Category: Life

Just wait, Data

By , November 21, 2016 6:23 am

Gosh, if he is going this nuts for the garland now, how is he gonna to react when we get a REAL tree on Saturday?!

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I’m sure he’ll behave himself… right?! Ha ha.

It was fun to pick out garland for our stairs and (not up yet!) our mailbox. And it was easy to set it up. Now I just have to see how long it stays up, since Data already managed to undo the end of it once! What a stinker.

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This is all we have up for decorations so far! I plan to do more this upcoming weekend!

Aww

By , November 19, 2016 8:42 am

We received our first thank you present from the outdoor cats! Here’s the nongraphic version:

I’m hoping we’ll have many more gifts like this in the future! (I’m also telling myself it’s a present, and that the mouse simply didn’t freeze overnight…)

A year later…

By , November 18, 2016 6:35 pm

It’s been a year since last year’s first snow… which was seventeen inches…

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This year? I haven’t really even worn a proper coat yet. Weird.

I am looking forward to seeing the house look like this:

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(only it will look even better this year, because we power washed the brick a few weekends ago and the stains are gone!)

And it may snow tomorrow! Yay! Hopefully, not in that* high of an amount, ha.

*Only because I’d like to still run on the trails a few times this year! I don’t mind being “snowed-in.”

Random Thoughts Thursday 117

By , November 17, 2016 6:23 am

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  • Khaleesi and Snow are really starting to trust us! We still haven’t gotten them to the vet though. We tried awhile ago (to get them in their carriers) and that was a no go.

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  • We used moving as a reason to stop going to our old dentist and find a new one. We loved the hygienist at the old dentist office, but the actual dentist was an a-hole and the office completely messed up our billing every time (and tried to charge us WAY more than they said something would cost, and then there was that time they numbed my mouth for work then came in to tell me there wasn’t a dentist in my network in that day… and did I want to go home with a numbed mouth or pay out of network for the work?). Anyway. I finally made an appointment to try out a new place today! I hope they’re nice and can figure out the billing.
  • For some reason, I have quite a bit of work travel coming up in late November and early December. Pair that with my/our travel and guests visiting… I don’t see much free time until January! Blah!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 116

Christina’s Baby Shower

By , November 15, 2016 6:10 pm

Christina’s baby shower went by so fast! I wish I would have taken more photos! And had more of a chance to talk to people. And a way to slow down time, ha.

We held the shower at a “new to our family” location – the Waterloo Boat House. It was a sunny day and we had neat views of the river!

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The inside of the space is pretty on its own – it has a wood wainscot and lots of windows. We didn’t have to do much for decorations (but we did have banners, balloons, and table settings that I managed to not get a picture of, sad face).

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The shower theme (if you want to call it that) was “Brunch for Baby.” We thought it would be fun to do something different, so we held it from 11am-1pm and served “brunch” foods – hashbrowns, “roll-ups” (what my family calls french pancakes, aka crepes), sausage (meat and vegan – there was actually another vegan and a vegetarian at the party!), egg casseroles, and fruit. Oh, and of course, mimosas!

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I cannot take credit for the fruit duck – I saw it on Shelley’s blog and Christina’s sister-in-law recreated it. Thank you for posting that on Friday, Shelley – perfect timing!

My mom, Christina’s mother-in-law (Gale), and I hosted. Did I get a picture of the three of us? No. Sigh. But here is a cute picture of Gale, Will and Christina!

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My mom and I spent most of Saturday prepping for the party. And had a great time doing it – lots and lots of shopping, and a bit of food and decoration prep as well. I am very grateful we had so much help preparing and setting up for the party! The two of us could NOT have done it alone. My dad, sister-in-laws, mom’s mom, Gale, Gale’s friend, and Christina’s sister and brother-in-laws were HUGE helps with set up (and tear down – we had more of the spouses there to help with that, too)!

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Amber (younger brother’s wife), me, Christina, Alyssa (older brother’s wife) and Mom

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And with my mom’s mom

Gale was in charge of games and came up with cute ones! First people did “late night diapers” – writing messages on diapers for Christina to see when she is doing changes. Christina read them all out loud and picked her favorite three. The second game was “price is right,” where we had to guess how much baby stuff cost. I was WAY off (no surprise there). And the final game was “present bingo” – people filled out their own items on a bingo card and crossed them off as Christina opened them.

Present opening took almost an hour! Baby William is well loved! I felt special when everyone oohed and ahhed over the blanket I made.

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I had a grand plan to have hot cinnamon rolls for dessert since it was a brunch theme but… the place didn’t have a stove! Oops! So cake it was – half white with raspberry filling and chocolate with boston creme filling (and there was a vegan cheesecake, not pictured).

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And you know I ordered cookies from Maria’s Oven as handouts!

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Along with games, Gale also was in charge of game prizes and she brought (separate from the prizes) these adorable handouts – the lollipop, pretzel and chocolate coins are ALL customized for Baby William!

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We had a big crowd – almost thirty adults and six kids (not all pictured below, some had to leave early).

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And it was a big success – people kept saying how nice everything was. Phew! I was stressed about it and wanted it to be perfect for my snis, and wanted the guests to have fun (and for there to be enough food, ha – that is always my worry for parties – that we’ll run out of food).

It was such a pleasure to see everyone showing love for Christina and baby William, and to meet some of her friends and family that I haven’t met before, and to reconnect with the people I know. I really do wish I had more time to chat with everyone – it’s hard when you’re hosting.

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Not sponsored, but people kept asking where my dress was from – it’s Lauren Conrad for Kohl’s. I didn’t realize it came in other colors too! I may need the blue one…

And now… we continue to wait for Baby William to arrive at the end of January! I’m so excited to meet him!

I think burritos might be our love language

By , November 5, 2016 1:17 pm

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Steven sent me this text after I told him I was on the way home from picking up burritos for dinner on Thursday. Ha! It’s still making me laugh. We do love our burritos.

Random Thoughts Thursday 115

By , November 3, 2016 6:23 am
  • It’s awesome the Cubs won the World Series! They’re not the team I follow, but them winning has made so many people happy, and that makes me happy! All that being said, I’m making sure I’m NOT working downtown the day of the celebration parade (if there is one), ha ha.
  • It’s totally fine not to be interested in following mainstream stuff like the World Series, and to say it’s not your thing. There are plenty of things lots of people like and get jazzed about that I have no interest in! But what’s not cool is being a complete sourpuss about it. Newsflash – you aren’t special if you are moody about a thing that a lot of people like when they are all excited about it. It just makes you, well, moody. And makes it seem like you can’t enjoy other people’s happiness and feel left out. Grow up!
  • We don’t have antenna (or cable) and couldn’t watch any games at home but got to see Game 4 because we were at a hotel, and part of Game 7 at Red Robin (and we listened on the radio at home after that). What a series! The last game was a real nail bitter!
  • We were at a hotel last Saturday because Steven surprised me with a night away on Lake Delavan in Wisconsin! It was so sweet he planned all that and surprised me, and recognized that we both needed a break. We had a great time!

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  • Thanks for voting for Data in our veterinarian’s Halloween costume contest! He got second place, and will receive a $20 gift card to PetSmart! Should I use it to get him something fun, or more food for all the cats?

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  • The election is making me feel so anxious I decided to vote by mail this year, because just thinking about making it to my voting office on Tuesday was stressing me out.
  • The last time I posted about the pond level, it was almost gone. It actually did completely go away in August/September. But we’ve had so much rain in October and November (5.50 inches in the last 30 days), it’s back, and in a big way!

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Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 114

Data, the florist

By , November 2, 2016 12:39 pm

It only took me a second to figure out why some of the flowers were “falling” out of the bouquet my snis sent me

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… Data has been re-arranging it for me.

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Every.

Single.

Day.

It seems we have a budding florist on our hands!

Ba dum ching!

(And this would also explain why he hasn’t been feeling well, since he is also EATING the flowers.)

Things I’m excited about in November!

By , November 1, 2016 5:35 am

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  1. All things holiday-related – the music, the Starbucks red cups, getting a real tree, shopping for (and making?!) presents…
  2. Dark evenings after Daylight Saving Time ends!
  3. The election being over!
  4. Christina’s baby shower!
  5. A Thanksgiving 5K! Our friends that we typically spend Thanksgiving with (and are this year, too, yay!) asked if we wanted to do a 5K and I was surprised when Steven said yes! He’s been training for a couple of weeks now (Steven and I used to run together, back in the day, so he’s not new to running).
  6. Cold weather! Maybe some snow?!?! Although, it would be nice if our first snow storm is NOT seventeen inches, like last year.
  7. Building an outdoor shelter for Khaleesi and Snow. And taking them to the vet (I know that is gonna suck, but I’ll feel better when it’s done).
  8. Wearing my “winter” work uniform – knee high boots, slim fit pants and … whatever top. Ha.
  9. More chili and stews and cold-weather food.
  10. Getting in 5K-training shape for my end of February race! I’ll likely use this plan again, and start training at the end of the year.

Big ole NOPE

By , October 31, 2016 11:10 am

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I’m sorry Data. I don’t even know where that “shirt” came from. I found it when I was looking through our Halloween costumes.

Steven and I didn’t dress up and go out in costume this year, but I was looking through our costumes so Steven could wear something to the warehouse today. And of course, so I could wear something to teach class tonight! I hope some of my students dress up too!

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