Gramsie's Gone!

After another night of girl time, Hol left this morning. If you are wondering why I am the way I am, consider this: my mother would not let me go to bed last night until we finished watching two episodes of "Kendra", the new reality show about Hugh Hefner's ex-Playboy bunny. I am sure Kendra never thought her target audience was a 56-year-old lunch lady (I think my mom especially enjoyed learning some new moves from Kendra on the stripper pole Kendra had installed in her living room). When I asked my mom if this was the kind of content she wanted her daughter watching, she said "Who? You? Yeah".

Before this educational programming, when Nori was still awake, Hol taught Nori how to wish on her white-haired troll, Ishmael. While rubbing his hair, you say "Oh Ishy...I wish, I wish, I wish for...". I wondered out loud if this wasn't teaching Nori to have an external locus of control but Gramsie told me to shut up. Oh, mothers!

Tomorrow we fly out to Chicago, rain or shine. I want shine.

Girls' Week!

My mom is here hanging with Nor, Dor & I this week! Last night we had an extremely classy Girls' Night In complete with a KFC dinner in our pj's, puzzles and books. After T.McB was tucked in, we watched Whale Wars (these idiots take ridiculous risks but it makes for good tv) and The Bachelorette (new lady, same old crap).

Look at my students!

My CMgt students are involved in a really cool international competition, Solar Decathlon, to build a sustainable house. Check it out!

North Shore

Back from our weekend in Duluth! Our mini-vacay was fun as Nori enjoyed exploring the hotel room, staying up late, skipping naps, and being on the town. We explained to her that Duluth is the city where we became a family so it is *our* special place. We strolled Canal Park, had lattes & scones in the sun on an outdoor patio over looking the lake, and got caught up on Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood at the hotel. We also visited with some work friends who we traveled to Maui with back in the bank hayday before the TARP funds ruin all the fun.

Moose and loons everywhere!

We also had a great visit with our new relatives (a.k.a our birth family). I would be lying if I didn't say it was emotionally exhausting! Even when everything is going smoothly, there are complicated emotions underlying adoption but thankfully we are all mature and committed to a positive, rich life for Norelle. It strikes me how lucky Jake & I are to have been raised in stable families, have opportunities for higher education and thus good jobs, and positive role-models to learn from. We take it for granted that everyone has these opportunities but our visits remind us that this is not the case. On the plus side, we picked up some nature-inspired decorating tips for our house...

Have a bare wall? Why not mount that deer you slaughtered!
Better yet, have 3 in one room staring at you to keep you company!

City slickers touring the stables...

We are so blessed Nori is our beloved daughter and we would not have wanted it any other way. God had a plan for us and it was perfect! Of course, He's not finished with us yet!

JS + WF = true love

Happy 10 year work anniversary to Jake and Wells Fargo. 9 bosses, 5 moves (Roseville, Mpls, Saint Paul, Bloomington, Mpls) and a few grey hairs. You are a company man!

A baseball post...for Steve.

As you may know, I am a true sports fiend. I like the word fiend because it conveys my unnatural passion for athletics. I'm am probably like this because I was raised by a single mom, never played sports myself and occasionally visited my dad who once cheered when the football crossed the "seventy" yard line. It was kismet when that I married Jake and met his dad. Pretty much all we think about are MN sports.

Some things about baseball confuse me. Why are there a million names for different names for hits like: dingers, bloopers, poppers, dribblers, zingers, dongers, ploopers, etc? Seems weird. Why can't the base runner just run all over the over field to avoid getting tagged? Wouldn't it be more fun if he could dart around in the outfield, weaving in and out, until someone dropped the ball and then sprint to the base! How come sometimes the base guys have to tag the runner and sometimes they just step on the base? How does the catcher remember all the different hand signals to give the pitcher when I heard they change the signs up all the time? And how immature and ridiculously hilarious is it when the coach yells right in the umpire's face, nose to nose, like a bratty kid trying to get grounded? They say "Oh no Megan, he's just sticking up for his guys" but I am so embarrassed when he does that!

How about this new rule I came up with called, "banking runs"? Have I mentioned this before? If the Twins win a game by more than 5 runs, they can bank all those extra runs, minus 5. Then, they can choose to use them in future games. So, when they win by 20, they have 15 runs to play some other day when they really need them! The catch is that no one, especially not the other team, will know when/if they are going to play their runs until the last minute. Thus, no one will know who is really winning until the last minute. Clever, huh? And then you have to wonder, does the other team (not the Twins) have banked runs that they are going play?

I think I am taking this game to a new level...

Want Daddy!

Hiking at Minnehaha Falls last weekend...

What is Nori's favorite phrase when she is sad? It's "want Daddy!". Too bad Jake is in Charlotte, NC for a couple days (hopefully not being told he has to move there) for a total revamping of his job, thank you Wachovia-Wells merger. We head to Duluth this weekend for some summertime fun on the lake and visiting of friends and new relatives. Next week Jake is off to Chicago for a conference. Remember when he went last year and that guy wanted to pay to smell his feet? Hmm. Luckily, Gramsie Hol is going to be here to help me next week and then T. McB & I will join Jake, Steve, Liz & Funcle Char and their Winona friends in Chicago on Thursday for lots of good food, baseball games, walking, and big city downtown, beep! beep!