Morning Meanderings…Through The Years and A Trip To OZ

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Good morning!  It’s Saturday and I am sooooooo excited.  Today I have nothing concrete on the agenda.  I LOVE days like this.  I can hang out, blog, read, clean, nap, whatever – at my leisure.  These days are too few and far between and other than a possible trip to the gym this afternoon (I am 7 days out from the 7K) and maybe a movie with hubby…. I am here for the day. 😀

Today I thought I would post a couple of pictures of my boys for Saturday Snapshot:

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I love this picture.  That is Brad left and Justin right.  This picture graces my book room.  This past winter, right after Christmas I was on Facebook one day and seen this picture on Justin’s page.  He was having a voting contest to see who thought who was cuter, he or Brad.  *Take note, Justin is 22 now and in College.  Brad is 25 and in the Navy. 

I was stunned, but it was pretty hilarious.  Both boys were going back and forth trying to get their friends to comment on who was cuter. I popped in with a “Boys!  What is going on here?”  😛

Then Brad made a comment that I had text him and told him that he was cuter but couldn’t put it on Facebook as I did not want to hurt Justin’s feelings.  Justin commented back that he thought that was funny because I had text him and told him that same thing about him.

This thing went on for days and I don’t recall who won – or even if the votes were fair but they had over 100 comments and it was pretty funny.

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This one I really like too.  Justin looks like someone from a century ago.  I remember doing Brad’s hair that day… he wanted it that way.

Currently, Justin is in Honduras on his 5th Mission trip to the country working with the kids who live on the street.  Brad, as of last night was in Georgia sitting on his back deck with friends having a fire and conversation.  He has 3 out of 4 weekends off in the Navy. 

As you can imagine, I am so proud of both of them. 😀

These pictures were posted today for the Saturday Snapshot meme, check it out at At Home With Books.

Last night my friend Wendy and I went to OZ, The Great and Powerful.  I thought it was done so well and it was impressive to watch the actors, they played some fun rolls.   Mila Kunis was incredible, especially the later part of the movie.  Rachel Weisz?  Well first let me say wow does she look incredible.  She easily passes as Mila’s sister.  Michelle Williams… awesome.  I think my favorite was the China Doll… really once she entered the picture I lost my heart to that little broken girl. 

I am not sure what to think of James Franco… maybe he was perfect, what do I know. 😀  At times, he just seemed off and maybe that was intentional… I have no idea who could have done it better. 

 

My thoughts… yes, see it.  I loved the fact that some of the scenes and settings are more to the original book then the past movies. 😀

Morning Meanderings… The BIG Painting Project

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Squeaking in late today.  I got up and hit the gym and then went and set the new March window at the Library.  Then picked up a few groceries so I would not have to leave the house again today.. unless I want to… unless Al and I go to a movie… you know, something fun 😀

Last week I painted the downstairs of our house and I had said I would post the pictures today for Saturday Snapshot, so here they are:

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A fun fact I found out last week, painting burns 320 calories an hour.  This explains why after a day of painting we are a little stiff the next day.  😀
Check out more Saturday Snapshots at Alyce’s At Home With Books. 

Morning Meanderings… Snapshots of My Minnesota Life

1j

Good morning!  Happy Saturday.  I am in the middle… no, that’s not right… I am in the first third of a MASSIVE painting project.  I decided I was going to paint our downstairs addition yesterday so off I went to buy paint and all the fixings.  This is a HUGE undertaking.  We finished off the basement in 2004 and the area I am painting is all of that… the wall at the top of the stairs, the stairwell wall area, a couple smaller areas and then an open family area.  Basically about 5 gallons of paint worth.  😯  It sounded like a great idea yesterday to surprise Al with this but after not getting started until 5:30 pm last night and working on it until 10:30 pm and knowing I have about 5 or 6 more hours of paining ahead of me… yeah….lets just say I better LOVE this color a LONG time.  😛  Pics of this next weekend.

Today however, I thought it would be fun to show you some pictures (for Saturday Snapshot)of what my Minnesota life is like.  Not all of you live in areas that have winters like we do, or if you, you may not heat your home the way we do.

We heat our house with hot water heat.  Yes, that was a new term to me about 8 years ago too.  

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The stove sits outside between our business (DeChantal Excavating) and our home. It burns wood that heats pipes that are filled with water – so essentially hears out home and business with a hot water heat that is a clean heat.

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In cold temps it can be a real pain, but this winter has been fairly mild so usually it is filled once in the morning, once mid afternoon, and once at night. You control the heat in house with a temperature dial.

 

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Here is our business, far behind the house. Initially the stove was going to be just to hear that, but when installed we discovered it was only a couple hundred dollars more to run the pipes to the house as well.

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For me the wood pile can be a real pain. I search out pieces I can lift and since I can not pick up the great big ones that fill it fast, it takes me about 10 – 15 trips to fill the stove.

 

 

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This is the back up pile in the event that what we have cut up does not make it through the winter. We purchase the wood locally.

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One fun bonus – about 7 wild cats live in the excess woodpile. No idea where they came from but sometimes in the afternoon I will see them when I fill the stove and they will watch me. Occasionally I leave them scraps but they are all rather healthy looking so they are finding food somewhere. I was hoping to get some pictures of them but they were not out this morning.

So there is a little about my life beyond the books.  😀  For more Saturday Snapshots, stop by Alyce’s At Home With Books.

Morning Meanderings… Life In Minnesota

1j

Good morning!  It has been a couple of weeks since I have been home and able to put up a Saturday post. I am so excited 😀

SO for Saturday Snapshot  check this out over at (At Home With Books) I went back to look at some of the earliest pictures I have on this laptop which takes me back to the fall of 2011.  SO, just for fun… here are few pictures:

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This was a sign in out local coffee shop where people were asked to write down their favorite book.

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This is a picture of my friend Amy and I before out first obstacle run, this was in July 2011… 6 weeks after I had broke my finger and dislocated my wrist on the MN 150 bike ride.

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And here we are after…..

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Finally this is August 2011 – me looking over Lake Superior. This spot is about 8 miles from our cabin up North.

There it is.  I know it would be random – I have had no awesome picture opportunities as of late… Minnesota winters…. I am soooo ready for spring.

Hope you all enjoy your day.  I have a meeting this morning and then home most of the day which will be nice as the week has been fairly busy and reading time has been close to nothing.  Enjoy your Saturday!

Morning Meanderings… Pics of the month

1j

Good morning and happy Saturday!  I am popping in early because I am meeting my cousin at the gym this morning for Group Power.  I haven’t been to this class since June of 2012 (:shock:) and I am long over due to get back into it… and a little excited to do it.

For this mornings “Saturday Snapshot” post I thought it would be fun to share some pics from the Iceman 5K I completed a couple of weeks back.  First event of 2013 and I am ready for more.

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Waiting to get moving!
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And here we go!
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My friend Amy coming through the ice tunnel obstacle
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Me coming through the ice tunnel.

The event was a lot of fun, of course I  always enjoy hanging out with Amy doing something crazy events.  😛

Pop on over to Alyce’s Saturday Snapshot for more people sharing photos of their life 😀

Oh, and stop in to my Team Kickin It blog where I am featuring a healthy (and delicious) recipe for Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking. 

Right at the point of WHELMED

1j

Good morning or afternoon or evening depending on where you are and when you read this. 😀  I have just entered the week I have been referring to as “Hell Week” for the past month and yeah, I know that isn’t the best way to put it since it is all good stuff… but unfortunately the name stuck. 

This afternoon around 2 I will meet up with a friend and teammate to do some shopping for events coming up this week.  Right from there I will go to work and prep some things for tonight and the weekend and be home probably around 7:30 pm.

Tomorrow, Sunday I will need to be at the church around 7 am and leave around noon.  Then I will shop for our IHN serving week (Homeless week) which starts tomorrow. I will pick up the guests at 4:30 pm, and a group of friends will come and we will all do dinner together and then I will stay overnight there. 

Monday morning after I take the guests to the day center I work a half day.  Will hopefully go out to dinner and maybe a movie with my hubby.

Tuesday I work a full day and have lots of prep work to do for Wednesday which is our annual members meeting. 

Wednesday – work all day, train new people in with IHN and do the members meeting… I will probably not come home between 8 am and 9 pm.

Thursday – start working on all members info I gathered last night and cleaning up from the big meeting and prepping for the 10 Year party which is Sunday.

Friday – possibly my day off… depends on what needs to be done for the 10 Year, probably some shopping.  Maybe some set up. 

Saturday – train in new people at IHN, then our company Christmas Party.

Sunday – up at 5 am and tear down IHN, clean up and move the van to the next hosting church.  Hopefully get to the 10 year party set up by 8:30 am to help as that starts at noon.  Clean up and home by 3 pm… I hope. 😀

On the bright side… horizon…. goal, whatever you want to call it… I am taking Monday the 7th and possibly Tuesday the 8th off. 

Listing my week out was actually therapeutic… I see tiny pockets of free time in there that I need to take full advantage of.  Hopefully Monday, Tuesday and Friday will give me a little time to re-energize.  I am an introvert that needs to charge up my batteries by being alone, preferably with a book. 😀

For todays Saturday Snapshot I thought it would be fun to actually show pictures of my Saturday morning.  A snapshot of what my life looks like now as I simmer at the feeling of whelmed…. but not quite overwhelmed:

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The recliner I am hanging out in this morning… snuggled up with my favorite blanket.
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COFFEE CUP and the book I plan to finish today.
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Breakfast of scrambled egg whites, spinach, and shrimp left over from Christmas.

Now I am going to check out a few of the other Saturday Snapshot posts (Thank you Alyce), write a review, make a meme button for our Library, send out a book club email and year end voting form and hopefully spend a little time int hat book pictured above before it is GO TIME.

May your week be a lot less crazy then mine…. bear with me while I get through this marathon of events. 

Morning Meanderings… Missing The Action!

1j

Morning all. 😀  For today’s Saturday Snapshot I thought I would reflect a little on the fun events I took part of in 2012.  Winter, is not my favorite season.  It leaves me feeling….

restless.

As the days have become colder and yeah, whiter, I find myself thinking of the warmer weather more and more, and yeah I know I have a long time to wait for it but maybe some sunny pictures will help. 😀

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This was the first mud run Amy and I had participated in. It gave us both the fever for more….

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Another dash….

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The Monster Dash October

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The Color Run – LOVED this!
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This is one of my favorites because I did the color run with my son Justin.

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This is my favorite event pic of the year – the girl with the 65177 number is my friend Belinda, I am directly in front of her with the little ponytail. Both are arms I raised trying to get as much color on us as possible.
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Favorite bike shirt.
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My favorite bike team 🙂

Ahhhh… that feels better. On January 13th Amy and I are doing  a 5K Obstacle course in the cities called The Iceman.  I am pretty excited!

I am working on a Challenge for my Fitness website Team Kickin It.  I hope to have it up this weekend so if you are interested, please watch for it – I think it is going to be fun and I would love people to join me. 🙂

Morning Meanderings… Library Budget Cuts

1j

Good morning.  In light of world happenings yesterday I need a distraction from the incredible pain that has been let loose into Connecticut.  I can not even imagine…. and my heart cried for each and every one of those who have been hurt by this unthinkable tragedy.

That said…

This last week I went to a public hearing in support of our local Library.  Two weeks ago, while the city was planning the 2013 budget, our local Senior Center spoke up that they needed more funding and the city pulled $20,000 from the Library budget to give to the Senior Center.

This is a tough decision – both are very worthy non profits.  I knew for our local library this was a huge blow that would possibly include reduction of staff hours and services like the Book Mobile that delivers books to the surrounding area.

I went in support of the library while they hashed through this decision to finalize the City Budget.  I have never sat through one of these meetings before and it was both amazing, and harsh as they battled it out – and in the end…

the library lost the funding. 

There were moments I actually teared up to think of how hard our Library works to provide great services and now how much harder they will have to work on their own budget to make ends meet.  This makes me think, as book lovers what can we do to help support our libraries?

I am going to post more on this topic later when I have more time to process….  as for now, I will share a few pictures for Saturday Snapshot.  These pictures are from the 22nd floor of a hotel (gah – can not recall the name….) in Minneapolis when I was with my Library Team for the Literacy Institution I am assisting in.  The floor is called “windows and it is all huge windows all the way around this huge meeting space.  I imagine in the summer it is beautiful – but even here you can get a little sample:

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Kind of a rambling post …. but yeah.  There it is. 

Today I am off to a morning brunch Christmas party and then coming home as it is a rainy wet day here in Central Minnesota and I do not want to be in it.

Morning Meanderings… pics of the past

1j

Good morning!  What a surprise!  Another Saturday I am running out the door, this time to gun training class (dont ask… Bucket List thing 😛 ) but I wanted to put some pics up for Alyce’s Saturday Snapshot.

A couple days ago I was digging through some old papers and started looking at pictures.  This time of year from Thanksgiving to Christmas is always a little harder on me as I think a lot about my family, all of which who are gone from this earth at young ages.

I thought today I would post a couple of my dad with the King Salmon he caught in 1979:

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Dad and my Uncle Dallas. All pics taken in Soldotna ALaska

and one more I found …

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The last one is me – I think three years old?  Notice I am wearing one show….LOL

Ok, got to get ready but stop over to see Alyce at At Home With Books to see others Saturday Snapshots.

Morning Meanderings… Dogs Life

 

Good morning!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We did here!  Did a little eating, did a little shopping, watched movies and just spent time together. 

For my Saturday Snapshot today I thought I would give you a little update on the adopted dogs.  Sammy, was a stray and came to live with us in April:

In July, we rescued Mater who was abused:

Sammy is Lap-so, and Mater is art beagle and part basset hound, “A Baggle”.  😀  As you can imagine my house went from a quiet home with just Al and I and Bailey (our 14 year old Schi-tzu) to a BUSY house with Sammy who they believe was 1 1/2 when we got him, and Mater who was 4 months old when we got him.

Mater made the biggest changes to out home.  He grew fast.  He is extremely curious.  In the last 4 months he has taken food off the kitchen table, went through a “running through the house with a roll of toilet paper” phase, 3 pairs of shoes, perhaps most painfully – 10 books, and a lot od saying “MATER!” when he plays non stop.

Sammy and Mater are buddies,  although Mater is a year younger than Sammy, he is three times as big as Sammy now.

If you want to check out other Saturday Snapshots, check out Alyce’s site At Home With Books where she hosts this fun meme. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday.  Justin, College Son, goes back home this morning.  I have a volunteer fair to help out with for a few hours this afternoon and a few hours tomorrow.  Other than that, I get to hang out at home the rest of this weekend… get a little exercise and catch up on my challenges from 2012 so I can post about what the plans are for 2013.  😀 

What’s the rest of your weekend plans?