A tip for stringing lights on your tree.

If you can answer yes to this question, Do you use a ton of strands to light up your tree?

Then this tip will be your best friend.

Use icicle lights to put on your tree.  Because they hang you can wrap your tree in less time with just the same amount of lighting.  I have a 7.5ft tree and it took 2 strands.  Another tip from someone was to use the netting lights made for bushes.

A Very spoiled Zayla

While I was doing homework this is where Zayla decided she had to be

and me being a nice "mommy" I didn't make her move.  I just worked around her.

My boy Zeke

I don't know how he climbed into the chair and managed this.  He's curled up in a little ball with the pillow propped perfectly for his head to rest on...ADORABLE!!

For those of you who own a dog or cat...

 Dear Dog & Cat,
The dishes with the paw print are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.
The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.
I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think that I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other, stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out with tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.
For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miricale I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, and try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years--canine or feline attendance is not mandatory.
The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough!
To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door: Rules for Non-Pet Owners Who Visit and Like to Complain About Our Pets:
1. They live here. You don't.
2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. (That's why they call it "furniture.")
3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.
4. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours and doesn't speak clearly.
Remember: Dogs and cats are better than kids because they: eat less, don't ask for money all the time, are easier to train, usually come when called, never drive your car, don't hang our with drug-using friends, don't smoke or drink, don't worry about having to buy the latest fashions, don't wear your clothes, don't need gazillion dollars for college, and if they get pregnant, you can sell their children.

New Ride

After some consideration we decided we needed a new vehicle the dogs needed a bigger vehicle.  Our main focus was that we get something bigger, but we also knew that trading in the Lexus that we could get something newer and cheaper also.  Paul wanted a cross over and third row seating so we researched our options.  We came down to the GMC Acadia or the Saturn Outlook. 

We decided to take a gamble on the Saturn.  Afterall, they are basically the same vehicle with the Saturn being a little cheaper on each model.  Yes, we know they are no longer being made.  Yes, we traded our Lexus in for a Saturn.  Being that it's a GM vehicle the warranty will still be in effect and we plan on driving it til it dies so we are not too worried about it depricating quickly, another reason we got it, because of the deal!  

It will be interesting with the dogs since we decided to forgo leather and it has black cloth interior (It really wasn't that important to us to have the works.  It met the criteria of being bigger, newer, and cheaper).  Once we get the custom floor canvas the dogs will be welcomed into their vehicle.

Happy Veterans Day!

To those I have served with, will serve with, to those before, and those who have lost their lives, THANK YOU! 

Chicago Weekend Review

Paul, myself, and our friends Beth and Tyler decided to plan a weekend in Chicago since it was roughly half way for all of us.  Beth used to be in my guard unit with me and moved to IN for Tyler's job.  We had not seen each other for some time, so we planned a little get together only to find out a week before our trip that because of Tyler's job they will be moving back to WI by the middle of Nov.  We decided to keep the weekend plans because of reservations and well, we all needed a short get away.

 First stop for Friday night was Roof lounge.  It's in The Wit Doubletree hotel on the 27th floor.  I had read it was a "must-do". 

It's a nice place only lit by the city lights, candles, and fire.  Half of it is open and the other half is under a roof.  The part that is under the roof is all couches and chairs.  The part that is open keeps patrons warm with heaters and fire in the middle of a long table.

 I may be smiling in this picture, but I surely wasn't smiling as I was trying to chug choke down the horrible mixed drinks.  Mixed drinks were decently priced for a big city at $14 a drink, which wouldn't of been bad had they been drinkable. 

 Part of the city view

 The fire table that is in the middle of the room  in the part that is outside. 

 Dinner at Signature on the 95th.  (this was Sat. night)

This restaurant is on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building.  When making reservations you cannot reserve a window table.  You have to ask for it when you arrive for your reservations.  We asked how long of a wait it was for a window seat, thinking 15 minutes or so...it was a staggering 45 min wait on top of having reservations, so we passed.  We waited roughly 5-10 minutes to get a table and to our surprise ended up with a window seat! 

The food selection was decent as was the drink menu.  I would of liked to have seen more non-meat dinners myself as there were only two.  I ended up getting a pasta with root vegetable bolognese.  I honestly couldn't rave about it.  The presentation of it was very good, but the quality was just not there.  Most of my noodles were al dente, which was fine, but some were also hard.  Paul and Tyler got the surf n turf and both raved about how delicious it was.  Beth got a chicken dish that she also raved about.  I decided to get dessert to make up for my poor dinner.  I got the pumpkin pudding bread with caramel ice cream.  It was very good...Thankfully! 

I had to laugh at Beth because she decided to get a "glass" of wine for her dessert.  It came out and was about two sips for $12.  I had to tell her that is what a true glass of wine is...especially in restaurants.  I was going to take pictures of my meal and dessert, but Paul was rather embarrassed by it, so I decided to be nice and spare him the embarrassment.

 We had a corner window table so we got double the view.  This was looking straight forward from where we were sitting.  The our left was the Navy Pier. 

 After dinner we decided to try out a dueling piano bar called "Howl At The Moon".  It was crowded, but worth it.  The pianist took requests and then played them on the pianos. 

We, I mean I, decided to get a bucket to share since price wise it made sense.  Beth on the other hand thought we were each getting our own!  Neither one of us would of been walking out of there had we followed her words.  Definitely a bar I would go to again.

 and then we had to have some photo ops!

After dinner, before the bar, we went to a Blue Man Group Show.  Highly recommend one if you have never seen them.  Very entertaining!

Beth ordered the tickets through ticket master and just put "best available".  Well, when we got there we found out we were in the poncho area.  Meaning, if you've never been to one, that you have a good chance of getting splattered with there props.  We didn't get anything on us, Beth got a little on her (we believe it was banana) and Tyler didn't get anything but a butt in the face due to them doing something to the guy in front of him.

10 year Class Reunion

Back in September I had my 10 year class reunion.  On Friday we went to a local bar and on Saturday we went to a park and had a potluck.  All my pictures are from the bar.  Apparently, I decided I didn't need any from the park.  We had a great turn out for Friday night with, I believe, over half the class there.  Saturday there was about half. 

 Kathy and Jessie

 Lindsey, Amy, and myself.

Amy was known as my twin in high school although it doesn't look like it in this picture.

 Amy, Ashley, Alli (kind of hiding), and Lindsey

 Mysself, Lindsey, and Rob

 Adam and myself

Most of the ladies that showed up.

Back (l to r):  Sonya, Ashley, Amy, Brandi, Alli

Front (l to r):  Krystal, Megan, Me, Marie, Meghan

and Amy in the front.

Missing:  Kathy, Jessie, Sarah S

Our graduating class was around 40, so I still talk to quite a bit of them although, not on a regular basis.

Trick-or-Treat

I'm so sad to see Oct. 31st go.  Not only does it mean I have to put my Halloween decorations away, it means Nov. is here and another year is almost over.

I handed out candy this year because I like to and since I missed last year due to my deployment.  I'm that house that everyone wants to get to because I hand out the best candy hands out the healthy treats.  In my head I hate to think that all the candy I give out gets thrown out because the parents don't want their kids to have that much, so I stick to things I think will get eaten.  This year they had a choice of a juice box or popcorn balls and the juice box won over a lot of the kids.

We had 24 this year which is about what we've gotten every year.  How many did you have?

Boston 2010

Way back at the end of July, beginning of August my dad, mom, neice, and nephew went to go visit my sister in Boston. While there we went whale watching, a day in Boston (my sister actually lives about an hour from Boston), and to George's Island.

My dad, mom, and I have all been out many times before, but my neice, Ashley and nephew, Alex had never been there before...nor had they ever been on a plane.

I didn't go picutre crazy since the trip is nothing new to me, but I did during the whale watching. When we decided to go whale watching I was looking forward to it but I wasn't crazy excited. That all changed when the whales got so close to the boat you could see their eyes, mouth, etc. It was crazy!

I have a lot more pictures that show the whole movement of the whales from coming up and then going back down but this is all that is making it in this post!

The famous Plymouth Rock

My first bridal shower as the host.

My friend, Anna, from my air guard unit is getting married Oct. 30th and I decided that I would throw her a bridal shower for all of us guard ladies. I was up until 1230am prepping everything and then had to get up at 430am for drill. Drill makes for a long weekend already so when it was all said and done I was exhausted until the following weekend!

The bridal shower was kitchen themed.

The food table! I love the way it came out. The menu was:

3 different kinds of chicken on skewers

Cheese stuffed mushrooms

fresh mixed fruit

pasta salad

triscuits and dip

Cupcakes were Chai latte with vanilla mousse coffee filling and devil's food with raspberry filling

Sherbert punch

frozen sangria

favors were chocolate chip cookies in a jar

The first game we played was "guess the spice". I had 6 different spices in clear bottles and everyone had to guess what the spice was just by looking at it.

The second game consisted of Anna putting this apron on with different kitchen gadgets tied to it. She walked around the guests for two minutes and then took it off. The guest had to remember and write down as many as the could.

Everyone at the shower.

AMA flat track

Over Labor day weekend Paul and I went to Springfield, IL with my parents for the Springfield short track and Mile. My family has always been into racing and motorcycles. My brothers and nephew raced go-carts, my dad and brothers all raced cars (hobby stock and modifieds), and my grandpa raced motorcycles.

The girl in the pink is Nicole Cheza. I first saw her race when she was 16 in 2004 during the Strugis rally in South Dakota. She has come a long way, now racing in the experts classs.

#83 and #25 are both females. This, I believe, is the pro class.

It amazes me how close these racers go into a turn and can make it through without a crash!

This guy, Jason, lost his arm when he was two. You can read about him here. I couldn't believe it when I first saw him. Talk about determination!

I love going to flat track races because the excitment is always going. A driver can go from 5th to 2nd to 1st back to 5th all in one lap! I hope to attend more than just Springfield next year.

Fall-My favorite time of year!

I love decorating...when I have the time. So, here are my fall/halloween decorations this year.

Teach me how to Bucky

On Sat. Oct 9th Paul, myself, and our friends, Mike and Michelle headed to downtown Madison for some Badger football tailgating via the Cannery Grill bus.  Bus+no driving=drunk mess!    



 On the way down...

 My cousin, Mason, came from MN.  I had not seen Mason in a LONG time so it was nice to squeeze in a beer with him before he headed into the game.

 He is not a MN fan, but I still had to give him the "WTF look" for wearing MN gear in Badger country.

 AND....this is where it got a little crazy...

To cap off the post here is the you tube video link to "Teach Me How To Bucky"