Saturday, May 16

It is a cold windy day here - windy enough to keep Paul from fishing. He is currently painting the downstairs bathroom a different shade of green. I taped while he went to Lowes to get the paint. The room is small enough that he can handle it on his own.

Yesterday I took a personal business day and spent the day in Duluth shopping with Carol. We left her house around 8 am. Our first stop was Target. I picked up a swimsuit and cover up for Carly as well as a few bags of Archer Farms chips. I love the tortilla & potato chips from Target. We then went to TJ Maxx where I didn't have much luck but Carol scored on pajamas, towels, sheets, and I don't know what else was in those bags.

We went to the mall. I had a JC Penneys gift certificate that I got for Mother's Day. I bought a nightgown and two pairs of movie star sunglasses. I bought Carly a dress and necklace at the Children's Place. Ellen got a couple of tee shirts and necklaces from Aeropostale. The mall in Duluth is kind of a disappointment.

We ate lunch at the Olive Garden - we just did the soup, salad, and breadsticks - always good. We were seated by a window and could see the little strip mall across the road and decided we'd go there next. We both commented that we had never been in Talbots before. I'll be honest, I was under the impression that Talbots was an old lady store. We walked in and right away I noticed the really cute dragon fly dress that was in the Oprah magazine that I just got last week - so cute! I was kind of excited about the store when I saw that. I wound up buying a pair of denim capris, two pairs of shorts, one shirt, and a pair of khaki pants. I did well on their additional 40% off sale racks. I had on a khaki dress that I really liked but knew that I'd need to spend a lot of money to accessorize it and it really wasn't such a good deal when you factor that in. I went on their website this morning and they had the dress in 4 different colors at the same price. I ordered it in olive green and have jewelry and shoes to match it already. Up at their counter they had a copy of Essence magazine. Michelle Obama is on the cover wearing one of their dresses - great advertising. They had so many great dresses - I tried on the dragonfly one just for fun. I have no events coming up any time soon that require a pretty dress.

We stopped at Kohls as we left Duluth. I got a couple of shirts and that was about it. I got back to my house around 5:45. I don't really like clothes shopping all that much, but it is fun when you have good luck and bring home a bunch of stuff that you are really looking forward to wearing. I should be set for a while now.

This afternoon I have a baby shower to go to. I'm glad to have something nice to do on this dreary day. I think I'll wear a new outfit for it!

White Elephant Sale

A church in Hibbing has a huge white elephant sale every spring at the Memorial Building. I've heard it's a great sale, but had never been to it until yesterday. Oh my God, were there ever people there. It was hard to move about and really look at things. Fortunately for me, I was scanning for key items and made quick grabs. I got three sets of Christmas ornaments and paid 75 cents for all of them. The Christmas area was the least busy place - it was set up in the seating area.

These are ordinary, but I think they are pretty.

I love the three in the middle of this box. I also bought an unopened container of wire ornament hangers for a quarter, so I'll be all set to hang them up next winter. Out of all of my purchases I am most pleased with my ornaments. They had tons of clothes. I saw a lot of people walking out with a big garbage bag full of clothes. They had a lot of housewares, books, hardware, knick-knacks (see the post below), toys, bikes, etc.

Not a whole lot of Pyrex items. I paid $1.50 for the casserole dishes above. I like the divided casseroles for storing and reheating leftovers. The casserole on the left is missing a lid, but I'm pretty sure I'll run across a lid while out thrifting or garage saling soon. The last time I bought a casserole without a lid, I found one within two weeks. This is a pattern from the late 50s. The paint is perfect. They did have those orange and yellow casseroles with the big daisies on the lids that I love, but someone washed them many times in the dishwasher and ruined the paint. I played a hand in ruining all of Mom's nice Pyrex back when I was one of the dishwashers. That red square baking dish with the little square bowls that went with it is a hot item. Mom's set is white.

Carly and I are fighting over who gets to keep this. She says it's hers because I didn't get her anything else. I say it's mine because I have a desk to put a paperweight on. This is a Joan Walsh Anglund paperweight dated 1969. I love it and paid 25 cents for it. Paul says it's a good thing I bought it because we really need it. I'm choosing to focus on the words and ignoring the sarcasm.

Tacky Statues - we love them

I have added several little statues to my collection lately. Sarah and Sharla found some at Goodwill recently. They were really cute ones - two different Get Well Soons and one of a little guy holding a flower declaring his love. I got the ones above for a quarter each. I have 4 variations of the World's Best Mother one - this one is quite a bit smaller than the others. One of them has a change holder on it and I keep it on my desk to hold paper clips. There are two different types of sillisculpts - Paula's and Russ Berries. All of these are Russ Berries - they are my favorite. What I think is funny is that my students are genuinely interested in this collection. They notice when I get new ones and they have favorites.

Not all of them can go into the classroom display, but these are the ones that amuse me most. I have one that has been used as a traveling trophy in our building among the people who have been laid off. It has a pink guy with a big blue screw going through his chest. The saying on the bottom is "Work hard, be faithful and you will get your just reward." Sad that it's so fitting.

We still love him in our house

Ellen, Kayla, Carly and I went to see the movie "17 Again" at the theater yesterday. It was a cute movie. Ellen and Kayla loved it, but Carly was bored as soon as she finished her popcorn. I like that Ellen is a fan of his. It's nice to know that she can recognize a genuinely cute boy and not just the "emo" boy bands she is a fan of. It was tempting to post a picture of him without a shirt on at the beach, but that would be inappropriate because I am old enough to be his mother. I would be willing to bet 1 million dollars that Ellen will comment on this post.

Latest Fitness Interest

I've been using hand weights with dvds for about three years now and I think it's got me about as far as it's going to get me - not that I'm going to quit doing it. I'm just not expecting to see any different results. During a jog with Nancy over Easter vacation, she talked about how she had been taking yoga classes and had a couple dvds. She says it's been a nice complement to her running routine and she recommended Rodney Yee.

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I ordered a beginner Rodney Yee yoga dvd from Netflix. I found out that I was familiar with almost all of the moves from other dvds that I have been doing, so I knew it would be something I could pick up on easily. I ordered three from Amazon and have been doing them a couple times a week for the past couple of weeks. I really like it. All of those upward and downward dogs really work the shoulders and chest. I guess they are supposed to be good for your rear-end and legs too - that is what I'm hoping. It's nice to be doing something different and I sure like Rodney. I haven't been real good about running lately. I kind of blame that on my running partner and the rain.

Ellen's Concert

I wasn't able to get a good picture of Ellen at the concert. I'll have to take a picture of her with her saxophone and post it. After the concert Paul was talking to his uncle Terry. It's not often that we see Terry and I have my camera with me, so I made them pose for a picture together. Terry is Jack's older brother. It always feels like we're getting a little bit of Jack when we see him. I love listening to him because his voice is just like Jack's. It's a cute picture.

Remember when I told you we had a fire?

The firemen came to our house the first Sunday morning of March. Paul was making breakfast - pancakes with sausage. He was baking the sausages in the oven when all of a sudden the inside of the oven burst into flames. I had been reading the Star Tribune website on-line drinking a cup of coffee and wasn't too alarmed when Paul told me the stove was on fire. I just thought something dropped to the floor of the stove and that he'd take care of it. Nope. It was a little bigger deal than that. Paul hit it a couple times with the fire extinguisher and called 911. I poured myself another cup of coffee and waited for the fire department to come. Carly hid in her bedroom. Ellen was still in bed and would be the entire time they were there.

They unhooked the stove and put it outside. They used a big fan to suck out all of the smoke from the house - very slick but it also spreads all of the extinguisher dust all over the house. The stove sat in front of our house for about a week. Our neighbor, Robbie, called us and asked if he could have it. We said it was all his after the insurance adjuster took a look at it.

Paul saying thanks and goodbye. Our house was a big mess for a while, but our insurance covered cleaning services from Service Master. Within a week our house looked great. We did go 9 days without a stove. I found that I missed the stove top more than I missed the oven.

Later in the month our washing machine bit the dust and in April the hood of our stove needed to be replaced. We were good for the local economy.