A - Z

This idea comes from my pal, Amber at A Little Pink in the Cornfields who is coming to hang out with me in a few weeks for my early birthday weekend!




A. Age: I haven’t decided what age I am going to be this year, but my birthday is coming up – October 13th!

B. Bed Size: Queen

C. Chore that you hate Housework in general – that is what cleaning people are for—and husbands.

D. Dogs: My Pug, Noodles who is my best friend. I wish I could have a second dog as well, but so far my husband has vetoed that idea. So far. I never give up!

E. Essential start to your day: Coffee and Kare 11 Sunrise on the couch—and if I am really motivated, I will watch it while doing the elliptical.

F. Favorite Color: I go back and forth between purple and yellow. But right now, probably yellow.

G. Gold or Silver: Platinum

H. Height: 5’3” on a good day but in reality just a tad under

I. Instruments you play: Sadly, none

J. Job Title: Receptionist extraordinaire

K. Kids: No, thanks – all my “kids” have 4 legs

L. Live: Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area

M. Mother’s Name: Glenda Jean

N. Nicknames: Les, Lester, Pookie, Ladybug, Junebug

O. Overnight hospital stays: I had major surgery in 2003 and was in the hospital for 3 days.

P. Pet peeve: Negative, complaining people, people who don’t use their turn signals or know how to zipper merge and people who are rude in general and also in traffic. People who put an “e” on the end of my name even if they have known me for DECADES.

Q. Quote from a movie: It’s A Desperately Important Scarf – from “Confessions of a Shopaholic”

R. Right or left handed: Right

S. Siblings: One brother who lives in New Zealand and a sister who died as a baby

T. Time you wake up: 5:30 a.m.

U. Underwear: I like boy shorts

V. Vegetable you hate: Green beans, broccoli, lettuce on sandwiches, brussel sprouts – for a vegetarian, there are a lot of veggies I don’t like!

W. What makes you run late: Pets, traffic, weather, not allowing myself enough time

X. X-Rays you’ve had: teeth, broken leg, mammogram

Y. Yummy food that you make: I make a really delicious dip known as crack dip. You can get the recipe here.

Z. Zoo Animal: Baby elephants, big cats, zebras.

P.S.  I also did this in March - let's see how well my answers match up!!






Read more here and here.

Hello September

Hello, blog, it has been awhile.  Yes, I am still here.  I am not even sure where August went and now we are almost halfway into September.  To be honest, I have been journaling more than blogging so I guess that means I am being uncharacteristically introverted.  I am trying to get back into the habit of keeping a daily journal but I don't want to do that at the expense of my blog--so I am hoping I can keep up on both.  Anyhoo--August was a busy month.

I took a watercolor painting class.  I dabbled!  It is harder than it looks!

And am trying to get back into yoga at Yoga Fresh in Woodbury.

And horseback riding.

I went to a psychic party where the psychic told me that I am psychic--which I have known for a long time.  Of course, I think everyone has psychic abilities, we just don't all tap into them and some of us are more developed.

At my psychic reading, my horse Cocoa came forward and said she was glad I have taken a renewed interest in horses.   Cocoa was a horse I had when I was growing up and honestly my renewed interest in horses came about when I was was on Mackinac Island and I went riding.  It all kind of came back to me.  I have been looking into some local riding stables.  I always wanted to learn how to jump.  The day that I signed up for riding lessons was the day of my psychic reading and there is no way on earth the psychic could have known that.  I really do think Cocoa was sending me a message.

I was really looking forward to my Minnesota Blogging Get Together with Cathy and Lisa and Marcy and Michael and Margaret, but it kind of fell through at the last minute.  These are the bloggers I have had a few dinners with plus a Christmas cookie exchange.  But we are hopeful we can get together in October instead.  Do you know how hard it is to get a group of people together with everyone's varying schedules?  I adore these 5 fellow Minnesota bloggers!

But happily I got to go to brunch with some other bloggers Amber, Amber and Lisa.   Amber at A Little Pink I feel like I have known forever at this point in time but Amber and Lisa were new to me and it was so fun to meet them.  Lisa lives right here in Minneapolis!  And Amber I have been reading for awhile--she lives in Canada!  These girls are all wonderful and I feel lucky to know them!

I went to both the Iowa and the Minnesota State Fairs.  I am truly just a Midwestern girl who loves her state fairs.  I don't think you can ever take the Midwest out of me!  But you can definitely take me out of the Midwest; I am ready to move to California....um, yesterday!

Last weekend was Labor Day and the unofficial end to summer.  It ended on a very bitter note as I had gone to Iowa on Saturday to visit my mom and got home Saturday evening.  We have a two-car garage and 3 cars so someone always ends up parking in the driveway.  This time it was my VW Beetle, Daisy. I didn't think much of it.  I left my car in the driveway and on Sunday Eric and I went to brunch and did errands in his SUV and then he went to play golf and I lazily hung out at home not going anywhere.   It wasn't until Monday afternoon that Eric noticed someone had keyed my car!

Some vicious vandal(s)  maliciously gouged their keys all the way across my driver's side.  I am assuming it was a random case and not someone who really knew me, but it made me very sad and angry and I felt violated that someone would do that to my car in my own driveway in a nice, safe neighborhood.  I don't exactly live in the "hood".

At an rate, I called the police and filed a report and got two damage estimates, both around $1100.  We have a $1,000 deductible so therefore this will be an out-of-pocket matter.  One of life's unexpected unpleasantries for sure.

So that is how my summer and ended and fall began - I am hopeful that this will be a great fall and hopefully this was not an indicator of things to come!










Read more here and here.