Right Now ...

Instructions:

Take a picture of yourself right now.
Don’t change your clothes, don’t fix your hair…just take a picture.
Post that picture with NO editing.
Post these instructions with your picture.

Ok Jenica ... you started it ... see picture of me (with pink hair) looking at your page. :)

next?

Big girl bike!

Winter in Wisconsin

Congratulations!

Congratulations, Stacey and Dean. Happy Birthday, baby Joey. What a darling boy.

Mystery solved...

There have been odd scratching sounds coming from a corner of the front bedroom's ceiling. A little odd, but they've come and gone so infrequently, we haven't investigated thoroughly.

Mystery has been solved whilst Joe was up in the attic retrieving the holiday bins. 2 bats have been hibernating in the attic. Joe took pictures. I played with my new computer's Movie Maker feature. Enjoy!







And now the film....

Halloween 2007

As I mentioned, Maddy decided to be a witch for Halloween last week. She was quite adorable! (Pics below).

Joe was freaky with his Jason mask on, scaring the kids with a carrot (yes, with a carrot). It was a delightful Halloween season!



The street is now FINISHED, so in the fresh dirt, we placed the tombstones!


We carved 5 pumpkins and baked the seeds. Many trick-or-treaters complimented us on them. Then they were smashed during the evening. :(






The cutie-pie cookey witch.



Before her change of mind, presenting: Maddy Vader




Joe's makeup when we scared people at the haunted house was SPOOKY!


And don't forget Pirate Gavin! He and Maddy had a blast at the ZooBoo!

Recap Week #1

Wow. What a week! Here's a brief rundown as to how the first week went.

• Updated and modified the canned syllabus and assignment sheet.
• Taught two sections of class.
• Installed software on computer.
  
• Put together dictionary stand.
  
• Created signs for library.
• Converged Google calendar and Outlook calendar into one calendar and uploaded all to my PocketPC.
• Made arrangements for this week's trip to Lake Elmo for library training.
• Made arrangements for next week's WLA conference here in GB.
  
• Went to Civic Symphony practice for sectionals. MUST practice!
• Sent first email out to all staff about circulation of materials. Online catalog isn't yet available - oh well. Little at a time.
• Figuring out slowly how to balance the 3 different parts of my job.
  
• Took pictures of my new library.
  

There is a grand total of one wall of shelving. I must remember to measure the length of this wall. Lots of room for collection expansion. Other librarians in the system (about 15 total) assisted in making lists of must-have items for the courses being offered thus far. My library boss came in a few days to catalog those on the shelves thus far.


Yep - two walls of windows! I face the entrance - not at all stuck in the back of the college like some other colleges.


Everyone entering the college has to go down the hallway on the otherside of this window/wall.


Very modern feel. The lights are green. The lights in the hallway are amber. How very Green Bay of them. :)


Lots of tables and chairs.


This is the entrance to the library. Everyone has to see me when they enter. :)


On to week #2.

• Hopefully Maddy will get to bed before I get home tonight (which is around 9:45pm). We have a VERY early morning on Tuesdays (I get to get to school before 7:30am). Unfortunately there aren't many morning people in my T/T class. ugh.
  
• I am looking forward to meeting my library boss on Thursday! I'm not looking forward to spending 2 nights away and driving for about 4 hours to get there, but it's not for a long time.
  
• The weather is going to be cooling down after today's crazy humid hot day (thankfully) so Halloween IS coming!
  

Thanks for all of your encouragement and virtual hugs! So far, I am glad I took the leap and took this path. It's damn scary, but it's all good.

The wedding of the summer

WOW.

Maddy, Joe and I hopped in the car early Saturday morning for Schaumburg, Illinois. The car ride was actually quite ok. Maddy and I sat in the backseat, watched movies on the laptop, colored, read books, and generally kept ourselves entertained.



The reason for the trip was to witness our very good friend Larry get married.


I hadn't a clue that he was serious about anyone until a little while back. It's not every day, nor everyone, who can go to their friends' wedding when that friend used to be an former boyfriend! Larry and I met 16 years ago during the Oregon Straw Hat Players show "South Pacific". We dated for a year, and have always remained friends. The funniest part of the story happened after I started dating Joe, 11 years ago. I was on the phone, telling Larry about my new boyfriend and described what he had done at the University. Larry paused and asked what Joe's last name was. I told him and asked why. Larry laughed and immediately asked to speak with Joe. Soon, the two of them were on the phone, giggling like school girls. Finally, after they hung up, Joe told me that he and Larry knew each other in college and had hung out. The craziest thing was: This was before I knew Larry!

So we hiked down to Chicago and were treated to one heck of a party! The reception was at the Chicago Marriott in Schaumburg. Very nice. There was close to 49 tables - 9 people per table plus the head table, so about 500 people. The table we were at was already full when we arrived. It was wonderful of Larry and Carolyn to think of the details. Here was our companions for the night:

The Daniels family: I remember Jeff. Here are he, his wife Vicki, and their two children, Lukas & Holly.


Maddy and Holly had a fun time together coloring.



The other two at our table were Jace & Pat. I knew he would be there, but it took me a "hi, my name is..." for either of us to recognize each other. He went to school with my sister Amy - his sister was in my grade. Pat has been a part of the Oregon Straw Hat Players for many years. Larry, Pat, Jace and I were all a part of the South Pacific show.


So, it was a nice reunion of sorts! Then came the FOOD. Oh. My. Stars. As Pat said, one usually goes away hungry from a wedding. Not so for this wedding. First of all, the menu.


Yes, folks, you saw correctly. There were 4 courses. That's not including the cake. (note, that's a little blue-lit waterfall)



In fact, we never got a piece of the cake. We were too full! The meal was delicious. We didn't need to stop anywhere for any food. We were delightfully satiated. It was so good, we took pictures of all the food. Enjoy. (Make sure you clean up your drool ;) )

Appetizer:
Tri-Color Ravioli, served with a Basil Tomato Concasse / Saffron Cream Sauce.



Salad:
Tossed Romaine Garden Salad topped with Shredded Parmesan Cheese and Garlic Roasted Croutons and Tossed Tableside with our homemade Red Wine Vinaigrette Dressing.



Entree:
Filet Mignon topped with a Peppercorn Cognac Sauce coupled with Breast of Chicken Florentine, Dauphonoise Potato and Steamed Bundle of Asparagus.



Dessert:
Vanilla Mousse topped with mango chunk and shredded coconut and coffee.



The presentation of the food was so good, we took pictures of the bread and the butter too!




The children at the table were all served a different kid-friendly food!

Appetizer:
Chicken Noodle soup

Salad:
Fresh Fruit


Entree:
Chicken Fingers & Fries


Dessert:
Vanilla Ice Cream with topping of strawberries.



So, all in all, we danced, we laughed, and we had a fantastic time.