Scrapbookin’ October 26, 2008

     I resisted the urge for years.  It was just too darn expensive!  But recently I have been looking through a scrapbook that my friend Karen has been putting together and I’ve become inspired.  I’ve always been a picture nut, but then I get them developed and they sit in a box.  It’s time to show off my beautiful family.  So Friday I scrapbooked my first 2 pages.  I was very impressed with myself.  I have never considered myself the creative type.  After scrapbooking my first pages I felt I needed to know more about different looks and materials.  I didn’t want all my pages to start looking the same. 

     Off to the library I went to check out a few books with lots of color photos in them.  I spent last night reading up and staring at the photos.  They were worlds beyond what I did and what I think I could ever do.  What made me think I could do this??!!  So now I’m taking it slow, really thinking about what I want and how I can accomplish it.  My scrapbook will never be the layered, multicolored, multitextured masterpiece the ones I saw in the book are, but I think I will someday treasure it just the same.                  (not my work)!

Highlight Reel October 18th-24th October 25, 2008

Saturday-  Spent the day and night camping at Rock Lake Campground with our Boy Scout Patrol.  Mighty Eagles rule!! (see Cool Weather Camping blog)

Sunday- spent the morning at the campground, came home in the late afternoon and crashed!

Monday- went to the Boy Scout meeting.  The boys built shelves for our new shed and I went through the fingerprinting merit badge paperwork.

Tuesday- Attended our Tri-Parish council meeting.  This meeting was a brainstorming retreat about the strenghts and weaknesses of our church and what we want to focus on improving in the next year. 

Wednesday-  Went to my dear friend Karen’s house for our monthly supper get-together.  Sheila joined Bernice, Lori and I this time so that was a nice treat for us and for Karen.

Thursday- Great Adventure Bible Study tonight.  Our focus this week is on Genesis 12-24.  Came home and watched the last two periods of the Minnesota Wild game.  Can you believe they lost that one??!!

Friday- Took Zach to the Harvest Ball and then I kidnapped my mom and we went to Janeen’s and had margarita’s and played cards.  The new margarita machine worked great!

Cool weather camping October 25, 2008

This weekend our Boy Scout Patrol went camping at Rock Lake.  I was a little apprehensive because I do not like cold weather and sleeping in a tent when it’s 30 degrees at night didn’t sound like fun to me and normally I LOVE to camp.  But I can honestly say I had a blast!  Our patrol is such a great group of boys.  I’m always calling them “my boys” because I feel like they are after all we’ve been through together over the years. 

Saturday , Zach and I got there first to set up camp.  We unpacked all our stuff and then played a game of ladder ball. (He came from behind to beat me).  We set our patrol flag up at the end of our site so the others could find us.  After they set up we started up a fire and proceeded to cook our supper.  Andrew made his famous Cabin Hotdish which was very yummy.  For dessert I made caramel sticky buns in the dutch oven.  After supper we did many different activities.  The boys went fishing and they played washers, texas hold ‘em (!) and football.  They threw a frisbee for a while and gathered more wood.  We listened to the Wild game on the radio around the campfire and we all went crazy and cheered when they won in the shootout.  We listened to the all 80’s music show on the radio and the boys did the macarena!  They tired me out and I slept soundly all night long.  I didn’t even get cold!

Sunday morning after we chowed on Breakfast Burritos we stripped the bark off our scout staves and carved and whittled them.  Then we took them along on our 4 mile nature hike.  We found plenty of things to do for a service project and if we can get that set up we might go camping again next weekend!

All in all it was one of the funnest campouts we have ever been on.  We enjoyed it so much we vowed to make it an annual October event.

 

Highlight Reel October 11th-17th October 20, 2008

Saturday:  helped decorate for and then went to a friend’s surprise 40th birthday party.  Later that evening we had a party of our own for the Minnesota Wild home opener.  We celebrated with WILD rice meatballs (which Zach made) for supper and during intermission we had green tortilla chips and salsa, hockey puck cookies,  & green margaritas.  We also played some poker and blackjack.  To top the night off the Wild won 4-3! (see recipe for Wild rice meatballs under the recipes tab)

Sunday-  After too much partying Saturday, I spent Sunday catching up on lots of work.  I got a bunch of paperwork done for scouts and church and even finished my Bible readings for this Thursday’s Bible study.  After that I spent some time visiting my parents who will be leaving for Branson on Tuesday.

Monday-   Boy Scouts tonight was interesting.  We had an expert teaching us about fingerprinting for a merit badge the boys are working towards.

Tuesday-  Our book club discussed the classic Lady Chatterley’s lover tonight.

Wednesday-Free night, which was good because the cold was beating me.  I felt lousy!

Thursday- Biblle Study tonight.  We discussed Genesis 4-11, which focused on Cain, Abel and later Noah.

Friday- Packed for Rock Lake to go camping with the Boy Scouts Saturday.

Why is my life so weird? October 13, 2008

Thursday night at Bible study we talked about Genesis 1-3, the creation of Adam and Eve and the fall of man.  We also talked about the Holy Spirit being present with/as God in the very beginning.  We talked a little about the mystery of the Trinity and how hard it is to explain to children how there can be 3 persons in the one Trinity.  Caroline from the Bible Study used an analogy of an egg that was very helpful.  You can think of the Trinity as an egg.  There is the yolk, there is the white, and there is the shell.  All of it together makes one egg even though there are 3 seperate parts.  I liked the analogy very much and was contemplating it on the ride home when out of nowhere a pure white bird hits the passenger side of my windshield!  I screamed as I thought oh my gosh! I just ran into the Holy Spirit!. Since a symbol of the Holy Spirit is often a dove it really kind of freaked me out!  I even had to stop at my mom’s house on the way home to tell her what happened.  She (like always) just laughed at me.  She thinks not that weird things always happen to me, but just that I am weird!

Highlight Reel Oct 4th-10th October 12, 2008

Saturday- Picked up food bags on doorsteps for Scouting for Food.  Thank you southwest area for being so generous!!  Later Jeff and Zach took me out for Birthday dinner at Poncho and Lefty’s.

Sunday- It was a rainy, icky day.  One of those snuggle up under a blanket and take a nap kind of day, so that’s what we did.  After supper we watched the movie 21.

Monday- Boy Scout leadership meeting

Tuesday- My family had a birthday party for me.  It was the first day all of us could get together.  It was really nice.  Tyler made me one of my favorite cakes (chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting) and my mom made me one of my other favorites (jello cake with dream whip frosting).  Monica and Grace-Lin came to visit too.

Wednesday- went to Janeen’s to give her a birthday present (her birthday’s the day after mine) and she gave me a present too.  I gave her what she was trying to find for me!!  It cracked her up!

Thursday- Zach had a doctor’s appointment in the cities.  Doc says he’s doing great and he’s an awesome kid.  Unless problems arise again he doesn’t need to see him anymore.  Praise be to God!  We thank the Lord for guiding us to this wonderful doctor who helped Zach so much.  Great Adventure Bible study tonight.  We discussed Genesis 1-3.

Friday- Learned how to make beaded bracelets and made some for the ladies in my Bible study group.

Hanging On October 5, 2008

Saturday was my birthday.  Last year I turned 40.  I dreaded turning the big 4-0.  It seemed so old and I just wasn’t ready.  I tried to sneak it past friends and co-workers but somehow they found out (could it be Janeen’s big mouth??).  But turn 40 I did whether I was ready for it or not.  Well, I’ve had a whole year to get used to the idea of turning 40 and now I kind of like it.  So needless to say when my birthday rolled around this year I just wasn’t ready to let go.  If I could only stay 40 I wouldn’t feel so old.  Being OVER 40 just seems so much older than just being 40.  I tried hanging on…really I did.  But life doesn’t let you get away with things like that.  So now I am officially over 40.  Am I going to get used to this number?  Probably not.  Am I ever going to like being 40 something?  Ask me when I’m 50!

Highlight Reel September 27th-October 3rd October 4, 2008

Saturday- rode almost 8 miles on the Paul Bunyan Trail with our Boy Scout Patrol (Mighty Eagles rule!) then went out for pizza

Sunday- after church and catechism I went shopping in St Cloud with mom and Zach and Jeff went to work on an Eagle Scout Project for Scouts

Monday- Scouting for Food bag drop off with the Boy Scouts

Tuesday- another Minnesota preseason game I had to listen to (how come the Vikings are shown on TV during the preseason??)

Wednesday-  watched the movie Mad Money.  A fun movie

Thursday- Great Adventure Bible Timeline Bible study that I am facilitating started tonight.  I’m very excited about the discussions to follow

Friday- Zach cooked supper tonight and I took it easy… resting up because getting older tomorrow is going to be hard work!