tagged

For the love of God, apparently I was “tagged” by Gina a couple weeks ago. I just now noticed. It’s like getting a chain letter…what if I break the chain and wreck the game?! So here it goes.

RULE #1 : People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs and replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.

RULE #2 : Tag 4 people to do this quiz and they cannot refuse. These people must state who they were tagged by and cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by. Continue this game by sending it to other people.

1. If you have pets, do you see them as merely animals, or are they members of your family?
I love them but they drive me nuts…I guess that means family.

2. If you can have a dream to come true, what would it be?
Have enough money to end all worries and travel.

3. What is the one thing most hated by you?
Compulsive liars. That’s actually Gina’s answer, but I’ll go with it. I tend to get irritated a lot but not truly hate all that much. I can’t really list off many people I know who fit the “compulsive liar” mold, but I do hate being taken advantage of, had, sold, mislead for the purpose of other’s gain, etc.

4. What would you do with a billion dollars?
Spend more time with my family and give them things they want, travel more to more exciting places, pursue more hobbies, maybe even further my education just for fun – ha!

5. What helps to pull you out of a bad mood?
Talking it out. I can’t keep anything to myself. I rarely hold a grudge unless I’m darn good and mad. Usually Joe or Carrie get the brunt of it, and they are both very good listeners.

6. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone?
Being loved.

7. What is your bedtime routine?
The usual…brush, maybe floss, wash face, blah, blah, blah

8. If you are currently in a relationship, how did you meet your partner?
We met at the Superior Airport (yes, there is an airport in Superior!). Joe had a plane at the time that he kept there. I lived in the apartment above the hanger.

9. If you could watch a creative person in the act of the creative process, who would it be?
An artist, a photographer or maybe a writer. I would love to learn more about how to pursue passions like that.

10. What kinds of books do you buy?
I rarely buy books. I’m more of an exchange kind of person. Hence the reason I’m passing on the free Kindle from work (gasp!)

11. How would you see yourself in ten years time?
OMG! My oldest child will be graduating. Let’s just not talk about that right now.

12. What’s your fear?
Wasting time. Not seizing the moment or appreciating the little things quite enough. There is so much good around me. I am afraid I may have already wasted time not making the most of it.

13. Would you give up all junk food for the rest of your life for the opportunity to visit outer space?
Are you flippin’ crazy?!?

14. Would you rather be single and rich or married, but poor?
Marriage is hard work, but I’m happily finding it is so worth it. Married, but poor it is.

15. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Hit the snooze, about 5 times. Unless it’s a weekend, then tell my kids to go watch TV.

16. If you could change one thing about your spouse/partner what would it be?
There are actually a lot of really awesome things about my husband. His ability to live in chaos, while truly a gift, drives me up the wall.

17. If you could pick a new name for yourself, what would it be?
Seriously? I’m good with my name. Thanks Mom.

18. Would you forgive and forget no matter how horrible a thing that special someone has done?
Yes. Time heals all wounds.

19. If you could only eat one thing for the next 6 months, what would it be?
I can’t think of anything I wouldn’t be sick of after 6 months. Maybe chips & salsa.

I tag Carla, Amy, my niece Anna…this is so sad, I don’t know anyone else with a blog that hasn’t already been tagged.

spooktacular!

We went to my parent's for Halloween weekend. Which meant I got out of attending sugar infused carnivals and kid parties at home. There was a downtown business trick-or-treat in my hometown. A perfect Saturday afternoon outing. Gabe chose to recycle his storm trooper costume from last year, minus the missing mask (which of course I found bright and early the day AFTER Halloween). Ava went as an witch. She was a witch 2 years ago and, thanks to a new Old Navy witch skirt ($2.98), she was set!


We managed to get back in time for local trick-or-treating, joining Carla and company. It was a lovely evening to stroll the neighborhood. Ah...on to the next holiday.

my girls

A couple weekends ago I met up with my college roommates for a wonderful weekend in Bayfield. We get together each fall. No matter where it is we meet, we always manage to have a great time. Lezlie invited us to stay at her brother-in-law's lake cottage. It was so gorgeous...4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a beautiful view of the lake, complete with spectacular sunrise each morning. We went to Madeline Island for lunch, enjoyed the scenery and met some interesting locals. Back in Bayfield, somehow we talked right through the dinner hour...well Lez napped a little too (she doesn't do well when we feed her vodka before noon).

We stayed up late, talked non-stop and Sunday morning enjoyed our books in the cozy living room. I love these girls so much. Love that we can pick right up where we left off the last time without hesitation. Love that we can practically predict each other's behavior and typically finish each other's sentences. Love that they are so easy to be around. I am so blessed to have these beautiful, sweet, funny, caring, humble, thoughtful, crazy, charismatic women in my life. Thanks for a lovely weekend girls. One that was so good for my spirit and my soul. I love you all and can't wait for the next one!

big picture

I have so many pictures still in my camera...end of summer, back to school, birthdays, girls weekend...but here I am again posting another picture from my phone of our house. This project consumes our lives right now. Hopefully soon I'll be able to get back to my camera and add variety to my posts. For now, if you even care anymore, here's the big picture of the remodel. This is what you see when you drive in our driveway. The parts that are in blue, along with the entire back side are still unfinished. Slowly but surely it's coming together. We are so thankful for all our friends who have given up time with their families to help us out. They are more ready for this project to be done than we are, I'm sure. Thanks for sticking with us guys! This couldn't have happened without all of you! (The hilarious part is I'm certain not one of them reads any blog, ever. I just keep feeding them in hopes they will come back.)

remodel update

How do you feel about red siding? I wasn't sure how I felt, but that's what Joe picked. I know, so weird that I'm letting my husband make this kind of choice. After all, isn't color a "girl thing"? He's been very involved in the exterior design of the house. I think he's doing pretty good so far. What do you think?

my baby is 7 (updated)

For the record, I did not forget my daughter's birthday. Unfortunately, I had to be out of town for work that day, which absolutely killed me! She's seven now. I cannot believe it myself. I barely remember that chubby little baby. She's so grown up, but she'll always be my baby.

Dear Ava,

From the moment your dad said, "it's a girl!" and I said, "SHUT UP!" I knew we were really lucky to have you. Life has been so much more fun with you in it. You are an incredibly special little girl that I would be utterly lost without.

Ava...funny, fun, dramatic, quirky, weird, lovable, girly, helpful, outgoing, spirited, sweet, ruthless, relentless, crazy, cute, curly, cuddly... These are just a few of the adjectives I can easily use to describe you. I love being your mom.

Love,
Mom


Update:
I finally got around to getting Ava's birthday pictures off my camera. I completely forgot to mention the highlight of her party. She wanted the spanking machine...15+ people, grandparents included, lined the hallway so Ava could scoot through. HILARIOUS. No picture, but trust me it was very funny. I love that crazy kid. And I love this picture. She's so happy and a little embarrassed with everyone singing to her.

going batty

If you care, I am terrified of bats. Last night, I was laying in bed reading with just my little reading light on, when I hear a "flopping", "flutter", distinct wing movement kind of sound. Throw my book down, shine my miniature light all over while waking up Joe, "WHAT WAS THAT FLOPPING NOISE?!" He thinks I've gone crazy, there's no flopping noise, he rolls over. Back to my book. I see a shadow zoom over my head. OMG, it's a bat!!! (see first sentence, terrified of bats) My screaming gets Joe's attention. He's irritated that I'm keeping him awake at 11:00, and there certainly is not a bat in our house. "Probably a moth." There's nothing worse than being terrified and having the person your with doubt you or not take your terror seriously. I know all too well how a bat sounds and looks - Towers, 10th floor...bring back any memories my UWEC friends?! It swoops over again. He saw it this time. I have made confirmation. It's a bat. Scream, Scream, Scream. Throw covers over my head and try not to cry. Meanwhile, my husband ponders, "how did a bat get in here...?" Hello, we don't care how it got in. GET IT OUT.

If you've been to our house, you know that our bedroom is a loft that is open to the living room and kitchen below. I'm sure the bat was having great fun flying from our room all the way across the house and back. The damn thing landed at the top of our rock chimney (I think it's around 16' high). I really could have cared less where it landed, or what had to be done to get it out. Joe knew there was no sleep in his future until it was out. I scurried to the bathroom and closed the doors while Joe hauled in a huge ladder to remove it. Then I paced for while and went back to bed with the covers as close to over my head as I could manage, because I was sure there were more.

This is part of the joy of remodeling. Opening your well sealed house up for all unwanted little critters to sneak in. I just know mice are next. Lord help me.

run a 10k, check

Actually, it was 6.6 miles but "run a 6.6 mile run" wasn't as catchy as "run a 10k". Anyway....I had so much fun running Bangin' in the Brush, a 6.6 mile trail run at the Korkki Nordic ski trail. I love skiing at the Korkki. It is by far my favorite place to ski. Being out there without snow was fun. A completely different perspective. I had no trail running experience to speak of and had never run further than 3 miles in my life, so this was challenging for me. The trail was wet and MUDDY, hilly and treacherous. It was a gorgeous day though. I managed through the mud, only tripped twice and came out in one piece. The winners got homemade cookies! They also gave away a ton of raffle prizes from fresh baked bread and homemade honey to new cross country skis! Plus they give you beer at the end...bonus!

Once again my cousin-in-law, Jen, joined me. We agreed this run was one to do again. Maybe I am a runner after all...

still remodeling

Yesterday was a big day on the addition project, we broke through. OK, Joe & Bud broke through, but you knew what I meant. They took out the windows of the existing house to re-purpose them in the addition. I'm not sure why I thought we'd have a lovely view of the addition from the house during this entire project. In my mind everything would be perfectly contained until the momentous day when the other side was done. Um, no. Of course not. That would leave gaping holes in two other places in the addition - duh. So out came the windows and now we look directly into blue styrofoam. Kind of cave-like really. The good news is that when it was all opened up, it was so nice! Our architect really focused on making this not seem like an addition, and he did good! It has a great open flow and feel (after you hurdle the existing wall that is).

Here's the view from dining room to the soon to be new kitchen.


Joe has spent a heap of time concentrating on curb appeal. From the roof lines, shingles, siding and even door styles and color. I can't wait for the siding to really see how it all ties together.


Here we are in the backyard. I think it's so funny how whenever I hold up my camera my kids stop and pose until they hear the click. Keep movin' Ava, just taking a picture of the house. Look, I had to take 2 pictures because I couldn't get back far enough with the 50mm. You get the general idea.



So far, I love this project. Don't get me wrong, it's been a ton of work, mainly for Joe. I know my time is coming with painting and staining, and maybe I won't love it so much then. It's so much different from when we built the house though. I think we actually learned from some of our mistakes the first time around.

addition update

This picture stinks, but it gives you the general idea of where things are at. Shingles on, windows in and doors on the way. Very exciting! I promise to take more pictures over the weekend.

what to do when your kid's teacher gets a better back to school picture of your kid than you do?

Post it.

happy birthday baby

Gabe turned 9 on Friday. My sweet, good boy is growing up. I remember so many details of Gabe's birth and those first few, precious months that it's hard to believe it was that long ago. The days of elaborate birthday parties are all but gone now. We used to go over the top with hot air balloon rides, giant bouncers and extreme cakes. This year he just wanted a few friends to invite to the water park and dinner and cake with his family. That's exactly what he got. Sort of bittersweet really.

Gabe, you're my favorite boy, I love you so much you can't even imagine. I remember singing "You are My Sunshine" to you when you were a baby and it making my heart hurt. You may be almost as tall as I am, but you'll always be my baby. Happy Birthday my good boy, I love you.

going up

I found myself saying "are you kidding me?!" about 1000 times this weekend watching this addition go up. We had a great turnout for help and the results are truly amazing. Thank you Mom & Dad for coming and helping with the food, kids, Menards run and all the rest. Thank you to all our wonderful friends who took time away from their families to help us. We could not have done it without all of you. Thank you Bud always for everything you do. We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives.

So take a look see. Now there is roof. Yeah!




As I was taking pictures, I saw a head pop up over the very high peak of the roof. Not really weird since there's like 9 guys working up there, but is that Gabe???

Zoom in...um, yes. Holy crap. I better not say anything. "Get the hell off that roof right now!" may be disastrous.
Mind you I am terrified of heights so this "I'm not scared, Mom!" / "Look Mom, no hands!" move didn't sit well with me either.

progress

Remember the dirt pile that I told you was the addition? Progress has been made.

Plumbing has been put in.
Then concrete on the garage floor.
And concrete on the rest of the floor.
This week we have walls! I am in awe of the progress even though I've seen Joe do this so many times before. He works harder than anyone I know. He sets goals and pushes himself to meet them. He talks me through my freak outs over what color cabinets, how big to make the closet door, water in the island or no water in the island...he makes this fun. So tonight I am thankful. I am thankful for walls and a brilliantly talented husband that can build them. Thankful for friends and family that have come together and help put these walls up. I am thankful for 13 challenging years of marriage. Thankful that we've trudged through the hard stuff to build a family and a home. I'm really thankful for walls...

remodel part 1 of many

After years of discussing if we should add on, buy a new house, buy land and build a new house, we finally made a decision. We started our remodel project a couple weeks ago. The pictures are so un-interesting but so is a post with no pictures. It's a huge mess, my patio is all but gone, the driveway is cluttered with large equipment and tools, but the end result will be well worth it.



Here is the new view from my bedroom window. It's my very own attached garage right off a brand new mudroom. Can't you see it? The new kitchen and den are not shown here, but they look pretty much the same.

haircut

Remember the fauxhawk?



I finally gave in on the real deal. He's still pretty darn cute if you ask me.

nieces

I have a lot of nieces and nephews. Two of them are going to be seniors this coming year. My sister-in-law asked me to take their senior pictures. I gave her the "I'm not a professional" disclaimer, and they showed up on my doorstep anyway. I am so happy they did. We had such a great time! This was a great opportunity for me to spend time with the girls. They are silly and sweet (yes, Jolie, they are sweet!) and a lot of fun. I don't think I've realized over the years how much they've grown up. Thank you Heidi and Haley for letting me part of this time in your lives.

summer

Grandma's Marathon weekend was F U N fun at our house. I even took a few random pictures. Looky here...

Amy supervising giant marshmallow roasting. Clearly Steve does not know what he's doing (I just know that's what she's thinking - HA!)

Did I mention they were GIANT marshmallows???

How cute are little girls? Seriously cute.


You know you're a redneck when...you use the air compressor to get your fire started. Ok, this is probably not safe.


Ah summer....

run a 5K, check

I keep telling myself should make a bucket list of all the things I want to do before I die. Like writing them down will make me actually do them. I never actually follow through on the whole making of the list though. Probably because I'm just too lazy. Or maybe because I have more determination than I give myself credit. If I really want something, maybe I don't need a list...

List or no list, running a race was never on it. I'm not a runner. Then last summer Joe's cousin Jen highly encouraged me to take up running. This spring she asked me to join her in the William A. Irvin 5K. So I did. I know it's only a 5K, but I'm pretty proud of myself for setting a a goal that was difficult for me and sticking to it. I really hated the running, but really loved the feeling of accomplishment and having my family there cheering me on. I can still picture Gabe jumping out of the crowd waving and yelling like crazy when he saw me. It was really awesome.

Here's proof I did it, don't mind my lack of style.


Thanks for all your encouragement Jen, you rock! And make me laugh REALLY hard!


And no, I won't be running the Marathon or even the half next year, so don't even ask.

The End

oh yeah...we went to FL

...in April! Ok, so I don't blog much anymore, whatever. We've been to Orlando so many times, but this was the best trip yet. Largely because we went with Carrie and family again AND our kids are older and more self-sufficient which means they require less supervision and leave us alone more. Yet they are still young enough to want us around, lovely. Our trip was the perfect balance of downtime and activities. So much fun...let's do it again guys!

We were there over Easter. Easter egg hunt, steak and shrimp on the grill, Vicki racing the kids around the pond after a few glasses of wine...it's a long story, don't ask. Very fun night.




We topped off a great evening with a late night drive to Merrit Island near Cocoa Beach where we spent the night so we could get up at 4:30 AM and watch the Space Shuttle launch. So worth the drive and the lack of sleep!


We never go to Orlando without hitting Fun Spot. It's a great park with carnival type rides. The kids seem just as happy here as they are at any of the big parks. Why we continue to torture ourselves is beyond me. It was beautiful out each day of our trip. The colors at Fun Spot with the evening sky were gorgeous.

Although I kind of like this one better in sepia.


I hope these boys are friends forever. Makes my heart happy.







We also did Universal, went out a lot and had a ton of pool time. Those pictures are all apparently on Ava's camera, which I just don't have energy for at the moment.