About Me

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I have two kids - a girl and a boy - and live in north-central Minnesota, land of snow and ice. Well, for 9 months of the year, that is. I work full-time for a local government, and on my "free time" I enjoy cooking, baking, hanging out with my kiddos, and RELAXING.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

today is tuesday

Work was busy today. With not working Monday, the bank was hopping as everyone tried to get their business taken care of. Plus we had loads of cash floating around from the tourist weekend. Counted so much money today...

This evening was a relaxing one. Well, I worked a little late because I couldn't get out of there, but afterwards Darren and I went and played tennis (he kicked my butt) and then we came back, ate, and played cards with his parents. Tomorrow night Tina and are are going shopping in Brainerd and I'm WAY excited. So much fun going with her.

Right now Darren is sitting at my feet playing some Xbox racing game. I tried to play it last night but it didn't go over so well. He keeps crashing, I guess, and he's hitting the bed because he's getting mad. I'm at his house typing this on his computer and his battery lasts about ten minutes, so it's about to give out on me. Well, I should head home and head to bed anyway. Early shift tomorrow...

Monday, May 26, 2008

Happy Memorial Day

I love Memorial Day. And Labor Day. It's nice to have long weekends, I think. I work at a bank so I never have to work holidays, and that's amazing. This whole weekend was pretty much taken up with preparations for my brother's graduation party, so it's nice that we can relax today. Although Saturday and yesterday were much nicer outside, which is a stinker. Oh well, guess I'll have to relax indoors.

I need to get better about writing on here more often. It's been a while since I last wrote anything. Too busy, I guess.

So this morning I got on the scale and it was pretty bad. I'm pretty sure it's impossible to gain two pounds in one day...I hope. I'm blaming it on weight fluctuation. Actually my fingers are kind of chunky today so maybe I'm retaining water or something. I've totally hit a plateau in this whole weight-loss thing. I really want to lose just 10 to 15 more pounds. I've already lost close to 30. I miss the elliptical machines at school. Here I just keep doing Turbo Jam over and over, and it's not as good of a workout. Darren said last night that he's "tired of being fat" so I suggested we start working out together. I've tried that before though, and he didn't really want to. We were going to join Snap Fitness in Pequot. We went in and talking to this woman about the membership but then we never went back. I think he wants to; he just doesn't want to spend the money. Darren always really wants to do things until it comes down to spending money to do them. Which is kind of nice...but kind of not. Here I was all excited that we could be doing this exercise thing together, and now we aren't. He said he wanted to go down there and do it before AT because he knew that after that he wouln't want to, or something. But here we are with nothing. He leaves for AT on Friday, and I'm sure it won't get done this week. Back to Turbo Jam. Oh well. Going to be eating light at the family get-together today, that's for sure. I ate THREE pieces of cake yesterday...talk about calories...

Thursday, May 15, 2008

HOME!!!

It's summer. And it's amazing. Although I'd have to say it hasn't totally sunk in yet. It still feels like I have to go back to school in a couple days. Plus I have two summer classes. That makes it feel less like summer, too. I checked them out this morning (they're independent study online ones) and one of them is going to be a ton of work, I think. Three book reports and a couple position papers. Plus two exams. The other one is going to be easy, though. At least that's something. Darren has AT at the beginning of June so that will give me lots of time to work on it. He has a summer class too and he's NOT happy about it. Finals were decent, I think. I'll have to see once my grades come out. Cleaning went really well. WAY better than last year. I think my RA last year was a crazy-clean person. Way more so than I am.

Last night Darren and I went out to Troy and Tina's and had a fire and played Buzz Word. Fun game. The ladies kicked the guys' butts. :) Well, Darren's parents are waiting for us to play some 500 so I better go. More later.

Monday, May 12, 2008

getting closer...

This morning I took my Intermediate Accounting final. I thought I was prepared. I wasn't. Well, I was prepared for the things I studied; I could do those perfectly. The final, however, consisted of tricky parts of problems that we have never talked about before. But, such is an Elfstrum final. I've spent the rest of the day washing walls and studying for my Finance final tomorrow morning. And my roommate and I adjusted my bed to the correct height, which is easier said than done. Last year we were trying to adjust one of our other roommate's beds and we bent the metal part a little bit. It's because I was jumping on the frame trying to get it out of the headboard piece and it bent when it came out. Then we had to hammer it back together, and let me tell you, that metal stuff doesn't move easily. Plus, banging on metal with a metal hammer = loud and annoying.

We're heading down to supper soon, and then afterwards I get to wash more walls and study for my Cost Accounting final tomorrow afternoon. That one is going to be a killer, too. At least my current grade is better in that class than it is in Intermediate. That means I can do worse on the final and still not murder my GPA. GPAs don't really matter anyway, except when you're trying to get a scholarship from the school. It's a 3.75 for the highest...yuck. Well, once my finals are over tomorrow it will be practially summer. After my Cost tomorrow afternoon I just have to finish all that cleaning, haul the rest of my stuff out to my car, and study for Environmental Science, which will be a piece of cake. Ahh...summer.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

finals and summer

Home for the weekend. It's the last one before I'm home for the summer! Plus it's fishing opener. Not like I care, but it's an exciting time around the area. Oficially the start of the tourist season. The weather isn't cooperating with summer, though. It's still a little on the cool side, like an early spring. And it's May for crying out loud! Where is the sun? Where is the heat? Where is the global warming? Sorry, just had to throw that in there... :) Actually, some scientists are saying the global cooling is the next big thing. I don't follow the popular fads, but I'd have to say I'm not a fan of global cooling, so I really hope they're wrong. :) To me, global warming seems like SARS, mad cow disease, whatever that weird chicken one was, and all those other the-world-is-coming-to-an-end problems. I mean, come on, has the sky hit us on the head yet, Chicken Little? Okay, enough soap-boxing...

Well, finals are next week so the mad studying has begun. Began? Whatever. I've spent nearly five hours studying for my first final on Monday, and I'm not done with it yet. Then I have to study for two on Tuesday and one more on Wednesday. But then I'm DONE! Monday will be the hardest, and Wednesday will be the easiest, so at least it's a downhill ride. But I do have to do all that cleaning at school. Don't worry, I'll be sure to document it. I told Darren's mom about all the crazy things we have to clean before we can leave, and she said, "Do they know you PAY to live there?" I thought it was funny. And no, I don't think they do. Seriously, for as much as I pay to share a room with seven other people, you'd think they could afford some Merry Maids or something.

Oh gross. I just saw a huge spider (I think it's dead...) in a spiderweb in my room. Now I have to decide whether I should pretend I didn't see it and let it slowly disintegrate or whether I should clean it up. Yuck. Tough call.

Fishing opener is this weekend in the northland and there are already tons of tourists here. I guess that's how this town survives, though. I'm so exciting for summer. I wish is would warm up. It seems weird that I'll be home for summer on Wednesday (!) and it's not even warm yet. Well, I guess it is only the middle of May. I hope this is a warm summer, because I will be very sad if it's not. I lost a bunch of weight and now I'm freezing cold all the time, so I think I'll find this summer very pleasant. If it's warm. If it's cold...well, I'll still be freezing.

Well, Darren is coming over soon so we can study/do homework (for him, lucky duck) and the shower is calling my name. I only have two parts left to study on this final, and then I can start on the next one. Joy.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Busy-ness

Well the hall meeting last night went better than planned. We got ourselves organized and figured out who needs to clean what before the end of the year. For the whole quad, I'm in charge of cleaning the hallway, which consists of cleaning the lights, washing the walls, vacuuming, and wiping down the baseboards. And then my roommate and I have to clean our bedroom and bathroom, and I'm doing the bathroom. The list for the bathroom more extensive and involves the obvious things like "clean the toilet" as well as crazy things like "clean the fan with a Q-tip". Fun times, for sure. Last year I just remember feeling sick after cleaning for like ten hours straight. Believe me, if you inhale bleach fumes and burnt vacuum belt fumes for ten hours, you'd feel sick too.



I called the DJ guy today and talked to him. He's sending a packet of information. I also called a girl I graduated with (she does photography now) and set up an appointment to meet with her on Friday. So things are getting taken care of, and it's making me feel a little bit less stressed. Although now I feel really bad because I told the photographer we'd meet with her at 2 pm on Friday and Darren can't if he has fire watch. I think he's kind of sad about it because he really loves this whole wedding planning thing. He definitely knows more of what he wants then I do. Some girls have their whole wedding envisioned and that's definitely not me. But I think he's thought about it for a while. I'm more like "let's get this done as cheaply as possible" and he wants to go all out.



Finals next week are going to be brutal. I have one take-home one that I can start right now (as soon as I'm done typing this, in fact) and the other four I have to study for this weekend and early next week. Intermediate Accounting on Monday morning, Finance and Cost Accounting on Tuesday morning, and Environmental Science on Wednesday afternoon. So one week from now I'll be feeling pretty good. Until then, not so much.

Monday, May 5, 2008

pshaw cinco de mayo...

Well today has been not-so-great. This morning I was driving to the cities at the crack of dawn and I got a chip in my windshield. Some stupid minivan in front of my threw a rock and BAM...chip. So that sucked. I already have pretty bad road rage but that didn't make it better, let me tell you. Then, I was trying to take this one supposedly faster way to get on 94 and I've never gone that way by myself (plus I'm really bad with directions) and I ended up on 94 West instead of 94 East. And it's 9 miles back to the next exit. That wasn't fun. Just about let a couple swear words slip, that's how ticked I was. I was thinking them, that's for sure.

I had to stop and feed Courtney's cats on my way to school, and while I was cleaning their litter box I busted the pooper scooper. (Sorry Courtney! I'll replace it before you get back!) The saddest part is that the kitties didn't even care I came to see them! They only wanted me for my ability to pour food into their bowls. When I finally made it to school I had to park in a spot that was literally only one parking spot away from being the farthest from my dorm. Then I had to haul my laundry and my computer and my purse and my bag all the way to my room in the heat. Sweating by the time I made it.

If it sounds like all I'm doing is complaining...well, I am. Sometimes you just have to and get it all out. I really feel much better right now, except I'm anticipating the not-fun I'm going to have at the hall meeting tonight. The mandatory hall meeting. From 10pm to 11pm. How much fun does that sound? A bunch of loud girls slowing down the end-of-the-year-let's-get-out-of-here process. I hate hall meetings. It doesn't help that they're past my bedtime. Yes, I go to bed that early. Especially on Monday nights, since I get up at 6 am to drive down to the cities.

But okay, I'm done complaining. I got it all out and I should be good to go for about a day. I'm sure tomorrow will bring many more fun challenges (note the sarcasm).

Saturday, May 3, 2008

quick update

The last couple days have been pretty busy. Thursday Darren came down to the cities and we babysat for a couple hours. Definitely an experience for him, I'd say. Friday I only had Finance class so I got to come home a little early, which was REALLY nice. I hauled home a ton of stuff this weekend, too. Took my bookcase apart at school and brought that home, as well as my little futon. I brought the cusions but the frame is in the back of Darren's truck. He has drill this weekend in Ripley so I won't get to see him until Sunday night. They get their spurs this weekend, which they've been waiting for for a long time, so he's really excited about it.

Last night my mom and I went and saw Made of Honor. It was cute, but definitely a chick flick. It was so cold when we went to the theater. This is supposed to be spring! I'm tired of winter. I think we're just going to skip spring this year and go straight from winter to summer. I'm ready for summer, though. No more school! Well, I'm taking some online classes--Lifetime Fitness and Christian Theology--so I'll still get to have fun writing papers and stuff like that.


I've been trying to contact this DJ for the wedding but he never responds! I emailed him about two weeks ago and never heard anything back, so then on Wednesday I tried calling him and he didn't answer. Plus there was no answering machine so I couldn't leave a message. He might be a little shady. A woman I work with claims he's a meth addict...it's a shady place around here sometimes. I should probably work on getting a DJ, photographer, and baker pretty soon. Mom and I went through the guest list last night and she gave me some input on who she thinks is likely to attend, so that helped a lot. The invitations are going to be spendy, that's for sure. Right now we're looking at ordering about 300 invites and having around 250 guests. At $13 a plate. So if you say you're coming you had better be there! :) I know at my cousin's wedding in March a bunch of people said they were coming and then never showed up. Real bummer, considering he had to pay for their meals anyway. The reception was at the casino (where ours is) and everyone thought it was really nice. I never heard anything bad about it, except from my grandpa, and that's because he doesn't like music. But everyone else enjoyed it. My grandma absolutely loved it and still keeps saying it was "just the nicest reception" she's ever gone to. You have to know my grandma to get a laugh out of that.