It's Time to Meet The Muppets on The Muppet Show Tonight

Do-do-do, do-do-de-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do

Mahna Mahna

Do-doo, be-do-do

Since we are out of the office next week, today was our day for the Marketing Department to dress up for Halloween. 

The writing team voted (while I was away on my sister getaway) to dress as The Muppets. First, I really wanted to wear my Hee-Haw get-up so I could get my money's worth out of that costume! Secondly, there are a lot of Muppet characters to choose from. And thirdly, thank goodness there is because we found an often forgotten muppet named Annie Sue the pig, who wanted to be a country singer.

Hee-Haw outfit meet my pig nose.

Here's our motley crew! Back row: Swedish Chef, Annie Sue the pig, Animal, Miss Piggy, Fozzy Bear, and Janice the hippy singer. Front row: Camila the chicken, Beaker, Waldorf (grumpy man in the balcony), and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew.

And this one has a few more members of our team dressed as a firefighter, a Brewers fan, and a writer. Ha.

Of course we had a fire drill today and that's when we realized not many departments were into celebrating Halloween a week early! That must be why people shake their heads and say "Oh that's just Marketing!"

We also could trick-or-treat today – in case I don't have enough snacks for my scrapbooking weekend!

Happy early 'ween!

Seeing Through The Fog

The past two mornings brought similar yet different commutes to the office. Both were foggy, but they each had their "signature color!"

 Yesterday was a "Pretty in Pink" vibe behind the low fog.

And today was more orange like "We're a piece of candy corn" vibes. Both were worth stopping the car and taking pictures!

Then it ended up being colorfully gorgeous on the back end of the day, too!

There's not much traffic on Country Trunk F so I was able to put on the brakes and take this through the car window. 

I love fall colors, no matter how Mother Nature dishes them up. Hope you've had time to enjoy the colors of the season, too!

A Heavy Lift

You know what weighs a lot? OK. That might be a little too open-ended! How about there's a reason scrapbookers keep chiropractors and massage therapists in business – and it's not all because we hunch over for days on end.

We also pack what seems like the equivalent of this lady's stuff into these wheeled carts and I'd estimate they weigh about 40-50 pounds each. (First we have to unpack the stuff from the last camp since we didn't open the cart since. Apparently I had FOUR paper trimmers in there from February! I mean I brought one for my sister but that's a bit of overkill.) 

And yes, it's nice these scrapbooking carts have wheels, but there is still the heavy lift into your vehicle, then out when you get to camp. Then repeat it all at the end of the weekend.

You'd think if we used supplies, the carts would be lighter but really we're just transferring the loose paper onto a page in the album cart. Sort of like taking stuff out of your overweight suitcase at the airport and putting it in your carry-on. IT'S ALL ON THE SAME PLANE!

I thought I'd get smart this time and, in an effort to save my back, load up one heavy cart per night for 3 nights. While I was at it, I knew I wouldn't be using my Cricut in the next few evenings, so that got loaded too.

I even have my bedding and towel packed in there. "Don't forget your pillow, Robyn! Don't forget your pillow!!" In fact, I think I'll put a reminder on my phone for 8 a.m. Friday!

Needless to say, this heavy lifting (with the poor posture) is why we've had a massage therapist at camp for probably the last 10 years. Mind you, it's an extra fee, but so worth it to work on some of those knots while they're taking shape! Cannot wait. I'm already overdue for one. Good thing I booked two – one on Friday and one on Sunday.

Hey it's my weekend. My retreat!

P.S. Hubby did offer to lift the other carts tonight. But I'm not quite that organized. Good thing I have 3 more sleeps.

First World Problems

For almost 2 months now we've realized our TV and cable box in the basement are dead. Well presumably dead. Neither would turn on. I checked the extension chords, outlets, etc. Nothing worked.

This is mainly an issue on Monday and Tuesday nights when I want to watch The Voice and hubby wants to watch football, baseball, basketball, or all 3. A bit frustrating for 2 out of 2 people in this house!

Today after work while I was sitting under the hairdryer at my hair artist's, I suddenly recalled a time this happened years ago and we had to press some button on the outlet to reset it. Of course, there was no such button on the outlet where the TV was plugged in.

So I tried the one across the room. And BINGO. It works for that whole room and I feel like I just saved the planet in some action-hero movie!

Probably good I got this figured out before I was neck-deep into Hallmark Christmas movie season – which has started by the way! Now that's definitely a first world problem.

We cope how we can!

Super "Sweet" Sunday

It was a pretty Swede, er Sweet, Sunday! Our boy was down in Wisconsin Dells for a bachelor party weekend. When your baby is an hour away – instead of 4 – you make the effort to see him.

So we met him for breakfast. A BIG one. Kinda surprised how packed this place was for a post-water park season Sunday.

But they packed us in and piled on the food. I didn't realize I was supposed to come with a big appetite! We definitely did not get our money's worth. But if you're ever really hungry and see one of these joints, stop in! 

Had a relatively short visit since he had a long drive ahead. He made sure to give me my "Super Swede" coffee mug he found in some treasure store (aka thrift shop)!

A bunch of kids were piled on Paul Bunyan so we opted for a photo with Babe the Big Blue Ox. Carter did not have sunglasses and will was probably blinded for the first hour of his drive! 

After that we stopped at hoe to do a few things and then headed to Plover for the big fundraiser our nephew Colin and his wife organized. Several of you contributed to raffle baskets. Thank you! There were over 100!! And a huge, huge crowd.

Haven't heard my phone ring yet announcing any winnings, but when I got home my raffle winnings from yesterday's chili cookoff fundraiser at Tri-Norse had been delivered! I guess I can't win EVERYTHING!

This afternoon I got the rest of my photos in order for Crop-toberfest next weekend. Still need to do some scrapbooking paper organizing this week but I do have a few somewhat free evenings for that! 

Tonight I imagine we'll watch some football. My fantasy team apparently took the weekend off and the Swedish Chef Mafia may be handed their first loss. Gotta go cheer on Josh Allen so he kicks in gear in the 4th quarter!

That would be SWEET!

October Things

Today was totally a typical October Saturday. First I headed down to Tri Norse Ski Club for their chili contest and "colorama." Unfortunately, the fall colors have past or have yet to peak.

But I climbed up the 124 steps (yes, I counted) to the top of the ski jump...

Don't look down, Robyn!

And focused on looking OUT. Like I said, not much color.

But I felt emboldened that I sort of conquered my fear of heights. For 2 minutes anyway!

After that, I headed to the football field. (I love me a daytime game for photos!) This is our first year in the 8-player league and we only had one loss. Although it was a slow start against Thorp today, we came away with a 23-16 win and will move onto Round 2 of the playoffs... for the first time in forever!!

Exciting!

After that, I picked up some pictures at Walgreens (Crop-toberfest is next weekend already!) and stopped at Lighthouse for a few scrapbooking papers.

Sometimes you just need that perfect paper for your upcoming pages! I was thrilled to find this!

After editing and posting football photos, I remembered that I was supposed to be at a Scentsy party. Thankfully it was an all-afternoon open house. So I was able to smell all the pumpkin smells and order some waxes and room spray. 

What an October day!

Now the Badgers are on and then the American League playoffs. It's fall, y'all! 

Autumn Escape

My 5-day autumn escape started with some different "fall colors." The first were these beautiful stained glass windows as we attended a wedding in Oshkosh Saturday for Tyler and Ellie – the son and daughter of good friends of ours.

The wedding was beautiful, the wedding party was beautiful, and every detail of the reception and dance was so well thought out. Just so fun! And since these two are Assumption "kids," we knew about 80% of the guest list! 

We stayed overnight and got back Sunday with enough time for me to unpack the suitcase and re-pack it for my sister getaway. I still call it our Wild Women's Weekend – even though it was Sunday-Wednesday this year.

Our destination was a spacious VRBO in the Eau Claire/Altoona area. Secluded but still within minutes of all the amenities the city has to offer!

For this year's Opening Act, I convinced my twin we should do a mini Hee-Haw show. We sang the clothes-washing song from the show (We're not ones to go around spreading rumors...) and wrote some corney jokes about each sister. Of course we were a hit. Ha.

The weather was actually summer-like on Sunday and Monday. So Monday our mission was to go to a nearby park and find a "stick sculpture" we saw in Our Wisconsin magazine since the park was close by.

What are the odds we see a picture of the "Oak Lair" in Our Wisconsin magazine, we decide to search for it since the park is 10 minutes from our VRBO... AND we have a chance meeting with architect Ryan Butler who turned into our group photographer? 

We loved hearing about his passion and creative process as a landscape artist! What a nice surprise! (By the way, that cane belongs to one of my sisters, not Ryan.)

We highly recommend Mount Simon Park if you're ever in the Eau Claire area! 

And he took some nice group photos of us among his creations!

Fall colors were not at peak yet. But we saw that maybe a lot of trees showed off early before the winds took their leaves away.

There were some splashes of color. But nothing too brilliant.

Tuesday returned to cold and windy so we stayed put. Both RoAnn and Raylene had to leave us around mid-afternoon because they had obligations Wednesday morning.

So we took our "skydiving" selfie before they left. Yes, we're dorks and that's why we get along!

The rest of us checked out Wednesday by 10 a.m. and hit the road. Since I had the full day off, I took a few detours to hopefully find fall colors. That included the High Ground by Neilsville (way up on a hill) and some random side road.

Today was back to work – thankfully remotely this week since a lot of work piled up in my short absence!

And now it's time to support 90% of my friends who are cheering on the Brewers! Just one more win and you're in the World Series! 💙💛