hi-i have just been reading all the coments on your postings and enjoyed all of them. we are on the mend--grandpa still can only do light work so dale -lois & gary were here & the lawn looks beautiful. we went to a friends house this afternoon--had a chile supper --then played one game of phase 10 and two games of 10--9-8. nice to see all of you on this blog--by the way--what does blog mean? grandma--i almost forgot--we got a nice letter from randee--also a newspaper clipping telling about a mountain killed in Nevada City. local people can read it at 5819 bemidji ave n.

Off to the fair

It's time for a trip to the state fair today. We usually go for 3 or 4 hours. That's enough time to eat some tasty food and do some wandering. Going to the fair always reminds me of when I was a kid and running around the fair with Sara and Kristi. We had a lot of fun.

hi everyone

I am just trying this out with Gary`s help . all for now Grandma

I did get a car! YAY!!

Yes, Lois, I did get a car. I got it back in June. It is a 2001 Chevy Malibu and it's silver. Pretty exciting for me. I went to go get the loan the day after we bought it and my credit was good enough, my dad didn't even have to co-sign. So it is all mine. I haven't had anything go wrong, so that's a good thing. It gets pretty good gas mileage, usually 27 mpg and up. That was a must when I was looking. I got it in Wisconsin Rapids at a car dealership that my dad helps out with, so I got a pretty good deal. Her name is Allie. I don't know what else to tell you about it.

Anna's Car?

I have been getting hints on our blog about Anna's car...but no other info...huh, did Anna get a new car? Fill us in, Anna, please....thanks!

Back to School it is

Just like the rest of you, it is back to school time for me. I moved the majority of my stuff to Winona today. I woke up an hour after my alarm was set for when the phone rang, and then I took all of my stuff to the garage, then loaded it into my car, then unloaded it onto the deck and then into my room. Today just made me realize once again how much I hate moving. You pack up all your belongs just to unpack them a few hours later and then a few months later, do the exact same thing. I guess it is a pretty good way to do some cleaning and get rid of the stuff you don't want anymore I guess. When I left this morning, I definitely wasn't ready to come back here, but now that I'm here, it isn't so bad. I moved all of my stuff into my room within about an hour of getting here. Now it's a matter of unpacking and getting everything where I want it. That will be kind of hard because I don't have everything here. My parents are coming down on Saturday and they are bringing my couch, dresser, and another storage thing. I don't really know what to call it. So once all that gets here, I will really be able to unpack. I'm waiting for my books to get here too. My dad ordered them, so they should be coming here shortly. Tonight a bunch of my friends and I went up to Garvin Heights, which is a look-out on top of the bluffs. It looks out over the entire city of Winona as well as the Mississippi River, it was just gorgeous. Next time I go up there, I'll try to remember to take my camera and maybe post some pictures. It would have been much better if it wasn't cloudy so we could see the stars, but oh well, maybe another night. I also want to go up there sometime during the day too. Classes start for me on Monday. I'll be starting my driving back and forth to Rochester and back. Oh well, the year will be over before I know it and then I'll be living in the big city of Rochester til I graduate. So if anyone is ever in the southern part of MN, give me a call or ship me an email and if I'm around we can get together for dinner or something. I am wanting to make a trip up to Bemidji sometime. I don't know when it will be. I never have classes on Friday, so I have 3-day weekends all the time. I'll let y'all know when I figure something out.

3 day weekend

I have tomorrow off! And I'm having a heck of a time deciding what I want to do with my day.

Things I have to do this weekend:
* mow the lawn (it's developing it's own ecosystem)
* tidy up the house
* visit the Metro State bookstore to buy books for this semester
* get a haircut (no cracks about ecosystems here)

Things I want to do this weekend:
* go for a big, long bike ride
* Vikings preseason game Friday night (Nancy got a great deal on some tix)
* take the Red Cross sailboats out of the lake Saturday morning
* help our friends Joel and Alana finish their sheetrocking project
* find the Sibley Bike Depot

I'm sure I could fit all of this in, but I know that I probably won't.

Back to School

For the first time in 23 years I don't have a kid going back to public school! It seems a little strange.
I miss the excitement of getting that new box of crayolas, pencils, notebooks, and clothing. The kids kinda kept me in the loop for what was "cool." How will I ever know now?

I am looking forward to going back to school myself as I am starting today teaching part-time at Sylvan Learning, & then next week, it is back to NTC (Northwest Technical College) in my college lab assistant position.

Dale has been working in his classroom for awhile now...and, next week we will be taking Katie to UMD, so for us the Fall schedule is starting to roll.

Embrace the remaining days of summer!

Blogging???

Well I'm not sure if I've figured out the family blog yet or not, but I did find my invite e-mail in my junk e-mail so be sure to check yours if you haven't received it. Hope everyone is doing well! I'm thinking if I get a hang of this-- it could be a great way to let all of you know the info of the loungeabout! ~Mandy

Meet my new laptop!

I've been obsessed with buying a laptop for about 6 months now. I'd saved up enough money so that wasn't an issue. I just couldn't make up my mind on a brand or a model. It's such a big decision, because I'll be stuck with it for a couple of years.

Now after reading countless reviews, I bought a Sony Vaio S260. It's really small and portable. I can't wait for it to get here.