Buddy and Friends

2008-11-15T18:41:00.002-06:00

It was Mary's turn for a new blanket. Here are the girls underneath the blanket that I just finished crocheting.

2008-11-09T16:22:00.005-06:00

Sure enough, our weather this week rapidly deteriorated. We decided that an afternoon in a nice warm bowling alley sounded like a good plan.

The pins didn't have much to fear, but the bumpers really got a workout.

2008-11-09T15:35:00.013-06:00

Last Saturday's forcast looked like it was going to be one of the last beautiful days for a good long time. Mary and I decided to head out to Oxbow Park. Oxbow is a great county park with hiking trails and a nice little zoo. It's only about 10 miles from our house, so it's a fun place to visit when we want to play outside.

First Mary and I wandered around the zoo and she snapped some pictures:

Then we stopped at the park (where it appears that she levitated).

Then we went for a hike to see the beautiful trees and stomp on the crunchy leaves.

Halloween!

2008-11-09T15:32:00.006-06:00

Halloween night was perfect for trick-or-treating and the girls hauled in record amounts of candy. Here's Liz dressed as a Candy Corn Witch and Mary is a Clone Trooper.

No More Shark Teeth

2008-09-10T12:46:00.003-06:00

Mary had the coolest teeth-just like a shark. Our dentist, however thought they looked like trouble. The nice doctors at the Mayo Clinic helped Mary take a nap. While she was out, they took out 6 (!) teeth. The Tooth Fairy is coming to our house in a big way tonight!

Spring Concert

2008-05-17T19:51:00.002-06:00

This is from the Spring Concert at school. Our littlest girl is wearing the orange tye dye shirt with the shiny mouse ears. This song is called "Help! I Need a Vacation"

Piano

2008-05-17T19:09:00.003-06:00

Here's a snippet of our beautiful and talented daughter's piano recital:

World Malaria Day

2008-05-11T20:18:00.009-06:00

April 25 was World Malaria Day. My colleagues and I test for Malaria in the lab we work in, so malaria is a subject close to our hearts. I know that malaria isn't a subject that many other Americans think of on a daily basis, so I wanted to share a few facts:

This year malaria will strike up to a half billion people.

Malaria kills more than a million people worldwide each year—90 percent of them in Africa;

70 percent of those who die are children under the age of five.

In sub-Saharan Africa, a child dies from malaria about every 30 seconds

In Zambia the infection rates are sometimes over 100% (i.e., people are infected more than once a year).

Malaria accounts for up to half of all hospital admissions and outpatient visits in Africa.

Malaria costs Africa more than U.S. $12 billion annually and has slowed economic growth in African countries by 1.3 percent a year.

The African malaria mosquitoes generally bite late at night or early morning, between 10:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m.

The simple act of sleeping under an insecticide treated bed net would halve the number of children who die of malaria.

Today is Mother's Day. I went to the website below and bought a couple bednets to be distributed by Nothing But Nets. This is my gift to a few Mothers in Africa to protect themselves and those they love.

KIVA

2008-05-11T16:08:00.005-06:00

I'm very excited. I had my first Kiva loan paid back. You may have noticed the ad on my sidebar for Kiva. Let me explain...

Kiva is a person-to-person microlending website that allows you to lend money ($25 at a time) to a specific entrepreneur in a developing country to empower them to lift themselves out of poverty. You can browse the profiles of specific people to help decide who to lend your money to.

Myself and 22 other lenders loaned money to group of 3 women who operate a general store in Peru. They requested $625 to help increase inventory in their store. Their long-term goals are to start another business, increase their capital, finish their studies and be able to send their children to the university.

Another loan went to a man in Togo who runs a bicycle repair business. He need money to buy tools and spare parts for his business. So far, this loan is 25% repaid.

I just got an email today that the first loan was paid back. I could either cash out or loan it to another entrepreneur. I chose to keep on lending. This time, my $25 is going toward fufilling a loan for a woman who lives in Nicaragua and runs a store with her two children.

It's a little thing, loaning out a total of $50, but it's amazing how far that $50 can go in improving other people's lives. Perhaps I'll find another $50 to loan and perhaps I'll keep spreading the work about Kiva.

Changes in (L)attitude

2008-02-03T18:12:00.000-06:00

January 24th, 2008
8:00 am CST

Rochester, MN

Latitude 44.02N

Temperature -18 degrees F*

*This picture was taken while the Blazer was still "warming up" in the garage. When we got on the open road, it was -18 degrees F.

Sadly, the heater in the old Blazer was not working and the minivan was in the shop getting an new transmission. We snuggled under blankets for the 90 mile drive to the airport. It was miserable and awful, but made our destination seem that much lovlier.

January 25th, 2008
8:00 am EST
Long Key, FL

Latitude 24.81N
72 degrees F

We took a much-deserved break from a COLD Minnesota January to take a long weekend in the Floriday Keys. Our friends Kristi and Dale and their beautiful daughter, Clare met us there. Our friends have the good sense to already live in Southern Florida.

Friday was spent lounging, snacking, swimming and hiking.

The pool water wasn't very warm, but at least it wasn't a frozen block of ice like it would be in Minnesota. Kids, however and no issues with water temperature.

Jim Post-Cannon ball:Dale and Clare on the hiking trail.

The beach near the hikng trail had an ooey gooey muddy bottom and Liz and Clare loved it.

Mary spent her time high and dry teaching Dale how to open coconuts

On saturday, we celebrated Mary's 6th Birthday by heading down to Key West for the day.

Our day included presents,

the obligatory visit to the Southern-most point in the continental US,

milkshakes,And a visit to the Butterfly and Nature Conservatory

This butterfly LOVED Jim. In particular, the butterfly liked his ear, and decided to just hang on there for a while.

We ended our day in Key West with a beautiful sunset

and a trip to an Irish pub.

On Sunday we bid farewell-for-now to our friends and we headed over to John Pennekamp State Park where we got in a little more beach time and kayaked through the mangroves.

We got back to Minnesota just in time for a blizzard. Thr ground hog has seen his shadow, so we are in for a few more months of winter, but it was great to get away.

Clone Trooper

2008-02-03T17:20:00.000-06:00

Our dainty younger daughter was released today into Target with a Birthday gift certificate for $50 (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!) This is the result of her shopping: A Clone Trooper ensemble and a Clone Blaster. We plan on staying on her good side lest she release the force of the dark side upon us.

Jolly Old Saint Nick

2008-02-03T17:16:00.000-06:00

For your enjoyment, here is our beautiful and talented elder daughter with some belated holiday entertainment:

Falling Down

2007-11-18T15:52:00.000-06:00

The song that Mary and I have been singing all week is Falling Down by none other than DURAN DURAN. That song was also definately our theme song this afternoon as the girls and I went ice skating.

The girls had gone roller skating a time or two before, but they had never been on ice skates. Though there were a few tumbles, they did a great job and we had a lot of fun.

Clean-o-Matic

2007-11-18T15:39:00.000-06:00

Meet the Clean-o-Matic. This was a project that Liz created for school. The Clean-o-Matic has dirt-seeking antennae (made of toilet brushes), sponge feet, a broom, a feather duster for a tail and settings for all your cleaning needs. Now I can sit on the couch and eat bon-bons while all the housework gets done. Good job, Liz!

Duran Duran on Broadway

2007-11-08T19:30:00.000-06:00

Kristi and I spent our early teens worshipping Duran Duran. I was in love with Simon for a while, and then I moved on to John. Kristi was always mostly a Nick girl. We spent many long days waiting for their videos to come on MTV. If ever we weren't together (which was very rarely the case) we would call each other and scream "Duran Duran's on MTV!" This resulted in rug burns on more than one occasion as we would slide in front of the TV. Few people knew what color our bedroom walls were actually painted because every available inch was covered with posters.

Flash forward 25 years...Kristi mentioned that our beloved band was going to be playing shows on Broadway in New York City to promote their new album Red Carpet Massacre. A few text messages later and our fate was sealed-we were going to meet in New York for the show! Our wonderful husbands were just going to have to take care of our girls, because for one long weekend we were going to be 14 years old once again.

Prior to going to the show, we put many miles on our shoes and made good use of our subway map to see the sights in lower Manhattan. Many thanks to Kristi for her awesome navigational skills.

In no particular order, here are some of the highlights of our weekend:

Seeing a man with a Star Jones microphone yelling at a squirrel.

Stumbling across a poster advertising the concert. It looks like the scary model in the picture wants to kill me. I wonder what she's so angry about? Maybe she should eat a sandwich and relax

Eating the most amazing lunch in Little Italy at Da Nico

Visiting Ground Zero. The second picture is of thousands of oragami cranes strung together. These were made by the people of Japan in honor of the victims. The crane is the symbol of peace.

Eating Turkish food and drinking Turkish beer. Here's Kristi enjoying her Efes:

Right after we arrived at the theater, two black SUVs pulled up and none other than Duran Duran walked out. Here are a few pictures of the band and the back of a bald man's head.

The concert was amazing. They played their entire new album and some of the old favorites. We danced and sang the whole time. It was a small-ish 1000 seat theater, so it was a great little intimate place for a show.

In another surreal moment of the night, Donald Trump was at the show. He originally was seated in the floor section, and then after the intermission moved to a private balcony in front of us. My picture of him didn't turn out very well. You'll just have to take my word for it. His hair looks just like that in person.
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The next day we walked around Time's Square, Rockefeller Center and Central Park. Moments after Kristi complained that we were not seeing enough famous people, Alex and Eddie Van Halen walked out of a hotel in front of us.

Weekends like this (and friendships like this) happen once in a lifetime.

More good books

2007-10-21T15:42:00.000-06:00

Boy, I've really been on a roll with the good books. It's been a rainy couple of weeks here in Minnesota, which gives me a great excuse to spend some quality time on the old couch downstairs with a good book.

For a change of pace after the heavy-hearted novels of Irene Nemirovsky, I was in the mood for a real page-turning suspense novel. Lucky for me, one of my favorite authors recently published a new book in his series:

Thunder Bay by William Kent Krueger

This is the eighth in a series of books which revolve around Cork O'Connor who resides with his family in Aurora, MN. Cork is the former sherriff of Tamarack County, Minnesota. He is intelligent, kind, flawed, too-macho for his own good and I enjoy him immensely. I really think this latest novel is the best that William Kent Krueger has written to date.

The backdrop of Northern Minnesota is an unusual location for suspense novels, which also makes these books interesting. The previous novel in this series (Copper River) was set in the U.P. of Michigan which made it great fun for me to read.

William Kent Krueger resides in Saint Paul, MN and still claims to do his writing in Booth #4 of the Saint Claire Broiler. I met him at a book signing at our local library a year or so ago. Seems like a genuinely nice guy. He also recommend another author to me, Steve Hamilton.

Steve Hamilton's books are set in the heart of God's Country-Paradise, Michigan. The hero of this series is Alex McKnight. Alex used to be a cop in Detroit, and ended up living in Paradise. It's fun to read about all the murder and intrigue that takes place up there. I had no idea when I lived in the U.P. that it was such a dangerous place!

Steve Hamilton's new book Night Work is a stand-alone thriller. I'm a little sad that I won't be seeing Alex McNight in this book, but I'll give it a try sometime soon...I wouldn't want my couch to get lonely.

Irene Nemirovsky

2007-10-14T07:14:00.000-06:00

I recently finished two books by Irene Nemirovsky, Suite Francais and Fire in the Blood. I could blog extensively about these amazing books themselves, but I'll let you read about them on the Amazon links if you choose to learn more. I'd rather tell you about the author herself.

Irene Nemirovsky was born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1942. She was the daughter of a jewish banker and spent her early years in Saint Petersburg, Russia. She had a French governess and because of this, French was nearly her native tongue. Following the Russian revolution, the family moved to Finland for a year and then to Paris. She attended the Sorbonne and began writing at the age of 18.

She continued to live in Paris for the next 24 years. She married Michael Epstein and gave birth to two daughters. When she was 26 and pregnant with her first daughter, her first novel, David Golder was published. Her novel was hugely successful and she went on to publish numerous other books. She was acclaimed as a major author by both jewish and anti-semitic authors of the time and was a darling of Parisian literary society.

Despite this recognition and desite the fact that she converted to Catholicism, her family was denied French citizenship. In 1943 she was arrested by French police as a "stateless person of jewish descent" and sent to Auschwitz where she died a month later. Her husband was sent to Auschwitz a month later and was sent to the gas chamber shortly after his arrival.

Prior to his arrest, Michael Epstein arranged for his daughters to be sent into hiding. He entrusted the oldest daughter Denise with two valuables: a suitcase filled with her mother's writings and her little sister. The girls were shuffled from one safe house to another, always with the suitcase in tow.

Denise never parted with the suitcase, nor did she open it for over 50 years. Thinking that the suitcase contained her mother's diaries which would be too heartbreaking to read, she left the suitcase closed until the late 1990s. She had decided to give the contents to the French literary achives, but before handing them over, she finally opened the bag.

Inside were two novels, Suite Francais and Fire in the Blood written on cheap wartime paper. Suite Française was first published in France in 2004, it has sold 600,000 copies in French and close to one million more in 30 other languages. Fire in the Blood was just recently published in September 2007.

In a January 2006 interview with the BBC, her daughter, Denise, said, "For me, the greatest joy is knowing that the book is being read. It is an extraordinary feeling to have brought my mother back to life. It shows that the Nazis did not truly succeed in killing her. It is not vengeance, but it is a victory."

October 8, 1871

2007-10-09T05:50:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I was driving back home from the U.P. of Michigan to Minnesota. I stopped to stretch my legs in Peshtigo, WI. I saw a sign for a historical marker, so I decided that was as good of a place as any to stop. I already knew what the historical marker would be about. Most people from the UP have heard of the Peshitgo Fire. I didn't recall the details, only that there had once been a bad fire there that occurred the same night as the Great Chicago Fire.

The historical marker is at the cemetery which contains the graves of some of the 800 residents of Peshtigo that died in the fire. It's a fascinating and haunting place. It was even more eerie to realize that it happened exactly 136 years ago on the very day I was there, October 8, 1871.

The marker reads:

On the night of 0ctober 8, 1871, Peshtigo, a booming town of 1700 people, was wiped out of existence in the greatest forest fire disaster in American history.

Loss of life and even property in the great fire occurring the same night in Chicago did not match the death toll and destuction visited upon Northeastern Wisconsin during the same dreadful hours.

The town of Peshtigo was centered around a woodenware factory, the largest in the country. Every bulding in the community was lost. The tornado of fire claimed at least 800 lives in this area. Many of the victims lie here. The memory of 350 men, women and children is preserved in a nearby mass grave.

Although it was call the Peshtigo Fire, the fire actually burned much more than just the town of Peshtigo. More than 1,000,000 acres of forest and over 12 towns were destroyed. It's estimated that between 1200 and 2500 people lost their lives that night. The fire was so intense that it jumped over the waters of Green Bay and burned parts of the Door Peninsula. Below is a map showing the extent of the fire in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.

Random interesting facts about the fire:

The extreme heat agitated the atmosphere to create superheated tornadoes and hurricane-force winds.
Temperatures reached 2000 degrees F, melting railroad tracks, train wheels and turning sand to glass.
On the same day as the Peshtigo Fire and the Chicago Fire, fires broke out on the other side of Lake Michigan, burning the towns of Holland and Manistee. Coincidence? Perhaps, though some theorize that the simultaneous fires were caused by an expolding comet in the Earth's atmosphere.

Even today the little-known blaze holds the distinction of being the deadliest and most woefully underreported fire ever to occur in the US.

First Day

2007-08-31T19:32:00.000-06:00

I can hardly believe that our baby is old enough to start school! Here she is in her spiffy new uniform, pink backpack and superball shoes.

2007-08-31T19:14:00.000-06:00

Mary after a hard day at the waterpark in Wisconsin Dells.

Liz after a hard day at the waterpark in Wisconsin Dells.

Pickles and Pomegranates

2007-08-31T19:01:00.000-06:00

Behold my first ever attempt at making pickles. I couldn't be more proud of myself. The pickles on the left are the spicy version. For the spicy pickles, I threw in some dried red peppers that I had hanging around in the pantry. They turned out pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.

The girls say they are "sourish but good".

I also made some pomegranate jelly:

Pomegranates are supposed to be one of the richest sources of anti-oxidants. I can't think of a better way to get my anti-oxidants than mixed with sugar and slathered on toast with peanut butter.

7 Random Pictures

2007-05-28T09:58:00.000-06:00

I just figured out how to download pictures from my phone!

Yesterday at the park:

Mr. B relaxing after a long hard day of relaxing.

Tigers v. Twins:

My pedicure and I relaxing in Sarasota

2007-05-28T09:49:00.000-06:00

We passed this place while walking to dinner. Walk-in Botox available. Uptown Dallas is like another planet. A strange, size 2, big lipped, facial paralysis, big-boobed planet.

Random Pictures from the last 3 months

2007-05-24T16:50:00.000-06:00

Liz and her American Girl doll Elizabeth in their First Communion dresses. Mary at her Sunday School Spring concert.

Liz at her first ever piano recital

Family picture at disney MGM Sudios

The Sister on Liz's First communion day

The grass may be dead...

2007-05-20T07:02:00.000-06:00

but the lilacs are beautiful! We planted these dwarf Korean lilacs about 10 years ago when the house was built, but they have never bloomed like this. I don't know why they chose this year to really show their stuff. I've been opening the front windows wide and the whole upstairs has that wonderful lilac-y smell. Not that fake smell of lilac scented things, but that amazing smell of real lilacs blooming.

Smells really bring back memories to me and lilacs smell like being 19 years old again. The house I lived in with 5 other girls was on Lilac Street. It was in the Flowerpot Neighborhood in East Lansing, MI. All the streets were named after different flowers. Many people on
Lilac street had-you guessed it- lilacs planted in their yard. As I would walk up Lilac Street to campus in the Spring, it was like an out of body sensory experience.

This is why Lilacs smell to me like being young, carefree, optimistic and having the whole world in front of you.

2007-02-25T10:41:00.000-06:00

There's something about snowstorms that make me want to bake. Maybe it's because I'm stuck in the house. Maybe it's because I'm looking for comfort food. Maybe I just want another excuse to eat. Mother nature really dumped on us this weekend. I think we are still technically under a blizzard warning, but I think the worst is over and it's time to shovel out.

To make it up to Jim for my drinking the last cup of coffee in the pot and to fortify him for his snow removal duties, I made banana pancakes this morning. We thought they were yummy, the girls thought they were "weird". Yesterday the girls and I made white chocolate chip brownies. No one had any qualms about those. Today I'm thinking about either homemade pizza or stromboli with dough from scratch.

It's a good thing that Winter only lasts about 6 months in Minnesota, or I wouldn't be able to fit out of the doorway when Spring arrives.

Beautiful Braces

2007-02-22T21:05:00.000-06:00

What did the dentist see at the North Pole?...A molar bear

What does a dentist do on a roller coaster? He braces himself

Where does the dentist get his gas? At the filling station

How did the dentist break his mirror? Acci-DENTALly

What do dentists like most about amusement parks? Molar coasters

What did the tooth say to the departing dentist? Fill me in when you get back

What did the vampire say after the dentist finished checking his teeth? Fang you very much!

Our beautiful older daughter got braces on her teeth today to help her new adult teeth "find their way". She picked pink bands this time and can change colors every month at her orthodontist exams. She's the first kid in her class to get braces and got lots of oohs and aahs when she returned to school today.

2007-02-22T20:48:00.000-06:00

This last weekend, Mary was looking for something to do and I suggested this Yoga for Kids videotape that has been sitting unused for a long time. Mary constructed her own yoga mat using some big Seseme Street foam puzzle pieces and did the whole tape.

When she was done, she showed us her "yoga punches". Yoga punches? Only Mary would find a way to make something like yoga violent.

Bread!

2007-02-18T16:54:00.000-06:00

We love bread! I can't begin to understand this no-carb dieting nonsense. If I couldn't live without bread, what would be the point?

Every Saturday, I send the Liz into the bakery so she can buy her favorite bread, a loaf of Grannie's white bread from the Bread Baker. She's very proud that she is now old enough to go in there and make the purchase by herself. Usually I am either in the car watching or next door picking up the dry cleaning. We meet on the sidewalk out in front of the store. She usually has the loaf in one hand, a free sample of bread in the other and a big smile on her face. One of the best part of the Bread Maker is the free samples of their various breads that they give you. The loaf of Grannie's White usually doesn't make it longer than a day or two in our house. The girls eat it plain, right out of the bag.

I also enjoy making my own bread when I have the time. I love the feel of kneading the dough. It's a great stress reliever. You also can't beat having that smell of freshly baked bread in the house.

This week, my friend Rose passed along a recipe that she found in the Minneapolis Star Tribune for No Knead bread. Although I do enjoy the kneading part of the process, I thought I'd give it a try.

Apparently, this recipe was published in a New York Times article by Mark Bittman and has been popping up in other newspapers and numerous blogs ever since. You can find the recipe and instructions here. Ot if you prefer, here's a video:

I have to say, this is a work of art that I created and I'm almost sad to cut into it and eat it. Almost...but not quite. We sliced this loaf up and ate it with soup and corn casserole.

2007-02-04T18:03:00.000-06:00

It was our littlest superhero's 5th birthday last week!

The Thirteenth Tale

2007-02-04T08:13:00.000-06:00

What a great way to spend an afternoon on a day when the weather outside is fit for neither man nor beast. The girls amused themselves for several hours, which is a good thing, because I fear I would have neglected them anyways. Buddy and I stayed on the old comfy couch in front of the fire. I was burried under two afghans finishing one of the best books I've ever read.

I picked up The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield at the Library in the Rental Books section. I remembered that I had it on my mental list of books that sounded intriging, but couldn't remember why I thought that. I'm so glad I shelled out the $2 to check it out and take it home. I may even run out and buy the hardcover just so I can have it in my collection.

Without giving too much away, here's a bit about the novel:

Biographer Margaret Lea returns one night to her apartment above her father's antiquarian bookshop. On her steps she finds a letter. It is a hand-written request from one of Britain’s most prolific and well-loved novelists. Vida Winter, gravely ill, wants to recount her life story before it is too late, and she wants Margaret to be the one to capture her history. The request takes Margaret by surprise–she doesn’t know the author, nor has she read any of Miss Winter’s dozens of novels. (compliments of RandonHouse.com)

Margaret is soon swept up in the tragic history she must unravel—a story stranger and more haunting than any the celebrated author has ever penned, encompassing a grand house, a beautiful yet doomed family, passion, madness, ghosts, and a secret that holds readers spellbound until the very end. (Barnes and Noble.com)

I hope that you find a book to keep you warm should you find yourself sealed into your house on a bitterly cold Winter afternoon. Happy Reading!

2007-01-15T20:14:00.000-06:00

Here's a flashback to a few months ago at Larry and Oxana's wedding.

The Happy Couple

The beautiful flower girls

The Family from near and far

Christmas in Knoxville

2006-12-29T19:31:00.000-06:00

Here is the story of our Christmas this year, as told by Liz:

When we were going to Tennessee, our flight was supposed to leave at 7 o'clock. Then it was delayed until 9 o'clock. Then it was back to 7 o'clock. We were almost late. When we finally got there, we rented a car. We drove it to their house. The next morning, our cousins Chase and Ryan had to go to school. We found a special room filled with a bunch of toys.I called it the Secret Magical Passageway Room Land.

We also played X Box. Our favorite game was Legos Star Wars.

When Chase and Ryan came home from school, we played Zoo. Then the next morning, we went to the Knoxville Zoo. I got a wax figure of a giraffe and a stuffed animal giraffe at the Zoo Gift Shop. We had a great time there.

We were excited when it was Christmas eve. We couldn't wait for Santa to come. Uncle Chris checked on the computer to see where Santa was.

We also made cookies on Christmas eve for Santa.

Then on Christmas, there were presents under the christmas tree. Santa came! In her stocking, Mary got some Cheetos.

I got what I wanted, some art stuff from Chase and Ryan.

It was a wonderful day.

I loved having Christmas in Knoxville. That's the end.

Children vs. Monkees: What's the difference?

2006-12-23T15:40:00.000-06:00

Here we all are at the Knoxville Zoo. I couldn't help but notice the similarities.

2006-12-20T21:09:00.000-06:00

This is one of my very favorite Christmas moments. It's kind of sentimental and sureal at the same time. Maybe because Bing and Bowie seem like such an odd combination, maybe because I never imagined that Bowie could be so conservative, maybe because Bing died about a month after this was taped, maybe because the song is just as beautiful today as it was 30 years ago.

A little about the song from BowieWonderWorld.Com:
One of the more surreal moments in pop music history took place September 11th, 1977, when the leading American pop star of the first half of the Twentieth Century met and performed with one of the more innovative rock 'n' rollers of the last half of the Century. Bing Crosby was in London on a concert tour and to tape his yearly TV Christmas special. It was Bing's idea that he should have as a guest on his TV show a young star. Someone suggested David Bowie. Bing had never heard of David, but his kids had, and so an invitation was sent to the rock star. David, as it turned out, was a secret fan and jumped at the chance to perform with him.Bing's idea was that he and David would perform 'The Little Drummer Boy' as a duet. Bowie felt the song did not showcase his voice very well, so the writers added 'Peace On Earth', which suited Bowie's voice quite well. The two musical spokesmen of different generations met for the first time on the morning of the taping, rehearsed for an hour and finished their duet in only three takes. Bing was impressed with David, and gave him his phone number at the end of the taping. Bing told an interviewer four days later that he considered Bowie "a clean cut kid and a real fine asset to the show. He sings well, has a great voice and reads lines well. He could be a good actor if he wanted."Bing died a month later, and the public did not see their performance until after his death. The duet generated much interest, and was excerpted to become a perennial TV music video, a best-selling 45-rpm single and, eventually, a computer CD-ROM. Some viewed the joint performance of Bing and Bowie as a symbol of the end of the intergenerational wars of the '60s and '70s. In 1999 TV Guide chose the duet as one of the 25 best musical television moments of the century (June 5 issue).

2006-12-20T17:36:00.000-06:00

Here's Mary with the Rudolph ensemble that she made at daycare today:

Those familiar with the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer movie might remember that Rudolph's parents (Donner and Mrs. Donner) made him wear a brown cap over his embarrasingly bright shiny nose.

So, when Mary got home, she made a cap for her Rudolph nose:

Star of the Christmas show

2006-12-20T17:32:00.000-06:00

That's right, our girl was the star of the show!

2006-12-18T20:00:00.000-06:00

Mary and her Sunday school friends put on a beautiful Christmas show after church yesterday

She's just a bill!

2006-12-18T19:40:00.000-06:00

One of the many highlights of our tips to DC this fall was Liz doing a fantastic rendition of this Schoolhouse Rock number on the Capitol steps:

Fall 2006

2006-12-10T19:22:00.000-06:00

While in Escanaba, my mom and I took the girls to a corn maze. Their favorite part was a big pile of hay. I thought we'd never get them out of there.

The little goblins

Mary enjoying the fruits of her labors.

The blog is back!

2006-09-10T20:32:00.000-06:00

After a long hiatus, the blog is back. The inspiration for this entry.....borscht!

This borscht was made both an homage to my fantastic new Moldovan sister-in-law (seen below playing Whack-a-mole at the Olmsted County Fair) and an attempt to use up as many vegetables from this week's CSA box as possible.

Borscht recipes have many variations, I've discovered. I mostly followed Oxsana's directions, which went something like this:

First you boil the meat in a half pot of water. It can
be chicken, pork or beef (I used pork). Add a bit of salt, 1 bay
leaf and a small onion which you can remove later if
you don’t like it, this one is for flavor.
After it's done, add all the other ingredients:
1. shredded cabbage (half of an average head)
2. potatoes (4-5, depends on the size)
3. carrots (2, I usually shred it)
4. tomatoes (2-3 average sized, chopped)
5. beets (1-2 can be shredded or grated)
6. onion (1, chopped small)
7. more salt, if needed
8. To make it a bit sour, squeeze half of a lemon.
9. When it's done, you can add some parsley, dill or
other herbs like that.

Then serve with a dollop of sour cream.

I'd never had borscht before, but the color is lovely and it tastes fantastic! It's definately going to become a regular in the soup rotation at our house. Yum.

Thank you, Doctor Nemo

2006-07-19T07:27:00.000-06:00

Our very brave eldest daughter had surgery yesterday to correct her lazy eye. Nemo, her trusted friend of many years was allowed into surgery with her. When they returned, Nemo was still wearing his scrubs. Liz is doing well and Nemo is still by her side, providing emotional support while she recuperates. Thank you, Doctor Nemo.

Best pancakes ever!!

2006-07-15T09:20:00.000-06:00

We are particularly proud of these pancakes we made served with fresh cherries, blueberries and real maple syrup. The girls stood in the "cooking house" to help their dad. The Cooking House was built by their Pipaw (my Dad) to give kitchen helpers a boost.

Fennel Facts

2006-06-30T19:34:00.000-06:00

Fennel. Yet another veggie I would never have tried had it not been in my box of veggies from the CSA farm.

In Medieval times, fennel was considered a sacred herbs used to treat disease. Fennel was hung from the rafters to bring good luck, and put in keyholes to keep out ghosts and evil spirits. In American history, the Puritans thought of fennel as a "meeting seed." Meeting seeds were seeds of various herbs which parishioners chewed during church meetings to stay awake. Fennel was considered to be an appetite suppressant by the Puritans, and they would chew fennel seeds during periods of religious fasting to keep themselves from growing hungry. Fennel was thought to cure many different medical problems including snakebites, toothaches, earaches, and colic. Sprigs of fennel were believed to keep flies away when tucked into a horse's harness.

It is sweet, crunchy and tastes a little like anise.

Here's the recipe we tried tonight:

Cucumber Fennel Salad with Lemon Basil Vinegar

2 T. chopped lemon basil
3 T. olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar
pinch of salt
3-4 green onions
1 cucumber
1 bulb fennel

Vigorously mix lemon basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt until the oil is emulsified. Sliced cukes, fennel and onions very thinly. Toss with the vinegarette and chill for one hour before serving.

We had this salad with grilled steaks and it was delicious.

Liz running the bases and high fiving the Bubba Gump Shrimp

2006-06-30T19:22:00.000-06:00

liz running bases
Originally uploaded by emommy2.

Mudonna

2006-06-30T19:21:00.001-06:00

mudonna
Originally uploaded by emommy2.

Mary cheering for the Saints

2006-06-30T19:21:00.000-06:00

mary saints game
Originally uploaded by emommy2.

2006-06-25T19:56:00.000-06:00

For Father's Day this year, Jim received tickets for today's Saint Paul Saints baseball game. We headed up to Saint Paul this morning in the pouring rain with high hopes that the weatherman would be correct and that the sun would come out in the afternoon. For once, the weatherman was right! The rain clouds moved away, the sun shined down, and it was a gorgeous day for baseball.

Honestly, most major league baseball games are Booooooorrrring to me, but the Saints games are something else entirely. Their mantra is "Fun is Good". There are so many distractions, that you almost forget there's even a game going on. For instance:

The mascot: a person dessed up in a hot pink pig costume, complete with a feather boa (named Mudonna)

A real pig that goes out onto the field between innings, dressed up in outfits such as a tutu or an evening gown. The pig usually brings the umpire the balls at the beginning of the game.

beer, of course!

games for fans between innings, such as the taco toss, wheel barrow races, barrel rolling races, guys in sumo wresting suits playing chess, etc.

For the kids, there's a playground climber and petting zoo

You can get your haircut in the haricut chair in the first row

One (lucky?) fan is stuck by velcro to the back wall in right field for the entire game

There is a hot tub along the left field fence

Freight trains regularly pass right behind the left field fence, causing the announcer to say "train" in a very bored voice. Sometimes the trains slow down and blow their horn. I've heard that sometime they stop entirely to watch the game.

After the game, kids can run aorund the bases.

The Saints even have their very own brush with fame. Comedian and actor Bill Murray is part owner of the Saints. In fact, the Bill Murray bobblehead givaway is tomorrow.

Oh, and the game? Well, the Saints were down by one and managaged to hit two runs in the bottom of the 9th to win the game, so it was even a good as far as ball games go, you know, if you are into that sort of thing.

I would attatch pictures, but sadly, I am having problems uploading them. Don't know if the problem is with Blogger or an operator error. Hopefully I'll be able to attach them soon.

2006-06-15T05:29:00.000-06:00

Armi ja Danny - I Wanna Love You Tender

Oh. My. Goddness. I thought I had seen all of the cheesy 80s music videos, but I've never seen anything quite like this!

Ring of Fire

2006-06-06T19:21:00.000-06:00

Since I can't bring you the Man in Black, here is The Girl in Clifford Jammies:

Gear Daddies

2006-05-29T07:57:00.000-06:00

Every now and then in a person's life, the planets align in such a way that can only be explained by the hand of some divine force. Take for instance, this past week when my friend Jon mentioned that the Gear Daddies were playing a reunion concert in Rochester this Saturday. This Saturday! We had a babysitter lined up for this Saturday! Maybe this doesn't sound like divine intervention to you, maybe some back ground info will help:

The Gear Daddies was a band from Austin, Minnesota that enjoyed moderate success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They came very close to national stardom. They appeared on the David Letterman show in 1991 and "The Zamboni Song" appears on the soundtacks for the Mighty Ducks movies.

They broke up in 1992, a year or so before we moved to MN. We did, however often go see the lead singer, Martin Zellar, perform and became big fans of the Gear Daddies music.

Their music takes me back to a time when Jim and I were still "kids". Granted, we were married and had "real" jobs. But these were the days before kids, before a mortgage. Days before ourselves and our friends had any responsibility to think of. Days before some of these friends moved away. Days when we would go out and play darts and drink fermented beverages on a Tuesday night because, well, Tuesday was Darts Night!

So, imagine my delight when I hear that the Gear Daddies were playing a reunion concert, in Rochester on a night that we had miraculously already had a babysitter scheduled! Now do you see the significance of this event? (It really would be easiest for all of us if you just humor me and say "yes").

Well, it goes without saying that we had a great night. The concert was outdoors and it was a beautiful night. There was a large crowd, but plenty of space. I got to dance with my hubby to our favorites:

Stupid Boy
Color of Her Eyes
Time Heals

Oceans of Fun!

2006-05-20T06:30:00.000-06:00

Thursday was the Spring concert (Oceans of Fun!) at Liz's school. Unfortunatley, our video production team (me) is third rate, and the video is very blurry. Liz assured me that it's still good enough for the blog. She is the bright blue blob to the immediate right of the teacher.

MMMmmmmm....Woodchuck!

2006-05-18T16:31:00.000-06:00

Last week, my Mother gave me a cookbook. This cookbook was put together by the fine residents and staff of the Pinecrest Medical Care Facility , which is located in city of Powers, in the great Upper Peninsula of Michigan. At first glance, the cookbook resembles others that I have (5 recipes for Tater Tot Casserole, 4 meatloaf recipes, jello salads too numerous to count, etc). However, upon closer inspection this is a uniquely Yooper cookbook.

These are a few recipes that I would like to share with all of you:

Possum and Sweet Potatoes

1 medium possum (live)
4 sweet potatoes, cut in half
salt to taste

Catch possum and clean it out by feeding it baby food for a week to 10 days. Kill possum and clean like a chicken, cutting into serving pieces. Rinse meat in salted water, changing water 5 to 6 times. Place meat in pressure cooker for 30 minutes. Cool to reduce pressure and remove pieces to baking dish. Arrange sweet potatoes around meat and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Pocupine

Toss the porcupine into the fire and leave it there until the quills burn off. Wipe clean. Split skin down the stomach and take it off, chopping off the ends of the legs; empty and season lightly for the flavor is delicate. Stew or roast whole or cut up. The skin is considered the best part if the breast be first salted and prepared and marinated for a day, then broiled.

Woodchuck

Soak overnight in a weak solution of vinegar with a slice of onion and salt. Wash. Parboil 20 minutes; drain. Put into fresh boiling water with a sliced large onion, 4 to 5 cloves and a stick of celery. Cook until tender. Thicken the gravy with flour.

Enjoy!

Here come the veggies!!

2006-05-06T19:11:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year again, our CSA veggies are here once again!!

What the heck is CSA, you ask? CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.

This is taken from "our" CSA farm's website :

Community Supported Agriculture (also called CSA or Subscription Farming) is an innovative approach to the relationship between farmers and those who enjoy good food. With a preseason payment, members purchase a "share" of our season's harvest. Each week during our harvest season, from early June to late October, members receive a box of the best and freshest produce available from our farm. We deliver to sites in the Twin Cities, Rochester, and Decorah. When you sign up, you become our customer for a full growing season, providing us with an annual, loyal customer base. In return, we dedicate ourselves to providing you with a varied and nutritious supply of fresh vegetables.

Every Friday from now until November, I'll pick up a box of organic vegetables that are delivered to a pick up location in Rochester. We never know what will be in the box or how much of it there will be. This can make life interesting and I often find myself wondering things like "what do I do with 2 pounds of kale?"

Things I've learned over the last 2 years as an organic farm shareholder:

1. I love beets. I really do. They are sweet and earthy and some taste like candy. They also turn your pee interesting colors!

2. Organic broccoli is absolutely delicious. It also usually has little passengers in the form of green worms. Although these worms themselves are certifiably "organic", we don't really want to eat them. If you swish your broccoli in salty water, the buggers will fall right off.

3. Don't be afraid of a cubic yard of fresh spinach. If you cook it until it is just wilted, it is a reasonable size portion. Just add some salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar. Yum! And holy moly, have you seen the nutitional info for spinach lately?

When the Spirit Says Dance, you gotta dance!!

2006-04-23T15:25:00.000-06:00

It was the Spring Music Program at Sunday School this morning:

Snaggletooth

2006-04-16T12:11:00.000-06:00

Today's blog is written by Liz:

I have a wiggly wiggly tooth. It's started wiggling since yesterday. It's kind of hard to eat chewy things with this wiggly tooth. I really want it to be out soon. There's a little space between the wiggly tooth and another tooth. Until my tooth falls out, Mom will call me WigglyTooth Liz. Happy Easter to Everyone!

Bubble Baseball

2006-04-10T18:26:00.000-06:00

Spring has sprung here in Minnesota!

As always, it's been a long winter, and the first day over 70 degrees is cause for a celebration! We can see the tulips starting to bloom and we can hear the baseballs being hit at the park. Our driveway is covered in sidewalk chalk and there is a parade of stollers, people and dogs going past our house.

Tonight the girls invented a game called Bubble Baseball. Liz stands on the deck and blows the bubbles and Mary swings at them down on the ground. Mary looks a little dizzy spinning around trying to hit the bubbles, but she doesn't seem to mind.

Behold the Albino Squirrel!

2006-03-31T18:34:00.000-06:00

in my parents backyard!

This info, compliments of Wikipedia.com:

Albino squirrels are thought by some to be a source of good luck. Olney, Illinois, is home of the world's largest known albino-squirrel colony. The Albino Squirrel Preservation Society was founded in 2001 at the University of Texas at Ausitn to celebrate the proliferation of white and albino squirrels on campus. There are eight college chapters of the ASPS across the United States, Canada, and England.

6 of my favorite things about the U.P.*

2006-03-29T22:12:00.000-06:00

*in no particular order

Train whistles. You can hear the train whistles from the ore docks throughout the day and night at my parents house. For some reason, I only notice them at night, but I just love to hear that sound, especially when I am falling asleep.
Bacon. I just realized that I've had bacon every day since I've been here, and what is not to love about bacon?
Wood smoke. I never smell wood smoke in Rochester, Mn. Everyone (including us) has gas pseudo-fireplaces. Sure, they look fine and are handy and clean, but they just aren't the real deal. There's just something about that woodsmoke smell.
The people. You just don't find people other places like the people here. For example, the guy we saw who was barbequing shirtless in the 40 degree weather. In his defense, though, he did almost look like he was wearing a sweater, but it was just upper body hair.
The Escanaba Daily Press. You can read the whole thing from cover to cover in under 10 minutes.
The 8th Street Coffee House in Escanaba. This is a funky little coffee shop, the likes of which I have never seen anywhere else. It's the kind of place that can only exist in a smaller, out of the way place, because in a bigger city, Starbucks (or the like) would have run them out of business by now.

Mary's Misadventure

2006-03-29T21:48:00.000-06:00

It was a beautiful, unseasonably warm day, and the girls were having a great time at the Kid's Kingdom playground at Ludington Park. in Escanaba. Somehow though, the fickle finger of fate caused Mary to collide with a boy, and she ended up with a shiner. After an ice pack and some TLC from Grandma, she is ready to head back to the park tomorrow.

Two Tickets to Paradise

2006-03-29T18:28:00.000-06:00

Here we are in God's Country, Michigan's Upper Peninsula. We're visiting Mom and Dad over Spring Break. Because we know how much they cherish "alone time" with their lovely Granddaughters, Jim and I offerered to go away over night. We decided to head up towards the Tahquamenon Falls.

We drove up to Paradise (this really is the name of the town, not just a state of mind) and soon realized that we were THE only tourists there at this time of year. Apparently this is the one month of the year between the snomobile season and the Spring/Summer tourist season.

We had dinner at the only establishment open in the town, the Yukon Inn. To say that the Yukon Inn has character is an understatement. This is a bar that looks like it dates back to the logging days. It's a wood cabin, with wood floor, wood walls, wood furnishings. The building had that "barely standing" feel to it. The taxidermy was plentiful, as was the volume of the local drunk lady's voice. We both ate the special: The Yukon burger.

Let me tell you about the Yukon Burger. It's a 1/3 lb. burger topped with ham (yes, I said ham). The ham is topped with bacon, and the bacon is topped with 2 slices of cheese. I know that when I am in one of my whole/organic/low fat food phases I will be appalled that we ate this, but for now, let me tell you, it was damn good! The Labatt's Blue washed it right down, and while we listened to "Free Bird" on the jukebox, Jim somehow managed to beat me at a game of pool.

The next morning, we found the one place in town that was open for breakfast, The Berry Patch. It's a tiny little Mom and Pop bakery/restaurant that proudly displays that it serves Maxwell House coffee. As a slightly hung over coffee addict who didn't know if she was going to find a caffeine fix in this little outpost of humanity, that Maxwell House tasted like heaven in a mug. It was strong, and served by a very perky woman who also brought us yummy breakfast sandwiches and a cinnamon roll. Our bill for breakfast was under $10. You can't beat that. You could tell that we were the only non-locals there because we sat at one of the few tables and looked at a menu, whereas everyone else just walked behind the register and helped themselves to the coffee.

We drove up to Whitefish Point. Unfortunately, the Shipwreck Museum was closed, but we walked around the grounds and out to the very icy beach. It was a beautiful morning and we watched an ore boat glide by and watched some little icebergs bob in the water.

On to the falls! We began our misadventure at the Lower Tahquamenon Falls. There was still a LOT of snow up here in God's Country, and even though the park was "open", there wasn't a lot of plowing or shoveling that occurred at the park over the last several months. We had to hike through the snow to the Falls. This would not have been a big deal, except we hadn't really planned on a snowy hike, and Jim was wearing mere tennis shoes that had a gaping hole in the side. The road to the falls hadn't been plowed, so we had to hike about a mile on slippery slush to get to the trail let to the falls. On the way back, we decided to take the trail that led through the woods as a shortcut. Well, it was the kind of snow that you could walk on, and about every 10 steps, you would break through the icy crust on top of the snow and plunge in up to your mid-thigh. We were glad to finally make it back to the van, and put our dirty but dry socks backs on.

The Upper Falls was easier to reach and we managed to keep relatively dry. It really was a beautiful day and the falls were gorgeous. The sun was shining on the water as it cascaded over the brink of the falls with the white snow as a backdrop. I would attach a picture, but sadly, my camera's batteries went dead as soon as we got to the falls.

After having lunch in Newberry, Jim dried his socks on the sunny dashboard of the car as we headed back to Escanaba. We were glad to see our little girls, one of whom had a little misadventure of her own....

Green kisses

2006-03-18T13:53:00.000-06:00

Yesterday during naptime, a leprechaun snuck into the daycare. After kissing the kids on the cheek while they were sleeping, the little green prankster hid their shoes. The kids found them in the next room with some candy inside.

You can see evidence of the green leprechaun's kiss here:

2006-03-12T10:28:00.000-06:00

"On your visit to Minnesota, you will sooner or later come face to face with Minnesota's most popular native food, HOTDISH ... A traditional main course, hotdish is cooked and served hot in a single baking dish and commonly appears at family reunions and church suppers. Hotdish is constructed on a base of canned cream of mushroom soup and canned vegetables. The other ingredients are as varied as the Minnesota landscape. If you sit down to something that doesn't look like anything you've ever seen before, it's probably hotdish."
- Howard MohrHow to Talk Minnesotan: A Visitor's GuidePenguin, 1987

This is my take on a Minnesota hotdish. According to Howard Mohr (above), it may not qualify as a true Minnesota hotdish, since there isn't any canned vegetables in it. In my defense, though, it does contain wild rice, which is the most Minnesotan of all foods (it IS the State grain, afterall!!).

1 C. uncooked wild rice

1 oz. dried mushrooms

3 C. cooked chicken

The obligatory can of cream of mushroom soup

1 C. sour cream

1/2 C. white wine (for the hotdish)

at least 1 C. white wine (for the cook)

salt and pepper

3/4 C. Parmesean cheese, divided

Cook the wild rice. I used a rice cooker and threw the dried mushrooms in with the rice while cooking. You should end up with about 3 to 4 cups of cooked rice.
Spray a 13x9 inch baking dish.
Combine the mushroom soup, sour cream, 1/2 C. parmesean cheese and wine. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Combine this mixture with the chicken, rice and mushrooms.
Spread into the 13x9 inch baking dish.
Sprinkle with remaining parmesean cheese.
Drink wine!
Bake at 350 degrees until hot and bubbly. I turned the broiler on for the last few minutes to make the cheese brown and crusty.

Birthday Flashback

2006-03-05T08:32:00.000-06:00

And because the younger sister's birthday was from the "Pre-blog" days, we're going to step back into the past about a month.....

Birthday #4 was celebrated in great style at daycare with 14 other 3 to 4 year olds. Mom and Dad got to have lunch with the kids (Cheeseburger casserole!) and brought a Chicken Little cake to share. Since the pre-schoolers put away an amazing amount of cake, Mom and Dad just got to lick the leftover frosting out of the cake box.

Later that night, the family celbrated at Leo's Pizza Palace (kid's just can't get enough of Leo's) and unwrapped presents back at the homestead.

Pizza, Princesses and Pandamonium!

2006-02-26T19:56:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Birthday #7 with a dozen girls at Leo's Pizza Palace. Let me tell ya, it was waaaay more fun than more than most people (especially 30-something parents) can handle. There was pizza (of course) and games played with tokens, and begging the poor adults for more tokens for the games, and Leo the Lion mingling with the younger set, more begging for tokens and opening presents. The important thing was that the Birthday girl had a great time, so the party was a success.

The actual birthday is tomorrow, so we will bring home some fine cuisine from the Birthday Girl's favorite restaurant (Culver's) and have some Finding Nemo cake. What could be better than that?

Survivor-Michigan Style

2006-02-24T22:25:00.000-06:00

Due to the popularity of the Survivor's shows, Northern Michigan is
planning to do its own, titled "Survivor - Michigan Style."

The contestants will start in Traverse City, travel over to Kalkaska
and on to Grayling. Then they will head north to Gaylord, Mackinaw City,
and St Ste Marie. From there they will proceed west to Iron Mountain
and Copper Harbor. Then they will go south-east to Escanaba and St
Ignace, and the final leg will be back to Traverse City.

Each will be driving a pink Volvo with California license plates and a
large bumper sticker that reads: "I'm gay. I'm a Vegetarian. Beer is
harmful to your health. Republicans suck. Hillary in 2008. Deer hunting
is murder, and I'm here to confiscate your guns."

The first one that makes it back to Traverse City alive wins. Good luck
to all contestants!

2006-02-11T21:00:00.000-06:00

Let me take a moment to introduce myself. I am Buddy the Dog (AKA Buddy T., Sniffy B., or Sniff Daddy).

My mistress adopted me 10 years ago from the shelter and I have been a loyal member of the family ever since. I was her first "baby". For some reason, she decided to have two human babies since I came into her life. I don't know what she was thinking. I tolerate these human girls, and suffer silently with the lack of the attention that I so deserve.

Things I love:

A good belly scratch
Messy children and the food they drop of the floor
Laying on the Alpha Male's spot on the bed
The UPS man who gives me a dog treat
The time of day after the girls go to bed when I FINALLY get some attention

I'm not the most active dog, nor am I the smartest. I do have a good sense of humor however. This was from the Letterman Show:

Top Ten Signs You Have a Dumb Dog
10. Lengthy pause after "Bow" while it tries to remember "Wow"
9. Buries tail, wags bones
8. When you give him Alpo, he just eats the meat by-products
7. Despite the overwhelming evidence, still smokes two packs a day
6. Showed up at the Whoopi Goldberg roast in catface
5. Has suffered over two dozen concussions from toilet seat falling on his head
4. Thinks "Snausages" is a real word
3. Voted for Fred Grandy, Love Boat's gopher, because he really thought he'd be a good congressman
2. Spends hours staring at kitchen cabinet, waiting for tiny horse-and-carriage to come out
1. Constantly chasing people named "Katz"

Sniffy B.

Watch the points (and the waistline) keep growing!

2006-02-11T19:04:00.000-06:00

Today was a fairly fun Family Day, well, at least it was for the humans in the Family. Bud had to stay behind while we went to the cities for the MSU v. MN Men's basketball game. Bud, knew we were going somewhere and refused to go outside before we left. Does he think that we will forget him outside and drive away, never to return? Who know what goes through that doggie head.

So, off to the cities we go. All proudly wearing our Spartan-wear and optimistic about the day ahead. It was an uneventful drive, with just a few car-sickness false alarms and one unaticipated potty-break. After getting a tip from a co-worker, we ate lunch at Annie's Parlor in Dinkytown.

(Dinkytown is the cool/urban/hip area of the city that is close to campus...It's the part of town where you can find stores that sell "Records and Herbs").

So, back to Annie's Parlor. Annie's is the kind of restaurant that you also only find in a college town. It looks very seedy, you have to climb stairs to the restaurant over a dumpster that serves the scuzzy-looking bar downstairs. And the dumpster stinks. A lot. Annies however has the BEST food. Milkshakes, burgers and homemade french fries. Yum. I have post-Annie's calorie guilt, and it was so worth it. To date, I have never seen Liz eat as much as she did at Annie's.

After finding an interesting bookstore, complete with a REALLY old dog, enormous cat and two birds, we headed off to the game.

Sadly, the game wasn't much to speak of, at least if you are an MSU fan. They just plain stink on the road. The Gopher fans had a lot to cheer about, so at least they had fun.

Back home we go with two slightly tired cranky girls and one husband who appears to be coming down with ....Olympic Fever!