Thanksgiving Recap

Mitch and I spent Thanksgiving Day with my father's side of the family. The day was gorgeous, the food delicious, the company fabulous.


My cousins and I spent the majority of the day outside enjoying the beautiful weather and pretty North Dakota surroundings. We began the afternoon by taking nice photos like this one of my husband and me . . .


and then we decided to play "America's Next Top Model." We found countless photo opportunities. Here I am strutting my stuff by the wheelbarrow of fat (every Thanksgiving my family makes homemade meat products),


Cassie making kissy faces by the chicken coop,


and Mollie demonstrating the "farmer wave" in a John Deere.


As you can see, we're a talented group of girls. There are already plans in the work for a summer session. Stay tuned, folks!

Unfortunately, I was having too much fun being ridiculous that I didn't take many other photos that day. Here is one of the few I did manage to get. I love spending time on my grandparent's farm; it's such a wonderful place.



On Friday, Mitch and I celebrated round two of Thanksgiving. We joined my in-laws and brother-in-law for a delicious dinner and a game of Mexican Train Dominoes (great game if you're looking for a new one to try). We enjoyed more family time on Saturday with some bowling, pizza, and a movie. I married into a wonderful family - I love spending time with them.

Another awesome Thanskgiving. Now bring on Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you have a wonderful turkey day!

Turkey Time

The Christmas bug has hit me full force this year. I think it's trying to make up for not coming last year. I'm trying not to be one of those people who skips right over the Thanksgiving festivities (because Thanksgiving is great, too), but it has been difficult. I can hardly wait until Saturday when our turkey celebrating has concluded and I can start going crazy for Christmas. Expect lots of holiday cheer here at this blog!

It is, however, the day before Thanksgiving so I thought I would share this photo with you. In college I was a volunteer with the "Big Brother Big Sister" program. This was a project my "little sister" and I worked on one afternoon during my visit. I was pretty proud of myself for looking at the school's collection of craft supplies and coming up with this turkey puppet. It was probably one of the coolest things we did together. Isn't he a beauty? (Humor me, please.)

You Know Your Husband and You are Nerds When . . .

after watching an episode of "Friends" in which Ross is trying to name all the 50 states, you two decide to play the game. Cheap thrills for this couple, folks.



I sucked it up and missed SIX states! I knew I'd miss some along the east coast (not my strong suit with U.S. geography), but I cannot believe I missed Pennsylvania (my father-in-law is from there!), Mississippi, and Missouri.


Mitch missed only TWO states so he won the game. He walked around all evening exclaiming "Wyoming and Utah! I never would have thought of those!"

You Know You're a Math Nerd When . . .

you buy a shirt thinking the pattern is circle graphs and your husband has to inform you that it's actually peace signs. Oops.

BB - Part 3

October 1, 2009: Fall Book Sale

Normally my father and I visit our library's used book sale during the last hour of the last day when the price is $1.00 per bag of goodies. (Check out the deals I got at the last sales here, here, and here.) This year, however, we weren't able to attend on that last day during that last hour so we ended up going on the first evening of the event.

Boy was that sale very different than the previous sales I'd been to. There were oodles and oodles of people, nothing compared to the handful gathered on the last day. These people were also VERY serious about finding good reads. I'm not even kidding when I say there were people there with lists. I assumed everyone went into the library flying by the seat of their pants like me, but I guess I was mistaken.

In addition to all the people, there were also oodles and oodles of books. Books were covering every square inch of the tables and the floor space under the tables. I've never seen that many books at the sales which I guess makes sense when you attend the first day versus the last. There was definitely a bigger selection, which to the ordinary person would be nothing but wonderful, but for me it was a little overwhelming. Too many choices and my strong point is definitely not making decisions.

The price at this book sale was $1.00 per pound for paperbacks and $0.50 per pound for hardcover. I found eleven paperbacks, weighing in at a 6.6 pounds, so my total bill was $6.60. That translates to $0.60 per book - not quite the $0.06 I once paid, but nothing to complain about either. I was happy to hand over the money to my dear library - I can't think of a better place to shop. Plus, I still came out ahead - you can't put a price on the magic of books.

Blue Skies, No Blizzard

A year ago today, we got our first blizzard of the season. Currently it is 65 degrees (with an expected high of 70 degrees), sunny and no wind. It's an absolutely gorgeous fall day. What a difference a year can make.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Under the Weather

Crickett and I have been a bit under the weather this week. We've been spending most of our time under the covers, wishing we could be outside enjoying the beautiful fall days that have finally arrived. Until we feel better, though, we're happy just being cuddle buddies.

BB - Part 2

September 19, 2009: Race Day

One of my goals for 2009 was to run in an organized race and on September 19th I did just that. I had originally set my sights on a half-marathon, but I just could not get myself prepared mentally and it affected my training. It's amazing how large a role the mind plays in physical endeavours; if the mind isn't in the game neither is the body. So, instead of the half-marathon, I ran the 5K.

This was the second race I've ever run and the first time with a chip so that was kind of exciting. I felt like a real racer. (Hah!) Mitch and I arrived at the race site while it was still dark and very chilly and I have to admit that I was kind of crabby that morning. I didn't want to be there - I was tired and cold, but most importantly I felt intimidated by all the "real athletes" and was disappointed in myself for not being one of them. I felt as if I had no right to be at the event. After watching the marathoners, half-marathoners, and relay-marathoners take off, I started to get excited. I could feel the energy in the air and some of that magic rubbed off on me.

My nerves got to me as the 5K-ers lined up, but after we started moving I was nothing less than thrilled. I was now happy for the cool temperatures and realized that those "real athletes" I had been watching earlier had started out where I was and that only meant I could get to where they were.


I had a lot of fun at this race - more than I thought possible. While I wasn't thrilled with my time (33:02), I was happy I ran the whole thing and realized that now I have a time to beat. You can't set records if you don't have a starting point, right? In any case, it was a wonderful morning and I can't wait to race again!

Friday Find

After I finished reading "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," I didn't want to read anything else because I felt that no other novel could compare to the beauty of the one I had just finished. Nothing seemed good enough and I didn't know how to make that leap from extraordinary to ordinary. (I have since recovered and discovered plenty of other wonderful books.) I decided to ask Google for help, so I searched "what should I read next?" I couldn't believe it when I found a website called exactly that! All that is required of you is to type in the title and author of a book you liked (I obviously used "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn") and you're given a list of 10 other novels that you might like. I'm so excited about this site! Oh how my list of books to read keeps getting longer and longer!

Happy reading, everyone!