Life's Journey

Life takes you on many journeys. What you once thought you were going to do doesn't always end up what you actually do. The people you meet along the way all have some sort of meaning in your life. They were meant to be there for some reason or another. Had you not met someone who knows how different your life would be. Everyone you meet in life has a reason. Cherish those people.

What Do You Do All Day?

I haven't heard this question asked, but then this is only my fourth day of being home. But what do I do all day?! I am so used to working 8-10 hours a day, being gone from the house and spending the evenings cleaning or whatever that this is almost annoying to me. I can't stand sitting around! So far this week I have worked out for almost an hour 2 days this week, more to come of course, I've cleaned the back bedroom, I've been working on laundry, I've applied for jobs, I've gone to an interview, I've got one more scheduled for today, I've gone grocery shopping, I shopped Target clearance and picked up a pair of pants for Troy and found 3 Christmas presents, I've gotten the oil changed in the Camaro, I've been to the bank, I picked up the house, it needs more work, but I wouldn't be completely embarrassed if someone showed up unexpectedly, I went to the pet store and bought dog food and throw in a few other random errands and that's what I've done the past three days. The dogs don't know what to do with me at home either! They're used to sleeping all day!

Such is Life

I haven't blogged in over a month. I've taken pictures, but I haven't blogged them. Life hasn't been fun lately that I will admit. The basement flooded this summer, we put drain tile in, there went $4500, I had Lasik, not that I had to have it, but it was worth it. There went $3200. My car was overheating, there went $420. Troy's truck broker, there was $500. We both lost our jobs! Our main sewer line is broken and they want $6200 to fix it... like I said, Life hasn't been fun lately. Troy got a new job and has been there almost 3 weeks. He really likes it. I am still looking. I've had a bunch of interviews, but nothing yet. My last day at work was last Friday. I've been spending this week cleaning up the house and doing laundry. I'd never be able to do this on a regular basis. I'm going stir crazy sitting at home. I would also like to find a job before my severance pay runs out! Somethings out there for me I know it is! I'll find it! Hopefully it's the job I interviewed for today! If not, I'll keep applying and interviewing, it's all I can do! Here's a sampling of some of the photos I've taken lately.

!My neice, Sophia, has been performing in this awesome play, Corey's Way. I'm so proud of her!


We took Isaoo up to Troy's Mom and Dad's a few weeks ago. The dog is afraid of the water!

Amy, Mikayla, Cindy, Courtney and I went up to Mora to check out the Crazy Ladies House.

I got to see the Ghostbusters!

We got new drain tile put in.


I met some new friends!

A Summer of Fun

Summer comes to a close next week. This summer went by fast and it's been busy. It seems like every weekend there was something going on. Most of my favorite weekends involved a fire. Tonight's fire involved a cabinet from the basement.

Grilling

We've done a lot of grilling this summer and by a lot I mean I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've turned my stove on since June. We've made chicken, fish, pork chops, burgers, brats, hot dogs, ribs, roast, breakfast, meat loaf, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese and even apple crisp. Who knows what we'll try next!

Just Me & the Dogs

Troy went out with Russ for his birthday tonight. Before he left he predicted that Isaboo would be laying in his spot tonight. He was right. It didn't take long for her to climb up and take a nap.

Courage Center's 5K Your Way

Last year I was able to raise over $1000 for the Courage Center. This year I got a late start to the fund raising and team building. My delay in getting everything started has really caused low numbers for donations this year. Unfortunately I think with the economy in the state that it is in is having an effect on donations as well. Everyone is cutting back and trying to save money. That is also why it is so important for walks and fund raisers like this for the Courage Center. The Courage Center does so much for so many people. Without donations the Courage Center is not able to services to some people who need it.

The Courage Center has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My aunt and uncle both attend Camp Courage every summer as well as taking advantage of other services that the Courage Center offers. Last year, a friend of mine's daughter, Kassie, was an inpatient at the Courage Center. With the care and assistance of the therapists and care takers at Courage Center Kassie has been able to over come some amazing obstacles. To read more about Kassie's story visit her CaringBridge site http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kassieharms.

If you are able to make a small donation to sponsor me for the walk please visit my pledge page at http://couragecenter.org.kintera.org/5kyw/kmontour.

Remembering

August 3, 2005 I lost a friend and a mentor. Dean was a fun loving guy. Never one to back down or say no to a challange. He was an awesome dad who always put his kids first. He is truely missed.

I Haven't Been Posting But I'm Still Taking Pictures

This summer has been quite the interesting summer. I have been sick, I've thrown out my back, we've had to deal with the tree in the backyard, the list just goes on of what been going on around here. While I haven't been posting everyday like I had planned I am at least taking pictures most days. Here are some of the pictures that I've taken the past few months..

Riley and Troy hanging out in the back yard.

Troy building the wood rack in the back yard.

My squash plant

One of my lilies

Isaboo carrying a big stick

The tree is gone!

We've Got Squash!

This is my second year planting acorn squash. This year the plants spread toward the back door. I have one small squash growing against the steps and so far this is the only other one I can see. Next year I think I'll dig up the spot where they are and maybe put in some garden fencing to try and contain the plant a little.

Sitting with Momma

It amazes me on how receptive the dogs are to how we are feeling. Isaboo has been laying with me today while I have been trying to have a low key day. I have had a sore back the past few days. Wednesday I went to the chiropractor to find out I have a pinched never at my L5 vertebrae. The chiropractor has said that it is a flare up of an old injury. This doesn't surprise me since this isn't the first time I've been through this pain. It's just the first time that I've chosen to not go to the doctor for pain meds. I've had 3 visits to the chiropractor so far. I feel like things are getting better but my back is not happy with trying to be put into a different position. Even if it is the correct position!

Online Friends

We all have them. Online Friends. There are people who we are friends with on Facebook, Forums, Blogs, Twitter, Games.. our Virtual Friends. They group with you, chat with you, give advice, comment on a status or a blog post here and there. They become the people you confide in, share your good new or bad news with. They really do care about you and what happens to you. These are the people you never meet in real life. But, every once in awhile a chance meeting happens.

My chance meeting happened at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. That is where I met Sabrina's boyfriend's dad in person. Now mind you, Sabrina had never met her boyfriend, Oreo. Don, his dad, and I had matched them up. Don, was there with Adopt a Husky. We didn't chat for more than a few minutes, but I introduced myself and then went on with my day. We continued with our online friendship. We posted pictures back and forth, learned we shared the same birthday. I keep up with the play by play when two of his dogs got lost one scary night, mourned the loss of his sweet baby Mercedes.

Last night I logged onto Facebook to catch up on what was going on and I was saddened by the post that Don had made. His daughter had been killed yesterday morning by a drunk driver. I can not express the sadness I feel for Don and his family. As I read some of the posts on his Facebook page I am reminded of how many friends we really do have. Please keep the Deckert family in your thoughts as they mourn and make sense of this tragedy.

Lazy Summer Days

I feel like this summer is different than previous summers. I feel like things are more laid back and relaxed. I find myself wanting to sit out on the patio in the mornings and drink coffee and read a book or strolling through the farmers market and taking in the different sites, sounds and smells. I spend more time bare foot than with shoes on. The dogs even seem more content.

100000 Miles

I have never had a vehicle that personally put 100000 miles on it. That is until today. My car flipped to 100000 miles today.

Ranger or Morelli?

If you have read the Stephanie Plum series you know all about Morelli and Ranger. I have not yet read this book. I just picked it up tonight so I don't know yet if Stephanie has made her choice. Personally I am rooting for Morelli. Yes Ranger is hot but Morelli seems more stable and ready to settle down. Ranger is the knight in the shiny black car that always saves the day where Morelli is the shoulder to cry on. So if I had to choose I'd choose Morelli.

It's One of Those Days

I've been sick for a week. When I'm sick things tend to not get done. Todau I was feeling a little better and I ran to Linder's Flower Mart. I picked up some annuals to add some color and some perennials to fill some empty spots. I got done planting and watering and realized the lawn really needed to be mowed. So I mowed the front yard. I was going to wait and do the back yard but I just kept going. By the time I was done I had moved some plants, planted some new ones, put down a bag of mulch, mowed the whole yard and weed wacked the front yard. As a result I have a headache, sore throat, I'm congested and my ankle hurts. So far I've taken 2 Tylenol and 2 Advil and I'm icing my ankle. Just another day!

Elmo says, "I Like Pie"

Elmo says, " I Like Pie." Yep, that's what Sophia requested I write on her cake. I got it all put together tonight. It took a trip to Michaels to exchange my chocolate fondant but it's done! Last week after I talked to Sophia about what she wanted on her cake I picked up some chocolate fondant from Michaels. I lucked out and it was even on sale! Tonight I opened up the container and there was mold on it! So I ran to the store and exchanged it. I was all set to finish the cake! I stacked the cakes, iced them with the chocolate buttercream and covered them in fondant. I placed the color flow Elmo on top, added a red buttercream rope border and finished the cake off with the words, "Elmo Says 'I Like Pie'." That's what she wanted so that's what she got! I hope Sophia likes her cake!

Step Four: Buttercream Icing

While baking the cake I had extra battet so I made some cupcakes. That meant that I needed icing for them. I made a batch of buttercream. This is the best buttercream icing I have ever made! Since Sophia wanted chocolate I split the batch and added cocoa to half of it. I ended up doing some of the cupcakes with the chocolate, it was really good!

Step Three: Bake the Cake

Today was a busy day in the kitchen. I baked the cakes. They are awaiting the leveling, icing, fondant and decorating. Most of which will be done tomorrow!

Step Two: Making the Elmos

Tonight I spent about 4 hours working on the color flow Elmo for Sophia's cake. I made two hoping that neither of them breaks but if one does I have a back up. Color flow is a lot easier than I remember it. Maybe it's because while doing them tonight I had time to let the outline set before I did the fill in color. When we did them in class last year we didn't have time to let them dry. I sprinkled edible glitter on the red part to make it look more like fur. I hope she likes it!

Step One: Planning the Cake

Sophia's birthday was yesterday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPHIA!! She asked me to make her a cake for her "road trip" party next week. So I talked to her tonight and we decided on vanilla cake, dyed red with chocolate icing then covered in chocolate fondant. Then she said she wanted Elmo and sparkles. So, I've decided that I am going to make the Elmo out of color flow icing, to do that I had to find a picture that would work. The only one that I could find was colored and I needed it to be black and white, well really only because we don't have a color printer here at home so I didn't want to waste all of the black ink. So I pulled it into photoshop and pulled the color out. So, this is step one, planning. I printed out two Elmos because you know if I only make one it will break. I picked up the chocolate fondant and Amy was nice enough to give me her color flow icing powder. Now, how to dye the cake red without it tasting funny?? Hmmm.. I think I may need to do a little more research.

Finally!

I've had this book for at least a couple of months. It had gotten mixed in with my cook books in the kitchen and I had kind of forgotten about it. This weekend I was cleaning the kitchen and came across it again. Janet Evanovich is a great author. I am really enjoying the book!

Finally a day of rest!

I swear last week was non-stop. Cleaning, shopping, vet, work... Late nights and early mornings. Yesterday I got up early to start the day. Finish cleaning, pick up pizzas, clean up the back yard. After a great night with the Jones family I got up today and decided I needed to rest. Bear and Isaboo thought they needed to rest too!

Bonfires and Friends

Amy, Bert and the kids came over tonight for a movie and a fire. What a relaxing night of just hanging around the fire and talking.

Playing in the Sprinkler

Last summer Bear became obsessed with the sprinkler and the water hose. He chewed up a sprayer and a sprinkler last year. Tonight Troy turned on the sprinkler to water the backyard and Bear started chasing it and biting at the water. He kept at it for at least 20 minutes. Troy and I were watching him and laughing when Troy took out his phone and shot this photo. I kept thinking I wish I had a video camera. That's when I remembered that my small digital camera does record video. So I shot a minute of Bear playing in the sprinkler. It has been so hot the last two days that I have been worried about the dogs over heating. Isaboo loves to be outside. She'll sit out there all day long if we'd let her. Bear is almost as bad! I wasn't worried about him at all today! He was soaking wet when we shut the water off that we had to leave him out there for a few minutes to dry off a little. It's so hot out that it didn't take him long at all to stop dripping.

Watch The Furry Ones For Signs Of Heat

Today was really hot and tomorrow is not going to be any better. In fact it's suppose to be worse. It's nights like this that you hear about people forgetting babies in cars, running too much and not enough water, in general people over heating. What you don't hear about is the animals. You know it happens. People have their dogs in the car and run into the store and only crack the window! Our car at 9:30am said it was 87 degrees outside and it had only been sitting for 30 minutes! Imagine was it was inside! Then you have people who leave the dog outside for hours on end. There's a shade tree it will keep him cool! Umm no! It won't I was outside yesterday for a couple hours and I kept checking the water dish I had brought outside for the dogs. I think in those 2 hours I filled it 4 times. Please people! Keep your animals cool and safe in this heat!

I needed this weekend

The last couple of weeks have been rough. First the storm and clean up and then returning to work after being on vacation. Not to mention the crud I've had. This weekend I finally slowed down a little. Yesterday I read two magazines! Troy and I made dinner together and stuck close to home pretty much all day. Today was beautiful! I woke up, made coffee and drank it outside, in the sun, reading a book, while the dogs played in the yard. I did some shopping for myself and to pick up something for dinner. We grilled dinner and ate outside. All and all it was a great weekend.

Waiting in Line

Why do people think that they can just cut in line? We decided to go see X-Man tonight and so far I have watched 5 people try to just walk into the theater. First of all, people are still exiting from the previous showing. Secondly, there is a line all the way down the hall and around the corner. Do you really think all those people are just going to let you cut in front of them? I am amazed at people some times. I don't understand how some people can think they are better than everyone else. You see it every where you go, the movies, the grocery store, restaurants. There's always someone complaining that they have to wait or that small party of two got seated before their large party of eight. Guess what people, the world doesn't revolve around you!

Flower Gardens

For the first 9 years we were in the house I didn't do much to the flower beds. A couple summers ago with the help of Amy and Lori I started redoing my flower beds so I have actual flowers and not just weeds! Last year's addition was a purple iris.

You Know You're Sick When...

You know you're sick when you can't get through a small iced coffee. Day 9. I'm ready for it to be gone!

Cold, Allergies, Doesn't Matter, I'm Sick.

Earlier this week I thought it was allergies. Allergy medicine even helped. After the allergy medicine stopped working I realized it wasn't allergies. This has not been a fun week off from work.

Chillin' at Grandma and Grandpa's

This was Isaboo's first trip up north. We really wanted to get her into the lake but it was too windy today. I took her on the dock and over to the public access but if there was a chance that her feet would get wet she didn't want to have anything to do with it. We'll try again another day when it's not so windy and a little warmer. She wore herself out running around the yard and taking in all the new smells.

For the love of coffee

It is no secret, my love of coffee. Most people who know me know not to ask me important questions before my first cup of the day. Yesterday I woke up and was out the door to begin storm clean up before pouring a cup. It wasn't until 1:something today when I got my first cup of the day. That's when I realized I went all day yesterday without caffeine. Good thing I didn't have to make any major decisions yesterday! We would have all been screwed!

Let The Clean Up Begin

This morning I didn't get to make coffee or run to caribou, I had no coffee at all. I got up, I took a shower and headed over to Troy's parents to help with the clean up from yesterday's storm. I will admit we could have been a lot worse off than we were. We spent the morning pulling apart the fence at their house then they came down to help us clean up the tree in the back yard. We got most of it cleaned up. Xcel Energy came through after we were done for the day and trimmed one of the other branches that is still standing so that it doesn't fall on the power lines so now we have more debris out there. We'll need to call to have someone come and cut down the rest of the tree.

Today's Storm

Amy and I hit some rain on our way home today, once I dropped her off the sky was getting darker and darker. I talked to Troy and we agreed that I'd grab some food on my way home. Just after getting to Zantigo it started pouring and really windy, then all of a sudden there was a funnel cloud that went by, apparently it touched down a couple blocks from where I was at. I was texting Troy to let him know where I was at and what was going on. He then told me that the tree was down in the backyard. I got home and we had no power, part of the tree was sitting on the roof and it was raining. There doesn't seem to be too much damage but we do have a call into the insurance company. The rest of the tree will need to be taken down.

Just Relax

The nice thing about the north shore is the ability to relax. This morning I woke up, got out of bed and just relaxed. It is so nice to not have any demands. Tonight the fog is rolling in and the waves are super high. Ahhh just relax.

I'm back!

I had to take a break from blogging. In fact I've pretty much taken a break from everything. I haven't been on Facebook, I've barely read email, I haven't been reading blogs that I am subscribed to. I have been trying to figure out why I have been avoiding everything and pretty much everyone. Today as I was waking up and laying in bed I started realizing that it was a vacation day and I didn't have to be on the computer all day. I didn't have to be tied to instant messanger. In today's digital world everyone is all about communicating instantously. If you don't respond to an email or a text message you're being rude. People need to slow down and enjoy life and not have their eyes glued to the computer or smart phone. We need to pay attention to the people who are right in front of us. We need more face to face time and less keyboard to keyboard time. That is what this weekend is for me, slow down, relax and enjoy some face to face time. I am slowly adding back computer time but I do not want it to control my life.

She Thinks She's a Cat

Lately Isaboo has been sitting on top of the couches. Tonight I looked over and she was laying there like she thought she was a cat. Silly puppy!

Let Storm Season Begin

I was never a huge fan of storms. I would usually pace around and look outside wondering if I should run for cover. The last few years I have actually grown more interested and now instead of pacing and wondering if I should run for cover I am fascinated by the clouds and the color of the sky. Back about 15 years ago when I was a fire explorer we were at Camp Tanadoona for the special needs boy scouts weekend when a nasty storm came through camp. We were hauling people in wheel chairs down into storm shelters and running through the camp ground in the pouring rain. The storms finally settled that night but the next morning everyone rushed through breakfast and packed up because another storm was coming through. I think that's when my nervousness about storms wore off. I figured if I made it through that night that storms really aren't that scary.

Rough Life

I was gone all day today which means the dogs only had daddy to cater to all of their needs. When I got home Isaboo was outside. She had apparently been out there pretty much all day. Now she is passed out on the couch. By the looks of the nails on her front paws I am guessing that we have a few new holes in the back yard.