Commute and Construction Do Not Mix

There's more than one reason I haven't missed being in the office for the past month. But I was reminded today of a few more as I see the only "light" at the end of the tunnel is a fluorescent one when we return to the office next week!

Today I had a special occasion to return to Stevens Point as the mentor for our summer intern. The interns compete in a special challenge each summer – ideas they come up with as a team that could streamline or grow business at our company. So today's presentations were at SentryWorld – since our headquarters building across the street is under construction.

As I headed out after lunch, hubby asked: "Do you remember the way?"

Ha. But he had no idea how that would shape the day. While I did get to SentryWorld easily. Afterward, the state patrol had the entrance to I-39 south closed. An accident, I assume. So I went north, back to the next exit and realized traffic was backed up some 3 miles at least. Oof.

I figured I would just go south on one of the main streets and connect with Highway 10 since I had errands there. But that street was closed quickly for construction and it took me a minimum of 3 detours to get to the all-important Target store. Ugh. I realize I have forgotten my way around Stevens Point!

But I did find a few of the items I was seeking at 4 stores I haven't seen in 4 weeks. So glad they're still in business! I am so influential, you know!

The only other challenge I faced was showering, putting on my face AND curling my hair! Oh, and wearing grown-up clothes instead of shorts and your favorite t-shirts. I'm gonna have to step up my t-shirt game for the next 4 home-office days!

Soggy Sunday

Today was the extreme opposite of our sunny and 85-degree Saturday. It was rain all day and maybe a high of 55. Welcome to "spring" in Wisconsin!

So we did indoor things. Went to church. And I plunked down on the recliner under a fuzzy blanket and watched golf and the Twins-Brewers game (yay, Twins)... and perhaps napped here and there. Not a bad life. Ha.

Tonight we went to a meeting at TriCity golf course for our upcoming couples league. That should be fun again this summer as long as it's nothing like today's weather!

Now I have time to watch at least one mindless rom-com before going to bed. Look at me being so agile with Mother Nature's moods! Hope we all can do the same in the coming days!

A Tale of Twisters and Monsters

What a strange two days! I took Friday afternoon off to head up to Hodag Country to meet my sister Nell. Not a local? Rhinelander is the home of the Hodag pictured above.

This mythical, mischievous creature was first “discovered” in Rhinelander in the late 19th century but may have been roaming the Northwoods for eons before that. I can't confirm or deny! Today, the Hodag has become the official symbol of Rhinelander – it’s even the mascot for the local high school and can be seen pretty much anywhere visitors go in Rhinelander.

That is not the reason we were going to Rhinelander. We swear. But it you can believe it, for me, meeting up with one on my sisters up there is twice as close (less than 2 hours) to driving 4 hours to see them in our Up North back home towns.

So when she said she was going to a conference Friday and Saturday and could use the company, I said sure!

In our routes up and over yesterday we were both more like the Storm Chased versus the Storm Chasers. We knew tornadoes and crazy stuff were predicted. In fact, on my route up I-39 they had already dismissed schools early for safety. We both had sunny skies and stayed ahead of it thankfully!

Me arriving to town: "Hey, sis, I found the Hodag!"

40 minutes later... clouds and high winds before we find a place to eat!

As we scarfed down our delicious Friday night burgers at a place called Bucketheads Sports Bar & Grill, we heard no less than three tornado warnings on the multiple TVs! We're like, should we take shelter? And... wait is that what county we're in? 

Who knew being a tourist in Hodag Country could be so dangerous?

We did make it back to the hotel fine and she beat me in two games of Five Crowns before we realized the twisters did destructively touch down between Rhinelander and Wisconsin Rapids. Uff da.

And this morning we woke up to 30 degrees and a "real feel" of 21 degrees. So Wisconsin had sunny and golfing Thursday, twister Friday, and winter Saturday.

*Checks calendar*

Oh right, it's spring.

Got home about 6 p.m. tonight and am grateful for at least a little sister time. And super grateful for our safe travels.

Prayers to all dealing with tornado/wind damage and flooding right now. Consider any way we all can support them!

Oh and keep an eye out for those sneaky little monsters among us!

Two-Day Brain Drain

Today was the first of two days of quarterly planning for work. Which means nothing to you. In January, this process was new and we spent most of the two days learning what to do and how to do it. Today went more smoothly.

But it was still basically being in one continuous meeting since my alarm went off. Well, practically!

I was physically exhausted after work and I was just sitting all day. But at the computer. And working. I guess brain drain can also drain or other energy. I made good progress so tomorrow shouldn't be too bad.

At least my brain was not too fried. I remembered my – OUR – important task/privilege today. Voting! In our township, all the races fit on one side of the ballot. Not a ton going on. But some very important decisions to be made.

Hope you all exercised your right to vote. For me, that was the only exercise I got all day. I think my FitBit should give me double steps for that, don't you?

Flew the Warm Nest

15 degrees below zero with a "feels like" temp of 25 below was not enough to cancel church this morning. So I bundled up and headed out. The only reason I flew the coop, er warm nest, was so I could sing with the rest of the choir and what I expected to be a handful of brave souls in attendance.

Turns out, we had a big crowd. I know part of that was because we had our Annual Meeting immediately following the service – and we needed a quorum. We had it! Nothing controversial this year. And more importantly, I didn't get talked into serving on a committee or something in the last minute. It's hard to say no in front of a crowd, you know.

Did a little grocery shopping on my way home (as long as I was out). Then we pretty much lazed about watching the NFL Championship games.

I am not a Patriot fan but I am glad they beat the Broncos. We Viking fans have no love or respect for their coach Sean Payton after "BountyGate" years ago! Grrr.

Now it's halftime of the Rams-Seahawks game. Jim and I can't decide if we should be rooting for or against Darnold – or former quarterback. He had the talent with us. But now I'm thinking I should pin some blame on our offensive line for not giving him time to make throws like he is with the Seahawks. 

Not going to overthink it. Just hope for a close, interesting game.

 

Pretty in Pink :: Only in the '80s

Shout out to the weather dudes for being right 100% of the year – the 6th day into 2026, anyway. The popular pink color was so 1980s, though!

As it turned out, it was about 5:30 a.m. when I was checking my phone and realized yes, all the central Wisconsin schools (contained within yesterday's raspberry beret) were closed today. Even parts of I-39 (my commute) were shut down due to multiple accidents. So I stayed home.

And had 8+ hours of training/meetings remotely.

The only advantage was that this forced us to meet in smaller teams where we could all contribute rather than being in a meeting room with 60+ people and trying to be heard.

Still, I am officially entering the era of my life wondering if you can, in fact, teach an old dog (admittedly me) new tricks.

So much is changing about how we are going to be doing our work – at work – that I want to scream "Didn't you hire me for my writing skills? Why am I managing projects now and trying to squeeze in writing and editing?" 

Well, I guess I just screamed it now. Ha.

You know me. I eventually will embrace and make the best of it. But give me time. 

This old dog has to stretch out all her aging joints to tackle new moves.

May you all conquer new challenges this week!

TDF (Technical Difficulties Friday)

Honestly it wasn't a hard day, just a long day. Which I should have realized when my work laptop needed a lengthy security upgrade. 

Then I had a meeting about a website launch that I heard 10 minutes before that that I needed to write some copy for by end of day Monday. I was not feeling any Friday vibes.

To sort of cheer myself up, I caught the end of today's Ryder Cup action at the end of my workday. That didn't go as well as I hoped. Let's go, USA!!

After running a few weekend errands in town, I figured I would relax with the remote since hubby's keeping stats at the Royals' football game in Edgar.

Unfortunately after watching Pretty Woman more times than I can count, I realized I used our non-cable remote to watch it on some unknown channel. And it took me a more-than-frustrating hour to figure how to get our TV back to our expensive cable channels. I was ready to throw so many things at the cable box! Life should not be so complicated when it comes to marrying cable and streaming channels!

Disclaimer: Jim considers me the IT/tech expert in the house but it's time to hire someone younger. I especially realized today I have official old person no-patience vibes running through my veins. And I'm not as smart as I thought.

I've also gotten sideline reports from Edgar that our Royals aren't doing so hot. Right now I'm just wishing we all have a great Saturday! 

Back at the Homestead

What a whirlwind of a week! I thought I'd be sharing highlights each day of my time in San Diego. But to be honest, I was exhausted trying to live on West Coast time while my body was mentally and physically 2 hours away in Central Time.

First of all, about the amazing marketing conference. It was good and I learned some exciting things. I've been to the San Diego Convention Center before – remember when I was there for Comic Con and met Erik Estrada? – but I forgot how massive the place is. And very interestingly designed.

You know how I love me some architecture pictures. This was coming down the escalator at the right moment and seeing the other escalators off in the distance.

For the conference, the final keynote was an interesting coincidence.

On the plane ride out, I just happened to finally watch the Barbie movie (worth seeing!). And it turns out actress Issa Rae – "president of BarbieLand" – was our final speaker! 

How interesting! Most times, we have no idea how hard people work – or what obstacles they must hurdle – to get where they are today. Probably like most of us. We're just not that famous!

In the evening hours, after grabbing a bite to eat, I could explore a little bit. But kept it close to my hotel since the sun sets there early, too, at this time of year.

Fun fact: The bar where the filmed the "Great Balls of Fire" piano scene in Top Gun was not even a half block from my hotel!

Piano is still there!

And plenty of memorabilia.

Also, service men and women have found it a place to hang their hats. Pretty cool.

Also, just a block or two in the other direction is the USS Midway Museum on the Navy Pier and some interesting statues.

The Unconditional Surrender statue – based on the iconic photograph – was pretty cool to see.

Especially when there was a couple replicating the pose while I was there! Gives you a sense of how tall the statue is, too!

In that same park, they also had a statue scene of Bob Hope entertaining the troops. If you're too young to know, you missed out!

Very well done!

Of course, I also had a chance to catch the sunset there before booking it back to my hotel before I got dark. Glad it was so close!

Yesterday was a super long travel day...

Leaving the marinas of the Pacific Coast...

To flying over snow-capped mountains...

To the beautiful fall colors of the Midwest!

Due to some delays and fun travel headaches, I didn't get back home 'til almost 11 p.m. last night. Glad to be home same and sound! 

And in the Central Time Zone. If you know, you know!

Cause for Celebration

We put on quite a few miles this weekend but there was much cause for celebration everywhere we went.

Saturday morning, Jim and I were on the road to St. Paul by 8 a.m. to visit my sister Rachel. Poor girl was ecstatic to move from surgical care to the rehab/transitional care unit but we were all with Mom and only a few of us could celebrate the milestone with her – and give her a hug of sympathy, too.

She was doing good. Gaining strength and able to do a few things on her own. Granted, she can't use her left arm and hand much or even put weight on her left leg until August. Still, the therapists are working with her to gain some independence.

Never ever will I take for granted again that I can wake up, hop out of bed, use the toilet, take a shower, and brush my teeth. All things she must navigate right now with her right arm, hand, leg and foot. She's in good spirits, but can definitely use continuous prayers for physical, emotional, and spiritual strength!

We made it back home in time yesterday to attend the dinner and dance for this sweet couple – Nathan and Abigail! Not my photo but all of us "locals" know that making "The Rock" is pretty cool. I think it's been painted over no less than 600 times. Good thing it resides on the property of the groom's dad!

Had a super time dancing the night away at the Grand Rapids Lions Club shelter. Yep, all 350+ of us fit in there! It was fun and not super late. But just late enough that after the 6+ hours of traveling before the wedding, I was too exhausted to blog.

Today was more cause for celebration. 

After church – which included a tear-jerk How Great Thou Art – we went to a graduation down the road and then another at Rooted in Red for 6 Assumption girls. Perfect sunny and 70-degree weather for these parties.

We did stop home and get separate cars to go to Couples Golf League meeting at TriCity. Then hubby headed to his dad's and I went to grad party for a kiddo from my church that I took senior pictures of last year. 

Home now. It is too early to go to bed at 7 p.m. after a long weekend? Probably! I can relax awhile since the sermon today was about rest on the Sabbath. But really, if there are lots of things going on and I'm NOT IN CHARGE, that's rest!

Hope you find moments to both rest and celebrate this week!

Rockin' with the Oldies

We've had something on our calendar quite awhile now. Our friend's band was playing at Junkyard Bar & Grill (most recently was Octane Bar) on Saturday night at 8 p.m. Of course, bands like Rising Phoenix book months and months out, so there's no way they could've known they'd compete against a certain playoff game for an audience.

So those of us in our house were free to go listen as planned since we didn't have anything we had to watch. There was a decent crowd anyway, but many were swiveling their chairs back and forth between the band and game.

And I'm not saying it's our fault, we were sitting at table 12. Might have created some bad ju-ju.

It was great to hear Jim's classmate Todd sing and play. They are an amazing rock band – if you like any 80s-90s rock from KISS and Journey to Def Leppard and Queen. So good!

And our friend Kathy (Jim's classmate in a different band) was able to join us. Not that you can visit much with such loud music playing, but we yelled a lot during their brief breaks. We all made it past 11:30 p.m.! Not bad for a bunch of oldies out rockin' on a Saturday night!

Got home right around midnight but was much too tired to blog.

Today we have our hearing back (ha) and it's been a low-key Sunday. I was at church and our annual meeting and Jim was at church then shoveling at his parents. Only an inch or so so not bad. This afternoon was more NFL playoffs. I've sort of been watching while crocheting a blanket I'm trying to get done for a raffle basket. 

A girl can make a lot of progress when her team doesn't make the playoffs! Bring on baseball season for all of us!