is it too late to brag about valentine's day?:)

tough. it was too too charming.

when we got to the church, the door was held open by a little gentleman. once inside, another little lady and gentleman took our coats. then we were escorted downstairs. we opened the door to the gathering area and i was astounded. the lights were doused, and the entire area was lit with candles and red faery lights. there was also a pink glow coming from the punch fountain. the basement was decorated with hearts and cupids everywhere. there were red table cloths and centerpieces that were quite nice.

i chose to sit at a table near the musicians. we have a very musically talented church (there was a 14 violin special just this sunday. my mom was one of the 14. i am so proud.). there was a man playing the accordian and one playing guitar. they both had little fake black mustaches and one had a black beret. the lady was playing the bass. no mustache. they played "that's amore" and all sorts of sappy lovely italian love songs.

the food was catered authentic italian buffet. antipasto, bread, salad, chicken fettucine alfredo, and cheese and italian sausage stuffed shells. i thought it was good, but dan... not so much. i guess he would have rather had a cheeseburger or something. :) after we ate the guitarist entertained us with a whimsical song about a poor man making a fur coat for his wife out of a german shepard. if you know me... you know i loved that. then there was a "dating game", then the pastor and his wife did a little skit. it was funny because pastor kept saying his wife's lines, and because it briefly involved "manwhich". if you went to my church you would know that manwhich caused a great deal of commotion with pastor and his new bride once upon a time. it's funny.

last of all was the dessert. many varieties of cheese cake were laid out on the buffet. i hate cheese cake. i know. nuts-o. so, i was certainly delighted that the lady in charge of the whole lovely banquet had made a white cake with raspberry filling and a cool, delicious frosting from scratch! oh, and the local coffee shop donated all the coffee for the evening, and you could tell. it smelled heavenly. quite appropriate for the deerwood baptist church's valentine's banquet.:)

read any good books lately?

i just finished "middlemarch" by george eliot a few weeks back. wow. it was written in the 1700's by a woman using a pen name. i must admit, i did skip a lot of background description to get through it. it was as thick as a phone book. it was a great moral contrast between two as-different-as-you-can-get women. to make it even more clear -- one was blonde, one was brunette. etc. if nothing else, i am glad i read the book because it made me appreciate the great marriage that God has given me. it's a big bad world out there and marriage is a fragile thing. i am really in love with dan and he's in love with me and that's a blessed thing. and might i add, we are committed to loving each other. i think that is very important.

mucho milestones

jack has been doing all kinds of great stuff. he can now stand unassisted for a few moments, creep around the furniture by holding on, pull himself up (when he is not in a whiney-mommy-do-it-for-me mood "muh-muh-muh!".), and yesterday dan noticed a tooth breaking through. he did not say he SAW a tooth, so i didn't look. today i noticed the tiny little toothy. it is adorable, of course. also, today my gramps watched jack while the lovely dental assistant hurt my mouth, i mean, cleaned my teeth. when gramps went to leave... jack waved bye-bye. REAL bye-bye. it was his whole arm a-flappin'. it was awesome.

now, if he can only learn how to fall on his butt instead of on his head when he is standing at his toys... that will be a great day.

sunny saturday

today is a nice, sunny saturday. it is in the 30's here in mn and it feels like spring. dan, jack and i went over to my grandparent's house next-door to see their new area rug. it is a very nice one. then we realized it was lunch time. gram didn't have everything needed, so i drove up the hill really fast to get some lunch meat, oreos, and baby food and we had an impromptu picnic.

then i left to pick up some groceries. i let jack play with the tomato in the cart. he rides in the front now! he is a big boy. when i got to the check-out i realized he had lost the tomato somewhere. i ran back for another.

jack fell asleep in the car and i was able to clean the kitchen. after a bit he woke up and i fed him. then i changed his diaper. he was too hot in his romper, so i changed that, too. i put him in this dirt bike onesie that says "explore" in mud. he looked so charming sitting on the floor playing with his brightly colored toys with sunlight streaming all around him that i took out the camera. i think i took about a dozen shots. dan is going to call me crazy, butI DON'T CARE. i loved the way the sun was lighting up his hair. it looked like spun gold. i am sure when i get them developed you all will see it my way.

jack's new trick

jack can now pull himself up on the furniture. he loves to stand next to the love seat and whack the flowered print. he is very proud. dan and i are very proud. still not really crawling, but any day now.

i love my caveman

happy valentine's day! i love this day dedicated to love. don't let the nay-sayers bring you down... valentine's day is great! love on!

when i got home for work last night there was a white calla lily plant on the dining room table and this card. isn't it cute? inside it says, "you be the fun... and i'll be the mental!" crazy! thanks to my subtle promptings, dan has never forgotten a valentine's day.

i think v-day is even more special to me because it was on v-day that dan and i had one of our first "official" kind of dates. dan took me to the Church's v-day banquet. we got all dressed up. i have a picture of us. dan was wearing a horrific silk shirt. i had admired it in his closet and he had thought i liked it. no, it was so funky i admired it. i had a great laugh that he wore it for our big date.

also, it was the day after v-day 5 years ago that dan proposed to me. i love v-day! and i love dan!

did you caucus?

did you? did you caucus? until a month or so ago i had no idea that there was such a thing. this will be my 4th presidential race i have voted in. yet, no idea what a caucus was. yet, i am not beating myself up. my parent's have never caucused, to my knowledge. i have never heard of anyone i know caucusing. in '96 i was in pcc. so, i had no contact with the outside world. in 2000 i was back in mn, but don't know why i didn't hear of it. in '04 i was married and we didn't get local news channels, so i didn't watch. and we didn't get the paper. also, i never heard my husband talk of caucusing. so... am i the only one that has never caucused? or, have i led an incredibly sheltered life. (probably)

in case you are wondering. no, i didn't caucus this year either. i work nights. i think i might have, though. i really do. oh well, maybe next time.

little baby mohawk

i have been wanting to give jack a mohawk since before he was born. i thought he would have scads of baby hair, like both dan and i. nope. it took forever for him to grow a bit. i promptly moussed it. it was very stiff. then, after a few hours, it dried out and was very soft but still stuck straight up. it was pretty pathetic, but still cute. my opinion. doesn't he look tough?:)

fa-la-la-la-la

this was taken the night of the Church's Christmas program. i had asked my mom to bring her digital camera to take our family Christmas card photo. she forgot. i just had my old school camera. i had her take the shot anyway. i didn't get this developed until recently. turns out, we looked nicer here than in the Christmas card photo we sent out. go figure. and Merry Christmas to you.

moose in camoflauge

here is another great photo of jack in the moose hat lauren gave him. i love that hat. alas, jack's head has grown too large for it. he now has a dark blue one with lots of tassels. horns are way better than tassels. except maybe tasseled-tappy-kilty-loafers.

happy birthday, chico

here is a belated photo of andy on his 13th b-day, dec. 5th, 2007. this was just before he went to hawaii and a few weeks before the much-needed haircut.

i made that cake all by myself. it's a lightly tinted blue thirteen, if you cannot tell.

"does this page look odd?"

"does this page look odd?". that is what the home page for my bank's internet banking reads. isn't that funny? it's like asking, "does this dress make me look fat?", or "do these jeans make my butt look big?", or "does this milk smell funny to you?". it's a personal question.

also, it amuses me that it asks me my favorite color. which, if i had watched "nacho libre" before setting up my internet banking, i would have responded "light tan". my bank also asks me my favorite tv program, my favorite teacher (dr. sprouse forever. british novel class rocked.), annnnd what street i grew up on. that's a toughy. my parent's live in the same house that they moved into when they got married. the spot doesn't change, but the street address does. so, i always get the street name question wrong. which is hilarious. and frustrating. star route, rural route, h.c. 61, rider road... can't remember what i told the computer it was. i always guess wrong.

pay daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

oh! it seems like it has been FOREVER since my last payday! i am so happy. i have been just sickeningly cheerful this morning. at 5am. dan said to me just this morning that money shouldn't make me happy. no, it is not the money. it is the eggs, bread, milk, cheese, and SHOES that i am going to buy with the money. the presents i am going to buy for babies, the old movies i am going to rent for my grandpa (recently laid up due to knee surgery), and taking my family out to eat tonight (with coupons!)... that is what is going to make me happy. plus, i told him, i worked for it. right? i worked, now i get the money. it isn't like i don't deserve the money. I DESERVE THE MONEY! you have no idea how many meals i have made with venison in them over the last 2 weeks. but, i mean, praise God for venison! if we didn't have that i guess dan would have had to fork over some grocery money. now, would he like that? no.:) ok then.

i am not kidding about the venison. my gramps and dan's uncle dick gave us a bunch of frozen meat after Christmas. i have made venison breakfast sausage, venison pot roast in onion and cream of mushroom soups, venison in gravy, barbequed venison sandwiches, venison with pasta, more venison with gravy... i can't even recall. oh yes, then there was the famous venison chili. that was spicy. wow. all within 2 weeks. today i am buying some CHICKEN.