Soup's On

We woke up to enough snow that hubby needed the snowblower. Something like 4" but it has been floating down on and off all day so who knows the amount?

After Jim shoveled out his dad's driveway, we went to the South Wood County Empty Bowls event – where $10 gets you a locally crafted pottery bowl, a bowl of soup from a local restaurant, and a dinner roll and yummy cookie. Also, for those who do that sort of thing (Me!) there were more than 100 raffle baskets.

We took our soup to go so we could deliver some to Jim's dad on our way home.

My Beer Cheese Soup from the Junkyard Bar and Grill was delicious! I did not win any raffle baskets. But maybe my luck is just waiting to change. Perhaps at BINGO tomorrow??

The rest of the day was major couch potato (or recliner potato) time. Watched the Badgers upset Purdue. Yeah, Bucky! Got all our tax stuff scanned for the Tax Man. Then I managed to get in two Hallmark movies with some leftover pizza in between. 

I was super lazy and owned it like a boss. And surprisingly, don't feel guilty about it. Very unlike me. I must be maturing! 😀

We'll see. Be careful out there!

Weekending Right

When the snow is melting and the sunset reflects off ice in the fields, you know we're having a mild February. 

When you step out of a saloon and there's a horse tied up to a dumpster, you know you're from Wisconsin. Or a few other places.

Last night, Jim and I picked up our friends Craig and Sara to go to the Assumption boys game up at Auburndale. Along the way we stopped for a fish fry at the infamous Sherri Land Ballroom. Or I should say bar and ballroom. No one was dancing. We were just eating. I've never been there but it's the hotspot of activity for Sunday polka bands!

To continue my weekending vibe, I did not even take my camera to the game. Just took the night off and spectated. And our boys lost. I guess they do better when I'm courtside!

Afterwards, we stopped at Patsy's bar and bowling alley in Rudolph for a few hours. I was really seeing the highlights of Wood County! Late night, slept fast.

Had book club first thing this morning. Then my friend Cindy and I went from there to the Empty Bowls soup and raffle fund-raiser. Pretty bowls, delicious soup and yes, I am a basket winner. Keeping that streak alive!

The rest of the day was cleaning out some "old stuff" from our bedroom – things we decorated with 20 years ago just have to go – as we prepped for the Empty Nest Shuffle. We got Carter's bunkbeds and mattresses up to the garage. A friend is picking them up Sunday evening. We'll move our queen bed down after one more night's sleep on it. And our king will be delivered tomorrow afternoon! 

We both realized we have a pile of books by our sides of the bed so I guess I should get reading before I think I need to buy more books! I also realize I could use about a week off just to keep this "out with the old" streak going, too! 

For now though... I'm weekending. And learning how to do it right.

Leaping Through the Day

Happy Leap Day! It's like we got an extra day today to accomplish so much! Did you?

I didn't either.

I had a list of things to do. I got as many done as I had the ambition for. And for the record, I had as much ambition as kitty above. Though it looks like she's leaping (for Leap Day) or flying (without a cape), she's really just trying to sun her arms. (My solar sister!)

I didn't get a chance to do that since I was cleaning, running errands to the library and DQ (it was on my list!). I also stopped at the Empty Bowls fundraiser where I apparently won a raffle basket! Not sure what it is until I pick it up tomorrow, but it's probably something I can use. Like chocolate, maybe?

My big accomplishment of the day was reserving our hotels for out in Seattle and Bellingham next weekend. Only 5 days away. That sneaked up fast – even with the extra day in February. I might not want to leap and jump through my Sunday. I've got things to get ready!

No cat naps allowed.

Back Four More

Since today was our 4th annual South Wood County Empty Bowls event, I had to stay in town while hubby and company headed to Oconto Falls for the girls basketball sectional final.

It was a good thing I stayed because we were short on volunteers and we were very busy! In less than 4 hours, we fed almost 300 people and raised just shy of $5,000. That will be so awesome for the anti-hunger efforts in our area! I even won a basket raffle!

Jim kept me posted on the Assumption vs Suring game. I could tell it was going to be a bit of a blowout when the halftime score was 38-11. Our girls ended up winning 55-21!

Yay, girls! Heading to state next weekend for the 4th year in a row!

Jim and the Krings (his ride) got back to town at 5 and we ended up grabbing pizza in town quick before heading to Pittsville for the boys regional final.

After pulling off an upset last night, we had ours fingers crossed they could do it again. And just like last night, it was an intense, close game.

How close? Tied 20-20 at halftime AND check out the score with 3.9 seconds to go. In less than 4 seconds, Pittsville made 2 free throws and we got final possession. We had one of our seniors take the inbounded ball, hustle down court and heave it up before the final buzzer.

It did not go in. What a heartbreaking loss. I was tearing up looking at our senior boys doing the same. Uff da. What a bummer. They hardly got a chance to live in the glory of last night's victory. Hopefully that comes to mind these next few days.

When the game was over, we stopped back at Ida's, where we had pizza earlier, in order nurse our loss, and celebrate the girls "Back 4 More" trip to state!

You win some, you lose some.

Life lessons are hard any day.

Taking A Flying Leap

Love how most illustrations of Leap Day include a frog. I felt like anything but leaping today. I think the all-nighter caught up with me. When that alarm went off this morning, I just wanted to hit the snooze for an hour, maybe 3.

Probably good I was busy at work catching up after time off. No time for napping!

Ironically, this was Jim's work anniversary date when he worked at the newspaper here in town. Technically, I guess that was only 7 years ago. (You do the math.) On a positive, he only had to bring anniversary treats once every 4 years. On the flip side, he only got a raise that often.

OK, I made both of those up. But for real that was his anniversary.

If you note the fun facts above, it clearly illustrates that this is an important day for aligning the calendar and planet with the sun. It seems logical we should all get the day off. I'm always wishing for an extra 24 hours and when I get it, I have to work AND it's a Monday. Nice.

I could have used that extra day today to catch up on work around home. Since I was out of town I did not get to my "Saturday chores." I also didn't get to some projects I was working on. Got those done tonight so I will be free tomorrow to do housework in the evening or, most likely, go watch boys basketball.

Since I last blogged about life beyond scrapping, the Assumption girls basketball team won the regional championship Saturday and start sectional play on Thursday. Our boys team starts regional playoffs tomorrow at home. I just want both teams to go all the way to state. I hate to think of our seniors playing their last game.

It will make for a busy week as we also have our annual South Wood County Empty Bowls fundraiser this Saturday. Still need themed raffle baskets donated – or even items or gift certificates to be lumped in with another basket. You can drop off your donations at my church – First English Lutheran on Garfield Street – or I can pick them up in my spare time, which I think falls at about 7 p.m. Wednesday. Let me know.

And now it's time to leap into bed and under my warm covers! Hope that counts.

Being Neighborly

Through my recent years of working on the Empty Bowls fundraisers, I am well aware of the numbers, the volume, of hungry in south Wood County. Yet it never fails to startle me when those numbers become a face, a real person.

Tonight our church was in the rotation to host The Neighborhood Table – a nonprofit, charitable organization staffed by volunteers who provide free meals to anyone in need. First English Lutheran is among the 100 community groups that have sponsored a meal there each year. It takes that many "hosts" and that many volunteers to provide this needed service.

In total, more than 1,500 volunteers help during the year (about 20-25 at each meal). On average, about 375 meals are served every Thursday and about 170 meals are served each Tuesday (the last two of the month).

This evening, we served 191 meals. Just simple, yet free, meals with milk, juice, water or coffee to drink. Simple yet needed.

I was a server (aka waitress) in charge of one table. However, all of us helped out as needed making sure people were getting their food in a timely fashion, no matter whose table they were occupying. I had a mixture of adults and children cycle through my table. It's sad to see the children but good to see that their mothers are doing what they can to get them a decent meal.

At one point, I had an older (as in 65-plus) gentleman sit at my table. All he wanted was a coffee and glass of water. He did not want me to serve him a plate of food. I could not convince him to skip straight to dessert or enjoy a fresh banana either. He sat a few minutes and left. His coffee hardly touched. One of my fellow church ladies saw him leave and asked me if he had something to eat. I explained that he just sat a bit but didn't want anything.

"Well what's he going to do for food?" she said. "He's homeless."

Homeless? I almost asked her where he lives but I guess if you are homeless, you don't "live" anywhere. Instead I asked where the homeless "go" in our community. She just frowned and said, "I don't know. I just don't know."

Hungry and homeless. They are here. It is happening. In OUR neighborhood.

While I can't profess to have any knack for waitressing, I am so glad Carter and I took advantage of this mother-son volunteering opportunity. He was right at home in the kitchen, running the dishwasher, which is quite similar to the one he operates while working at the golf course.

He kept pretty busy and had an enjoyable time bonding with one of the "old guys" from our church who thinks Carter's a good kid. While I was dropping off dishes, he says to me, "Carter's doing twice as much work as I am. It's a perfect arrangement!"

Carter did enjoy hearing Pete tell him "kitchen stories" from his days in the service. And I bet Pete (an Honor Flight vet like hubby's uncles) enjoyed telling them!

You know. If we just close our mouths and open our ears, our eyes and our minds, we can learn a lot from other people, can't we? Maybe even learn to respect them for who they are, who they were and what they hope to be. We can see their struggles, appreciate what we have and pray for them.

That's just being neighborly.

On Your Best Behavior

My Thursday was 5:40 a.m. UBC class, then off to work, followed by secret shopping for Saturday, then off to back-to-back meetings. Somewhere in there I sneaked in a drive-thru visit and got my first Shamrock Shake of the season... finally!! I am home now and ready to drop.

I will not gripe about it, though.

Each item on my schedule made me a better person.

The workout helped me physically and emotionally. Work helped me mentally and financially (didn't win the Powerball last night). My secret shopping merely made me a better wife and mom – even though I don't need material things to show my guys love on Valentine's Day.

But the meetings were the most important. By taking time to help others, I am helping myself. There's a phrase that goes something like "You can't share the perfume of happiness without getting some on yourself." It's true. I might complain about time commitments, but in the end, knowing that my help – along with other dedicated folks – is making someone's life a teeny bit better makes mine better, too.

I like the message in that photo. Basically, actions speak louder than words.

You know me. I always have plenty of words to say. Now it's time to act on them! You can give it a try, too. It's amazing really – you can give and receive at the same time.

What a blessing.

Empty Bowls & Baskets

 

Since I've been doing a big PR push tonight with my Empty Bowls info, I should probably reach out here, too!

Empty Bowls is an international grassroots movement that has been fighting hunger for over 20 years. First English Lutheran Church in Wisconsin Rapids was blessed to host the first Empty Bowls event in South Wood County in 2013 and we have watched it grow!

For a $10 donation, guests receive a bowl of soup, bread, beverage, desert, and a unique ceramic bowl to take home. Plus they get a chance to bid on raffle baskets filled with fabulous prizes!

All proceeds benefit local agencies working to end hunger in South Wood County. To date, we've given at least $1,000 each to the Wisconsin Rapids and Nekoosa school district Backpack Programs, where children can take home non-conspicuous backpack with food for their families. We've also donated to the food pantry and a community garden program that encourages folks to grow their own food if they can't afford to buy it.

It's been amazing. But can't all be done with our tiny committee. Our first need is raffle basket items or full baskets... (As always, click on images to view them larger.)

Then, of course, we also need volunteers the day of the event and a few chores leading up to it. And... finally, people to come and EAT!!!!

Here's the skinny on that...

If you ever think you can't make a difference. Think again. This started out small and we KNOW we have already helped hundreds of hungry people in our area. And their needs aren't going away.

If you can help in any way or have questions, let me know.

... Because somebody's bowl is always empty.

Thursday Night Lights

Not to confuse us with the NFL, but now Assumption is playing football under the Thursday Night Lights. Just this once anyway.

Since I had a committee meeting for the 2015 Empty Bowls fundraiser at 6:30 p.m., I had to enlist the help of another mom to take pregame photos for me of the Pep Band. Notice how Carter does not hide from other people when they take pictures? Just me, I guess.

So I have to thank Kim, the football mom, for capturing a few!

When I did finally show up at halftime, this is all the lighting I had to work with...

That wasn't good. And neither was the final score. Gilman stomped us 30-16. To our credit, we still managed to score two touchdowns missing our injured starting QB, our rock star runningback and my favorite interception artist. So we were down but still fighting with the talent we have. And we did pretty well despite the loss.

My only discomfort tonight was the very, very chilly weather, which required a winter coat, gloves and two blankets. But I suspect my mattress pad will be all heated up by the time I hit save on this blog!

Then it's Thursday night lights ... out!

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.

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.

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...

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.

Souper Bowl

I'll give our South Wood County Humane Society a lot of credit. Despite chilly temps and wind, they drew a huge crowd of participants and "viewers" to their Souper Snow Sculpture Spectacular today.

I am on the planning committee for our upcoming South Wood County Empty Bowls fundraising event to fight hunger. For some reason, we signed up again this year to be a team and sculpt "something" to reflect our mission. Leaving the house this morning with the temperature at a mere 4 degrees, I wondered what we got ourselves into.

Did I say "we"? Oh yes, Carter was a reluctant "volunteer" as well.

By the time we got there -- an hour into it -- our big square block of icy snow was already starting to take shape. Can't you tell?

Carter did do some chiseling and chipping, but mostly whined about the cold. "Mom, what does it mean when I can't feel my hands and face?" Uhm, that you didn't dress warmly enough! Heaven forbid he wear long underwear and snow pants like I did. He got a free pass for most of it anyway. By the time he had some warm soup inside and changed out of his allegedly "warm" clothes, he had to go to driver's ed. behind-the-wheel training with his instructor for two hours.

Needless to say, by the time he was done, so were we. But not without a few challenges.

Our spoon in our "Empty Bowl" broke so we had to glue it (freeze it) together. Then after chiseling out letters about our event, we were going to spray colored water on them so they would stand out. Well the straw part on the inside of my spray bottle (our only team one on site) broke. So one person went to the dollar store and I went inside the mall. (This was conveniently held in the mall parking lot.)

I knew the only possible store in there that might have a squirt bottle was the Bethesda Thrift Shop. I told them what I needed and all we could track down was a BBQ baster and one of those blue, baby booger-sucker-outers. With no other alternatives, I brought them to the checkout counter, where the cashier said she also found a Windex bottle under the counter and it was mostly gone. She threw that in for free. I just cleaned it out, added water and food coloring and we were good to go!

The other person got a bottle, too, and away we started! Only had to make one run back into the building when our nozzles froze up. Yes, it was cold out there. Sunny and double digits but extremely windy and cold.

We got done right at 2 p.m.

Looks pretty good, eh? Nothing fancy. We were there to spread our message. But there were some pretty elaborate designs among the dozen teams out there.

I found a cupcake just my size! I was going to take a lick of it (I'm not twerking, I swear), but I figured I'd get my tongue stuck to it like Flick and the flagpole in A Christmas Story. I realized then it was too stinkin' cold to hang around and take pictures so I will stop by tomorrow and shoot some after church -- assuming it stays cold enough so they don't melt by then.

Ha.

It did happen one year! Not gonna this year.

Now I'm all tuckered out from all that fresh air! Carter is at a dance at school. I guess if you spend most of your "snow sculpturing" time indoors, you have energy to dance!

I'd rather have my green food-coloring fingers and know I did my little part.

S.O.S. (Saturday Over Saturday)

A sign of a good (or bad) weekend can be measured by your first waking moments on Saturday morning.

Last Saturday morning, for example, one of my first sights was cat puke -- not only on the kitchen counter but on my purse sitting there. Beyond disgusting.

This Saturday morning, however, we heard a quiet knock on the front door and by the time we got there, we saw a secret messenger had left a package of pumpkin bars. Beyond delicious and delightful!

Comparing Saturday over Saturday, do you have to guess which one was better??

There actually were a few similarities. I lost to hubby in cards both weekends. And we spent part of our evening in Stevens Point. Beyond that, today was better.

It was sort of my good deed day paired with productivity.

After doing a few Saturday chores (on Saturday for once), I went into town to drop of a few bags of old scrapbooking magazines at a new scrapping store. I figured they could use them for ideas when customers come to crop or spend a weekend retreat there. I just couldn't put them in recycling. They needed to go to a good home. (And now they are OUT of my house, too!)

After a nice visit with the owner and a shop tour, I headed over to the mall to the Bethesda Thrift Shop. I was on a mission to find some decent-quality baskets. I am on the planning committee for our second annual Empty Bowls soup luncheon event to fight hunger in south Wood County. Part of our expansion this year is adding raffle baskets. Since not everything will be donated to us in a nicely wrapped package, we need some baskets to lump themed items together. I managed to score 5 today just as a start and they have plenty more there if we need them. If I buy too many, I'll just donate them back.

Carter was up by the time I got home. (I would hope so since it was after noon.) His excitement this Saturday was learning how to upon the hood of the CRV and add windshield washer fluid. He did fine. Then, for him, it was off to work.

Hubby and I went to Stevens Point to watch our Assumption boys take on Pacelli, who out-heighted us and out-scored us ... especially the 3-pointers. Tough to watch. We lost something like 70-38. Big bummer.

By the end of the game, Carter was already done working so we hustled back to Rapids to pick him up.

Now, with no cat puke in sight but one pumpkin bar left, it's time to hit the hay and hope the good weekend continues.

Sweet, pumpkin-y dreams!

Terrific Tuesday

Why was my Tuesday terrific? Let me count thy ways...

"Hey, I know you": It was nice to wake up in bed next to my hubby instead of a body pillow -- or the cat -- for a change. As a bonus, I got 8 hours of sleep. In a row! Great way to start my "Monday."

I scream, you scream: Found out mid-morning that King Cone already opens March 1st for the season! Wait -- that's this Friday already! Whew. Good thing I didn't give up ice cream for Lent.

Foto Fun: Uh-oh. Robyn learned a new photo image manipulation skill today! All together now... Ooooooh..... Ahhhhhh. Is is not cool or what?? (Thanks, Brenda, for giving me the inside scoop!)

Empty Bowls: We had our wrap-up meeting tonight to discuss the success of our fundraiser for hunger. It was so encouraging to hear that everyone on the committee heard positive comments about everything -- from soup to bowls. We will be helping some great causes in the South Wood County area and there is a second event for next year already in the planning stages!

A Royal butt-kickin': From that meeting, I headed over to Assumption to catch the first round of the girls basketball playoffs. As the No. 1 seed, we played against Granton, the No. 8 seed in our bracket. There was quite a mismatch of talent. When I walked in at the end of the 3rd quarter, we led 66-3. I had to do a double-take. Final score -- and this is not a typo -- was 79-3. Uff da. Long ride home for the Bulldogs. Now we play Friday night.

Good thing the only thing blue about my day was my fingernail polish!

Bowled Over

Today was the inaugural South Wood County Empty Bowls event. And, pun intended, I was bowled over by the success and support for it!

Since I was on the planning committee and Carter is always on the lookout for community service hours, we both headed to our church at 8 a.m. to help prep. It was evident from the moment we walked into First English Lutheran that this was a community -- not a just a congregation -- event.

We had volunteers from our parish and Scout groups and the neighborhood. We had multi-gallon soup donations from 7 local restaurants. We had desserts aplenty from "church ladies." We had about 230 pottery bowls crafted by our pastor and two other talented potters from the area.

And we had nerves and excitement.

You just never know how a first-time event is going to go. We felt pretty good about getting the word out -- with coverage in both local newspapers, the radio and even television. But still, our committee was conservative and cautiously optimistic. Our pastor, however, predicted we'd sell out of soup and bowls.

Good thing Pastor Josh has a decent track record for being right. Especially this time when it counted!

How did it work? Each person who attended paid $10, got to choose a ceramic bowl to keep (not an easy decision, I tell you), then enjoyed a lunch of delicious soup, fresh bread and dessert. The money raised goes to our local food pantry and a few other anti-hunger programs. The bowl goes home with donors to remind them that every day someone in need has an empty bowl.

If you thought choosing a bowl was hard (Jim grabbed this one in front before treating me to lunch and Carter got the one in the middle with the yellow and blue design) -- choosing a soup flavor wasn't easy either. I highly recommend the Cajun Bean, while hubby supports the Chicken Gumbo and Carter favored the Chicken Dumpling. Yum. Yum!

Here's Pastor Josh with one of his bowls. I think even though he predicted a good turnout, we were all amazed that we had 100 bowls sold by 11:10 a.m.... and it officially started at 11 a.m.! Whoo-hoo!

It was encouraging to see such community support and hear all the wonderful comments from attendees. I am grateful to be a part of it.

And, of course, any time I can spend the day with my baby is a bonus, too!

Carving Out Some Fun

It takes some dedication to spend hours in freezing temperatures and not get paid for it. Either that or it's a darn good cause.

Let's go with the latter.

Carter and I and dozens and dozens of people got their creative juices flowing in sub-zero weather and managed to keep those juices from freezing as it warmed up to almost 20. The event was the Souper Snow Sculpture Spectacular, held as a fundraiser for the South Wood County Humane Society -- the wonderful place where we adopted Sylvester!

When we saw it was minus 3 degrees on our way out the door, we bundled up pretty good. Thankfully it was sunny and not too windy. We only got cold a few times and the decent weather probably helped with both participation and attendance. Lots of people!

Some of the highlights...

Upon arrival the parking lot almost looks like a lake filled with ice-fishing shanties. But these are just chunks of snow. Well large chunks and more icy crap than snow. But we all had to make it work!

Carter and I were helping out with Empty Bowls masterpiece since I am on the event planning committee. (That's the anti-hunger project I mentioned a few weeks ago.) It takes a vision to turn this into something worth looking at!

The man with a mission, a vision AND a blueprint  -- our fearless leader Pastor Josh!

No, we weren't playing King of the Hill. We all had jobs and it took team work!

One of Carter's jobs was coloring the letters. We could not use any paint (chemicals), only food coloring in water. That did the trick, though, since it was so cold.

After "painting" the letters, we had to dig around them (pick ice) to make them stand out. Here, team member Sharon chips away. I mainly helped with this and the coloring part.

I just don't think they trusted me with sharp instruments! Could it be my gloves??

The "table" is done! Now it's time to shape the bowl and spoon and...

Let's not forget a slice of homemade bread to dip in that soup bowl. Pretty cool, eh?!

Our team!! Carter wasn't in the picture because I had to run him over to school to play pep band for a basketball game. A few other helpers are missing, too. Great work, everyone!

And now a few more highlights from finished projects... Here is something for the Brewers fans.

Some type of animal driving a car. Still in progress.

Neat one from Hearts Media Company.

Just some critter that likes to eat little kids for lunch!

High School art students work under the sea.

Slow-moving snow creature!

Not sure who won today but I am pretty sure it has to be this group with their fantastic roller coaster!

You can tell by the detail they have some experience doing this! Of course, next year WE will be experienced, too!