Silent Night

After closing our Christmas Eve service with Silent Night, I realized yes, it was going to be a pretty silent night on Blue Jay Drive. 

I went to 1 p.m. church since choir was singing and then went home to watch the end of the Vikings game – SKOL! – and get the Christmas Beast dinner going.

Yes, Santa confirmed that the victory on a 61-yard field goal means I am on the Nice List this year. Well, I mean someone in our house is. Maybe both? Either way, SKOL to a 12-3 record! Wow.

Clay and Becca came over for dinner at 5 p.m. The thing about Christmas dinner is that even though it was just 4 of us, you still prep it like you would for 8 or 12. Right? I did ham, cheesy potatoes and Jim's mom's famous dressing recipe. Got it right this time!

It was a nice quiet evening and by default, Clay and Becca got all the stockings and presents, ha!

Jim got all 3 boys the official poster from The Who concert they went to in Portland. We framed them and they're pretty cool. Only Clay got to open his, of course. Carter will have to wait. And I have to ship Casey's yet. Pretty awesome remembrance.

Don't you love that Clay's socks match Becca's hat? Perfect match, those two!

Even got Jim to stand by the tree. He got around a bit today without any assistance of a walker or cane. Thanks for the new knees, Santa!

Speaking of Santa... I tried to leave him Candy Cane ice cream in a special Rudolph cup but this Sly elf wasn't about to share! We'll see if he visits. If not, we know who to blame.

Hope you are having a wonderful Christmas weekend surrounded by your loved ones. It's tough having empty chairs for the ones who are far away right now. (My heart was filled with joy when Carter called me this afternoon from Alabama, where they're with his girlfriend's family).

It's tougher still having an empty chair that won't ever be filled again. We sure miss Jim's mom and I know so many of you are missing someone this holiday season. Just know I heard a lot of angels singing today so they're definitely nearby. And always in our hearts.

Have a blessed Christmas!

What Happens at The Lake...

I survived Wild Women's Weekend XXIV – that's 24 years for those of you who prefer Arabic numerals! Our top secret location this year was... on a lake Up North.

Well, more specifically a gorgeous VRBO on the west side of Long Lake just east of Sarona and Shell Lake. This one was called the Loon Lodge and it was 100 percent appropriate for us loony sisters!

Not everyone is cut out for roughing it like we are. But we managed alright. Thanks for your concern.

A few inside views...

Main floor had one master bedroom and upstairs had two bedrooms.

The well-appointed basement also had two bedrooms plus this living area and a kitchenette that we never used. Perfect if you are looking for a getaway with multiple families!! Or a longer stay than our 3 nights/4 days combo.

The weather turned out to be simply gorgeous so we could enjoy a little time on the large screened-in porch.

Or out on the deck with the nice views of the water. Most of the color was past peak or off the trees, but we still saw plenty of beauty around us.

And my beautiful sisters, too! We had to get a picture in between talking and laughing and playing games and talking and crying and talking and laughing some more! It's so freeing to feel all the feels – especially so much laughter (like red-faced can't breathe or make a sound laughter) squeezed into one weekend!

My twin and I doing our own photo shoot!

Oh we'll never grow up! Which could be said of all of us. Thank God! 

This morning's sunrise was beautiful but also a sad sign our weekend was coming to an end. Time goes too quickly. We packed up and had our group hug outside while singing happy 95th birthday to Dad in heaven. Pretty sure he heard us. Along with the other loons on the lake!

I did have a brief visit with Dad on the way up to the cabin on Thursday.

And I had lunch with Mom, too! So it was great to see 90 percent of my family over this extended weekend. 

Got home this afternoon while hubby was at the golf course. Then we met for dinner at Portesi's to catch up over pizza. Jim and the boys had an amazing time at The Who concert in Portland and just hanging out together. 

We're both just feeling blessed right now. There are a lot of amazing people out there. And they're ours. 

Have a good week, everyone!

TGIF - A Tad Early

It's one thing to pretend to live every day like it's Friday. It's another to look at the calendar, see it's technically Tuesday, but know in your heart it's actually Friday! In other words, hello weekend! A tad early.

Since I'm leaving early Thursday morning in order to see my mom on the way (not really, but close enough) to sister weekend, I really need to get my stuff together Wednesday night. Since I'm going to the Book of Mormon musical Wednesday night, I'd really need to get my stuff together in that small 90-minute window after work.

So I says to myself, "Self, take the afternoon off." By noon today I says to myself, "Self, just take all of Wednesday off and call it a weekend." So I am. And so it IS Friday and I'll have my pre-weekend weekend day tomorrow to get stuff together plus run errands that aren't even related to the weekend. Yay me and myself and I! 

We make good group decisions.

If the logical side of you wonders why I couldn't just get my act together tonight. Well... I had a very necessary deep-tissue massage after work. Then...

Round 1 of volleyball playoffs, of course! Our Lady Royals defeated Rib Lake 3-0 so they're moving onto Round 2 of Regionals on Thursday. I'll be out of town so I gave an extra hug to my favorite senior! 

Now I better commence to picture editing. I know I can sleep in tomorrow but still, l have a long "to do" list, which may or may not include sneaking in one Hallmark movie while I have the house to myself. Yup hubby's Friday is today too and he's flying off tomorrow with our brown-eyed bandits to see The Who in Portland, Oregon.

In case you were wondering, yes, we old folks know how to weekend around here! TGIF!

Zero to Adult in 18 Years

Somewhere since I held this sweet newborn in my arms, he grew out of them. I have to say happy birthday to the now "man" who stole my heart 18 years ago!

Since Carter is a math geek, I put it in a numbers perspective: That's 6,575 goodnight kisses. 157,800 hours of worry. 9,468,000 minutes filled with smiles and prayers acknowledging how lucky I am to be a mom. His mom.

So proud to call this new "adult" mine. He may have outgrown my lap, but I still manage to hold him, sort of, in my arms when I can!

Took this picture after church and then he was gone the rest of the day with friends doing brunch and disc golfing and whatever legal things young adults do. I wasn't expecting him to wake up and say, "Hey what should I do on my 18th birthday? I think I'll spend it with Mom!" So I made him get up and go to 8 o'clock church with me and he was free to go after that.

Part of me wanted a least a little time with him and the other part wanted to be sure he was there since the altar flowers were in his honor today.

Each week they are sponsored by someone in the parish. I signed up for May Day back in January as soon as I saw his birthday was on a Sunday!

There were two sets of flowers so when I picked them up after the second service, I dropped off one set for my mother-in-law (early Mother's Day gift) and sent the other set with Jim, who was stopping at his aunt and uncle's house in Marshfield on his way to the Twin Cities. Would love the flowers, but Sylvester would love them more. Not good.

May Day also means today is the day of the rescheduled Who concert. If you recall that we were supposed to meet up with friends from Denver and see The Who back in October in Minneapolis. After illness postponed the concert tour, the new date for the Cities show became May 1. Since our friends couldn't make it this time, they had to sell their tickets. So Jim ended up taking Casey instead of me, which I fully supported. He doesn't get much one-on-one time with his first born. Last I heard, they were having fun and not in trouble yet!

Since I had the day to myself. I finally made headway on grad party decorations/displays stuff. Hopefully I can finish those up this week as time allows. Not many weekends left so I pretty much BETTER get them done!

I have a feeling May is going to fly just like the past 18 years. Not ready for that either.

Summer in Whoville

Initially, this was supposed to be our WHO weekend in Minneapolis. Several months ago we purchased tickets to see The Who on Oct. 10, meeting up with our friends Pete and Dawn, who would fly in from Denver to see us... and the concert, of course.

Last month, when singer Roger Daltrey came down with some sort of virus, they had to postpone this "final" tour. Since then, we have learned that it will now be May 1, 2016... A Sunday rather than Saturday and, coincidentally, Carter's 18th birthday. We'll have to celebrate the day before!

The change in plans meant our friends had to cancel their flight and all of us had to cancel our hotel reservations. As a bonus, though, we suddenly had a "free" day on the calendar today. And what a perfectly summer day to not have to be in the car 3 hours from Minneapolis and have a bye week so I was not tied to watching football on TV.

It was a long day.

Without an alarm and not enough sleep, I miraculously got up for 8 o'clock church. Ran some errands to library and post office after church, then came home and did my Saturday chores, plus some laundry and extra "fall cleaning" with all the windows open.

Could not believe it was nearly 80 degrees! This quite likely was the last day of summer, according to the cringe-worthy 10-day forecast.

To enjoy it, I took a walk with my neighbor Cindy – multi-tasking exercise and tanning, ha – and then bonded with deck chairs a bit. After that, I tackled several projects (indoors, unfortunately) for a church committee, a freelance project and a start, just a start, at tackling my Scrap Cave / Office. Now that it got dark so early, I have already lost steam on that one.

I think I'll save it for a rainy day. And believe me, they will be here soon enough. (Insert sad, sad face!)

Countdown to Date Night: 9 Months

Don't jump the gun. Just because hubby and I have a date night set in 9 months does not mean there is any sort of pregnancy involved. Just want to make that clear first.

Secondly, I am excited to go out with him on Oct. 10! It's actually a double-date with our friends Pete and Dawn, who we visited in Colorado last fall. As school-mates and longtime friends, Pete and Jim went to see The Who during their "farewell tour" in 1982. Then saw them again in Colorado – a mere 30 years later in 2012.

But The Who is not done farewell-ing yet!

This year, they are celebrating 50 years of The Who with their last "big tour." Glad they are clear about that. And, since the boys want to see them again, they will. This time in Minneapolis. And this time with their beautiful wives in tow.

Should be a rockin' time, especially since this is like a "Greatest Hits" type tour so I should know the songs. Unlike the concert the guys saw 3 years ago based on the Quadrophenia album. Didn't know a lot off of that.

Naturally, since it's Carter's senior year at the time, we had to be sure we weren't skipping town during homecoming or an important cross country meet. Safe on both accounts. And no, we didn't invite him to go along.

Maybe next time... on their "final, final, we really mean it, last and final" Tour!

Who Are You?

Dateline Denver... and nearby Golden, Colorado, too...

Uploaded some pictures from Jim's brief visit to see his high school friend Pete, wife Dawn and, of course, The Who!

Dawn and Pete live in Golden, Colorado. Howdy, Folks!

Their Chows -- Annie and Rudy -- are adorable! (I won't let kitty see this picture or she'll get jealous!)

Some sight-seeing included Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater.

Not a bad seat in the house, if you ask me!

A scenic drive no matter where you drive. Wow!

Speaking of scenery... Gorgeous! (And the mountains aren't bad either.)

You never know who you're gonna find in the mountains. RIP Buffalo Bill!

Now onto the concert fun... This is Jim (top right) and his friend Pete (front left) when they went to see The Who in Wisconsin in late 1982.

30 years later... still friends... still Who fans... and still rockin'!

Concert poster! Are you excited yet?

A somewhat blurry concert view from a camera phone. You get the idea. They weren't terribly far away from stage!

You guessed it. They pretty much stood for the whole concert! Here you can see them watching the stage (light at left) and checking out closeups on the mega-screen. Jim can't say enough about how awesome it was! That's good because I don't know if there will be another "reunion concert"!

We Got The Bead, er, Beat!

I screwed up. I guess I was under the impression that Fat Tuesday was automatically followed by Skinny Wednesday. Are you telling me that is NOT the case?!

Dang.

I still don't think that would have stopped me from indulging in what I believed to be a bead-free, sin-free, guilt-free slice of Vanilla Bean Caramel Pretzel Cream Pie!

I mean I really had to have a piece. I brought it to work after all. I certainly didn't want anyone to think it was no good. If anything, I guess we'll have to blame the Schwan's man. (Though I honestly can't, at heart, because, well, he really is my best enabler.)

I did try to run it off on the treadmill at lunchtime. However, I doubt burning 300 calories was enough to cover that sinfully delightful dessert! And no, I refuse to look at the nutritional -- or in this case, non-nutritional -- info on the box.

Nope. I will just work it off for the next 40 days.

Most likely I'll skip any other attempts to get Fat or earn Mardi Gras beads. Especially with hubby out of town. One would guess that he is dancing -- well, grooving anyway -- his extra Fat Tuesday calories off tonight to an extremely loud beat.

Yup, just 3 days after receiving his AARP membership information packet in the mail, Jim is in Denver to see The Who, whom he saw 30 years ago on their "farewell" tour. The irony.

This probably will be their farewell tour, with 2 of 4 original members gone to that Classic Rock Station in the Sky. I know they still can rock it, though. And I'm so glad Jim got to fly out to visit his high school friend Pete, who went to that concert with him 3 decades ago. What a neat thing for them to do. Plus he gets to visit and sight-see a bit, too.

Maybe we should all start living like it's Fat Tuesday and live on the edge a bit. Or at least cross something fun off our Bucket Lists. A great concert or whatever.

Of course, next year at this time, Jim and I could do something together .... and cheaply with his AARP discount!