Race Day!!

 The much anticipated race day was yesterday, July 21st! I love the Torchlight 5K. I don't know what it is about running around downtown Minneapolis, but I LOVE IT!! It has been 3 years since I last ran this race, and I didn't want another year to go by without running it, so I convinced some of my friends to join me.

Naturally after pushing myself and training about 3x each week for the month or so before the race, I didn't feel prepared at all to run. My previous two runs were DIFFICULT, to say the least. Come race day, I was really nervous.

So, of course, I woke up with a slight tickle to my throat! The nerve.

Then, I had scheduled a doctor's appointment. That may or may not have been the best idea. But it allowed me to go into work late, since I knew I would be staying late for the race.

When I got to work, I found out that we had an extra ticket to the afternoon Twins game. Would I like to go? Oh yeah.  

Twins game

 It was actually very cool to be in the new stadium. It was a very fun atmosphere. So much energy. 

We're gonna win Twins. We're gonna score!

The Twins beat the Cleveland Indians 6-0. Four runs were made in the 3rd inning and two more in the 8th. The other innings were a little slow but still fun.

During the 4th inning, we went to grab some food and use the rest rooms. Yes, I took a picture in the bathroom. I thought it was fantastic to see that they installed toilets with dual-function handles. Flush up for #1; flush down for #2. Yeah, I'm a dork.

Energy Efficient toilets. Cool!

After the game, it was back to work for me. Around 5pm, someone assumed that I had left for the evening, so she turned off the light in my section. I was too lazy (and it wasn't that dark), so I continued to work without the lights for another hour.

6pm. Time to change into running clothes and head toward the Basilica. My friends Bre and Tacy (Lisa couldn't make it; she was not feeling well come race day) hitched a ride with my husband down to the race (parking can be a real pain!), and we all met together at the race start.

We ARE ready to run!

Even Sallie came out to cheer us on! Here she is waiting for us to finish our race.

Just a-chillin'

The best part of running a race? FREE FOOD!! There were around 4,000 people who ran the race (I think), so the lines for the food were incredibly LONG, but free food is free food, so I'm definitely not gonna complain about that!

In line for post-race food. Love it!

We had to get a banana shot!

Bananas!

So much good food. Where do I put it all??

Mouth full, Hands full

Overall, it was a fabulous day!

Twins game was totally awesome, plus it was a WIN for the home team!!

I was nervous about the race for absolutely nothing!

Running with friends is so motivating. I only walked briefly for a water break.

We kicked out a 10:05 min/mile!

Super!

I was totally shocked.

And happy!

Welcome, BlogTrotters, to Minnesota

Land of 10,000 Lakes

The North Star State

The Gopher State

Land of Sky-Blue Waters

The Bread and Butter State

Whatever you call it, I call it HOME.

I was absolutely delighted to receive a comment on my blog last week from Carabee over at BlogTrotting inviting me to give a little tour of my neck of the woods. BlogTrotting is a fun blog where you can visit other exciting places around the world.

I am genuinely thrilled to share with you a few of my favorite things about Minnesota.

I'm a Minnesotan, born and raised.

I grew up in Alexandria, MN. Hop over here for a brief tour of the main street of Alexandria, as I remember it from my teenage years.

Alexandra is the heart of the Central Lakes area, where are plenty of lakes for swimming and fishing.

I've since moved from Alexandria (more than 15 years ago) and now reside in St Paul, our state capital.

But what I really love about living in St Paul is living across the street from the University of St Thomas. Both my husband and I are students at UST, and we love our beautiful campus. We love to walk the grounds and will generally take any visitors we have on a quick tour.

 

The St Thomas Arches are an important part of UST culture. Incoming freshmen walk through the arches to the applause of current students and faculty, welcoming them to their new home. Neither of us started as freshmen, so we didn't get to experience this, but we are looking forward to Commencement when graduating seniors walk back out through the arches and head out into the world. I'm not sure if this will be a part of my graduate commencement ceremony, but it will definitely be a part of Jeff's. We have two more years of school before we head back out into the real world.

I've actually only lived in St Paul for a year and a half. Before that, I always considered myself more of a Minneapolis girl. While St Paul is growing on me, I definitely prefer the downtown of Minneapolis.

The Minneapolis skyline is beautiful!

The skyway system is wonderful!

You can easily stay dry and warm in the rain or snow.

Another thing I love about living in the Twin Cities is all the fun running paths!

I love to run with my little girl, Sallie...

And take walks with my husband.

We've moved a lot around the twin cities.

We've lived in Minneapolis near the Minnehaha Falls

and in St Paul near Crosby Lake .

I can't forget to mention Como Park Zoo. This is a fun, free zoo. They do accept a suggested donation of $2 for adults and $1 for children. We've gone to this zoo a couple of times .

I could go on and on about this great state! There are so many things I didn't mention like:

and SO. MUCH. MORE!

IMINNESOTA!

No matter where I live, I will always consider MN my home.

Feel free to browse through my blog to discover other random things about me (and occassionally MN, too). If you've visited any of the links in this post, you might have noticed many were from my *other* blog, Dodson Journal. Go ahead and pop over there for even more exciting advertures! I love MN, but I also love to travel and see new things. Mostly these adventures are with my husband, so naturally, they get posted on our family blog.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed my little tour of Minnesota.

Summer and AC and Running with Friends

I missed posting my Gratitude list last week. :-(

This week, I'm thankful for:

It's been HOT, HOT, HOT this summer.

And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!

I've always been in the "I'd rather be hot than cold" camp, so this summer have been delicious for me!

Even though I like it HOT, I'm still also grateful for AIR CONDITIONING, so I don't have to do this all day.

I'm also grateful to be able to RUN! I love running. There were a couple years when my shins would hurt too much to run, but that has been changing, and I've been forcing myself to run a few times a week. Today I had the wonderful opportunity to run with my friend, Tacy. We ran further and longer than I normally do on a morning run, AND I made it to work on time. Whoo hoo!

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What are you grateful for today?

Happy Birthday, Emillio!!

This is one of my favorites! What an adorable little kid. That spring, he loved to wear those rubber boots. In fact, I think he may have worn them throughout most of the summer, too. What a silly little guy.

I remember when I found out I had a nephew. I was at Girls Camp. My little sister was there, too. It was so fun to hear our older sister had a little boy. We were SO. VERY. EXCITED!!

He was my best little bud for awhile! I loved to hold him and play with him. We even joked around that I was his girlfriend. So fun!

When he was beginning to talk, my friend, Aimee, tried very hard to teach him to say, "Orange Eight" (from a refrigerator magnet) and "Nunchuck" (can't remember why). I wonder if she remembers that. To this day, my family refers to her as Orange 8 Aimee. :-)

Now, this little guy is a high school graduate! (June 13, 2010)

And today he turns 18!

Happy birthday, Emillio!!

Hope you have a fabulous day!

DC Marching Band Trip

In 1993, our high school marching band when to Washington, DC, to march in the 4th of July parade.

I didn't actually get to march (so don't look for me in this picture), but I got to go anyway! Whoo hoo!!

Weather, Cars, America

Today has been long.

I have been cranky.

Don't really feel like writing this post,

BUT

It is important to express gratitude,

SO

even though I'm not particularly feeling it today,

HERE GOES!!

I'm grateful it didn't rain on our camping trip last weekend.

We were a little concerned because it was forecasted to be a big storm with hail and everything. We didn't exactly feel good about sleeping in a tent in that weather.

On a similar note, I'm grateful for the beautiful sunshine.

Even though I spend my days inside with my back to the window, it's nice to know I can always turn around and see the sun shining.

I'm grateful my husband is picking me up from work today.

I'm just happy I don't have to walk to the shuttle. I'm just not feeling up to it.

Plus, he picked me up on Tuesday, and we got home 20 minutes before the shuttle even left Minneapolis to head to St Paul!

I'm grateful for the 4th of July.

And for the festivities that await me this weekend to celebrate:

Ward Picnic, Friends' BBQ, Dinner with Family, Picnic at Uncle Rodney's, Fireworks

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What are you grateful for today? What are your holiday weekend plans?

Education World ® Technology Center: Get Outta Class With Virtual Field Trips

Education World ® Technology Center: Get Outta Class With Virtual Field Trips

Directly from the website: You look outside the classroom window and see yet another in a long string of gloomy days. Inside the classroom, restless students seem mired in malaise. It must be time for a field trip! No money, you say, for busses or admission fees. No time for travel? Then why not a virtual field trip? The Web provides the resources; you provide the fun. Every day is a beautiful day for a virtual field trip! Included: Tips for creating your own virtual field trips!

This obviously is geared for the classroom, but I think taking a virtual field trip (VFT) would be fun for anyone!

This article has lots of links to existing VTFs!

One of the links directs you to Tramline where you can visit lots of places virtually or create your own field trip to share with others. They also have an interesting article on VFTS vs. WebQuests.

I created a WebQuest on the Industrial Revolution in my Technology for Instruction course this past spring. If you visit this WebQuest, please keep in mind that it is still a work-in-progress. I am intrigued by the idea of VFTs and will definitely explore this further.

What are you waiting for? Go EXPLORE!

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What cool tech tools are you using today?

Flashback Friday: 1989

1989

Big Glasses and even bigger bangs!

Oh yeah!

My little brother, Corey, sure looks happy.

Not so sure about the rest of us.

Who Wants to Color???

Ok.

So, today's Tech Tuesday is kind of lame.

BUT...if you're a parent (or anyone who likes to color), who may enjoy this website:

Ivy's Coloring Page Search Engine

You can search for any type of coloring sheets. Say you want to print out something to color for the 4th of July, just enter "4th of July" into the search field and VOILA! Lots of cool pictures to color!

I recently had to search for Graduation, Father's Day, and Birthday pictures. I thought the site was pretty useful in helping me out.

I hope you will, too.

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What cool tech tools are you using today?

Flashback Fridays: June Nieces

This was back in 2002.

The year Suzane was born.

She'll be 8 tomorrow.

Holding the new bundle of joy is her big cousin, Selena.

Aren't they just adorable?!

Morning run

So...Jeff and I joined the gym back in April. We've been going pretty diligently a few times a week. Pretty good, right?

EXCEPT MY CARDIO WORKOUTS HAVE DECREASED IMMENSELY.

And, my weight loss has definitely stagnated. I keep telling myself that I'm building muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat, but...

CARDIO IS AN IMPORTANT ASPECT TO GOOD PHYSICAL FITNESS.

Time to start incorporating more cardio. Since we generally focus on weight training when we go to the gym together, and I don't want to spend my entire evening at the gym, I decided I needed to push myself to run in the morning before work.

So, I set my alarm for 5a.m.

After snoozing 3 times, I finally decided around 5:22 that I simply didn't want to snooze anymore. I didn't necessary want to get up and go for a run, either. BUT I knew that if I just turned off my alarm and didn't get out of bed, I would sleep and sleep and sleep and be way late for work.

So, I got up and ran 2.5 miles.

It was a beautiful morning for a run! Sallie certainly enjoyed herself, too.

Unfortunately, now I am still hot and sweaty (yes, even after taking a shower). Of course it doesn't help that I have about 1.4 miles to walk to work and then I took the stairs to the 7th floor.

I know I shouldn't complain, because in about 2 hours I'll probably be grabbing that sweatshirt!

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What's your favorite time of day to run / exercise??

Tech Tuesday: GeoGreeting

You have to check out this very cool website.

Basically, you type in a message, and it finds satellite images of buildings around the world that look like each letter in your message. Then it generates a link that you can copy and email to your friends. There is also an option to send as an e-card or a MySpace e-card.

Here's an example link I created this morning.

If you wanted to take this a step further with your kids or students, you could then click on a letter to view the building on a Google map.

Flashback Friday: Grandma Gertie

Gertrude Wilma Ausbern (Bird-Wilson)

December 22, 1920 - June 5, 2010

This is a picture of my grandma holding me at Christmastime 1979.

This picture was taken at my high graduation party.

My grandma is the redhead on the left.

This is a 5-generation picture; the baby is my sister's 2nd child, AJ.

Yesterday, I attended my grandma Gertie's funeral. It was a very nice service. One of my cousins, who was unable to attend, wrote a letter that one of his brothers read. It was really touching to hear about all of his memories about Grandma Gertie.

My grandma lived in AZ most of my life, so I didn't have the opportunity to spend much time with her. It was wonderful to learn so many interesting things about her yesterday. And to hear so many fun stories. She will be missed, and I wish I'd gotten to know her better.

Tech Tuesday: Prezi

I recently learned about Prezi in my technology course last semester. I like to describe it has PowerPoint on steroids. I believe they market it as the only zooming presentation tool. The zooming feature makes boring slide presentations come alive with movement. On their home page, there is a great video introducing you to this tool, if you're unfamiliar with it.

I created a couple Prezi presentations for my class last semester. Overall, I found that it was really user-friendly. For someone who tends to be a bit of a perfectionist, it can, however, be a little trying. There is no real good way to get text to line up perfectly, so the more abstract thinker will probably enjoy this tool a little better than someone a bit more concrete. It did teach me to try and let some of those things go. Once I was able to do that, I really came to enjoy this software!

There are a few other quirks, but they have a great Learn section and manual to help you along your way. There is also a showcase where you can look at presentations created by others. Some are even available for reuse, which means you can save a copy to your page and edit it to fit your needs or topics. How great is that?!

Here is a Prezi that I enjoyed. It is particularly related to education/teaching.

Playing to Learn by Maria Andersen

Here are the two Prezis I created for my class.

This first one is the first that I created. I'm taking an independent study course on Environmental Studies right now, so I created this to help me understand and learn more about Natural Selection. As a future teacher, I could use this in my classroom to help students understand this Theory as well.

Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection

Ok. One more, and I'll let you get back to your regularly scheduled day. :-)

This Prezi I created as part of my final project in my technology course. My idea was to begin a unit with a timeline that showed specifics events. I would then break the class into groups and have each group choose (or perhaps I would assign) an event on the timeline to elaborate one. Each group would then collaborate on that topic and add it to the class Prezi. I've created an example of what an elaboration might look like. I'd be willing to bet that my students would be far more insightful and creative than I was!

Early Civilization in Afroeurasia to 450 BCE

I tried to embed these presentation, but they didn't look so good on my blog.

Flashback Friday: High School Graduation

It's graduation season, so I thought it would be perfect to flashback to my high school graduation.

When I found my photo album and starting flipping through it, it hit me...

Oh WOW!!

15 years ago TODAY I graduated from high school.

I can't believe it!

It hardly seems that long ago.

I mean, I can't possibly be that old, can I?!

Here are a few shots of me and my closest friends from that momentous day.

We're so full of hope - looking forward to our bright futures!

Jill, Me

Before commencement at Jill's grandma's

Jill, Me

Hugging after commencement

Aimee, Me, Jill

After commencement

Angie, Me

After commencement

I have to admit, I got a little weepy-eyed looking through my photo album (and writing this post).

What good times we had that weekend!

Click here to see my Facebook album with more pictures from this weekend.

Tech Tuesday: Flashcard Machine

Here's a great online tool I found -- especially for the end of the year as finals are approaching.

Flashcard Machine

This is great for students, teachers, or really anyone who wants to create nice and easy flashcards. It's free to sign-up and use.

• You can create all kinds of flashcard sets.
• You can study multiple sets at a time. For example, if you'd created a set for each chapter or unit, then you could combine them to study for a comprehensive final.
• You can collaborate with others in creating and/or studying your sets.
• You can include images and audio.
• Sets can be printed for offline studying.
• You can search the public flashcard database for interesting topics to expand your knowledge base.
• There's even an ipod app.

Let me know what you think about this site. Would you ever use it or suggest it to a student or teacher you know?

Flashback Friday: 1996 - Memorial Day

We were so suprised to see snow still on the ground in the middle of May! We had to play!

Memorial Day weekend, 1996

I went up north to Duluth (and beyond) with some friends for the weekend. It was so much fun. We got lost a few times. Angie got to drive her dad's brand new car. We visited Gooseberry Falls and the Splitrock Lighthouse (which apparently turns 100 this year, or so I read on a bus billboard recently). We laughed. a. lot.

Click here to see a few more pictures from this weekend. Mostly, the pix are of waterfalls. Waterfalls are probably one of my favorite things to see in nature.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, everyone!

Movie Review: The Blind Side

Last night, Jeff and I finally got to watch The Blind Side.

Here's the trailer, if you haven't seen it (or just want to see it again):


I really wanted to see this movie, and I certainly wasn't disappointed.

I did expect a few more tears. I choked up at a couple of lines but no tears actually fell. I think I nearly cried more watching the trailer months ago.

I enjoyed the Christian attitude that so many of the characters displayed in the film -- especially during the rare contrast of less-than-Christian attitudes of a few of the other characters. This film is a good reminder that we can all do a little better when it comes to how we treat others. Do we show are true Christian colors, or do we shy away from helping others knowing we may be ridiculed for our behavior or put in danger?

My only small complaint about the movie probably wouldn't much matter to most people out there, but I thought it was a little too-footbally in a couple of spots. I'm not a football fan (or any sport for that matter). Since I don't know the sport or the rules or really anything about it, there were a couple of scenes (one of which was the opening scene) where I totally got lost. I know that was a major part of the story, but...

At any rate, I would definitely recommend this movie.

Have you seen it? If so, how did it rate in your book?

Book Review: Haunted Ground by Erin Hart

I recently read Haunted Ground by Erin Hart for my book club.

I had a little difficult getting into this book. The beginning scenes (chapters?) in the Irish bog were too technical for me. I was getting lost in the graphic description and wasn't sure where the novel was leading.

As I read further, the story did begin to captivate me; however, there was a bit of a language/swearing problem with a few of the characters. That alone would prevent me from recommending this book - especially to any of my LDS friends. Certainly, I would not have read this for a church book club. :-)

The story line in the book was rather redeeming. It begins with the discovery of a body in a bog. I found it interesting (as did many of the women at this book club) how well bogs preserve items that are discarded within them. It must be wonderfully fascinating from an archaelogical perspective. It can give an actual glimpse into events that happened centuries in the past. I may need to investigate this further.

From this discovery, several storylines are interwoven together. The red-haired girl from the bog. The archaelogists who are called to investigate. The family of bog farmers who made the discovery. The neighbor, whose wife and child mysteriously disappeared three years prior. The dectective who has been investigating the disappearance. Hart takes us on a journey that eventually connects all of the characters and storylines together. It was quite satisfying to get to the end and have it all come together nicely.

At book club today, we briefly touched on the symbolism of the crows that reappeared in the book. Very briefly. The conversation quickly turned more to a discussion on crows themselves - not their portrayal in the book.

One topic that I really did like that was broached was the theme of survival. This book, ultimately was the story of survival. The red-haired girl survived hundreds of years in the bog. There were many references to traditional music in the novel. This was something that had survived into modern times. All of the characters were surviving - some better than others.

When the discussion leader asked us which was our favorite character, a silence fell over the room. No one spoke up. One person finally mentioned how she wanted Nora to be her favorite character, but there were times that she really didn't like her. I agreed. She could be ill-tempered, and quick to pass judgment. A couple other ladies agreed. We discussed a few of the other characters and their complexity. Hart really did a good job developing complex characters. We also felt that it was easier to point out characters that we didn't like. Mainly Lucy Osborne and Brendan McGann. One suggestion was that perhaps this was because they weren't as complex as some of the other characters. We did discuss Hugh Osborne in some detail. We all really enjoyed his character. He seemed to be such a great guy - even though the entire town has judged him harshly. He was always kind and well composed, but not in an off-putting way.

Overall attending the book club was a good experience, for the most part. For me, I felt there was a lot more discussion of things unrelated to the book. The last 15 minutes or so the discussion moved more to the history of Ireland and the Reformation. I could see where the tangent tied to the book, but I didn't have the knowledge necessary to contribute to the discussion. This happened with a few other topics as well.

There is a reader's guide found on the author's website, but we didn't really go through any of the questions together. I think I may have enjoyed the book discussion better if we had focused on some of those questions. I've found that I'm not that critical of a book reader and take most of what I read at face value rather than delving into some deeper meaning. I think having some questions to frame my reading would be helpful. I'm definitely going to look for book discussion questions for the next book. I think it will help me become a better reader...perhaps?

Being Sick...

I hate being sick. Of course, I don't know anyone who actually enjoys it.

Thankfully, I don't really get sick that often. At least not debilitating. Mostly headaches and fits of the blahs.

This bout of the cold started last Wednesday as a simple sore throat. That sore throat got worse and worse until Monday it had progressed to a full on cold. Since then, I've gone through nearly an entire box of Puffs. On my own. It's incredibly gross! I'll spare you all the disgusting details.

Really, I wanted to share the other reasons why I hate being sick...

All my progress towards a healthier lifestyle? OUT THE WINDOW!

• Not one day since last Wednesday have I consumed more than 3-4 glasses of water. The 3+ weeks prior I was averaging 9 glasses per day.
• I haven't been able to go to the gym or pool or long walks with Sallie.
• I spend most of my day napping, which means I haven't been eating very often. It's hard to eat while you're asleep.
• When I eat, it's all junk! I've had more sweets and crappy food in the past week than in the previous month.

All medicine that claims relief tastes awful!

One good thing from it all? Lots and lots of snuggle time with my girl!

What do you HATE  about being sick? Are there any benefits? Do you have a surefire cure to the common cold?

What do you think?

Here is a video about what students say about technology in their classrooms:


Students Sound Off on School Tech Use from Education Week on Vimeo.

What do you think? Should schools adopt more technology into their classrooms? Should students be able to access the Internet outside of the library? Should they have access to web-based email programs (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc) at school?

How is technology used in your children's classrooms? Is it embraced by the students and teachers? Is the available technology being used? For example, a few of the students in this video stated that there were Smartboards in a few of the classrooms, but the teachers rarely used them.

I look forward to embracing technology when I become a teacher. I feel that students will learn more when they are engaged, and using technology can be that tool to help grab their interest.
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Film: Pray the Devil Back to Hell

Today, there was a showing of the film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, at the Luann Dummer Center for Women at the University of St Thomas.

I had no idea what the film was about, but I thought I would expand my horizons by attending.

I am so glad that I went! This film was incredible. It documents the women's peace movement in Liberia. Women from all over that country were tired of the running and the fear and the atrocities that had been plaguing their country during the long civil war.

Thousands of women spoke up. These were ordinary women - mothers, grandmothers, aunts, daughters. They were Christian. They were Muslim. They fasted. They prayed. They made a difference.

Below is a trailer of the movie:



There were two things that really struck me about these unique women.

They were women of extreme faith. It didn't matter if they were Christian or Muslim. They united. They recognized that bullets don't discriminate; bullets don't know if you're Christian or Muslim. They looked to the Bible and the story of Esther for their inspiration. At one point, they were all gathering at the fish markets to protest. This was at the beginning of their movement. One of the women was told she shouldn't go because those who went would just be killed.  Her response? "If I should get killed, remember I was fighting for peace." That is faith.

They were women of extreme forgiveness. After the peace talks ended, these women still did not back down. They recognized their need to continue pushing for peace in Liberia. It was extremely difficult, but they showed forgiveness to the excombatants. They knew they needed to accept these fighters and not hold the past against them. They knew that Liberia would not be able to move forward without forgiveness. I cannot even imagine having to forgive those who wreaked such havoc on so many innocent, so many loved ones.

One of the women, near the end of the film, stated that if it weren't for different women from different walks of life banding together, that peace in Liberia probably would not have happened. How incredible was it, in a country so torn, that the women could come together. They could get to know one another and build on each other's experiences to make a strong stand for peace.

Did You Know?

I love these videos. I'm not sure in which education course I was shown the first one, but I remember it was quite powerful.


I'm currently taking a technology integration course at the University of St Thomas. My professor sent us a link to an updated version of this video. The questions near the end of the video really resonated with me. Is education where it needs to be to prepare our children for the 21st century workplace?



A few days later, my professor sent out another link to an even more updated version. I recognize there are a lot of redundancies in these videos, but there are enough changes to really make you realize just how quickly technology is changing.

Virtual G.N.O

Tonight, I'm very excited about my Friday night home alone. I've got TV shows to watch, blogs to write, cleaning to do, and digital scrapbooking to create. Oh, and some homework to do as well.

It's gonna be a busy night. :-)



This week's party question: Did you go to dances while you were in Middle School and/or middle school age?

I went to a few school dances that I can remember. They were disastrous! I was very shy and uncomfortable. Definitely was a wallflower.

What about you? Were you a Dancing Queen? Or a Wall Flower? Or something in between?

Pop on over to Ann Again ... and again... to join in the fun.

Happy Valentine's weekend.

Oops!

Tonight I stopped at two stores on my way home. The first stop didn't have what I wanted, so I hustled on to my next stop.

I had quite a scare while driving through one parking lot. I was on the road that runs through the lot, and a van came speeding up toward me. It did not appear to be slowing at all, let alone stopping. I thought for sure I was going to get hit.

I thought, "Come on, white van! Get a clue. It's nighttime. You need to have your lights on!"

And on I went.

As I was crawling through the parking lot of my actual intended store, there was a cop walking out of the store. He motioned to me to turn on my lights. Wait, what? My lights are totally on.

I looked down to my dash, and lo, and behold, my little indictor light was, in fact, not illuminating.

OOPS!!

Flashback Friday: Brr...It's COLD

What's a girl to do on a COLD Friday night at the end of January?

Flashback to a cold, winter night in 1987, of course.

Warming ourselves by the fire.

Hmmm...that doesn't seem to be working...

How about a little wrestling? That's should definitely warm us up.

Now what???

Ok. We look ridiculous!! What were we thinking? Blue thermal top TUCKED into thermal bottoms? Printed socks in the ugliest slippers ever? Red puffy gloves really top it off!

BUT every time I look at these pictures, I LAUGH! Seriously. I've got to publish this post, so I can stop the laughter.

Virtual G.N.O.

I've been a terrible blogger in 2010. In fact, this is my first post of the new year.

I stumbled upon Ann's blog,
 .

This week, I'm totally game!

Her game this week is to discover your inner librarian.

My Librarian's Alter Ego name is: Bubbles Featherbottom

My husband is out at his bi-weekly gaming session, so I'm home all alone. I thought I'd spend the evening...

...Doing some blogging...

...Ripping some music from my old CDs...

...Sorting/organizing my photos from our recent trip to the Caribbean...

Don't forget to visit Ann's blog to join in on the fun!

Here's to the weekend! Whoo hoo!!