Sarah's Spot

I'm the coupon queen!

2012-02-09T09:39:00.000-08:00

I saved $49.48 yesterday on my groceries. That's 41% of my total bill. It's nothing like the 90%+ that the "Extreme Couponing" people save, but I'm sure happy with the savings.

Here's a quick look at what I got.

Chunky soup's regular price is $2.15. I used a $1 off coupon and a $.75 off coupon. Both were doubled, for a total of $3.50 off. I bought four cans and paid $1.27 a can.

Sargento shredded cheese usually costs $2.99. The store had a sale, which took off $.99 cents a bag if you bought three. I also had a coupon for $.50, which was doubled. I got each bag of shredded cheese for $1.66 each.

General Mills cereal varies in price from $3.52 to $4.29 a box. The store had a special of $9 off if you bought six boxes. I also had a $1 coupon, which doubled. This gave me a savings of $11. The average price per box of cereal was $1.95. In addition, I got two coupons to use on my next trip, $1.50 off eggs and $3.75 off milk.

Happy birthday Charles Dickens!

2012-02-07T08:24:00.000-08:00

Google pays homage to Charles Dickens for his 200th birthday. This has got to be my favorite Google logo yet.

Where oh where have the months gone?

2012-02-06T13:43:00.000-08:00

It has been exactly seven months since my last post. I've been busy. No, really- I have. That's not just an excuse this time. Let me give you a quick recap of what has happened between July 2011 and now.

I think that things are starting to calm down for me, for a while at least. I'm planning on posting more often.

2011 is halfway over already!

2011-07-06T11:48:00.000-07:00

Reading summary

36 books read
11591 pages read
11 Non Fiction
25 Fiction
1 Young Adult title
2 Short Story collections
26 Female authors
10 Male authors
27 were library books
9 were books that I own
3 were Early Reviewer books that I received for free
2 were textbooks for school
The books I read were set in Rhode Island, New York City (x3), London, England; Iowa, Pennsylvania, Quebec, Canada; Michigan, Japan, Haines, AK; Paris, France; Kansas, Georgia, two magical fictional worlds, Minnesota (x2), Arizona, England, South Carolina, Manitoba, Canada; Pennsylvania (x4), Washington (x3), Wisconsin, Central America, Virginia, New Hampshire, Nunavut, Canada.

June 2011 Where are you Reading challenge.

2011-07-03T15:39:00.000-07:00

I made my way through five books in June. I visited Rhode Island, New York City, London, Iowa and Pennsylvania.

The Tuesday Club Murders: A Miss Marple Mystery by Agatha Christie

The Last Fair Deal Going Down by David Rhodes

Precious and Fragile Things by Megan Hart

You are Free: Stories by Danzy Senna

I'm Perfect, You're Doomed: Tales from a Jehovah's Witness Upbringing by Kyria Abrahams

ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

2011-06-10T09:11:00.000-07:00

The Urban life has gotten a bit crazy and is about to get ever crazier.

We are moving into our first house in 34 days and getting our first puppy in 36 days. Ashley will be gone for 21 of those days at camp and on a mission trip.

We have begun packing (Holy smokes do we have a lot of stuff!) and are going to pick our puppy out this weekend. We are adopting a Pembroke Welsh Corgi pup, we have wanted a Corgi for many years and are excited that we will finally be able to add one to our family.

I feel a bit scattered in other parts of my life though. My mind is full of puppies, training techniques, packing boxes, moving trucks, lists of things we need to purchase and loan documents.

I will post pictures of the puppy next week and photos of the house once we are settled in (this may be a year from now!)

May 2011 Book Summary

2011-06-10T08:57:00.000-07:00

In May I finally had a break from classes and was able to read a bit more. I read six books and visited Quebec, New York City, Michigan, Japan, Haines, AK and Paris, France.

Reviews and ratings can be found on my LibraryThing page.

Surfacing byMargaret Atwood

Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited by Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein

Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky

If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska by Heather Lende

A Wild Sheep Chase: A Novel by Haruki Murakami

The Raising: A Novel by Laura Kasischke

So far, I am at 31 books for the year. I think that with all of the changes happening in my life right now, my book total for the year is going to be pretty low. That's okay though, these are wonderful changes and life is good.

2011-05-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

April was a slow month for me.Much of my reading time was taken over by studying for the science class I was taking. I only read three books. This is a ten year low for me. I'm so ashamed! :(

This month I visited Kansas, Georgia and a magical fictional world.
Reviews and ratings can be found on my LibraryThing page.

The Stormchasers by Jenna Blum

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Praise Jerusalem! by Augusta Trobaugh

Things My Geek-Brain Makes Me Do

2011-04-26T06:49:00.000-07:00

I was browsing over at GeekMom and found this article. The opening really hooked me, "Geek-brains are wired differently than non-geek brains. We hyper-obsess over strange things, we remember obscure details of inconsequential events, we have little to no shame when it comes to the things we geek out over."
YES! This is me! I wear my TARDIS ring proudly and the talking Tribble on my desk makes me grin everyday at work. I am geek! I'm going to take the concept and run with it. I'm a geek, my brain does funny things and I LOVE making lists.

I will judge you based on your grammar and spelling. It's petty and little of me, but that's too bad.
I create spreadsheets for everything. I have spreadsheets for books read, books to read, movies, television programs, grocery store prices and so many more.
I compulsively list things.That spreadsheet of books read that I just mentioned has every book I have read since for the last 11 years. It includes, title, author, year published, month and year read, number of pages, primary setting, whether the author is male of female and key words. And yes, it is all graphed out as well.
I don't just play games on facebook, I dominate. Every game I play, I will play until I am in the number one spot among my friends. I imagine that all of my friends are trying to do the same thing.
I have a Jean-Luc Picard action figure in my car. Some people have guardian angels in their cars, I have a Starship captain. I do talk to him when I am driving alone too.
When I am driving and any song from the soundtrack for Burnout 3 comes on, I want to drive faster and takedown other motorists.
I often look around me and plan out my Katamari's path. For example, on my desk at work I would start with pencils, then go to my mouse, my owl figurines, action figures and plush Stormtrooper before moving onto phone and keyboard.
Anytime I hear the word two, I think either "I want my two dollars!" from Better Off Dead or "I've got two pickles" from The Little Rascals.
My family hates watching movies with me because I blurt out movie trivia. If I don't know anything special about a film, I will search out trivia as we are watching. I have now been banned from having my laptop open while we are watching movies.
I often pretend that I am on film. I've done this since I was very young, way before The Truman Show, but it's kind of like that. If I know that people are watching my every move, I will always put my best face forward and think before I speak or do things. I've found it also makes me smile more.

So there you have it.

2011-04-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

Mother of all things holy! How am I supposed to concentrate on work or school when I have visions of houses dancing through my head?! These houses are not gently dancing either. Nope, no smooth, slow ballet. These places are krumping!

House Hunting

2011-04-10T18:20:00.000-07:00

We looked at a few houses today. It turns out that my husband and my daughter and I all have very different tastes in homes. We have a limited budget and there are not many houses that meet our requirements. Not that we are being really picky. We only have a few things that we won't bend on. We want 3 bedrooms, at least 1.5 baths, a garage, a basement and at least 1200 square feet. We do want a specific neighborhood though, I think that is really limiting us, but I really like living on the east side and don't want to go too far from where we are now.

This process is going to be hella stressful.

Book review

2011-04-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

This book is not really about a girl who can speak for the dead. It's about a girl and her twin brother who trick people into thinking that she can speak for the dead. Her method, called spirit knocking, is a little far fetched. In fact, much of this book is quite unrealistic.

In the intro, the author asks for the reader to "suspend disbelief" while reading. I can do that. I love books that require the reader to suspend disbelief. I love getting lost in a world that is different from the one that we live in. I think it's a bad sign when the author has to tell you to do it though. It's like when someone tells a joke, then asks you if you get it. When a book is well written, you just fall into it and believe whatever the author is telling you as fact. The writing here is too immature though. The writer had great ideas and a good story to tell, but it never quite got there. There were pieces of the story that deserved more attention (the tunnel, the connection between the twins) and pieces of the story that get way too much attention (the magician).

Overall, it was still a decent read. The author made me care enough to wanteto see what would happen to the characters in the end.

There were stylistic things that turned me off too. First names were used way too much and the viewpoint seemed to switch a few times, but I did read an uncorrected proof, and I hope that those few things will be rectified before the final copy comes out.

March 2011 Book Summary

2011-04-04T09:39:00.000-07:00

March was a weird month for me book wise. I am counting it as a six book month. Two of the books were textbooks though. I feel like I need to count them because they took up so much of my reading time.

This month I visited Pennsylvania, Washington, and New York through my books. Well, some other places as well, like Alaska, and Jerusalem, but these are the three main states that I listed on my map.

The Warren Ellis book's setting was a fictional place, so I mapped it in the northern Pacific, just for fun. Since my textbooks don't have a setting, I mapped those in the north Pacific as well, just so they would be listed on my maps page.

Reviews and ratings can be found on my LibraryThing page.

The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead by Paul Elwork

McKnight's Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation by Darrel Hess

MP Medical Terminology: Language for Health Care by Nina Thierer

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

Great House by Nicole Krauss

Transmetropolitan Vol. 01: Back on the Street by Warren Ellis

House hunting?

2011-03-30T08:44:00.000-07:00

I'm at that place again. You know, that place I go every few years. The place in the back of my mind that still believes in the "American Dream". The place that thinks every thing in the world would be better if we were homeowners.

Normally, I recognize that the "American Dream" is not what it used to be. That the new dream most American's have is to stay afloat from month to month, to have food on the table and to have a job and health insurance.

We have that now, and I am very grateful. Christopher has been at his job for over ten years and I have been at mine over five years. We have great health insurance, we always have plenty of food and our bills are paid. That has not always been the case for us. We went through a period of time when I couldn't keep a job. I was laid off twice in two years and our income was unstable. We didn't get our bills paid on time and we had to wait to get groceries until pay day. We know what it's like to struggle, to argue about money and to worry that the grocery check is going to bounce. We are all too aware that we could be back there in just a few months if either of us lost our jobs or got hurt.

What we don't have is a house. We have a wonderful home that we rent. It is a three story townhouse at the end of a cul-de-sac in an area of town that we like. We have a great landlord who takes care of any issues we may have right away. Our small back yard butts up to a wooded city park and we get lots of birds and forest animals. This small townhouse has been our home for just shy of 11 years.

House prices are at record lows right now. I feel like we should buy a house, but I really don't know if I want to be the one who has to fix things that go wrong and take care of the yard. I don't know if being tied down by home ownership will interfere with our plan to move to Alaska in the next decade, or if it would ultimately help us to reach that goal.

*sigh* I guess I need to do some serious thinking and talking with Christopher so we can figure out just what the "Urban Dream" is.

2011-03-25T19:16:00.000-07:00

I am just getting over a four day migraine. Ugh. I've been to clinics and the ER, had shots, pills and IV's. I've been given everything from Advil to morphine to magnesium and more.

I *think* I am finally finding some relief. My arm is bruised and sore from the poking (My veins are so small that they always have to use a peds needle on me to get IV's started!), but that is nothing compared to the pain I was in.

What's in your purse?

2011-03-10T11:53:00.000-08:00

Not just the regular boring stuff. Everyone has a wallet, keys and cash. I want to know what makes your bag special. Here's the stuff I carry with me daily that say something about who I am.

Crocheted coffee cup sleeve - I hate the wasteful cardboard ones.

Penny sized ninja figure - He stays with my change in my wallet and makes me smile whenever I see him. I can't post his picture here because real ninjas are too fast to have their image captured on film.

At least 2 Chico bags. Down with plastic!

To-Go ware bamboo fork, knife, spoon and chopsticks.

My 1950's style expanding coupon organizer cuz saving money is cool, yo.

My mad hatter pill case.

A small Moleskine tablet because you never know when inspiration may strike.

A pewter disc with a Tlingit style whale stamped on one side and the word "Dedication" on the other side. This is a daily reminder of Alaska and the great times I have had there. It also reminds me to stay dedicated to my goal of someday living in Alaska.

My 40 year nautical perpetual calendar. Ask me what day of the week your birthday will fall on in 2039. I'll have the answer.

Time for some humor

2011-03-10T10:50:00.000-08:00

These last few weeks here in Madison, WI have been rough. The budget bill, and all that it entails, is taking it's toll on me. It's time for some fun.

2011-03-08T08:12:00.000-08:00

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

Imagine tasting emotions in every bite if food that you eat. When Rose turns eight, she can suddenly taste the feelings of the people who prepared her food. Her birthday cake is sad and lonely, just like her mother. As the years pass, Rose learns that factory made food is the easiest to tolerate and finds a few chefs at local restaurants who love their lives so much that the food they prepare tastes happy.
What a concept, and since I have loved every other book by Aimee Bender I started this book with high hopes. The book started out great, but began to fall apart towards the middle. I think the author had this idea, but didn't know where to go with it. By the end, the book is disjointed and left a bad taste in my mouth.

2011-03-03T10:47:00.000-08:00

The budget cuts that Governor Scott Walker is proposing for the State of Wisconsin are atrocious. Here are just a few of the items that I feel are the worst. There's so much more, but these are the ones that are keeping me up at night.

Drinking water will no longer need to be sanitized.
Recycling will no longer be mandatory.
Health Insurance companies will no longer have to cover birth control. This is coming at a horrible time since National funding for Planned Parenthood was just cut.
Ban on phosphorus in lawn fertilizer will be lifted. It was originally banned because of the runoff in our lakes.
No more minimum instructional hours for our schools. This will all be up to local districts.
Loss of collective bargaining to almost all public employees.
Massive cuts to education. The first to go will be drug and alcohol prevention programs.

2011-02-28T06:51:00.000-08:00

Dirty Secret: A Daughter Comes Clean About Her Mother's Compulsive Hoarding by Jessie Sholl

I like the TV show "Hoarders". Not for the shock value, in fact, I'm turned off by that aspect of the show. What fascinates me is the psychology. It should come as no surprise then that I loved this book. The author looked at hoarding as a mental illness that her mother suffers from.

The book was about the author and her life as well, and did a good job of staying focused on how her mothers hoarding affected her life. Jessie's mom wasn't a hoarder while Jessie was a child, she was just messy. The hoarding didn't really start until the author was an adult. The book showed that hoarding has a major impact on all members in a family, whether they live in the home or not.

2011-02-28T06:44:00.000-08:00

February 2011 Book Summary

I was an utter failure in February. I read only four books! In my defense, I was taking a Medical Terminology class that took up a lot of my reading time, but I still can't believe I only got through four books.

I have visited Minnesota (x2), Arizona, and England.

Reviews and ratings can be found on my LibraryThing page.

Dirty Secret: A Daughter Comes Clean About Her Mother's Compulsive Hoarding by Jessie Sholl

This Glittering World by T. Greenwood

Among Others by Jo Walton

Freedom: A Novel by Jonathan Franzen

2011-02-23T12:51:00.000-08:00

This Glittering World by T. Greenwood

This book was on my list because I had read another book by the author a year or so ago and liked her storytelling. This book was great. I got through it in two sittings, I just couldn't stop. The synopsis doesn't make it sound like a very intriguing story; a white man finds a Native American man nearly dead in his driveway, meets dying guys sister, questions his own relationship, yadda, yadda, yadda. It's been told before. Not like this though. Greenwood's characters are complex, rich and real. The main character Ben isn't the nicest guy. I wouldn't like him, that's for sure, but his feelings are well described and believable. I'll definitely search out more by this author.

Long lines at the grocery store

2011-02-22T12:35:00.000-08:00

Ashley and I were at the grocery store the other day and the lines were crazy. There were only two registers open at the time we joined the line, but as we were waiting, two other registers opened up. The cashiers called out that they were open and the people from the end of the other lines actually ran to be first to the newly opened registers. These were the people who had been waiting the least amount of time to check out. I looked at Ashley and was about to open my mouth when she said, "I know, If that happens to me, I should offer the spot to the person who has been waiting the longest."

Don't you love it when your kids know the right thing to do, even when other adults don't?

2011-02-20T17:18:00.000-08:00

Among Others by Jo Walton

This was a fun book. If you are a reader of SF/F, you will love the references.
Mor is a great character, I would read more about her and her family. I wasn't keen on the ending though, too sudden, like the author suddenly realized she should be done with the story.

60,000 strong for working families!

2011-02-19T16:42:00.000-08:00

60,000 people are in my city right now to stand up for what they believe in. Collective bargaining for our public employees is vital for so many reasons. Wisconsin has long attracted the best and brightest educators and our graduation rates and SAT/ACT scores prove that our children benefit from having the best teachers. Who in Hades is going to want to come to WI to work when our Governor treats his constituents like this? Everyone loses.

Someone that you know will be affected. Teachers, professors, doctors, nurses, garbage men, administrative staff, snow plow drivers, museum workers, lawyers, librarians, food service workers, bus drivers, security guards, 911 operators and so many more will be affected.

Our state will lose more federal money too. The federal government will not subsidize our public transportation (buses) unless those workers have collective bargaining rights. For Madison alone, that's $45 million.

I could go on and on, but I won't. Everything that needs to be said has already been said. I'm proud of the people of my state.

My (civilly) disobedient daughter

2011-02-15T12:46:00.000-08:00

My daughter, along with hundreds of other students in Wisconsin, walked out of school today to protest Gov. Walker's proposal to take away collective bargaining rights from state unions. Ashley is prepared to face the consequences for ditching school, we talked at length about civil disobedience and she knows what she is doing. We are proud of her.

Ashley is marching on the capitol to support the public school teachers, but it is more than just school teachers who are affected by this. This affects doctors, nurses, health care workers in many different fields, secretaries, food service workers, janitors, translators and so many more people that I can't list them all.

Does anyone really think it will end with state employee unions? This is just the start. I hope that our elected representatives will listen to what the people of this state are saying.

2011-02-14T18:19:00.000-08:00

Sarah and Christopher in Alaska July 2011

Happy Anniversary to my husband.

On February 15, 1999, we met.
On February 15, 2000, we married.

Happy Anniversary Baby!

What a weekend!

2011-02-14T11:45:00.000-08:00

We spent the weekend in Schaumburg, IL. Ashley and I wanted to do some shopping and Christopher was keen to chill in a hotel room with his guitar and book.

Hotel

We stayed at the Doubletree. It's probably the forth time we have stayed at this location. The hotel has really started to show wear and tear. I don't think we'll stay there again. There were scuffs on the walls and heater. There were faint stains on the bedskirts, curtains and shower curtain. This hotel charges for EVERYTHING! We had to pay for wi-fi and for local calls. I really though that wi-fi and local calls were standard these days. We had a special package so we got the $40 breakfast free. The breakfast was wonderful, the best thing about the whole stay.

Dining

On Friday night we had dinner at the Weber Grill Restaurant. It was a bit pricey for us, but delicious. The atmosphere and staff were great. I had a salad with blue cheese and steak on skewers. It was the best steak I have ever eaten. Christopher and Ashley both got burgers and were very impressed as well.

Saturday we had lunch at Ikea, Swedish meatballs all around. Yumm-o!

For dinner we ate at the Rainforest Cafe. Our anniversary is this week, and we went to eat at the Rainforest Cafe after our wedding, so we thought we'd eat there again for our anniversary. The Rainforest Cafe is about the experience, not about the food. It is expensive, $75 for the three of us! yikes! Ashley got a burger, Christopher got a Philly Cheesesteak and I got steak, shrimp and ribs. The coconut shrimp was great. The ribs were not very tasty and the steak was burnt. :( Not worth it for our family, but if you have younger kids they will be delighted with the experience.

Shopping

We went to Ikea and the Container Store for me. I love those places. I didn't spend too much, but I got all of the things I had on my list, so I am happy.

Ashley is a teenage girl, so she loves malls. Woodfield is huge, she was in shopping heaven. There are several stores there that we don't have back in Madison, so we took advantage and got her several new outfits. We hit up Delia*s, Gilly Hicks, Aerie and got some great deals.

Both of us had our makeup done at Sephora by airbrush. It was really cool and we looked great! The system is way too expensive for us to ever buy, but it was sure fun being spoiled while we were there. :)

2011-02-14T11:19:00.000-08:00

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

The first 190 pages or so were great. I loved the writing and the characters. Then it all fell apart. It has taken me two weeks to get to page 366. I just can't go any further. It's like a chore to read it at night.

Busy bee

2011-02-09T15:02:00.000-08:00

It's already the ninth of February and I haven't even read a whole book. I got through 11 in January, so I'm really behind. I do have (what I consider to be) a good reason.

I'm half way through my accelerated Medical Terminology course. I've been able to organize my schedule so I don't have to do any studying on the weekends, but I do have to put in about two hours every weekday to get the work done. After I finish this class at the end of the month, I will be exactly half way to my degree. I didn't go to college after high school, I had been out on my own since I was 15 and really didn't know how to go about getting into college. I started school on a very part time basis in 1999, when my daughter was two years old. Since then I've managed to get this far. My goal is to graduate college around the same time that my daughter graduates high school. I'm going to have to take at least one course every semester for the next three years to reach this goal.

I know I can do it. I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and gosh darn it, people like me!

Ten things that make me happy

2011-02-04T09:23:00.000-08:00

I took this idea from The Mahars. I liked her list and thought I'd give it a go myself.

1. Yarn. I love a nice soft, colorful skein of yarn.

2. Owls. Owls are cute. I have eight in my office.

3. Doctor Who. I know that no matter how crabby any of us are, if we turn on an episode of Doctor Who, all three of us will stop what we are doing at watch it together. This is especially true
if it's an episode with the tenth Doctor.

4. Books. Books have been making me happy since I started reading in first grade. I had a special relationship with the children's librarian in my hometown and she helped my love of reading grow. It has been years since I have gone a day without reading.

5. Bananas. Bananas are the perfect food. 'nuff said.

6. My husband and my daughter.

7. Cooking. I love cooking for my family.

8. My DVR. I am a shameless television addict. I love not having to know when shows are on and being able to watch what I want, whenever I want.

9. Alaska. When I feel down I just have to think of southeast Alaska. It is my favorite vacation spot and I have so many wonderful memories of spending time there. My husband and I want to live there someday. It is our biggest goal in life. He lived there before we met and has passed his passion for taht area on to me.

10. Getting mail. I'm such a kid when it comes to the mail. I love walking down the driveway to check the mailbox. I love getting packages and letters.

Summertime planning

2011-02-04T08:01:00.000-08:00

My daughter is half way through her first year of high school and I'm already getting anxious about summer plans. If you are a parent, you know that you need to plan for summer activities early. I don't think it's absurd that I am starting to plan in February.

I do however, realize that it may seem a little odd that I am planning for the next three summers. There are three main summer activities that we are planning for. A trip to France, a trip to fine arts camp in Alaska and a month of counseling at a Methodist camp here in Wisconsin. Here's what we are planning on so far.

2011

Ashley will spend the summer in Wisconsin. She'll head to central part of the state for camp counselor training. She has gone to Methodist camp every summer since she was six years old, with the exception of last summer, when she traveled to DC and Alaska and couldn't fit church camp into her schedule. After a week of training, she'll stick around for a few more weeks to help run some camps and try out her new role. I know she'll be great at this. She loves kids and she has loved camp for so many years, it'll be rewarding for her to be in this position. This will be an inexpensive adventure as well. We only pay for her lodging for her one week of training. The rest of the time she stays for free.

2012

The trip to France will be in 2012. That one should be easy enough. I don't have to do any planning, other than budgeting to pay for it. The french club from school will be doing the hard work, so I basically just sign forms and hand over the cash. They will spend a week and a half in smaller towns and will be staying with families. The last few days will be spent in Paris sightseeing.

2013

Ashley will be flying solo up to Sitka, AK for a two week stint an a Fine Arts Camp. She's flown before and has been to the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Seattle/Tacoma airport and the Sitka airports in the past, so it will not be a completely unfamiliar trip. Plus, after traveling internationally in 2012, I think domestic flying will be a breeze. Sitka is a small town, and we have a friend who lives there. That takes away lots of the anxiety for me. Ashley knows the town and it's great that there will be a trusted adult just a few miles away from her if she should need anything.

2011-02-03T09:04:00.000-08:00

Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War by Deb Olin Unferth

I love reading memoirs, but I struggle with reviewing them. It's hard to give a book a good review if you don't like the author, regardless of how well written the book is. I'll try to be fair.

Once I started this book, I wanted to keep on reading it. The style drew me in and the stories about the author's life were well put together. It flowed nicely.
I didn't like Deb at all though. She struck me as a spoiled child. People with attitudes and personalities like hers are the reason that people in other countries dislike Americans so much.

She wanted a "revolution" so she could have an adventure. She gave little to no thought about the people who were living through it for real. At one point she even said that shortly after leaving the orphanage where she had been working she "forgot all about the kids." That was when I really stopped liking her. I wouldn't read anything else that she writes, her writing ability aside, just because I don't want to give her any of my money.

I should mention that I received this book at no cost because I am a LibraryThing early reviewer.

Let it snow!

2011-01-31T10:20:00.000-08:00

The view from my office

I love the snow. I love snow days. I love being inside all warm and cozy. I love to eat oatmeal and drink cocoa in my jammies while watching movies and crocheting.

I can do that on the weekend too, but having a snow day called is like getting a free day that was unexpected. It's like a gift.

It's snowing now, it has been for a few hours. So far it's only a light snow, but it it's starting to accumulate. The forecast says 12-18 inches, with more just south of us. I hope that we get at least 12 inches and the school close for at least one day.

2011-01-30T14:05:00.000-08:00

January Book Summary

I have read 11 books in January. Six have been fiction, five non-fiction.

I have visited South Carolina, Manitoba Canada, Pennsylvania (x2), Washington (x2), Wisconsin, Central America, Virginia, New Hampshire, Nunavut Canada

Reviews and ratings can be found on my LibraryThing page.

Bitter in the Mouth by Monique Truong

The Tricking of Freya by Christina Sunley

Finny by Justin Kramon

Be the Change You want to See in the World by Julie Fisher-McGarry

The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen by Teri Edwards and Serena Thompson

Consumption by Kevin Patterson

Nothing Left to Burn by Jay Varner

A Common Pornography by Kevin Sampsell

The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard

My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War by Deb Olin Unferth

Red Box

2011-01-29T09:21:00.000-08:00

I used Red Box for the first time this week. On Thursday I saw a code online for a free rental and thought, Why the heck not? It was east and fast. I rented "The Town", starring Ben Affleck. I like it, my family didn't.

On Friday I had an email from Red Box. If I reserved a movie online, I would get a coupon code for another free rental. I had to stop by the Red Box anyways to return "The Town", so I reserved "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World". I paid $1.06 and got a code to use next time. That's three rentals for $1.06. Now I just have to resist the temptation to get another movie when I return "Scott Pilgrim".

"Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" was way cool. All three of us were laughing out loud and just having a great time. Highly recommended!

Book Review

2011-01-28T08:06:00.000-08:00

My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

When my daughter was younger, we read "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" together. It was a cute story and for a YA book, was well written. I didn't pick this book up because I liked the author and the "Sisterhood" series. I picked it up because I read the synopsis and it sounded like it could be a good story. It was only after I checked the book out from the library that I realized it was the same author. Even now, after finishing the book, I find myself thinking that it was a good book coming from a YA author, but if I compare it to adult books, it wasn't that great.

The concept is great, a bit like "The Time Travelers Wife", but instead of traveling through time, Daniel is just reborn again and again. He is different from most because he has the memory, meaning he remembers his past lives. He falls in love in the 500's in Asia Minor and spends his lives searching for his soul mate. Even though her body is different with each incarnation, he can "see" her soul.

Unfortunately, a great concept does not mean a great book. I found the characters shallow. I didn't really like them or think that their actions fit with their personalities. Near the end, the book took a turn that just didn't make sense. I think Brashares tried to leave the story open for a sequel, but these characters hardly held this book together. A sequel would not be a good idea.

2011-01-28T07:07:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Friendly Friday!

Remember, YOU can host the link list on your blog too! Just click “Get the code here…” at the bottom of the list. The code is different every week, so be sure to get the new code when hosting Friendly Friday on your blog. Hosting the list is a great way for everyone to get even more traffic to their blog.

Thanks for joining the Friendly Friday celebration hosted by Christi at Frugal Novice, Xenia at Thanks, Mail Carrier and Charla at Healthy Home Blog! We invite you to join us every Friday to make more friends in blogville, get more blog followers and follow other great blogs out there.

To join in the Friendly Friday celebration, include your family-friendly link in our list, follow the hostesses in the first 3 spots and then start blog hopping! Visit other blogs on the list and comment to give them some blog love. Then take a minute to follow them through Google Friend Connect – this is a good way to keep up with other blogs, but also lets us show support to each other! Please DO NOT list your giveaways here, links must be to either your homepage or your Friday posting with your blog title. All others will be deleted.

When people comment on your blog and let you know they’re a part of Friendly Friday, return the favor and follow them back. This way everyone gets traffic and followers out of participating, and it’s a win-win situation. We would love for you to also grab our Friendly Friday button and post it on your blog and/or in a post – the more bloggers that find out about Friendly Friday and participate, the better!
Spotlight on Friendly Friday Followers! We love your participation and want to show it! In addition to gaining followers, each week we’ll select three blogs at random and will feature links and a write-up for those blogs in the content of next week’s Friendly Friday post. There are so many seriously wonderful blogs out there, and this will be a great way to highlight some of those each week. Say hello to the lucky chosen 3 for this week (and feel free to stop by and give them a little extra love):

If you are a SoCal resident, you’ll definitely want to check out Just Another Hat! Filled with thorough details of all kinds of family-friendly events throughout the area, you’ll never be at a loss for where to go and what to do. Plus, for those who aren’t local, you’ll still enjoy deals, activities, blog hops and product reviews that everyone can take advantage of for themselves and their kids!
Brooke at Girl Boy Girl Inspired is a stay at home mom who somehow finds the time to run an adorable hair bow and accessories business on Etsy, Bella Boo’s Bowtique, while taking care of her three children and four-legged family members. Her blog is bright, colorful, upbeat and filled with all sorts of great crafts, personal posts and photographs that will definitely make you smile.
If you’ve ever wondered what a busy Canadian life with beautiful twin boys would be like, look no further than Double Tha Love. Kaylah writes about how hectic and challenging things can get but how she wouldn’t change it for the world – and one look at those gorgeous little faces and it’s not hard to see why! Visit her new blog to find out about this busy mommy’s daily musings and then visit her Etsy shop to see her crafty side as well!

Now that you know about these 3 wonderful blogs, it’s time for you to join in! Add your family-friendly link below and we’ll see you back here every Friday! And don’t forget, you can grab the code to share the link list on your blog too. All three hostesses appreciate followers through GFC and Twitter, and we’ll follow you back – just leave a comment with your URL for GFC. I haven’t been able to follow everyone back because of not having the URL. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

I wish my daughter had stayed toddler size

2011-01-27T12:07:00.000-08:00

And that all of the parenting issues we would have would have stayed toddler sized. I can handle whining, tons of questions and toys all over the place. I welcome those issues. Do you have a toddler? Want to trade for my teenager?

Christopher and I try so hard to have an open and honest relationship with Ashley. We talk to her, we ask her opinions, we listen to her and her ideas and we try to always really think about her requests before we just say no. She is in high school, and we have been giving her more freedoms and responsibilities. We have been letting her do more with friends and stay out later.

We have even been open to her dating. We laid out some ground rules before she even had a boyfriend so that limits would be clear. Breaking any of these rules will result, at the minimum, in grounding and loss of cell phone. She is on her second boyfriend now. They have been dating for a little more than a month. Here are our rules:

No riding in cars with boys.
No going to a boy's house if parents aren't home.
No boys at our house if we aren't home.
No going to your bedroom with a boy unless you have specific permission and then the door stays wide open.
No one on one dates yet. Group dates and even double dates are probably okay.
We need to meet the boy and at least one parent before you can go to his house.
You need to keep your grades up and stay involved with school activities.
You need to continue to spend time with your friends, not just with the boy.

We thought these were reasonable, enforceable and understandable rules. I guess not.

This morning, Ashley lied about being on her phone really late at night so she was going to lose her phone for the day. Before she handed her phone over she tried to quickly delete some messages. I stopped her and told her to give the phone to me right away. A few minutes later she came to me upset and wanted to talk. She told me that if I checked her texts, I would see a message from the boy asking if she needs a ride to school. She assured me that he always asks her this and she always says no. I knew she was lying. I looked her in the eyes and told her now was her one and only chance to come clean or punishment would be ten fold. She started to cry and admitted that she had been taking rides to school with him in the mornings after we leave for work. We have paid for a bus pass and she has told us that she takes the bus every morning.

Of all the rules to break, that is the most serious one. We talked to her about the reasons. It's not that we don't think the boy (or any kid) is necessarily a bad driver, but we don't want her to ever be in a place that she can't get out of. She doesn't know how to drive herself, so she wouldn't be able to get herself to safety if she was riding somewhere with another kid. On top of that is the safety issue, but bigger than them all is the lying.

So many times we have given her extra privileges or opportunities and have always told her that we trust her. That we will continue to trust her until we have a reason not to. Well, we have that reason now. I'm more than mad. I'm hurt, betrayed, disappointed and sad too.

I know that teenagers screw up. I knew that she would sometime too. I just didn't know it would feel this way when she did. I don't blame the boy entirely, although he was clear on what the rules were as well, so I am upset with him for breaking our trust too.

So, she loses her phone for the semester. She doesn't get to go to the Sadie Hawkins Dance at school. We will give her rides in every morning and she will not be allowed to see him outside of school for at least a month. We have been lax about her attendance at youth group, but we are going to again start requiring her to go.

She will need to build that trust back up. I don't know how she will do it. I don't know how I will be able to give her trust again. I don't know how we, as a family, will get through this. I only know that we will. We have to.

He is lucky I love him so much

2011-01-26T07:01:00.000-08:00

This morning, from the shower, my husband asked me to get the pimple cream out for him. I finished brushing my teeth and promptly forgot his request. A few minutes later when he walked downstairs with some cream on his nose we had the following conversation.

Me - "You are going to need to rub that cream in, it's really noticeable. Sorry that I forgot to get it out out for you."

Him - "If you didn't get it out, then what did I put on my nose?"

Me - "The only thing on the sink was a little tube of Aveda hair cream. I assumed you got the Clearasil out of the drawer."

Him - "Nope."

Me - "I thought you would have learned to look at labels after you tried to brush your teeth with hydrocortizone cream."

Him - "Nope."

The hydrocortizone incident happened when we were traveling. He asked me for the travel size toothpaste and told me he had a hive that was itchy. I gave him the itch cream and started to dig for the toothpaste. I had just gotten the toothpaste out and opened the bathroom door to give it to him. He was rinsing his mouth and spitting. "What did I just put in my mouth?" he asked. "Oh for Pete's sake, you need to read labels!" I said while laughing at him.

You know, if I had the inclination, I could do some real damage.

Menu Plan Monday

2011-01-24T05:54:00.000-08:00

We are going to start with last nights dinner, because it was yummy and I want to share it.

Sunday - BBQ Ribs on buns with sweet potato fries

Monday - Tuna melts and salad

Tuesday - cheesy vegetable soup

Wednesday - Pork roast with baked potatoes and carrots

Thursday - Shredded pork sandwiches with chips

Friday - Beer battered fish and waffle fries

What a Sunday

2011-01-24T05:51:00.000-08:00

My plan was to have a quite Sunday at home. Ashley had spent the night at a friends and was going to be spending the day there.
Christopher and I went out to breakfast together, to a little local place called Dairyland. We were the youngest people in the place by about 30 years, but the service was fast and our 70 year old waitress called us "kids". The food was okay, it won't make our short list of good breakfast places, but I'm glad we tried it.
One of our guineas pigs, Callie, had gotten sick on Saturday. I spent a couple of hours holding her and force feeding her water and a mixture of crushed pellet food and water. She is still lethargic and I'm not sure she will pull through. Small animals don't have long life spans to begin with and once they get sick, there is seldom anything that can be done for them. I am very allergic to guinea pigs, so even though I had her wrapped in a towel, I had hives and itchy eyes and throat and a runny nose.

I picked Ashley up from her friends house around 5:30, after the playoff game (Go Packers!) and took her to her cleaning job. We got home, had dinner, Ashley scrubbed out the piggy cage to get rid of any lingering germs and we were settled in for the night. Or so we thought. One of my former Girl Scouts called around 9:00pm. Her mom was busted with drugs (again) and they needed a place to stay. There is no way I am letting a drug addict into my home, but there is also no way I am going to let a 14 year old girl stress about where she is going to sleep. So C came over and spent the night. Her mom found a friend to stay with and C will be going to stay there tonight and for as long as she can.

I asked all the responsible questions and told C that she needed a long term plan, not just an emergency plan. She is terrified of social services because her younger brother was already taken from the home and adopted out. She loves her mom and wants to stay with her. When the mom isn't high, she functions and does an okay job. C gets good grades and is involved in sports and other school activities. She always has clean clothes and is clean herself. I don't know that I need to involve the authorities at this point. The kid only needed a place to stay for one night and her mom is planning on picking her up from school today and getting their things and moving them into her friend's house.

C knows that our home is always open to her when she needs a place to stay. Ashley has had friends in the past who needed places to stay, eat, shower or hang out and our door has always been open. We don't have much room, but there is always enough room for a friend in need.
My husband was already up in bed when I had the talk with C about her long term plan. When I went up to bed he said that he was too tired to hear all the details, his only question was if we would be "adopting" C long term. There was no judgment or negativity in his question, he just wanted to know if she's be here for a long time. I love that man. I also love that our daughter knows that her home is safe and always open for friends.

Book Review

2011-01-20T11:56:00.000-08:00

The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard

This was a pleasure to read. It was smooth. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone but me, but smooth is the best word I can come up with.
The words just flowed together. The relationships were described so naturally and every situation, feeling, and event just fit. Beautiful style.

I don't know if it matters that I guessed the ending about a quarter of the way through the book. It didn't matter to me, this isn't a mystery novel. Even though I was quite sure of the ending, the journey to get there was great.

Ten things you probably don't know about me

2011-01-20T11:48:00.000-08:00

Or maybe you do.

1. I have 24 first cousins.
2. I have a $400 painting on loan from an artist hanging in my office.
3. I grew up in a house with a pool table, but I still can't make a shot to save my life.
4. I am allergic to Sulfites and therefore cannot drink most alcoholic beverages. Vodka agrees with me though.
5. I was not allowed to watch or read any science fiction when I was a kid. My mom thought it was "weird". That is probably why I am such a Sci-Fi geek as an adult. (and proud of it!)
6. I compulsively make lists. I make lists of everything, including future lists to write.
7. I wish I had gone to college after high school instead of waiting so many years.
8. I have two huge plants that were started from clippings of plants that were at my grandparent's funerals 23 years ago.
9. I strictly adhere to the rule that the numbers one through ten should always be written out, it is only okay to use actual number when for 11 and higher.
10. I never had my hair cut any more than just a trim until I was 21 years old.

Husbands

2011-01-18T11:03:00.000-08:00

I am pretty sure I hit the husband jackpot.

Here we are at Brat Fest. We are so happy because we just finished checking out the Weinermobile and eating half of our weight in Brats. :)

I always think my man is the smartest, best looking man in the room. (Yes, even when he's not the only man in the room.) He is kind and patient. He talks to me about the important stuff, our relationship and our parenting. He does household chores and pampers me when I'm sick. He makes me coffee every morning. He tells me that he loves me at the end of every telephone conversation. He knows my secrets and doesn't judge me. He knows my tastes in music, books, movies, games, foods and fashion. He knows these things because he pays attention.

He does all of the above for our daughter too. She's 14 and a high school freshman. He talks bluntly with her, even about the hard things. He knows her friends and her interests. He reaches out and sets aside time to spend with her, sometimes for all three of us and sometimes just for the two of them. He compliments her and encourages her. He's as great of a father as he is a husband.

Even with all these great qualities, he isn't perfect. He can be stubborn and messy. He procrastinates and isn't always very motivated. It took him almost 10 years to remember our phone number and he is out of touch with how much things cost. The thing is though, I love all of those things too. His faults endear him to me just as much as his attributes.

We don't fight. Really, we don't. We don't always agree, and we aren't always happy with each other, but we don't yell or argue. We don't bicker. We may banter though. And it's more than just semantics, there are differences between bickering and bantering. Bickering tends to have hurtful little jabs, banter is playful and respectful.

The best thing about our relationship is that we have grown together. We are so different than we were when we met, but we have evolved together and supported each other through every change.

Review - A Common Pornography by Kevin Sampsell

2011-01-16T18:59:00.000-08:00

A Common Pornography by Kevin Sampsell

At the beginning of the book, the author states that the first cable stayed bridge in the United States is in his hometown of Kennewick, WA and opened for traffic in 1978. I guess no one bothered to fact check, that is actually the second cable stayed bridge. The first is in Sitka, AK and was opened in 1972. Not a big deal, I know, but I'm a stickler for details.

Fact checking aside, I could relate to the author. We had a lot in common. We both had drop ceilings in our bedrooms, we both hid our contraband up there. We both had older siblings that we didn't really know. We were both tucked in at night with warnings of bed bugs. I had to smile when he talked about those plastic bird whistles. I loved those. I also have fond memories of holding my cassette recorder against the radio and television speakers. I loved mixing my own music too.

The book was presented in small sections, some just a paragraph long, some a few pages, most somewhere in between. It didn't read like a memoir though. It felt like I had gotten a hold of Kevin's diary. That made it fun and quick to read. I appreciated that the author didn't spend too much time writing about or glorifying the worst things in his life. He just told his story.

2011-01-16T17:53:00.000-08:00

Monday - Cheesy vegetable and ham soup with my husband's homemade bread.

Tuesday - I have a dentist appointment after work and need something fast and easy tonight. We'll have tuna melts and breaded green beans. We'll use my husbands delicious homemade buns.

Wednesday - Hash brown crock pot dish. Hash browns, veggies and ground bison with cheese.

Thursday - Chili Cheese Turkey Dog Casserole.

Friday - Fish and chips with salad.

Saturday - White Chili

Feelin' frugal and the Golden Globes

2011-01-16T17:46:00.000-08:00

I'm certainly not like the folks featured on TLC's "Extreme Couponing", but I think I did pretty well this week. I saved $106.92, which works out to be 35% of the total amount we spent.
It would have been better, but I bought a lot of meat at the grocery store and a $10 binder for Ashley for school. I'm still quite proud.

Okay, now onto the Golden Globes. I don't think I have seen an Awards show produced this poorly EVER! The camera work is shoddy, or maybe it's just that the director isn't cutting to the right cameras. There have been several shots of the backs of peoples heads. The sound editing is awful too, you can hear glasses clinking during the the speeches. The award winners don't seem to know where they are supposed to go either. It's very disappointing. Even the pre-show seemed chaotic. Not that I could do any of it better, but still.

I love you Alice B. Toklas, and so does Gertrude Stein

2011-01-15T12:25:00.000-08:00

It's 2pm on Saturday, what are you doing? I'm watching "I love you, Alice B. Toklas", a favorite Peter Sellers movie. After this, I am going to put a roast in the over, then watch "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". That's right, it's 60's movie afternoon.

This morning Ashley and I ran errands. We ended up saving $18 at Target with coupons. Yay! Then we returned a few Christmas items at Shopko and Barnes and Noble and went to Pier 1 to get candles* and use my $10 off coupon.

*I only burn Patchouli candles in my house, other scents give me headaches. The only incense I burn is Nag Champa. My house smells like a mixture of the two scents. To me, that's what home smells like.

Separation anxiety

2011-01-14T11:06:00.000-08:00

A relative of a friend is going through a rough time. Her husband left her after 14 years together. I really mean left her, he had already rented an apartment and told her on New Year's Eve that he was taking his stuff and going the next day. And he did. Just like that. Not another word about it. He didn't talk to her again and stopped listening. He packed some essentials and was gone in the morning before the kids woke up.
They have spoken since, but only about their two daughters. If she tries to say anything else he walks out or hangs up. It's like he flipped a switch and that was it for him. She says it was unexpected, that they were trying to get pregnant and she was happy. She thought he was happy. She is a stay at home mom and has been out of the workforce for eight years. She will now have to find a job, a daycare for the youngest, an after school program for the oldest and may not be able to stay in the house. She feels like she's sinking fast. Right now, there is nothing that anyone can say to her that will help. She will come out of this on the other side and find happiness again, but she can't hear that right now. She is blaming herself and wondering what she did or didn't do to deserve this.

It's sad, and even though I don't know her well, I feel just terrible that she and the kids are going through this. I have to wonder though, was it really that sudden? Is it ever that sudden? Were there signs that she missed? Was she too caught up in the kids and her own interests to really pay attention to her husband and what was going on with him? We all get caught up in our own worlds at times.

I can't believe that his decision to leave was just out of the blue, that it ever happens that suddenly, that someone can just fall out of love without talking about it, that it could be so easy to miss the signs of your partner's unhappiness. If any of this could happen, then it could conceivably happen to me. To you. To any of us.

I am in a strong, happy, healthy marriage. I love my husband and he loves me. We complement each other in so many ways and I cannot imagine my life without him by my side every day. I know that if you asked him, he would say the same thing about me. But this woman whose husband just left, she would have said the same thing three weeks ago.

Remember to nurture your relationships, make sure that the people that you love are happy. As cliche as it sounds, the analogy works. Even the healthiest blooms need sunlight and water to stay strong.

My first try at Friendly Friday.

2011-01-14T08:31:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Friendly Friday!

Remember, YOU can host the link list on your blog too! Just click “Get the code here…” at the bottom of the list. The code is different every week, so be sure to get the new code when hosting Friendly Friday on your blog. Hosting the list is a great way for everyone to get even more traffic to their blog.

Thanks for joining the Friendly Friday celebration hosted by Christi at Frugal Novice, Xenia at Thanks, Mail Carrier and Charla at Healthy Home Blog! We invite you to join us every Friday to make more friends in blogville, get more blog followers and follow other great blogs out there.
To join in the Friendly Friday celebration, include your family-friendly link in our list, follow the hostesses in the first 3 spots and then start blog hopping! Visit other blogs on the list and comment to give them some blog love. Then take a minute to follow them through Google Friend Connect – this is a good way to keep up with other blogs, but also lets us show support to each other! Please DO NOT list your giveaways here, links must be to either your homepage or your Friday posting with your blog title. All others will be deleted.
When people comment on your blog and let you know they’re a part of Friendly Friday, return the favor and follow them back. This way everyone gets traffic and followers out of participating, and it’s a win-win situation. We would love for you to also grab our Friendly Friday button and post it on your blog and/or in a post – the more bloggers that find out about Friendly Friday and participate, the better!
Spotlight on Friendly Friday Followers! We love your participation and want to show it! In addition to gaining followers, each week we’ll select three blogs at random and will feature links and a write-up for those blogs in the content of next week’s Friendly Friday post. There are so many seriously wonderful blogs out there, and this will be a great way to highlight some of those each week. Say hello to the lucky chosen 3 for this week (and feel free to stop by and give them a little extra love):
Natalie, a brunette, shares about her life and her “blonde moments” on her blog Blonde at Heart. Her writing is so fun to read! You’ll find posts about her husband and her nephews (and shopping – who doesn’t like reading about that?). She recently turned 29, so stop by and wish her a belated birthday!
.

Jen @ My Secret Home is a 23 year old stay-at-home-mom of 1 little guy, who is the love of her life! She loves trying out new products, going to restaurants, going for walks, traveling & shopping. She is a *green* mommy and through her blog hope to provides families with eco-friendly product suggestions. You’ll find a lot of great giveaways on this blog!

At Mom to 2 Posh Little Divas you can read all about the blogger’s two sweet daughters. She shares funny stories about the things they say, provides activity ideas that you can try with your own children, and really lets you feel like you’re a part of her adorable family!
Now that you know about these 3 wonderful blogs, it’s time for you to join in! Add your family-friendly link below and we’ll see you back here every Friday! And don’t forget, you can grab the code to share the link list on your blog too.
All three hostesses appreciate followers through GFC and Twitter, and we’ll follow you back – just leave a comment with your URL for GFC.

Book Review

2011-01-14T08:19:00.000-08:00

Nothing Left to Burn buy Jay Varner

It's hard for me to rate a memoir. Am I rating based on the author's writing, how exciting their life is or how much I like them?
I like Jay Varner. He seems like a good guy. His life isn't extraordinary. Yes, his grandfather was a pyromaniac and his father a firefighter. His father died when he was young. That's not enough to base a book on. The saving grace here is that Jay is a good storyteller. The ordinary childhood that he had was easy to relate to. Grew up in a small town, dad gone a lot for work, parent gets sick.
The best part of this book? It stirred up my own childhood memories and provided me with a nice trip down memory lane.

2011-01-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

When I was a teenager my bedroom was in the basement. It had those drop ceilings, the kind with metal frames and tiles that could be pushed up. I used to hide things us there; love letters, cigarettes and joints. Before I left home, I had gotten all of the love letters with their risque content and disposed of them. I thought I had cleared out everything else too.
Then, several years later, my parents changed cable companies. *insert ominous dun dun dun here* The cable guy found a pack of cigarettes and gave them to my dad. Dad opened the pack. He did not find tobacco cigarettes. Yes, that's right, big thick, hand rolled joints. They called my older brother first. He was the troublemaker and had that bedroom before I did. My brother asked about the brand of cigarettes, the box was Marlboro lights. Nope, not his. If they were in a Camel box he would have taken the blame. Dad called me. I sheepishly admitted that yes, the joints were mine. Dad laughed. Thank the gods 15 years had passed, or he would not have been laughing. He ended our call by saying, "Well, you're not getting 'em back." and a chuckle.

feelin' gloomy

2011-01-12T19:05:00.000-08:00

mel·an·chol·y/ˈmelənˌkälē/- Adjective: Sad, gloomy, or depressed.

I have been on my back for four days now. I'm bored. B-O-R-E-D. I have read and tried to do homework, but after a few minutes of holding up the book, my shoulder starts to ache. So, I have turned to the TV. I figured that if I am going to watch this much tv, I should watch something good. I've been streaming old Masterpiece episodes. The acting is superb, but the stories are always a bit, well... bleak.

My mind has been wandering, but the central theme seems to be loss. People I've lost and things, places, pets and items. You know me, when my mind starts gets all atwitter, I must make a list. In this case, a sad list, a list of things I miss.

Charlie and Mimzy, our chinchillas.
my old beat up comfy couch
the books we sold. We got rid of about 600 books in an effort to de-clutter, still not sure it was the right thing to do
the days when Ashley was little
Alaska
a few of my old friendships
my station wagon. I loved that car
fresh air, it gets so stale in the winter when all the windows are shut
my grandparents
spontaneity

Star Wars and Spartans, a few of my favorite things

2011-01-12T06:58:00.000-08:00

Does anything cooler exist? I think not.

Home again with the sore back. I can't be online too long because typing moves my shoulder just enough that it hurts. I think I'll spend today studying, reading, drinking orange juice* and eating oatmeal. I'll also be watching Bleak House (2005) because every girl needs a little Dickens now and again.

* Interesting side note - The color orange was named after the fruit, not the other way around. via

I resolve to cook more

2011-01-11T14:00:00.000-08:00

I used to cook every night. Even when there were PTA meetings, Girl Scout meetings and errands to run. I somehow always found the time. In the last year or so I have gotten lazy. I've been busy with school and work, but really not any busier than I have been in the past. I just got lazy. My husband would offer to throw a frozen pizza on the pizzaz, Ashley would say that she just wanted a sandwich or soup and I would just give in/up.

Well, in 2011 I say NO MORE! I am going to cook 5 nights a week. I think that is realistic for me. I'm going to try to get back on the menu planning bandwagon to help me out. So far I've done great and my family loves it too.

Ashley is in her high school musical, Suessical, and has practice almost every night until 6:30. I've been trying to use the crock pot more so that whenever she gets home, dinner is hot and ready. I've also tried to have salad fixin's on hand so if I flake out on cooking, we won't just throw a pizza on.

Cooking at home will save us money, keep us happy and healthy.

Menu Plan Monday

2011-01-11T08:21:00.000-08:00

Monday- Mac and cheese with kielbasa and breaded green beans. (not very healthy, I know, but I wanted comfort food!)

Tuesday - Chicken breasts with rice and veggies in a spicy cheese sauce. This is a crockpot meal.

Wednesday - Taco salad using leftover chicken from last night.

Thursday - Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti and peas

Friday - Leftovers

My week in review

2011-01-09T15:17:00.000-08:00

I hurt my back yesterday, pretty badly actually. I've been on the couch, floor or bed pretty much constantly for the last 36 hours.

I made some delicious dinners this week, which you can read all about a few posts down. I started crocheting a new blanket for Ashley, I had hoped to get more done on it this weekend, but I can hardly move my arms, so that didn't happen. I'll probably post a picture of it next week.
I went to the dentist and had the work started on a crown. It is my first crown. I go back in another week to have the permanent one put in. The temporary tooth has only fallen out once, I'm a little paranoid that it will fall out when I am sleeping and I'll choke on it.
My family has been wonderful while I have been laid out on my back. Christopher did the dishes, did laundry and attended to my every need. Ashley helped out by doing some housework and fetching things for me.

Book Review #3 of 2011

2011-01-09T14:47:00.000-08:00

Finny by Justin Kramon

There was so much hype about how great this book was. Well, it was okay, not great. While the characters were interesting, the writing was immature. One of the first signs of this was the way the names of the characters reflected their behavior. It just seemed too juvenile for an adult novel. The ending was abrupt and too happy, it didn't fit with who the characters had become.
This story could have been better if the author had more experience. I will not be rushing out to pick up his next book.

Menu Plan Monday?

2011-01-07T09:56:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Friday, not Monday, but I wanted to post this last week's meals. Better late than never?

Monday - A big salad with romaine and green leaf lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers and carrots.

Tuesday - Savory Sweet Potato Soup (pictured to the left)
This recipe came from the Farm Chicks in the Kitchen. Delicious! The whole family enjoyed this soup. I will definitely be making it again.

Wednesday - I meant to make a taco casserole, but didn't have all of the ingredients. We ended up with a frozen pizza and salad.

Thursday - Taco casserole. This is a layered dish. From the bottom up; crescent roll dough, taco meat, sour cream, cheese, crushed tortilla chips. Ashley and I loved it, but Christopher hated it. There was too much sour cream for his taste. I'll make it again, only putting sour cream on half.

Friday - Ashley is eating dinner at her boyfriend's house. Christopher and I will finish up the leftover Savory Sweet Potato Soup with Salad.

Be the change you want to see in the world

2011-01-07T08:48:00.000-08:00

That is the title of a book I got a few years ago. It was set up to be read daily, with little things to do or think about each day in order to live a better/healthier/more satisfying/environmentally conscious/happier/simple life.

Commitment and me, well, we don't fit together very well. I read to the entries daily for about a week, then gave up. The book has been on a shelf since. I rediscovered it in December when I was going through an organizing kick and set it aside. I started reading it daily, right before bed. I've done it every day. Yes, I do realize that it is only 1/7/11, so I have only stuck with this for a week so far, but I do have a good feeling about it.

I guess you could say that it was a New Year's resolution. I resolved to read from that book daily. I made a few other resolutions as well. Yes, they fell in line with the turning of the calendar page, but it wasn't intentional. I've been reflecting on my life as I live it and have come up with a few things I would like to try to do (or not do). I'll share these resolutions one at a time. Here's the first of many.

Continue to create

In 2010 I picked up a crochet hook again. I had crocheted before was was limited to only two stitches. I'd stare at patterns and I just couldn't understand the abbreviations and diagrams. Imagine my surprise when I opened a pattern book and it all made sense. I made gifts for all of the women in my family. I made blankets, scarves, coasters, shawls, a purse, coffee cozies, some dolls and a basket. I'm hooked.

In the past I have made cards, bookmarks, jewelry, pottery, cross stitch, candles and soap. I've never stuck with any one craft long, but that's okay. I know that I feel better when I create. I love to look at or use something that I have made. So maybe I will give up on crocheting this year, maybe I won't. But if I do, I resolve to find a new craft.

I have been using this great website, Ravelry.com to keep track of my yarns, hooks and projects. If you knit or crochet, you'll love it. My user name is sjurban and you can see my profile, with photos of recent creations, here.

Book Review #2 - 2011

2011-01-03T09:08:00.000-08:00

The Tricking of Freya

The first 20 or so pages of this book didn't grab me at all. In fact, I almost didn't pick it back up. Boy, I am glad I did! I read the rest of the book in one day.
I felt like I was in Iceland. I could envision the landscapes and the people. That's quite a feat, as I know next to nothing about Iceland. The author threw in bits about the Icelandic language that were just fascinating. My husband loves Norse Mythology (he even has an Odin inspired tattoo), so I appreciated the mythology that was touched on as well.
The author described the ups and downs of mental illness to a tee. Her writing overall is beautiful and lyrical. I can't wait to see what Christina Sunley does next!

My week in review

2011-01-02T18:50:00.000-08:00

This week was pretty low key. Christopher and Ashley both had the week off. They played video games and ate junk food while I was at work. They both deserved a break. Christopher has been stressed out with his new position at work and Ashley has been working hard at school and begins rehearsals for "Seussical" tomorrow.

Aside from working, cooking and reading I didn't do much. I bought some cut flowers for New Year's, which is so unlike me. I already feel guilty for supporting the flower industry, but there are NO fresh, local flowers in Wisconsin in December/January and I couldn't resist.

I did go a little jerky crazy this week. I made seven pounds of beef and turkey jerky. What can I say, I was on a roll. It is delicious and it may take us forever to eat it all. Want some?

New Year's Eve was quiet. It was just Christopher, me, Ashley and her BFF Jackie. Christopher, Ashley and Jackie played a lot of "Halo Reach" and I caught up on some of the blogs I like to read but have been neglecting. We ordered in Taco pizza and all four of us were in bed shortly after midnight. On New Year's Day, Ashley went to a party at a friends house for a few hours. Not a terribly exciting week, but a nice one.

One more reading challenge for 2011

2011-01-02T16:13:00.000-08:00

This one should be easy enough for me. Of the 77 book I read in 2010, 61 of them (79%) came from the library. I love the library. I'm typically there 2-3 times each week. The local branch that I go to is on the way home from work, so it's never out of the way.
When Ashley was little we went to this branch several times a week. We went for story time, crafts, programs and just to check out books. Then, when Ashley was in the later grades of elementary school and in middle school, we didn't go as much. She used her school library and I was happy to buy books rather than rent them. I'm glad that I rediscovered our local library branch and I plan to continue frequenting it.

You can check out the details and sign up here, at Home Girl's Book Blog.

There are four levels:
--The Mini – Check out and read 25 library books.
--Just My Size – Check out and read 50 library books.
--Stepping It Up – Check out and read 75 library books.
--Super Size Me – Check out and read 100 library books.

My goal is for 50% of the books that I read to come from the library. I know that is less than what I did in 2010, but I also want to read books that I have already purchased so I can sell them and declutter my bedroom! :)

Book Review #1 of 2011

2011-01-01T17:55:00.000-08:00

Bitter in the Mouth

The main character, Linda, suffers (?) from the rare lexical → gustatory synesthesia, where individual words evoke taste sensations in the mouth. This condition is fascinating and the author describes it well. The dialogues in this book took a bit of getting used to because the author named the tastes that Linda experienced when she spoke or was spoken to.
I liked Linda, I thought I knew her as a character. Then about 150 pages in that the author reveals a piece of information about Linda that turns out to be vital to who she is. It was amazing and made me go back in my mind through the first half of the book to make sure that all the pieces fit. They did. I love it when that happens

2011 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge

2010-12-31T21:54:00.000-08:00

Another reading challenge. I do this challenge on my own every year anyways, so why not make it official, right?
The challenge is simple, just read more books in 2011 that I did in 2010.

Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
hosted by The Book Vixen

Details:

Runs January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011 (books read prior to 1/1/11 do not count towards the challenge). You can join at anytime. You can sign up on The Book Vixen’s blog.
The goal is to outdo yourself by reading more books in 2011 than you did in 2010. See the different levels below and pick the one that works best for you. Nothing is set in stone; you can change levels at any time during the challenge.
Books can be any format (bound, eBook, audio).
Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are fine.
You can list your books in advance or list them as you read them. It is not required that you review the books you read for this challenge but feel free to do so.
Post this reading challenge on your blog so you can keep a list of the books you’ve read for this challenge. Please include a link back to this post so readers can join the challenge too.
You do not have to be a book blogger to participate. You can keep tabs on books you’ve read for this challenge on Goodreads or LibraryThing if you’d like (maybe make a shelf for “Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge”). If you are not on either of those sites then you can list the books you read for this challenge in the comments on my wrap-up post, which will be up at the end of 2011.

2011 Where Are You Reading Challenge.

2010-12-31T20:03:00.000-08:00

I just found out about Book Journey‘s Where Are You Reading challenge. The goal for this challenge is to plot the main setting of the books you read on a Google Map you create and maintain.
There are prizes involved, but I'm just drawn in because I love books AND maps. I wish I had thought of this myself. If I keep this challenge in mind, it will have a real influence on which books I chose to read. (I suppose that is the idea, after all.)

I’ve made my map. There is a link to to it on my side bar if you’d like to check up on me. I'd really love it though if you would do this too.

2010 movies

2010-12-31T15:07:00.000-08:00

I watched more movies this year than I have in years past. I think it's because I did so much crocheting. I can't crochet without doing something else at the same time, so I watched a lot of movies. 122 to be exact. I'll just list the titles here that I rated at 4 or 5 stars. Enjoy!

(500) Days of Summer

Despicable Me

District 9

Pan's Labyrinth

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Zombieland

A Fish Called Wanda

Alice in Wonderland

An Education

Blood the Last Vampire

Con Air

Funny Games

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus

How to Train Your Dragon

Inception

Jennifer's Body

Kick Ass

King of California

Metropia

Ponyo

Shutter Island

The Brothers Bloom

The Exorcist 3

The Fall

The Hangover

The Lovely Bones

The Men Who Stare at Goats

The Night They Raided Minsky's

The Perfect Getaway

The Professional

The Reader

This Could Get Loud

Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies

Up in the Air

Valhalla Rising

Whip It

My year of reading - 2010

2010-12-30T11:04:00.000-08:00

I love to read, I love to make lists. I love to collect data. I love spreadsheets and charts.

I love the end of the year because I can take all of my lists and create great spreadsheets and have my entire life documented in charts. Yes, it's a little odd, but it's the way I work.

Here is a brief look at my year of reading.

77 books

Of these books, 61 (79%) came from the public Library and I owned the other 16 (21%).
20 books (26%) were non fiction selections. 57 books (74%) were fictional.
Of the 77 Books, only two (.025%) were abandoned before I finished them.

*In years past, I have owned the vast majority of the books that I read. I had a bit of a book buying addiction. I am pleased with these numbers because my goal was to stop buying books and to use the library. I have saved money and gotten to know the library staff quite well over these last 12 months. Borrowing books makes me feel warm and fuzzy. It makes me feel like a part of a community, a smart shopper, environmentally conscious and supportive of our public services.

23,495 pages

This translates to 64 pages a day, which is two and a half pages each hour, every day of the year.

72 hours and 24 minutes

This was the amount of time that I spent listening to books in the car. I only listened to five audiobooks this year. (6.5%)

Nook Books

I took the plunge and bought a nook this Spring. Only nine of the books that I read this year were on the Nook. (11%). Of these, four were checked out from the library and five were ebooks that I purchased. I hope to see this number rising as the years pass and the library offers more ebooks.

The battle of the sexes

I tend to read more books written by females than by males. This year I wanted to try to even that out. I did quite well. 35 books (45%) were written by male authors and 42 books (55%) were written by women.

By the month

Here is one of the many charts I made this year.

Best of the Year

Room by Emma Donoghue
This book was haunting and will stick with my for a long time.

One Day by David Nicholls
I cannot remember the last time I had such an emotional reaction to a book.

The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall
I'm intrigued by polygamy, I enjoyed reading about it from the husband's point of view.

Into the Forest by Jean Hegland

When Society begins to crumble around them, these two teenage sisters try to survive in their own.

The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum
This is the only non fiction book to make it on my list. It is fascinating.

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin
Lewis Carroll was an odd man. This story is told by the girl who inspired his Alice books.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
A must read about slaves in the south in the 1960's. This author has a great voice. I hope to see more from her.

Honorable Mention

A Visit From the Goon Squad By Jennifer Egan
It's not a novel, nor is it a book of short stories. This book defies categorization. It should be read for that reason alone.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson
These books were fast paced and exciting. I'm not typically a fan of mysteries, but this series drew me in and kept my interest all the way through.

For a complete listing of the books I have read since 2001, visit my Library Thing profile.

My wonderful week

2010-12-27T08:51:00.000-08:00

There were so many wonderful things this week that I'm struggling to decide what to write.

We celebrated Christmas in my husband's childhood home. It's a beautiful old home.

My mother in law does a bang up job decorating for the holidays. She thinks of every detail, right down to Chestnut scented soap and real pine boughs around the house. We all have embroidered stockings hanging on the railing.

The pictures/art on the walls even change with the seasons. This Santa face is my favorite. The books that are scattered around the house are Christmas themed too. There are lights everywhere. The outdoor lights emit a light glow through the snow. It's lovely to look at.

My mother in law bakes and cooks and basically spoils us rotten for the few days we are there.

Christmas Eve was spent at the house with just the 11 of us in the immediate family. This is a change from years past when the whole crew from the Cities would come down. We missed seeing all of the cousins and Aunts and Uncles. They will gather for New Year's Eve, but we won't be making the trip.

Christmas morning we opened gifts. We had asked for either consumables or items that we could put to use. I am happy to report that every single gift that we received we can use up or, in the case of my new food strainer, use for years to come. Receiving gifts that serve a purpose make me happy, the holiday seems a bit less superficial and materialistic.

Christmas afternoon we headed over to Grandpa's to celebrate with the extended family. This year we had 32 attending. Only two people were missing. The house was packed full and it was wonderful to chat the afternoon away.


Great Grandpa and almost all of the great grandchildren

Book Review

2010-12-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

I read the synopsis of this book a few times. Each time I decided to put the book back on the shelf and move on. But I kept seeing it pop up again and again. I finally decided to give it a shot, if for no other reason than to make it go away so I could focus on other books that I actually wanted to read.

I'm glad I finally picked it up. It is not really a novel. Each chapter is written differently, one is even a Power Point presentation. The chapters are connected by threads; either characters, places or times.

It is something different, which is (almost) always good. The writing pulled me in and I found the characters well developed and interesting. The author did a nice job of connecting the stories. You know how every now and then you will find out that you know someone who knows someone who also knows your sister? The sort of thing that makes you think, "What a small world?". Well, this whole book is like that. (I even made a chart as I was reading it to keep track of all those connections.)

The only complaint I have is the last chapter. It just plain wasn't good. It could have been left out completely and I would have been happier with the book.

Book Review

2010-12-21T08:40:00.000-08:00

One Day by David Nicholls

Wow. What a book.
I picked this one up because I liked the idea of checking in with the two main characters, Dexter and Emma, on the same day each year. The book follows the two of them for 20 years. They just live their lives. Sometimes they are in touch, sometimes not, but they have this undeniable connection. To say anymore about it just wouldn't be right.
I will say though, that I cannot remember the last time I had such an emotional reaction to a book. Read it.

Tee hee hee

2010-12-20T05:49:00.000-08:00

This comic made all three of us laugh. Love it!

This week

2010-12-19T15:40:00.000-08:00

This week I discovered Library Thing. I cannot believe it has taken me so many years to find out about this. I love it! You can get to my profile by clicking on the link to the right.

I got all of our presents wrapped this week. I wrapped most of the gifts in dish towels to be a little more green this year. I hate to think of all the wrapping paper waste.

Ashley went to visit her biological grandparents for the weekend. We met them in Beaver Dam to drop her off. Christopher and I had brunch at "Walker's". We saw several signs for this restaurant on the way up, so we decided to try it. It was very good food and had a 1980's middle class feel. If we find ourselves in the area again, we will definitely go back.

Happy Christmas!

2010-12-17T07:38:00.000-08:00

Ashley at the Lincoln Memorial, Sitka landscape, Ashley on her 1st day of High School, a whale in Sitka and the three of us posing near the Gulf of Alaska.

Things I loved this week

2010-12-12T10:47:00.000-08:00

Christopher and Ashley playing Halo Reach together.

Spot and Callie purring away in their cage.

Homemade cocoa mix and Chex mix.

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

Ashley and Jackie ringing bells for the Salvation Army.

Birthday party for our friend Melissa at the Brocach on the Square.

Our beautiful Capital building in the snow.

Week in review

2010-12-06T10:42:00.000-08:00

We got our first snowfall of the year! When we woke up on Saturday morning it was so pretty and pure looking outside.

My husband made me Challah, which I love. I was wonderful. I love that my husband bakes. Ashley also baked this week. She made sugar cookies and homemade icing for them. She did a great job.

Most of our freetime this week was spent on video games. Christopher and Ashley have been trying to get through Halo Reach and also getting some time in on WoW before the expansion comes out tomorrow. I've been re-playing through Left 4 Dead 2, just so I don't feel left out of the whole gaming thing.

We have decided to re-institute family game night. Last week we played Sequence.

Things that were good last week

2010-12-01T09:17:00.000-08:00

I'm a little late, I was hoping to post this on Monday. I would like to make it a habit to post on Mondays what was good about y week or even just a summary of the week. The goal is to have pictures, but I don't have any for this first post.

On Monday my husband started a new position. Same company, just a promotion. The job will be very different than what he is used to, the people of a very different mindset and the building just a short walk away.
After a stressful first day on the new job, Christopher (and Ashley) graciously helped a former co-worker of mine move her office. She was moving over 20 years of stuff from her office to her home. She is 74 and wasn't able to do much other than tell us what to pack and what should go where. After we finished getting everything packed into her Condo, she made the three of us a delicious lasagna dinner and insisted we take all of the leftovers home with us. Even though we left tired, it was nice to be able to help a friend.

On Wednesday we made the difficult decision to stay home for the Thanksgiving holiday. The weather for Wednesday night looked bad and we didn't want to leave in a rush on Thanksgiving day, so we decided to make it a quiet celebration at home. In retrospect, we could have made the drive without incident, but we can't change that now.

I made Thanksgiving dinner for the three of us. It was my first time and everything turned out great. I didn't do a whole turkey, just a breast, and I bought the pies, but the rest was home made. We lazed around until Saturday when we took Ashley and her BFF downtown to do some Christmas shopping.
There was a big to do that day about shopping locally, so many of the stores had cookies or tea out and there was a trolley running up and sown State Street and around the square. It was a fun day.

Saturday night's alright

2010-11-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

I love farmer's market Saturdays.

Today was the last outdoor market of the season. We all got up early and headed downtown for some shopping. We circled the Capitol Square and stocked up on food for the week. Then we went to Espresso Royale to warm up a bit, have some coffee and read. Ashley and I hit a few of our favorite shops and we all walked down to Peace Park for the grand opening ceremony. Ashley got up and did some Native American dancing at the park. The channel 3 cameras were there, so she might end up dancing on the news tonight! :)

For dinner we had Buffalo Joes (ground buffalo from the market) on my husbands homemade buns, sweet potato fries (from the market), homemade chip dip and chips and cheese (from the market). It was simple and delicious.

Now Ashley and her friend are hanging out in her room and Christopher and I are watching some tv. I love days like this.

game room

2010-10-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Well, we did it.
We converted our garage into a game room/teenage hangout for A and her friends. Christopher and I have been using it just as much though. :)

It's nothing to fancy, it is after all, a garage. There are a few shelves that still have "garage stuff" on them, but I covered the from of the shelves with colorful beach towels so it looks better. We still need to get a carpet and a few posters for the walls, but it is usable now as it is.

The room has a nice dartboard, a ping pong table, some chairs, a card table, a stereo and some board games. It's not much, but we all like it.

A new worry

2010-10-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

My daughter has a boyfriend. I'm calling it her first boyfriend. She says that she has had plenty of boyfriends in the past, but I'm not counting middle school "going out" as boyfriends. They never actually did anything together outside of school and hardly talked at school, so in my opinion, they were just crushes.

So here's what I know about this boy, we'll call him Sam. He is a Sophomore. 15 years old. Plays Lacrosse, good grades, honors classes, plays piano and guitar, parents are married and college educated. Sam seems nice, he was with the big group that I took to the haunted house last weekend and he was polite to the parents that were there and got along with all of A's friends. He came over on Sunday to play darts and had dinner at our house (A's BFF was here too). His mom dropped him off and made a point of coming in and meeting us before she left him with us. He came to A's choir concert on Monday night to watch her preform. He is helping to deliver our neighborhood newsletter tonight, having dinner with us and then he and A are going to the football game to meet friends there.

I am comfortable with this so far. They have never really been alone together and I am trying to treat him coming to the house just like I would treat any other friend coming to the house. My worry is that by letting him come over and hang out with the family I am validating this as a "relationship". A is only 14 and that is just too young for anything serious. I can't ignore that she has this boyfriend, and I can't really discourage it if I want her to keep sharing these things with us. But where is the line between accepting this and encouraging it?

Paring down

2010-10-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

Since our return from our Alaska trip in July, my husband and I have been talking about purging our home of possessions. The simplicity of the two weeks that we spent away from home infected us both. We lived in a small room and didn't have any clutter around us. We both found that we were the most relaxed and calm that we have ever been.

We arrived home with big ideas, "let's sell everything" was going to be our mantra. I got rid of an entire bookshelf of books, more than 3/4 of "my" DVD's, 1/2 of my clothes, 2 tubs of old knick knacks and a few kitchen appliances. I recycled all of the magazines that I hadn't gotten around to reading yet and went through our toiletries and got them organized so we will use them all up instead of buying new stuff all the time. I got rid of our huge Christmas tree that we haven't put up in several years too. Then last night I cleared another entire bookshelf, I'll sell the books this weekend. I feel that I have done a great job.

My darling husband got rid of much less. I won't list his items here because I don't want this to turn into an angry rant and I don't want to be petty. I'll just say that he has gotten rid of some things, just a lot less than I have.

If you know us, you know that we are book lovers/collectors. We took pride in our library of over 2,000 books. We had them all cataloged and organized. It was hard for me to get rid of my books, I cried and changed my mind back and forth and even had a few panic attacks in the process. I have now gotten rid of around 600 books. The only books I have kept are my reference books, trivia books, books that I will read again and books that I have yet to read. Yes, I do still have two bookshelves full of books, so it's not like I got rid of everything.

My husband has as many books as I did, but he doesn't want to get rid of any more. I get how hard it is. I really do, but we did all this talking about sacrifice and how much better our lives could be if we lived simpler and with less. I took it seriously. I looked at my belongings and thought about whether or not I would want to take them with me if/when we move. If the answer was no, then they were tossed, donated or sold.

I still have a lot of stuff. There is more that I need to get rid of. I'll get rid of more books as I read them and I need to go through everything I have stored in the garage. But I am getting there, I just wish that he was too.

High School

2010-09-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

My daughter is in high school now. Just saying that aloud or typing it make me feel old. I shouldn't feel old. I am only 33. I am younger than most other parents of high school students, but just having a kid at that age is mind blowing. I sometimes feel like I just got out of high school myself.

The student body at the kid's school is around 1800. Where I went to school, it was around 600. My husband's school had a whopping 360. She has been with many of the same kids since kindergarten and is used to larger schools, so I know she will be fine in a school of that size, it's more intimidating to us than it is to her.

So far the year is off to a good start. A is on the freshman tennis team and has won more matches than she has lost and is really enjoying the practices and being part of a team. Her classes are going well, she likes her teachers and has made several new friends. She doesn't have many of her old friends in her classes, but she likes it that way. She likes to meet new people. She has been busy on the weekends too, going to football games and sleepovers. Next weekend is Homecoming already, and she plans to go to the game and the dance with friends.

She has signed up for a few clubs, a music appreciation club and a video gaming club. I wish that she would do a more academic based club this semester too, but she will be in French club next semester when she starts French class. Outside of school, she has youth group through our church, which is twice a month and she will be a candy-striper at a local hospital a few hours a month. She will continue to teach piano lessons one night a week and I just hired her to clean offices at my workplace on the weekends. She also babysits occasionally, so the kid has plenty of spending money.

It seems that high school is off to a good start. I hope that things continue this way for her.

1st day of 9th grade.

One month later

2010-08-12T12:29:00.000-07:00

A month ago my family was in Alaska. It was my
birthday and we were walking in the rain through the Tongass National Forest.

While we were there I was meticulous about taking notes and pictures. I made sure that I was stopping to smell the air, taste the ocean and lake water and listen to the sounds of Sitka. I scrutinized the calls of the ravens and bald eagles, trying to burn the sounds into my brain. I savored every bite of fresh Halibut, every drop of the coffee and every last salmonberry. I spent hours just walking and taking it all in.
But yet I sit here, back in Madison, and I can't seem to recall those sounds, smells or tastes. I have pictures to look at, but they seem like they are from a dream. If not from a dream, from a lifetime ago.
Every day, probably every hour, since we left I have thought of Alaska. I have dreamed of Alaska every night. I have closed my eyes and tried to bring it all back. I even find myself looking around the city, hoping that I will find a warp zone to me back to that place, that "level" of my life.

I felt this way the last time we returned from Alaska too, but I don't remember feeling it this strongly.
It's as if I'm living in that scene from "Donnie Darko", you know the one, where the liquidy spear-like thing is shown coming out of people's chests, leading them to their inevitable futures. I have my own time-spear, tugging at me slowly. I can see that it takes a long and windy path, but it ends in Sitka. I see this path, starting right here in me and ending on a rocky shoreline in the Gulf of Alaska. It's almost like by seeing this path, I can see my future. It seems so real, like destiny.

The only problem is that I don't believe in destiny. I don't believe that life is predetermined.
Yet I can almost see and feel this path, this channel, this destiny, physically manifesting before me as though it were predetermined. So, if I don't make it there, will it be because by seeing this path now, I have the opportunity to betray my so-called-destiny? Will I sabotage my chances of achieving this dream just to prove to myself that nothing is predetermined? Am I putting way too much thought into this?

Amazing trip

2010-07-23T12:04:00.000-07:00

The trip to Alaska was great. It was beyond our expectations. We got along well, which is a huge accomplishment when a teenage girl is part of the equation! I came home relaxed, happy and calm.

The trip was such a success that Christopher and I are considering a move to Alaska. We wouldn't leave the Madison area until Ashley is out of high school, and likely not until she has finished her first year of college.

There is so much to consider when thinking about a move of this size. We would essentially have to get rid of everything and start over because of the cost of shipping. Are we really prepared to do that? We have spent the last 11.5 years accumulating stuff. I'm all for paring down, but can I really leave everything? I just don't know.

I also don't want Ashley to feel like she no longer has a home. I guess quite a bit will depend on where she goes to college and how well she does that first year. Of course she is always welcome to live with us where ever we are, but if we are in Alaska, will that deter her from coming to visit?

What about health insurance? Our insurance needs to cover her while she is in college. I'm afraid that if we have jobs in AK, that the coverage may be limited to that area, rather than being available where ever Ashley is. Although, so many kids go to school far from where their parents live and that somehow works out. Maybe that shouldn't be my biggest concern.

What about family? We see my parents at least once a month and Christopher's family at least six times a year. We would lose that. There is always phone calls and Skype, but do we want to be that far away from Henry and any other nephews or nieces that we may have?

The cost of living there is very high. Jobs pay more though, and there is no state income tax, so that would help a bit. We would always need to have enough money on hand to get the two of us back to WI or MN in an emergency and enough to get Ashley to AK. We would have to have enough money to replace our belongings, furniture and what not. Not to mention the cost of either driving up or having our car shipped up there.

Will we really be able to be happy living on an isolated island? There is only one town on the island and no roads to get off of the island. The only ways to get to another town are boat or airplane. Will I be able to handle that? There are no big box stores, which shouldn't be a big deal, I like to buy local when I can, but where do people on a small remote island get their underwear? I am totally okay with going to the grocery store, pharmacy and hardware store to get almost everything that we need, but there are some things that just aren't found in those stores. I guess clothes and bed linens would have to be ordered and shipped in. That is fine, it is certainly easy enough to do, but what concerns me is just how different it all is.

Will the short, dark days of winter affect me negatively? Will the almost constant rain make me depressed? Will I miss getting in the car and driving for miles and miles? (There is only 13.5 miles of paved road on the island and a maximum speed of 45 mph.)

I will miss the bounty of the midwest. I now live in the city with the nation's largest farmer's market and I could go to a farmers market every day of the week if I wanted to. Between May and October most of our groceries are purchased straight from the farmers. Up there, there are only 6 farmer's markets a year. How would I get my fresh eggs and bison meat? What about fresh cheese and tomatoes?

I guess the only way to know if we can do it is to plan for it, try to make the lifestyle changes to make it a financial possibility and continue to think about it.

This and that

2010-06-25T07:28:00.000-07:00

Last night we had spaghetti for dinner. I have been trying to buy the Classico brand of sauce when I don't make my own. It doesn't contain any preservatives like Prego and Ragu do.
I browned up some ground Bison with onion, celery and green pepper (gotta sneak those veggies in whenever you can) the added the sauce and simmered. I topped it with freshly grated Parmesan and Romano cheese and then mixed in the whole wheat noodles. It was delish and so easy. Quicker than ordering a pizza too.

I can't believe that in less than two weeks we will be in Alaska again. We have things pretty much planned out as far as what we will be doing each day. The plans are loose though, to reduce stress. I am looking most forward to walking the beach along the Gulf of Alaska and breathing in that cool, salty air. I can't wait to see the ravens and bald eagles and whales. I'm looking forward to eating reindeer hotdogs and hiking up the mountainside.

Father's Day

2010-06-20T16:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day!

We spent some time at the Botanical Gardens and then hung out at home.

For dinner we had burgers and malts. Black bean burgers and crackin' bison burgers.

We quit using ground beef a while ago. We don't eat much red meat, but when we do we eat Bison. It is much lower in fat and so much tastier too. I adapted a Jamie Oliver recipe to make the "crackin' bison burgers". The ground bison is so low in fat that they burgers don't stay together well unless you add something to the meat, in this case, an egg and some crackers (thus the name). Ashley made the malts. It was exactly what C wanted for his Father's Day meal. We ate in the living room and watched Doctor Who. Perfect evening.

That magical summer

2010-06-19T19:51:00.000-07:00

Oh, to be 14 again. That last summer before high school starts, what you think of as your last summer as a "kid", what a great time.
For me, that summer was a memorable one. I got my braces off and was feeling confident. I was smack dab in the middle of my Motley Crue phase. That summer I wore my "Kickstart My Heart" concert T with cut off black Guess jean shorts almost everyday. I had a silver caduceus charm that I wore around my neck, not because I wanted to be a Doctor, but because it was just like the symbol on the "Dr. Feelgood" album cover. I had long hair and impressively high bangs. My best friend and I hung out at the park almost daily. There were a handful of boys in our grade that were always there playing basketball. We would sometimes shoot some baskets with them, but mostly we just sat on top of picnic tables trying to look hot and gossiping. I got drunk for the first time that summer. It was me, a boy who was going to be a Junior, a playground and a bottle of Dr. Migillucuddy's. I woke up when my best friend was literally dragging me home. That was July 3rd. The next morning, the older boy and I met up at the Independence Day parade then went down to the carnival. I threw up on him on the Ferris wheel. Yep, best summer EVER.

So, here I am, many years later with a daughter who is 14 and about to start high school. Uh oh.
My husband and I are determined to keep her so busy that she will not have time to get into any trouble or meet Dr. Migillicuddy. Her last day of school was a week ago yesterday. Eight days out of school and she has already been in seven states and the District of Columbia. Nope, not hitchhiking, but on a guided tour with her 28 closest friends. They got to see so many memorials and museums and landmarks. They were on the go from 5:30 am to 10:00 pm each day. The tour guides had the same idea as we did, that a busy, tired kid just can't really cause too much trouble. On the last day of the trip, they went to Busch Gardens in Alexandria, VA and had a chance to see the Atlantic Ocean.

Today, after showing her pictures and telling us all about her adventures, she was ready to go hang out with her friends again. She spent the afternoon shopping and then hanging out at the park with the same kids she just spent the last week with. Go figure.
Tomorrow is Father's Day so we will force her to hang out with us. Then on Monday, she's off to Illinois to go to Six Flags with her BFF. The rest of the week she gets to chill at home, watch tv, play with the guinea pigs and relax. Next week, she'll be volunteering at the zoo or the nursing home everyday. Then on Friday, we leave for Minnesota to spend the 4th of July at the cabin with the whole family. On Tuesday we hop on a plane for Alaska, where we will spend a week sightseeing and relaxing on an island in the Pacific Northwest. We have a short stop in Washington, so if you are keeping track, that is 11 states and 2 oceans in less that a month for Ashley. We fly back into Minneapolis, where we will stay a few more days with family, then back home to Madison.
Ashley gets two weeks to volunteer and hang with friends, then she is off to Sheboygan for a week long piano camp. She'll be staying at the Lakeland College campus. It is a beautiful, small campus that is surrounded on all sides by cornfields. Next, a week with her grandparents, followed by a week long orientation program at her new school. The following two weeks she has tennis practice everyday, then school starts up again. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what I call a busy summer.

When C and I were talking about all of her plans and adventures and time away from home, I made the comment that this will be one of the best summers of her life. C thought about it and then said, "I hope not. I hope that this is just the beginning for her, maybe it will be one of the best summers of her childhood, but when she is in high school and college, she'll be traveling those summers too. This summer, these trips are just the beginning." He is so right. These two big trips for her are just the beginning. I hope that this summer will be amazing enough to ignite a fire in her, to make her want to travel the country and the world. I hope that she has a great, memorable summer, but I also really hope that the best summer for her is yet to come. I know that the next three summers she will be going on church mission trips, as well as spending weeks at a time up at our church camp as a counselor. Those will be great summers too, and then, off to college. I want her to backpack through Europe, to go on a safari, to visit the poorest countries in the world and help build schools and teach. The best thing is, I know that she will. I know that has in her what it takes to be that person that I always wished I could be. She will not be sitting on her duff in her mid thirties, remembering that summer that she was 14 as the best summer of her life.

Parmesan chicken breasts with posh ham!

2010-06-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

Last night's dinner - Parmesan chicken breasts with crispy prosciutto and salad. Delish!

This is a Jamie Oliver recipe. I love Jamie Oliver. Not enough to cook my way through his cookbooks, ala Julie and Julia, as my husband suggested I do, but I love him just the same. This recipe was so easy, it only took about 15-20 minutes from the fridge to table. I chopped the lettuce while the chicken was cooking and it was all ready at the same time.
I love reading Jamie's recipes, instead of saying that the chicken needs to be tenderized or flattened, he says that you should "cover the chicken with a square of cling and give it a good whack." I have been reading so many of his recipes that when I was about to chop the lettuce, my mind said to me, "Blimey, I've got to chop the veg!"

Tonight is the last night that the hubs and I have together alone. Ashley returns from Washington D.C tomorrow around noon. I would like to say that we will have a fancy, romantic dinner together at home, but that would be a lie. We will probably just have PB&J sandwiches and watch some Mythbusters. In our defense, the jam and bread will be homemade and the Peanut Butter will be all natural, so it could be worse.

Strawberry Jam, 2010

2010-06-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

I am really a miserable blogger. I post here and there, months apart, and I never have any real theme or purpose. I would get bored reading this blog, so why do I even bother with it at all?

I am going to give it one last try, an honest attempt to write about not just my life, but about the things that mean the most to me. That would be my daughter, books and food. I'll throw in a little travel here and there too, just to keep you guessing.

We'll start with food. Strawberries specifically. 20 lbs of 'em.
On Tuesday C and I took the short drive out of town to a family farm that sells strawberries. I bought 2 flats. The berries were big and so ripe. The smell was intoxicating. So we loaded up our take, paid the farmer and headed back to Madison.
The first step was prepping the berries. I washed and hulled them all, then realized that we were out of sugar. Who runs out of sugar? So, I bagged the clean berries and decided to wait a day to start the jam. Wednesday, we ran to Hy-Vee and bought 10 lbs of sugar. Pure cane sugar, not that refined crap. We got home and I went to work on the jam. I was about half way through when I decided to dip my finger in a jar and have a taste. It was awful! It was grainy and way too sweet. What did I do wrong? Jam is so easy to make, even a monkey could do it! Drat! I doubled the sugar and pectin to make bigger batches, but didn't double the berries. All of the jam had to come out of the jars and I had to double the berries and remix everything.
The jam hadn't started to set yet, so I hope like mad that it will be okay. If I have to throw 20 lbs of berries to the birds I will kill myself. I will drop my face in the bowl of mashed berries and breathe in until I die.
Thankfully, everything seemed to turn out okay. I had some jam on bread this morning and it was delightful. Store bought bread mind you, but I won't get into that now.

Confirmation

2010-05-13T08:03:00.000-07:00

Confirmation day has come and gone. I can hardly believe that my little girl is now an "adult" member of the church. I am so proud of all these kids.The open house that we had at the AmericInn was well attended and everyone there seemed to have a great time.

There were 11 kids that went through the program. They started in September 2009 and met three times a month through April. In addition to attending the classes, they had to attend church regularly and take sermon notes and do several hours of community and church service.

Ashley met her volunteer hours by playing piano for the youth choirs, raising money for Unicef and CROP walk (and walking for the CROP walk). She did several hours of volunteer babysitting for church meetings, served meals at church and at shelters, went door to door promoting fair trade products and garbage pickup. She worked hard and learned a lot. We have always had her do volunteer work, but doing service with friends is different than doing service with your parents.

Ashley grew quite a bit this year. Part of it is just her age and grade, but the majority of the growth came from spending the time with her peers and the church leaders. The kids learned so much about themselves through this journey. They came out with more questions about faith than they had going in, but that is the way it should be, they should have questions and should never be complacent or believe in something just because they are told to do so. They learned so much about each other too, and there was no judging or teasing, just a lot of embracing differences.

Christopher and I taught lessons once per month and had a great time. The kids blow my mind with their insight. They also sometimes blew my mind with their immaturity. :) When we talked about the moral issues related to drinking, drugs, gambling, sex, abortion, children and woman's rights, war and sexuality these kids had such strong opinions.

I'm proud to have spent the last 9 years teaching them. I have seen them laugh and cry. I have held their hands crossing the street and sang silly songs with them. I've watched them change from little kids into young adults and I have loved being a part of their lives.

My office

2010-04-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

I don't have a very important position at my job, but I somehow ended up with a 2nd floor office with windows and a balcony. I also have the wonderful working hours of 7am-3pm. The office is a good size, I think it's 10X17 or something like that. When I got this office, I also got to pick out brand new office furniture, paint color for the walls and carpeting. I picked out a great desk and hutch and a thousand dollar chair. I have my own laser printer and have a $400 painting on loan from the artist. I have a suction cup bird feeder on my window and get mourning doves, sparrows and red winged blackbirds. There is a pond behind the building and we are located next to a kayak rental place, so everyday in the summer I get to watch kayakers and everyday in the winter I get to watch the ice fishermen. I have a view of the beltline, which I love. It's nice to watch the cars zip on by. I get to listen to the music that I want to listen to all day long.
I work .9 miles from my husband, so we car pool everyday. He drops me off in the morning, then at lunch we walk together.

I love my office. Love it, love it, love it. I don't make much money, but I have this great space that is all my own.
I have been able to decorate my office with things that I wouldn't necessarily have out at home. I may be a geek, but my living room won't give that away. Unless you look at the computer desk........ :)

So, my office. Here's the inventory.

Pictures - lots and lots of pictures. Pictures of me, my husband, our daughter (at various ages), my niece and nephews, my backyard, my grandparents in law, my sister in law, my husband's cousin's kids, the Capital building and flowers from Olbrich.
I have plants; a pothos, a palm, jade and bamboo. I also have a light bulb terrarium that my husband made for me with an air plant in it.
I have owls. Owls, owls everywhere. A stuffed owl, two wooden owls and an owl made of feathers. (That sounds odd, but it's really very cute.)
I have some fake flowers, a pretty green vase, a miniature Union chair, candles, a wire birdcage and a globe. I have two small paintings of orchids, and a small print of Marc Chagall's "Birthday".
Then I have my toys. I have a littlest petshop chinchilla, a welsh corgi figurine, Spock, Han Solo and Princess Leia action figures, a storm trooper on at AT-ST, a stuffed Domo and a plush talking tribble.
I have a small T.A.R.D.I.S, a framed Boba Fett trading card and one of Luke Skywalker.
I also collect banana stickers and have many of them on my wall. Stickers that come on bananas, not stickers with bananas on them. That would be silly.

So there you have it. That's my office and why I love it. Next time I start to complain about my job, remind me to read this post.

Oh yeah, 73 days until Alaska. Not that I'm anxious or anything....

So much to do, so little time.

2010-04-19T11:16:00.000-07:00

80 days until we leave for Alaska. There is so much going on in those 80 days though, I get stressed just thinking about it all. Part of my effort to de-stress is to list out all of the things that are coming up and the things that I need to do. Hopefully, seeing it in list form will help me realize that it is all doable.

April
This week Ashley has her piano lesson, Confirmation class and a band trip to the Dells. We are having a painter come over to look at the bedrooms and give an estimate on Tuesday. Saturday, my parents are coming up to go to the Farmer's Market and the Great Midwest Alpaca Fest with us. Sunday we have church and then are taking all of the Confirmation kids to a movie.

Next week, Ashley has a piano lesson, teaches a piano lesson and has Confirmation class. She will be spending the whole weekend in the Dells with middle school students from Methodist churches around the state. While she is enjoying herself at the retreat in the Dells, Christopher and I will be home with the painters.

May
In the month of May, Ashley has weekly piano lessons, both her lessons and the lessons that she teaches. She has one last Confirmation class. On the 8th, we are having her Confirmation party at the AmericInn and on the 9th is the actual church Confirmation ceremony. We will be having guests from out of town and out of state for the party. I still have to plan the meals and what we are going to do to entertain our guests.
I have some meetings at the school for planning the 8th grade dance and completion ceremony. Ashley's birthday is May 23rd and she has another weekend away at one of the Methodist camps. Her group will be prepping cabins for the upcoming camping season. Ashley has an ortho appointment and all three of us have dentist appointments. There is a band concert and a Jazz band concert. In addition to all of this, work will be a little more hectic than usual because a coworker is off for 6 weeks for medical reasons. I will be doing her job as well as my own during that time.

June

In June, there is a big Band concert, the 8th grade completion ceremony, the 8th grade dance, exams and another trip to the Dells. Then Ashley is off for a class trip to Washington DC for a week.She has her regular twice a week piano commitments as well.

July
Finally, July will be here and we will be off to Alaska for 8 days. As always, twice weekly piano when we are at home.

August
Then in August, Ashley will be at piano camp for a week in addition to her twice weekly Piano lessons.

Okay, so June, July and August are okay. Those months are full of travel and fun. It's the rest of April and May that are going to drive me wild.
I have to work on reminding myself that I am blessed to have family that comes to visit and a happy, healthy daughter who is involved in many activities. We have not always had the money and/or vacation time to take trips, I am very grateful that at this time, we have both. Most of all, I am blessed to have a loving husband who bears all of this with me.

Easter getaway and only 94 days until Alaska!

2010-04-05T18:51:00.000-07:00

We've been out of town for the Easter Holiday for the last 4 days. We had a blast in Minnesota. We got to spend time with my mother and father in law, Henry, Greg, Melissa, Andrew, Callie and Hilary. Henry is getting so big, I can't believe that he is almost two years old already!
On Friday, Melissa, Henry, Christopher, Ashley and I went to the Minnesota Zoo. It was my first time there. I loved the monkeys! It rained while we were there, but it worked out alright because we just ran inside to see the tropics area and the dolphins.
On Saturday, Christopher and I went to the big REI and to IKEA. I was really disappointed with the IKEA. It is so much smaller than the Chicago store and it is not organized as well. I was still able to stock up on candles and dish towels though. :)
While we were shopping, Ashley went to the health club and went swimming with Melissa and Henry. We had a nice afternoon and evening hanging out at Melissa and Greg's house and talking with the family.
On Easter Sunday we went to church. Melissa and Greg's church is so big. We have been there before, but never for a Holiday service. It was crazy. There were police there to direct traffic and guys standing on the roof to help guide the parking attendants. 14,000 people were expected to attend and there were 5 services. It's so different than what we are used to, our church is so small and cozy. Then we went to have brunch and an Easter egg hunt at Christopher's aunt and uncle's house.
It was nice to be away for a while, but it is great to be back home and I'm anxious to sleep in my own bed.

And finally, here's today's Sitka picture. This is Mt. Edgecumbe. The hotel where we will be staying is right on the ocean with a great view of the volcano.

98 days to go

2010-04-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

The Sitka National Historic Park, which most people just call "Totem Park" is an amazing place to vist. The park turns 100 years old this year.

99 days

2010-03-31T07:56:00.000-07:00

Contrary to popular belief, Alaska is not all snow and glaciers. Sitka's weather is really pretty comprable to the weather we are used to here in the midwest.

Countdown to Alaska - 100 days

2010-03-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

I have been having dreams of Sitka several times a week. I an so anxious to go back to visit this summer. The trip can't come soon enough.

I got this great photo over at sitkaphotos.com. To the left of the island is the landing strip and airport. It is a bit scary flying in, especially when weather is bad. The pilots are old pros though, they land on islands like this all the time.

Frogs and sausage, a winning combination.

2010-03-25T12:44:00.001-07:00

The cutest wrestling match you will ever see

2010-03-25T12:42:00.001-07:00

Just for fun

2010-03-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

Headline from Columbus, OH today.
$100,000 spills from armored car; passers-by pocket most of it so far
Why doesn't this ever happen when I'm around?
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Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs is just great. Did you know that he used to see products on QVC on the overnight shift? Here are a few clips that made me LOL.