Happy New Year!

It was another cold day here today. It was about -20 when I got out of bed. I've been sleeping until 8 am lately and Monday morning's 6:15 alarm is going to feel very harsh next week. We just hung around the house today. I did a longer workout dvd this morning because I am going to a party tonight and I plan to eat. I got the first installment of the tv show "Mad Men" from Netflix and watched two episodes this afternoon. Dan had been telling me that I needed to rent it and I bumped it up this past weekend. I wish I would have had two dvds sent since only three episodes are on each dvd. I am feeling very thankful for the women's liberation movement after watching it. I'm also glad I'm not a smoker.

Paul was at the fire hall for a while this morning. He has hall duty this month so it is his job to make sure that trucks are ready to pull out of the hall if there were to be a fire call. Ellen stayed over at Kayla's last night and got home around noon. They went ice skating for a little while this afternoon, but I'm assuming they thought it was too cold since they came back in about an hour. They were at the rink for about three hours yesterday, so maybe they were just tired. It's nice that they are old enough to go down there by themselves. Carly and Paul spent some time on the computer today printing up math sheets for Carly to use. She's good with patterns and she was very good at doing addition problems. She'd use our fingers for counters and would write down the correct answer. She and I played Scrabble again last night. It's frustrating to her when she does not have the letters to spell cat.

We're going to a party in Keewatin tonight. It should be fun. Several people from the fire department will be there and I guarantee there will be great food there. Paul is bringing a crock pot of Booker's sausage and pepper dip. I made up a pineapple cheese ball this afternoon. We'll have a couple of drinks and probably be home well before midnight. Paul and I will never be called partiers in this town - especially Paul.

Happy New Year!

Andes Mint Cookies

http://www.recipetips.com/recipe-cards/t--2343/andes-mint-cookies.asp

I tried this recipe last week and it's one of the better cookies I've ever made. It's kind of like a soft Girl Scout Thin Mint. It's great with a cup of coffee or a glass of milk. My dad was a big fan. I made one small change. I used a full mint on the cookie and would do that again, so you'd need to buy two packages of mints to make this. It made exactly four dozen cookies for me.

Thrifty Finds

On our trip to the Salvation Army in Morris, I had the best luck that I have ever had there. One of my finds was this Pyrex pitcher for 99 cents. It is not easy to find these with the covers. The price and condition are perfect. One of the lemon slices looks a little wonky in the picture, but it's just fine. It's currently being used as a water pitcher in the fridge. I have four Pyrex pitchers now and haven't paid more than $2.50 for one. I imagine that I'll always pick them up, so it's time for me to start thinking about who might need one.

Everything priced at over $1 was 1/2 price on Christmas Eve day. I got this 4 quart mixing bowl for $4. There is some minor scratching and a little bit of paint loss under one of the handles, but the color and condition of the bowl is great. This bowl is from the late 50s. I love the bright turquoise color.

I have three different bowls of this style & size (four actually, there is a yellow one in the cupboard). The brown one on the right isn't all that pretty on its own, but I think it looks pretty when it's next to the pink bowl. It was nice to use during the fall.

This was Laurie's yard sale find in Cyrus last June. She remembered me admiring this Fire King bowl at an antique shop a couple years ago. It's a great bowl and I was very happy to get it for Christmas. I love the polka dots! Thanks again. It's currently sitting on my kitchen counter.

New Panini Grill

I have been wanting one of these for quite a while. I had been using the Foreman Grill for making panini sandwiches, but I could only make one at a time and you'd have to flip the sandwich over so that it would flatten and cook evenly.

I made three sandwiches tonight, although there is room for four. We had turkey, bacon, and Swiss cheese on each sandwich. I put a couple slices of avocado on mine. We bought ingredients to do good tuna melts tomorrow. I read on the internet that Barack Obama had a tuna melt at a deli in Hawaii yesterday so that planted the idea (yes, I am a total follower). That man has no privacy at all anymore.

The beauty of the Panini grill is the adjustable top. You don't have the one hinge at the end. You adjust the grill top to what you are grilling. You can use this to grill any type of meat. So I have no need for the Foreman anymore - if anyone wants it, let me know. It's yours, but I won't send it in the mail. You'll have to wait until you see me.

Notice the lovely grill marks. The sandwiches were delish! I'm glad that Paul got a recipe book too. There were a lot of combinations that I just wouldn't have thought of and we plan to try many. I've never bought prosciutto before, but I know they have it at the Sunrise Deli - I will get some soon.

Christmas in Cyrus

I didn't take many pictures because Laurie had her camera out quite a bit, so I just planned to get her photos after she loaded them onto Shutterfly. Carly was pretty tight with Laurie while we were there. One of the better things we did was play Scrabble with the girls. They both liked playing. Carly was pretty good when she was paired up with someone else. When we got back home Carly and I played a couple games of "Scramble."

Carly & Grandpa

Carly took this photo of Mom & Laurie.

Laurie, the girls and I did a quick run over to Morris as soon as we got there. We went to the Salvation Army first and I had enough luck there that it merits its own post. We then made a quick trip to Willies, the liquor store (up north we call it a bottle shop, but in the farming areas we just call it what it really is), and Town & Country Supply. I love T & C Supply. Laurie and I each bought a shirt there. Laurie's is from the Farm Girl line and mine is from a MN company called "Cowgirl Tuff." I'll have to take a picture of mine the next time I wear it. You just don't expect to go to the Hardware store to buy cool clothes, but we do frequently.

On Wednesday night we had a ham dinner with several good sides. Laurie took a great photo of me with the ham, but I just cannot get it saved to my computer. The girls opened a few of their gifts that night.

On Thursday the girls got open and checked out what they got from Santa. They got a lot of candy and rolls of coins for their new banks. We had a meal of left-overs from the night before and then they opened their remaining presents. Since they both have birthdays around Christmas time, they were gifted twice and they got some great stuff - lots of clothes, pajamas, Itunes cards, books, all sorts of things that they are enjoying. The Sharpay wig continues to be a popular item. Thank you!

That night we made wild rice soup with ham and a couple of appetizers. It was all good and I ate way too much! Since freezing rain was predicted for the next day, we made a point to get up and get going by about 9 am. We had a very easy trip home - no icy conditions, little traffic, and kids who were sleeping or watching movies. I did have to laugh when Carly said, "I wonder what Santa left us at our house?!" as we pulled up to our house. We explained that Santa only finds you once on Christmas. I can't blame her for hoping.

Keewatin Christmas

We opened all of our gifts on December 23 since we were heading to Cyrus the next day. Carly had a hard time waiting. On that Monday we told her we'd be opening gifts on Tuesday night. She suggested that we do it on Tuesday morning since she didn't have anything else to do. She had to wait until after dinner.
Ellen got a couple of sweaters, Guitar Hero World Tour, jeans, books, a necklace, a make-up case with some make up items, and I forget if there was anything else.
This was the main thing that Carly wanted - a Baby Alive doll with a pink headband. She also got the Muppet Show Season 1, a Disney CD, jeans, Spartan sweatshirt, some shirts, a necklace, and some books. Both girls got new pajamas, robes, and slippers. Carly is especially fond of the robe. They each got a set of banks too - the kind that count your coins

We were originally supposed to go to Cyrus the weekend before Christmas, but the weather just didn't cooperate. We missed out on seeing Nancy, Royce, and their families, but that's how it goes sometimes. We talked on the phone a few times. I guess I didn't mention what Paul and I gave each other. Paul gave me Under Armour cold weather gear - now that I have that and my Yaktrax I am well set for running in the winter. I've gone out a couple times and have been very happy. He also gave me a panini sandwich grill and a cookbook to go with it - awesome! Paul got a Sonicare toothbrush, 2 pairs of pajama pants, and a UMD Bulldog shirt.

Carribean Black Bean Soup

I got this recipe from the cookie madness food blog and made it tonight. With the exception of the coriandar , this recipe uses very basic ingredients. We had it for dinner tonight. Instead of using chicken tenders, I just used two frozen chicken breasts cut into smaller pieces. You could really smell and taste the orange juice in the soup. It was a little spicy (in a good way) and I think you could get by just fine with only one can of black beans. Paul loved it.


http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1831947

Santa Goes Green

Carly with Misty and Maddie. The kindergartners in Carly's class wore little elf hats. The kids in the other k class wore reindeer antlers. They were the first song of the program. They sang a song about being Santa's helpers and "Let's be jolly! Hang all the holly! Christmas season has begun!" The little kids are always so darn cute.

Our school does a musical every year. We order a play and we start working on the music at the end of October. This year's show was called "Santa Goes Green." It was about encouraging Santa to do more things to protect the environment. Each class sang a song that went with the play. We had songs about preserving our forests, penguins worrying about global warming, protecting our world, and recycling. All of the songs were cute, but I thought the 4th graders got the funnest one. It was about recycling fruitcake. It was so catchy that our kids learned it right away. Even Carly could sing the verses after hearing it just a few times. You are always a bit nervous when you get your song. You don't want to be the class that ruins the program. The songs sound really bad when you first start working on them. We do actions and little dances to go with them, so a lot of time goes into it. By the time you do the rehearsal with the rest of the school, the kids have it down and you quit worrying about it.

Ellen & Kayla. Their song was the final song called, "We're Going Green." It was kind of a chorus line type of song. It was cute and the sixth graders had cute actions and dancing. For the last month we have been bugging our kids to wear green shirts for the program and they did really well. We only had a few didn't wear one and we all tried to bring in some extras for those kids to wear. It looked sharp. The play went well. The audience enjoyed it and we all left school today feeling really good about it. If I could change one thing it would be to hold it in a real auditorium, but we don't have one. If any of you would like me to sing the fruitcake song over the holidays, give me a couple beers and I'll belt it out. I can't get it out of my head.

Christmas Decorations

On Saturday at least a dozen people from our school went over to the gym to decorate. We got a lot done in a short amount of time. One of the things we did was assemble a tree for each grade level. We had the kids make an ornament out of recycled objects. My class made the paper ornaments out of a math worksheet we had done the week before. Mrs. DeNucci's class made the stars out of star shaped aluminum tins, wallpaper remnants, and some gold tinsel type of stuff. We wanted our ornaments to be seen from a distance. From a distance our tree looked surprisingly elegant. I wish I would have taken a picture of each tree, but it's hard to get pictures when you have your entire class with you. I should have brought my camera with me when we were decorating.

It's so hard to get nice pictures in the gym when you really don't have time to monkey with your camera. If you click on the picture and get a larger image you can maybe see the snowflakes hanging in the background. That was one of the projects I worked on. I held a little snowflake making class in my classroom after school a couple weeks ago and we went to work getting enough snowflakes to make a nice hanging from the gym rafters. The only cost involved was the magnets that held the strands of snowflakes to the rafters. It was quite pretty. I meant to take a picture of the sleigh that my neighbor Jeff made. It was so pretty. He's quite talented.

Carly's Birthday Party

My pictures loaded in the opposite order that I wanted them, but I don't feel like trying to fix it so we'll go with it. I tried several times to space things in the post below, but it keeps eliminating the paragraph spacing. It drives me crazy. Anyway, above you will see my balloon chandelier. I was pleased with how it turned out.

Carly had a High School Musical cake. Paul is always in charge of picking out the cakes with the girls. She was torn between this and a Hannah Montana cake.

We decided to let Carly open a couple gifts from us at her party and save a few for her actual birthday on the 19th. We gave her a CD player and a High School Musical 3 cd. She looks pretty happy.

Posing with classmates, Jacie and Madison. Misty had a Girl Scout bowling party, so she had to leave before we had cake and ice cream. All the girls who came were just nice little girls and I can see why Carly enjoys being with them in school.

Carly invited 3 girls from her class - Jacie (Paul's cousin's daughter), Madison (Kayla's cousin), and Misty. These are girls that Carly talks about a lot and we know their parents, so it was pretty easy to decide who to invite to her party. We decided that we'd try having a party the first weekend in December rather than doing it right around her birthday. People have too much stuff going on that close to Christmas. They had an elementary cheerleading camp from 10-12 on Saturday afternoon. I picked up the girls and we went back to our house for a pizza. They enjoyed checking out Carly's room and toy area. Ellen and Kayla helped them play Dance Dance Revolution and did a Guitar Hero demonstration for them. They mainly played. Jacie was the last one to get picked up and I thought it was kind of strange that Carly went into her bedroom and didn't want to say goodbye in the entry. It made sense once Jacie left. Carly came out and cried that she was sad that her party was already over. I told her that we'd have a friend over to play again soon.

Carly got a make up kit from one of her friends. We've been playing "What Not to Wear" today. I got a "fabulous makeover!" So did Ellen. I also got many little glittery touch-ups throughout the day.

Homemade Caramels

Caramel Recipe

2 C white sugar

1 C brown sugar

1 C light corn syrup

1 C evaporated milk (NOT sweetened condensed)

1 pint heavy whipping cream

1 C butter

1 1/2 tsp

• Combine all except vanilla in a large, heavy pan. Stirring constantly, heat to exactly 250 degrees and remove from heat. Stir in vanilla (will bubble up). Pour into greased 10x15 pan and cool. Cut into bite-sized pieces and wrap with wax paper.

• I found this recipe on-line today and thought I would give it a try. It was very easy and they turned out great. If you do try them I suggest that you put the phone next to the stove, turn the radio onto a good station, and start stirring. You will be standing at the stove stirring for a long time. You will not feel like you can leave it for even a minute without it burning on the bottom of the pan. I set the burner at medium and kept it there. I think it took at least 20 minutes to get to 250. I would also suggest that you make sure you have a wrapping assistant. I had Paul to help wrap them and that saved me a lot of time. I meant to put the wrapped caramels in a bowl and take a picture of them, but I didn't remember until about an hour after I put them in the freezer - I also read on-line that you can freeze them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Again, I'm slow to update around here. It was great to have a three day week - it flew by. This afternoon my students and I did a major cleaning session in the classroom. I also stayed late and put up new bulletin boards and just got some extra jobs done so that when I come back on Monday everything will seem nice and organized.

When I got home Carly was standing at the top of the steps wearing her paper pilgrim bonnet that they made in school today. It is so cute and I will get a picture posted of her wearing it this weekend. School is going well for her. She and her little girlfriends have been exchanging those little classroom photos. She brought hers in today and was quite excited about it. I thought it was cute that girls this little were doing this. I asked her teacher if this was common and she said that kindergartners don't usually do this but one little girl brought hers in and they all jumped on it.

School is going well for Ellen too. I was listening to her practice her saxophone last night and was surprised at how much she has learned in such a short amount of time. I have no doubt that being able to play the piano made it much easier to pick up on another instrument.

Paul and I got several things ready for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. We'll be on our own. I made a pumpkin pie and a jello salad (sea foam). Paul got the dressing ready. Tomorrow morning we'll get the turkey going, put together a relish tray and a couple of side dishes. We're cooking the turkey in the oven rather than frying it this year - this means we'll have real gravy and not a packet mix.

Friday I plan to go shopping after the initial Black Friday rush passes by. Saturday we'll head down to Duluth again for another hockey game. UMD beat North Dakota 3-1 this past Saturday. That hasn't happened since the 92-93 season. It was a great game. It's always a full house when UND is at the Decc. It's much more fun when there are no empty seats. The student section is just a couple away from where we sit and they are a lot more lively this year. They must drink more before the games. After Super Fan graduated, the student section was a little dead. Now they seem to have another student who has stepped up to get them going. You often see him at the front leading things. All of the same season ticket holders held onto their seats for another year. They're all friendly, nice people. All the kids get older. One young family a couple rows in front of us used to just be three people and now there are five of them. Last week they came all dressed up. They must have been at a wedding. The mom and two little boys came at the beginning of the game. The dad and daughter came during the second period. The dad was wearing a suit with a boutonniere (love spellcheck). Usually the five of them are decked out in UMD clothes. When the new arena is built I'll be sad if their seats aren't close to ours. It's nice that I can watch the games without a kid on my lap. I used to miss so many goals because I was taking care of something with one of the girls.

It's our 14th wedding anniversary today. I pulled a statue off my shelf today that is going to pass as an anniversary gift for Paul. I did that last year too. I doubt he'll remember.

I'll post some pictures of our thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

Since no one commented on my last two posts

I bring to you a sexy monkey.

Election 2008

We were pretty happy with the outcome of the presidential election. Paul and I both stood up and cheered after they announced that Ohio was going for Obama. We cheered again after it was officially announced at 10 pm that Obama had won the election. There was also some crying. It was very moving watching the crowd reaction in Chicago and we have been so caught up in this campaign. Ellen wanted to stay up and watch Obama's speech so we let her under the condition that she could not be crabby the next day. John McCain gave a very nice concession speech. I think his campaign had a lot of problems, but I've always thought he was a nice man. We enjoyed Obama's speech and I always love seeing his family. His girls are so stinking cute and I love that they are getting a puppy. They do deserve it.

Our school levy vote failed, so it will be interesting to see how everything shakes up. Our new superintendent had a short meeting after school and said that we were not to worry about it. He wants us to focus on our classrooms and that it's his job to deal with the finances.

And the Franken/Coleman face off continues.

If you don't watch "30 Rock" I recommend that you go to NBC's website and watch last night's episode with Oprah. This show is so funny anyway, but last night's episode was the funniest one yet. I think this was the best guest appearance I have ever seen on a show. Tina Fey rocks!

Halloween

It was nice enough that night that the girls put out chairs and waited outside for trick-or-treaters. We thought we would have a lot since Halloween was on a Friday and the weather was so nice. I don't think we even had 40 kids come to the house - our lowest turnout ever. We have a lot of Tootsie Pops leftover. Kayla is the one under the sheet. I think her costume is funny. We kept bugging her to smile for pictures.

Carly is wearing the costume I sewed for Ellen a few years ago. She looked very cute that night, but was she ever tired and crabby. Seh wanted Paul to go trick-or-treating for her while she stayed back at the house. It just doesn't work that way.

We were still in full campaign mode on Halloween night. Ellen did not put together a costume until after school that day. We bought a prom dress at a garage sale a few years ago and she worked with that.

We <3 Troy Bolton!

Today the girls and I went to the final installment of High School Musical. It's possible that there will be future installments since it did feel like they were introducing some new characters. There was the graduation and then a curtain call for the lead characters that really felt like a "we're moving on" moment. HSM just won't be the same without Troy Bolton.

The movie was cute. Lots of singing, dancing, and cute clothes. I thoroughly enjoyed having kids in the target age group for this series - just good clean fun. Kayla and Ellen were starting to get a little on the old side for it, but they still enjoyed the show. Carly thought it was great. The only down side to it being in the theater is that we can't watch it five times the first week it aired like they did with the first two.

Latest addition to the collection

That little pink one just stands out on the shelf, doesn't he? My friend, Sarah, found this one at the local Goodwill and paid 25 cents for it. He was 50% off that day. I was thrilled since this was my first pink one. It's a great little figurine anyway, but the pink ones are not that common. There are light blue ones out there too, but again not easy to find. It had been June since I had picked one up, so I had been on a long stretch without any additions. This was exciting and my 4th graders showed proper appreciation for the rarity of the object. You'd have thought I'd brought in a little live unicorn for show & tell.

It's cold, windy, and rainy here. Paul just left to do some hunting. The girls and I will probably go to Hibbing to see High School Musical 3. Carly is excited and Kayla & Ellen said they'd be willing to go. I told them I would not take kids who were willing to go, they had to be excited like Carly. They said they'd be exicted. I might also carve a pumpkin or two.

Yesterday I did a bunch of housework. I really let things go for a couple of weeks. I started reading the book "Flight" by Sherman Alexie. I am enjoying it, Nancy. We also watched the movie "Recount" last night. I kind of forgot what a bitter pill that was to swallow.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Hillary Clinton Visits the Iron Range

Late last week it was announced that Hillary Clinton was going to visit the Iron Range. We didn't know if it would be a rally or a smaller gathering. We weren't sure where it would be held. We did know that if it was a rally that it would probably be in Hibbing since they have the biggest facility to accomodate a large gathering.

On Monday morning we heard it was a 7 o'clock rally at the Memorial Building - doors open at 6, first come, first serve. I had a first aid/cpr class in Hibbing that wasn't supposed to get out until 5:00. So we made arrangements for Ellen to go with Kayla just in case I didn't get back in time. I got home about 4:20. We immediately got in the car and went back to Hibbing. We joined Kayla, Ellen, and Laura in line. Everyone outside was in a good mood - lots of excitement. The line wrapped around the building and across the street. The doors opened immediately at 6 pm and people got in quickly.

Just a reminder that my blog still suffers from the disappearing comment button. Just scroll over the space to the right of the date below and you can read or leave a comment.

Inside the Arena

The doors opened right at 6 and we were seated within just a few minutes. A lot of people opted to head to the floor rather than the stands. Our seats were about 40 feet from the podium. They played a lot of music before hand - Springsteen's "The Rising" and Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" "Only in America" by Brooks & Dunn and a few others. It felt just like what you see on tv and people were excited.

There are conflicting reports of how many people were there. When we saw John Edwards (back when people used to like him) they said about 5000 were in the arena. There were a lot more people this time. Every seat was filled and a lot more people were on the floor. All ages were represented - lots of young people, lots of older people, and everyone in between. Many people were wearing Obama shirts and pins. There were a lot of people from the various unions up here wearing shirts representing both their union and their candidate. Paul would love to have a "Firefighters for Obama" shirt.

The rally started at 7. Local reps Tom Rukavina, Dave Tomassoni, and Tony Sertich spoke first. You see Tony Sertich on tv quite often, but you don't really notice just how handsome he is until you see him in person. He is really good looking. His talk came across as very polished. You get the feeling he has higher aspirations. Tony is the one who gets into battles with the Governor. He was the rep that prompted Pawlenty to say, "Cheap shots might be cheap, but they're not free." That got a bit of press last spring. Jim Oberstar also spoke. People here love him.

Al Franken was there, but he did not speak. He was introduced and welcomed with lots of cheers and applause. Senator Amy Klobuchar spoke right before Hillary. This was my first time seeing Amy in person. I always think she comes across well on tv and she's just as sharp in person. Her grandpa is from the Iron Range and people up here like that about her.

Then Hillary came out. There was lots of cheering and applause. People up here really do like her and I actually felt a little bit weepy seeing her. That surprised me. Hillary looks exactly like she does on tv except that she is smaller than what you expect. She spoke for about 25 minutes. It was a great speech. About five minutes of her speech dealt with the Iron Range's role in the United States. It didn't feel like a canned speech she had given 30 times. It was a really good speech. I think my favorite part was at the end when she was into the "We must elect Barack Obama!" section of the speech. There was an older couple sitting right in front of us. They were in their late 70s at the youngest - well dressed, very proper. At this part of the speech this tiny little woman was standing up, tilting forward, doing a double fist pump. I loved it.

Quite a few of my coworkers went to the rally and we all compared notes the next day. One of them said she was surprised at how excited she was during the whole thing and that afterward her hands hurt from clapping. I don't care what your political affiliation is, I think you should try to attend a rally during a presidential election season at some point in your life. I can't even imagine how much more exciting it must be when the actual candidate for president is there.

Paul and Royce are an odd pair

Paul saved $12.

Classmates

While at the church bazaar I saw two of my classmates - Janet Swenson & Vicky Davis. I can't remember Vicky's married name, so we'll use her maiden name. Janet is living in Fergus Falls and Vicky is in Morristown. Since Laurie sent me to the bazaar to take a picture of Mom, I figured we should get a picture of the three of us together. We really should have a class reunion.

Mom's birthday

I bought mom a vintage apron at an antique shop for her birthday. She wore it to work in the Farmer's Market at the church bazaar. They were supposed to wear red that day, so this worked out well.

Finally going to update!

I meant to get these pictures posted last week. Carly and I made 3 different kinds of cookies for Dad for his birthday. Carly is flattening the peanut butter cookies in these photos. We also made chocolate chip and chocolate/butterscotch oatmeal cookies. Dad has cookies to last for quite a while.

Ellen wants me to update the blog

Honestly, I don't have much to report here. It's just been the typical back to school busy days. The days fly by.

Paul has been grouse hunting this weekend. Ellen started volleyball practice this week and will start band soon. She wants to play the saxophone. Carly is enjoying school and because she is only five doesn't realize that her class of 30 kids is too damn big. I had said I'd give it a couple weeks and then I would revisit the issue with my superintendent and principal. So that's a job for this week. I'm going to a referendum committee meeting tomorrow night and I'm going to talk with some school board members about it. I could go on about this for quite a while, but I'll spare all of you.

I also volunteered at the DFL office in Hibbing this past week. They have a "Women on Wednesdays" phone bank, so I did that for a couple of hours. It was me and a bunch of 20 year olds. Two hours on the phone was about all I could take. I could never be a telemarketer. Everyone was nice to me on the phone and I was actually pretty good at it. I'll go again. You can sit around and gripe or you can do something. It felt good to help, but I'd rather do something rather than make phone calls.

Our hockey tickets came in the mail this week. It's hard to believe that we are getting close to that time again. I finished reading the latest David Sedaris book - too funny. I especially liked the airplane crossword puzzle chapter. We finished watching the 4th season of "Entourage" from Netflix last night. I love that show. I could watch every scene with Ari and Lloyd five times and laugh just as hard each time. Paul is a big fan of Johnny Drama. I need to find another comedy to rent from Netflix. I've rented some hour long dramas, but that's so time consuming. I can get an entire season of a comedy done in two weekends.

It rained all weekend. I only left the house to make a quick trip to Walmart and Penneys. I was going through my closet looking for long sleeved shirts and it would appear that I gave an awful lot of mine to Laurie's thrift shop, so I picked up a couple and will need to get a few more when we start going to Duluth for games.

Dinner's ready. Paul cooked a porketta in the crock pot and it smells really good and I'm starving. Everyone have a good week.

First Day of School!

Carly was very excited for the first day of kindergarten. She was ready to 30 minutes before we needed to leave. She's wearing the same dress that Ellen wore for her first day of school. I thought she looked very cute.

Carly's teacher is Miss Samson or as Carly has been calling her - teacher. I correct her every time she says that because it would drive me crazy if my students called me "Teacher."

Ellen's first day was "Awesome!" She has Mrs. Fillman for a teacher. She was hoping to get her. She and Kayla have math and reading together, but are in different classes the rest of the day. They think this is just fine because it means they have more to talk about after school. I wouldn't have thought of that.

My first couple of days have been good. I have 21 kids in my class. They seem pretty good. They follow directions well. Tonight 1/2 of them had to bring home an assignment to finish. It will be interesting to see how many of them do it. Paul has 28 kids. He always has at least that many.

I'll write more this weekend.