Last day of NaBloPoMo

Even though I missed one day in the entire 30 day challenge, I'm still wrapping up my NaBloPoMo today. I am bummed that I missed that one measly day at the end here, but sometimes life just gets in the way of life I guess!

I had alot of fun participating in this blogging challenge. And there were days it was definitely a challenge! I did have days where I could not come up with something interesting to write and found myself just babbling.

I will continue to try and post as often as I can because I really do love to write. But I am kind of relieved it is over now!

Kudos to everyone who made it all 30 days!

It was bound to happen

Well I missed a day in my daily blog posting. I can't believe it happened. I have to be completely honest about it though. Yesterday just turned into one of those days where I was running from morning to bed. Shopping, a movie with Nate, a birthday party for my father in law and suddenly the blog was just forgotten.

I will post today and tomorrow still, but sadly I didn't make my promise for NaBloPoMo. But hey, it took me until the 28th to slip!

Deck the Halls

Just finished my holiday decorating. I am exhausted, but pleased with my results. All my knickknacks are out, my tree is up and decorated and the stockings are hung. We're ready. I loved having a whole day off to get this all done. I've been enjoying Christmas music as I work. It is definitely my favorite time of the year!!

Thankful Thursday Week 4 - Thanksgiving edition

Today is actually Thanksgiving, so this post means more than usual. We should count our many blessings everyday, but especially on this one special day more than ever.

For me today I am thankful for:

1. A great birthday. My day yesterday was relaxing, filled with love and joy and all that birthdays should be.

2. The return of the Muppets. Yes this sounds strange, but as you all know I am a huge fan and this week saw several exciting things happen for Muppet fans. Google Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody on YouTube for one, it's well worth 4 minutes to watch.

3. My family. I had a chance to spend time with my family this morning and will see Nate's family in about an hour and I am so thankful to have every last one of them!

4. Friends. It was nice to hear from so many people on my birthday yesterday, I am reminded time and again that I am so lucky and blessed to have so many outstanding people in my life!

5. A roof over our heads. I am so fortunate we both have jobs, can afford our bills, have food on the table. So many folks do not and I am praying for and thinking of them today more than ever.

What are you Thankful for? Happy Thanksgiving!

28

Today I am 28. Tomorrow Nate will be 28. It feels a little weird and I think it's because ten years ago I was 18 and graduating from high school. We'll have our reunion this summer. And I feel like it all went by in such a flash!

But I do love birthdays and I am enjoying every minute. I took today off from work and enjoyed a nice morning with my mom and then had a marathon of my favorite Friends Thanksgiving episodes. Later we'll have dinner with my parents and then cake with both sets of our parents plus Ali.

Tomorrow of course is Thanksgiving, so Nate gets a grand feast for his birthday! Friday we'll celebrate at our Praise Project rehearsal with th0se friends as well. And Saturday my father-in-law turns 60 so the celebrating continues. Next Tuesday is my dad's birthday so the fun just doesn't stop!

But I love all of this, it's the best time of year!

Tuesday Top Ten - Things I hope to do over the next few days

After today I am off the rest of the week. I've been a bit crazed at work and zapped of energy when I've been outside of work so you get a lame top ten post from me today.

Top Ten Things I hope to accomplish this five day weekend:

10. Decorate my house for Christmas on Friday
9. Eat tons of good food
8. Start my Christmas shopping
7. Clean my house a bit to prepare for decorations
6. Watch a bunch of my favorite Thanksgiving episodes of Friends
5. Bake an apple pie and a green bean casserole
4. Spend some time with good friends over the weekend
3. Spend quality time with family
2. Celebrate my birthday, Nate's birthday and my father-in-law's birthday
1. RELAX!

Monday, Monday

It was quite a Monday today, lots of stuff to come back to after being gone only one afternoon!

It's weird though, because really, today was my Thursday! That's right, I'm off Wednesday through Friday this week and I can't wait. Birthdays, Thanksgiving, kick off to the Christmas season, bring it on! I'm ready!

But I had to get through Monday first. Fortunately, I survived. So did Nate, ha ha.

Monday, Monday, so good to me, Monday, Monday, it was all I hoped it would be - The Mamas and the Papas.

Our weekend...

...Was fantastic. We had outstanding weather, a wonderful room, ate some good food and just enjoyed a little time away as a husband and wife. Definitely a nice birthday present to each other!

I highly recommend Fitgers Inn - the staff was wonderful, the off season rates are really good and the brewhouse is right downstairs!

As relaxing as it was I'm still quite exhausted, so that's the best recap for now. I hope to share pictures soon via here and Facebook. Stay tuned.

Duluth memories

As you are reading this post, Nate and I are enjoying some quality time away - but it's NaBloPoMo, so I have to post something and thanks to some help from my friend S, I learned out to schedule my post ahead of time!

So we'll be in Duluth which is quite possibly my favorite city in the entire state of MN. I have memories of going up, mostly with my parents when I was young. It is a beautiful area and while it has become more of a tourist trap in the last ten years with the explosion of the Canal Park area, it still has a great deal to offer.

My first trip to Duluth was at the tender age of 3, but if you can believe it, I still remember alot about it! It was not my first vacation with my parents ever, but it's the first one I can actually remember. I remember thinking staying in a hotel was a really big deal. I remember being excited to swim in the hotel pool. I remember going to this place that is an old Logging Camp and that they had a petting zoo. I vaguely remember going in Gooseberry Falls and walking on the rocks. But the thing I remember most is, I lost my favorite pair of Rainbow Brite sunglasses.

My dad had decided to take a picture of my mom and me by a pier on Lake Superior. My mom was holding me up and my sunglasses were perched on a wall. You can see this in the picture in fact. After the picture we walked away and my sunglasses were lost forever. To a three year old, this is one of the most heartbreaking things ever apparently. Multiple stops were made at some stores attempting to replace these, and the best we found were Snoopy sunglasses which just weren't the same!

As an adult I like to hold this over my parents a little bit, that it's kind of their fault, but it's all in jest really. We had several more great trips up there and I've been up there with girlfriends, but not once with Nate, so I'm glad to finally be sharing my favorite city in the world with him. And I'm pretty sure, we won't lose anything!

Flashback Friday - Look how far I've come

Ok, here's a short little Flashback Friday post. This picture is from Summer 2008. Do you see what I am doing in that picture? What if I just crop it and show you what I'm talking about.

Ok, how about now? Do you see what I'm doing? I'm picking my fingers. If you look at the above pose, I'm clearly oblivious to the fact that I was even doing it. I would do it pretty absent mindedly sometimes. This was why it was so difficult to make myself quit, half the time I'd be doing it without even realizing.

But, today marks 7 months since I gave up this habit and I continue to celebrate each passing month. It was an addiction I had to overcome and I feel proud that I've managed to keep this up. You won't find anymore pictures like this of me now! I will keep working hard to make sure of it!

Thankful Thursday - Week 3

I came into work today prepared to write my normal things that I'm thankful for at some point when I had a break and I still will list them, but they all seem trivial at the moment. I learned when I arrived today that a co-worker's infant son died last night. She arrived to pick him up at daycare and there was an ambulance. Sadly, tragically, he choked to death. He wasn't quite a year old yet. My heart just breaks for her and I just can't even express words about how unbelievably sad this is. All I can do is just pray for her and her family right now and hopefully help out with whatever the staff decides to do - I heard we may try and start a dinner campaign for them and I don't doubt there will be a collection to help with any finances for them. It is just heartwrenching to think about. So I'm asking all of my blog readers to please keep this family in your prayers and thoughts as the days and weeks ahead will be very difficult for them.

What I am thankful for today -

1. My family, hands down today this is number one. I want to hug all of my family members super tight and am just so thankful to have them. My husband, my parents, even my cats.
2. My co-workers and the way everyone is working to rally around this woman's family to try and help her in anyway we can
3. My friends - especially ones who are crazy enough to wait in line to get a CD with me and who let me vent and complain about things
4. Weather - it's still been quite warm for this time of year and due to that I did not freeze while waiting for the Sampler this year
5. Knowing that my purchase of said Cities Sampler will help out several local charities.

Today I encourage everyone to really count all their blessings. What are you thankful for?

A tradition

For the last six years I have gone and stood in line to get myself a copy of the Cities 97 City Sampler. The first year I went alone and then after that I recruited my dear friend Gina to stand in line with me and it's become our tradition to do this each year ever since.

Some people think we are crazy, because we are known to head to Target, where the Sampler is sold, around 6:00 am. The problem is, the CD is for charity and only so many copies are released each year, so we always want to make sure we actually get one!

The very first year that I went by myself, I was still in college and rolled out of bed close to 8:00 because I had no morning classes, so I figured, I'll just throw on a sweatshirt over my p.j.'s and drive to the Targhetto (sorry, it was St. Paul Midway, total Targhetto) right when they opened, get my CD and go home. I learned it was not that simple!

The line was out around the back of the building, this was the 15th anniversary year, but even on non-anniversary years it has become a big deal, a collector item for MN music fans. I was lucky to get my hands on one of the last copies that year. Ever since, Gina and I make sure we are in line nice and early, even if it means we have to sit in the cold for two hours.

And it has been COLD in the past. Last year was one of the coldest ever, with the temps barely out of the teens while we waited. This year's promised temps of upper 30's will be like a heat wave. We always dress in layers, bring blankets and chairs and just huddle up as best we can.

The CD's are worth it - they are unique one of a kind recordings from pretty big names in music, past artists have included Coldplay, Sarah McLachlan, REM, etc. I find myself not always listening to Cities 97 anymore as my music tastes have taken on more of an electic mix, but I can't miss out on getting my CD each year, it's a must have for my library!

So, tomorrow Gina and I will make our annual trek. She was smart and took the whole day off, but because of other days off I have coming up, I will try my best to make it through the work day after we get the Sampler (and some breakfast out right after). I will probably be dragging, but I'll have my new music to keep me going!

Tuesday Top Ten: Desserts

Looking ahead to both Thanksgiving and Christmas I think about all the yummy desserts that I hope to sample here and there. Plus who just doesn't love dessert anyway? So, I thought I'd do an easy and quick top ten today on my favorite desserts of all time.

10. My mom's hot fudge cake - it's not your average chocolate cake, there is vanilla and hot fudge swirled in making cakey goodness that melts in your mouth

9. Chocolate mousse - I don't want it all the time because it is usually quite rich and indulgent, but I like a good one every now and then!

8. Ali's cheesecake - she makes it sans real cream cheese because of her dairy allergy but I have to tell you, I am really starting to prefer it with the fake stuff! We usually top it with berries and it is quite delicious!

7. Oreo pie - I love Oreo pie from Baker's Square. This is a memory I have from the first years Nate and I were dating, late nights at Baker's Square after a movie and a slice of Oreo pie. Sadly, I don't get to enjoy this treat as often anymore as we don't have a Baker's Square real close to us, but it's still a favorite!

6. Brownies - Whether my mom's homemade ones, or the boxed ones from Giradelli, Trader Joes or Pillsbury, a good, gooey brownie and a glass of milk is a lovely treat!

5. Chocolate chip cookies - again, I prefer my mom's on this, but there are few others out there that are also pretty good. And it's just so classic.

4. Bailey's Chocolate Cream Cake from Jax. If you've been there and had this, you understand. Enough said.

3. Christmas cookies - too many to list, but most are wonderful and indulgent and not something you want year round, but a perfect treat at the holiday season. Cream wafers, Chocolate Chip Teacakes, and Thumbprints are some of my favorites.

2. Apple pie/apple crisp - it's a tie here, my mom has a great recipe for both and I look forward to Fall every year for the simple fact that I'll get to enjoy these goodies here and there for several months

1. Tiramasu - it used to be the best at Buca di Beppo, but they changed their recipe. I now really enjoy the tiramasu from Donatelli's. We have on more than one occasion indulged in "birthday" tiramasu instead of cake. I just love tiramasu!!

Now I've probably made everyone hungry. Including myself!!

Halfway

Well we're about halfway through NaBloPoMo and I haven't missed a day yet! I am sure some days my posts are not that exciting to read, but I really am making the effort. It feels good to write, it's just a different way of expressing feelings and thoughts.

The second half of the month will start to get more interesting here I think as we have some fun things coming up and therefore should have pictures to share of these events as they happen!

Stay tuned!

If it ain't broke...

It's no secret my family and I are big fans of a local coffee company with shops all over the Metro area. I've expressed my love time and again on this blog and have named them by name, but I am choosing not to do so in this post because I'm going to speak a little more unfavorably about them.

Our beloved coffee shop has changed the way they brew my dad's number one favorite drink - the mocha. Now, they advertised this change for a few days before and then just jumped right on in. I gave it a try even though I usually do a vanilla latte, I actually tried the new style drink. Basically, they've made a major change in how they do the chocolate in a mocha or other chocolate based drink. You can have milk, dark or white chocolate. I tried the dark.

I felt it was very rich, kind of indulgent tasting, and would definitely not be something I would drink every day. I wanted to give it a chance and tried to stay positive that this would not be a bad thing. In fact, my Facebook post was very positive about it and I was even telling people to give it a try. But, something was nagging me in the back of my head about it. I worried about my dad and his mochas.

My dad is not so sure yet what he thinks about the drinks. He is now having to work with the baristas each day he goes in to try and tweak it so the amount of chocolate to coffee is just right. It shouldn't have to be quite like that. I tasted both his mocha and my mom's hot chocolate and I have decided it is just TOO much. And that's coming from someone who really likes chocolate.

I guess today he got it a little closer to the old style. I have been reading the comments on their Facebook page and they are less than favorable. I just wonder if they test marketed this first. The baristas told us people are coming in and getting mad.

So my question is - why did they really need to mess with what worked? If it ain't broke, don't fix it! I just hope that my family and I can continue enjoying to go there together, we'll have to see how things go. Right now I'm thankful I'm more of a vanilla fan!

It's a weekend right?

I was home for maybe a total of five hours today, not even consecutively. I was barely home last night. I'm not complaining, but I've definitely been a busy bee.

It is just making me look forward all the more to a weekend get away with my husband very, very soon!

Tomorrow promises more of the same - busy, not home much. And then before we know it it will be Monday again.

So it goes. On we go. Something like that!

TGIF

Ok, so Flashback Fridays are just going to be too hard for me to keep up with. Just not enough access to pictures in a digital format right now. Maybe someday!

So today I instead bring you a normal, boring, run of the mill blogpost. Mainly because I lack creativity today.

I'm glad it is Friday. The week seems to have really flown by though, it's sort of surprising.

Tonight we go to a surprise party for Nate's boss. Tomorrow we have a Praise Project gig. Sunday I have a "celebration" for Nate's cousins who are in the process of adoption. It's not really a shower per say, more of a get together to hear about the kids (yes they are adopting two!) and the whole process. I'm really interested in hearing their story, it should be neat.

So another weekend I know will fly right on by. I have so many wonderful things coming up though that it would be perfectly all right with me if that was the case!

Happy Friday! Even if it is Friday the 13th!

Thankful Thursday - Week 2

It's time for another Thankful Thursday post! It's been a trying week at times this week, nothing bad, just busy so this is a good time for me to reflect just a little bit on what I'm thankful for!

1. My husband - I'm thankful for him everyday of course, but a couple of things he did for me this week make me exceptionally thankful for him today! I love you Nate!

2. My cats - As you all know I'm a Wednesday night widow and it's so funny the way the cats fight over who gets to sit with me while I watch Glee, usually resulting in both of them curled up with me in some fashion, at least that was the case last night!

3. This unbelievable weather! I love not having to clear my car off in the morning and not having to wear a super heavy jacket yet. This is definitely a gift!

4. Reindeer Blend coffee from Caribou - it came back today, it is my absolute favorite blend of the entire year and I will take advantage of it until it goes away after Christmas! (Side note, I also tried a new drink made with all natural dark chocolate - very good, but very rich, will probably stick to my Vanilla in the future)

5. Safe and sound - I had two very important people to me have car accidents in the last week here and while damage was done to the vehicles involved, the people are safe and sound and not seriously injured, so I am very thankful for that!

What are you thankful for this week? Feel free to share here or back at my friend S's blog here, where Thankful Thursday originated!

Just the day to day stuff

So it's been awhile since I've done a "what we've been up to post" so I figured I was due.

We had a pretty tame weekend. Praise Project was on a hiatus type situation so we had two nights free instead of just one. Friday night we had a nice dinner with my parents and then headed home to watch a movie.

Saturday I went on the quest for black shoes, it honestly took more than I expected it to for me to find what I was looking for, but I finally did after making several stops (in which I discuss here about all the Christmas related things I was seeing - still just feel it is a bit too early and hard to think about with this "heatwave"). Spent the afternoon tiding up around the house. We then attempted to have dinner at one of our favorite places, but discovered it has become quite the college hangout now that school is in session and would have had to wait 45 minutes for a table. And it was already after 6:00 so that just wasn't what we wanted to do. So, onward we went to a less crowded eatery (the St. Clair Broiler) and had ourselves a nice meal.

Sunday I had a Tastefully Simple party which went quite well. We then just grilled in the evening.

So far this week we've experimented with the crockpot again and have just been kind of vegging around when we're not at work. And that's not a bad thing. We're going to be crazy busy in the next couple of weeks so it's been nice to have a lull. Coming up for us we have a Praise Project gig, a birthday party for Nate's boss, some get togethers with friends, my annual trek for the Cities 97 City Sampler with my dear friend Gina, a weekend away in Duluth and then birthdays and Thanksgiving. So, life is going to pick up speed very soon. I say, bring it on!

Tuesday Top Ten - Thanksgiving

So, for November I explained that I'm moving my weekly Top Ten lists to Tuesdays so I can participate in a Thursday blogging activity.

Today, I'm thinking about Thanksgiving, the poor little holiday that I think does not get enough attention. It has become so overshadowed by Christmas and even Halloween, it's stuck being sandwiched between two very popular holidays and I just think it doesn't get the love that it should. There are so many awesome things about Thanksgiving. So today, I give you my ten favorite things about Thanksgiving!

10. Thanksgiving episodes of TV's "Friends" - laugh at me if you must, but the Thanksgiving episodes are some of the funniest and best of the entire series. And it's one of few shows that actually dedicated an entire episode to Thankgiving each year. I give them kudos for that.

9. The "Oh You Turkey" coloring contest in the Star Tribune. I grew up with this coloring contest, the giant sized turkey just begging to be colored on the front of the Variety section. Even as an adult I still enjoy coloring him and it doesn't matter if I can't send it in, it's just fun to color!

8. Mashed potatoes - you just can't beat homemade mashed potatoes with gravy. Drool.

7. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving - again, one of my favorite holiday specials, I love how they make a meal out of popcorn and candy. I just think it's cute

6. Four day weekend - It's nice to get a couple of days off of work. Normally I do not get the day after off, but this year I do like most people. Actually, I get a five day weekend this year because I also took off the day before Thanksgiving for my birthday!

5. Thanksgiving weekend sales - not just Black Friday, but the deals to be had the whole weekend. I almost always at least start my holiday shopping over this weekend because there is always a sale going on somewhere!

4. Spending time with family - especially members of Nate's family we don't get to see as often. His family makes a pretty big deal out of Thanksgiving so we usually spend the day with them and it's always very nice

3. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - I love the balloons, the cheesy performances, the floats and all the pomp and circumstance of this parade. A must watch for me.

2. Pie - I always bake an apple pie to bring to our celebration and I enjoy doing it too.

1. Being thankful - it's a good time to reflect on the many gifts and blessings in your life and I think it's a beautiful thing! This is why November's Thankful Thursdays is a great blog activity and why I gladly moved this list to Tuesdays!

Me today

Me today in a nutshell:

Tired
Busy
Thankful
Blessed
Silly
Reflective
Curious
Antsy

Just another average day.

Sunday silence

I don't have much to say today, it was a busy day with church and then a Tastefully Simple party in my home that everyone has just left from.

Nate is running errands. We'll be grilling later.

Right now it is just me and my cats. And it's quiet. Sometimes the silence is nice. I should probably spend more time with it as it's a good time for reflection or prayer or silent meditation or something along those lines. A good chance to just de-stress a bit.

Or maybe a good excuse for a nap, ha ha!

What's wrong with this picture?

So it's November 7th, at least according to the calendar. It's nearly 65 degrees outside and sunny. I'm not complaining about that one bit though. I'll take the nice weather while I can get it. Here's what's bugging me.

While enjoying coffee at Caribou this morning, I heard one Christmas song. Most of the music was the light acoustic stuff they tend to play, but a Bruce Springsteen Christmas song snuck in. Ok, I'll forgive that. It was just one. And at least they don't have their red and green coffee cups out like some other chain who's name I will not mention right now.

Then I went to the mall to look for shoes. Christmas decorations appeared to be everywhere already. Lights in the trees even. And let me remind you that it's 65 degrees outside today. Hmm, doesn't seem to fit.

Finally, at my last stop, the Christmas music was in full swing. I could not believe it. The cashier asked me if I wanted to open a credit card to make my Holiday shopping easier. I'm like, no because for one, I don't need another credit card and for two, it's not the holiday yet!

I'm a Christmas freak, I can't wait to put out all my stuff each year. But I have a limit as to how early I'll go. I try to make it to the day after Thanksgiving. Not the first weekend of November, especially when we're having a late batch of Indian Summer!

Ok, rant over. Merry warm November not even close to Thanksgiving yet early, early Christmas I guess!

Flashback Friday - 2006

On this same friend's blog that I found the inspiration for Thankful Thursday, I saw a suggestion from another blogger to do a Flashback Friday. I thought the idea sounded fun, and would inspire me to include pictures! I don't have alot of older pictures scanned, but I'm going to make an effort to this soon.

For today, I bring you a pictures from 2006. It was a big year, the year we got married, bought our house, got Taylor the cat, and turned the big 25. Sometimes it's hard to believe that was just three years ago, it almost seems longer. Not in a bad way, but when you think about it, it really wasn't all that long ago! So let's go back a short three years here:

Me with Taylor - May 2006 (camera has wrong date)

My bachlorette party at Mel's Beauty Bar -

tons of fun as you can see in the picture,

we laughed ALOT that night

Nate and I on the Ranger Tower in Itasca on our honeymoon. Going up was easy.

I did NOT enjoy climbing back down, he had to talk me through it.

Our wedding day

Our 25th birthday party at the Mermaid - it was my golden birthday.

As you can see, our looks have both changed alot since this time! I had grown my hair out for our wedding, I have now cut it pretty short. I do not dye it anymore, no more red hair for me. I stopped wearing contact lenses as well. Nate has different glasses and of course, facial hair. I think we both look more "our age" now, we look so young in these pictures!

Hope you enjoyed the trip down memory lane for this week. I hope to go back in time even more as we move forward through NaBlPoMo!

Thankful Thursday - Week 1

The weekly top ten will be moving to Tuesdays so I can participate in a weekly blog activity for NaBlPoMo. Introducing: Thankful Thursdays!


It's perfect, we celebrate Thanksgiving in November. Someone suggested this on a friend's blog, and I agreed it is a great idea. We often forget to really sit back and reflect on the good things in our lives that we are thankful for. I haven't been having the greatest week, so I think this is a good exercise for me today.


Five things I am thankful for this week:


1. The end of daylight's savings time. I just tend to sleep better in the fall and winter and was happy to gain that extra hour on Saturday night!

2. My new laptop and the fact that it now works. Yes I have a new laptop. We bought a cheap Dell that Nate converted to a Mac (Hackintosh) but at first the power supply didn't work. They sent us a new one and I am so happy with it now!

3. Friends, near and far, old and new, I love all of you!

4. Having a job. I may not love it everyday, but it's still a job to come to each day and I've been learning alot lately

5. Having a weekend coming up with not too much going on. Saturday we are totally free all day and Nate and I are going to just spend some time the two of us. I'm looking forward to it.


Let us remember to try and find our blessings and things to be thankful for each and every day! What are you thankful for today?

L is for Legacy

Today marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most famous streets in the world. I myself used to visit there frequently and my travels had a profound impact on my life. And what street am I talking about do you wonder? Not Main Street, that's for certain.

Sesame Street.

Sesame Street has been teaching and entertaining children for 40 years. Children that grew up with Sesame Street are now re-living it with their own children. It's become multi-generational.

I have very early memories of watching Sesame Street. Apparently I used to giggle like a crazy child when Bert and Ernie would do a routine in a fishing boat. Ernie's strategy was to call "Here Fishy Fishy Fishy!" Which of course Bert thought was ridiculous, but Ernie convinces him to try it. Pretty soon Bert is screaming at the top of his lungs and a large Muppet fish jumps in their boat and says "You called?"

But seriously, I learned more than just my ABC's from this show. I learned about love, marriage and starting a family when the characters of Luis and Maria fell in love, were married and had a child. I learned about adoption when the characters Gordon and Susan adopted a baby son named Miles. I learned about sign language from Linda and found a love of music with Bob.

These were my friends, the Muppets and the humans. Every day I could turn on my TV and they were always there. I laughed, I learned, I loved. I still do. Grover, Cookie Monster, even Big Bird all hold a special place in my heart. It's no secret I'm a huge Muppet fan.

I look forward to sharing Sesame Street with my children someday. I hope it is still around for many more years to come.

"Sing, sing a song, sing out loud, sing out strong. Don't worry if it's not good enough for anyone else to hear, just sing, sing a song." - Sing from Sesame Street

I love my crockpot

Ok, so I will admit - it has taken me about three years of being married and making my own meals to really get into using a crockpot. We got a pretty nice one as a wedding gift and it sat almost a year in it's box before we really used it. And then I think the first thing we even used it for was some hot apple cider for a party we had.

Then one day last year Nate decided to make a roast in it. It turned out great, but I still didn't jump on the crockpot cooking bandwagon.

I really don't know what I was waiting for! I've now done two meals this fall in the crockpot and let me tell you, it's a lovely feeling coming home and dinner is more or less done!

In my quest to cook recipes from the Betty Crocker book, I have found many meals will be easier if there is a little prep work the night before and then have them cook all day while I'm gone at work. So far, we've made beef stroganoff in the crockpot and corned beef for sandwiches.

The challenge is finding meals that need to cook for a long enough period of time while we are at work. If the meal only calls for 5-6 hours, that doesn't work out real well since we are gone for about 8. Nate's thinking of seeing if we can somehow hook up a timer though, that would turn it on at a specific time. I don't quite know how that will work, but hey, you never know.

I am now officially addicted to my crockpot and I think we'll have an opportunity to have many yummy meals this winter!

Blank

Wow, not even two days in and I'm already hitting writer's block. Hmm, this could be a bad thing!

Seriously, I think it's just kind of a lull in interesting things going on at the moment. Halloween has come and gone now. We're on a hiatus week for Praise Project. Our birthdays are still a few weeks off along with Thanksgiving and diving head first into the Christmas season. So for now, life is just kind of calm and boring. Not that it's a bad thing - but it leaves me with little to really write about!

I'm sure I'll get my inspiration back as time goes on. Right now I'm a little tired, I had a good, but busy weekend and it's been hard to get back into the daily grind for some reason.

But at least I'm posting something today! That says something right?

November is blogging month

So apparently November is National Blog Posting Month, aka NaBloPoMo. Bloggers are encouraged to highlight their blogs, show their best stuff, and I will do this by attempting to post everyday as per their rules. Check out this link for more info http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-nablopomo.htm if you are curious.

Now you all know I love to write so this shouldn't be too much of a challenge, but I am sure there will be days I may come up dry. I'll do my best to keep it interesting, maybe throw in some different kind of posts here or there.

So, come along with me on a month long blogging journey!