Photographic Memories

Wow! Looking at all of the pictures on the computer I realized there were a lot of missed opportunities for me to share over the past few months. Here they are, in few words:


Her hair was just long enough for these cute braids; then she got it cut!




A pic from the zoo trip in July...there was a water fountain behind us and we were getting sprinkled as we waited...and waited...and waited for Cait to get a good picture!

Cat-In-The-Box

A little bit of Cait's comedic side...


A couple of softball pics...Cait as catcher and cheering on her team from behind the fence.






Peggy's wedding...5/31/08


Lori, Vicki, Sarah, Lisa...Mudder's Day Ride May 2008




Me & Brandy



And I'll leave you with this beautiful butterfly...a lovely picture taken by yours truly. :-)

Other Happenings

The below posts were the "big" events of the summer of 2008. Cait spent most of the summer at home and at tennis and summer band. She also enjoyed a lot of time with her friends at the pool or the mall. She "worked" most of the last 2 weeks of summer babysitting for our good friends. They have 3 kids, but Cait only had the two older ones, ages 5 and 6. She also played softball into the summer. Her team did well and ended up in 3rd place in the division, but lost in the 1st game of the season ending tournament. Our road was (and still is) under construction for weeks and weeks. Seems like years and years. What a pain! We're getting close though...maybe a couple more weeks? And now it's fall. Cait's pretty much back into the swing of things with school and activities and friends. She's playing volleyball as her 1st quarter sport. She seems to enjoy it--their first match is on Monday afternoon so that will be exciting. Dad and Sandy were home for the past 2 weeks. We had a short visit with them last weekend and they stopped by yesterday on their way back "home" to Louisiana. They had some minor storm damage from Gustav (while they were in WI), but were spared when Ike rolled through. That pretty much sums it up! I have some miscellaneous pictures to post, but have to run now to pick Cait up from practice.

Yaaaaawwwwwnnnnnn....

Good morning! Today is day 1 of my week long vacation. I'm up WAY too early, too. :-) I was pretty restless last night. Guess I'm just a little excited to have the whole week to do whatever I choose. I made my to do list last night and unfortunately this won't really be a "vacation" at all. It's okay though--I'm not at work! Thursday starts off with "Update Blog", so I'll be back to get ya'll caught up on what we've been up to all summer. I've been lagging in the area of blogging since my July 24 post...

Oh No I Didn't!

One of my biggest pet peeves is the improper use of a possessive 's'. As I scanned my previous post that sucker jumped out at me like a frog off a log. How embarassing. Karen, did you see that? I had "Kwik Trip's", and I was NOT talking about anything that Kwik Trip owns! :o) Ay yi yi.

Tired

I'm tired. I didn't sleep well last night, at all. Yesterday was kind of a strange day for me emotionally. It was kind of bizarre. I woke up fine; not as early as I'd hoped, but around 8:00 or so. I planned on getting up early to "super clean". Super cleaning consists of pulling out couches and sweeping/mopping underneath, dusting everything, cleaning every room from top to bottom and all floors, washing rugs...you get the drift. I generally need to allow myself 3+ hours for that. We had a movie date planned with the Wiegels, so by time I got up and got going I knew I wouldn't have time to get my cleaning in, shower, and get to the theater in time for the 1:00 p.m. show. So, I did a little laundry and puttered around. We went to the movie (Hancock--it was okay) and then came home. After we got home I felt pretty down-in-the-dumps and just kind of sat around. I watched a little TV in the evening (HGTV) and talked to my dad. I called him to ask some advice about our bathroom ceiling, so nothing earth shattering. After we hung up I felt 100% better. I was chipper and felt fine. Kind of strange...maybe it was just talking to him, even if only about home improvements, that cheered me up. Around 10 or so I climbed into bed. Jason was already sleeping with ESPN on the tube. I watched the end of the Yankees/Red Sox game; it was kind of exciting although the outcome didn't really matter to me. Close games are always fun to watch. Then I tried to get to sleep. Couldn't sleep. Turned on my lamp and read a little bit. Thought I was tired so put the book down and closed my eyes. Couldn't sleep. By now I had an annoying anxious feeling, but I don't know why. I don't know what time I finally fell asleep; I know it was after midnight though. And then I woke up a couple of times, once around 3, and then again around 5 a.m. Then my alarm went off at 6:30 because I wanted to try to be to work by 8. I decided to sleep a little longer and go to work a little later, but once I was awake I lay thinking about all the things I needed to get done at work today so that ruined my efforts to get back to sleep. I got up and got ready for work (very hastily because I remembered in all of my thinking that someone was coming in right away this a.m. and I had to get some paperwork ready) and off to work I went. I felt pretty good all day, just a little tired. Not sure what the deal is.

Good golly.

Life's been good. Nothing terribly exciting to report, but we've been pretty busy.



Cait's softball has started, so we're getting back into the swing of it. (Ha!)


I think spring is finally here! One little teaser on Monday/Tuesday with a "snowstorm", snowday (no school) on Tuesday. We got about 3 inches of snow in total (why school was cancelled I'm not quite sure). Today though we reached 50...the weatherman says it hasn't been 50 degrees since November 13. Heat wave! Speaking of waves...


Last weekend Cait and I went to the Kalahari in Wisconsin Dells for a little getaway. It was tons of fun, but tiring! In total we had 27 people (11 moms and 16 kids). The Kalahari was a BLAST. Highly recommended to those looking for a nice place for a mini-vacation. Here's a picture of the group:









I've been working a lot-- 'tis the season! Job security, I guess.



I have some miscellaneous pictures to post, but I'm at work so I don't have my camera with me.



Better run...off to cook dinner and relax. Maybe we'll take a walk this lovely evening. :o)

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words!

Yep. In 4 short weeks this will be me. Ha! I wish. A while back one of the gals at work asked the rest of us if we wanted to take a belly dancing class. My first response was NO WAY! No way no way no WAY. Then, the more I thought about it the more I thought it would be fun; especially knowing that I would know most everyone there. You see, Mel called to sign up for a class and the instructor told her it was full but if she could find more students the woman would run another class. And so it was. I think in all there are about 12 people, and more than half of them are ladies I work with or friends of ladies I work with. It is actually quite fun... I never thought I'd do something like this. Now line dancing-maybe-belly dancing-never! I really enjoy it though. It's nice to get out with the girls and have some fun every now and then. I am not the least coordinated woman on earth, either. Go figure! :o)

Basketball and Shopping...

Today Jason and Cait had their weekly Saturday afternoon basketball game. They lost pretty bad, but it's okay. The team they were playing is undefeated thus far, and they have one player who is in a league of her own...definitely more suited for a traveling team...or the WNBA. :o) The girls took the loss pretty hard because they've been on a good winning streak. It's okay...back at it for next week!

After the game Cait and I hit the mall and Target. She had a few gift cards and a little cash from Christmas that she wanted to use. She got a nice Wisconsin Badgers long sleeve t-shirt at Sears and 2 new undershirts/tank tops. She also picked up some yummy smelly stuff from Bath and Body Works (including a nice little raspberry lotion for her mom to take to work). At Target she found a great deal on a pair of jeans--$10.48! She also bought a t-shirt at Target. My cousin Keith and his wife gave her a Blockbuster gift card, so on the way home we stopped so she could rent a movie...and get some Sour Patch Kids. :o)

I wasted my morning away so I'm off to try to get some cleaning done. I have to be at the office most of the day tomorrow...it's been a long time since I've been busy enough to have to work on the weekend.

Tidbits

-12 days until Christmas. Wowie! Sunday we went to get our tree and we finished decorating it Monday night. I haven't really started shopping yet...ick. I do this every year-wait until the last minute then it's hard to enjoy because of all the crazies!

-Last night my friends, Nikki and Peggy, and I had what has become our annual holiday dinner at the Olive Garden. We even sat at the same table as last year... Peggy got me a $25 gift card to JC Penney, and Nikki gave me a pretty necklace and a Willow Tree angel. Nikki also got Cait a really pretty sweater and matching necklace. Such great friends I have...

-As of last Friday I was down 11.4 lbs. in 5 weeks...still keeping up my average of a little over 2 lbs./week. Yay for me!!

-Jason is coaching Cait's basketball team this season...and they WON last Saturday. Woo hoo! We're looking for win #2 this coming Saturday. What a treat that would be!

-It's really cold in our basement so I'm going to go back upstairs and warm up my fingers...

A Day Off

I took the day off today. I felt I needed a little breather, and today was a good day for it. I have weekends off, but I still "work" around the house, etc. Sometimes we need a day just to be alone and, well, be alone. :o) I did accomplish quite a bit though, too. I did several loads of laundry, mostly blankets and comforters. I've been storing our extra blankets in our basement since we moved so I washed all of them today and will be putting them away in Cait's closet. She so graciously (or not) gave up the top shelf in her closet for our extra blankets. My bro is coming the day after Thanksgiving to build my "pantry", where I can then store the extras. I'll definitely have to do some before and after pics of that project. You'll be surprised! So I did laundry, organized a little bit in the basement (I have a long way to go), washed dishes, watched the Today Show, watched the news-twice. I found a new way to style my hair, ran to Wal-Mart and the mall, and took my cat to the vet. After that I met my girlfriend Lori and her two kids and her niece at Applebee's for dinner. Lori's little guy is just 3 weeks old. He's a peanut, that's for sure. He fit pretty good in my arms...hmmmm? ;o) I had Applebee's Confetti Chicken. Wasn't too impressed. I'm on this little plan called Weight Watchers (for the umpteenth time, but this time I AM GOING TO DO IT! I have alterior motives for this weight loss i.e. 3 sentences ago) so thought that would do me good. It was okay, but I'd have much preferred a nice salad or quesadillas or a burger or chicken strips. Now I'm off to the couch to watch Dancing With the Stars and The Biggest Loser. It's my Tuesday night thing. Jason and Cait are both gone every Tuesday evening, so that's what I do.