So cold

No school today because of the cold temps. It went from a balmy 40 or so at midday yesterday to -9 with a wind chill of -35 this morning at 5:30 when I checked the weather and closings. The kids were happy to have a day off. That is until I told them that meant school would go a day later in June since this was the second cancellation of the year. It should be back in the 20s tomorrow. Crazy WI weather!

Spent part of the morning waiting for the washing machine repair guy. So glad he showed up during his scheduled time period. We had originally scheduled this last week and hubby had to cancel to go to work since it was 1.5 hours past the block of time they gave us and no phone call yet. Everything seems to be working smoothly now. Our machine is only a couple months old but when on the spin cycle it would shake like crazy and end up half way across the laundry room! It weighs a ton so it was not fun trying to push it back. He had to do some leveling and install some riser kit under the unit and all is well now.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!

Hubby and I had our night out. We had a lot of fun at the Colin and Brad Show. We went out to dinner before the show and of course since it was Saturday we went to T.G.I.Fridays. Makes sense right? We started out at Olive Garden but the parking lot was more packed than it was the night we were told an hour and a half wait so we didn't even attempt going in. Then we headed to the theater.

BTW, did I mention I had to sit in the back seat? Yeah, that's right. I felt kind of lame. My husband uses his jeep to deliver mail so when he bought it he had a conversion kit installed so he could drive on the right. Well, to make things even easier he took out the drivers seat and built a shelf to put the mail on. He had to use it on Monday so didn't want to have to switch it back and forth. Plus his shoulder is still bothering him so he didn't want to lug the heavy seat out to switch it. So it's quite an interesting sight with him driving on the right and me sitting in the back on the left. We get some interesting looks! Especially after the show when we had to pay to get out of the parking garage. Priceless!

Anyway, got to the theater about an hour early. They weren't seating yet so had to kill some time. Luckily we ran into a guy hubby used to work with. He hadn't seen him in about a year so we spent most of that time chatting and catching up with him and his girlfriend.

The show lasted a good 2+ hours. It started a little after 8pm and we didn't get up to leave until about 10:40, I'd say there was about a 15 minute intermission. Not bad at all. I expected maybe 1 1/2 hours. It was hilarious and I'd love to see it again the next time they are near us. I guess Milwaukee is the city they have played the most......sounds like another favorite of mine! I don't know how they come up with some of this stuff so quickly off the top of their heads. Must be from doing it for so long. Most of the games were versions of or combinations of the games on Whose Line. Was our first time seeing the mouse trap game though. I never laughed so hard at people in pain in my life. They have a video on their site in the media section of them playing it (see the link at the beginning of this post) along with a couple others.
Check 'em out.

Date night

Hubby and I get to go out tonight. By ourselves. Without the kids. They are staying with grandma. We are heading out to dinner and to see Brad Sherwood and Colin Mochrie from "Whose Line is it Anyway?". That should be fun. I'm looking forward to it. I loved watching that show. I wish it was still going. I catch it in re-runs once in awhile.

Hopefully it will be done snowing by then and the roads will be clear. I was already out shoveling this morning. I've decided I've had enough. I'm serious, let's put an end to this white stuff for the season! At least today it was a balmy 21° F and not in the single digits or below zero temps we've seen this past week. I was actually sweating under my coat! lol

I made it to 100!!

Wow, I've made it to 100 posts. So as I've seen on many other blogs, I thought I'd share a list of 100 things about me. Hope it doesn't put too many of you to sleep.

1. I was born in November 1969
2. My dad’s draft papers were dated the day of my birth
3. I was born in Ware, Massachusetts. Where? Yes, Ware.
4. I am sick of that "joke"
5. I was almost named Karyn
6. I’m the oldest of 2 kids
7. I have a brother
8. I’ve been married since June 1991
9. I have 2 girls
10. I eat M&M’s, peanuts, chips etc. two at a time, one on each side of my mouth
11. When I get in bed I lay on my right side
12. I don’t fall asleep until turning over to the left side
13. Around age 3 my mom was peeling and onion, I was convinced it was an apple, I bugged her until she gave me a bite
14. I haven’t liked onions since
15. But I will eat onion rings if thin enough and cooked just right
16. I’m a very picky eater
17. I love to go out to eat
18. But I have a hard time finding something on the menu
19. I don’t like my food touching on the plate
20. In 6th grade, two friends and I got stopped by a police officer for jay walking on the way to school
21. I have a habit of chewing my tongue
22. I almost never realize I’m doing it
23. When I do I get really embarrassed
24. I joined the tennis team my freshman year of HS but sprained my ankle before the first match (doing something stupid, not playing tennis)
25. I am Polish, German, Irish and French
26. I wish I could cook Polish food like my grandma (who was not even Polish)
27. I miss her cooking
28. I miss her and my grandpa (or Babci and Dziadziu as we called them)
29. I moved to Wisconsin in 1981 when I was 11
30. I was miserable for about 3 years
31. This shaped me into the depressed, self critical, emotional, unconfident, pessimistic person I can be today
32. I am trying to do something about that
33. The only thing that kept me going during that time was listening to Rick Springfield and watching Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital
34. Rick Springfield and his music are still a big influence in my life
35. I’ve seen him in concert 33 times
36. I analyze and worry about things way too much
37. I can be very indecisive
38. Or not
39. I didn’t have my first haircut until I was 4, didn’t have much hair
40. Now I prefer to have it long
41. But I suck at styling it
42. I wish I knew what I want to be when I grow up
43. I’ve never broken any bones
44. I’ve had all 4 wisdom teeth pulled
45. I’ve never gotten a speeding ticket
46. I love getting snail mail
47. I’ve never dyed my hair
48. I’ve never been drunk
49. I like to make lists
50. My first job was at Kmart
51. I met my husband there
52. I didn’t like him when we first met
53. Now he’s my best friend
54. My first car was a 1983 red and black Dodge Charger
55. I want to get a tattoo but can’t decide what to get or where to put it
56. I scare easily
57. I like manatees, collect manatee stuff
58. My favorite season is fall
59. I’m ticklish
60. I played clarinet from grade 5 through High School
61. I played baritone saxophone for Jazz Band in HS
62. I love chocolate
63. I am NOT a morning person
64. I think I could eat pizza everyday
65. I hate thunderstorms and lightning
66. Especially at night, freaks me out when it’s completely dark and lightning lights up the entire room
67. I can’t sleep with the windows open
68. I love taking pictures
69. I have 7 cameras
70. I love going to casinos
71. I usually lose
72. I’d love to go back to Vegas
73. I hate driving in the snow
74. I love roller coasters
75. I don’t like big crowds
76. I tend to take things too seriously
77. I can be overprotective of my kids
78. My favorite color is purple
79. My first crush was on a boy named Michael in Kindergarten
80. I haven’t seen my dad in over 10 years
81. I’ve had 6 jobs in my lifetime
82. It drives me crazy when my family doesn’t rinse out the kitchen sink
83. I’m running out of "things" for this list!
84. I’ve lived in three states…MA, WI and NC
85. I don’t smoke
86. I collect postcards
87. I drive a 1999 Dodge Caravan
88. Lilacs are my favorite flower
89. My knees "crack" whenever I squat down
90. I’m not a very patient person
91. My right foot is slightly bigger than my left
92. I’m the biggest procrastinator you’ll ever meet
93. I don’t care what Martha says, paper towels go over the roll, toilet paper goes under!
94. I was a Girl Scout leader/co-leader for 6 years
95. I hate being late for anything and it bothers me when others are late. Start the meeting on time; lets not wait for the others who couldn’t be punctual!
96. I watch a lot of TV, sometimes more than I can keep up with
97. So I love my tivo
98. I can’t roll my R’s
99. I’ve been out of the country twice. Once to Niagara Falls, Canada and once to Tijuana, Mexico
100. Whew, this was harder than I thought

Ewwww!!

Skowt has a field trip scheduled tomorrow for her science class. They are studying the human body and they are going to the museum to see an exhibit and watch a movie in the IMAX theater.

I didn't think much of it until my husband saw the info sheet hanging by the calendar. He asked about it and who it was for because did I realize that this exhibit was REAL human bodies. Huh? Real? Ewww!

It's one of three traveling exhibits by a doctor who preserves the human body with a process called Plastination that preserves the tissues and organs. You can check it all out on the Body Worlds website. Oh, I am so glad I did not decide to go on this field trip with them as a chaperon!! I wonder how many of these kids will even be able to eat their lunch after seeing that. lol

So tonight is the NFC championship game. Guess what'll be on in our house, even though we are not really Packer fans (or football for that matter) and even though tonight is the Amazing Race finale!! Hubby insists he needs to watch it. It's been Packer mania here in WI lately. You can't even turn on the evening news without hearing all about them. I get that it's a big deal and everyone is excited but it's as if the rest of the world doesn't exist anymore and there are no other newsworthy stories out there.

Not much going on

Wow, has it really been a week since I last posted? It's been hard coming up with stuff to blog about lately. All my days seem the same. Get up at 5:30, get kids ready for school, eat, shower, chores, errands, kids home, run them around to activities, dinner, homework, showers, bedtime. Real exciting stuff, hey? My mom and I do have plans to see a movie today.

We took the kids to see Alvin and the Chipmunks over Christmas break. Now Tiger is obsessed with it. She's constantly quoting the movie and talking in her chipmunk voice. She had to order the book from her monthly Scholastic order from school, so she's reading that and carrying it around everywhere. She's either walking around with sunglasses on pretending to be Simon or walking around with her cheeks puffed out telling me she is Theodore. Not sure why she doesn't imitate Alvin.........maybe that big A on his shirt scares her and reminds her of the Scarlet Letter! lol

Skowt wants to join the volleyball team at school. She went to the informational meeting yesterday and is all pumped about it. The coach will be the same teacher she had for tennis over the summer and art class, I think. She really likes her so that's good. Only problem is they can only have 24 girls on the team and she said at least 30 showed up for the meeting. The first practice is the 28th where they will see how many girls they have. If more than 24 show up they will do some activities to see who can do what and cut any over the 24. She has played at the Y before but not much so hopefully she has enough skill to get her by. She is kind of timid when she plays though, so if anything that will get her. I'm hoping she really gives it her all though and makes it. She wants to keep up tennis too but they don't have a team until high school so all she's been doing is through the rec dept. and summer school. There's a woman that does private lessons but it can get really expensive. It sucks cuz I really hate not doing those, I feel like I'm holding her back.

Hubby is having some issues with his right arm/neck/shoulder. They think it's a rotator cuff problem. He has an appointment with Orthopedics on Monday. Hoping it can be easily fixed without surgery or any missed work!

What kind of car?

(From here on out, my oldest daughter will be referred to as Skowt and my youngest will be known as Tiger.)


The other day my hubby and I were driving in the car, we were both fairly quiet and out of the blue he says "When Skowt gets her licence I see her driving a VW bug." Huh? So I asked him where that came from, what made him think of that. He didn't know, that's just what kind of vehicle he saw her driving. So I asked him what he saw Tiger driving. "A Mack Truck!" LOL

It was and interesting little conversation, but made sense. He was pretty much right on....both of those vehicles seem to match their personalities.

How do you tell if a 9v battery works?

Well, you stick it to your tongue, of course!

Both my husband and I have done it. But the kids didn't believe us. So we had to go searching for a 9V to prove it to them. Is was a riot trying to get them to try it. Once they finally did they decided it just tickled.

If you've never done it, go for it. Everyone needs to try it at least once!

For the love of Tim Riggins

WooHoo! My favorite tv bad boy is back tonight with the rest of the Dillon Panthers with a new episode of Friday Night Lights. From the looks of the previews and some spoilers I read the next couple of episodes will be featuring quite a bit of #33. Gotta love Tim Riggins!

And for those of you not watching FNL and who don't have a clue who Tim Riggins is, I have one question. Why the hell not?? LOL

Back to School

The kids are off to school after the Christmas break. It was nice having them home for the week and not having to get up early but I'm looking forward to some home alone time. My hours have been cut drastically at work, since it's a slow time (fine by me!) so I really want to take advantage of that. I've got plans for stuff I want to do but I'm sure at least today, I'll end up being lazy for a bit. That's one thing on my life list I need to work on.....stop being so lazy! I am not a morning person and it usually takes me a while to get moving. Usually what happens is by the time I get moving and into a rhythm of getting some stuff done, my hubby stops home for lunch so I stop for that. Then give me some time to get moving again and before you know it the kids are coming home from school and I hardly knocked anything off my list.

Plus, now that I see I didn't win the Holiday Millions lottery I still don't have that extra cash to hire a maid! :(

Happy New Year!!

Welcome to 2008! So the 1st day of the year hasn't been the greatest so far. Had to go to work for 7am, help change prices and count all the cigarettes and half the pepsi products in the store........just what you want to do on New Year's Day. But it all worked out and I'm looking forward to the upcoming year.

Don't expect any profound new year's words of wisdom from me! I really don't have any specific resolutions but rather an ongoing list of things I'd like to do in my lifetime and things about myself I'd like to work on to become a better, more patient and most of all happier person. I've been working on that for the past year already (with a little help) and am improving but still have work to do. I think it'll be an ongoing process, probably for the rest of my life.

Have a great 2008 and I'll be right here sharing my year with you.