Only the Best Come North

And several years later...

2010-10-17T13:43:00.002-05:00

So I was just writing about being a gecko owner back in 2007, and here I am, now an owner to Sam, toddler 2.0 =)

I rarely think of my once-written in blog... like all those diary attempts I did growing up. One and a half week here, two weeks there. Needless to say, I have problems sticking to my writing.

Maybe I'll pick this back up a little.

For now, I'll aim you to someone I met at church growing up. She has had quite a year...

Michelle

Seasons...big surprise!

2007-08-11T11:09:00.000-05:00

You Belong in Spring

Optimistic, lively, and almost always happy with the world...
You can truly appreciate the blooming nature of spring.
Whether you're planting flowers or dyeing Easter eggs, spring is definitely your season!

What Season Are You?

The craziest things...

2007-05-29T22:29:00.000-05:00

Never thought I'd be a leopard gecko owner...Who knew =)

My friend Christie was giving away her two lizards (our new leopard gecko and a bearded dragon) because her two boys weren't as interested in them as they once were (aka, mom became the caretaker). Since Abbey and Stephen thought it would be a great idea, I told her we would gladly take FRED, the three year old. I am warming up to our new lizard friend, even though I won't be the one feeding him the mealworms =)

Here is a kind of cool link for those of you who are creatively inclined...
http://onelittleword.blogspot.com/

Words are cool.

Finished...

2007-05-23T22:10:00.000-05:00

I'm DONE WITH GRADUATE SCHOOL!!

Realistically, that doesn't mean that I'll post a lot more than I do.

But I might.

A picture is worth...

2006-07-18T15:13:00.000-05:00

Some photos from this summer...

Fireworks on the 4th

Stephen and I camping

Jeremy Nelson on our kayak trip

Cindy, Chris, and Stephen at the fireworks

Stephen and Abbs camping

Oh those dog days of summer...

2006-07-18T13:39:00.000-05:00

I thought maybe I'd be apt to write more now that it is summer, but I had also tricked myself into thinking I'd have the house spotless by now or that I'd write to my grandma more often, and, well, if you were my grandma or my house you'd see how that's gone. To be perfectly honest, I have never been good at documenting my life religiously even though I like the idea of it. When I was younger, I would start a new diary with the best intentions, but after several entries I would just be done with it I guess. The best effort I ever made was in college, and it wasn't even in a journal. Martin (foreign ex. student at MHS our senior year) and I wrote crazily long letters back and forth from ND to Germany, and I had the foresight to photocopy everything I wrote. A lot was going on in my life, and we generally shared everything. So I do have a good record of say 1994 - 1996. But that's about it.

Pair my lazy habits of writing about myself with the fact that I want to lay my life out for friends, but I know the audience can be anyone out there with a computer and a connection, and I get genuinely creeped out. I mean I know there are bloggers out there who are much more interesting than me (see list below, I'm not just self-depricating) and who share more than I ever would, but, mmmmmm, I dunno. You see, I'm the paranoid freak who locks the house when I take the recycling out back to the alley. Of course that's only when I am home alone. And for the record, the DQ by our house was robbed at gunpoint last year... So as much as I habitually read Heather's blog (Dooce) and Andrea's blog (superherodesigns) and they don't know me in any way, shape, or form, I am uneasy about unknown people reading mine. (Did I just admit that I am a hideous lurker? And that I am a hypocrite?)

Maybe this is just all an excuse for the fact that I doubt my wit and doubt that people do in fact read my blog in the first place.

(I guess I'm admitting that I'm insecure in some ways, too.)

Anyways, on with the real business for the day, lists. Because lists are easy, and lists don't require stunning wit!

A few of my favorite summer things:
(like the last fav. things list, not people, just things!)
Oh lovely Costco, how you are so much more desirable than Sam's Club.
Nature's Path Flax Plus Cereal (from Costco)
Vats of blueberries (from Costco)
Ecopolitan--Kim and I went on a lunch date here last Thursday.
Sommerfest/Macy's 24 Hours of Music--except for the fact that we took the city bus (and were totally proud of not driving for once) and missed getting into Orchestra Hall for the 8pm performance by the orchestra. We did see The New Standards, however, which could be a "fav things" line-item in themselves.
Ploughshare Farm--our CSA. We signed up to get a load of organic right-from-the-farm produce this summer. We are sharing it with Chris and Cindy, which gives us a good excuse to see them every week, too. Which reminds me that CHRIS and CINDY are back from Central America after living the good life there since February. Incredibly tan and looking good!
They are in Northeast right now but will be moving to south Mpls in August.
Camping--Wild River State Park. This is our regular spot, but I'd love to get back to Jay Cooke SP sometime. I think I put up some pictures last year around this time.
Kayaking--Stephen sold the old 70s speedboat that sat in our garage for two years, and we bought kayaks with the cash. Yes, the boat would have been fun, but being the non-SUV people we are, we never had a vehicle
big enough to pull the beast. The kayaks are considerably lighter...
REI--finally got a membership
Aveda Pure Privilege membership

A few of my favorite websites:
Heather B. Armstrong, full of wit I mean it
Andrea, honestly gives me hope for my creativity in the future
Another great writer who has an amazingly creative site
Loobylu and husband's creative kid sight. surely worth checking out
Ali Edwards. As much as I fight even wanting to do anything that remotely resembles (scrapbooking) I entertain the notion of doing it digitally when I look at her stuff.
Sabrina. I found her book when I was getting a divorce, forgot about it, and somehow came across her website in a completely different way. The world works in mysterious ways. Super creative and inspiring.

Have enjoyed in the last month:
A Prairie Home Companion movie
Over the Hedge--Ben Folds on the soundtrack! And please note that I didn't fall asleep during either movie... This is monumental.
Camping at Wild River
A MN Lightning game
Fireworks in downtown Mpls on the 4th.
Soccer games with Abbs
Sommerfest (see above)
Kayaking on Lake of the Isles and the St. Croix
Waterpark of America

Still to do this summer:
Canterbury Park
Music and movies in the park (Haley Bonar and Low!!)
Twins game with Marcus and family
Horseback riding at Wild River Stables
Mini golf

Thesis update:
I turned in the first three chapters of my thesis to Walter last Friday. 99 pages. Finally.

Something interesting I found this week: We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us. --Joseph Campbell This is especially interesting for people like me who are planners. It reminds me that I can and should look at life in a different way more often than I do.

MS

Voice, where are you sucker?

2006-05-15T17:55:00.000-05:00

So I don't know what was up with my writing yesterday, but I felt like my writing "voice" (uh, if I have one) was nowhere to be found...just a clusterfk of imaginings. Things I wanted to say, but not really a flow to them. Which made me cranky. Cranky.

So I do a fair share of blog-looking when I should really be doing my thesis, I guess, but I do get some inspiration from some that I read, so I'll have to link them sometime. One off the top of my head is www.superherodesigns.com I think. And her Community/Links section is good. I guess sometimes I get afraid of living blindly and some of the sites I frequent give me hope...and help me to reflect and come up with new ideas and laugh. Which is important.

My best friend from highschool (one Jennifer Smith) is getting married in September in northern MN. She lives in San Francisco, and I think her choice for the wedding spot is excellent. We've not talked a whole lot in the past several years, and I think because we never really fought as best friends have a weird passive agressive way of presenting our frustration in not being good adult friends. I wonder if this happens to other people, too. I wrote her yesterday, she replied today, and in what has to only be considered a miracle, I actually replied again just about a half an hour ago. This is the quickest reply I've ever had to her in probably 10 years... Here's something I wrote to her today...

"Ok, so I completely know why we were best friends in high school  =)  
Your emails always make me feel good.  Most of the time I view our 
friendship with my tail between my legs, like I've really screwed up 
somehow and lost you forever.  I guess time without correspondance 
and miscommunication will do that, but I usually just feel dumb about 
it.  Very grown up, I know...Anyways, you always give me hope that I 
haven't completely screwed myself out of a great friend, even if we 
aren't "current" I guess in each others lives.  I do want to work to 
improve that throughout our 30s, but like anything that changes for 
the better, I know I'll need to try harder and not just talk about 
writing more...actually do it.  The one thing I want you know know is 
that when I hunker in (usually in the winter, but not just then) it 
isn't just away from you.  I'm not off visiting other friends or 
going out all the time here.  Stephen and I and our friends in Mpls 
are pretty guilty of the same; really we go out with Jeremy Nelson 
every other week and that's our only stable going out time.  So this 
"taking time for friends because you only live once and need to reach 
out" thing... yea, gotta work on it on several fronts. =("

I really started to think about how friendships make the transition into
adulthood several years ago when some of Stephen's friends made the
decision to cut off one of the guys who wasn't really giving anything in
terms of a friendship/relationship anymore, who maybe never had but
was just one of the guys in high school.  It scared the living daylights
out of me.  Not that I thought it was unjust...the guy really didn't
contribute a lot to them I guess and I don't know most of what went on,
but I thought about my relationship with Jen and how I've been so
content about being so passive and not really giving anything.  Just
taking it for granted.  And I didn't want her to hate me or to not want anything
to do with me.  Not that we both haven't been guilty of not writing/calling,
but I guess I take it on the hardest for some reason.  I mean I lived with her
during the summer of 97 and she's been here for me through TWO weddings,
but we lose track of each other's day to day worries,  joys, happenings, etc.
Which sucks plainly spoken.  And it is weird because another good friend
(Heather) and I can pick right back up, but I think that's because we weren't as
close as Jen and I were.  Any thoughts? This happening to anyone else?  Am I
yelling into a deserted forest?  Did I ever tell you that the blog world sometimes
creeps me out?  MS

Happy mother's day!

2006-05-14T20:15:00.000-05:00

I must admit, Mother's Day is a little weird for me as a step-mom... Most people envision step-moms in stereotyipcal ways--as the evil Cinderella type, as someone who only has to parent on the weekends, and definitely as secondary to the "real" mom. Are you really a parent??? These things are hard for me. I raise Abbey with all my heart; we have her four nights a week which means I help put her to bed/wake her up/dress her/feed her/love her/help with every whim of hers four days and nights each week. Unlike the stereotypical divorced dad, Stephen has equal custody. No weekends-only or just summertime crap. When Abbey is here, it's full-on parenting.

So today when she said, "You are the best thing in the world, even if I didn't come out of your stomach," it felt pretty sweet =) I got mushy inside, but I get mushy inside a lot with Abbs; she's a cool kid to have.

Parenting as a step parent is definitely different than what I have always envisioned parenting would be like. Even if you get along with the other set of people (which I do) you still have to reconcile your ideas of parenting (How you think it should be done--what is really best for a kid? What are your goals in raising a kid?) with other adults. And I learned the hard way--after a divorce--that people don't always have the same vision of what adulthood should be like...I've come to realize that likewise, people have different visions of raising a child. So I've learned a lot, encountered a lot of stress, and I've learned a ton about myself by being a parent. I believe I've become a better person by helping raise Abagail.

Stephen and I are looking to get pregnant within the next year, and while I'm still a little scared, I am excited, too! I think we are finally ready. I hear from people that there isn't really a good time to get pregnant, but I fully believe that there are better times than others. We've had to be patient before--had to wait at least two years to pay off debt from past marriages before we could buy a house and be financially stable. Had to wait to get a dog before we got that house. Have to wait, I suppose several more years, before we have some extra cash to travel and take Abbey on some memorable trips (you know, actually do Spring Break!) Have to wait, hopefully not forever, before we can get a lake cabin... Had to wait until we felt ready to have a baby, and I think that time has finally come...So my sister lent me five or six baby books. They are a little overwhelming (and I'll take Stephen's advice to not read any of them cover to cover or else I'll become a hypochondriac) but I don't know ANYTHING about pregnancy really (other than take folic acid and, um, practice, practice, practice), so I've been looking at them a little. Got a lot to learn! I started with Abbey when she was just turning five, so I don't have much baby experience =) I'll get there soon enough I guess!

Anyways, one last bit on parenting before I fully give in to having to balance my checkbook (can't procrastinate much longer). The new Vanity Fair has an article on Nicole Richie, who was adopted by Lionel Richie and his wife when she was around 9. Her biological dad played with Lionel and her biological mom was on the road with Prince, so she was left a lot as a baby, toddler, and kid. After I explained this to Stephen and Abbey at supper (Cause everyone needs to know this, right? Yeah, we have great table talk =) Abbey asked if N. Richie's mom loved her. I said that she probably did, but that love in itself isn't enough to raise a child well. Loving her daughter didn't mean that she was being a good parent. Love is definitely the first requirement, but there is a lot more to it than that. I love Abbey with all my heart, but I've learned that it indeed takes much more...including a lot of trial and error...and patience, and heart, and listening, and humor, and on and on and on...to raise a child. I'm sure I'll add "getting up in the middle of the night numerous times" and "changing diapers" to that list sometime here. So looking forward to that =)

Well, that's it for now. Time to face Microsoft Money. Unless I find something else to do before then... Hasta luego... Michelle

2006-05-11T22:08:00.000-05:00

life is going better, and my friend, jenny sue, wrote to me =) long live long lost friends... thesis update: i'm on page 73 of chapter 2... almost there. 19 days of school left! almost summer =) here are some photos from last weekend. went to the twins game, and they won! go twins...

love that

2006-04-29T10:19:00.000-05:00

Back to normal.... love that little quip from the last post. There is one part of life that is always dramatic-stressful, and so this week, I have to guffaw at "back to normal." Yet it's off limits because it isn't directly related to us, so what's a girl to do?

Find things that she can control-- and exploit them...

Back to WeightWatchers online, of which exploitation will only help, I guess.
Back to serious time at Lifetime, of which exploitation will only make the $69 bill more worthwhile. (Actually, swimming with Abbey always makes it worthwhile. And Friday night hottubbing....yeah, worthwhile!)

And these are things I have been aiming at anyways, so that when we get preg., I will be healthier...

Of course my ill temper comes only from sheer frustration.
And so I try to focus on other things...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Like the completely cool poets we saw last Sunday night who have been competing this week in NYC at the International Youth Poetry Slam Festival. Stephen, Abbs, and I caught them at Macalester along with an acting class from a HS in St. Paul performing a play that they had written about the govts response to Katrina.

Which reminds me of my favorite adult slam master.... Taylor Mali... and some of his spoken word, which of course is better live.

Totally like whatever, you know?
By Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com

In case you hadn't noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?

Declarative sentences - so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not -
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It's like what I've heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we've just gotten to the point where it's just, like . . .
whatever!

And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness
is just a clever sort of . . . thing
to disguise the fact that we've become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!

I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

You do. And you have to learn to let things go. So that life can be, in fact, back to normal. Which is my personal lesson for the week. Do the best with what you have where you are...

Our week

2006-04-20T22:05:00.000-05:00

After an...interesting Easter...we were back to normal life on Monday. Monday night we went to the driving range because Abbey has been asking about playing golf. Tuesday night, we went to L2 to get her a spring outfit that she's had her eye on. She had some L2 Bucks, which is essentially 25 dollars free, she paid 15 from allowance, and we paid the rest. We generally don't spend mucho $ on her clothes, but she is getting older... So finally, more interesting than text, are some photos. I WILL post some from the home improvement section of our life in the near future!

oh my

2006-04-15T11:45:00.000-05:00

Well, well... some time to write. We here at the G/S household have been a load of fun lately! Yesterday, I woke up at 6:30 to let the dog out and feed her...and promptly started in on my thesis work. Of course I did go back to bed for an hour or so, but really, aside from two appointments (chiro and orthopedist) and a few trips to Home Depot, I worked on it until 1am. So far on Chapter 2 (the literature review that has had me banging my head against a wall for the past year and a half) I have 45 pages. I expect this chapter to be 60+ pages when I am done, so I've got a little ways yer. I truly have never EVER used my brain and entire being as much as I have for my master's thesis, but this is it I suppose--the difference between your bachelor's and master's--this time I am giving back to my profession., not just taking...becoming an expert in something, actually doing primary research and not just lookin up what others have written and regurgitating it (although that is the purpose of Chapter 2). I have several incentives for getting done: 1) My family won't have to listen to me talk about how I need to work on it; 2) I will get paid more; 3) Any further grad classes will finally count to getting paid even more (I'm to my limit now until I graduate with the MAEd); 4) If I don't finish by January, I will have to pay another $1400 for the capstone course; 5) I can possibly start into more creative endeavors again, like making jewelry and making some $ from it; 6) My brain will be back...except for the fact that I hear it departs when you get pregnant and possibly for the next 18 years, so even though I'm not pregnant yet, don't expect much for the next 20 years or so =)

Stephen has gotten himself into quite a mess. To take you back a bit, we are redoing our basement (I'll post photos sometime) and in the stage of waiting for more electrical bids as it will be around $2000 to wire and any little less from a company would be grand). So in the waiting process, we decided to paint in the kitchen and hallway. After an expensive trip to Hirschfield's (where we purchased paint that is bad for us) we began our journey into secondary home improvement (the primary job being in the basement). Painting isn't easy. Tape, remove all the face plates, remove the vents (and buy new ones b/c the old ones were nasty), remove all the woodwork, prime, paint, try to miter some new woodwork *chair rails* made from plasticy-balsa stuff, put it all together, and voila, a nice new kitchen and hallway four days later. Then there was the table set in the kitchen with the hunter green paint that, mmm, didn't do much for the light blue and cream.

So began Stephen's journey. He decided to strip the paint, which may be easy on flat surfaces, but on chairs with the little dowels in the back part and non-straight legs, not quite. He was up until 1:30am and is still working on removing the paint right now. Let's just say that when we redo the cupboards in the kitchen, it will be a cinch compared to the bastard table and chairs. I'm more prone to spray paint or NEW tables and chairs, but Stephen, the hard-worker-and-good-follow-througher he is won't give up until they are done. And they will look nice. We hope.

Abbs comes back today at around 4pm. Can't wait...we have great Saturday nights, sometimes karaoke, always Saturday Night Live (unless she's grounded from it, just twice though) and it seems so quiet when she's not here. Things have been going well with her lately; she's really excited for 5th grade and is constantly asking Stephen and I for advice on boys and all sorts of other things. It has been so much fun to watch her grow into a young lady and seeing her become more independent and inquisitive. She's chomping at the bit to go camping in the pop-up and wants to invite a friend with sometime this summer. Lately she wants to golf and go curling with Stephen, croquet and biking. It's great to watch a child open their wings (so to speak, that sounds so cheesy, but it's true). Last week she had a plan for a "new self" at her new school next year (which as a good stepmomI would never indulge--the plan or the school =) what her fav. color will be, what her fav. bands will be, etc. Reminded me of myself....I was forever writing up little plans like that when I was about 4th - 7th grade. I was glad to see that her's didn't include anything focusing on body size...which mine too often did.

Anyhoo, I need to go get her Easter basket and (blech) peeps and (yea) chocolate for tomorrow morning. Stephen is making a hunt for her, something she completely loves. AND, we are going to the Universalist church with my parents, sister and her family! Will be the first Easter not at a Lutheran church! Makes more sense to me overall, but should be interesting. Thanks for listening, MS

2006-04-05T17:51:00.000-05:00

So I'm not sure why I get motivated to post when I do, but I thought this personality test would be interesting. I got the link/idea from Kari, Abbey's mom.

Here goes...

Advanced Global Personality Test Results

Extraversion	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	60%
Stability	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Orderliness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	76%
Accommodation	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Interdependence	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	83%
Intellectual	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Mystical	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Artistic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	43%
Religious	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Hedonism	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	36%
Materialism	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Narcissism	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Adventurousness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Work ethic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	43%
Self absorbed	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Conflict seeking	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Need to dominate	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%

Romantic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Avoidant	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Anti-authority	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	43%
Wealth	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	36%
Dependency	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	43%
Change averse	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Cautiousness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Individuality	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	36%
Sexuality	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	63%
Peter pan complex	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Physical security	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	90%
Physical Fitness	\|\|\|\|\|\|	24%
Histrionic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Paranoia	\|\|\|\|\|\|	23%
Vanity	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Hypersensitivity	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Female cliche	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	83%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Stability results were medium which suggests you are moderately relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic.

Orderliness results were high which suggests you are overly organized, reliable, neat, and hard working at the expense too often of flexibility, efficiency, spontaneity, and fun.

Extraversion results were moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.

Trait snapshot:
clean, self revealing, open, organized, outgoing, social, enjoys leadership and managing others, dominant, makes friends easily, does not like to be alone, assertive, hard working, finisher, optimistic, positive, likes to stand out, likes large parties, respects authority, practical, high self esteem, perfectionist, dislikes chaos, busy, not familiar with the dark side of life, controlling, high self control, traditional, tough, likes to fit in, conforming, brutally honest, takes precautions

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Not too familiar with the dark side of life??? I thought that phrase was particularily humorous! Not that I am, really, but I think that an unwanted divorce (although I couldn't be more thankful now) counts as being familiar... But yes, I do admit, pretty functional family of origin, very functional marriage and home life, functional job, etc. And I guess I DON'T sit in dark corners and drink or anything... Hmmm. So maybe it's true.

Likes large parties? Actually, small parties will do, but I can stand big ones. Just never go to any...

Respects authority? Pretty much, unless you mean the current political administration, which I have no respect for.

Dislikes chaos? DEFINITELY. I hate chaos. Hate it.

Tough? Ha, ha, ha. So I know how to argue well. You would to if you honed your skills with your first husband. But really, I have toned down my instinct to go for the jugular when in a disagreement...

Finisher... of most things, like, uh, what's on the plate, but not of books or movies, which I have a low tolerance for. I fall asleep way too easily when in front of a book or a movie.

Brutally honest? My face generally shows my first reaction I guess, but I don't think I'm a cutting person. Check my bro on that one! He's more brutally honest than I ever will be.

Which reminds me-- Chris and Cindy should be home in early June! I am glad they are in Costa Rica/Nicaragua/Panama, but I'm starting to miss them quite a bit.

Spring Break is next week. HOORAY! In other news, I've been coming along on the thesis, which is probably why I never blog. Graduate school... my nemesis.

Should be good for a little while. Sorry to those of you who check back and never find updates, like I do with DYLAN's, and AMANDA's, and JEREMY's blogs... I always get bummed when there is nothing new, yet it somehow doesn't prompt me to post any more frequently...

Have a good one!

sunday

2006-02-26T09:47:00.000-06:00

Fewer and farther inbetween wasn't my goal for posting on this blog, but I have been getting more work done in terms of my thesis, the student newspaper, and reading for the two book clubs I have this week (one professional and one personal.) Sorry, real life trumps the screen /always.

Good news though, so I thought I'd break the ice for the first time in several weeks.

In addition to a solo show at the Gage Gallery at Augsburg College in 2007
and a 5 ft. show at Gallery 360 in Mpls in August

Stephen has been offered a solo show at the Taube Museum of Art in Minot, ND
either in September if he can fill the main gallery
or later this year or in 2007 if he has less work to show.

Congratulations! This is great news because as you know if you have submitted work for shows before, the rejection letters rush in more than the acceptance letters.

This is only one facet of Stephen's work; he has two other "sides" to his professional work: wedding photography (7 weddings booked for this upcoming season so far) and the business side... just shot for Minnesota Monthly, Augsburg three days a week, headshots, theater shots, etc. He is a busy freelancer and has really built his business. Which, I might add, was a little nerve-wracking for me when we got married. Teachers are on contracts and are guaranteed wages and benefits, so the whole piece-it-together thing was foreign to me. But I haven't met many people who work harder than Stephen and still cook supper every night, so it shouldn't be a surprise! And he still plays Narnia-Polly Pockets with Abbey, too =)

Speaking of Abbey, we have loads upon loads to Girl Scout Cookies to deliver. And eat. And go to the gym to work off. What a great time of year... =)

it's been

2006-02-09T22:24:00.000-06:00

a while. The sick has finally caught up with me so the little time I spend posting in the first place has really suffered. The week has been full of stresses...
--student newspaper not done
--thesis not done (and time is creeping forward at an amazing rate)
--Chris and Cindy flew to their new home of Costa Rica on Tuesday
--chiropractor Monday and Friday, which is good but busy
--knee doctor on Tuesday, maybe a torn meniscus, maybe surgery
--MRI on my knee today, I HATE MRIs and I'll post a poem by Bill Holm about
them sometime (I don't think he likes them either)
--haven't worked out in a couple of weeks, and that's what keeps me on-kilter

The saviors of my week
--Stephen, my cook and my love who puts up with my occasional self pity
and sick self
--Abbey, who has been great lately--we've had really good weeks with her and we
get an extra night with her this week! Sweet!
--my parents will be here tomorrow night
--my neice turns two and has a party on Sunday, such a live wire, little ones are great

Monday I get the MRI results... I'll see what's up then I guess. MLGS

TOYMN in Crash

2006-01-24T21:57:00.000-06:00

I always get sad when I hear about things like this. Good people lost.

m-w experiences

2006-01-19T19:12:00.000-06:00

So I write with my students. Can you really be an effective teacher of writing if you don't write yourself? Can you coach hockey if you've never laced up, have only watched the Mighty Ducks?

I'm working on MEMOIR with the kids right now. Can't say I'm all that excited about writing a piece with the thesis, loads of correcting, and the student newspaper looming, (plus regular life like sweeping the black dog hair off of the floor and making sure the laundry gets put away, recycling gets put out). But I think it will be an interesting experience. And I know that all of them aren't super crazy about it either. But (yes, you can start sentences with conjunctions, stylistic you know) the only way to become a better writer is to JUST WRITE. No other way.

So we worked on Memoir-Worthy Experiences for a bit to get some ideas for writing. Here are mine. This really isn't a well thought out list.

Memoir Worthy Experiences
Traveling to CA when I was four
Camping/using acorns as Barbie toys
Too small to go on go carts at Disney Land
Too small to go on a horse ride that Lisa got to go on
Chandelier/surfboard at Great Uncle Dan's
Trampoline/hot springs at campground
Creepy hotel in LA while Mom and Dad were at Teacher's Conv.
Someone was stabbed there that very same night

Trouble with Mr. Serr when I was a senior
Trouble in 3rd grade- punching M. Saunders, writing notes to everyone with advice,
using tape (wasting) as a medical bracelet
Trouble in 1st grade- airplane pencil. stamping Smurf stamps in the tunnel
How I strove to be a good kid/do the right think, yet sometimes trouble struck

Divorce- I don't want to write about this for class

Car crash- changed how I think

Sandy/search for a dog as an adult/companionship

Eye surgery- changed how I think, feeling of loss, so young compared, fear of other eye going bad

Changed my life- step-parenting!

Guitar- follow through

How I deal with change-- cabin being sold, clarinet, Mini-Mart/old buildings, farmsteads

Important? Grad from college, travel to Europe 3X, study abroad/Spain

Night Chris was born, licorace

Travels to NY every few years to visit Dad's side, origin/place, who are we really, how much are our relatives like us without us really knowing them?

+++++++++++++
I think my Writing Territories list is better, but those lists are all at work...
Wanted to put up SOMETHING so as not to completely lose the two actual people who read this...

Have a good weekend!

Tuesday

2006-01-10T21:52:00.000-06:00

Random things you could have heard/witnessed if you were the fly on the wall at our house tonight:

"I really need to stop eating so much chocolate." (MS)
This was after trying on two pairs of pants to figure out what to wear to work tomorrow.
"But there is so much room for chocolate in my life." (MS)
"Did you just say 'There is so much room for chocolate in my life'"? (SG)

"I'm so cute." (SG)
"No, you aren't." (MS)
"Yes, I am." (SG)
"Moms lie." (MS)
"That's the number one rule. Moms lie." (MS)

So after Abbey was thrilled half to the stars by me picking up KFC and bringing it home for supper (my plan since last night when I smelled something similarily good as I headed into the chiropractor), she came back to earth after she confessed that she hadn't indeed read the assignment of chapters 9 - 15 in her reading book for school nor had she finished the questions that go with them. Why do these things always come out at 8:15 when she is in the shower? And after she has sworn that she is done with all of her homework? Parenting. A tough job, but yes, it is ultimately rewarding. Moreso on nights unlike tonight. At 8:15. While the kid's in the shower. So it's no allowance for this week and no SNL on Saturday. Make lemonade with those lemons. There's always SNL next week.

You know you are a dedicated step-mom when you turn your kid's LIGER shirt inside out whilst ironing so as not to distrub the decal on the front. Dedicated or nuts. I prefer dedicated. No wrinkly kid here =)

A walk at Minnihaha Park today

2006-01-02T20:54:00.000-06:00

New Year's at Chris Shaf's

2006-01-02T20:47:00.000-06:00

We celebrated with Jeremy, Chris, and Cindy... Food, Trivial Pursuit, Music, Champagne, and Fireworks! Happy 2006 =)

happy New Year's Eve!

2005-12-31T19:01:00.000-06:00

I'm just waiting for my jeans to finish drying before we take off for Chris and Cindy's house to ring in the new year with the two of them, Jeremy Nelson, and I don't know who else. It's nice to be spending it with them since C + C will be heading to Costa Rica in five weeks indefinitely. We just got back in to town last night, so I haven't had much blog time... Lots to do so far. Any resolutions? I'll post mine tomorrow when I have more time. Cheers! Be safe and be merry tonight. Good times with the Mai Tais, Todd-- We've got lots of Leine's =)

Pictures from a T-Wolves game about two weeks ago. They slammed New Orleans taht night. If you can't tell, we were in the nose-bleeds, but they were free tickets!

favorite things

2005-12-20T19:06:00.000-06:00

So I don't know if you've noticed, but there are NO comments to my question of, "What are a few of YOUR favorite things?" Blogger revolt. I need some comments, some new inspiration, to know that SOMEONE is reading... =)

Got a haircut today.

2005-12-19T16:24:00.000-06:00

The Blizzard

Phillis Levin

Now that the worst is over, they predict
Something messy and difficult, though not
Life-threatening. Clearly we needed

To stock up on water and candles, making
Tureens of soup and things that keep
When electricity fails and phone lines fall.

Igloos rise on air conditioners, gargoyles
Fly and icicles shatter. Frozen runways,
Lines in markets, and paralyzed avenues

Verify every fear. But there is warmth
In this sudden desire to sleep,
To surrender to our common condition

With joy, watching hours of news
Devoted to weather. People finally stop
To talk to each other - the neighbors

We didn't know were always here.
Today they are ready for business,
Armed with a new vocabulary,

Casting their saga in phrases as severe
As last night's snow: damage assessment,
Evacuation, emergency management.

The shift of the wind matters again,
And we are so simple, so happy to hear
The scrape of a shovel next door.

from Mercury, 2001
Penguin Books

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I took a half day today... shouldn't have gone in in the first place, but I didn't have any sub plans written up, and I hate leaving people in the lurch. Besides, I have planning time periods 1 and 2, and I was only giving a test 3 and 4. I think it's been the flu all weekend. Sore back and ribs and sides, stuffy head, chills, stuff like that. It's always weird being home mid-day on a work day. Lots goes on outside of all of our jobs, and it has always been kind of mysterious to me, kind of like when I would leave the school grounds during high school. There's really a world out there that operates between 8 and 3? Generally when I see people enjoying the luxury of walking their dogs or jogging when I'm on my way to work, I swear under my breath, and wonder why they aren't heading to work. Obviously, just because they are out doesn't mean they don't have a job, but I somehow always think that. And I know that teachers get time in the summer, but I just read something where someone wrote that there aren't many jobs that are more mentally and physically labor intensive-- we have to be ON all day, every day, dealing with what seems like everything, sometimes. Last summer, I didn't ever fully unwind from all of the stress, but those kids are one year older now, and I don't have to deal with them except for occasionally in the halls. Anyhow, I just get this eerie feeling when I am home during the day. I don't watch tv much, and I don't even listen to the radio during the week days, so it's this silent world which leaves lots to wonder about. Or sleep through if you feel like I do right now.

Well, Stephen and Abbey are home, so I'm off.... Have a good week =)

McCarthy, Minnesotan

2005-12-12T21:43:00.000-06:00

Remembering Eugene McCarthy

The hills are alive...

2005-12-12T21:22:00.000-06:00

These are a few of my favorite things... (items not people mind you)

Aveda Light Elements Smoothing Fluid (yes, better than Hang Straight)
Oatmeal minty soap from Dunlaoghaire
A warm shower at about 9:30 on a bright day in the summer
with the bathroom light turned off
Victoria's Secret Balmy Days lip balm
My Grateful Dead/Willie Nelson and Trey ticket stubs
Barcelona (and being in Europe in general)
Reading excellent poetry, professional and student work
Minnesota/National Public Radio
specifically Cokie Roberts on Monday mornings at about 7:12 am
(just missed her this morning...)
Bright days, about 70 degrees and clear
My new Forester... rah, rah, rah it drives like such a trooper and keeps me safe
A good workout at Lifetime
Bluegrass music
Campfires and camping in general
Pad Thai
Good Indian food
Stephen's pan-smoked salmon
Election season... I LOVE election season

What are a few of your favOrite things?

sunday night

2005-12-11T20:23:00.000-06:00

thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate on friday! seven bottles of wine and who knows how many beer bottles later... i really am thirty =) for the record, i slept by a plastic bowl all night, but i never had to use it. the surprise of the night: my parents showed up from minot! i didn't expect them to and didn't even entertain the notion that they would. they were in south dakota last week celebrating their anniversary, and we'll see them in a couple of weeks for christmas. so that was pretty cool! got some pretty cool stuff... chiang mai thai gc from jeremy, burt's bees lip assortment from paul and anna, hand-made scarves from lisa and nick, wine from my parents, marshall fields gc from jenny at work, notecards and cool post-its from christie at work, homemade bread from kim and seamus, a very cool card from amanda in minot, dessert snacks from jill, a cool package full of funny things from stephen's parents, assorted cards from relatives... a fleece robe from stephen and abbey. yea! it's different when you get older and don't expect anything. everything including the party is so appreciated.

so my niece, lauren, is just a kick lately! she will be two in mid february and has started talking a lot. of course, that means we all inundate her with requests to say our names and various sentences. at least we have moved on from imploring her to make barn animal sounds, which was our diversion for several months. this phase in her life makes me a little more excited to try to get [you know] next summer. i seem to go back and forth between being really freaked about a little baby and ok about it.

we took abbey to see the sound of music at eastview hs (apple valley) today. they did a great job, and it was fun for me to see lots of past students either acting or on the tech crew or pit orchestra lists. abbey has aspirations of acting, and i'd like to take her to so many more plays than we actually do. can't time slow down somehow?

the new vehicle>>> a 2003 subaru forester, silver. we got a great deal and will have some settlement money to put towards it. still, it sucks to have a car payment after having paid off both of our cars. i must admit that the subaru is a hell of a car! yes, nicer than a saturn wagon.

superhero journal
muse to muse
cool camera
post secret

and last but not least, i found myself writing an apology letter to parents of an off-again friend of abbey's. she got herself in hot water by using things we had said at home about their kid in a different way than we intended them when she spilled the beans in the guise of "my step-mom says that... and that's why i can't be friends with you." obviously none of us (parents) who said anything meant to be malicious when abbey would ask, "who is more __(fill in the blank)__, me or her?" but it still ended up hurting this kid. so that's that. when all was said and done, i felt bad enough to write a page full of apologies.

good enough to start the week...

Michannuel... has a nice ring...

2005-12-07T23:13:00.000-06:00

For unto us a child was born and they called Her name Michannnuel -- meaning Michelle with us! Let us not ever forget that Michelle is with us:

• Even when they take Her name out of the schools (that would be at retirement)
• Even when they take Her name out of the pledges
(hmmm, pledge to MPR every year!)
• Even when they take Her name off the walls of buildings (graffiti?)
(oh, and they took down the big M sign in Minot, that obviously stood for, well,
Michelle... damn them)
• Even when they take Her name off our currency and coins
(ain't got a lot of that anyways...)
• Even when they take the most holy and highest name of all names and
blaspheme it (students who hate me? Abbey when she is a mad teenager?)

Father, let us never forget that it is because of KAREN and LARRY and Your gift of MICHELLE that we live today -- in Bill Clinton's name I pray Amen!
(because everyone knows that he should still be president...)

I suppose that was sac-religious... And here I am being naughty when my guardian angels were so good to me last week... in that I didn't get smacked on the highway after my car crash... because hitting a cement wall isn't enough... but everyone knows they helped out just because I didn't swear at all as I crashed, just repeated, "Oh my God" over and over. Really, it's true!

As a side note, if you are coming to my party on Friday, be ready to drink some wine. Mr. Geffre picked up enough for the whole neighborhood =)

easy come, easy go

2005-12-06T22:05:00.000-06:00

easiest money i've ever gotten
for not eating cake!

i got paid 30 bucks
for driving south
thirty blocks.

they had run out of samples
by the time my shift came around,
so i got cash instead of calories.

Happy happy

2005-12-05T21:14:00.000-06:00

Happy wedding anniversary, Mom and Dad =)
41 years of wedded bliss
and a few gray hairs from their lovely children...

Toby- 10 years

2005-12-05T21:09:00.000-06:00

A note from my brother, Chris:

On december fifth 2005, it will have been ten years since we lost a
good friend, Toby Mock.  I would like to invite everybody who had
anything to do with him to join in a candle light vigil in memory,
alone or with friends, whatever you're comfortable with.  nine pm
central is when i'm going to light mine, please join me and get this
out to as many people as you can who you think would like to know,
never forget.  Peace - Shaff

cake eater

2005-12-02T19:21:00.000-06:00

i don't have the heart to post a picture of my long lost saturn wagon... totaled wagon, that is. otherwise i would.

i AM feeling better each day. today i had to fill out a bunch of paperwork about the crash. i didn't know it was so hard to get into an accident. my knee is all shades of purple, but overall achy-wise, i'm better than i was on tuesday. of course, the pain pills may have something to do with that =)

in other news, i'm getting 30 bucks on tuesday night to take part in a 45-minute cake tasting survey. ha ha! who ever thought i'd get paid for eating cake! and on the same week as my 30th birthday nonetheless!

tuesday

2005-11-30T12:47:00.000-06:00

I crashed into the cement median going 55-60 yesterday after hitting a patch of ice. My car is done for. I'm not feeling so hot either, but nothing's broken. Out of work until next Monday. Gotta get back to the ice packs and bed... Michelle

Turkey Day

2005-11-25T14:29:00.000-06:00

We went to Lisa and Nick's in the afternoon to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner. This is my FAVORITE holiday. You get to be with family, eat good food, and not worry about presents. It's just a nice time to be together.

Wednesday night, we went to the New Dehli with Paul and Anna, so we got to spend some time with Stephen's side, too, while listening to good music a la Paul Hatleid (Lippold).

Abbey =)
Me and the husband
The three Shaf. kids
Cindy and Lauren

Turkey Run

2005-11-25T14:24:00.000-06:00

It was a cold morning yesterday, but we got up and trudged along the streets of downtown Minneapolis with over 6,000 other people for the 5K Turkey Run! Stephen, Jeff, and I came in at 53:30! It was kind of a nice way to start the day =)

As I was driving home today, I came up with the beginnings...

2005-11-22T17:12:00.000-06:00

Working title: Bound

I've had a hard time reconciling
the long dark nights
that have slowly arrived.

When the blanket
of evening
tucks in the day,
I feel muffled;
the door has been shut for the night.

To leave the confines of our house,
unthinkable.
I am desperate, helpless.
But not agoraphobic.
Don't get me wrong.
I can leave; I just feel like I can't.
Like it's not an option.
Like I need to cuddle up
to the fire that we don't have.
Put on slippers,
make some tea.

You shouldn't be surprised
to learn, then,
that my favorite day
of the winter
is December 22nd,
when long days melt
into lightness,
and I am assured
that we are indeed
headed once again
into spring.

I hope

2005-11-21T21:40:00.000-06:00

that wasn't too new-ageish. I'm really not like that. But I did think it was interesting.

LTF Advice

2005-11-21T21:26:00.000-06:00

Interesting...

"..easing your attachment to a struggle-centric reality needn't spell death for your personality."
commitments:
tell the truth
ask for what you want
keep your agreements
take responsibility

from Let it Be Easy: Simple Actions... by Tolly Burkan

Just clearing out a Lifetime Fitness magazine. I always seem to find interesting pieces that I rip out and then somehow forget about...

I woke up

2005-11-20T09:41:00.000-06:00

with a headache this morning. You'd think it was caused from beer after having a party for Abbey with five 9 year olds, but no, NO alcohol consumed post-party (or pre, smart asses) ... Or maybe from the noise of girls screaming and running through the house. Hmmm, I teach 7th graders, so five little girls for four hours really doesn't hold a candle to a middle school hallway. No, it is from TOO MUCH SUGAR. Go figure! Must stay away from all forms of chocolate today...

It's almost Friday... that's gotta count for something.

2005-11-17T21:06:00.000-06:00

So it was another Wednesday night and another trip to W...gr..ns. I feel like I have to be a little sneaky now because of one reader who searched for said store name on a blog search engine so he could comment and plug his site, which is anti-W (not anti-THAT-W, although, good idea) because he had a bad work comp experience with the company. So while I feel for the man, I do have to admit that I visited the store again last night. I wasn't driving, and it was closest.... as if that makes a conscience any clearer.

But we did emerge, again, with an odd assortment of --------->
throat lozenges
Tylenol drinkable throat fixer-upper
.7 lead
one symapthy card
one Sodaku book, to try for the first time

I still maintain that that store has everything you don't need. It does appear, however, that we do need some of these odds and ends. My personal favorite juxtaposition... maybe the saline nasal spray, pencil top erasers, and motor oil. The lead and sympathy card is pretty good though, too.

Has anyone out there tried S***ku? My brain has trouble functioning that way, so it is interesting for me.(A critical thinking puzzle is one of my worst enemies!) I realized during the thick of graduate school courses that I can get to the answers/solutions to things, but it takes me longer than other people. I also realized that I am a slow reader... which was dissapointing to me for some reason as I have always been a really good student and perceived things to be easy. Not so, I learned. Maybe that's why I'm still talking about finishing my thesis rather than finishing it. No, that's just pure laziness and overworkedness. Procrastination. I can't lie about that one. I'll go to thesis hell... and that's a place that I don't want to be.

As we were driving on 494, we saw a billboard, and I don't quite know what to think about it. It was for Jack Link's beef jerky... "Banana chips can cause figure skating." I didn't get the same connotation Stephen did right away ("Forgive me, for I am a slow study." Can you tell me what play that is from?) So when he explained it as he saw it, I was really surprised that something that bold (and on the side I fundamentally don't agree with) would be up on a billboard.

Bret Ocholik, vice president of marketing, Jack Link’s Beef Jerky: “The heritage of Jack Link’s is steeped in the tradition of the Wisconsin north woods – we’re about being real and having fun."

Does that include buying into stereotypes of men and women and being homophobic, perchance? I DO know what I think about that. Meet my friend (past professor) Paul...

Carmichael Lynch did the ad campaign... The print ad is on their site under Our Stuff, Link Snacks, Inc. Hmmmm.

Then Stephen told me about this... "

Welcome to the visitors' locker room at Iowa's Kinnick Stadium, where pink is the color of choice to weaken and debilitate opposing football players...

There was controversy in Iowa City earlier this season when several professors at Iowa said the color demeans women and homosexuals.

The Wolverines said they don't care what color is used in locker rooms.

'You could paint the locker room pink, you could paint it red, you could paint it white ... a locker room is a locker room,' Michigan receiver Carl Tabb said."

Yeah right, Mr. Tabb. Steroids anyone? (For the record, I generally hate football and have never (and never will be) a Vikings fan.)

cast away

2005-11-14T21:40:00.000-06:00

I got a letter from the church I grew up in stating that if they do not hear from me they must consider removing my name from their membership roles. I finally wrote back tonight.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

November 14, 2005

Dear _________,

Thank you for the letter. As I am permanently living in Minneapolis, please release me from membership from St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. While St. Mark’s served me well growing up, I do not desire to be part of a LCMS church as an adult, and I will not be transferring membership at this time. My best to Pastor Roth and Geneal as well as the families I grew up with. I will still be attending Christmas services with my parents.

Sincerely,

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What do you think of that? I am officially a member of NO church. That feels kind of weird. So if I have to have a funeral, where would that take place? Is the Christmas disclaimer lame?

currently

2005-11-14T19:24:00.000-06:00

i should be: working on my thesis.

currently, i am: avoiding what i should be doing.

instead, i will round up the troops (all two of them) and head to blockbuster. no, not to get a movie-- you know me better than that. we will be getting wonka bars to make invitations to abbey's wwatcf party set for this saturday. chocolate fondue, oh how i don't need you, but here i come. pin-the-tail-on-augustus, you wonder... just you wait.

so i didn't get sick-sick over the weekend, but i did get sick from taking too much over the counter medicine. as in wake-you-up-at-430am-you'll-be-sorry-if-you-stay-in-bed sick. i don't know, too much acetometaphin? or cold-eeze? it was less than desirable.

but i'll spare you the details.

galway kinnell is speaking at this very moment at plymouth congregational church in downtown mpls. same place we saw ted kooser, poet laureate. but, we've got other family and kid things to do, so i figured we shouldn't push it after i figured we should. it was one of those great last minute ideas that ended up lost. another poet on another day i guess. afterall, we've drug abbey to lawrence ferlenghetti at the u of m (when she was too young and got impatient with us-- do you blame her? can a little little kid really sit still through a long poetry reading? there was bilingual poetry by some other people first) and then ted kooser when he came last year. galway can wait...

you can check out gk here. it would be a great idea...

an attempt

2005-11-11T18:08:00.000-06:00

diversity of posts, right? well, i'm teaching free-verse poetry in the writer's workshop right now, so i thought i'd post one of my attempts. now, this does mean that i would be officially outed in my challenge to create a site that neither parents nor students can find, as i have shared this poem with my students, but the chances of that happening are slim to none, as i don't think i have a lot of viewers, and most people don't have time to sift through archives. am i really having this internal conversation with myself? must be the cold medicine... it's been a long week =)

#8 (no title yet)
(poem in process, not done)

It's October
and we're walking through Target.
Abbey needs a costume
so we wind to the back
and find wigs and teeth and eyeballs.
And that's what we want to see,
wigs and teeth and eyeballs.

But when I turn the corner,
I find that Christmas Central has crept in.

What would I want
with cards, plastic reindeer, and garland
in the middle of October?
We haven't even bought the Halloween candy yet!

This is a nightmare.
I don't want perpetual holiday celebrations
invading my life
or the collective consciousness of America.

But I'm too late.
I'm walking through Target in October,
and Christmas Central has already crept in.

-----------------------------------------------------------

So that's the attempt I'll put up for now. I'm working on revising some others. I'm not quite the Billy Collins or Ted Kooser or Mary Oliver that people may think englishy type teachers may be. No, not there yet. =)

I'm working on a different one about the weirdness of leaving your childhood holiday traditions and having to start your own as an adult. well, i guess we really mesh the old and the new together, but it has been an odd part of early adulthood, adjusting to the differences of what you are used to vs what you really need to do or will be doing in the future. i'm struggling with the end, though.

gotta go to the store to get some chest congestion medicine (walgreens? but i did have that one odd comment from someone i don't know about how walgreens really screwed with him as an employee... hmmm.) at any rate, i've been fending off something bad for several days and hoping i can hold off on being sick. don't know now though.

But it was saturday night
I guess that makes it all right
And u say what have I got 2 lose?

gawd, my memory is bad. before i set out on the 30 second journey to find those lyrics, i was sadly mistaken that it was "friday night" and that i was somehow clever...

the songs

2005-11-07T20:15:00.000-06:00

so here are the songs i decided to include on my comp cd. everyone has gotten theirs, with the exception of james. and james, if you don't like them, too bad because i am sending them to you anyways. when i get your address. =) and i've got to make copies for chris, because he said he'll take the final month. i guess usless he is in some faraway land with cindy then, in which case it would be a little difficult.

here goes:
doubles cd one
1 Deliverance-- Dueling Banjoes
2 Leo Kottke-- Corrina, Corrina
3 Phish-- Blackbird
4 Bob Dylan-- Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright
5 Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon-- Living in the Country
6 Dave Matthews Band-- Crash into Me
7 Janis Joplin-- Me and Bobby McGee
8 Grateful Dead-- Uncle John’s Band
9 John Prine-- Angel from Montgomery
10 John Prine - Souvenirs
11 Johnny Cash- I Hung My Head
12 Simon and Garfunkel-- Cecilia
13 Phish-- The Connection
14 Paul Simon-- Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
15 Bob Marley-- No Woman, No Cry

doubles cd 2
1 Weezer-- My Name is Jonas
2 J. Geils Band-- Centerfold
3 The Cure-- Caterpillar
4 Low-- Sunflower
5 Mogwai-- CODY
6 Elliott Smith-- Angeles
7 Five for Fighting-- 100 Years
8 Keane-- Somewhere Only We Know
9 Billy Joel-- Piano Man
10 Jane’s Addiction-- Jane Says
11 Bikini Kill-- Rebel Girl
12 Sonic Youth-- Schizophrenia
13 Modest Mouse-- Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine
14 Built to Spill-- You Were Right
15 Beastie Boys-- So What’cha Want

and then there are the poor, discarded songs that i liked but that didn't fit, size-wise or thematically. in addition to keane and five for fighting, here are several of the songs that i am embarrassed about liking but like nonetheless...
your song by elton john
landslide by stevie nicks
hot child in the city
mmmmmmm. can't remember the others.
i think there was a bratmobile song, but for some reason, it just didn't sound right with the other songs.

so there you go... got confirmation that dave and tanuel are safe and sound in minot. we went out with jeremy twice this weekend, so he filled us in. hit the chatterbox on friday for some beer and trivia. then saturday early evening we told jeremy we'd take him to lifetime fitness for the "bring a friend" saturday... oh, what good friends we are =) we had made plans to meet paul and anna in dinkytown later that evening, so that's how we ended the night. we usually don't have saturdays free, but abbey was to be at a girl scout sleepover, so we made plans. unfortunately, she wasn't feeling well, but she stayed at her mom's... owe you one larson. she felt pretty good sunday and has been great tonight but has felt crappy off and on for about two weeks or so, so we're getting it checked out. gotta keep the child on the up and up...

anyhoo, i'm working on free-verse poetry with my kids at school, so i'll put up some stuff on that later. could be interesting blog material. and like i said, i'm working on variety.

paging...

2005-11-04T18:59:00.000-06:00

dave and tanuel... are you out there? in london? in north dakota? btw, the cds went out to todd, amanda, and dave/tanuel c/o larry e. i'll post the somg lists next week. and get to james's and chris's soon. i think that's how you punctuate that, and i looked up a while back (for dickens's) but i've forgotten now.

current listening: the hum of the computer. no mpr all day believe it or not!
would like to be listening to: hmmmm. trey or weezer or sufran stephens (spelled that one wrong)
current reading: finishing a nf read called another planet about prior lake hs.
yeah, just finished: harry potter one
would like to have read: a whole bunch of books
would like to get back to: caramelo by sandra cisneros
maybe i'll finish some day: 100 yrs of solitude, same story from most who have tried...
last movie watched: spellbound (documentary) last week
why that was an anomoly: because i really don't get into movies
we may see tonight: north country
what we'll most likely end up doing: work out at ltf so we can go to the pool and hottub
tomorrow's agenda: more thesis work, yard work, going to the walker maybe
tomorrow "really should do": take the dog to the dog park and visit my sister, take some pants to the alteration shop b/c i'm too short for most pants i buy

hmmm. i'm trying to diversify my posting habits a little. if i were a lurker on my blog, i'd be very, very bored... gotta give a little if you wanna get a little...

poem for a friday

2005-11-04T18:54:00.000-06:00

Love Poem With Toast
Miller Williams

Some of what we do, we do
to make things happen,
the alarm to wake us up, the coffee to perc,
the car to start.

The rest of what we do, we do
trying to keep something from doing something,
the skin from aging, the hoe from rusting,
the truth from getting out.

With yes and no like the poles of a battery
powering our passage through the days,
we move, as we call it, forward,
wanting to be wanted,
wanting not to lose the rain forest,
wanting the water to boil,
wanting not to have cancer,
wanting to be home by dark,
wanting not to run out of gas,

as each of us wants the other
watching at the end,
as both want not to leave the other alone,
as wanting to love beyond this meat and bone,
we gaze across breakfast and pretend.

from Some Jazz a While: Collected Poems, 1999
University of Illinois Press

trey trey trey trey trey

2005-11-03T00:07:00.000-06:00

fuck YEAH! center stage FRONT ROW!!!

stephen, chris, jeremy maheny and i
were right there, no one in front of us.
got some ringing ears, but fuck, was it
an amazing show. wishin phish was still
together...

trey played WILSON between sets, and
driver and something else my brother
would remember but i don't/// oh, acdc bag...

this has been a kick ass night... =)

viernes

2005-10-28T19:25:00.000-05:00

Oh, it's Friday, and I stayed at work way too long today. Should have been at LTF working out to keep the anxiety bugs away, but somehow my school work pulls too hard. Last week on this day, Stephen, Jeremy, and I went to Comedy Sportz in Calhoun Square. If you haven't been there before, you really need to go, and we need to go again. Two teams compete kind of Whose Line is it Anyway style. Very funny. Then we tried to find a bar in uptown, but it all seemed so meatmarkety, so we ended up at the Chatterbox. Playing Balderdash. Gotta love that game! It was my first time playing, believe it or not. It's the kind of game that English teachers really should love, so I'm good to go. What else? Sunday we took Abbey and her friend, Yana, to an apple orchard in Belle Plain. A little commercial, but we were able to bring home a pie and some honey crisps, so not a whole lotta complaining here. The beginning of this week was super stressful. I was busy trying to grade 170 essays, 7th grade "response to literature" papers. And Stephen worked non-stop with Abbey to finish a huge game board project for her reading class. Way too much time spent being busy, and cluttered, and stressed. Yesterday I had a half day because of my 6 month checkup on the eye with the retina surgery. I guess I'm healing fine. The wave in my left eye vision will get better in the next 5 - 10 years =) Yee haw. Actually, I don't care how long it takes. I can see, and that is the good thing. My retina was damaged when the fluid got in there, so I guess everything is put back together but it won't work perfectly. My vision would be really shitty if my right eye went, too, so I just hope that never happens. After the appt, I was sapped for a good long while. Dilated eyes, a hard drive home in traffic when I really couldn't see, especially through the sexy black eye screen. And my glasses aren't strong enough, but it is expensive to get new lenses... so it was a treat to be in pre-rush hour traffic.

My parents are in town this weekend. It's kind of a running joke when they come because they are here every month or so. Eight hours in the car?? I don't know how they do it, but I am always happy to see them. Means we have to clean the house again. Hmmm.

So there's nothing spectacular going on in my life right now. Didn't win the lottery. Didn't lose the 15 lbs I have been aiming to. Haven't finished the first three chapters of my thesis for grad school. Haven't even had a good girl's night out.

I think the only thing that qualifies as cool is that Stephen's sister, Tricia, had a baby boy this week. I don't mean to down play it... I just remembered after I wrote the last little bit. Jack Chester Babinski =) Up in Anchorage, AK. Poor guy! He has three older sisters to contend with. All blondies. SO actually, that is quite exciting. And our good friends Carrie and Jeff had a little boy about a month ago =)

I'll leave you with a few pictures. Figure I better post something worthwhile since I don't update daily... Have a good weekend!

Garrison Keillor street dance
Chris and Cindy
Our coonhound, Mia

walgreens

2005-10-21T21:21:00.000-05:00

last seen walking out of walgreens thursday night with...
ONE pair of speedo swimming goggles
ONE bottle of nasal saline solution
ONE black fine-tooth comb
ONE bottle of motor oil, 5W30

ohhh, how can you not love (to hate) a store that enables you to walk out with a gaggle of THAT? what's that you say? maybe it is the people buying the loot? what would we need with...
ONE pair of speedo swimming goggles
went swimming last night at lifetime and only had one pair for the two of us
ONE bottle of nasal saline solution
have you felt that dry minnesota air lately???
ONE black fine-tooth comb
got a nine year old who needs a straight part on sunday nights
ONE bottle of motor oil, 5W30
does this need any explanation?

no work the past two days. yesterday was spent wasting time and correcting essays. and surprise of all surprises, i didn't make it through another movie! we watched superstar, and i fell asleep during the talent show, only the most important part. that is one of the reasons i don't like movies; they put me right to sleep. today was spent wasting less time, working on my thesis, getting a facial, and now going out with stephen and jeremy.

if you ever were to think that a woman had a beauty secret, i can tell you what it would be-- a european facial. why i waited this long to redeem my gift certificate from my last birthday, i do know. (yeah, eye surgery in march, but still.) marina at sash salon in calhoun beach club is a wanted woman. she does (insert any gagging adjective such as fantastic or marvelous or obscene) things to your face, hands, head, neck, and shoulders. very much worth it.

i'm done with the cd set and will hit the post office tomorrow. looks like we will be entertaining nine people... not too shabby! that gives us all new music until may!

well, that's all for now. it's friday, and we're out of here/// mlgs

paging ms francis

2005-10-20T19:22:00.000-05:00

Amanda Francis... please check your blog or friendster and write to me =) Godda get your address to send the cd set. Yes, set! Late, extraordinarily, but doubled. And James T. Boyd... In California??? Sure, you can join. Does May sound good? Holy DORK BOOK, kevin.

galleries

2005-10-15T18:46:00.000-05:00

So we went crazy on the galleries today so we could get the necessary stamps on the ART AROUND TOWN booklet and be registered for some prizes. Last week we went to gallery 360 and xylos in the linden hills neighborhood. This week we stuck with the south mpls area as well.

Hit number one: shelly holzemer gallery on 48th and nicollet
Hit number two: sun gallery on 44th and grand
Hit number three: kelly rae theiss gallery on e 44th street
Hit number four: intermedia arts on lake and lyndale approx.
Hit number five: mcad gallery
Turn in the hopefully lucky card at: mia

Yes, we did look at the art. No, we didn't just stamp and run!

Good news for stephen. Friday he met with one of the owners of gallery 360, showed her his portfolio and resume, and she decided to show his work. He'll have three pieces there in late january, and then he'll have a five-foot show (not the main area, but good space) at the end of next summer. This will be with his long photos, which is awesome, because it's long overdue that he gets these into galleries. He's also been shooting with his new medium format camera, and the quality of the photos is outstanding.

Happy travels to CINDY who left to live in costa rica ... flew out on thursday. Mom and dad say to keep an eye on chris, since he isn't going until january and is my softie little brother, even though you may not guess that about him. Ask him about the frog caught for frog's legs at the lake... Well, maybe you'd better not!

We had a very strange encounter at walgreens this week. Not that anything happened, but we left the store with the oddest barrage of items:
pack of lint traps
two packs of trident
velcro strips
riesens
eraser tops
red vine
light bulbs

yeahhhhhh.

Kim and seamus are having a house warming party tonight that we should have left for already. They have a new place in prospect part neighborhood of mpls, really nice. We were over there for supper a couple of weeks ago.

To carry on the shaffner family tradition of playing the guitar, i got an acoustic left handed fender last weekend, along with a really cool COOL fender dvd on HOW TO PLAY. The sad thing is that i am so visual that i have to stop and rewind an enormous amount of times because i have problems getting it right. But finally, maybe i'll be able to hold my own at the campfire someday. Figure if i start with LOW songs i should be alright. AIGHT.

What else? MEA is coming up, which means i will be forcing myself to work on my thesis for 8 - 10 hours at the end of this week, which is a good thing (i'm trying to convince myself) because i have been avoiding it. It's the chapter two curse. I swear. It's really hard. And i don't always get things right away, so it took my a long time to understand the process. Problem with that was that i figured it out at the END of the summer, and that didn't leave me with much time. My other problem is that i can waste time really well.

Ok, CD CLUB members. Sorry to be so late. I'm working on the CD sleeve right now. It's a double CD SET, too, so maybe that will make up for being so late. Stephen just looks at me like you-should-be-done-you-started-this-thing all the time when i talk about it. Maybe he's right, but ... good things come to those who wait, no?

So that's it for now. I'll put some pictures from the garrison keillor street dance on sometime soon. Don't hold your breath for too long waiting, though. I don't seem to update as often as i think about it. Michelle =)

music

2005-10-02T21:23:00.000-05:00

ohhhhh yeah.

so i'm ms september in regards to the cd club, just not quite done yet. almost. here's the line up...

september (past due): michelle
october: david e
november: tanuel l
december: amanda f
january: stephen g
february: todd h
march: jeremy n
april: paul g

turned out with eight... mine will be out (hopefully) by the end of the week, even though as i type that i don't know whether to believe myself. but i did spend some time on connect getting songs i didn't have yesterday. oh yeah. get high on bluegrass =)

chris got stephen and me tickets to the trey anastasio show at the orpheum next month. front row and center! thanks to chris for being the first at the box office, and thanks again for the good drinks on friday. i really fancy the imperial room, and it's even better now that it's smoke free. i'm sure that not everyone likes that, but when i don't go home smelling like shit and with a sore throat from second hand smoke, i'm all the better.

what else. took abbey to the water slides at the savage lifetime today. it's quite nice out there. i had forgotten that they have slides indoors, too. two days in a row at lifetime for the month of october. that's already a better start than september was. too much stress and too much foods in september, which is why my feet felt like lead at my exercise class on saturday morning. maybe it was the alcohol from the night before though... oh, and we had "family karoake" on saturday night! abbey even cued up my fav song to belt out... vanessa carlton's a thousand miles... what a girl =) you may not have heard it, but i think the neighbors did!

sunday sunday

2005-09-25T16:14:00.000-05:00

Yeah, Todd... February is open, so we just need Tanuel and Jeremy for either November or March or April. Paul will take a month, too, so that means 8 months of new music. I'm working on mine, but will need addresses from some of you =)

So far, this weekend has been a real weekend. Friday, Stephen and I met Paul and Anna (and some of their Fargo friends) at the Turf Club, where we sat through two pretty bad bands (I have to admit that one of them was, we think, a new band that Alan Sparhawk was heading up) until Trampled by Turtles played. Very worth it. You could call their sound speed-bluegrass, I think. Must get CD... Too much beer, too much second hand smoke (hate it, love the smoking ban in Mpls) but a good time had by all. (You know you are old when... the two o'clock close seems REALLY late!)

Saturday morning, we headed to the Mpls Farmers Market. Purchases:
Five bars of handmade soap that we really like
12 bunches of garlic
Honey crisp apples, blemished
two different types of olives, 1/2 lb each
whole wheat sourdough bread
6 HUGE bunches (more like bouquets!) of basil (for 5 bucks!!)
butternut squash
spaghetti squash
2 bunches of asparagus
1 bushel of red peppers (yes, a bushel!!!!!)

Then we took the dog to the dog park, worked out at Lifetime, shopped at Whole Foods (gotta love the samples), and came home as it was time for Abbey to come for her nights here with us. After we got situated, we went to a spaghetti feed at Our Lady of Peace (church near us) (Fat Lorenzo's pasta!) and then went to St. Paul for the annual Prarie Home Companion Street Dance with Garrison Keillor. We danced and had kettle corn and danced some more. Jack Knife and the Sharps played a couple songs... this is one of my favorite fall events; was probably our fourth year there. It was a little rainy, but we tried to ignore it. Not too bad...

Today, I had some weird feeling that we should go to church, so we went to a big Universalist Unitarian church on Dupont in Uptown. Have you ever been treated to first rate jazz on Sunday morning??? I thought it was a pretty good service (Abbey visited a Sunday school class for the first time ever, I think) but we need to really look into the background of wherever we go and whatever we do. I did feel much more comfortable there than in a Lutheran church, though. The sermon made sense, about how people who have left their faith of tradition have trouble coming together in community as most are "prickly individualists:" (individualists for good reason, they didn't put that down at all) and that it is possible. UUs do a lot of social justice work and the message seems to be all about peace and transforming yourself, which is a nice change of pace from damnation and conquering all the heathens that roam the Earth. But like I said, we need to take a hard look into wherever we go, especially if Abbey will be in Sunday school. Very important not to jump the gun. That's a pun. I hate guns!

So as we were driving home, we passed another church that was really busy, and a two/three year old ran out in front of our car. It was a quick event that made me think about cause and effect and how your course of life can change in a flash. We heard the mom scream, which is what got Stephen's attention, and he put his foot through the floorboard and swerved. It. was. a. hard. next. few. minutes. as. we. drove. on. Makes you feel like throwing up. We didn't touch the kid, but it was too close of a call.

Instead of going home, we went to Backman's to walk out some nerves, and went home with six trees. We've planted four so far... and I ripped out all the cucumbers and watermelons and greenery or brownery and yellowery if you'd prefer. The garden is at its end. We've still got tons of tomatoes (real tomato soup for supper tonight, Abbey's call,. Well, she wanted Campbells, but when you've got more real ones than you can eat..)

So it's with a sore back and blackened fingernails that I must sign off. MLGS

mucicalia

2005-09-18T09:52:00.000-05:00

September - Michelle
October - David E
November -
December - Amanda
January - Stephen
February -

Nelson and Tanuel... who wants November and who wants the month of love??? =)

long time gone

2005-09-15T21:45:00.000-05:00

ok, just so this doesn't get buried beneath pictures, dave + tanuel + jeremy + amanda, email me and we'll get the music started. i'll do september. we've got six, so i figure we can do half a year right now... dylan? todd? tony? here are some photos from chicago, a city that makes mpls look like, uh, velva. we had a good trip/four hours in the american girl place with abbey =) the sears tower sky deck was my favorite, followed by the waterslides and superman at six flags...

Mixed CD Exchange to Commence

2005-08-27T16:02:00.000-05:00

Ok. Here's the deal.
I am in search of 10 (ten) people to start up a mixed CD exchange, to be named the Weekend America CD Club (that would be WACD Club, yeah).

Requirements: must have some sort of North Dakota connection, must be at least 20 yrs old, must have enough blank cds and $ to send the 11 other members the mixed cd during your month (may be some international members).

Ins and outs: Members will make the very best mixed cd they can come up with during the month they are assigned. After creating a coolio cover to accompany said CD, they will get their heines to the post master and send the compilation to the other members, who will then be able to enjoy a new mix of songs.

Reservations: Two spots are for Michelle and Stephen, and, well, if Dave E and Nelson are interested, they get dibs because they are so cool. Really, I mean it.

Websites that may be of assistance:
Mix CD Exchange
Tiny Mix Tapes
Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture

Who's in??

on our way

2005-08-22T08:02:00.000-05:00

Here we are at the Twins vs Mariners at the Metrodome on Saturday night... Second game in two weeks for Abbey and me. Last time it was Twins vs Red Sox and the TWINS won 4-3 right at the end. This time the Mariners had a little homerun derby in the 10th. Anyhoo- the Geffre/Shaffner family is off to Chicago for a family vacation. We'll have lots of fun at Six Flags for you Dave! Wish us luck trying to figure out the transit system...
Michelle

spaghetti nation

2005-08-19T15:53:00.000-05:00

thanks to stephen for cooking for our spaghetti feed last night. had a fair number of family and friends over just to get together... no photos, though. we head out for chicago on monday. the deal was that we would treat abbey to a cool vacation (my disney world promise was just too expensive) before we have a baby. so we are hitting places like the american girl place and six flags great america. did you know that parking at navy pier is $22 for the 3-8 hour rate??? yeah. but who's counting when you're on a vacation that you have saved for? we are staying at a campground at illinois beach and driving in each day. mia will be living the glamorous life at uncle dan's bed, bone, and biscuit in the mean time. is there something wrong with life when your dog gets to spend some time at a bed and breakfast before you do? better see about that soon. thesis work is going so-so. i have become really adept at finding almost anything else to do when i'm supposed to be working on it. better see about that soon, too. =) michelle

cuteness

2005-08-09T08:52:00.000-05:00

busy i guess

2005-08-08T13:19:00.000-05:00

time's flying, and i'm so not ready for september yet. it seems that we've been everywhere lately... two sundays ago abbey and i went to a baby shower for carrie kram and then i convinced stephen to go to a dfl precinct party. we'll seems that we were the only three there besides the organizers and a friend of theirs who will be running for office. there is something about being the only guests for a long span of time that makes you uneasy. i mean, we didn't wither, but we generally operate under the slip in-have some food-slip-out way mode, so this was a little different. tuesday, august 2, was national night out, and since we don't know many of our neighbors, and since we hadn't heard that anyone was doing anything on our block, i convinced stephen that who else but WE should host the block party! now you have to know that i've convinced him to so some stupid things in the past, like having numerous garage sales that didn't go so well. and he will be the first to remind me that when we were in the duplex and had random bachelor/second hand furniture that it was my great idea to sell it on the boulevard one saturday morning, which left us with crates for drawers for about six months. yeah. so he was a little hesitant, but it went really well. about eight families came, and it was busy the whole time. so he admitted that he was wrong, and then we left for jeremy's 28th birthday party in st. paul. we got there after dusk, but we still got to hang out a little. happy bday, nels!! the next night, we decided to do the second half of our change date... stephen cashed in all the change in the change "beaker" (a nice vase, too, i might add) and it came to about $120... so we went to cafe brenda in the warehouse district, which turned out to be a great place to eat. the first half of our change date was at cosetta in st. paul, which was good, but we were looking for a little more romantic of a place and neither of us knew that cosetta was deli style. after cosetta we went to the chatterbox pub, which i thought was nice, but stephen had some dungeons and dragons people (ok, our stereotype... it wasn't confirmed) talking loudly about sex and sex toys as if to say..... well, you can fill in the blank with your own cattiness. anyways, thursday night, paul and anna came over with some halibut that he had caught on their trip to alaska to see trisha, jeff, and the girls (our neices). he also sold us an egress window for the basement... $1500 but it should be nice. we may get another one for the family room part of the basement, too, but we have to plan the basement renovation before we do that. friday we got to go boating on lake gervais in little canada with one of the art profs from augsburg who likes stephen enough to invite our family out... it was awesome... warm water, sunny but not scathing... abbey had fun and seemed really comfortable in the water (a lifejacket always adds some confidence!) stephen went tubing and i actually waterskiied for the first time in about 15 years~ actually made it up, went over both sides of the wake, didn't crash! we have pictures, but i don't know if i'm into baring my fish-belly white legs to the world... anyways, i was pretty proud of myself =) saturday, abbey and i went to a twins game with free tickets from jeff kram.... lower deck seats, twins vs the red sox, and the twins won 4 - 3! now i'm not a big baseball fan, but i actually rose out of my seat to yell several times... pretty good game with a nice view.

so life isn't always this exciting or busy. it's been crazy lately. lisa and i have been hitting aerobics/yoga classes daily, too, in an effort to get healthier (i.e. lose some shaffner family ass) but i'm on my own this week b/c she and nick took our pop-up to duluth for vacation. that means mom and dad are here to babysit lauren, so we'll probably have them over tonight to grill since abbey is here tonight. and while i am mentioning abbey, let me say that a nine year old is an awesome creature in comparison to creatures at younger ages =) parenting has been going well lately, which is good, because sometimes it can be frustrating. yea, abbey! thanks for being such a good girl (although she hasn't read this, nor do i want her to.... adult space!)

well, that's all for now. i have a girl's night out with hamline ladies tomorrow night, but don't think i'm not working... lots of thesis revisions and research (chapter 2) will be consuming my time for the next two weeks as well... gotta get that bitch of a paper done sometime. love, michelle

yo yo ma

2005-08-04T15:20:00.000-05:00

have heard from john foster and martin lukasczyk lately, two tight bros from way back when... john is in shanghai, and martin is in finland but is in china on business this week. i've been cranking out revisions on the first chapter of my thesis all day. almost there! damn, it will be great when i get my hoodie. do people wear those around the house? i should be able to within the next year. won't that be snappy???

no return

2005-08-03T10:44:00.000-05:00

let it be known that when you buy naturnal deodorant and it doesn't work out for you, you can NOT return it...at this point, i'm still undecided on tom's of maine apricot natural deod. i just don't know if i like smelling apricot all day. like all this talk of deodorant is important or exciting. probably not.

did you know that i check other blogs for updates, say, daily, but in return i am bad at updating mine? hmmmm. maybe i better rethink that/ michelle =)

11pm update

2005-07-22T22:56:00.000-05:00

yeah. just sitting here waiting for stephen to come home from all the aquatennial festivities. it seems like a good night to go out, but he'll most likely be bushed, which is ok because i've gone out the past two nights... so i went to get a haircut this evening, which is news because i only go to the salon twice a year tops! and since it was such an occasion, i just made the night into a mini shopping extravaganza! got myself some aveda hang straight and a "refreshing" bath bar (hope it's better than the natural deodorant i tried out!) on my way out of the parking lot i noticed that there was a lovely store called the cellars there, so a little swipe and signature later, i was walking out with the summit hefeweizen and sauza that i neeeeeeded... and then, well, you know when you pass the mall of america on a night like tonight, you might as well stop. so i made my way through bloomingdales admiring the cool french connection and free people clothes that are just a little too spendy for me, but damn i wish i could... on and out to j crew for some clearance shopping. i love the end of season sales because they happen before the end of the season, so if you happen to snag something, you still have time to enjoy it! got myself some cute little "going out" shirts that are not in the same category as "wear as a teacher" shirts. they aren't too vixenish, but it's amazing what a little strappy top will do to make a girl of 29 feel less frumpy. which can be a worry for girls of 29 you know. frumpyness. a lady's worst enemy. on and out. next i had to stop by the afternoon, which is a store that gives stephen the dry heaves. come to think of it, it does nearly the same for me. i prefer something like patina if i want to buy overpriced way cool gifts. but back to the matter at hand... the afternoon is like the only place i know of that sells the refills for our co2 wine bottle opener, which totally rocks. but we've been devoid of the cool little doodads for a while, and cork in wine isn't too hot. anyhoo, got out of there and you know, when there is an effing larger than life poster of josh duhamel hanging in the gap, you godda go in for christsakes. so i went in on the second floor, which i was on anyways, and took my sweet ol time walking down to the first floor... the image is between floors! i don't know what's wrong with me. i get all googlyeyed when i see him on screen or in print. in reality, he is too much of a pretty boy for my taste, but he IS a sight for sore eyes. any eyes for that matter. left the gap wiith two more "going out" shirts. get ready! i'm ready to hit the town now =) Then... my oh my. I was at my real destination, which happens to be the new SEPHORA store, mecca of makeup!!!!!!!! but. not so fast. just as i got to the doors, life might as well have been in slow motion as the doors swung shut right in front of my face. too close to closing time i guess, and the empire was cut off in front of my eyes. probably a good thing, because the makeup is way too cool for me to buy all the time. uh. and a little spendy. so my only alternative was to browse victoria's secret for a few minutes. i was busy admiring the super cute "pink" line when a sales clerk nabbed me into signing up for an angels card. well, i thought i was just getting a rewards card, but in less than two minutes, i was approved for a vs credit card that I DO NOT NEED =) maybe. but with it, and along with my free $10 from Origins every birthday and free something from Aveda at Southdale every birthday, i'll get a free $10 from vs. not too bad! and then my readers (all two of you) it was time to go home. alas, along the way, i managed to remember two more things i need to return to stores. 1 red Kolo photo book, and Body Shop Tea Tree oil face stuff. Didn't work for me. Too many things to return. Oh, and i forgot to mention something maybe only girls get happy about. or maybe just me. during the entire mini shopping spree, i got to walk around in the smell of hair products that aren't mine... you know, the post-new-haircut smell that mysteriously leaves once you wash your hair at home... bumble and bumble is smelling pretty sweet tonight. and with that lame statement, lamer than lame just shoot me now, i will attach the gap ad of jd. rock on, rock on.

stayed out too late =)

2005-07-22T12:53:00.000-05:00

1. Kari & Rob, Kyle & Michelle
2. Melissa... One of my fellow English teachers-- leaving in a week to teach in Berlin. I'll miss you!
3. Alli, Lynn, Christie
4. Kari and Lynn
5. Erik, Christie, Lynn, Kim, Kari, me, Melissa, Michelle, Alli, Sally, Tony
or... Melissa's sig. other, English 8th, Phy Ed, Science 8th, Spanish, English 7th, English, Science, Speech Path, FACS, Science 8th Middle school teachers know how to do it right!

It was a gorgeous night at Brit's. We had a spot right near the lawn bowling. Lots of people to people-watch! I don't know if I could do that scene too much; It's almost exhausting by the end of the night. But it was awesome to be out with the girls (and a few husbands, too. Stephen was at the Aquatennial... he's had his share of these things!) That's all for now!

Update

2005-07-21T11:03:00.000-05:00

July 21, 2005
Recent Ventures Saturday, July 16th
MSU Alumni boat cruise on Lake Minnetonka
Stephen, Michelle, Jeremy
While it was a little balmy and we were the youngest alums on the trip, this was something we really otherwise wouldn’t get to do... I’ve lived in Minneapolis for six full years and have never been to Lake Minnetonka. Some of the homes are amazing, but it’s hard enough to keep a small south Mpls home clean... other than ohhhh-ing and ahhhh-ing, I always wonder how much $ it takes to heat and cool those places.

Monday, July 18th
Music and Movies in the Park
Stephen, Michelle, Abbey, Jeremy, and our dog Mia
Yeah for Music and Movies in the park. One of my favorite parts is just people watching. Seems that the dog is quite a hit. Lots of comments on her from people passing by. We are noticing how pets open this door to complete strangers talking to each other. Not too shabby.

Tuesday, July 19th
Took the dog to the vet. She checked out ok, got her rabies shot, has to gain four to five lbs. Yeah, heartworm meds and flea and tick meds are a little spendy. The check up was covered by the MVHS, but the rest wasn’t. $198.12 later, we went home.

That night I had grad class. Only three left this summer! We went to Don Pablo’s afterwards. Can’t beat a raspberry margarita on a hot summer night.

Wednesday, July 20th
Torchlight Parade, Downtown
Mpls Stephen and Michelle (and the dog)
Stephen got a freelance assignment to shoot photos of the candidates for Miss Aquatennial (Aquatennial Queen?) all week, so he’s been out and about chasing after overly done up prom queens... Last night he had to cover them on their parade float, so the three of us headed out. Not too bad, but after the parade, it was kind of creepy. The “sweepers” came out asap. It was like little ants with blow guns descending on the steps of the Basilica, where I happened to be sitting waiting for the hubby to return. Kinda sc-fi how quickly they were out... sirens going off, water trucks blowing, families scattering. Uff-da.

Stephen’s Aunt Pat Krile passed away this week, and her funeral was tonight in North Dakota. He wanted to get back, but couldn’t with his commitment to the Aquatennial. Best wishes for the days to come for the Krile family. Our thoughts are with you.

Tonight, July 21 After class, I’m heading to a 40th bday party for my friend Christie at Brit’s Pub. Should be a late night!

OK... now to the real stuff.

Michelle’s Semi-scientific Experiment
Question: Will Hypoallergenic Herbal Clear Naturally natural deodorant (clear aloe fresh my friends!) do the same job as ... the regular deodorant that I have already thrown away because it was gone (Arrid XX?)
Trial period: two days
Outcome: Hot damn. If I wanted to smell like my NATURAL self, I wouldn’t bother with deodorant at all.

List of things to return to stores (the list keeps getting bigger because we always forget to bring the stuff along when we go to the store)
1. Herbal Clear Naturally natural deodorant (Target) Complaint above.
2. Undergarments for Abbey (Target) 9 year olds grow like weeds. We have already bought the bigger size, but haven’t yet returned the too small purchase.
3. Bio-spot flea and tick medicine (Petco) Ok, so I freaked out after I put this on the dog. I went online to find out how long it would take to dry on her back (since there were ALL OF THESE WARNINGS about how bad it was for humans and I felt bad about telling Abbey to be careful not to touch her back over and over). I found things like THIS and THIS. So in a flurry, I had Mia in the bathtub (oh great black hair, yum) with a latex glove on my hand, washing her vigorously, taking care not to get her belly because she was spayed on the 13th... The vet said she wishes they’d take Bio-spot off the market...
4. Plug in covers (Target)
5. Starter bolt (Checker Auto Parts)
6. Misc. shelving end brackets (Menard’s)
7. 4” Crossbars (Home Depot)
The crappy part is that I have to go through some receipts to find the right ones for the covers and the brackets. This wouldn’t be a problem, but I can’t remember if Stephen or I bought them, and we have lots of receipts from those places. Maybe we’ll get this all returned by the end of the summer.

And I end today with some pictures of our yard... grow like weeds has a whole new meaning when you have a yard and a garden! But... we pulled our first tomato two days ago, cukes are coming along, and the #1 best investment for any garden is === romaine lettuce! It grown all summer, too, so once you cut it you just have to wait like a week for that stalk to be ready to eat again. Here’s to fresh lettuce in the summer........................

Come fly with me...

2005-07-16T23:12:00.000-05:00

This is our new dog Mia (mee-ah) (yeah, like Minnepolis Institute of Arts or "mine" in Spanish...) She's a Black and Tan Coonhound, 2 - 3 years old. We got her at the MVHS yesterday. So far, so good! We really like her =)

Camping July 2005

2005-07-14T10:37:00.000-05:00

Photos

2005-07-14T10:33:00.000-05:00

I've finally put some camping photos on Flickr, so if you're interested...

bet I'm the only

2005-07-12T10:46:00.000-05:00

dumbass to make THIS mistake... So the morning we were to leave for ND, I noticed that I was about a grand off in my banking estimates-- I thought I had more than the bank said I did. After going through my statements this morning, I realized that I accidentally paid our mortgage TWICE IN THE MONTH OF JUNE. Who does that??? As it turns out, June 29th, I got this sense of panic and time warp-i-ness and went online to frantically pay the bill that was to be due on July 1st. I thought for some reason that I hadn't sent it in, but... I'm generally good with bills, and I had (and it had cleared at the bank a week earlier.) Not like we have an extra 1600 laying around... Don't think I'll make that mistake again. I've heard of people not making their payments, but making them twice??? I godda get out more. =)

I'll put some hiking pictures up soon.

This one was pretty boring, but I guess I felt the need to share...

safe?

2005-07-07T15:49:00.000-05:00

Dave and Tanuel-- should I be worried about you two? Are you safe? I don't know how a person could be UNaffected by bombings, but I hope you two and those you know were far away (and as unaffected as can be) from the explosions this morning. Missing you guys, Michelle

oh what a night

2005-06-28T22:16:00.000-05:00

My gawd, I effing can't stand the people who run Abbey's regular daycare program. We have had an issue with them for several years (which I can't discuss here; issues dealing with -such- are off limits for the blog per SG) about which I started to inquire steadily last summer. Now I have inquired into the situation two times this summer, and they continue to flatly ignore my request for information......

excerpt from moi  "...We are trying to be proactive so that...  I am concerned that I have repeatedly tried to
gather this information from you (at least three times last summer/fall and now
two times this summer) and that you have repeatedly ignored my requests.  I
understand that you are most likely busy, but even a quick email acknowledging
our request and letting us know you'll get back to us at a later date would be
approporiate/polite. Your continual stonewall of us is frustrating and confusing..."

"... I apologize if I come off as rude by email, but one starts to wonder what the
reasoning for never responding to this issue would be.  We don't understand your silence.

Your prompt attention to this matter would be much appreciated..."

Ewwwwww.  I hate being ignored when I feel I am being reasonable.

Daily effects of white privilege
http://www.cwru.edu/president/aaction/UnpackingTheKnapsack.pdf
I decided to try to work on myself at least by identifying some of the
daily effects of white privilege in my life. I have chosen those conditions
that I think in my case attach somewhat more to skin-color privilege than
to class, religion, ethnic status, or geographic location, though of course
all these other factors are intricately intertwined. As far as I can tell,
my African American coworkers, friends, and acquaintances with whom I come
into daily or frequent contact in this particular time, place and time of
work cannot count on most of these conditions.

1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

2. I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind or me.

3. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.

4. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.

5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

6. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.

7. When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.

8. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

9. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.

10. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.

11. I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another person's voice in a group in which s/he is the only member of his/her race.

12. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can cut my hair.

13. Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.

14. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.

15. I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.

16. I can be pretty sure that my children's teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms; my chief worries about them do not concern others' attitudes toward their race.

17. I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.

18. I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty or the illiteracy of my race.

19. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.

20. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.

21. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.

22. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.

23. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.

24. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the "person in charge", I will be facing a person of my race.

25. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.

26. I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children's magazines featuring people of my race.

27. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance or feared.

28. I can be pretty sure that an argument with a colleague of another race is more likely to jeopardize her/his chances for advancement than to jeopardize mine.

29. I can be pretty sure that if I argue for the promotion of a person of another race, or a program centering on race, this is not likely to cost me heavily within my present setting, even if my colleagues disagree with me.

30. If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn't a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.

31. I can choose to ignore developments in minority writing and minority activist programs, or disparage them, or learn from them, but in any case, I can find ways to be more or less protected from negative consequences of any of these choices.

32. My culture gives me little fear about ignoring the perspectives and powers of people of other races.

33. I am not made acutely aware that my shape, bearing or body odor will be taken as a reflection on my race.

34. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.

35. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.

36. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it had racial overtones.

37. I can be pretty sure of finding people who would be willing to talk with me and advise me about my next steps, professionally.

38. I can think over many options, social, political, imaginative or professional, without asking whether a person of my race would be accepted or allowed to do what I want to do.

39. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.

40. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.

41. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.

42. I can arrange my activities so that I will never have to experience feelings of rejection owing to my race.

43. If I have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem.

44. I can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of my race.

45. I can expect figurative language and imagery in all of the arts to testify to experiences of my race.

46. I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.

47. I can travel alone or with my spouse without expecting embarrassment or hostility in those who deal with us.

48. I have no difficulty finding neighborhoods where people approve of our household.

49. My children are given texts and classes which implicitly support our kind of family unit and do not turn them against my choice of domestic partnership.

50. I will feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social.

muggorama

2005-06-26T21:10:00.000-05:00

Could it be any more muggy than this? (Uh, I know it COULD, but damn, is it uncomfortable outside!) Just got back from the Walljasper's house where Abbey and I ate supper and went for a walk. The timing was just right for me b/c Stephen is shooting a wedding today and if you know anything about our household, you should know that he is the cook... And since he wasn't going to be around for supper today, the prospects were lookin' bleak. Actually from a kid's standpoint, it's good as I CAN make mac and cheese (can you even claim to be able to COOK that?) So she probably would have enjoyed being home vs kabobs, but I though it was a-ok! And she got lots of time to play Polly Pocket with Yana (one of her closest friends) while the parents and I had cheese and wine, so it was all good =)

Abbs and I went to see The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants today at the MOA theater. This was a big thing because we don't often go to movies together. They're expensive and being the annoying parents we are, we usually make her do boring free stuff like, oh, go on an hour bike ride along Minnehaha Parkway (this morning). Yes, we have even mall walked in search of ways to get "family exercise." I feel like someone who would own a mini-van when I say that. Sorry if you own a mini-van. Anyways, it was actually a pretty good movie; even made me teary-eyed a little. And not just at how in-shape the girl who plays Bridget is in. So sitting there though the trailers, I got that settle-in-this-is-awesome feeling about movies that I rarely get because I don't watch them all that often, even at home. And Abbey was quite the cuddle-bug, which I relish now because I know that she'll more or less be done with that within a few years. Good experience overall. Some parts of the movie were a little over her head (subtle parts about things that had happened, like one of the girls losing her virginity) but that's ok because she likes to re-watch movies, and it will be a good one for her to see again in a couple of years.

That's all for now. Couldn't find my camera before we went over for supper, so nothing to put up...

invisible

2005-06-23T11:58:00.000-05:00

Today is my last day of a two week detox (Whole Body Cleanse from Whole Foods) and all I can think about is eating pizza and having a margarita tomorrow. I don’t think that is the goal of the program, but I just can‘t seem to help it. Supposedly my bile is flowing free, my lymph system is cleaner, as well as the system that, well, you would think would be cleaner after a lot of fiber. But I really don’t feel all that different. Really, I feel hungry. And trust me, I’ve been eating. Is it sad when I feel like food items such as 1. soy sauce 2. yogurt 3. oat bran flakes 4. veggies from a can (processed) 5. too many cashews 6. string cheese contribute to something that would sabotage a $28 program (had a coupon...) CHEATING??? I will be super relieved tomorrow. Really, I won’t go whole hog and run to get pizza, a margarita, AND Sebastian Joes (I’ve suggested all of the above to Stephen, who is not enjoying the same cleansing as I) but at least I will be able to enjoy an effing s’more around the campfire!!

Grad class Tuesday night. One topic of interest I’d like to broach. What is the invisible culture of American schools? If an incoming student had never been in a US school before, what would they notice. In my opinion, something glaring would be the notion of being relatively passive, staying seated , and waiting for the teacher’s cues before talking. How is this communicated? If you can’t abide by these rules, you know pretty quickly because you’ll get in trouble. NOW... how does this part of the invisible culture contribute to the gap between upper class and lower class kids, between white kids and kids of color? I think it is huge. I am part of the white, hmmm, I’d say middle class. School was always easy for me. I got along well with others, did well on my assignments, was in advanced classes from the 7th grade on through my senior year. So school is generally good for kids in my situation. But what does the disproportionate number of kids of color and from lower class families in programs like ALCs (Alternative Learning Centers) and EBD rooms (Emotional/Behavioral Disorders) say about what type of culture is withstood in the general classroom. (I have no numbers or percentages to offer; I’m just going on what I observe in my school and what I’ve heard from teachers in other schools). And is this fair? I guess it depends on whether or not you believe that all kids should be able to abide by a system that was created by a majority of white upper class people who developed it to suit their learning styles and needs. What would our schools look like if they would have been created by a different grouping of people, one who held different values? If not all kids learn best by sitting still in a desk and listening, taking notes, listening, is it fair to expect that all will do well in this environment? Are we setting sub groups up for failure?

Not to say that all teachers just lecture to their students, but I’d say that from the 6th grade on, this is quite common. Even in my case. I try hard to mix it up and do things that I think will truly matter to my kids, but when I have 170 kids and limited space, even my best intentions aren’t ever fully carried out. More specific to English than just the sitting/listening issue, I have been trying to start the writer’s workshop in my class, and it is hard. Not completely a loss, but to truly do what Nancie Atwell does with her class of 18 in a school that she created seems nearly impossible in my case. So I modify and do the best that I can. I got a good start at the beginning of last year and through the fall, but by the end of the year, I was back to my regular units, feeling like I wasn’t making a huge difference in the lives of my kids. A Christmas Carol/Charles Dickens, Holocaust literature, A Midsummer Night’s Dream/Shakespeare. So I’ll start over again in the fall with renewed energy and patience and hope. A little smarter but also a little warier. So I have come to the conclusion that our system holds back not only students, but also teachers... Big news, I’m sure. There’s a statistic out there somewhere that states that our schools are conducive to something like 30% of students. The rest would need other types of schooling to reach their optimum level. I suppose I could write about charter schools and the hope I have for education when I listen to people like Walter Enloe and Dan Lortiz, two of my professors from Hamline. But that’s for another day, because then I’d have to hem and haw about whether I am too tied to the union to branch out to a charter school and lose my security. Especially in this economy.

That’s better. Not such a fucking brainless entry.
If only I could tape Stephen’s and my conversations when I get home from class. He says he’s glad I’m back in class because we really talk about issues., and it’s nice for a change to be able to discuss something other than how we need new people in office. We seem to talk about that a lot.

Devil's Lake

2005-06-21T15:09:00.000-05:00

We got back from our first camping trip of the year late last night. It was kind of a rare trip in that we were camping with both of our parent sets, along with Abbey and Marcus (Stephen's youngest brother.) So Abbey got to see both sets of gparents on our side and plot pranks against her dad with her 14 yr old uncle =) She seems to love the outdoors and camping, which is good for us since we live for camping trips in the summer. Anyhow, we went all the way to Devils Lake, ND, (a littel too far for the general camping venture) and stayed in the Geffre's new pop-up, quite spiffy. We bought their old one which is now safe in our driveway. Two weeks until Stephen and I head to Duluth for five days for another trip...

Needless to say, having to sit in the St. Thomas Univ. library today for two hours to read two chapters in the textbook that I checked out vs bought was not all that easy. Neither will it be easy to sit in class tonight (at Hamline).

I won't have any camping pictures until my mom sends me some over email, so you'll be left to envison everyone but me eating s'mores. I should have known better than to start a two week detox when I had a camping trip right in the middle... Yeah, THAT won't happen again =)

Subsiding on veggies, fruit, brown rice, and beans, MICHELLE =)
(ok, so nuts, and yogurt, and a little cheese, too)

2005-06-10T16:44:00.000-05:00

"Think of it as stickin' it to the Man with a six-millimeter crochet hook."

I feel like I'm a lot less crafty than I was several years ago (ok... so it's been almost a decade/) Nonetheless, I asked my grandma to teach me to knit four or five Christmases ago. My MO? I didn't want the cool things she has done for us (mittens, afghans, quilts, LEFSE!) to get lost with our generation. I guess I wanted my kiddies to have cool snowflake mittens and plenty of lefse at the holiday meal. So I'm not a STELLAR knitter--IS that a scarf?--lefse is quite frustrating *but oh-so-worth-it* and the only quilt squares I have are the fronts cut off of all of my old punk rock tshirts (lots of those!)--but I still have aspirations to get better. And wouldntcha know it... today was my last technical day at work until August. (Reminder: working with adolescents winds up your blood pressure so much that, yes, this time is needed to unwind and come down to normalcy again.) So I've got some time on my hands. Until I get paid for curriculum planning in a few weeks, so I'm not completely off the hook. And I can't forget about the really hard grad class that starts next week... Wouldn't want you to think I'm a slacker!

Anyhoo-- since I DO have some extra time on my hands, I decided to go to the City Pages website to see if I could find anything cool for our family to do. I got hung up on Diablo Cody's blog for a few minutes and then came across this article.

It's not that I'm a trend setter, but it's weird how you find out that you have unwittingly been part of a greater group of like minded people. That everyone's doing it. UGH. After several reports on Frida Kahlo in college Spanish, I found out that people like Madonna liked her work and that it was the thing of the moment. That's more bad than good in my mind. Madge. Whatever.

And I'll tell ya. Stephen makes fun of me for some of my "great craft ideas." Not that he isn't right and that we have ended up with usless crap at random times. My beading stuff has been the most sustainable hobby, albeit put on the way-back burner until I get this grad school stuff done with.

And I am in a crafting circle with my sister, Lisa, and some other ladies... the Hot Mamacita Craftng Circle. Yeah, got shit about that, too =) Although I think the only time I've been able to make it was after the John Kerry rally last summer. Ran from the Metrodome to Augsburg as the lightrail was super crowded and, well, I was late.

Here's the link to the article. I must say, the references to pr and riot girl send me back some years. MC3 anyone?

wiggidywack... is it summer yet?

2005-06-06T22:23:00.001-05:00

mns03
Originally uploaded by michellend.

like stepmother like daughter.... =)

2005-06-06T22:23:00.000-05:00

mna02
Originally uploaded by michellend.

if only you could hear her chewy imitation!

2005-06-06T22:21:00.000-05:00

abbey03
Originally uploaded by michellend.

abbey the lovely

2005-06-06T22:20:00.000-05:00

abbey07
Originally uploaded by michellend.

like father like daughter

2005-06-06T22:19:00.000-05:00

sna02
Originally uploaded by michellend.

can you feel it?

2005-06-06T17:11:00.000-05:00

newyear04
Originally uploaded by michellend.

ok, so i caved and decided to try to learn how to post pictures. my original thought was to avoid anything that a student may randomly find and attach to me, and i wanted complete separation from my job... but i figure the chances of one of the odd thousand or so of them coming across this is slim. not like i have too crazy of a personal life anyhoo...

so here's my trial post; Stephen, Abbey, and I at Buca on New Year's 2004 =)

counting down

2005-05-24T20:27:00.000-05:00

just took too long i guess and had it all erased... not good when i have a bad posting record to begin with.

counting down

2005-05-24T19:41:00.000-05:00

ohhhh, it's that time of year when even the teachers of the world start counting down. i've got...three, four, four... that would be eleven days left to teach this year. that's a good thing, because these kids were a hard bunch. can you believe that? most people wince at the fact that i CHOOSE to work with middle schoolers. yes, there are less nuts years than others. and this wasn't one of them. that, coupled with the fact that we've wrestled with a horrible administrator for two years, makes the impending summer even sweeter. (said administrator resigned.)

so we have silent sustained reading for the kids sixty minutes a week, twenty for every homeroom class and forty that rotates week to week through the core teacher's classes. i have found that i really am not good at finishing books. it is with this in mind that i have been determined to start finishing books and to start finishing books that aren't young adult fiction. because besides being a middle school english teacher, i am, afterall, a real adult. so far i've finished of mice and men. now i'm onto the sun also rises. which i have had a hard time sticking to. but i'll be damned if i shall abandon it and send it to the depths of other abandoned books such as white teeth, one hundred years of solitude, sea biscuit, and on and on. i guess i prefer hemingway's short stories and later work. this one is seeming really choppy and too detailed to me. what should i try next? any suggestions? since i'm not really sure that anyone reads this (because i write SO often) that's really a piece of bait to see who my DEDICATED friends are =) well, and to see what you all are reading currently or have loved in the past. not that stephen and i don't have stacks of books here to check out.

just finished my shakespeare unit for the year. did you know that i totally love shakespeare? here is a link to pages i made years ago for the kids. you know, just in case you have some spare time to read up a little on the bard. the comm teacher and i have them work in groups to put on a midsummer night's dream, lines memorized, costuming and all. in the end, it is one of my favorite things to teach. if you have even more spare time, make sure not to miss the insults. they are great! The most infectious pestilence upon thee...

what else. i feel like i've gotta make this worthwhile since i'm here. i'm actually anticpating that i'll post more during the summer when i have some time to think.

but the truth is that i have shit to do. again, tony k. and todd generally have meaningful blogs, so you can live vicariously through them (like i do) until i have something of substance to say. so sorry...

i need to ask, before i go, a question on the mn political situation. does anyone know when we can start rallying for someone to run and BEAT our fair governor? a democrat would be especially nice.

crap

2005-05-02T22:12:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I think I am officially a crappy blogger. It's been a while. In the meantime, I've been bingeing on housewares all over the metro area. Our latest victim was Ikea tonight. Plant stands. Bedside stands. Phone stand. Lofted bed for Abbey. Pots and pans hanger. I got a call today from the bank inquiring about odd activity on my account. Yes, it is odd for me/us to be spending like this. Nice thing they called, but does it mean this is out of control?

I'm not really worried about us being out of control with spending, though. At some point, when we have the general house stuff, we won't be spending like fools. The relatively ODD part about the whole thing is that even though Stephen and I saved for this sort of opportunity, we are feeling out of sorts with all this shopping. We aren't used it it, therefore we are feeling like the world is caving a little. Plus, we've (...he's) spent countless hours assembling random pieces of furniture. And pulling out carpet nails and laying flooring and painting. Did I mention that Stephen is working a lot harder than I am on all of this? Don't get me wrong; I'm working, too. But he seems to be carrying us a little better than I am =)

So I shouldn't be complaining. We have our house, and we are *really* happy with it. But we are ready to be done with the moving-in part. I'm quite certain this is probably normal.

And we are having a 30th bday party for Stephen on Thursday, cinco de Mayo. Since it's 05/05/05, it will be starting at 5:05 pm. Maybe that's why we are going a little nuts trying to get the place decent. It probably won't matter after some TASTY KEG BEER...

So I guess we should relax a little. The house payments don't come until next month...

Delightful I'm convinced

2005-04-08T18:07:00.000-05:00

Ooooohhhh ahhhhh. How delightful is a sweet cup of , um, Sierra Mist and Smirnoff Vanilla Twist with frozen strawberries as icecubes? It's so delightful that I'm writing about it in this here blog!

Two more things for a brief post: Karl Rove is in Minneapolis tonight. Can you feel me shuddering? I guess the fact that Hillary Clinton is here as well will have to get me through.

Gallery 360 opening tomorrow night...

House closing on the 18th...

Moving on the 23rd...

Finally!

pro...crastinator

2005-03-30T22:13:00.000-06:00

First of all, I'm becoming the procrastinator I never wanted to be but secretly feared I would. Damn... I guess I could blame my eyes, but that would probably be lame.

So the status> I'm in a good amount of pain. Seems looking at lots of adolescents daily takes a toll, so I'm taking the morning off tomorrow. That makes it 9 1/2 days total so far out of work for all of this eye stuff. I guess I'm cutting into all those pregancy leave days that I should be accumulating =) No, nothing brewing now, just looking ahead. Anyhoo, I think I'll try to take some half-days through April. It seems important. I know that doesn't sound convincing, but it is really a pain to write sub notes, and trust me, I've had to write my share lately. But I've left school the the last three days with pains on my eyeballs as well as a whole temple/cheek area range of headaches. Something tells me that's not so good for the rehab.

Abagail, lucky lovely Abagail gets to leave for Colorado tomorrow with her mom and Dustin. She informed me this morning that she is a little anxious for the plane ride =) I hope she has a lot of fun! Third grade and taking a real spring break... Much better than my week of packing last week when my district was out of school.

So I do have some plans to wax poetic on issues that have been on my mind, but that will come later. I figure it's pretty boring to just talk about the day-- I've just got to take the time. You could read Todd's blog in the meantime. He seems to find more time than me to muddle through some interesting thoughts...

On deck-- why it really bothers me that immigrants have to take menial jobs to support their families when they may have a much larger range of expertise. Then why it bothers me that I may just be making assumptions or feeling bad for people who don't want to be felt bad about. ANd why it really bothers me that returned troops are expected to fit right back into society when they have experienced a part of life that we have no grasp of.

leader

2005-03-16T20:59:00.000-06:00

i swear, martin sheen IS my president.
i've never really accepted the fact that gwb was ELECTED anyways.

yesterday abbey and i both had the stomach flu. not so pleasant.
and even worse, it was her 9th birthday. i felt so bad for her.
we were a one-two knockout. =(

eye appt. tomorrow to see how it is healing. i've been out of work since
last wednesday. and i'm withering, between not having an appetite with
the eye pain and nothing staying down with the flu. not the way i wanted
to get off of my plateau really. i prefer fruits to vomiting =)
yum.

and stephen, poor lad. he does way too much for me. and right now he's enjoying
some ice cream that i don't even have a apetite for. there is something wrong
when i am not hungry for icecream, for i could surely subsist on it
in an alternate world..........................................................................

that's about all i can squeeze out of my dehydrated, vision-challenged head today.
i'll work on something smarter next time =)

hurting in mn

2005-03-11T12:40:00.000-06:00

there is a small piece of plastic in my eye that will remain for life. it even has a serial number.

the surgery: scleral buckle

time: wednesday, later than scheduled, around 2:00pm

the eye: left

the doctor and nurses: awesome

the anesthetics: i could hear everything (i think), see nothing, feel almost nothing

my retina: completely sucks. had more holes than he thought. and apparently i had thick fluid in there... really thick =)

the iv: hurt... lidocane x 2

my eye: hurts like hell, red, hard to open, bruised, feels like i have lots of eyelashes in there, or worse

the husband: how did i get so lucky? he totally loves me to think i'm sexy with eye gauze taped to my eye. he even tapes it for me =)

ibuprofen: doesn't go well with my stomach. found out the hard way.

body heat: 94 degrees for most of yesterday... brrrr

vicodan
prednisone
atropine

best line: we don't usually see people under 70 back here!

the school newspaper: done and into the printing office at the do... what a hard worker i am (well, it should have been done in december or january.)

back to work: not sure yet...

Really, it's in the retina...

2005-03-06T20:41:00.000-06:00

Has it really been a week? I'm already becoming a slug at doing this. Not that it hasn't been busy around here. On Wednesday, I had two interesting pieces of news.

1. My retina seems to be detached. I have THINNING retinas (like thinning hairlines?) and the one in my left eye apparently just got too thin and formed a hole. I guess I didn't do anything too out of the ordinary; it's NORMAL for the lucky people who are nearsighted.

So...

the optomitrist forbade me to go to work on Thursday and made an appointment on the spot with the retina specialist for Thursday am. The gist of it is that I will be in surgery this Wednesday to REATTACH my retina. I know... it sounds quite fun. No pirate jokes, please =) Stephen is already coming up with them. I'll be out of school for a little while, which meant that I've have to bust it to get everything graded before I have one good eye (during the recovery) because grades are due the week after next.

2. That night, we found out that the people selling the house we want ACCEPTED our offer! So we will be moving back to the other side of Lake Nokomis to Chicago Avenue! FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY, we are moving into our very own house. After we sign the insane paperwork that is. And thoughts of paint and fix-ups and trips to Home Depot and Ikea and Target have been taking up a good portion of our time!

So I do intend to update more often... just a few things going on. And now I have to plan what I'm teaching tomorrow, so that's all for now... HAve a good week everyone. (I'll have to work on my endings!)

In the eyes...

2005-02-26T11:03:00.000-06:00

This week couldn't have come and gone much faster for me. The kids are getting crazy at school. I had four meetings in two days on top of teaching 170 kids, trying to hook up technology (after hunting down a LCD projector on the other side of the school from someone who never returns his stuff), correcting, lesson planning, making new materials. Oh, and having to do follow up on the meetings, getting work ready for an inbound kid, emailing updates on EBD kids, and trying to reply to parents who are wondering what msising work their little lovelies have. Then Thursday night, Stephen and I spent some quality time in the Emergency Room (7:00 - 11:30). After a CT scan, I learned that I've had an ocular migraine since Monday. So I got some pain meds and am already scheduled to go to my eye doctor this coming Wednesday. But it still hurts and my vision is weird in my left eye. It kinda sucks, to put it eloquently.

Yesterday, I was at a district workshop to see Dr. Dick Allington, who has some very interesting things to say on literacy and the research that has been done and the research that has been skewed by the current administration. Most I had already heard, but it's always nice to hear reiterated how fucking stupid G.W.B. is about education and testing and reading and, well things he obviously didn't pay much attention to when he was a wee lad. Gawd, why can't someone intelligent be running the country? And if you're going to answer that, then please tell me why professional athletes make so much more than teachers. I mean, c'mon. YOU tell ME... who has the highest amount of stress???

But, we got to babysit for my niece/goddaughter last night... and it is a nice sunny Saturday morning. Too bad I have mounds of correcting to do. You try that with one good eye... Now about that pay raise?

Must do: Add Dylron to list of links...

Hot Toddies

2005-02-19T11:06:00.000-06:00

So I just linked up with Amanda on Friendster and am feeling happy about that. We were in a p-rock band a decade ago, Madaline. Her profile says that she needs a vacation and that she is single. I think she needs to come spend a weekend in Mpls! And we need to talk about this single thing. Really? I did get to see her over the holidays in Minot (at Ebenezer's) when Stephen and I were hanging with Jen, the third girl in Madaline, who is an art teacher now in Fargo/Moorhead. Maybe, just maybe. A Madaline reunion? Don't get your hopes up. I gave the bass to Wade when we divorced. Figured he'd need it more than me as he yearned to play guitar by the sea. And Stephen sold his bass to move here when Kari decided to move here with Abbey. So... not so sure.

Anyways, I'm not doing a good job of getting out of the house today. I wanted to sleep in since I don't get to very often, but then it just got out of hand and I felt like I was wasting time. We had planned on going to the Fineline with Lisa and Nick last night, but Lisa has been sick, too, so they decided to not go, and Stephen and I ended up watching fine TV... 3rd Watch (which I do like) merged with Medical Emergency (which I hate.) I guess Paul and Anna and some of their friends were headed to the FL, too, but when it came down to it, I just wanted a night inside, lounging around, doing nothing, eating frozen pizza.

Thursday pm we ventured out into the COLD to the light rail station on 50th. Stephen had printed a photo he'd taken of Kieran (of the Local and Kieran's) and Mary Robinson (of, um, Ireland) and had Mary R. sign it at the Peace Prize Forum. (She was the main guest of honor at the Local deal we went to the Thursday before.) So then he framed it, and we went to deliver it to the manager. It's a really long walk between the LTR and the Local when it's finally MN winter COLD. After hot toddies and some bread pudding (I called it our real Valentine's dinner since I was pissy on Monday about Stephen working too much for Augsburg) we headed back to south Mpls...

One last thing. Yeah. The Mpls police officer accused of raping a woman... That's the Lifetime Stephen and I go to the most. Highland Park. Feelin' good about that one. I'm already a freak about locking my car doors the second I get into my car; I'm convinced that this fear of kidnapping was cultivated by growing up in the late 70s/80s, when kidnapping seemed to be a big deal. Then you add Dru Sjodin to the mix, whose kidnapper/murderer looks like, well, a nice little grandpa. I guess I'll go Eagan LTF to work out today. They've got a steamroom anyways.

And that's that. I need to get out of the house while it's still sunny.

Racing to catch up

2005-02-17T18:30:00.000-06:00

So TODD wrote this the other day,

"whats been irking me lately is that our generation (this is a large generalization) doesnt know how to eat and excersice nor do we know how to manage our finance. i feel like im relearning lessons that humans have known forever but america has just bred all the good stuff right out of us. truely rolling your sleeves up and going to work doesnt mean the same thing as it did 100 years ago. learning to cook, learning to garden, to run, to be active, to read the classics. . . i dont think this stuff comes as naturally as it did and now im racing to catch up on the brink of 30 years old. its like a reverse midlife crisis. instead of a convertable, i want a stuffy degree in art history."

and I found myself relieved that I am not alone in feeling... hmmm maybe like I'm not using all of my potential, nor have I been for the past several years. (This has nothing, by the way, to do with being remarried; it's just a self thing.) I remember running into his blog several years ago and thinking that this was something I should be doing. I needed a way to challenge myself and keep myself accountable to the things in life I love or am interested in. At that point, I felt that I hadn't been THINKING or DOING; I was too caught up in work and trying to survive as a teacher to bring the strong and fun parts of my past into adulthood. This did change when I started graduate school in the fall of 2003 and got back into academia, but I still need to rev it up in the way of creativity, humor, and learning... also in reading. I'm probably the worst English teacher reader I know. I'm a part-of-the-book reader, never finishing much, reading much more of Vanity Fair than anything else. Um, I guess you could also add half of lots of adolescent lit books to the mix, too.

So I don't know if that's what Todd was hinting at, but it's supper time, so that will have to do for now. I think I kind of mentally latched on to the "racing to catch up" part. In case you didn't notice.

Did I mention that Stephen is the cook at our house? =) And that I should learn how to cook sometime...

caught up

2005-02-16T13:07:00.000-06:00

Well, time and sickness finally caught up with me; I'm home sick wondering if I can gather up enough energy to go to urgent care to see if this is something worse than a cold/laryngitis/general winter sick. Maybe in an hour or so. Yeah, that's kind of arbitrary.

Sunday Lisa and Nick had Lauren's first birthday party... It's a lot of fun watching her grow. I have experience with parenting from about 4.75 and on, but the baby and toddler stuff I'm NOT so good with. Our parents were in town, Chris and Cindy over, and other people as well. It was nice to be with family. However, I do think I caught the laryngitis from Pa S. My parents were teasing me about all the Augsburg stuff, wondering if they were good enough to hang with =) Really, I don't meet fancy people very often. It just so happened that a lot of things were happening at once...

But now I'm stuck at home not doing much of anything... sleeping, drinking lots of water, searching for houses online, looking at other people's accounts of Valentine's Day. Reading Tony's blog, which usually has something interesting. Speaking of Valentine's Day, it has to be one of the most anticlimactic holidays in my life. The number of crappy VDays we have had definitely outweigh the good ones. Maybe we should work to reverse that trend. Or maybe we should think of holidays as Chris does... Isn't it better to show appreciation any day of the year and avoid the overcommercialization of everything the capitalist outfit reigns over? Does that even make sense? Is a poor sick English teacher losing her grip on the English language because she hasn't the energy to think so clearly on a fine Wednsday afternoon?

Anyways, I'll raise my glass again to the Current, which keeps moving along as a fine, fine new radio station. I knew Mary Lucia had to come back some day... And I knew that with all this damn water...

The long and winding road

2005-02-12T21:25:00.000-06:00

It's been a looong and interesting three days! Stephen had the Nobel Peace Prize Forum to cover and invited me to several of the events. We spent Thursday night at the Local; my personal highlights were shaking former Vice President Walter Mondale's hand (yea!) and meeting Peter Agre, recipient of last year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry and former Augsburg graduate. Afterwards, (and after several free drinks!) we walked over to Pizza Luce to see if Chris was working. We caught Chris and Cindy before they headed to a concert... the Santa Fe was quite tasty that night! Good for soaking up some Boddingtons anyways! Friday, there was a nighttime reception at the Augsburg House (pres' res) Kind of fancy! Highlights from Friday... Martin Sabo (MN congressman... good liberal man) introducing himself with a good strong handshake and talking with Ole Mjos, the chaiman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee out of Oslo, Norway. Actually I listened while the man I was talking with at the time asked him some interesting questions on how the process works for selecting a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. I was feeling a little chalk-brained, and I don't know a whole lot about the current peace community, so I didn't ask anything... Wish I was smarter on the issues!

Although I was cool to meet/shake with the politicians, I was really humbled in the presence of Peter and Ole. It's amazing to think of the capacity and potential of human beings and be able to meet and talk to men and women who have made an awesome impact on humankind. Speaking of women, the 2003 Nobel Laureate is Shirin Ebadi, who was honored at this year's forum.

I went to two sessions today after deciding that it was more important to go along with Stephen and actually attend the forum than staying home and piddling away a Saturday. The first one was a presentation by two teachers from Pacific Lutheran University in Washington State who have written curriculum to go along with Liv Arneson and Ann Bancroft's upcoming expedition. So I think I'll be trying the lessons in the near future... it's some great stuff on getting students to think critically about the world and human relations within the world. The other session I went to was a presentation by Deanna Armbruster of the American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam. She explained the village of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, the "Oasis of Peace." "Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam is a village located midway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in Israel where Palestinians and Israelis--all citizens of Israel--live, work and raise their families together." I think Walter (my advisor at Hamline) is involved in curriculum for their School for Peace.

The first major speaker of the day was quite moving-- Dr. Sima Samar of Afghanistan. When someone asked what she felt her greatest accomplishment has been, she answered that she feels it is still being alive... A perspective we don't often think about.

Overall, I was pretty inspired. I had forgotten about attending the Alternate Peace Summit (to the G8 Summit) when I spent the summer in Colorado in 1997 with Jen. I saw Jennifer Harbury speak then and was really interested the struggles in Central and Latin America. I've found that the daily stresses of teaching 170 7th graders has tricked me into living... hmmm... maybe too simple-mindedly and that I've forgotten about some of my past passions, peace-building being one of them.

Time for Stephen to scan some negs. He loves how my "just 5 minutes" are the longest five minutes ever! Of course that's my favorite line when I'm taking a nap... "Just five more minutes?" But it's so worth it!

Is this common?

2005-02-09T21:51:00.000-06:00

So I'm here... just me and my Naked Food-Juice. Food-juice? Superfood: Green Machine. I'm trying my hardest to stay healthy. The whooping cough is creeping around school, and frankly, it's not something I want. On the way to the store, I was listening to a fairly new radio station here in the Twin Cities, the Current. I favor the guy who runs his show in the evening. He plays lots of music that I really like. Sonic Youth and WIlco on the way home tonight. Not to mention Will Oldham. And he's also played Elliot Smith.

I feel empty when I think of Elliot Smith killing himself. I plainly love his music... have seen him several times in concert both here in Mpls and in Olympia. And I didn't even know about his death until maybe a half year later, which really makes me feel old and out of the loop. Margaret Cho has a poignant little essay on him and his life. And she asks, "What is heaven like Elliott Smith?" "Do you feel better?"

It makes me realize even more how I think about death every day and how I hope I'm set to outrun it until I'm good and old and ready. Truly, the ever-present thought that I could get hit by a car or run into something myself bothers me daily. Is this common? I don't think I let it get in the way of what I set out to do, but it does take a little of the sunshine away. It is this little worry-hope that everyone in my life will return home fine at the end of the day, continue on, set out again the next day. I know it's cliche, but I do wonder, really, what my future will be like, how long I'll live, what sicknesses I'll endure. Here's to good genes that have kept my Grandma Bert alert at 91... Love you, Grandma.

umpday

2005-02-09T17:58:00.000-06:00

Oh, oh...it's magic. It's that middle-of-the-week day. And that's good, because some of these weeks have felt excruciatingly long. I'm not feeling particularily witty tonight, for my second blog post and all. I feel a bit of pressure, like I should be writing something of great importance. I'm sure I'll get over that soon.

Last night I took Abbey to an advance screening of Because of Winn-Dixie. I was excited because it seems that I don't get to treat her too often with cool things. Not that I don't want to, but sometimes it's hard when 1) she's only with us four days of the week, 2) I'm not much of a movie-goer, and she loves movies, 3) with all sorts of family, she gets an abundance of cool things to tide her over. SO we left home around 5:30 for the Riverview Theater. Weren't sure that we'd get seats, but it wasn't a problem. Anna (Abbey's aunt/my sister-in-law) was there, too, and sat by us; we hunkered in for a good time. It was pretty cool to see Dave Matthews and even better to hear him play in a movie. The highlight of the night, however, was that at our very screening, Kate DiCamillo came out at the end to answer questions! Abbey gathered up her courage (she was nervous!) and asked the very final question: if you had one of the sadness lozenges, what would be your sadness? Kate's response (after the whole crowd gasped and murmured that it was a great question) was first, that no one had ever asked her that before. Her sadness, admittedly, would be not getting published. I was so proud of Abbey for the question... so thoughtful!

Overall, I had fun just knowing that it was something she wanted to see and I was able to take her to an early screening. I do have trouble with wanting to get up and do other things while a movie is on... or more truthfully, staying awake for them. Stephen and I have a hard time getting Abbey truly excited/ Usually we feel like quite boring parents, the ones who make her eat broccoli (she likes it!) and wheat bread (not so much, but no complaints), listen to the radio vs watching the tube, practice swimming, save her money and plan her spending. But we love her a ton and try to find little ways to make her smile. It's hard when I feel like we can never really "dazzle" her, but Stephen tells me to be patient... And I suppose as we make a little more cash (will we ever?) in the upcoming years, we'll be able to take her to plays, movies, museums, more often. But we can't forget to do those things now, too, I guess... Isn't the conventional wisdom that you will never feel like you have enough, so you better just enjoy life as it comes? Here's to more wisdom and more fun...

Why is that?

2005-02-07T21:19:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure that the saying is really true. Would the best suit up and hunker down for a sub-zero nine-month season we call winter? Even though it has been unseasonably warm? I've always wondered what the GIs who arrive in Minot, ND, in the middle of winter think about that. My dad was one of them. Guess my mom was quite the lure! A good reason to say on the tundra.

Only the Best Come North

And several years later...

Seasons...big surprise!

The craziest things...

Finished...

A picture is worth...

Oh those dog days of summer...

Voice, where are you sucker?

Happy mother's day!

love that

Our week

oh my

sunday

it's been

TOYMN in Crash

m-w experiences

Tuesday

A walk at Minnihaha Park today

New Year's at Chris Shaf's

happy New Year's Eve!

favorite things

Phillis Levin

McCarthy, Minnesotan

The hills are alive...

sunday night

Michannuel... has a nice ring...

easy come, easy go

Happy happy

Toby- 10 years

cake eater

tuesday

Turkey Day

Turkey Run

As I was driving home today, I came up with the beginnings...

I hope

LTF Advice

I woke up

It's almost Friday... that's gotta count for something.

cast away

currently

an attempt

the songs

paging...

poem for a friday

Love Poem With ToastMiller Williams

trey trey trey trey trey

viernes

walgreens

paging ms francis

galleries

music

sunday sunday

mucicalia

long time gone

Mixed CD Exchange to Commence

on our way

spaghetti nation

cuteness

busy i guess

yo yo ma

no return

11pm update

stayed out too late =)

Update

Come fly with me...

Camping July 2005

Photos

bet I'm the only

safe?

oh what a night

muggorama

invisible

Devil's Lake

wiggidywack... is it summer yet?

like stepmother like daughter.... =)

if only you could hear her chewy imitation!

abbey the lovely

like father like daughter

can you feel it?

counting down

Love Poem With Toast
Miller Williams