Day 53

I was trying to thing of an interesting poster idea for the tea party. I looked at blogs that had slogan ideas but nothing grabbed me... then this weekend I heard Obama reading Green Eggs and Ham to the Egg Roll kids... Inspiration! I drew Sam-I-Am's body, and then googled an Obama head shot hopefully looking off a little to his right... the first pic was the dangly cigarette one... jackpot!

So here is Obam-I-Am in all his glory. I hope nobody else thought of this!

Day 51 & 52

We had a fun weekend because Auntie Leslee and Cousin Saadia came to visit us from California -- yesterday Nana came over too, and we had Easter Brunch together. Aside from some rain on Friday, the weekend was picture perfect and warm for early April!! The trees are budding already, the earliest in 10 years since we moved here.

My hyacinths are in full bloom and I swear they smell more fragrant than they ever have... man oh man do I love spring!!!

Day 46

This makes my winter-weary eyes light up with joy...

You know when the Linder's tent goes up in Knowlan's parking lot, that winter is nearly behind us. In the next week or so the pansies and primroses will come out and not long after the place will be full of people itching to get their hands in the dirt. Bring on Spring! Love, love, love it!

Day 43

Tonight I watched the General Young Women's Conference broadcast for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints online... the theme was on staying strong and fighting the temptations of the world... while the messages were aimed for young women ages 12-18, this older woman got a lot out of the message. Elaine S. Dalton spoke about how we need to realize the way God sees us... something she said inspired this little card I created tonight.

Day 42

They say that a messy desk is the sign of a creative mind. Here is my creativity... permission slips, exercise DVD, laptop, Grocery Game list, handmade card, hairbrush, my one Brighton choker/necklace... this could become an "I Spy with My Little Eye" game...

Days 34, 35, 36, 37

Home is heaven with a baby in it. This is Addi meeting Grandpa for the first time. Shannon, Daren and Addi flew in for a visit.

Shannon got to realize her dream of pushing Addi around Mall of America in the stroller!

So much activity and excitement makes a little girl very tired!

Some quality time with Uncle Matt, and learning all about how to Facebook.

Day 33

It was nearly 60 degrees today! I ditched the pinecones-in-the-bowl-with-balsam-candle centerpiece and replaced it with these lovely primroses from Gerten's... Minnesota is heaven on earth when it's sunny and above 50 degrees.

Day 32

This past week caught me off guard. It got me thinking a lot about being 16 again... back when the Dorothy Hamill haircut was hot. It got me to look at how different my life is (in a good way) than when I was a teenager. An old high school flame tried to reconnect with me this week.

The emotions ran the gamut from startled, surprised, flattered, nervous and finished with uncomfortable. I vascillated back and forth about "it would be nice to see how his life has gone, what's the harm?" to "this was 30 years ago... what's the point?" It took a week of stalling the poor guy until this morning when I finally and cowardly left him a voice message when I knew he wouldn't be in the office... that I didn't think the phone call stuff was a good idea. I appreciated being thought of, but that I've moved light years away from being 16... I have a sweet man who I've been married to for 27 years, 5 great kids and a precious baby granddaughter, and no room in my life for walking down memory lane with old boyfriends. And that I wished him a happy life. I had this whole script of a phone message that I had rehearsed 50 times in my head... but I prayed beforehand that I would say just the right thing... and what came out of my mouth was about 33% of what I had prepared to say. But it was just exactly what needed to be said. I can't believe how relieved I felt after I left that voice mail... cowardly or not.

Happily putting my "almost 50 year old grammie" hat back on. Phew!

Day 30

What is significant about this picture is not so much that Murphy is basking in the light of a sunny window, but that the window is open and letting some lovely fresh air in! The snow is almost completely melted, it's a whopping 50 degrees outside, my tulips are pressing through the soil, and I dragged my languishing geranium out to the front porch where she can get some real sunshine. Spring is coming, Woo Hoo!!!

Day 27

Suffering through my worst sore throat in 30 years... it's strep (my last time was in college!)... my antibiotics haven't kicked in yet, and my sweet son brought me a strawberry shake from Burger King which is about the only thing that can bring me relief right now!

Day 25

But what happened to Day 24? Wellllllll...

I am frustrated with myself because I had really good intentions of taking a photo everyday and writing something snappy about it, but the reality of that is it is hard to do that. Somedays, let's face it... I didn't find anything interesting to photograph (hence the apple and orange picture on Day 17) or have time to sit down and think about it. So my choices are to 1) Bag this or 2) Do my best and not beat myself up about it if I don't get on everyday. I will pick #2. Some journaling will be better than no journaling...

My picture for today wasn't taken today, but I took it! And I kind of like it, so what the heck. Besides, it's my blog, I can do that :-P

Last April, I went on a business trip to Mexico for Friends of the Orphans, where I work... we stayed at a resort that used to be an old sugar plantation that was built in the 1600's, called Hacienda Cocoyoc. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever stayed... very "old world" Mexico. I would love to take my Mom there someday, I know she would love it!

Day 23

Murphy. My old, stinky-breathed, camera-shy retired racing Greyhound. He's 13 and still gets all excited when we come home.

Day 22

Today the St. Paul Stake had Humanitarian Day. Most of the projects were for shelters here in the Twin Cities - there were a few projects, quilts and school bags that went to the Humanitarian Aid Center in Salt Lake City. We all met at the Stake Center in New Brighton - I led a "gift bag decorating station" and these sisters from Twin Cities Third Ward were nice enough to spend a lot of time preparing the bags that would become birthday and Mother's Day bags for women and children at shelters. Other sisters filled the bags, other sisters tied quilts, made fleece quilts, filled boxes for Haiti, other things that I'm sure I'm leaving out - so much good was accomplished in about 3 hours this morning!

Day 20 and 21

These are some cards I am putting on eBay... I have hundreds of cards from swaps when I was a CTMH demonstrator and so many more cards than I will ever use... I love making them, but I need to be more diligent about sending them to people! I'm getting better at that I think... I'm just paring down the massive quantity I have.

I ran to Target tonight for a couple of things and the flowers were so fresh and bright... I can hardly wait for spring!!

Day 19

Being an imperfect person... I just didn't photograph anything interesting. But I did make this nifty placemarker in Photoshop (I'm an extreme beginner in Photoshop!).

Day 18

My little pack of Cubbies... I can only get them to stand still if I tell them they can make a funny face when I take a picture.

Day 17

This is what you take a picture of when you're tired and about ready to climb into bed and you remember, "Oh crap! I forgot to take my picture today!" so you quick grab the first thing you can think of and photograph it. Good night.

Days 14, 15 and 16

Our original anniversary plans fell through... I was supposed to make a reservation at a fancy restaurant on Saturday night... not realizing I needed to do it 2 weeks in advance! Oops! So feeling very bummed about that, Hubz suggested I see how much it was to fly one way to meet him in Milwaukee. That started the ball rolling on a totally "on the fly" weekend... we have never done something like that without planning way out in advance. While empty-nesting will I'm sure be a downer in a lot of ways, it's cool having a trustworthy 17 year old who you can leave alone for a night and not worry. Leaving at a moment's notice will be one perk of no little ones at home anymore. So I left work at 1:45 and drove straight to the airport. Got to Milwaukee, Peter picked me up and we drove 200 miles to Le Claire, Iowa... on the way, in the dark, took an off ramp and followed the arrows to the "Boyhood Home of Ronald Reagan" in Dixon, IL... Reagan was the first president I ever voted for.

The next morning we woke up at our hotel on the banks of the Big Muddy in LeClaire, Iowa... I noticed lots of Bald Eagles this weekend... they must be making their way back up north. The hotel was great, a jacuzzi tub in the room... wonderful.

We left LeClaire and drove 2 hours south to Nauvoo, IL and attended the temple there for the first time -- we had gone to the Open House in 2002, but had never gone there in the winter... the river was frozen over (in Nauvoo, where it's shallow - not at other parts) and with the snow all around it was easy to imagine what it might have looked like during the westward exodus of the saints.

After leaving Nauvoo, we had a 400 mile drive ahead of us home! Kind of crazy to drive 700 miles in 30 hours when our original plan was just to go out to dinner! I loved the last-minute-ness of this little getaway -- we need to do this more often, it was fun!

Today it was back to normal, and here is where you can find us most Sundays - back at West St Paul ward, at our next-to-the-soybean-field chapel.

Day 13

Tonight Matt was in a band concert at South St Paul High School -- one of the songs they did was Canon in D by Pachebel... very beautifully. Then somebody yelled from the balcony that they needed to bring the music into the 21st century -- quickly the kids all donned sunglasses (Matt and AJ added the fake mustaches) and played Canon in D in a very jazzy, upbeat tempo. It was fun... I think they look like some weird 70's cops here.

I'll be doubling up on my photos over the weekend... taking a couple of days off from the computer for a road trip on our anniversary weekend with Hubz.

Day 12

This is kind of a cheater picture, because I didn't take it... HOWEVER, I did attend the meet and greet at MN-GOP 39A of the candidates for 2010 mid-terms... so I was there when it was taken, and lo and behold, it already showed up on Twitter!

I am excited for 2010... conservatives are excited and ready to roll up their sleeves. I have hope that people of integrity will step up to the plate and "git 'er done". I would say all the candidates that I heard speak tonight were certainly passionate and well-meaning; a small percentage definitely stood out from the pack and have electability. I'm going to support Tom Emmer for Governor and Teresa Collett for Congress... still deciding on the other candidates. I am also going to march down to Dakota County tomorrow and try to sign up as an election judge. Conservatives are needed to keep their eyes and ears open for the Acorn shenanigans that went down to elect Al Franken... I'm going to stop whining about it and do something, hopefully to make a difference that it doesn't ever happen again.

Day 11

Beads. Just because they're colorful and I like to collect them.

Day 10

My babies are almost all grown up and one of them with a baby of her own now. When they were all around 4-5 months old, I had "tummy shots" taken of each of them. These pictures hang on the wall along the staircase of my home. I remember when I took Shannon to Sears to get her first professional baby photos taken, and of course they take all these extra shots with a soft filter on a white background that are so perfect... but unfortunately with Dad working his first fresh-out-of-college job, and me not working at all, it was out of the realm of possibility that we could possibly afford the fancy, non-package shots. I remember that day like it was yesterday, taking my little $14.99 packet of pictures home with Shannie in her little car seat... and crying on the drive home because I couldn't afford to buy the "extras" and knowing they would just toss away those pictures of my beautiful, sweet, perfect baby. Agony!

What a blessing digital cameras are now... we can take hundreds and hundreds of photos until we get that perfect shot!

Day 9

Another silly cat picture. Peter stuck Zipper in his robe sleeves... he must like it because he's not moving out of it.

Day 8

February is an excruciatingly long month for me. I don't do winter very well... I know some people really dig it, but I'm not one of them. You can take the girl out of SoCal, but it's hard to take SoCal out of the girl. There is still lots of snow, but most of the berms on the street are gross and dirty brown now. I was driving around dreary South St Paul trying to find some kind of winter beauty. This path in the ravine is about the best I can muster right now.

Day 7

Proof that my husband spends more time at hotels than at home!

Day 6

Just sitting home watching the Olympics tonight. Hannah Teter is in the lead in the women's half-pipe. Go USA! Woot woot!

Day 5

 
I'm a doodler. Put me on a lengthy phone conversation, give me a pen and a pad of paper, and a-doodling I will go. I don't know why -- I think it relaxes me, actually. It's a kind of mindless activity that doesn't have to be done perfectly or a certain way. You can just go where the pen leads you. Yep, I'm a doodler.

Day 4

This is my 4.5 year old cat, Zipper. He came with that name, it's not one I would have picked, but it's grown on us. My daughter rescued a very tiny Zipper during a rainstorm from under a bush at her university in Idaho... she wasn't supposed to have a kitten in her apartment, so the following Christmas, Zipper made the trip from Idaho to Minnesota and he's been here ever since. I think he leads a pretty cushy life here and we are glad to help him do it.

Day 3

This is my street right about sunset, looking west. This watertower is what I look at everyday when I leave for work and everyday when I come home.

Day 2

I can't seem to muster a more interesting picture of Valentine's Day so this will have to do... Matt and I have enjoyed rolling our eyes at the "Martha" comments on the inside of the Dove chocolate wrappers. It makes me wonder if there really is a person out there that opens this and thinks to themselves... "Oh! A heart shaped cookie cutter! I need to find that heart shaped cookie cutter so I can decorate my pie crusts! What a fabulous idea! Thank goodness for Martha Stewart, bless her!"

Since I'm no fan of Martha, it is a little gratifying to poke fun at her attempts to gentrify us common folk.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Day 1

I think by taking a picture everyday and writing something, that hopefully a few months down the road my photography skills and writing will improve!

Tonight Hubz and I went out to dinner at Noodles and then to see Valentine's Day. We were supposed to go to a ward Valentine's party. Truth be told, I really wanted to just hang out with my best friend. The movie is really good and I would put this one in my DVD collection (anyone who knows me knows that my DVD collection isn't nearly as big as Hubster's).