The Wind Won

About ten days ago a very strong wind slammed the car door onto my ankle before I could get my foot inside the car.

Yes, it hurt.

I checked for blood and seeing none, started on my hour and a half drive.  When I got to my destination,  I looked and saw a huge bump. Thankfully it hasn't hurt to walk. I just have this fantastic bruise.

Obviously, it's blog-worthy. ha.

For some reason the angle makes my ankle look swollen. It's not.

Things Change

Hubby and I enjoyed a low-key Friday night at home.

To back up a smidge -- Thursday night our supper consisted of going out for appetizers. Neither of us were very hungry and when they brought the two appetizers we both kinda groaned. It was a lot of food. We brought home the leftover shrimp and boneless wings. So for supper tonight I warmed the chicken and shrimp and put them on a bed of lettuce. It was very yummy! Such a good use for leftovers.

(See? Low-key.)

After supper we went downstairs to the big TV to finish watching the M*A*S*H* finale. We loved watching M*A*S*H* when we were in college and then reruns when we were first married. I remember getting off my college job of working in food service and going over to Hubby's apartment to watch the finale episode. (Only he wasn't my Hubby yet. Obviously. He was just my boyfriend at the time. Engagement was a few months away yet.)

After the M*A*S*H* finale was over we looked through the stuff I had recorded on the DVR and decided to watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

We remembered seeing it way back in 1988 and enjoying it.

(Let's just reflect on the year 1988: We had been married four whole years, Hubby started working for the company he still works for, we were in our late 20s, for goodness sake, and we had an adorable blond hair, brown eyed one year old little boy. Sheesh, I feel old.) 

In the twenty-five years since, something must have changed in us. (And can I say? I am very thankful that God has changed us! He has worked wonders in us in twenty-five years.) We did NOT like Who Framed Roger Rabbit tonight.

At. All.

It was not very funny and it was pretty crude. We did watch the whole thing tonight, all though now that I think about it, I have no idea why we bothered. It has been deleted from the DVR.

Those 27 Hours

Twenty-seven hours last Friday into Saturday were some crazy busy and (mostly) fun hours for me.

Hubby came home from work a couple of hours early on Friday and we took off west to Sioux Falls, SD. Why?
First, to drop off my sewing machine so it could get some much needed cleaning.

I've had this machine for more than five years and have never had it cleaned or serviced. I recently inquired of Bernina how often that should be done and they told me the recommendation was once a year. Oops. The nearest place I could take it was an hour away and on the way to Sioux Falls, so we thought it would be great to drop it off as we went by last Friday.

The reason for the trip west was to see these guys:

Travis Cottrell

Beth Moore

!!!!!

Hubby graciously agreed to come along so he could lug my sewing machine into the store for me and to chauffeur me to and from this event. What a nice guy, huh?

I went to this event by myself. And I loved it. (I guess that's my introvert coming out.)  Beth Moore has events she calls Living Proof Live. She teaches Friday night and Saturday morning. Travis Cottrell leads worship. I just don't know what I enjoyed more: the teaching or the worship. For the Saturday morning session I managed to score a seat in the 4th row!!! I was so excited to be that close to the stage! (This was in an arena and there were something like 4500 people there.)

I loved being able to worship with Travis and his team. I admit to singing at the top of my lungs. Thankfully, the music was loud enough to cover my warbling. ha.

Through the teaching, God reassured me that He's not forgotten about us. That His purpose is being worked out. Just wait.

I am so thankful Hubby wanted to come along just to drive me around. Such a sweetie! While I was listening to Beth, he spent his time reading and doing some shopping in man stores. You know, places like Lowes and Home Depot. Stuff like that. grin. He enjoyed himself.

Halfway through Saturday morning I got a call that my sewing machine was ready to pick up! It was supposed to take 3 or 4 days, so it was way cool that we could pick it up on our way back home. Of course, I managed to doing a little fabric shopping while in the quilt shop. Of course!

In the first sixty miles of our trip back home we counted 322 motorcycles heading west on the interstate highway! That wasn't even counting all the motorcycles being pulled in trailers. They were headed to Sturgis for an annual motorcycle week. It's crazy how many we saw! We didn't count the rest of the way home.

After we were back home for a bit, I got a text message from my dad that my mom (81) had been admitted to the hospital for heart problems. She had atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat) and fluid on her lungs. As of yesterday afternoon, she's back home. (Yay!) Her heart is still in a-fib, but the fluid is gone and she feels lots better. Our anxiety levels went up when we heard the news because my mom had a heart attack almost four years ago that resulted in by-pass surgery and lots of complications that resulted in almost 4 months in the hospital. None of us wants to see her (or my dad) go through that again. I thankful that she's home and sounded good when I talked to her on the phone.

We ate a pretty big lunch in Sioux Falls complete with chips and salsa and fries. I mentioned I just wanted a giant bowl of fruit for supper that night. Hubby fixed it for us. Just check out the presentation!
 

Show off!

 That was a packed 27 hours!

Recently...

This here blog has been pretty quiet lately. If I was actually home sometime, I might find the time to write.

There is no complaining coming from this blogger, though. I rather enjoy having my weekends full. But full weekends translate into a busy few days at home filled with laundry and other neglected house work and no blogging.

So.

What have we been up to?

In the last month or so, we've made a massive road trip, helped my in-laws move out some of their furniture, ran a half marathon, sat in road construction at 11:30 AT NIGHT, and helped our son and daughter-in-law with their new, 100 year old house.

Before any readers out there get the impression that I ran a half marathon... I did NOT. Hubby is the runner in this family. While he was running those 13.1 miles (and getting severe leg cramps, sadly), I was sleeping soundly. (Those races are early in the morning...and we all know I am not much of  morning person.)  But I did feel guilty that I was just sleeping and he was struggling with cramps in his calf muscles and feet.

After that half marathon race we went on a little road trip to take care of some family business (vagueness here on purpose...not everything that happens in my life is blabbed about on this here blog). Our drive back home started out quite late in the day and that is why we were sitting on the interstate for 20 minutes after 11pm as some sort of road construction was going on. Makes for a couple of grumpy travelers. We attempted to stop at my sister's house to sleep, but due to a power outage because of storms that had gone through earlier, we decided to not go in their dark house (they were gone) and decided to keep driving home. We arrived home at 3am. (!!)

Let's just establish right now that I am way too old to be out that late. Admittedly, I have been awake that late before, thanks to my (not) friend insomnia, but there is a difference between laying in bed and trying to sleep and riding in a car until 3am and trying not to sleep. It took me 3 days to recover.

This weekend we have been helping our son and daughter-in-law with all sorts of things around their house. A couple of weeks ago they moved into their first house in Kansas City. It's a bit over 100 years old and needs a little TLC. Yesterday I sat on my butt for way too long (my back is yelling at me today) and wiped down baseboards and door frames. Hubby has been a work-horse with painting, cleaning up the yard, washer and dryer hook-up, etc, etc, etc. Our daughter and son-in-law helped yesterday as well.

This is a brother/sister team working on putting a piece of IKEA furniture together.

(I just gotta say that I loved listening to them work together on this. Made my heart thankful and proud.)

Hubby and I are hanging around a couple of days to celebrate our 29th anniversary. We are upgrading to a fancy-schmancy hotel and enjoying ourselves. Tonight we are taking our kids out for a fancy dinner. I'm looking forward to that!

Okay. Done with my catch-up post.

Our Adventure

Hubby and I got stuck in this flash flood on our way to my sister's beach house in North Carolina.  We got off the interstate to wait out the heavy, heavy rain and then had to wait more than an hour for the waters to go down enough so we could get back on the interstate.

The upside is we had a snack and I used the bathroom -- twice. ;-) Sorry. Too much information?

Saturday

Hubby and I went on a mini-road trip on Saturday to celebrate our engagement anniversary.

(This was a quite mini road trip compared to one we are planning for this summer.)

(That one will be about 3,000 miles.)

(This one was 200 miles.)

Anyway...back to Saturday...

Our destination was Lanesboro. A small river town that has tons of Bed & Breakfast Inns, some cute shops and a bike trail along a river. There are pretty bluffs along the river.

While we did poke around in a few shops (Hubby found me a really cure pair of earrings) and drove around the small town and had a very yummy lunch, we spent most of our time on the back roads in the area. For a measly $26 we rented a CD from one of the shops and followed its directions for a back roads tour of Amish country.

The CD directed along the roads with use of the car's odometer. We learned about the Amish people and made 9 different stops at 9 different Amish farms. These places had little shops of their own where the families sold honey, sorghum, small furniture, quilts, produce, baskets, eggs. It was so fun to look around at the goods at each place. One place had very beautiful child-size chairs and tables. The man there had also made some little barns for children to play with. The detail was so fun to look at. We wished we had some little ones to buy one of those barns for. ;) (Someday.) We did come away with a jar of honey and a jar of sorghum along with some homemade candy and a cherry turnover.

It was a pretty humid day, but being able to hop in and out of the air-conditioned car made it more bearable.
The trip was very interesting and fun to do together. I don't have any photos because we were told that the Amish find cameras offensive.

Thanks to Yelp, we had supper at a very good barbecue restaurant in Austin, MN, home of SPAM. (Seriously, Austin is where SPAM is made.) (Thankfully the restaurant was in no way associated with SPAM, although there was some on the menu.)

A Little Weekend Recap on a Tuesday

Friday Hubby came home from work a little early to mow the yard.

Riveting news, huh?

It's been raining so much around here he has to grab the chance when he can.

After he was cleaned up we jumped in the car and headed to spend the weekend in Iowa with our parents.

Hubby's parents are starting the process of getting their house ready to sell so they can move into a senior living apartment. Hubby wanted to help his dad with some jobs around the house and yard.

On Saturday while Hubby was hard at work, I ran off to have lunch with a friend from high school days. Thanks to the wonders of Facebook I knew she lived in a nearby town, so we were able to connect after many years. I know I saw her at our 20th high school reunion, but that was 14 years ago. It was very enjoyable to sit and talk and even more encouraging to know that we are both Christians. Truth be told, I was relieved that we were able to talk for more than two hours. I was nervous that it would be awkward to talk through a lunch now that we are in our 50s not teenagers any more.

Saturday evening we headed over to my sister-in-law's house for supper. A bonus was being able to see our sweet niece! She's in between her second and third year of college and we don't see her often enough.

Sunday morning we drove to where my parents live. I made arrangements with my mom to meet then at their church and surprise my dad for Father's Day. It was a success. Dad was surprised. :) He stopped short with his mouth hanging open when he saw us. (He was a bit curious that morning when my mom cleaned up a few things around the house. He wondered what had gotten in to her. Grin.)

We enjoyed a yummy lunch of grilled steaks, potatoes, salad and chocolate covered strawberries. That afternoon my sweet, serving husband helped out my dad with a bunch of yard work. Mom and I had fun just sitting in their sun room and talking.

The simply lovely day was topped off with my dad making an ice cream run and bringing home the best chocolate/brownie ice cream I have ever had. I'm glad the leftovers stayed at their house!

It was very enjoyable to spend Father's Day weekend with our parents. A plus for us was coming home with home-grown rhubarb, asparagus and horse radish. The rhubarb is cleaned and shopped up and in the freezer, the asparagus is on the menu for tonight and I still need to figure out what to do with the horse radish. Dad told me how to peel it, and prepare it. I just need to get to it.

Oh, and I got the biggest hug ever from my dad as we were saying our good-byes. :)

A Weekend Wash

This whole weekend was just a wash.

Hubby and I usually like to take off to somewhere else for a long weekend like this one, but decided to stay put instead. Hubby was expressing a desire to work out in the yard and we thought this would be a great weekend to do that. We also planned on golfing Friday afternoon and I expected the second quilt that I am making for my sister to be delivered from the quilter and I could get the binding sewn on.

And as you probably already surmised,  none of that happened.

Friday afternoon as Hubby was coming home early from work so we could golf....

(I must insert here that I really don't golf. At all. Hubby golfs and I drive the cart. And make snarky comments. And play Angry Birds on my phone until the battery is dead)

(Where was I?)

I checked the weather radar and saw that some rain was heading this way. So we canceled the golf outing. (Good thing... it started lightening and raining within the hour.) We went out to dinner and stopped at a Red Box to rent a movie. That night and Saturday morning we watched Anna Karenina. I've never read the book, but thought the movie would be interesting. I was wrong. It was hard to understand the flow of the movie. The movie was very theatrical and artsy for one thing. For another I think it left out quite a bit of the book. I was looking up the summary on my phone to try to understand what was going on. In the end, we were glad we only spent $1.28 to watch it.

Saturday afternoon came and my package did not. I did not get to spend the weekend working on the binding of the quilt. Boo.

We ended up driving to a little bit bigger town to poke around in some antique stores. We always enjoy that. Didn't buy a dern thing. But that's okay.

Sunday we were I was so bored with the rainy weather I suggested to Hubby that we play some games.

And we I even had fun! That may have something to do with that I actually won a couple of games. :)

Today we ventured to another town for some mediocre Mexican food (which is better than the bleh Mexican food we can get here in this town) and some more antique-store-poking-around. This time we found a couple of things including a neat copper oval bucket thingy. I'll have to do some Pinterest searching and see how I can shine it up.

One quilt shop had quite a few old quilts. I love to look those over. One that stood out to me was a zig-zag design. I stepped close to see how it was constructed. Later, I was describing to Hubby how it was constructed (more complicated than the one I made for my nephew's little girl) and realized that he had sort of a glazed look on his face as he wasn't understanding why in the world I was rambling about half-square triangles, rectangles and triangles for. I laughed and concluded with the phrase: Spherical Chicken.

Basically I was acknowledging that I realized that he had no idea what I was talking about. (Poor guy puts up with my endless babbling about quilting and all things quilt related.) The Spherical Chicken phrase came from this scene of The Big Bang Theory.



We ended today with watching Toy Story 3. I love those series of movies. I mean what kid hasn't wondered what happens with those toys when no one is in the room? I remembered that we went to see Toy Story 3 in the theater as our house was being packed up when we moved three years ago. I bawled at the scene at the end of the movie where Andy and his mom look at his empty room before he heads off to college. We were packing up our kids rooms for the last time. Ever. No other house of ours will have a room that used to be Caleb's or used to be Megan's. It's still really weird to think of it that way.

Looking back, maybe the whole weekend wasn't a wash. We did manage to find some interesting things to do, even if it was rainy and cold all weekend.

A List of Things

I saw this list idea on another blog and thought I would "borrow" it:

  

Things I love:
long weekends with our kids

celebrating our daughter-in-law's graduation from medical school

seeing the pride our son has for his wife's accomplishment

hanging out with my parents last weekend

meeting my niece's almost 6 month old twins (I got smiles, giggles, snuggles and bottle time)

Things I strongly dislike:
the weather in Minnesota

pain

being alone every day

the way I tend to just stuff my clothes in my dresser drawers

men in restaurants in sleeveless shirts (read this super funny post about the subject)

Things on my to-do list today:
make the bed with clean sheets

finish the laundry from the weekend

sew the binding on one of the twin size quilts I'm making for my sister

finish the red and white quilt (sew on the label and wash it) 

Things I'm praying for at the moment:

that the red and white quilt won't bleed when I wash it

a change for my husband and me

wisdom for a project I'm thinking about tackling

my childhood friend's kids (she passed away a year and a half ago)

wisdom for our son and daughter-in-law as they look into buying their first house

Things I'd rather be doing today:

having lunch with one of my kids

sitting outside in warmth (it's only 48 degrees) reading

having some good friends for dinner

hanging out with my husband 

Things (of the food variety) I'm craving lately:

a garden tomato

rhubarb crisp (made from the rhubarb my mom shared with me)

Kansas City barbecue

chocolate

a Panera lunch 

Things I'm looking forward to:

finishing reading Jane Eyre and then watching the movie

summer

Spring?

Well, we had a nice spring season. It lasted about 5 days this year. ha. We had several days in the 60s and 70s. The perennials are poking up and our neighbor even mowed his yard. Not sure that there was really any grass long enough to mow, but he drove around his yard last night on his mower.

Today? In the 30s with a chance of snow.

Yes. I wrote snow. Ugh!!!

On one of the nice days last week, I got myself and ice cream cone and took my book to a lake to read for a while. I've noticed these big white birds on a couple of lakes:::

There have been hundreds of pelicans around here for the past week. My guess is that they are migrating somewhere.

In an effort to have the illusion that it's srping here, I made this cheerful table runner:::

I followed this YouTube tutrial from The Missouri Star Quilt Company:::

I'll be hunkering down here as winter sets in again. Guess I'll clean the bathroom. Yippee.

A Little Recap and a Little Rant

Last weekend Hubby and I drove the all too normal hour (no movie theater closer than that) to go see a movie, have dinner and shop a little.

The movie we saw was "42". It's about Jackie Robinson -the baseball player who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball back in the mid1940s. Super good movie! Go see it. I highly recommend it!

After we the movie (it was a matinee) we checked the apps on our phones for suggestions of where to eat and drove to the restaurant only to find out there was a 90 minute wait. Sigh. We ended up at a Chipotle. Not very fancy.

We both did a little shopping. I found a couple of things and was given two $10 off coupons.

Since I had those coupons and had been thinking about a couple of other things I had seen, I decided to drive back today and make use of the coupons. 

Ha ha ha. (That is written with a sarcastic font, by the way.)

Can you see the photo of said coupon?  A huge paragraph of exceptions. So no luck on getting the $10 off. Oh well. The stuff I bought was on sale already.

This and That

Pretty slow week here in my blog world.

So this post will just be a smidge from here and a smidge from there.

Monday as we were driving back north from a wonderful weekend with our kids (being with them is always wonderful and the fact that it was actually spring there with daffodils and forsythias blooming made it even sweeter), I sarcastically posted this status on my Facebook page:  

We've enjoyed a lovely spring weekend in Kansas.
Back to the land of no spring. Blech.

 I just meant that things hadn't started greening up yet. Little did I know that there was actual truth in it. This morning we got about 8 inches of SNOW! 

The weather this week has just been horrible. Worse than horrible.

I came across this sentiment:::

(Pause)

(New subject)

In other news, our sump pump died yesterday. In the 12 years we have lived in Minnesota, I have concluded that all of the state is a sponge. (The helpful plumber who showed up 6 hours after Hubby called replaced the pump and it's been working hard ever since.)

(Pause)

(New subject)

My sister asked me to make a couple of quilts for a bedroom that her grandbabies will stay in when they visit. I spent part of the day yesterday graphing out the quilt in order to figure our how much fabric I needed for the borders, backing, etc. Before I started beating my head on my sewing table (math is NOT my friend) I hunted for what probably is the best quilting tool I have ever purchased:

There are oodles of charts in there that help figure out yardage for blocks, sashing, borders, backing, etc. Totally love it. Hubby (who I like to call my own personal Human Calculator) (some people marry for money or for love, I married him for his mad math skills) looked over my scribblings. Most were okay, but there was a boo-boo. Not a big deal, but so thankful for his expertise. :)

(Pause)

(New subject)

A friend posted a link to this blog post earlier this week. I wish I could have written the post because it says everything I have been thinking about and working through lately. I wrote this quote from the post on  my Facebook earlier this week:

"It is easy to spout trite Christian platitudes designed to make people feel better with bumper-sticker theology. But insipid axioms do little in the face of the actual brokenness of the world."

I would encourage you to read the post. It will challenge you.

In conclusion, this blog post seems to be a summary of my Facebook activity of the week.

Monday Morning.

Blech. That's what this Monday is like. It snowed some overnight, only about 3 or 4 inches. Hubby took my four-wheel drive car to work so I'm stranded at home looking at the vastness of white, brown, light gray, dark gray and medium gray out the window. We're supposed to get more snow. Yippee.

I have a severe case of cabin fever. I am sooooo tired of winter! One day last week it was 36 degrees and a little bit sunny so I didn't wear my coat when I dashed to the post office to mail a package. Daring. Or maybe desperate for winter to be over. Either one.

Saturday I did actually see a sky that looked a funny shade of blue. Only funny, because we rarely see blue sky up here in the North Land in winter.

Saturday, Hubby and I went off on a shopping excursion. We had some birthday shopping to do for our firstborn. Even though his birthday isn't until towards the end of the month, I will have his package in the mail next week. Why? Because in less than two weeks WE ARE GOING ON A CRUISE! To the Caribbean!

I may have mentioned that before, but after the weather and dull winter I am SO EXCITED to be somewhere warm and see color.

My parents celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in March and are treating their kids and spouses to a cruise to celebrate. WAY COOL!

Hubby and I even bought a few new clothes for ourselves while we were shopping. You know, shorts, short sleeved shirts, stuff like that!

Speaking of shopping, has any one else noticed how many places have awards type programs? It seems like you can't shop without being asked if you are a member of an awards program. I heard this at multiple clothing stores (even at an outlet mall), a bookstore, a grocery store and even restaurants. Sometimes I would just like to buy without being questioned and "informed" about the program and then looked at like I'm a tad nuts for not being interested.

Okay. I'm done with my Monday rant. Time to fold laundry and eat lunch. Yes. I lead an exciting life. Not.

Stuff and Things

Outside my window... Gray. Although, I did see the sun for a while today. An unusual sighting this time of year.

I am thinking... about a cruise we are going on next month. I am so looking forward to being warm!


I am thankful for...a good appointment at the eye doctor. Everyone in that office is so kind. Now I am just waiting for the pupils in my eyes to not be so dilated and for things to look more clear.

I am wearing... a warm, warm sweater. Duh. It's winter here in the north. And will be for the foreseeable forever.

I am going...to work on my next quilt project this week. This one is from red and white fabrics and I'm excited to see how it will turn out! I made a couple of practice blocks last week just to make sure I was going to like it before I starting in on all the cutting.

I am currently reading... a biography about James Alfred Wight, or James Herriot. He wrote the books: All Creatures Great and Small, The Lord God Made Them All, Every Living Thing, All Things Bright and Beautiful, and several others. He was a veterinarian in England. I've read those books before, probably more than 20 years ago. I plan to read through them again after I finish the biography.

I am hoping... for change. Kinda weird because I usually don't like change. But hubby and I need change. (Ask me if you want more details.)

Noticing that...I didn't care for the majority of the commercials during the Super Bowl last night and that's the only reason I was parked in front of the TV -- to watch the commercials. My favorite was the "God Made a Farmer" one.


Pondering these words... "I have drawn you with unfailing kindness." (the last part of Jeremiah 31:3) That is one of my memory verses for this year. As I've been working on memorizing it, I have been thinking about all the ways that God has shown me (and therefore drawn me to Him) with His kindness. Quite mind-blowing.
 
From the kitchen... I finally made a loaf of banana bread that was successful! The week before I made some, but totally under baked it. It was nice and browned on the outside, but when I dumped it out of the pan, it oozed all over the stove-top. I don't know how I thought a load of quick bread would bake in 25 minutes. The brain was not fully engaged that day.

One of my favorite things... Going out to eat with my hubby. I like just sitting there across from each other and talking with none of the distractions of home. (And not having to cook is a bonus!)

From my picture journal... Hubby gave me some Paperwhite flower bulbs for Christmas to force. We planted them a couple of weeks ago and they haven't done much. I don't know if they are duds or it just hasn't been sunny enough. I will be sad if they don't grow and bloom. I thought that was a really cool gift.

Good Grief

It's January 7th and I haven't written a single blog post this year. Yikes. Not the way I intended to start out the year in the blogging world. I blame it on a headache. A headache that started on New Year's Eve with sharp pains in the back of my head and on the left side of my face. New Year's Day I woke up with a splitting headache -- the kind that makes you just want to crawl back in to bed. But that day I couldn't. Hubby and I were out of town for the long weekend and were checking out of the hotel that morning and going to a basketball game at the college we went to. Hubby had really been looking forward to going to the game, that even though he offered to skip the game and just drive home, I just couldn't let him miss the game. I sat through the first half with him and then spent the second half in the bathroom away from the noise. Pathetic, I know.

Sorry, I don't mean to make this a health report, but now my readers know why I haven't been writing.

I had that headache for two more days. Friday was the first day all week that I felt (mostly) okay. Then I had all that laundry to catch up on. And a new quilt to start. And Season 2 of Downton Abbey to watch. And the first show of Season 3 of Downton Abbey to watch.

I will write tomorrow about our New Year's weekend. It was just the two of us, but we enjoyed it.

Post Christmas Post

Hubby and I are in the post-Christmas mode. That involves lots of laundry, vacuuming, putting away Christmas decorations, eating leftovers.

I called lunch today "Christmas Dinner, Take Two".  Here's the line-up waiting for time in the microwave.

We had a wonderful Christmas. We started out the celebrations with traveling to Iowa the weekend before Christmas to celebrate with each of our parents and siblings. The drive down was not fun as there had been a big snow storm the day before and the roads still weren't very good. But Hubby was a good driver and it took us an hour and a half longer, but we made it. We enjoyed the time with our extended families. Caleb and Amanda met us there. The grandparents were happy to see them as it had been quite a while since they last did.

The storm left behind some beauty:

The drive back north was much, much better, especially since Megan and Zach were driving up here to celebrate Christmas with us all! I texted Megan when we turned onto the interstate and she texted back that they were only 6 miles behind us. Couldn't have timed that if we tried!

Sunday night we enjoyed some yummy spaghetti and a craft time. I got a crazy idea to look for a fun, easy, cheap craft on Pinterest and this is what I came up with:

Note to self: dollar store clothes-pins are really cheap for a reason. Bad, bad quality. But they still made interesting snowflakes.

Some people where a tad excited about the craft time:

Such a goof.

I found our craft box when I was looking for some paint brushes. The kids had fun remembering some of the things in there.

 See that red zippered thing with colored pencils in it? I used that when I was a kid. There are also some different kind of crayons from when Hubby was a kid.

I found a couple of things of Play-Doh in the craft box that was still fresh. I think it's been in there for a good five years. Zach used it as a visual-aid to explain to Hubby about something in his car that needs to be fixed. It made me giggle.

Puppy came along and had fun playing in the snow and provided lots of entertainment.

A couple of mornings his people went out to go snow-shoeing in the field next to our house. Puppy was sad and looking out the windows the whole time. He had some pretty funny sounding whines.

We opened gifts on Christmas Eve since Megan and Zach had to head back for work on the 26th.

Puppy had a gift to open and went at it until he got out the toy.

I discovered this photo where it looks like the Puppy was helping Caleb open his gift. Silly.

We very much enjoyed having everyone here to celebrate. We are thankful they were all willing to travel up here so we could all be together. All of those kids are so special to us. My cousin wrote on his Facebook page about how their in-laws complete their family so perfectly. I believe that is true for us as well. Our kids spouses fit in and complete this family as if God planned it that way.... Hmmmm.... ;)

Adventures in Smaller Town, Minnesota

A few weeks ago I received a postcard from the state telling me that I need to renew my driver's license. I plopped it on the side of the refrigerator with a magnet and promptly forgot about it.

Last week Hubby reminded me that I needed to get my license renewed, so I looked up the website listed on the card to figure out where I needed to go.

Today, I got myself all gussied up (meaning I actually put on make-up and fixed my hair all nice and everything) and headed to the local mall. (Just to clarify... the "mall" is more like, as my son would say, "a few stores connected by a giant hallway.") Why the mall? Well, that's where I thought the website told me to go and I remembered seeing a somewhat official looking office the few times I have actually been in this mall. I walked up and down the mall, and did not see anything that said License Bureau or DMV or anything. The "Official" looking place I remembered was a Social Security Office. I didn't think they would renew my license there.

So I stomped (annoyed with myself) back out to my car trying to think of what to do next. I considered calling my hubby at work to have him ask someone, but I never know if I can get a hold of him while he's at work and I really wanted to get this done today. So I pulled out my trusty smart phone and went to Ask.com and searched for where to renew my driver's license in Smaller Town, Minnesota. (No, that is not the real name of the town I live in. I'm just not keen on blabbing on the world wide web exactly where I live.) Huh, there was an actually place in the down town area called a License Bureau. Who knew? Obviously not me. I've lived here for two and a half years and have never seen this place.

So I followed the directions on my GPS and even then had a hard time finding the place. It's in a pretty obscure place.

Anyway. I ended up filling out the paperwork, taking the eye exam (last time I renewed my license I could pass the exam with no glasses...no such luck this time), and paying the fee and smiling pretty (they even let me approve the photo) all in less than ten minutes. I now get to carry a piece of paper around until the hard copy comes in the mail.

I know this isn't the most riveting blog post. It's just a glimpse of how non-riveting my life in Smaller Town, Minnesota is.

(Besides, I have been known to write long blogposts about such exciting subjects as Potato Salad.)

Wind Gusts of 37 MPH

On this Sunday night we are tucked in our warm house as the wind is howling outside. And let me tell you, that wind sure can howl! We are having wind gusts of 37 mph. Now, I know that's no where near what Sandy dished out on the East Coast, but Caesar is making a valid effort. Who is Caesar, you ask? I guess someone somewhere decided that snowstorms needed to be named this year. Maybe someone in the middle of the country has been feeling left out that all those hurricanes and tropical storms get names. Me? I think it's a bit silly. Pretty sure people around here will still call it the Storm of December '12 or whatever... at any rate, the wind sounds wicked. The screens on this house really rattle when the wind gets going.

It's making me relieved that we had a huge tree on the west side of our house taken out this fall. It was this tree:

 These photos are from a couple of summers ago. It had grown even more and was leaning more towards the house.

 Part of it was looking sick. We had an Arborist look at it and he said there were actually two different trees growing together and pushing on each other.

The part on the left was an Elm tree and it had Dutch Elm Disease.

While I'm off on this rabbit trail I'll show you some photos of the guy cutting the tree down. (It's better to think about when it was warmer outside and to get my mind off of Caesar's howling.)

This one guy worked by himself for six or seven hours. He was very methodical in what he did and it was interesting to watch him.

He used a rope to pull the trunks down into the field. He wanted to wait until after the corn was harvested so he had ample room to take the tree down.

 The stump was cut down to ground level. We decided to not pay the extra $400 to have him totally remove it. I bought a crab apple tree to plant in that area. It was super cheap to buy one in mid-October.

Well, that was a nice rabbit trail. Nice to look at those photos and see blue sky. I forget what blue sky looks like here in Minnesota in the winter time.

Since the weather is so yucky today, we didn't go to church this morning. A 45 mile drive in the country just didn't seem like a smart idea. Hubby got out the Christmas decorations and even put up some lights outside. (That was before the wind picked up, of course.) So, the front porch looks a little festive and the Christmas tree is up with lights on it. (The old tree, since the hunt for the perfect replacement goes on...) I'll work on the rest of the decorating as the week goes on.

After 29 Christmases together, we've accumulated quite a few decorations and I'm feeling the need to sort through and pare down. Any one else who has been married a long time go through that?

Wednesday of last week I spent the day in a little bit bigger town that's an hour away finishing up my Christmas shopping. I scored some pretty good finds and ended the day at Olive Garden with my book (The Hobbit), so it was a good day.

Thursday of last week I was furiously working on a project in my sewing room (details later this week) and looked up to see the spool of thread almost empty. That's was not good and the scream that came out of me was evident of my frustration. I was super worried about what to do. I was using a specific color of thread and there is NO place in this town to buy thread. When Hubby got home from work we decided to make a road trip to that little bit bigger town that's an hour away so I could look at a quilt shop or a couple of fabric stores. So off we went...second day in a row for me. I was able to find the thread I needed and enjoyed a dinner out with my hubby. That guy is seriously my hero. He was awesome to drive me 120 miles for a couple of spools of thread.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a very cold day. I think I'll just stay in and work on those decorations and wrapping some presents. Probably will have to dig out the wool socks, too.

Weekend Tidbits

Just a few tidbits to highlight our weekend:::

>>Hubby and I spent the weekend in the Twin Cities and conquered our Christmas shopping.

>>I like doing the bulk of our shopping together. I like that we can talk through ideas and come to some good answers. (I guess the gift recipients will truly say whether we came up with good answers.) I like that Hubby likes to shop along with me.

>>As far as doing shopping for each other goes, we have a good system. Hubby got up early on Saturday and went out shopping for me while I got to sleep in. Win-win! Later that day I dumped him dropped him off at a Panera for a couple of hours while I tackled shopping for him. It was a bit funny trying to hide the packages from each other. I wasn't allowed in the back end of the car and he wasn't allowed to look under the quilt in the back seat.

>>The movie theater in our teeny-tiny town closed last summer. Ugh. Now, in order to see a movie, we have to drive at least and hour to do so. So, while we were in the Cities (that's what all the cool people in Minnesota call the Twin Cities), Hubby and I saw two movies. Saturday night we saw Lincoln. My word for that movie is: SUPERB. It's a long movie, but it really doesn't seem like it. What an impossibly hard period of time to be president. The movie gave me a new respect for Abraham Lincoln. Go see it. The other movie we saw was Skyfall. You know: Bond, James Bond. I always enjoy Bond movies. I'm not crazy about all the shooting and chasing and oh-my-goodness-this-scene-needs-to-over-so-I-can-breathe-again moments, but Bond movies are always good. (That movie experience would have been so much more pleasant if someone from the family sitting next to us hadn't got up and walked in front of us TWELVE times throughout the movie...!)

>>We had sometime to kill before one of those movies, so we wandered in the mall and enjoyed a snack of ice cream. We had just eaten supper, but isn't there always room for ice cream? Especially with a name like:

Yum! Yum!

>>Hubby and I are on the lookout for a new artificial Christmas tree. We'd like one with LED lights and on that doesn't look obviously fake. We are weary of stringing the lights and then not having half of them light up. (And by we I mean hubby, cuz he does all that work.) We looked at a few, but there just doesn't seem to be many pre-lit LED trees, or maybe we don't know where to look. So it's looking like we'll drag out the old one and string up those lights again and hope for the best. Oh, and I am over having a real tree. I love the smell and I love the memories we have of going to a Christmas tree farm with the kids and picking out our favorite, but the falling needles and the watering and the fear of it bursting into flames isn't enough to make me want to continue getting real ones. I bet I could find a scented candle to bring in the fresh Christmas tree smell.

>>We just love being in a big city where we can choose from so many restaurants. Sometimes we even get a smidge overwhelmed with all the choices. Sometimes we try new places, sometimes we go for old favorites.

>>Sunday we were able to meet some dear friends for lunch. Always good to reconnect with them. We met in a place that had a large variety of ethnic foods. I enjoyed some yummy and just-right-spicy Pad Thai.

>>Hubby and I picked out some new drinking glasses at Target. Somehow in the last two years we have managed to break five glasses. (And we don't even have any kids at home doing the dishes we can blame it on!)

>>I am thankful for a wonderful weekend with my sweetheart. He's just a blast to be with.

(Wait, November is over....I don't need to end with the whole "I'm thankful" thing!)
(But it's still a good thing to focus on being thankful!)

Month of Thankfulness - Day 7

A couple of weekends ago our son and his lovely wife came for a visit. I can tell you I was quite excited to have some company and loved planning the meals for the weekend. I tried three or four new recipes. (And they all turned out to be yummy!) One of my son Caleb's favorite meals is my homemade chicken noodle soup and home made biscuits. So, of course, that was our lunch on the Saturday when they were here.

When Caleb was a little boy he would watch me cut out the biscuits and ask me for a piece of the dough scraps.

He still likes the dough scraps:

See how excited he is?

 Here's a collage of him enjoying the meal:

Despite the look on his face in the bottom right photo, he really did like the meal. He's just a goof. A funny goof.

Since they were here on a Friday, Hubby took the whole day off. Well, most of the day. He did go in for one meeting. In the afternoon we went to a historical museum in town here. It was pretty interesting, especially when we stumbled upon this:

This is a photo of my Hubby. Can you see him on the bottom right? I've attempted to blur the rest of the photos to protect the innocent, or something like that. This is a photo of all the Plant Managers. Hubby is the current one. I call this The Plant Manager Hall of Fame. Oooo! (Caleb took the photo of his dad at our daughter's wedding.)

Throughout the weekend we did several things together. We shopped for a plaid flannel shirt for Caleb (what better place than rural Minnesota to find one?) and some cute boots for Amanda. I watched them all play some of our new Wii games. (I didn't play because of my burned fingers. I couldn't really bend them to hold the Wii-mote.) I made them watch a couple of episodes of The Middle I had on the DVR, because it is simply my favorite sit-com. They even laughed. We watched the movie Social Network with them. Quite interesting. I'm glad we recorded it on TV because some of the bad language was edited out.

I am thankful for...
...cool days that are made for homemade chicken noodle soup and biscuits
...my mother-in-law's recipe for biscuits
...the visit with Caleb and Amanda
...laughter with Caleb and Amanda
...my son's hugs