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Crystal



Last Updated: 4/29/2009

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Gender: Female
Status: Married
Age: 38
Sign: Pisces

City: BOURBONNAIS
State: Illinois
Country: US
Signup Date: 3/16/2007

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Monday, November 12, 2007 

Current mood:  sleepy

Well, here is installment 2 of my ghost blogs...the setting, a 100 year old farmhouse surrounded by trees in rural North Dakota (Hatton, to be exact). The closest neighbor is about a mile away...and NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM!!! Bwaaahaaaahaaaahaaa! (OK-just setting the mood--scared yet??? Well, turn on the lights then! DUH!!!)

The stories that I am going to tell you about this time DO NOT involve the previously mentioned Lucy--Lucy was quite occupied with my sister and her family at the time these things happened...I don't know who this ghost(s) is/are...one might be Knud...the guy who, in the late 1800's, built the house these things happened in.

The house as I had mentioned before, was quite a distance from the nearest neighbors...at least a mile each way. And town was a couple miles away...quite remote...

When we lived in that house, Rob worked nights a lot so I was home alone...while I was pregnant with Amber,and after she was born. There were not a lot of strange occurrences in the house until after Amber was born. Then, some things started happening.

One thing was that often, after dark, I would hear something that sounded like a car door slamming out in front of the house--but when I would look out the front door and windows, there was never anyone there...and, NO, it WASN'T sounds coming from the street--our driveway was about 1/4 mile long, and surrounded by trees--we never heard cars going by on the road or anything...as I said before, it was VERY ISOLATED...I would hear the car door noise about once a week...sometimes more...the dogs would never bark either, when the noise happened...but they would if someone was actually there...Hmmm...

Another time, I had just finished the dishes, and had left some glasses out on a towel on the counter to dry...they were nowehere near the egde. I had gone into the living room to watch TV. Suddenly, I heard a crash from the kitchen...I looked around, and our cats were all in the room with me or in the "den" that was just off the living room. No one was in the kitchen! I got up and went to the kitchen, and there was a glass, shattered on the floor. Well, some may say that the glass had just fallen, or moved because the moisture under the glass (I have seen bowls and glasses on occasion move across a table if they are wet, but that was not the case. There was nothing anywhere near where the glass had been sitting before it fell to the ground, and it had been sitting on a towel-to keep it from sliding across the counter. IT JUST FELL--no way to explain it, but "someone" had to push it off the counter...Hmmmm...

One other time, I woke up to hear this awful yowling coming from downstairs. I got out of bed and looked through the vent grating in the floor (this was a very old house, and instead of duct work, there were just open grates in the floor so the warn air could flow up to the second floor...) and saw something very strange...four of our cats were sitting in a circle on the living room floor around the fifth cat (Nocha)--looking at her like the were spooked...she was half laying on the floor like something was holding her front end down and her front legs were splayed out in front of her--not a natural position for a cat to lay in at all...and the others were just sitting there and watching...It was WEIRD...at first, I thought that she had been hurt playing with the other cats, but there was no other noise before the yowling started, and after she was able to stand back up, she was walking around like nothing ws wrong. All of them were a little freaked out after that.. I would guess that she was held like that for about 5 or 6 minutes before she was able to get away. She looked scared while it was happening, and she was the one that was yowling. It freaked me out!

Then, another night, Rob and I were laying in bed-Rob was sleeping, and something had woken me up--but I don't know what. As I was trying to get back to sleep, I heard what sounded like a large box being dragged across the floor in the attic just over our bed. It was too big of a sound to have been a mouse or something...with 5 cats in the house, I had never seen a mouse in the house at all. Also, it went on for too long to have been something walking across the floor. If sounded as if someone was dragging a heavy box for about 3 feet across the attic floor. I woke Rob up and told him to listen, but it didn't happen again. No more sounds the rest of the night--and I only heard it one other time. I did go into the attic during the day a couple of times with a friend from base-Teresa. We found all kinds of neat things up there...old typewriters, a milking machine, phonograph, radios, clothes, shoes, a large box of pictures (very old-of the people who had built the house...) and off in the east end of the attic, there was something very odd...The attic was shaped like a T-the part that went over our bedroom was like the top of the T, and the east end was long and narrow, like the leg of the T. In the far end of the attic, near a vent window, there was a rocking chair, with a walking stick laying across the seat of it. next to the chair was a home made end table--it was made from an orange or apple crate. there was nothing else in that end of the attic. It was REALLY CREEPY. Was this Knud's chair and stick??? Well, when we moved, I took the chair and the stick and the end table with me...The chair and table are in my room, and the stick in leaning against the piano in my front room. Wish I'd have kept the picures too, and a few other things, but didn't have room.

Another time, something happened when Rob was home. Rob was working nights, and staying home during the day with Amber some days so we could save some money on daycare while I was working. One day, Rob took Amber up to bed with him so he could take a nap. She was about 7 months old at the time, and not a super mobile baby yet. When he woke up, he couldn't find Amber. He got up and went downstairs, and she was laying on the living room floor. She was fine, but we have no idea how she got down stairs...the stairway in the house was very steep and narrow, so if she would have done it her self, she would have gotten hurt. To do it herself, she would've had to have rolled out of our bed, out of our room, and around the corner to the stairway, and rolled down--she would have been covered in bruises to say the least-but she was unmarked. Rob didn't hear anything...and certainly her falling out of the bed would have made plenty of noise to wake him. I don't know how else to explain that, except something had to have carried her out of the bedroom and down the stairs to the living room. CREEPY!!!!!

I have heard people say that dogs will avoid where there are ghosts...and now I Wonder if this is why one of the dogs we had at the time, Dakota, would not come in the house...you couldn't even lure him in with food. We tried one night when it was really cold outside...we were going to let the dogs in the house that night because of the cold...they usually stayed outside and slept in the barn...Cocoa (our lab) came in, but Dakota (our Malamute) would not...he just stood at the door looking in...in hindsight, I wonder now if this is why he wouldn't come in??? Hmmm...

There was one time after we moved back onto the Air Force base that something happened with Amber. I don't know how this happened-whether she did it or had help, but there was no one home but me and her at the time. I was doing laundry, and Amber was in the living room watching cartoons. I took a load of clothes to put them away (I was maybe gone for 5-10 minutes), and when I came back to the living room, there was Amber-smiling away-sitting on a precariously high stack of things, all on top of the rocking chair that used to be mine when I was a baby...there was the rocking chair, a stool, and another small chair stacked on top of eachother...it was about the same height as Amber's head, so I have no clue how she got to the top of the pile without everything tumbling over onto the floor. She was about 1 1/2 at the time...so she was either a really good climber, or she had help from something...and it wasn't me!

Since we moved back home, there have not been as many things that have happened. After Cocoa died, I had (and so had Amber) heard her walking out in the back yard...down the back porch...her claws clicking on the wood. At the time we were hearing this, we had no other dog, so it was not any other large animal in our back yard. Since we got Culo, we have not heard this much anymore.

Well-that's all for the ghost stories for now. Maybe another time I will have more. There is one more thing I can think of that has happened, but it was on vacation...I will save that one for a vacation edition of ghost stories! :)

12:13 AM 
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Wednesday, November 07, 2007 

Current mood:  relaxed

All about Lucy...

OK, I know that I mentioned Lucy in a previous blog, so I thought being around Halloween (I know, it's after Halloween, but if Walmart can put up Christmas, then I can CERTAINLY tell ghost stories AFTER Halloween!) I would tell you all about her.  

I was about 11 when I first met Lucy.  It was late on a weeknight, and my sister and I had already gone to bed in our separate rooms--her room was across the hall from mine.  I woke up and had to go to the bathroom, which was just down the hall from my bedroom.  As I left my room to turn down the hallway, I saw someone in the hallway--it looked kind of like my sister, but it wasnt her...It looked to be a young girl, about my sister's age (~9 at the time), with dark skin (my sister did get rather dark tans in the summer, and it was about that same color...) and short curly hair.  It was also not wearing anything but something that looked like either white underpants or a large white diaper looking thing.  At first I thought it was my sister.  It walked past me down the hall towards her room, but it didn't feel like someone had just walked past me--After it walked into her room, I thought somethingseemed odd, so I peeked into her room to see what she was doing up walking around the house in her underwear.  She was not awake like she should have been if she had just seconds ago climbed into bed--she was fast asleep...I tried to wake her up, but she was OUT!!!  OK, so who was it that walked past me in the hallway???  It was really quite freaky, and after I got back into my room, I laid there trying to figure out who or what it was, and I started to get a little scared.  To this day, I still believe that I saw a ghost that night.  That was the only time I actually SAW her...but that was not the end of my paranormal experiences at my parents' house...shortly after that night, the cat I had for several years, Shasta, a yellow tabby who was a very sweet cat, got hit by a car--and I saw it happen. He ran out in front of a car, and it almost looked like he made it, but when he didn't come home at bed time, my mom and dad went looking for him, and found him in the alley about a block away from the house, hiding behind a garbage can, and in a lot of pain.  They took him to the vet, but there was nothing they could do...he apparently had a broken rib and punctured lung and it was filling with blood.  Sadly, he died that night.  A couple of days later, I was looking out my bedroom window and I saw something moving by the bush in the neighbors' front yard...it was Shasta...I was so excited I ran downstairs to see him, but there was no cat by the bush any more, and no cat anywhere to be found...believe me--I looked...and at the time, there were no other yellow/tan tabby cats like Shasta in the neighborhood, and I never saw that same cat again...I think it was Shasta, coming back to say goodbye.  After that day, on occasion, I would feel a cat jump onto my bed at night, but when I rolled over to see the cat, there was nothing there...even though I had felt one walking on the bed near me...and the door was not cracked open wide enough for a cat to have come into the room.  That happened much more often after my next cat, Shespa, died in my arms in my bedroom after an unfortunate incident involving flea powder, me and her. (Shespa was allergic to flea collars, and she had fleas, so in trying to help her, I gave her a bath and then put some flea powder on her...which I never should have done...she had a severe allergic reaction late that night, and died before I could do anything to help her--I was very sad...she was 8 years old.) The other day, my mom did tell me that she thought she saw a ghost cat in the hallway upstairs, near the bedrooms...wonder which of the two it was...

Back to Lucy--as we later named her.  After my sighting, I told my mom and dad, but they didn't really believe me...they said I was probably half asleep or something...well, several years later, Lucy made her presence known again.  My niece and sister were living back at my parents' house, and my niece wasn't that old...maybe 8 or 9-I cannot remember for sure--but we were all at my mom and dad's house for something, a birthday I think...It was summer, and we were all out on the back porch visiting.  My niece went into the house to get something for someone, and when she came back out, she had a really strange look on her face...it looked like she was confused...and ou could tell she was counting poeple to see if everyone was out on the porch.  my sister asked her what was wrong, and she said "if everyone is out here, then who is sitting on the couch?"  me and my mom and my sister looked at eachother and got up and went into the house.  there was NO ONE in the house, and NO ONE sitting on the couch--that we could see--but the cushions on one part of the couch looked like someone had just been sitting on them, and had just gotten up--there were "dents" in the back and seat cushions.  we wre freaked out...that was when everyone thought that I had maybe really seen something that night long before.  There were other times where my daughter and niece had been making hammocks in my old bedroom and while they were hanging in them, they say that they felt something like someone poking them in the backs with their finger, but there wasn't anyone there.  The strangest thing that happened was when my sister was babysitting some young children in my mom and dad's house.  One of them was just about 3 years old.  my sister was in the living room, and the little girl was standing by the doorway to the next room peeking in and tilting her head to where she was almost looking into the room upside down, and giggling.  the little girl asked "what's she doing" my sister asked her "what's who doing", and she said "that girl in there" and pointed into the next room.  my sister got up and looked, but there was no one in the next room.  the little girl said the girl she saw had gone into the bathroom, so my sister looked in the bathroom-still no one there...and this was from a child that knew NOTHING of Lucy at all...what did she see???  My sister and mom have told me that there were other things that have happened with Lucy--feeling a bed shake while you are lying in it, one tim the bathroom door closed "on it's own", but there was no one in the bathroom or anywhere near it. It does seem that Lucy only makes appearances when my sister is around.  we think she has followed her from my parents' house to her house, because she has had some odd things happen there as well.  Yes, I do believe in Lucy...

Well, now you know who Lucy is...maybe she will come and visit you sometime.  :)  Maybe I will share some of the strange things that happened in our house in North Dakota next time... :)

4:29 AM 
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Sunday, September 16, 2007 

Current mood:  exhausted
Hello!

Here it is-Saturday night...sitting here while Rob is preparing for the Bears' home opener tomorrow...he's pretty excited!  truck is loaded, and the ribs are boiling now...KC Masterpiece ribs, since the Bears are playing the KC Chiefs...sounds like they will have a good time...hope the Bears get a W too! not sure what me and the kids will do tomorrow...probably go hang out at Beef's and watch the Colts and Titans duke it out...maybe sleep in a little...been getting up WAY early this week...had to be at work by 4:45 am on Thursday, and ten had to get up a 5:30 today to be at Tommy's game by 7:30...the game was 1/2 hour away--in Frankfort, IL...Rob has to get up early tomorrow too...he plans to be at the game by 6:00 am for tailgating...he's going to need a vacation from his weekend!  yikes!!!

Well, Tommy had a game this morning...an EARLY game...and MAN--was it COLD!!!  I had on a sweatshirt, 2 jackets, and a blanket over my legs (with jeans and socks and shoes--no sandals or shorts today!) and I was STILL cold!!!  BRRRRRR!!!!  not ready for that yet...give me at least another month...PLEASE!?!?!?
When we were heading up the road to get to the game, we had a scare...we were driving north on rt 45 (a 2 lane highway), and there were cars ahead of us...many of which were headed to the same game as us--Tommy's teammates and their families...when all of a sudden, we see this blur shoot across 45 at an intersection, and BARELY--and I mean BARELY--miss hitting the car in front of us...they were maybe 5 or 6 seconds ahead of us (think back to your driver's ed days...maintain a 2 second distance between you and the car infront of you...bring back any memories??? LOL!!!)...Rob said the front tires of the car that shot across the road were in the air, and the passengers in the car were bouncing all over...I didn't see that--I just kept thinking-"OMG!  He almost took out that car!"  If he had hit them, it could have been really ugly...he was going at least 75 mph...and never stopped before crossing 45...for those of you who have never seen this road, it is like a rural highway--there are cornfields on either side, with an occasional farm house or two...there are intersecting side roads that all have stops signs, and there are a few 4-way stops at the bigger intersections...the guy was driving east, and at the time, the sun would have been right in his eyes...we think maybe he never even saw the intersection because of the glare...don't know, but there were some very lucky people in both vehicles...Rob and I were talking after the near miss, and I said "that could have been one of the kids on Tommy's team...and it would have been right in front of us...it could have been a fatal accident...possibly multiple fatalities...it was really scary to think about what could have happened...we got closer to where the game was, and the car that almost got hit was still in front of us, and I looked, and saw what I thought looked like Amber's teacher, whose son is on Tommy's team as well...WOW...that could have been VERY bad...I still wasn't sure if it was them, but when we got to the game, they parked a few cars down from us, and after they got out, they came down and asked if we saw them almost get killed!  It was Amber's teacher...and her son...she said she saw the guy out of the corner of her eye and he was really close...she hit the gas a little to try to get past him--luckily she was successful...she said it took her a while to calm down after it happened...she sais it looked like he only missed her back end by a couple of inches...it was scary...thank God he missed and no one got hurt!  I think a close call like that would have prompted me to buy a lottery ticket...hopefully my luck for the day would not have been all used up!  she was happy nothing happened too, especially once she saw that we were the one right behind her...she said it would have been really traumatic for Amber...and that we would probably have had to call 911 to have her scraped off the street...ya think???  scary start to the day--that'll wake you up...at least she saw it and was able to accelerate a little!  she said she couldn't tell her son about it for a little while after...he never saw it coming...

At the game, while our kids were warming up, the other team came out to the field...Tommy is on the superlights team--6-9 years old, up to 70-90 lbs-depending on the age...so you figure the kids on the Franfort team would be about the same size as our kids...especially the little guys, who scrimmage before each game...NO...these kids were all about 5' 1" and 69 lbs each...(ok,there were a FEW that were smaller, but not many at all...).  A couple were even bigger...one looked like a "smaller" highschooler...or maybe me, if i went out on the fields in pads and a helmet...and these were the LITTLE guys!  at one time, Tommy was lined up against what the coach called "the jolly green giant"--he was the biggest kid on the team...and I found out later that he was playing with the little kids because he coulnd't play in the regular superlights game...T-Bone did hold his own for a while, even though the kids were a lot bigger...i could tell he was probably afraid to tackle or be tackled by the bigger kids...he started running "j-hooks" when he was on defense later in the game...basically running AWAY from the plays...Hmmm...not a good thing to do...oh well...he is improving every week...good for him! :)  the little guys were able to score 2 TDs in their scrimmage, but still lost 18-12...:(   In the real game, they lost 18-0...and towards the end of the game, the other coach had the nerve to come to our coach and ask if he minded if he put the "jolly green giant" into the game since he never got to play...WHAT!?!?!?!?!?...our coach was like "you're already killing us...NO!!!"  what a reatard!  the kid is too big to play, and you are up 18-0 and you want to put him in so he can play??? MOVE HIS BUTT UP TO THE NEXT DIVISION SO HE CAN PLAY!!! Kids with facial hair should NOT be playing on superlight teams!  (ok--i never saw him close onough to know if he had facial hair, but it was something funny to type! :)) 

After the game, we came back home and Amber was ableto make it to bowling...it as her second week...she did relly good the first week, but this week wasn't so good...her high game last week was like a 100 or something, but this week her high game was an 82...maybe she'll do better next week...she likes bowling...on our bowling team, our teammates what to change our team name...we are the lucky charms, but last week, we missed bowling because of tthe Colts game (why would we have been there instead of bowling??? gee, i dunno...LOL!), and they lost all three games...stacey signed the scoresheet "we suck--it's rob and crystal's fault"...so they now want to change the team name to "blame it on the claytons"...kinda catchy...especially when you say it and think of that milli vanilli song from the 80's-"blame it on the rain"...hehehe!

Oh well, i'm sure i will have more adventures to tell about next time...actually i had a couple thoughts already...better write them down so i don't forget! LOL!!! 
till next time...take care, and GO COLTS and GO BEARS (for ROB).      
  
2:40 AM 
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Tuesday, September 11, 2007 

Current mood:  sleepy
Well, as promised in my last blog, here is an entertaining story about something that would otherwise be a sad story...but first, a little history...

Shortly before we got married 15 years ago, we decided we needed some animals around the house and began our "collection" of furry friends...which as of now, all the original cast members have left the stage and gone to the big pet heaven in the sky...Our first pet together was our dog, Cocoa Pebbles...a black and brown lab who, as you may have guessed, had a coat that resembled the coloring of Rob's favorite cereal, Cocoa Pebbles...we went to the humane society and instead of paying our phone bill, got a dog...maybe we should have named her Ma Bell???  She left at the tender age of 11, heartbroken because her buddy, Dakota (an alaskan malamute), decided to run away and never came home.  He didn't like me...and I didn't like him...I tried to lure him out of my car with a french fry after I caught him after he ran away one other time, but he tried to bite me...he got right out for my dad though!  He was an escape artisit (the dog-not my dad! :)) who once chewed through a chain link fence, and one time disappeared for a week when we lived in ND, and survived a fight with a lynx, but I think the lynx probably got the worst of it...we;;, after we got Cocoa, we were at a friend's house and we were leaving and this kitten jumped up into the truck onto Rob's lap and started purring...he wasn't much of a cat person, so he put the cat back outside the truck, and it jumped back in.  He took it over by a different garage, but it followed him back to the truck.  after this happening a few times, we figured she was adopting us, so we brought her home...her name was Panocha (Rob named her--it's Spanish...I'll let you guess what for...) She was a sweet cat...she tried to hang herself once...i had her on a leash in our back yard, didn't think she could reach the tree, but she did...Lucky for her, I came out to check on her right away, because she was hanging by a claw from a branch on the tree...I got there just in time.  She lived with us for a few years, until she became owl food on our farm in Hatton...at least that is what we think happened to her...a couple months after we got Nocha, we were at the mall, outside the pet store, where something was going on...a man had brought a box of kittens to the store hoping they would take them, but the owner said no because they looked like they had ear mites...well, the man stood outside the pet store and started trying to give them away...i heard him say if no one took them, he'd have to "get rid of" them--I'm sure in some awful way.  we looked in the box, and they were cute little Manx kittens...and they were free...I picked one out, and that is where we got Freebie...to this collection, we later added Sydney, then Sabbath (our black cat--yes, Black Sabbath...).  We lived on a farm, so cats were a good idea for mice and all...Sabbath and Sydney had a litter of kittens, and that is where Meeko, Tish, and a few others who ended up going to other homes...Then, Meeko andSabbath and Freebie and Sabbath had litters together at the same time...Freebie, being a Manx (tailless cat) had difficult deliveries...i had to assist a couple times...one of which was identical twins who were not strong enough to survive...sad...one kitten we kept from this bunch was Minx...a black manx with a white star on her chest...she was VERY timid...we also had a Rottweilier--Chaz--wonderful dog...would walk beside you with no leash, attack the lawn mower and get upset if Rob and I argued...Chaz decided to chase cars one winter day, and left us...I was sad, Cocoa was sad...she actually was in mourning when we burried Chaz...laid by his grave and everything...sad...we moved back to IL, and had to part ways with a couple of animals...took them to the humane society for adoption.  We kept Freebie, Sabbath, Meeko, Cocoa, and Dakota...Sabbath died shortly after we moved back...not sure what happened...it was very quick, and sad.   A couple years after Cocoa left us, Freebie was diagnosed with cancer.  We were told that she would probably not survive surgery, so we took her home to be with Meeko until she got to a point where she needed to be put down.  The vet said she probably would not make it much past Christmas (it was right around Thanksgiving), and told us what to watch for to know when it was time to say goodbye.  Well, we then got a puppy last summer...Culo--he was rescued from being abandoned on a 90+ degree day with no food, water, or shelter.  He had been abused-ears burned and a cut on his head...but a sweet dog...part Rott, part Pit and maybe a little something else...we don't know for sure...Freebie was still hanging in there...but Meeko was starting to show signs of the same things Freebie had been.  Meeko went quickly this past June...found her on the laundry room floor...burried her in the back yard next to MJ-my Koi who had died the summer before...Freebie was still doing well...no new symptoms...and then she left us on 8/31. 

Now for the interesting story mentioned before the Clayton Family pet tragedy history...

When Meeko died, she made it easy for me to remove her body--probably because she knew I would be sad --I don't know...Freebie, however, had to be Freebie...I came home and Amber was crying...she had found her...Freebie had crawled behind the furnace and laid down for her final nap (which was surprizing to me because just the night before she was out walking around the house, purring, and sitting with Amber and me being petted...maybe she was saying goodbye???).  Our furnace is in our laundry room...not a large room.  The furnace is next to the water heater, with not much room to get between or behind either one...definately not room for me to fit to retrieve a deceased pet.  I tried a couple different ways, but i was not going to fit...and being claustrophobic, I was terrified of getting stuck, but had to get Freebie out of there...I tried to reach her with the broom, but no--that was not going to work...tried to "lasso" her, but that would not work either...there was really no room to maneuver.  I asked Amber if she could fit...granted, she is really not much smaller than me right now...she tried, but she couldn't fit either.  Enter Tommy...he's a very skinny 6 year old...who happens to be very afraid of spiderwebs...and there were several behind the furnace...trying to be calm, i started trying to talk him into trying to crawl back there to get Freebie...he asked why, and i told him...i think he was grossed out...but it had to be done...after a lot of coaxing, and telling him how much it would mean to Freebie if he would do this for her, and them bribing him with a dollar, i convinced him to try.  well, he started to go, and saw webs...i swept them away, and he crawled behind the water heater...halfway there...then it happened...he got a web on him, and there was a spider by it...he panicked...mind you, he was already in a very small space, surrounded by hoses and metal appliances...he had barely enough room to turn...when i say he panicked, that is almost an understatement...he turned 50 shades of red and started screaming...let me rephrase--SHREIKING at an almost glass shattering pitch--and trying frantically to get out...all i could think was "please don't let him get stuck and i have to call 911 to retrieve my sone from behind the water heater...and have to explain why to the rescuers...wouldn't that have been something!  how crazy...fortunately, i was able to talk him down, and get him to stop shrieking and crying...and swept away the evil spider and web...all this commotion from the boy who loves "Spiderman"...and he was finally able to reach our poor Freebie...but her foot was caught under the edge of the furnace, and he was worried about hurting her...I had to tell him that he couldn't hurt her, and then he was able to pull her out and hand her to me.  What an event...after much ado, Freebie was ceremoniously moved to our "morgue" in the garage...don't worry--it's just our garage freezer...hopefully it won't get much more use as a morgue...Freebie and Meeko are now burried side by side in the backyard by New Pondor...

I think we are done with cats now...one dog and 2 chinchillas are plenty for us.  

Sorry for such a morbid blog, but wanted to share...sometimes makes you feel better sharing these kinds of stories...

Until next time.... 
     
1:21 AM 
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Sunday, September 09, 2007 

Hello everyone!

Fall is finally upon us...School has started, Football has kicked off, and the Christmas decorations have now begun coming out of hibermation at the local Walmart...Yes-I said Christmas...doesn't anyone look at calendars anymore...Last time I checked, Christmas was AFTER Halloween and Thanksgiving!  Oh well, guess there isn't much you can do about that! 

Little T-Bone has been playing football, and is getting better...his team has not won a game yet, but they are hangung in there like little chads in Florida on Election day! (LOL--sorry, bad joke, I know!)  Last week they played against the Bourbonnais Black team--talk about a rivalry!  All the red teams played the black teams--almost as intense a rivalry as the Bears and Packers!  I think there were more kids getting hurt in those games than all the others we played so far this season!  A few on the Black Superlight team got hurt (same division as Tommy--luckily none were seriously hurt), and then before the start of the Lightweights game, one of the kids got hurt (knee, I think) and had to be taken out in an ambulance...we left for the lightweight game and came back for the JV and Varsity games...we were going to work in the booth...In Tommy's game, he had a chance to make a big play--on a kick return, one of the kids from the black team was running the ball back, and got past all the other kids on the red team (Tommy's team), and little T, bless his heart, ran as fast as I've ever seen him run to catch the kid...it was all right in front of where we were sitting...i thought he was going to catch him, but when he got there, he froze up and didn't hit the kid...and he ran past and scored a TD...I felt so bad for him...the other kids were giving him such a hard time for not making the play that he was crying before he got to the bench...Rob went to talk to him about it...he got down close to him and didn't yell, and was talking to him positively about his running and Rob asked him if he was afraid to hit the other kid...he said he was...Rob told him he wouldn't be able to keep playing if he was scared of hitting/tackling the other kids...one of the kids told Tommy "way to lose the game for us"...He didn't lose the game for anyone...he did his best, and the rest of the team could hve stopped that kid if they had tried harder..and since that wasn't the last play of the game, there were other chances for them to stop the black team...the game ended up going into OT, and the black team won 18-24.  Tommy has been getting better at tackling since then...he really likes to play...We did hear after the game that one of the moms told one of the other coaches wives that Rob had called Tommy a pussy and made Tommy cry--the other coach didn't know who it was that said it, but some people need to learn to stop spreading rumors about other people or they are going to have some trouble...there are apparently a lot of people like that in this league.  lots of back stabbing and people starting things...apparently happens a lot around here...guess you have to watch who you are talking to around there...

Rob and I went to the Colts' season opener...against the Aints...yes, I said AINTS.  It was a fun game...I always get so worked up...have to eat before the games, because i cant eat during them! LOL!!!  at half time, it was tied, 10-10, but the Colts won, 41-10...it was AWESOME!!!  the pregame was neat...Mellencamp did one song--Small Town...and they had the field done up really neat--horseshoe shaped stage, and the players ran out on the field through a tunnel made to look like the superbowl ring...and when they unfurled superbowl the banner, it was awesome!  can't wait to go back for another game!  I have Manning and Wayne on my fantasy football team this year, and they got me 42 points between the 2 of them!  Awesome!  My team is playing Rob's team...interesting...we'll see how it ends though...he has Romo and T.O> and some good running backs, so good thing it got a bunch of points early...it was a big sacrifice to take Manning with my first pick, but i knew he would not be there if i waited for my second pick...there were 18 picks between my first and second picks...I picked 3rd, so i had to make it count...but that meant not getting a top notch running back...oh well, we'll see how it goes this year!  :)

Kids are enjoying school, and everything else is going well...we did just lose our other cat, Freebie, to cancer last Friday...can't rememer if i mentioned that last time--very sad...we had her longer than we had children...she was 15.  There is an entertaining story around that, but i'll save it for next time...this blog is starting to get a little long...:)

see you later! :)




12:12 AM 
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Wednesday, August 22, 2007 

Current mood:  exhausted
Well, its that time of year again--but with a "little" twist!

Tommy is playing football for the Bourbonnais Bears...Superlightweight Red team...he is doing pretty good-i think...it's fun to watch them practice--i can see a difference in most of them since the first practice...we had our first real game this past saturday against Joliet.  we ended up losing 14-7, but it was a pretty good game, for little kids...they are so fun to watch!  actually, our team was the only team to score against Joliet that day...out of all the other Red Bears teams...the lightweights lost 14-0, the JV team lost 18-0, and the varsity team lost by 24-0...Rob is coaching the defense for Tommy's team, and they are looking pretty good too...practices have been running 2 hours a day 4 days a week, and then games on saturdays...busy, busy, busy...

also, it's time to get ready for our fantasy football drafts...I have 3rd pick and Rob picks right after me in our league (so i cannot discuss my draft plans at this time...after the 31st, i'll share the outcome of the draft), and he is now the commissioner for his other league...lots of work deciding who to pick and Rob is setting up both leagues...again, busy, busy, busy...

we went to see the Colts and Bears play in Indy last night...kids went too...it was fun...even thought the Bears won, but hey, it's only preseason, right?!?!  looking forward to this season...going back down for the Colts home opener on 9/6...just me and Rob...that will be awesome!  can't wait!

Kids started school today--yes, i'm a mean mom...we didn't get home until ~1:30 this morning, and i made the kids go to school...can't miss the first day, and besides, it was only for a couple hours...they only have half days this week...talk about having it easy--i don't remember starting school and having 1/2 days the whole first week...i looked at their calendar for the whole year, and they do not have one month where they are in school all day every day.  I don't remember it being like that when we were kids...i think they are out of school more than they are in...kind makes me mad...maybe that is why these kids are turning out the way they do...no running on the playground at recess, no playing tag, no throwing balls, basically no having fun...OH NO!!! someone might get hurt!!!  or worse yet, their feelings might get hurt! the most fun i had at recess was running and playing tag, and racing, and stuff like that...yeah, i got pushed down by some kids every now and then, but i turned out alright! no wonder kids today don't know how to compete...we baby them in kids' sports where scores don't count-no one loses, etc. don't get me wrong...playing things to learn the fundamentals is one thing for beginners, but geez! must we do that for everything?????  i get so tired of hearing "that's not fair"  LIFE IS NOT FAIR!!! DEAL WITH IT!!!!   if everything was fair, there would be no need to compete for jobs, success, etc...everyone would just have everything handed to them on a silver platter...ARRRRRGH!!!!!!! 

ok--i'll get off my soapbox for now...
summer is going by so fast...school has started, football is starting, and Halloween and Christmas are right around the corner! 

til next time, take care! :)   
2:24 AM 
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Thursday, August 09, 2007 

Current mood:  sleepy
well, here we are for part three of our anniversary tour adventure.  are ya ready kids??? 

when we left maple lake, we took a different route to Grand Forks than we normally would have, because we were now on a mission.  Rob's buddy, Alan, told him that he thought he found my old car, Betty.  For those of you who don't know "who" Betty is, she was my first car--a 1970 Buick Skylark-pea green with 4 doors and a white hardtop, with several white spray painted dinosaurs stencilled down the driver's side and the back end (I did that myself while I was in high school...).  I loved that car, and had taken her to ND with me when I went there for college.  Well, to make a long story short, when we moved out of our house in Hatton, ND, Betty and I sadly had to part ways.  Well, Alan told Rob where he thought he had seen Betty-sitting in someone's yard near Crookston, MN...I just had to know if it was her...part of me didn't want to know, because then I would be sad and want to try to get her back, but a bigger part of me had to know...we drove by a house and Rob said he thought he saw it, so we turned around and pulled into the driveway... I saw a white hard top...and four green doors peeking out from under a couple tires...i got out of the truck and walked up closer, and through the weeds, i couldn't see any dinos...and then i saw that the rear bumper was different...no dice...it wasn't her...i was somewhat relieved, because then i didn't have the dillema of what to do--try to buy her back and figure out a way to get her home?  or just leave her sitting there...but now, i still wonder where she is...maybe someday, i'll find out...

after our side trip, we finished our drive to Grand Forks...we go there without incident, and went to go find a room...Alan's wife, Paula, knew how we could get special coupons for local hotels, so we stopped to pick them up.  Remember the hotel situation from part 1???  well, here we go again...we went to the hotel on the coupon, and there were a few SUV's with trailers in the parking lot...all out of state plates...Rob walked in to get a room...when he came back out, he was PISSED!!!  seems our luck had not completely changed afterall...just our luck...there was some Midwest Plains Cal Ripken Jr youth baseball tournament going on that week in Grand Forks...for 11 year olds...when i say out of state plates, i mean cars from Nebraska, Oklahoma, places like that--not just neighboring MN..i can't imaging taking an 11 year old on a trip across 4 states to play in a baseball game...highschool, sure,but 11?  anyway, the lady at the desk told him that we'd probably have a hard time finding a room because of the tourney...so we went back to the coupon source for another attempt at a different place.  This time, Rob called and had them hold a room...we wold be staying in the same hotel we stayed in last time we visited ND...the travelodge...it's a nice place--indoor pool and everything.  well, we got into the room and the kids wanted to go swimming, so we let them while we finished unpacking.  i went back down to get my blankie out of the truck, and when i stepped out of the hotel, there were these really creepy looking storm clouds rolling in--i grabbed blankie and ran back in to get my camera, and took the storm pictures in my myspace album.  the pictures really did not do the clouds justice...it was really cool...when i got back to the room, there was a severe storm warning coming across the TV screen for the county we were in as well as the areas we were previously camping in...and our friends still were!  i was very glad to not be in a tent anymore...at least they had a trailer...well, i watched the storm come in until it was dark, but it never did as much as they thought it would...at least not by us...not sure what happened anywhere else...there were lots of people at the hotel from Manitoba Canada...guess they must come down for medical procedures and stuff...that's what it seemed like anyway...or just to shop...the next day, we went to the mall, and a few other places we used to go...we even registered for a chance to win a new jet ski...but i guess we didn't win...oh well...Amber got a free Justin Timberlake CD from the radio girl...that was cool...then we went to see about getting a new tire for the trailer...which we found with ease at a store we used to go to a lot...Home of Economy--"where your dollar buys more"...can't say the name without finishing the jingle...:) Rob got me a couple of really pretty blue hearts to hand on the mirror in the car...for our anniversary-that was all i was looking for every place we went...and i found it at...Home of Economy...where your dollar buys more...:):)  For those of you who have seen Fargo (the movie), it was really funny, because almost as soon as we got back to the area, we started talking like that...it's contagious...up there they say things different...a cash register is a till, and dollar is said "doler"...we joked about it all week..and really exaggerated our accents...hehe!!!  we did take a drive around the area to see the places we used to live.  First stop was the Air Force Base...Amber was born there...Tommy is jealous of that...we drove through what was left of our old hood just across from the base (Rob doesn't have access to get on the base anymore, since he is not in the AF anymore...you need to have someone vouch you on base, and no one we knew was around to...the old hood is pretty much gone...we lived in a 2-unit modular home right before we moved back to IL, but that is gone now...they tore them down and relocated some to local Indian Reservations...the other houses stood empty...it was really quite eerie...we found where the house used to be and those pics are on my site as well...next stop was our housein Hatton...about 30 miles straight south of the base.  we drove down and into the driveway, and our hearts sank...what used to be a beautiful, wooded property has now been turned into a huge junk yard...bumper to bumper cars, truck, farm equipment, etc...and a big fence to keep people out...you couldnt even see the house...i could see what looked like a mobile home parked in the area directly behind the house, and the barn and the garage, but that was about all...the house was hidden...what a sad shame...wish we could have kept that house too, but it was just too far from home, and at the time, we didn't have the means to properly care for the yard or a plow for the driveway in the winter...i got stuck in that driveway many a time...it is almost a 1/4 mile long...and the lot was 11.5 acres...with a row of lilac bushes in front of the house...it was so nice...our first real house...lots of memories in that house...i think it was haunted too...sad...

well, we went back to town, because the restaurant we were going to eat lunch at that day was gone...that seems to be our trend lately...favorite restuarants closing on us...Hmmmm....guess i better not get attached to anymore restaurants!  LOL!!! We did finally end up having our special dinner...at Paradiso, where the chips are free, dinner's extra--pace yourself...(yes another jingle i can't help but repeat...:) )...we never did get to see any of the people we were going to try to see while we were there...we did go to my old office...can you believe, 12 years ago i worked there, and they still have the same copier???  WOW...and the same posters on the wall...the desk i sat at was gone, but it was still weird to see that place...it was an insurace agency where i worked for a couple years...we were going to say hi to Dave, my old boss, but he wasn't there...guess some things don't really change...they do have a lot of nice new places there now, since the flood of 97...most of the town was destroyed then and has now been rebuilt...and there is a massive wall along the Red River-the source of the flood.  they now have a huge convention center/arena-the Alerus Center...where they have concerts, conventions, and the Fighting Sioux football team plays...it's huge...Nickelback was there the night before we got to town...thought about going, but decided not to--we just saw them in Chicago in March...good time!!!  the Sioux also have a new arena for their hockey team..it looks really nice too...(pictures on my site...)--one restaurant we went to sometimes-the Blue Moose- actually was moved across the street after the flood...still looks the same inside...there's a pic of us in front of the moose too... 

after we had our dinner at Paradiso, we headed home...we drove back through Brainerd-just for Papa...just because of Fargo...i was thinking we could settle this right here in Brainerd...hehehe!!! :)  the ride home went much quicker...we just kept driving...without incident...and safely got home at 9:00 the following morning...not bad...14 hours...kids slept, we stayed awake...at least i tried to...to help Rob stay awake...lots of caffeine...

And that is the saga that was our vacation...overall, it was a very nice time...it's fun getting away for a while...even if there are a few bumps in the road! :)

take care! :) 
1:49 AM 
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Saturday, August 04, 2007 

Current mood:  hungry
Hey there! Today we went to Bears camp for the night full practice.  some of them look like they are going be pretty good...it's fun to go watch...we even got to see a few of the players after practice-Ricky Manning Jr, Tyler Everrett, and Jay Staggs, but neatest of all was Lovie Smith...he came out and signed some autographs-Amber and Tommy each got one, and Rob said some things to him and he said something back to Rob...i told him "good luck"...he's a nice guy...I took some pictures...i am really hoping to someday make it down to Terre Haute for Colts camp...that would really be AWESOME!!!  Tommy wore his Bourbonnais Bears jersey and pads...then after he watched for a while, he went to play football with some other kids...he had fun...i think Amber would have rather stayed at home...she got stung/bitten on the finger by some kind of bug shortly after we got there...poor thing! she feels better now, after some ice and some kind of powder they put on her finger...MIMI---did you give the first aid station some FAERIE DUST??? LOL!   

Tomorrow Tommy has football practice again-with pads...their first day with pads was yesterday...he liked it!  got pushed around a little, but kept with it and held his own...i was proud of him...i got some video of it too...took a little each day this week...i think he'll be alright...the coach actually asked Rob to be his "defensive coach"...that's pretty cool--i think Rob is having a good time out there coaching, too...the kids seem to like him!

Well, now for part 2 of the Anniversary Tour...or our vacation--
When we got up from our nap, Rob and Tommy went on a ride on 4 wheelers--not sure who had more fun!  Tommy thought it was neat because they ran over a raccoon that was already dead...Later, our friends wanted to all go to Mahnomen to a casino there.  (The kids stayed with our friends' kids in the trailer for a couple hours while we went to the casino--a couple of them were a couple years older than Amber, sowe figured they'd be alright-watching movies and stuff)--the casino gives you a coupon for 10.00 for dinner if it is the month or your wedding anniversary (a buffet that is 9.99 + tax=10.64 or something like that, so you are really only paying the tax...)--our lucky day!  Plus, when you sign up for their frequent user card, you get free money, plus more money for your anniversary!!!   i think they intend for you to use the money in the casino to gamble, but we decided to keep ours!  when else can you walk into a casino and come out with more money than you went in with and not gamble at all???  WORKS FOR ME!!!  i made 15 bucks on the deal, and Rob made about 25...not including our free dinners!  (he got extra money for signing me up under him for the card...).  it finally seemed that our luck was turning around!  after the casino trip, we headed back to the campsite, started a fire, and sat by the fire for a while...the kids visited with us for a little bit and then it was bed time...what a busy day!  the next day, we got up and packed up our tent and stuff, then went and hung out at the beach for a while.  the water was so clear--they didn't allow boats going any faster than 10 mph on the lake, so there werent a bunch of jets skis and speed boats racing around...the water was COLD!!!  you could wade out waist deep in the water and still see the bottom like it was only a couple inches deep...the fish would come right up to your feet and "bite" at your toes...one started to act like he was getting territorial with my koi tattoo on my foot--posturing at it like he was trying to scare "those fish" away...but once he realized they werent moving, he decided to try to eat the bubbles on my foot...then my toenail polish, then my toe ring!  silly fish!  they weren't that big--bluegills i think...you can see them in my pics...the kids had a ball!  Amber had found a buddy too...his name is Alex...and he was from MN...he and Amber have the exact same B-day---day/month and year!   they had fun playing together...it was soo hot that day--after we got done at the beach, i had to take another shower before heading back to camp just to cool down---i was  not going to get all the way in the lake...creeps me out...the campgroud was really nice--they had nice showers and bathrooms and the sites were in the trees...only bad thing was the showers were at the bottom of the hill, and a long walk, so when you got back from the showers, since it was sooo hot, you almost needed another one by the time you walked up the hill to camp!  OH WELL! 

after a while of visiting with friends, and Rob drove a motorcyle around the camp ground...he really wants to get a motorcycle sometime...we decided it was time to head to our next stop-Maple Lake (Mentor, MN) for a couple more days of camping...that wasn't too far from where we were...only a couple hours drive, but the landscape changes a lot in MN in those couple hours...the closer you get to ND, the flatter the land gets...when we got to the campground at Maple Lake, it was too late to really have a fire, and the restaurant there was out of firewood, so no fire the first night...we camped right by the water, which was nice but there were LOTS of mosquitoes!  the bathrooms were a little closer to us than at the last place, but they weren't as nice...the showers were pay showers with no hot water...but you really didn't have to pay--the water still came on, but one lady told me that she tried putting several quarters in the box, but there was still no hot water!  i took the free option--and took a cup full of hot wather from the sink in with me so i could have SOME warm water! We had lots of fun at Maple Lake--that is where we went the day after we got married...and many weekends after that...we would always have breakfast at the restaurant, and hang out the rest of the time and pull people on tubes with the boat...that is actually where i ran Rob's Bayliner up on the dock one night in my first attempt to drive a boat...it was late, Rob was pretty drunk, so i was going to drive, but it didn't work out that way...he ended up driving the boat across the lake that night in the dark with me telling him which way to go...figure you probably wont hit anything in the middle of a large lake that late at night...that was 15 years ago...before we had kids...this time at the lake, we had both kids, and no boat--but we had our jetskis!  we spent lots of time on the skis the next couple of days...took a tour of the lake...i forgot how big it really is...saw lots of places that look just tlike they did 15 years ago...i even recognized the place where i almost killed one of Rob's Air Force buddies-Weeks--by almost running him right into a raft while pulling him on a tue behind the bayliner!  if anything, i have become much better at driving watercraft over the years...much better at it now!!  the second day on the skis was pretty windy-so the lake was really choppy...i didn't want to get too crazy zipping around so it was slower going for me--Rob was having a blast...he's not as chicken as i am...we did find a really fun way to ride in that kind of water though...really fun, and you get soaked!  you ride faster with the waves, towards the beach, then turn back into the waves and ride into them going really slow...the ski will go up a little and then follow the wave down until the water from the next wave splashes right into your face!  FUN!!!  the kids liked it too...so we did that for a while, then headed to the big beach, and relaxed there for a while while the kids went swimming...this lake is nowhere near as clear as the other lake we were at...this one is only about 14 feet deep, and heavily used by speedboats, jetskis and such, so everything gets really stirred up...at the camp site, we had races (all four of us) and a nice fire the second night...had smores and lots of fun...it's weird how late it stays light up there...it was pretty light until 10:00--which made it very easy to stay up way too late at night, thinking it was earlier...same time zone as here at home, just opposite end...the second night, after the kids went to bed, we went up to the restaurant/bar for a quick anniversary drink for old times...then the last night we all had dinner at the restaurant before heading west to Grand Forks, ND...where we met and got married 15 years ago...it was a really nice time being back at Maple Lake...

well, that wraps up this (long) edition of the Anniversary Tour blog...tune in again for the next installment...will our luck stay on it's upward swing, or are there more troubles ahead???  guess you'll have to wait and see!  Until next time, take care!
3:22 AM 
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Monday, July 30, 2007 

Current mood:  exhausted
Well, after a too quick week of vacation to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary (yes, I said 15 years--who'd've thunk it! ) we are home...that always sucks...it's true--time flies when you're having fun!  maybe we should have less fun, and it would last longer???  Nah! 

It was a very nice time...but it didn't start so nice!  This is part one of I don't know how many!

Saturday, we got on the road at about 2 in the afternoon...we had someone come to the house to fix our air conditioner--actually install a new one...Thanks Tim! Works great so far! I digress...
We took our jet skis, because we were going to visit a lake we had camped at while we lived in ND--actually went there right after we got married--kind of a mini-honeymoon...the purpose of the trip was to go visit the places we used to go when we lived up north...sounded like a really nice plan...nostalgic/sentimental/etc...WELL...we got some bad news the day before we left...the restaurant we were planning on going to for our anniversary dinner-Shangri La-closed about a week before we were going to be going there...guess there was a family illness...so they closed the doors forever...Hope that everything goes ok for the folks that ran it...sad news for them-they'll be in my thoughts and prayers-just sucks for us, because we were really looking forward to going there, like we have everytime we have visited Grand Forks.   (Keep this in mind as you continue reading...).  We figured we'd just go somewhere else for dinner--we had a few places we liked to go...
Before we left, Rob had changed one of the tires on the Jet Ski trailer...because the rim was bent...so he was watching the wheel to make sure the lugs were still tight on the spare tire...well, as we were driving, he was seeing things fly off the wheel...lugs he thought...so we pulled over to check and the lugs were tight, so we started driving again.  It was about 6...a little way down the road, he saw more "stuff" flying away from the wheel...just rocks or debris from the road, we thought...then there was a BIG piece of SOMETHING that flew off the wheel...we pulled over again, and looked at the wheel.  There was a HUGE chunk missing from the tire...down to the steel belts...apparently the spare had dry rotted, and what we were seeing fly off the wheel awas the rubber from the tire.  The first time we pulled over, the trailer must have stopped right on the bad spot, because the tire looked fine then.  we needed a new tire...at 6:00 pm on a Saturday night in WI.  Seems that just about everything in WI closes at about 6 on Saturdays...LUCKY US!!!  We found a Farm and Fleet...thank goodness-but they would not be able to mount a new tire on the rim until the next day, so we had to buy a whole wheel...guess it could have been worse! Rob was saying "no one's going to want to help me with my Bear on my arm in WI!", but there was actually a guy who stopped to see if we needed help in the F&F parking lot...he was a nice guy...guess not all cheeseheads are bad! LOL!    Well, it was now 7:30, and we were back on the road...now with a bald spare, and a bad tire tied to the front of the trailer.  On the road again...just can't wait to get on the road again...hehe!
We stopped at a Culver's and had a late dinner at about 9...then it got to be time to start thinking about finding a place to stay for the night...we started that quest in Eau Claire, WI.  Note-we have NEVER had a hard time finding a room on our travels cross country...that was all about to change...keep this in mind while reading future installments...
In Eau Claire, we discovered that there was a country music festival going on outside of Eau Claire...everything would probably be booked for a few miles...OK, so we drive a little further and we'll find something...HAHAHA!!!  we stopped at about every exit from Eau Claire, WI to Sauk Center, MN, where we got off of I-94 and onto 71...NOT ONE @($*(& room anywhere!  OK, so we keep going...it's about 3:30 am now...getting VERY TIRED...been on the road for ~14 hours now...every hotel (even the little ones) along 71 were booked from Sauk Center to Park Rapids, MN.  At one point, Rob walked into one hotel and asked the girl at the desk if we could crash on the couches in the lobby--she said they couldn't do that...so we keep driving...we were heading to a campground at Itasca State Park in MN to join a couple of friends from Rob's Air Force days...we gave up on finding a room (and feeling like Mary and Joseph--no room at the Inn), and got to the campsite at ~5:30 in the morning...too early to wake our friends, we decided to go into town to get some breakfast.  Well, turns out the nearest town (Bagley, MN) is about 30 miles away...and there is nowhere there to eat at 6:00 in the morning...so we head to the next town-Bemidji, MN-another 30 miles away, on a quest for food...Exhausted to no end, and hungry--we pulled into the Country Kitchen--it was now ~7:00-we had been on the road for 17 hours...a trip that should have taken about 10 hours.  We ordered breakfast, and when we got the food, Amber went to pour some syrup on her pancakes, but she was sabotaged...someone had loosened the top of the syrup bottle, so she ended up wearing most of the bottle in her lap.  Poor thing...all we could do was laugh...we were so tired...everything was funny at that point...she went to clean up-i went to the truck to get her some clean clothes.  That meant unpacking most of the back of the truck to get to a suitcase i didn't think we'd need until we unpacked the whole truck at our campsite...oh well...she needed something unsticky to wear.  i got the truck repacked and went to lock it back up, and dropped something, and stepped on it before i realized what was happening...it was Amber's clean pajama bottoms...at least they had not landed in a puddle or anything...i was really starting to get the feeling we were not supposed to have gone on vacation.  don't know what would give me that idea...   
well, Amber got changed finally, and we finished breakfast, and now if was about 8:00 so we headed back to the campground.  our friends were up now, so we sat and visited for a couple minutes and started falling asleep in our chairs...we had been on the road for ~18 hours...and i had done my best to stay up with Rob while he was driving to help him stay awake.  our friends took the kids fishing for a couple hours and told us to take a nap in their camper...very nice...air conditioning and all, but i really was so tired, i think i was asleep before i had time to enjoy the air.  a couple hours later we got up...still tired, but feeling better...and visited some more--only to find that the other restaurant we decided to go to since our first choice was now closed was also closed--just the week before as well...GF Goodribs...we were really batting 1000 with our restaurant choices...ARGHHH!!!!  well, there were a few more places we could try-hopefully they would still be open!

What a way to start a vacation!  What a long trip to not be at your final destination yet...would our luck ever change???   Tune in next time for the second installment of the 15 Year Anniversary Tour-MN and ND-2007...until then, feel free to check out the vacation pics...there's lots of 'em! 

See ya soon!
2:01 AM 
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Wednesday, July 18, 2007 

Current mood:  drained

hey there hi there ho there!

been pretty busy/crazy since my last update...

right now, tommy is upstairs singing in the shower...now i have that "drift away" song in my head...gimme the beat boys and free my soul, i wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away....  watching rob play his football game...bears are playing the patriots...i don't like the patriots... 

tommy had his football combine saturday...it was fun watching the kids do their tryouts...first they did a timed run...then they did a run where they ran when the first whistle blew, then the next whistle, they had to roll and get up and then keep running--that was entertaining to watch--some kide were really good...but some were really funny...tommy did alright, but he was one of the more entertaining ones!  then they did a run and cut to turn and catch the ball...less than half the kids caught the ball...the last thing they did was to run and hit 2 tackling dummies...tommy really needs some work on that...he didn't hit them very hard or seriously at all...he'll get better with practice and time--first game is 8/25...he's on the red team for Bourbonnais...i'll post a schedule soon...

sunday, we went to ren faire!  it was me, rob, amber, tommy, mimi, papa, and ashton...it was fun...we did have a couple tommy incidents though...i'll get to those in a minute...amber dressed up in her ren faire outfi, and tommy wore his urlacher jersey and bears helmet...he got some funny looks at the faire...it was cute...pictures will be posted shortly after this blog is posted.  we saw lots of faeries...and he faerie queen herself was in our company...MIMI :)...mim pop and ash and amber watched the acrobats...what i saw looked neat...while the were doing that, me and tommy went to check out the dungeon.  i think he was a little shocked at all the medieval torture devices they used...he really didn't likethe one with the rats in the cage where the torturers put hot coals on the top of the cage to make the rats burrow into the prisoner's belly to get away from the heat...he was really quiet and asked lots of questions in there...interestingly he has been pretty good since we went in there...mabe he thinks those things could happen to him if he's bad???  Hmmm...interesting!   i think the worst one was the coffin...they put the prisoner in the steel coffin and every hour they turn the screw on the top of the coffin...which lowered the top down onto the prisoner.  there were 72 threads on the screw, so after 72 hours, the person would be crushed to death...in a mushy mess...can you imagine being put into a box and have the top come down on you so slowly--like a slowmotion trash compactor?  EWWWWWW!!!  gives me the heebie jeebies!  now for a lighter subject...
just before we went to the dungeon, i went to look at a really cool leather vest thing...it was really neat...there is a picture of it in my pics...the one with the 2 guys in leather armour standing in front of the store...it's on the left side of the door...really neat...anyway...i walked over there to get a closer look, and turned to my left and who was standing there?  my fried sandy (hobbitlove) from rockford...she was there with aaron, true and margaret.  haven't seen them in a while...i don't think she recognized me right away...my hair is darker now...we talked for a couple minutes...then aaron came out...didn't recognize him at first...he got a lot taller...he went ot talk to amber, and when he walked up to her, rob did a double take--it was funny--he didn't know who it was, but he know amber!  i think they were happy to see eachother too...she asks about going to see him a lot...

tommy incidents...before i forget...1-me and rob were going to look for a mug for rob's beers...tommy was playing at the castle, and mim n pop were at vegetable justice watching the "tomato guy" (he's hilarious...tommy and papa both hit him with tomatoes! LOL!!!  he hurls insults at you while you try to hit him with tomatoes...he's in a box with only his head and arms sticking out--ashtons site has a pic of him...).  i told mim n pop we were going to go on a mission and where tommy was...we walked away...almost all the way to the front gate...when we turned back, there was tommy!  he apparently thought we were leaving without him and tried to follow us...so here i am thinking mim n pop are going to be worried if they go to get him and he's not there...so we hurried back...incident 2-we were at the fountain by the front gate, getting ready to leave..he was rinsing off...i told him to get his helmet and come with me to the gift shop...rob was sitting on a bench near the fountain...tommy followed me-or at lest i thought he did...i got to the gift shop, and he ws gone...i looked, but he was nowhere...i saw rob by the fountain and figured tommy went back there...so i walked over to him to see if tommy was there...nope...ok--i'm getting worried now...i started walking back into the faire...i walked  along way in...to the first big park area...nothing...i doubled back...nothing...got back to the fountain, and saw the girls there, and rob...papa was looking...rob went looking...i went to the front gate and asked if the girl at the gate had seen a little boy in a bears jersey and helmet...she said no, but someone else was...i told her it was my mom...she was looking outside the front gate...when i turned back to the fountain, i saw rob and tommy back by the fountain.  WHEW!!!!  it was one of those moments where you're not sure if you should spank him or hug him...i asked him where he was, and he had walked all the way to the guy with his head sticking out of the box (not the tomato guy) and asked him where the front gate was, then he gave tommy a "magic blue stone" and tommy ran back towards the gate--that's where rob found him...i asked him why he did that, and he said he didn't see any of us...he was right behind me...mimi saw him...he must have gotten distracted and turned away and i kept going...next time, i think i will chain him to me so he can't go anywhere...at least he didn't panic, and went to someone for directions...never said he was lost...thank god we found him!  that was scary!


monday...i did the grossest thing i think i have ever done in my life...for the faint of heart, feel free to stop here...if you're feeling brave, continue at your own risk...don't say i didn't warn you! 
i have not had time to clean my pond properly this year yet, after the winter freeze...i should do it every spring, but just have not had the time or energy--and my back was causing me grief this spring...anyway...i got out of work early, thinking it wouldnt take long...HAHAHA!!! boy did i misjudge that!  it took me over an hour just to catch the fish while the pond drained...so here i am, crysolas the fish stalker, pacing up and down the edges of the pond-net in hand-water shoes on...i did not want to get in the pond...i can't see the bottom...who knows what's in there...can't see it-not going in...(lots of dragonfly larvae in there,and they are CREEPY!!!!)...it's really hard to catch them...rob joked about using a fishing pole and worms...catch and release...FUNNY NO!!!   so, using the net, i had to be faster than the fish...i always am suprized at how big they have gotten...i have 8 fish in the new pondor...the smallest is a fantail goldfish (his name is legless) who is about 6 inches long...and the biggest is glory...a butterfly koi who is probably about 14-15 inches long...they are really fast...so, after i get them all out and reloacted to pondor, and get the pond drained enough to see the bottom, i get in...there was probably about 3 inches of fish muck on the bottom of the pond...it smelled awful!  fish muck consists of really nasty things...decomposed plants/leaves that have fallen into the pond, shed fish scales, sticks, decomposed excess food, and of course fish crap...imaging the worst thing you have smelled, and multiply it by 2...and here i am walking in 3 inches of it...YUCK!!!  and if i dropped something that was covered in it, it splattered relly bad...i was pretty much covered my the time i got out...can you say shower time???   well, i finally got to the point where i couldn't take the stench anymore, and gave up on getting all the muck out and started to fill the pond back up.  that was at 6 (i started this whole "quick" project at 3:00 that afternoon...).  i took a shower and went to rob's softball game...left the hose running to fill new pondor...got home about 8:30...still not filled...but getting closer...geez!  can't wait to see that water bill!!!     meanwhile, all my fish are in pondor...about 1/3 the size of new pondor...as of today, i have gotten 4 fish out and back into new pondor...and all 4 were caught by pure luck!   maybe one day they will all be back where they belong...hard to catch what you can't see!  oh well...

guess that's all i have for updates today...sorry it was such a long blog...enjoy  
the pics!  see ya next time!

1:34 AM 
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