Roller Mania!

Words can't even begin to describe how much fun we had rollerskating last night! It's probably been close to 20 years since I've been skating and it was just pure joy. It was a great night...drinks & apps beforehand (with lots of great stories) and then 2 hours of skating to 80's tunes. I even got to hear my fave "Everybody Wants You" by Billy Squier. I felt like I was 9 again...ah, the Fireball lives on!!! I lived it up by creating big hair/bangs, wearing jelly bracelets, big earrings, Love's Baby Soft and leg warmers...such a fun night! Anyone up for next Thursday???

Pics to enjoy: me getting my bearings (and laughing hysterically), Ang & I, group photo, Heather & her college friends & an action photo...

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Too bad Thanksgiving is a ways out now...check out what happened to my sis-in-law, Christina, on Sunday. Here's my mother-in-law's run down on the "crash" that shook "Ona" last weekend--along with these photos of evidence. Wow!

On a side note, 2 more showings today...and a possible new home for Louise (very hard decision, indeed). Any crossed fingers or prayers are welcome!


Here's the story:

"Yes, on Sunday morning while Christina and kids were out grocery shopping ...she gets a call from the police. Asking her name, address, etc. then he says that there is a problem at her house and she needs to come home immediately. A turkey has flown through her window and is in her house. Christina thinks that someone is pulling a prank on her. But the policeman is serious. She goes home to find the police, fire dept, humane society at her house. Yes there is a turkey inside they have seen it through the broken window on the ledge.
They enter with nets to catch the bird. Thank goodness the turkey is dead...it fell off the ledge, down the stairs, into the family room. Feathers, blood, glass, etc. everywhere. a mess. Morgy the cat is no where to be found. The fire dept take the turkey for supper.

Thank goodness they weren't home when this turkey decided to crash through the upstairs window. The kids would have been terrified. Christina spends the day cleaning up glass, etc. Morgy comes out of the kitchen cupboards about 4-5 hours after the bird crashes through the window. And, no, her insurance doesn't cover it...unbelievable."

Surprises, surprise!

Here we are...another weekend almost in the can, and as my dear friend "Mildred" likes to say, we "filled it to the rim, with Brim". Ok, inside joke. Anyway, we had lots of pleasant surprises this weekend:
*our lowball offer on the property we're interested in was accepted--not even a counter offer!

*N.H. School Musical was a hit--Kdee's principal even dressed up as Hannah Montana!

*Ann watched BOTH kiddos for us later Friday night(not just little B, as arranged)--so ribB and I got a quick date out...to Home Depot and Barker's (celebratory drinks & apps...boy, I think our long overdue need to let loose could have made it one heck of a night...but, instead, we were home by 10pm :-)

*We all took it easy on Saturday (all intentions to do house projects went by the wayside after the crazy workload of last weekend/this past week). There was time for a girls lunch out (so fun), a nap with little B (special treat), ribB & Kdee shooting bow together and more. Our next surprise of the weekend was dinner out to Mama Maria's (yum) with family friends, Russ (aka "Deak") and Penny. We really enjoyed catching up with them and showing them our place here...

*Sunday was a bit more of the usual--Church, home chores, play time--and, oh yeah, our first showing! Talk about surprise! We know better than to get too excited about a showing, but we're thrilled all the same. I rounded out the night with a walk (thanks, Susan!) and playing a crazy game of dodgeball while putting little B to bed.

And now the week starts over...

Pics to enjoy: Sunday afternoon fun in the beautiful weather...kids goofin' around, self portrait and the current photo of our house, complete with "for sale" sign...wow.

It's Friday--yes!

You've gotta love Fridays...such a good feeling to know that a couple days of R&R are on the horizon. We've been extremely busy doing house preps for showings (including my very necessary day off of work on Thursday so the place was ready for our realtor, who wanted to take interior pics...with kids, there's just not enough time to do everything by deadlines!). I'm hoping we get to take it easy this weekend, but I also know myself well enough that it's hard for me to sit still when there's stuff to get done. We'll see. That said, Kdee and I are going to a fun "HS Musical" knock off tonight--her teachers are putting on a production as a fundraiser for "Smart Boards". I hope that's just the start of a fun weekend...

If you know of anyone looking for a house in my area, let me know and I'll provide the MLS# for our house...it's a great location and a nice house & lot (yes, I'm biased!). Sorry for the "secrecy", but ribB would probably have a heart attack if I posted the # on the blog, due to safety, etc.! He sees a lot of stuff in his line of work...

I just received this pic of little B and his best buddy, Brennan--from their playdate a few weeks ago. They're such a cute duo! Some of you have heard a lot about Brennan and little B's enthusiasm to play with him (he still looks in the 2 year window at recess to see him each day!). Little B has been funny lately--challenging us a bit more and testing us with choice language (ie "hate" and "dammit"...so hard not to laugh...especially when he says something and then gives you that "did that make you mad?" look...). Ah, the phases of a 3 year old!

The end of the day is near...time to turn up some great Friday tunes and let loose! Have a great weekend everyone...

Come Roller Skating!

Open invite to everyone out there...my coworker & great friend, Heather, has organized a night of roller skating during "80's night" at a local roller rink. It's sure to be a blast...I am guessing I won't be able to stop laughing the whole night long. I have lots of good memories of skating at the "Fireball" and I'm guessing most of you have rollerskating memories as well. Here's your chance to reconnect with your youthful self...let me know if you can join us!



We're Going Roller Skating!

Where: Saints North (in North St. Paul/Maplewood), right at Hwy 36 and White Bear Avenue.

When: Thursday, April 24th, 8:30-10:30 pm (i know it's a little late, but it's a Thursday night and it's just this one time)

We're going to roll back the clock and skate to the 70's & 80's.
I know you've got a couple of songs in the back of your mind that will always remind you of skating days gone by...here are a few to jog your memory.
Andrea's favorites - Cars by Gary Newman, Everybody Wants You by Billy Squier
Heather's favorites - Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, Kyrie by Mr. Mister
(feel free to email your favorites to get us all jazzed!)

Who knows, maybe we'll do the Hokey Pokey, Wheelbarrow Races or you just might want to bring your Spouse/Significant Other in case there's a Snowball Skate! Aaaah, memories!

Price is $7.00 (includes skate rental). Make sure to bring a little extra for the snack bar. (maybe an Icee, Tangy Taffy or some Pop Rocks would suit your fancy) Hee-Hee

Please feel free to invite all your friends, family, co-workers. More people = more fun!

Please let me know if you (and others you invite) will be going in case I need to let the rink know that it will be a larger group.

24 Warning Signs of Stress

Here's one of my favorite cartoons...one that I have posted next to my desk at work. I think lots of us are under pressure of one sort or another, so to all of you...enjoy some good humor about stress (although you might be disturbed to realize these captions do ring true). Also included here is the "Tootsie Pop Indian". I got one of these yesterday on my delightful Tootsie Pop, and I still smile when I see one. Another smile I had yesterday? The full-out-face-plant digger I took at Cub Foods at lunch. I can't even remember the last time I did that, and let me tell you--stuff was flying from my basket. Note to self: do not walk quickly in high-heeled boots on freshly waxed floors. Yikes! (Side note on the "Indian"--I just found out it's an Urban Legend that you get a free Tootsie Pop when you find one of these guys...dang!)

big, silly & colorful...

Hair, that is! Check out these photos of Kdee and her friends, Ally & Payton, at the Kid's Karnival at their school (a week ago). We had so much fun together! If you can believe it, they went to the Shrine Circus afterward--big hair and all. Talk about the Big top!

SCRAPING by...

...literally. We have been so busy trying to get our house ready for showings & interior photos (yep, we are officially "for sale" as of today), we are wiped out. We've spent a lot of time in the past few days downsizing the contents of rooms (thanks to a storage unit and using Paul's awesome trailer), repairing those little things that we all have to repair around a house, cleaning, and, oh yeah, STRIPPING WALLPAPER.

The last one has been the biggest challenge. I joked to ribB that if this is the biggest challenge we face in all of this moving business, then we are lucky. Let me tell you, I can NOT believe how much time it took to strip off just the vinyl layer of wallpaper in our smallest bathroom (on the main floor of our house). We have removed wallpaper before--this should have been a much easier process. As it turns out, I think they actually used super glue to hang that 1991 wallpaper. Ok, I kid...kind of. On Saturday night, I was up until 4am trying to strip it (ribB joining me until 2am). After a total of 8 hours of work in this little room, I finally finished removing this top layer of wallpaper tonight. I am celebrating by sharing the experience with all 3 of you who read this blog! Ha!

House fix-ups and preps has taken up most of our time lately. Thanks to Brian and Katie, who watched the kids Saturday morning, we took the opportunity to check out the property we are currently interested in. It was so nice to look everything over closely, without the kiddos in tow! We also had an opportunity to visit the local school districts and were pleasantly surprised and impressed. My mom also helped out for a couple of hours on Saturday, which we were grateful for as well. I think it goes without saying that by Sunday night, we were all exhausted!

Fortunately, tonight we got to have some real fun! We had a "double date" with my great friend, Angie, and her boyfriend Steve. We were very excited to get to know Steve more and we had a great time having dinner and talking about everything from Beavis and Butthead to hunting coyote (and purses, too). It was an awesome break from all of the insanity, and the kids loved the chance to have some actual play time (with Ann!).

Pictures that celebrate "the bathroom": the small shreds of paper, the naked truth and THE tool that made it all possible (after all wallpaper tools and products failed): a glass scraper!

Leap O' Faith

Here it is...the anniversary of my Dad passing away and something is happening that he would have loved. It's official (as of yesterday)...we're selling our house and looking to move to a lake property. It's been a whirlwind of change--all within in a week's time. Now, some folks might say: "You're crazy! This is a horrible time to sell!" or "What about Kdee's great school?". Well, here's our thought process...Kdee's school district is getting HUGE and by the time both kids are in MS or HS, they are going to be a number. And we want more opportunities for them than that. I grew up in a small school system and I did just fine...along with my many other intelligent friends and family :-). As for this housing market...well, "nothing is impossible with the Lord". Whatever His will, we'll be fine. We are blessed either way (staying or moving). So, we have asked God what He wants for our family and we will trust Him, no matter what the ups and downs that come with the process. It's really that easy! I also know that my human-style logic has such a limited scope of imagining the possibilities...however, the Lord can truly come up with some amazing adventures for us that always turn out better than I could have ever dreamed up with my limited imagination. We're excited.

Besides the house hoopla, we have found time to have a "girls" and "guys" weekend with the kiddos. ribB and little B went up to the cabin (much to little B's happiness--he's obsessed with that place!) and Kdee and I stayed home so she could go to her school's Kid's Karnival and the Shrine Circus with her bestest pal, Ally. We also enjoyed visits on Friday at our house with more great pals--Susan, Kirsten & Ann. I also managed a visit in with my Grandma (always nice when it's one-on-one and I'm not distracted by the kids!). It was a full weekend!

I've got some great pictures and will post them later...keep an eye out for them!