Monday, February 25, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
lunar eclipse
The eclipse was pretty cool, in my opinion. The moon had an orange-ish tint to it as the sunlight was bent through the Earth's atmosphere.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Grandpa Bryce-FYI
Friday, February 8, 2008
To be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door - pet nose height.
| To be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door - pet nose height. The dishes with the paw prints are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest. The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run. I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm. For the last time, there is no secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years --canine or feline attendance is not required. The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough! To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door: To All Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets: 1. They live here. You don't. 2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. That's why they call it "fur"niture. 3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people. 4. To you, they are an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours and doesn't speak clearly. Remember: Dogs and cats are better than kids because they: 1. Eat less 2. Don't ask for money all the time 3 Are easier to train 4. Normally come when called 5. Never ask to drive the car 6. Don't hang out with drug-using friends 7. Don't smoke or drink 8. Don't have to buy the latest fashions 9. Don't want to wear your clothes 10. Don't need a gazillion dollars for college, and... 11. If they get pregnant, you can sell their children. |
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Late Winter

I always liked February for a couple of reasons. You can see spring from here and the sun gets a bit higher each day and stays out a little longer. It feels like there may be some heat in the sun again. In the last few days its been a bit colder but there was at least 30 degrees difference from the time I got up to the mid afternoon. I was scraping some snow off my roof on Sunday and by the time I got some scraped off-there was snow melting and water dripping off my roof.
The fish houses have got to come off in sometime Feburary too...and then breakup...I like late winter because I really like spring, summer and fall!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Emma & Morgan's 1st Motorcycle Ride
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Ground Hogs Day Feb 2nd
Groundhog Day is a direct descendent of Candlemas, which, for early Christians, was a day to bless and distribute candles—a hot commodity in the days before electric light, especially during the cold, dark winter. Seasonal Affective Disorder notwithstanding, the early Christians found a way to make the dismal season a bit cheerier: they decided that clear skies on Candlemas Day meant a longer winter. There may have been some wagering; there was probably a certain amount of partying. By the time this tradition reached Germany, the groundhog and his shadow had entered the story. When the Germans came to Pennsylvania, they brought their traditions—including the marmot—with them. The quirky fun developed into what we now celebrate as Groundhog Day. But where does Punxsutawney Phil fit in?
In 1887, a spirited group of groundhog hunters from Punxsutawney dubbed themselves "The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club." One member of the club was an editor of Punxsutawney's newspaper. Using his editorial clout, he proclaimed Punxsutawney Phil, the local groundhog, to be the one and only official weather prognosticating groundhog. He issued this proclamation on, appropriately enough, Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Phil's fame began to spread, and newspapers from around the globe began to report Punxsutawney Phil's Groundhog Day predictions. Today, 20,000 fans come to Punxsutawney on Groundhog Day to experience this unique—and fun—tradition. For more information about the evolution of Groundhog Day and the story of Punxsutawney Phil, visit Punxsutawney's official Groundhog site
And by the way-6 more weeks of winter-(Dah-we live in Northern Minnesota!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Font Size
Thanks for your help!
GM Hildur
Grandma Says
I went to the doctor and they took some pictures and found an golf ball sized gall stone-I'll have to get it mounted-Once I get stronger I will have it removed-I will be seeing the surgeon on the 12th of Feb-I will keep you posted!
Monday, January 28, 2008
Star Sightings in LA
Friday, January 25, 2008
Emma and Morgan are selling cookies

Hi, this is Emma and Morgan. We're selling girl scout cookies! would anyone like to buy any? They make great gifts! If you don't want any you can donate to the girl soldier our Brownie troop has adopted in Iraq. And they're really yummy too!!!!!!!We are selling through feb. 3 and the cookies will come march 1. The cookies are $3.50 a box, and there are 8 kinds. Mom says we'll drive to Bamidgey to visit and give you your cookies!
Thanks! You can pay when you get your cookies! (OUr favorites are tagalongs and lemon challet creams.)
Emma and Morgan
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Updated E-mail Addresses Please....
We're trying to update all of our e-mail addresses as St. Johns, where I'll be delivering, now has wireless access so we plan to bring the laptop and download her first photos to share with everyone.
Please let us know what your current e-mail addresses are (and if you know of those who don't frequent the family blog - send those too) so we can send you all an e-mail when she arrives. You can either e-mail us directly at mmsaunders02@comcast.net or just post them on the blog.
Looking forward to planning a visit this spring so everyone can meet her!
Mandy
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Los Angeles Art Show
http://www.laartshow.com/gala.html
The Premier Art Party Of The Year
The Honorable Antonio R. Villaraigosa Mayor, City of Los Angeles
Honorary Chair
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
An evening of fine art, food, wine, and music, the Los Angeles Art Show Opening Night Gala launches the LA Art Show’s four day weekend at the Barker Hangar.
Chaired by Mayor Villaraigosa, the Gala brings together art lovers, artists, collectors, and dealers from across the globe. Proceeds from the gala benefit the ArtMuseum Council and the Prints andDrawing Council of LACMA.
Patron Donor Reception6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Opening Night Gala7:00 PM - 10:00
PM$200.00 in advance$250.00 at the door
Substantial hors d’oeuvres provided by LA’s finest restaurants and caterers
Complimentary wine, beer and select cocktails / Live Music / Festive Attire
125 gallery openings inone space, in one night
Opening Gala tickets available from theArt Museum CouncilInformation: 323.857.6149Tickets: 323.857.6501
PATRON DONOR SPONSORSHIP LEVELS
Diamond Sponsor $25,000.00
Platinum Sponsor $10,000.00
Emerald Sponsor $5,000.00
Gold Sponsor $2,500.00
Silver Sponsor $1,000.00
Bronze Sponsor $500.00

Stay in Bed Weekend
Its stay in bed weekend! at LMN (Lifetime Movie Network) or what I like to call the Ladies Movie Network! Click on the link on the title to see a quick commercial on Youtube.
Hot Tub Weather
Monday, January 14, 2008
Update on Carol
They did an angiogram this morning and found two small blockages in small coronary arteries. So the angiogram turned into an angioplasty procedure. The doctors widened both of the blockages, and from all reports this should help matters. Mom will be meeting with the doctor tomorrow to discuss what he saw and what it means long term in more detail, so I don't have a lot more info to share at the moment. But the news sounds good, and other than being a little crabby from lying flat on her back for 8 hours (required after an angiogram) she sounded pretty positive.
Right now the plan is that she'll be staying at St. Joe's tonight and tomorrow, and then will get to go home on Wednesday. St. Joe's has a feature similar to the Bemidji hospital where you can email a patient, and that functionality can be found here. So if you have a minute or two send an email, I'm sure Carol would enjoy receiving and reading them.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
I'm Back
My HD crashed again before Christmas-and I am just now getting the computer back and running-
This time I have learned my lesson (I'm pretty hardheaded) and now I have a jump drive to back up stuff-I am also going to pick up a external HD and do an auto back up-
It was kind of a nice break...not to be the computer
Monday, December 24, 2007
White Christmas
Here in Central Wisconsin, we are definitely going to have a white Christmas. Saturday night we got hit with about 9 inches of fresh snow along with winds gusting up to 40 mph. Good thing I went grocery shopping on Saturday morning before it hit. I've attempted to leave my apartment, but there is a 3 foot snow drift right outside my door. I do have a shovel, so I could shovel myself out except the fact that it's in my garage which is on the other side of the building. It is nice not to have to shovel because I live in an apartment complex, but it's not much fun having to rely on others to shovel me out. Hopefully they will come plow me out soon because my parents and Nathan and Katie are coming over here for supper tonight before Christmas Eve service at church. Then, we'll be heading out to my parents house. Nathan and Katie are bringing the dogs with them, so it will be good to see them as well once again. Tomorrow we will be having Christmas for my mom's side of the family at our home. I was supposed to go to my mom and dad's house yesterday to make lefse for the festivities, but I was stuck at my apartment. Merry Christmas everyone!!! Hope everyone's holiday is wonderful!
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Christmas Season has started
Our family has chosen to draw names for gifts. This is the 2nd time we did this and I am so glad we did. It is so nice no to have to worry about buying tons of stuff which most of us don't need (or maybe want) anyway. We are in Duluth and we had our Christmas yesterday. We had loads of fun, playing games, eating a great vegan meal and enjoying some drinks. We just enjoyed each other...its nice to give stuff but its so much better to just give a bit of time and spend time with our families.
I hope you all can enjoy your Christmas with your own families and I hope to see some of you over the holidays.
Merry Christmas to All!
Friday, December 21, 2007
Dog saves woman's life in house fire
EAGAN, Minn. (AP) - Woman's best friend? A dog who saves her from a fire.Cathy Minnig was exercising on her basement treadmill Wednesday night, wearing music headphones, when her Labrador puppy began jumping on and off the couch and otherwise acting strange.
Fire Chief Mike Scott said Minnig took off her headphones to hear fire alarms. She ran upstairs to find her living room engulfed in flames. Minnig grabbed the dog and ran outside, Scott said.
Both woman and dog were OK. Minnig's two sons weren't home at the time.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
quilts
i finally finished my baking. i am sure all of you are only interested in the "burner" cookies.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Car 54, where are you?
MAPLEWOOD, Minn. (AP) - A woman suspected in a burglary found a convenient getaway: the squad car of the officers who arrested her.McKenzie Schafer, 27, of Minneapolis was arrested and handuffed Sunday by officers investigating the theft of a laptop from the North St. Paul Athletic Association building. Court papers say when officers went back into the building after putting Schafer in the back of their squad, she got into the front and drove away.
She was later caught in front of a sandwich shop by officers in another squad car. Schafer told police she took the squad to help look for the men who burglarized the building.
She was charged in Ramsey County District Court with two counts of burglary and one count of escaping from custody.
Monday, December 10, 2007
They're baaack!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Links and posting
Also, this post was made via email. I've got the blog set up so I can go into whatever email client I'm using, send an email and it will magically transform itself into a blog post. Pretty neat, eh? I know some of you might be interested in a feature like this so I decided to play around with it. It's really easy to do. So if you want me to try to set things up so you can do the same, let me know.
I hope everybody had a nice Thanksgiving and is enjoying the snow we've had so far. It's made biking pretty difficult this past week, but that's what makes life interesting. Ciao!
Friday, December 7, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Lets Say Thanks
I figure this is something we can all do to show appreciation to those of you who have served and for those who are there now!
Thanks to all who have been there, who are there now and who are going!
Something cool that Xerox is doing.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Mountain Swooping
I'm not sure if I would puke, lose control of my bodily functions or completely relax and enjoy the ride. Maybe all three!
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Wost Christmas Decorations Picture Contest
Spark People
I am confident my high cholesterol has reduced (350 at the highest) as well because of diet changes but I have not verified that lately. With meds I had it down to about 250 but for the last year or so I have been life choices that help reduce cholesterol.
Anyway please take a look and take a bit of time on this site and see if you could benefit as well. I was hoping that Carol and Anna could preview this and give some feedback as well.
I have also asked Peter to put a link on the home page for a quick access.
Best of all, its free.
Winter Wonderland
I don't know about the rest of you, but we definitely got quite the snowstorm yesterday. I left my apartment at about 10:30 to go to a baby shower about an hour away and it wasn't snowing yet. I finally got home at 5 and we had gotten about 7 inches of snow. Days like that I really wish I had a truck. I barely made it into my apartment complex's driveway. To top it off, we got some freezing rain on top of all the snow overnight. I'm just happy I don't have anywhere to go until I have to go to work at 7 pm tonight. Hopefully the snow will be cleared by then. Hope everyone had a good weekend!
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Theo
Most of you have met our dog Theo, either because you've visited us and been subjected to his overzealous greetings. Or you may have met him at the annual camping trip or when we packed him into the back of the van for a trip to Bemidji and other towns where family resides.
Theo died over the Thanksgiving weekend. We spent the weekend with Nancy's folks out in Lamberton, and sometime on Friday Theo disappeared. After an hour or two I went out in the car looking for him, and talked to a few of the neighbors. When Nancy got home from a shopping trip with her mom, she and Morgan went out again looking (Emma would have gone, but wasn't feeling well), but came home when it got too dark to see. Around 6:30 or so Theo just showed up at the back door, looking all happy and fine. He ate a little bit, but not much. We were up late that night playing Risk, and let the dogs out around 1:30 in the morning and everything seemed normal. But when Nancy's dad woke up the next morning he found Theo. It looks like he just died in his sleep.
He had a pretty good run, all in all, and I think it's easier to have him go this way than it would have been to decide to put him down. We're still finding clumps of his hair around the house and missing him. Bailey seems especially sad, so much so that she's not even all that excited about food. And with Bailey that's saying a lot! The kids think we should get another dog, but we're going to wait until after the holidays before deciding if we get another one.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
2007 Thanksgiving at the Saunders'
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Bemidji's Night We Light
Here is a link for the Bemidji Pioneers pictures of "The Nignt We Light"
Starfire Screen Printing



Shop Minnesota
As Minnesota 2020 Fellow Lee Egerstrom reported in Made in MN , buying Minnesota made products from local businesses can be a real shot in the arm to Minnesota's economy.Along with the report, Minnesota 2020 wants to make it easier to find Minnesota-made gifts. The directory below will hopefully point you in the right direction.Obviously there are many more Minnesota-made products than those listed here. If you have a product you would like listed here, send us an e-mail along with a photo to info@mn2020.org.
This gift guide was compiled by Andrea Sogaard, Nicki Moen, and Kelly Russell.
Food and Wine
Jewelry
Bath and Bed
Clothing
Toys and Gifts for Kids
Arts and Crafts
Indoors and Outdoors
Pets
Friday, November 23, 2007
Thumbs up on the pumpkin lefse
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving

Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Oh, the humanity!
FRAZEE, Minn. (AP) - Thousands of young turkeys are dead after a fire near here.
Firefighters were called around 3 a.m. Wednesday to the New Life Farm, west of Frazee.
The fire broke out in a barn where 20,000 turkey chicks were placed Tuesday.
Damage to the barn was minimal, but Frazee Fire Chief Paul Thon says there was a substantial loss of young turkeys.
No one was hurt.
It took crews more than two hours to control the fire. Detroit Lakes firefighters assisted.
The exact number of turkeys killed and the cause of the fire have not been determined.
Interesting Concept Indeed
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Thanksgiving
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Pumpkin Lefse Recipe
Thanks to Mom (Hildur) for sending us the instant potato lefse recipe she sent to us many years ago while we were stationed in Hawaii!We made our Pumpkin Lefse Vegan because Nick and Scott are coming home...let me tell you...they are good. We spread butter on them and sprinkled sugar and pumpkin spice and they we great!
We made 16, ten inch rounds.
We also made some traditional ones as well.
Below is the recipe we used. We had to mix in a bit more flour than we expected because pumpkin is quite a more moist than potatoes.
Enjoy this Pumpkin Lefse!
4 cups instant mashed potatoes
1-16 Oz Can Pumpkin Puree
2 teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup Butter (or Earth Balance Spread for Vegan)
2 cup milk(or Soy Milk for Vegan)
2,5 cup flour
2-Teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
Melt butter and salt in 1.5 cup boiling water. Pour mixture over instant potatoes and stir . Add 2 cup milk and 2.5 cup flour; stir together, then cool in refrigerator. Roll into golf ball size balls, about 1/4 cup, then roll out thin. Cook in hot griddle (475). Brown lightly on both sides.
A Vegan Thanksgiving
We have invited Mom and Dad and Nick and Scott to our home for Thanksgiving. The only challange is Nick and Scott are vegans-(no animal products). I told Mom this and she said," thats okay" and Dad said," good". So below is our menu. The only thing that is not Vegan is the Honeycomb-It's made by Bees...
Our Guests of Honor Include
Bryce and Hildur
Nick and Scott
Light Appetizers
Mixed Nuts
Crusty Bread with
Balsamic Vinegar and Oils
Soy Eggnog and Brandy
Entrees
Nick’s Mock Toferky & Stuffing
Fancy Nancy’s
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
Baked Sweet Pumpkin
With Maple Syrup
Hildur’s Own Onion Breadsticks
(if they turn out-(her words)
Whole Wheat Rolls with Fresh Honeycomb
Gary's Pumpkin Lefse (if it turns out-if not Lena's store bought)
Scott’s Dessert
Scott’s Surprisingly Good
Surprise Desert
Beverages
“Not to Strong” Coffee
Nature’s Own Iced Tap Water
Farm Fresh Soy Milk
Forest Edge Wine



















