Cody and Kate Got Engaged

Finally we can say it. I have been sitting on this for a month now. Jeepers but I have been wanting to post this picture-

It doesn’t really do it justice-perhaps this will help

Or this.

 

Cody bought it at Rogers and Holland, my favorite jewelry store.

He went to Puerto Vallarta and proposed. We tried to give him pointers before he left.

I was sort of on the fence about the on the knee thing-seems overdone

Then we said definitely not the “ring in the food/drink” proposal. We all know that never ends well.

He said he might do it at a restaurant-the old pressure from the crowd proposal.

Maybe with these guys playing a romantic serenade? Or not.

But I think, from what I hear, it was somewhere with a few friends watching some fireworks.

Over Puerto Vallarta.

So, after 4 years, (or so) the happy couple are engaged.

Cody and the future in-laws.

So, there you have it. The big news of the day.

I took some pictures of Blane and kitten this week too.

And a picture of the one-eyed Dog (or one-eyed Did, which is his nickname, which is way too complicated to explain here)

He got a haircut this week and he didn’t like it at all, but he looks so darn cute.

Happy Easter, and Happy Spring.

Romance is in the air.

Let the Races Begin

Last weekend I started the racing season with The St. Patrick’s Human Race in St. Paul. It was the perfect day for it. Temp in the 50’s, slight breeze, lots of sun.

Dave and I drove up and got there way early. So we drove around the Highland neighborhood, browsed at Barnes and Noble, checked out the neighborhood, then went back to the University of St. Thomas and parked. We walked up to Subway and got some lunch.

And then it was time to race. This race is on Summit Avenue and is out and back, meaning that we run out and go around a little block and come right past where we started. So…

I got out in the street

And hung around (I realize that although I might not look so bad, I don’t think it’s the best angle for the girl behind me.) I was actually tying to listen to the guy giving directions. But it was hopeless. All I know is the elite male runners were in front of me somewhere. I never actually saw them. Oh, I take that back. I saw them pass me on the turn back to the finish line.

I hung out a little more and shot Dave a little wave.

Then it was time to run-

There I am waving good bye. (I thought I noticed a lot of white legs in the crowd but now I see that my legs are the whitest of all! Jeepers.)

And here I am coming back in

 

42:54 minutes later, or 8:38 minute miles. Not too bad for a first race. I am still smiling and waving. And I didn’t even feel bad at all during the run. So I really liked it.

This guy won-his name is Christopher Erichsen and he is 24. FYI. (My spell-check says his name is spelled wrong-just sayin’)

In 23:57. He isn’t waving or smiling. However he is running sub 5 minute miles. But is he having fun? Really?

Dave said he heard a bunch of these  red singlet guys (and girls) talking about meeting afterwards to go for a “warmdown run”. Seriously?

Just so you know, I will never be them.

Ever.

Last week the girls and I went on a work field trip-again. We are all about our trips. This trip was to the Mayo equipment store, where they have all sorts of fun donated stuff to give away, in a huge warehouse.

There were all sorts of volunteers packing up goods for Haiti and other parts of the world. But we found a few things that interested us.

 

We started digging for crutches, walkers and canes. Mary K is in the forefront digging for all she’s worth. I think Kris referred to it as dumpster diving, although technically we weren’t in a dumpster and I think the goods were a cut above dumpster fare.

 

Mary found a pod of walkers and off we went.

Cathy and I got happy with a quad cane while Anne had fun with crutches.

Kris was ecstatic  to push the cart around and Anne snagged a good lookin’ commode chair.

All in all, we made a good haul for our client’s, and had a pretty good time.

L to R-Cathy, Ann, Kris, Mary K,. I am sitting on a little bath bench.

Ali brought Chase to work last week with the outfit that Laura and I bought for him. Well, Laura picked it out while I offered moral support over the phone.

See the little pea coat? It is so cute.

He gave us all sorts of faces with his little binky.

 

He saved his happy face for Ali.

 

Now that is a cute picture.

Happy Spring!

Spring is here….I hope

This past week or so has been pretty sweet weather-wise. Last week it was almost 60. Then it got a little cool but today was back to the 50’s. And Sunny!

Last week we had a visitor-and I must say it was about time.

Kristin came and brought my little Tater Pie! Otherwise known as Peyton. Kristin was passing by and came in for a visit-probably because she was afraid not to after all the pressure I have been putting on her to bring Payton to see us. And can you see why? Look at how our little Tater is growing up. She is 10 months now.

Still our porcelain girl. And she has quite the personality.

I wish this picture was a little clearer because I really like it.

So anyway, we also had a visit from our resident hawk

See up in the tree? Ok, a little closer

There-see him now? It’s a very red tailed bird.

My tickets for the Twins/Mariners game came today. Section 117, Row 12, Seats 7,8,9. I took a picture of my Ichiro bear just because

 

This weekend March Madness began. And, although they said it was just mediocre, the Pac-10 is in the Sweet 16. So HA! I don’t see Kansas anywhere in there…..Go Huskies!

I finished my tree block, and now BOTM is cancelled until July which aggravates me to no end.

I will try to keep up.

Laura said that on the farm her mom is giving one of the calf’s strawberry flavored pepto-bismal. It is not actually human pepto, but rather calf pepto. I just didn’t know that they made such a product for calves. We thought maybe the flavors would be more like oat, or wheat, or spring grass. Who knew? 

Which just goes to show, you learn something new every day.

 

Weekends

I have to say that I have been productive on the weekends lately.

This weekend I went to Block of the Month and found out I am knitting the wrong block! I am knitting the tree block when I should be knitting the church block. In my defense, the church block has a tree in it. I will be done with the tree (without church) block in 3 more rows, and will feature it next week.

I took the quilting BOTM quilt from 2007 to Pine Needles be quilted. After we got home and the usual Saturday chores were done, I worked on the Thimbleberries quilt from last year and by Sunday I had the center blocks done.

Busy, isn’t it?

I really wanted a better picture so I had Dave hold it up.

             

That will give you a better idea. It is unfortunate that when I get to this stage of the game I sort of quit caring about how things are supposed to go together and if they are even or square or in the right place. As I was putting this together I was vowing that next time the blocks will be the same size. Really.

Also, I didn’t get this picture on the first try. The first picture had this little extra

No, you can’t see it here, but if you look closely…..

A little closer

Jazz hands.

Or, how about this

Seriously.

I started to remember why I take the pictures on the floor.

And on a fun note, I also managed to score tickets to the Twins/Mariners game on Sunday August 1st. Expensive, but I think it will be well worth it. In the new outdoor Target field. WooHoo. I hope the day is nice. I won’t know who to root for, but after this many years I know Minnesota better than Seattle. Sad, but true. It will be nice to see Ichiro again though. I hope he is still there playing. Either way, I just want to go to a live, outdoor baseball game.

My seats are in the little dark blue sections-the blue section just above the last yellow section on the left.

Blane, Dave, and I will be in attendance. I hope I can knit, although I usually keep score. I can already taste the hotdogs, fries, and assorted junk food that is the staple of the Sunday afternoon baseball game.

 

Birthday 2010

Last week was my birthday. I got a ton of good wishes on FaceBook. That was fun. I didn’t know I had so many friends.

I also took a bunch of days off. The annual birthday vacation. I didn’t go anywhere, stayed home and celebrated.

On Wednesday, I had birthday luncheon at HuHot with the girls.

There’s Cathy, Melissa, and Kris.

And here’s me, Mary K, and Laura. (We all know Laura, she’s famous around the blogosphere)

We are fantabulous co-workers.

Cathy, the sweet girl that she is, brought me a cake from Daube’s. The other girls also gave me birthday cards and gift cards to Subway and Pine Needles. WooHoo

That was seriously delicious cake. It weighed about 5 pounds and was chocolate. We all had a piece before we left. I brought the rest home. Didn’t last long. Oh, and Melissa donated some Baklava she made. Oh. My. God. So good. So, so good.

The boys and Dave and I had lunch on Friday, my birthday, at Red Lobster. It’s Lobsterfest you know. Cody gave me a gift card from Pescara (I think that’s the name). It’s a restaurant across the street from Red Lobster. 

Dave and I were very full that night so we had ice cream and cake for dinner.

I got some presents too.

Inside these presents, from Dave, were these gifts.

Electric Tea Kettle (a hit at the office), some massage gift certificates, a Sarah shirt and mug.

Here’s a close up

Can you read it?

Maybe this is better. Either way, Sarah is the correct spelling of the name.

The cat likes it too. And Trixie is keeping an eye on things, even though she would rather be doing this

Or this

Martha sent me some presents too

The spinner book is really good. It is full of information about what makes yarn, why worsted is worsted, what makes animal and fiber yarn, how to prepare yarn for spinning etc etc. I really want to spin. Although I fear another craft……I can now work on getting some classes, maybe even in the cities since winter is getting over and I don’t have to worry about driving there in a blizzard. Of course, it means investing in another expensive tool-a wheel. We’ll see.

So that’s the birthday week. Am back to work. It’s already almost Wednesday. (Technically, it is Wednesday since Tuesday work is done).

I am officially another year older.