Stress

Joseph is starting Kindergarten in 6 days. And I am freaking out about the details. How will he get there? Who will make sure that he gets there? What will he do afterwards? Where will he go? We are trying to work out latchkey and childcare, and our own work schedules. Seriously, I am so stressed out, and I shouldn’t be. It’s the natural progression of things. It is life. Children go to school. Dogs pee on hydrants. Scramstads spill. It is what it is.

On another front – I am excited about tomorrow night. I have a friend coming over for dinner. She is my best friend, we have been friends since we were, like, 5. I have a yummy menu planned. I’ll post it after we eat, pictures included. She reads this blog, and I don’t want to ruin the surprise! Hee!!

Otherwise…life is OK. I moved the furniture in our bedroom around last night. Why. Because I thought it was a fantastic idea. No, seriously…I wanted to use the mirror that came with my dresser. It has been relegated to the basement for the past 7 years, and I thought it deserved another chance. So, I set to moving around furniture, trying not to scratch the floors. I only broke one thing, and that was a heavy glass that fell on my head first. So, not only did I break something, I also hurt myself in the process. (No, it didn’t break ON my head, it shattered on the floor).

For those of you looking for the rest of the vacation pictures…they are coming tonight. Blogger has been really screwy lately, and not allowing me to upload pics very easily. Stupid computer.

On the vegetable front…I have tomatoes coming out of my ears. More than I know what to do with. I canned a few already, but I need a bigger canning pot. I could only can 4 jars at a time, and that ain’t very fun. I’m making sun (oven) - dried tomatoes this week, then some “bruschetta in a jar”, which is heavenly…and then who knows what else.

All for now – I’m trying to catch up on a week’s worth of blogging, and still keep things up-to-date. If I have emailed you back, or responded to you – please be patient with me.

See? Chinese Food.

My cousin and her daughter rolling egg rolls from scratch...so yummy.




Sitting around after dinner...my grandma used to always take a picture of the dinner table. Her pictures were usually beforehand though.

The Pontoon

Joe even got to drive the pontoon boat. This completely made his day. My Uncle David is teaching him how to er....steer.

Thief River Falls - Visiting Family

When we arrived in TRF, there was a PARTY going on...a Scramstad party! Whoo-hoo! People even came by plane to the party. So cool. There was a band and everything .




This is my cousin's son Wade...just adorable!!

We had a great time in TRF, and spent time with family. Man, I miss family. I don't really have any around here, so this trip was really important to me so I could reconnect with the Scramstads.

I got a great recipe for carmel rolls from my cousin. I'm quite excited to make that soon. So yummy! We did a little bit of shopping around town, nothing major, then hung out mostly. There was one night of Chinese food too. Yes, Norwegians in Northern Minnesota cooking Chinese Food. And you thought that the world was coming to an end or something. Actually - my family can majorly throw down some AWESOME chinese cooking. Seriously - it's like this family thing.

Little Joe had a great time running around with the cousins - the kids are all around the same age, and they had a blast on the farm, riding horses, playing in the dirt, riding on the pontoon boat, all the good stuff that cousins do.

I really hope that we get up there again soon.

Video of us playing in Lake Superior

OK - So...we didn't fall in - but we had a good time trying to not get wet. Too funny!

Camping on Lake Superior

This is our campsite...ON the Lake Superior Shoreline. This spot was amazing.

The pics are of us playing in the Lake, even though it waas COLD...and watching the goegeous sunset. If you are ever lookng for a place to really appreciate Michigan...you have got to check this place out.

Pictured Rocks....by boat.

Then, we drove accross the UP to Munising, and took the Pictured Rocks Boat Tour. All I can say....wow.

We're back from Vacation...and here are the pictures

Our first leg of the trip....

Taquahmenon Falls....

Leaving for a while...

We are going on a road trip...Whoo-hoo! I am so excited about this. We are leavng today, and heading to Minnesota to see family. I have been looking forward to this trip for a very long time.

So...I'll be MIA for a while, but I'll have lots of pics and stories to upload when I get back.

TTYL!

Saying Thank You

Just watch this. It will mean more than you ever know...

http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/shortmovie.php

I have tears, and it's only 7:30AM.

-j

Ow.

This is a quick pictorial of my attempt at clearing my sinuses.
This is a sinuCleanse set.
This is a Neti Pot.
This is me, after using the neti pot. Notice the tears, red eyes, and general look of wanting to rip my sinuses out of my head. It stung.

But, after several hours, my nose wasn't as runny, and I felt less pressure. Hmmm...

Making Food with Tomatoes

I've had to get creative with tomatoes, as I have them coming out of my ears.


This is fresh tomato salad. I large-diced one of the heirloom tomatoes, then mixed a vinaigrette of:
2T EVOO
1 shallot, minced
1T dijon mustard
1T apple cider vinegar
1T worchestershire
S&P
1T chopped oregano
1/2T chopped mint
then poured it over the tomatoes. YUMM!

And this picture shoes my wonderful sous chef, preparing the parmesan crust for the below-mentioned baked tomatoes. He actually was quite a help, as you know how clean I am when I cook. I finally found someone that makes a bigger mess than I do!

and for dinner....baked tomatoes with a bread crumb/parmesan crust. Nothing special. i didn't even use garlic!

Where I spend my day

This is my desk. It isn't the neatest, there are piles of work, and piles to file, and piles of stuff that I'm not sure what to do with...but this is where I work. At least, one corner of it. Maybe I should ave turned around and taken a picture of the rubbermaid bins holding all of the River Day stuff that I haven't put over at the field office yet.
BTW - if you look closely - you'll see 2 hot wheels cars on the desk. I promised Joseph that his cars could c0ome to work with me...so I took this picture to show him that they were hard at work...

Cakes for a Cause 2008

Our office has a cake decorating competition every year. The winner gets to choose a charity, then all the cakes are auctioned off for charity. So, I entered this year.

The base of the cake. White cake, cherry frosting, strawberry filling, covered in fondant.


No - I don't get a kickback from Wilton's Cake-making supplies, but maybe I should, as much I used them.

The base of the cake. Fondant wasn't too hard...this part was easy.

My first attempt at decorating. It looked really bad, so I scraped everything off the cake, and started over from scratch with the base fondant.

and this is what the final product looked like...I called it "Dreaming of Pink Pillows". Was I happy with it? Uh...sure. Did it taste good? I'll have to ask the person who bought it at the auction.

How much $ did we raise? $117. For what charity? The Clinton River Watershed Council.

Whoo-hoo. Go me! (For the record, yes, I won, and I chose the charity.)

Working boys

This is the view out of my front door right now. The boys are working on a deer blind for Dad. Power tools, 2X4s, etc. So much testosterone.

AAAHHH!!!!

Another funky mood day. I'm still very overwhelmed at work - there are some major construction projects that are in various stages - starting fro design, logisitics, all the way to fully under construction. This is driving me batty - there is so much going on, then the other part of my job - the desk administration stuff, the permitting, the files, the inhouse stuff is also out of control. too much to do, and not enough time. My poor to-do list has really become too long. It's like a to-do storybook.

This is what I feel like:

Yes - I'm really liking this video stuff too - if you can't see the videos, please let me know. This is new to me.

On the homefront - I'm just trying to get ready for our trip next weekend to MN. We'll be driving, camping, visiting family, and NOT WORKING!! Well, sort of. I know we both will be chaecking email, and doing some work. Because that is who we are. Work-a-holics. Sigh.

How Joseph tries new foods...

WARNING - GRAPHIC VIDEO!!!!

As many of you know, Little Joe has issues with eating...he doesn't. One night last week, I asked him to try a grape...

At the end, he blows the camera a kiss....seriously.

The Trip to Toledo - and the 95th Division

So - my camera died on the first day we were in Toledo - and I couldn't recharge the battery. so - I have one picture for you:

the boy who insisted that he wasn't tired, and didn't need a nap. We were heading down I-75, and hadn't even gotten to the 275/75 split - and he was OUT!


The rest of the weekend was amazing - we spent time with family, heard stories from WWII vets, went to a Mud Hens game, went to the Toledo Museum of Art (which was VERY cool!), and just had a wonderful time with family and new friends.

BTW - for a quick day trip from the Detroit area - the Museum has free admission.

Our trip to Toledo was for the the Army 95th Division Reunion - these are the Iron Men of Metz - the group of brave American soldiers that liberated Metz, France in Novemebr of 1944. And my grandpa is one of those men. The veterans that were there were so proud and so willing to share their stories. I was in awe several times.

All for now - going to download more pics from the camera.

Gardeniferous Bounty

So, after being gone all weekend, we came home to a beautiful garden that was bursting with ripe yummy vegetables....

Notice the size of this zucchini...my cell phone is there for reference!

Cherry Tomatoes...Sweet 100's...my favorite. We seriously have 100's of these...

Just what I picked on Sunday night...(notice the tomato...Heirloom Brandywyne) You also see zucchinis, shallots, a green pepper, some funky cucumbers, and about a million cherry tomatoes. the apple is not from my garden...
These are some yummy tomatoes that decided they were too fat for the plant, and they fell onto the ground on their own...thus not ripening. Grrr. Stupid tomatoes.

stupid blogger.

So - I'm having difficulties uploading photos to Blogger. Not sure what the deal is...I'll have to figure it out though.

I don't have too many pics to upload anyways - this weekend was the 95th Division reunion in Toledo...and my camera battery died. Just my Luck. Grrr...

In the meantime...enjoy some tidbits that I'll post.....

love, me.