Highlight Reel January 30th- February 5th, 2010 February 7, 2010

Saturday-  Zach and I spent the afternoon in town running errands, going to the library and getting haircuts.   After church we watched the Wild game.

Sunday-  We were going to have Papa’s birthday party tonight but after mom slipped on the ice going into church last night she was just too sore.  Zach and Jeff went to the 3-D bow shoots in town.

Monday- Scouts tonight was our planning meeting.  We set dates for a February Olympics event, a March Merit Badge weekend, an April camping and canoeing trip and a 25 mile bike ride, and a May camping trip and 10 mile bike ride as well as our Spring Court of Honor.  Whew! We will be busy in the next couple of months.

Tuesday-  Papa’s birthday party was tonight.  We played Michigan rummy and Papa won most of the money!

Wednesday-Zach, Jeff and I played 35 and Pass the Ace after supper.  As usual, I lost.

Thursday- Bible Study tonight was on Matthew 16.  We focused this lesson on the Apostle Peter and his role as the first Pope.

Friday- Zach and I played rummy for several hours.  That kid can never get enough of playing cards!

An Author Read My Blog! February 3, 2010

If you have been reading this blog at all in the last 3-4 weeks you know I have started a book blog called By Book or By Crook.  This morning I posted a review on a book I just read for next week’s book club meeting called Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by author Jamie Ford. 

In checking my e-mail after work today I was excited to see Jamie Ford had visited my blog and left a comment thanking me for my review!  It still amazes me how one person’s opinion and one person’s little blog can reach out to so many people.  Who would have thunk it possible?

Highlight Reel January 23rd-29th, 2010 January 31, 2010

Saturday-  It rained and snowed all day so I did not even leave the house since even church was cancelled due to the slippery conditions. 

Sunday- Spent several hours on the ice cleaning up after the Ice Fishing Extravaganza.  Came home, made sloppy joes and watched the Vikings.

Monday- Scouts tonight was our annual knife safety meeting with a chance for the younger scouts and visiting Webelos to earn their Whittlin’ Chit card.  Mr Gage, the instructor, always has a neat whistle or toy for them to carve.

Tuesday- Zach and Jeff went to the bow shoots tonight and I went to the Adult Faith Formation meeting.  We have some exciting brand new opportunities for the adults in out parishes including a trip to the Science Museum of Minnesota to see the Dead Sea Scrolls in April.  I cannot wait to see this important archaeological find!

Wednesday- Nothing going on tonight.  Wednesdays are usually quiet.

Thursday- Bible Study tonight was on Matthew 14-15.  We studied the Feeding of the 5,000.  Jeff Cavins explained how even something little in the hands of God can become so much.  Even if you don’t think you have anything to offer, hand it up to God and he will make your offering so much more.

Friday- I had a mad case of tired tonight.  I told Zach I would play cards with him after he was done with his video game, in the meantime I would read.  Well, I fell asleep and he didn’t wake me up.  Didn’t wake up the next morning until 7:50!  For an early riser like me that’s late!

Ice Fishing Extravaganza January 24, 2010

Yesterday was the Jaycee’s $20,000 Ice Fishing Extravaganza.  This is a fundraiser for area groups and charities.  About 20,000 people gather on Gull Lake and try to win a truck, 4-wheeler, or one of hundreds of other prizes by pulling up the biggest (or sometimes the smallest) fish. 

While I do not go to the ice tourney itself, the Boy Scouts volunteer their time the next day by cleaning up after these thousands of fishermen.  This year was no picnic.  Each year the event seems to run cleaner so I’m not complaining about that.  What was problematic this year was the rain and the snow we got during and after the tournament.  If there was any garbage on the ground it was covered up by snow and slush.  The slush and water on the ice made it almost impossible to find the holes and several of us ending up stepping in a few and filling our boots up with ice water. Brrr!  All in all it went well though.  There was a good turn out of scouts and parents to help and we appreciate each and every one of them.

On the ice

Taking a break for lunch

Highlight Reel January 16th-22nd, 2010 January 24, 2010

Saturday- Zach and I made a trip to the library and then to Wal-Mart for a few supplies I forgot to pick up yesterday and a new MP3 player with the last of my Christmas money.  Of course I would have loved an iPod, but alas I didn’t have that much money to start with, much less left.  But that’s okay, it’s good enough for what I’m doing with it.  Spent the afternoon ripping 4 audio books and 3 new CDs to it.  Zach spent the day fishing with his friend Brett,  and Tyler spent the day fixing Jeff’s truck.

Sunday- Church in the morning and catechism for Zach.  Then…FOOTBALL!  Okay, the men were way more excited for this then I was so I went over to visit mom.

Monday- At Boy scouts tonight the boys got to learn about knife safety and some even whittled a few toys.

Tuesday- We celebrated Tyler’s 20th birthday tonight.  Mom & Dad came over and we played a couple of games of cards and had jello cake and ice cream.

Wednesday- Stayed at home!

Thursday-Bible Study tonight On Matthew 13.  Learned a lot about Jesus’ parables.

Friday- Spent over 5 hours at the waterpark for a patrol activity tonight.  The boys had fun and I caught up on some work on my laptop.

Rain + Sleet + Snow + Ice= WATERPARK! January 24, 2010

I can’t think of anything better to do on an icky Friday night then spend a few hours at the waterpark.  And that’s just what we did.  Although we probably shouldn’t have stayed as long as we did because the roads were freezing over pretty good when we headed for home.

We went as a Mighty Eagles Patrol and the boys had a blast!

Highlight Reel January 9th-15th, 2010 January 17, 2010

Saturday-  Jeff and Zach went to town today to get bait for fishing tomorrow.  I stayed home, read and worked on my new book blog.  Church in the evening, chili for supper.

Sunday- Pretty uneventful day.  In the evening Zach and I visited Nana in the hospital.

Monday- Scouts tonight with a visit from a police officer who conducted a little drug education with the boys.  Then we held elections.  Zachary was elected to be Patrol Leader of the Mighty Eagles Patrol.

Tuesday- Visited Nana at the hospital on my lunch break.  Went to Book Club at Nortwest Pizza in the evening.  Super fun time!

Wednesday- Nana was released from the hospital into hospice care today.  Spent the evening watching the Wild game.

Thursday-  Became a super hero at work today when I snagged a HUGE sale of 1,200 TVs to one client.  A $429,000 sale makes management bow down before you!  lol  Mom made a pan of lasagna and brought it to Papa and Nana’s house for lunch today and invited me to join them.  She makes the best homemade lasagna!  Matthew Chapters 11-12 were the focus of Bible study tonight.  We learned about the “sign of Jonah”.

Friday-  I was soo ready for the weekend.  I came home to the wonderful smell of supper in the crockpot (steak tips with mushrooms in gravy which I served over potatoes) and had a nice quiet evening at home.  Zach and I played 10 Penny & Pass the Ace.  I lost both games.

Kiva Loan #3 January 14, 2010

Several months ago I wrote a post about a charity that I love called Kiva.  Kiva hooks microfinanceurs like me up with people in poorer nations who are looking to support themselves through business ventures.  The neat thing about Kiva is you give them whatever amount of money you wish, they loan it to these business people and eventually it all gets paid back into your account to be reloaned to someone else.  You choose the amount of money you want to invest and who you want to invest it to. 

My latest loan was given to Liberee Musabyimana in Rwanda.  Liberee is 34 years old and is a recent widow with 3 children ages 7, 9 and 11; she also takes care of one dependent who is 15 years old. Liberee lives in the southern province of Rwanda near the National Park of Nyungwe which is in the tourism region. She has many years experience in the agriculture sector.  Liberee is requesting a loan  in order to grow her business by purchasing more farm supplies for use and to sell in her business. If successful, this will allow her to earn more profit, support her family of 3 children and 1 dependent, and save money so that she will be able to buy her own house someday.

Myself along with other investors loaned Liberee $900.00 that will be paid back in 10 months.

Please head on over to Kiva and see whose life you can change today!

I’m a Book Blogger? January 9, 2010

How did this happen?  I started reading book blogs seriously about a month ago in order to get some new ideas of good books to read.  I read constantly and had encountered quite a dry spell where nothing sounded good and the books I was reading just didn’t inspire me.  I have enjoyed reading my friend Sheila’s book blog One Person’s Journey Through a World of Books but I needed more opinions then just hers.  So I started looking at other’s blogs and found some fantastic ideas and reviews.  I even entered for some giveaways and have won 3 books and 4 audiobooks in the last month!

Reading all the wonderful book blogs out there and knowing how much I enjoy this little family blog I started a year and a half ago, I decided to quietly try a book blog to see if I would like doing it.  I thought I would blog for 3-4 months and if I felt like I could do it I would start letting others know about it.

Well…that was my intention!  Then I signed up for a challenge called the Bloggiesta Challenge.  Bloggiesta is a 3 day challenge where bloggers spend some serious time fixing up, updating and adding new things to their blogs.  There are a number of mini challenges that teach you all kinds of things you need to know to run a successful blog.

Somehow they found me.  All of a sudden I have people commenting on my posts and cheering me on.  What fun this is!  I clap my hands with glee every time a new comment comes in- ask Zach he will verify this!  So now that everyone else knows about it, maybe if you love books like I do you’ll take a look at it too.  And maybe, just like me, in a few months you’ll be blogging too.  And if you do, drop me a line and I will be right there to cheer you on as well!

By Book or By Crook

Highlight Reel January 2nd- 8th, 2010 January 9, 2010

Saturday- Bitter cold winchill of -48 kept me in the house today doing pretty much nothing but cleaning up from the parties this weekend. 

Sunday- Finished a book today which I added as the 2nd book review on my new book blog.  I’m just starting out and have plenty of bugs to work out but if you’d like to take a peek before I go public go to By Book or By Crook .  When it warmed up to +1 I went into town to visit Nana in the hospital.  She went in New Year’s Day but since I had a bad cold I waited until today to visit.

Monday- Back to work today and it was a pleasant experience.  The customer flow is back to normal finally and I feel like I actually accomplished something today.  In Scouts last night a few us us spent the whole hour interviewing some of the boys who were interested in becoming Senior Patrol Leader for the upcoming year.  It was interesting to listen to these young men who will soon be interviewing for a real job answer some of the tough questions we placed before them.  Good luck to all the interviewees, we will be deciding at the end of the month.

Tuesday- Yesterday, eating pasta of all things, I broke a tooth!  It was one I had a root canal several years ago so I was hoping we could save it.  Alas, the dentist said it had to come out.  So out it came. I asked for the happy gas and everything went smoothly.  Glad that’s done.  I’m really not fond of dentists.

Wednesday& Thursday- Nice quiet nights at home.  Very much needed as I find I am still recovering from the holidays.

Friday-Jeff, Zach, and I went to the movie Blind Side.  I LOVED the movie.  I laughed and I cried and I had a feel-goodedness (what kind of word is that?) when I left the theater.  Jeff even laughed out loud at this one.  Highly recommended.  Go watch it!