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.

I am going to try to be a better blogger.

I have sucked lately. In all honesty I haven't had much to say. I've been a bit consumed by things that are taking place at our school and I haven't had much else on my mind. In our house we take turns calming each other down. It's my turn to be the one who freaks out. I go off the deep end and then Paul reels me back in. I have always liked that Paul and I don't work for the same school district. I especially appreciate it now. Hopefully the legislature won't cut funding to schools and that our school board remembers that we are a school and owe it to our kids to provide a solid education.

We all slept in today. I went to bed before 9 last night and got up around 8 this morning. That is late for me. Ellen and Carly are still sleeping. Paul got up early to fish. I'm hoping one of the girls wakes up soon - it won't be Ellen. There is a big white elephant sale in Hibbing that starts at 10. I'd be willing to take Carly with me, but I'd rather not. I will need to wake the heavy sleeper to get her to watch her sister. The potential to pick up pyrex, tacky statues, and other junk all in one big place is very alluring. I'll post my finds if I run across anything good.

Ellen and Kayla want to see the movie "17 Again" this weekend. I said I'd take them since I wouldn't mind seeing it. I'm a Zac Efron fan too. It's PG-13 but Carly wants to go too. We'll have to see about that. We'll do that this afternoon or tomorrow.

I'm going to start making noise around the house to see if anyone gets up.

It's been a while!

I'm going to blame Facebook for my lack of posting lately. I have had an account since October but never really bothered to do much with it. A couple of Paul's coworkers added me to their lists and that got me to playing around with it a bit more. I like that it's not time consuming. I ran across a high school & college classmate (Melissa McNeil) that I haven't seen since we finished college. It was so much fun to exchange some emails and to see pictures of her family. When I saw a picture of her daughter I was just amazed at how she has Missy's face from 30 years ago. It was this connection that made me appreciate the beauty of Facebook. I've been getting friend requests from some students who were in my class that are all grown up now, so it's fun to see where they are now.

I am home today with Carly. She has had a cold for over a week. On Sunday she woke up crying that her throat really hurt. She complained about it for over an hour and was really whiny about it (which is not like her). We brought her to the ER that morning - neither of the clinics were open. We were sure she'd have strep since so much of it has been going around our school. She tested negative. The doctor said that since she was there anyway that we might want to have her tested to see if she had something bacterial or viral. If she were to get worse, it might save us a trip to the clinic later in the week. So we did the test and it's a virus. She was fine yesterday at school. This morning she got up and was very crabby (that's not unusual). After she got dressed she asked if she could lie down for a while. I then took her temp and when it was approaching 100. I made a quick call to my school saying that I'd need a sub and that I'd come in until they could get one. My kids would be going to phy ed first thing in the morning. So I brought Carly in with me and got things set up for a sub, took attendance with my kids and was home by 8:35. I hate starting mornings like that and I hate that I made my school scramble to cover for me, but if I had sent Carly to school she would have been in the nurse's office by 8:45. I am glad to know that we are dealing with a virus and this will run it's course - no need to go to the clinic.

Service Master is here cleaning up - it's amazing what is standard clean up after you have a small fire in your house. This is their 4th day here. When I asked if I needed to do more decluttering before they came they said to not worry about it. Since I really didn't have time to do it, I decided to just not let it bug me that they will see just how cluttered my kitchen cabinets are - among other places.

I did take some pictures of the day the fire department came and took care of our fire in the oven. I'll post them later today. Our oven will be here tomorrow. We could have had one earlier, but the one we wanted was only available in black at the local Sears store. So we figured we could go a few more days without an oven. We've made good use of the electric griddle, panini grill, microwave, and crockpot. We've had a couple nights of take out too. I am really looking forward to having an oven again.

President's Day Weekend with Gracie & Grant

Gracie wasn't all that cooperative about picture taking this weekend. She's not meant to sit still unless she is really tired. I took this one because it reminded me of something that Carly used to do. Any time she had pants with snaps between the legs she'd immediately unsnap them and wear them undone. It was funny to see Gracie doing the same thing.

Grant in his jammies. We were ready for them on Sunday morning. On Saturday morning, Lynn & Royce got up very early to go fishing. Grant and Gracie got up an hour before we thought they would. At 6 am, I was sitting in the rocker in my pajamas with both little ones on my lap. The next day Paul and I both got up about ten minutes before they did. We got a few little jobs done and when they woke up we were ready this time. Breakfast was ready to go for both of them and we had a pot of coffee on for us - much better start to the day.

Gracie and Carly had a lot of fun together. Gracie was pretty good about finding different toys she wanted to play with and Carly was game for all of it. Gracie also really liked hanging out with Ellen and Kayla. If Gracie had a choice between me or Ellen - she always chose Ellen. Gracie was very happy go lucky while she was at our house. She has a nice little eating and sleeping schedule that makes her predictable. For the most part she'll tell you what she wants. She's a classic toddler - a little trail of messes. On Sunday before they left, Lynn & Royce were loading up the truck. I went into my bedroom to get Gracie and she was in there pulling all of the tissues out of a Kleenex box. As soon as she saw me she started shoving them back in the box. I get the feeling she has been caught doing this before.

Cute, cute, cute. I love his little round face. Grant is really a good natured baby. He's very smiley and likes to be held and played with. If he cries it's because he has a need - he's hungry, sleepy, tired, or needs to burp.

Today Carly wanted me to call Royce to see what Gracie was doing. After they left Carly said she wished that every day could be a Gracie day. Royce said that his children seemed to have survived their stay with us without too much damage, so that's good. We've been out of the toddler/baby stage for a while now. You kind of forget just how involved it is. You are busy and you do a lot of things one-handed. It all comes back to you, but you do wonder how you managed to do it every single day. I give Royce & Lynn props for doing it with two kids close together in age. Paul and I were never brave enough to take on two at a time, but we managed just fine this weekend with a lot of help from our older two. It sounds like Royce & Lynn had a nice fishing outing together too. It was a good weekend for all.

More pictures from Grant's baptism

Royce, Lynn, Grant, & Gracie after the church service.

Paul and Grant. I have a feeling these two will spend many hours in a boat together over the years.

Here's Your UMD Scoring!!!

Last night we saw the best hockey game we have seen in years. UMD has had a strong season, but we play in the toughest league in the country. So we are 5th in the WCHA and Denver is #1. On Friday night UMD lost to Denver - all of Denver's goals were on the power play, but UMD played well that night and outshot them.

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Last night UMD scored three goals in the first 15 minutes of play. They looked like national champions. They were incredible. Denver did pick up a goal at the end of the first. Even though UMD led throughout the game you were nervous because Denver was really good and every time they came down with the puck you felt like they could score. It wasn't a fluky thing that UMD won 4-2 last night. They played the stronger game. It was really exciting. One of UMD's best players is from Alexandria - Josh Meyer - a senior. He played a great game last night and I've always felt a fondness for him since he's a west central MN kid, like me.

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The arena was sold out and it's always fun when it's completely full. No one left the game early. There was a lot of cheering throughout the game. During the last minute of play everyone was out of their seats cheering the entire time. During the game the announcer wished a happy birthday to long time fan, Dick Stewart. Everyone clapped because that's just the polite thing to do. And then when the old guy in the plaid hat who sits right above the band (in the section next to ours) and always brings his UMD windsock stood up to wave to the crowd, people clapped even louder and many stood up when they saw it was his birthday. We love this guy. He's just a cute old man and a passionate fan. The student section sang the birthday song for him and he enjoyed the whole thing. This is why I love being a regular who sits in the same seat every time. Had I been on the other side of the arena, I wouldn't have had the same appreciation for that moment.

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Last night was a first for Paul. He was not happy about it at the time, but he parked in the ramp and took the skywalk to the arena. We had no choice, the lot was full. In the 30+ years that Paul has been going to games he has always parked in the lot. It was all my fault because I kept us late at the mall because I was buying underwear. Usually we are one of the first people in the arena because Paul considers "on time" to mean 60 minutes before the puck drops. It drives me crazy. After the game he is accustomed to running across an icy parking lot after the game and turning around to yell at the rest of us to "Hurry up!" If the girls and I get caught up because the young college guy decided to let an older couple through the door ahead of us (which happened last time), well we just don't know how to maneuver a crowd very well. The entrance from the skywalk is right by the section where we sit. We didn't have to walk out in the cold and we got right out of the ramp and on our way home. in no time at all. Paul says that we'll probably park in the ramp from now on. Change is good, Paul.

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We have one game left at the beginning of March - Anchorage. If they get home ice for playoffs we'll have another game in Duluth. This has really been a fun season. The team is young, so I feel like we have a few years of good hockey ahead of us.

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I'm very nervous about the storm we are supposed to get. We are in the middle of the area forecasted to get a serious ice storm. They are recommending that people put together winter survival kits and have enough food on hand to get through several days without power - I don't remember ever getting that advice before. We could get an inch of ice and have 35 mph winds. I hope that it won't be nearly as severe. I'm making a point to get a bunch of jobs done around the house and we'll be buying groceries today. If you are also in this warning - good luck!

Back on line

We pretty much lost everything on our computer - which sucks. It was stupid of us not to transfer some things over to a stick, but we didn't think it would be such a big deal.

I just got off the phone with a guy from mediacom who helped me set up my email again. It would be very helpful if you could send me an email so I can get everyone in my address book again.

sharilc@mchsi.com

Thank you!!

I'll add a couple more

baptism pictures another time. I can't the photos uploaded. I'll write a little more though. Grant's baptism was at the Lutheran church in Grantsburg, Wisconsin. One thing that surprised me as we drove into town was the number of gift shops between Royce's house and the town. He lives only a few miles from there, but there were a few shops along the way. We may have to visit in the summer and play tourist for a day.

Considering it was -15 or so that morning, the church was pretty full. Lynn's parents, her sils and nieces and nephews were there, as well as a a friend of Lynn's and her daughter. The baptism was your typical baptism. The church did give Grant a really nice little quilt which I thought was a nice touch. Lynn & Royce and the kids officially became members of the church that day too. They got a nice gift basket from the church. I thought it was charming that there were three blocks of different types of Wisconsin cheese in it.

After the service we went back to Lynn & Royce's place for brunch. The food was great. I will admit that I ate two croissants. The raspberry one was so good that I had to try the chocolate custard one too. It was equally good. Someone needs to check out those types of things. Shortly after noon we headed back up north. We had left the dog home and since it was so cold, we felt a need to check on him.

Not much else has been going on here. Paul is heading out to one of his last fire department classes. When it is over he will have a national certification meaning he would be qualified to work for any department in the country. It's good to have options. Carly brought her cash register to show & tell today. Miss Samson and I are pumping her up to bring her Sharpay wig and sing a song for next week's show & tell. Ellen's class is going ice skating tomorrow afternoon and Kayla is staying over night. I'm also taking my class skating. It should be nice out, so it will be good to get out of the school for a while.

Paul and I have the second season of "30 Rock" from Netflix, so we'll be watching that all weekend. Paul is in love with Tina Fey's character Liz Lemon. She really is awesome. We paused it the other night and saw that Liz has a little 70s statue on her desk. I love it.

Have a good weekend!

A Visit with G & G

Grant all dressed up for his baptism.

Gracie did not want to get her picture taken. We wanted to get a shot of her in her fleecy suit because she looked so comical running around in it.

This is probably the best photo I got of Gracie. She is at an age where she is on the move. I see a lot of Royce in her face.

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We went down to Royce and Lynn's on Saturday for Grant's baptism. We had plans to go to the hockey game and then head to their place, but since Carly had just turned the corner from her ear infection we really didn't want to keep her up that late. So we sold our tickets to a coworker of Paul's (UMD beat Mankato 7-4, came from behind in the 3rd period) and got to Royce's house shortly after it got dark on Saturday. Royce had a turkey dinner waiting for us that it sounds like he prepared all on his own. Royce is a really good cook. The turkey was perfect and all of the sides were excellent.

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Gracie was asleep when we got there. It took her a little while to work up to full speed when she woke up, but she was 100% silly that evening. She's so friendly and was excited to have a couple of kids there. Her vocabulary is really coming together. She's fun. Grant is really laid back. He has the same kind of personality that Carly had as a baby. He likes to be held and I don't think we heard him cry once the entire time we were there. He's sweet.

Finally a new post!

Not too much was going on here in January. Then we started having computer spyware issues which are not completely resolved. It will be going back in. It's better, but that stupid Antivrus 2009 thing keeps showing up. No one has clicked on it this time, but it's only a matter of time before we get blocked from everything again.

January has been the month of Ellen turning 12 and getting an Ipod Nano. I will get a picture of her on here eventually. Lots of talk about budget cuts at school - typical of January. Carly had a terrible ear infection that kept us home with her for three days. We've had some freezing cold days and we're just sick of winter. The UMD Bulldogs continue to win and have the best home record in the WCHA! Barack Obama is president!!

Mad Men

This has been my latest thing to rent from Netflix. My BIL Dan insisted that I would love it and I do, but in a strange way. I don't really like anyone on the show and many of the story lines make me very uncomfortable. It's about Madison Avenue ad executives in the 60s. I love seeing the clothes and interior design. I keep waiting for Betty to pull out one of my Pyrex bowls when she's working in the kitchen.

The sexism in the workplace (and out of it) is hard to watch. I do find the things that people would never do today but that were common back then amusing - just because it's so wrong. They smoke non-stop. Pregnant women drink and smoke. They pull out bottles of alcohol from under their desks several times a day. It's not uncommon to come back to the office after lunch quite drunk. There was a minor car accident and the kids went flying into the front seat and wound up on the floor of the car. Someone very drunk was leaving their house and instead of offering him a ride home, they yelled out a reminder to turn on the headlights. I watched three episodes last night and was sure that there would be three more for me in the mailbox today, but it looks like I'll have to wait until Monday.

My favorite show returns to NBC next week - Friday Night Lights. I made Dan start watching it last year and he likes it as much as I do. Laurie and Dan have been watching the 3rd season on Direct tv and they said it's been really good, so I look forward to watching Coach Taylor and the Dylan Panthers again.

New Fireplace

Paul spent a good share of last weekend checking out electric fireplaces on-line. We went over to Grand Rapids and checked out a couple and also to Lowes in Hibbing. He called around to some places in Virginia and Eveleth to see what lines they carried. In the end he decided to order one from electricfireplace.com. The price was very reasonable and the shipping was free. He placed the order on Sunday and it arrived on Thursday.

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It took Paul only about an hour to put it together. The website has a video showing how to assemble it, so he watched that a couple of times and got to work. He thought it was very easy. We probably need to lower the picture that is hanging on the wall above it but that would involve repairing a nail hole and painting, so that probably won't get done for a while. Maybe we can just put some taller things on the mantle. The wood is solid oak and it looks nice with everything downstairs.

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I have been pleased at the warming effect this has had downstairs. It's normally pretty chilly down here in the winter. The heater is designed to heat a 400 square foot area. We put it in a central area and it heats up the entire family room. Ellen hasn't said if she notices a difference in her bedroom. We were told that if you ran it around the clock (which we would never do) that it would add about $50 to our electric bill. It will be interesting to see if our heater kicks in less often - which I'm guessing will happen.

New Cake Pan & Recipe

My friend, Carol Kastonek, gave me a monogrammed cake pan for Christmas and I am quite fond of it. In addition to having engraving on the lid, it also has "The Clusiau Family" engraved on the side of the pan. I discovered that as I was taking it out of the oven. It's cute, isn't it? Right now it has about 3/4 of a pan of peanut butter chocolate chip bars in it that I baked this morning (I posted the recipe last winter).

I used my pan for the first time to make a dessert for Paul's birthday. The girls get cakes, but Paul and I usually use our birthdays as an excuse to make a favorite dessert. Paul requested the pistachio dessert that my mom frequently makes for holidays. He called her to get the recipe and it's one that is in the Trinity cookbook (the best cookbook I own). It's pretty easy, so I'll include the recipe.

Four Layer Pudding Dessert

Layer 1 - Mix together:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped nuts ( I used pecans)
2 Tbsp sugar

Pat into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes (I gave it a couple more minutes). Cool.

Layer 2 -Mix together and spread into cooled crust:

8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup of Cool Whip (you need one 8 ounce container)

Layer 3 - Mix together and spread onto cream cheese layer:

2 boxes instant pudding (pick your flavor)
2 1/2 to 3 cups milk (I went with 2 3/4 cups)

Layer 4 - spread the remaining Cool Whip over the top and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Let cool in fridge until the pudding firms up.

New Years

On New Years Eve, Paul and I went to a party at Blake & Sarah Liend's house. They live about three blocks from our place. A few other couples were there - most of them are fire department connections. There was good food, good company, and a lot of laughs. Paul and I were home by about 12:30. It's nice having Ellen old enough to babysit her sister. I had Ellen snap a picture of us before we left. I'm wearing my new shirt from Town & Country in Morris (a hardware store).

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We really didn't do anything on New Years Day. Carly watched part of the Rose Parade and I watched another episode of the show Mad Men. Dan had told me that I had to get it in my Netflix queue and I wish that I would have put two discs at the top of my queue. Now I have to wait until Monday at the earliest to watch another episode.

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Yesterday Paul, Carly, and I made a run to Grand Rapids. Paul wants to buy an electric fireplace for downstairs and there is a place in Grand Rapids that carries them. We then made a trip to Target where Carly spent a bit of her birthday money. She bought a pair of Baby Alive twin dolls. It worked out well that what she wanted was 50% off and she only had to pay $15. She still has a good chunk of birthday cash left.

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I had received a call from the Knights of Columbus in Nashwauk a couple of weeks ago about donating blood during a blood drive in Nashwauk. So yesterday was donation day. I don't know why I don't do this more often. Actually I do know. I passed out after donating blood once in college and I have to work up a lot of nerve to agree to do it. So I did it and it went well. One of my coworkers was in the bloodmobile the same time I was making a donation. My New Years resolution is to donate blood at least once more this year. Paul has never done it before and says he'll go in with me next time. I have type O blood and it is always in demand, so I really do need to become a regular rather than a sporadic donor. I would recommend that you go in to give blood just so that you can hear the list of incredibly personal questions they ask you. I cannot get through it without giggling.

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We also went out to eat at Sammy's Pizza for Paul's birthday. We figured we'd better go out on Friday rather than wait until Saturday. We're supposed to get up to a foot of snow. I'll do a birthday post later.

Carly's not the only one in Curlers

I bought these hair rollers on a whim back in November. It takes almost three packs to do all of my hair. They roll up easily in damp hair and stay in place.

The next step is to dry them using the hair dryer. Carly looks a lot cuter when she wears rollers in her hair. I just looked pissed.

The end result. This is after some of the curl has been brushed out and I've put some styling paste in my hair. When the rollers first come out my hair is absolutely huge! The only real advantage to doing my hair in rollers is that I eliminate one heating process - the curling iron. I guess I do get a much bigger lift at the roots, but using the rollers adds about 10 minutes to the getting ready process.