Sparkle Harple

Meet Sparkle. Sparkle is our little hamster...isn't she cute? She doesn't come out of her igloo much anymore so when I saw her out filling up her cheeks tonight I thought I'd snap a few pictures. Caitlin got Sparkle in Oct. 2004 from Grandma Nut (Jason's mom). She is such a sweet little thing. Never once thought to bite what's not meant to be bitten. Never escaped (except once, when I left the cage open--oops!). She doesn't know any tricks--it's enough for her to be cute as a button.

Merry Merry Christmas...

The hustle and bustle of Christmas has come and gone and this is one of the few pictures we captured. This is the three of us at Jason's mom's house on Christmas day. I don't realize how tall Caitlin is until I see her standing next to me in a picture. Sheesh! Not sure why we all look cross-eyed in the pic. :) Cait is wearing her new sweatshirt from Grandpa and Grandma Metcalf. She cherishes that shirt! Her Grandpa has worked on or near the LSU campus several times and he couldn't just pick up any old LSU shirt--it had to be the real deal, straight from the LSU store. She loves it.

Merry Christmas!

Well, much to my dismay, no snow for Christmas. :( With just the little sprinkling on Friday and 45 degree temps today, it's not looking good for my white Christmas. Oh well...we can still spread holiday cheer without snow.

It's been kind of a quiet weekend. We did a little shopping Friday evening and yesterday morning, but not Christmas shopping. I was actually done with that last week! Amazing! It's crazy out there, so I've stayed home most of the weekend. I did some cleaning yesterday and a little baking today. Caitlin is in Hayward at her Grandpa and Grandma Carlson's until tomorrow morning. We usually head up north on Christmas Eve, but my parents are in Louisiana so no visit with them and Jason has to work 8:00 p.m. tonight until 8:00 a.m. tomorrow (BOOOOOO!!!). As soon as he gets home we'll hit the road to pick up Cait and then go to my brother's house for breakfast with his family. After that we'll move on to Hayward to go to Jason's mom's house and then his Grandma's for Christmas dinner. We haven't decided yet if we're going to spend tomorrow night or just come back home tomorrow evening. It's nice to spend the night, but it's also nice to be home in your own bed. I have to work Tuesday some time too. I don't need to be there until after noon, but I should probably go in earlier.

I hope all is well with you and yours and that you have a very merry Christmas!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

It's snowing! YAY! I was dreading another brown Christmas...we have had very little snow this year so far, and what we did get didn't last for more than a couple of days because it's been so warm. I'm not one who plays in the snow (snowmobiling, skiing, etc.) so I can certainly do without, but when it comes to Christmas it just doesn't seem like Christmas without the white stuff. This would have only been the 3rd Christmas that I can remember that we didn't have snow. When I was a kid there were always piles of snow everywhere at Christmastime. It's been raining here for the past 36 hrs. so I was a little worried. Now we have some heavy, wet snow falling. Hopefully it will get cold enough tonight and snow some more and stay cold so that we have a white Christmas.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

HALLELUJAH!

At 1:00 p.m. today Jason stepped into the classroom at UWEC for the last time! YAAAHOOOOO!!!! I am extremely excited about this (just in case you were wondering). It has been an unbelievably long journey and I am so proud of him for sticking it out and getting to this day. The graduation ceremony will be on Saturday morning, and next week is finals week. SO...there won't be a diploma in the diploma cover, but it will follow shortly by mail. He has one paper to finish up and then he's DONE. No finals...this semester was his internship. All of the hard work, long hours, and patience (on my part) has finally paid off. Way to go Jas!

p.s. BLINKING AGAIN!

Still not blinking... :)

Update

LOL...

I plugged the lights on the tree in this afternoon and they're not blinking anymore! What a fun game this will be...or not! :)

Every Year!

It happened again! I don't know why I think it won't happen each year. I guess I just HOPE that it won't. Here's what happened...

Wednesday afternoon Jason and Caitlin went to get a Christmas tree. Cait didn't have school and Jason was home early. I couldn't get away from work so they just went. It was fine with me--it was COLD! :)

Wednesday night I hauled all of the Christmas lights and decorations and ornaments up from the basement and pulled out everything I wanted to use this year. I plugged all of the lights in to make sure they worked. We got as far as putting the lights on the tree and then it was bed time.

Thursday evening Cait and I decorated the tree. I love having a real tree! For the past few years we've had an artificial tree, but nothing beats a real Christmas pine.

Okay, so that was Thursday. We had the lights on Thursday. We had the lights on Friday morning before work and school. We had the lights on all of Friday afternoon/evening. We had the lights on this morning. The lights came on this evening and one string started BLINKING. UGH. It never fails. I plug those stupid lights in every year before putting them on the tree JUST TO MAKE SURE. And every year a couple of days after the lights have been on the tree at least one string starts blinking. This year it's the string on the bottom. Last year it was the string on the top. But really, it doesn't matter where it is. It's still frustrating and look silly! I don't know why I think "maybe they'll all work right this year". This year I think I will throw out the lights and buy all new next year.

Happy decorating!

Kinda Fun...

I used my name, Vicki Jean Lynn, female, of course, and put friendly as a main trait. It gave me Scout Lee Lynn as my new name...hmmm...it's okay, kind of boyish though. And no...there's no specific reason for being on babynames.com... ;)

Weekend Update

I guess it's not the weekend anymore, is it? It sure was nice to have 4 days off from work last week (Wed.-Sun.). And it was hard to get back in to the swing of things Monday morning!

Last Wednesday evening we went to Waupaca to visit with my mom's family. It's always nice to see them. We don't get over there too often, even though it's only 2.5 hours away. We had a delicious dinner Thursday evening and then drove home with our bellies busting out from all of the good food.

Friday morning Critter and Brandy did the "crazy shopping" while Cait and I (mostly Cait) watched their kids. I would rather watch 10 kids than shop on Black Friday! (No, they don't have 10 kids...I'm just saying.)They left Saturday afternoon just as I was getting a migraine. :( That kept me down all of Saturday and most of Sunday morning. Saturday night Jason and Cait went to the Blugold women's basketball game while I rested. It was quite peaceful.

Sunday we just hung out at home...did laundry and a little house work. Caitlin went to see Deck the Halls with a friend Sunday evening. Late Sunday night, actually it was early Monday a.m. Cait woke up ill. She puked a lot then went back to sleep. :) She felt okay Monday morning and wanted to go to school so she went on her merry way.

Yesterday Cait had rehearsal for the school play after school but after I picked her up from that we were home and after dinner we planted our butts on the couch. I was so tired!! I don't think I moved in my sleep last night, not a once.

This week at work I'm filling in for a girl who is on vacation in Hilton Head, SC. I'd rather be there...but I'm here, and it's been pretty busy at work being that it's the last week of the month. The last week of any month is busy, even November.

Tonight Cait had rehearsal after school, then basketball practice. After b-ball we went to the grocery store...and now I'm tired again. :)

Off to bed!

The "New Version"

I think I need to try the new version of Blogger. I'm really unhappy with this blog. The template, the layout, etc. It was okay before, and then last week I was messing around and changed the template but now I've decided I don't like it. I'm getting a little picky about my blog's appearnce and this just isn't doing it for me. :) I looked into MySpace, but it looks like those pages have a bunch of ads and such on them. I don't like that either. So anyways, if my blog and templates and everything changes every other day, you'll know why. I'm just going to keep playing with it until I find what I like. :)

Good (or not so) Morning!

This is what we woke up to yesterday morning!! At least it was Friday...and not Monday. Unfortunately there were many many accidents and the highways and interstate were backed up for hours. I took this picture at around 7:30 a.m. and it continued snowing until about 2:00 p.m., so this was just the beginning! Funny thing is that it was 70 degrees on Wednesday afternoon. I guess that's what we get here in WI. I'm not ready for winter, that's for sure.

Notice anything?

When Caitlin and I are together we always get the "You look so much like each other", or "She looks just like you". The latest I heard from someone was "She's a spittin' image of you". I was on this website that Jason found on his friend's MySpace page which does face recognition and matches you to your celebrity "look-alikes", and the results of our face scans are below. In some of the pictures I see a similarity or two, but most of them are pretty far fetched. Funny that both of us have Daveigh Chase as a look-alike. I guess Cait and I might look alike after all. :)

Check it Out!

Fun Times

Hip Chick

Here's Cait on Halloween. We just couldn't find a costume for her this year. She is kind of inbetween sizes and such. The children's costumes were either too small or too kiddy, and the adult costumes were either too big or too trashy. After searching the Halloween Boutique in the mall, we decided to ditch that joint and go to Saver's, which is a second-hand store. At first we didn't think we were going to find anything there, and then Cait pulled out this hideous shirt and we were off! Next we found the cords...aren't they pretty? And then it was to the accessory aisle for the headband, belt and purse (which doubled as a candy bag). We stopped at Shopko and found the earrings and flip flops on clearance. Cait added the bright pink toe socks after school since it was a tad chilly. Not bad for $20!

Thief!

Today at lunch time I organized a "baby shower" for one of the ladies in our office. She had a beautiful baby girl on October 6. And since many of the employees here are from a few towns away we decided that rather than hold the shower on an evening or weekend we'd just do it during work since everyone was here and available. It was a pot luck type lunch, so everybody brought something to share. Everything was delish! One of the ladies here lives in Bloomer, WI and there is a place called Bohemian Ovens. They have the best cake you've ever tasted. It's similar to a jell-o poke cake, but there's something different. Anyways, she had picked up a cake this a.m. and left it here in the breakroom refrigerator. Our office is in a building with 4 or 5 other small businesses and the breakroom is shared. When the time came for our gathering she went to get the cake and it was gone. Yes, GONE. At first she thought that someone in the office had played a joke on her, but no joke. The cake was gone. We checked with the other offices (pretty much knowing they had nothing to do with it), and no one had seen anything. It was so obvious that the cake was for a baby shower. It had the baby's name on it! Man! Our office is next to a high school and on occasion the little buggers roam our office during their off campus lunches. We can't point any fingers because we have absolutely no idea where the cake went. We searched the entire building, outside, parking lot, even the dumpster. Not a sign. What a shame! Does anyone know where our cake went?

Picture pages...

Here we are getting ready to hop into the limo after our ceremony...I was tired! I'm trying to get more pictures uploaded here, but I'm having a hard time. I think they may be too big. I'll work on it this afternoon and hopefully I'm able to share more later. I'm off to lunch with some friends.

Busy Bees

Long time no blog. We've been busy lately. What have we been up to, you ask? Well I'll tell you...

Jason started his internship in early September. He works there 35-40 hrs. per week. He also works at his "real job" 16-24 hrs. per week. He also has one class at the University. Tuesday nights are his "guy night", which is generally at his friend Kurt's. That's about it for him; once you squeeze in family time, sleeping and eating, his time is gone.

Caitlin has me running already this school year. She has Girl Scouts every other Sunday evening, and once and a while during the week. Recently she tried out for a part in Annie Warbucks, a production that the Eau Claire Children's Theatre is putting on, but she didn't get a role. Forty two girls tried out for 8 parts. She was a little bummed, but she got over it quickly. She did however get a part in the school play. As I understand it, it is a modern twist on Rumplestiltskin. Cait is the Village Peddler...fun! She will have rehearsals 2-3 days per week after school. This past Tuesday evening was the Eau Claire Elementary Fall Jogathon. Kids from all of the elem. schools in the city gather for a 1 mile run/jog/walk at a local park. Caitlin improved her time from last spring by 2 mins. and 58 seconds. Good job, Cait! She has also been doing Safety Patrol before school for the past three weeks, which meant that she had to be there early, which meant that I had to drive her to school every day. That's okay though. I'm proud of her for wanting to help.

And me? I've been working...next Monday will be my 6 year "anniversary" at American Title! Wowie! I have also been working in our basement. We have a lot of junk stored that I have been going through. So far I have taken three huge lawn bags and 4 boxes full of stuff out to the dumpster. For some reason it doesn't seem like there is any less...? Next I will be putting it all back, except I am going to reorganize, etc. so it's neat and tidy. We'll see how long that project takes. Another reason I haven't blogged is because I'm addicted to reality television. Namely Dancing with the Stars, The Amazing Race, and Survivor. :( If I watch the first show in a series, for some reason I just can't pull my eyes from the television. Oh well.

That's about all for now. This week coming up Jason has a conference in Rice Lake for two days and Cait's rehearsals start. Oh! We also looked at a house that we're interested in buying. Three of the men that I work with bought it a few months ago and have been remodeling it. It's not quite ready for the market, and we have some number crunching to do, but we're really hoping it all works out. It's a great house!

Okay. That's all.

Nikki's Wedding

Here are some pictures from the wedding that Cait and are were in on Saturday. The first one is me and Caitlin hanging out in the secret hiding place before the ceremony. We both had our hair done at JC Penney Salon--it was fun! I certainly could have done without the strapless dress, but it wasn't my choice and I did survive, so it's all good. The Bride's the boss!
This one is the blushing bride herself. Again, hiding out before the ceremony. This was right after she had her hair done.
Next is me, Nikki (bride) and Peggy, who was the Maid of Honor. We all met each other while working at American Title. Aren't we pretty?
Here's Caitlin before the ceremony...
And here's Cait letting loose doing the Cha Cha Slide. (Demonstrating the Cha Cha part in this pic) I'd never heard of that song or dance before, but it's just this guy giving orders, like "stomp your right foot", "clap your hands", "spin in a circle", "do the cha cha", "do the Charlie Brown". Kind of like a modern day square dance. It was pretty cute...fun to watch.

Overall the wedding went really well. It was a lot of fun and everything turned out just as planned (I think). The weather was beautiful for early October. It could have easily been 40 degrees and rainy, but it was 70 and sunny with a wonderful breeze. The best part is that the bride and groom are meant to be and are now happily married. Congrats, Nikki & Ryan!

401K

I diversified my portfolio today...LOL. What? Yeah, that's what I did, I guess. I made an appointment with the investment advisor who oversees our 401K accounts at work to change my name on my account. I don't know ANYTHING about investing or the likes. So anyways, I get there and he greets me and we sit down and do the paperwork for the name change and then he asks if I'd like to take a look at my "portfolio". To me a portfolio is a folder. I knew what he was getting at though. I thought, "why not?" I had time and was interested to see what he had for me. Well he pulled out my current plan and showed me the growth (which was slow but steady) and said this is okay, blah blah blah. THEN, he pulled out the big guns. He showed me 5 different options for investing my money (please note that these are not huge investments...it's 5% of each paycheck). My jaw dropped to the floor when he showed me where I COULD have been had I chosen any one of these other 5 options in the beginning. Well why didn't he tell me that IN THE BEGINNING? I know why. Because in the beginning I didn't have a clue about any of this stuff and the thought of losing a penny one year to gain 5 over the next two just didn't sink in. I didn't want to take any chances, so I guess I must have told him to stick my money in the "conservative" places. Well that was dumb. He assured me that it was okay since I still have almost 40 years until I can even use the money. HA! Thanks for the assurance. BUT, we did get the funds moved around into a tad more risky options and we'll see how that goes. It appeared that even when the riskies (is that a word?) had losses, they were temporary (2-3 years in a row) and more than recovered in following years to produce bigger and better gains. Even still, I won't be able to retire when I'm 35. Shoot. But I can say I diversified my portfolio, and that sounds impressive.

Blog Help?!

I'm pretty good with computers, meaning I know how to use them. However, I don't understand the language of computers. The formulas and such. I'm trying to put a cute little clock on my blog (like Karen's at www.karens2cents.blogspot.com) and I'm having a terrible time. I tried to look in Blogger help, but it didn't. I think I have the general idea of what has to happen...somehow I have to post a link to the clock in the sidebar, but that's all I know. When I try to do that and go into the innards of my blog, I find a bunch of gobbledy goop like this ^:al fjw @ bb`` } / ahbbe lp've ~ and it makes absolutely no sense to me. Anyone know where I can find good instructions? Preferably in plain old English?

Here's my new "word cloud". It's kind of fun to update this once in a while to see what new words pop in. You should try it...go to www.snapshirts.com and click on "custom". It's pretty simple. Just fill in the little bits of information and it'll create your word cloud. Once complete snapshirts will e-mail it to you so you can save it, etc. Pretty neat!

Subway

I had Subway for lunch today. Big deal right? Well today I did something that I have never done before. No, I didn't order something different. I ordered the same old thing (turkey wrap, american cheese, lettuce, extra pickles, salt/pepper, mayo). Wondering what I did? I ate at Subway all alone. I have never eaten at a place by myself! I'm almost embarssed to say that, but usually if I don't pack a lunch to take to work I go somewhere and pick something up and either take it back to work and eat there or I sit in my car and eat. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that wouldn't sit down at a "restaurant" and eat by themselves. What is wrong with us? It was so nice sitting there, really. I needed a break from work so I didn't want to go back to the office and it was kind of a yucky day so I didn't want to sit in my car. So I took the plunge. I ordered my sandwich and plopped down in a booth all by myself! It really helped that there were 3 other people in the place that were alone. It was actually kind of relaxing. I was able to just sit there and clear my head and eat my lunch. I made a to-do list for the weekend and stared off into nowhere land for a bit. It was nice not to have to ward off phone calls when eating at the office or even having to try and hold a conversation with someone had there been someone eating with me. Fast food type restaurants are one thing...I'm not sure if I could go to the Olive Garden and order up a table for 1. Maybe that'll be a personal challenge of mine. So what do you think? Do you eat in alone at restaurants?

Back to School

Today was "Signing Day" at Putnam Heights Elementary School. Signing Day is the 1st day of classes for junior high and high school students, but elementary students go to school to spend about 45 mins. or so checking in, filling out paperwork, dropping off supplies, chatting with the teacher, and getting pictures taken. I don't remember this day when I was in elementary school. I remember getting to school on the first day and going to the classrooms for whichever grade and searching for my name on a list to see which class I was in. How terrifying! Not knowing who was in my class? How could they? ;)

Two things I like about Signing Day: 1. I get to be there when Cait gets her picture taken to make sure her hair isn't sticking up and that she doesn't have gum in her mouth. I also get to see the picture right then and there, and if it's not acceptable they'll retake it immediately. Cool huh? 2. I get to go with to scope out her teacher and her new classroom and to make sure everything is neatly organzied in her desk and she's ready to roll the next day.

This year was easy with 2. above. She has the same teacher as last year! A different classroom though. Two years ago Mrs. Johnson was a 5th grade teacher, and last year she moved to 4th grade and was Cait's teacher. This year she moved back to 5th grade and took her entire class with her! Kind of neat, but I think Cait would have liked some variety. She likes Mrs. Johnson though so it will be okay.

5th grade already? Smokes! I was doing Caitlin's hair (had to be purty for pictures) and I could barely brush it with her standing in front of me--she's too tall. :(

My nephew started kindergarten today--wow! I haven't talked to him yet, but I'm pretty sure he did okay. This a.m. his mom sent an e-mail and said he was upset because he didn't get to ride the bus home! Crazy kid. Who wants to ride the bus?

Anyways...good luck to all of the back to schoolers out there, young and old alike.

Pictures!

Oops! Well I didn't do a very good job posting these pictures...I guess I should have posted each as an individual post. I'll describe them the best I can. You should be able to figure out which is which. There is a picture of the two of us at Gooseberry Falls in Two Harbors, MN. This was on the way back from our honeymoon. And there is a picture of Splitrock Lighthouse, somewhere North of Two Harbors, MN. We stopped here on our way to our destination. It's a neat part of history. Next is a picture of where we spent our short but sweet honeymoon at Caribou Highlands Resort in Lutsen, MN. No, we didn't have the whole house to ourselves, just a small portion of it, but it was nice and peaceful. AND!! We have a "Mr. and Mrs. Jason Lynn" picture!! YAY! This is one of the only pictures I have of the wedding so far. More to come as I receive them...And lastly is another picture from Splitrock. I like pictures of the landscape, and so, here we have a couple of Lake Superior cliffs.

We Made It!

Well the wedding is over and we all survived. I shouldn't even say it like that...makes it sound like it was hard. It wasn't. It was PERFECT! People always told me "something will go wrong, but you just have to let it go." Nothing went wrong! What are they talking about? Anyways, it was a beautiful day and everything went just as planned. I have not been sent any pictures yet so I don't have any to share, but I guarantee that as soon as I get some I'll get them up here!

On Sunday we left for our very short honeymoon to Lutsen, MN. It was a nice time and again, we had beautiful weather. I wish it were longer, but on the other hand, I was ready to come home yesterday. We drove from Lutsen to Hayward, about 3.5 hrs. yesterday afternoon. I dropped Jason off at his mom's. He ended up spending another night there. I picked up Caitlin from my parents house and drove the rest of the 2 hrs. home. I just wanted to be HOME. :)

Well I though I'd give a quick report. I'll post more details as the pictures come in. I'm off to get my hair cut...I grew it out for too long and it's time to get some style back. :)

Take care!

Here we GO!

5 days until the wedding! I'm all ready to go. I have all of my things packed neatly into a few totes, separated by category and where they need to go (church, reception, etc.) I have one more day of work left, and then I am off until next Thursday. Hallelujah! I'm almost more excited for the week off work than the wedding itself! It's been a busy couple of weeks. A lot of running and catching up. Why is there so much catching up when all you're doing is running? I always have been a slow runner... :) The weather is looking okay. It may rain on Saturday. I'm not so much concerned about the rain as I am the heat. Looks to be around 80, so not too bad. My parents rolled into town today from Louisiana. I'm glad they made it back safely and we are looking forward to seeing them. They've been gone since Easter! We're anxious to see everyone else that will be at the wedding too. A lot of family and friends that we haven't seen for some time. As the day draws nearer I get more and more anxious and excited. I've been waiting for this day for a looonnngggg time! I don't feel nervous--yet. We'll see how that goes as the next couple of days progress. Anyway, just thought I'd check in before the big event. I don't know if I'll be able to blog between now and then, but I'll certainly be back next week with pictures to share!

The Leader

That's the Leader Telegram. Eau Claire's fine newspaper. We subscribe to the weekend editions, 2 papers, Saturday and Sunday. The weekday papers are kind of boring and who has time to read the paper during the week? And really, we (I) only subscribe to the weekend papers for a couple of reasons...Moments in Life (weddings and engagements), Court Report (because I'm nosey) and COUPONS. What else is the paper good for, right? ;) And more specifically, Michael's Arts & Crafts has a 40% off coupon in every other week's Sunday paper. That's a good deal, considering I've purchased a lot of wedding items at Michael's.

A couple of weekends ago I didn't get a Saturday or Sunday paper. I was out of town and Jason worked weird hours, but he didn't see the paper when he left or when he returned. So I called the customer service. They apologized, gave me a credit, etc., etc. Okay, I'm happy now. WELL...this a.m. I was up pretty early. I was doing dishes and sweeping and vacuuming. I took out the trash and the recycling. I saw my neighbor outside with her little boy and their dog. I came back in. I heard the newspaper carrier's dad's truck (it must be a diesel). Putzed around inside for a little bit longer. I peeked out my blinds to see if my paper was there and the neighbor lady was sitting on the step reading my paper. No big deal, I thought. I'll go about my business inside...she'll put it back when she's done, right? NOPE. She took my paper!! (But left the rubberband that was around it.)I was flabbergasted!

I don't know the neighbors very well. They moved in earlier this summer and keep pretty much to themselves. We do too. So I didn't have the nerve to go ask her for my paper back. Should I? Shouldn't I? Really, it's not a big deal, I could walk to the gas station 5 blocks away and get a paper. But it is a big deal! It's a matter of principle more than anything. I'd like to go over there and ask her for my paper and I would hope that she would feel ashamed and embarassed.

So I called customer service again today to ask them to hold our papers next weekend because we'll be out of town. I told her what happened and then I felt awful because she said that anytime a customer reports that they didn't get their paper the carrier is penalized. That means when I called 2 weeks ago and told them I didn't get my paper the carrier's check was docked for those papers when all along (I assume) it was my neighbor that had taken it. I'll have to leave him a tip tomorrow. I'll have to stand there and wait for him so the neighbor doesn't take the tip too! No, that's not very nice of me to say, but it just irks me.

Well I feel better now after letting this all out. Maybe I'll go ask for my paper back...

Have a nice weekend!

Just Stuff

Where does the time go? It's been a while since I've blogged, mainly because we've been pretty busy, and partly because I haven't come across anything interesting to write about.

We're counting down the days...13 days, 19 hrs. and 22 minutes until the ceremony and I'm getting very excited. (I don't usually count down to the minute, just sometimes!)

Last weekend was my bridal shower in Hayward with my friends there. It was a nice time. We had a nice brunch and played some games and opened presents. The shower was at a park with a creek running through it. It was really pretty, and a nice day. After that we hopped on a pontoon boat on Round Lake and cruised around for the afternoon/evening. We docked at Famous Dave's (the original) for dinner-YUM!

On Wednesday a couple of girls at work threw me a shower over the lunch hour. That was a nice time too, and everyone was invited. I got a lot of nice gifts off of my registry, but several people went together and got me a wonderful gift--they got me a gift certificate for the shop that was doing the alterations on my dress. THAT was awesome! What a relief to not have to worry about that expense.

Today Cait and I are going to a bridal shower for a dear friend, Nikki. She is one of my bridesmaids. Caitlin and I are both in her wedding on October 7. Last night I got a steal of a deal on her gift at Target. She wanted these pillows that were $24.99 EACH. Fancy throw pillows, huh? Anyways, we printed off her registry and they were listed at $6.24 each. They were on clearance. I was determined to find those pillows!! We finally did, and there were two of them, just like she wanted.

And so, I'm off to get laundry going and run to the store. I'm making snickers salad for the shower today. Deeeelish! :)

Have a super Saturday!!

I Have to Admit...

That I watched the Miss Universe pageant on Sunday night. Oh, the shame! :)

Just a few observations...

Miss Trinidad and Tobago was absolutely stunningly beautiful. She should have won, right? That's what it's all about. Just kidding! I know it's about poise and personality, and how each one intends to solve the problems of the world.

Miss Israel and Miss Lebanon were standing smack dab next to each other at one point. Isn't it ironic?

Miss Columbia and Miss Mexico were also beautiful, but they were a lot prettier before I heard them speak. Part of their beauty is imagining their culture and their language. In interviews both of them spoke perfect English with not even a hint of accent of their native language. Sounds fishy to me... :)

And good old Miss USA. I believe she made it to the top five; yes, she did, she was the 4th runner up. She was okay. Very pretty, kind of boring though.

And the judges? Who hires these people and thinks they're going to get honest votes based on poise and personality? Ummm...Emmitt Smith, Tom Green, some other American actor guy? Give me a break. They should have a bunch of big ladies doing the judging. They'd hate all of the girls because they're beautiful and be forced to judge on the elements that are meant to be judged.

Miss Puerto Rico won the crown but I think Canada was the prettiest. :) And Puerto Rico was wearing some funky metal dress. What in the world?

Oh well...there's always next year.

What's Up?

Not much here...at the moment anyways. I'm just listening to clothes tumble in the dryer and spin in the washer. When the noise stops I guess I'll have to get up and do something!

We've been pretty busy lately. Here and there and everywhere. Last weekend Cait and I watched Alec and Alyse. That was a good time. We also met a couple of my friends for dinner while we were there. It's always good to see them.

Monday evening we went to a Twins game. That's always a good time...especially when they win! And we found a superb parking ramp right off the exit ramp of the freeway and the exit of the parking ramp leads right to the on ramp for the freeway. Bonus!

Caitlin had swimming lessons Mon.-Thurs. eves of last week and the same this week. Hopefully she'll swim right up to the next level. I'm anxious to go and watch tomorrow (parents are only allowed in the pool area during the 1st and last lesson). She tells me she dives off a diving board. Oh my! Can't wait to see that.

Jason has been working a lot at Triniteam and cramming a semester long class into a 5 week session. All he'll have to worry about in the fall is his internship. He's been helping here and there with wedding stuff. We finally got the tux situation straightened out. That should have been easy, but noooooo. This can't be stress free, right?

We had a little thunder and lightening today. Not much though. Not as much as I like. :) We got a little rain too, but again, not much. Definitely not enough. The grass is still crispy.

31 days to go until the big day....woo hoo!! I'm very excited. I feel ready too, which is a plus. I'm not too stressed out, not really stressed at all at the moment. I don't feel like I have a million things to get done right now. So that's good.

Did you know medications that specifically target migraines came out in the early '90s? I was not aware. No wonder my poor mom suffered so much. She couldn't do anything about it. Anyways, I have been having "migraine attacks" since the end of March and yesterday I finally went to see someone. Maybe I should have seen a psychiatrist and not a neurologist! Just kidding! I think all my nuts and bolts are in tact.

Uh oh. It's pretty quiet. My clothes are ready for me.

10-4 Rubber Ducky!

Crayola

Just a short little post to share something amusing I just discovered...

I'm cleaning house this evening and was picking up some miscellaneous stuff from the kitchen table and picked up a Crayola marker to move it to the miscellaneous stuff drawer in the coffee table. Anyways, I looked at it for a second and thought it was a color I hadn't seen. It was kind of a light red color, an off color. So I turn the marker around to see what color it was. Are you ready for this? The color printed on the marker is INFRA RED. Yep, Infra Red. Is that silly or what? :)

Happy Birthday, Cait!

Happy Birthday Caitlin! Today is Cait's 10th birthday. Ten years old already. That's a whole decade. In less than the time she's been here, she'll be graduating high school and off to college. Whew!

This year's birthday is different than all of the rest so far. The big difference is in Cait's attitude toward the whole birthday thing. She's decided to forego the big birthday party with all the friends and games and gifts and cake. (YAY!) We did tell her that in lieu of the b-day party she could have a sleepover with a few friends and stay up all night and watch movies and play video games and eat junk food. Unfortunately that sleepover has now turned into an end-of-summer get together. Our weekends are jam packed from now until after the wedding; between Cait being at her dad's and things we have going on there's just no space to squeeze it in!

The other night Caitlin said that I no longer had to tuck her in once she turned 10. :( That's kind of a bummer! I'm sure that even when she does turn herself in for the night I'll be there poking my head in the door (at least). It's more likely that I'll be sitting on the end of her bed like every other night before.

Today we went to lunch to celebrate. I worked a few hours this a.m. and then met Cait and Jason at Boston's. We then went to Best Buy to get her gift. Another change there, she knew what she wanted and didn't care if it was wrapped. A yellow Best Buy bag was the extent of the wrapping!

My how things change.

Now we're just hanging out at home, which is always nice. Getting geared up for the 4th of July celebrations tomorrow. I get to make cookies and a pasta salad (with a little help from Betty Crocker...) to take to the goings on.

Have a safe and happy 4th everyone!

LEAGUE CHAMPS!!

HERE THEY ARE!! 2006 Chippewa Valley Fastpitch League CHAMPIONS!! Eau Claire Mighty Ducks! WHAT a game! It was tied 2-2 at the end of regulation (5 innings) and remained tied through 7. Our Ducks pulled through in the 8th inning to score 4 more runs and held the opponent to 2. As you can see, it was getting dark and we probably wouldn't have been able to play another inning--no lights at this field. We were ready to call the news team and get the ambulances lined up for the moms on the brink of coronaries! Just to remind everyone, the Ducks were the 7th seed and played against the 1st seed. A shout out to Seymour Teal for a great game and tough competition. Congrats to all the girls on both teams--GREAT season everyone!!!

Mighty Ducks

You are looking at the Eau Claire Mighty Ducks 10U girls softball team that just won the rights to the CHAMPIONSHIP game tomorrow night!! Way to go DUCKS!! These girls are fabulous--such a great group. I couldn't be more proud right now; they're awesome! They've grown so much since the beginning of the season and they work so well together. What a terrific group of girls! They are so strong and proud, but humble. The tournament started on Monday with a win against the 10th seed (the Ducks are the 7th seed). Tuesday it was the 2nd seed that they beat and tonight was the 3rd seed. All that's left are the Ducks and the 1st seed for tomorrow's game. Wish us luck! GO DUCKS!!!

BLACKOUT?

So what's the deal with this? What I'm referring to is sports events being "blacked out" by a television network. At least I think that's who initiates the blackout. We're MN Twins fans here, and they recently played a 3 game serious against the Houston Astros. All of the games were broadcast on ESPN2, BUT, we weren't able to watch them. We pay the cable company oodles of money every month so that we can watch these channels, and then when we click on the channel to tune in, it reads "We're sorry. You do not currently subscribe to this channel. For more information or to subscribe to this channel please call your cable provider." Are you kidding me? We sure DO subscribe and that's what we pay you for! Anyways, it was a bummer that we weren't able to watch Liriano whoop Roger Clemens in one of the games. That Roger Clemens is another story...what a poor poor sport. Imagine being paid millions and telling your boss WHEN you'll work and WHERE you'll work. Apparently this game against the Twins was his first game this season. What has he been doing all this time? A whole lot of nothing, I presume. And he'll only play home games, he won't travel with the team. Hey Roger, there's no "I" in team!

It all worked out in the end, the Twins continue to improve their record and inch ever closer to the top. :) Yeah, right...

Go TWINS!

All the Day's News

Happy Saturday everyone!

Long time, no blog. I'd like to say I've been busy, but I haven't really. Since Caitlin left last Saturday for CA it's been pretty calm around here. Usually by about 3:00 p.m. at work every day I'm running through the list in my mind of things I have to do after work or where Caitlin has to be dropped off or picked up and when; but this last week my list came up empty most days.

Cait left at about 4:00 p.m. on Saturday (after playing 2 games in a softball tournament, it was a long day) to head to the airport. Saturday night Jason and I went to Hayward to see one of his friends who was "home" from the Army. Jonah is supposed to stand up in our wedding, but it doesn't appear as if he's going to make it. He'll be leaving soon to go to Hawaii where he'll be stationed before being deployed. The coolest thing about our visit with him is that he flew a Sessna 4-seater from Superior to Hayward and took Jason up flying with him for a bit. Sunday I met a couple of my friends for lunch before heading back to Eau Claire.

Not much to report for the last week--I just worked every day, went grocery shopping, picked up a couple of things for the wedding...that's about it. I started tanning. :( Not something I like to do, in fact I've gone 3 times before in my life, but I need to get a little tan before the wedding.

Jason was offered a new job this last week, and he took it. Since leaving LSS in March he's been working at Xcel Energy. Sounds good, but it really wasn't. I've never seen him so unhappy so I was thrilled that he was offered a job with a place called Triniteam. It's definitely more up his alley--it's a halfway house for correctional clients. Not a phone center for grumpy energy customers!

Today my friend Sarah (and Matron of Honor) is coming down for a visit and she's going to pick up her dress for the wedding. It's always nice to see my good ol' pals. :)

It's going to be a hot one today...whew! When I woke up this a.m. it was already 85 degrees, and

End of report...have a FANTASTIC weekend!

Check it Out!

Saw this a while back on Miss Karen's blog...didn't have enough content on my own blog to create one, but now I do! Cool, huh?

Week 1: -1.2

Pounds, that is. Yep, I'm back at it. Fourth (and final) time on the Weight Watchers program. The program comes highly recommended by many many many people, including yours truly.

I say "final" time because this is it. I'm here to stay. And I say this here so that everyone can read it. I'm making myself accountable not only to the scale or to the WW leader or participants or my family and friends, but to the potentially millions (yeah, right!) of people who could happen upon my blog.

My first go round was my most successful. I had lost almost 20 lbs. and then I got lazy with my eating habits and fell off the wagon. The 2nd and 3rd times around my head just wasn't in it and I didn't get very far either time.

Now 1.2 lbs. isn't a lot, but it is a loss nonetheless. Had I seen +1.2 it would have been pretty hard to keep on going. Just over a pound could be the difference in the clothes I'm wearing, or water weight or whatever. But if I add another 1.2 loss next week and the week after that and the week after that I'll be on a roll (and losing mine!).

Sure, the upcoming wedding increases my motivation, but more than that is the anticipation of having more children. There is NO WAY that I could add baby weight onto this pile and be healthy. It would just give me that much more to lose, and make me that much more unhealthy. And so I've pledged to be in the "recommended" weight range for my age and height before attempting to have a baby. And at 1.2 lbs. per week, it'll be about 5 years before I'm at that stage. I'm KIDDING!!! Not quite that long... :)

If anyone has been on the Weight Watchers program, or even if you haven't, and you have any good tips or tricks to share, I'd appreciate any advice. Constructive criticism is welcome as well.

Have a nice day!

"Telephone!"

Something kind of funny that Jason and I both noticed over the last week or so...

A couple of times when we've been out of the house, to the grocery store or wherever, we've come back to messages on the answering machine that went something like this:

1. "You have two new messages" Beep. "Hi Caitlin, this Shianne..." Beep. "This is Grandpa, calling for Caitlin..."

2. "You have two new messages" Beep. "Hi. This is Nicole from Caitlin's softball team..." Beep. "Hi. I was wondering if Caitlin could sleep over..."

Hmmm...I see a pattern forming. :)

Whatcha Doin'?

Well the long weekend is finally here! I've been looking forward to this weekend since, oh, probably early January. It's the first long weekend after the Christmas and New Years holidays. And it's the first paid holiday! Yippee!!

They say this is the "official" start of summer. If they're talking about the temperature, they're most definitely correct! It has been sultry here the last couple of days and according to weather.com the heat is going to continue. Some will probably laugh at sultry, but for us in Northern WI it's down right HOT! High 80s the last couple of days and tomorrow is suppose to be in the mid-90s, and then 80s the rest of next week. I don't care for the heat whatsoever.

Another reason that people say it's the start of summer is because this is the first long weekend for people to hook up the campers and boats and head out to the campgrounds and lakes. That is everyone but us! We're not so much the outdoorsy type. We would prefer to take in a ball game at the Metrodome or visit a mall. Or just stay home, like we're doing this weekend.

Today I've been doing laundry all day. I told myself that when Jason went to work at 3 I would clean house. Nope. I've learned that if I'm going to clean house I have to get up, eat breakfast and CLEAN. Sometimes I even skip the breakfast part. I don't like to just clean here and there. I have a system that goes like this: my bedroom, upstairs bath, living room, downstairs bath, and finally, kitchen.I do it all at once...it generally takes about 3 hours--depending on if I mop floors or scrub floors on my hands and knees. I prefer to scrub because I feel like the floor gets cleaner that way. The only thing I don't do in this usually-every-other-week ritual is clean Cait's room. I let her get it good and dirty and then make HER clean it, like she did today. :) Sometimes when she isn't home I go in and clean it like I want it cleaned. This usually ends with a couple of kitchen garbage bags full of "stuff". IMPORTANT stuff, you know. (According to a 9 year old who doesn't ever know it's missing). And so tomorrow is my cleaning day.

Monday all 3 of us will be home from work or school so it will be nice to hang out together. I'm not sure what we'll do. Maybe a picnic or a movie? We'll have to see.

Have a nice long weekend everybody!

Blogger Traffic

Does anyone know how to increase traffic to my blog? Do I need more interests, etc. in my profile? Do people search those when trying to find blogs to read? These questions are directed at you, Karen, since I believe you are my only loyal reader at this time. :) Or maybe I'm just booooring...but I don't think that's it. I just need to develop a fan base, right? Network network network. It'd be a lot more fun if more people left comments (hint, to those of you who may read but don't comment).

The "W" Word

That would be "wedding". I told myself that when I started this blog it wasn't going to be all about the upcoming event, but tonight I'm feeling the need to share.

First of all, WOW! I never imagined it would be this difficult planning a wedding. I told myself, and everyone who would listen, that this is going to be a simple wedding, not a big fancy to do. And I still believe it is a simple wedding, but every wedding has to have certain elements, be it big or small. So far I've got my dress and had an initial fitting. Bridesmaids dresses arrived on Saturday. The flowers (we're going artificial) have been purchased. The invitations are addressed and waiting for stamps. About 1/2 of the men have been measured for tuxes (c'mon guys!). The rehearsal dinner, church and reception site have been reserved. On Saturday we had our first pre-marital session with Pastor Jeff. The photographer has been reserved. (?) Do you reserve people? :) Our rings are almost purchased...Jason's is still on layaway at the jewelry store. I am burned out and there is still so much to do!

We have to get the ceremony music lined up, put the ceremony and program together, figure out who is doing what and when to help out with the details, get the flower girl basket and ring bearer pillow, get jewelry for the big day, get gifts for our parents and attendants. There are a lot of "gets" above, which mean $$. What an industry to be in--the bridal industry. These people know that us gals NEED these things, and so they price the items like we've all got wads of cash just laying around.

And the big day is exactly 89 days away!! (Thank you to theknot.com for the count down.) I was feeling pretty good about being organized in the first few months, but now that it's only 3 months away the pressure is on! I am feeling completely frazzled. Every time I think about it I don't know where to start now or what to do next. Whew! Does anyone have any good, sound wedding planning advice?

Cap'n Crunch...Berries, or No Berries...That is the Question

So. How about you? Do you like Cap'n Crunch cereal? Do you like Crunch Berries? Or Peanut Butter Crunch (or whatever it is)? I just got home from work and was looking for a snack, and that's what I decided on. A bowl of Crunch Berries. Deeeelish! I like cereal in general, just about any kind of cereal. I don't, however, like any cereal with nuts in it or bran cereals, with the exception of Raisin Bran (two scoops!). As a kid I remember we always had Cheerios, Kix, and Rice Krispies. None of those "sugar" cereals. I also remember that Granny always had Lucky Charms in the cupboard underneath the counter top. I liked to eat breakfast at her house! :) We tend to have a variety of cereals around...anything from Corn Flakes to Fruity Pebbles. As a grown-up doing my own grocery shopping and deciding what kind of cereal to buy for the family, I've found that in general, those "sugar" cereals aren't as horrible as our parents made us to believe. This is backed up by my one or two (or twelve) takes on the Weight Watchers program, where Crunch Berries and Lucky Charms are pretty close in points to Cheerios and Corn Flakes. Not much difference in nutritional values, but some. Anways, that's my rambling for today. Not much of anything, if I do say so myself.

Happy Birthday, Crit!!

HE'S 30 TODAY!!! I CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE IT!! MAKES ME FEEL OLD... :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR CRITTER JOHN JOHNNY CURTIS METCALF, II, JR., HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

I know he probably won't read this, but his wife might, so she can tell him what a wonderful sister I am!

Have a super day, Critter! Love ya!

I'm Back

I've been summoned to return to blogging...

Hot Air Balloons

If you had the chance, would you take a ride in a hot air balloon? If the opportunity presented itself to me, I think I'd have to pass. I'm not afraid of heights, I'm just afraid! I would not feel safe or secure floating around above the ground in a basket hanging from a big balloon--which gets around by the use of FIRE. Uh uh. Not cool.

This subject comes up because every now and again we see a hot air balloon drifting by. I have seen 2 different ones so far, right overhead in our neighborhood. One is dark oranges and yellows with silhouettes of what makes me think of a safari. There is a giraffe and an elephant. Another is just very brightly colored stripes of blues, purples, pinks, reds and yellows. And it seems that the days we see them are always the same--not a cloud in the bright blue sky. I'm always in awe as I watch them. They look so beautiful and peaceful floating along. Almost magical. Just the other day, a week or so ago, Cait and I saw the striped one as we were driving home. Luckily I didn't crash the car. I just wanted to sit and watch it as it drifted by. And I always feel slightly jealous of the people that are in the basket. What an awesome experience! Could there be a better bird's eye view from anywhere else? Neat. Just plain neat.

Nice People

I was at Sam's Club today with Caitlin checking some prices on some things. Caitlin was standing in line at one of the sampler stations waiting for a mini taco and from behind me I hear "I like your blouse". I didn't really think much of it, but then I looked in front of me and there was Caitlin in a t-shirt, a man, and the sampler lady in a white shirt and white apron, and no one else in the near vicinity. And then I figured that whoever said that must be talking to me! So, I turned around and sure enough there was an older woman smiling and she said "It's really pretty". I smiled and said thank you. What really struck me about this is that it's not too often that a stranger pays you a compliment these days. Or says "thank you" when you hold the door for them, or just a simple "hello" or even a smile when you pass by. I almost didn't know how to react to this nice woman telling me that I had a pretty blouse on. Yikes! Maybe it was because my blouse really isn't that pretty? :) It's pink and black and white diagonal stripes. Nothing special. Anways, today's lesson is: When you pass a stranger on the street, pay them a compliment or give them a smile, it might make their day. "Hello, Friend."

Oh NO!

I think Cait is sideways! Anyways, isn't she cute? This was at a MN Twins game last year. I just figured out how to get these pics on here and all I have down in the basement with me are old picture CDs. I'm having too much fun to go up and dig out the more recent ones, but I will soon!

Heeerrrre's Caitlin!

This is a picture of Jason and I at one of our favorite places in the whole wide world--Lake Superior in Duluth, MN. It's old...I think it's from October of 2004.

Oops...

I was trying to use a new template, or background or whatever it is, and none of them looked good with all of the colorful posts. So then I scanned all the way down and realized that this one really doesn't look too pretty either. I thought in the beginning a little variety would be nice, changing colors of text, you know, but it's bad. It's not pretty, it's pukey. Yikes!

Bike Rides

Last night we went for a bike ride. I honestly don't remember the last time I went on a "bike ride". I used to bike a lot when I was younger. I biked all over the place. To town, to work, to friends' houses. After I moved to Eau Claire (9 years ago...wow!) I got rid of my bike. I think I may have had it for a couple years after I was here because I remember having one of those pull behind carts for Cait. Anyways, it's been a long time. Jason bought me a new bike for Christmas this year. I've been wanting one, but up until the past year or so we didn't really have anywhere to store it since we lived in a puny apartment, but now we have the room and now I have a bike! I rode it once before--on one of the first really nice spring-like days before spring was actually here I took it up to the gas station to put air in the tires. I walked it there though, and rode back the whole 4 blocks so that doesn't really count. Last night we rode for some time. I'm not sure how far it was, but we were gone 45 mins. to and hour. And our neighborhood is ideal for riding bikes. There are nice sidewalks on most of the streets and we're near a bike trail, so it was great. Although I'm not sure its proper to ride bike on the sidewalks, is it? Well we did it anyways. As we were riding we passed many many other people. Some walking or running. Some biking and some rollerblading. Some couples, some families, some kids. It was a gorgeous evening too. Perfect. And it was quite peaceful. Other than the fact that I had to stop and walk every now and then (my bike seat is a little too small for my BIG seat, so a tad uncomfortable after a while) it was a lot of fun and I'm anxious to get out there again. Caitlin was thrilled that we went on a bike ride together, and that made me feel good. Even though it's exercise, it doesn't feel like it, so all the better!

COOKIES!!

Did you order any Girl Scout cookies this year? I know that different parts of the country, even different areas in each state sell at different times, but it's our time now! Cookies are here! YUM! I'm not sure, but I'd have to say that the cookie sale is probably one of the biggest fundraising efforts around. On the 6:00 news tonight they said that our area girls sold over 720,000 boxes. That's a lot of cookies! I generally don't mind fundraisers--except when schools are raising $$ for $25,000 playground improvements. Yes, they need to have a safe place for kids to play and exercise, but $25,000? That could save a teacher from losing a job! But that's another story. Although this cookie deal might seem like a headache at first, going around, asking people if they want cookies, delivering all 300+ boxes of them, collecting and counting the $$, it really is a good cause. But in the end it's not all that bad. The cookies really sell themselves. I think that the majority of the proceeds, with the exception of what they pay the cookie bakers, stays within the organization and I truly think that Girl Scouts is a great organization. It seems that they have good values that they try to impress upon our girls. They offer tons of programs and all girls are welcome. It has been a privilege for Caitlin to have been in Girl Scouts since 1st grade. So, to anyone out there who has a hand in scouting, thanks!

Just some food for thought...Thin Mint, anyone?

Daylight Savings Time

What exactly is the point of daylight savings? Isn't it so we have more daylight at the end of the day? Makes sense, I suppose. But wouldn't we eventually gain that extra time as the summer goes on anyways because of the solstice or whatever it's called? Right now it's 7:25 p.m. and it's still light outside, which is nice. It would be even nicer if it was warmer and we could take advantage of the extra time! The thing that I don't like about daylight savings is that my internal clock gets messed up. I have a hard time understanding why this happens. I'm not the type of person that always goes to bed at a certain time or always wakes up at a certain time. My normal bed time is anywhere between 9:00 p.m. and midnight, and I generally wake up between 6:00 a.m. and 7:30 a.m., depending on what the day has in store for me. Unless of course it's Saturday morning, in which case I try to sleep in, but not usually. It would be easier for me to understand why I feel so sleep deprived if I did have a regular sleeping schedule, say from 10:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m., but I don't. Maybe it has to do with the environment itself, with the "daylight", or lack thereof. And the same happens in the fall when daylight savings time ends and it suddenly is dark before I leave work at 5:00 p.m. One would think that your body would like that change, the extra hour of sleep that one Sunday morning. But nope, it doesn't. All I know is that it takes over a week to get regulated again. And who determines if daylight savings time is even the way to go? I saw on t.v. once that there in one county in Indiana somewhere that doesn't set the clocks back and forth, but the rest of the state does. I don't remember if for that part of the year that county is one hour ahead or one hour behind, ahead, I believe. Either way it seems like it'd cause confusion and chaos! I wonder what the majority of people think...do they like daylight savings or do they dislike it? I'm undecided.

Bunk Beds

This weekend we made a change that struck me in a way that one wouldn't necessarily think.

About 3 years ago we bought Caitlin a new bed for Christmas--it was one of those metal futon bunk beds. Cool huh? Well, not so cool when we ended up moving 2 times since buying it--putting it up, taking it down, putting it up, taking it down...you get the picture. We recently decided to get rid of it and move on, so to speak. Last week our local Shopko store had a "lowest price of the season sale" on their mate's bed and headboard. So, for the regular price of the bed, we got the headboard and the bed. Thursday and Friday evenings Caitlin and I (yes!) put the headboard together. Yesterday the woman that was taking the old bed came and picked it up and last night and this morning Jason and I put the new bed together. And, finally, this afternoon Cait and I whipped that room into shape and everything's fine and dandy. Until mom starts thinking about it!

When your baby moves from a crib to a toddler bed, it's a big deal. When your toddler moves from the toddler bed to a twin bed, it's a big deal. Twin bed to bunk bed? Not such a big deal. Now replacing the bunk bed with a more "grown-up" bed is a big deal! As we cleaned and rearragned her room today, I noticed something that I don't usually notice during this particular task. Her coloring books and crayons have been replaced by scrap books and supplies. Her dolls and blankies have been replaced by just a select few stuffed animals that are "special". Her Dr. Suess collection has been replaced with the likes of Judy Moody and CSI: 4 Minute Mysteries (geared at kids, of course, not like T.V.! She has pictures of friends and other memorabilia scattered and posted about. Wow!

Now I know that kids grow up, but when I think about it I just want to cry! When did my little girl in the denim jumper and sandals get replaced with the pre-teen in size 7 softball cleats? Time sure flies.

And everywhere I look I see babies! When I look at them I'm not sure if I look at them the way I do because I long for another baby, or I long for Cait to be a baby again. I think the latter of the two better describes my feelings.

Does anyone else with big kids share these kind of thoughts?

Getting to Know You

Something that I've noticed from perusing the blogs of others--you really learn a lot about them! I'm fairly new to this blogging concept, but I've visited a couple of blogs that were linked to a blog that I read regularly. You learn about families and friends of the blogger as well as their day to day activities. Sometimes you'll see what they had for dinner or what they did yesterday. And other times they will post upcoming events or just plain pictures of kids or pets. They offer tips, ideas and advice, or things to ponder. They describe situations that can often be related to by the reader. What an interesting way to communicate and explore! Thanks, Karen, for the little push to get this started. I'm looking forward to a long blogging career! ;)

Here I am!

Well, well, well...my very own blog! Thanks, Karen. This will be a bit generic at first as I learn the ropes of this blogging deal. Stay tuned...