TGIFF (Thank God It's Fabulous Friday)

I worked today at home but realized at some point during the day that Brewer fans were spending time watching a celebration parade.

Good for them. It looked like a grand celebration!

Most of my Friday, however, was working ahead for a week since I'll be out of the office Monday-Friday. There were some civil court case issues happening Monday–Friday for my sister Rachel who barely survived the car accident 2 1/2 years ago.

Now the trial is called off so I told Rachel since I'd already taken the week off, we should go on a mini-vacation.

She loves the north shore and I love my kiddos in Duluth so I think we'll have a nice adventure!

Wisconsin Proud!

Last night was a bit crazy. Two non-Brewer fans in this house stayed up to watch – and cheer them to victory!

Congrats to all you Brewer fans who have been waiting forever for this to happen. It's a big thing for Wisconsin!

A weird memory I have is that in 1982, even though I was already a Twins fan, the Brewers started their season so well that I designed a "shrinky dink" that was a pennant with the words "Brewers 1982". I don't know whatever happened to that, but I remember my creation.

Maybe I've had a soft spot for the Brewers. But most likely when they became National League and my team stayed as American League.

I experienced so much joy when my Twins won the Series in 1987 and 1991. Just bask in the glory. And buy all that merch. You never know how long it will be for the next time!

When the Game Clock Strikes 12!

 

As only a nice friend of Brewers fans – but not a 100% loyal fan – I ended up going to bed before the game got extended and extended and extended last night. Twelve innings. Wow! Bless you all for staying up until the end!

My early bedtime guilt was only lightened when I found out this morning the Brewers did not win. Sorry, but I still want to witness that glorious finish! 

My work friends who were very tempted to fly off to Tampa are camped out somewhere in the Milwaukee metro to feel, experience and hopefully rejoice in this next game! I hope it's worth it. As someone who experienced two World Series championships for my Twins in 1987 and 1991, I can tell you nothing compares! 

Again, fingers crossed for all Brewers fans!

Wisconsin Gone Wild

Life as a Wisconsinite is cray cray crazy after last night's 10-1 victory over Tampa Bay IN Tampa Bay. And the crowd goes wild. And the state goes wild!!!

After being out of the office for a 4-day weekend, my first priority was checking in on a few die-hard (seriously die hard) fans. The two in my department have definitely been waffling back and forth about flying to Tampa Bay. With one game left to claim the trophy. I guess it will depend on whether the Brew Crew can stick a fork in it tonight!

Looking forward to watching it since I have no sports to shoot for a few days.

My only other excitement today – besides catching up on work – was my annual wellness exam. Ugh. Let's just say things happen as we age and I'm not prepared for all of it. But I'm upright and above ground for the foreseeable future. Fingers crossed because we never know.

I'm thankful I'm not a die-hard Brewers fan. I don't think my blood pressure numbers should be messed with! Good luck tonight!!! 

Pretty Fun

The fall colors were on display for us scrapbookers at the Wisconsin Lions Camp outside Rosholt. Just beautiful and accompanied by mild temperatures that required no jacket. Perfect!

It started at 9 a.m. Friday and I got there about 9:15 a.m. so felt good to get things kick-started. My bestie from high school arrived a little later and we were ready to have some productive fun – except when we stopped to chat without distraction. LOL.

They tried to have the Brewers game on a TV on Friday night but it couldn't hold a signal so we listened to the radio version and were able to cheer for our Brew fan friends. I wasn't sure if it was technology or the weird moon outside or a little bit of both!

Saturday night they set up a TV in the camp office that had uninterrupted viewing. Julie and I kept scrapbooking until it was the bottom of the 7th and nothing was certain. So we walked over to the office to watch the rest. 

What a close and stressful series! I feel for you Brewers fans. Good luck tonight!

More random photos of camp and scrapping highlights...

Love the totem pole by the lake. It gives us peace of mind at every scrap!

It's like a pathway to Fall!

First pages of the weekend – a visit with my friend in Seattle. I have a full digital scrapbook of everything from that and a trip to Bellingham when Casey and Emily were out there.

When you're behind and realize this precious princess is no longer with us, you gotta give her some photo love!

I almost forgot about our (well MY) angst when Carter left for a full semester in Germany! The hardest goodbye.

We're always grateful that Louie the Lion stands guard over the Scrapbooking Kingdom each time we're there!

A cute page with Princess Sylvester in a standoff with our sweet grand-pup Rey. It was kinda funny since they're both as gentle as flies. (The non-biting ones!)

Jules and I before she hit the road Sunday. I stayed until today since Jim said I couldn't come home until I completed 35 pages. No worries. Hit the milestone today.

Some weird things about scrapbooking 2019 is that you realize a lot of these things did not or could not happen in 2020. Glad all 8 of us R's got to join Mom for her annual cancer walk!

Oh... this also happened Sunday in case you missed it.

And here's mostly our full group for the weekend. Just a few missed the photo. Just shy of 40 of us crazy gals!

Got home late afternoon with enough time to unpack the ungodly amount of stuff I crammed into my HRV for camp before heading to Book Club. Discussing any book is always delightful with good Mexican food at el Mezcal! However, this month we recommend The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau. Very interesting!

Now I'm home to watch a little of the Brewers before my body takes over and cries "You need sleep!"

Ahhh... the price we pay for a fun four-day weekend!

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! 💙💛