Turkey Day

It's not even necessary to write about Thanksgiving this year - These are just some of the pics of the blessings in my life that I am so very grateful for.

Now You See Him, Now You Don't!

As soon as he's home from college for Thanksgiving, we're saying "good-bye" to him before we know it - Yes, it's time for Kyle to go back to G. Forks but saying "good-bye" for me is always hard. As you can see, he had some time to relax this trip and spent much of it adoring his dogfriend, Buddy. By the way, what crazy nut lets their dog UNDER their covers with them. You got it, Kyle does! Anyway, it was nice to have him back home, even if it was just for a couple days. He'll be back in another couple weeks for his Xmas holiday and we'll have him here for a longer period of time.

By the way, thanks Ky for all your help around the house - doing laundry, folding clothes, running errands, emptying/filling the dishwasher and on and on - I always appreciate the help you give us - Hope the homemade chicken fettuccine makes up for it!

Waitin For My Bro'

Buddy is simply giddy with joy and glee (his latest favorite statement)that his bro, Kyle, is coming home soon to see him.

He's waitin at the door for him to walk in and although we don't know for sure when he'll be here, Buddy knows it will be soon. Buddy believes that no one else quite understands and worships him like Kyle does and he's in need of a heavy dose of some bro time when Ky gets back home. Apparently, the rest of us just simply don't "get" how fabulous Buddy is! Oh my!

ANOTHER Pleasant Surprise!

I had made a big batch of homemade spaghetti sauce on Sunday and decided that I would also make homemade popovers to go with it - This was a recipe I got from a girlfriend as I usually just buy store sauce and don't take the time to make it from scratch. Today tho, I felt like cooking and had simmered it for hours on the stove - the house smelled so good.

While waiting for the sauce to get done, I called Carrie to ask her a question. Turns out she was taking a cat nap so I talked to Kasey and Kylie for a couple minutes. I told Kasey I was making spaghetti when she asked me what I was doing. End of that part of our conversation.

Sometime later after talking to the kids, I put the popovers into the oven - Popovers take 45 minutes to cook and are the best when right out of the oven. Just 15 minutes into the popovers cooking, Carrie called back and said that Kasey had told her that I had invited them over for spaghetti dinner. It turns out that she and the kids were in the car as they were dropping Jonathan off at the Excel Center to see a Wild Game and they could be at the house approximately 15 minutes later - While I hadn't planned on guests, I certainly had more than enough and I told her they were welcome to come but they had to be there "pronto" to enjoy the hot popovers.

With 1 minute and 56 seconds on the timer, the 4 of them walked in and we had a nice dinner together - Grandpa hadn't seen the girls for awhile and thoroughly enjoyed seeing them even if it was for just an hour or so - As quick as they came, they left for baths and bedtime but it was another very pleasant surprise to have dinner with my other daughter after having the same delightful surprise with Lisa and family the night before.

I will be hitting the "TRIFECTA" this week as my other long lost child, Kyle, will be coming home from college for Thanksgiving with his girlfriend, Jessica (my 4th child whom I love) which will be another great time. I miss them both very much!

Food and family have always been a big part of our lives (thanks to my mom) and I can't help but wonder if she didn't play a part in orchestrating these surprise dinners this weekend, much to my delight! Thanks Mom!

Getting Rid of Stuff And a Very Nice Surprise!

Bill decided this weekend that the garage needed cleaning out so he's been hard at it. One of the things we discovered is that we had "tons" of camping gear - Before we bought our lake place, we did some camping and were extremely well equipped. Now that we have "an up north place", it's not likely we'll be going on anymore camping trips. Bill said to call the kids and see if anyone wanted "the stuff". My first call was to Lisa, not really sure she would want it although I know that Jon has said he'd like to camp. I was surprised and very pleased when she said "yes, Jon would love it" so Bill set it aside and I said it would be great if they could come sometime this weekend and claim it.

After some de-cluttering in the garage and in the house, we decided we would go out for dinner and just before we were ready to leave, Lisa called and said they were on their way out - This was just several hours later so I now knew they were real excited about getting the camping gear. They wouldn't be staying long as they were still needing to eat dinner too and were going to their favorite restaurant "El Loro" in Eagan for dinner.

We packed everything into their car and decided, while mexican food isn't Bill's first choice, that we'd try out the place with them and have a nice dinner together. It isn't very often we get to spend time with them as we're out of town alot and their on the "go" but we had a great dinner, spent some time catching up, totally enjoyed the food and the company and got some extra room in the garage. Thanks guys - we had a great time!

Sick-Abed-Two-Chairs

I've been down for the last week with a bad cold my husband gave me. Since I was a little girl, about once a year, I get a bad cold with a lingering dry cough that takes weeks to go away and literally banishes me to the couch so that I don't keep Bill up. Having asthma doesn't help things either. That's been my story all this week. I missed a day of work and slept over 12 hours on Monday night but laying low has been good.

While sick though I've remembered something my dad says with some regularity. First of all, whenever I call him, the first thing I say when he answers the phone is "what are you doing" and the first thing he says back is "talking on the phone". This is the normal exchange for us both and has been probably since mom died in 2000. Sometimes I'll ask "how are you feeling?" Just a general question or maybe because I know he had been sick with a cold, etc. The "pat" answer is always "I'm sick abed two chairs" - While I've always suspected that means something relating to illness, I've never asked so today I decided to google the phrase and learned that it's part of an old song called "On Top of Fool's Hill" with the first verse going like this:

Sick-abed-two chairs Grandma said,
I think it's settlin' in my chest,
A terrible cold, the girl's out of control,
I can never get a minute's rest.

The other thing I learned about the phrase is that the expression was used as a "tongue in cheek" response to questions about one's health or to imply that someone is pretending to be ill or is slightly unwell. Apparently, it has a midwestern origin (specifically North Dakota - which is where Dad was raised) and the idea would seem to be that you were slightly out of sorts, not enough to make you take to your bed but enough to make you want to sit in a chair with your feet up on another, or to sit close enough to the fire that your feet could, figuratively, rest on the box of logs. Interesting huh?

Anyway, I was "sick abed two chairs" this week but now am feeling better.

Man on A Mission

Despite not feeling well, Bill is very "list" oriented and wanted to get some outside work done before the snow hits up north - He loves his John Deere tractor and uses it often to get things done around the yard - He also loves a good cigar and often will combine them all together. When I see him out in the yard, despite what he may say, I know he's having the time of his life, riding his tractor, smoking his cigar and buttoning up the place before the cold weather arrives. Job well done, honey!

Diamonds in the Lake

Today was one of those mornings when the sun was shining on the lake in such a way, that it was dazzling. I told Bill that we had diamonds in our lake - He knows I'm a nut but just shook his head and said, "Yes honey, we sure do have diamonds on our lake" - I love how he puts up with me!

Just Be, Bill!

It wasn't too difficult to convince Bill to "just be" this weekend either as he had a bad cold and was needing extra sleep and rest. Both he and Buddy did a good job of catching up on both sleep and rest and I'm happy to report he's doing much better. Besides, I got a chance to spoil him a little bit too as now that all the kids are gone, I really don't have anyone to fuss over - He isn't the kind of guy who needs alot of fussing but this weekend he had warm soup, blankets right out of the dryer, some liquid vitamin concoction and alot of TLC. I'm happy to say he has made quite the recovery.

One of My Very Favorite Places to Be

This morning (Sunday) my husband spoiled me by bringing a hot cup of coffee in to me after I woke up - I propped myself up in bed and just lay under the warm covers sipping coffee, looking out at the lake, and having "coffee talk" with Bill. We were alone this weekend at the lake with the pooch and this is frequently a place we spend some time together in just talking. He had some work to finish up and I decided that I would move to his chair in our bedroom, cover myself up with a warm blanket, turn on the fireplace and just read while sipping my morning coffee. Ahhhhh, the simple things in life - It was one of those things that I often talk about doing but it seems there is always so much to do when we're there that we don't always just take the time to "be" - Today, was my day and I loved every minute of it.

Kettlebells

These are Russian Kettlebells-Kettlebells ARE our "friends" - The bell on the left weighs around 26 lbs and the one on the right weighs about 18 lbs. Kettlebells is a several hundred year old form of Russian weightlifting that seems to becoming more popular of late in gyms and clubs across the country. Several very dear friends of mine called me one day on my day off and said to bring comfortable clothes the following Monday as we were going to take a kettlebells class our our lunch hour. All I knew is that it was a form of weights and that they told me to do it. I'm especially compliant with these two friends and pretty much do what they tell me to do. We get along much better that way :) Anyway, off to Kettlebells class it was which was approximately 6 weeks ago now. It is my kind of exercise - very intense, very challenging and very efficient. Our threesome has now expanded to include three other co-workers and I also turned our female City Attorney onto it and she started her first class downtown just yesterday. I'm exhausted after throwing these things around and our instructor challenges us to to things with these weights that we never though we could have done. I absolutely love it and have told Bill there is no negotiating about whether I continue to take these classes - He is extremely supportive about it and knows that I'm "hooked" - I'm sleeping better, I feel stronger and I have no more aches and pains that seem to creep in when you get alittle older. After meniscus surgery on each knee, my knees are stronger and in better shape than ever before. In just 6 short weeks, I've lost 8 pounds and shed a total of 8 inches off of my waist, hips and thighs. Thank goodness for kettlebells and for my friend, Lynnette.

Girl Weekends at the Lake

I love my two friends, Lynnette and Cheryl - love them so very much and so every once in a while, we escape to the lake to just hang out and be girls. The last weekend we went, we did alittle scrapping, watched a couple great movies, did some kettlebelling and sharing info here and there that we hadn't shared before - I didn't even get out of my pj's one entire day and had the most fun just talking, laughing, having some wine and staying up late. Just like when I was a young girl, except for the wine part. I guess it doesn't matter what age you are as long as you're with people you love and are having fun. Life really is just one slumber party after another when I with these two gals - We'll do it again soon!

My Mystery Date

In late summer, Bill and I started going on "mystery dates" - The premise of a mystery date is that one spouse plans something fun one month and the following month the other spouse is in charge of the planning.

Now I have a "life list" which is a list of some of the things I want to do before I leave this world (hopefully not for a long time) but one of the items on my life list was to kiss my husband on the Stone Arch Bridge - Don't ask me why, I just wanted to.

Bill was in charge of our first mystery date and he ended up surprising me by taking me to the Stone Arch Bridge where I asked a stranger to take our picture kissing (which was very nice- the kiss, not the pic) and then he took me to a lovely restaurant called the Stone Arch Grill for a very romantic dinner.

The following month, it was my turn and so for my mystery date, I took him to a Minnesota Twins game (yes, they won) and out for dinner at JD Hoyts downtown.

In September, for our mystery date, I took Bill golfing in New Richmond, Wisc. (with friends) and to Stillwater for a nice summer dinner. Again, things he (and I) love to do.

The most recent mystery date was a concert - Now, I thought the only musicians I would ever be interested in seeing were Paul McCartney and Barbara Streisand - I've been lucky enough to have great seats to see them both and thought that was that. I recently heard a couple of Tony Bennett songs that I liked and decided that someday, because he's such a legend, it would be cool to hear him perform in person. This was also an item on my "life list" - You can imagine how thrilled I was when Bill's mystery date for me in October was to see Tony Bennett in concert at Mystic Lake. We were in the 7th row from the front, center stage and he was incredible. At 81 years old, he sang as if he was much younger and for someone that age, was quite cute. I tend to go for the men with the salt and pepper hair although Tony can't beat another handsome man in my life no matter what he looks like or how he sings. We had a nice dinner, did alittle gambling and had a great time.

Now, November is my month for a mystery date so I've got to get my thinking hat on and get something planned that Bill will like. I'll keep you posted.

I'm Lazy, Huh?

According to Carrie, I'm lazy because I haven't blogged for awhile - I didn't blog because nothing much was going on, but she says I should have blogged whatever - SOOOOOO, this is for Carrie. Today, I boiled two eggs and as you can see they didn't seem to mind!

Where Have I Been, You Say?

Just busy, busy, busy - not exactly sure doing what but between work and home lately, there hasn't been alot of time - probably also because there hasn't been any significant events to report so didn't want to bore the tears out of anyone.