Swim Season

Darren had a great high school swim season. He focused on the 200 and 500 Freestyle events this year and finished up going to High School Sections where he had a 6th place overall in the 200 and 3rd in the 500 - breaking through the 5:00 minute barrier to swim his personal best 4:58.63 in finals. He missed qualifying for the state meet by just .5 sec.

our boys

Finley's a really happy baby with some wild hair...he's learned to crawl, so that mean's making the house baby proof again. Keegan likes the computer games...even Freeverse solitaire...welcome another lefty!

Michael Land, guest recitalist at JC

Here he is in action. Five of us from Prentice Landing were there to enjoy Michael's recital at Jamestown College last Thursday. He played a challenging program very well, and the audience, including college students and faculty, Grandma's friends, relatives from Kulm, and various other music lovers, was impressed. A favorite moment for some in the crowd was when Michael "pounded" on the piano for the percussive effect indicated by composer Piazolla in his "Tango Suite". Some reported that piano professor Dr. William Wojnar (not able to be present) would have been very concerned for the beloved Steinway.

A reception was provided by Grandma Edie, and Austin and Jeff poured the lemonade and water. Wow, those things they are learning in college!
After his brilliant performance, Michael had a big hug for his hairdresser. She hasn't had much practice doing ponytails on her children's hair, but the "do" seemed to hold up for the occasion.

BIGLOO MEETS THE BIG THAW

Well, the large pile of snow in our back yard is but a hollow shell of it's former greatness.

Other than a few hold-outs in the shadows on the north side of houses, the snow is about gone in Bloomington. Over 50 last Saturday and 60+ today.

I was tempted to sit in it for a photo, but it's pretty soggy in there.

New stairway

My latest home project was to replace our stairway to the basement. We'd remodeled the kitchen at the top of stairs and basement below, but the steps themselves were a sorry sight. And once I had everything ripped up, why not add some beadboard to the walls and a boot nook just inside the door? We also reconfigured the landing from a precarious wedge shaped step to a full landing. Here's some before and after pics. Of course Keegan enjoyed "helping" and we even found some coal under the old stairway.

hawaii

Anders and I finally got to go to Hawaii for our belated honeymoon. It was excellent to get away from winter for a week in February! We spent a significant amount of time hiking, at the beach, at the pool, and eating fresh fish!

One of the non-highlights was the non-tsunami. We had to spend the day evacuated to a local baseball field where we anticipated a 2 centimeter "wave". I was mostly glad that the island wasn't wiped out and we got to enjoy the rest of our time there.

We didn't take very many pictures but here are a few:
Tree Tunnel Road: a 3 mile road completely lined by Eucalyptus trees- making a tree tunnel
Hiking Wiamea Canyon at Koke'e state park
Anders and I at the Botanical Garden, where they grow every house plant you have ever seen

silly boy

This is a silly video of Julie and Keegan singing something ad lib...or is it dramatic poetry reading? Apparently, creative minds think alike. Believe it or not, he really has quite an understandable vocabulary. Just turned 3 this month.

VIKINGS! #1 YEAH BABY

I can't tell you how excited I am that the Vikings are going to be playing this Sunday in the Super Bowl. The above picture was taken right after the Vikings kicked the winning field goal at the end of regulation. What a thrilling game...........................



Okay, this is what we actually looked like after the Vikings tore our hearts out:



We're done mourning now though. Back to the real world. Joel will be cutting his mullet soon. He's become the sight to see on campus. He really ha

new job + new apartment = not sure yet

It has been a busy week for us. My friend Rox got me a job at a software company called Infor. They do descriptive things like "technology solutions" so I am still waiting to find out what kind of place it is. I have a temporary position doing some kind of data-entry full time. Rox has been working there for a few months, and the report is that it is really boring but it's a job and it pays decent. I think I start later this week, although I will be going in tomorrow to do some paperwork.
I will start working downtown so we decided we needed to be closer and moved back to the city. We're living a few blocks away from North Park, so the same neighborhood we've always lived in, more or less. We found a very spacious 1 bedroom apartment that is only a 3 month sublease. Because I don't know how long my job will last this will be a good option. So we are unpacking all of our wedding gifts for the first time (hooray) and figuring out the ins and outs of a new place. Anders will continue to do some building work for his uncle in addition to working on remodeling part of his grandparents house.

Interesting things so far:
-I think that our kitchen cabinets were put in in the 1950s. They are metal and really funky and the drawers need some WD40.
-We live a block away from a 24-hour Mexican bakery. This means they make fresh bread every hour, and it's 10cents a loaf. mmmmmmmm it smells so good in there.
-Previous owner left her couch for us, it is the ugliest southwestern couch imaginable.

Waterskiing Music

This is part of my experiment with online music marketing. Most of you have heard the BLST Anthem that Jeff wrote last summer. I uploaded it to the music site iTunes where it can be purchased ffor $.99. Admittedly this is not going to appeal to a mass-market audience, but for $10 upfront cost I got it on iTunes and we'll see where it goes.

I am posting on some of the busier water ski online forums to see if I can generate interest and some downloads. Maybe even generate some income? (70% of sales go to the artist) Posting a link to Blogger was one of the options with this audio preview so I am trying that.

I've gotten some downloads or at least a listen and comment from a few pro waterskiers and the editor of WaterSki magazine. It is a pretty small community really ...and I have my connections.

Eskimos

at last. a thanksgiving post.

Here are some photos from the trip Joel and I made to New Jersey with our roommate Rocco. After getting in at 5:30am Wed. morning, we had all day to get our costumes ready for the "board game" themed costume party that evening. Joel worked studiously at his costume, creating 25 letters (some even double-sided!). Rocco and his siblings, Marie and Carmello, came up with some creative costumes of their own. Rocco and his girlfriend were the boy and girl from Candyland, Marie was a battleship (we didn't plan this!), and Carmello was the guy on the Scattergories box. Part of the evening's charm was creating words on Joel's tray.







The main highlights of the weekend were playing board games. I can't wait to play with all of you this weekend. It will be so fun.



We hit up an sweet park on that Saturday.

o holy night- an oldie but a goodie

just wanted to share this again for some more laughs. happy holiday season!

anders, jeff and i just returned from our thanksgiving break in minneapolis. we ate a lot, did some christmas decorating, saw a few friends and avoided the mega mall.

Finn

Maggie just took Finn in for his 4 month check up. He's 95% for both length and weight!

Chokecherry Wine

After taking 12 pounds of chokecherries to "Vintner's Cellar" about two months ago, we got a call that our wine was ready to be bottled. Tom and I went in on Friday evening for this new experience.

First Carol washed out the bottles and let them drain. Then Tom filled them from the large bottle called a "carboy". Then Carol put each bottle in a special device that inserted a cork with one easy push of the lever. (Meanwhile, we were tasting the wine, of course, and finding that our chokecherries make pretty nice wine!) The final step was putting a shrink-wrapped seal on each bottle.

The 30 bottles have been stored upright for a few days to let the cords expand. We are working on a label - nothing fancy, just cheaper than paying an extra fee.

We look forward to sharing a glass with family, and we're already thinking that we should do this again next year. Cheers!

Highlander Owie

If I had a camera, I'd take a picture of the Highlander. Tues. night I backed into Ander's car parked by the bricks in the driveway (in the right place). I guess I was on automatic pilot and did the usual swing out of the garage. Fortunately I only scraped the Buick, but bashed in the bumper cover on the Toyota. Grrrrr. Part is ordered and will be fixed promptly and noone to blame but me.

bunch o' snow

We got hit with an early storm that's hung around for 3 days. Tape measure says 18" and still comin down. Everythings closed today. Got a couple hours on my new Craftsman snowblower!

broken foot

so if you have not heard the news by now i am now the proud owner of a broken foot.
here is the long version of what happened:
on wednesday morning i was getting ready to go teach and since anders and i were out of coffee and we were feeling too lazy the night before to go to the store and buy some more i decided i'd make a cup downstairs before i left. (they have a nifty one-cup-at-a-time-deal) the staff was in the midst of setting up a new show in the gallery. since the kitchen (where the coffee is) is on the other side of the gallery i had to cross the boxes, art, and whatnot laying around... the lights to the gallery space are also across the gallery but in the opposite corner of the kitchen so i didn't bother to turn them on. made it to the kitchen and on the way back i stepped on a broom-handle/ dowel they were using to paint with, landed really bad on my right foot, went into the clinic and turns out its fractured in a few places on the 5th metatarsal (that's the outside of your foot between the pinky toe and ankle) i am in a walking boot and on crutches for 6-8 weeks, we re-xray nov 3 to see if it has been healing right. the good news is that i am not in much pain, just sore arms from hopping around on crutches.
.
tomorrow i go back to teaching at all of the different schools, which will be interesting because i can't drive and not all of the schools are handicapped accessible (and i teach on the 2nd floor at washington and lincoln) anders and grandma will be driving me around, so thank you to them for helping me out!

also, sally who works at the art center's husband broke his leg a few years ago and they bought a lightweight wheelchair (so they could go on a cruise to mexico!). she brought it in for me to use today which is helpful because i don't have to do as much hopping around.

spooky

It was fun to have Laura and Anders here for the weekend. We learned how to play Settlers of Catan and carved up a few pumpkins. I played my best but was bested by Anders in the board game. Further, I was credited as an underachiever in the pumpkin department - disappointing my fellow carvers.  The seeds were salted roasted and consumed in short order.

Happy Photos

Here are a few of my favorite pics I have taken since I got my Canon SX110 IS Camera this semester. Rocco (our roomate) is in a photog. class and he's been teaching me a few things. Hope you enjoy! (more to come later)

ps. I gave them titles just now, because I felt like it. And it helps to see each picture as unique. If you have better titles. I'm all for it. I don't have all the good ideas after all.

Mother Goose and her eggsThe Sunday Afternoon Slumber

The Night Patrol

Fight or Flight

Sniff

Wary Watcher

Crouching Grasshopper, Hidden Dragon

Starry, Starry Streetlights

Manpri/Moustache Midweek

Starting Small

Punch Brothers

My Precious

Michael: One-tooth Rocco: "How" Indian Joel: Lion

Dying Flames

Alive