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.