Friday, February 28, 2014

Long Live The King

Nothing was going to spoil this day. Not the record lows this morning that eventually warmed up just enough to give us 3-5 inches of snow for the commute home. And not that lovely slippery, low visibility drive.

Today was Opening Day for the King Cone season and nothing was going to mar its marvelous-ness.

Despite the treacherous roads, I made it there for a post-work stop.


The small cup of Caramel Cashew Whirlpool was worth it! (Like I would doubt it.)

In fact, it carried me through our sad evening of basketball playoff action where our boys lost to the undefeated Port Edwards team by less than 10 points. Packed house. Lots of excitement. And some tears in the end.

Carter was working tonight so he missed the game. We got him home and enjoyed a few hours of adult fun at the home of some friends. Now I am just waiting for my blanket to warm up. Between the record lows, the wind and new snow and yes, the ice cream too, it may take a while to feel the heat.

King Cone still rules, though. And it's worth the sacrifice.

Won't you join me next time?


Thursday, February 27, 2014

High Five

Oh, you meant it was a high of five degrees today? I was hoping you wanted a high five!

Believe me, the first day it is above freezing, I'll be high-five-ing everybody. Whether they want it or not. By then, hopefully in the next month sometime, we may all be hugging each other out of pure desperation turned jubilation!

OK, enough about the weather. I won't mention the fact it was 60-some degrees warmer in Vegas than here. I will not begrudge hubby his time there since I know he has few available moments to enjoy the warmth. And know that I will be there in 3 weeks and I, too, will see little of the outside of the hotel and convention center except on the way to and from the airport.

Still, if I could squeeze in an hour at the pool... I would be the only one since 70 degrees is too cool for most folks. That's 82 degrees warmer than here -- right now. Sounds HOT, doesn't it??

I do have a legitimate reason for high fives tonight. We just had our wrap-up meeting for Empty Bowls, which raised more than $3,300 to give to anti-hunger causes in the South Wood County area. Great work, team! Feel so blessed to have been a part of it -- long meetings and all. We're definitely encouraged for more growth next year.

And I am, of course, reminded that while I am selfishly complaining about the cold, many are suffering from hunger AND the cold.

My belly's full. My mattress pad is on. I've got it good.

Thanks be to God.


Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Location, Location, Location

What's one of the keys to a successful business? Location, location, location. What's one of the keys to my happiness? Location, location, location.

Take this morning's location showdown, for instance:

Jim + Vegas + 60 degrees + Local Pollen Alert VS. Robyn + Rapids + minus 6 degrees + Wind Chill Advisory.

Hubby wins this round! And based on our forecast here, he'll win the next two while he works the Strip. I mean works a trade show for work near the Strip. Either way, it sounds way better than this high of 3 degrees and low of -22 business.

I did not venture too far from home today. It was sa cheduled home office day and that was a pleasure. And not necessarily because it was the first time I'd had the house to myself for a day since Jim started his new job months ago. Though that wasn't so bad.

Kitty took naps in the sunshine and I holed up in my office with the heater at my feet, letting the ultra-bright sunshine in while listening to the wind howl. Got Carter after school and got a few groceries. Made him BBQ ribs and cheesy mashed potatoes for supper. Trust me, it was very simple or you know this undomestic goddess would not tackle it.

Now he's in homework land, hubby is probably eating a fantastic meal in the desert heat (hey 50 degrees is heat to me), and I just might catch up some American Idol or, gasp, actually start a book. That hasn't happened in awhile.

Or maybe I'll do something sassy and you'll have to punish me. Here's an idea...

I can start any time.

Please.






Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Sa-weeeet!

You know what's sweet? Sugar!! And other things...

Like winning the first round of playoffs for boys basketball! Carter played Pep Band tonight and hubby and I went to watch him and the game, of course. For this first regional matchup we played Northland Lutheran. I'm always torn when we play the Lutherans.

Not really. But is sounds virtuous to support my denomination, right?

I cheered for our Royals as always -- and they needed it to pull away for the victory. Which they did, big time! Now it's off to Round 2 on Friday night. Haven't heard who our opponent will be. (By the way, our girls claimed the conference championship over the weekend, so it's a fun time to be a Royals fan.)

You know what else is sweet? Mint chocolate!


I had to pen a Dear John letter today...

Dear Shamrock Shake: Sorry, but you've been replaced in my heart (and tummy) by the Arby's Mint Chocolate Swirl Shake this year. No hard feelings, right?

They are soooo good. And they really need a label that says: "Enjoy in Moderation." (Not that I would necessarily listen.)

You know what else is sweet? Sugar! (And I mean it this time).

Occasionally, when people want to get rid of extra food (like Halloween candy) they set it on the tables in the breakroom at work. Today, I just could not walk by when I spotted an old childhood favorite.

Pixie Stix!!!

I was joking that I could give up caffeine and just replace it with a sugar rush. But after having a "stick," I am here to tell you I could not handle that switch. Uff da. Pure sugar. And somewhat tart. Wow. How did I down these as a kid??


And no. I have no plans to give up caffeine. Ever. Especially not with sugar. I will also attempt to enjoy in moderation!

You know what's NOT sweet? Our Winter!!

Another Polar Vortex on the way (I lost count) and the local news station had this to report tonight: Approaching the record for number of subzero days in Wausau. Through February 25th we have had 51 days with subzero temperatures in Wausau. The record number for November through March is a tie at 53 days from the winters of 1947-48 and 1958-59. It looks like we will break it quite easily by the weekend.

Please, Mr. Weatherman, I would like to enjoy winter in moderation, too.

That would be sa-weeet!



Monday, February 24, 2014

Closing Ceremonies

Kind of sad that both Olympics and the Camp Crop-A-Lympics have drawn to a close. Enjoyed both immensely!

Weekend went quite quickly -- as it tends to do. Always think I'm going to get more done but am always happy with the progress. This year I got 50 pages done and, as I told hubby, that's 50 more than I would have done at home!


Got Carter's non-school recreation sports album DONE -- from T-ball and whole lotta youth soccer to last summer's three baseball teams. Yay! Started in on Carter's 10th-grade pages (above) and am now finished with Kindergarten through the AHS 2013 Christmas program! Can I get a "Heck, yeah!"


Since I set aside work on the chronological family albums to get school caught up last year, I had to backtrack to start the 2012 album. Had some fun trying to re-create an Angry Birds scene for Carter's 14th-birthday page.

And Mary Poppins' page wouldn't be complete without her umbrella and a cityscape with some chim-chim-eneys!


My friend Julie left yesterday and I stuck around for another night. Went to bed by midnight for a change last night and had 48 pages done for the weekend. Woke up this morning and decided it would be embarrassing to leave without getting up to an even 50. So I whipped together some wild life up above.

Then I headed to work. (sad face)

The office was only 16 miles away so that was a short commute. Had a quick, busy afternoon and am looking forward to my own bed and 8 hours of sleep tonight. May end up dreaming about scrapbooking since there is always something to document for our memory banks...

Carter kicked some brass today at Solo and Ensembles with two starred firsts! This means his first trip to state for that. I think I am more excited than he is. But he did not turn down a celebratory slice or two of pizza at Polito's!

Now it's homework for the rock star and laundry for me... and maybe the couch and the new season of The Voice -- depends what hubby has in mind.

(He probably can't wait to just page through my scrapbooks!)




Friday, February 21, 2014

Crop-A-Lympics

Dateline ROSHOLT, Wisconsin ... Well we escaped the major snowstorm in our neck of the woods.  But we still got the icy stuff.

By the time I arrived at scrapbooking camp, I felt like I'd survived the one - woman Bobsled event. Pretty sure I got the gold.

Our theme this year is Camp Crop-A-Lympics.  Tonight we had to show our Olympic spirit and  American pride. How do you think Team LHS (aka my high school BFF Julie) and I did?



l think we represented pretty well. Maybe should have spent more time on pages, but we"ve got time. I'm not sure about consistent internet coverage so this may be it for a few days.

In the meantime, go USA for real!

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Changing Course


I sometimes wonder if weather forecasters resort to using the infamous "Weather Rock" to make their predictions. Today I almost think they HAD to just to keep up.

Remember the lovely graphic I shared last night that scared us into working from home and altering other plans today? While we were sleeping, that changed.

A lot.

Instead of sitting here tonight, tired from shoveling and snowblowing, we just have wet shoes from the rain. Up North, though, in my family's neck of the woods, I don't think their snowblowers can keep up. With the storm changing course, they are in the pretty dark blue 10"-15" band and Rapids is looking at a trace to 2".

Of course, that is subject to change. Again.

What I did enjoy about working from home today anyway was my lunchtime workout on the treadmill timed perfectly to see the women's figure skating finals LIVE. Do I still need to use a "spoiler alert" or only if we medal? I'll just say you won't be happy with how women's hockey or figure skating ended today.

I also was able to load up the CRV while it was still light out. Now, all I have to throw in there are my clothes, pillow and some food items. Then I can hit the road to camp tomorrow.

But when?

Even though our Weather Rock is only WET right now, it allegedly will turn WHITE while we are sleeping. And then continue through the morning in the that condition. Now this is messing with my serious schedule. Not liking it.

I don't think my mother is ready to return home from Texas next week to deal with any of this by herself. Thankfully, my sister and brother-in-law decided today they will keep Mom on a few weeks longer.

At least until the Weather Rock is DRY and casting a shadow!


Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Raking It In


After most of us in Wisconsin went jacket-less today in 40+ degree weather, it's hard to fathom this is a picture of our next 24 hours.

But it is.

I've seen many people preparing by stocking up at the store (Wal-Mart was a zoo tonight) and removing what snow they could from their driveways and roofs. It dawned on me today that only in the Midwest do we rake grass in the spring, sand traps in the summer, leaves in the fall and snow in the winter!

God bless the inventor of the roof rake!

Hubby did his share of that this winter since the weather has not been warm enough to melt our many inches of snow away. So we're good with that. Got some food. Got my work home with me so I can stay in the home office. And have the Olympics on since I can stay up until 10 o'clock tonight -- way past my bedtime -- and sleep in a bit tomorrow.

By then, the only thing left to rake will be the millions of dollars I win on the Powerball tonight. I will let you know if I need a hand. But I think I got this.

And I'll be sending you a postcard from someplace warm by the weekend!

If not sooner.



Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Lordy, Lordy, Look Who's 40


It seems like it's a trick on the eyes, but I swear it's the truth. We hit 40 degrees today!

After yesterday's dumping, the roads were still a slick mess on the way to work today, but it felt nice to get out of the car and not be freezing. It was also a pleasure to see the crud-sicles melting off around the wheel wells. A sure sign of spring!

Unless you look at the rest of this week's forecast. Let's not do that. We'll ignore the blizzard warnings for now and enjoy that fresh air.

It definitely put a spring in my step and I had a very productive day at work, including a noontime workout at the fitness center. Had I known it was going to be so warm, I would have packed some outdoor gear!

Got home in time to go to the double-header basketball game at Assumption.

First game was the boys' makeup game from last night versus Wausau Newman. We had a sizable lead at halftime and were lucky to hold on. That was a nice W! Carter and the Pep Band played between games, then the girls hosted Edgar. After a slow start, they ended up kicking some Wildcat tail by some 20 points or so. Great to have dual victories in front of a large crowd on Senior Night.

Now it's off to bed, dreaming of a repeat of today: Sunshine, warmth and productivity.

Maybe a throw in a Powerball win for good measure.


Monday, February 17, 2014

Raise Your Hand


Absolutely love this image! And I am raising both hands!

The weather forecasters were right about today. The winter storm warning was accurate with its prediction of 4-7 inches of snow. I know we hit the 4-inch mark. Just not sure how much beyond it we went in Rapids anyway.

Sure was nice not to have to go anywhere today! Thanks to the Presidents' Day holiday, I stayed put and had a busy day.

Figured as long as I was home, I might as well force myself to watch the Ice Dancing finals -- LIVE for a change. It was a real sacrifice to plop down on the couch and cheer on the 3 USA teams. When I realized it was going to be hours before the final group skated, I streamed it on my computer awhile while getting my scrapping stuff together, then watched on the TV in the basement for 45 minutes while I walked on the treadmill. Even with the Olympics, I can multi-task!

I was glad I got to see it. Won't say anything more for those of you viewing the tape delay at home.

When the snow really started coming down in the afternoon, they started calling off school and community events for the evening. They postponed the Assumption boys basketball game and will lump it with the girls' game tomorrow night for a double-header.

Knowing I really wasn't going to leave the house ALL day, I plowed forward with getting my "scrap" ready for camp. And I did! All set to go... except for clothes and food and stuff. But the hard part is behind me. Hurray for extra days off!

I also had time for a good phone conversation with my mom, who has been enjoying winter at my sister's in Texas. Apparently it was too hot there today -- about 90 degrees. I said, "Geez, Mom, why don't you tell me all about it!" She usually catches my sarcasm but that went over her head.

And I raised my hands higher!

Seriously, I am quite grateful that Mom hasn't had to deal with the Arctic temps and snow, snow, snow! It's been nice for us kids not to have to worry about her alone in her house out in the country. Now we just have to worry if she'll wear out her welcome down South after beating everyone on the block in cards. She promised to teach me the new game after she returns at the end of the month. I told her to take her time getting back. "Winter will still be here."

Sadly, it will be here for much longer.

And I bet it won't take her long to put down her deck of cards and raise her hands, too.



Sunday, February 16, 2014

Salt of the Earth


Around these parts, road salt and winter go together like, well, salt and pepper.

My car can't decide if it's a pretzel or a margarita. Either way, there's too much salt!

The downside of having such an enormously long stretch of cold weather is that it has not been warm enough to get the car washed. So the road salt keeps clinging, coat after coat, making our black Honda Civic look white.

Today, it was 22 degrees -- which feels like spring -- so I was tempted to go through a car wash for a good ol' rinse. But then I remembered 22 degrees is still 10 degrees below freezing. So much for our spurt of spring.

I don't know how much warmer it is supposed to get this week, but the immediate forecast doesn't look good. With 4-7 inches of snow predicted in the next 24 hours, that will mean more salt on the roads, not to mention the grimy slush mess already out there -- on road surfaces, my car and some of my nice fashion (not functional) boots.

Other than the car wash that wasn't, we tried to think spring today. Carter went to school to work on some baseball drills at open gym. Jim got some snow off the roof and did some preemptive shoveling. I did some cleaning and then concentrated on prep for scrap camp next weekend. Got lots ready. Took a break to watch the Olympics tonight and catch up on the men's Super G and ice dancing.

Now it's bedtime. While the snow falls softly, I will sleep soundly knowing I do not have to set an alarm for tomorrow. With the winter storm coming, I am really glad we get Presidents' Day off. That would not be a fun drive.

Plus it will just add more salt to my tears, er, tires.



Saturday, February 15, 2014

Bowled Over


As usual, I am bowled over (literally, ha) at our community's support of a worthy cause. The 2nd annual South Wood County Empty Bowls was a success today!

We had more than 300 handcrafted bowls to give out to attendees. Such a variety. And I can't quite take credit for taking this picture when my foot (and nice fashion boots) are in it. Have to thank one of my cohorts for posting it since I am too tired and lazy to upload my photos.

It was a 7-hour day for many of the volunteers who were at the church around 8 to do final setup, prep the soup and tackle labor-intensive tasks like slice butter into pats (Carter) and fire up the seldom-used electric knife to slice homemade bread (me). Then, when the line for eating started to form, Carter, my friend Christine and I camped out in the raffle basket room.

We ended up with 33 baskets of all donated items and sold more than $800 in tickets for them. Even sold some to hubby (who bought my lunch, too) and to myself -- and I still didn't win any baskets I wanted. I did win one. It was the one I said, "Oh I might as well put one ticket for this one and I can give it as a gift if I win it." Well, somebody is getting a nice gift basket from me!

After event cleanup and calling the winners, I had a little break at home to catch up on Olympic action, especially the much talked about hockey game. Then we all headed back into town to watch the Assumption boys in a makeup basketball game.

Since they were playing Stratford, my father-in-law's hometown, I got to see "Dad" and Uncle Joe for a nice visit between the JV and Varsity games. Our varsity game started out quite poorly. I believe we were down something like 13-1 at one point. It took a few quarters, but our boys caught up and actually won it! Pretty exciting.

Not enough to keep me wide awake for extra hours, but still exciting. I am just beat from a long, worthwhile day.

But it was pretty darn cool.


Friday, February 14, 2014

Love Is..


When I got a Peanuts-themed Valentine from hubby today, I was reminded of the many little "Love is..." quotes and Snoopy cards I saw as a child. So here are my random thoughts on LOVE today...



Love is... Chocolate! C'mon, you can't deny that! Put these signs up at work, leading to my desk, and sold 40 of the 60 candy bars in the box on the first day!

Love is... Finding out that King Cone is re-opening already on Feb. 28! Be still my beating heart (and taste buds)!


Love is... Putting your love at "steak." Apparently in Texas the Valentine treats don't go straight to the hips, but to the calves instead!

Love is... Live streaming video. While I blog, I can watch one my "daughters" play hoops without traveling all the way to Wausau for the big rivalry game. Go Royals!


Love is... Above zero temperatures! Woke up to non-sub-zero temps for the first time in months. It actually got up to 22 degrees today and started a little melting. Even our driveway is showing the love on Valentine's Day. I just noticed the "heart" when I got out of the car and had to take a picture! I'm wondering if Ol' Man Winter has the HOTS (let's hope) for Mother Nature.

Love is... Date nights. Carter had to work, so Jim and I went to grab some good, greasy bar food for supper. Never had a bad meal at Sportsmen's Bar & Grill. And never had a bad date with Jim, of course. That goes without saying.

Love is... Sweet as candy. I asked Carter this morning if he was giving any valentines today. He said he had some candy but "nothing major." Knew who was getting one of the valentines but as of 7 a.m. when I was off to work, he wasn't sure who was getting the other 3. Lucky girls. I remember when I was his valentine!


Love is... God. And God is LOVE. Feeling so loved today and so very blessed to have an incredibly special group of friends and family in my life. Love and hugs to you all!

XOXO






Thursday, February 13, 2014

Hunger Pains



OK, this is a shameless plug for the Saturday event I have been working on for the past few months. Just in case you are a "local" and available to stop by and support it!

The second annual South Wood County Empty Bowls fundraiser will be held from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at First English Lutheran Church. Just because it is held at MY church doesn't mean it's a church event. Last year we held the first one there since my pastor was making a hundred of the bowls. After this year, we hope to outgrow that location!

Empty Bowls is actually an international grassroots movement to fight hunger.  At the event, participants receive a simple meal in exchange for a cash donation that is given to a local organization whose goal is to fight hunger.  Those who donate also receive a handcrafted pottery bowl, made by a local artisan, to take home to remind them of all the empty bowls around the world.

This community event will raise money to support South Wood Emergency Pantry Shelf (SWEPS), as well as other local organizations working to combat hunger. Last year, we gave away more than $2,000 to a handful of programs in our area. I felt blessed to be part of the process!

The cost for our event is $10 (for age 3 and up), which includes a bowl of soup, bread, dessert and beverage. The bowls are being donated by two local potters, Joe Clark and Pastor Josh Fite, as well as being made by Lincoln High School art class students. Many yummy soups are being donated by local restaurants and businesses. Bread is provided by Helen Ponzcoch of the famed Little Pink Restaurant.

After eating, participants will HOPEFULLY stop into our Raffle Basket Room! With some great effort by our subcommittee, we have at least 30 for people to try to win! We just finished assembling and wrapping those up Tuesday night. There are several I hope I win! Please stop by and give it a try, though!

If you want to learn more about it, visit the Empty Bowls website at www.swcemptybowls.com. If you want to be part of the Planning Committee for next year, let ME know. A lot goes into this. It sure helps to have extra hands.

Hope to see you Saturday. If not, please pray for our efforts and those who are feeling real hunger pains every day.

Somebody's bowl is always empty...


Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Honestly, Abe, I Try...

Some words of wisdom from the birthday boy...



I like this quote (among many others from Honest Abe) because it is so simple. Straight to the point. Easy to follow.

Yet a person like me can complicate the hell out of it.

As he says: When I do good, I feel good. But when I do too much good, I feel bad.

Is there such a thing as "too much"? And how can it be bad?

Well, if I would sit on my hand once in awhile instead of constantly raising it to volunteer, I wouldn't be in the position where I feel bad (a.k.a. stressed) about it. But I can't stand the sound of silence (as the guys who live with me know) so when no one voices a willingness to step forward, I insert foot in mouth and step forward on the other.

So today's moment of stress is of my own making. And the calendar. It just happens that the few things (I really don't do THAT much, honestly) I do help with all fall in the same time period.

That would be NOW.

In the next month, I've got my Empty Bowls anti-hunger fundraiser, my completely organized ahead of time scrapbooking weekend, my completely finished work ahead of time so I can be out of the office a week "vacation" and I agreed to sell the neighbor girl's softball candy bars "because I am so good at it." Throw in a few must-do projects, and I have plenty of GOOD going on to keep me out of trouble.

If there was an Olympic event for multi-tasking, though, I'd be in the running for a medal. Tonight I was trying to look up some family tree information while watching both the Olympics and American Idol -- and selling candy bars. I found what I was looking for on the "tree," got the highlights of both shows and sold 7 bars already.

I better sign off.

I am pretty sure they are about to play the national anthem for me now.


Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Royal Finish

As the high school basketball seasons are winding down, we spent another evening court side. This time to watch the defending state champion lady Royals at work against Stratford.

And listen to the awesome Pep Band, of course.

Going into tonight's matchup, we shared the Conference lead with Marathon, who gave us our first conference loss last week. Their only loss had been to our girls back in December. Tonight, while our girls soundly defeated the Tigers by some 20 points, the Auburndale girls triumphed over Marathon, giving us the sole lead in the Conference.

Now that's a Royal finish!

We only have a few days to ride the high as we head up Friday to play Wausau Newman, normally our big arch rival. So we'll see what happens. It's challenging after winning state last year not to expect our team to get there again since we only lost one senior. But that's unrealistic since the composition of our opponents' teams has changed, too. Even we fans just gotta take it one game at a time!

It sure is fun, though. Gotta love the February Frenzy and March Madness that brings our little school community together as a family.

A Royal family, at that!





Monday, February 10, 2014

Sochi or So Close?


Tonight we opted for some live action rather than pre-recorded highlights from Russia.

So we found ourselves in the Assumption gym watching boys hoops versus a vertically gifted Abbotsford team. Yes, we're talking several players 6'3" and taller. No, we don't have any like that on OUR team.

After the JV game ended in a 2-point loss in overtime, Carter and the pep band entertained between games while hubby and I made the social rounds. By halftime of the varsity game, we were so far behind that I secretly considered playing the "homework" card for an early exit.

Good thing I didn't voice that out loud.

In the second half, we erased that 15-plus point deficit and came back and tied it. It was a pretty exciting 3rd quarter. And most of the 4th quarter was, too, while the Royals valiantly tried to keep the lead within their grasp.

In the end, we did lose 57-51, but that margin is mainly for all the purposeful fouls in the last minute of play in our attempts to get the ball back. Good effort, boys!

We got home in time for Carter to get going on homework and for me to check in with Bob Costas to see which was more exciting today: Sochi or our so-close game?

Always go local.




Sunday, February 9, 2014

Lucky 13 ... Degrees, That Is

It's deceiving when the sun is shining so brightly and reflecting off the snow, almost blinding you. You think it's going to be beautiful day to step outside and smell the fresh air. Until you inhale and your lungs freeze up!

We did get up to a sunny 13 degrees today.


We're not the only ones tired of winter. Sylvester is reaching for every ray of sunshine possible in this photo! Can't blame her. She was quite disoriented and depressed when it was cloudy yesterday.

Now I hear Polar Vortex IV or V or VI (lost count) is on its way with minus 20 tonight and windchills 25 to 35 below zero tomorrow.

I suppose this is all the perfect setting to watch the Olympics, right? I did catch some action after I got home from church, but vowed I was not going to do that ALL day. I took a few hours "off" to get on the treadmill, lose to hubby in cards and to organize photos, etc., for scrap camp. I actually got quite a bit done, but have a long way to go. It's better to be over-prepared with a lot of potential pages to work on than run out of things to do.

For the record, that only happened once and it was a good thing since it forced me to organize my colored paper. (There's always a rainbow of some sort at the end of a scrapping weekend!)

Now that I've actually been more than productive, it's time to pop some popcorn and find an empty couch for today's highlights!


Saturday, February 8, 2014

Pardon Our Mess



We interrupt this housecleaning to bring you the Olympics...

I might as well hang a sign like this outside our front door. Try as I might to be productive on a Saturday, I didn't get very far. For example, I was attempting to vacuum while figure skating was on. For some reason, even though I was just "watching" it, I had to shut off the vacuum cleaner and sit down so I could both see AND hear each routine.

So that took awhile.

I did sit down and watch a bit more but then had to run several errands in town. By the time we got back home, the figure skating was done and they'd moved on to downhill skiing practice runs. I didn't need to see that so I parked myself at the computer and uploaded hundreds of photos I need prints of before Camp Crop-A-Lot in 2 weeks.

Honestly, that took the better part of the afternoon, bringing us to dinner time, then the nightly Olympic recap show. This isn't live due to the time zone difference, but it recaps the important stuff. Some of it I did see LIVE today, but this will be most helpful on week nights when I am unable to watch during the day.

But still keep an eye online for spoiler alerts.

Some people hate those but I don't mind them. It lets me know I better not miss that night's recap program! And it doesn't always matter if you know ahead of time who won. It's HOW they achieved it that is interesting!

I better get to bed. It's been a long day and I still have read up on how this Team Ice Skating business works out. All I know is that I should be an ice dancer. Every time they said "twizzle" I was craving Twizzlers!

Red, if you please.

Friday, February 7, 2014

Let the Games Begin...

Once every two years I allow myself to be a serious couch potato for a few weeks. I confess I am an Olympic junkie!

If you are from my generation, you have special memories of the international competition and the pride we felt as Americans watching the "Miracle on Ice" in the winter games of 1980. Remember speedster Eric Heiden? And let's not forget summer stars like Mary Lou Retton and Carl Lewis.

Go team USA!!


Actually, my favorite team after Team Austin is Team USA! Of course, I always applaud politely for Sweden and Norway in case they are relatives!!

Tonight I went over to my friend Becky's to have dinner, scrapbook and catch up on life. After eating and catching up a bit and discussing our upcoming Camp Crop-A-Lot plans (just two weeks away!), we scrapped the plan to scrap tonight and watched the opening ceremonies instead.

Well done, Russia. Not a fan of the Americans' ugly sweater contest, but maybe I have no fashion sense.

Some qualifying competition already started yesterday so things are a bit out of order. All I know is that if I want to catch any of tomorrow's action LIVE, I better sleep fast and be on that couch 3 hours from now.

Not gonna happen. I may be a fan, but I will take tape delay AND sleep in most instances.

Let the games begin... Or continue... Or whatever.

USA! USA! USA!


Thursday, February 6, 2014

Fine Print

On one of the favorite TV shows in our house is The Big Bang Theory. We get a kick out of the very anal-retentive character Sheldon, who is book smart -- genius actually -- but runs a little low on tact and relating to other humans.

Before his roommate Leonard could "qualify" to live there, he had to pass several Sheldon personality tests and sign the dotted line on a very, very, very extensive Sheldon-authored roommate agreement, covering every topic from TV viewing and takeout meals to girlfriends and scheduled bowel movements.

Last night while Carter and I were eating at Culver's (after a double no-cavity appointment for us at the dentist), Carter suggested Dad and I have a roommate agreement. Apparently the day before, Dad had picked him up after school and when they drove past Culver's they saw the Flavor of the Day was Mint Avalanche. He said Dad was going to call or text me but they would have been past it by the time I responded.

So, Carter concluded, we need a roommate agreement. "That way Dad will know if you want Mint Avalanche or Mint Chip at Culver's every time they have it or just once a week or month and what size."

I like how he thinks.

I suggested it to hubby and he nodded with a huge grin on his face. He's all for creating one. What could possibly go wrong with that?

I could tell by the gleam in his eye I better withdraw my suggestion. I will NOT be signing on any dotted lines after the ice cream section!

Or I can always just get it myself.


Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Wake-Up Call

The morning routine at the Austin household goes something like this...

My alarm goes off at 5:44 and I consistently hit the snooze -- two more times. At 6:02, I am out of bed and in the shower. I get dressed and go wake up Carter, who is 2 feet from an atomic alarm clock that probably is waking the subdivision but not causing him to even stir. I tell him to get up, he acknowledges me and says he IS up!

I go back upstairs and eat my breakfast for 5 minutes before going back to his room for Round 2. At that point, I do not leave his room until he's at least sitting up with his feet on the floor.

Hubby has been getting up around this time, too, so he can get some steps on the treadmill before starting his work day. So some days I send him down for Round 2. On days like today, when I am scheduled to work in the home office, hubby lets me sleep in (yay) and he handles the wake-up call.

Today, that did not exactly go as planned.

Jim was up on time. He awakened Carter and even had a conversation with him while Carter was "coming to." So he hopped on the treadmill and, oh 20 minutes later, Carter comes out of his room and says he just got up!

At that point, he still has 20 minutes before he has to be next door to catch his daily ride to school. He doesn't need to fix his hair. He can splash and go in 20 minutes. However, teen boys actually like to shower (and primp) at this age, so instead of just dressing and grabbing a Pop Tart and heading out the door, he showered, ate and had Dad drive him to school.

I think the conversation on the way to school went something like this... Dad: "If this would have happened to me when I was a kid, my dad would have said, get dressed and get your butt next door or you're walking to school!" Shower or no shower, it was not his fault if Jimmy overslept.

As Jim was telling me this later, it was like getting yet another wake-up call about how many of us parents are raising (or not raising) our children. We don't want them to feel bad. We encourage them and support them but do our best to help them avoid conflict or pain (physical or emotional). They don't have to be responsible for all their mistakes because we step in and rescue them in some fashion many of the times. They don't often ask permission but tell us what they are going to do. They inform us what's on their schedule and we take them where they need to be as if we are their paid chauffeurs. (Right.)

How did it come to this??

I wish I knew. I'm pretty sure it stems from our need to make their lives better than how we had it in our childhood. Yet, we know now that we wouldn't be the people we are today -- loving, kind, honest, respectful, hard working -- if we hadn't made mistakes, hadn't overcome some serious challenges.

On our own.

It's pretty screwed up. I hope it's not too late to teach those valuable lessons and instill these characteristics in our kids.

I also hope Carter doesn't oversleep again. Because you know no matter what I WRITE, Momma's gonna cave and give him a ride!


Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Tuesday Tidbits

Just catching up on a few things....

Sprechen sie deutsch? We had a meeting last night for the families hosting a German student later this spring. We are getting excited to host Lukas, who is also a sophomore and just turned 16.

Although he will be here just under a month, he will get to experience Easter, prom (uh-oh) and Carter's birthday with us. Plus, there are numerous excursions planned with the other 21 German students staying with Assumption H.S. families that month -- and with the "host kids" and the Germans. They are packing a lot into his schedule plus he has to go to school and classes like a regular student. Unlike the "old days" of pen pals, Carter has been in touch with him via email several times and they are getting to know each other a bit. When Carter goes over to Germany in the summer of 2015, then he will stay with Lukas and his family. Very cool. Should be an interesting experience for all of us!

The Island of Misfit Readers: I have always wanted to join a book club but have not found the opportunity. Typically, the clubs are well established with women (mostly) who either have been friends forever, are coworkers or family or share some other tie. There's one group I'd have to "audition" for to see if they'd accept me. I'll pass.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands and see if there are other "misfit readers" or "book orphans" out there who haven't found a place to belong. My friend Christine and I have been talking about this for ages and I finally acted on it last night, sending out a generic invite on Facebook to any Rapids area readers looking for a home. Tentatively, I am calling it the Face To FaceBook Club, but you don't have to be on Facebook to join. I figured I better throw a note on here in case any of you locals love to read and talk about it! Let me know. I am happy to report we already have a "quorum" (ha) so we can get started ASAP. And we will!

What's Your Status? Today is Facebook's 10th anniversary. Who cares, right? Well, they made us care by somehow creating a brief "video" of our top moments since joining. Turns out I have been wasting time on there for 6 years.

The touching part was seeing the first photos. Remember this kid? His official photo from the Rapids Raptors. Carter's wearing #28 just like his football hero -- Adrian "All Day" Peterson! 

While his football career was short-lived, my desire to take pictures of him and share them has not lost momentum. He has warned me against that now that he is well aware of social media outlets and my blog. If you are not on Facebook, you're not missing much on my account. Most of my insightful comments and photos appear here, too. 

Ha. Don't lose sleep over that! In fact, just hunker down with a good book and have sweet dreams! G'nite.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Divine Vision

As we go through the typical rush of a Monday - trying to get up after a late football game, catching up on mountains of email from the weekend and meeting deadlines -- it's so easy to get bogged down in ourselves and our needs.

We are on a mission and can't deal with any person or situation standing in our way.

"Are they doing this on purpose just to ruin my day?" we sometimes ask ourselves. We know the answer is obvious, yet we still lose patience like the world is out to crap on our Cornflakes.

When I saw this video today, which I am sure has been "out there" awhile, it was a perfect reminder that no matter what we're going through -- slow lines at the store, too many red lights, a slow Internet connection -- someone is always going through something. And it is often worse.

Take a few minutes to watch this.

http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=0JMJBCNU

Even without a pair of "God's Glasses" and even without knowing exactly what someone is struggling with, we know we should do something to help. Ask yourselves: How can we love someone like Jesus today?

The answer is simple. Don't judge people. Be kind. Be courteous. And silence that one-sided snobby committee in your head and just listen.

God is always giving us clues. And we don't need special glasses to see or hear them!

Get it?

Sunday, February 2, 2014

XLVIII (Xtra Lame Viewing !!!)


Some of us football fans watched the Big Game today not necessarily caring who won it, but hoping for a good game -- with end-of-quarter scores matching our numbers on our pools.

I've always liked Peyton Manning and hoped he'd put on a good show. But that did not happen.

Instead, I had to watch former Viking Percy Harvin have a stellar game and our reject QB T-Jack get to play a series in the end of the game. Both walk away with a Super Bowl ring. Sad to admit, but good thing they left Minnesota, I guess.

I was also a winner. We went to our annual Super Bowl party at a friend's and I won $20 after that oddly scored first quarter. The rest of the time, I just endured an almost boring blowout football game and few notable commercials.

We stuck it out to the end, though, just in case Lady Luck had anything else in store for us.

No more money but she did get us home safely AND my wonderful son already had my electric mattress pad turned on and heating up my bed when we got here.

Where's MY trophy? I feel like a winner!




Saturday, February 1, 2014

Accent-uate the Positive

It's been a couple of months now since I started commuting to work with my new friend: the Audio Book on CD.

Listening to a good story really helps the drive go quickly -- and, surprisingly, it has been quite calming on some of the challenging winter-time drives. I've enjoyed a variety of stories, really liking most of them so far, and find the variety of voices intriguing.

Last week, the reader had to do several southern accents and just nailed them, giving me distinctly different voices for characters of all ages, both men and women. Made it seem like a movie instead of just a book.

This week, I listened to the book "Remember Me?" by British author Sophie Kinsella. Naturally, an "English" speaking woman read it and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story itself was quite entertaining, as Kinsella's usually are, and I got such an exposure to British slang I now fancy myself saying something is brilliant or dodgy or bloody fantastic!

My new motto:


Smashing idea (or i-dee-er), don't you think, mates?

Don't worry. I won't overdo it. (I already have, haven't I?) I'll just sit here, sipping my nightly cup of tea (serious) and pretend these yummy peanut butter cookies I made today are "scones".

And when you tell me to "get stuffed," I will pretend it merely means, "have another."