I Forgot I Have a Blog

I admit it. I temporarily forgot I have a blog. It has been a month since my last post. Pretty sad. But I'm back to do some catch up and will try to be better with more regular posts.

At work the past week, one of my major tasks has been to call some of our families and ask if they would like help purchasing gifts for their kids for Christmas. Each year our school does a fundraiser with all proceeds going to buy gifts for some of our kids and kids that are in our local homeless and crisis shelters. As I've been calling parents, I've been humbled by the thanks and blessings being given to me and our school. So many families are in such tough spots right now and it has really brought my attention to just how fragile life as I know it is. So to catch up on the past month, I think I'll focus on what I am grateful for.

My brother and his partner came up for Thanksgiving this year. It was so great to have them here. I haven't celebrated Thanksgiving with them for a very long time. We had tons of great food (and there was even some meat on the table for my mom, Ben and Alan) and loads of laughs. We went Christmas tree hunting with some friends and found a lovely one which is now up and decorated and giving me immense pleasure. Much to my mother's dismay I have the tradition now of decorating the tree in old glass ornaments and multi-colored (non-LED) lights and a homemade metal snowflake tree topper. It is very old-fashioned looking and nothing like what I grew up with. No homemade, crafty, or memorabilia type of ornaments on this tree. I'll put a picture on when I can get around to it. Something else I am very grateful for is that Alan put the lights on my tree because I can't even touch the thing without breaking out and feeling like my hands are on fire and itching like crazy. He did a beautiful job and saved all of us from my whining and complaining.

I have been a cookie making machine as of late as well. I've made 6 kinds of cookies (in one weekend!) and have been a good girl and put them in tins and on my porch so that they will actually make it down to Illinois for Christmas instead of ending up in my tummy. My boys (who named me Bubbles) and I decorated sugar cookies and had a messy good time. We were all pretty sugared up after that adventure, with sprinkles and frosting literally everywhere. And I even went to my first "Cookie Party" where each person bakes a dozen cookies per person attending (aka I made 120 truffles) and then you come home with a dozen different cookies from each person (aka I came home with 100 cookies). Let me say that this is a good idea in theory, but when you are coming home with bags (like grocery bags) full of cookies, you start to rethink the merits of this type of party. Let's just say I gave away a lot to friends and had Brian take a bunch to work.

My Christmas shopping is done and just a few more gifts need to be wrapped and then we are ready for our annual drive to Dwight. I'm so excited to see all my family and hopefully some friends as well. My favorite family quote of the season so far is from my cousin Charlotte, who after emailing us her Christmas list ended it with "P.S. I'm not little anymore". Our itinerary is to visit my brother for a few days and then on to Dwight for a few more days and then head home.

And to end with one more thing I'm grateful for.....this afternoon I looked at my phone and there was a text from Brian. The text said, "Didn't walk Foxy, but I made dinner. Just put it in the oven and it's ready." Now if that isn't magical, I don't know what is.

Proud Owners

As Brian and I have been talking about our land and the upcoming building project, we've been talking about the best ideas for a living arrangement during the process. Our dear friends have offered us their "retreat" on the river which we are unbelievably thankful for, however it is a prime location and it may sell by the time we need it. In that case, we need a back-up plan. Brian thinks we should just be in a tent while we build for 4 months. You might think he was joking while he said it, but no....he was serious. I think we all know my answer to that. However, being on-site does seem like a good idea so we settled on the possibility of purchasing a cheap camper of some sort to leave on the land and "live in" while we build. I'm putting live in in quotes because I can be real enough to say that I will also be staying at various people's houses and using the YMCA for more than just their cardio equipment.

Anyway, we've been looking on Craig's list and have had my dad keeping his eyes open for trailers for sale. We went to look at one a few weeks ago (a truck/trailer all in one kind of deal) for $500 and it was in major disrepair. We told the guy that it would be fine if we had the time/money to fix it up but we needed a camper that was ready to live in cause we'd be building our house. He told us that it was good to take breaks from building your house. He then added that that's what he did.....and oh yeah, he's been divorced twice.

But then came our big break. This past Sunday I met Dad in Ashland and we went out to look at another possibility. And there she was.....a 23 foot 1971 Coachman travel trailer. Totally vintage (and I don't mean it was junky trashed, just looked like it was from 1971) and everything works in it. The guy took it to Sturgis this year so I know that it can be moved safely. And best of all, I got it for $500! Sweet. Brian is going to pick it up and take it to Hayward for the winter (since we don't have a driveway in yet, we can't put it on the land) and that way Dad can putz with it too. I'll put some pictures on when we get it situated at Dad's. So there you have it. We are the proud owners of a camper/temporary home. One more step in the right direction.

Porcupine Mountains Trip

Last weekend Brian and I (and Foxy) went to the Porcupine Mountains State Wilderness in Michigan to do some "luxury" camping. By luxury I mean that we got to forgo the tent and rented a rustic cabin for two nights. The cabins are basically just shelters that have some bunk beds, a table and chairs, a woodstove, and some pots and pans. Considering that it was in the 30's at night and rained one of the nights, it was definitely a luxury staying dry and warm in those cabins. For light, we had our headlamps and a lantern and yes, you did have to go outside to use the outhouse. It is a beautiful area and we only saw one other family there the entire three days we were in the park.

The first night we stayed at Speakers Cabin which is right on Lake Superior. It was awesome. It did some sprinkling/hailing as we walked in (oh yeah, you have to backpack your stuff in a mile to the cabins) but when we arrived at the cabin the clouds were starting to break and there was an amazing sunset to see. The cabin was super cute and stocked with wood. Quite cozy. The only complaints were that the mattresses were only a smidge better than sleeping on the ground and there were a ton of flies that had been caught by various strips of hanging fly paper. This wasn't a big deal until we made a fire in the stove and as the cabin heated up, the flies started to come back to life. Like really....as the temp went up, you heard more buzzing and saw little stuck flies starting to wiggle where they were silent and lifeless before. Creepy. I put those strips outside and in the morning there were no flies left, so I'm guessing some little critter got a midnight snack.

The second night we stayed at Greenstone Falls Cabin. This was a nice cabin on the river, however there was a very big problem. There was NO WOOD. And let me just say if it were just me on this adventure I would have left. But my strapping lumberjack husband went out and hauled in wet wood and used a sucky axe that they provide at the cabin to basically beat the wood into pieces so we could stay warm for the night. What a man. My hero. Even more so because at this point in the trip, my cold that I had started getting our first night had taken over my whole head and throat by the second night and there was no way I could even help with the wood bludgeoning.

We could have stayed a third night but I was feeling like crap so we went to Hayward on Saturday afternoon to be pampered by my Dad (aka he made us lots of good food and we watched a movie). Then Sunday we finished harvesting the last of the veggies - kale, chard, lettuce, and parsnips - and changed the oil on my car and headed back home. A really great mini-vacation. I highly recommend staying in those cabins. Really relaxing and cozy, especially when it is chilly outside.

Land

So I'm not really sure how much of this you all know, but Brian and I bought 3 acres of land in Duluth which we plan to build on in the spring of next year. This basically came about because I am a country/woods girl at heart and as much as I love our neighbors, I would rather look out my windows and not see or hear anyone. It also came about because I may or may not say things that embarrass Brian and I might say them loudly to which I am loudly and violently "SSSHHHH-ed" because the neighbors will hear me.  Slightly dramatic, don't you think?

Anyway, we found a great piece of land at a great price and it is still in the city limits and is one block from a huge nature center/trail system. Pretty lucky. That said, I am very skeptical about building a house for several reasons. The main reason is that I have no clue what I'm doing or where to begin, but thanks to calming words from Brian, a handy dad, and good friends who have gone through this already, I guess we will make it.

We've had some trials and tribulations already (and we haven't even really got started!) including an elderly man who said he would not give us an easement but he would sell us his unusable 1/2 acre for $25,000 in order to have a driveway with easier access to our land. Ummm, thanks but no thanks. The latest update is that this past weekend Brian, Foxy, and I went out to the land and staked off our driveway and the house dimensions. That was super cool to actually have a visual of where things will be. Our plans are about drawn up too. We are buying a kit from First Day Cottage (www.firstdaycottage.com) and building the house ourselves, with a little help from friends and family. The goal is to put our house on the market in February and hopefully get it to sell by April or May. Then we will stay at our friends place while we build. I think we are going to get a cheap trailer (too bad the tree fell on the one Trudi and Paul left in Hayward!) to leave on the land while we are building too.

I'm sure there will be much ranting and raving to come on this subject.....I will be "cultivating" patience for that project. But for now, I am just hopeful and optimistic of a new house surrounded by beautiful trees.

Liars

Today was one of those days that I really wish I could drink. Working with small children is a wonderful thing and just the other day I was thinking about how lucky I am that I get to basically teach kids how to be good people and hopefully make the world a better place. Well today I thought, how can those little shits sit there for over an hour and lie to my face?!!? Never, ever have I been lied to like I have been at this new school that I work at. In my previous school, I dealt more frequently with rampaging, angry kids and their angry parents, which was no walk in the park either. Last year and now this year have opened my eyes to the frustrations of trying desperately hard to make a kid understand that the worst part of lying isn't the getting in trouble, it is that I will have no trust in you for quite a long time and that my friend is a big, big problem for you. After an hour of sitting listening to two second graders lie over and over (and I know they were lying because my new thing is to write down their first story and then every subsequent story they tell so I can go back and quote them) I actually started to chuckle....you know that kind of you are about to go crazy chuckle. One of the little angels thought I was laughing about his lying and started to smile at which time I had to oh so gently remind him that I was not laughing cause the situation was funny, but because I was going slightly insane due to his story telling. Why? Why do they lie? It's like you can tell them in a million different ways that lying will only cause you to get in more trouble and lose trust, but until they are in the situation they just don't get it. And some....well, some still don't get it. Job security I guess.....

Toaster Anyone?

It happened. I fell prey to the beauty and ease of eBay. It all started this summer when going to garage sales and needing a toaster. I came across a beautiful vintage Sunbeam radiant heat toaster. This toaster is the kind that has no button or lever to press down. You just drop the bread in and the toaster then lowers the bread...kind of like magic. (Side note - I had no idea how to work said toaster in the beginning cause the lady at the garage sale just said, "You just drop the bread in" and having never ever seen this before was a bit skeptical and stood in front of said toaster for close to 30 minutes before calling my dad to ask if I had just been ripped off, when VOILA, the toast went down on its own when I dropped it in!)

Sadly this toaster must have been on its way out, because within about 3 months it quit working. I love toast and I loved that toaster even more (think cool, curvy, chrome) so I went on eBay to find another one. I found one, because what can't you find on eBay, and purchased it for $20. Oh, another side note....that garage sale toaster was only $2.50. Sigh. Anyway, my new toaster came and it didn't work. Thankfully, this was a very nice seller and I told her my plight and she refunded my money and said I didn't need to return it. So now I have two beautiful old toasters sitting in my entry because I can't seem to part with them and secretly hope someone somewhere will appear to me and know how to fix these toasters.

Back to eBay I went. Here is where it really went wrong. I found a bunch of old vintage toasters (not radiant heat ones because I think shipping might mess with that mechanism) and was trying to decide. Well, I have this issue with eBay where I bid on something and think, "I won't win with that bid, I'm sure." I must have had that thought on three days, however, because I checked my email a few days later and I had the message that I had won. Sweet! I checked my email the next day and saw another message saying I won. Why are they sending me another reminder? The following day I was checking email again and behold another message saying I had won. Ebay doesn't send three of the exact same "You won" message so I actually opened the email. Oh dear. I had won 3 different toasters. Shit. So now in my house I have 5, yes 5, toasters. They are all beautiful, old, chrome toasters, and thankfully one of the three is pretty close to my original beauty and works. I have two others though that would love a good home. So if anyone wants a vintage toaster for Christmas, you should let me know.

A Day Made Better

Whoa. Almost a month since the last post....yikes. Well, this is a good news post. Two good things in two days this week have prompted me to sit down and put the experience to words so I don't forget.

On Tuesday, I went to the doctor and received the happy news that everything seems fine since the surgery and my body is back to normal. I still haven't had a visit from my monthly friend however and I was a bit concerned about that. The Dr. put my mind at ease and said I really should even expect it for another two weeks. Whew. After that she said that I am free to "try again" (although to be honest I really hate that term, so I'll say "see what happens" instead.) Good news #1.

Then on Wednesday, I was teaching a 5th grade class when two guys from Office Max and my principal show up (along with the teacher of the class and a student teacher who were already in my room for the lesson). I am very confused at that point, especially when Brett (my boss) has a camera pointed at me. One Office Max guy says, "Are you Lori?" Oh....and he's holding a bouquet of flowers too.  "Yes...." I say. "We are from Office Max. Have you heard of A Day Made Better?" "Yes," I say....although I really didn't but I was so stupefied at that point I didn't really know what I was saying. "Well, we are here to present you with $1,000 worth of supplies for your classroom. A Day Made Better is Office Max's program to try and erase teacher funded classrooms." HOLY SHIT!!!  This was awesome and a very aptly named program because my day was INSTANTLY better. He and the other guy then wheel in (on a dolly) an ENORMOUS box (like  big enough where I could it comfortably in it and put the lid on) full of classroom supplies. So he tells me to open it up and look through it and inside with the supplies are a new color laser printer and a new digital camera! AWESOME! Then they roll in a super sweet new office chair which is way nicer than any chair our school has or would provide. Then we took pictures with me and the Office Max guys and then with my class that was there witnessing the whole thing. One student asked, "Is your day better?" "Ummm, YES!". And then what was really cute was that the Office Max guy says that it was his first ever delivery for this program and he kept asking if I was happy and excited. He was pretty excited too I think. After they left, I asked a teacher why the hell I got that stuff and she said that you have to be nominated and she thought that Brett nominated me. I asked him later and he said yes that I totally deserved it cause I make so many other people's days better.

If you google a day made better office max, you will get the webpage with the info. They take one day a year to donate $1000 of supplies to 1000 teachers nationwide. If you search for my name, you'll see the entry from Brett. It's pretty basic to be honest, but nice nonetheless. Good news #2.