Clam Lake

So, we had a wonderful (albeit rainy) weekend in Clam Lake, WI with my sister parents-in-law....they have the most wonderful home and guest cabin (the cabin was their vacation home when my BIL was little and then they built a wonderful retirement home on the property) .....we left there with 20 yo asparagus seeds, garlic to plant, fresh red potatoes, yukon gold potatoes, fresh tomatoes to freeze and fresh cabbage.....it's so wonderful :)

And to top it off - my sister hit the jackpot on parents-in-law....they are the absolute best and so warm and welcoming to us....we had a great time at the Bayfield Apple Festival...

My nephews are the Cutest things EVER....I enjoy every minute I spend with them - even when they are stinkers :)

So....on the way home...in my parents Motorhome (my parents were along) the left front tire blew...that was scary....dad was wonderful at keeping it in control....and we drew to the side of the road...Dad did let out one obsenity....about getting rid of this f%$#@ing thing....luckily, we made it to the side and on an incline. (this was a blessing later as it was unsure if the jack could go that far) Dad and Mike located the spare but not the lugnut wrench...3 people stopped to help...we had NO cell reception....so we sent Mike with Stopper No. 1 ....as Mike was pulling away in this mans car to go to the next town to call us a tow....I screamed.....Do we have this guy's name???? who is my beloved leaving with? dad rattled off his license plate - mom started talking and I had to yell at her to SHUT UP...as I had to keep repeating the lic plate until I got a pen and wrote it down...sorry mom..I was a bit rude, but scared I just sent my Mike off with a potential serial killer......

Crazy thing is that I had reception I the motorhome, but not Outside the motorhome....Dh got to the next town and they had NO tow truck that could take a motorhome... :(

Luckily, a man stopped that had the right lugnut wrench and he and dad fixed the tire...and it happened to not have any damage to the axel - which was the last problem that mom and dad had with the motorhome....so we were SOOOO lucky.....

So, we called Mike and he was 14 miles down the road....he was waiting for us....however, his ride to the next down was interesting....(I'm glad I got his lic plate) he said the guy CHOMPED his teeth every 10 seconds as a nervous twitch....after 10 mins of chomping, Mike looked over and noticed...the guy had no lense in one of his glasses....he tried to remain calm but was hearing banjo music....luckily he had a knife with him - if he had to cut the banjo string music! He was sitting there thinking, "omg I'm going to die" No one can make this stuff UP!!!!

We got to town after the spare change and got Mike safe and sound and made our way home....What an eventful night :)

Keys

Keys...Keys....Keys....I watched Sex, Lies and Videotapes last weekend and in it, James Spader's character only wants ONE key - for his whole life. UGH how I wish that was true.

When we moved into our house (2 years ago) we rekeyed the locks - or rather, Mike bought 4 locks, had keys made for all and then put 2 locks on our house, one on the garage and one on the porch - all keyed differently. Brilliant? NO. Do you think he ever checked the dupe keys to make sure they worked? No (although, he claimed he did).

I digress.....so twice now, Mike has locked me out of the garage, making me have no vehicle or way to get to work. Thank goodness for cellphones and moms!

So, after being irate (once again) for having no key to get in the garage, I asked Mike to take all the locks and for once and for all get them all keyed alike. So he took them off and I proceeded to take them to the local hardware store to get them rekeyed.

They told me the rekeyer is not there on Sunday. GRRRR

So, I take one back - to put back on the house - so the house is not left unlocked - and they keep the locks for 3 days, with continued issues 1) not telling the rekeyer on Monday the locks were there - Mike left all the extra keys incase they need them 2) Tues regarding us dropping off the extra keys, when Mike already did - and 3) after all that, no called us to say that they can't REKEY them!

So, I get home Tues night, and Mike has a late class till 9pm and I find myself locked out (my key is still with them at the hardware store) - and since I just grabbed a random lock when I initially tried to drop off the 3 locks, I have no idea which one is still on the house. So, now, I'm locked out of the house after traipsing across the wet yard in the rain - the lock is NOT the one from the hidden key outside.

Off to Mom's again to borrow her spare keys. To finally get inside and decide to get on my computer and type this up and vent. However - my computer is DEAD. Goodbye my good friend. Trying to recall all the items I've lost.

It's now a week later and hopefully our keys are now being rekeyed by a respectible place....soon I will have ONE key for every lock in my house.

One Key :)

American Idol!!

Bobbie Jo and I went to the AI concert!! With 11th row floor seats at the Target Center and Meet and Greet passes thanks to our friend Rick! He works for the band, traveling with them...we had a great time - I wanted to meet Adam the most, unfortunately, he was the ONLY one that didn't attend the Meet and Greet :(, But we did get to meet most of the top 10 :)

First Harvest

OOOHHHH I got home today from Minneapolis and found a whole slew of my yellow baby tomatoes ready for harvest!!!!!!!! They are so cute - so here's to my first crop - I have about 50 more babies on the way! (one Jalapeno and 8 cayenne), and hopefully more to come!

Baby Layla

My good, good friend Sarah had her baby girl Layla last Sunday!!!! I'm so very happy for her and even more excited I got to see her yesterday, at 7 days old!!!! Here she is!

And a pic of my new haircut - I'm still getting used to it hehee....Wishing Sarah, Hidalgo and Layla the best in the world! I already miss holding her! She was so super duper cute, as you can see, and so sweet and snuggly!

Dying My Hair

I'm dying my hair tonight - and tomorrow Greta is going to give me another fabulous cut - off with my hair! I think this one is going to be a keeper - I always love my cuts - but then I decide to do something different. This time I'm going a darker color as well. A nice golden brown tonight. Mike said he likes the cut I want to get so I'm glad to have his go - ahead :)

Then off to a pedicure with BJ (and hopefully Marne) before our class reunion (YIKES 15 Years) on Saturday! It should be a fun time. I haven't been to a class reunion since graduation.

Cousin's Weekend - Overdoing it?

Well, I'm finally here - BLOGGING!!!...not sure where I'm going. But we shall find out! So, I've picked a background - not sure I'm yet totally in love with it - but I might try to see what else is out there.

We went to Door County this weekend for a "Cousin's Weekend" - the first one! I laughed way more than I have lately and we had a great time. Even though there was 7 of us - not one squabble or disagreement about what we were doing or going to do. It was a great laid back group and except for raining out our bonfire - was a perfect weekend.


My cousin Tim grew a moustache since the last time I saw him. I now will refer to him as Handlebar Bob. It seriously curls at each end. Even his sister bust out laughing the first time she saw it. If he shaved his head, he'd look like the monopoly man....all weekend I wanted to tell him "Go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200.00" but I refrained. I like it on him. It's a great conversation starter - and it's fun!

I secretly bought a fake moustache in the vending machine (for $0.50), as a joke, right before I saw Tim with his new stache and I never got a picture of me wearing it with him....photo op missed!

I got the most ribbing for buying 8 bottles of wine at the winery/wine tasting (In my defense, my cousin, Erick - who I didn't even know LIKED wine - bought 8 bottles as well) I got a $0.50 discount per bottle if you bought 6 or more, so I thought - WHY NOT? Is 8 bottles really overdoing it when I can't buy the wine anywhere else? I think not.

On to the Door County Cherries. I bought a bucketful for (I think) $14.00 - of sour cherries. I thought that was a great deal. Little did I know, when I got home, I had 26 CUPS of cherries out of that bucket. I am using 6 cups to make Mike a Cherry Crisp tomorrow night. Hmmm what to do with the other 20 cups? I threw them in Mason jars and whipped up a double batch of Cherry Bounce (the recipe was given to us by Bob the Trolley Driver) - which will be ready in exactly 6 months - and perfectly in time for gift giving at Christmas! Overdoing it? Maybe. Having spare Xmas gifts on hand this year? Brilliant!