Biggest Loser Snoozefest

Two of the most boring hours of the show followed by "To Be Continued". Man, it just keeps getting worse and worse. I miss Mark and Jay and Dan and Roger and Ali. Although I do have to say, Tara is lookin' good!

Also, the new fridge is here and installed. The dryer has been dying slowing and apparently the fridge felt the need to show it up so out it went (we think) Thursday. It took us a day and a half to pick out a new one and so far I am very happy - but that could just be the joy at not having to use a dorm fridge anymore!

One Year Anniversary

I watched the SuperBowl on our projector in the basement. The projector we set up "just for the SuperBowl" last year and have been using ever since. Happy Anniversary, Projector!

Kudos

...to the Playtex company for sending a full refund, no questions asked (or receipt necessary) for defective merchandise.

...to gas being $2.99/gallon!!!

Priorities

I was checking out at Kohl's today and the little girl behind me was begging her mom for one of the books they have on display by the checkouts (Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you see?). The mom kept saying no. The girl must have asked about 5 times. Then the child picked up the polar bear stuffed animal and said "Can I have him?". The mom said yes. The girl asked "And the book?" Mom says "Maybe next time".

Maybe there's a back story I don't know, but the whole thing made me pretty sad. Books are friends!

DMV Update

We both got our licenses today! That's more synchronized than the passports were!

Amazing DMV

Nick and I stopped in at the DMV today to renew our driver's licenses. Since we both officially moved to Minnesota in the same year, they expire in the same year, which is nice. We were amazed that we were able to walk in, go right up to the counter, and get it done. We both did a vision test and got our picture taken and we were back outside again in about 15 minutes. Yay! I was expecting it to take 45 minutes at least. Now if we can only get the actual licenses in a decent amount of time we'll be all set.

Spring!

It was so nice out today, I love spring (I hope I'm not jinxing the weekend)! Nick and I got home at about the same time and decided to walk to Subway for dinner. It was perfect weather to do so. When we got home we left for Seth's house and poker. I was knocked out 7th out of 14, but Nick made it to the final two. We were down to 5 people by 10 pm, but it took until 11 to knock out the next 3. Nick and Paul finally agreed to split the pot just to end the game.

Also, my random weird thing of the day: today's spoofing bill at Caribou (6 drinks) came to exactly $20. Our supper at Subway was exactly $10. What happened to the cents??

Useless Information

Worth a laugh nonetheless:

I often have trouble estimating the size my plastic cultery will be.

Welcome 2008!

Happy New Year, everyone! We made it through with a fun party last night - lots of games lasting until about 3 AM. Hoping to post a picture story of that later so no more details for now.

Today we got Erin safely to the airport and I managed to burn all my pictures to back-up DVDs - it's nice to finally have some time to do stuff like that. Nick and I are looking forward to a January of staying home and catching up; we haven't had a weekend here alone since the first one in December!

Here's to a good 2008 for all!

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!

We Made It!!

Nick and I happily celebrated our one-year anniversary yesterday: bike ride, football, thunderstorm, movies and pizza. It was great! So far year 2 has been fun as well. More later!!

Subway Survey

While in Vegas last weekend (post coming once I download pictures!) Nick and I stopped at two Subways to check out the prices and see how they compare. We looked at the oven roasted chicken because we know how much it is.

Prices for 6 inch Oven Roasted Chicken Sub
Current Special (MN): $1.99
MN Regular Price: $3.89
Fashion Mall Subway (Las Vegas Strip): $5.19
Monte Carlo (Hotel and Casino) Food Court: $7.99

We didn't think the $5.19 was bad, but $7.99 seemed like a lot. How much is this sub in your state?

Coincidence?

Day two of our visit went very well. Nick and Jeff took a load to the dump (including the basketball hoop) and got a lot done on the doors and windows. They have a few things they want to do tomorrow, but overall everything is looking great! In the meantime, Nancy and I went to Build-A-Bear and I built my first ever teddy bear. It was fun and addicting. Here's the coincidence: my sister Jill and I both talked about wanting to go and build bears. We even walked through the store with our cousin when the two of them were here visiting me a month ago. As Nancy and I were getting ready to go my phone rang: Jill and my other little sister were at their local Build-A-Bear making bears of their own! :) Jill made a triceratops named "Tops" and my other sister made the Autumn Bear and named it "Cheetah Girl". Mine is the Read Bear ($1 of his purchase price goes to the literacy council) named "Lorenzo".

Jill and myself in some hats she made (taken two weeks ago)


Lorenzo
(His helmet is made of fabric, not plastic thus why it looks dented)

When we got home, the guys were sleeping so we decided to play Scrabble before waking them up. My best word was "Accrue" on the triple word score. On my next turn I added a "D" and made "Doozy" (had to use a blank for the "y" though) on a double word score. I did win, but just barely. While we were playing, Nancy asked me a good question: What is your favorite game ever? I thought it was pretty hard - I play and enjoy tons of games and I would guess that we own about 30, but picking a favorite? I was able to narrow it down to a couple, but before I give my answer, I'd love to hear a couple of others weigh in on what theirs are. Nancy can vouch for me later that I pick the same on the blog as I did when she asked me.

Once the game was over and we got the guys up, we headed off to the Brunswick Zone and went bowling. I got a respetable 139 on the first game, but lost to Nancy's monster 142! The second game didn't go as well - I only got a 101. We were all very distracted by High School Musical 2 on the TV next to our scores (the sound wasn't even on). I might have to go rent the first one to see what all the fuss is about - it looked mildly entertaining. It's a Disney Channel movie so it should be right up there with Snow, which Krista and I both enjoyed three winters ago. We ate dinner at Boston's to finish off our night on the town.

Tomorrow: Packers season opener. GO PACK GO!!!

Karin Watches Network TV

I was watching something on ABC and they were talking about a website that has funny videos. It's a cross between YouTube and Hot or Not. Here's my favorite - it's a Will Ferrell original. There's also an outtake version and a second part.

Enjoy!

Typical

Yesterday Nick's surprise present finally arrived: Madden 08 and a second nunchuk for the Wii (so we could play two player). He was thrilled! I told him that if he doesn't like his Christmas presents that this counts as one. Now for the typical part: we were playing an exhibition game at Lambeau field and the game decided the weather conditions should be SNOW!! Yes, it's the "frozen tundra" but not in August!

Oh, and happy 10-month anniversary to us :)

No Internet!

That's right, the internet at our house is not working. And it's not just our computer, we couldn't get on with Nick's work computer either. The odd thing is that the computers say they have an excellent signal from our wireless router, they just can't hit any web pages. We tried rebooting both the computers and the router - no luck. Hopefully it will be back up tonight.

Positive news: The bay window was installed yesterday! It looks fantastic :) I really love the picture window in the middle of it. We had some friends over to celebrate (ok, not really, but they were there) and they all commented on how it really opened up the room. Yay! In addition to having friends over, we pulled out the wedding china to feast on the fish that Nick caught last week. After dinner, we played a game of Settlers, which of course resulted in a fight over the rules. ARG. I read the rule book after everyone left and they conveniently skim over the issue so I think it's "house rules" from here on out. Despite all that, it was a very fun evening. Now I just have to kill all the flies that got in when the windows were installed...

Lightning

Looks like I live and die by Warrick Dunn and the Bears D this season. I got my second line-up today and I'm pretty happy with that as well. Give me some MNF and I'm all set.

Weather is pretty scary, still no bay window. Good night!

Packer Preview Weekend

The start of football season! Friday evening, Nick and I went to the Vikings-Rams preview game and watched the Rams 3rd string beat the Vikings 3rd string. The Vikings #54 did have a nice interception return for a touchdown, but the Rams kicked a field goal as time expired to win. Walking too and from the car, I was happy to notice far fewer gawkers on the bridge. Saturday, the Packers came back from a 0-9 hole to beat the Steelers 13-9 in Pittsburgh. The touchdown pass came from Aaron Rodgers on a 71-yard drive. We also blocked the only extra point attempt by Pittsburgh. What a great beginning!

Unfortunately, things aren't looking quite as rosy for the Twins. They lost all three games this weekend, including squandering a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 8th last night. ARG!

In addition to all the sports stuff, we also had Jill and Cindy visiting this weekend. They came in yesterday morning and left after lunch today. We introduced them to the Wii and took them to dinner at the Fieldhouse Saturday night (hoping to catch some of the Packer game but they weren't airing it, opting to show the Chiefs/Titans one instead). Today we played a little more Wii and then went down to the Centennial Lakes mini golf course. Nick won, but Cindy was a close second. My personal favorite was the hole that I got a 2 on and everyone else got a 5. :)

In all seriousness, we had a very nice visit and I think they enjoyed themselves too. Now it's off for our fantasy football draft. Have I mentioned that I love football?

Twins Game

On Sunday, Nick and I went to the Twins game at the Dome. We ran into a little snag on the way there - the Stone Arch Bridge was police taped off so we couldn't walk across it. We had to backtrack and take another bridge across the Mississippi to get there. Unfortunately, this caused us to miss the beginning of the game, however, we did arrive at a good time (between innings). We missed the first couple of hits but were there for the lone run scored in the game! The Twins won that game, but lost Monday and Tuesday; hopefully they get it together and beat Kansas City tonight. Currently we are 6.5 games behind Cleveland and .5 games behind Detroit; before the losses we were only 4.5 games back. Go Twins!

After the game, we were excited to see that the Stone Arch Bridge had been reopened. It was FILLED with gawkers. Being human, Nick and I did stop and take a look. You could see one pillar with some twisted green metal around it. I couldn't see any cars in the water, although there were two boats that we think were part of the rescue diving effort. In all honestly, it wasn't that interesting - there's nothing really to see. The pictures on the internet are more exciting. But the people who were there were just staring and staring. I would not have gone to the bridge for the sole point of looking at the wreckage, it is just our normal route to and from the Dome. They believe at least 8 people are still missing. I pray that their bodies are found soon to give their families some measure of peace.

Bridge Accident 2

For anyone who is interested, here is a surveillance video that was shared with CNN. It's sort of jerky, but it shows the bridge falling in slow motion. Very scary!