These are a few of my favorite things!

This year for Christmas I got quite a few things on my list.  These included a salad spinner, a laptop pad, the new Sting CD and Taylor Swift CD, and the Ace of Cakes book (one of my favorite shows on the Food Network).  But my most favorite gift was the Amazon Kindle! 

 

If you don’t read a lot then you wouldn’t understand the hype around the Kindle, Nook, E-Reader and other electronic reading devices.  But I do like to read and I have to read something before bed every night, so the Kindle will get a lot of use.

Jake also got a ton for Christmas.  Here are some pictures from Christmas morning when he got his Red Flyer Wagon and a 3’ tall Teddy Bear:

 

We hope you all got what you wanted for Christmas this year!

The arborvitae are here!

 

On my way into work on Monday morning I received a phone call from the owner of the landscaping company that we were using.  He said that since it is so nice out that they were coming to plant my 6 arborvitae.  Now as I remember it was about 20 degrees and at least 6” of snow on the ground.  So I was a bit surprised that they would be planting them. 

I asked if they were going to survive the winter and he assured me that they are guaranteed and will be great.  He asked if I marked where they are supposed to be planted.  I said I marked them back in November, but I wasn’t sure if they were visible with all the snow.

I saw them on Monday night after I got back from bowling and they look nice.  I can’t really tell for sure if they were planted in the right place since it is hard to see the beds.  I guess I’ll find out when the snow melts.  I haven’t had time to take pictures yet, but I will try soon.

Cookies for the Troops Dec 2009

This past Friday I sent another package of cookies and candy to the troops overseas.  This time the soldier is from Wisconsin, but I am not sure where exactly.  Jamie’s Mom, Aunts and Cousins helped bake cookies and I also got some help from my co-workers.  In all I think I sent between 25-30 dozen!

 

Happy St. Nick Day!

Jake hopes you all have a wonderful St. Nick day.  He loved everything that St. Nick gave him this year.

Okay, this is getting freaky!

So I posted a while back that I saw a silver Rav4 with the same license plate letters as ours.  Well, I can’t say for certain it was the same one, but I saw another with the same letters and two of the same numbers!  It also had a registration sticker for the same month as ours and it was bought from the same dealership.  The only real difference was the hitch on the back, we do not have one.  Also, ours was cleaner since Jamie washes it every 2 weeks.  It’s a little obsessive and he refuses to wash my car :~(

What year is it?

Jamie and I finally moved up in the electronic world.  We upgraded our 32” and 27” tube televisions with 60” and 52” flat screen TVs!  The 60” is an inherited TV that is about 6 years old, but it is still a great TV and much newer than Jamie’s 32”.  The 52” went in the living room to replace the 27” which Jamie bought me for Christmas about 7 years ago.  We were waiting for the TVs to die, but they just wouldn’t and we decided it was time.  I still need to call and upgrade the cable to HD and Jamie hasn’t gotten all the cables needed but the picture sure is nice!

"Loving Frank" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

This last Tuesday we finally had book club. We had to skip our September book club for various reasons, so we discussed two books in November.


"Loving Frank" by Nancy Horan:
This book was liked by most everyone. Most of us disliked the main character, Mamah Borthwick Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright. I have known of Frank's archeticture just from living here and reading things here and there, but I never knew about this story. It is a historical fiction meaning that the author found what she could from old letters between the two, but the rest was mostly her imagination. It talks a lot of his home Taliesin in Spring Green, WI. I would love to go and see it sometime. I don't want to go into too much about the story because the ending is so dramatic I don't want to ruin it if you want to read it. I also will warn you not to do too much research on Mamah or Frank if you don't want to spoil the ending.

My most favorite Frank Lloyd Wright house is Falling Water:

I also found out that he built the SC Johnson building in Racine. I worked there for a summer and I never heard that before.

The one that I've actually been able to visit is the Greek Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa:



"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Steig Larrson:
This book was liked by everyone at the club. It is based in Sweden and is a murder mystery. It was a little slow to start, but the disappearance of Harriet Vanger and who was responsible keeps you interested. I was a bit disappointed in the final ending, but overall I thought it was very good. This book is one of three written and submitted by Steig Larrson just before he died of a heart attack. I will definately be reading the next book, "The Girl Who Played With Fire".

Santa's here already!

On Saturday Jake and I went to the Hartford Christmas parade. We saw quite an array of characters including, Garfield, Smokey the Bear, the George Web mascot, the green pig?!?!, Scooby, clowns and a hobo. But of course the best was seeing Santa Claus! He sure looked jolly this year. I am pretty sure that Jake is on Santa's nice list this year.

Landscaping update... There isn't anything to update. No arborvitae yet, I will have to call again on Monday. We still have three beds of dirt, I think the neighbors are wondering what we are doing!

Landscaping 11-7-09

This weekend Jamie and I started our landscaping plans.  I contacted Lammscapes from Jackson, WI and had a plan drawn up.  Here is a look at what we are planning:

We prepped the three beds in the lawn on Saturday.  Debbie and David came by and helped out.  Even I was using the rototiller!  The weather couldn’t have been better.  Here are some pictures from the day:

Here it looks like a putting green.

Jamie rototilling.

Hi David!

We are getting 6 7-8’ Emerald Arborvitae hopefully this week!  Then next Spring we will add 4 Miss Kim Lilacs, ornamental grasses and some Russian Sage.  It will definitely look different next Spring.

New Computer Part II

Today I got my Dell Studio XPS laptop.  This sucker is huge!  It has a 17” screen and the keyboard has under key lighting.  It is very cool and I am looking forward to transferring all of my pictures and videos on here.  I am not yet sure of all the capabilities but I know that this system will be 100% better than the old desktop.

Tell me how to get to Sesame Street

Today on CNN.com they mentioned that the old episodes of Sesame street are out on DVD. There was a very interesting article about the old and new sesame street. You can read the article here, but these are my favorite parts:

On the DVDs, Cookie Monster can be seen as his character of Alistair Cookie in his "Monsterpiece Theatre" segment (a spoof of Alistair Cooke's "Masterpiece Theatre") smoking a pipe.

Yep, Cookie Monster smoked.

He later eats the pipe because, as he was often prone to doing, he thinks the pipe is a cookie. Cookie Monster used to become so overwhelmed by his desire for cookies that he'd start seeing (hallucinating about?) cookies that weren't actually there. He'd eat (rotary) telephones, typewriters (what are those?), pencils, almost anything. It was funny.

Today, Cookie Monster's diet is much more balanced, as he has adopted the philosophy that cookies are a "sometimes food."

Children are seen riding their bikes without helmets, and there's even a sketch where the human character of Gordon can be seen approaching a little girl on the street. He takes her by the hand and brings her into his house for milk and cookies (again with the cookies!). Clearly, that could be misinterpreted by today's standards.

I think I may just need to get a copy of these DVDs. I haven't seen Sesame Street in many many years, but I think as Jake gets older I will see my fair share of the "new" Sesame Street. I don't think they let Bert and Ernie sleep in the same bed anymore either.

Happy Halloween!

Jake the monkey wishes you all a Happy Halloween!

Introduction to knitting

So this past Thursday night four co-workers and I went to Ruhama's Yarn & Needlepoint near Bayshore Mall. We took a 2 hour introduction to knitting class. I already know how to crochet but that only involves one crochet hook and my other hand is free. I had some issues at first with how to have a needle in each hand and still hang onto the yarn, but I eventually got it. We started by casting on, then learned the knit stitch, then the purl stitch and finally we knit 2, purl 2 and then casted off. Here is what I made in the two hour class. Hopefully I can get better, otherwise it will take me until Christmas just to make a scarf.

Cursive Handwriting

I never liked writing in cursive and my handwriting in general was never very pretty or girly. Back in grade school I had friends that would make me practice writing. I was always told that your signature should be in cursive, but I notice more and more people using print for their signature. I think I could write everything here in cursive, it was always the uppercase Q that got me all confused.

A few months ago I saw an article on CNN.com about the disappearance of cursive handwriting in schools. The article said that in another generation or two no one will be able to read the declaration of independence in it's original form. As much as I hate writing in cursive, I think it should still be taught in school. One of the major reasons that cursive isn't taught anymore is because of computers and that the art of hand written letters is almost extinct.

One of the ways that handwriting was taught in school was through pen pals. I remember having one, but I can't remember her name. I always loved getting letters in the mail. Anyone want to be my pen pal?

New Computer Part I

A couple weeks ago I ordered a new Dell laptop. They had a really good deal and with the laptop I could purchase a Dell Mini Inspiron for $99. Well the laptop hasn't come in yet, but yesterday I got the new Dell Mini. It is very small but it is also kinda cute. It doesn't have much, but I can get to the internet and I will probably network it with the other laptop so I can access my pictures and all that.

I went with a laptop instead of a desktop because it is hard to keep up with a blog when I have to chase after Jake. I will try to post more frequently now.

Festival of Pumpkins

For those of you that don't know, the Ronald McDonald House is a place for familes to stay while their children are at Children's Hospital. They only ask for $10/night even though it costs around $100. My company has donated to both the Ronald McDonald House and Children's Hospital the past two Christmas seasons.

Today I took Julia to the Ronald McDonald House to help carve pumpkins for their garden. I met up with my co-workers Beth and Marianne and their daughters Mali and Maydee. We carved pumpkins, Julia and the girls got their faces painted and there was a Ronald McDonald show with birthday cake celebrating the Ronald McDonald House 25th birthday. We had a great time.

Afternoon Naps

Before Jake was born I always enjoyed a long afternoon nap on the weekends. These days it is a litte more difficult since when Jake is napping I usually have something that needs to get done. This afternoon while Jake was napping Jamie and I took a nice long nap on the couch.

Earlier today Jake and I walked in the Al's Run for Children's Hospital. Jenny made a team for Jenna and I was able to raise $105 in pledges. The parking was a bit chaotic, but Jake and I made it just before the walk started. I walked the first half with Jenny, James, Jadyn, Jenna, Mrs. Turk, Becky, James's cousin Kim and his aunt Joyce. Chris and Jim ran in the 8K race so Becky and I did the 5K walk so we could find them afterwards. We saw Chris right away but we couldn't find Jim. We finally found him at the car. Jake was a trooper and I had him all bundled up. It was pretty chilly and the wind by the lake was pretty srong at times. We are looking forward to walking again next year.

Coincidence?

A couple weeks ago I left the house and I was pretty sure that Charlie was in the house. He likes to sneak into the garage and when I am carrying Jake, my purse, and any other multiple things he has a pretty good chance at getting out. I decided not to worry about it and I drove to Jake's daycare. When I was leaving I saw a cat just like Charlie hiding in the bushes and for a second I thought it was Charlie. Then as I drove to work I saw another cat that looked just like Charlie on the side of the road (no, not roadkill). It was so odd that the morning I thought he may have snuck out I saw two cats that looked just like him. Fortunately he was safe at home when I got back from work.

Today while driving I saw a silver Toyota Rav4 just like ours and it had the same three letters on their license plate that we have: PFN. I think that must be pretty rare to see the same model and color car with such a similar license plate.

Hiny Hiders

A few years ago, while in the restroom at a Brewer's game, I was sitting down, doing my thing and I noticed the latch on the stall door had a picture as seen above and the name Hiny Hider on it, I just giggled. I thought it was such a clever name for a small and usually unnoticed piece of hardware. I always look for the Hiny Hider when I go to the restroom at Brewer games now. I also recently saw the it at the restroom while we were camping. It is just so odd to find humor in the bathroom (at least the kind that doesn't include an odor or noise coming from the stall next to you). So, next time you are at a Brewer's game or in any restroom facility look out for the Hiny Hider!

Camping Labor Day 2009

Jamie and I took Jake on his first camping trip this weekend. Jamie and I have gone camping together with friends and family many times, but never by ourselves, so we thought we would go just the three of us. The weekend was beautiful, but it was a little cold at night. We had Jake all bundled up in a winter hat and mittens.



Mom and Dad stopped by to see us. They enjoyed the fire, food and of course Jake.




One test we had was trying to fit everything in the new Rav4. I used to be able to fit everything in my Nissan, but we seem to accumulate more and more every year. I really need to go through everything soon and make sure we only have what we really need. We got it all to fit in the car, but the wood Jamie picked up at work had to go on the roof. We did seem to have a lot more room when we left this morning though.

Mom's Birthday

Okay, I am way late on this, but Mom's birthday was last week Monday. We went to Mom and Dad's on Saturday and celebrated with Mike, Chris, Nic, Sara and Julia. I made Mom her birthday cake. She said she wanted lots of chocolate so I found a yummy chocolate buttercream recipe on allrecipes.com and I put it on a devils food cake.

Happy Birthday Mom! You look fabulous!