Fall sports season 100% sneaked up on me. I mean Royals tennis started yesterday and cross country started this morning. Thank goodness hubby does stats for football so I knew game time was tonight!
This year is a a little different for Assumption football. We are going to 8-man teams. So that was really different to look at and photograph tonight.
In the end, they beat Rosholt 49-0 so I guess we're getting the hang of what we're doing.
I'm just hoping I can capture all these other fall sports!
Usually it's no big deal....
Assumption football starts tomorrow and Jim needs to keep stats. Suddenly I cannot print his freaking sheet of defensive players to mark stats on. I have been trying for 90 minutes and have no reason why this isn't working!
I mean it's an Excel spreadsheet but I can't print it. I think I'll have to take a screen shot then print it out.
Oh gosh. Sorry! No one really cares about this crap. I'm just so frustrated!!
This is why all IT issues shout be spelled SHIT!
I love this sentiment. I mean why do we talk to friends and "sisters" so supportively, but knock ourselves down?
I am so not blaming my mother. But I just can't pinpoint when this started. At what age did I think I was too fat, too poor, too unworthy, etc?
When we use the term "mental health" we mean anything and everything about our self worth.
We realize that isn't enough!
Last week, we were so saddened to learn that one of our neighbor boys (well one who grew up across the street for 20+ years) took his life. It definitely gave us all a renewed focus on what mental health needs mean.
This happened more than a week ago and the funeral was Saturday. I just haven't wrapped my head around the fact that he's gone. To realize he will never show off his skate bording or bicycling skills on a ramp again. 😟
It's not just random 80's and 90's song lyrics when when we tell you to don't stop believing!
Believe in YOU!
Not sure who thinks of "these rose-colored glasses" when seeing the sunset. But suddenly that is me.
I do want to talk more about my post of many colors and sounds but I must confess it was a quite a Hee-Haw related engagement!A lot of friends are gathering photos and feedback -- and I love that we're so POPULAR -- just hoping to share it all with you and, according to rumors, invite you to the next one if you missed it!
Like I said the other night, "We'll see you next tine on Yee-Haw!"
OMG! I think that most of the descendants of the OG Yee-Haw group from 40 years ago thought "some friends" would attend Saturday Night's "revival" show. Turns out there's a pretty loyal community when it comes to Rudolph, Wisconsin!
I (and hubby) were right in the mix and loving it! 500 some attendees? We'll take credit. LOL.
Full disclosure: Jim and are not from there. But we have friends that we've joined in community fundraisers and, well, productions some people needed to resurrect after 40 years.
I know I spent too many blogs promoting the Yee-Haw show, but I'll take credit for a few extra tickets. Of course.
Remember when some jokes were really funny – or perhaps super corny – and the animated pigs would dance across the bottom of your television screen? Well it's 2026, folks. And ours are 3-D! Actually 4-D since little humans are carrying them, ha.
So many things I'd love to share but we want the mass of humanity attending (fingers crossed) to be surprised.
We had our final rehearsal under the big tent tonight. Even if the show is not perfect tomorrow, our large crew will know how far we've come. Tonight was a great feeling to realize we were arranged just right on stage and had enough microphones so everyone could be heard when telling their incredibly hilarious jokes. So incredibly hilarious. 😁
As a group, of course we're great singers. (And so humble.) But we have some pretty cool duets (father/daughter and uncle/niece) along with a classic solo NO ONE else in the cast could do. Plus we have this random 16-year-old phenom on the steel guitar! We've adopted him now and he can't escape.
Seriously, if you like good classic country and gospel music plus jokes that make you both groan and laugh simultaneously, stop on out.
It's 7 p.m. Saturday at Feltz Dairy Farm outside Plover. You can't miss the big white tent!
And full disclosure: I don't make a commission on ticket sales. This is a fundraiser to benefit St. Philips Catholic Church in Rudolph (where this show originated with members 40+ years ago), the Power of 5 in Portage County (a non-profit community group that pools small $5 donations from local residents to fund families in crisis, local charities, and community projects like school supplies drives and free pantries), and the Parkinson's Foundation (in honor of the mother of half the cast).
I just can't help myself from promoting it because of how much fun we've had putting this together and really just want to share the joy.
And give you a pork barrel of laughs. No offense to our dancing pigs! 🐷🐷🐷
Of course my grade school teachers would write in my report cards that I was "a pleasure to have in class." Not sure I was, but it was pretty much a standard phrase they used – back in the 1900s! Was it sincere? I'm going to say sure since I have historic documents stating so. Ha.
But this summer as I was a "teacher" of sorts, my star pupil was definitely a true pleasure to have on our writing team. I mentored a college-aged intern again and she was amazing!
It happened that I've known this "tiny dancer" and her parents for years, but that didn't automatically get her the position. She had to – and did – rock her way through all the interviews! It wasn't the summer we promised her since we were working remotely for half of it. But she enjoyed it. We made it work.
Since tomorrow is her last day already (sob, sob) that means today had to be Trifle Thursday! Naturally.
First, the 6:20 a.m. alarm is jarring after setting it to 7:25 a.m. to walk across the hallway and login at 7:30 a.m. for 6 weeks. Secondly, weather conditions were strange.
I feel like I was literally trying to find my way back to the office. And Mother Nature was saying, "Why? Just stay home." LOL. Wishful thinking.
On the one hand, the "return" happening today was my golf league foursome finally starting our league at SentryWorld!
Obviously with a large company combined with this stellar course, there are a ton of employees signing up for league! So our group gets the 4:40 p.m. time slot for 8 weeks. And everything is at the peak of bloom!
My game wasn't, but who really cares?
Especially because it was a pretty good distraction for us – tomorrow is the first time back in the office in 6 weeks. I might add "the office" is a temporarily a different one than I've spent the last nearly 9 years. So it's like the first day of high school or something... and this girl will probably sleep 4 hours!
I couldn't even finish our 9-hole round because I had simultaneous obligations. Let's just say announcing your score when you know you only did 8 holes is so much more satisfying!
We are just days away from our grand production of Yee-Haw so practice was happening in Rudolph, which was thankfully a pretty straight shot from Stevens Point. Missed a good chunk of it, but the songs I needed practice on were after the "intermission" segment anyway. The timing worked out.
Also, for you non-local readers... this rock outside of Rudolph is probably painted a minimum of 50 times a year. Every IMPORTANT event from weddings to pancake breakfasts make it (if someone is willing to paint it, ha). Now our event is "Rudolph Painted Rock" official!
We're so cool in the corniest of ways!
I can't believe I have to conclude the blog early. But my body really has forgotten how to wake up to a 6:20 a.m. alarm clock! I'll take prayers!
P.S. Let us know if you need advance tickets to Saturday's show. Yes, rain is predicted. But yes, there's a big ol' tent to keep y'all dry!
What the heck is a "barefoot hotdog"? Well that would be a talented teenager who can waterski barefoot and be a hotdog (aka one-handed hot shot) while doing it!
Love this kid!
This is Baby Aiden ... aka One of My Waterski Boys ... aka About to Start His Senior Year!
Had such a fun photo shoot tonight for senior portraits. Obviously senior pictures have moved way beyond the traditional one pose in a studio! I had the pleasure of capturing his brothers' photos and his sister's. And now it's his turn.
Of course I took some nice "portraits" but we also needed some action shots.
Beautiful night for a boat ride! Had to make sure we were facing away from the "backlit" sun while going over waves and holding my camera steady enough to capture some action shots of flips and other tricks. Looks relaxing but it was challenging that way. Can't wait to look at all the images, but I knew I for sure got that good barefooting one!
Afterward, on the way home, the sunset colors off the lake continued to be amazing in the woods, too. Just a treat for sunrise/sunset-loving me! Absolutely no filter or photo editing here! Additionally, I will not disclose if I trespassed to find a good angle. Sorry, town of Rome!
May we all find delight in childhood/teenager enthusiasm and the beautiful colors, textures, and waves in nature!
I love this weekend each year in August because we have our "Worship in the Park" combined with our church picnic. But when I was awakened by thunder this morning, I realized this wasn't going to work out as planned.
At the same time, of course, a lot of people were saying thank God for rain!
So we used our plan B and had worship and picnic food in the church basement – not because of the rain, but because of the lightning! When we're talking about Jesus walking on water this week... you kind of don't want to press your luck. Even if the message was all about having faith to do so!
But because we are normally in a park setting, we sing hymns like "This Is My Father's World" and " For the Beauty of the Earth."
So after eating way too much good food and having some really good visits, I decided to detour on my way home to our downtown park.
Because of the rain, I saw a puddle for the first time in ages and captured a reflection.
And then a few more blooming flower photos...
My conclusion was that life is not a "walk in the park" but we can purposefully take a walk in a park and find the beauty amongst the ugly.
And by weird happenstance, this was the daily quote from one of my daily guides...
So fitting. It's been a tough weekend for friends and loved ones. But even if your heart is breaking, shattering even, believe that beauty is there. Somewhere.
Today was our company picnic, but it felt pretty awesome when it came to connecting briefly with higher ups.
For many events, though, we are ready to add a few administrative and random brave acts of "boldness."
Anyone who knows me (well hubby mainly), knows I am an undomestic goddess with no/limited skills to cook up a decent meal. Thank you to boxes of mixes or frozen microwaveable food that has helped me fake it. (Side note: I was devastated when Schwan's went out of business!)
But last week, after having a deliciously spicy shredded pork sandwich at book club, I asked for the recipe and that got me on a tangent yesterday when I had to travel to Point and Plover. They have some pretty good grocery stores and meat markets.
When I got to Metro Market in Plover, I had some pork loin thoughts in mind, but then I saw all their options. Go there!!
So this is my step-by-step of a Korean BBQ Pork with Goat Cheese Sandwich. Yes, I literally invented this last night! (Maybe??)
There's more than one reason I haven't missed being in the office for the past month. But I was reminded today of a few more as I see the only "light" at the end of the tunnel is a fluorescent one when we return to the office next week!
Today I had a special occasion to return to Stevens Point as the mentor for our summer intern. The interns compete in a special challenge each summer – ideas they come up with as a team that could streamline or grow business at our company. So today's presentations were at SentryWorld – since our headquarters building across the street is under construction.
As I headed out after lunch, hubby asked: "Do you remember the way?"
Ha. But he had no idea how that would shape the day. While I did get to SentryWorld easily. Afterward, the state patrol had the entrance to I-39 south closed. An accident, I assume. So I went north, back to the next exit and realized traffic was backed up some 3 miles at least. Oof.
I figured I would just go south on one of the main streets and connect with Highway 10 since I had errands there. But that street was closed quickly for construction and it took me a minimum of 3 detours to get to the all-important Target store. Ugh. I realize I have forgotten my way around Stevens Point!
But I did find a few of the items I was seeking at 4 stores I haven't seen in 4 weeks. So glad they're still in business! I am so influential, you know!
The only other challenge I faced was showering, putting on my face AND curling my hair! Oh, and wearing grown-up clothes instead of shorts and your favorite t-shirts. I'm gonna have to step up my t-shirt game for the next 4 home-office days!
Growing up out in the country, we had maybe a third-acre garden that felt like the size of three football fields when we had to weed it. But we had fresh corn on the cob, green beans, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, you name it. Very helpful with a family of 8 kids!
I was talking at lunch with 2 girlfriends the other day and wondered wasn't it weird to have Mom say "We're having corn on the cob for supper," and that was it. Our meal. We didn't grill up steaks to go with it.
We just picked it and shucked it and boiled it up for dinner. I think this picture is more like prepping Mom for her canning phase. We were not preparing to have 4-8 cobs per person for supper. Ha.
But Mom would wield that electric knife and can bags and bags of fresh sweet corn that still tasted good in the winter! (Side note: The 3 siblings on the left of the picture all had braces at some point so she also did that cob-clearing for many meals over the years! Even the best dental flossers are no match for braces!)
And while we were talking about corn on the cob – because that's what you do at lunch when you're over 50 – my friend said she had some really good honey-dipped corn recently. I could not grasp the concept. Do they dip the cobs in honey?
No. I'm sure you can but it seems they can "engineer" the corn to have that extra sweet taste like it really was dipped in honey.
So then I was on a farmers market mission! We do buy good sweet corn from the neighborhood farm but I wanted to see what the honey hype was about.
Saturday I scored a half-dozen cobs (let's not be greedy until we taste test it) at the farmers market downtown. I shucked it yesterday and tonight after my much-needed chiropractor appointment, I cooked up a cob. (If you don't want to grill or boil, you can microwave for 4 minutes. I also learned that at lunch. LOL.)
Then I cooked up a second cob!
So sweet and good. Just a different summer treat that also doubles as a VEGETABLE!
Look at me, Mom. I had corn on the cob for supper and was completely satisfied! Miss you. Again.
This was back in the day when you had no choice but to watch the commercials. So we all new the popular ad slogans whether it was "Madge, you're soaking in it" to "Please don't squeeze the Charmin!" And we all were intimidated by Mother Nature.
Let's just say I forgot about her power.
I've been staging a silent protest. Obviously, a fruitless one. I decided that if she doesn't do her job of giving us rain FOR 23 DAYS IN A ROW then I don't need to do my "job" (ha) of blogging.
I surrender! This is our crispy crackly yard! She wins. Dang.
We have finally gotten a teeny tiny bit of precipitation. In fact, Friday night when I was getting steps around the neighborhood, it started sprinkling and I kept walking. It was refreshing! Also I hadn't showered in 2 days so you know... two birds, one stone.
Today in church when we heard the familiar 5 loaves and 2 fish story, I thought maybe that's a sign for a miracle. The Weather Channel does not agree. And when I went out to try to resurrect my flowers – time of death was called last week – a snake slithered under the deck. So now I have to deal with satan AND Mother Nature!
Our couples golf league finale tonight didn't lean the way of miracles either! Still fun though! And the grass was green!
These days that's winning.
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