Happy Birthday, Kristin!

Kristin's birthday was on January 13. She said she didn't want a party or a cake. I honored her no party request but couldn't pass up on getting the cake. I decided I would order a cake saying it wasn't a birthday cake, just to be funny. The cake people messed it up though, and this was the result:

Dumb. Not only wasn't it a cake for Kristin, but it wasn't a birthday for her either. Oh well. It was cute and tasted DIVINE, so I guess that's all that really matters.

Happy birthday, Kristin!

Winter 2010

This winter has been harsh. And it's only January 1. It just seems that it's never-ending snow, snow, snow.

After last winter, I told Kristin we had to get a snow blower. To me, it seemed that last year was horrible, and the meteorologists were saying that this year was sure to be worse. So we found one we liked (using tips we had received from Kristin's dad last year and my brother) and ordered it. It came in just in time. Just a day or two before our first big storm.

Kristin took to it immediately and has found she loves to use it - which is great for me because I can just shove the upper walks and not have to deal with the monster of a machine!

Since then, it has snowed A LOT here. And after each storm I think "I am soooo glad we got that!" Last I heard we had already passed the total snowfall for all of last winter in December. *sigh* Looks like this week should be more dry, but very cold...nothing the snow blower can do about that. :)

Happy Halloween!

This year was a pretty low-key Halloween for us. I went in to Kristin's classroom on Friday to help out with "pumpkin math" and brought the kids some cupcake treats...

Sunday we carved pumpkins which was a lot of fun. This was only my second year carving, so I stayed with a simple design. I used a stencil, but Kristin just dug in...

I thought the final products were awesome...

And of course we had to take the annual "Ellie with the pumpkins" photo (and yes, that is a rose still blooming on the rose bush!)...

Sunday night the doorbell started ringing around 5:30 and over the next 2 1/2 hours we got around 200 little ghouls and goblins. I love that this neighborhood has so many kids!

And now we head into November where we're sure to see our first snowfall and the fun of shoveling and bundling up begins!

Craigslist Addicts

We just went and picked up a reel mower that Kristin found on Craigslist. I love my self-propelled mower, but it is tearing the steep hills in our yard apart, so I wanted to get a lighter mower to do those with.

After we picked it up I realized we have A LOT of stuff in our house from Craigslist. We have probably saved thousands of dollars over the past few years by purchasing so many things second hand.

Here is a quick list of some things we have purchased that we are still using (I'm sure there are more, but this is what I could come up with in a few minutes):

Entertainment Center

Bookshelves

Couch

Kitchen Table and Chairs

Cat Perch

DVD/CD Storage Unit

Wardrobe

Day/Trundle Bed

Dishwasher

Reel Lawn Mower

Deck furniture

Bathroom Storage Unit

Plastic Wardrobe Units

Dog Bed (converted camping mattress)

Butcher Block

Hmm...I'm sure there's more...but that's a lot of stuff...all of which we got for very cheap or free (the couch was a little spendy but much less than we would have paid had we gone to a store to buy it!).

Thanks to Kristin for finding all the deals...I'm not big on perusing Craigslist, but am always happy with what she finds :)

Veggie Lasagna

By popular demand I present Krisitn's Veggie Lasagna recipe. It's divine. :) The original recipe came from Heather Swann.

VEGGIE LASAGNA

Ingredients:

Lasagna Noodles

1 Package of Frozen Spinach

Mushrooms

Zucchini

Garlic

1 jar of red spaghetti sauce

1 medium tub of ricotta cheese

2 eggs

1-2 cups of Mozzarella cheese

Cook lasagna noodles according to directions on package

Thaw spinach

Chop mushrooms, zucchini, and garlic and sauté

Add red sauce to veggies and heat through

In a bowl, mix spinach, eggs, and ricotta cheese together

Layer ingredients in a 9x13 pan as follows:

Thin layer of sauce

Noodles

Veggies and sauce mixture

Mozzarella cheese (1/2-1 cup)

Noodles

Ricotta and spinach mixture

Noodles

Remaining sauce

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes

Add remaining mozzarella cheese to the top 5 minutes before removing from the oven

Kristin's a Master!

After two years of hard work, Kristin finished her master's program in Differentiated Instruction. I'm so proud of her! For her final project she had to write a capstone paper, complete a board, and attend a gallery walk to show it off. The gallery walk was on Monday where I was finally able to meet the awesome people she has spent her Thursday nights with over the past couple of years!

Congratulations, Kristin! I love you!

Kristin with her cohort.

Kristin with her board.

Kristin and me.

Kristin and Jehn.

Roses

Kristin gave me the most beautiful roses for graduation...I love, love, love them. Thank you, my dear. :)

May Day 2010

Today Kristin and Ellie went to the May Day Parade in Minneapolis. They went with our friend Jehn while I stayed at home nursing a migraine (which was completely gone by 1. I was bummed I didn't go!). Kristin took the camera (at my insistence) and got some great photos (so a big thank you to her!). Here are a few:

September Begins...

It's September 1. The preverbial end of summer. We've had a good summer. I was able to take several days off here and there to just relax, we went to Duluth for our anniversary and discovered a new getaway spot, we were able to go to South Dakota to visit Kristin's family twice, Robyn and Dejan came for a visit, and we spent a very relaxing weekend at Wilderness Way (which we plan to repeat in October). While this summer was a little less activity-ridden than last year (think wedding), it was a good one and I'm sad to see it end so fast.

School starts this week for Kristin as well as for me. That means a lot of changes in our schedules as well as nerves and excitement for what is to come.

I'm taking three classes this trimester (vs. the two I have taken in the past) as well as doing an internship. I thought that I would feel more settled and more excited once I started my actual social work classes. I am excited, but I'm finding that I wish I could just fast forward and have it done.

I have three gen ed classes left - Philosophy, Phys Ed, and Global Search for Justice (a course required for everyone graduating from St. Kate's). This semester I'll be getting philosophy out of the way on Wednesday nights. Friday nights are reserved for my field class. Saturday afternoons will be Human Behavior and the Social Environment. Fascinating.

I'm not really looking forward to philosophy. It seems like a snoozer class. Hopefully it won't be too intense. The Field class should be okay - not too much work. It will basically be talking about the internship I am doing which won't be decided until the end of September or beginning of October. I'm a little nervous about that - hoping that I get something interesting that will teach me whatever it is I need to know. The Human Behavior class doesn't seem too crazy, either...but sometimes the syllabii are misleading, so we'll see.

It's definitely going to be crazy for me over the coming months. Here's to hoping that I survive without alienating everyone around me (in other words I'll try not to be too cranky)!

As I said earlier, Kristin also starts school this week. She gets a whole new group of 3rd graders. I went to her classroom with her on Friday. Once again she's done an awesome job of fitting a million things into one room and making it look cute and inviting for the kids! It sounds like she'll have another interesting group of kids this year which makes for good dinner conversation. She will also be starting at Concordia next week working towards her Masters in Differentiated Instruction. She will have class on Thursday nights, so we may not see much of each other this fall...but it will all be worth it in the end...right?

I've been busy this holiday weekend with homework (the joy of attending weekend classes - there are always assignments due the first day of class) and being sick. Kristin and I have both been sick with some sort of stomach flu. I told her it wouldn't be the beginning of the schoolyear without us catching some sort of illness. Hopefully we're both on our way to recovery.

So. Goodbye summer, thanks for the memories. Welcome fall - let's do it up right.

Robyn and Dejan Visit!

We've had a great day so far! Robyn and Dejan are here visiting for a day on their way back from a fabulous Ricks Family Adventure at Yellowstone.


We picked them up at their hotel at 11 this morning and headed to Minnehaha Park for a little bike riding action.


While we were waiting in line a random group of violinists started playing which was a little weird, but provided some entertainment while we waited in line.


Once we finally got our bike we were on our way! Somehow we got completely lost and ended up pedaling over the Ford Pkwy bridge. Oops. We were able to get turned around, though, and head back to the park to finish following the correct path. We only got stuck at one hill. I guess the four of us just aren't very strong because Kristin and I had to get out to push the bike up the hill. Time to work out a little more, eh?


After a 45 minute ride (that felt more like 15) we returned the bike and headed to Chipotle. Robyn always seems to call me when I'm at Chipotle and so I've told her all about how fabulous it is. She decided she needed to try it when she was here. We made it a long lunch and got all caught up.


Afterward we headed back to our apartment to give them the grand tour and to look at their pictures from their trip to Utah. It was fun to see all of them and watch all the videos they had taken with their flip (I really need to get one!).


We just took them back to their hotel so they could "freshen up" before we head to dinner.

It's been a great day! I wish they could stay longer...ah well, maybe next time!

Hobble, Hobble

On Wednesday my poor little Kristin fell down some steps at school. She called me on her way home to say she was really embarrassed, had gravel in her hand, and that her foot hurt a little. By the time she got home her foot was hurting more than a little. I told her we should go to the ER but she refused. After a little while she decided that maybe, possibly, perhaps we could go to Urgent Care.


The result? A fractured bone. They fit her with a boot cast and told her to go see an orthopedist. After which she turned down any kind of pain pills (crazy girl).

Since then we have gone through a lot of ice and a lot of ibuprofen. There are also pillows strewn about the house so that no matter where she lays down she has something to prop it up on. She can't drive, but thanks to the help of friends she's getting around just fine.

She is able to walk a bit on the boot cast, but her gait has taken on a sort of cute hobble. Today we're braving the Mall of Misery (America), and I'll get the chance to test out my wheelchair driving skills :)

Monopoly Night

I've been going through some...stuff...lately and so Wednesday night Kristin decided to help cheer me up by playing a game! A GAME! She normally doesn't like to play games, but she gave in that night and actually SUGGESTED playing one. I was so happy that she wanted to play a game that I even let her choose the game - Monopoly!

We were just about to get started when our friend Kami stopped over (Lisa stopped over too but had to get back to some homework - who in the world would choose Law School over Monopoly?!? ;)) and decided to join. I don't think I've ever played an entire game of Monopoly before...we were playing the .com edition which my sister purchased for me several years ago. It was cool to see some of the internet companies that made the board who are no longer around - those that had merged, and those that are now bigger than ever. We even talked about some that were missing - like Google...amazing to think that just a few years ago there wasn't such a thing - or at least that it wasn't as big as it is now. CBS MarketWatch is even on the board. Little did I know back then (when I got the game) that I would some day be working for them (although now they are Dow Jones soon to be News Corp). - I was even wearing a MarketWatch shirt - I was in the mood to make money.

The game started well and went on for some time, and then, in the heat of the moment, I convinced Kristin to give me 5 of her properties for 1 of mine (Yahoo which was one of the two big ones - she already had the other big one). Those 5 properties, though, gave me lots of monopolies and it was pretty much all downhill from there. I ended up winning with 3.9 trillion dollars (I wish!).

Here are a few photos of the evening (taken by Kristin since she had already gone bankrupt).

Kami and I battle it out for first place

Kami realizes there is no hope.

I relish my victory...now, if only the money were REAL!

Happy Anniversary!

First, let me wish a very happy 4th anniversary to Kristin.

Some of you may be confused. How can it be our 4th anniversary when we just got married in July? Before the big day we always celebrated our anniversary on October 17. That’s the day we first met in person again after several years of very sparse email contact. It kicked off a period of newness, crazy-in-loveness, and me flying to Minnesota at least once a month (sometime 2 or 3 times a month) to visit (thank goodness I moved here the following April or I would now owe the airlines a fortune!).

To celebrate, Kristin informed me today that we are going to see a film I have wanted to see for awhile – she typically doesn’t like going to see movies that I do, so I had given up hope that we would go and resigned myself to the fact that if I wanted to see it I would have to see it on my own or with friends in the next couple of days before it leaves the theater here. But here she is, being the awesome person she is and reminding me, on this, our 4th anniversary, of all the reasons I fell in love with her.

Thank you, darling. Happy Anniversary.

FILM SYNOPSIS

Can the love between two people ever be an abomination? Is the chasm separating gays and lesbians and Christianity too wide to cross? Is the Bible an excuse to hate?


Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival, Dan Karslake's provocative, entertaining documentary brilliantly reconciles homosexuality and Biblical scripture, and in the process reveals that Church-sanctioned anti-gay bias is based almost solely upon a significant (and often malicious) misinterpretation of the Bible. As the film notes, most Christians live their lives today without feeling obliged to kill anyone who works on the Sabbath or eats shrimp (as a literal reading of scripture dictates).


Through the experiences of five very normal, very Christian, very American families -- including those of former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Episcopalian Bishop Gene Robinson -- we discover how insightful people of faith handle the realization of having a gay child. Informed by such respected voices as Bishop Desmond Tutu, Harvard's Peter Gomes, Orthodox Rabbi Steve Greenberg and Reverend Jimmy Creech, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO offers healing, clarity and understanding to anyone caught in the crosshairs of scripture and sexual identity.

It's the Little Things....

It’s the little things that annoy me. Like the little stickers we forgot to put on the kisses in the favor boxes causing us to reopen every box and redo them. Like the directions that no matter how many times I redo always seem to have a mistake in them. Like having to go to Target on a daily basis to pick up essentials we didn’t know we needed. Like the piles of to-do lists and sticky note reminders everywhere. Like the stacks of things to take, to pack, to move, to organize.

It’s the little things that are so special. Like the card Kristin gave me “just because.” Like the two sparkly-clean rings sitting in the jewelry drawer just waiting for Friday to get here. Like the dresses hanging on the back of the bedroom doors, pressed and ready to go. Like looking through photos of us to choose eight and getting lost in memories for an hour. Like the fact there are only FIVE days until I marry the woman of my dreams.

It's Official...

Tonight, since we had a bit of spare time on our hands, we went to Wells Fargo and got a joint checking account! SCARY!

I currently use TCF and Kristin uses Wells Fargo. We've been talking about getting a joint account for awhile and decided to go with Wells Fargo since I've had several issues with TCF and their ever-changing weird fee policies over the past few years - honestly. If you ever are thinking of signing up with them talk to me first!

So we went to the bank and sat down with Eric. Nice fellow. He had us rocking with a joint account in no time. He was even kind enough to direct me to their drinking fountain that was so close to the floor I couldn't even get to the water by bending over...I would have had to kneel on the floor to drink out of it (I decided quenching my thirst wasn't worth that humiliation).

Anyway, so we got the new account set up and new checks ordered - even made a nice deposit in it thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Moe.

Just one thing left to say - Sorry, Kristin...no going back now!

half empty or half full?

So we went to Target tonight to do our weekly grocery shopping. We passed one of those price checker things.

Kristin: Wait! I want to see how much I cost!

She puts her arm under the scanner and nothing happens.

Me: Looks like you're free. Imagine that.

I turn to get a gallon of milk.

Some random stranger: Actually, I think it means you're priceless...

Kristin didn't stop smiling the rest of the trip.