4/23/10: I'm not sure what to do about Alexa's birthday. With her not going to daycare anymore, she isn't around kids all day that we would normally invite and she's only been invited to Isabela's birthday, so there isn't a group of kids to automatically invite. She wants a kid birthday party so bad. She talks about every day, four times a day. I feel horrible. I've thought maybe she'll be ok with just adults when the time actually comes, but it just won't feel right. We've been trying to come up with ideas. Maybe MOA with one friend or bowling or family party at Chuck E Cheese. I've thinking about for weeks and it's stressing me out. You're probably thinking it just a four year olds birthday party, get a cake and balloons and she won't care (notice), but that's not me. Birthday's should be around kids, friends, having a really fun time, but this just haven't worked out in Alexa's favor these last 8 months. I just don't know what to do. I want her to have fun and be happy, it's her birthday, it should be happy and fun. I have three weeks to figure something out.

1/4/10: Xmas photos ... I know ... I'm such a slacker! Hopefully this week.

12/12/09: No tree this year since Natalya will just try to take it down. When we go to Myra's, all Natalya does is remove the balls from the tree and pull on it. I decorated the mantle again with a slight twist. Instead of the large branches I would put up, I used shorter curly branches. I like it. Had to move the stockings off to the side since there are now 4 of them and they're all big. Can't put them across since they would be too close to the heat of the fire. I just love our fireplace and the fact that we built it makes it even better.   

11/29/09: I'm a little ticked at the Church where Lulu goes to preschool. So we got a news flyer from the church and they're talking about how to explain the differences between Santa and Jesus to kids. They even give an example of how one family does Santa stuff the first week of December and then puts it away and then does Jesus stuff the rest of the month. That's a little extreme don't ya think? I mean, who do they think brings the gifts under the tree? I don't remember reading about that in the Bible. But what really peeved me was when they're explaining the differences between Santa and Jesus, they say "Santa comes down your chimney uninvited." and "Santa doesn't know your name." What f'ing bulls**t! Nobody talks s**t about Santa! Remember, you will be judged at the pearly gates, so I wouldn't spread lies, even if they are about other people's imaginary friends.

9/14/09: We're back from Spain. We had a great time. Still sorting through the photos, hope to have them up in the next day or two.

8/25/09: Some times life doesn't hand you lemons, it fucking pelts them at you.

6/16/09: Our neighbor with the school bus that sits there all year is having her house painted and it's not a good thing. Too bad the housing market sucks otherwise we'd move! I feel bad for the people behind us trying to sell their house. They have look at the new paint job, the old, broken toys all over the yard and the dead grass and weeds.

5/10/09: Sally - Got 1 1/2 years worth of photos put away this weekend ... wow ... amazing what you can accomplish when your 3 year old isn't home.

4/22/09: Sally - I'm participating in a Biggest Loser type weightloss contest with some people from work. God I need to lose baby weight from BOTH kids. I hate how I look in clothes. Hopefully it goes well. I have done it once before. I'm not doing it to be healther or anything like that, but because I can't find clothes that I like that fit me. It may not be the best reason to eat better, but it's my reason. In Florida, Jason and I did Atkins and I lost almost 30 pounds in about 5 months. I'm sure I lopped off 10 years of my life with all the bacon, so this time I'm not eating as much fat. We'll see ... it's tough with kids because you end up finishing their meals and usually their meals are cereal or a pop tart or chicken nuggets. I need to think of myself walking around the Spanish beaches later in the year (Jason and I are going to Spain).

3/30/09: Sally - Loved, loved, loved The Wire. What a great show. Season 4 was a bit slow for me, but overall probably one of the best shows ever made.

2/26/09: Just finished season 2 of The Wire. What a great show. Can't wait to watch the next seasons while finishing out my maternity leave. Man ... it's really snowing here. Beautiful snow.

1/18/09: I need to get a better designed header graphic for the site, but for now this works.

1/15/09: It's 20 below zero today ... it's fricken cold!

12/1/08: We painted the upstairs hall and stairway over the weekend. We thought we were painting it the same color as the living room, but we ended up using a color that we decided not to go with in the living room. Oh well ... still looks good. It makes the area so much brighter. Before it was a dark clay color. We also got up the Christmas tree. Who knew the location of the tree would cause such an argument between us. But we got it settled and now it's up. Looks good. It's tall. We chopped it down this weekend. Will put up photos and video after.

11/22/08: I keep meaning to change out the main header of the site ... it's almost a year old. I noticed I'm missing a few photos on our home machine. I'll do next weekend.

11/17/08: I am so disappointed in my local Target store. I LOVE Target ... they can almost do no wrong in my eyes. BUT they totally f'ed up by going to Kodak film processing. My Lakeville Target used to be Fuji. Apple Valley was Kodak and I refused to get any film processing done there because the Kodak kiosks and photos blow. So, I went to my Target the other day and noticed they changed to Kodak ... it made me want to cry. I probably process thousands of photos a year. Now where am I going to go? Guess I'll have to go to SAMS Club since they use Fuji. I'm not a fan of SAMS, but I can do photos there. And the timing is even worse because with the new baby, I'll be taking tons of photos. When Alexa was a new born, we were at Target a few times a week getting photos processed. It really ruined my day to see Kodak there, but I'll never process photos there again as long as I can find some place with Fuji (and I'll even pay more per photo if I have to).

11/7/08: First snow of the year. Everything is coated white. It's so pretty. Gotta run out and get Alexa some boots!

9/11/08: I am loving the song "Love Lockdown" by Kanye West .. love it, love it, love it. I like the live version slightly better than the album version

8/29/08: We finally got an "adult" bed ... no more mattress and boxspring on a stupid metal frame. It took us a while, but we finally found a frame we liked. It's dark brown stained wood and we're very happy. We also exchanged our 1-year old crappy mattress for a brand new one (using our warrenty). The bed is a few inches higher, but Alexa had no trouble climbing right up :-)

7/21/08: We saw the new Batman movie at the IMAX this weekend. It was very good. My only complaint was that it was a bit too long, didn't hold my attention for the last 20 minutes well enough. But overall, a great movie. Loved the action and the performances.

7/2/08: Last night Jason found a nest of baby bunnies in the middle of our backyard. It was a strange spot for them, but there they were. The mommy had dug a nice big hole, had them there and then covered them up. The babies have been, um ... relocated (no, he didn't kill them, just moved them far, far away which probably won't work out for them either). Damn mother bunny ate all my tulips this year, I wasn't about to have 6 more running around.

6/2/08: Got some terrible news over the weekend. My cousin Melissa's husband (Jason) was fishing alone when he went overboard (they think he had a siezure) and was in the water for 10 minutes before he was pulled out. He's in critical condition and they're not sure if he'll make it. They have two little kids. We really hope he'll get better.

6/1/08: Got a new fridge and we love it. We got the kind that has the French doors at top and the freezer below. Alexa can't get the doors open, but she knows her freezey-pops are in the freezer down low now.

5/12/08: Damn bunny ate all my tulips! Only one has come up so far and I'm pretty sure no others will.

4/28/08: Gary Kurschner died last weekend. I played basketball with his daughter Jill and he and his wife, Dianne, are good friends with my mom. It's very sad. He was 63.

4/21/08: Watched American Gangster this weekend and thought it was pretty good. Very entertaining. We got Lulu's room all painted. Two more weeks and we'll give the big girl bed a try.

4/14/08: It's so quiet now where I sit at work. First I lost my friend Tara and now I lose Susan ... it's too quiet. Who am I gonna talk about entertainment stuff with? I'm bummed.

3/28/08: Watched No Country For Old Men last night ... didn't care for it. It was slow and the ending sucked. Really good acting, but not an exciting movie. If I leave the room for any reason during a movie without pausing the movie, then you know it's not that great of a movie.

3/24/08: Jason and I went to a party the other night and we played "Rock Band" (XBox). Lets just say there's a good reason I quit band in 8th grade. I was terrible. Couldn't do guitar (it started when I couldn't make it left-handed), bass or drums. I was terrible at drums ... having to do three different things at one like that was way too hard for me. I can dribble and chew gum, but don't ask me to play drums. Jason on the other hand was very good at all three. I did do pretty good on singing, but the game is really tone deaf :-) I'm much better at the Wii.

3/19/08: Jason and I have watched a few movies lately:
In To The Wild: Good movie, but way too long.
Run Baby Run: Very good movie. Liked it a lot.
Michael Clayton: Boring, long.
Beowulf: Too long. If it would have moved along faster it might have been better.

3/5/08: Congratulations to our friends Tara & Tim on the birth of their second child, daughter Claire Elizabeth Nordquist. Born March 4, 2008 at 8:20 pm, weight: 8 lbs 4 oz, length: 20 1/2 in. Claire came out in 3 hours and with no drugs!!! Alexa can't wait to the see the baby and share all her germs as she hugs and kisses it.

2/19/08: Forgot to mention, I dyed my hair a very dark brown/red. I have done it a couple times before and thought it was time to change it up again. When you do the blond highlights, after a while your hair seems so dry (and it looks like it too ... no matter how hard you try to convince yourself, you hair looks like hay). I love the color. It's 10 below zero today ... brrr.

2/11/08: It's been below zero all weekend and we still went out to multiple stores. So no complaining about it being too cold when it's only 60 degrees where you live :-)

1/10/08: One of my best bud's, Linda Shudlick, got engaged over the holidays ... YEAH!

1/2/08: I saw the movie Juno yesterday and loved it. It was such a good movie. It made me laugh and cry. I can't remember the last time I saw a movie that made me cry.

12/10/07: Well ... I lost our $450 digital camera. I think I put it on the roof of the car and then drove downtown. This is the second item I have left on the roof of the car. First was a pizza and now my beloved camera. Thank god Lulu is too heavy for me to get on the roof of the car :-)