Pretty in Pink

Would you like to buy some... Chicken eggs?!

2007-12-09T12:42:00.000-06:00

I didn't blog for almost a month, and now you're getting two in one weekend. You can close your mouths now :P

So yesterday, we drove to Mankato for Matt's swim meet. Ashleigh and Megan came to our house around 11 and then my parents picked the four of us up from here. We decided that it would be really fun to play Smarty Party in the car. Especially because Beth just got the expansion pack so we finally had some new cards to play with (we've been through the whole original deck). Here were some of my favorite categories and answers that were given.

Most popular ways to prepare an egg:
"Chicken Egg?" - Megan

Countries in Africa that start with G, H, I, J, K, or L:
"Peru?" - Ashleigh

Catholic Pope's names:
"Benedict?" - Ashleigh (correct!)
"Arnold?" - Megan

MLB, NBA, or NFL team nicknames that are birds:
"Magpies?" - Ashleigh

Cuts of steak:
"Cow butt?" - Beth (it wasn't her real answer, we were just brainstorming :P)

We had to stop in Waseca for Dad to go to the bathroom. We stopped at this little gas station and they only had an outside bathroom. He took the key, and then came back in. He broke the key in the lock. Haha! So then we piled back into the car and he tried to drive away before Beth was in. And then, to top it all off, he almost hit another car while we were trying to get out of the parking lot.

When we got to Mankato, we were trying to move things around in the car so Ashleigh and Megan could get out of the back. I accidentally knocked the Smarty Party cards over and barely caught them before some fell into the snow. They got a little mixed up and Beth nearly killed me. We kept giving her crap about it and she said, "That's not funny. It's traumatizing!"

We made it to the meet and Emmalee met us there. The meet was super close. It came down to the last relay. If MSU had won the relay, they would have won the meet by 1 point. But we didn't let that happen! We won the last relay and walked away with the win. Matt had a good meet, too. It was nice for all of us to be there. But we were rather loud and obnoxious while he swam :P

After the meet, we ate at Johnny B's Bar and Beef. We assumed it would be a burger place. But no... They only had like 4 menu items. Roast Beef, Chicken, Ham, and then some appetizers. It was interesting.

On the drive home, it started snowing. We got passed by a semi and then Dad couldn't see anything. By the time we could see again, we had accidentally taken an exit. Haha! We would have known that we were on the exit if any of us had been looking at the GPS (which Beth and I named Emma Emma). Oh well.

And my last two memories... First, Ashleigh kept messing with Beth's hair. Beth was hitting her and she said, "Stop touching my hair! Do you know how long it takes me to get it to look like this!" Which was funny because she rolled out of bed after Ashleigh and Megan got to our house. Haha!

When we drove through Dodge Center, I said "Merry Christmas" because it was on a building. Ashleigh's response was, "Julie New Year." I looked at her all confused and said, "Who's Julie New Year?" "I don't know, who's Mary Christmas?!" Seriously, I was crying because I was laughing so hard. It took me forever to pull myself together.

Anyway, it was a fun day. Go Huskies!

I'm obsessed with ballroom dance!

2007-12-08T10:06:00.000-06:00

Oh dear. It's been almost a whole month since I blogged last. Clearly my life is insane! I could catch everyone up on my life, but what would be the fun in that? Haha. Instead, I am going to blog about the FANTASTIC night that I had last night!

So after my West Coast Swing lesson last Monday, I was really excited to get out and go dancing. I decided that I should go Friday. I didn't have anything else planned, and there were several people I'd been trying to plan times to go with, so here was my big chance :) And I am SO glad I did!

We got there at 7:30 and it was a Rumba lesson. I attempted to teach Kelly how to do it, but I am a bad teacher! I bit the bullet and learned the guys part so I could lead that one. Laura and Shane came, and I tried to teach them. Some guy, who clearly knew how to teach the guy's part better, came over and helped too.

The dance started, and Kaela and Jared came. Soo exciting to see Kaela again! I did some Rumba with Kelly, some East Coast Swing with Laura, some East Coast swing with a guy named Ed, some East Coast Swing with Mike, some Rumba with Jacob (who at least came and danced a few songs with me so we could show off our moves!), some East Coast Swing with Jared, and some Rumba Josh. Then, Jared taught me how to Merengue... Thanks to Kaela for requesting a Merengue song! I guess it pays to have connections ;).

Pretty sure one of my favorite moments was when Shane came over and told me I had to come see his and Laura's dance. It was the cutest thing ever! They choreographed this whole little routine. Definitely some Rumba in it, but other stuff too. I loved it! I hope they come back the next time we go :)

The crowd started dwindling and it ended up being just me and Kelly left. We tried to decide if we should stay or go. There was a Salsa song on, so I decided to see what I remembered. I showed Kelly the basic, the ladies underarm turn, and the cross-body lead. We practiced over in the table area and then hoped for another Salsa to come on. The next song they played was our song... "Save the Last Dance for Me." We went out and Salsa-ed to it. It was so great! Then we did a Rumba and then Kelly learned to Waltz with some guy.

While Kelly was Waltzing, Fred came over and asked me if I had known Jared and Kaela before. Haha. Yeah. I explained how I knew Kaela. It was entertaining. We finally left about 11:40, I think.

It was definitely one of the most fun nights I've had dancing. We're going to go to Latin Night on December 21st. So you should all come!!! It's amazing!

That's all I've got for you. I'll have pictures up soon. And I will try to blog again before January :P

You are not in front of Amy's house! I'm in front of Amy's house!

2007-11-11T12:21:00.000-06:00

This was an amazing weekend. I got to spend time with so many friends. It was so great. So here's the rundown. I think this one will get long again. My apologies!

FRIDAY

I got up early on Friday and was at school by 7:15. I worked in my room all morning. Janet and I probably did more talking than working, but it was really good. I went over to the Carlson house and picked up Laura for our movie. We saw "American Gangster." It was really good. A little long, but good.

After I dropped her off at home, I ran home to finish packing. Then I was on the road. I actually had a dent in my finger from texting the whole time I was driving to Crown. Haha! I got to Laura's dorm around 7, but we didn't stay long. We hopped back in my car and drove to Nate's apartment in Hutchinson.

I got the tour and then we just sat and talked in the living room. My favorite was the fact that Nate and I were writing on each other's Facebook walls while we sat there. I got to meet Nate's roommate too. He's a funny kid. At like 9:30, we headed over to Applebee's for dinner. After a wonderful dinner, and an even more amazing change to talk, they were closing. I think it was midnight. But our night could not end there...

A random Wal-Mart trip would do just the trick! Nate and Laura wanted to show me the pink Christmas tree. But it was no longer there :( But since we were in the Christmas section, we stopped to play all the video games they had set up. First, Nate and I played Scene-It on XBox 360. If they had that game for PS2 or Wii, I would totally buy it. It was fun!

Then, I played Mario Galaxy on Wii. I didn't like it very much. And finally, I played Rock Band, I think. I was TERRIBLE! I was laughing so hard because Nate and Laura were making fun of me. I thought I was going to pee my pants. Seriously. I wish they had had a camera, because I bet I looked hilarious.

Our final stop in Wal-Mart was the crane game. Nate went first and won a purple elephant. Laura went next, but didn't win. Then I went next and won another purple elephant. Well that just would not do. We kept feeding quarters into the machine until Laura finally won a pink leopard. We went back to Nate's and then Laura and I drove back to Crown. I pretty much fell asleep right away.

Saturday

I got up and drove to St. Cloud for Matt's meet. It was nice because he had a long break in between his relay and his 200 fly. It was nice to sit and talk to him. I was texting Laura most of the afternoon. At one point, I must have looked really funny because I was standing there crying. Hopefully no on noticed. I would just like to say thank you to Laura for being so sweet. I love you so much!
I saw Matt swim his 50 breast on the relay, the 200 fly, and the 200 I.M. I didn't get to stay for the 100 fly because it was going to be too late. I left so I could make it to Nicollet for Amy's play.

I called Janet and one point while I was driving. When I was on the phone with her, I missed a turn. Haha, whoops. I noticed it after only a few miles, then I was good the rest of the way.

Sarah, Jill, Emmalee, and I sat in the front row. Kelsey, Laura, Whitney, and Heather sat behind us. Amy was so cute! I loved smiling at her and making her smile back. Oh, good times!

After the play, we went with the cast to Buffalo Wild Wings in Mankato. It was a fun night. It was hard to say goodbye, like always. As I drove home, I talked to Emmalee and then Sarah to keep me awake. I also learned the fine art of texting and talking at the same time. Haha.

So seriously, thanks to everyone who I got to see this weekend. I had a wonderful time! And thanks to everyone who either talked to me or texted me to help me stay awake. I love you all very, very much!

What's a shank?

2007-11-08T23:45:00.000-06:00

Well, I pretty much suck at blogging ever since I started teaching. Oh goodness. Life is just crazy busy. But, due to some crazy fun times that transpired tonight, I thought it was time to whip out the old typing fingers :P

So there I was... the Council meeting had ended and I was chilling in the parking lot with a lot of cool folks. It was cold. But we had fun standing in the parking lot and talking. Then... the real fun began!

Funny Moment #1: Julianna was walking toward Aaron, Kelsey, Sarah, and I. Aaron yelled, "JJ! Behind the tree!" She ran back and hid behind the tree. Priceless!

After freezing for a while, Aaron, Sarah, Julianna, and I (The Fab 4) decided we should go back into the church and be warm. We tried the door, but it was locked. So, we went around to the pastor's door, which was open. Although, I'm pretty sure it wasn't suppose to be. Julianna's already fitting right in on Council. Helping us break into churches is always a plus!

We knew that Gary, Ben, and Bob were still up stairs having a closed-door meeting. We thought we might be able to scare them when the left. We stood by the stair talking and having a real-life poke war. Oh, good times were had by all.

So then, we started hearing something by the door. It was a tad creepy. I saw a penny fall from somewhere. We started trying to figure out where it was coming from. We could tell it wasn't dropping from above, so we were quite confused. Someone then had the genius idea that it was just the radiator.

Not so, it kept happening. We figured it was coming from downstairs and they were throwing pennies up at us. Aaron laid down on the stairs and tried to peek down. No good. He got up, another penny came flying at him, and he ran to "catch" whoever was down there.

I'm pretty sure there was screaming, and then some almost peeing our pants. Seriously, freaking hilarious.

So, if you haven't figured it out by now. It was Ben, Bob, and Gary. They got us good. I will totally give them mad props for that one. I had the crap scared out of me by Death and friends. Good job, guys. Good job.

Funny Moment #2: We were recounting the events of the evening and the conversation between Julianna and Aaron about made me die.

Julianna: "And you were down there, Mister..."
Aaron: "Rambo? MacGyver?"
Julianna: "Clint Eastwood."

And finally...

Funny Moment #3: We made Bob drive her car over by us so we could see the lovely artwork. The "whale eye" on the sunroof was priceless. I hope she never washes it off :P

The Fab 4 were the last ones in the parking lot tonight. Oh man, it was fun! I can't wait till next month :D

T.E.C. #69 - Catch a Fire!

2007-10-22T09:08:00.001-05:00

Wow, wow, wow... I do not even know where to start with this one. T.E.C. #69 was completely and utterly amazing.

I wasn't so sure how I felt about being an ATL again, but once again... God's way is ALWAYS better than my way. I had the best table EVER! Yay for the Frolicking Flamingos Breakfast Club of T.E.C. 69. Whoo God! I love them all so much and I miss them already... Like crazy :(

I also had an incredible time with the friends that God has blessed me with. The friends who have been through so much with me. And new friends that He allowed me to grow closer with. It was just all around an unfathomably amazing weekend!

I could blog about a million different things from this weekend. But instead, here's my Top 10. Drum roll please...

10 - The Talent Share

I always laugh a lot at the Talent Share, but this one was one of my favorites. I loved the Wheat skit/musical, our Frolicking Lesson was a lot of fun, Sister Act was a blast, both the youth and adult leadership skits were hilarious, and Joey's dance was AMAZING! All of the acts were great, I loved it all! If I didn't mention it by name, I'm sorry!

9 - The ATLs

The Adults that I got to work with this weekend were amazing. It was so much fun to talk and spend time with each and every one of them. I loved being serious and having great talks with them and lifting each other up in prayer. And I also loved being crazy with these amazing, amazing people. Sister Act was a blast!

8 - The Conference Room

The Conference Room was incredible! Aaron and Hannah were absolutely the perfect leaders for this weekend. I was so thankful to be there with both of them. It was amazing to get even closer to Aaron and to really get to know Hannah for the first time. Sarah and Bill rocked! I always love working with Sarah. And the Music Team was so awesome, I can't even tell you! Getting to work so closely with all of them was a HUGE blessing. It really was the PERFECT Conference Room!

7 - Sharyn

I have spent almost 2 years really wanting to work with Sharyn. I have always had a feeling that she and I would get along really well. Not only did I get to work with her this weekend, but I got to know her at a level I never expected. She and I are so much alike, it's incredible. And I feel like getting to know her at this weekend, was totally God's perfect timing. She made me cry a lot this weekend because she loves me that much. I could not ask for a better mentor and friend than her. Oh wow, she's just amazing and I love her very much!

6 - Nighttime Devos

This was one of my favorite parts of the weekend. Ever since T.E.C. 61, when Sarah and I work together, we do a devo every night. At least one of the nights, the devo is always so perfect, we just know it's God. This weekend, we actually had two nights where that happened. On Saturday night, Sarah, Hannah, and I all took the devo into the Music Girls room to share it with them too. It was an incredible opportunity to spend with God and with each other. Yay God!

5 - Friends

Oh goodness, I'm scared to name all of the amazing friends I worked with this weekend because there are SO many of them, so I won't. But they should know who they are! I always feel so blessed to work with such amazing friends. Oh wow. I just can't even tell you how much it has meant to me. And I feel truly blessed that I got to grow so much in some newish friendships. There are people I have known for a little while now, but really got to spend time with this weekend. What a true blessing it was!

And just one thing... Kelsey, I love you! It was so amazing to spend so much time with you this weekend and talk about how things were going. We have got to get together sometime. I'm thinking a slumber party is definitely in order!

4 - Prayer

Prayer works. Oh my wow! I have never felt so uplifted in prayer. Ever. It was totally incredible. We prayed all weekend about my job interview today. I felt so confident and so at peace. I think I was really able to relax and be myself. Even if I don't get the job, I know I gave it my best effort and that it will all work out.

I also had a table that was really open with prayer. It was so amazing. And I know it showed how comfortable we were with each other. From the very first night. It was super cool!

3 - Sunday

I was dreading Sunday all weekend long. I was in tears on Saturday night because I didn't want to say good-bye to my table. But Sunday did not disappoint me. The hours and hours I got to spend just with my new family (AKA The Frolicking Flamingos) was such a blessing. Affirmations were incredible. I was very emotional all day long, but I know it's just because of how much love God filled me with!

2 - The Frolicking Flamingos

I've already said it, but I'll say it again. I had the best table. I know that God brought us all together at this TEC for a reason. The time we spent together was so God-filled. Our theme for the weekend was not our copyrighted, copyrighted group hugs. But rather, the unfathomable love of Christ. Every minute that I spent with them was a blessing and I know that God had our whole weekend planned out. I miss you guys so much already! I can't wait for our Greece trip ;) Now somebody just needs to get on the winning the lottery thing. Haha!

1 - Catching a Fire!

I have been a Christian for a while now, but this weekend sparked a new fire in me. It was amazing to stand with my whole table and say, "Yes God. Here I am. I'm recommitting my life to you." Oh wow, what a weekend!

Back to the Bubble

2007-10-08T21:35:00.000-05:00

It's gonna be a long one... You're being warned :P

Well, I pretty much just had an amazing weekend. I left on Thursday right after school, I booked it out of town! I drove and drove and drove, but finally made it up to Moorhead and met Lucy at the bonfire. Pretty sure it took her a minute to even connect that I was standing right in front of her. Haha! After the bonfire, we went back and talked in Lucy's dorm room for a few hours. Man, time flies when you haven't talked in person in 6 weeks :)

I slept at Breanna's and it was really nice to see her. Friday afternoon, I headed back over to campus and met Lucy at her dorm. It was drizzling outside so we sat and talked some more. We did end up going on a campus tour and she showed me all of the cool, new stuff. Next up, I went with her to choir. It was really fun to listen to them, they're amazing!

I talked to Megan for a while and then went and sat in my car doing some lesson plans. After Lucy was done with bells, I went back to her room and watched her do her hair. Then we decided to play some cards. It was incredibly entertaining because we really butchered some games. Go Fish was pretty sweet and I thoroughly enjoyed our attempt at Old Maid. Ha! There is definitely no one on earth that I'd rather do that with than her.

I spent that night at Jenny and Chris's house. Chris made us the best dinner. Oh man, so good! It was Chicken Parmesgana and it was amazing! Anna, Josh, and Gage got there and we all sat and visited before bed.

I woke up Saturday and went back over to campus. I met up with Megan and then she and I went to meet Kayla and Brian. The four of us watched the parade together. The parade was a tad boring, but it always is. I still had a really good time. After that, Lucy and Megan and I went to lunch at the new DS. Holy moly, they have so many more choices than we did. JEALOUS!

From there, Lucy and I went to the football game. Go Cobbers! I ran into one of my favorite ed profs ever, so that was super fun! We left after the half-time show and on the way back, ran into my friend, Andrea. It was super exciting to run into people all over the place :)

At this point, Miss Lucy needed a nap. I went to the bookstore and bought some new Cobber gear. Then, I went to Target to get a picture developed. And then I headed back over to Chris and Jenny's to change. After a short time of sitting and doing nothing, I went back to campus for the Homecoming concert. I won't go into detail, but it was LOOONG! I did love the song that the hand bell choir did with the band and, of course, I loved the choir.

I made Lucy walk me to my car so I could talk to her for a few minutes, and then I drove over to Fargo to meet Kayla and Brian at Outback. Yeah, I was only 45 minutes late. Whoops! We had dinner and then went to the Holiday Inn to play some Black Jack. It was a fun night.

On Sunday, I got up and went to All-Campus Worship with Lucy. We talked in the Hoyum lobby for a few minutes, she gave me one final pep talk, and then it was time to head to the pool. I was so nervous to swim in the Alumni meet, but I actually had a blast! I swam the 100 Sidestroke, the 100 Partner Race (which I actually only had to swim a 50 for), and the 200 Dog Paddle Relay (again, I only had to swim a 50). Our team, the NACs (Narcoleptic Albino Chipmunks) beat the Bus Drivers. It was so much fun to see all of the Alumni and meet the new swimmers.

Lucy kindly let me check my e-mail quick and then I went to kill some time. I decided to get my hair cut, naturally :P She cut off two inches, and gave me bangs. I think I like it though.

My final stop of the night, more time with Lucy. We talked with Bart for a few minutes in her dorm room and then went to Bennigan's for dinner. After dinner, we played more cards (the right way!) and then the drama began. I had some stomach trouble, but made it through. We finished off our night by going to Sunday Night at East. I'm really glad that I stayed to have the time with Lucy on Sunday night.

I left Moorhead around 10:15 and talked to Sarah for the whole three hours I was in the car. I decided I couldn't make it home, so I stayed at Sarah's house. I am so thankful that I have such amazing friends who have such great places for me to stay ;)

That pretty much covers it. I had a fantastic weekend and now I wish I was back in Moorhead. I can't wait to go back next month :P

Twins Wrap-Up

2007-10-08T10:58:00.000-05:00

The baseball season ended last week for the Twins and I am finally getting around to blogging about it... So here you go:

9/29 Score: 4-6 (Oh well)
Boyfriend of the Day: Joe Mauer

He was 3 for 4 with 1 run and 2 RBIs.

9/30 Score: 3-2 (At least we won our last game!)
Boyfriend of the Day: Torii Hunter

As much as I hate doing this... He was 1 for 3 with 1 run and 1 RBI.

Here are the Season Totals for B.O.D.s:
1 - Justin Morneau (18)
2 - Michael Cuddyer (16)
3 - Jason Bartlett (13)
4 - Nick Punto (12)
5 - Jason Kubel (11)
6 - Torii Hunter (8)
7 - Joe Mauer (7)
8 - Scott Baker (5)
T9 - Alexi Casilla, Johan Santana, & Jason Tyner (3)

And we'll stop there...

The Corgi is not for sale

2007-09-29T14:51:00.000-05:00

I am clearly too busy for my own good if I haven't blogged in a whole week. Haha! School was good this week. I can't think of anything out of the ordinary that happened. The kids are getting better at Centers every day and I just love spending time with them. Beth came to school on Friday and we painted ducks. It was a ton of fun and I think Beth really liked the little ones :)

The highlights of my week were going to watch Laura play volleyball on Monday night. Go Mayo! I'm going to go to Northfield to watch her play this Monday. I'm pretty much excited about it.

I got my first pay check on Friday. That was uber exciting :)

Ooh, and also on Friday... The K-Team went out to the Macaroni Grill for lunch. We always go out to lunch on Fridays, but yesterday was Laurie's birthday, so we went somewhere extra special. Oh, good times!

Fall TV kicked off this week. Heroes, Grey's, CSI, Ugly Betty, and Private Practice did not disappoint!

We also spent a lot of time this week setting up for our garage sale, which was this morning. We got rid of all of the big stuff, including a washer, dryer, two TVs, and some VCRs and DVD players. We made just under $300, so Beth and I are pumped to go shopping later! Haha :D

Countdown to the Best Weekend Ever: 5 days!

And now for some Twins updates... I would totally give up on this, but I feel like I need a complete tally at the end of the season :) So here goes...

Monday's Score: 2-0 (Yay!)
Boyfriend of the Day: Carlos Silva

He pitched 7 1/3 shut out innings. Impressive...

Tuesday's Score: 0-8 (Yikes!)
Boyfriend of the Day: Michael Cuddyer

Cuddles was 2 for 2 with 2 walks. He was trying to help us out!

Wednesday's Score: 4-9 (Ouch!)
Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

The Fiance was 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run.

Thursday's Score: 5-4 (Yay!)
Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Bartlett

Jason Pear was 3 for 5 with 2 runs.

Friday's Score: 2-5 (No bueno...)
Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Kubel

Kubel Khan seemed to be the only one who could really hit off their pitcher...

Only two more games of the season folks. I know some of you are relieved :)

I'm shy; I'm like a turtle

2007-09-23T23:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a great day. Since I already included my morning at church, I'll pick up at the Twins game...

Lucy's parents were nice enough to give me free Twins tickets! Beth, Matt, and I got to go to the last home game of the season. It was super fun! First of all, the game was great. We were on fire! Slowey pitched a gem and we had some great offense going on. It is also possible that it was Torii's last home game as a Twin. The atmosphere was electric. When he left the field for the last time, I couldn't hold back the tears. I can't even express how if felt to be in the Dome today. But I am very grateful to Lucy's parents for giving me the chance to be there! (Our seats rocked too! 4th row, by the bull pen, baby!)

Okay, I have to back up a minute...

Saturday's Score: 8-3 (Ouch!)
Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Kubel

Kubel Khan hit a two run homer! Woot woot :D

Sunday's Score: 1-7 (Heck yes!)
Boyfriend of the Day: Michael Cuddyer

I really could have chosen any number of players today. They had a truly great game. But I have to go with Cuddles. He was 2 for 4 with 4 (yes, you heard me right!) RBIs!

After the game, my mom made me come over for dinner. It was nice to sit (on the floor because we have their couch now!) and eat burgers with Beth and the rents. I don't take enough time to hang-out with my family anymore, so it was good.

Next up, back to school. Haha! I got a lot done and was able to have a really good talk with Jamie, one of the first grade teachers. And Lucy called while I was there. I love talking to Lucy. Our conversations keep getting longer and longer. Ha! We're now under two weeks until I get to go to Moorhead and see her! Yay! I'm so excited; I can't wait!

The other exciting thing that happened was that Laura called me... finally :P I think we talked for about 45 minutes. I have definitely missed talking to her. And that's about all I've got because now it's time for school! :)

Loud and Clear...

2007-09-23T22:34:00.001-05:00

I honestly don't even know where to begin with this one folks. It absolutely blows my mind how God works. Really. Truly. It does. When he wants me to get something, He makes darn sure that I hear it. This was one of those weekends...

(How's that for a teaser to keep y'all reading?)

I woke up on Saturday morning and went to school. After spending about 5 hours there re-doing all of my lesson plans, I finally left for the cities. Sarah is pretty much the best ever. We'll just say that :)

We went to the Aaron Shust and Michael W. Smith concert at Grace in Eden Prairie. I have seen MWS on many occasions, but I've never had a night quite like last night. We got to talk to Mary, Abby, & Josh during the intermission and it was wonderful to see them! I could go on and on and on about the randomness or the funny things that happened, but I'm going to skip that due to how much I have to say.

I really can't even find the words to explain what I felt last night. But I sat there in tears and with chills for a good portion of the night. Aaron Shust is an incredible artist. "My Savior, My God" is still one of my all-time favorites and singing it a capella last night with thousands of other people just lifting their voices to God was amazing. Having said that, the song that hit me the most last night during his performance was one of his new ones. It's called "Watch Over Me." Here's the beginning of the song:

I was lonely
You came waltzing over to me
And Your eyes saw right through me
And You heard each one of my cries for help
And You came to rescue me
I was broken
Every prayer that I had spoken
Reached Your ears and all my tears weren't cried in vain
You carried all my pain
And put me back together again
You watch over me in the darkest valleys
You watch over me when the night seems long
You help me to see the way before me
You watch over me; You watch over me

I absolutely broke down. Tears streamed down my face and I sat there in awe of God. How comforting is it to know that HE is ALWAYS watching over us?! Oh man, just amazing.

MWS's big revelation for the night was that he wanted us all to know that we are children of God. And that His love for us is so vast we can't even comprehend it. He said that when he's having a bad day, he reads Psalm 139. The part he recited for us were verses 17 and 18, which say, "How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you."

I left the concert feeling wonderful. I felt loved and special and I don't even know. Sarah and I were super hungry, so we drove up to Southdale and had dinner at Maggiano's (sp?). We finally left the restaurant a tad before midnight. Niice!

Fast forward a few hours... Sarah and I get up and go to her church this morning, which I loved, by the way! They're doing a series on Connections. So, connecting with God, with others, etc. Today was about connecting with ourselves, in essence, "loving ourselves." The pastor said that instead of asking ourselves, "Who am I?" we should ask, "Whose am I?" And the scripture, Psalm 139.

Whoa! Okay, God, I get it. I am Yours. I was created in your image and You are happy with me. I was created for a purpose, and that purpose is good.

I was back at school tonight, and as I was leaving I started telling another teacher about my weekend. As soon as I said that I felt like God was telling me I was here for a reason, she stopped me. She looked me right in the eye and said, "Janet, you know what that purpose is now, right?" And I started crying again. Yes, I do know what that purpose is now. It has become blatantly clear to me in the last month.

I was meant to be a teacher, it's just that simple. I spend hours and hours at school, but I'm always happy. Even after a tough day, I'm smiling. I love going to work every day. I love writing lesson plans and thinking of my kids and how they're going to do it. I finally feel like I'm doing what I'm suppose to do; like God has always planned for his to be happening right now. I am so thrilled with where I am and I'm so excited about all that is in store.

So again, to those of you who helped me reach this point, I thank you. I really do. I feel like I can't stop smiling; like I'm glowing. I am so thankful for a wonderful weekend full of friends and faith and I'm thankful that God has been watching over me this whole time, and has brought me to this place. Our God is truly an awesome God!

I take pig second to school.

2007-09-22T00:14:00.001-05:00

I am going to warn you right now... This is going to be a long one :) I had a simply brilliant week! Here's a very abbreviated recap.

Monday: I had a good day at work. My CAP student, Laura, started. She's amazing and I already love her. It's going to be a good semester. I also had all 16 of my kidlets there, so I got to take some class pictures. I worked pretty late and then went to crochet club with Jessica, Jessica, and some other people that actually went to Century back in the day.

Tuesday: The highlight of Tuesday was that I came home early and relaxed! Yay!

Wednesday: This was a good day... Janet invited me over to her house for dinner. She made Bobby Flay's macaroni and cheese recipe. It was really, really good. And it was so nice to get away from school and have a home-cooked meal. Her family is amazing, not that I should be surprised by that. It was a really fun night. I did have to go back to school after dinner to finish up my sub plans. While I was there, I got to talk to Lucy. So that always makes my day better.

Thursday: I had training, so my kids had their first sub. The sub loved them and told me they were really good, so that totally made my day! After school, Kelly and I went to the Century/Mayo swim meet. It was a really good meet and it was SUPER fantastic to see friends I haven't seen in FOREVER! Mayo won, so congrats to all of my friends who are Spartans! I made Kelly come with me to school after the meet. I had to correct some things and make sure I was ready for Friday. We found some journal entries incredibly amusing. And Kelly made a sign for Laura's basket. Yay Kelly!

Friday: And that brings us to today... My kids were a little crazy today, but that's okay. I still like them a lot :) Matt came to school and helped me set the DVD player. He laughed at all of our toys. Next up, the Century football game. It was probably the most fun I've ever had at a football game. First, it was a really exciting game. We were down by 10 with less than 5 minutes left, I think. We scored, then Owatonna fumbled, then we scored again and WON! Yay Panthers! The second reason I had so much fun was that we laughed... A LOT. I was with my brother and we sat with Pete and Mary Heyrman. The Pittner's were behind us, and Kelly, darling came and met us. Yay for two nights of seeing Kelly in a row! I also met, okay more like just talked to for the first time because I'd actually met them last year when I subbed for Connie, Carlie and Amanda and had a blast with them. It was a good night. I can't wait until our next football game :) After the game, I talked to lots of cool choir folks and I got to see Megan and Ashleigh again. I can't stop smiling.

This was simply a FANTASTIC week! I'm sure I'm leaving loads of stuff out, so it's your job to add them in the comments! I'm really looking forward to this weekend because I have all sorts of fun stuff planned. Rock on! More on the flip side :)

Twins Update:

Monday's Score: 4-5 (We win!)
Boyfriend of the Day: Michael Cuddyer

Cuddles was 2 for 3 with 1 run and 1 RBI!

Tuesday's Score: 2-4 (We win again!)
Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Kubel

Kubel Khan was 3 for 4 with 3 runs!

Wednesday's Score: 2-4 (We sweep the Rangers!)
Boyfriend of the Day: Michael Cuddyer

Cuddles was 2 for 4 with 1 run and 1 RBI!

Friday's Score: 6-4 (Santana is SLUMPING!)
Boyfriend of the Day: Joe Mauer

Finally! He was 3 for 5 with 1 run and 1 RBI. Also... Mad props to Prancer and Tiny Superhero for absolutely STELLAR defensive plays!

Grilled PB&J

2007-09-17T00:56:00.000-05:00

Really, truly... I have the best friends in the entire world! This weekend was filled with some great memories with some of my closest friends. I already told you all about my adventures with Sarah from Friday, and more fun times followed...

Let's start at the beginning. I slept in a little bit this morning and then headed over to feed Lucy's cats. I then spent the next six hours at school. Yes... you heard me right. I graded all the baseline reading tests, I e-mailed some parents, and then I sat down to write my lesson plans. In three hours, I only got three days worth written. Oy vey! It's okay though. I do feel ready to start my week. I'll just stay after school tomorrow and finish up the plans.

After school, I got to go over to Kelly, darling's house for a "fancy" dinner :) She and Aaron Bauer slaved over it for hours (I'm sure!) In all seriousness, it was so nice to have someone cook for me just because they wanted to. The dinner was great, the birthday cake that Kelly made for Aaron was delicious, and we definitely shared some good laughs. After dinner, we colored. I learned Kelly's highly complicated coloring technique and colored her a picture of Eeyore and Roo. We took some very lovely pictures, listened to some music, and then had to part ways. It was a wonderful night. I love Kelly and Aaron more than they possibly know!

I got home and watched the Emmy's with Beth. I was not impressed this year :( The people I wanted to win totally got shafted. Well, for the most part. And honestly, it wasn't even all that funny. Oh well.

The other highlight of my night was an incredibly nice e-mail I got from Lucy's mom. I cried. I know, it's shocking. She said some very kind things and, well, I don't know. I just needed to hear it, I think. So yeah, it was exciting. And also really exciting... I get to go to the last home Twins game of the season on Sunday. YAY!!!

Speaking of the Twins... We lost again today :( The score was 6 to 4. Oh well. Here's to next year being better!

Boyfriend of the Day: Nick Punto

Tiny Superhero (the player, not the fish :P) was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run. What the frick frack is going on?!

Take me out to the zoo!

2007-09-16T10:14:00.000-05:00

Friday was a really good day at school. My class got complimented by a bus driver (during our bus evacuation drill), the library teachers, and a teacher in the hallway when we were walking back to class. I guess my high expectations might actually be paying off!

Today was a tad chaotic. We had our bus evacuation drill, it was our library day, and we had to watch a bus safety video. So we didn't get much done academically, but that's alright. We did get our class constitution written and that was my main focus for the day.

After school I went to Lucy's house to feed the cats. I love her cats, so that made me smile. I ran home to check my e-mail, and then I headed up to the cities. Sarah and I got to go to a dinner at the zoo. I don't think I've been to the zoo since I was in high school. I had so much fun!

Sarah kept making me crawl through the little kid things. It was quite entertaining. Sometime she'll post pictures, hopefully they're amusing :P We also walked the Minnesota Trail even though it was closed. While there, a coyote scared the crap out of us and we almost got locked in. Good times were definitely had by all!

We went back to her house and stayed up way too late talking. I felt bad because she had to work a 12-hour shift starting at 8 o'clock on Saturday morning. Whoops.

I got up and came home. I fed the cats and then I went to school for four hours. I taught swim school in the afternoon, and then we went out to the castle for a taco dinner. We didn't end up eating until about 9 because Matt shot his first buck. His name is/was Joe. Joe is dead. Joe's head will be mounted on the wall someday. Haha! Congrats to my favorite baby brother :)

I'm now heading back to school. I'll probably be there all afternoon. Then, Kelly and Aaron are making me dinner tonight. I'm uber excited!

The Twins have been losing this weekend. Oh well.

Friday's Score: 4-2
Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

The Fiance had both of our RBIs because he hit a two-run homer.

I've heard that Hunter's ejection is pretty priceless, but I still have to see it.

Saturday's Score: 4-3
Boyfriend of the Day: Nick Punto

Tiny Superhero was 2 for 3 with 2 runs. What the heck is going on?!

This rain hurts!

2007-09-13T21:59:00.000-05:00

Today was a crazy day. I couldn't do much instructionally because I had anywhere from 3 to 8 students gone at all times. They were finishing up my Baseline Reading tests. So it was hard to work around that. However, we managed.

The highlight (although I wasn't overly entertained by it at the time) was after school. I got my kids ready to go out to the buses and noticed that it had started to rain. As we got out to the sidewalk, it was pouring. By the time we got to the buses, I was totally drenched. Very few of my kids had coats because it hadn't been raining when they came to school. A few buses were there already, so I put the kids right on (normally they wait in lines until all the kids get out there).

I had three little ones who still didn't have a bus there, so we ran back inside for a few minutes. I walked one of my kids to the foyer to meet his dad and then went back to my busers. This time when we went outside, it was hailing. One little girl looked up at me and said, "This rain hurts, Miss Youngers. Why does it hurt?" Oh man, it was too precious.

I got my last three on their buses and headed back inside. I was so wet I had to wring out my dress before I went inside. The other teachers, the ones who had stayed inside, laughed at those of us who were wet. I immediately thought of Lucy and how much she enjoys laughing at me. I knew she would have laughed at me and that made me laugh at myself. I think it's a pretty fun story, really.

About 10 minutes later, it stopped and the sun came out. Nice timing. Haha! I decided I better run home and change. My original plan was to go right from work to Owatonna. Oh well, that's life. I had dinner at Applebee's and then had my Council meeting. It was so wonderful to see friends. Oh man, it was good.

On the way home, Brandon, Ben, and I rocked out to Stalin and the Shah and then called Lucy and left her a very lovely message :P Then we had a Disney sing-a-long. It was a good time. Not gonna lie. Then, I come home and find out that Kelly and Aaron are cooking me dinner on Sunday night. I'm so excited. Words cannot even describe how much I'm looking forward to it!

That's all for now, folks.

You ripped off the puff-ball!

2007-09-12T23:25:00.001-05:00

I'd say today was better than yesterday. The scariest moment of the day was when the assistant principal walked in. Totally freaked me out. He was looking for a student, but the student wasn't in my class. Weird. So he left. I was relieved :P

We did our centers again today. I think they went better. I still have the kids who constantly ask me what job they're suppose to do next. But we'll get better. And I only had one kid totally screw up one of his jobs. I have these self-portrait books. Each month the kidlets will write their name and draw a self-portrait. One of my kids was drawing in December before I stopped him. I threw that book away and we started over, only drawing on the September page.

Red Job = Self-Portraits Book
Green Job = Snack
Blue Job = Reading Corner
Purple Job = Make construction paper stoplight

Math was interesting. I got to display my wonderful artistic abilities. HAHA! We also e-mailed Mrs. Fink today and asked her questions about the baby.

We're trying to get our Baseline reading tests done this week. All the other teachers have been done, and I'm the last one. One para and one of the reading teachers started on my kids today. I think they got 4 done. But I tried to send one little girl with the para (who's a guy) and she started bawling! After school, I told her mom about it. Hopefully she'll go with the reading teacher tomorrow. Other than that, NO CRYING TODAY! YAY!

After school, I sat and talked to Roxie for quite a while. I got a little work done and then I left. I was in my car by 6:00. I know, I know. It's quite impressive :P I drove past the Rec. Center and realized that my mom was there. So I stopped and talked to her (since I haven't seen her in FOREVER!) I also got to talk to some of my favorite swimming parents, so that was nice. Everyone was super supportive, so I left feeling really happy.

Tonight I finished watching the first season of "Heroes." I'm pretty sure that I watched all 23 episodes in 6 days. Haha! Seriously, if you haven't watched this show... WATCH IT! It's totally amazing. I can't wait for season two to start!

The Twins lost today. But all was not lost. Good ol' Matthew LeCroy came in for Morneau in the 7th. Woot woot!

Boyfriend of the Day: Matthew LeCroy

He was 1 for 2 with a run! And watching him run... PRICELESS :D

What sound does a giraffe make?

2007-09-11T22:25:00.000-05:00

Today was another LONG day. I got home from school a little after 10. Yay? I feel a little more organized though, at least with my assessment stuff.

School was a little rough today. They did pretty well with painting their buses. We had some trouble with our book pages for "The Seals on the Bus." I gave up and started over about half way through it. And Centers was once again a struggle. I really need to give them more work they can do on their own, and less that I need to supervise. Although, starting next week, I'll have a CAP student at least some of the time. I'm thinking that will help. Maybe she can supervise my art projects. Ha!

Today when we passed Oink around our circle, we talked about friends. Then we wrote a letter to Lucy. It's pretty sweet, not gonna lie. We talked all about how to write a letter and then we worked together to decide what to tell her. It was really fun. Then, for one of their centers, they got to sign their name. I took it to the post office on my way home, so hopefully she gets it tomorrow or Thursday.

We had a brief Kindergarten team meeting after school to discuss assessments and goal setting conferences (only a month away - yikes!) At that point, Jessica and I went to run some errands and to Target to buy stuff to get us organized, and stuff she needed for her classroom. While we were at Target, we realized that we both needed things for tomorrow's Kindergarten Team Meeting/Pot-Luck. I talked to Lucy for a few minutes while I was weaving all over the place following Jessica while she bought ingredients for her Taco Dip.

When we checked out, we had a very nasty lady behind us. She was incredibly impatient and RUDE! Yeah, it took us a while because of the way we have to pay for things for the district, but come on! Jessica apologized to her (more than once and very politely) and she wouldn't even respond. She needs to change her attitude for sure!

On the way back to school, we picked up dinner from McDonald's. We ate our dinner, made a billion copies for our assessment binders, organized our assessment binders, and then I worked in my classroom. We finally left around 9:40. Good times to be had by all parties involved :P

Tomorrow, we're going to draw self-portraits. Yay! I'm also hoping for a day with no tears. I had one boy crying today when he got stung by a bee on the playground and then two more boys just bawling today before we got on the buses to go home. I don't think they like the bus very much :( But I told them to sit next to each other, so I'm hoping that helped. It makes me so sad.

Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten: Ticky-tack does not stick to painted walls when it's humid. Everything keeps falling down in our room. It's incredibly frustrating! I also learned that most kids songs can be played on the guitar with the chords C, G, and F. Now I just need to try to remember how to play F and I'll be good to go!

The Twins won again last night. Yay for a two game winning streak?

Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

He was 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs.

Hello, Neighbor

2007-09-10T20:55:00.000-05:00

I feel like I live at school. I think I kind of do. But when I'm there, time flies. And I love all the aspects of my job so far. I obviously love the time when the kids are there. But I also like preparing projects, thinking of activities, and planning my lessons.

This week is Bus Safety week. Today we painted buses. I was nervous because I knew I had to model the project. I am TERRIBLE at art and I just wasn't sure how my bus would turn out. But it's not horrible. Thank goodness! The kids' buses are super cute. I totally love them! I'm excited to hang them up in the hall/classroom after we finish them.

I was on my way to my parents' house after school. It was a little before 7, I think. And my phone rang. It was the one and only Kelly Castle. So I went to Noodles and had dinner with her and Amanda. Well, Amanda and I ate, Kelly watched us. It made me really happy to see them again. Second night in a row, baby! But it makes me sad to see Kelly so sad :( So Kelly, I LOVE YOU!!!

I was at my parents' for a little while laminating things for school. I laminated three class book covers, name tags, names for the Word Wall, and color cards for my centers. It was a good time :P Then, I got home and had a letter from Nate. It made me smile really big :) Yay for mail!

Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten: Do not leave out materials or supplies that the kids don't need to use. I gave them the seemingly simple task of writing their name, in pencil, on their page for our first class book. I had two write in marker and one color around their picture in marker. Oy vey!

Saturday's Score: 7-8 (I'm sick of losing!)
Boyfriend of the Day: Jose Morales

He went 3 for 3 in his Major League debut. Now THAT is impressive! Too bad he got hurt and will be out for the rest of the season. THAT is no bueno!

Sunday's Score: 5-2 (WE WIN!)
Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Kubel

Kubel Khan went 2 for 4 with 1 run and 4 RBIs. Yay! His three-run homer definitely helped :)

Lord Waldorf

2007-09-08T13:04:00.000-05:00

My second day of school was good. I'd have to say better than the first day. The kidlets are starting to get into the routines already and I love that. Plus, I made sure I had time to take them outside to play, and I think they really enjoyed that. Brooke showed up at the very end of the day. She said my face was priceless. Whoops. I just didn't expect to see her and it was right when I was trying to get my kids lined-up to go outside to the bus. It's a little crazy.

From school, I went to Albert Lea to the visitation for Sarah's grandma. I think it was the happiest visitation I've ever been to. Which is a good thing and goes to show how beautiful (sorry to steal Sarah's line here) death can be. It was nice to see and talk to Sarah, Jennie, Chris, and Sue. I was glad I could make it down.

After that, Emmalee and I began our trek to Forest City, Iowa. It really wasn't that far from Albert Lea. We found it without any problems and Matt flagged us down on the street outside his dorm :P We saw his room, met his roommate, and went and said hello to Maggie. Their dorm rooms are TINY and incredibly dark. I was surprised. Next up, Matt gave us a tour of campus. It's a smaller school than I expected, but the campus is really pretty. I liked it.

We drove around Forest City, tried to find the Cow Palace (which we eventually did), and ended up at A&W. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. It hurt so bad. But oh man, was it ever fun! We had some great one-liners, but of course, I don't remember them now. When they kicked us out, about 15 minutes after closing, whoops, we talked in the car until we had to leave. It was a wonderful night with some really good friends and I wouldn't have traded it for anything!

Then, my night got even better because I got home and had a letter from Laura. An actual, in the mail, letter. It was one of the nicest letters I have ever received. I was bawling, but that's not all that surprising.

So yeah, it was a good night.

Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten: It's all about being creative. Enough said.

The Twins lost again. But for once, it wasn't for lack of offense! I'm kind of frustrated with the coaches. I cannot for the life of me figure out why they didn't take DePaula out after he gave up 2 runs. That probably could have saved the game. Grr.

Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Bartlett

Jason Pear has just been really stepping his game up lately. Especially his offense. He was 3 for 7 with two runs.

First Day of School!

2007-09-06T23:15:00.000-05:00

Today was the first day of Kindergarten. I got up this morning and got to go down to HR to sign my contract. It feels so good to have that all done and settled! I even got a new ID badge that says I teach at Bamber instead of having a sub one. It's quite exciting for me :)

Today flew by. We had a bus that was way late, so we lost about 15 minutes of our 150 minutes. That's 10%, that's a big number! Here's what we did today:

1:15 to 1:40 - Opening Routine

During our Opening today, I modeled what the Helper each day will do. The helper will have to take the milk count to the office every day, so we all walked down and met Lisa. Good times!

1:40 to 1:50 - Reviewed rules, learned the "Potty Sign," etc.
1:50 to 2:00 - Sing songs! Yay!
2:00 to 2:10 - Pass Oink Time

Oink is a stuffed pig that we named today as a class. We pass him around the circle and get to share something about ourselves. Only the person who's holding Oink is allowed to talk. Today we shared something we're excited about in Kindergarten!

2:10 to 2:20 - Story Time: "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn
2:20 to 2:50 - Center Time

We had two assignments today during center time. They had to make a mini book that went with the story and we did an art project with our hand prints.

2:50 to 3:05 - Snack Time!
3:05 to 3:10 - Math Activity (I was a little rushed!)
3:10 to 3:20 - Pack up our things and get ready to go home
3:20 to 3:30 - Brave the crazyness that is bus lines. Ick!
3:30 to 8:16 - Ms. Youngers stays at school and WORKS!
8:16 to 8:24 - Drive to Whistle Binkies and talk to LUCY!!!
8:24 to 9:45 - Dinner (and drinks) with two other new teachers!
9:45 - Finally head home for the day!

Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten: Kids are flipping funny! One of the most adorable little girls ever wanted to take her milk home after snack. She drank about half of it, and normally I just have the kids dump it out and throw the carton away. I tried to tell her that it might spill in her backpack or get yucky, but she insisted that her mom told her to take it home and started crying. I found her a baggie and let her put it in her backpack. I e-mailed her mom tonight and she responded. She wants me to keep a record of my funny stories because she's sure I'll have plenty of them with my 16 five year-olds running around. I think she's probably right.

The Twins lost again last night. Grr.

Boyfriend of the Day: Torii Hunter

He was 2 for 3 with an RBI...

Inappropriate Hair Height

2007-09-05T10:02:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I went to school in the morning to help Janet put some last minute stuff up (birthdays, tags for the coat hooks, names on the cubbies, etc.) Becky came down and congratulated me. I stared blankly and she realized that HR hadn't called me yet. She told me that I hadn't heard anything from her ;)

Janet's kids came at 9:30, so I left to come home. I ran a few errands and then went back to school at 11. I went to Applebee's for lunch with all of the other Kindergarten teachers except Janet (she had plans with her niece for lunch) and Heidi, who used to teach there but is now Jessica's GIP supervisor. Then the fun really began...

I had my kids for an hour and a half. 10 of them were suppose to come, but only 8 did. I showed them their coat hooks and we hung-up their backpacks. We went into the room and did a little "getting to know you" activity. We sang my two welcome songs that I want to do every day, read a story, went on a tour of the school, had snack, read another story, played a little inside, sang our end of the day song, and then played outside. My kids are amazing! The sure like to tell stories, but that I can deal with :)

After school, the assistant principal told me that they were offering me the job, even though he wasn't suppose to tell me that. He said HR should be calling. So I went home in a very good mood! A little before 5, HR did call and offered it to me officially. I'm going in tomorrow morning to sign my contract. Woot woot! I'm just a tad bit excited, can we tell?

To celebrate, Beth and I went to "Hairspray" again. We went to the late show, hoping no one else would be there and we could sing. Unfortunately, one couple came in :( Oh well, it was still fun!

I'm going to start something new at the end of my blogs. It will replace the B.O.D. when the Twins season ends. For now I will put it on some blogs, maybe all, I don't know yet. So here you go...

Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten: Kindergarteners don't know how to open milk cartons yet. I get to teach them that :P

You didn't think I wouldn't remember about my beloved, although terrible right now, Twins.

Monday's Score: 5-0 (shut-out by the Tribe. Ick!)
Boyfriend of the Day: Alexi Casilla

4 for 4! Are you kidding me?!? Whoa!

Tuesday's Score: 7-5 (This one hurt!)
Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

I haven't been able to give it to the Fiance recently because he's been sucking so bad. But today he was 3 for 5 with a bases clearing double! Woot woot! 3 RBIs, baby!

Little J-Rod had a good day too!

Ex-Boyfriend of the Day: Joe Nathan

Seriously! We had a lead until he blew-it. Then we lost in extra innings. Oh, painful!

I guess I'm feeling brave...

2007-09-04T07:42:00.000-05:00

I wasn't sure if I really wanted to blog about this or not, but apparently I'm feeling brave this morning. I have to get to school, so I'm going to try and make this quick. Hopefully it'll all make sense. I hope this doesn't come off as conceited or anything like that, because that's not at all what I mean. Well... Here goes...

I went to bed early last night and was reading from a book called "Ripples of Joy" by Cheryl Kirking. I've been reading this book off and on for a few years now. It's a collection of stories and song lyrics and things. It's really good, and I'd highly recommend it. Anyway, she ends each story with a quote or Bible verse that goes along with the story. One of the stories I read yesterday ended with a quote that really touched me. It's a Norwegian Proverb that translates to, "That which is loved is always beautiful."

I paused for a moment and then tears just started streaming down my face. Those of you who know me well will probably get this right away. I guess in that moment, I just felt beautiful. I don't know if this makes any sense. I feel so incredibly loved. By God, by my family and of course by my friends. And I have known that they see beauty in me that I just can't ever see myself.

I've been a lot better about this this summer. I actually had several times where I felt good about myself. And I'm hoping those times happen more and more. This quote showed me that I should have the confidence to feel beautiful and a part of that is because I am so loved.

I really have to run now, but hopefully you got the gist of that. Thanks again to all of my amazing friends who have been so patient with me over the years (or months) that we've been friends.

Warm Fuzzies

2007-09-02T22:08:00.000-05:00

So I'm in a weird and rather sentimental mood. I kind of think that I have been all week, really. So here's how this one goes...

I was in the car today and I was listening to the "Hairspray" soundtrack. Now, this is nothing new. I listen to it non-stop most days, but I was listening pretty carefully to the lyrics to the song "Come So Far (Got So Far To Go)." It definitely got me thinking about some things. So here's the part that really got to me.

Hey old friend, together
Side by side and year by year
The road was filled with twists and turns
Oh, but that's the road that got us here.
Let's move past the bad times
But before those memories fade
Let's forgive, but not forget
And learn from all the mistakes we made.

I love it! What I really love is that even though the roads we take aren't always the easiest. And they are sometimes totally filled with twists and turns and bumps and detours. They are still the roads that lead to where we are today. Oh goodness, I just feel like that's so true!

And now for the sentimental part...

To those of you who've stuck by me through all of my changing and growing, especially over this past year, or even past few months. Thank you.

To those of you have have helped me become the person that I am today. Thank you.

And to those of you who have loved me, supported me, and encouraged me through the twists and turns. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

I don't get to see most of you very often. But know that I miss you, that I'm thinking about you and praying for you often. And, most importantly, know how much I love you!

Who wants to name a fish?

2007-09-02T21:46:00.000-05:00

Today I got to head up to St. Cloud with the family. We left town a little after noon and went straight to Matt's new apartment when we got to campus. It's teeny tiny! There are four guys living there and they all have their own rooms. You can SO tell that guys live there. It even smelled like boy.

We headed over to the park for Matt's swim team picnic. Beth and I just ate quick and then we took Howie over to the dog park. We love this dog park. He made some new friends (a Min Pin named Jack and some sort of Schnauzer/terrier mix named Einstein) and played in the river. Yes, Howie, the dog who hates to swim, swam in the river. At first he'd just wade around, but then he actually swam out a little ways. He even swam up the river and got out outside of the fence. We had to chase him down and bring him back. His other favorite activity of the day was chasing Jack around in circles.

So Matt has a fish now. His name is Turtle. He's pretty cute. It made Beth and I both want another fish. Our first plan was to just get one, but we decided we better get two. I think we're both going to get Betas and keep one in the kitchen and one in the living room. We went to Wal-Mart tonight, but all of their fish looked sickly. We decided to buy the bowls and stuff, but we'll go to PetSmart tomorrow for the fish. I'm uber excited!

HELP NEEDED!

I'm pretty sure I know what I'm going to name my fish, even though Beth DOES NOT approve. But I'm open to suggestions. So leave me comments as to what you think I should name my fish. I'll be sure to post pictures and let you all know what I went with tomorrow :)

And finally, a Twins update. Today's game wasn't pretty. I don't even want to talk about it.

Boyfriend of the Day: Garrett Jones

GJ was 3 for 3. At least someone could hit today!

Ex-Boyfriend of the Day: Boof Bonser

Boof only pitched 1 and 2/3 innings (the shortest outing of his CAREER!) It was so bad. Oh my gosh!

Everybody loves a good jazz square!

2007-09-02T00:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a crazy and emotional day. If you want to know more about it, you're welcome to ask me. I should have some official news about the job on Tuesday, but I'm feeling pretty confident at this point.

Today was long, busy, and fun. We spent most of the day doing yard work with Mom and Dad. We weeded, hauled pavers around, cut down a grape vine and hauled it out of our yard, and put mulch EVERYWHERE. Haha! You should come check it out sometime ;)

Tonight was excited because we got to see friends. Sarah and her fiance, Matt, live in DC. The last time we saw them was at Christmastime. They're back in town doing some wedding planning and they were able to come over tonight. Our friend, Tim, also came over for the fun! It was nice to catch up with everyone and to make fun of Tim for the fact that he's on the 7 year plan to get his under-grad. Haha! We're going to throw a HUGE party when he finally finishes in the spring of 2009 (yeah, he graduated from HS with Beth in 2002).

We introduced them to the wonders of "Yo Gabba Gabba," we watched some "I Love the 80s" and then we watched the last hour of "The Hitcher." What a classic thriller from 1986. Haha! I hate scary movies, but this one only creeped me out a little. Probably because it's from 1986. I won't spoil it for anyone, but I'm still totally shocked by part of it. I'm actually tempted to see the remake now. The last thing we did was watch the last hour of "X-Men: The Last Stand." It was interesting because Matt is quite the X-Men expert. It was funny to listen to him talk about how much different and better the comics are.

And on the baseball front... Time for an update :) The Twins played three games in less than 24 hours. Yay? We won two of the three, so I can't complain about that.

Friday Game 1's Score: 9-4 (ouch!)
Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Tyner

This one was really tough because no one did anything great. JJ is one of my favorite players though and I rarely give him the nod. He was 1 for 4 with an RBI and a walk. His RBI came on 2 outs, so yay for him!

Friday Game 2's Score: 0-5
Boyfriend of the Day: Scott Baker

Holy smokes, Nutty was outstanding tonight! He was pitching a perfect game into the ninth inning. Unfortunately, he gave up a walk and then a hit, but he still pitched a complete game shut-out, and that's nothing to take lightly. In the game, he had 9 strikeouts. I am so, way impressed!

Saturday's Score: 4-6
Boyfriend of the Day: Luis Rodriguez

Little J-Rod's back! Woot woot! He was 2 for 4 today with a run and a 2-out RBI. Yay!

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day:
1 - The Fiance (14)
2 - Cuddles (12)
3 - Jason Pear (11)
4 - Tiny Superhero (10)
5 - Kubel Khan (7)

Isn't this week over yet?

2007-08-30T18:41:00.000-05:00

I had a curriculum training meeting all day today. The morning was pretty boring, but we went over our math curriculum. Then we did a science overview, got some ideas on teaching lessons on observation, and then had a short lunch break. After lunch it was time for more science stuff. We did 9 centers that they set-up for us. They were all activities/projects to do with our Kindergarteners. Some of them are required, some optional. They were all for our first science unit which is called "Collections from Nature." I got to paint a picture of a flower, do a print of a plant, imprint a starfish, and make a sun print. The sun print was definitely my favorite. If the paper wasn't so dang expensive, I'd totally do it with my kids!

I came home for a little while to just relax and then the plan was to meet up with all of the Kindergarten teachers back at school. During my short break, I got to talk to Lucy for a few minutes. That pretty much made my day. She had to go right as I pulled into the parking lot at Bamber, so it was really good timing actually. The doors were already locked, which was super annoying because it was only 4:45 and they aren't suppose to lock until 5:30. I went down to the Kindergarten side of the building and Jessica let me in.

Then my frustrations began. No one else was there and so I couldn't stay past 5:30 (I don't have keys to the building or a key card yet, so I can't be in there after hours unless someone is with me). I quickly tried to organize my stuff to bring it home and then left. Only problem was, I forgot my phone. I always set it by the window because it's the only place it gets any service. I was rushing so much that I totally forgot it there. Grr. So I have no phone, which really sucks. First, there is a funeral tomorrow for a staff member at Bamber. Because of that, some of our meetings and things are getting shifted. Without my phone, no one can get a hold of me so I have no idea what's going on. It also sucks to be phoneless on a night when I'd really like to talk to friends in hopes of distracting myself from thoughts of the looming interview. Anyway, moral of the story... You should talk to me online tonight :P

So with nothing else to do, I ran to Shopko to buy folders. I was literally on the verge of tears as I walked through the aisles. I don't even know what my problem was. I think this week is just finally wearing on me. And I'm getting increasingly nervous for the interview. I know I probably shouldn't be, but I am. People keep telling me that I'd really have to screw-up to not get the job. But then I freak out because if I don't get it, they'll think I really screwed it up and must really suck or something.

Anyway, now I'm home and trying to remember to breathe. I have some stuff that I can work on, like cutting out certificates for the first day of school and putting my kids' names on their Thursday folders, but that's about it. I suppose I might as well get to it.

Oh... The Twins game yesterday was really depressing. If Johann hadn't given up 4 runs in the first inning, we might have had a prayer.

Boyfriend of the Day: Alexi Casilla

He was 3 for 4. Too bad the batters after him couldn't ever get him home.

And Congrats to Hunter AND Punto for making Top Plays and Web Gems on Tuesday night. Yay!

J-Yo at your service ;)

2007-08-28T20:09:00.000-05:00

I spent most of my day at school again. We had a technology meeting this morning. I didn't learn anything. It was all pretty much common sense stuff. Or maybe it just seems like common sense to me, but it still wasn't anything new to me. Then I worked in my classroom the rest of the day. My mom came in for a while to help me. I had her put yarn on my name tags and put my book orders together. Thanks Mom!

I left the building for a short time because I thought I was going to pass out from the heat. I ran home quick and then picked-up Applebee's for Jessica and my lunch. Tonight was "Meet the Teacher" Night for AM Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd Grade. I watched the AM Kindergarten presentation and then just sort of chatted. I saw so many people that I knew. I talked to several families I know from swimming, some people I met at DIBELS testing last week, and a woman that I know through a friend.

My highlight was getting to talk to Aaron and Cheryl Larson. Their oldest daughter is in 1st Grade this year, so they were there to meet her teacher. I am one of the few (if not only) people who was fortunate to have both of them as teachers. I had Cheryl for 5th and 6th grade at Elton Hills. She was Ms. Jensen back then, but she married Aaron the summer after my 6th grade year. I got to have Aaron at Century when I was a junior. Anyway, Cheryl is the reason that I'm a teacher. She was amazing and I can never thank her enough for all that she did for me. It was so nice to see her and talk to her a bit. I told her about all the drama and she was really supportive. I really hope to see her around some more this fall!

I'm excited for my "Meet the Teacher" Night tomorrow. I'm definitely a little nervous, but mostly excited. I can't wait to meet all of my kiddos! My class list changed a lot today. I started the day at 16, then went down to 15 when we found out I had a morning student on my list. Then I dropped down to 14 when I had another girl who was suppose to be a morning kid. But then I went back up to 15 when they added a little boy who was accidentally put in the morning and should have been afternoon. I think this is why I haven't written on anything yet! Haha :) I think my class is now 9 boys and 6 girls. We'll see if it changes some more!

When I went to see the cats for my second trip of the day, I was so exhausted. So I sat on the kitchen floor and brushed both Trevor and Taylor before I came home. It was very relaxing!

The Twins lost again today. It was exciting right down to the last out. I'm really going to blame Dwayne for this one, but whatever.

Boyfriend of the Day: Brian Buscher

This is a first! Bushy went 3 for 4 with 2 runs and an RBI (his first homer of the year!) I was way impressed with him today.

Punto, Tyner, and Hunter all had AMAZING plays in the field today. They freaking better make Web Gems or Top Plays!

I have a class list!

2007-08-27T22:39:00.000-05:00

Today was a very long day. We were in a staff meeting at school from 9:30 until almost 2:00. We didn't have a break and our lunch consisted of cheese, crackers, fruit, and cookies. Haha! We did get breakfast at the very beginning, but yeah. It was very long and mostly involved them reading to us out of our handbook. Oh, good times?

After the meeting, I worked in my room some more. I had to get bus tags ready and make copies for "Meet the Teacher" night. While I was standing in Laurie's room, my phone rang. I didn't recognize the number, but it was a 507 area code and I could tell it was a cell number, so I answered it. It turned out to be Lucy's mom. She told me all about how moving in went and then we talked about the cats. I think she felt really bad about Moonie, but I wasn't mad or anything. She called the vet and then called me back and left a message with the best news of the day... NO MORE MEDICINE! Yay! It was so nice to go feed the cats after work and not have to worry about chasing Moonie down. Phew. What a relief!

Since I was now thinking about Lucy, I went back to my room and called her from my work phone. I found this quite exciting because I've never used the phone before. They're brand new phones and we now have voicemail! The teachers are really happy about this because they've never had it before. It'll be a nice way for parents to reach us if they don't like e-mail. Lucy wasn't there, but I left her a message and then went back to work.

I did not feel well at all when I finally did get home. I laid down and took some Advil. Beth and I watched the Twins game and "High School Musical." I always said I hated it, but apparently I was just in a really bad mood the one time I watched it. It's really not so bad. And some of the music is really catchy.

Now I'm here, working on more stuff for school. Oh man, it'll be a miracle if I make it through this week and keep all of my meetings and trainings straight. Plus get through an interview. Ack!

Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Bartlett

To quote Dick & Bert... He's still swinging a "potent" bat. This is a step up from a good bat, or a hot bat. He was 2 for 4 with a homerun. Hopefully losing this one game does not put us back on a losing streak!

What's with the 80's music?

2007-08-26T23:45:00.000-05:00

I am dead tired, so I'm going to keep this short. I had another fairly productive day. I can cross off several things from my "To Do" list today, including: completing my job application, writing a letter to my parents to hand out on "Meet the Teacher" night, making a volunteer sheet for my parents, making an e-mail list for my parents, and sorting through book orders. Yay!

I had more drama with the cats. I went over with a sweatshirt and rubber gloves on. It easily took us 45 minutes to catch Moonie, but we did it. We cornered her in the basement, but she went into a scary storage room. We had no prayer in there. Beth got her out, finally, and she ran up the stairs. But we'd been thinking. We shut the door. So I cornered her on the top step and gave her her medicine. Phew!

Sarah's here for the night, so that's always fun. We all went out to my parents' for dinner. Brats and corn on the cob. My favorite summer meal! After dinner, all of us kids and Sarah watched the 1987 and 1991 World Series highlight videos. I particularly enjoyed watching people's clothes, hairstyles, and jewelry. The music was pretty stellar too.

Speaking of the Twins. The game today was amazing! We swept the Orioles in a 4 game series for the first time EVER! We won 11 to 3. Woot woot!

Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Bartlett

For the second time in a row, Jason Pear gets the honor. He was 2 for 5 with 1 run and 2 RBIs. He hit two triples today. You gotta love that! He now leads the team in triples. Haha!

I'm really excited because Lucy, Laura, and Matt all seem to be having a wonderful time at their respective colleges. I mean, I knew they would, but I'm just really happy to hear it from them all. So yay for that!

I'll call the end of a lacy pea!

2007-08-26T00:52:00.000-05:00

After that uber exciting Twins blog, y'all get an update on my life. I'm so thankful that it's the weekend. I've been working hard on stuff for school, but at least I get to stay at home and relax a bit. But let's go back to Thursday.

Thursday - I ran over to Lucy's quick to learn how to give her cat medicine (which, by the way, is NOT as easy as it looked!) and say good-bye. I didn't cry though, so that was good. Then I headed over to Panera to meet Gary for lunch. It's always good to catch-up with him. Next up, I was off to school. I bound ABC books and printing books for my kiddos, cleaned off my desk, and then decided that I should come back home and get picture frames to bring to school. I was home for a few hours printing pictures and such and then drove back over to school. It's really exciting that my desk feels like it's mine now.

I had forgotten to give Lucy a little something that I had for her so I went back to her house. Whoops. We talked for a little while. I was impressed with her innovative packing skills (clothes in a fridge and fish bowl! Nice!). And then I had to say goodbye for real :( I came home and Chris came over. She and I talked for a really long time, it was good.

Friday - I picked-up Ilana and we went to school. It was her birthday, but she came in and helped Janet and me set-up our room. We put her to work stapling packets together for the kids to take home. We had sight words, letter, and number flash card packets. While she did that, Janet and I hung stuff up all over our room. I posted some pictures already. I'll post more when the room is totally done, which should be this week for "Meet the Teacher" Night.

After that, I took Ilana to the Olive Garden for lunch. Our waitress was not on top of things at all, but it was good food. We picked-up Beth and went to see "Hairspray" again. It was packed, but just as good as the first two times I'd seen it. After the movie, I took Ilana home, Beth and I ran some errands, and then finally came home.

I ran over to Lucy's house after dinner to take care of the kitties. Moonie (the one who needs medicine) came right into the kitchen and made my job really easy. All four cats seemed happy to see me, so I played with them for a little while before I came home.

Tim came over a little after 8. We watched some TV, talked, and then decided to go see "Hairspray." Tim hadn't seen it yet, so that was uber exciting! Yes, this does mean that I saw it four times in the same week. It's clearly my favorite movie of the summer!

Saturday - I woke-up and went right over to feed the cats. I was there for almost an hour, but could not catch Moonie. Grr. I was frustrated. I finally gave up and decided that I'd bring Beth with me in the evening and give her twice the amount. Lucy and her mom had said I could do that if I had to.

Once I was home, I worked most of the day. I've been doing laundry all day long. My mom came over for a few minutes to drop off pictures of me on my first day of Kindergarten. I took those and made a poster board for "Meet the Teacher" Night. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'll have to take a picture and post it sometime. I also made a volunteer form for parents to fill out and worked on my job application.

I was dead tired by 3 o'clock this afternoon, so I took a much needed (and deserved, I think) nap. When I got up, Beth and I watched an HBO special about the making of "Hairspray." It was quite exciting! Then we went back to Lucy's. Oh man, this was an adventure for sure. We trapped Moonie in a room, but it probably took us at least 15 or 20 minutes to get her. She knows exactly why I want her and I am pretty sure she hates me. I tried to use the towel the best I could, but she still bit me. Oh well, it wasn't too bad. Beth thinks I should wear gloves and long sleeves every time I try to do this. I'm a little stressed about it, but I'll manage, I'm sure.

Tonight was more of the same. I'm still plugging away on stuff for school. We also watched the Twins game. What's remarkable about that is that we watched it live. It's been a while since we've done that. Haha!

I have no idea why I'm still up right now. I think I better get to bed. Tomorrow will be more school stuff, but then Sarah's coming over. Yay!

Devoted to the Twins

2007-08-25T23:37:00.000-05:00

Sorry, I've been slacking with my Twins blogging. Lucy knows why I haven't been all that excited to blog, but now I'm ready to go again :) Here's what you've missed.

Sunday's Score: 0-1
Boyfriend of the Day: Johan Santana

17 strikeouts for a new club record! This was an AMAZING game to be at. Holy cow! I knew early on that it was going to be a fantastic day for Johan and I was not disappointed. I was yelling and screaming and cheering and jumping up and down. My throat hurt :P It was incredible to see history in the making. Congrats to Johan for a totally remarkable outing!

Monday's Score: 9-4
Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

The fiance went 3 for 4 with an RBI. Yay for hitting again!

Tuesday's Score: 7-2
Boyfriend of the Day: Michael Cuddyer

Cuddles was 1 for 3 and had both of our RBIs.

Wednesday's Score: 4-8
Boyfriend of the Day: Michael Cuddyer

Cuddles was only 1 for 4 tonight, but he made that 1 hit really count. It was a grand slam in the first inning. Gotta love Grand Slams!

Thursday's Score: 5-2
Boyfriend of the Day: Boof Bonser

Boof has not been my favorite pitcher. In fact, I'd say he's been my least favorite starter. But he really pitched well tonight. He pitched 7 innings and only gave up 1 run off of 3 hits. He kept us in the game until we could get some offense going in the 8th inning.

Friday's Score: 7-4
Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Kubel

Kubel Khan was 2 for 3 with 1 run and 3 RBIs. In the 7th inning, he took the lead from the Fiance and hit the second homer of the inning.

Saturday's Score: 8-1
Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Bartlett

I am so glad that Jason Pear is back in the line-up! He had a very busy night defensively and also came up firing at the plate. He was 4 for 4 with 2 runs and 2 RBIs. He reached base all 5 times he was up with his 1 walk. I'm in love with him :)

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (14)
2 - Cuddles (12)
3 - Tiny Superhero (10)
4 - Jason Pear (9)
5 - Kubel Khan (7)

So I'm gonna shake and shimmy it...

2007-08-23T01:46:00.000-05:00

A whole heck of a lot has happened in my life since the last time I blogged. Whoops. Instead of getting into all the drama, I'll just talk about all the fun stuff I've done.

Sunday - I went to the Twins game with my mom, sister, and brother. We were there for history in the making! Johan pitched an amazing game. Oh man, it was so exciting to be there. After the game, I hung-out with Sarah and then she and I met up with Beth and went to see "Hairspray." It was cool cuz we were the only three people in the theater. Beth let me sing and dance, it was great!

Monday - I spent all day at school. I got attached already to some of the kiddos. The drama of the week all started this day. I called Lucy as I was leaving the building and cried to her. She told me to do something fun. Jeff and Christine came over that night and we all played some games. It was really, really fun. They left around 3 and I finally went to sleep.

Tuesday - I was at school all day again. The afternoon was spent doing classroom placements. I am so excited for my kids, oh man, I can't wait for "Meet the Teacher" night next week! I'll also say that I adore the other kindergarten teachers. Laurie and Janet are amazing women and I'm so looking forward to working with both of them.

After school, I went to Owatonna to hang-out with Laura. We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant and sat there and talked for three hours. We finally left at 9:15 and when we went outside, realized that it had closed at 8:30. Whoops. We went for a walk and then sat in my car and talked. Pretty sure we talked more that night than all summer combined. It was a really, really good talk and I'm glad we were able to do it.

I can't believe the summer is gone already and Laura is going to college :( I didn't see her very much this summer, but I think I took some comfort in knowing that she was less than an hour away if I needed something. Now that's going to be gone. I know she'll love Crown and I hope that I can make it up to visit sometime.

Today - I slept in a little bit and then took Einstein home. I ran some errands (including going to buy new ballroom shoes!) and then headed to school. I was at school all afternoon with Janet setting up our classroom. It was really fun and she and I talked about a lot. I'm a little overwhelmed by how much I have to do, but it's good. I'm going tomorrow to bind some more books and organize some more.

It's Wednesday! That means it's swing night! I sat and talked to Lucy during the lesson because there were SO many people there. I had a good time, once again. I think I'm getting better, at least a little bit. Lucy taught me how to Fox Trot and I also learned how to Rumba. It was fun. I think I'm starting to like West Coast Swing the best, I think it's the most interesting. But it's hard. I'm determined to learn it though. Thank goodness Lucy is patient with me!

After dancing, Lucy and I came back here and talked for a few hours. I can't believe how much I talk to her about. I am NOT looking forward to saying goodbye to her tomorrow. I kind of want to cry just thinking about it right now :( But I know I'll see her at the beginning of October, for sure! So that makes it a little easier.

Even with all the crap I've had to deal with this week, I've gotten to spend some good, quality time with my best friends. So I really can't complain. I'm also spending time with friends tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday. Then on Monday, teacher workshops start. Craziness!

In a side note, I spent the whole car ride home from O-Town on Tuesday learning the words to "You Can't Stop the Beat." It's a really hard (fast!!!) song to sing, but I LOVE it!

Good Morning Baltimore

2007-08-19T00:58:00.000-05:00

My day started today by going over to Lucy's house to take care of the cats. I let myself in and read the note from her family. I laughed. I fed the cats, gave them fresh water, and scooped all of the litter boxes. I then played with Taylor for a while. He was the only one who really wanted to sit by me.

When I got home, I played some computer games for a while (I must have been really bored because I haven't done that in a while!) Beth and I decided that we should go rent a movie. We left the house and went to Meyer's. I wanted to water their plants and make sure we left the pool area all cleaned up. I also got the towels out of the dryer, folded them, and put them away.

We headed over to Hollywood Video to rent the 1988 version of "Hairspray." While we were there, I ran into Laurie (one of the other Kindergarten teachers at Bamber). I talked to her for a while and that was nice. Everyone and their brother apparently had the same idea about renting a movie on a rainy day. And they didn't even have it! Next stop... Best Buy. We bought it. Beth had a $5 off thing and I had $4.71 left on a gift card, so I actually only paid $6.38 for it. Good deal, eh?

We came home and watched it. First of all, I recommend that everyone see it! The acting is terrible, but it's so darn funny. Beth and I were both cracking up. If you don't know anything about "Hairspray," I'll give you a little background. John Waters wrote and directed the movie in 1988. The Broadway musical came next in 2002. The movie that is in theaters now is based on the musical.

So after we watched the original, Beth and I left once again. We went back over to Lucy's to play with the cats some more. I gave them fresh water again and then we sat down and petted the kitties. It took me forever to find one of them, but the other three were good. They just sat there with us and let us pick them up and hold them in our laps. It was good.

Our final stop of the evening was the movie theater. We were both incredibly excited to see the new version of "Hairspray." We ran into a family from swimming and actually ended up sitting by them. I don't think Sam liked it quite as much as we did. I loved it! We both said we felt like standing up and clapping at the end. I left with a huge smile on my face and just felt really happy. Kathy (the swim mom we saw there) said she'd bring us the soundtrack to borrow. I really hope she does because I loved the music! Lucy told me that I'd love it, but I didn't think I'd love it this much! Next stop... "Hairspray" on Broadway?

The final drama for the night came shortly after 10:30. Our power went out. It was out until a little before 1. Ick! I killed time by writing a five page letter, taking a shower, and playing Brain Age on Beth's DS. Now I can finally go watch the Twins game (which I found out already that we lose... Nate...) and go to sleep. Goodnight all.

Tiny Superhero saves the day!

2007-08-18T00:30:00.000-05:00

So the Twins game tonight was a lot of fun! Megan and I decided that we're way "funner" than Beth and Matt. We laughed, we cried (okay, that was just me). We screamed and yelled and even jumped up and down. It was probably the most exciting game I've been to all year. It was definitely a pitcher's duel. We were tied at 1 and went into extra innings.

Megan and I definitely had some good laughs. Oooh, and Mike Redmond now has a nickname. Woot woot! I was chanting "Red Dawg" (even though Beth won't allow me to use that as his nickname) and Megan looked over and said, "What, Clifford?" I busted up laughing and the new nickname was born.

I laughed so hard to night... Both in the car and at the game... That my throat actually hurt. Matt says it's from my wheezing that he can't even duplicate. I'm sorry that I laugh funny! Geez!

Boyfriend of the Day: Tiny Superhero

It's the 7th inning. 2 outs. Bases loaded. Tiny Superhero comes to the plate... And strikes out. Dang! Some kids around us were chanting "Punto sucks." It made me want to cry, but I was frustrated too.

After some stellar pitching, the game is still tied at one and we go to the bottom of the 10th. Punto is up again, but this time he's leading off the inning.... AND HE GETS A HIT! I think it was ruled a single, but then he got to third on an error. Hubby #2 comes to the plate. We expect that he can surely drive in Punto to win the game. But he doesn't need to because the pitcher throws a wild pitch and Tiny Superhero comes home to score. Twins win! Twins win! Twins win! Woot woot!

In some sad, sad news. The shelves in my hall closet broke. We came home to a disaster. The shelf (and everything on it) came crashing down. It knocked the shoe rack off the door, and everything fell. Now my bedroom is taken over and I will be sleeping on the couch. Maybe I can fix it tomorrow. Or maybe I can call Dad.

And finally tonight. I'm cat-sitting for Lucy's four cats this weekend while her family is at her aunt's wedding. This is really exciting because it means I have animals this weekend! Lucy's four cats, my two cats, my dog, and Einstein. Haha! Good times to be had by all, I am quite sure!

Everything

2007-08-17T12:24:00.000-05:00

So I was just on Facebook and Amy posted this link. I decided to watch it and by the end, I was sitting here sobbing. Those of you who know me well, know what my past has been like. This video was incredibly moving because I feel like it's a pretty accurate portrayal of my life. I just don't even know what to say about this except that it's worth watching. Wow.

Ode to our Birdhouse

2007-08-17T02:45:00.000-05:00

Tonight I went to the Steele County Free Fair. Holy Hannah! This fair is HUGE. I am not much of a fair person, but I totally loved it. I don't even know where to begin because I have so many stories from tonight...

We watched "Deal or No Deal." It was kind of sad because the cute old guy had the biggest prize in his case and he took a deal a little too early. But he did still win some cool stuff. I should have signed up to play because they had some sweet Twins stuff!

Matt decided that I needed to buy a grab bag. We ended up buying two 50 cent ones. In one, was a bird house (cheesiest looking old lady thing I have ever seen) and a cup (strange). In the other was two hand-painted flower pots and a candle. We spent the rest of the night trying to figure out what to do with it all.

Next up... The Lumberjack show! I totally loved this. After the show/competition/whatever you want to call it, the two guys signed pieces of wood they had cut or these little card things. We had them sign our bird house. Hahaha!

After that, we went to the big cat show. It was really quite fascinating. I know that I would not go into the cage with those things. Yikes! But I did pet the baby tiger cub. It was soooo soft!

We then headed over to the RVs. We walked through a bunch of them and sat and talked in several. We took our grab bag things and left them in different RVs where they fit the decor. Or something like that.

The last thing we did was play Bingo. Oh how I love Bingo :P We didn't win, but it sure was fun.

And in Twins news... We won again yesterday (it was a very exciting game!)

Boyfriend of the Day: Torii Hunter

He was 2 for 5 with 1 run and 5 RBIs. Yeah, that's because he hit a freaking Grand Slam to break the game open. Woot woot! It also came on two outs, which makes it even more impressive. Go Twins!

Swingin' Dancers

2007-08-16T02:42:00.000-05:00

Today was a great day. In fact, it was a fantastic day! I got to spend my afternoon with Kelly. I headed over to her place and called as I pulled into the parking lot. She came downstairs to meet me and let me in. Apparently, she was so excited to see me that she left her keys in her apartment. Whoops. She started to freak out and called everyone she knew in the building. No one was home. She called her mom, but her mom couldn't leave work. We were about ready to go to the office, even though it would have cost money to have them let us in, when a car pulled int the parking lot and a woman got out. We followed her into the building. Phew. Crisis averted.

We played a rousing game of LIFE. It was weird because it was a pretty new version of the game, but it was not as new as the one Sarah and I played a few weeks ago. Kelly won, by a lot, I might add. I think I was most excited that I got the Life Tile that said I won a dance competition again. Even if I can't do it in real life, I can dance in the game of LIFE. Haha! We also watched "Moulin Rouge" and sat and talked. It was really nice.

I came back home and watched the Twins game with Beth. We won! More to come on that in another blog...

I got dressed and then headed back to Kelly's to pick her up for dancing. We picked-up Amanda and then headed over to the Blue Moon Ballroom. I had yet another fun night of swing dancing! I find it really strange to be saying this. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have always said I hated dancing. Dances have always made me incredibly nervous. I tend to run the other way when music starts playing. I think I've come an awfully long way. I was way more comfortable this week than last week and I had a blast.

I danced a lot more than I did last week. I did dance with mostly girls, but it's still uber fun! Lucy taught me the real way to do triple time swing and I loved it! We also did a little west coast. I'm still not very good at it, but I'm trying. I am determined to figure it out one of these weeks.

I'm sure that I have way more I could say, but it's 3:30 in the morning and I'm tired. It's time for me to go to bed. Before I go though, here are a few pictures from the night.

Kelly & Amanda

Amanda & Me

Me & Lucy taking a break

Me & Lucy doing some West Coast Swing

Lucy & Angela doing West Coast

Some guy & Lucy doing West Coast
Are we all sensing a trend here?
Have we figured out which dance is Lucy's favorite?

Me & some guy doing East Coast Swing

Kelly, Amanda, & Me after a fun night!

The Art of Being Happy Cobbers

2007-08-15T01:23:00.001-05:00

Well it's 1:30 in the morning and I am still wide awake. I clearly need to get myself back on a better schedule. And soon!

Today was a good day. Yes, today was a very good day indeed. I woke-up at 10 to call Emmalee. We both really wanted to talk to each other and knew that our days were going to be crazy. So we both woke-up early just to talk :P (Yeah, 10 is early for me this week). I think we talked for about an hour and then Beth got home so I had to leave.

Matt, Beth, Megan, and I took the puppies swimming again. It was pretty fun. It was a little dreary and I got kind of cold, but it was still fun. I love watching the dogs paddle around in the pool, it's the greatest!

Beth and I came home to get cleaned-up and then we went to see "The Bourne Ultimatum" with Matt. I really, really liked it. I absolutely loved the scenes where Bourne had to elude people. Like in the train station. Oh man, classic! And I really liked Julia Stiles in this movie.

After the movie, I picked up Lucy and we went to the Corn Feed. You would think that I would have been to one before, either in my four years at Concordia, or the three years since I graduated. But no, today was the first one. It was pretty fun. There were definitely a lot more people there than the Twins game we went to.

When that was over, we went for a walk around Silver Lake. It was nice to just walk and talk. It never ceases to amaze me how much we have to talk about. We still weren't done talking, so we came back to my house and just sat on my bed and talked. I made her look at my scrapbooks. (Sorry, those were probably pretty boring!) And we talked about lots of things. I really am going to miss our talks.

I took her home and then watched the Twins game with Beth. And we won, so that was exciting!

I think I should probably try to go to bed now... I have a big day tomorrow! It's Janet and Kelly day! I'm way excited!

Seacrest out.

My Favorite Baseball Team

2007-08-14T23:59:00.000-05:00

Lucy and I had a good chat tonight about our beloved Twins. We were both pretty disappointed with how we've been playing lately. We talked about the players we like, the players we dislike, and what we think needs to happen.

Clearly, the heard us!

But before we talk about tonight's game. I'm a few games behind on my B.O.D.s.

Saturday's Score: 3-4
Boyfriend of the Day: Joe Mauer

He was 3 for 4 with an RBI.

Sunday's Score: 2-6
Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Bartlett

He was 1 for 3 and delivered both of our RBIs.

Monday's Score: 3-4
Boyfriend of the Day: Joe Mauer

He was 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs.

Tuesday's Score: 11-3 (And we break the losing streak!)
Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Bartlett

I could have picked anyone in our line-up tonight. It was amazing! But I have to go with Jason Pear for his homer. Super exciting! I really wish that we could even out our offense. This is just crazy. But here's hoping we can make a string of it! This is what the box score looks like for our offense tonight.

Casilla: 3 for 6 with 2 RBIs
Bartlett: 3 for 6 with 1 run and 1 RBI (homer)
Mauer: 1 for 5 with 1 run
Hunter: 3 for 4 with 4 runs, 1 stolen base, and 1 walk
Morneau: 2 for 5 with 1 run and 2 RBIs
Cuddyer: 2 for 3 with 2 runs, 1 RBI, and 1 walk
White: 1 for 4 with 2 RBIs
Tyner: 1 for 1 with 1 run
Redmond: 2 for 5 with 1 run and 2 RBIs

PLUS... Garza pitched 7 incredible innings. He only gave up 3 runs on 9 hits. He threw for 2 strike outs and only gave up 2 walks.

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day:
1 - The Fiance (13)
2 - Cuddles (10)
3 - Tiny Superhero (9)
4 - Jason Pear (8)
5 - Kubel Khan (6)

Tiny Superhero will not be climbing this list if he doesn't get some offense going. And Kubel Khan is a) on the DL and b) not impressing me at all lately.

I'm excited because I get to go to the game on Friday with Beth, Matt, & Megan and on Sunday with mi madre, Beth, & Matt. Go Twins!

Gotta love a good book!

2007-08-14T10:27:00.000-05:00

I finally finished reading "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" last night. I thought I was going to go to bed early. I was laying in bed by midnight (yes, that's early for me!). The next time I looked at the clock it was 2:45 and I had just finished the book.

I used to always say that Book 2 was my least favorite. I really don't think that will be true anymore. There was so much foreshadowing in this book. Holy cow! There is some really good stuff in this book.

My favorite conversation between Harry and Dumbledore happens at the end of this book.

"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

I love that!

I'm definitely excited to start Book 3 now :)

Harry Potter Mania

2007-08-12T15:43:00.000-05:00

Last night was a lot of fun. I had some people over for a Harry Potter party. We played some games like Harry Potter Scene It, Harry Potter Smarty Party (which Beth and I spent over 6 hours making!), and Harry Potter Lynch Mob. I thought all three games were pretty fun. I wish I could have played Smarty Party, but that's okay. Give it a few months, then I won't remember anything and can play it :)

We had a costume contest, but not everyone dressed up. Here's a picture of those of us who got into the spirit of things!

Alyssia (Luna Lovegood in her school uniform)
Sarah (Professor McGonagall)
Lucy (Luna Lovegood in her everyday-type clothes)
Ashleigh (Tonks!)
Me (Moaning Myrtle)
Matt (Roger Davies - The Ravenclaw Quidditch Player)

After we were done with Harry Potter stuff, we played some regular games. We played regular Smarty Party and Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture 2. I'm pretty sure I won all three :P We actually never finished Trivial Pursuit because it was 3:30 in the morning and we were dropping like flies. But Emmalee, Amanda, and I had all of our pies, we were just trying to get to the middle.

Emmalee, Sarah, and I stayed up talking until about 4:30 when we decided we really needed to go to sleep. We got up around 9 this morning. Sarah had to go home and get ready for work. The boys kept sleeping (they went to church on Friday night). And the rest of us girls got up and went to church. I'm really glad we went. First of all, Hebrews 11 is one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible and that was what the sermon was on today. It was really good, at least I thought so. And I really like the pastor at this church, he's super funny. We said hello to Lucy and her dad and then left.

As we left church, the pastor greeted us. Here's how the conversation went:

"What brings you here this morning?" - Pastor

"Oh, well I live here and know Lucy, and they all stayed at my house last night, so we all decided to come here this morning." - Me

"Oh, well where are you all from?" - Pastor

"Winthrop." - Emmalee

"Winona." - Alyssia

"Nicolette." - Amy

"Iowa." - Amanda

"Iowa. That's a whole state!" - Pastor

"Well yeah. Um. Lakota?" - Amanda

"Oh, okay. Well it's nice that you could come and hear Lucy play. Come back anytime... Next time, bring ALL of Iowa!" - Pastor

We got home and Emmalee and I laid on my bed and talked for almost three hours before we all decided it was time for lunch. We went to Fiesta for some Mexican food. At this point, it was Emmalee, Amy, Amanda, Brandon, Nate, and me. I walked in and the guy asked me how many of us there were. I said six and his response... "6 senoritas?" Haha!

After lunch, everyone headed back home. It was a wonderfully fun night and I can't wait to see everyone again!

Date Night

2007-08-11T10:27:00.000-05:00

Last night was "date" night with Meg. Meg is one of my little swimmers. She'll be turning 9 this fall. I've coached for the past year and she was also in "the class from Hell" that I subbed for all the time. I have gotten to know Meg and her family pretty well over the course of the year. She's one of the best kids ever!

Anyway, I picked her up and we went to Noodles for dinner. The whole time she just talked and talked and talked. We talked about who she doesn't want in her class next year, swimming, her many, many pets, and how she likes to take her rabbit for walks. When we got to dinner, she had her little purse with money from her mom. So she paid for dinner. She was so adorable. She told me that her dad usually only let her drink water, but she really wanted a lemonade. We both had lemonades.

We ran back to my house to pick up Beth and then drove up to Century to see "Pinocchio." My favorite teacher with a MIAC degree was there with his daughters. I had never met them before. They are super cute! He kept joking about how I had just picked Meg up on the street so I could come to the show. I think Meg was confused, it was pretty funny.

The show was good. Lucy was the best cat ever :) The guy behind us kept asking people if she was a "local" or if she traveled around like the two guys did. That means that she did a really good job. My favorite line in the play was "Goodnight, John Boy." But not very many people laughed. Beth and I cracked up.

After the show, and saying hello to Lucy and her family, I took Meg home. Then Beth and I went shopping. HP stuff is bloody hard to find! Grr. We also bought pop and snacks for tonight. I'm way excited!

There's not much to tell about the Twins game... It was depressing...

Boyfriend of the Day: Rondell White

He delivered our only RBI in the game.

Smarty Party

2007-08-09T16:06:00.000-05:00

I have been sitting at my computer for the past 5 hours working on a Harry Potter version of Smarty Party. It was a great idea by Sarah, but man is it ever a lot of work. I thought making an HP version of Lynch Mob was bad. But that was nothing compared to this! It better be appreciated. Haha!

Not too much to blog about consider that a) I haven't done much today and b) The Twins lost in a pitcher's duel. It's really depressing when we lose. Garza only gave up 1 run over 6 innings. We just couldn't get any offense going today, I guess.

Boyfriend of the Day: Alexi Casilla

He went 2 for 3 and stole a base.

Save the last dance for me

2007-08-08T22:51:00.000-05:00

Today started out much like yesterday. I taught swimming lessons, we took the dogs swimming at the Meyer's house, and we at lunch while watching some TV. But then things got a bit different.

I headed over to Bamber to meet up with Brooke and Laurie. We sorted through boxes and boxes of stuff that we're using next year in Kindergarten. We had to bind handwriting books and alphabet books. We also had to count out different testing packets and some other books and worksheets. We did our fair share of chatting, but we also did get quite a bit done. I think my favorite conversations were about money, dieting, and breast feeding. Haha!

I was suppose to leave there at 6 and go home before meeting Lucy for my first-ever dance lesson. But I didn't leave the school until 6:35. Whoops! It was a very good thing that I decided to change before I went to school!

I should back up the dancing story... I literally almost picked up the phone to call Lucy and tell her I wasn't coming about 10 times today. I was freaking out. I was pretty sure she'd kill me if I did that though, so I didn't. I called Emmalee on my way there and she and Amy gave me a pep talk. I was crying and I felt so sick. But I did make it there...

Lucy showed me the basic movies for East Coast and West Coast Swing. Then we had a lesson, where I learned pretty much what she had just taught me, and then the dance started. I don't really want to go into too much detail, but I had a really good time. There were very few people there, we especially lacked guys, but it was all good. I danced with Lucy a few times, some random guy who insisted on teaching me Fox Trot, and the owner. Dancing with the owner, Fred, was amazing. He taught me more turns and it was really, really fun.

Basically, everyone except me knew that I'd have fun. Lucy asked me a bunch of times if the nervousness was gone. Guess it was pretty obvious. But yeah, I'm really glad I went and I'd love to go dancing again sometime. I am quite thankful that I have friends who know what's good for me, even when I don't.

Onto the Twins game... I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but HELLO OFFENSE! What the heck?

Boyfriends of the Day: Michael Cuddyer & Torii Hunter

They had almost identical stats today. They both hit a home run, had 3 RBIs, and were 3 for 5. Cuddles had 1 run and Hunter had 2, but that's about the only difference I am seeing.

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (13)
2 - Cuddles (10)
3 - Tiny Superhero (9)
T4 - Jason Pear & Kubel Khan (6)

Tomorrow's our Council meeting and annual Perkins dinner afterwards. I'm way excited!

What's a rhinocisis?

2007-08-07T23:57:00.000-05:00

I had another really good day today. I got up this morning and went to the pool. Ashleigh can't teach this week, so Beth asked me to take her classes. I didn't really want to go, but I am really glad I did. Ashleigh has the BEST class. I love all of the kids! I had so much fun with them and am really excited to teach them next two days.

After swim school, we went over to the Meyer's house to go swimming. Beth, Matt, and I took both dogs with us when we went. It was really funny to watch them try to swim. Howie has a hard time keeping his head up. My guess is that it's because of his short legs. After a while, we put him on a raft. He seemed to like that alright. Then he climbed onto my raft with me, it was pretty relaxing, not gonna lie. I think we might go back either tomorrow or Thursday. It's kind of nice to have a pool I can use whenever I want to this month!

We came home and all took naps. Haha. I guess swimming really wore all five of us out (the dogs passed out!). Amy called me and totally made my day. I really miss her! But it's okay because I get to see her on Thursday. Yay!

We decided to ditch National Night Out (which we've done every year) and head up to T.I. We couldn't find a Black Jack table all night. Grr. But that's okay, I had a lot of fun anyway. I played a lot of Video Poker. It was pretty sweet. I also won a little money on "Deal or No Deal." It's probably my new favorite slot machine.

Our car rides were very entertaining too...

"What do you get when you cross an elephant with a rhinocisis?" - Matt

I missed most of the Twins game, but I think I'm glad that I did. It does not sound pretty.

Boyfriend of the Day: Torii Hunter

He was 2 for 4 with our lone RBI.

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (13)
T2 - Cuddles & Tiny Superhero (9)
T4 - Jason Pear & Kubel Khan (6)

I have a very busy day planned tomorrow. I have lessons in the morning, then probably swimming with Beth, Matt, and the puppies, then I'll be at school working on stuff with Brooke and Laurie, and then dancing. I just have to remember to breathe.

Baltimore?

2007-08-07T00:45:00.000-05:00

I think it says something when you can have a total blast at a Twins game even when we lose. I once again had a wonderful time with Lucy. I honestly don't even know where to begin. I pretty much love how we don't shut-up. We talk non-stop almost the entire time that we're together. And we're incredibly random. Our conversations jump all over the place, but it's a good time.

If either of us ever win the lottery, or get rich in any other way. We have lots of fun stuff planned together. Some of them might not actually require us getting rich, so maybe there is some hope :P

Lucy & Janet's Plans o' Fun
#1 - Go to London and see every musical there is!
#2 - Go to Baltimore for a month and people-watch. Possibly also squeeze in some Twins games.
#3 - Road Trip around the country and watch Twins games at other ballparks.

Um, I can't remember if I'm missing anything else. I probably am. Pretty sure we'd have a blast doing any of those things! We also have all sorts of big plans that we have to do sometime... Lego reenactment (hopefully we can still squeeze this in this summer!), a Barn Dance, me going to visit her when she studies abroad (I better get saving!), etc.

And now, back to the game...

We encountered some very strange characters at the game. This woman behind us freaked out that a player had "thrown" his bat at our infielders. No, no, the bat broke, lady. During the game, Brooke called and left me a message. Her first line was, "Are you young and single and out for the night? It's a Monday night!" Haha, I laughed. She wants to get together with Laurie either tomorrow or Wednesday to start some pre-school starting stuff. I can't believe it's already time for that!

Like I said, the game was fun even though we lost. Silva pitched well, but we just couldn't get anything going. We had 4 hits, but never strung much together. Reyes was very disappointing. Good thing Neshekel came in and saved the day! And Rincon actually pitched like a human being in the 9th. I was shocked and perplexed.

After the game, Lucy and I headed out to the players' entrance and waited. We saw nearly every player leave. We even waived a some of them ;) Neshek was the only one who signed. Kudos to him for that! My pictures didn't turn out at all, but whatever. I still had fun. There were also some crazy stalker girls there. They knew all the players, the coaches, and some of the security people. They were talking about how they travel to all the games and stuff. One of them got corn from Joe Vavra and another one yelled at Nick Punto's wife. I think this enters into the realm of CREEPY! However, they did provide some laughs for us.

We learned some sad, sad news while we waited for the players... Jason Kubel drives a Hummer. I can no longer respect him AT ALL! Ish!

When we left the game, we found where we parked! We didn't even question which way we were going. I got a little turned around coming out of the ramp, but we made our way back to Washington and found 94. I was so proud of us :)

Boyfriend of the Day: Pat Neshek

For coming in and doing damage control and also for signing a few autographs after the game. We love you Neshekel!

Simpsonize Me

2007-08-06T15:26:00.000-05:00

I know that I'm a little behind everyone else, but I finally Simpsonized myself today :) Beth was messing around, so she Simpsonized Matt and herself and I did me. Anyway, here you go...
In other news... I was again reminded last night of how much I hate our local news. This is what the sports commentator said about the Twins game.

Baker led the way.
Casilla made the play.
Nathan saved the day.

Wow, good rhyming, buddy.

And now, I'm off to the game. Go Twins!

Are you really going to let the man drive?

2007-08-05T19:29:00.000-05:00

I had a simply marvelous day today. I got up this morning and headed to the U with my dad. We all watched Matt swim his 200 I.M. and then talked for a while. Eventually, Sarah and I headed to Granite City for a wonderful brunch. We decided that we'd go to her house for a while and hang-out before I had to be back at the U to meet-up with Beth and head home.

Sarah recently bought The Game of Life. I haven't played Life in years. A lot about the game has changed since the last time I played it, but it was a ton of fun! I was a doctor and she was a teacher (a salesperson in the summer). We named all of our people. I was married to Justin and we had a baby named Jack. Sarah married some guy named Luke and had two kids: Emma and Benjamin.

The game now has these life tile things. You don't look at them till the end of the game and they have different accomplishments that you have achieved. I swam the English Channel, won a dance contest (heck yes!), and wrote "the next great American novel." Lucy - Does that count as life goal #5? Haha!

Spending the day with Sarah was wonderful. We never, ever, ever run out of things to talk about. I cannot even begin to express how truly blessed I feel. I can't believe that we've only known each other for two years. Well, two years this October. I feel like we've been friends for much, much longer than that. Basically, I am just trying to tell Sarah that I love her so much and am thankful for her friendship everyday!

In other exciting news... THE TWINS WON AGAIN!!!

We won the game 1-0. Kudos to Casilla for driving in our 1 run on a ground-rule double.

Boyfriend of the Day: Scott Baker

Holy cow! Nutty had an outstanding game! He pitched 8 shut-out innings and only gave up 4 hits. To top all of that off, he made a diving catch in the 8th inning and turned a double play. Mad props to him today, man. Wow!

We are now only 4.5 games out of the lead! Do not count this team out yet. I'm definitely hoping we can pick up another game on the Indians tomorrow. Don't forget to watch for me on TV (yeah right :P). Go Twins!

Uber Excited!

2007-08-04T20:04:00.000-05:00

I started out my day by heading up to the cities to watch Matt swim his 100 breast. It was good to see some of my little ones there and wish them luck before their big day, too! And I LOVE our State shirts this year. "Orca girls finally get the pink one." Heck yes! I'm heading back up tomorrow and I'm totally wearing my new shirt :)

I have an uber exciting week ahead of me. I can hardly believe all of the fun stuff that I get to do. I'm having a really hard time even sitting still because that's how excited I am. Here's a quick rundown.

Tomorrow, I'm going to go watch Matt swim and then hang-out with Sarah all day. Finish it up with dinner at my all-time favorite restaurant, The Old Spaghetti Factory. I haven't gotten to just hang-out with Sarah in a while, so I'm way excited for that!

Also this week, I get to go to another Twins game with Lucy. I'm very thankful that we both love the Twins :) We're also going to go dancing another night! I'm very nervous because I have no idea what I'm doing. But she is going to teach me a little before we go, so that makes me feel better. And I am definitely looking forward to it quite a bit :) It is a start to fulfilling my lifelong dream of learning how to dance. So you gotta love that!

Sometime this week we should be getting together to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday (which is Monday, by the way). And hopefully we'll be going swimming at Meyer's at some point too.

This Thursday is the second Thursday of the month. And we all know what that means. Okay, maybe not. It's the TEC Council meeting! And since it's the seniors last one, we go to Perkins afterwards. I'm pretty much pumped to see everyone!

And finally, the Harry Potter Party. Enough said :) I decorated a HP Tree and I put some stuff on one wall of my basement. Haha. Yes, I do know that I'm a nerd. It's okay.

And, as if I wasn't already smiling enough... The Twins pulled out the win today! We were down 2-0, but came back to win it 2-3. Yay!

Boyfriend of the Day: Michael Cuddyer

Cuddles had another great day! He was only 1 for 3, but he drove in 2 of our runs. He also made an outstanding catch out in right field. I'm glad to see he didn't miss a beat coming off the DL. It's awesome!

I wasn't too impressed with Gonzo today, but that's okay. Our bullpen did nicely. I am definitely jealous of all of my friends who were there! I hope Monday's game is just as good :)

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (13)
T2 - Tiny Superhero & Cuddles (9)
T4 - Jason Pear & Kubel Khan (6)

Happy and smiling... A good combination.

2007-08-03T23:25:00.001-05:00

Tonight's Twins game was rather depressing. I don't know what the heck is going on with Santana. Grr. It is a 4 game series though, so hopefully we can come back and win the next three. Particularly tomorrow (because a lot of people I know are going to be at the game) and Monday (because Lucy & I are going to be there!).

Boyfriend of the Day: Torii Hunter

He was 2 for 3 with an RBI and a walk. He was pretty much the only bright spot in tonight's game.

Casilla had a rough game defensively. He needs to settle down. His errors tonight proved very costly.

In good news, Cirillo is no longer a Twin. Yay!

I also just read the most entertaining blog I have ever read. If you're a Twins fan, you should check it out!

In other good news, I just got one of the nicest messages ever. Oh man, I was almost in tears it was so sweet. It was a wonderful day. I had fun, I feel like I was productive, I talked to/spent time with friends, and I was uplifted and encouraged by someone for no reason at all. It's the best. Days like this make me never want to stop smiling. And I think that's a really good thing.

I'm going to head up to the cities in the morning to watch Matt swim with my dad. I'm excited about that. I'll have to get up early to walk the puppies. And I have to walk them one at a time, so it'll have to be really early. Then, they'll have to have a long morning nap while I'm gone. I should be back in time for the game. Go Twins!

We remembered!

2007-08-03T15:47:00.000-05:00

I've been avoiding blogging lately. I just didn't really feel in the mood to do it after the I35 bridge collapse happened. It's so crazy to me. I don't even live in the cities, and I know I have crossed that bridge hundreds of times. My thoughts and prayers are definitely with the victims, their families, and the countless workers and volunteers trying to help.

It was very surreal to watch the Twins game on the night it happened. They broke in with news updates every so often and Beth and I would pause the game to come look at the coverage online. It was a weird night. And the game... Well it didn't go so well for us.

Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Kubel

He was 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs.

Ex-Boyfriend of the Day: Juan Rincon

Rincylinder... Grr... I do not like him. We went into extra innings and he gives up a 2 run homer. Of course. That's what he does.

In other news... I went and picked-up Einstein today. The family that I drive for is going on vacation. They are gone now until the 21st. Their 3 month old golden retriever puppy, is staying with us. Einstein is kind of crazy. He and Howie are already friends though and have been running around playing in the backyard all afternoon.

Lucy helped me take them for a walk around noon. There is no way I could walk them alone, so I was very thankful that she came with me! Howie was really, really good. Einstein likes to pull and not go where I wanted him to. But that's okay. He is just a puppy. I thought it was pretty fun.

After walking the dogs, Lucy and I went to the fair. I haven't been to the fair in 7 years. I saw a whole lot of people that I knew from swimming. And a few from TEC. We talked a lot (we even remembered all the things we were suppose to remember to tell each other, which was a first!), walked a lot, saw some super cute animals. I loved the llamas, the goats, the little baby ducks, the bunnies (especially the big fat ones), and the pigs. Oh, good times to be had by all.

We have lots of fun stuff planned for next week too. I'm SO EXCITED! I'm sure lots of blogs will come out of our fun and exciting week.

I think I'm going to go make some more stuff for the HP party next weekend. I have nothing else to do since my entire family is gone until Sunday. I might as well do it now in case next week gets busy! Adios amigos.

Ramblings...

2007-08-01T13:43:00.001-05:00

Today is my last official day of working for the swim club. I'm excited for what it means for my future, but definitely sad to be leaving the kids. My morning was filled with plenty of very wet hugs, but it was nice to know I'll be missed. I will probably do a little coaching in August because I need the money. And then I'm going to fill in when they have coaches out of town and stuff. But I'm done with the regular coaching.

I called Brooke this afternoon to congratulate her on the baby. It was nice to talk to her. I need to call HR and figure out why they haven't sent me a contract to sign yet. Apparently the two women who worked in the office at Bamber have moved to other jobs, so that could be part of it. Brooke said not to worry though. She said the district should be worried that I'll get snatched up by someone else. It was really sweet of her.

So tomorrow, I'll probably stop by HR since I'll be on the side of town. And I'll also call Laurie to figure out when I can be trained to do the testing we have to do in a few weeks. I definitely feel pretty good about things right now, though.

Let's see. What else. I got the new Stalin and the Shah CD last night. It's pretty much amazing. It makes me laugh and definitely cheers me up when I'm crabby. I also got to listen to it with Jenna this morning. Yay for bonding time with Jenna!

Well, the Twins won again yesterday. We are now only 6 games behind Detroit and only 5 games behind Cleavland (Wild Card Race). We got run support early and just held on for the ride.

Boyfriend of the Day: Lew Ford

Prancer had a nice, strong game. He was 2 for 3 with 2 runs and an RBI. He also stole a base, his third of the year.

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (13)
2 - Tiny Superhero (9)
3 - Cuddles (8)
4 - Jason Pear (6)
5 - Kubel Khan (5)

I'm ready for Cuddles to come back. And for J.J. to crack the Top 5! I know he can do it :)

A sad day for Twins fans

2007-07-31T14:07:00.000-05:00

I have to start off by blogging in memory of Luis Castillo. Yesterday, the Twins traded him to the Mets. While GM Terry Ryan has assured fans that we are NOT giving up, it does appear that way to some. I, am not one of those people.

They did little montages of clips of Castillo on the Twins broadcast, on SportsCenter, and on Baseball Tonight. I almost cried. Not that that's a big shock or anything. My two favorite Castillo moments of the season were definitely when he was making fun of someone for sliding (I think it might have been the Fiance, but I can't remember). It was classic Castillo fun! The other is when he hit a triple and slid into third. His reaction was amazing. I will definitely miss him!

A tribute to Luis Castillo from my other favorite Twins fan, Lucy.

RIP Luis "Game Face" Castillo
RIP Luis "Smell Em" Castillo
RIP Luis "Piranha" Castillo

Today is a sad, sad day.

I am sure that the mood in our clubhouse was not the best yesterday. The trade happened only a few hours before the game. It sure appeared that we came out to prove something in that game and that was exciting to watch. We had several players that really stood out to me.

J.J. took over in the lead off spot and went 3 for 4. He scored 2 of our 3 runs. If he hadn't been getting on base, Mauer wouldn't have had anyone to drive in. One of his hits was a triple that was oh, so close to being another homerun. Dang baggy.

Hubby #2 was 2 for 4 and had all 3 of our RBIs. It was really exciting to see some clutch hitting out of him.

The fiance was 2 for 3 with a walk.

And finally...

Boyfriend of the Day: Scott Baker

Nutty pitched 8 complete innings. He allowed only 1 run on 2 hits. Now that is impressive.

Go Twins!

Gonzo the Great!

2007-07-29T21:34:00.000-05:00

The Twins game today rocked my socks off! Garza pitched a gem and I was just really hoping we could get some offense going on and get him a win for once. We didn't quite get him the win, but in the top of the 8th inning, we did get our offense going.

Prancer grounded out, but then J.J. was hit by a pitch. Next up was Jason Pear, but he struck out swinging. With only one out left in the inning, Redmond came in to bat for Tiny Superhero. Redmond, the consummate clutch hitter that he is, came up with an RBI double to tie the game. Little J-Rod came in to run for Redmond and he scored when Hubby #2 reached on a fielding error. Hubby #2 then got to second on a throwing error. Oh good times. Okay, almost done. Fiance topped the inning off with a double to score Hubby #2 and then Hunter popped out for our final out of the inning.

We got to cap off the game with a solo homer by Prancer in the 9th and went on to win the game 4-1. Did you all keep up with that?

Boyfriend of the Day: Matt Garza

Gonzo was the clear choice on this one. He had 11 strikeouts (a career high) through 6 innings. He only gave up 1 run on 5 hits. It was an incredible game, it really was.

We are now only 7.5 games (and it could be 7 by the end of the night!) behind the Tigers. Go Twins!

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (13)
2 - Tiny Superhero (9)
3 - Cuddles (8)
4 - Jason Pear (7)
5 - Kubel Khan (5)

I love Jason Tyner!

2007-07-29T10:57:00.000-05:00

I just have to get Friday's game out of the way quickly. Then I can move on to bigger, better, and far more exciting things!

Friday's Score: 4-10
Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

He was 2 for 3 with a run and an RBI.

And now on to the exciting game! Santana pitched a very good game, unfortunately he didn't get the win. He had 12 strikeouts in 7 innings. Including striking out the side in the 5th. He gets the No Decision and good old Neshekel gets the win.

Saturday's Score: 3-2
Boyfriend of the Year: Jason Tyner

He was 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI. But here's what is truly remarkable. Jason Jason hit his first major league homerun! It took him 1,221 at bats to finally hit one over the fence. Beth and I had been waiting for this moment all season. So when it finally happened, I jumped up and down and screamed and cheered. Yes, I was watching on TV, but who cares!

Because of the fact that I have been waiting for this all season, he gets B.O.Y. honors today. If I wasn't already engaged, and if he wasn't already married... I'm in love ;)

My favorite moments after the home run were J-Rod getting really excited in the dugout, Joe Nathan calling for the ball because it went into the MN bullpen (talk about good luck), and some random old guy hugging J.J. and J.J. looking like he was trying to get away, but couldn't. It was some classic entertainment people. If you missed it, that's really too bad for you.

He had some great coverage on Baseball Tonight and SportsCenter. He even was interviewed over the phone. It was really exciting! Kudos to J.J.!

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (13)
2 - Tiny Superhero (9)
3 - Cuddles (8)
4 - Jason Pear (7)
5 - Kubel Khan (5)

Concert at the Castle

2007-07-27T14:15:00.000-05:00

My parents had yet another concert at their house last night. They brought in a blues singer/guitar player named Tab Benoit. As Steve so kindly pointed out, I had been a "doubting Thomas" about the whole thing. I clearly need to trust my parents, because it was a great concert. He is incredibly talented. I think I could listen to him play guitar all day long. Holy wow.

Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. The concert was moved from the deck/backyard into the garage/under a tent in the driveway. It was still a really good time though. I am really glad that Sarah came down for it so I got to hang-out with her. She even got in some HP reading while she was there. My aunt and uncle came up from Iowa and I always love getting to talk to my aunt Janet. She is the most incredible woman and I love her dearly.

Matt poured a bottle of water down my pants, that was not cool. I was quite uncomfortable for the rest of the night. Steve told him that he was lucky I didn't punch him in the face. Yeah, pretty much. The food was really, really good. I think my aunt's trail mix and the cheese curds were my favorite.

My parents were only mildly embarrassing. My mom still needs to learn that you do not need to yell into a microphone. Oh boy. We got to celebrate her 50th birthday (even though it's not until August 6th) with everyone there because Tab kept bringing it up. I think my other favorite thing was the fact that we had port-a-potties there. Nice. Or, maybe when Tab played an alligator head. Yeah, creepy and Happy Gilmore-ish. Pictures coming soon...

And switching gears now... I made chocolate chip pancakes this morning for Monet and Ilana. I think it's the first successful batch of pancakes I have ever made. Yay!

Dance dance!

2007-07-26T12:13:00.000-05:00

Life has been moving along at quite the pace. I can't believe it will be August next week. It seems completely unreal to me. Before I know it, I'll be back at school setting up my classroom. Oh man, I can't wait! If anyone is in or around Rochester, you should totally come visit me!

This also means that the time to say goodbye to some really great friends is approaching faster than I am willing to admit. I find it kind of strange how much I'm dreading it. Especially considering the fact that I rarely see some of them anyway. And the fact that we have a mostly online friendship. In that case, it doesn't seem like much should change. Yet, I'm still not wanting it to come. I'm so excited for everyone that is going off to college. It's such an exciting time. But I would definitely be lying if I said I wasn't going to miss any of them. I just hope to see everyone a lot in August and then plan some visits. I am definitely going to Concordia in October for Homecoming. And hopefully I can stop by Crown sometime, maybe on the way to one of Matt's meets in St. Cloud. Waldorf though... That could be a tricksy one...

The Twins have an off-day, so you get another Top 10. I was watching "So You Think You Can Dance?" last night and figured I could give dance movies a whirl. I had a hard time coming up with 10 movies, and I'm sure I missed some. But here's my list.

Janet's Top 10 Dance Movies
10 - Footloose (I don't remember too much)
9 - Take the Lead
8 - Step Up
7 - West Side Story
6 - Billy Elliot
5 - Save the Last Dance
4 - Center Stage
3 - Dirty Dancing
2 - Girls Just Want to Have Fun
1 - Strictly Ballroom

Speaking of "So You Think You Can Dance?". I again watched it last night and didn't agree with the judges critiques. If anyone knows about dancing (ballroom, contemporary, hip-hop, anything), you should come over and watch it with me next week. I need some help interpreting!

My Beloved Twins

2007-07-25T13:43:00.000-05:00

I really don't even want to talk about the Twins right now. This is just embarrassing. But, I still have faith that we can pull through this.

Tuesday's Score: 0-7
Boyfriend of the Day: Rondell White

He's back from the DL and had two hits tonight, including a double. Yay! Hopefully he can boost our offense. Although he did a good job in this game, we couldn't get anything going.

Wednesday's Score: 1-13
Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Bartlett

Because he had absolutely NOTHING to do with this horrible excuse of a game. I think it was a blessing that it wasn't televised today. I'm actually near tears over this one, guys.

Ex-Boyfriend of the Day: The Pitching Staff

Oh my goodness! This was a monstrocity. I don't even want to talk about it. All I'll say is that Santana giving up four homeruns doesn't look so bad anymore...

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (12)
2 - Tiny Superhero (9)
3 - Cuddles (8)
4 - Jason Pear (6)
5 - Kubel Khan (5)

The Wedding

2007-07-24T07:26:00.000-05:00

This wedding I went to this past weekend was easily the best wedding I've ever been to. I don't recall ever having that much fun. The wedding itself went really, really well. I was incredibly nervous to do my reading, but I didn't screw up, yay!

The dinner and reception were also a lot of fun. I hung-out with the bridesmaids and my new Coast Guard friends before dinner and then got to sit with some of them at dinner. The food was incredibly. Holy wow, I have never had food like that at a wedding before. And the desserts were to die for.

Then we got to the dance. I only remember really dancing at one wedding before. And I'd had a few drinks to help me relax. This time, I decided I just wanted to have fun. And so I did. It was a little awkward at first because everyone was dancing as couples, even to the fast songs. I danced with my dad to a few songs at the beginning.

I was talking to Kim and we decided that we needed a good "girl" song to dance to. The next song that played was "Brown-Eyed Girl." She and her husband, Scott, and I went out and partied it up :) Next up... "Coba Cabana." Jess, Kim, and I (even though we were in disbelief) kept the dancing going through Barry Manilow. And then we hit the "Electric Slide." The DJ said he'd never had a group that big all know that dance at a wedding before. Yay us! The last song I really remember dancing to was "Love Shack." We copied the music video and formed two lines and had people dance down the middle. Oh man, it was a really good time. There some other songs in there, but nothing else too memorable.

So yeah, the wedding was wonderful. I definitely made the right decision in going. I got Kim's contact info so she and I can keep in touch. It was a weekend that I will always remember.

My Boyfriends

2007-07-24T07:06:00.000-05:00

For the sake of time, I'm going to do this really quickly. I haven't gotten a chance to blog about the last four Twins games. I watched a few of them, and missed a few of them. I've seen highlights on SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight for all of them, I think.

Friday's Score: 7-5
Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Kubel

I'm going to have to agree with Lucy that Kubel Khan is really growing on me. I was not a huge fan of his at the beginning of the season, but he's turning out to be a pretty good player. He was 3 for 3 with 1 run and 2 RBIs. He tripled in the first inning on two outs to score Morneau and Hunter, He had five total bases, and he even stole a base. Wow.

Saturday's Score: 5-2
Boyfriend of the Day: Joe Mauer

We were tied at 2 in the 8th inning when he hit a stand-up, inside-the-park homer that scored 3 runs. It was amazing!

Sunday's Score: 2-7
Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

This game was so sad that I had a really hard time. No one had more than one hit and no one had more thane one RBI. I went with Fiance because his RBI came on 2 outs.

Monday's Score: 4-6
Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

Um, hello! He hit two homeruns in this game. The slugger is back!

Ex-Boyfriend of the Day: Johann Santana

I don't know what was going on today. He didn't even get a quality start. Grr. He gave up 4 homers. 4!!! I was incredibly frustrated.

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (12)
2 - Tiny Superhero (9)
3 - Cuddles (8)
T4 - Jason Pear & Kubel Khan (5)

In other Twins news... Last Thursday, one of my swimmers went to the Twins game. He went on a field trip with SACC. I had been joking with his mom the day before about how much I love the Fiance. When I got to the pool yesterday I was given a Justin Morneau baseball from them. It was so sweet of them! I love my swimmers :)

I love Chuck

2007-07-21T10:57:00.000-05:00

Any of you who know me well, know that weddings are not really my thing. So, as some of you know, I was really, really dreading the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and bachelorette party that I had to go to last night. However, I had one of the most fun nights of the summer.

We got to our hotel around 4 yesterday. I showered and got dressed and ready to head over to the church. I ended up riding over with Meredith's brother, Zach, and his girlfriend. The rehearsal went pretty well. It was very intense. It's a traditional Catholic wedding so I have to remember to bow when I go up and down from reading. I'm pretty much petrified that I'll forget something.

I rode over to the dinner with three of the bridesmaids, Kate, Beth, and Jessica, and Beth's boyfriend, Dan. Kate and I used to swim together and she, Meredith, and I went on a People to People trip to Europe when we were in high school. I've also known Beth a little bit over the years, just through Meredith. We definitely had some good laughs in the car. Especially when Jessica didn't see a stop light and had to slam on her breaks when Kate pointed it out.

Dinner was good, we all sat together. Everyone I was with ordered a glass of wine and I had a Diet Coke. The waiter asked me if I was 18, because I guess I look 18? I laughed at him. He carded everyone at the table for their wine. But later, when I ordered a drink later, he didn't card me. I guess laughing at him worked?

We ran back to the hotel to change quick and then headed out for a pretty tame bachelorette party. I was able to change my shoes and purse to match my new outfit, but I forgot to change my hairclip. It was driving me nuts because it was black and everything else was brown. Yes, I know I have OCD.

Anyway, so it was all of the bridesmaids, me, and the wives/girlfriends of the groomsmen and ushers. And we had a BLAST! Kate made Meredith a shirt that said, "I love Chuck." It was pretty cute. We just sat in the bar, had a few drinks, talked and laughed A LOT, and even played Kate's version of the Newlywed game with Meredith. Chuck's answers (sent to Kate in an e-mail back in May) were hilarious.

Some of my favorite quotes from the night:

"Do you want to go driving around with Ross and drink some homemade beer?"- Beth
"Who the heck is Ross?" - All the rest of us

"Oh, he must be a Libra. When is his birthday? Yep, he is." - Jessica

"What time is it now on military time? 24:37?" - Kim

"And blady-blah-blah." (x6 times just at the bar) - Jessica

"Are you in the Brown family?" - Kim

I also enjoyed our talks about nicknames (Mr. Big, Teach, etc.) and our merciless making fun of Kate for being the "Matron of Honor."

I'll blog sometime when I get home about the wedding and reception. I'm sure it'll be fun!

And I heard the Twins had a good game last night. I can't wait to see it!

Off for the weekend

2007-07-20T09:45:00.000-05:00

I'm just going to post really quickly before I leave for Chicago.

Twins game yesterday = DEPRESSING!

Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Kubel

He was 3 for 4 with a run and an RBI. Yay Kubel Khan!

Ex-Boyfriend of the Day: Joe Nathan

Lead off walks ALWAYS come back to bite you in the butt. Stupid closers.

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (10)
2 - Tiny Superhero (9)
3 - Cuddles (8)
4 - Jason Pear (5)
5 - Kubel Khan (4)

In case anyone cares, there are 9 players at 0 and 2 players at -1.

Alright, and now I'm off to Chicago for Meredith's wedding. I'm quite nervous still about reading. I don't know why. I might be online from the hotel, but we shall see.

And don't forget... Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is out tonight at midnight. I can't wait! But remember that I am probably the slowest reader ever, so don't talk to me about it until you know I'm done.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Tales from the obsessed fan

2007-07-19T12:04:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness, did I ever have fun last night! Honestly, my day started off pretty rough. But once 2:30 came, it was all better. I picked up Lucy and we headed back to my house (which is a total disaster, by the way!) to make posters. It took us too long to decide what to put on them so we had to make them pretty fast. Her's said "Punto is my Hero" and mine said "Circle us Bert, We're Cobbers" and it had our mascot in a Twins jersey. I was pretty impressed with us :) Of course, it didn't get us circled, but I have hope for our future.

We talked pretty much non-stop the entire time we were in the car, I thought it was pretty fun. We got to the Dome in plenty of time and we found the "Cobber Country" tent. Pretty sure that Cobber Night was so pathetic it was funny. But I'm still glad we went. Cobber Night has been happening for 6 years and we've lost every time. We hoped last night would change, but no such luck. The guy that seemed to be in charge liked our signs. Although, he didn't understand Lucy's. Um, hello! Clearly he is not a Twins fan. He even took a picture of us with the Circle Us Bert sign. We'll have to see if that one shows up on the Concordia website. Yikes.

I have to say that Lucy is probably the best person EVER to go to a Twins game with. She is way more fun than my family because she gets all into it too. We stood up between every inning and held our signs. We screamed and got glared at by the guy next to us. Well, that was really her because I started off a little slow with my cheering. We also discovered that we say the same thing at the same time freakily often. We even "whoo" the same :P Haha!

Our seats were amazing! We were practically on the field. Yay! We got some great views of the pitchers warming up and just chatting in the bull pen. I let Lucy be in charge of pictures, so I'll steal them when she posts them so you can all be jealous of us :P

The game was one of the craziest games I have ever been at. Too many beach balls and fights and crazy stuff. But it was really, really fun. Playing Twingo was pretty sweet too. My mom, Matt, & John must have watched us the whole time because they even noticed when Lucy held her sign upside-down (which was only for like 3 seconds and then she flipped it). At some point, they came over and sat behind us because the people that were there had left. The kids in front of us kept wanting the "Twins hater" to leave. Haha!

Anyway, I had an amazing time and I cannot wait to do it again! Even though we lost, it was probably the most fun I've ever had at a game. I might even have to bring my Homer Hanky next time and jump on the "rally cap" bandwagon with Lucy.

Not much good came from that game, but I'm going to have to go with...

Boyfriend of the Day: Michael Cuddyer

He went 4 for 4. That's impressive no matter how you slice it.

Ex-Boyfriend of the Day: Jeff Cirillo

Seriously, I do not like him. I have never liked him. And his pop-up to the catcher today when we really needed a clutch it just really irked me.

Lucy gave me the idea to call him an Ex-B.O.D. instead of an Anti-B.O.D. And to then give those players a negative point on my tally. So I did. I have only had three so far and it was Cirillo twice. I'm going to also give Jason Pear the Ex-B.O.D. honors for the other night... Grr...

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (10)
2 - Tiny Superhero (9)
3 - Cuddles (8)
4 - Jason Pear (5)
T5 - Kubel Khan & Johan (3)

"Circle me Bert, I like corn."

2007-07-17T21:59:00.001-05:00

Tonight's Twins game was incredibly boring. Beth was laughing at me because the one time I watch a game live (meaning I can't fast forward the boring parts), it's a 1-0 final. Matt Garza pitched a great game. He pitched 7 innings and only gave up 3 hits and 1 unearned run. Stupid Pear Boy's error. Grr.

I'm definitely hoping (and praying hardcore) that tomorrow's game is more exciting and that it has a better end result. Go Twins!

Boyfriend of the Day: Matt Garza

It's just too bad that we couldn't get him a win, or at the very least a no decision. At least his ERA is still 0.00.

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (10)
2 - Tiny Superhero (9)
3 - Cuddles (7)
4 - Jason Pear (6)
T5 - Kubel Khan & Johan (3)

I really need a good nickname for Johan.

Sorry, I've been slacking

2007-07-17T09:25:00.001-05:00

So I'm uberly excited for the next week or so. I get to have lunch with Miss Kelly today. Tomorrow is the Twins game that I've been excited about for weeks now :) My mom, brother, and boss are going to the game too, but our seats are better. You should definitely look for Lucy and me on FSN! I'm leaving for Meredith's wedding in Chicago on Friday morning. It should be a fun weekend. Too bad she already told me there are no single guys coming. What the heck!?! I'm rushing back on Sunday to get to Alyssia's talk and then Closing for TEC 68. Woot woot!

Next week is sure to be busy, as well. My parents are having a house concert on Thursday, so there will be plenty to do to get ready for that. I'm really looking forward to it. Especially because Sarah's coming down for it. Yay!

And to top all of that off... I found out last night (and confirmed it today with my Mom) that we're going to Olympic Trials next summer! It's 8 days of the fastest swimming in the country. Oh my goodness, I am freaking pumped! It'll be even cooler if we know someone swimming. And there is definitely a chance of that, so let's go Orcas!

I have been so busy blogging about the Twins that I forgot about my Top 10 lists. Here are my favorite sports movies. I'm sure I'll get a lot of crap for my selections, but it's just my opinion.

10 - The Cutting Edge
9 - The Mighty Ducks
8 - Bend it Like Beckham
7 - A League of Their Own
6 - Hoosiers
5 - Seabiscuit
4 - Remember the Titans
3 - Cool Runnings
2 - Facing the Giants
1 - Miracle

Get out that broom!

2007-07-15T17:14:00.000-05:00

Here is the cue for those of you who aren't Twins fans to stop reading... I have gotten a lot of grief this week from you crazy non-baseball followers (what the heck is wrong with you?!?) about my incessant Twins blogging. All I have to say is... Deal with it. The season is half-way over, but don't expect me to let-up on it until the bitter end.

Our first series after the All-Star break was against the Oakland A's. I was very hopeful that we could have a strong start to the second half and my hopes were definitely realized. We swept Oakland in a 4-game series. Holy wow am I excited! Apparently the sweep was so exciting that Lucy couldn't resist the urge to text me about it :P

I watched Thursday's game, but it was very late at night and I was a little out of it. I didn't see any of Friday's game, but I was getting updates from Matt. I was able to watch most of last night's game from the hotel room in Mason City. And I listened to the 3rd through 8th innings of today's game in the car and then watched the 9th inning when I got home. It was definitely some great baseball. I'm glad I have all the games Moxied so I can watch them tonight when Beth gets home.

Thursday's Score: 6-2
Boyfriend of the Day: Michael Cuddyer

Cuddles was arguably one of the players struggling the most at the plate before the break. But boy did he ever come out swinging on Thursday. He went 4 for 4 with 1 run and 1 RBI.

Friday's Score: 5-3
Boyfriend of the Day: Johan Santana

He's always been a second-half pitcher. I hope this year is no different than the others. He pitched 7 innings today and only gave up 4 hits. He had 8 Ks and no earned runs. Yay for Johan!

Saturday's Score: 4-3
Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Tyner

Oh how I love Jason Jason. And I'm finally able to give him the nod as my B.O.D. He was 2 for 3 with an RBI today and that included a double.

Sunday's Score: 4-3
Boyfriend of the Day: Joe Mauer

Mauer had the walk-off hit today to complete our sweep! He was 3 for 4 with a walk and an RBI. He even stole a base to cap off an incredible day as our DH.

Basically, it was a great weekends for my Twins :) I didn't think it was possible, but after today, I'm even more excited to go to the game on Wednesday. We have two really tough teams coming in next week, but I have faith in my team.

On Friday night, Beth and I were watching KTTC in our hotel room. Yeah, we got the Rochester news in Mason City. Anyway, we watched the sports highlights to see what the final Twins score was. The sportscaster said, "And Jeff Cirillo went wee, wee, wee, wee all the way to third." Beth and I stared silently at the TV for a few moments, we then turned to each other and busted up laughing. Her comment was, "This is why we watch ESPN for our sports coverage." How right you are, Beth. How right you are.

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (10)
2 - Tiny Superhero (9)
3 - Cuddles (7)
4 - Jason Pear (6)
5 - Kubel Khan & Johan (3)

Harry Potter

2007-07-11T14:49:00.000-05:00

At midnight this morning, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opened. Oh my goodness was it ever exciting!

Laura, Matt, & Rebecca got here a little before 8. We got into our costumes around 9 and headed over to Kwik Trip to stock up on snacks. We definitely got some looks and people asked us why we were dressed up. Yay? We made it to Chateau about 9:45. Laura went up and asked someone where the line was starting. They told us just to sit at one of the tables on the side. We sat down at the front table on the far side. We played a rousing game of Loot, which I won, by the way. Yay, first time that's ever happened! At 10ish, some guy came over and told us we had to go to the other side because we were in theater 7. I was slightly annoyed by this since I'd been told that we could go into any theater and didn't have to go to the one on our ticket, but whatever. After some crowd control issues, we did make it into our theater.

I was really impressed that we were in our seats by 10:15. Although, it wasn't as fun to be sitting in there as it was playing cards in the lobby. Oh well. Beth and I went out to get our free popcorn and realized that the other side hadn't gotten to go in yet. Too bad for them!

I texted Lucy to see which theater she was in and it was the same one we were in. Yay for Theater 7! Anyway, we ended up saving seats for her. She called me just in time, they were the last two seats in our row because some guys came and took the whole other half of it. Anyway, it all worked out.

The movie was amazing. I really enjoyed it! Especially considering that 5 is not my favorite book. I have a feeling that when I reread the book though, I'll like it a lot more. Some highlights from the movie were Luna (perfect casting, super funny!), the final battle scene (amazing!), and a whole bunch of other stuff too! I won't put too much in here as I'm sure a lot of people haven't seen it yet. I'm ready to go again. Perhaps in IMAX?

Anyway, the night was amazing. My friends are amazing. Yay for dressing up. "I'm free!" I loved everything about it.

A non-Twins blog. Shocking.

2007-07-09T23:25:00.000-05:00

Today was quite the day. It was easily one of the most stressful days of my summer. I had a lovely little breakdown in my car on the way home from work. My poor mom had to calm me down via cell phone conversation and then she wanted me to call my dad. So then I called him and he couldn't even understand me because of how hard I was crying. Whoops. But I think I got it figured out. At least for the time being.

Anyway, the real point of this blog is how great things turned out tonight. I got to the pool this afternoon and checked my voice mail really quickly before I got in the water. Laura called and told me that she, Matt, & Rebecca are coming here tomorrow to go see the midnight show of Harry Potter with Beth & me. Woot woot! I am so freaking pumped. Words cannot even begin to describe how excited I am. And we're all dressing up. Well, all of us except for Beth. Matt's going to be Harry, Rebecca will be Hermione, I am dressing up like Professor Umbridge (because she wears pink and I have lots of pink), and Laura's going as Dobie. Haha! If any of you are at Chateau, look for us! You probably won't be able to miss us.

And, one final note. Kelly is getting an honorable mention tonight for being amazing and sweet and an inspiration to everyone she meets. I love her to death. She wants to be my B.O.D. so bad :) I told her that she isn't a boy and she isn't a Twins player/manager/coach/mascot, so she can't be an official one. So that's why she gets an honorable mention. Get it? Got it? Good.

Goodnight.

An update on my boyfriends

2007-07-09T22:18:00.000-05:00

As requested, I want to update you all on all of my summer boyfriends and who is leading the race. I should first tell you about yesterday's game... There really isn't much to say.

Boyfriend of the Day: Nick Punto

He was 2 for 3. It was rather unfortunate that we could never get him around to score, but he certainly did his part yesterday. Both defensively and offensively. I'm ready for a streak from him after the break! Yay!

The Home Run Derby was tonight. The fiance did alright. He got 4 homers in the first round which left him in a tie for the 4th spot. Unfortunately, he did not win the tie break. But that's okay. He had fun and had Johan and Torii and Gardy there to support him.

The season is half over and here are my boyfriends so far:

1st Place - The fiance (10)
2nd Place - Tiny Superhero (9)
3rd Place (tied) - Pear Boy & Cuddles (6)
5th Place - Kubel Khan (3)
6th Place - Nutty, Castillo, Torii, Johan, & Granny (2)
11th Place - Boof, Suwihwoh, & Hubby #2 (1)

A few random notes...

I have stolen three of those nicknames from Lucy. Hers are better than mine sometimes. Or I just don't have one. Hopefully she's down with that because I already did it.

I really need nicknames for some of the guys. I keep suggesting some and Beth shoots me down. Oh well.

Is anyone surprised that my favorite player is leading. Lucy's favorite player is in 2nd. And Beth's favorite player is tied for 3rd. Hmm.

Goal for the second half of the season: Be less biased?

Am I really old enough to be a "chaperone?"

2007-07-08T19:31:00.000-05:00

I spent the weekend in Owatonna chaperoning a lock-in at Good Shepherd. I do not feel like I'm old enough to be a "chaperone." Of course, I did have Brandon tell me today that I looked like a 12 year-old, so then that really makes me feel unqualified for the job :P

I got to the church right at 7 last night. When Mariah got there a little while later, we decided that we needed Starbucks so we left quick. People played "Apples to Apples" and cards for the first part of the night. The band got together and practiced in the sanctuary and the sound guy came to do a sound check. I got to run the slides and make sure everything matched up. What Mariah? It's all about Jews?

Around 10 o'clock, Laura decided it was time for her relay race. The part that I supervised was people coming in and having to get a Cheeto off of a plate of whipped cream using only their mouth. It was nasty, but I did get some funny pictures. The best was when people grabbed Cheetos that had already been in someone's mouth. Ick!

Then we played "Lynch Mob." We played with the full 22 people (plus a moderator). It's still the best game ever. I got to be a criminal in one game. One of the other criminals got killed by Typhoid Mary right away and then the other one had to leave me to play guitar. But I had them all convinced that I was the deputy and I won the game. Yay!

The other Laura activity of the night was a competition between Me & Ben and Shayla & Brandon. The boys sat in chairs and then Shayla and I had to cover their faces in whipped cream and then throw Cheetos on them. Ben & I won, of course :) Sorry boys! It was all Laura's idea!

Emmalee gave her talk for me since I can't hear it at the weekend :( It's amazing and I love her. We came downstairs again in time for Laura's devo and then everyone cleaned up for the night. Mariah, Emmalee, Jill, and I locked ourselves in the music room and talked until 4 o'clock this morning. Jill is freaking hilarious when she talks in her sleep. How much are Popsicles again? We had two alarms set, but neither went off. We woke-up about 5 minutes before we had to have our cars moved, but that's okay. We still had plenty of time.

The services went great today. It was really fun to all be there together. The Children's message was probably my favorite. Props to Levi and Brandon for being amazing chickens and Aaron was the best monkey ever! In the 10:30 service, they scared two little girls back to their parents. I could not stop laughing. Oh, good times.

One of the readings today was from Isaiah 66:10. It says, "For this is what the Lord says: 'I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees.'" We could not figure out what dandled meant. I asked Beth. It means bounced. Good to know, eh?

Basically, it was an uber fun weekend! When's the next one :P

Time flies when you're having fun?

2007-07-07T17:32:00.000-05:00

Well it certainly seems like summer is flying by. I can hardly believe it. I look at my schedule each week and I'm usually overwhelmed by how much I have going on. But I just keep telling myself that there are only four weeks left of the swimming season. Once we hit August 6th, I might be able to breathe again.

I have plans every weekend for the next month. Tonight is the TEC Lock-In and services tomorrow morning in Owatonna. Next weekend we have a meet in Mason City. The weekend after that is the wedding in Chicago. Then A/B Finals in Winona and then the State Meet at the U. Whew. And that's just the weekends...

Next week is the midnight show of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and TEC Council. The week after that, I have the Twins game with Lucy, the Orca Championships, and final stuff to get ready for the wedding. And the week after that we have the concert at my parents' house (anybody want to come?).

But, I will admit, I'm having a really fun summer. And, other than the meets, I'm uberly excited for what's to come! Well, it's time for me to head to O-Town, but before I go...

Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

Three reasons. #1, because I can do whatever I want. #2, because the FOX commentators kept calling him Paul Bunyan, which led to Beth calling him Lumberjack, which led to me cracking up. #3, because there wasn't too much to get excited about in this game. But that's okay. We're probably tired after scoring 32 runs yesterday! And the good news, Red's okay! See y'all on the flip side :)

Oh, and remember... If you haven't checked it out yet... My favorite new blog :)

A Glorious Twins Day!

2007-07-06T22:18:00.000-05:00

This is my 200th post. Woot woot! Maybe that's why the Twins had such a glorious day today. I'd like to think so, anyway.

Both games today were completely insane. Seriously. We're getting some great coverage on both ESPN and MSN though. Yay Twins! Finally getting the credit they deserve. We scored 32 runs today. Does that happen? Oh my wow.

Does anyone else find it totally bizarre that this is the team who scored only 1 run in 3 games to start this week? Because I do. The offense was ignited today, that is for darn sure!

Well I blogged enough about today's game... Onto the fun of tonight...

The first inning started off with a bang. The fiance hit a three run homer to get us a little cushion. The bottom of the first inning was not so good... Stupid Thome couldn't hold onto his bat. He let go of it and it went to the backstop and then a few pitches later he swung through a pitch and let go of his bat behind him. He hit the home plate umpire and Mike Redmond. Red had to leave the game to get stitches. This meant that Hubby #2 had to come in and catch again after he caught the four hour game this afternoon. This also meant that our pitches had to hit. Oh, good times.

Of our 12 runs, 11 of them were scored on homers. The fiance hit three of them (3 run, solo, 2 run). Hunter (solo), Cuddles (solo), and Suwihwoh (3 run) each hit one.

As Lucy said, "Fiance's slugging is back." Heck yes! He's the fourth Twin to hit 3 home runs in a game. And the last time it happened was back in 1973. That's before he or I were even born. Oh man it was exciting to watch. He's getting ready for the Home Run Derby, clearly :)

Again, from Lucy...

FIANCE =

BOYFRIEND OF THE YEAR

Which brings us to my favorite part of the program...

Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

Haha, since it was a doubleheader, I got to have two boyfriends today. I'm really glad that the fiance was one of them. He was 3 for 5 tonight with 3 runs and 6 RBIs. That means that overall today he was 6 for 10 with 6 runs and 9 RBIs. That is darn impressive!

Don't forget... The best thing since sliced bread :)

And one final note... I just heard the TV in the other room and have a great quote to sum up today. "Meanwhile, the Twins go in and beat the White Sox in a doubleheader like a tied up goat." Haha!

All you fair weather fans can come out from hiding now...

2007-07-06T14:53:00.000-05:00

In case you're living in a cave, Slowey got optioned back to AAA Rochester yesterday. It was pretty much immediately following the game. Too bad for little Slowey. We called Dwayne back up. That brings us to 15 players with nicknames and 10 without. We shall keep working on it.

My eek exciting news for the day...

Let's go back to the beginning. Back in May, possibly even April, I mentioned to Lucy that we should go to Cobber Night at the Dome together. I had gotten something in the mail inviting me to it and it said it was on June 18th. She said she couldn't go because she'd be on tour. Lo and behold the middle of June came around and Matt informed me that June 18th was an away game. Hmm... I checked the Concordia website and saw they switched it to July 18th. Yay!

Lucy and I decided that we'd go together. We decided to use her dad's season tickets (so thankful for free tickets!) and not sit in the Cobber section. However, I have been e-mailing Diane in the Alumni office, we get name tags for the game and we're going to be joining in the "pregame festivities" outside the Dome. I'm pumped.

Oh, but I digress... Not that all of that isn't exciting in and of itself, but here's the kicker. So Lucy sent me a note last night saying she was working on tickets. I was not suppose to get my hopes up, but she was clearly excited about something. Today, her dad got us the tickets. We're in the section right behind the Twins bullpen... In the 4th row!!! Holy Batman! I'm too excited for words!

Lucy and I have lots of Twins stuff to do... We not only have Cobber Night, but we also have to get together and play with Legos. Yeah, that's coming soon...

I'm a saddened, and a bit frustrated, that the first game of our doubleheader against Chicago wasn't televised. So heartbreaking that I didn't get to see this amazing game on TV. However, I sat at my computer the entire game. I watched and listened to Gameday on MLB.com. For the record, listening to the Chicago commentators about killed me. Grr.

The game lasted forever. I feel really bad because there isn't much time before they have to play again. The good news is that we get to watch the next game. Woot woot!

So during the game, when I got excited about something, I found ways to tell Lucy. We clearly think alike because she sent me a Facebook message at the exact same time that I texted her. The moment... Kubel Khan's grand slam. Heck yes!

We scored 4 in the 1st, 1 in the 2nd, 1 in the 3rd, 6 in the 4th, 2 in the 5th, 0 in the 6th, 4 in the 7th, 2 in the 8th, and 0 in the 9th. Not gonna lie, that's crazy. We had 20 runs on 21 hits. That's nothing short of incredible. Why does our offense not balance out. We can't score to save our life against the stupid Yankees, and then this. Haha! I think we may be trying to prove something today. No?

Castillo was 3 for 4 with 4 runs
*J-Rod didn't do anything
Pear Boy was 3 for 6 with 4 runs
Mauer was 4 for 6 with 4 runs & 5 RBIs
Cuddly Cuddy scored a run
The Fiance was 3 for 5 with 3 runs & 3 RBIs
Hunter was 3 for 4 with 3 runs & 3 RBIs
*Prancer Prancer was 1 for 1 with an RBI
Kubel Khan was 2 for 3 with 1 run and 7 RBIs
Jason Jason drew a walk
Tiny Superhero was 2 for 5 with an RBI

Baker pitched 5 innings. He gave up 7 runs on 9 hits with 1 walk, 6 strikeouts, and 1 home run.

Grandpa pitched 2 innings. He gave up 3 runs on 4 hits with 1 walk and 1 home run.

Dwayne pitched 1 1/3 innings. He gave up 4 runs on 5 hits with 1 walk and 1 home run.

Rincylinder pitched 2/3 of an inning. He had 1 strikeout and he walked in a run, but who cares! We won by crap-ton of runs.

I really can't comment on defensive plays since I couldn't see it. But I'm sure there were some good plays :)

That was the highest scoring game I have ever witnessed. I mean, seriously, 34 runs on 39 hits?!? Man, I am so mad I didn't get to watch it. I just saw the SportsCenter coverage and it was hilarious. Some random facts I learned...

It was the most runs scored in a game since the Rockies and the Reds combined for 36 runs in May of 1999.

John Garland (AKA Judy) is the first starting pitcher to allow 12 runs since... John Garland last season.

Anyone want to place a bet on how exciting Game #2 is going to be? I'm thinking a 0-0 pitchers duel or something... Haha :P

Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Kubel

Janet (via text at 2:33 pm): Woot woot! Yay for Kubel Kahn
Lucy (via Facebook at 2:33 pm): OH MY GOSH. Jason Kubel. I am going to die.
Janet (via Facebook at 2:34 pm): Bahaha! I just texted you that :P This is amazing.
Lucy (via text at 2:35 pm): oh my gosh. That's what garland gets for walking hunter. I wish this was televised
Janet (via text at 2:36 pm): I saw it coming as soon as they started walking Hunter... Idiots. You and me both kid. We play well and we can't even see it!
Lucy (via Facebook at 2:37 pm): Yeah we did that at the EXACT same time. Hahaha.

Once again, here is the plug to read Lucy's amazingly awesome Twins blog! I can't wait to see what she writes after this afternoon's game. Oh my wow, so much to choose from! Now, I am not forcing any of you at gunpoint to leave comments. But we do all love comments, right? So you should leave some :) I have left the first comment on all three posts so far. I'm sure that streak won't last too long though. Thanks to Aaron and Tim for already commenting. They're clearly the devoted Twins fans among my readers (all 3 of them?).

Happy Twins Day... Stay tuned for another blog after tonight's game.

Pear Boy

2007-07-05T17:23:00.000-05:00

Beth and I were watching the Twins game today and we were talking about how Jason Pear never seems to catch a break. Did anyone else think that call at first in the 2nd inning was a little sketchy? Anyway, I decided to devote a blog just to Jason Pear.

* Even though Beth doesn't really like it, I've given Bartlett another nickname. I seem to call him Pear Boy an awful lot lately.

* Beth has a life-size poster of Jason Pear upstairs, but she hasn't hung it up yet.

* Jason Pear has gone 16 for 17 in stolen bases this year. If that's not impressive, I don't know what is. I even made a sign to keep track of his stolen bases. It's on the wall by the TV.

Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Bartlett

He was only 1 for 4, but he had 2 runs and 2 RBIs on a double.

Today's game was pretty depressing. I can't believe Neshekel gave up that two run homer. Ugh, it went straight through my heart. And we got so close in the 9th. Dang. On the bright side, I did get to watch Tiny Superhero run. I wish I could get some of my swimmers to swim with that kind of intensity. AND he broke a 22 at-bat hitless streak. I didn't realize it was that bad! I'm glad he redeemed himself a tad bit offensively today.

We only have 4 games left until the All-Star break. At that point I will post a tally of all the B.O.D.s so far this season. I'll say that the Fiance and Tiny Superhero are leading the way right now. Pear Boy and Cuddly Cuddy might make a run for it, though. Stay tuned.

And don't forget to read ...only another Twins blog... and leave comments. It's my new favorite Twins blog. Okay, so what if it's the only Twins blog that I read. It's still really good.

Happy 4th of July!

2007-07-04T22:57:00.000-05:00

Happy 4th of July everyone! My day started with coaching, of course. We gave all the kids sugar to send them off to enjoy a day with their parents. Haha! We gave the Age Groupers ice cream cones, the Junior Groupers ice cream cones and cookies, and the Gold and Silver Groupers ice cream cones and cupcakes. Oh how I adore holidays!

After work, our day really started. Matt brought Megan over and then we all went to see "Ratatouille." It's a really funny movie. Pixar has done it again. But I expected as much. Pixar doesn't make bad movies. It's definitely up there with my favorites. "Finding Nemo" still has a stronghold on the top spot, though.

We came home and watched the Twins game. Unfortunately, some one in my family left the TV on when we left, so we came home and saw the final score. Grr. It was still well worth watching though. More on that later... Next, we played Mario Party on Wii for awhile. I am yet to win a game. In fact, of the six times we've played, I've been last five times. Either I really suck at the game, or I just have the worst luck in the world. I'm hoping it's the latter.

When we got hungry, we decided it was time for dinner. We hit for .333 tonight. First we tried Fiesta, but it was closed. Then we drove up to Whistle Binkies, but it was close. Finally we got to Carlos O'Kelly's and ate there. After dinner we played some more Wii and that's about it. We were going to watch the fireworks, but we got lazy and we weren't thrilled with the weather.

I didn't blog yet about last night's Twins game. But I don't think I want to. It was not a pretty sight. However...

Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

He had two hits and gave me a little hope where not much could be found.

Today's game was WAY better. I did feel slightly pathetic when I was excited that we got a run. I asked how many scoreless innings we had gone only to realize it really hadn't been THAT bad. Santana pitched another great game. I'm glad he seems to be out of his funk. Let's hope our offense can stay alive and get our pitchers some run support. Bartlett and Hunter both scored two runs today and Kubel and Rodriguez each hit a two run homer (Hunter was on base for both of them).

The B.O.D. selection was a tad hard today because I'd like to award it to someone for their offensive contributions. Clearly, that's what we've been lacking these past few games. However, when Tiny Superhero makes a play like he did today, I'm going to go with him.

Boyfriend of the Day: Nick Punto

I haven't gotten to watch Baseball Tonight or SportsCenter yet, but I will. And if he's not in the Top Plays and Web Gems, I will be livid!

And how for the shameless plug part of my program...

A few months ago, I linked to Bat-Girl's blog. Lucy had told me about it and I really liked it. I was probably only reading for a few weeks when she decided to quit writing. Well we don't have to wait any longer for another Twins blog because Lucy decided to start one today! YAY! I've linked to it, so all of you Twins fans should check it out and comment for her.

Oh happy day

2007-07-03T18:42:00.000-05:00

Both yesterday and today were really good days. Really long days, but really good days. I've been covering some early morning coaching for my boss who is out of town and I have not been compensating by going to bed early. Oh well. You only live once, right?

Last night I spent some time in Stewartville with old friends. We met up at Greg & Jennie's with Laura and her mom. We all know each other through T.E.C. and then Laura and I both worked for Greg out at Lutherdale the summer after our freshman year of college. Laura went to school out in Seattle and that's where she still lives. I don't think I had seen her since our summer at camp, so it had been 6 years. It was so nice to catch up and reminisce :)

Then today I got to have lunch with Lucy. We met at 11:30. She was on time, I was the late one. Whoops. I figured we'd maybe be there for an hour and a half at the most. But three hours later, I finally had to leave to get my car in to the shop. I love talking to her and I am so excited to go to a Twins game with her in a few weeks! I think it might be time for a paper chain countdown... I keep saying that, but maybe I should really make one :)

So the highlight of last night's baseball game was seeing Erin on TV. I actually didn't see it when I watched last night because we watched it on ESPN. However, I was sitting at Saturn this afternoon, waiting for my car to be done with an oil change, and flipped on FSN. Sure enough, they were replaying the game. They came back from the commercials and there was Erin. Oh good timing.

I really have nothing else to say about that game. I sat in silence as it ended. The only prediction of Erik's that I wanted to happen, now cannot. We can still win the rest of the games though. Go Twins!

Boyfriend of the Day: Nick Punto

He sat on the bench. Enough said.

Anti-Boyfriends of the Day: Luis Castillo and Jeff Cirillo

Seriously, you have to be able to turn those routine plays. Grr.

Ooh, and more nicknames for you all :P

Scott Baker - Nutty
Jason Bartlett - Jason Pear
Jeff Cirillo - Suwihwoh
Michael Cuddyer - Cuddly Cuddy
Lew Ford - Prancer (now don't forget the carousel music)
Jason Kubel - Jason Kubel Khan (lately we leave off the Jason)
Justin Morneau - The Fiance, Hubby
Pat Neshek - Neshekel
Ramon Ortiz - Grandpa
Nick Punto - Tiny Superhero
Juan Rincon - Rincylinder
Luis Rodriguez - J-Rod
Jason Tyner - Jason Jason

I got Nutty from Miss Lucy. I had been giving her credit for Tiny Superhero, but I guess it's really from Bat Girl. All is good though, I still heard it first from Lucy.

Erik's Predictions

2007-07-02T13:39:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a good day. We planned a lunch with Connie, Meredith, Joyce, Amy, Mom, and me at Whistle Binkies on the Lake. The Moms (Connie, Joyce, and my mom) have been friends for years. I know that Connie and my mom met when Meredith and I were two. I'm not sure when they met Joyce, but I think it was either at the same time, or really close to it. Over the years we've done lots together. Yesterday we reminisced about our crazy political memories like doing mailings, meeting Barbara Bush, and having some random guy ask us if our parents made us dress like clowns (we were wearing Bush hats as 10 year-olds).

The lunch yesterday was basically instead of a bridal shower for Meredith (who's wedding is only 2 weeks from Saturday in Chicago!). It was so fun to get all of us together. We really need to do it more often. We had some great laughs and it was really fun to catch up on everyone's lives.

I learned a very valuable lesson, too. If you're sitting outside at a restaurant, either sit under the umbrella or not under it. Sitting half-way under it leaves you with a very strange sunburn. I have one bright red arm and one tan one. Ha!

The Twins game yesterday was another good one. It was another great pitcher's duel out of Baker. He threw something like 79 pitches, and only gave up 3 hits. I'm pretty sure it counts as a complete game for him, too. It was quite impressive and the commentators on all the sports shows were talking about how phenomenal he was (heck yes!). It's too bad that one bad pitch cost him and the Twins the game. Stupid home runs. It's also too bad we couldn't get our hits in the same inning. We did have six of them. It's always hard to go scoreless.

I should also mention that Bartlett had 5 of the first 7 outs. I found it rather humorous. I think he go the shaft not making Web Gems on one of them, but whatever. That's just the media bias against the Twins.

Anyway, that's all okay because we still won the series. I really didn't expect us to sweep. I was really, really pleased with Baker's performance. And that's why...

Boyfriend of the Day: Scott Baker

So I got to the pool this morning and one of the coaches, Erik, (a crazy Yankees fan from back East) gave me three predictions.

#1 - The Twins will sweep the Yankees.
#2 - Joe Torre will not be the manager after the All-Star break.
#3 - Mike Hargrove will be the new manager.

We'll see if he's right. I'm definitely hoping he is. Especially on #1 :)

Landscaping

2007-07-01T12:28:00.000-05:00

If any of you have ever been to my house, you know that the landscaping really sucked. The front yard was a disaster. Totally overrun with weeds and crap because the people who lived here before me tried to make less to mow, and it was a disaster. The backyard basically had no grass. It's all clover and stuff. The landscaping isn't horrible, but there were a lot of weeds.

Alright, so there's the background you need. This spring my parents decided it was time to fix all the landscaping. They've been here weeding and pulling out stuff (stumps, trees, clothes lines, etc.) several times. The weekend that I was gone in Chicago, I came home to see that they had cut down a tree in front, put mulch in around plants, and put up a railing on my front steps.

This weekend was more landscaping. We mostly cut down weeds, grape vines, and trees in the backyard and mulched some more. We ripped up ugly landscaping and are now ready to put grass seed down. Bottom line, my parents are amazing and did a ton of work. AND I am no longer embarrassed about how my yard looks. It's still a big dirt pile, but you can tell we're working on it. And it's going to to look SO much better when all is said and done. I'm really excited :)

The Twins game yesterday was another good one. Slowey had a strong outing and we played solid offense and defense. Good ol' Tiny Superhero had the #1 Web Gem last night and was on SportsCenter's Top Plays! Yay! Jason Pear also stole his 16th base. He's got a perfect record going this season.

Boyfriend of the Day: Michael Cuddyer

Cuddly Cuddy had a triple and a 3 run homer. Now that's good offense :)

The Amazing Race

2007-06-30T10:57:00.000-05:00

Alright, well I best start at the beginning on this one. Beth decided to plan an Amazing Race for all of her swim school instructors and helpers. We have a very busy summer with meets so yesterday was about the only day that was even a possibility. We didn't have much time to plan, but we went to work right away. Both she and I are huge fans for the show and took a lot of our ideas from there. If you don't watch the show, you are really missing out! Alright, so onto the race...

We had four teams. The Blue Team was Tanya, Grace, Taylor B, Erica, & Mareeka. The Green Team was Adam, Micah, Elise, & Willow. The Purple Team was Ashleigh, Evey, Kristi, Taylor E, & Emily. And the Silver Team was Alex (aka Francis), Andrew, Lilly, Nina, & Lindsey. Each team had a driver, but the drivers weren't really allowed to help. They were there to help us capture this exciting event on camera :)

The race started at the Rec. Center with a hula hoop task. Next up, Elton Hills. First was a Road Block. (A task only one team member can complete. We had five of them on the race so everyone had to do one.) There were four numbers
hidden on the playground. The kids had to find the numbers and use them to open a padlock. Apparently this task was a lot harder than we thought it would be. Once they finished that, the teams had to push a wheelbarrow, with one team member in it, for a prescribed distance.

After that, it was off to Jefferson. This is where Sarah and I were stationed. First all of the teams had to play some croquet. Okay, not real croquet. I had five wickets set up and different distances. I ended up having to move the wickets twice because it was way too hard and taking forever. Then was another Road Block. Each person had to pop ten balloons without using their hands or arms. Very smartly, they all used their feet and stomped on them. Inside the balloons were "surprises," like shaving cream, silly string, and sand. There was also a random fact in each one. Nine of the facts were true and one was false. They then took the fact they thought was false and ran it to Sarah. I clearly made the random facts to hard. I think two people went through all ten and one went through eight before they found the right one. I'm sorry guys!

Next up, Silver Lake Foods. First the teams had to beg money off of people to buy a bottle of pop. I think they all did this pretty fast because people were really nice. That is once the kids realized they should tell them they were doing the Amazing Race. The Road Block here was for one person to go into the store and find the prices for five items that Beth and I had picked. The items were A.1. Steak Sauce, Orange Sherbet, French Onion Dip, a loaf of bread, and a summer sausage. We had gone in earlier in the day and priced them. We gave the kids the size, brand, everything to find the right price. They then had to find the total and give it to Beth to get their next clue. I heard a rumor that some of them were having trouble with the addition process, but I don't know...

Then the headed to Silver Lake Park. The Road Block was to dig in the sand at a playground for a clue and next was the Detour. A Detour is a choice between two sets of tasks, each with their own pros and cons. This Detour was called Taste or Cent. In Taste, they had to each eat a tablespoon of caviar. In Cent, they had to count pennies. All four teams chose to eat the caviar. Gross! Next time we do this, we're picking something way worse than caviar. Possibly liver pate or pigs feet.

After that, the teams came to our house. They did their final Road Block first. We had six jars of baby food that they had to identify. I did provide them with a list of what they all were. They were bananas, beef and beef gravy, peaches, pears, squash, and sweet potatoes. Again, gross! Then they had to search my backyard for four packs of gum. Each pack of gum had an animal on it. When they found all four animals, they had to take the first letter of then animal name and spell a word. The animals were a frog, turtle, seal, and alligator. The word was fast.

Then came the final task... All the teams had to walk to Kellogg and got a pie made of whipped cream. We had hidden the names of six coaches and six little-known facts in the pies. The teams then had to match the coach with their fact. This took FOREVER! I guess we did a good job of finding obscure facts. Once they matched them all they ran to the finish line. The Purple Team won, then Blue, then Green, and then Silver.

It was a great race and we had so much fun! I think we're going to do another one in the fall, so let me know if you want to help with it :) We could not have done it without our parents, Matt, and Sarah helping us out. Hopefully they all had fun too. We finished up the night with pizza and DDR at our house. A few of us played a few rounds of Lynch Mob, too.

We have TONS of pictures that I'll post on Facebook when I get them all edited. This task is rather daunting, so it'll take me a little while.

Thanks for reading this novel about our Amazing Race :) Quickly before I go...

Boyfriend of the Day: Joe Mauer

He hit his first career grand slam today against the Tigers. Yay! It was uber exciting :) We won 11 to 1. Heck yes! It was a big day for Hubby #2... It was his first grand slam AND his first time being my boyfriend :)

We have back-to-back games on ESPN this week. Sunday and Monday night. I'm hoping we play some great baseball. Go Twins!

The Big Hurt finally hit 500... But we still won :)

2007-06-28T20:00:00.002-05:00

Oh dear, I am a little behind. Sorry about that everyone... We shall devote this blog to the best team in baseball. I have to update you on three games. Whoops, I clearly had a busy week.

Alright, first up was Tuesday's game. I felt like I was in some crazy, alternate universe watching this game. Baker pitched great! He threw 9 strikeouts. Who does he think he is, Santana? As Lucy said, "a little nutty Baker turns out to be a superhero. Wow." Well said, Lucy. Well said. It was quite the pitchers duel that we finally ended in bottom of the 12th inning with Cirillo hitting an RBI single to give us the 2-1 victory. I will say that I'm a tiny bit disappointed that we couldn't get Baker the win after that incredible start. But I suppose it happens.

Boyfriend of the Day: Scott Baker

I don't remember that much about Wednesday's game. Well, other than the fact that I was sad that we lost. I watched the game with my family and we thought we'd come back and eke it out. But no such luck. Tiny Superhero had an RBI single in the 2nd inning. He got to third on a throwing error on a pick-off attempt. And then he scored on a passed ball. Haha!

Boyfriend of the Day: Nick Punto

We ended the series on a high note today. The fiance was back as the DH. Yay! We were down in the 1st inning by 4 runs. Due in large part to Frank Thomas hitting his 500th career home run. 10% of those homers have come against the Twins, by the way. But we didn't give up. Silva battled back and we played some good offense.

Jason Pear stole two bases today. That brings his total up to 15 for 15 this year. He has the most on the team now. We actually only had 4 guys get hits today. But they all did really well. Jason Tyner was 3 for 4 with 2 runs and 1 RBI. Jason Bartlett was 2 for 3 with 2 runs and 1 RBI. Michael Cuddyer was 1 for 3 with 1 run and 1 RBI. And Torii Hunter was 2 for 4 with 2 runs and 3 RBIs. We had three homers in the game... 1 from Bartlett and 2 from Hunter.

Boyfriend of the Day: Torii Hunter

Tomorrow we play the Tigers. It's going to be Santana vs. Verlander. I'm quite excited!

Tiny Superhero is amazing!

2007-06-26T07:37:00.000-05:00

If you missed the game last night, and missed the catch of the year so far, I feel bad for you. Holy Batman, was it ever AMAZING! Unfortunately, the Twins lost the game. We battled back so many times, but just couldn't catch up the last time. It was also sad because Guerrier finally had someone score on him :( He had his 14-inning scoreless streak snapped, and badly. He pitched a great 7th inning and got all three outs on only 7 pitches. But the 8th was not a good inning.

Anyway, I hope everyone gets healthy (Castillo was spiked on a slide home, Cirillo's having knee problems, and of course, the fiance) and is ready to win today.

Boyfriend of the Day: Nick Punto

Was there any doubt? When you make the #1 Web Gem on Baseball Tonight AND the #1 play of the day on SportsCenter, you're going to be the boyfriend. Seriously... AMAZING!

If anyone missed Baseball tonight, the Twins/Blue Jays came was the top 4 Web Gems. It was awesome. And we had two plays from the Twins on SportsCenter's Top 10.

It came out of no where

2007-06-25T10:55:00.000-05:00

I'll start out by saying that I was very impressed with how everyone swam this weekend. I got to be in charge of the 8 & Unders (my favorite!) and I had a blast. I've really missed working with them, so the weekend went great for me. They all did such a great job. Jack, Victor, Erin, and Rachel all made State qualifying times. Anna and Lily made some A times. I had lots of them make new B and C times too. It was quite exciting. Here are some of my highlights from the meet:

Monet, who just turned 6 at the end of May, swam this weekend. It was her first ever "real" meet. She did an amazing job and was totally adorable. Her first event was the 50 breaststroke. She had to go to the bathroom so bad she was crying, but she made it. And she got her first ever C time! Yay Monet!

Jack has really been working hard this season. It was so fun to see it all come together for him. He got his Champ times in the 50 free, 100 free, and 50 fly. Plus he has the 50 back in yards so he can swim that at the State Championships too.

I got to watch the older kids swim at night for finals. All of the relays also swam at night. It was really fun because we won a lot of them. Anyway, one of my favorite races to watch was the Senior Girls 400 Medley Relay. Jenna was our anchor and she totally ran this other girl down and touched her out. It rocked my world.

At the end of Saturday's finals, we were cleaning up our bleachers. Wyatt tried to throw an empty Gatorade bottle into the garbage, but he missed. It went right into the pool while someone was swimming. Katelyn had to go retrieve it.

Matt swam the 100 Fly in consoles on Sunday night. Not gonna lie, he was in 3rd at the 50 and I thought he'd die for sure. Instead, he basically even split it and came back for a race to the finish with two other guys. There were three of them all together and I had no idea who won the race. We all looked up at the scoreboard and it stayed blank. Then all three times flashed up together and Matt won by 2/100's of a second. Ha!

And to cap off my weekend... Beth and I had one heat off during the 100 fly, we were running upstairs to take a picture with Mom and Dad because we realized that all four of us had on the same shirt. As we were rushing up there, we saw Dad heading to the bathroom. We told him that he had to come upstairs because we didn't have much time. As all of this was happening, I was still heading toward the stairs. I was walking backwards and not paying any attention at all. I ran smack into a poll. Dad, Beth, and some totally random guy were all laughing at me. I'd like to say that it came out of no where, but I really can't. I know that place like the back of my hand. Unfortunately, I just wasn't thinking at all. It's okay though, I'm not hurt :)

I also had to say goodbye to the Lam family yesterday. They've been swimming for us forever and they moved to China today. I'm so glad they could swim in one more meet before they left and both Chris and Brandon did a great job. I'm really going to miss them!

That's all I've got for now. I'm going to go hang-out with Sarah. And, for the record, I went over 30 hours without Facebook. See, Nate, I'm not that addicted :)

And the teddy bear gets ejected

2007-06-25T10:34:00.000-05:00

Well this is going to be a quick blog about my Twins and then I'll post about the swim meet in a bit. We got a series win in Florida. Unfortunately, my fiance is still in the hospital in Florida. Hopefully he'll get out soon and come back home.

Yesterday's game was certainly entertaining. It aired while I was at the meet, so I Moxied it and watched it last night. I was feeling like we won because of a few things. Matt had told me at the meet that Santana's first at bat made him laugh out loud. Megan told me that she loved Joe Mauer. We were ahead in the 4th inning when I got a text telling me that Santana got the win. So I knew, but all was good and it was still uber fun to watch. Here are some of my personal favorites from the game (I even took notes while I watched it so I wouldn't forget):

Santana hitting a triple in his first at bat. Heck yes!

Mauer hitting two home runs. Heck yes!

We had two "fake" web gems. Bartlett and Hunter both had great plays, but they just missed the ball both times. Bummer. So I got to see two different plays by the Marlins on Web Gems instead. Oh well, we won. Enough said.

And finally...

The home plate umpire was terrible. His strike zone was probably as inconsistent as I have ever seen. He called Cuddyer out on strikes and then Cuddyer argued with him. Let's keep in mind here that we're talking about Cuddyer. In my opinion he's one of the most non-threatening players on the team. I mean, hello, his nickname is Cuddly Cuddy. Well anyway, so the coaches got him calmed down and almost all the way back to the dugout. He then tossed his batting gloves on the ground at one of his coaches feet. I guess that was grounds for an ejection (what the heck?!?). Apparently the umpire thought he threw the gloves at him or something, I have no idea. So then Gardy comes out and argues and he gets ejected. I think the umpire was awful and I hope we don't have him again. Ever!

Oh yeah, and I can't forget. There was a fan that got ejected with a huge bag of popcorn. I don't know what he did wrong, and neither did Dick or Bert. It was sad.

And this all leads to the...

Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Bartlett

Jason Pear played really well the last two games. Within 24 hours, he had 5 RBIs (3 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday). He also stole two bases yesterday. That brings his total for the season up to 11 stolen bases on 11 tries. He's amazing. Now if only we could get rid his error-proneness...

Fiddling with personal communication devices

2007-06-24T01:19:00.000-05:00

The Twins have been in Florida this weekend for their final series against an NL team this year. Last night was pretty rough, not gonna lie. And it ended with a quite the scare. Morneau rammed into the Marlins catcher AKA a brick wall and was then taken to the hospital for x-rays and blood work. He was experiencing chest pain and coughing up blood. Apparently, he has a lung contusion (otherwise known as a bruised lung). He's still there tonight, but should be released in the morning and will hopefully be at the ballpark tomorrow night to cheer on the team and then fly home with them after the game.

The finace's injury happened in the top of the 8th inning. We had made a comeback and were tied at four. But, of course, Rincylinder screwed it up for us. He came in and gave up a solo homer in the bottom of the inning. We couldn't get it together and score in the 9th. It was rather disappointing. Stupid Rincylinder. I saw we oust him. In his last 10 games, he's only pitched 9.1 innings, but his ERA is 7.71. And his last two games have been AWFUL! Anyway, onto happier things...

Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

He still managed to touch home plate and score a run before leaving the field. He "fiddled with a personal communication device." And he gave a great effort in his run to home plate. What more can a girl ask for?

Now today's game was another story. Man was our offense on fire tonight. We scored 11 runs on 17 hits. The Marlins pitching staff definitely helped us out a little today. They threw for 8 walks. Haha! Pretty much everyone on the team contributed to the win and I have lots of choices for my B.O.D.

Castillo was 2 for 4
Mauer was 2 for 4 with 2 runs and 3 RBIs
Hunter was 3 for 6 with 2 runs
Kubel was 3 for 4 with 3 runs and 2 RBIs
Cirillo was 4 for 5 with 1 run and 2 RBIs
Bartlett was 1 for 3 with 3 RBIs
Silva pitched 7 innings giving up only 1 run on 4 hits

But today, my choice is...

Boyfriend of the Day: Nick Punto

There is only one reason for this pick and it has nothing to do with his hitting (he was 0 for 4 with two walks). This is solely because of the effort he put forth when running from first to score on Mauer's double in the 3rd inning. He was totally booking it. His facial expression is so intense and completely priceless. Oh, good times.

P.S. If Hunter had actually hit for the cycle (he was only a homer away), he totally would have been my choice. But alas, he did not. So close, yet so far away. Close, but no jelly beans. Sorry.

I'm not going to blog tomorrow because I've decided to take on Nate's challenge. He challenged me to go 24 hours without Facebook. Considering the fact that I went over 24 hours without it a few days ago, this really shouldn't be too hard. I'll probably blog about the swim meet and tomorrow's Twins' game on Monday. See you then!

Nate Inspired

2007-06-22T07:54:00.001-05:00

I was reading Nate's blog from the other day and it got me thinking. He posted his favorite "game console games." This has inspired me to want to make lots of Top 10 lists. So over the summer, I will post them every so often. My first one will be video games, in honor of Nate. Keep in mind that I do not play games very often and have a fairly limited knowledge of the subject.

Janet's Top 10 Video Games

10 - Dr. Mario for Nintendo
9 - Where in the World (or U.S.A.) is Carmen San Diego for PC
8 - Super Mario Brothers/Duck Hunt for Nintendo
7 - Pac Man Fever for PS2
6 - Aladdin for Super Nintendo
5 - Dance Dance Revolution for PS2
4 - Guitar Hero for PS2
3 - Mario Party for N64
2 - WarioWare Smooth Moves for Nintendo Wii
1 - Donkey Kong for Super Nintendo

Now that that's done, I'm off to pick up some children at the pool. Have a great day everyone!

My kidlets

2007-06-21T14:56:00.000-05:00

Well, if you can even believe it, I went over 24 hours without internet access. I'm still unclear on exactly what happened, but it's fixed now. I didn't check my e-mail, I didn't go on facebook, and (horror of all horrors) I didn't blog. It's a little crazy for me, not gonna lie.

I could catch you all up on all sorts of things. But I won't. I'll just blog about the biggest thing that has been going on in my life this week...

There is a family that I know through swimming. They have six kids, who I absolutely love. Jenna is 15, Ilana is 13, Ben is 12, Jacob is 11, Bobby is 9, and Monet just turned 6. I helped them with driving not this school year, but the one before. I drove the younger three to school in the morning and then picked up the older three from school in the afternoon and took them where they needed to go. I've also stayed with them for a week before when both of their parents were out-of-town.

Anyway, I'm driving for them again. All six kids swim so I take them to and from various practices. Ben and Jacob have piano lessons once a week and this week Jenna also had Driver's Ed. I had to type up a color-coded schedule to keep track and make sure I don't leave any one behind.

On a few of the days, I only have about 2 hours between when I get home with the last set of morning runs and when I start the afternoon runs. One of those days was yesterday. Instead of coming home, Beth and I both hung-out at their house for the afternoon. They have a new pool, so we spent the whole time swimming with Monet. It was a blast! It's been a while since I have just had fun in a pool. I'm totally paying for it today though. I'm scalded, as Beth would say. Of course, I usually get burned at the beginning of the summer and then I will be tan. Hopefully it's the same this year.

This weekend is the Rochester Invite. I'll be coaching a lot, I'm sure. It's okay though. I haven't been to a meet since the State Meet in March. And it's Monet's first meet. I'm uber excited. I taught her how to do backstroke starts this week and we worked a lot on her dives. I'm sure she's going to do great.

If you've missed the last two Twins games, you've missed some interesting baseball. Both games were great fun to watch. The Mets had a really rough outing on Tuesday. I felt kind of bad for them. They had the same number of errors as they did hits. Oops. Last nights game was awesome. We were back to Twins' baseball with some great base running and solid defensive plays. Baker had a strong outing and then the bullpen did their job. I hope we can keep this offense going!

Tuesday's Boyfriend of the Day: Johann Santana

He pitched a complete game shut-out and allowed only four hits. He didn't walk a single batter and got one strike-out. Then, we had the batting side of things. He drew a walk and then hit a double later in the game (he ended up scoring, by the way). It was freaking sweet. And Bert had to shave his head because of the shut-out. Haha!

Wednesday's Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

I'm sure that I'm biased, but I really liked his defense today. The triple with a run and an RBI just padded it :) Hunter was a close second with his 2 run homer though.

P.S. Brooke had her baby today. Yay!

"The Harlem Globetrotters showed up at Shea today."

2007-06-19T10:16:00.000-05:00

My Twins had a rough game last night. *Tear* Silva didn't start off too bad. And he had some great defense going on behind him. We had some trouble getting the offense going and Rincon had a tough time too.

There were definitely some highlights from the game though. All of which happened in the 5th inning. The Twins came up with three amazing defensive plays to get the outs. First, Cuddyer caught a fly ball at the wall. Then, Castillo fielded a ball behind his back to get the force-out at 2nd. And finally, Jason Kubel made a running/diving catch in left field for the final out of the inning.

All three were Web Gem nominees on Baseball Tonight. Castillo came in at #8 and Kubel's catch was #3. Yay! One of the commentators on BT said, "Yeah, the Harlem Globetrotters showed up at Shea today." The other guy didn't get it at first, it was pretty classic.

Both of those also made the Top 10 plays on SportsCenter. Castillo was #9 and Kubel was #5. The SportsCenter chick said she liked Kubel's catch better than the one that was #3. Yay! SportsCenter chick was full of good quotes. After the highlights from the 5th inning she said, "But then the Mets were killing the Twins anyway." Haha, I cracked up!

Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Kubel

Um, duh. With a catch like that, he's the clear boyfriend today :)

Wicked Weekend

2007-06-17T17:02:00.000-05:00

Oh my wow. I had a totally amazing weekend. This is going to be a mother of a long blog, but you're going to have to deal with that. I just have so much to talk about! I'll start at the beginning... Friday night.

Everyone came down to Rochester on Friday night for a slumber party at my parents' house. We played a little Guitar Hero and a lot of Lynch Mob. Oh how I heart Lynch Mob. We also started a new tradition of doing scratch-off games around the newly dubbed "Scratch-off Table." We went into town to buy some at Kwik Trip. Nate, Brandon, Sarah, and I were still inside and Beth and Matt decided to leave us. When we went outside, Brandon said, "I'm sure they're sitting somewhere right now where they can watch us and laugh at us." I started looking around and found them in the BWW's parking lot. The dorks.

We attempted to get on the road by 8 o'clock on Saturday morning. We were on our way out of the driveway at 8:20. We thought that was pretty good. Well... That was until my mom called us and had us turn around so that my dad could check the air pressure in the tires. It was low, by the way, so he filled them all. We finally headed down the driveway again and then Matt called. He told me to stop at the end of the driveway and that Dad was "racing" down to fix the chains that were dragging off the carrier. We turned around and the Explorer was barreling towards us. I think we finally were on the road a little before 9.

The drive down was super fast and really fun. We played a bunch of games (that we had modified slightly for car play). We played a lot of Smarty Party. Beth, of course, murdered us all at that game. We also played 25 Words or Less. I don't think Sarah ever got to do a card, but it was really fun. Brandon, Nate, Sarah, and I won. We stopped for lunch at an A&W in Edgerton, WI and then headed into Illinois.

I would simply like to say that drivers in Chicago are INSANE! If you don't break all kinds of traffic laws, you will die. I have never really driven in that kind of traffic before. I was very stressed and scared out of my mind. But I'm pretty proud of myself for doing it, not gonna lie.

When we got to downtown, we headed to Navy Pier. We pretty much booked it down to the end, took a few pictures with the anchor, and raced back to the parking garage. We then changed and raced down the curvy garage (yes, I did think I was going to throw-up) and over to the theater. We got lost because Bertha couldn't find us in time. We ended up on Lake Shore Drive in tons of traffic. Thank God that Brandon can read maps, he got us to where we were suppose to be. We parked in the ramp by the theater and then I changed quickly. We rushed to the restaurant (in the rain and dress clothes) and were incredibly thankful that they held our reservation even though we were 30 minutes late.

The restaurant was beautiful. It was called Italian Village and had a really neat ambiance. There were murals of Italian countrysides and villages on the walls. Complete with little lights in windows and a moon over the river. The food was good and the pina coladas were amazing. Haha. Nate ordered dry pina coladas, but still got changed for alcoholic ones. They were the best I've ever had, but probably not worth the $7 he had to pay for them.

Next up, the theater! We headed back over to the Oriental Theater for the 8 o'clock show of Wicked. We got there at about 7:40 and took lots of pictures outside. They're all on Sarah's camera, so I'll post them on facebook as soon as she does and I steal them from her.

The show was totally amazing, of course. They did a lot more with lighting and special effects than they did when I saw it in Minneapolis. The woman who was Elphaba was completely amazing. She had a really strong and gorgeous voice. The show was so good, in fact, that it will get it's own Top 10 later in this blog.

We hit the road right away after the show. After we got lost, we finally headed out of down town. But because we needed some more drama while driving, we wound up next to a trolley full of drunk people. They were making faces at us, checking us out, offering us beer, and trying to get us to roll down our windows so they could squirt us with their water guns. Haha!

I drove into Janesville, Wisconsin, where we finally stopped for gas and for some people to change (the people who weren't talented like me). Haha! At that point, I had driven the whole trip so far. I decided it was time to let someone else take the wheel. Brandon drove from there back to Minnesota. Nate drove for the last hour or so of the trip. We got home at 5:45 this morning and I went straight to bed. Yay for sleep!

It was an amazing weekend and was definitely worth all the driving, stress, and running around like a crazy person. I loved the road trip, the singing along to the Wicked soundtrack, the games, Navy Pier, dinner, and seeing the best musical of all time! I can't wait to do it again :)

Memorable quotes from the weekend:

"She's a silent killer. Like Gonorrhea." - Brandon (about Sarah, while playing Lynch Mob)

"It's not a van. It's a crossover vehicle." - Matt
"Oh, so it's transsexual?" - Nate

Smarty Party Card: Top Protestant Denominations
Susan's answer: Catholic

"I hate Chicago." - Janet

"Don't die of boredom... like I would." - Janet (to the toll booth worker)

"Not gonna lie." - Janet et al.

Chicago Road Trip Top 10

10 - Bertha
9 - Brandon (almost) falling down the stairs to the subway
8 - Everyone changing into their dress clothes in the parking garage/car/stairwell/between other cars
7 - Me changing from my skirt, top, and dress shoes into my sweatpants, t-shirt, and Crocs while driving through downtown Chicago in traffic
6 - Us rushing EVERYWHERE we went
5 - Dinner at the Italian Village and Nate's pina coladas
4 - The Booze Bus
3 - Playing games in the car
2 - Almost rolling backwards down the parking ramp entrance
1 - Seeing Wicked

Honorable Mention - Beth being the only one to find the exit of the bathroom on Navy Pier, our amazing speed walk down Navy Pier, all of the picture taking, playing Bunco in the car with Sarah, driving in Chicago, and the rain.

Wicked Top 10

10 - The creepy cat on the ceiling
9 - Glinda's quotes about her name ("It's Galinda with a ga." and "It's Glinda. The ga is silent.")
8 - The tears. Yes, I will readily admit that I cried during at least 3 different songs.
7- All of the cool stuff they did with lighting and special effects
6 - When they make it rain on stage during "I'm Not That Girl"
5 - "Popular" - it's such a clever song with great lyrics!
4 - All of the made up words in the play (disgusticified, braverism, etc.)
3 - "For Good" - It's one of my favorite songs in the show. Watching this number while sitting in between my sister and one of my very best friends is an experience that I will never forget.
2 - The "Wizard of Oz" references (see note below)
1 - "Defying Gravity" - it's the best musical number in the show. When Elphaba flies and the cape goes up and all the lights are on her. Oh man, it's so cool!

Wizard of Oz References

"Lemons and Melons and Pears." - Boq
"Oh My." - Nessarose

"There's no place like home." - Elphaba

"I do hope they find it, I'm horrible with directions." - Glinda (after sending Dorthy down the yellow brick road)

"... Or you'll never see your Auntie Em and Uncle what's-his-name again!" - Elphaba

"Let the girl go. And that poor little dog Dodo." - Glinda (to Elphaba)

Twins Games

2007-06-17T16:19:00.000-05:00

I'm just going to post quick about my Boyfriends. And, to clarify, they are still just boyfriends of the day NOT boyfriends of the hour, Ben! I have to post for Friday's, Saturday's, and today's games.

Friday's Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Bartlett

Because he had nothing to do with our slaughter.

Saturday's Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Bartlett

He had a hit, an RBI, a run, and a stolen base.

Sunday's Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

He had 2 hits, 3 RBIs, 3 runs, and of course the walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th!

I haven't watched any of these games yet. I'll at least watch this afternoon's game, though. Just give me some time :)

So you think you can dance?

2007-06-15T12:14:00.000-05:00

My favorite summer reality show is back and now in full-swing. I love "So You Think You Can Dance?", probably because my goal in life is to learn how to dance and so I'm really drawn to both movies and TV shows about dancing. "Strictly Ballroom" is one of the best movies ever, by the way :)

I started watching the show last summer during the second week after they got to the Top 20. This was the first year I watched the audition process. Just like on Idol, I'm not a fan of the auditions. Unlike Idol, SYTYCD makes it pretty painless and gets to the Vegas round quickly.

This week was when we saw the Top 20 paired up and saw their first dances. Not gonna lie, I was pretty impressed. I have my favorite couples (Lacey & Kameron and Jesus & Sara) already picked out. Of course, this can, and most likely will, change several times over the season.

Last night the first elimination. The judges really confused me. They were talking about how America got it wrong and the wrong people were going home. But the three couples in the bottom were the couples that the judges were the hardest on on Tuesday night. Nigel kept saying that America didn't get to see their full potential and that it was too bad. Well, I'm sorry if you didn't get to perform in your specialty, but to win you're suppose to be an amazing all around dancer. So, in my opinion, too bad for you!

I was incredibly pleased with the bottom three couples. And I think the judges did pick the right dances to send home. Ashlee just didn't step it up in her final "Dance for your life" performance. And Ricky was arrogant and annoying. I can't wait to see what will happen next week!

Alright, onto the Twins game. While we were standing in the church parking lot after the Council meeting, Nate told me that we were down 2-0 in the 7th inning. I was anxious to get home and watch the game. I won't bore you with the details, but we were down 2-0 in the bottom of the 9th inning. I was pretty nervous, but knew that we could pull it off if we just got the bats going. I had told myself that if Castillo could lead off the inning by somehow getting on base, we'd be okay. And what do you suppose he did, well he got on base of course!

The offense really came alive in that inning and we came back and won 3-2. Yay Twins! It's unfortunate that we can't seem to get Santana the run support earlier so he can get a win, but I won't complain about a no-decision for him on a win for the team. Heck yes!

Boyfriend of the Day: Michael Cuddyer

I loved his triple in the 9th inning. It was very exciting!

I'm excited because Erik invited Beth, Matt, and I over to his house to watch one of the Yankees vs. Twins games next month. He just moved here from out east and is a huge Yankees fan. I'm totally stoked to watch with him and his wife, Sara. Go Twins!

Simply Spectacular

2007-06-13T23:31:00.000-05:00

So before I get to the AMAZING Twins game, I need to vent.

#1 - Our air conditioning is broken. My house is almost 90 degrees right now. I hate it. Opening windows isn't doing anything. Grr. I guess I just didn't appreciate it enough. Hopefully my dad can fix it tomorrow.

#2 - My dog is sick. He left us four piles of diarrhea/vomit on the carpet before we could even get him outside. He is know outside, still getting sick. I feel so bad for him. Now my house is hot and smelly. Yuck!

#3 - ESPN doesn't like the Twins. We get sucky coverage. It makes me angry. All together now... East Coast bias!

Alright, onto better news. The Twins game tonight rocked my world! I'm so jealous of Ashleigh because she got to go. There is just so much great stuff to say about the win tonight. Our offense was on the ball tonight. Cuddyer went 3 for 4. Ford hit his first home run of the year. Morneau and Hunter hit back-to-back homers in the 3rd inning. Bartlett stole a base (he even got a shout out from Gardy in the post-game press conference). Mauer threw someone out trying to steal and had a hit. And we had some great defensive plays. But there is clearly only one choice for tonight's B.O.D.

Boyfriend of the Day: Carlos Silva

Silva pitched a complete game shut-out tonight. He was on fire. His wife gave birth to a baby boy yesterday (Justin) and then he pitches his second career shut-out tonight. Yay! I cared more about the defensive half of the innings than the offensive half once we got toward the end of the game. It was definitely exciting. Tomorrow we get to try to sweet the Braves.

Stupid Drivers

2007-06-13T14:52:00.000-05:00

So there I was [where were you?]. I was on my way to Soldier's Field Pool to coach the Gold Group this morning. I was driving south on Broadway and I got to the intersection with Civic Center Drive. Now, at this intersection, there are rail road tracks. There is enough space for one car to fit between the intersection and the tracks, but only one car. There are signs that tell you DO NOT PARK ON TRACKS!

Alright, so I got to the intersection just as the light turned red. I pulled forward to the crosswalk and stopped. I then noticed that a train was going to be coming. I knew I was fine because I was well off the tracks. But then some old guy pulled up behind me. He was stopped square on the tracks. It took him a minute or so to even realize there was a problem. He then kept inching towards me and honking his horn. I tried to move as far forward as I possibly could without being too much in the intersection.

Well, to make a long story short, I apparently didn't do enough for him so he rear-ended me and pushed me into the intersection. Then I had people driving the other way honking at me for being in their way. Grr! I was so irritated. So the light finally turns green (after the train goes by) and the jerk speeds off down another street. On the positive side of things, good think I have a plastic car so he just sort of bounced off :P

In other news... I totally forgot to tell you all yesterday that my incredibly smart sister tried some of Howie's puppy ice cream. I told her that it was like eating dog food. She said it tasted like dog food.

And an update... A few weeks ago, Howie got a hold of my bra and chewed it all up. Even though it was pretty funny, I was really upset by the whole thing. My sister happened to tell my parents about it and they felt bad for me because I said that I couldn't afford to buy a new one (Haha, yeah, poor college student. Oh wait, no, poor college graduate?). Anyway, today my mom bought me some new bras. Have I mentioned lately that I love my parents. I really, really do :)

My Wicked Weekend starts in two days. I'm uber excited. The curtain goes up in about 77 hours. Heck yes! I cannot wait.

Happy Birthday Howie!

2007-06-12T21:54:00.000-05:00

Today is Howie's first birthday [insert awe here]. I can't believe that we've had him for 10 months now. It seems like just yesterday when Matt, Beth, & I made the trip down to Iowa to get him.

We didn't throw Howie a party or anything, although we probably should have. We did, however, give him a nice, big rawhide as a present. He has almost eaten the whole thing already. We also bought him this puppy ice cream. It's peanut butter flavored. I'd say he heartily enjoyed it.

While I was watching the Twins game, I saw a Jimmy John's commercial that I had to rewind and watch again. Yes, it was that good. I was hating the commercial until the very end when cannibalism kicks in. Oh good times.

The game tonight was great! Yay Twins! I told Beth that I was going to make her beloved Jason Pear my anti-boyfriend after his stupid error. But I'll be nice. It was nice to see Mauer get a few hits. And the fiance finally had an RBI again tonight.

Boyfriend of the Day: Luis Castillo

He had 2 RBIs off of 3 hits. He definitely came up big when we needed some offense.

And the Dundie goes to...

2007-06-11T22:23:00.000-05:00

Well, I've officially arrived. I've been told that you're not really a teacher (or a coach) until you get invited to your first birthday party. And that finally happened. Rachel's mom, Lisa, e-mailed me last week and asked if I'd come to Rachel's 8th birthday party, which was today.

I knew all of the girls there except for two. Most of them were swimmers, but I knew a few from subbing at Bamber. I walked in and they all went nuts. Lisa kept calling me a rock star. I, obviously, do not think of myself as a rock star, but I think it's cool that kids look up to their teachers like that. It definitely makes me feel good about what I'm choosing to do with my life.

Anyway, the party was really fun. All the girls wanted to show me what they painted. I took some pictures, ate a cupcake, watched Rachel open her presents, and then headed off to work. It was a good day :)

Our summer schedule for swimming started today. I never like how broken up everything is, but I do love coaching outside. Today was a gorgeous way to start the season! Here's what the schedule looks like for me:

Mon: 6:45 to 8:45 AM, 9:45 to 11:45 AM, & 3:45 to 6:45 PM
Tues: 5:15 to 7:15 AM & 3:45 to 6:45 PM
Wed: 6:45 to 8:45 AM, 9:45 to 11:45 AM, & 3:45 to 6:45 PM
Thurs: 5:15 to 7:15 AM & 8:15 to 11:45 AM

Since the Twins had an off day today, there is no B.O.D. However, I would like to give out a few awards. I honestly have no idea why I am doing this, but whatever. They all have to do with conversations I am having right now or things that happened today.

Nate gets an award for being very on top of things with his thank you notes. 8 days is very impressive!

Matto gets an award because he's freaking funny to talk to when he's had a few drinks. Don't worry folks, he's WELL over 21 :P

Matt gets an award for being the most random person to talk to tonight. And for telling me to be more unsupportive.

Jenna gets an award for telling me to come over to her house anytime. Yay for not having to be invited. Of course, I probably never would do it, but it's the thought that counts.

Lucy gets an award for replying to all of my crazy facebook messages today! I believe we have 5 threads or so going. Haha.

Jill gets an award for cheering me up.

Sarah gets an award for the best conversation over a picture that Amy posted on facebook. Yay!

And my final award for the night...

Laura gets an award for being my best friend in the entire world and because she loves me "oddles."

And the bear goes to the dentist!

2007-06-10T19:59:00.000-05:00

Late last night we decided that we could try and go back to the Dome today for the Twins game. We called Megan at like 12:45 and woke her up to see if she could come with us. The four of us were planning to go, but with all of our different schedules, we knew it would be hard. She was suppose to be in DC, but plans changed and so today worked.

Side note: Matt got hungry last night and we decided to go to Hy-Vee. It was about 2 in the morning and there wasn't a single other person shopping there. Which was probably a good thing considering the fact that I was wearing my pink flamingo pajamas.

Matt and I picked Megan up around 11 this morning and headed up to the Farmington Exit to wait for Beth. While we were waiting, I climbed out the sun roof and took pictures. It was quite fun. Then Matt decided that Beth would get there faster if he opened the window and yelled at her. Megan and I could not stop laughing. Beth finally got there and we jammed out to "Before He Cheats." It was not very musical. I'd call it more screaming at the top of our lungs, but it was sure fun!

The game was really, really good. We finally beat the Nationals! Woot woot! There was definitely some drama and some good laughs in the game too. How about that over-turned home run in the first inning? And when the short stop threw towards first after the ball had fallen out of his glove. Priceless. Plus, I finally got to see Neshek pitch live. Yay!

Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Bartlett

Jason Pear definitely had a good game. He says that batting second gave him some confidence even though it really shouldn't matter. However, Beth thinks it was because she was there. Either way, I'm good with it. He had 3 hits, 2 RBIs, and 1 run. Heck yes!

Beth has come up with a few new nicknames. So here is our updated list of Twins nicknames. The fans around us kept giving us weird looks when we'd yell them. Haha. I love it!

Jason Bartlett - Jason Pear
Carmen Cali - Dwayne
Jeff Cirillo - Suwihwoh
Michael Cuddyer - Cuddly Cuddy
Lew Ford - Prancer [insert carousel music here]
Jason Kubel - Jason Kubel Khan
Justin Morneau - The Fiance, Hubby
Pat Neshek - Neshekel
Nick Punto - Tiny Superhero
Juan Rincon - Rincylinder
Jason Tyner - Jason Jason

And in other news... Here are some of our wonderfully funny quotes from today:

"With this rack? I don't think so!" - Beth
"Eww. Lubricate's a dirty word." - Beth
"I think riding a motorcycle is too close to spooning." - Beth
"Jason Pear are you in there?" - Beth talking to her new poster

Tomorrow... The summer schedule starts. How excited do you all think I am that I get to go to the pool at 6:45 AM on Mondays and Wednesdays and 5:00 AM on Tuesdays and Thursdays :)

Cuddy!

2007-06-09T22:57:00.000-05:00

Steve was on the news last night. It was exciting. He was talking about the Century Senior Party. My favorite part of the interview was that he was wearing his Orca Staff shirt. Haha! Heck yes for free advertising. I also found one of his comments wildly amusing, but I won't go into that.

I didn't do anything today. Seriously, pretty much nothing. I did, however, take time out of my clearly busy schedule to watch the Twins game. I was so excited that we didn't give up a run in the first inning. And then I was excited when we took an early lead. But that was pretty much all I could get excited about today.

Boyfriend of the Day: Michael Cuddyer

He had yet another outfield assist. I think that brings the total to 13, the next closest to him in the AL is at 9. Yeah, and he's totally underrated. I just do not understand why Baseball Tonight and SportsCenter never talk about him. Seriously, it's getting annoying. Whatever, he's amazing.

After the Twins game, Beth and I watched the Belmont Stakes. It was freaking sweet. We were routing for Rags to Riches because we wanted a filly to win. I was screaming at the TV. It was muy exciting when she won :)

Alright, that's about all I've got. I will most likely be hitting up an open house tomorrow, so maybe I'll have some exciting story from that to tell you about. Probably not, but we can hope.

Dome Dogs & Mini Donuts

2007-06-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

I'm not totally sure where to start on this one. I guess I'll go back to last night. I was invited to go play Bunco at Jennie's. I had heard a lot about Bunco before that. Basically, every teacher I have ever known plays Bunco. I figured I better get in the mix. I had a blast, it's really fun. I would love to get a Bunco group going next year, maybe once a month or something. Super fun!

When I got home, Matt and Beth were playing Guitar Hero. Even though I was hesitant to join them, I eventually did. Pretty sure I went to bed at 5:45. It was light outside. Whoops. I woke up around 11:30 to get ready for today. We went to see "Ocean's Thirteen." It was really good. Definitely better than 12 and up there with 11 for me. It's very funny and back in Vegas. So far, so good. I've been very impressed with all of the thirds that have come out this summer.

When the movie was over, Matt and I quickly made a "Circle Us Bert" sign for the game. Of course, we ended up forgetting the sign in the car, but oh well. I had so much fun at the Twins game. Even though we lost, it was a great game. I was definitely a little concerned when we were down 8 to 0, but then we scored some runs and had the chance to stand up and cheer.

Matt, Ashleigh, & Sarah

Sarah & I are ready for the game to start

The gals

It was really fun to be at a game for the first time this season. This is easily the closest I have ever watched the Twins. I can probably count the number of games that I've completely missed on one hand. I love it. So it was really fun to be at the Dome. Great food, great friends, great time. Joe Mauer made his return to night. The crowd went nuts every time he did anything. Silva had a very rough outing today. Thank goodness Ortiz was able to come in and pitch some solid innings for us.

Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Kubel

Kubel came through for us and hit a three run homer in the 7th inning. That sparked a little come-back. It wasn't enough to win, but it was something. I have a good feeling about tomorrow's game :)

When life hands you lemons...

2007-06-07T16:06:00.001-05:00

... throw them back!

For the record, I am still trying my best to smile and stay positive. But sometimes, it's really hard. All I want to do is cry and vent, but I won't. I'll just smile and put up with this crap. If anyone has suggestions for part-time summer jobs, I'm open to them. It looks like I could work Thursday afternoons, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Of course, if we have a meet, then I'm not sure. Grr.

Things keeping me sane right now:

#1 - Nick Punto commented on my last blog :P

#2 - I got my right CD from Big 9 today. Now that's good service! And they sound even better than I remember. Man do I ever love "Alleluia!" I can't not smile when I listen to it.

#3 - I get to see Sarah tonight AND tomorrow night. And then four days in a row next weekend.

#4 - I'm going to see Ocean's 13 tomorrow afternoon!

The school year is now over. It was by far the best year since I've been out of college. I am incredibly blessed to have gotten to work with all the students that I did this year. Whether it be the 2nd graders in the "class from Hell," or the Kindergarteners at Bamber that showed me how much I love "play time," or the Century choir kids. I am so lucky, I really am. I got to meet people and make some friends that I hope to have for a long time. I can't wait to see some of you again next year. And those that graduated, congratulations. And keep in touch.

I watched "Pleasantville" today. I haven't seen it in a really long time. I'm a fan. It's a good flick.

Yay Twins!

2007-06-06T21:06:00.000-05:00

It rained today. I like the rain. I got quite wet in the rain. It made me laugh.

I finally got my hair cut today. I think my last hair cut was back in December. Whoops. Anyway... So I've been growing my hair out for a while now. And until about 8 hours ago, it was the longest it had every been in my entire life. You see, my hair grows incredibly slow. We measured once and my hair grows four times slower than average. It's really a pain, but there's nothing I can do about it. Oh, I digress. I had 2 inches cut off today. That should take approximately 8 months to grow back. Yikes! But I actually think that I really like it. Time will tell, I guess.

When the mail came today I was SUPER excited because I finally got the Century Big 9 CD. I rushed down the stairs, put the CD in my computer, hit play... And heard the Winona choir. So I had to look up the company online and call them. The guy was really nice about it and said they'd send me the right one immediately. Hopefully I get it by the end of the week. I cannot wait to listen to my favorite choir EVER :) And they were so amazing at Big 9, I can't stop smiling just thinking about it!

And, to top off a really good day... The Twins pulled out a win in Anaheim! It wasn't looking so good when we were down 4 to 0, but never give up on the Twins. There are three good choices for my boyfriend today. Kevin Slowey got his first major league win. It was a very solid outing for him. Michael Cuddyer went 3 for 4 with a 2 run home and 3 RBIs. And...

Boyfriend of the Day: Nick Punto

His 3 run home run got us the lead. After that, we just held on. It was nice to see him come up with a clutch hit. I think most of us watching were ready for a bunt, and then he hits it out of the park. It was pretty darn exciting. I especially loved the text I got from Nate right after it happened. It said, "Punto Pride."

We're gonna win, Twins?

2007-06-05T23:29:00.000-05:00

It was another disappointing game for the Twins. That's our fourth loss in a row. We just have no offense. Well, except for Torii Hunter. He hit another home run tonight. On the bright side, our pitching was better tonight. And I have high hopes for Slowey tomorrow. I'm ready to see him pitch again.

It really kills me when we play out west. Dang it's late when the games get over. Although this is much earlier than last night. Thankfully, tomorrow is an afternoon game. I should even be able to watch it before work. Yay! Oh how I love finding joy in the little things :) And our tickets are purchased for Friday night. I cannot wait!

Boyfriend of the Day: Torii Hunter

Even though we appear to be iin an offensiive slump, Torii hiit a home run last niight and another one toniight. He's the clear choiice.

Finding Nemo (and the silver lining)

2007-06-05T14:19:00.000-05:00

"Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold." - Maurice Setter

I got this quote e-mailed me today as my "Daily Inspiration." I really like it. It also kind of fits with my new outlook on life. I have to say, I find myself smiling a lot more just because I refuse to let things bother me. It's great.

I subbed at Century this morning. It was pretty darn weird to sub during finals, not gonna lie. I gave an honors biology final and then a regular biology final. After the test was finished, we got to watch "Finding Nemo." Oh how I love that movie. It's one of my all-time favorites. I was there for four and a half hours, which means I got paid for a whole day even though I was gone by noon. That's always exciting. I got to say "hi" to a few choir kids and Connie on my way out, so that was fun. Plus, Kelly and Ashleigh and Molly all came and said hello. Kelly even wrote me a "love letter" that one of the students brought me during 1st hour. It made me smile.

After that, I headed over to Bamber to finalize some things with Brooke. She showed me where all of her files are and showed me what we're going to use for homework next year. I have decided that I really, really like her. She's amazing and she's taking all of the pressure off of me. Basically, she said I can do whatever I want and then she'll just do whatever I decide to go with. I can use anything of hers that I want to, but I can also use whatever I want. I totally love it. I am just so excited. But I bet you didn't notice that at all :)

I am finally going to a Twins game! Woot and a half! On Friday night, Ashleigh, Matt, and I are going to drive up and Sarah's coming too. I absolutely cannot wait. So while all the Century seniors are sitting through a long, boring graduation ceremony. I'll be cheering on my team at the Dome. Heck yes!

Speaking of the Twins...

Did anyone watch the game last night? I clearly should have given up on it and gone to bed, but I just can't do that. Oh how quickly the game went from tied at 1-1 to one of the worst losses I can remember. But don't fret, I love my Twins, even when we lose 16 to 3.

On "Baseball Tonight," they said that the Angels were killing the Twins. Beth proceeded to list words that they should have used instead of killed because that's boring. So here you go: massacred, demolished, destroyed, murdered, slaughtered, crushed, bludgeoned, tortured, steamrolled, or clobbered. And all of this leads to...

Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Bartlett

Why, you ask. Because Jason Pear had absolutely nothing to do with that horrific loss! The good news, it's only one game. Hopefully we got that out of our systems and can play better tonight.