Rough Game

As I feared: our defense made stupid penalties and gave the game away. The offense played well, even with Brett out. We had two nice touchdowns but it wasn't enough - Bigby and a couple of other guys kept giving Dallas first downs when the rest of the defense would have held them. ARG!!! Still, I guess 10-2 is still respectable - the third place team is 7-4 so we've got a nice lead in the NFC.

Next up: 11 days for Brett to heal and a SUNDAY game. GO PACK GO!

Game Night

GO PACKERS!!!

Christmas Tree!

Here's a picture of our beautiful tree! Please ignore the streetlight in the background!

Fantasy Football Love

I haven't posted, but my fantasy teams are in a decline right now and I could really use a win. Hoping for some Pittsburgh magic against Miami tonight (none of that crap we saw against the Jets last week!).

Here's what I need:
Ben Roethlisberger: 200 yards, 3 TDs, no INTs
Hines Ward: 40 yards, 1 TD

That should be doable, right?

OW! A Thanksgiving Story.

Another Thanksgiving weekend is over and Nick and I are ready to embrace Christmas! We drove to Iowa on Wednesday night, arriving just in time for one of Nancy's delicious suppers with Erin-made cupcakes for dessert. We decided to skip playing a game and watch Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark instead. I thought I hadn't seen it before, but after we got to the end I realized I had. Maybe next time I'll graduate to whatever the second movie in the trilogy is!

Thanksgiving was spent with Nancy's sister, her husband, their daughter and granddaughter. We had turkey and stuffing - no suprises here! I got to watch the fantastic Packer victory (after missing the rough first quarter while eating) then napped while Erin beat Nick and the others at Scrabble. From there we headed over to Nick's grandparents, where I got to meet more family members and visit for a couple of hours. Back over to Nancy and Jeff's, where Nick won at Trains and we discovered that the rules to Sorry! actually have a subset for "adults only" play. We switched halfway through and I won the game!

Friday was our lazy day. The kids slept in while the grown-ups went to work. We went and bothered Nancy at the post office, then got lunch at Godfather's while we waited for the lady to measure Nick for a tux to get back from lunch. After Nick was taken care of, we drove home and Nick and Jeff headed out to Jeff's hunting "shed" while I won three games of Trains (two against Nancy and Erin and one against just Erin). Then we went to the "shed" as well. Jeff has built a pretty cool 3-story building out on his hunting land. We had a cookout on the second-level balcony and sat inside for a while to visit. We then swung by Nancy's sister's house because I have never seen it. She lives in a very nice log "cabin" that is huge. I loved her decorating style. We played a game of Scrabble (won by Erin at the last minute) and Balderdash (won by Nick's cousin) before heading home. Nancy and Jeff were still up and Jeff joined us for some Euchre. Nick and I lost two of three games to him and Erin. Then we got devious - Jeff quit and Erin went upstairs and Nick and I pulled all the queens out of the Euchre deck. I dominated at 3-handed: won every time and got to 15 first by a landslide (Nick had 1 and Erin had -1). I was golden! Then we played Sorry. We decided that it wasn't fair to have one side of the board open so we made a ghost player to take over that side. The three of us played using the newly found "adult" rules and the ghost played the kid rules. We agreed that the ghost would always make the best strategic move and wouldn't target any one person no matter what happened to it. The ghost won.

Saturday was our last day in Iowa. We had lunch with three of Nancy's sisters before they headed off to a baby shower and Nancy gave us early Christmas presents which were fantastic! I think Adam is getting the same thing so I don't want to say what it was, but all three of us were very happy. We had an uneventful drive back to Minneapolis and took Erin to Costco and Boston's once we arrived. Then she and Nick played Wii until they couldn't keep their eyes open any longer!

Today, today was one of my favorite days of the year: decorating the house for Christmas! Erin and I got out all the Christmas decorations and put them up, then we went to lunch at J. Cousineau's with Nick. The three of us headed over to get a tree after we were done eating.

I was standing innocently in the parking lot, looking at two trees and trying to decide if I should call Nick over to get his opinion on either one of them. All of a sudden, I was thumped on the head. My first thought was "man, that's pretty solid to be a Christmas tree!". Then Erin was rushing over and pulling a 2x4 off of me! It had a couple of nails sticking out of the end of it - luckily none of them got me. The 2x4 was about 20 feet long and had been standing up in the middle of one of the X-shaped Christmas tree holders. The holders are designed to hold four trees and this one only had two tiny ones in it. The 2x4s are used to hold up the overhead lights for when it is dark out. We threw the 2x4 on the ground and told the kids working the place what had happened. They're all just high school kids though and they were pretty freaked out. I am fine though - it only hurt for about five minutes and it happened seven hours ago so no problems. We ended up not getting either of those trees though!

Erin was able to help us get the tree set up in its stand and the lights on before Nick brought her back to the airport. She always complains that we get here there too early, so Nick purposely only got her there about an hour before she was scheduled to leave. However, she was delayed an hour in the airport and then stuck on the tarmac for another 2.5 because Georgia was too busy to accept her plane at its scheduled time. At least it wasn't completely our fault this time! When Nick got home we put up all the ornaments, made some pasta and settled in to watch SNF - the Patriots almostlost.

Now my house smells like the pine needles and ready to go. I love Christmas!

Turkey Day Victory

After a slow start, the Packers rolled over Detroit today, winning 37-26. I got to watch Detroit's opening drive and the hand-off fumble in the first quarter before we sat down to eat and I'll admit, I was a little worried. But the Packers pulled it together and Brett was even smiling in the third quarter. He quit once the Lions quickly scored two touchdowns in the 4th quarter, but was able to drive his team down for a field goal (taking 5 minutes off the clock in the process) and secure a victory, earning himself the totally bogus chocolate "Galloping Gobbler" award. He also set a Packers franchise record for most consecutive completed passes (20) and beat Marino's record for the most 3 touchdown games (63).

Unfortunately, Dallas also rolled over the Jets today, winning 34-3. This means we are tied at 10-1 and next week's Thursday night game will determine NFC supremacy. GO PACK GO!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone has arrived at their holiday destinations safely and without any major problems along the way. Enjoy the turkey and the football - I'm dressed in game-day clothes (less than 1.5 hours 'til kick-off!).

Two funny things:

First, for the kid who can't make honor roll: I saw a bumper sticker on a car that said "My child had a perfect dental appointment with Drs. Blah and Blah." Good for you kid!

Second, apparently the Gap can't not put the little baggie on their clothing. I'm wearing my new turkey-eating pants today and behind the hang-tag was the little baggie that normally has a button in it for pants or thread in it for a sweater. My pants don't have a button in the front so they just gave me an empty bag. Good call there.

Have a great holiday!

Cold and Rainy And

9-1! Another fantastic day to be a Packer fan! Brett was definately the game MVP :)

When No Adventures Can Be Found

Nick and I have had a pretty low-key week. On Sunday night, the power went out in the middle of our dinner, right around 8 pm. By 8:20 it still wasn't back (and the entire street was dark so it wasn't just us) so we left to go see Bee Movie. It was cute, we got our private showing, but it would have been better to see it at the discount theatre in a month or so. But the power was back on when we got home, which is really the important thing, right?

Monday night we played a hard-fought tennis match - in an hour and a half we were unable to finish two sets. Tuesday we kept it simple, wrapping Christmas presents as we watched The Biggest Loser on TV.

Last night was probably the most exciting night of the week. We played volleyball and only won our 3rd game (but did lead in the second game 24-23 so we could have had it), then headed over to Granite City to celebrate Dave's birthday a week early (but the last night he's planning on being in Minnesota for a while). We had a very good turnout for a Wednesday night - 16 people. We had to split up between two tables, but it all worked out pretty well. It was great to finally get back there to eat again. Happy Birthday Dave!

The Other Side of a Shutout

After being shut out twice last weekend, I have to say it was AWESOME to see the hapless Vikings fail at every turn and allow the Packers to win 34-0. Both Brett Favre and Ryan Grant were stellar and it was an easy rout going to 8-1. I can't believe this is the same team that beat San Diego last week. GO PACK GO!!

Game Day!

It's Sunday game-day again, the cap to what has already been a fun weekend. On Friday night, Nick and I went to Red Lobster. We were planning on going to Granite City (finally!) but received a coupon in the mail for Red Lobster and wanted to use it before we forgot about it. I did plan a birthday celebrate for Dave at GC this week so there's no way of getting out of it this time :)

Saturday we did a little Costco shopping and regular grocery shopping and Nick made lasagna for the first time! It was delicious! We used italian sausage instead of ground beef and I really liked how it turned out. I was in charge of the salad and the garlic bread, also delicious. We were joined for supper by a friend of mine from work, her husband, and their year old baby. We don't really have baby toys but he had a great time crawling back and forth under the dining room table (at least until he got stuck on a chair!).

I've also made excellent progress on my scrapbook since we've gotten home from Mexico - done about 13 pages. Maybe this is the push that will finally get me almost to real time? Ok, that's doubtful, but I'm working on my birthday right now so I'm only about six months off!

Today: Vikings @ Green Bay. I'm doubly excited because we get to stay home and watch the game! I'm going to have a grilled cheese sandwich and Doritos for lunch, not bar food. :) GO PACK GO!!

Poker Magic

Ed buckled down and managed to knock out me (pocket J over pocket 6) and Nick (boat on the river to win) and finish first tonight. I had very good luck with KK and KQ, especially when all in, to last that long! Not a bad poker night after the 3-week hiatus!!

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...

The Packers played another close game, trailing Kansas City by 1 for most of the second half. Every time we scored they responded right back. I still don't understand why KC went for the 2-point conversion with the score at 16-20. They got it on the third try (two Packer penalties) and made the score 16-22. Maybe they were worried that Green Bay would kick two more field goals and win that way, but it was still an odd call (to me). We ended up getting the touchdown and extra point and were ahead 23-22 anyhow. Then a field goal and a defensive touchdown in the last minute and the final score made the game look much more spread out than it actually was: 33-23. Next up: the Vikings, who beat the Chargers today to knock me out of my survivor pool. Go Pack Go!

Another Minneapolis Saturday Night...

Another Puerto Rico victory! I do have to admit, my margin of victory was only 7 points this time, not the 10 I had last time, but I think my 3-player strategy is working!

Other notes from today: I made progress on the blue scrapbook and Nick hung up the new hallway light fixture. We had grilled cheese and soup for supper - yummy!

Packer Victory

Missing from my last post is my favorite blog topic: the Packers!! Nick and I watched MNF at the Corona Bar in downtown Cozumel. We were the only people in the bar originally and the bartenders were nice enough to turn the game on for us (we'd been tipped off that the bar
had Sunday ticket). They also turned on the English audio which was fun because it didn't always match the screen. Mexican ESPN never shows the booth and we didn't understand all the Spanish graphics.

The game was nerver acking but fun to watch (something MNF has not been often this season). I cannot believe we got to the 1-yd line twice and only got field goals! I was also impressed that Denver got the last second field goal - and thrilled when OT ended quickly in our favor!!

There was another couple from Milwaukee in the bar when the game ended. They were both pretty drunk and bought a round of tequila shots for the bar (about 10 people). We saw them in the airport this morning and they didn't recognize us!

Back in the USA!

Nick and I are safely back on American soil again. We had a wonderful time in Cozumel. With the exception of a few short-lived thunderstorms (they appear quickly and end quickly) the weather was gorgeous. They also have daylight savings time a week earlier than the US so starting Sunday it got dark early (around 6PM).

We spent most of the week sleeping, reading (I'm on my 4th Jane Austen), watching movies, swimming in our private pool and enjoying the local restaurants. We walked or biked everywhere so we both feel great! No scuba diving but we did go snorkeling in the ocean. That was awesome!

It was a fantastic vacation - hopefully pictures will follow soon!