Monday, May 16, 2011

Mixed Feelings

My good camera broke last week. So I didn’t have many pictures and I didn’t blog. I was also busy painting and putting the basement together so we could have some realtors over to see if we could sell this house. (That would make  a good TV show eh?)

So this is what we did

We painted the floor white (that’s the royal we-namely Dave-but I moved all this crap around and cleaned up)

Then I rearranged my craft area

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We got rid of the pool table and moved the birds over to the end of the room and moved the desks to the middle

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We got rid of the denim couch and pulled the dog couch forward-poor dogs.

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And put a little reading area where the birds used to be. (The phone didn’t work there-no one, meaning Dave, knows why)

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Much better. Blane gave it a thumbs up. Jack likes it too.

The realtors liked it when they came over, but didn’t like the red wall nor the blue bedroom. So Dave painted the big red wall today, but I don’t have a picture yet-that will be next week. We also bought 3 expensive gallons of paint and used one. Can’t take it back. Crap.

The hillbillies next door are putting in a retaining wall so they can have a garden AND the trampoline close by. This is the big garden, which of course makes ours look very malnourished. They are going to move the trampoline over a little bit. Maybe out of the view just a tad….

I would rather look at this everyday than the trampoline. Go figure.

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It’s getting to be spring out there

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Last week it got warm for one day.

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so Yeltsie went out to enjoy the heat

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and I activated the Jack cam

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Look at him looking so smart. For a minute.

I finished April’s Skacel Socks (not a very good picture of the pattern-Blame the camera)

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And the orchid bloomed, again

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I got Blane’s Seattle Mariners curtain done. Here it is before I sewed down the fabrics. And got all the cat hair off.

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We drove up to Madison on Saturday. We were supposed to do a 1/2 marathon power walk in N Wisconsin BUT Dave “hurt” his foot and I didn’t feel like walking for 3 hours by myself. So we stayed home Friday, cleaned up, and then got Blane to watch the dogs, cats and birds and we took off.

It was a grey drive up.

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  We got to Madison and stayed at this hotel.

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This is a PR photo, not mine. This is called the Road Star and if I were you and you had reservations here, I would tell you to turn around and book a different hotel. NOW. I wondered about it when the sign on the door said no hoodies, sun glasses, or anything covering the face is allowed when entering the lobby. Really? Is that an issue?…..

The room was, well, dirty and very, very noisy.

This is the cigarette butt behind the bed

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Along with the other dirt and gross lint back there. There was an inch of lint all the way around the walls. It was really a testament to where the vacuum cleaner can’t reach.

And this is our view

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It’s really all you need. We slept on top of the bed in our clothes AND washed everything on our return home. This was Dave’s good deal. The parking lot party at 1 AM, setting off someone’s car alarm, then resulting in the party moving to the hall outside our room was the ultimate in a full service experience.

We had dinner here and it was delicious. There were also lots of prom gals there, and I so wanted to photograph them for the blog, but sadly, inappropriate….

The graduation was Sunday at the Kohl Center and was very nice.

The day was sunny and we stopped for breakfast at the only place open by the Kohl Center

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We got there early and took a few pictures

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I did this

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The graduates came in and sat themselves. I like the march in but they don’t do that here.

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Because I only have the crap camera these pictures aren’t so great-however, if you click to embiggen the picture you’ll see someone on the left in a red stole waving-that’s Justin

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Here’s the walk across the stage

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And here’s the two of them afterwards

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WooHoo

Afterwards, we had a sunny drive home and saw a ceremony with a zillion flags

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And some pretty scenery

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And a cool looking church

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So we have arrived home and back to work tomorrow. Dave painted, I bought some flowers to plant (if it ever gets warm and the wind quits blowing) and life goes on.

Sadly, this weekend, while I was away, I received news that a friend of mine has passed away-which cast a pall over the weekend, and, in a way, over the blog this week.

This was our Ragnar 2010 team. The name was Divas and a Dude. The guy in the front left, Paul Melby, was our original dude before the other dude, Brandon, joined up. Paul was a great sport and wore his pink with pride.

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On Saturday, just after completing a marathon up by St. Cloud, and qualifying for Boston, Paul collapsed and could not be revived. He passed away at the age of 35. His wife, Shelly, works at the county and with her name and mine so close, we are frequently redirecting phone calls, e-mails, and paperwork-we get a kick out of it and I talk to her regularly.

I am so sad about this, because Paul was a really nice guy and Shelly is very sweet. Besides Shelly, he leaves behind 3 young children.

Ragnar 2011-In memory of Paul. Rest In Peace

 

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