Football Feasting

Just because you cheer for a losing football team doesn't mean the fun is over when they're not in the playoffs. A person's gotta eat, don't they?

We had an indoor tail-gating party at work today cleverly disguised as a Packer potluck. More accurately, it was a generic pre-playoff party since there is one Dallas Cowboy fan in our department. He dutifully distributed Cowboy Bandwagon application forms this week, but the response was not something I could reprint here.

For the record, I am not jumping on any bandwagon. I wore my very neutral Maui hoodie to work so I would not offend either side and would be allowed to eat brats, chips and some very tasty "Texas Sheath" cake, which is just known as a very large chocolate sheet cake in the rest of the country.

Good stuff!

It's after 9 p.m. and I am still full. So it's kind of not fair that I could put on the "football five" and I am not even emotionally invested.

Pretty sure I won't change my mind in that regard so don't get any ideas. I'll stick with my Purple.

Feast or famine.

Seasonal Defrosting Disorder

This is proof that the lack of sunlight is not the only reason for Seasonal Affective Disorder or whatever they call it. For me, a lot of it has to do with being cold, cold and colder! B-r-r-r!

So this is what we'll face in the morning. Again.

Thanks goodness there are warm (as in above zero) spells to break up the polar vortex of fun on occasion. And, even more so, thank goodness there is high school hoops to distract us!

Tonight we go to see our Assumption Lady Royals play at home against the Northland Lutheran squad. JV was fun to see because our friends' daughter if off the DL and back in action. They also won the game 53-6 – not a misprint – so that was amazing in itself.

Varsity girls also won by some 20 or 30 points! It's a good confidence booster when their season has been a little inconsistent in the win column so far.

Our boys traveled to Northland Lutheran for their game tonight. Typically they don't play on same night but it was a makeup game. Royals varsity won 89-53. Yes, their season is on fire. One loss Thanksgiving weekend and that's it.

So yes, there some positive and fun ways to combat the Seasonal Defrosting Disorder... hoops, friends and, of course, an electric mattress pad.

Bundle up! It may not be back above freezing until Tuesday!

Human Connection

Some days it feels so good to just be human. While I did not sleep in today, I did eat some really good food that would be classified by dietitians as BAD. But I brought the leftover Christmas Monster Cookies to work so we could all be human together!

I ran on the treadmill Sunday and Tuesday and went to kickboxing on Monday. The only reason I skipped tonight's class is that Jim and I had a funeral visitation to attend for a wonderful man from my church. He and his wife were just a few months shy of their 60th wedding anniversary so I feel so badly for her. Very sad.

When I got home, I finally got some one-on-one time with college boy. At Jim's suggestion, I kidnapped him and took him to a local establishment that has a BBQ Ribs Special on Wednesday nights.

He had the ribs and I had a pizza burger (again, bad choices) but neither one of us gave a thought to something named "Buffalo Sweat." Not sure how the name would attract anyone to try it. I'll stick with buffalo chicken and that's it!

Was nice to have a mother-son date. Short but sweet. He's still home another 10 days but I may need to kidnap him at least one more time. Not that I am going to hear any deep, dark secrets.

Just need that HUMAN connection. Don't we all?

And Yet We Chose to Live Here

Props to the precipitation prognosticators for going above and beyond their forecasts. In other words, 4-7 inches here in the Wisconsin Rapids area equated to all of that and more.

I was poised to scold our township for not plowing before I left for work this morning. Then I encountered a plow or 2 and was assured they were at least on the job. For later commuters anyway. This is one of those days, a sane person would not leave the office to go "out" for lunch. But, I had a dental cleaning appointment at noon. Always a risk when scheduling it on the hottest day of July. Polar – and I stress POLAR – opposite weather!

Before I could leave the parking lot, I had brush off the first few wet inches of snow while flakes as big as quarters (no exaggeration) were falling. Needless to say, my hair was a wet mess and they did not have a hair dryer handy at the dentist office when I got there. What kind of 2-bit operation is this?

The bright spot was Carter and I both had cleanings and neither one of us had cavities. Winning. Got this nice photo outside the dental office, too. Still winning.

Round 2 of the hair fail was after the appointment when I had to brush off the car again. Such heavy, wet crap! Not winning.

Don't tell the authorities, but I blew every stop sign between the dental office and work. No one was coming and I feared if I stopped, I would not be able to go again. If I was pulled over, I would have just told the officer to give me a ticket and a push, please.

Got back to the office and convinced everyone I had gone out to get my hair straightened. Because a normal, sane person would never miss a hair appoint – even in a snow storm!

By the end of the work day, we were shoveling off our vehicles again. But not just snow – ice, too!!

This was the intersection by work, where it was plowed and the banks of new snow were almost as tall as my little Honda hybrid. Not a fun drive but happy to be home, where there was manual labor involved with snow removal, thanks to our temperamental snowblower. Good thing there are 3 capable grown men under our roof right now!

I can just sit back, relax and continue my countdown...



Oh, like you're not thinking it! We chose to live here but we all have ways of coping!

One or the Other

So this is how it's going to be, Old Man Winter? If we're not grabbing extra layers for the Deep Freeze, we're grabbing our shovels instead? Does it HAVE to be one or the other?

Ironically, I could tell from inside the house that it was warmer this morning. One, my phone showed it was 16 degrees. And two, I forgot to turn the heat down last night.

So I was so plenty warm by the time I was dressed and beautified for work. I almost went out the door without a coat! That's part of the brain washing of Wisconsin living. If the highs are close to 30, we are approaching No Jacket Required weather.

Of course, we also know a warm-up means snow. In our minds, it can be "too cold to snow." No surprises then that as the temperatures traveled up the teens, the snowflakes came down. Apparently, according to the pretty purple map, we'll get 4-7 inches here.

It was already a slick drive coming home from kickboxing earlier. Should be a fun, thankfully short, commute in the morning. On a positive note, it's not only going to be above zero tomorrow but above freezing. A projected high of 34 should melt all the white stuff, right, Old Man Winter?

Deal or no deal?

Meet us halfway?

Pop Culture

If you've ever had a firm stand on what you call your carbonated soft drink, forget it. I now have concrete evidence of the proper term to use.

Having lived in all corners of Wisconsin (sort of), I have witnessed and participated in the "soda" and "pop" labels, following regional preference. I also have friends from Texas – like really FROM there – who call it "coke." And that's just not worth bringing into this equation.

Growing up in northwest Wisconsin, I said "pop," just as the map illustrates. Never gave it another thought until college in La Crosse when there were multiple influences from around the state and region. The first time I heard "soda" I thought maybe I'd been saying it wrong all this time. Was it because I was from Small Town, USA, that I didn't know any better?

That is stressful.

So I started to say soda as well as pop. But usually pop. Then moving over to the northeast corner of Wisconsin, there was a soda contingent. In fact the East Coast of Wisconsin is mostly soda, I think. And it creeps over to central parts, too, including Wisconsin Rapids.

So I find myself saying pop by lifelong habit and soda when I make a concerted effort before I speak. You know that rarely happens!

But now I know I should be saying POP. To illustrate...

This is a fraction of the mess in our garage this morning. It may be soda in the can, but it POPs when it is below zero! Especially way below zero. (If you're cold, they're cold. Bring them inside.)

Make sense? Can we all get along now?

Just don't get me started on "drinking fountain" vs "bubbler."

Saturday Spotlight

Started the day thinking the most exciting thing on the agenda was undressing, dismantling and storing the Christmas tree. With the addition of '80s music in the background, it was indeed a rockin' good time.

Like totally.

Then this afternoon, hubby and I went to watch the Assumption boys host Stevens Point Pacelli. Afternoon hoops don't always turn out well for us. There just doesn't seem to be the same level of alertness or something. Plus the hoop was blatantly ignoring our shots. Although we did have a short-lived lead at the beginning of the game, we fell behind by a good 15 points at one point. We had a resurgence late in the game, then this happened.

Down by 2 points with 2.5 seconds left, Pacelli had a player shooting free throws. He made the first one so they led by 3. If he made the second one, it was over. We can't score twice in 2.5 seconds. But he didn't make it. Watch below what happened in that 2.5 seconds...

Isn't that crazy amazing? We know that kid and his parents well. How excited they must be. And did you hear the fans screaming?  I was just telling Jim I have a sore throat. Maybe it's a not a virus after all, just fan induced.

To recover and calm down a bit, plus get my "daughter fix," I spent the evening doing the opposite of a boys basketball game. I attended the Dance With Pam Variations dance recital at the Wisconsin Rapids Performing Arts Center.

I met up with a friend of mine whose daughter was performing. Turns out I knew two of the girls dancing and the mothers of 3 more. So it was neat to see. Hey, any recital that starts out with a 5-song tribute to Prince gets 2 thumbs up in my book! All the numbers from Prince to Rio to Peter Pan were awesome!

I guess that's one bonus of afternoon basketball. It frees up the evening for culture, tapping feet and swinging hips.

That's a lot of excitement for one Saturday. With temps dipping to double digits below zero tonight, I might just force myself to stay home and out of the spotlight tomorrow.