Postcards for Obama

Since it is an election year there is no way I can avoid political talk on my blog since Paul and I are both incredibly interested in presidential politics. We are very pro-Obama in this house. We are not anti-Hillary or anti-McCain, so I won't be ripping on them here if you happen to be a visiting Republican or Hillary fan. If you don't like it, like me anyway. It won't be that often.

Yesterday morning I was browsing through Barack Obama's website. He has a very impressive website if you haven't visited it. You can check for events in your state and there are all sorts of groups that have formed on his site. In the events section for MN, I saw that a woman from Virginia, MN is hosting a "Postcards for Obama" event. You don't have to go anywhere, you can do it at home. You buy regional postcards and write a pro-Obama note on the postcard. You put stamps on the postcards, place them in a larger envelope, and then mail them off to a Women for Obama group that addresses them to voters in upcoming primary states. Ellen, Carly, and I went to Walmart yesterday and picked up 20 Minnesota postcards. Ellen and I have been working on getting the notes written. We only have a few more left to do and we'll get them in the mail tomorrow.

Paul kind of shook his head on this one, but I really like it. I am someone who is moved by the person who makes their own political sign to display in their yard. I like political activism that is done by a regular person more than a $100,000 ad that runs during Wheel of Fortune. Plus I liked that this was something that Ellen could help with, and Carly helped with picking out the postcards. I like to think that the person who receives the postcard will think it's nice to connect with a voter from Minnesota. It's a little more personal. I certainly don't expect that it will get someone to change the way they planned to vote, but I know that I was heavily persuaded by the 3 different women who called from Iowa in the days leading up to Super Tuesday.

The next political post will probably be when I get a new tee shirt.

It's just not funny.

We have about a foot of snow on the ground and it continues to snow. Yesterday we had temps in the upper 40s. We took Carly over to the park a couple different times to play. Paul and I both went out for runs - good for Paul for starting again! We ran errands in the morning. All day long the sky was blue and it was just a great spring day. We were really thinking that the weather channel had to be wrong when they said we'd get up to 6 inches overnight with another 6 today. Well, they were wrong in that we got even more snow overnight.

Today will be an inside day. Ellen and Carly are playing Guitar Hero right now. Paul is watching "Meet the Press." Ellen and I will finish a little grassroots politics project that we began yesterday. I might have to find a cooking project to work on. Paul says he has to go to Super One today, so I could have him pick up a few things. Yesterday I made almond toffee popcorn and it turned out quite well. It's a pretty simple recipe, so maybe I'll post it here. I'll take some pictures and add couple more posts to the blog.

Things you find in a big box

My aunt bought a big box of vintage aprons at an auction not too long ago. Laurie knew that I had been picking up some old aprons here and there last summer. Laurie was looking through the box and and spotted this calendar apron from 1967 - the year I was born. She gave Kris a couple bucks for the apron and it arrived at our house yesterday. I'm very pleased with it! I washed & pressed it and had Ellen take my picture in it today. The skull & cross-bones tee is not a good piece to wear with this apron, but those are things you notice after the picture has been taken.

Thanks, Laurie!

Some pictures from Easter

I think Gracie liked me best. Wouldn't you agree, Ellen?

Into the Wild

My latest Netflix recommendation. What a great movie. I read the book a few years ago and really liked it. I thought this movie truly captured the essence of Chris McCandless - a nice young man, but also a knucklehead. I liked him, but he did a lot of things that bothered me. It's one of those movies that you think about for a few days.

If you liked that book and movie, I recommend that you read another Jon Krakauer book - "Into Thin Air." I put "Into Thin Air" in my top five list of books. I could not put it down and I talked about it to the point that Paul told me to "Quit saying Sherpa!"

We watched "Gone Baby Gone" last week and liked it. They certainly said the F-word a lot, but it was an interesting story. "The Nanny Diaries" was not good at all. Good book, bad movie.

How am I doing Ellen? That's three posts and I'm not done yet.

But I haven't been a total slacker.

Last week the bike trail that leads to Hibbing became free of snow. That means I can run on it and I have been as of last Thursday. It's so much better than running the streets in town. I went out this afternoon and probably went a little over four miles. I have my one race to run this summer on the 4th of July and I should be ready for it.

I've also been doing Turbo Jam - perhaps you've seen the infomercial? Totally worth the money. It's cardio kickboxing and it's actually fun - a great workout. I think I told you about my other infomercial fitness product in the early days of my blog - the Transfirmer - also worth the money.

I have been a slacker.

Ellen got after me for not posting on my blog, so I'll add a few new ones today.

Last week was kind of a depressing week and I just didn't feel much like posting. When I first started my blog I posted a recipe from Lolly - the cook at our ECFE class. Her daughter, Jill, is one of the ECFE teachers and we've had a two year Thursday night relationship with Jill. We are big fans of Jill and this year we enjoyed getting to know her mom. The night before Easter, Lolly died. On Easter she didn't show up for the family dinner. She didn't answer her phone. They sent someone over to the house and they found her at the bottom of her stairs. They were going to do an autopsy to determine the cause of death. But since she did nothing to break her fall, they suspect something very sudden happened. What makes it even worse is that Jill's dad died suddenly of a heart attack last fall. Jill's only 27. She has a younger brother and they're having a hard time with all of this. I went to the visitation for Lolly last week and it was really sad. I hope they'll be OK. And then Mom called about our neighbor from back home, Margaret, dying and it was a depressing week.

On a brighter ECFE class note - Stacy, one of the moms, had her twins last week. She had two little girls named Maija and Alexis. They were 6 pounds, 6 ounces and 7 pounds, 7 ounces. I guess they are all doing well. I was happy to hear that she would be bringing home two good size newborns. For a baby gift I picked up a big pack of diapers, a box of wipes, and a refill. They have two little girls already, so I figured they were in good shape for baby clothes. I'll give her a call later this week and see if she is up for a quick visit. Ellen wants to go with and Carly said that she doesn't like babies when I mentioned the twins. I don't know where that one came from.