FINALLY!

Some decent weather! It's 80 outside and sunny. The best part is, I get to go enjoy said weather in a little while. Yup, you heard right. I'm going to leave work and go boating. Suntans galore! I don't know if we're waterskiing, or just pleasure riding, but it will be grand fun indeed.

Tomorrow I leave for GB for a long fourth holiday weekend. I'm going to go see SpiderMan 2 Wed. evening (after a yummy supper of Frank and Pat's Pizza). Thursday I'm gonna play w/ horses, and probably Monday too. My friend Shona and I are gonna go train some, and I'll finally get to see her Arab. Friday I'm gonna go to the dr. and then up to DC for a BBQ at my aunt and uncle's place. My cousin is coming home, so-in family tradition-it's time to party. Saturday is playing on the lake and supper at the cottage, like traditional fourth weekends, and Sunday is "the hairpin run". If you scroll down to previous posts, you will see that I'm going to run in a 5K on the 4th, which is suddenly this coming Sunday. I'm not sure I'm ready to run that far. Anyone who is a distance runner knows that that is not at all far, but for me, it's practically a Marathon. Let me have my rollerblades anyday. Still, I'm gonna prove to me that I can do it.

So, it will be a full weekend, and I have a feeling I will be sore when i get back to the cities! I just hope they don't pack up that finish line at the race before I manage to cross it. I'll position my mother at the end to make sure they don't. She'll give them what's for if they try to ruin my accomplishment!

Road Blocks of a Different Sort

I went to GB for the Father's Day this past weekend. Man, I've heard the old joke about there being four seasons in WI, Spring, Fall, Winter, and Road Construction, but that was rediculous. And, MN has the bigger problems. I'm happy to report that the bridge work by Menominee is better, or at least, temporarily over (if they decide to demolish the other side, it will be a few more months of ick). But, from the St. Croix to the twin cities is a pain in my bum. I swear! It is a good thing I left GB later than normal, or I'd have been really stuck in traffic.

The weekend was good. Had a good time with dad, did some shopping w/ mom, drove around in the little cabriolet (won't have it much longer, since the parents are going to sell it. The property is going to get a road soon, as in next week sometime. Well, at least we'll have the culvert in, and then we'll just have to order the gravel to make the road. No more going way past the entrance so you can get down the ditch safely! Yay.

So, now here's the week again. Where does the time go?

Road Blocks

Every time I've tried to write here for the last week or so, something has come up, or I've had writer's block. It's not like nothing's happening, lots is happening, it's just that whenever I try to make the words leave my head and transfer themselves down my fingers, though the keyboard, and onto my screen, a roadblock goes up. I suppose makes sense. I mean, this IS construction season after all. Every time I drive on I94, it seems like they have put up more barrels or rumble strips, or other traffic impeding apparati. Why not so in my brain as well. It's summer, and the warm days and gorgeous nights make sitting in front of a computer another type of block. I can't type when I want to run and play in the out-of-doors.

Katie made it up to the cities at last! Yay. I'm so excited that one of my best friends is finally here and we can enjoy the city together. Jenny made it to England ok, and I'm watchin the airfares so I can go visit. Jenni has had her baby, and he's the cutest little button I've seen in a long time, even when he makes his big stinks :P I still have two whole months of playtime left before beginning my masters. All these are good and happy things that have happened. Still, the roadblock exists and it's hard to write much about them.

I spose, it's probably because the main people who read this blog, read Katie and Jenny's blogs, or know Jenni, so they already know these things, and so I don't really have to blog it. Still, I want to. So there :P Ok, three year old mentality aside, it's just been difficult to turn my computer on at home at night when I've had one on infront of me all day at work. I'll get better at posting, I'll just have to do it during the day!

AMBITION!!!

I suddenly have the urge to go home and clean my room. If I could leave now from work, that's exaclty what I'd do. Here's to hoping the urge lasts. Maybe I can leave a bit of that urge here in this post. *** There. Now, when I read it again at home, I'll be like...Must...Clean....Room, and the compulsion to do it will be strong. I'll look at this and remember how eager I was to live in a clean room again, and have all my paperwork taken care of, and how exciting it will be to be done. Hmmmm, yup, 4 hrs from now I'll be working on getting this ambition back.

update

I did get the room clean and the paperwork taken care of. Now, of course it's a bit messy again, but the paperwork is still all good, and I'm excited. Yippee.

Whee!

I went running last night, and I ran a lot faster than my pace! I went w/ Kris, and her pace is so very much faster than my pace. 2 mph in fact (which is a lot when running) and so I ran 2.5 miles at her pace, then I walked around for abit while she ran another 1.5 mile lap, and then we ran home. I went another mile and just faster than my 'old' pace, but it wasn't quite as fast as her pace either. Yippee!

So, to answer my old post, I went to the movie and figured out the shrunken head. It was a good movie; they left a lot out from the book though. Still, I enjoyed it, and look forward to the fourth movie.

Tonight I get the joyful tasks of doing paperwork, and going grocery shopping. I told Kris we should go rollerblading today (last night), but I have since changed my mind. I went climbing, for a walk, and for a run on Sunday; climbing and for a walk on Monday; for a walk tuesday; climbing and for a run on Wednesday. I think it's time to settle down and take a day off. Or, maybe I could do situps and such today? Nah. I'm really getting myself into the groove though. I feel icky if I don't work out. Like, not quite w/ the world unless I've done something active for the day. Now I need to alter my diet, and we'll actually be on our way to getting in the shape I've wanted to be in for the last few years, and been to lazy or complacent to do. Go me!

Now, if I keep it up, I might actually NOT look likea fool in the Fourth of July run that I'm doing. It's 5K, and I'm doing it to get my uncle and brother off my back about it, since I've been telling htem for a few years that I would do it with them. I just hope they don't pack up the finish line stuff before I get there...talk about nightmares :P I'm trying to go faster, I might even not be last if I keep this up!

Shrunken Head?!?

I looked at the website for Harry Potter more this week as I bought tickets and became addicted to the hippogriff game. What the? Is it just me? I don't remember there being a shrunken head in that book. Or any book. I think I'll reread that book tonight/tomorrow a bit before the movie opens. Or, I can just wait til tomorrow evening to figure out wny my memory sucks. Or, maybe they are introducing peeves as a shrunken head? Time will tell!

I'm entitled to a little down time...

So I did this:

T	Tough
R	Realistic
I	Inspirational
C	Crazy
I	Innocent
A	Accurate

Name / Username:

Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com

Super Size Me

Yesterday I was busy at work with files all day, so when I got off work, I decided I needed a treat. I went to B&N for a book, but didn't find one. Then I went to get groceries, and found a book at the grocery store. Weird, I forgot to look for that authoress when I was at B&N though. Then I ate a quesadilla and drove to Uptown for the movie Super Size Me. Great film. Really funny, and disturbing at the same time. I laughed a lot, and cringed a lot, and recommend everyone go to see it. Especially if you tend to eat a lot of fast food. I haven't eaten at a McDonald's for about 5 years, unless you count the 1 snack size yogurt parfait and the 2 apple pies I know about in the last five years. No meals, anyway. I tend to avoid fast food on principle, but mostly because I get physically sick every time I eat it. I can eat some Arby's, the potato or chili at Wendys and subs. That's about the extent of my 'fast food' intake.

Not that I'm getting all up in the faces of people that do eat it. It's just I can't, and since I can't, I don't. And now that I haven't for a really long time, I feel sickened by the thought of putting that much grease into my belly. The average burger/fry/soda combo scares me. This movie validates much of the problems I have with this food. The nice nutritionists in the movie say you should eat at a McDonald's type establishment only once or twice a month, because of the high fat content and the fact that it doesn't meet most of your nutritional needs. I think that would be good enough for a 'treat' for people who need/want/like it. I won't give anything else away, but if you have a chance, to watch it.

I have my vices too, of course. Like last night, for instance. When I was at the grocer purchasing my book, and milk, I bought a half gallon of ice cream. Ice Cream is just as bad for you as fast food. If you eat it all the time, you'll have the same problems. I don't intend to eat it all the time though...it's just it made me giggle so hard when I saw it, I had to have it.

I bought Bunny Tracks Ice Cream. It made me laugh because I was thinking about the bunnies on the property from this weekend. The baby bunny that came shooting out of the bonfire (apparently he decided to take up residence) and then the Mommy Bunny that gave us "evil death looks" for tampering with her baby bunnies. So, the ice cream was only fitting. Talk about impulse buying though :P I had a bowl last night, and maybe I'll have one tonight, but I doubt it. I had chili and a crossant for lunch, and I'm having a piece of cake from a coworker's daughter's wedding leftovers for dessert, so I don't think I'll need the bunny tracks tonight. Besides, when will I have time? I am climbing right after work, then eating a small amount and going rollerblading after that, and then trying to finish my book. No time at all. Gotta get in shape-the movie has inspired me to exercise more and eat better, and do my situps. Ugh--now it's in writing and I'll have to do it!

Gotta love fire

So,the weekend rocked. I would have written about it yesterday, but I was so busy...more on that later. Katie gave a good synopsis of the events, so I will sum up :) Friday was a beautiful, if somewhat cold, night. We arrived at the property, and put our stuff in order, and then took a walk around the 20 or so acres my parents own. We were in the NW corner, inspecting fence and I was telling a story, when all of a sudden, a ball of black fuzz goes hopping and speeding off into the distance. Upon further inspection, said ball of black fuzz had two white stripes on it...Meet Mr. Skunk (he lives there, we think). Luckily, he recognized his noisy and somewhat funny smelling two legged neighbors (I think they don't like the smell of fire, really) and was kind enough not to spray us. We walked the property for the rest of the perimeter in the gathering darkness with only a few stumbles, no ticks, and good convo. Friday night was FREEZING in the camper, but I still managed to sleep.

Saturday my mom and aunt made us breakfast at the farmhouse (my aunt lives about 2 min. by car down the road, about a 15 min walk). Then Dad, Ryan, Chris, Katie, Rachel and I set off to the property to haul some auxilary wood for the big bonfire (which was about 20 feet in diameter and at least 8 or 9 feet tall) and we set up some other things. We ate hamburgers for lunch sitting by the big pile, and Rachel and I had to keep getting up and going to get more wood to stay warm. It was sunny for a while, but the wind had a bit of a bite to it. Saturday evening at 4 pm we lit the big pile. It took a while to get going...we tried four different places before it took off. And away it took! The flames were 25 feet, shooting sideways, burning grass and licking at the remains of a pile I insisted we move to the other side of the pile earlier. Those remains were small though, and didn't start on fire. it burned that way for a few minutes, and then calmed down into a normal sized--well a super sized bonfire. I think bonfires are about the only thing that should be super sized. Rachel and I had hauled some trees down to be cut by the chainsaw, but since that never happened, we just threw them on whole..and they burned just fine.

Sunday we had breakfast with my aunt again, and then got ready to do some hiking on Eagle Trail in Penninsula State Park. Renae and Graham had now joined us, and we enjoyed hiking along the bluff, attempting to skip rocks, avoidance of mosquitos and bay flies (more bay flies than mosquitos, luckily) and exploring mini-caves. We were just about back to the one car (one was at the bottom, one at the top of the hike) when the sky decided it was about time to act like Memorial Day in the Park. That is to say, rain like the dickens. By the time we got the other car, people were wet, but not drenched. (Unlike my brother Troy and his gf Amanda, who went kayaking and apparently almost drown. The story got more and more elaborate as the evening went on, as all good tales must, so we're not sure exaclty how much drowning and how much fear of drownign was involved.) We played Spinner (a kind of dominos) with my aunt before supper, and then had a wonderful spagetti dinner before going and starting our own fire in the pit at the property. Can you tell we were fed really well all weekend long?

We woke up Monday to some really heavy rain, and it had been raining all early morning and morning. (from 3am to 9am when we woke). That got me to thinking of our ditch, and its tendency to hold water. So, we packed up, ran everything to the cars, and managed to negotiate the 'driveway' without getting stuck. We had breakfast at my aunt's again, then drove back to GB, said goodbye to Katie, and headed back to MN. A great weekend, and I'm still kinda tired today from it all. Though, being up late last night reading my newest book probably doesn't help.