Vacation Time!

We are heading off for a little vacation to the Wisconsin Dells in the morning. We're first driving down to Nancy and David's until Tuesday morning. As of right now, we don't have any plans for when we are there other than David & Paul taking two of the kids to a Twins game on Monday night. I'm assuming it will be Ellen & Joey that go with. Nancy & I will have to do something fun with Sophie & Carly.

We're staying at the Great Wolf Lodge which has a big indoor & outdoor water park. It looks like the temps will be in the 80s with a chance for some isolated showers on one of the days we are there. I'm hoping we'll be in the outdoor park a lot more than the indoor. Carly has a pretty good attitude about this whole thing. She knows she'll be in the water and we have reassured that there will be fun things for her to do. She's looking forward to riding in a tube on the lazy river, so I really hope they have one. I can't imagine they won't. We have tickets for a magic show on Wednesday night. Carly says that we are going to see a man cut a lady's head off and then put it back on. God, I hope not. We've made no other plans at this point. We've been pretty bored here lately, so this trip comes at a good time. From everything we have heard Wisconsin Dells is just a big fun tourist trap. That is exactly what we are hoping for.

We'll be driving back north on Friday. It's at least a six hour drive. We're going to stop at Royce & Lynn's for a visit. We haven't been to their place since last summer and it will be a really nice way to cut the trip in half. Next weekend I'll post some pictures. Have a good week!

Another Recipe

I tried out a new recipe for a party last night and it turned out really well. I know that Carol is going to make it since she called me from the grocery store asking what she needed to pick up to make it. So I'll get the recipe posted here so she can print it.

Spinach and Strawberry Salad

Dressing:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp minced onion (optional)
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar

Mix the above ingredients in the blender. I think if you wanted to just shake it up in a jar, that would work fine. This makes quite a bit of dressing.

Fresh spinach
Sliced strawberries

I used a bag and a half of spinach and a quart container of strawberries. If you were making a smaller amount you certainly would not want to use all of the dressing. If you used 2 full bags of spinach, I don't think you'd need to make additional dressing. I didn't use the full two bags only because my 4 quart bowl was full.

I've been experiencing some goofy things with my blog that I don't how to fix - and I have tried. The comment thing to click on disappears once a comment has been made. But if you scroll over the spot where it should be, it appears and you can click on it. Nothing in the help section of blogger is giving me advice on how to correct this. I'm thinking since only a handful of people actually read my blog that I'll just leave it for now.

A New Old Apron

I mentioned in a comment below that I had picked up a full length vintage apron today. Half aprons work great for baking cookies and most other kitchen jobs, but I wanted one that I could wear when I make things like spaghetti sauce - things that splatter and stain. I liked the fitted style of this one. It has bias tape trim all around it. It has two small pockets.

I even think the back of it is cute (Its not very often that I post a picture of my backside). They had several others like it and I decided on this one because it was a darker color and would even match my kitchen. It was tempting to get a couple, but you have to give yourself reason to keep going into these stores. You can't buy everything. This was a fun thing to find.

If you click on the picture above you can see the top a little better. The little sign above the stack of aprons said that these aprons were made to be used as gifts, but just sat in storage over the years. It's finds like this that make me think that I should just keep my eye out for vintage aprons instead of sewing them. I couldn't sew this for less than I paid for it. I wore it tonight when I made homemade pizza sauce. I tripled the recipe and froze it. I'm starting to get in that phase of summer when I start cooking and freezing things for during the school year.

I should also mention that today 1100 bikers pedaled through town today as part of the MS biking fundraiser they do every year. I went out for a run early this morning and met a few bikes on my way back into town. If I had gone out later, I would have met up with many bikes. They stagger their leave times, so they were coming through all morning. Carly and I walked up to the libary and then we sat on a bench with some ladies and watched the bikers come through. They were waving and cheering for them, so we did too. This kept Carly entertained for about 45 minutes. She would announce when she saw a new group of bikers coming down the hill and how many there would be. They used our trail two years ago for this same ride. I bought a new bike the same day they rode through Keewatin. That was part of my plan for that week, but that got me fired up to go out and get one that day. It was also right after Lance Armstrong won his final Tour de France and I figured there was an opening for me for the next one.

Poor Sandy

Paul has been trying to get Sandy in for a haircut all summer, but has had no luck. So he took matters into his own hands and borrowed a pair of clippers from our neighbor, Calvin. Paul has never given a dog a haircut before so I went out out part way through to check on his progress. I had to go back in to get my camera. Sandy is such a good dog. He sat patiently through the whole thing.

I had Paul step him out part way through the haircut and this is what he looked like about 3/4 into the trim. I was going to go back out and get a picture after he was done, but it started to rain. I'll get one tomorrow. It's supposed to be a really nice day here.

Sewing Project

Carly is using our new Pyrex bowl from the 60s to frost Bob Dylan Fudge Bars (I think I posted that recipe back in February - they're really good. We frosted them using the cocoa frosting recipe from the red Betty Crocker cookbook - a good combination). She's also wearing her new apron. I made five of them this week. I used the pattern from the Raggedy Ann costume I made a few years ago - I just left off the shoulder straps. They require 1 yard of fabric, rick-rack, and elastic. They cost less than $5 to make. Each one took about 90 minutes from start to finish. I bought a $6 gadget for turning straps right side out and that saved a lot of time. The first one I made is pictured on Carly in the post below. I decided to make them an inch shorter after that one and thought they looked cuter. Isn't my apron model cute? She refused to pose in all five aprons, so I don't think she has a future in the industry.

Since Carly is into cats, I bought a couple of cat prints. I love the cherry prints and I think the ladybug one is my favorite. Click on the picture to take a closer look. I thought these would be fun gifts for little girls. I'm thinking I need to pick up a cute pattern for adult aprons because they would make fun gifts for big girls too.

Not much is going on here. We went to a craft fair in Old Hibbing. It gets worse every year. We bought the girls cheap rings that they are very happy with. It rained when we got home. My plans for the evening are to watch one of our Netflix movies.

New Pyrex

Earlier this week I had an appointment in Hibbing and since I'd be alone, I knew it would be a good opportunity to visit a couple of thrift & antique shops. There are four of them located very close together. I had no luck at Goodwill which was my first stop - not even a tacky figurine. I then crossed the street and went to Antiques on Howard. I got the Pyrex bowl in the photo above for $9.50 - which is a good deal for an antique shop. This set is very collectable. This bowl would not sit there for long. Rachael Ray uses that bowl often on her show. It's in really good condition - bright blue dots, no fading. If this bowl was in the Salvation Army in Morris, they'd put at least $5 on it. The lady who runs the antique shop in Morris would buy it and put it on the shelf for $25 where no one would buy it because it is overpriced. It will be fun to see if I can come up with the orange and yellow bowls that go with it. There is a larger green dotted bowl, but I guess that one is really hard to get. I picked up a couple other items at this shop, but I'll post them later. I did well there. I'm going to have to start swapping out some items. Everyone on my gift list should assume that they'll be in line for some old kitchen thing in the future. I promise it will be cool and that food prepared in it will taste better.

There is a thrift shop run by a local church that has a pretty good housewares section. Like every thrift shop, it's hit or miss. I found this 1 quart Pyrex pitcher for $2.29. The paint is perfect on it and it's really cute. I'm just using it as a water pitcher in the fridge. At one time there was probably a little yellow cover that fit inside it, but I'm not entirely sure of that. I've had my eye out for one of these, so I was very happy to find it. Carly took this picture. She took another one that was a better one of me, but the pitcher photographed better in this one, so I chose to showcase my chins as well. I have a lot of crap on my fridge.

Homemade Pizza Sauce

We just had dinner and I'm going to say that the sauce was worth the little extra effort it required. Since I had all of the ingredients to double it, I just went ahead and doubled it. Doubling it really just means opening up two more cans. Carly is my assistant in the kitchen. I have some mini-pizza pans, so we make two little pizzas and one big one. Carly pats out the dough and does all of the assembly on the small pizzas. I hope that she'll always be interested in helping out in the kitchen. I enjoy having her in there.

Here's the recipe. If you have a mini food chopper, I thought it was handy for cutting up the onion and celery very fine. I didn't measure out those two ingredients, I just guestimated.

Homemade Pizza Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup celery, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 small bay leaf

1. In a large skillet, melt butter with the oil. Add the onion, celery and garlic and saute until soft and transparent.

2. Add tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir until smooth.

3. Add remaining ingredients and bring to slow simmer.

4. Simmer for 30-60 minutes (or not at all depending on your taste and time frame).

5. Remove the bay leaf and spread the sauce on your prepared pizza dough.

Mine View Photos

There are some opportunities to play tourist in our area. While Paul, Ellen, and I went to a funeral, Nancy & David took the kids to the mine views in Nashwauk and in Hibbing. The above picture was taken at the Hull Rust Mine which is the largest open pit mine in the world. I always think it's a good idea to put people in front of the trucks when you are taking a picture because you get a better idea of just how big these trucks really are.

And you wouldn't appreciate just how big this scoop is if Nancy and Joey weren't inside of it.

Hmmm, I'm not sure how to get this one straightened. Just tip your head to the left.

I'm guessing this is at the mine view in Nashwauk. If you went into the backyard of the house where Paul grew up, you'd be able to see this same pit. I'll have to see if I have a picture of the pits. They look like a huge canyon. When going for a walk later that day Joey told me, "I saw the Grand Canyon today." When I asked him what he thought of it he said, "It was pretty cool."

Nancy said that Carly and Sophie spent a lot of time picking flowers at this park. It's a cute photo. They had lunch at Zimmys in downtown Hibbing. This whole outing was really fun for Carly. It's not very often that she goes off and does something without her family. She told them a couple of times, "I am having a great time!"

Not too much is going on here today. It was ridiculously windy yesterday and it's really windy again today. We got some rain and it looks like we'll get more. We've been watching the John Adams miniseries that was on HBO this past spring. We've watched six of the seven parts. Paul says he is not going to watch the final one because we know that John is going to experience "personal tragedies." We read the little preview for it. I think if he's invested this much time into it that he needs to toughen up and watch it.

I have a recipe for homemade pizza sauce that I am going to try out later today. It's pretty easy and if it's good I plan to make more of it and freeze it in freezer bags so that I have it on hand. I know it's pretty easy to just buy a can of pizza sauce, but I'm trying to be more of a make it on your own type of cook. If it's good I'll post the recipe.

We did buy airline tickets to Fort Myers for next June. In honor of that I'm changing the blog heading picture. We've never booked this early, but we have been following the advice you always hear on the news. If you find a great price, lock in. Now we can start looking for a place to rent - always the fun part.

Keewatin Races

After the Keewatin parade there are races for the kids. Joey was more than happy to run with the other boys and took the "and under" part in the age qualifications seriously. In this picture it would appear that he is running in the 12 and under category. After each race he would run back to the finish line to get ready for the next one. He ran at least five races. I think the only race he didn't run was the 19 and over category, but David ran that one and I think he was cheated out of a 3rd or 4th place award which would have been $1 or $2.

I tried to get a good action shot of Joey, but this was the best I got.

Sophie decided to get in one extra race too. She's with some girls that were in 4th grade this year, so I'd say this is the 10 and under category. We decided not to have Carly run because she was wearing a pair of flip flops. Running full speed on asphalt in flip flops is never a good idea and we saw at least three girls wipe out while running and they all were wearing little sandals. Ouch!

Nice form, Sophie!

We kept the kids busy all weekend. When we weren't at some organized activity, they were playing in the park across the street or driving Carly's car in the yard. Joey went fishing the first night they were here. Paul said he was impressed with how Joey fished three straight hours and never complained. That's really good for a little guy. Nancy & David took Carly, Sophie, and Joey to the mine views in Nashwauk and Hibbing on Saturday. They also went for lunch. Carly has never really gone off and done something with people other than us and she told them a couple times that she was having a great time. Nancy, if you could send me a few of those pictures, I'd post them. Did you happen to get a picture of the kids in the purple car?

Al Franken for Senate

This was the best part of the day. We would have been happy to walk the route without Al, but it was really fun to walk it with him. Before the parade, Nancy and I visited with him. He has a really warm, friendly personality. After we took this picture I told him that the last picture I had taken with him was well circulated in emails and that this one would make its rounds too. Whether you like Al Franken or not, you've got to admit that this is a great picture of the three of us. Nancy and I are very happy with it.

Before the parade we helped put signs on the sides of the van. We also tore apart stickers getting them ready to pass out along the route. After the Keewatin parade Nancy and I talked with some college-aged workers who work in his Duluth office. They had done four parades in less than 20 hours and said it was fun for them to get out of the office and see people responding to their candidate. They were heading into Bernie's Main Dry for a well earned beer and then were on their way up to Ely for the rest of the holiday weekend. We enjoyed meeting them.

The guy with the arrow shadowed Al during the parade. This was funny as well as helpful. As we walked the route people were asking where Al was. It was so easy to just point out the arrow to find him.

A DFL town like Nashwauk is always going to be a safe visit for a Democratic candidate. Al was very well received by the crowd. There was a lot of cheering and picture taking. I was ahead of him and I enjoyed turning around to see him at work. He got to both sides of the street. He did lots of handshaking. He had to do some running down the middle to close up gaps. He appeared to be having a good time. He had one more parade in Brainerd that day. Go Al!!

More Fire Truck

They look excited, don't they?
Today was the first time the members of the fire department would wear their new shirts and ties. Paul is posing with Blake Liend.

I had to get a full shot. All of the members went with the anchorman look. Serious shirt on top and casual behind the news desk.

Parade Debut of the New Fire Truck!

Paul and his backseat riders. The kids were excited. Paul had taken them down to the fire hall earlier that day so they could see the truck. When he pulled up in front of the house, the kids just took off across the yard to get into it. I made them pose for photos first.
During the parade, Joey wore Paul's fire helmet. He had to switch waving arms toward the end of the parade because the other one got too tired. Paul said that a lot of people were smiling and waving to him during the parade and then he looked over his shoulder and saw that they were all waving to Joey and not him.
Sophie was optimistic. She brought a bag for candy. The Itasca County Sheriff did give the kids some candy, but they had to wait until the Keewatin parade until they could fill the bags.
David was ready to go too!

4th of July 10K

At 7 am Paul dropped us off in Naswauk. We had pre-registered so we picked up our numbers and sent the tee shirts home with Paul. Ellen would be walking the route with Kayla. They took off at 7:30. At 8:00, Nancy & I took off with the runners. It was a nice morning. It wasn't windy or humid and the temperature was pleasant.
Just one more block to go. We are not being beaten by the two walkers. You have to remember that they left 30 minutes before we did. They set it up that way so that everyone is finishing around the same time.
Still running!
Kayla and Ellen on the final stretch.

Done! After the race they had bottles of water or Gatorade at the city park and a short awards ceremony. None of us won any medals this year, but it was a good time. It's a good, clean cut event and it's something I enjoy being a part of. It was really nice to run the race with Nancy. The time seemed to go by twice as fast running with someone else. We finished in 52 minutes which isn't bad at all!

Will he be there?

Yesterday afternoon I got a call from an Al Franken volunteer asking if I'd be willing to walk with Team Franken at the Nashwauk parade. I said that I should be able to and that I thought my sister would also do it. I asked if Al would be there and he said he wasn't sure which parades Al will be attending. They gave me a number of the local DFL coordinator to call and let them know. I cleared it with Nancy and she said she would. I mentioned it to Kayla's mom, Laura, and she said she'd like to do it too. So I called and volunteered all of us. Ellen might end up walking with us just because I don't know what else we'll do with her during the parade since the fire truck will be full. She can carry a sign. Al needs us!

I got on the local blog that I like to check out and I see this morning that Al is going to be walking the Nashwauk parade. I'm excited! I check back an hour later and they say he's actually going to be doing the earlier Keewatin parade at noon and then heading up to International Falls. Well, I'm thinking he might end up doing the Nashwauk parade after all. Nashwauk is the earlier parade at noon. Keewatin's parade is at 2 pm. I'm hopeful.

I think we'll get Team Franken shirts out of the deal. We'll pass out stickers or carry signs. So the entire Clusiau and Flom families will be in the Nashwauk parade. I suppose we could do both parades, but I would like to watch a parade with the kids. so I'm sitting out the Keewatin parade.

The weather is looking great and we should have a lot of fun. I'm even excited about the running part!

*** I just read an update. We're walking with Al tomorrow!!!

4th of July

They are busy in town getting ready for the 4th. The banner is up across main street. They've been mowing and getting things in place up town. The gyro stand could even show up today. That's a big one.

Nancy & Family are coming up on Thursday. Nancy & I are signed up to run the 10K on Friday morning. Ellen & Kayla are going to walk it. I went for a 40 minute run on Monday and for the first time in about 3 weeks, my knee did not hurt at all the entire run. There were a couple times that I limped around for a day or two after a run. So I've decided not to push it and will not run again until Friday. I think I should be good to go the entire 6+ miles. I'm very happy to have someone to run it with.

Paul is driving the new fire truck in the parade in Nashwauk. This will be the parade debut of the truck that Paul worked so hard to get. I'm expecting that he'll have David in front with him and Joey, Sophie, and Carly in the back seat. A couple years ago we rode with Paul and it was a fun way to see everyone who was at the parade. Nancy, show Joey the above picture of the truck and maybe he'll get excited about riding in it. Paul said that he won't run the siren. We got Carly excited about riding in it a couple years ago. I think it will easier to pump up Joey. The parade in Keewatin is a duplicate of the Nashwauk parade a little later that day. It'll be interesting to see what politicians show up. Our parades are usually a lot better during an election year. Iron Rangers vote.

Saturday, Paul & David plan to golf or go fishing - I'm assuming they'll golf. We do have to go over to Hibbing for a little while Saturday morning. Kayla's grandpa died on Monday and they are having his visitation and funeral that morning. This was not unexpected. Jon was 92 and his health had been failing him for several months. He was a very nice man.

There are activities for kids all day Saturday. There is even a wrestling demonstration that evening. We've never had that before. Fireworks will be on Saturday night. The weather is going to be great, so it should be an enjoyable time. I'll try to post some pictures during the weekend.

Previously on the 4th of July

The picture without a head never fails to make me laugh.