Nashwauk-Keewatin Greenway Titans

Nashwauk-Keewatin has joined with Greenway in a majority of their sports, including wrestling, golf, cross country, hockey, and others I missed. It was announced on the news last night that the vote came down that they will now be the Blue & Green Titans. I expected "Spaders" (Spartans+Raiders), but I didn't vote. The schools themselves are still seperate, but still history in the making...like when Nashwauk-Keewatin joined.

Friday Night Bowling

So date night was spent at the local home, boat, & travel show. Afterwards,a rousing game of bowling. Two exactly. David has his own ball and shoes whilst I use the rent-a-foot-disease shoes and the 20# bowling ball with the too small of holes. Na, it wasn't that bad...my score was, but we had a blast. There were a few families there, so I think they had the lighter balls. So in-between throwing my shoulder out on my rare strikes, I enjoyed watching the kids do better than me. Dave always does better than me, so I can't compete with him. The three year old little girl next to me had a better score. Maybe because she would get excited, spin around, and dance every time she threw the ball. I have never seen a bowling ball travel more slowly than that one. Many times I wondered if it would even make it down to the pins. That's it. Next time I'm going to throw it between my legs at excruciatingly slow speeds, dance and laugh at myself and use the bumper lane. Or drink more alley beer. We'll see. All in all, it was a hoot to people watch and D&I found out that we really need to do this more than just a few times a year.

March 24th First Clothes to Hang Outside

I love to hang my sheets out on the line. Since my Little Girl Lex like to sneak into our room during the day and sleep on our bed, my chocolate brown comforter had little white hairs all over. So I washed the sheets & bedspread and hung them out to dry. Mmmm, one of my favorite scents, back again for another year! 60 degrees outside today! I even downgraded from the 3-season jacket to a sweatshirt when Lexie & I did our 2-mile walk today and opened the windows to get the dull winter air out of the house.

Salad Spinner

I'm generally pretty frugal with what I buy for my house and kitchen. I hate having too much "stuff" that I can't get to and thereby, don't use. One of the best purchases I made recently is a new salad spinner. Sister Kelly had one, so I copied and bought myself one from Walmart for $3. I loved it, especially since I grew leaf lettuce and spinach last year in my garden. It worked great. The only downfall was that the bowl that held the spinner had holes in the bottom (to let the water out). And it always had to be used in the sink. Sister Jen picked a new one up for me. Smaller, but way more efficient. No holes in the bottom, easy to spin with a trigger vs a spinning handle, and it even has a brake. I even like throwing my diced tomatoes in there and giving them a spin before putting them in my salad to get rid of excess moisture and seeds - ewwey! So if I may make a suggestion: if you like to rid of excess moisture on your leaves, berries, or any fruit/veg after washing...buy yourself a salad spinner!

Farmer milks a cow

A farmer was milking his cow. He was just starting to get a good rhythm going when a bug flew into the barn and started circling his head. Suddenly, the bug flew into the cow's ear. The farmer didn't think much about it, until the bug squirted out into his bucket. It went in one ear and out the udder.

Happy (Belated) St. Patty's Day

This is the highlight of my St. Patrick's Day: Corned Beef & Cabbage with potatoes. Since it takes 4 hours to boil, I celebrated the holiday on Saturday, while I spent that 4 hours washing, vacuuming, Windexing, and Armor-alling Dad's van. Yes, it was a perfect day to spend cooking and cleaning. The weather was absolutely beautiful!

Wedding Dress Preservation

When I had my wedding dress cleaned and repaired, I did not have it preserved. Why? Who knows. But after taking up 1/2 a closet in the spare bedroom for the past 3 years, I finally decided to have it preserved. I pulled it out tonight. So many memories in one dress. Are you asking yourself, "did she try it on in vain to see if it still fit?" YOU BET I DID! HAHA
When I put it on at the church, I had 2 other women helping. This time I had to find all the hooks, snaps, and zipper myself. But after some wriggling, twisting, fighting, and holding of the breath (can you picture this drama? especially with sweat pants on underneath), it was on. ZZZIP: all the way to the top. Conclusion: IT STILL FIT. Not as pretty w/o the hair & makeup, but after 3 years, I was pretty damn proud. I'm satisfied. Now to have it boxed up for 20 years for the next person to take this mound of tulle, satin, and pink flowers and get into it. Hope this story put a smile on your face at my Monday night antics. (This is what I do when my Dearly Beloved is changing oil in the garage.)

March- in Like a Lamb

March 10th and 55 degrees outside! Can you believe it? It actually rained last night. Nice to clean up the roads a little and get the salt off of them. Let's pray that it keeps up. Lexie likes it a lot better and our walks are a lot more pleasant than -20! Keep it comin', Lord!

Happy Birthday Blog

I have had my blog now for 1 year. In that time, we've laughed, we've complained, we've shared. :) Thank you to both of you who read my blog (LOL). 182 blogs.
As long as I'm here I may as well do a book review: Cesar Millan's book about dog psychology. If you own a dog, BUY THIS BOOK! I didn't say if you have a problem dog. No...if you have a dog buy this book! He talks about what your dog needs from you. #1 exercise, #2 discipline, #3 then affection. On his show The Dog Whisperer, he is able to even get the "Red Zone" dogs to be calm. Your dog should never walk ahead of you on a leash - that means he's the pack leader. They should never win at tug-o-war. They should pee/poop when you let them. It all comes down to you being Calm-Assertive and the dog being Calm-Submissive. Check out this website for video examples. I highly recommend this book to any dog-owner! Happy reading!
http://podcast.nationalgeographic.com/dog-whisperer/

Wal-Mart Begins Charging for Plastic Grocery Bags in California

Is this a good idea? That is, charge for the temporary storage containers that house goods customers just bought? Wal-Mart apparently wants to force customers to become eco-friendly, although any customer -- after paying 15 cents for a reusable, washable bag -- can throw them away. Want a larger shopping bag? 50 cents, please.

I was told by the cashier @ our local Wal-Mart that they will be starting this soon as well. For the most part I bring my own bag, but when you forget it at home, you're stuck. What will they come up with next, taxing us carbon dioxide that we exhale? Huh.

Date Night

Went out to Brickyard for dinner. Arg. Skunked...again. It being Lent and Friday, I couldn't eat meat (or fish, obviously), so I ask for the veggie burger. Now veggie burgers are nothing compared to a juicy, red meat burger, but with enough veg and condiments, it's good. What do I get? I get sauteed broc/caulif/mushrooms/sweet bell peppers SMOTHERED in cheese and plopped onto a bun. Now...I was thinking soy of tofu boca burger. I tried to eat 1/2 of it and asked the waitress to take it away & bring me the menu so that I could re-read what I ordered. "On the lighter side: Garden burger on kaiser bun, served w/ steamed veggies, cottage cheese or side salad." She said that someone else complained yesterday that it was wrong. Well...hello then! Run to the nearest grocery store and buy the right ones out of any freezer. Why would it be labeled "on the lighter side" and completely smothered with cheese...and served with another side of veg? On top of it, the waitress tried to take DB's plate before he was done, we had different servers bringing us each course, and had to call the girl back over for refills and the bill. I'm calling it a night and cuddling up with the Dog Whisperer to try to maintain my crazy dog. Good night.

Daily Affirmations

Do you ever come upon a quote or a prayer that just makes you take a deep breath and say, "Thank you Lord. I needed that."? Beautiful quotes that I forgot to jot down previously:
02/15/2010 Lord Jesus, teach me to see my problems as possibilities. Make my life a grand adventure. With your leadership each tomorrow holds many wonderful opportunities. Thank you God. Amen
03/03/2010 My heart is joyful because I can sing a new song today. You came to me in my hour of need. You mended my broken life. Thank you Lord Jesus. Hallelujah.