Signs of Spring

Isn't Spring beautiful?

It's official

I'm officially pinned and graduated. And I'm all moved into my new apartment in Marshfield complete with cable and internet. Now I'm just waiting to start working. I start hospital orientation stuff on Friday and have that again next week. Just thought I'd share some pictures from the festivities! The top two pictures are from the pinning ceremony where I recieved my nursing pin (pins have replaced the caps that nurses used to get when they graduated) and the bottom pictures are from graduation.

Happy belated Cinco de Mayo

So, I'm a few days off. Better late than never, right?

On Saturday, Mandy, her sisters (one with a husband in tow), her parents and I headed down to West St. Paul for the annual Cinco de Mayo fiesta. I'd never done this before, and I must say that I'm glad I went. We arrived mid-way through what turned out to be an extraordinarily long and uninspiring parade. Next came navigating the foot traffic down Cesar Chavez Blvd. The street was packed with folks from one side to the other as far as the eye could see and bookmarking all of the action were two equally long lines of food vendors. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more Mexican food vendors, being that it is my favorite. There was an occasional taco or quesadilla booth, but the majority of the stands were for mini-donuts, cheeseburgers, etc.
Now you're probably wondering why I said earlier that I was glad I went. Well, we happened upon the salsa tasting competition in the parking lot of Boca Chica (great Mexican restaurant), and we were treated to some pretty darn good salsas. Of course, by the time I got to the last couple, my taste buds were pretty much shot. Anyway, the salsa tasting was enough to make the trip worth the time.
I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend as much as I did!

Sorry Bemidji

From a blog I follow:

The WCHA has decided not to expand their conference, meaning Bemidji State will likely soon find themselves without a conference to play in once the CHA collapses, and could force BSU to drop their hockey program.There have been critics that said Bemidji's program would be in dire financial straits with or without the WCHA, but my question is, why not at least give them the opportunity to fail? Maybe they wouldn't be able to make it in the WCHA, but they're almost guaranteed to die without any conference to play in.And what's the argument for not letting them into the league? It ruins the 8 years of tradition built up by having the same 10 teams in the league? It makes an already unbalanced league schedule slightly less balanced? The real answer is most likely that the other teams in the league don't want to split the revenue from the Final Five another way.The Beavers have more than proven themselves as a capable team. They've competed extremely well against the WCHA over the past couple years, despite having CHA-level resources. Playing in the WCHA would make the program even stronger. Yes, Bemidji still has issues, like the lack of a WCHA-level arena, but that could be solved by making their league membership, and cut of the league revenue conditional until they get a new arena.It's really a disappointing decision from the WCHA. Having an extra 18 scholarships/26 roster spots for D-I college hockey players is never a bad thing, and this decision puts that severly in jeopardy.

Lounge About Tee Shirts

Scott (of Nick and Scott) has left his job working in a silk screening business to go out on his own. He has purchased the required Silk Screening equipment-got into a storefront space and is well on his way to becoming a entrepreneur and business owner! Congrats to Scott! anyway now for the point of the Post.
Last night he suggested that we make special T-shirts for the Lamon Lounge About. He has offered to design them and to make them and maybe even deliver them (I added the last one). I think this would be a great way to support Scott and Nick on their new adventure,
Is there anyone interested in buying a T-Shirt?

Lamon Lounge-A-Bout

Think Summer! Think Camping! Think Relaxing! Think Reconnecting! Think Fun!

The Lounge dates are: June 22-24, 2007 at Cross Lake. :)

Lounge Dates?

Hi, Family!

We were trying to figure out the Lounge-a-bout dates...can anyone provide those?

Thanks, Lois

The Zimmers

I think that a person could, without trying very hard, read at least one article every single day about how the Boomers are going to change retirement. Heck, my company is doing some major advertising to the group based on this concept. But maybe the Boomers aren't the pioneers they think they are. Check out this video of folks who look to be in the WWII generation showing how it's really done. And turn it up to 11, no matter what generation you're a part of.

Can you believe it?

Anna
This is the start of your grand adventure-Congrats Anna

Beer!

I spent the evening bottling a batch of Irish Stout tonight. Bottling always takes a whole lot longer than I think it should. But it's all ready to go now and everything's cleaned up.

Apparently I was getting a little punchy toward the end when it came time to label the bottles. Or mark them, really. I don't generally make labels. Too much work to make and apply, and then have to peel them off the bottles for the next batch.

It's a shamrock. Obviously I'm not artistically gifted.

Continuing

Somehow I hit a wrong key...& then the blog wouldn't let me go back & edit, so...

The warmer oceanic waters predict that the hurricane season will be busier & more problematic.

Here is the link: nbc-2.com

Aaron & New Orleans

Aaron is in New Orleans at the National Hurricane Convention today and tomorrow. He spent Sunday traveling (about 13 hours) from Ft.Myers and spent Monday in Buloxi, Mississippi, & then headed to New Orleans to film the continuing devestation there. He told us that it is unbelievable to still see how much is left to be done to clean up the areas.

I've included his link just in case anyone is interested in more information or to watch any "shots" that Aaron filmed. Probably some of his filming will hit the national media because it usually does.

According to the national hurricane expert this year is going to be an extremely busy year with hurricanes due to the oceanic water temperature

Could you say "No" to a face like this?

I couldn't. So now we have another dog. Meet Bailey, a portly little 6-year-old beagle / basset cross.



We brought her home from the Humane Society yesterday. She likes big and little people, is getting along very nicely with Theo, and loves to cuddle. She's also taken over the furniture.



Her former owners surrendered her to the Humane Society almost a week ago; she's had a pretty rough time of it. I think she's missing her old family something fierce. She was very well-behaved and quiet last night but didn't sleep much, if at all. This afternoon she finally relaxed enough to collapse for several hours.



We like her lots. We hope she'll like us too. :-)

X-posted to my blog.

Master Gardener's Garden Party

Yesterday Dale & I spent the day at a Master Gardener's Workshop here in Bemidji. It was wonderful! They had enthusiastic, knowledgeable speakers, great exhibitors and a nice luncheon. The place was packed! Dale was one of many lucky door prize winners & brought home a new book entitled, "Making the Most of Shade." It was the kind of day you came away f feeling, man, I can't wait to get started! First, I'll move all those rocks, trim all those unsightly branches and suckers, get the hoe and shovels sharpened & oiled...& in the afternoon I'll accomplish the rest of the chores!

Whoa...whoa...whoa! Since yesterday, I've re-evaluated my list of chores & it now goes like this:
If it takes me all summer to move that pile of rocks, than I've accomplished a lot, & trimming trees, well, one tree at a time, & why sharpen my hoe or oiled it for that matter...I' d rather buy a new one!

Sometimes reality can be so disappointing! However, I am looking forward to getting out in the yard & garden & getting my hands dirty.

Tax Time

Well its that time of year again to get started working on my taxes. I always delay because I always have to pay. And as I was sitting reading Thursday's paper this morning there was a article with this headline
DFL eyes taxes. Senate likely to ok income tax hikes...

How long have they been in power? 3-4 months and already our taxes are already rising? I can't pay the ones I own now! I wonder what happening at the National level?

Hey, Beer Lovers

This is a great little article to get you thinking about beer:


http://men.msn.com/articlemh.aspx?cp-documentid=3872767&GT1=9212

The Wedding Gift

Roger was in trouble. He forgot his wedding Anniversary.

Patti was really angry.
She told him, "Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a gift in the driveway
that goes from 0 to 200 in 6 seconds AND IT BETTER BE THERE."

The next morning Roger got up early and left for work.
When Patti woke up, she looked out the window and sure enough there was a box
gift-wrapped in the middle of the driveway. Confused, she put on her robe, ran out to
the driveway and brought the box back in the house.
She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale.
Funeral services for Roger have been scheduled for Friday.

Spring Break in Minnesota

Deep in the heart of Texas *clap clap clap clap clap*

The girls and I are here for a week, visiting family and roaming around Texas (today was Mpls to Dallas/Forth Worth to Abilene; tomorrow is Abilene to San Antonio).

Pete wasn't able to take the time away from work -- we started missing him before we even got on the plane! The girls are great little travelers and, other than a car sickness incident (ick), have been handling sleep deprivation, a 6 a.m. flight, and one long, boring drive quite well.

I'll be posting more over on my blog once I get some sleep and recharge my brain (and have more to post about than large skies, cactus and tumbleweeed, and extraordinarily nice strangers who say "y'all" a lot, which are my main impressions of Texas at the moment).

My Doctor Visit

I was a Carol and Scott's most of this past week. Carol was not feeling well and was gone from work much of the last week. It turned out she had strep...On the way home I started feeling a bit out of sorts...my ear had been hurting so I went to the walk in clinic...to get my ear checked and do a strep test(just in case). As it turned out my strep test was negative and I had some drainage problems in my ear so we are getting that fixed. But my blood pressure was very high and the doctor was most worried about that so now I have to get my blood pressure checked for a week or so then back to the clinic. She said I problably would need to be on Blood Pressure Meds...I hate being on any meds long term.
I would guess my health problems are related to my weight so Nancy and I are going to try something new...Carol has this book called "you on a diet" and it explains the effects that foods have on you and the "why" they affect you the way they do so we ordered it on the web for under $10 and we will try to get a bit more educated and a bit lighter and maybe healthier. Wish us luck!

Spring Thaw

What a difference from two weeks ago! Yesterday everythng was melting and water running all over. This whole week its going to be warmer...into the 40s. I can't wait for the first fire...Maybe tonight!

Heaps of Snow!

The snow last night was really something here in Duluth. They are reporting we got 20 inches. Mix that with 60mph winds, and it's most certainly the worst storm I've ever seen. If we get 2 more inches it will be a normal snow year for us. We got all our snow in one week!


Here's the pile of snow in front of our house we've made after the past 2 storms.




Here's Scott using our new snow shovel we got just in time!

Remember Snow Days?

Marketing 101

I was watching the Tour of California tonight when a commercial for Wendy's came on. There was music in the background as the voice-over announced how wonderful Wendy's food is. And the song they had in the background was Blister in the Sun by The Violent Femmes. Now, maybe it's me, but even though they didn't use any of the vocals for the song, I still don't think it's a wise choice.

Violent Femmes - Blister In The Sun Lyrics

When I'm out walkin' I strut my stuff
Man,I'm so strung out
I'm high as a kite and I just might stop to check you out

Let me go on like I blister in the sun
Let me go on big hands I know you're the one

Body and heat I stain my sheets
I don't even know why
My girlfriend she's at the end and she is starting to cry

Let me go on like I blister in the sun
Let me go on big hands I know you're the one

Warmer & Nicer

Even though we don't have much snow & we haven't done any cross country skiing...the weather is a nice, welcome change. It has even prompted ideas in my head that involve yardwork, gardening, and walking outside with a lighter jacket on...! I'm wondering if I have some symptoms of cabin fever...do you think!?!!!

Our six more weeks of winter are now down to four!

Looking Good

World Weather > North America Weather > USA Weather > Minnesota > Bemidji > 56601
Your 7-Day Forecast
For Bemidji, MN 56601

Saturday

Hi: 14°
Lo: -3°
Partly Sunny
Hourly
More
Sunday

Hi: 21°
Lo: 9°
Mostly Cloudy
More
Monday

Hi: 30°
Lo: 13°
Chance of Light Snow
More
Tuesday

Hi: 29°
Lo: 11°
Partly Sunny
More
Wednesday

Hi: 31°
Lo: 12°
Mostly Sunny
More
Thursday

Hi: 32°
Lo: 10°
Mostly Sunny

All the snow is in Colorado

Mandy and I went to Greeley, Colorado last weekend to visit some friends who just had their first baby. Man, do they have some snow. I'm a little jealous.

Cold Enough For Ya?

60 above zero:
Floridians turn on the heat.
People in Minnesota plant gardens.

50 above zero:
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in
Duluth sunbathe.

40 above zero:
Italian & English cars won't start.
People in Minnesota drive with the windows down.

32 above zero:
Distilled water freezes.
The water in Bemidji gets thicker.

20 above zero:
Floridians don! coats, thermal
underwear, gloves, wool hats.
People in Minnesota throw on a flannel shirt.

15 above zero:
New York landlords finally turn up the
heat.
People in Minnesota have the last cookout before it
gets cold.

Zero:
People in Miami all die.
Minnesotans close the windows.

10 below zero:
Californians fly away to Mexico
People in Minnesota get out their winter coats.

25 below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Minnesota are selling cookies door
to door. (True!)

40 below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in Minnesota let the dogs sleep indoors.

100 below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Minnesotans get upset because they can't start the
Mini-Van.

460 below zero:
ALL atomic motion stops (absolute zero
on the Kelvin scale.)
People in Minnesota start
saying..."Cold 'nuff fer ya?"

500 below zero:
Hell freezes over.
Minnesota public schools will open 2 hours late.

18 below in Bemidji

Nancy snpped thes pics!

Nice Folks (a joke I copied)

The other day I went to a local Christian bookstore and a saw a "Honk if you love Jesus" bumper sticker. I was feeling particularly sassy that day because I had just come from a thrilling choir performance, followed by a thunderous prayer meeting; so I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper.

Boy, am I glad I did! What an uplifting experience followed! I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection, just lost in thought about the Lord and how good he is ... and I didn't notice that the light had changed. It's a good thing that someone else loves Jesus because if he hadn't honked, I would have never noticed!

I found that LOTS of people love Jesus!

Why, while I was sitting there, the guy behind me starting honking like crazy, and then he leaned out of his car window and screamed, "For the love of God! Go! Jesus Christ, go!" What an exuberant cheerleader he was for Jesus!

Everyone started honking! I just leaned out of my window and started waving and smiling at all those loving people, I even honked my horn a few times to share in the love.

There must have been a man from Florida back there because I heard him yelling something about a "sunny beach"...

I saw another waving in a funny way with only his middle finger stuck up in the air. I asked my teenage grandson, in the back seat, what it meant. He said that it was probably a Hawaiian good luck sign or something. Well, I never meet anyone from Hawaii, so I leaned out the window and gave him the good luck sign back.

My grandson burst out laughing ... why, even he was enjoying this religious experience.

A couple of people were so caught up in the joy of the moment that they got out of their cars and started walking towards me. I bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended, but this is when I noticed that the light had changed. I waved to all my sisters and brothers, grinning, and drove on through the intersection. I noticed I was the only car that got through the intersection before the light changed again, and I felt kind of sad that I had to leave them after all of the love we shared. So, I slowed the car down, leaned out the window, and gave them all the Hawaiian good luck sign one last time and drove away.

Praise the Lord for such wonderful folks!

Tooth Tunes

I was watching TV with the girls last night and saw a commercial for something I never would have imagined. Tooth Tunes, a musical toothbrush. It's timed to play two minutes of whatever song you choose so kids know how long they should brush for. What a cool idea, I thought. It would totally motivate a kid. But as I thought about it more and more, I changed my mind. What a horrible idea. The main problem in the design is that each toothbrush only plays one song. I can't come up with a song that I'd like to hear over and over every morning and every night. And I certainly can't pick one of the songs that's actually available.
The Beach Boys - Fun, Fun, Fun. Now I enjoy the Beach Boys quite a bit, but this is one of their more repetitive songs. No way I'd want to hear it twice a day.
Destiny's Child - Survivor. Who is buying their children music from Destiny's Child?
Kelly Clarkson - Walk Away: Hearing this song once is once too many.
Queen - We Will Rock You: Great song. But I don't think you could get a good brushing rhythm established to it.
Aly & AJ - Walking on Sunshine: This was a fun song in the 80s when Kristina and the Waves played it. Don't give me a second rate cover version.
Black Eyed Peas - Let's Get It Started: Please. Do you really want images of Fergie in your head when you're brushing your teeth?
Hilary Duff - Wake Up: OK, sort of appropriate for the morning brushing session. But has potential to cause insomnia if used at night.
Jamiroquai - Canned Heat: Much too funky.
Jesse McCartney - Beautiful Soul: I have no idea who this even is.
Kiss - Rock and Roll All Night: Somehow I just don't associate Kiss with good dental hygiene.
Smash Mouth - All Star: Probably the best choice. It will always remind you of the end of Shrek.
The Cheetah Girls - Shake a Tailfeather: In a word? No.
Theme from Rocky (Gonna Fly Now): This would be inspiring. I would want to attack my teeth. I'd probably end up eroding away the enamel.
The Village People - YMCA: How would I be able to brush my teeth AND make the Y-M-C-A hand signals at the same time?

Plus, the most aggravating part would be that every song would end at two minutes. So just when you're starting to enjoy it, poof, you're done. That's a recipe for an earworm of epic proportions. So in short, no thank you Tooth Tunes.

"Archaeological Treasure Found Up North"

So, reads the headline from the Star Tribune...it goes on to say:

"Atop the highest hill in Walker, Minn., archaeologists have found what they believe to be evidence of the oldest human habitation in the state -- perhaps 13,000 too 14,000 years old."

Yipes...I can hardly comprehend 1,000 years, but think about 13,000!!

Rather than replace the entire article here, I have included the link just in case there are some that need more info or details.

Chicago!

This weekend I went to Chicago! We had a blast, ate lots of good food and had some great conversations. We picked up our friends Lori and Jim in Stoughton and then picked up Nathan and Katie in Beloit and continued on into Chicago. We ate at Miller's Pub and the Elephant Castle. Awesome food at both! Saturday afternoon, we had tickets to see the musical Wicked. It was an awesome show, I would definately recommend it to anyone who gets the chance to see it! It's the story of the witches in the Wizard of Oz before Dorothy comes. It had a really good message and it was entertaining for both kids and adults! I drove back today through some lovely snow and saw 40+ cars in the ditch. Glad I wasn't one of them! Have a good week!!

Chicago!

This weekend I went to Chicago! We had a blast, ate lots of good food and had some great conversations. We picked up our friends Lori and Jim in Stoughton and then picked up Nathan and Katie in Beloit and continued on into Chicago. We ate at Miller's Pub and the Elephant Castle. Awesome food at both! Saturday afternoon, we had tickets to see the musical Wicked. It was an awesome show, I would definately recommend it to anyone who gets the chance to see it! It's the story of the witches in the Wizard of Oz before Dorothy comes. It had a really good message and it was entertaining for both kids and adults! I drove back today through some lovely snow and saw 40+ cars in the ditch. Glad I wasn't one of them! Have a good week!!

MY Time is not my own

Is it just me or does everyone think that their time belongs to someone else?

I don't own anyone elses time!

I want some of my time back!

Motto for the week...Bury the Beavers

The Fighting Sioux play a home-and-home series with Bemidji State this weekend. I generally like to cheer for the Beavers, but not when they're playing against my alma mater. The Sioux have had a rough first half of the season, so I'm hoping they can keep it together against an impressive BSU squad.

I went to Madison last Saturday and saw the U of M play against Wisconsin. The game itself was pretty slow, ending 1-0 in favor of Minnesota, but my friends and I enjoyed Madison quite a bit! I've now been to 5 of the 10 arenas in the WCHA. Each one has a little something all it's own that I've enjoyed.

Our Movie Review, "Freedom Writers"

Hillary Swank's new movie, "Freedom Writers" is about an English teacher in an urban school in California. Her students consist of blacks, latinos, hispanics, asians & and one lone white boy. These students are for the most part gang members and are exposed to violence. Ms. G. (Hillary) experiences problems getting them interested in writing...& they tell her that she doesn't know anything about "gangs" or their lives. She responds with a comment that is pivotal to the story...she tells them that she does know about gangs & violence...in fact, there was once a gang that was so powerful and corrupt that it makes their gangs look small and insignificant. Then she asks a question of the class..."Have any of you ever heard of the holocaust?" Not one of the students raise his/her hand.

Dale & I knew that we would see this movie for a couple of reasons: 1. Hillary Swank is the star; and, 2. It is a story about a teacher. We were not disappointed. And, if you choose to see it, neither will you.

Back to School...again

It's hard to believe that an entire month is almost over again. I start back to school on Wednesday but I'm heading back to good old Rochester Friday for my last semester of nursing school. Our professors have told us that this semester will fly by and will be over before we know it. I just hope I have a lot of time to spend with friends since this will be the last few months I will be able to have with them living 5 minutes away from me.

Break has been pretty relaxing, which is good. I've definately caught up on my sleep and been more or less stress free. This past week, I made 4 baby quilt tops. My first attempt at quilting and I'm pretty happy with the results. Right now, I know of at least 10 people who are having babies between now and May. That's a lot of babies!

I've been thinking about what I want to do when I graduate and I'm planning on moving back to Marshfield for 2 years. After that, who knows? One of my friends and I had mentioned going to Alaska as a joke. But the more I think about it, I think it'd be cool to go there for a couple years just to experience it. My same friend is planning on moving North Carolina after graduation and wants me to come along. I don't know if I want to move as far away as North Carolina or even Alaska, but we'll see. It'd definately be an adventure! If I decide not to go that far away, I'll probably head over to the Twin Cities. Quite a few of my nursing friends are going to be there or somewhere in Minnesota, so it would be nice to be a little closer to them. Like I've always been told, there's endless options in the nursing field and boy were they right!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Beautiful Sunrise

We had a wonderful time in Florida...the weather was above 80 sunny and nice every day we were there...but, like all travels, it does feel good to be home! And, the snow today is quite welcome...it is good to be cozy & warm, too.

Enjoy the pictures!

Kane in Florida

Florida Pic

So Much For Lobby Reform-First 100 Hours

Interesting...we'll keep track of this. See MSN Article below.

WASHINGTON — Democrats say they were returned to power in part because of corruption and ethical lapses of the Republican Congress. They promised to clean up the swamp and crack down on lobbyists.
But hours after changing House rules to reduce favors from lobbyists, it was back to business as usual in Washington.
Democrats threw a $1,000-a-person fundraising concert in Washington Thursday night, with Hollywood celebrities, big donors and those lobbyists writing checks to re-elect Democrats.
“Tonight we are having a celebration!” said Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "Democrats are back!”
Congressional Republicans also had a pricey fundraiser with lobbyists after they assumed power 12 years ago.
But Democrats promised to be different.
“It sends a very mixed message to be on one hand saying that they're clamping down on lobbyists, but then raising money from those very same lobbyists that they say are part of the problem,” says David Donnelly, an ethics reform advocate with Public Action Campaign Fund.
In fact, under the new rules, lobbyists can still wine and dine members of Congress as long as it's a campaign fundraiser.
Some lobbyists say that politicians who trash lobbyists are hypocritical.
“If you want to bash me in the press, bash me in the press, but don't call me the next day and ask for money,” says Paul Miller, president of the American League of Lobbyists.
Speaker Pelosi's spokesperson says there were only about 200 lobbyists at Thursday night's fundraising concert, and that this still will be the most open, honest Congress

Back to Normal

Christmas has come and gone. 2006 is history. Back to the work today. School starts on Wednsday.
I guess we are back to normal. But I don't want to give up un-normal...I like having my kids around. I like having lots of excitement in the house. Life is more lively around when thing are not normal.
We get up, go to work, eat dinner, watch some TV and go to bed. Then we do it again. Not much game playing...(we must have played 2-3 games of Scrabble or Cribbage daily when the kids were here). The kids even went sliding down snow hills!
We are going to try to get some more life in our house!
I like lots of life in our house and I like my kids around! Nancy and I laugh more and it's just more fun!

Beer and Bread

We spent part of the day making a batch of English Pale Ale and Spent Grain Bread. Spent Grain Bread is made with the used grains from the beer. Randee and I made the beer and Nick made the spent grain bread. I'm sure the bread will be as good as the experimental soup!

Happy New Years

Here is the Expermental Soup Recipe

It tuned out Great! Try it you'll like it! (we did not use the olives)

Squash, Kale, & White Bean Soup
serves 6-7
1 yellow onion
1 large butternut squash (peeled & seeded chopped into 1" pieces)
1 red pepper(Chopped into 1" pieces)
4-6 cups of stock
1 large head kale (devined and chopped)
2 cups cooked white beans
1 cup kalamata olives
fresh sage



1. Saute chopped onion in olive oil. Use a heavy bottomed soup pot.
2. Add chopped butternut squash. Saute over medium heat 10-15 minutes.
3. Add chopped red bell pepper &/or whole fresh corn kernels. Saute 2
minutes.
4. Add enough stock to cover vegetables. Add more for thinner soup.
5. Cook until squash is done 30 minutes.
6. Add finely chopped kale. Add a lot, it will cook down.
7. Just before serving. Add cooked white beans. Add pitted & halfed
kalamata olives.
8. Sprinkle with parmesan or fresh goat cheese.

Experimental Soup

We invited Grandma and Grandpa over for lunch on Saturday. We have a problem with vegans and meat eaters in the family. I wanted to insure that everyone would be able to eat what we prepared. I thought we should have some traditional soup like vegatable or tomato soup. But Randee had a different idea. She is preparing White Bean, Squash andKale soup. It seems like a kind of weird soup to me, but I am becoming more open to vegan meals. When we invited Mom and Dad, I did not know what we were going to make so I called it Randee's Experimental Soup. I think Dad was liking that but I think he may eat before he come here. We'll see how it goes...

Happy New Year!

Well, here we are at the close of another year...wow! As the saying goes, "where does the time go?" We wanted to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!

So far, we've had a very nice holiday season...and connecting with family has been wonderful as it is nice to see each & every one of you. Thanks for making the effort to visit with us, too...we are grateful for that. And, seeing Randee each year...well, that is a bonus. And for those of you we've missed seeing, well, we did miss you.

Most years by now, our holiday season is winding down...& we are putting Christmas away, finishing the holiday food, &(sometimes) throwing out holiday goodies, BUT this year we are so fortunate to continue our vacation by celebrating in Florida with Aaron. It will be great...& we are excited to check out his "new" spot & reconnect with him. So, tomorrow Dale, Katie & I are flying to Mpls. from Bemidji & Alicia & Kane are flying in from St. Cloud to Mpls. where we will all be on the same flight to Ft. Myers! Very exciting. It will be so much fun...!

We will try to post some pics!

more pics from Scott

Still a Mom

Christmas Pictures from Scott

We had a very nice time in Duluth with Nick, Randee and Scott. thenks to Nick and Scott for hosting. We know its lots of work having people stay with you over the holidays.
Scott sent a few pictures and I thought I would share a few with you all.

Merry Christmas To All

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas to all who read this! Nancy and I will be leaving for Duluth in the morning and we are very excited to see our kids. Christmas at Nick and Scotts then Back to Bemidji.
Nancy and I each have 10 total days off so we gotta make the best of them! Maybe we will see some of you over the holidays.

Top 10 lists

It's that time of year again, when everybody and their brother makes a Best Of list for the year that only has a week or two to go. I've managed to find one that was actually worth the time to read and made me laugh. It's a list of the best movie trailer mash-ups of 2006. For those not familiar with the genre, ordinary folks from the internets who have video editing software and no life recut bits of movies to make a trailer that is completely unlike the original movie, or they combine two movies to make one new movie. Probably the most well known example of this is the mash-up of Brokeback Mountain and Back to the Future, appropriately titled Brokeback to the Future. So, without further ado here's the list. Get a beverage and visit the restroom, because each of these vids is about 2 minutes long. 2 minutes times 11 videos (Why don't you just make 10 louder?) = you wanna be comfy.

10 best trailers

My favorites:
Must Love Jaws (a mash-up of Must Love Dogs in concept and the classic Jaws)
Office Space Recut (really, can you go wrong with this movie in any form?)
Martin Scorsese's Sesame Streets (f*$&!)
Shining (finally, a Stephen King movie with a happy ending)

Blog management

I'm not sure how many of you are aware of something called RSS. If you're like me and you read more than one or two blogs, RSS has the potential to make your life much easier. When I first started reading blogs, and blogging, I would log onto blogger once per day and check each of the links in my sidebar. This was a gigantic waste of time, because on any given day only about one third of the people I linked to had a new post. Then I learned that there is a better way. Enter RSS.

RSS is an acronym that stands for Really Simple Syndication. Simple, huh? You may have noticed a little orange symbol with white curved lines on many websites that you visit. That's a symbol that the site has an RSS feed. Blogger doesn't seem to have this feed symbol, but that's OK because the feed still exists. Here's how to make RSS work for you. First, you need an RSS aggregator. This is a tool that will go out and check all the blogs you tell it to, on a minute by minute basis, and see if there's anything new there. Kind of like what I was doing in the old days, but without all that manual checking nonsense. I personally use bloglines.com but there are many choices out there. Once you log on to bloglines (the process is similar for other sites) it will ask you to create an account. You'll need to complete some basic info, much like any other site.

Once you have your account set up, you're ready to start using the service. On the left half of the screen you'll see the bloglines logo and some tabbed folders. Start with the folder titled Feeds. Beneath Feeds you'll see a link titled Add. Click this and you will see the following:



Now, open another browser window and go to the blog you want to subscribe to. Copy the URL from the address bar and go back to the bloglines page. Paste the URL into the box labelled Blog Feed or URL and click Subscribe. You may get more than one choice of feeds or you may just get one. If you get multiple feeds, the first one listed should be fine. Select the feed by putting a check in the box. If there is only one then this step isn't required. Skip all the other settings such as folder, display settings, etc. For me anyway, the default ones work fine. And you can always change them later if you choose. Click the subscribe button at the bottom.




You should now see the name of the blog you subscribed to over on the left underneath the Add link where you started. Click the name of the blog, and all the new content will be displayed in the main portion of your window. It's as simple as that. Now you can continue to add other blogs as well. But it's not just about blogs. Many sites have RSS feeds that can be tracked in bloglines. I track flickr accounts of friends and get notified whenever they upload new pictures. I also track various newspaper columnists (you'll see James Lileks' feed in the example above) and even some news sites. The world, or at least the RSS-enabled world, is now your oyster. Enjoy.

Our Christmas Plans

I saw Lois' post and I thought I would give you an update on what we are doing also.
Nick and Scott have decided to host Christmas for our family this year. This will be the first time we are not hosting our family. Because we are going to Duluth over Christmas we decided not to put up a tree. That's a first also! Less stress for us.
Randee is flying into Duluth on Christmas eve and we will leave for Duluth that day also. We are very excited to spend a few days at Nick and Scott's house alone with our kids.
Nancy and I are taking the week off between Christmas and New Years this year. We should be returning to Bemidji on Tuesday evening with Randee (we think). I don't know for sure but I think Nick and Scott will be coming to Bemidji on Friday evening for the weekend. I believe Randee will go back to Duluth with Nick on Monday or Tuesday and then she fly's back to California on Wednesday.

Our 30th

As some of you may remember, it was 30 years ago yesterday that Nancy and I were married. We had a pretty nice day together but just a bit busier than I like. We started off by having coffee in the hot tub and just having a relaxing for the first couple of hours. Then things got busy. Nancy had a hair appointment, and I had some things on the "honey do" list while she was at her appointment. We then went out for lunch at about 11:30 at T-Juan's and had an early cocktail knowing it would be a full day of Christmas shopping. We must have hit every major store in Bemidji. We finally quite about 5:30 and stopped by the Northwood Steak House, had some appetizers and a beer. I was glad the shopping was mostly over. We had a light dinner at home and called it a night!

Our Holiday Journey

Everybody must be busy as our blog is experiencing little activity right now...& that is to be expected!

Getting ready for the holidays is a journey...be it a short one, but a journey, anyway. I am in the midst of the journey! I am a insufferable list maker, indicative of my age & the busyness of my life. Today, I am on the 15th or so list...& it includes things like, water the plants (which normally I don't need this chore put on a list!), dust, make meatballs, (the little bbq ones that you eat with toothpicks!), make my cheeseball (a Goodyear tradition), pick up some last minute gifts for our parents, & maybe make some dipped pretzels...oh, and I forgot my wonderful, best toffee (both items will suffice for office goodies)...& , &, &....! See why I need lists!

Next Friday, Dale & I head out about 4 to pick Katie up from UMD & from there we will head to Alicia & Ryan's to spend the night. In the morning, we will head to visit Dale's family in RWF, & then come back to Bemidji on Christmas Day. Alicia & Kane will go with us just for the day, because they have plans in Bemidji with Ryan's family on Christmas Day. (Ryan has to work...he is in retail so he is unable to join us in Redwood).

I am looking forward to connecting with my family sometime during the week after Christmas...something that has gotten more important to me each year! It is so exciting to have such great Christmas plans...it really makes my holiday special. And, before we know it, this holiday will join our other memories of special times with special people. Enjoy!

Not much new here

I've had a busy week at work, with another looming. I took my laptop home Friday because I have a big presentation on Thursday with some of our leaders. I'm sure I could get it done before then during the normal 9-5, but it will be nice to be able to spend some time on the presentation with no time constraints. I'm making it in powerpoint, which isn't one of my strong suits, so it's also nice to work in powerpoint and not have a deadline. I like what little I've done with powerpoint, and think it's a good application and the skills will serve me well. Speaking of skills I'm now an officially certified Project Manager, courtesy of St Thomas University. Doesn't change a thing about how I do my job, but it certainly looks good on paper. And unlike most corporate training classes I actually enjoyed going to this one!

Not much else to report here on the home front. Still no snow in Eagan. Does this mean we don't need to write the annual christmas letter?

Traveling Home

I have been in Mpls most of this week. Its good to be home!

Winter Has Arrived!

Doesn't this look nice? It is so beautiful out...I took this picture around 8:00 this morning. Our cross country skiis will be unpacked this afternoon for sure! We have been patiently waiting for this...enjoy!

Poll Question

When the temp is 5 degrees with a wind chill factor of -14, what happenes when you get out of the hot tub ?

This is not a multiple guess question, please leave your responses.

(kids...you'll have use your imagination on this one)

Splish splash I was taking a bath...

Well our first part of our dream is here. We bought a 6 person hot tub and its installed outside in the back yard. Next spring and summer we will build a deck or patio for it to sit on. Nancy and I will be married for 30 years this December 16 so we thought we would treat ourselves. We don't go on vacations or treat ourselves much and we are not getting any younger...so phase 1 is complete. It really feels great! Alica is right...the more jets, the better!

Happy Thanksgiving

I look forward to this Thanksgiving. I'll get a 4 day weekend and be able to spend time with Nancy and see some of the rest of you on Friday.
Its going to be warm and we are planning to grill this year and just spend time with each other.

20 Ways To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In-Box."

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write "For Smuggling Diamonds"

7. Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy."

8. Don't use any punctuation

9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.

10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."

12. Sing Along At The Opera.

13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme

14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play tropical Sounds All Day.

15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.

16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.

17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"

18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling "Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"

19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner. "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."

20. And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity.......

Share this with Someone To Make Them Smile. Its Called therapy.

The Right was Right

Now that the election is behind us, and the Democrats control both houses of Congress, there's no reason not to admit it: the Right was right about us all along. Here is our 25-point manifesto for the new Congress:

1. Mandatory homosexuality

2. Drug-filled condoms in schools

3. Introduce the new Destruction of Marriage Act

4. Border fence replaced with free shuttle buses

5. Osama Bin Laden to be Secretary of State

6. Withdraw from Iraq, apologize, reinstate Hussein

7. English language banned from all Federal buildings

8. Math classes replaced by encounter groups

9. All taxes to be tripled

10. All fortunes over $250,000 to be confiscated

11. On-demand welfare

12. Tofurkey to be named official Thanksgiving dish

13. Freeways to be removed, replaced with light rail systems

14. Pledge of Allegiance in schools replaced with morning flag-burning

15. Stem cells allowed to be harvested from any child under the age of 8

16. Comatose people to be ground up and fed to poor

17. Quarterly mandatory abortion lottery

18. God to be mocked roundly

19. Dissolve Executive Branch: reassign responsibilities to UN

20. Jane Fonda to be appointed Secretary of Appeasement

21. Outlaw all firearms: previous owners assigned to anger management therapy

22. Texas returned to Mexico

23. Ban Christmas: replace with Celebrate our Monkey Ancestors Day

24. Carter added to Mount Rushmore

25. Modify USA's motto to "Land of the French and the home of the brave"

From www.rightwasright.us

Thanksgiving

Hi Everyone~
I have been thinking about coming up to Bemidji the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of Thanksgiving week. I work PM and Night shift on Thurs, so I would leave on Friday around noonish. I was just wondering if people are going to be around to see. If people are around, that will help me with my decision :) Have a great week!