HAHA!

When all else fails, make a fool of the husband!

I love you, Honey.

Off to walk Maggie and then get ready for the Mallards Game and Rythm and Booms tonight :)

One Fabulous Day; One Fabulous Dinner

Did I say I wanted to cook ALOT this summer, all kinds of NEW recipes? No, I did not, but I'm now adding this task to my "to do list." Yesterday Becky, Katie and I decided that TODAY we are going up to Devil's Lake to do a little hiking, a little swimming, a little grilling out and LOTS OF EATING. We pre-planned our adventure yesterday by 1) each of us choosing a side dish off the internet to prepare, 2) going to Woodman's and getting all the ingredients and, 3) preparing the recipe! Then I will pre-cook brats at home and brown them on the grill up at the park (if the park hasn't issued a "no grilling ban"--I mean, what the heck, I didn't know they had bans like that. Just because it's a little dry out there Mr./Ms. Park Rangers that doesn't mean you have to take away all our fun--but I digress..)

Katie prepared Ramen Coleslaw (also known as Oriental Salad) and low-fat Double Chocolate Brownies (from scratch and made with applesauce!). She doubled the recipe, made two pans of brownies and took one pan to her nighttime practice of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Becky made Chicago Macaroni Salad (see the irony in this? Katie picked it out--haha!). I made Cold Cucumber Salad, Garden Bean Salad and Paula's Mozarella and Tomato Salad (using FRESH basil from my herb garden)

[future post, future post--my herb garden]


We decided that since there was SO MUCH FOOD we would eat the salads with hamburgers yesterday and brats today (oh why not, it is summer!).

Our FABULOUS DINNER with the co-cooks, Be-cay and Ka-TEE!

Yes, and me, in the mirror taking the pic-tah haha!

I don't know what was more fun--preparing the side dishes or eating them!

Well at any rate we get to eat them all over again TODAY!

Off to walk Maggie...

My New Favorite OPI Nail Polish

I woke up with a headache this morning--no I didn't have a drop of alcohol yesterday. How can you WAKE UP with a headache? Okay maybe I overdid it a little with the working out yesterday. I decided to do a me day and it ended up probably being too much working out??? I walked Maggie around the subdivision, then I walked quickly around Pheasant Branch (5 miles) then I went to an hour of Bodypump. All this after my hiatus of a week from all forms of exercise. Maybe coffee will help...

BUT yesterday I did discover a new shade of OPI nailpolish. It's called I Eat Mainely Lobster. I chose it because it is a light shade of orange, it is sparkly and it reminds me of Katie's Rhode Island trip.

"Luminous Coral" is how one reviewer called it.

This shade is from the Touring America Collection.

I LOVE IT!

So I did my toenails while watching Downton Abbey Season 2 with Becky. The second season is even better than the first, but I wish Matthew and First Daughter (name-??) would get their act together and GET TOGETHER!

I think my toes turned out rather nicely!

PS the coffee seems to be working....off to walk Maggie!

Bayfield, Lake Superior Area

Jim and I had a marvelous time in Bayfield and the Lake Superior Region. The first day we got there it warmed up to NINETY degrees. It was only supposed to be 66 degrees. We saw kids swimming in Lake Superior! We ate dinner at a "rustic" cabin. Hamburgers and french fries--yummy!

Everything was "northerny" up there!

The second day of our adventure it rained and rained and rained. Apparently they had the most rain in one hundred years! So we decided to forgo the ferry and the planned hike through the national forest on Madeline Island. Instead we went to the Great Northern Maritime Museum.

We spent HOURS learning about local logging, Native Americans still living in the area, and fishing.

Our third day wasn't any better with the rain. Steve at our B & B told us that there were numerous flash flood warnings in the area and in Duluth, Michigan. So we decided to go shopping at the local craft and gift shops. I bought two lawn ornaments for the front yard. We discovered a micro-brewery in Ashland, a neighboring town.

Our B & B was WONDERFUL. Steve and Nancy, the proprietors were welcoming and gracious. Nancy made the most delightful breakfasts--French toast, egg fritatta, muffins, corn bread and always always fresh fruit! We had a beautiful quaint room.

It's it cozy and relaxing? I loved the REAL plants that were in the room!

We are definitely coming back next year because we still need to go to Madeline Island and the trails that an older couple recommended. Also we want to see the mansion on the water another couple suggested seeing...

Jim liked the Pinehurst Inn too!

Our Trip to Bayfield

Well we're almost packed up and ready to go up to Bayfield for the next couple of days. I found a cute little Bed and Breakfast for Jim and I to stay in called The Pinehurst Inn. It's our first time B & Bing it! It looks delightful and the breakfast looks amazing!!

Can't wait to get there!!

Katie's Providence Trip

This is where Katie will be staying for the next week. It is the "cottage" of a classmate--Julia--and has been in her family for over ONE HUNDRED years. It has an official name - Spray Rock Cottage - and an unoffical name - "The Anthill." To me it looks like the setting of a Stephen King novel or one of those sappy love stories. I wonder if it has ghosts?? But I digress. Katie will be taking the Amtrak today with four of her friends. They will go to Washingtion DC where they have time to see the Capitol, the George Washington Monument and The Mall. Then they proceed to Providence, Rhode Island where Julia's parents will pick them up and take them to this BEAUTIFUL and VERY COOL cottage. I love the wooden shingles!

Did I mention it's ON THE OCEAN?

This is the view from the 3rd floor window looking south-southwest over Long Island Sound.

Katie is going to have SO MUCH FUN--a week staying in a cottage on the ocean--what a lucky duck!

Viterbo University Orientation

Katie and I went to Viterbo's Orientation for incoming Freshman on Friday. We stayed in historical downtown LaCrosse at the Courtyard Marriott on the Mississippi River.

The view outside our second floor window - sort of - there actually was a big orange lift outside our window because the hotel is undergoing major renovation. Oh well, it will be complete for when Jim and I come for Parents Weekend October 13th!

When Katie and I were packing on Thursday morning I kept saying, "bring your swimming suit so we can sit in the hot tub and go swimming." Unfortunately I forgot mine - oops - which led to fortunately buying a NEW Ralph Lauren bandeau style one piece for me in a cool paisley print -- YAY!! Yes we discovered the TJ Maxx in LaCrosse and it is every bit non-picked over - thank you very much Georgia!!

On Friday - actual orientation day - they did some splitting of us up, which Katie and I did not appreciate. That led to awkwardness among people we didn't know. Katie and I actually bowed out of the provided lunch (we would have had to have eaten separately - her with the kids, me with the adults) and ran to Subway instead. Yes, we were BAD! But we got to pick up the two hand soaps I left at TJ Maxx the day before. Finally in the afternoon Katie got to sign up for classes. Janet McLean (director of the program had written suggestions and smiley faces on the sheet for Katie to follow). Among her suggestions were voice lessons (which she has to get special permission to do so from the faculty) and dance lessons. It's as if Janet read Jim and my minds! We wanted Katie to get these skills. And when the advisor said, "I think we'll wait on math for you first semester--is that okay?" She didn't hesitate to respond, "YES!" Her other classes beside Voice and Dance, will be Text Analysis, Makeup, and Acting I. Needless to say she is SO EXCITED! Hey the speakers even said the kids should find something to do with their lives that they are INTERESTED IN and HAVE A PASSION FOR~!

Viterbo is such a pretty campus!

My NEW Car

We picked up our new car yesterday--but I'll be the main driver of it--heehee. I think we did something fun and sporty and SMART. It's a red VW Jetta with a diesel engine. Therefore it gets FORTY miles to the gallon!! It has a sunroof, black leather interior and the coolest of the COOLEST stereo system. Wait, stop, they don't call it a stereo system anymore it is a MEDIA SYSTEM. There is a hookup in the glove box (I'm surprised it's still called that--who wear's gloves these days--haha!) for our new Nano (thanks Becky!), Sirius Radio for six months free, a six CD player, and the most amazing radio. VERY COOL! Katie wants to drive it just for the radio (there's a BROADWAY channel on Sirius and a FRENCH channel she has already found).

HELLO SWEETY!

And now I must say goodby to you my friend of four years. You have served us well, especially me. You have been reliable and responsible and FUN. May you go off and find another family and serve them the best you can...

Fare thee well Ye Ford Explorer!

Jim's BIG Machine

Yesterday was a fantastico day, an exhausting day and a bummer of a day. Let me explain...In front of our house there is an archway with stained shingles. When we built our house six years ago the wood siding was prepainted but our painter said we should add another coat of stain once it was put on the house. We did this but did not restain the archway. SO...seven years later the archway shingles have started to turn grayish-black. To hire someone to restain it would cost a FORTUNE so my enterprising husband called around and found a lift machine that resembles something from a moon expedition that he could rent to do the project himself.

Doesn't it look like a carnival ride?

It took Jim TEN hours to paint that little archway which turned out to be NOT SO LITTLE. He kept having to add more and more stain to the individual shingles because they soaked up the stain at an alarming rate.

The best part of the project were the neighbors' stares. One woman actually stopped her car and looked. As if a homeowner could actually do a project of this magnitude himself! But that's my husband--AMAZING!

Meanwhile...Katie and I ventured up to Devil's Lake to do us some heavy rock climbing. I seriously don't know why these trails are open to the general public. They're steep and dangerous and well...exhausting.

The trails look like this!

We came home to Jim finishing up the painting job and started to warm up the veggie whole grain pasta dish we made yesterday in the microwave but the micro started to vibrate and made a horrible groaning sound. I pushed the off button. Nothing happened. I opened the door. Nothing happened. Finally I reached up into the overhead cabinet and pulled the plug. Finally the micro came to a stop and I declared it BROKEN. Geeessshhh one more thing to replace! Katie and I stared at the microwavable bowl of pasta and for a moment actually wondered how we were going to heat up our dinner. Then I told her--in the olden days we warmed things up in a pot on the stove. She actually asked--you can do that!

Summer Reading List

I know I've been away for a couple of days and that's because I've been working on one of my summer goals: read lots of good books! You see about a week ago I took Entertainment Weekly's,  "BOOKS YOUR SUMMER MUST LIST" article and ordered all of them from our local library. I had a plan. Most of the books on the list were new and bestsellers with wait lists of up to 60 people. I thought the books would come in slowly over the next several weeks...but no...five of them came in at once. So I took the one recommended big time from our librarian--Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close and began reading it. And reading it. And reading it. (Hey I'm on a time crunch five books in four weeks!). It's a wickedly funny book about three young women grappling with heartbreak, career changes and the many weddings of their friends that they've been attending. I wouldn't say it's the deepest book I've ever read, if you know what I mean, but it's a quick, enjoyable, easy read.

If you notice, my favorite author in the world--Alice Hoffman has a new book that is on that pile of books. I'm saving that one. I always savor her books! But there is an interesting one called REAmDe by Neal Stephenson that looks really interesting. It's supposed to be an action packed thriller in which a techie guy gets caught in an online war game. We'll see!

Off to read...on the deck....ahhh summer!

The Great Dollar Bill

Five months ago--right after Christmas--HAHA--my husband and I cut up our credit cards. Yes, it was painful. Yes I didn't think we'd survive, but we did. We found ourselves actually BUDGETING for upcoming events, nuances and expenses. We also found ourselves NOT BUYING things we didn't need and holding out on BUYING things until payday. (What a great concept, right?) Yes, like millions of people, in the past, we found ourselves "charging it" way more than we could cover.

Now we are taking our financial life one step further. We are actually using CASH to pay for things. We found that debit cards could be just as dangerous as credit cards, especially if you have that "override" button that can be used. So now I actually get CASH from a an ATM machine or following a grocery store purchase. This way it is easier to keep track of how much I spend.

The funny thing is, I don't think people are used to cash and making change! I took in $135.00 dollars cash to my gym to add Katie to my membership for the summer so she could work out and we could both use the pool. I brought in a $50.00 bill, a couple of twenties and a ten. The person working the counter had the hardest time adding up the currency. And then I had to tell him the change to give back to me--$5.00. I have the same trouble when I take cash in to get my hair cut and colored every seven-eight weeks. It's like the world has stopped thinking when it comes to cold cash!!

In the process my husband, kids and I have found that using cash allows us to CONTROL what goes out of our wallets so much more. It makes us think and plan for every purchase. It makes us realize sometimes we just don't need another shirt, or perhaps we could eat the leftovers up in the fridge and pantry. We've also been able to SAVE MORE MONEY for things we know are coming up down the road...weddings, retirement, etc.

Perhaps we're on the forefront of a new movement the BACK TO CASH craze.
I don't know. I  just know it seems to be working for us!

My Summer Wreath

Well I finally finished the summer wreath I wanted to make and actually put it up on the big nail beside the door outside the house. I think it turned out marvelously...I asked Katie's opinion and she said to add the periwinkle flowers and the smaller white ones. I think those two additions really made all the colors of the wreath POP. It was fun to create something from scratch and very economical too...I had a 40% off coupon from Michaels for the giant grapevine wreath and every stem of flowers (Ashland) was 50% off.

Now when sitting on the front porch I can enjoy the beauty of my wreath!

It's Over!

YAY, IT'S OVER! All the yelling, screaming, decimation of our capital, belittling of people. I'm ready for all the anger, the nastiness, the downright un-Christianess to be done (and still it appears on Facebook--HAHA!). Honestly, some peoples' true character has been revealed and it's as ugly and smelly as my dog's doo doo! THE SILENT MAJORITY RULES. It's funy how those with CHARACTER, DIGNITY, and MORALITY are ALWAYS, ALWAYS the ones to PREVAIL.
Fifteen months of fighting has just gotten us back to the place where we started. No. Wait. We're 65 million dollars in the hole from this recall...Just think where that money could have gone to EDUCATE our children!

This just says it all, doesn't it?

But it's over. Time to move on and be HAPPY!

Pheasant Branch

I woke up this morning to a luminous full moon right outside the sliding glass doors. It reminded me of why I get up so darn early--to catch moments like that! I wake up everyday between 4:30 and 5 am. I don't know if it's due to habit (all those years of getting up before Becky and Katie so I can grab a cup of coffee, read the news, write in my journal, [now my blog] and just simply wake up) or pre-menopause or just my body's schedule. Maybe it runs in the family. My dad (God rest his soul) used to be the first one to rise when I was growing up in the ranch home in Muskego. He used to get the coffee going then head out for a jog down hilly Crowbar Road. Anyway it's my favorite time of the day--DAWN. I sit on the couch with my laptop and can look out the front window and slowly take in the bands of red, pink and purple that turn into a sunrise. Summer's the best-- the sun rises before 5 am! I drink a cup of coffee, then I too head out, not for a daily jog but for a daily walk through Pheasant Branch Conservancy.

It's an amazing place filled with birds and deer and coyotes. There are wildflowers and lots of prairie and a five mile trail that runs through the middle.

I take my dog, Maggie. We've been going on a long morning walk everyday since she was nine months old (she turns TEN on July 2nd of this year). For me the walk is exercise. For her it is a scavenger hunt! She looks for dog poo, discarded kleenex, small tree branches, even used wipes (I know disgusting-right?) then gobbles them up. Over the years I've gotten so angry at this behavior, but lately I'm reconciled to the facts--she's a dog, a retriever, that's what animals do and it brings her great joy.

Well, Let's getter and GET, as my father would say, before we headed out of the house to go somewhere.

BIRTHDAY--oh just stop!

Yesterday my neighbor friends--Nanci and Anne--and I, went to Sofra for breakfast and to celebrate my birthday (I know--birthday--not again--haha!) We honor each others birthdays with a breakfast or lunch or dinner out. We also planned our walking for the summer. We will be doing our daily walks around Pheasant Branch but will be incorporating something new this year....once a week will be walking, in the early evening, to a neighborhood watering hole for a cocktail...why did it take until 50 to come up with THIS FUN...and then walk back home again. We all said we moved into our subdivision because of the easy access, via walking, to all the city treasures.

Tommy Awards tonight......

CONGRATULATIONS to the CAST, CREW, PRODUCTION STAFF and PARENTS  of  WEST SIDE STORY for receiving their BEST MUSICAL award!! WE ALL ROCK!!



Fifty Thank Yous!

The best part of yesterday was the phonecall from Becky from ROME and Katie's Spa Gift.

Apparently Loyola University (in Rome) gave Becky a calling card the first day she was there to call home.....well she planned and saved the minutes to call me on my FIFTIETH birthday....what a gift! It was so good to hear her voice and know she was doing okay and having fun. THANK YOU, BECKY!

Isn't Rome beautiful?

Katie asked Mr. McKinley (her vocal teacher at Edgewood) what she should get me for my FIFTIETH birthday. [Mr. McKinley is such a DEAR man.] He told her he knew of a place that pampers women--Kneaded Relief in Fitchburg. She got me a gift certificate out of her own birthday/graduation money!

Even after how busy she was with graduation, the tableau, practicing piano for state solo ensemble, final exams, homework, keeping up with friends, she took the time to go to this salon and and get me a gift certificate. She went with her friends--Jules and Niall--because she didn't exactly know where the place was. I can just see the three of them checking out the place. Buying me a present--little ole me! And when will I use this FABULOUS gift certificate? I will use it OPENING NIGHT of The 25th Putnam County Spelling Bee. But of course--to look FABULOUS myself and pay tribute to the daughter I love, respect and admire!! Pedicure and manicure--yah, Baby!