I am Thankful

Yesterday afternoon I had a closing with a couple that didn't really have anything good to say. I don't know their story--their background or life situation, but I do know:

I am thankful that we have 2 cars to get to work and wherever else we need to go, even though gas prices are astronomical.

I am thankful that we live in a city with 2 beautiful rivers running through it, tree-lined streets, good schools, and (somewhat) clean air, even though Beijing, China is extremely polluted.

I am thankful that we have a garage for storage, even though the roof is flat and it leaks.

I am thankful that my family is healthy, even though we catch the common cold or even that nasty flu bug once in a while, even though we might actually have to pay someone to treat our ailments.

Lastly, I am thankful for the "Smiths" who complained about all of these things (and a whole lot more) for the duration of their closing because when I woke up this morning I lay in bed thinking about all of the things I'm thankful for.

Oh, and I'm thankful for my cat that woke me up this morning and that I could throw her out of the room and close the door so she quit bothering me so that I could lay in bed peacefully and think.

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)

Catdog...

Remember this cartoon? I think it was on Nickelodeon. Anyways, this is what we have on our hands. We had a dog, for a short time, but he didn't work out so we had to get rid of him. Toby demanded way too much attention, and he had psychological problems. So, a few months later we got our cat. We LOVE her...she is so much fun! She's so funny because she really has dog traits. When we get home and she hears rustling at the door she runs to the door and waits for us to come in. She is much more loyal than cats usually are. Her other prominent dog trait is that she wakes up early in the a.m. and doesn't STOP until she is fed. She jumps around on the bed, nudges at our (my) hands and face and meows until I get up and feed her. After that she's fine. So much for our easy-to-care-for kitty! Oh well, I think we'll keep her. :o)

Go (light) Blue!

Today was the last game of the regular season for the Liberty. All in all the season was pretty good. We finish with a record of 7-3. Today we played the undefeated team, and lost. Obviously. We lost to them twice and another team once. Not bad if I do say so myself! We ended up tied for 2nd place in the league and we're not sure yet how the seeding will be for next weekend's tournament, but regardless it will be a good ending to a great season. In all honestly, as much as I enjoy watching Cait play and Jason coach, I'll be glad when it's over. We've had either practice or a game 3 times a week (with only a few exceptions for holidays, etc.) since the middle of November. On to softball we go!!

2008 Polar Plunge

Shortly before Christmas Cait brought home some information regarding the Polar Plunge--its a fundraiser for WI Special Olympics. She thought it sounded fun...so she went for it. She raised a few dollars in pledges as part of a team from Northstar Middle School. I think group together raised $4200.00. Well today was the big day. Last Sunday when I checked the 10-day forecast, it said it was going to be 40 degrees. Not too shabby. Piece of cake! I am 100% sure it said FORTY above zero. I don't think the temperature made it above zero at all, and the windchills had to be nearing the 40 below mark. When we got up this morning we were unsure of how this was all going to pan out. It turned out okay--being that the hole they cut in the ice last night was already frozen over this morning. No jumping allowed! It was kind of a bummer, but more of a relief to the moms and dads in the crowd! A few of the girls peeled off the layers and wore their original "costumes" out to the hole...most left their snowpants/jackets/hats/gloves/scarves on. As a spectator I was freezing. I don't know when or if I've ever been that cold! Good thing the sun was out. Cait is looking forward to next year...hopefully will be a little warmer and they can actually PLUNGE!

The hole:

Running to the hole to dip (Cait in the middle with the red headband-pink shirt/black shorts):
Warming up after running around in shorts and t-shirt in below zero temps:

Super Sunday!

Well yesterday was the big game. From what the sports reporters tell me it was a pretty big deal. We did watch the game...we popped in a few "appetizers" before the game...barbecue wings and potato skins, then at halftime we had a Tombstone pizza. We sure went all out! :o) I was hooting and hollering for the Giants like they were my favorite team. I think, with the exception of the NFC championship game against the Packers, last night was the only time that I watched a Giants' game. It certainly was a good game, and I was glad to see the underdogs win.

With regards to the commercials...I wasn't thrilled. I thought the Budweiser commercials with the wine and cheese gimics were stupid. I did like the Bridgestone commercial with all the little animals screaming, but my favorite was the Tide commercial with the talking stain. Other than those few nothing really stuck out. I keep seeing/hearing about the FedEx commercial, but I must have been switching the laundry during that one.

Until next season...

A Day in the Life

When I was trying to think of a clever title for this post I thought "A Life in the Day". Whoops! Tells you where my mind is...NOWHERE! Because I've lost it. :o) Rewind 36 hrs...

Yesterday a.m. we woke up to a pretty normal morning. The temp. was 4 below (down from 37 above @ midnight, if that tells you anything). Cait came into our room at about 7:15 a.m. and said "Olivia sent me a text...she said 'Good morning! No school!'" What? No school? Why in the world not? Well I turned on the t.v. and saw the blob headed our way, and by golly they got it right! By about 11:00 a.m. it was snowing, blowing, whatever else. They tell me it rained the night before...somewhere during the 37 degree midnight hour, I'd imagine. SO, we had ice, then snow. And wind. It was a lovely day. Jason stayed home from work...I'm glad he didnt' chance the 55 mi. one way drive considering the road conditions. I left work at 5:30 and picked up McDonald's on the way home for dinner. Bleck. We watched a little American Idol. Shortly after that Cait was off to bed...she's had a nasty cold for a couple of days. I wasn't too far behind her.

This morning I woke up around 5:00 a.m. to my dear husband banging around in the kitchen. :o) I stayed in bed...it was, after all, only 5! He came back to bed...and then I heard a motor boat (snoring). I couldn't wake him...I knew he had a pretty restless night so I let him be, thinking maybe, just maybe he'll stop soon and I'll be able to get back to sleep. Well maybe that didn't happen. I lay there until 6:00 and decided to get up then. I came down to feed the cat and hopped online just to make sure there was school today. There WASN'T. The list was HUGE. It seemed alright, with the exception of the -35 degree windchills. I suppose the country roads weren't cleared yet from our little blizzard yesterday. No school. Again. So Cait was home today. She did do a few things around the house "without being told" as she so stated in one of her million phone calls to me. She did the dishes, swept the kitchen, shoveled the steps (she was told to shovel the steps though). Jason was home today too...he always has Wednesdays off. He did the snowblowing--ours and our deceased neighbor's. After that I met him at Shopko to pick out some new frames. Then I went back to work. Until 6:30 p.m. It has been absolutely nuts at work with the recent interest rate reduction(s). Good for us, I guess. We're not quite ready for the spring thaw...ready or not, here they come! And now my brain is mush.

Have a splendid evening! Oh, and Jason did have dinner ready just as I walked in the door. Perfect timing...he didn't know when I was coming home. It was a relief to not have to worry about that.

Go Brass!

Caitlin had her first official band concert on Tuesday evening. I must say I was quite impressed with the whole band! If my memory serves me correctly, my 6th grade band concerts were not anywhere near as exciting as this one was. They did a fantastic job! I counted the number of members on the program...there are ninety-two little musicians in the 6th grade band at Northstar Middle School. NINETY TWO. That's a lot of harmonizing to put together. Jason had to run his regular basketball practice so my friend Nikki went with me. We ended up sitting way in the back, so the pictures aren't as clear as I'd like them to be. Cait's on trombone...kind of in the middle in the pic above (the only female trombone player, I might add). This was their "section song", thus the reason all of the other kids have their backs turned.

I'm going to attempt to add a video here...in this song called "Trombo Mambo", the trombones were featured in front of the stage. Again, we were in the back and I used my digital camera to record this. It sounds pretty good...still think we need to invest in a video camera.

*Update...the video didn't work. I thought it was on track because it uploaded and then was "processing", but then I got an error message. I'll have to read some more and try again later. :(

Cold Snap!

The weatherman says today should be the last day......I sure hope so! It has been frigidly cold for days on end...days, and days, and DAYS. I guess its only been about a week, but seems like much longer. A few days we didn't get above zero at all. This a.m. was the coldest, I think. When I turned the news on at 6:30 (to see if school was running late) the temp was -19. Negative nineteen. Nineteen below zero. I should be used to it by now; I've lived in northern WI my entire life. For whatever reason I just cannot accept it. :o) I've captured the cold in a couple of pics...

This HUGE mound of ice was made of just the little bitty drips of condensation. It takes a lot of little bitty drips to make this big ol' pile. I did end up breaking it off at the ground--concerned that it would block the exhaust and make our furnace automatically shut off or something. We sure don't want that!

This is a funny story...Cait had a swimming unit in P.E. the last couple of weeks. One day last week I picked her up after school so she could bring all of her wet, smelly gym clothes home from her gym locker. Well, we forgot that they were in the trunk (because they were smelly) and ended up leaving the bag in my trunk until this afternoon. When she brought it in and dropped it on the floor it was like a huge cement block. This frozen clothes cube is made up of 3 t-shirts, a pair of shorts, a bathing suit, a beach towel, several (at least 4) pairs of socks and a bottle each of shampoo and conditioner. We ran it under hot water in the utility sink and pulled things apart before throwing them in a hot water wash!!

Mmmmm...tasty!

I made this chicken recipe last week and have been meaning to post it ever since. I am pretty close-minded when it comes to cooking...I usually follow the recipe, unless it calls for something along the lines of anchovies...then I figure out a substitute. Anyways, who would've thought to use taco seasoning for anything other than tacos?! Huh!

Salsa Chicken...

Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
4 tsp. taco seasoning
1 C. salsa
1 C. shredded cheddar cheese
2 T. sour cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place chicken breast halves in a lightly greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Sprinkle taco seasoning on both sides of chicken breasts, and pour salsa over all.

Bake at 375 for 25 to 35 minutes, or until chicken is tender and juicy and its juices run clear.

Sprinkle chicken evenly with cheese, and continue baking for an additonal 3 to 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Top with sour cream if desired, and serve.

I found this on allrecipes.com and we all loved it. I especially liked it because it was super easy! I used quite a bit of taco seasoning, a little less salsa and cheese, and we did use a dollop sour cream. We had corn and Spanish rice on the side...

Try it and let me know how you like it!

Happy, happy, happy...

BIRTHDAY! Today's the day. The big 2-9. My boss told me today that this is the first of many 29th birthdays. :o) I don't feel older, I guess that's good. It was a pretty mello day...it started with the cat tipping over the flowers that Cait got me...at 5:00 a.m. That was not cool. Then I was off to work, where shortly after I arrived one of my co-workers whisked in with a cake. I love cake. Cake is my vice. It's bad. But I ate it anyways...it's my birthday! After that I went about my day, enjoying many "Happy Birthday!"s throughout the day. And guess what I found waiting for me when I got home? CAKE. Cake. My dear little Cait made me a cake after school today. She went to the grocery store to buy the mix, frosting and decorations. She even went to the neighbor's to "borrow" 3 eggs because we don't have any! (The neighbors are one of her friend's grandparents--no worries!) She also paid $2.00 for the eggs! HA! That was funny. Now Cait and Jas are at basketball practice and will be home shortly after 8:00 with my dinner...Wendy's. I know, try to contain yourselves. It was too much to try to get out for dinner tonight. Jason and I went out to eat on Friday after work (to TGIFriday's, mind you) to celebrate my birthday. All I knew was I wasn't cooking tonight! Wendy's has that salad, I forget exactly what its called...southwest-rancho-taco-something salad. It's YUMMAY. So, that'll be my dinner. 'Til next time...

Me and my cake:

My pretty flowers:

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.

Forgot to mention...

The curtains are a little wrinkly...well, they have creases from being folded in the package. Hopefully the creases will fall out so I don't have to iron or something. That would be awful.

Curtains, finally!

Jason's mom, Jan, gave me an e-Bay gift certificate for Christmas. I thought I would use it for a new purse, or possibly another pair of shoes, but after thinking long and hard I began my search for curtains-something I've been wanting since we moved in. And it wasn't easy. You see, we have this lovely (or not) wallpaper that is fruity, and purpley. I like fruit, and I like purple, but not on my dining room walls, although the paid color we chose for part of the dining room is called "grapey". Oh well...the wallpaper isn't quite hideous, and it will be replaced eventually, but for the meantime we have to manage with what we have, right? After mulling through many, many, many listings, I happened upon these. They were the right size and they looked to be a little darker than the paint, which is good, right? (I watch a lot of HGTV, I know these things.) The only thing I wasn't sure of is the type of fabric...it's almost a satin type of fabric. I didn't read the label, so I'm not exactly sure, but it feels like satin PJs, which immediately made me think they should be bedroom curtains. Well anyways, as soon as I got home after work I threw the curtains up on the rod...and they're not too bad! I actually really like them! What do you think? Oh, and I paid a grand total of $14.74 for them, which included shipping. A pretty good deal for 4 curtain panels...yay for me!

Before: These are the curtains I was using. They're nice curtains--Cait's Grandma C. made them when Cait had a cherry theme in her room before we moved, but they don't really match. :o)

After: Here are my new curtains! I liked them alot better after I got them up. At first I thought they weren't going to work; but they're not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

Practice Makes Perfect!

Here's a picture of Caitlin...she's rehearsing for a concert that she has to perform in front of 6 or 7 adults. Our friends, the Wiegels, have so generously offered their ears for this little performance. Cait had to choose 10 songs to play, and then the attendees of her homemade concert have to sign in and write comments at the end. It should be fun. She's doing a good job--just needs a tad more practice. :o)

On a Mission!

I forgot to mention, that even through the holiday season, with the big fancy meals, Christmas parties and get-togethers, cookies and candies on the back counter at work, and the hustle and bustle leaving little time to think about what to make for dinner and what I should have for lunch...I managed to lose ONE whole pound. I missed 2 WW meetings in a row, and was not looking forward to facing the scale this last Friday, but I knew I had to bite the bullet and look it in the eye. And, WOO HOO! I lost a pound. Just one. But, the bottom line is that I didn't gain even an ounce. I was prepared, and had talked myself into believing that a small gain was okay. This little loss seems like the biggest ever, though only a pound. I'm happy with that, and ready to drop the pounds in a big way.

Issues.

Does is seem like every time I post that that post is followed by a post like this? Well...I have issues with this program! I tried and tried and tried to get the spacing on my previous post *just right* and LOOK AT IT! And how many times have I said I need to study this Blogger to get the ins-n-outs in order? Lots. And I still haven't. Maybe that will be added to my New Year's resolutions, of which I have several...that way I can be happy after I hit "view blog in another window", and not frustrated.

Let me take you back...

Phew! It's been a long time since I've posted. Here's what we've been up to:

December 11: Jason's cousin, Leah (25), passed away unexpectedly of a brain anyeurism. It was a very, very sad time for everyone who knew Leah. She's was a bright young lady, a wife, mother of 2 little guys, and a good friend to many, many people. Her funeral was on the 18th at the Hayward Wesleyan Church. What a showing of love and support! Anyone who knew Leah doesn't have anything but beautiful memories of her. She'll be missed!! Here's a picture of Leah and I from our wedding, and one of Leah and her two boys.

December 21: On Friday we headed south to the Chicago area to spend a weekend with Jason's family on his dad's side. We stayed with his Uncle Pat and and his wife Sandy. They were gracious enough to give up their home for the weekend to several who decided to bunk there. I'm not sure how many were around total. Some came and went; some stayed the whole weekend. It was nice being able to visit in such a casual environment without a real timeline. We stayed Friday and Saturday nights and headed home Sunday morning.

December 23: We left Lake Zurich, IL at about 9:00 a.m. The sun was shining, but it was windy. (Some may recall watching the Packers/Bears game. THAT was the day we were traveling.) Things seemed okay until just south of Madison...then it was really windy. No snow actually falling, but blowing like mad. It was okay though...we were doing good. We talked about getting off the interstate in Madison to see if it would pass, then hit the trail back home. We decided to push on. Until Wisconsin Dells. When you're going 10 mph on the interstate, there's a problem. There were cars, trucks, and semis in the ditches all over the place-left and right. A little less than 5 hr. trip from IL to home turned into 4 and we weren't even half way. We decided to get a hotel and spend the night and hit it early Monday (Christmas Eve) morning. that kind of threw a wrench in things, and I had a lot of tasks to complete that Sunday afternoon. Now pushed to Monday, I was not a happy camper!

December 24: We got home at about 9:30 a.m. We didn't even unload the car and I was off to work. I worked until noon then went to the mall, Wal-Mart, and TJ Maxx to finish my shopping. I came home and finished wrapping, unpacked, washed a couple of loads of laundry, packed again and we were off to Hayward! We spent Christmas Eve at Jason's mom's house. Christmas Day we lounged around in the a.m., then we went to Jason's brother's/grandma's for Christmas dinner.

December 25: 7:00 p.m. WE'RE HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know if I was ever so happy to be back home. Although I had a million and one things to do, I told myself I was going to unload the car and hop in the tub! And that's just what I did. I didn't unpack, I didn't put things away, I didn't do any laundry. NOTHING. And it felt good. :o)

December 26: Back to normal, somewhat. Jason and I were both back to work. And, for me anyways, it was quite welcome!

December 29/30: This past weekend I took our Christmas tree down. For whatever reason, I felt the need to clean up all of the Christmas decorations pretty early. I think I had just had enough of this year's festivities! Our tree was pretty, though. We went to a tree farm and tromped around in the snow, picked it out, cut it down, and drug (dragged? Karen, what is the proper word here?) it out of the woods oursevles.

We thought we were smart when we were loading the tree on top of the car. Cait was inside so she could feed the twine through...but, oops! The car doors were shut and she had rolled the windows down to string the twine through. We didn't realize until we got home that she was roped in the car! She couldn't open door until we snipped the twine. Here she's trying to chew her way out. Shoulda let her sit in there for a while...hee hee...just kidding!

December 31: Jason and I both worked all day on New Year's Eve. After work I threw some meatballs in the crockpot and boiled some eggs, then I took Cait to her friend's house for a sleepover. Jason got home and we finished the deviled eggs and headed over to Wiegel's for some snacks and visiting. We managed to make it until midnight, but barely! New Year's Day we just hung out at home. I took the day after off as well, just for fun. Cait was back to school on the 2nd, and Jason and I back to work on the 3rd.

January 6: Today! This weekend was pretty uneventful. Yesterday we did some housework in the a.m., then we had a basketball game at 4 (pictures at 3:00 though). Cait's/Jason's team won again! YAY! I think their record is now 4 and 1. Next week they play the toughest team in the league. The "yellow team" happened to be playing while our team was getting pictures taken, so Jason did some scouting...we're on to them! They better watch out! That would be a great victory...but given Cait's last 2 seasons of basketball, this season is already the better of the three, and it's not even halfway through. Today we planned on working in our "scary room" in the basement. There's some old, icky carpet in there, and some junk that the seller said "came with the house". We plan to get it all cleaned up and use it for storage. "Plan" is the key word...that means in the future-good for us since it's 4:30 p.m. and we haven't lifted a finger. :o)

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...