Fish Fry with Alumni

It's always a treat for me to see old friends. And by old, I mean, we've known each other a long time and, yes, we're both old. Tonight it was hubby's turn.

One of his college roommates has moved back into the area and, after post-Christmas card communications, we decided to meet up for a fish fry. They live near the Eau Pleine river between Stratford and Halder – where Jim's dad and grandparents lived. So we met up at a bar and grill not far at all from the old homestead.

All I knew about this roommate was that his nickname was Big Guy. Everyone who lived in that house at UW-Whitewater had nicknames, apparently. In real life, he and his wife are Dean and Gina. And very, very nice.

Ended up being a good thing that we picked the one establishment with the slowest service known to mankind. That allowed for a whole lotta reminiscing on the good ol' days and catching up about careers, kids, and other stuff.

They hadn't seen each in decades but I'm sure you'll agree they both still look like college kids, right?

It was cool for them to connect and for us spouses to meet, too. I do hope we'll get together with them again. Maybe when the big Eau Pleine waters aren't frozen!

All is Calm

Merry Christmas from our high calorie camp to yours! Yes, all is calm here... now that we're all in a food coma from overeating since, well, Thanksgiving.

The photo above is just me playing around Photoshop. This one is our actual card that we sent out in the mail and now virtually to you:

We had five of us celebrating together Christmas morning, hubby and I along with Clayton, Becca and Carter. We did a brunch and opened our presents from Santa and Santa's helpers. A few highlights...

Carter and one of his Logic shirts.

Vikings bring out Clay's dimples!

New sweatshirt to match Becca's hair!

Go Warhawks. Even a new Whitewater golf shirt doesn't mean I want my picture taken!

A new dress for me? Total surprise. Hubby has great taste, though. It's really pretty!

Since Becca had to work, they left in the early afternoon. I managed to get out for a short walk and then we had company for the rest of the day: our friends Mike and Christine, nephew Tony and neighbors Mike and Cindy. Then Carter's friend Tony. I know, two Mikes, two Tonys. No typo.

It was my nephew Tony's birthday today. No red and green for this Christmas baby. He's all about the peanut butter and chocolate.

So the Tony Trifle includes layers of: crumbled chocolate cake, peanut butter cheesecake pudding (that's cheesecake pudding with a tablespoon of PB2 mixed in), and crushed Nutter Butter cookies. I used mini peanut butter cups to spell out the 30. Yes, it did taste as good as it looks.

Can you see our coma symptoms now?

Played some cards tonight but that didn't burn calories or add any room to the food chamber. I probably won't even need to eat tomorrow. Of course, that hasn't stopped me before.

Hoping your hearts are as full as your tummies this holiday. Feeling very blessed here on Blue Jay Drive.

Merry Christmas!

School House (Work) Rock

Back in the old days (aka when I was a kid), our Saturdays started off with some entertaining education in the form of School House Rock. Today, I had my own ABCs...

Awoke: Early. Officially awake at 7:03 a.m. on the one day I could sleep in. What is wrong with this picture??

Book Club: We had our monthly book club meeting at 9 a.m. at From the Ground Up coffee house. This month we discussed Moloka'i, a very interesting historic fiction story set in the early 1900s when people with leprosy were sent away to a Hawaiian island. Sounds like paradise now, but then, not so much. Good discussion and always great to see the girls.

Cleaning: Since it was going to be 60 degrees and sunny, I opened some windows and dove into my "fall cleaning." Did the basic dusting and vacuuming, then spent a lot of extra time in the kitchen, organizing cupboards and getting rid of expired food I was sure I'd make since spring cleaning.

Anyone need some versatile plastic storage containers? They are even disposable. Who knew? They are obviously near and dear to me so I want them to go to a good home. Let me know ASAP before this temporary willingness to let things go passes. Actually, I did find a good home. One of my friends from church said these are always useful when there is leftover food after luncheons and funerals, etc. So I'll drop them off at church tomorrow morning and, after church, drop off 5 bags of plastic bags at the plastic bag recycling center in Walmart. Oh yes, I was a busy bee.


Deck Chair: That's Mr. Deck Chair to you! I was relieved that it was so nice out because Jim rode with friends down to UW-Whitewater for a football game vs. UW-Stevens Point. As a UW-W alum, he got to enjoy a homecoming victory! I, on the other hand, enjoyed a little time with Mr. Deck Chair. Probably not even 15 minutes, but it's the thought that counts.

Exercise: I am writing these out of order to keep them alphabetical, but I did exercise first so I deserved that Deck Chair time! Went for 3-mile run. Walked a little bit where it was sunny so I could slowly catch a few rays. Ha. Always multi-tasking!

Fire: When Jim got home tonight, we went across the street to enjoy a fire at the neighbors for awhile. Crazy how much it cooled off this evening. Can see our breath! That's the fun of fall, I guess. At least the fire was warm. Obviously. And there was freshly baked chocolate cake to boot! This was quite the day!

Goodnight: I really should end this on goodnight but I have to include an H!

Hallmark: Since I had the house to myself all day, I could blast the 80s music while I was cleaning. This evening, though, I just had to sit and relax a bit. Did I actually watch a Hallmark movie called "Pumpkin Pie Wars"? Why, yes I did. Things get a little crazy when I am running the asylum!

I: Am really signing off now. Early church in the morning. Gotta get rid of those Cool Whip containers! Night!

Border Hopping Happenings

Our ongoing tour of graduation parties called for a trip to Minnesota first thing this morning.

My great-nephew Anthony had his Pomp & Circumstance moment last week. Today, we celebrated with him in the Cities.

Knowing we had a second party to get to today for one of Carter's classmates, we arrived at my niece Caryn's house early enough to help set up for the party. That way, we had some quality time there before hitting the highway back to Wisconsin.

Party #1 and my first piece of cake for the day. Ha. They also had a taco bar and plenty of cold drinks since it was 80-plus degrees and humid as heck!

These "boys" may be high school graduates, but I will always be older, maybe a little wiser, and definitely shorter than them! Wow. I should have opted for standing on tippy-toes. That still would only have gotten me up 2 or 3 inches.

It was nice to see family again. My mom was there along with sisters No. 1 and 2, Rayna (right) and Romey, and their spouses.

Sister No. 3, Renell, was the grand graduate grandma today!

I also got to see two nephews and a niece and their spouses, plus my little great-nephew and great-niece. I know my other family members arrived later after we departed. Sorry I missed them but at least I saw them a few weeks ago at Carter's party.

We were back on the road by 3 p.m. and did not push it to attend a party of Carter's classmate Jake that ended at 5 p.m.

So we stopped home quick around 6-ish to change and head over to party #2, less than 5 minutes from home. Macyn is going to UW-Whitewater so Jim changed into his new UW-W shirt Carter gave him a day early for Father's Day. (I've got connections!)

The weather cooled off enough that I was chilly by night's end. But had a lovely time visiting with friends and enjoying my second piece of cake! Did nothing to wear that off, that's for sure! Since it's almost 2 a.m. I am not going to beat the heat and get up early to go running, either.

Let's just establish that Sunday is a day of rest, including Father's Day fun (maybe) and more cake at parties #3 and #4 for the weekend. At least the only border hopping will be the city limits.

I hope that counts as exercise.

Mission Possible

I once asked you: How do you eat an elephant? The answer: One bite at a time.

As much as I loved my Pumpkin Spice Grands Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast, the rest of the day I was eating elephant. (aka tackling the clutter).

When some of us see how much stuff has accumulated in our homes over a decade, it can be overwhelming to think of organizing, donating, selling or tossing it ALL at once. So I've been taking little bites at a time. It felt so good to get my closet re-organized last weekend, I didn't want to lose momentum.

Today, since Jim was gone all day to UW-Whitewater watching his Warhawks whoop up on the UW-Stevens Point football team, I decided I would hit the "cobweb corner" – also known as the laundry room and "storage" area of the basement.

There are a lot of boxes and bins and bags of clothes that are either don't fit anyone or don't fit the style of the current decade. I was on a mission. By midafternoon, I hadn't gotten to all the cobwebs yet, but I had the back of the CRV filled and was headed to the Bethesda Thrift Shop for a donation.

My math went something like this: 6 bags donated to Bethesda + 4 bags of garbage tossed = 1 evening of hard-earned anti-hoarding Hallmark Xmas Movie time.

That was my plan. But it turned out even better. Instead of the Hallmark movie, which I am DVR'ing as I type, I got to spend 3 hours with my boy, who was organizing and downsizing his wardrobe, too.

We went to Stevens Point to eat an early supper at Buffalo Wild Wings. Then we stopped at Fleet Farm so I could buy some ingredients for Christmas cookies, plus the yummy red and green Spice Gum Drops I can only find there. After that we stopped at Kohl's for some early Christmas shopping. We hit pay dirt at the clearance rack and Carter got some new clothes to replace the ones he just got rid of. Who am I to judge or explain that this is how the cycle never ends??

After that, Carter insisted we stop for a cool treat. It's almost mandatory after hot wings, even though we'd had an hour to cool off already. So we stopped at Sweet Frog and enjoyed some frozen yogurt for the ride home. Seems like a perfect date to me.

Glad we both worked so hard to deserve it. It feels good to say "Mission Accomplished."

Even if it was just one of many to come.

Fa-la-la-la-load

OK, I lied yesterday. I am a load. Make that two of us. This morning, while Mommy and Daddy were snuggled under their blankets, the 10-year-old was out shoveling the driveway by 7:30 a.m. Yeah, we sort of slept right through that one. Didn't hear a peep.

What a nice surprise to wake up to, though. We didn't think he was taking it seriously when we said last night, "If you get up early, you can shovel." He also took Daddy's advice to heart and did a thorough job. "Dad said it better be clean enough for me to place a piece of cake on it and eat it."

Say what? Apparently Jim said it should be smooth enough to eat lunch off of. That's still not clear to me what that means. But naturally, Carter (like me) would substitute the word "cake" for "lunch." Any time, man.

To thank Carter, I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast (well, baked them anyway). Then we all proceeded to have a day of fun. This afternoon, we picked up some friends and headed to Stevens Point for the UW-SP basketball game against Jim's alma mater, the mighty Warhawks from UW-Whitewater.

If you follow college hoops in Wisconsin, you'd know that Whitewater was supposed to have a slight edge. And they did. Until the end when Stevens Point tied it and we went into overtime. They (the Pointers) ended up winning by a basket. My how the "mighty" have fallen.

It didn't really matter to me who won. I was just glad to see a good basketball game. It was kind of cool to see some "kids" playing that we watched during Wisconsin Rapids high school games just a few years ago. They did pretty well today so that was neat.

Afterwards we stopped in Point at a pizza joint and had supper. Now we're all full -- and claiming our couches for the night. Because, wouldn't you know it, there's more college basketball on TV tonight! Go Badgers!

That's OK. We're just coming full circle. Waking up loads and wrapping up the day in the same fashion. I know. You're just jealous...