Our New Baby

Announcing the newest member of our family:

Carbon Kitty

(we might call him Corbin)

3 months old

Adopting today 8/29/08

Mia Kitty and Minxie Bunny

My kitty is Mia. Mia means "mine" in Italian.

I've had Mia for almost 2 years.

I met a friend and at first I only knew her as "Minxie".

My 6 year-old named her build a bunny Minxie, "because Mommy's friend has a cool name".

Then I found out my friend Minxie has the real name Mia.

Which came first, the Minxie or the Mia?

The chicken or the egg?

The Sun is Setting on My Summer

This is my last day of summer. Tomorrow I start my 2nd semester of Nursing. On top of that I started another job (that makes two, now). I haven't had ANY days off since 8/10 and I won't have any until after Labor Day. I don't think I have ever worked so many days in a row before. But I digress.

This was a great summer. After my last final exam in May, I went to Beaver Dam and was able to see some of the filming of Public Enemies. My whole family went and we brought my friend's daughter. She is a middle schooler who just adores Johnny Depp. Who doesn't? Anyway, that was my reward to myself for a tough semester. One semester of nursing school was harder than my entire BS degree.

Then, in June, I went to St. Anne, IL with Osh and Evan, Blaznfire, and Shakenbsis. I was able to meet Johnny Depp in person. (See previous post from June). I would say that was the highlight of my summer.

Our family spent a lot of time at the Wilderness water park in Wisconsin Dells. We camped in Door County and visited our alma mater, UW Oshkosh.

I started to watch the tv series, "Lost" on the internet. I started with the pilot episode and made it thorugh season one and most of season two. I also rented tons of movies (caught up on a bunch of the Depp movies that I missed). I made lots of friends through the blog: Public Enemies Columbus, and started blogging myself.

Yeah, it was a lazy but busy summer. It will be hard to get back to studying again. Starting tomorrow, my internet usage is going to dwindle drastically. Nursing school takes up nearly all of my time. So if I don't post very often, you will know that I am studying my butt off! If I post too often--scold me so that I go back to studying. Hee Hee.

Goodbye summer, I will miss you. Until we meet again. . .

Ciao for now!

GREAT NEWS

Results are back. . .everything looks good. They are calling it Optic Neuritis. That means inflammation of the Optic nerve.

She should recover soon and will be able to see again!!!

THANKS FOR YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS!

Update--MRI Tonight

I spoke with Jamisue this evening. She is having an MRI tonight. She should have results by Friday morning. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

I love you, Jamisue!

My Niece Needs Prayers

This is my niece, Jamisue:

She is 21 years old, just finished school and became a professional pet groomer.

A few weeks ago, she got engaged.

This is her today:

She started expriencing eye pain and now has lost vision in one eye. The doctors are in the midst of doing lots and lots of tests. It could be something very serious and she has no insurance.

Please say a prayer for her.

She is really scared and we are all worried.

Thanks in advance.

I will keep you posted.

Outside the Comfort Zone

Starting a new job can be challenging and exciting, but the part I hate is the feeling of being outside of your comfort zone.

I have two jobs. The first one, I have basically been doing my whole life, and have been at the same place for the last 5 years. It is "home". Many of my friends are there and my kids are there. It is fun and rewarding. I do it without even having to think about it. For me, it is as easy as breathing. However, it is time for me to start moving on and it is harder than I thought it would be.

My new job is very different and challenging. It is a very important experience for my future career. Right now, I am in the process of orientation. Yuck. I hate that I don't know anyone and I don't know "how things are done" here. I know it will get better, but I don't know if that knowledge makes it any easier.

Tomorrow I work at job number one. It would be so easy to just be lazy and comfortable and forgot all about job number two. I know I have to leave the comfort zone in order to move on to bigger and better things.

The other thing bothering me, is that a week from now, I go back to school full-time again. Our entire household is in the midst of another transition. The kids start back to school the week after me. It will be nice when we get into the new routine, and find our NEW comfort zone.

Wish me luck.

We are Olympians

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Lovin' the Olympics

I don't know what it is about the Olympics, but I love watching it. Winter or summer, there are so many different events that I enjoy watching. It's funny, because I rarely ever watch sports otherwise. Tonight I was watching synchronized diving. I never even knew there was synchronized diving. I was amazed the the performance of the Chinese synchronized divers. They really earned their gold. Then, I watched beach volleyball. It was so exciting that I was yelling at the t.v. I still don't get why people get so excited about professional sports, I find them mostly boring, no offense. This Olympic stuff is so suspenseful. Tonight I am hoping to stay awake long enough to watch the womens gymnastics.

In 1996, when my husband and I were newlyweds, my sister-in-law invited us to Atlanta to see women's gymnastics. Yes it was the year of the Dream Team/Golden 7, whatever they were called. We did not have tickets to see the top teams, but we were in Atlanta when they won. We saw many of the other teams and even they were quite phenomenal. It was so exciting to hear that Olympic music while sitting in the huge stadium. The locations of the events were referred to as "venues".

One of the neatest things about being at the Olympics, was riding the Marta train and finding an athlete standing right next to you. It was kind of surreal. Even though we only had tickets to one event, it was just cool being in the same city where you knew that World Records were being broken and gold medals being won.

The 1996 Olympics was the first time I actually purchased bottled water. I just couldn't understand why we had to pay for water--that used to be a foreign concept. They were charging like $3.00 per bottle. If you have ever been in Atlanta during the summer, you will know how important it is to drink water. It was so freaking hot and humid. Of course, there was none to be found, except for the bottles, so we had no choice except to purchase it.

The other fun thing about being in the same city as the Olympics, is all of the different languages that you hear. There were people all over the place that don't even speak English.

While we were in Atlanta, we went to the World of Coke. Check it out if you get a chance. It is really interesting, and you get to drinking all of the Coke products you want. Products from all over the world. We also watched Gone with the Wind and lots and lots of Olympics.

It was hard to go home, but we were only able to stay there a few days. One day after we arrived home, the Olympic bombing took place. That was quite shocking. I kept imagining that I had seen an unattended backpack while I was there, although I probably didn't.

If you ever get a chance to go to the Olympics--do it! The excitement in the air is like none other I have experienced.

GO USA!!!

Door County Fish Boil

Mmmmmmm. Fish Boil!


If you have ever been to Door County, Wisconsin, and participated in a fish boil, you know what I mean. The first time I went to Door County, I was NOT a fish eater (I have since had a change in taste). However, I thought I better give it a chance and I actually liked it. The fish is cooked with potatoes, onions, and carrots, in big black kettles over a fire:










My kids were not really thrilled with eating it, but they LOVED watching the men cook it. Here is one of them examing the raw fish. "Ewwww.":












The most exciting part of the fish boil is when they yell "Boil Over" and throw kerosene (I think) on the fire and it just goes "kaboom":

Whoooo baby! Just look at that cloud! They warned us to stand back and they weren't kidding. It gets REALLY hot. My face was so hot I thought I'd have red skin afterwards:

Then the water boils over, which pushes all of the fish oil/fat off the top of the water:

Then we all sit down and wait to be served. The fish was incredibly tender and moist and was served with lots of butter (or margarine if you prefer). The only downside, I think, is that you have to pick the bones out of the fish. Sometimes you miss them, so you really have to be careful.

Here is my favorite picture:

This dog was hanging out while it's people ate the fish boil. It was a very well behaved dog. Plus, it was so COOL! Would you believe, that when the person tried to remove the sunglasses the dog started whining? Then they put them back on the dog and it calmed down.

Tips for people who haven't been to a Door County fish boil:

1. Get reservations ahead of time, especially if you want to go on a specific night.

2. Try to forget how much it costs (you are on vacation).

3. Ask a friend or someone who lives in Door County where to go for a good fish boil. A few years ago we went to one that was just awful.

And that is all from this food critic. :-)

Ciao for now!

8/8/08 My Baby Girl is 10 Years Old!

Happy 10th Birthday, Chiara!

On 8/8/1998 at 7:44 a.m., the world was blessed with my Chiara!

Chiara is gentle and kind,

perceptive and sweet,

giving and loving!

She has made the world a better place just by being her.

Chiara hanging out with two of her oldest friends, Rachel & Abby, celebrating her birthday

at the MooseJaw in Wisconsin Dells:

We love you!!!

Ghost Hunting

It doesn't look haunted does it?

We just returned from our vacation in Door County. During our trip we took a candlelight tour of the Alexander Noble House in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. I wasn't sure if the kids would be scared, but they reeeeeaaalllly wanted to go. So we took a chance and said yes. We were given candles (the kind with a light bulb and battery) and told to go inside. It was VERY DARK and a bit creepy. We had to use the candles to look around the living room. The home was occupied by the same family up until 1990. The house and everything in it was purchased by the Historical (hysterical) society. Everything inside was authentic. For this particular season, they were doing a funeral theme. They dressed the house they way it used to be done when someone died. The man giving the tour was dressed in period clothes and looked a little bit like the original owner of the house. He told us the story of the family and showed us pictures. I learned something very interesting. Do you know who was called to take care of the body when someone died? The midwife! Thats how they got the name MIDwife--they dealt with birth AND death. I never knew that. They had creepy pictures--people in coffins and stuff. They had pictures of children and babies--creepy. He explained that people took those photos, to prove that they ever had a child. The child mortality rate used to be very high, so often this was the only picture they had of their child. It still creeps me out. Then, he showed us pictures that visitors had taken in and of the house over the years. There has been a tendency to have images in the upstairs middle window. For example, faces when no one is in the house.

Nothing creepy in my photo. Is there?

I thought I better check out the side windows too.

There were several pictures that people took of mirrors in the house and they ended up having images in them when they got developed. During our tour, since the house was dressed for mourning, the mirrors were covered in black. I was kind of glad, because I didn't really want to see anything creepy.

One of the interesting things about the history of the house, is that the last person to live in the house was the first woman doctor in Wisconsin. She was the granddaughter of the original owner. She apparently dropped the infant mortality rate in Wisconsin in half! Her white doctor's coat was hanging in the closet.

The girls being "scared" in front of the house.

Actually, the girls were amazingly brave in the house. I don't think I could have done the tour at their age. Especially in the dark! These pictures were taken the next day, when it was light out.

So, how do you answer your child when they ask you, "Do you believe in ghosts?" or "Are there really ghosts?" They asked me those questions several times. I tried to evade the question, but they demanded answers. I just said, "No, there's no ghosts." What I was thinking in my head was, "Well, I used to not believe in them. . .until I saw one." But I really don't want them to have bad dreams. I'll have to blog about that next time. . .

Ciao for now!