make them do that. I can only change how I react to them. I do not know how I will do that exactly until I am in that position again, but until then I just have to remind myself that I can choose to react differently and find a way for myself to let go of the fact that some people may never let go of something.

You Gotta Get This!

This was one of my xmas presents from Andy and we love it. It's a Egg'n'Muffin from Back to Basics.

The toaster part is a wide slot, perfect for bagels. You can make toast by itself, egg(s) by itself, or and egg(s) and toast simultaneously. It's perfect. Well, plus you can heat up pre-cooked meats as well.

The toast gets perfectly browned, and you choose the level of egg hardness (soft, medium, & hard) by how much water you add. It basically steams the egg(s) to cook them.

You can make one egg poached (or scrambled if you choose to do that) or you can make 4 hardboiled eggs (2 separate trays). There is also another try to add your pre-cooked meats to, in case you want to have meat with your sandwich as well. We haven't done the meat thing yet, I think I'll pick up some canadian bacon so that I can try it out.

Both yesterday & today we both had egg & cheese breakfast sandwiches. So yummy! So quick! So easy! Almost every day I would make a breakfast sandwich to make and eat on the way to work, but it involved lots of steps and timing on my part. With this I can just start it and walk away and come back in a few minutes to a perfect egg & english muffin.

So, Steph - you definitly should buy this for Jason for his birthday. You will definitly get a lot of use out of it. And if you buy good quality english muffins (there are some light ones by Lakeland Foods, or WW ones -- which I like better), add an egg, and some LF cheese you can make a sandwich for 2.5 WW points (3 if you use regular cheese, 2 if you use egg beaters instead of an egg). So, you can definitly keep your points down for those of you doing WW.

My Weekend

Friday -- Christmas with the in-laws. We did the appetizer thing where everyone bring an appetizer to share. Good food. We both got some nice gifts, some for the baby.

Saturday -- Made nut brittle, divinity, chocolate banana bread, and 5 gallons of carmel corn (the 2 latter or gifts for co-workers). Of course after all that there was a lot of dishes to do. Watched Rudolph (have the tape) and then went to dinner @ Pizza Hut and went to Javalive for some hot cocoa & entertainment. Javalive is a coffee shop that has free live entertainment on most Fridays & Saturdays. Sometimes when you get free entertainment that is all it is worth. This lady (who did most of the singing) was pretty awful. She kept forgetting the words to popular Christmas songs. What the hell? The guy sounded fine and played nice. We have heard some really good performers while we've been there, so we keep checking out what's there. Plus it's smoke-free and something to do.

Sunday -- Filled up Andy's trunk with a crib (we picked up from Raoul -- don't ask) that my parents will use and a bunch of presents. Andy picked up my car from the repair shop (finally got it back!) and I did some grocery shopping.

Tim & Kendra's Blog

Our friends Tim & Kendra (you might remember her from some pictures previously posted on here) are seriously considering on moving to Manila (in the Phillipines) for a year for a project for her work. They have started their own blog. I wanted to post it here, as I am sure my mom would be interested to hear how they are doing. Plus, I tried updating my sidelinks the other day and gave me an error and I just haven't had time to figure it out, so now I at least have the blog linked somewhere.

Molly Likes Loony Toons

Well, I am not sure if it is Loony Toons in specific, or just cartoons. Since there are no kids here yet we don't watch a ton of cartoons, rarely any except Simpsons, King of Hill, you know Fox cartoons.

Anyways -- HBO Family is Gremlins 2 and the introduction before the movie starts was a short Loony Toons clip and she was just fixated on the tv, once the Gremlins movie started she was back to chewing on her ball.

Anyone ever have a dog like cartoons or Loony Toons in specific?

Snow Day!

Well, not quite a snow day. We had a 2-hour delay start, which was nice as I could get some laundry & dishes done & ate a nice breakfast at home. So, I only had to work for a few hours, then had my 1-year follow-up for my Lasik, which was a good appointment. Then I visited with my neighbor Mary for a while, which was nice. And made a good supper -- Seafood ala King (with shrimp & scallops.)

Today has not started so well......I have been awake since just after 5 (due to the cat) and finally got up and did some dishes and surfed the internet. I have been feeling a little nauseated this morning, which I am not pleased with. And I forgot my cell @ home, I hate when I do that. It's sitting there in the charger -- bah! Tonight I was planning on going to the holiday party for our department, but we'll see how I feel later on. I am pretty tired and stomach is upset, so maybe I'll just skip it.

Now that's a Mouthful!

Wow! You gotta check out all the adorable pictures on this website: http://www.cuteoverload.com/

Weekend Review

Hmmmm.....this was a really laid-back weekend.....

Friday -- stayed home and watched movies on cable

Saturday -- took our time and finally went out and bought a couple of presents we need for this weekend, and then ate dinner @ El Tequila in Northfield. El Tequila is our favorite restaurant down here. We have never been to the location in Northfield, just in Owatona & Faribault. They also have a location in Farmington. Then home again.

Sunday -- hmmmmm.....ran a few errands and spent most of the day at home. Did manage to clean out the closet in the nursery which was over-run by photos and pictures we took down from that room and others, and donations to Goodwill & the humidifier that needed to come out and start being used. That was our one thing we set out to accomplish this weekend. We waited to the last minute, but we did it. Now it's just a closet with some baby things, a hamper and my maternity clothes.

Lunch-lady Memories

Alison gave me the idea for this post, as when I was commenting on her blog I started thinking of all those foods I liked that we had in our school cafeteria.

See, before you read this, you need to know that I went to a VERY small Catholic school for K-8, so there was not hundreds or thousands of kids to cook for. There weren't even a hundred kids at the school, yes it was that small. Most things were homemade. It was great. A lot of kids went back for seconds (in a small school you can do that). The head lunch-lady was also the owner/cook of a popular local restaurant/bar that was open in the evenings.

These were some of my favorite dishes:
* Pizzaburgers (not like a patty, but layers on a bun) Kinda like this recipe using the tomato soup, but on open-face hamburger buns.
* Tunaburgers (they were a creamy mixture on a bun, this recipe sounds like it.)
* Homemade pizza (crust & everything, this was a real treat!)
* Peanut Butter Dessert Squares (check out the Creamy Dessert Squares)
* Tater-tot Hotdish (recipe here)
* Pizza Casserole

I didn't care for the tacos. I was the weird kid that would take someone's refried beans on taco days in exchange for my taco, because you had to have a clean plate. I also didn't like peas and would try to get rid of those. Oh, and I detested these pork chopettes. A lot of the boys like the pork things so that was an easy thing to get rid of. I also didn't like when they made us take the raisin & peanut cups. I was not very fond of raisins thenand the peanuts were unsalted. What the hell? Who wants to eat unsalted peanuts.

Why can't I remember the other foods. I remember getting tomato soup and grilled cheese -- that was good and chili. I don't remember a lot of other soups. I also remember eating ravioli and loving that. Mom didn't buy us canned ravioli, so getting it at school was a treat, although I don't like the ravioli in the high school I work in. We always had a fish or vegetarian main course on Friday -- as we were a Catholic school. On fish days she always made her homemade potato salad. It was good, but since you knew you were going to her restaurant that evening and would have it, it did get old. I never did like the fish fillets (like those Van De Kamps breaded triangular ones) or fish sticks. I gave those away too. Oh! And I never likes the mashed poatatoes -- they were instant. Still don't care for instant mashed potaoes. I did like baked potatoes, but as a kid I didn't like skins and would get hollered at for not eating my skins. But that is why we always traded, so you got to eat the foods you liked and didn't get hollered at for not eating everything, because they made you take one of everything.

I guess I didn't care much for a lot of the pre-made stuff, except the ravioli. I always liked the homemade stuff and have fond memories of those things. Even now that I work in a high school, I tend to eat the lunches that require more assembling (as nothing is "really" homemade when you have 2000 students to cook for). Although they make the tatertot hotdish homemade (can you get tatertot hotdish pre-made?) and this great homemade potpie. I tend to eat a lot of salads there. They have a great salad bar with tons of things on it. They also always have a few choices for fresh fruit, which is great to get a variety of melons in the winter.

The good thing I notice about the high school and about the public high school I went to, is that they don't make you take anything.

You know, now that I re-read this post I am starting to think I was a little bit picky. I never thought I was a picky kid, as there were kids who didn't like things A LOT more than me. As I got older my tastes changed and I like some of the things I used to not like (peas, tacos, ok mayeb that is it). Hmmmm.....I wonder what my kid is not going to like.......

Another Take on Vegetables

Ok - maybe this is someone else's idea of vegetable (& fruit too!) garden planning,

These pictures on "Tiny Grain of Sand" are hilarious.

Vegetable Gardening Plans for Next Year

This baby business is going to cramp into my vegetable garden planting this year. I am due right around the time that I need to be tilling and getting the garden to plant.

Do you think with a big belly with a baby ready to pop out of it I am gonna want to want to do any digging? Or after that when a 8 pound baby (I'm hoping it's not as big as I was when I was born) comes ripping through me (yes, I am scared of ripping! ouch!)? Or what if I need to get a c-section and am not going to be able to do digging stuff for a while?

So, I've decided that I am finally going to do something different with my garden. I started it last fall a little bit, but this spring I am going to do the whole thing. I am going to do a Lasagna garden. No, I am not planting pasta, cheese, & tomatoes (well, yes I will be planting tomatoes). It's a type of gardening that layers organic materials that composts and provides the plants with valuable nutrients, that my compact rocky soil is missing. There is no digging, no wedding & no tilling! Convinced yet?

I bought the 'original' Lasagna gardening book on the above link. I've had it for a couple of years and read it a couple times. I couldn't sleep last night so I read it again (a very easy read!)

Last fall I had Andy cover the garden with chopped leaves to see how just one layer affected the garden. I then had our tiller-guy (Tiller-guy went to college this fall and said he would probably not be moving back to the area until after 4 year.) go through the composted garden. It was amazing how just this layer of leaves composted over the winter made a difference in the garden. That was step one in my small test.

Step two was creating the small areas in my garden that were separated by walking paths made of an organic material (I used cut grass!). These paths cut down on my weeding tremendously. No longer did I have to weed in between rows of plants. I had also planted groups of plants in boxes rather than rows, which is supposed to allow more plants because you have less space for walking. Step 2 worked nicely as well.

What was also great was that I had some place to put my grass clippings and leaves and didn't have to bag them all. I have 2 compost bings behind the garage and both are basically full, so I don't really have room there for more clippings.

So, my plan is to go the Farmer's & Feed Supply Store and buy some straw, an inexpensive purchase. There is a layer of composting leaves and grass on it now, which I will rake to the side as I layer the bottom with newspapers (I actually did this newspaper things with some flower garden I put in, works nicely for most weeds, but somehow those persitant picker plants find a way to get through.) Then I will rake the composted layer back on, layer with some straw, and I'll have to make a trip to Wal-Mart or Lowe's to get some peat moss and maybe some bagged manure to add to the layers, then empty at least one of my compost bins on the garden and I have wood ask in the firepit, although I will have to be carefull sprinkling it as we have burned things with nails in there and such, so I'll have to watch for those things. And I imagine we'll have mowed the lawn once already and I'll throw that in the layers too.

To plant you just pull apart the layers and put in you plant or plant seeds on tops of the layers and cover with another layer. Oh, you do plant in blocks and have the paths too.

The first year is when the greatest cost is involved because you have the most layers to make and if the supplies are not all available for free to you, you make have to go buy some. After the 1st year you just keep adding more layers. It doesn't get all tall and huge because it composts down. You start out with an 18-24" pile when you start, and it composts down to 6" in no time at all and continues to compost after that even further.

So, that's what I am going to do. And now that I told you all about it, you can do it too.

My Sleeping Boys

Camera phone doesn't take the greatest pictures, but here are my sleeping boys, Andy & Larry.

Holiday Traditions

Andy & I have talked bits over the years of our own holiday traditions and those that we would like to have with our kids.

I just thought it would be nice to reflect on the good things from the holidays that I remember enjoying.

* I always liked having Christmas Stockings from Santa
* I never noticed it growing up - but Santa presents came in Santa wrapping paper, that's a neat idea.
* I liked that Santa always gave us a gift to the "Family" which was something we could do that night or the next day, like a movie or a game.
* I like listening to the Disney Christmas albums, it's what my mom played (on record) when we were young. It always cracks me up when Goofy sings "Five Onion Rings"
* I like how we take turns opening presents, so that when you are done opening you pick something from the pile for someone else.
* It made me laugh when my dad would put on a clown nose and a santa hat, like he was Rudolph & Santa all in one.
* I like that we do a bunch of appetizers (Andy's family does this too) for xmas Eve, and then a dinner on xmas day.
* I like that we have my grandpa say prayer at xmas day dinner and I always liked that we invited them over for that day. Since everyone else has to share them on the eve, we get their full attention on the day.
* I alwas thought it was nice that mom made people pies, fruit cakes, candies, cookies, etc. for holiday trays as gifts and delivered it to them. They always seem to appreciate it. I like to do that too.

Ok - it's time for lunch. But I will have more to comment on. What holiday traditions do you like that you did with your family?

Bah Humbug?

If I don't xmas cards this year - or maybe ever again - does that make me a Scrooge?

I hate the feelings of guilt about having to send out cards to anyone & everyone.

Does it make sense to send out cards to people just because they send me a card?

Honestly, there are some people I would want to send cards, but do you need to send a card if you will see them in person? Isn't a verbal greeting as good or better?

Isn't it ok to just send cards to people you want to but cannot give a verbal greeting to? Or maybe I should just call those people instead -- I'm thinking of those people out of state that I do not have the opportunity to wish a Happy Holidays to.

I feel a little like the card business has made such a push at commercializing the holidays and making you feel guilty if you don't buy a $5 box of cards and send it out.

Really, what is a card if all it is, is a card with no letter or anything and is just a signature on some pre-printed words.

I'm not doing xmas cards this year, well, I might send out to a couple of friends out of state I will not see and call them too. But other than that, I am giving myself permission to not feel guilty about not doing cards. And maybe next year I will feel even better about not doing it.

Bitterly Cold

Andy took this picture this morning and sent it to me on his way to work. Yikes! The joys of living in Minnesota.

First Weekend in December

Friday night I met Linda for an early dinner at the Peppermill, early for me is anytime before 7pm, we were there around 5:45. It was nice conversation and good food. I was home and in bed around 9:30.

Saturday I put up some Christmas lights in 5 windows and an illuminated hanging snowman and 2 illuminates hanging hollys, and some non-illuminated holiday decorations & a wreath & holiday flag. It looks even more Christmasy here. I like it. The colorful lights make me happy. That night Andy & I went to an early dinner, coincidentally the same time as yesterday's early dinner. We decided to check out The Pinecone Restaurant, which is a truck stop restaurant in Northfield. We saw a sign saying they had a huge salad bar and that sounded good to me. For $7.95 we had the buffet (salad bar, soups, and hot foods including fried chicken, ribs, turkey, all the turkey trimmings, mac&cheese, & macaroni casserole). Pretty good and pretty nice inside. Although we ate too much food. Then we came home and watched The Longest Yard, which we picked up from Redbox. I did make some holiday rice krispie treats that are very good.

Today I ran some errands and did grocery shopping. Yup, that's really it. I don't plan to do much more than make dinner for us in a few hours.