MN Clampits

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a wedding, an apple orchard and an ear infection

THE WEDDING

I've got so many things to blog about! We had a wedding this weekend... my cousin got married in St. Cloud to a really great guy. We stayed at an awesome hotel which was attached to the St. Cloud Civic center (where the reception was). G and I were going to share a room with my sister for friday night, then her hubby would come Saturday night and G and I planned on driving home after the reception. While we were checking in my mom asked the girl at the front desk if we could by chance have a joining room. After checking the girl said she could give us joining rooms but we'd have to upgrade to a conference/king suite. Who can complain about an upgrade at no additional cost? Of course we accepted. The room was awesome. Huge bathroom, kitchen with everything but the stove, conference table, 2 tv's, a king size bed and a pull out couch. It was great and after seeing the new "upgraded" room we decided to stay 2 nights!

Friday night we went to a local pizza place for the grooms dinner. It was yummy! Afterwards we took E back to the hotel so my parents could watch her for the evening. G and I and my sis wanted to go out with the wedding party (I was a personal attendant). Before the grooms dinner I had 2 appletinis at the hotel bar. At dinner I ordered an entire bottle of Shiraz. So I was pretty much ready to go out and didn't really need anything else to drink. But you know how that goes... we started at a place called MC's Dugout. I don't really like many drinks besides wine and appletinis... so I had another appletini. It was the puniest martini I have ever had for $7. I decided after that I wasn't going to pay that much for another one. I had G get me a long island iced tea. It is either hit or miss for that drink though... either really yummy or really bad. This one was *SO* good!! Probably the best one I've ever had. Anyways... a few bars, dances and drinks later we headed back to the hotel for bed. Had to be up at 8 for decorating! :( 8 came so fast and it hurt a bit.

the bride to be and me

me and my hubby, he is a complete goofball

my sis and my hubby

and some random guy we thought had CRAZY hair! :)

I spent Saturday decorating the reception room, getting the groomsmen lunch, taking pictures, and making sure the bride and bridesmaids had everything they needed. It was pretty fun.

Here is a pic of Amanda getting ready. Her dress is just georgous! You can kinda see the bridesmaid dresses in the background, they were chocolate brown. So pretty.

A few more pics...

the bride and my hubby

yes they seriously had the ushers dress as Dumb and Dumber, it was hilarious

And now for the best part (I'm biased ok, I know it) look at how cute E looked! I know, I know she really needs a haircut, her bangs are way to long!

she was out by 8!

The tired family after a busy weekend. Not sure what that weird circle is on my neck?!?

my sis and her hubby

THE APPLE ORCHARD and THE EAR INFECTION

We got home yesterday afternoon and I just wasn't feeling very good. I started getting a sore throat and my ears felt really weird. I couldn't nap becuase G had to work an over night shift and he was napping. Before I did go to bed I looked at my throat and saw a couple yucky white balls on it. YUCK. I thought I should take some tylenol and go to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night and sat on the toilet for almost an hour. TMI, I'm sorry. I had waves of cramps (seriously it almost felt like contractions) every minute or so for 45 minutes and finally everything was out. Oh god it was awful. So I wake up this a.m. and decide I am not going to work. I made a dr. appointment for 10:45. Turns out I have a sinus infection, ear infection with fluid in my ears and the dr said he did see the white bumps and said we could do a strep test but he didn't think it was neccessary since it was probably strep and the antibiotics he was going to give me for my sinuses and ears would clear it up. I came home around noon and went right to bed. G was still sleeping from having had to work all night and my sis had come out to the house to take E for the day so I could get some sleep. Oh and did I sleep hard. I don't even remember falling asleep. I woke up about 2:30ish and felt so much better. It is now after 5 and I am ready for another nap! But G has to work the night shift again and I've got E. So that is not an option, which really sucks :(. I think I'll be staying home tomorrow to. And hopefully be taking E to my sitter for the day.



My sister took E to the apple orchard today. She brought me home some yummy homemade applecrisp and some honey crisp apples. Seriously, I have the best sister ever. She is AWESOME! I just baked the applecrisp and it is delish!



Here are some pics from their day... OMG they are to cute if I do say so myself :)






I'm going to go lay down. Take care all and I'll be back soon! K

Bedtime

We are having serious bedtime issues. E has slowly progressed to a later bedtime over the last few weeks. But the problem comes when I try to put her to bed. Our routine for the night goes like this. Dinner, bath, play, watch Backyardigans, play, maybe do a little dancing, read a book, have a sippy cup of water, diaper change and up to bed. Lately when we go upstairs she is shaking her head no at me and does not want to lay down. The minute I walk near her crib she starts screaming. I lay her down and before I can even leave the room she is standing up in her crib screaming her head off. I know I have to just walk away and let her cry. But it just kills me!!!! :( Tonight she screamed for 8 minutes. Which may not seem long, but it makes me sad... I mean she is really crying *HARD*!! I'm not sure if she is scared or what... but I don't want her to think I am just dropping her off and leaving her to cry... like I don't care. Oh what to do?! Help. Please. Suggestions. Anyone??

K

a few of my favorite things...

1. the change in temperature! no more humidity :)

2. fall, it's just around the corner... love apple orchards, leaves changing colors and cozy sweaters

3. the possibility of being a SAHM floating around our heads

4. chapstick... natural ice original

5. appletinis

6. brushetta

7. OPI Nail Envy

8. when E takes 2 naps in a day

9. shopping with my mom... she likes to buy :)

10. pa.mper.ed ch.ef stuff

11. US We.ekly

12. my minivan

13. a good book... currently reading Wat.er for Ele.phan.ts by Sa.ra Gr.uen

14. the Hills

15. home grown tomatos

16. my new bag I bought on vacation... check out bagallini.com... style: the hampton bagg in steel blue/leaf green... great for my lunch, a book and my wallet for work or throw a couple diapers and a sippy cup in and it makes a great diaper bag

17. my beautiful daughter after a plate full of lasagna, hee-hee

18. my wonderfully patient, understanding and hilarious hubby

19. fashionista diaries

20. vacation

21. a nap

22. Target

23. my toaster

24. when my hubby isn't on the night shift

25. a cute Coach tote

K

Disaster

Yesterday I volunteered to go down to the 3 flooded counties in SE MN to work with a behavioral health team. We were deployed to Fillmore county. We went to a small town of 1600, called Rushford. It was the first time I have ever been exposed to a weather related disaster of this magnitude. It was so sad. Homes were flagged with red, yellow or green flags. Red meaning the home had to be destroyed. Yellow meant the home was inhabitable until completely disinfected and all plumbing and electrical work could be repaired. Green meant they were habitable. I saw mostly yellow. A few red. No green.

The pile of garbage that we saw when we drove into town was insane. It was seriously as large as my house x 15.

We arrived at the FE.MA tent and were not really given much direction. So we went looking for anyone who needed help. I met a couple who were wearing Sal.va.tion Army shirts and asked if we could do anything for them. They were wonderful! They were stationed at a church hall. They had tables shelves of deodorant, shampoo, soap, etc. They had large tables set up for lunch and we learned this was the place almost the entire community would be at when lunch time arrived. A few of the girls helped the church ladies with lunch in the kitchen. V and I decided we want to see the people. So we decided to walk through the neighborhoods and see if anyone needed to talk. We started out down one block and it was literally like a ghost town. The homes were all open, doors and windows, airing out. No one was around. The drywall was torn down inside, waist down. It was unbelievable. The streets were caked in mud. The front yards were full of toilets, sinks, furniture, anything and everything that was destroyed.

A few of my favorite moments of the day...

We saw a man (probably in his late 50's or early 60's) out on his front porch pouring water over his head. (It was 93 degrees) We stopped to ask if he was doing ok, keeping hydrated and eating enough. You could tell just by looking at him that he was mentally, physically and emotionally wiped. We introduced ourselves and explained that we were there to just check in with people and make sure they were doing ok. This seemed to just open the flood gates (no pun intended) for him. He just vented... it was great. I felt so glad he had someone to talk to as he was home alone at the time. I learned he was a retired college professor who "retired" to Rushford. This was to be his last home. It was a beautiful Victorian home. He ranted for a while about FE.MA, the state not providing enough help, etc. But then he sorta switched gears and told us he was one of the lucky ones because his house was one of the oldest in town and the older home were built 2-4 feet higher than new homes are today. So his first floor wasn't even hit. Most homes were covered in mud halfway up the walls on the first floor. (Think of everything on the first floor and basements of your homes. Would $28,000 from the mentioned above federal aide group cover all that? Plus the cleanup on your home.) Besides the mud there was raw sewage. E Coli was running rampant through the water supply. These people couldn't run their water, couldn't drink it, brush their teeth, cook with it or even bathe. My heart ached for this man. I was so sad to leave him sitting there alone. But we had to keep moving on. I did see him later at the church hall with a woman I assumed was his wife. That made me less worried about him. Oh yeah, and he did offer us a beer, which I now think is hilarious!

During lunch we were told to quiet down and that someone wanted to come in and speak to us. Well to my surprise in walks the Governor. He gave a pretty decent 10 minute speech. He answered questions. The residents of Rushford are asking the state legislature to hold a special session with the hopes of receiving more aide to their county along with the other two. The Governor acknowledged this was in the works... hoping it would happen by the end of next week. A comment was then made by, what must have been, an 80 year old woman. She told the Governor that, "the state legislatures should all volunteer their time at this special session, just like many, many of us are doing here!" She received a thunderous applause! I thought that was great.

During lunch I met a woman and her husband who had 6 young children. Before we left our staging area that morning I had loaded up my backpack with all sorts of crayons, coloring books, pens, pencils, notepads and bracelets. These kids had just lost everything and when I offered them these items the look on their faces was just priceless. They're faced lit up and they were so excited. The mother just kept thanking me and thanking me. I just wanted to hug her and tell her how sorry I was and that I wished I had millions in my bank account so I could help her and her hubby. Geez, can you imagine needing to clean and disinfect a home... where the threat of disease and infection was still present... and having 6 children under 9 to care for!? Wow.

After lunch we went back to the main headquarters tent to use the restrooms... they had the only real restrooms that we could use (most others could not even flush the toilets yet). As we were heading out to a clothing distribution center to help separate clothing donations, we were stopped by a man who asked if we needed a job. We quickly said yes! Before we knew what it was he wanted us 5 girls to do! We walked around the corner and we see 2 semi's... ok, so we are to unload palates of boxed frozen chicken breasts. They were cold and heavy! But I so didn't want to be a wimp. I crawled up into the back of the semi and stood in the assembly line and we just passed box after box after box. It was so hot outside that being in the freezing cold back end of this semi felt pretty good. If I would have had to pass that many boxes of chicken outside in the heat I'm pretty sure I would have passed out. We must have lifted hundreds of boxes. I'm so proud of myself for not giving up!

The day was pretty much over by that time. We went to the clothing distribution center and picked up the rest of our group to head home. That was around 3:00. We met back at the staging area and had a debriefing for about an hour. Just to share stories, thoughts and concerns. I ended up getting home around 6. I undressed in the garage! And G had the shower running for me when I came in. I was so smelly, dirty and exhausted. I was in bed and asleep by 7:45!!!! It was a rewarding, eye-opening and exhausting day. The day put everything in to perspective for me. It was a great day and I learned a lot about me. I did things I never thought I could do. And without sounding totally lame... I am proud of myself.

Enough for tonight. Make sure you tell your family and friends that you love them. Don't wait for tomorrow. You just never know what tomorrow might bring. Night.

K

loving this 3 day weekend...

All I have to say is I'm sad it's coming to an end. It gives me a little taste of what it would be like to be a SAHM... which I still ache to be. It makes me so sad... I feel like I'm not giving her what she deserves. It brings tears to my eyes as I type this. I just hope she forgives me when she is older... I'm sure that sounds so strange to some people, but that just how I feel. Everyday.

Those teeth crack me up every time she smiles! :)

K

food... yummmmmmm...

I thought this was so fun I wanted to play along... so I stole this from Chas... thanks :) As you'll soon see, I love food.

1. How do you like your eggs? I LOVE eggs. I like mine scrambled or fried. Mmmm... making me hungry now. I like a good fried egg on a piece of toast and I use the 2nd piece of toast to dip in the yolk. I love egg salad, I make that a lot at home. I also like my scrambled eggs with ketchup. YUM.

2. How do you take your coffee/tea? I LOVE my Grande Iced Vanilla Latte with one shot, skim milk and lots of ice. At my old job I worked across the hall from a sta.rb.ucks. I used to get a coffee everyday. Now I get one about 2 times a week. I don't like regular black coffee and I don't really drink tea. I'm not a fan of hot tea or iced tea. The closest I come I guess is with Diet Lipton iced tea - lemon flavored. I do really like that... the only diet drink I enjoy.

3. Favorite Breakfast food? I don't eat breakfast on a regular basis. I know that isn't good for me, but when I'm up at 5:30, showering and getting ready, getting E up, feeding her, getting the car packed and getting out the door by 7... it isn't a high priority for me. I usually grab a coffee or a mellow yellow. So healthy I know.

4. Peanut butter - smooth or crunchy? I LOVE peanut butter... so I'd say both. If I had to choose I would say crunchy.

5. What kind of dressing on your salad? I'm pretty open to anything here. I like ranch, italian, french and ceasar.

6. Coke or Pepsi? Coke all the way! I do not like Pepsi at all. G LOVES diet Pepsi. Puke.

7. You're feeling lazy, what do you make? When it comes to cooking I am always lazy. I don't usually do what you'd call "cook". If G is at work and E and I are home for dinner we make easy things like... grilled cheese, pancakes, eggs, pb &j, greenbeens, salads, chx nuggets, hashbrowns, pizza, french toast, mac n cheese, bananas, apples, cantaloupe, etc. G is the chef in our house. We love when he's around for dinner cause he makes such yummy things... pasta dishes, grilled chx and potatoes, rice bake, etc... thank god for him... or E and I would not eat well!

8. You're feeling lazy. What kind of pizza do you order? Me - plain cheese. G - extra meat and onions.

9. You feel like cooking. What do you make? Lets make this clear. I don't ever feel like cooking. If I have to cook I will make sloppy joes, homemade cheesy potatos or pork chop bake. I prefer to "bake". I love to make my mom's oatmeal cookie recipe. That is probably our current favorite.

10. Do any foods bring back good memories? My grandma used to make a dish called Boiled dinner... that brings back so many good memories, when I was in college she'd call me and let me know that she'd be making boiled dinner that Friday night, so I would always come home and have dinner with her and grandpa those nights. She also would always make molassas cookies for me... mmmmm. Another dish we called "Bungeye" brings back memories of many fun camping trips as a child. The last morining of our trip all the families would bring over their left overs... eggs, potatoes, lunch meat, cheese, veggies, just about anything they had and they would all be put into one pan and cooked over the campfire... no matter what was added, it always tasted great!

11. Is there a food you refuse to eat? Lutefisk... a traditional Scandinavian dish. Puke. Rare meat. Diet pop. Dr. Pepper. Cherry flavored pop. Raisins. Cherries. Watermelon.

12. What was your favorite food as a child? My mom's fried chicken with mashed potatoes and her chicken gravy. Yummmm. And fruit roll-ups.

13. Is there a food you hated as a child but now like? I remember refusing to eat pizza when I was younger. I have no idea why?! I love it now.

14. Is there a food you liked as a child but now hate? Hmmm... I can't think of anything.

15. Favorite fruit and veggie? Cantaloupe and Broccoli.

16. Favorite junk food. White chedder cheetos. Mellow Yellow. Doritos - cool ranch.

17. Favorite between meal snacks. I like to grab a piece of string cheese... lately that is my fav.

18. Do you have any weird food habits? Ketchup on my eggs and hashbrowns... is that weird? Oh, I've got one... sugar on my pancakes, rolled up and eaten like a taco. This also brings back childhood memories... reminds me of Saturday mornings at home... learned this one from my mom and dad!

19. You're on a diet. What food(s) do you fill up on? Salad. Fruit. Water. Grilled chx.

20. You're off your diet. Now what would you like? A McChicken meal from McDonalds :).

21. How spicy do you order Indian/Thai food? I'm not sure I've eaten Indian or Thai food?? I like spicy food, not to hot though.

22. Can I get you a drink? Absolutely! I'll take a Appletini or a Sex on the Beach. I also make a damn good fuzzy navel slush.

23. Red wine or white? Definitely red. Right now my fave is any Shiraz.

24. Favorite dessert? Key lime pie. My mom's pumpkin pie. Turtle cheesecake. My mom's frozen fruit salad. Brownies. I love dessert.

25. The perfect nightcap? A nice glass of Shiraz. Or a warm glass of apple cider. Oh how I love the time of year that is upon us!

The only thing this has taught me is... I eat a lot of crappy foods. Which takes me right into something else I wanted to talk about. Have any of you heard of the new book "Sk.inn.y Bit.ch" by Rory Fre.edm.an and Kim Ba.rno.uin? I just bought it yesterday and I am already addicted to it. It has taught me a lot and I'm only on page 43. I recommend it. It is a tell it like it is kind of book. Lots of vulgar language. But it has kept my interest and not many weight loss books can do that! It isn't even necissarily for people who need to lose weight, just those who want to learn to eat better and learn what is in the foods we eat and how they are made. Wow, it has opened my eyes to all the crap we put into our bodies. Go buy it!

That's all for now! Take care. K

p.s. tell me... do you like the new template or the old?

back to reality

I am so glad to be home from vacation and back into a routine with E. It was challenging to be somewhere unfamiliar to her and expect her to stay on schedule... sleeping in a strange crib, in a strange room, living in a cabin w/ 2 other families... I can't blame her for being out of it. It is nice to be home and having her take her 2, 2 plus hour naps each day... still! I am just waiting for the day that changes... oh, how I don't want it to change!!!

When I returned to work after being gone for a week I expected to see piles and piles of work to do. It actually wasn't so bad. My inbox was full and I had a lot of new case openings. But by the end of the week I felt pretty good about where I was and now know next time not to be to worried about taking a vacation!

It is labor day weekend and I have tomorrow off!! YIPPEEEEEEEEE!! I love working for the county! You get those great benefits of holidays paid! At my old job I was usually working on those days. Memorial day, the 4th, Labor day, the day after Thanksgiving (we get that off paid!!) among many other days. It is great. I'm so not used to this and I LOVE it :).

G was forced in last night on a overnight shift. E and I are up already (since 5:56 :( ) and G should be home any minute to crash. I am hoping when he wakes up we can run down to Bar.nes & No.ble so I can use a g.c. that his mom gave me for my birthday in July. I still haven't had time to use it and I know there are many good books I've been wanting to read. I love books... everyone collects something... I think books are my thing.

For all my readers outside of MN... there was horrific flooding that happened in SE MN during the week we were up north for vacation... people out of there homes, buildings, cars and people swept away, really bad. I work for a social service agency and our director sent around an email saying that anyone who wanted to go down to the affected counties and volunteer at a FEMA tent... (offering emotional support to the people who come in or we'd be walking out into the neighborhoods and just mingle... asking people if they need anything... cleaning supplies, food, water, diapers, etc) could and would get paid for a normal days work! That rocks. I am so looking forward to going. I'm sure I will see somethings I wish I hadn't. I'm sure I'll see some awesome moments of how good human beings really can be. And I'm sure I'll need my package of tissues! I am going to bring the camera, but have been told I cannot take pictures of the damages... only us helping out. I will post some pics as soon as I can.

This post is going in 20 different directions...

The other night E was taking a bath and I thought, why not let her play in the tub and I'll use that moment of free time to clean the bathroom. So she's in the tub (right next to me) and I'm washing the floor. When all the sudden she is grunting... yes she shit in her bath water! I slightly freaked and lifted her out, scooped the poop out w/ tp and threw it in the toilet. I was hysterically laughing this entire time. I let the water out and cleaned the tub... filled the tub back up and put her back in... not 10 seconds later I hear some fart bubbles and look back in and she's done it again... only this time it was diahrrea! I should have learned the first time....so I pulled her out again, cleaned the tub and toys, filled the tub again and gave her a quick bath and we were out of there! For your enjoyment I have posted a picture... I could not stop laughing! And no she isn't drinking poop water, she just likes to pour the water out onto her belly... notice the floating poop... there is also a little one near the drain plug!

And a few more pics...


This was our last day of vacation... we had just checked out... :( I wish this resort was my home!

This is what she did most of the 3 hour drive home! It was a nice quiet trip home! :)

I've got a little monkey trying to crawl into my lap... I've gotta run. Take care. K
(this was actually posted on Sunday at 7:35 a.m.)