It's Groundhog Day...again

I love that movie. Everyday feels like Groundhog Day here. Just the same thing over and over again. But lets talk about some of the new things happening around the house - bullet point style:

- After 3 years of Justin participating in the Overnight Website Challenge, I finally decided to join him. I applied for a team and was accepted! I'm no developer, but I can add content like no ones business. So that's what I'll be doing in March.

- Justin and I are attempting to relive our days of Drum Corps. We're auditioning for Minnesota Brass - an all ages drum corps. This time he'll be my seat partner!

- Jules continues to be our loving, sweet, son who bosses us around by saying, "You come to my room to play trains wif me." His new question is, "Is that you mommy?"

- Scully is still around and terrified of Jules who loves to chase her. But he also asks her to be his "best friend" - he's tender like that.

- We've had the strangest winter in Minnesota. I don't think we had any snow in January and if we did, it melted because we've been in the 40's. Except today. It's 5 degrees out right now. Yes, it's as cold as it sounds. I'm hoping it just means we'll have a longer spring and a hot summer. If not, I don't think Justin will want to continue to live here.

- Justin's into bikes, beer, and baby's. Let's just say he's attempting to make one of each.

- We knew Jules would be like us in many ways, but we didn't take into consideration some of the things we didn't want to pass to him. Talking in his sleep, bad skin, hard breathing when he's watching t.v. or concentrating on something, and biting his nails. These annoying little habits are sure to get worse.

- And speaking of Jules, he's terrified of loud noises. I've read about many who have dealt with kids and sensitivity to things like sounds or new situations or foods - and I should take comfort that these sensitivities will lessen and even pass with age. But man this is tough. He remembers instances of loud noises, where he was when they happened and he obsesses over it.

We were heading out to Utah over Thanksgiving break and we stopped at my office to do some last minute work. It was first thing in the morning so hardly anyone was there. My boss and I were chatting, Jules was sitting at the table and Justin was in the hall on the phone. Suddenly, the building fire alarm went off. There was no mention of a drill so this was the real thing. When the alarm goes off all the doors automatically shut and when that happened, along with the startling noise, Jules FLIPPED the F out. I had to grab him and bolt out of the building and reassure him it wouldn't happen again (of course, how the hell am I supposed to know that?). He talked about that for days.

I had lunch with him and Justin this week and we went to my building after lunch and he immediately panicked and started babbling about the alarm and doors closing and he how hated my work. I felt terrible for him when he started crying. It'll be a long time before I can bring him back.

He's constantly asking "What's that noise?" when he hears something he's never heard. Sometimes it's just a question other times you can tell he's worried. All we can do is reassure him. I hope this passes.

- And speaking of obsessing: I'm all over Adele right now. Isn't that voice amazing? If I was in London like someone I know, I'd totally go to every show she was doing. Seriously, amazing.

Hilarious

Minna-Do-Da!

Lots of dumb stuff going on so let's review in bullet points!

- The Minnesota State Fair started and yes, we've already gone. The open invite still exists for those who want to bust out their stretchy pants (or draw string pants, whatever you've got) and come out and eat all day long. It's an event. An event that means summer is over in Minnesota. And you gain 6 lbs.

- We spent a long weekend in Northern Wisconsin with Justin's family. Eight kids, six adults and two dogs in a cabin. It was as fun as it sounds.

- Jules speaks like an adult now. Just ask him where he's from. "Minna-do-da!"
What's my name?
"Mommy!"
No, my real name.
"Des-deee."

It's cute.

- The garden is doing well. I've plucked cucumbers and tomatoes as they've ripened. The corn, carrots, onions and potatoes are growing nicely and should be ready in the next few weeks. Fingers crossed! I learned a lot and I'll do some things differently next year, but it's been fun.

- We went to the Vikings game Saturday and I got groped while walking to the bathroom. I thought Bears fans were assholes.

- Started watching Mad Men. Love it! Love that it's streaming on Netflix. Love Netflix. The end.

The Kid...He's Got the Beat

It's been a fun summer so far! Now that Jules is older, we can take him to lots of outdoor activities, including a Drum Corps show. He loves music and always does a dance when any type is playing. We took him to our local parade and he stomped and danced when the bands went by. Afterwards, we listened to a local Drum and Bugle Corps - Minnesota Brass - do a stand-still of their show. Jules was enthralled and loved it! He danced. He screamed. He stayed out late!



While we didn't get the same response when we took him to an actual show, he still did well. You can't expect a two-year-old to sit still when there are bleachers to climb on!

It's All a Crap Shoot

While living in Las Vegas, I tried to grow an orange tree. Guess how it turned out? I don't know either. I gave it to a friend's wife to take care of when we moved to Minneapolis. But the first year I had it, it survived and actually grew fruit. I learned you weren't supposed to pick it the first year so the second years harvest would be better. (I hope it's growing yummy oranges for my friend and his wife! It probably is, I think she's got a super green thumb.)

When we bought our house, the family before had a huge garden in the corner of the yard. I loved the idea of a garden and wanted to do it. But then I had a baby and then it was winter and then summer again and the baby was crawling and I wasn't in the right mind to start such a task. We did, however, prep the garden by digging out weeds and left over leeks (we ate them, they were good. The leeks, not the weeds.). But after one really heavy, rainy week, it all grew over again and I gave up.

I made up my mind, this was going to be the "Summer of Gardening" (and "Summer of Beverages"). So I started all my seeds inside and they were growing beautifully. I had Friday's off and that gave me time to work in the garden. And I borrowed a family tiller to do the really heavy work for me. But the weather. Oh Minnesota and your weather. You always ruin my plans!

I had to wait a few weeks until the ground was dry. My little seedlings were starting to die-they needed to be planted! But it finally dried out and I was finally able to get started. Let me tell you about a tiller. It's a machine that-while digging into the ground-you hold on for dear life because it's going to take off and not care you're holding on or not. It.was.fun! And quick! It took maybe 45 minutes to till the entire plot. I made Justin till the back scary corner.

We planted the seedlings and BAM, Minnesota decided to go from 70's to 100's in about a day. And most of my seedlings died. All but two cucumber plants died, but my tomato plants survived. I also planted corn, carrot and potato seeds. I figured they were a lost cause too because of the heat and I couldn't keep up with watering. But then Minnesota went back to the 70's with tons of rain. And guess what? Everything grew! Including weeds! So now, I get to pull lots weeds thanks to all the rain. Most of my seeds have sprouted and are growing beautifully. I will have to plant some more corn because they are being overtaken by grass. Meh, I've got tons of corn seeds.

Now, how they will taste is a whole other experiment. Stay tuned...

Three Years

I was recognized this week for working here three years. That's the longest I've worked somewhere that wasn't school. My usual thing to feel after TWO years at any place is anger, frustration, stress, boredom, blah, blah, you get the idea. But here, I haven't felt that. Sure there have been frustrating days. Anger at dumb decisions. Stress at getting a project done. Boredom from lack of work. That's at all jobs and not at once as it was in the past. Since being here, I've never said, "I'm done. I want out. I hate it here." Not once. Ask Justin how many times I said that at my last employer.

It was nice being recognized because a lot of people didn't know what I did, who I was, or even what I looked like. But that changed within the past year. The role I have now lets me interact with more departments and become the hero at the last minute (toot toot! - that's me tooting my horn.). And when my boss ended his speech about my work here, I was surprised at the applause that came. Loud cheers! What? Who was doing that? No one knows me or the work that I've done. But people did know me and the work I've done. And they cheered. I was the popular kid for 15 seconds.

I haven't thought about where I'll be in the next 10 years career wise. Where ever I am, I hope I'll be as happy as I am here.

Themes are Good

*ooh, Looks like I can now "mobile post" - but I'm not gonna.*

May in Minnesota is weird. You have beautiful, sunny days with a high of 75. Perfect, Minnesota! Then you have beautiful, sunny days with a high of 55. She can't help her moodiness.

I'm doing a garden this year. I was with infant last year and couldn't get my act together for many reasons. This year, this summer is the summer of gardening for me and the summer of beverages for Justin. We're nerds and like to theme our summers. One summer was the "summer of socks" the next was "summer of slurpees!" So, once we declare it, it'll happen.

Summer of gardening consists of 1) cleaning up the front and back yard and not be the embarrassment of the cul-de-sac any more. And 2) planting a simple vegetable garden. By not going overboard, I'm keeping it simple and doable. Or else, I'll fail. Corn, potatoes, cucumbers, onions, carrots, cauliflower, and pumpkins - for the kids. So far, so good! I got my starters going and just finished tilling most of the garden. But, Minnesota wants to ruin everything for me and rain. Jerk. While the hard work is 1/2 way done, it really all comes down to how things will taste. I can only hope it's edible.

Summer of beverages consists of 1) brewing our own beer and 2)creating our own pop. Orange, root beer, grape, cream soda, whatever! Plus, we'll need a cool beverage after the long hours of garden time we'll be putting in EVERY.NIGHT.FOR.THE.REST.OF.THE.SUMMER!!

I'll let you know how it goes. What's your summer theme?

January Burns

Since moving to Minnesota, I knew that January would be a difficult month when it came to weather.
Actually, it's January through May with February or March being the really difficult months.
It's spring, and snow is still falling. That's hard to swallow when all your friends in ALL THE OTHER STATES are out having a good time in spring-like weather.

Can you tell Justin's bitterness has rubbed off?

It's been a really rough winter. So Justin took me to Kauai with another couple for my birthday. Hawaii in January. I didn't care if it was going to rain or be in the 70's. It wasn't snow and I didn't have to take a jacket.

Hawaii in January!

We were going to sail, kayak, surf, eat, drink and relax by the ocean. And we did and it was awesome!

But, there was a drawback. Our pasty white skin. It burned. We were diligent about using spf 50 and above. Our Indian friends didn't want to get "darker" (their words, not mine) either and were slathering spf 70. But us white folks burned areas of our body that we didn't expect. Legs, feet, hands, lips. And nothing would soothe the pain. Then I thought of this:

Back in Junior High School, 90210 was new and all the cool kids were watching it. I could NEVER get into it. The adult-like (fake) situations, the sex, a dj in a high school (pu-leeese!). I get they were trying to relate to people my age with issues of our generation but it was done in such a way that it made you feel shittier about yourself.

So I turned it off.

BUT! I did see an episode that officially gave me the green light to never watch the show again. The main, dark-haired chick (Brenda?) is out sunbathing before the big dance, naturally. But, oh noes! She got burned bigtime! WTH was she gonna do?

Don't worry, cool mom from the 90's used granny's sunburn aftercare, secret remedy and came to the rescue. Brenda came walking down the stairs in her poofy sleeved, black dress all ghost-like. Pasty skin restored back to normal.

YA RIGHT, 90210. Why do I get so angry about this story line?

So anyway, the sun is damaging and burns are painful. I could barely put socks on for my 9 hour flight home. Surprinsly, just my feet were affected and are now a beautiful tan color (3 weeks later).

I'm now the only Minnesotan with tan feet - that no one will ever see. Not til May, at least.


Hiding behind bikes. Even flip-flops hurt my feet. :(

In That I Have Nothing to Say

Really, nothing since December? Sad, but actually a lot has happened. Maybe it was the post-holiday blues or the amount of eating that has me now 10 lbs heavier (suuuuuucks), but I just didn't feel like anything was worth writing about.

Wait, now that I think about it. It's the month of January. Does it suck for you too? It's cold, days are short, the holiday's are over, blah blah blah January blows.

So anyway, Jules turned 19 months(!) and has a mouth full of teeth, we went to Kauai to escape the brutal cold of Minnesota (5 degrees today!), our basement project is almost done, and Scully is now considered a "senior" but don't tell her that.

I haven't done his 19 month post because I feel like I just did his 18 month. But that's me just being lazy and not posting anything else. Plus we were in Kauai when he aged another month.

Kauai! It was a birthday gift from Justin. Since moving to Mpls, I've requested a trip to Hawaii in January. In his old, crotchety state, he agreed and booked the trip. It was WARM and SUNNY (most of the time). We burned our legs and feet, hiked, kayaked, swam, boated, drove, sun bathed, surfed, ate, shopped. It was a much needed break.

Our basement remodel is going well and this phase is almost done. The old panel board and ceiling was ripped down and new drywall was installed. We also added lighting and wired it for internet and the projector. After the second coat of mud and ceiling work is done, we just have to paint and move everything back. It's chaos in the office and guest room, Justin can't wait for everything to be moved back and I'm excited for a "new" basement family room.

Scully is 7 years old and that puts her in the "senior" age group. If anything, she's middle-age. She still plays with toys, pretends to attack Jules, jumps all over the place, chases bunnies, and anything else a younger dog does. She's fearful of Jules and tries to stay away from him and his swing arm. But she's a good dog who still loves to cuddle.

Ok, time to get over this jet-lag. Til next time...

18 Months

The reasons why I haven't done an 18-month post until now.

You are 23 pounds, petite, cautious, a singer, laugh at everything, love cars and trains, becoming a picky eater and can't sit still long enough for a photo with Scully.

We've been singing a few songs to you for what seems like forever and you now sing them with us. "This old man..." "Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques..." You love to dance to music from the television, radio or us singing. When the "Thomas the Train" theme comes on, you start to bounce and turn in circles. That's your white-boy dance.

You only say a few words: Mama, Dada, doggie, duck, nana (banana), baby and what sounds like "touchdown!" You sign: dada, doggie, bath, car, all done, milk, hat, shoes, more, eat, bird, airplane, books, bye-bye, stars, ball, and are perfecting: train, kitty. The doctor isn't worried about your speech at this age. Unless you were a girl, then she'd be a little concerned. Apparently girls talk.all.the.time!


We all survived the big storm to 2010. (Hard to tell, but that's me, it was zero and we got about 15 inches in addition to the 12 inches that was already in the yard.) The next day we made our way out to a birthday party where you were traumatized yet again by us when we put you in this:



We thought it'd blow your mind, but apparently not. You just wanted to push it, and not RIDE in it, mom!

You fist-bump, you throw your hands in the air when we say "Touchdown!" and you know "first down." Your daddy's little football watcher.

We read stories before bed and you love it. You sign "more" after 10 books. You never want me to stop reading. You still sleep 12 hours at night and have a 3 hour nap during the day.



Toddler moments are becoming a little bit more frequent. Throwing food on the floor, throwing toys at Scully, throwing yourself on the floor, I'm starting to see a pattern here. But really, you are a very good boy and tantrums happen only about 15% of the time.

We flew to Utah for Thanksgiving and you got to meet your Great-Great Grandma Dot. She thinks you're super cute. I loaded her cork board with your pictures.





We made the annual trip to cut down our Christmas tree. You love to be outside. I think it was only 12 degrees this day. It didn't phase you at all. You aren't interested in the tree or the ornaments this year. I bet next year you'll be interested in the stuff under the tree.



When asked, you know the sounds these animals make: dog, cat, cow, and bird. And you know what a car and train say. When I asked where your nose is, you scrunch it up and breath through it fast.

Each month gets better and better, baby Jules. Merry Christmas and happy 18-month!

The Long Minnesota Goodbye

When I first moved to Minnesota, I thought I knew what to expect. I'd seen Fargo. I heard my Father-in-law say "You Betcha!" and my Mother-in-law say "Oh, YAAAA" countless times. My husband taught me that the casserole I had been eating/making my entire life was actually called a Hotdish and tator-tot hotdish was WAY better than any tator-tot casserole I could ever make. Of course, it's the same recipe, but still. HOTDISH!

Passive-aggressiveness is a way of life and if you don't do it, then you're obviously not from here (or a Foell). Beer drinking during winter is popular - actually, it's popular all year. I know, I know. It's popular in other states as well. But when beer is a staple in your fridge, at your in-laws fridge, are friendly with a brewing company, you dress your kid as a German Bier Drinker for Halloween, it's serious. Funky sweaters, mukluk's, big, poofy winter coats, pasty white skin are just part of the culture too.

In our family after any get-together, we just hang out and talk around the dinner table. Kids running in and out of the room. Dogs clean up the messy floor, thanking the kids for dropping part of their meal. We'll talk about all sorts of stuff. Politics, kids, health care (Minnesotan's LOVE to talk about health care), stories of family members, and break up a few kid fights along the way.

Then, it starts. The Long Minnesota Goodbye. My Brother-in-law starts it.

"I'm tired, let's go."

Then we respond, "Yep, we should go too."

But, no one gets up.

After a few more topics are started and finished, my Brother-in-law says again, "Kid 1, go tell kids 2-5 to get their shoes on, we're leaving."

Justin and I will look at the clock and say, "Yeah, baby Jules is tired, we should go too."

Again, no one gets up. The kids all run in and say, "But we're watching a movie!"

"How much longer is it?"

"10 minutes. Please, we want to finish it!"

"Ok, 10 more minutes."

And we sit around for another 10 minutes. During this round, my father-in-law prepares bags of left-over food we ate that night. It's divided between the two families, mine and Brother-in-law's. One time, we got home with a huge container of corn, rolls and mashed potatoes and my Brother-in-law got a huge container of meat, fruit and gravy. Totally didn't make sense and we've since said, "We thank you for the left-overs but maybe we can divide it equally because what's mashed potatoes when someone else has the gravy?"

Its since been sorted out.

Once the bags are prepared and the movie is done, we make our way to the hallway for the sorting and hunting of shoes and jackets. Kids run from room to room looking for the toys, shoes and jackets they threw about while here. Moms yell at kids to pick up toys. Grandpa hands us bags, "Don't forget your leftovers!" Babies are placed in their carseats. Dads start the car to warm it up. Moms still talk in the hallway. Grandma says, "Justin, can you look at our computer?" Brother-in-law says, "LET'S GO!" and kids give hugs to all family members still in the process of leaving (that's us).

One kid ALWAYS comes back in looking for something. And Grandpa ALWAYS runs out after he found it just before they leave the driveway.

This can take an hour or longer from the moment Brother-in-law says, "I'm tired, lets' go" to "LET'S GO!" and kids are scrambling to give hugs.

We're all guilty of the Long Minnesota Goodbye here. It's just the culture and honestly, it's annoying. Don't mention you're ready to go unless you are ready to go.

Are you guilty of the Long Minnesota Goodbye?

Take a look at how it works.

And Just Like That...

We have fall weather.

I've only been here two years and I already want to move to the one place that truly has four seasons.

Utah.

Not Nevada. Not Texas. Not Minnesota.

Utah.

Baby Jules doesn't even have any long-sleeved shirts or pants. Because it's SEPTEMBER and we should still be wearing SHORTS and T-SHIRTS.

Ok Justin, you win.

Summer Recap

Where has the summer gone? It's August and we're trying to take advantage of Minnesota and its warm temps. So we've been outside as much as possible. I've got a bunch of new freckles, wrinkles, and a baby who loves water after finishing swim lessons.

We had a family reunion where Justin and I let our baby fall face first on various outdoor equipment, multiple times.




Boating with tubing wipe-outs:


(oh, ya, I have a youtube account. And while I'm not vlogging, I am posting videos. Justin hates the word "vlogging" "vlogger" and anything like that. Got any suggestions?)

We've also been biking a lot. Well, more like Justin and Jules. I just bike to swim lessons and easy trail rides. I don't like a sore bum.

We swim as much as we can. It helps when your bro-in-law has a pool at his new house. I feel bad inviting ourselves over, but nine times out of ten, they are in the pool too, so it's a good bet we aren't interfering too much.

And now that it's August, DCI is in two weeks and we decided to go. Not looking forward to a 10 hour drive, BUT it beats spending $800 on plane tickets.

And of course, the highlight of summer is the State Fair. Remember, open invite. Stay at my house. Come with us. But you might want to go on a diet now because you'll probably gain a few pounds in one day. Sounds like fun!

An Open Invitation

Our State Fair is the BEST State Fair and you are invited to stay at my house to spend a day (or two or three!) at the Minnesota State Fair eating everything you can. Phew!



Bucket-o-Cookies. Let me tell you, these are so good, so soft, so right out of the oven warm! We have to get some every time. Ok, once you get this, head over to the all-you-can-drink milk (and chocolate!) for $1!

(yes my once 3-month-old needed a wardrobe change.)

Ok, after you've chugged so much milk you wanna puke (because it's hot out). Take a seat...if you can find one.



After resting for a moment, wander around and see if you can spot some interesting people.



Ready for some more food? How about some cheese curds? A staple at the Fair.



Don't like cheese curds? How about a Quesadilla?



Still not your thing? Hmm, ok. Oh! Food on a stick! How about tator tots on a stick?


Or Fried Mac and Cheese on a stick?



Looking for something unusual? The Minnesota State Fair doesn't disappoint! Chocolate covered bacon!

(Not another wardrobe change, we went for a second day!)

For reals, we love the State Fair! Discount tickets are now on sale so if you wanna come up, make your plans! August 26th through Labor Day. Great food, great music, great people watching. So who's in?

I'm here...

Just getting over jet-lag (finally), what I thought was allergies turned into a head cold with ear problems (on antibiotics now) and passed it to Jules (who's also on antibiotics) and just generally feeling behind on everything in life.

Poor Jules - I used the bulb syringe on him so many times he actually lets me do it without a fight. But he does put up a fight when it's medicine time.

I started a post with photos of our trip but if you can't wait, you can see Justin's here.

We got Jules a bike seat for the back of Justin's bike and now we've got a family bike ride planned for this weekend. Justin's really excited. They tried it out last night and Jules didn't smile or cry. He's still sick. I'm sure he'll love it when he feels better.

We also bought him a tree swing. Totally an impulse purchase. We still have to hang it but I know he'll love it.

I pretty much used up all my vacation time so I'm really looking forward to a 3-day weekend. The plan is to busy ourselves during the week with stuff we don't want to do on the weekend so we can play. It's not fun to do boring stuff like chores on a 3-day weekend. What else is everyone doing?

Goodbye TPT...

Hello TPT!

I got a new job at tpt (I LOVE that they LOVE to hire within!). When I'm done with the Minnesota Video Vault project, I will have watched about 1000 shows.

One THOUSAND shows. Actually, there will be 1100 shows, but I've had some help (Thank G!) My brain is fried, but my knowledge of Minnesota and its history is unbelievable - or I like to think.

Remember when you were a kid and it was summer time and all you wanted to do was watch tv all day? (Maybe you weren't as lazy as I was. But seriously, it was HOT in Texas during the summer, so unless you were swimming, you were watching tv.) And you wished you could get paid to watch tv all day?

Yeah, I did that. (But I did plenty of other things too!) And while the project was really awesome and ahead of the pack in terms of online archiving, sometimes, watching programs all day sucked. But, I'm proud of my work, my knowledge of Minnesota and the opportunity tpt gave me to take charge of the project.

It paid off.

So now, I'm finishing up my list of shows (1100!)and moving onto another project managing various internal websites. MANAGING, kids.

We Replaced the Swing With This

Our bundle of joy.

A Decade in Review

2000 - Was excitingly dating Justin Foell from Minnesota while I lived in a small basement apartment with 5 windows, a killer dog upstairs named "Gangster"(who once tried to bite my face off when I gave him water. Jerk) and his owner "Chris LaDoux" (Can't remember his real name. But he was hick-ish and smoked pot at 5am before working construction.) Hank Hill lived across the street. As did an old bitty who was 90 and called me "Suzie Q!" She also drank her pee. She told me.

2001 - Planned a wedding, got married, moved out of the basement apt (goodbye $300 rent, Chris, Gangster, Hank and Old Bitty!) and moved into our first house (hello mortgage payment!).

2002 - Still in school, worked at the steakhouse off and on as I liked (or didn't like - some managers were JERKS!). Had to sell the house due to layoffs, and moved in with Granny for a few months.

2003 - FINALLY found a cool apartment in downtown SLC. We were hip, until my Jeep was broken into like 3 times. Oh ya, I had a JEEP! It was AWESOME! Justin had a new job too! But it didn't last long and found another one in Vegas. I graduated and we made the move. Scully was my graduation gift. Tender!

2004 - At first, I thought our new apartment was an old folks home because we were the youngest ones there. Turns out, it wasn't an old folks home, but we were the youngest ones there. Jean, our neighbor, would drink and drive a lot. She was also on blood thinners. That's why she wobbled. Sure, Jean. I landed a sweet editing job and sold the jeep at the first sign of hot-ness (you know, 120 degrees. I not kid.)

2005 - Decided to buy another house. This time, we built one. We closed on our anniversary. Tender, again! BUT, then I lost my job. However, I landed another one by that December. I also ran a marathon, vowing to never do that again.

2006 - Started working for the same company as Justin (but we didn't work together). I had high hopes, but they quickly faded when my boss went on maternity leave the day I started. Here starts 2 years of frustrating work.

2007 - I ran a marathon, again. Actually, it was 12 miles. It could have been better. We took a cruise with my family to Central America, we traveled to Idaho for my g-granny's 90th, and we went to San Francisco for the first time.

2008 - We went to Thailand for a wedding and then spent my birthday in London. (Go ahead, be jealous.) I quit my job and we moved to Minnesota where I now work for tpt (PBS affiliate in the Twin Cities - Love it!). I got knocked up and enjoyed a symptom free first trimester.

2009 - It was cold. COOOOOLD all throughout my pregnancy. I wore sweaters one week before Jules was born. IN.JUNE. We spent the rest of the summer traveling to Nebraska, Utah, South Dakota, and Indianapolis trying to take advantage of their warm temps. We bought another house and did lots of updates before Jules arrived. We have, yet again, another old bitty who lives next door. But she's the nicest, sweetest old lady out there. We are also the proud owners of a snow blower. Because, for reals. I'm not shoveling anymore.

It's the First Wednesday of the Month...

And you know what that means...


The CREEPY siren that goes off at 1pm in downtown St. Paul. Like nuclear bomb loud. I'm surprised our windows don't break.

Did I mention it's loud? and CREEPY?

Jinxed

Yep, I jinxed it. Or, it's just November 30th and only one day of snow in October wasn't enough for cold Minnesota.

Today
Nov 30 Few Snow Showers 39°/27°

Awesome huh? At least I'm not out waiting for a bus this time of year. That was fun while it lasted.

But wait, lets look at Thursday!

Thu
Dec 03 Flurries 28°/21°

(Twenty WHAT?!)

I guess I gotta break out the "light" winter gear. I save the "heavy" winter gear for days zero and below. ZERO! and BELOW! Can you believe people STILL live here?

(Oh, Minnesota, don't worry, I still love you. I'm not leaving anytime soon. Unless it's a trip to Hawaii in March when it's 18 below.)

Train

Saturday was the grand opening of sorts of the new Northstar Rail in Minnesota. A big deal here people. Justin is so enthralled with trains that we stood in line for 45 minutes for free tickets to ride downtown. While I wasn't really interested, it turned out to be fun.

Best of all, Jules liked it.




"Yea! I like trains! We go THIS fast!"



The 20 minute ride took us to the new Target field and back. If I worked in Minneapolis, I'd probably take the train.