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.