Family:
Things have been crazy with the family. I have been hearing a lot of cute stories about the nieces and nephews, and even got to experience some particulars with my niece and Goddaughter, Catherine. God bless'em those little people. We'll start with my youngest nephew, Aaron. The kid is a doll and he has got more personality as a toddler than most adults I know. The kid does please and thank you in sign language already. He's also a good eater and he knows his food as well as animals. While eating his dinner, he could make a vegetarian faint dead away. Any time he has a little piece of beef in his hand, he declares it as being a "meatball" before having it meet its fate. The best is when he's eating poultry. If turkey is on the menu, he hears this and proceeds to make the familiar "gobble-gobble" turkey sound as hes eating it. Same goes for chicken. I've seen this kid in action, it's hilarious and I really would like to see him gross out a veggie-mite. This same awesome kid was one of my only valentines this past V-day. The others were my folks. That reminds me, I still have to get his art for me on my fridge.
Miss Catherine is another story. Last time I went home for a visit she came along with my sister, my mom and myself. She was the Queen bee of the whole excursion. At my favorite Mexican restaurant in the whole world, she looks over at my mom's plate and peers into her Taquito-Mexicano and asks, "Grandma, what's in there, worms?" I just about died as our attractive waiter walked by (I've been known to have a weakness for Mexicans and Asians). I can't wait to have kids like these someday. Maybe they're not always appropriate, but they are original.
Last off, my dad.
Poor guy. A couple weeks ago I get this email from my sister:
Hello all,
Mark suggested emailing.....I went with Patty to take Dad in for stitches. Joe thought Patty could use back up just in case Dad would pass out or something. He was doing some grinding by the huge grinder & his shirt got caught as well as his jacket. Shirt & jacket were destroyed. Dad was also banged up on his face & arm, but the biggie was the gouge on the back of his head. The doctor said he put in 9 stitches. He also mentioned that there were some grinding marks on his skull. Also, one of his back molars in his mouth may be done for (shattered). He will have to get into the dentist on Mon to check it out.
The doctor was fairly certain that he'd be OK as far as internal injuries. He said that as long as he was talking, walking, and seeing normal that he's probably OK.
No more grinding for awhile,
Take Care Everyone!
Jane
My dad is now well on his way to a full recovery. Stitches have been removed already and the dentist fixed him up just the other day. It was really scary that my dad had worked on a farm for almost his whole life and now he gets hurt by trying to help my brother with a little wood craft project.
Praise God he's going to be right as rain soon.
Friends:
What can I say, I have a great bunch of them. I feel blest, I have several in both Wisconsin and Minnesota. a few weeks ago, I kidnapped one of my WI friends and had her come to the cities with me where a bunch of the Minnesotans gathered at this place, Gastof. It is a German themed restaurant that had good food and great atmosphere and we provided good fellowship. The highlight of the night was that we drank out of this "boot" glass to symbolize our friendship. I was also supposed to go fishing that weekend, but it was too cold. I think that going out and drinking beer with friends was a better activity. : )
Sometimes I miss home in Wisconsin for the friends I had there, but we are all dispersing so much that it doesn't really matter whether I would be here or there. That's the thing about life and growing up. Things always change. Sometimes I think its up to us to determine if it going to be a good change or a bad change. Good thing absence makes the heart grow fonder. I still manage to keep in touch with many of my old friends, I have to, they helped form the person I am today. I owe them many thanks.
Faith:
I unfortunately have been slacking a little in this department. The current turn of weather certainly doesn't help. I can't wait for spring to really come. It'll make a lot of things a heck of a lot easier. Friday when I went to adoration last, there was actually a stranger who came in, looking a bit distressed, asked if I was from that church, and then asked if I had 1.25 for his bus fare home. I usually have no cash on me at all, not having a bank up in Duluth (I have two back home, and I'm quite okay with those, having online banking and all), but God must have been on his side for him that night, for I had exactly that amount in my pocket. I gave it to him, and said a prayer for him after he left. He must have needed a prayer, cause I'm just too ditsy to think to pray for random people on my own. God be with him.
Flurries:
The amounts of snow have been really stressing me out. I have been getting stuck a lot with my car and 15-20 inches more of snow are expected in the next 36-48 hours. I really hope that wont get that much. as much fun as it would be to stay at home and not mind the snow, I need to get to work and driving gets dangerous, if it is even possible. Not that work is that great, but it pays the bills, and if I have to miss work, it makes it take longer to clean up some of those things, like student loans, in a timely manner.
Food:
The high veggie diet has been getting fun. I am learning to cook a lot more and am even inventing some of my own recipes. Most of the time I don't even follow a recipe that much anyway, mostly only for the cooking temp. I cook like my mother, I don't really measure anything, I just use what looks like the right amount. So far so good. Once in a while my roommate and I have people over and so far I haven't gotten booed out of my kitchen. The great thing about having a high veggie diet is that they are low in calories and high in fiber, basically, forces me naturally to cut back in caloric intake without feeling deprived. My favorite way to start my day lately is to have my glorified scrambled egg(beater)s with asparagus and mushrooms. I call them glorified scrambled eggs because I have not perfected the egg flip to call it an omelet. Maybe it's the eggbeaters. Oh well, they don't add cholesterol or fat to it all.
I've been getting into eating healthy big-time. One of my best friends has been my inspiration, as well as a family with heart issues. We don't get cancer in our family so much, we usually can't live that long. My mom has highish cholesterol and my dad has the same kinda issue with blood pressure. Two reasons right there to try and break bad habits when I'm young. I made it a goal for myself to keep up the good habits until next Valentine's day, cause then it'll have been over a year. Hopefully by then I will have fully adopted the lifestyle.
Fun at Work:
Not really, but I had to keep in with the theme. Two of the managers pulled me in the office a couple of weeks ago and asked me to consider going to work in the cafe. I am not ecstatic about it by any means, but it will give me fresh area experience, which is one of the fastest growing areas for management opportunities. With that little carrot dangled in front of me, I said I'd try it. They also said they wanted me because they've had bad attitudes from the workers in the past and they know and trust me to be a good worker for their team back there. Let's hope all goes well, even if I don't want to proceed with management, having a change can be nice. I hope it will be.
My dad is now well on his way to a full recovery. Stitches have been removed already and the dentist fixed him up just the other day. It was really scary that my dad had worked on a farm for almost his whole life and now he gets hurt by trying to help my brother with a little wood craft project.
Praise God he's going to be right as rain soon.
Friends:
What can I say, I have a great bunch of them. I feel blest, I have several in both Wisconsin and Minnesota. a few weeks ago, I kidnapped one of my WI friends and had her come to the cities with me where a bunch of the Minnesotans gathered at this place, Gastof. It is a German themed restaurant that had good food and great atmosphere and we provided good fellowship. The highlight of the night was that we drank out of this "boot" glass to symbolize our friendship. I was also supposed to go fishing that weekend, but it was too cold. I think that going out and drinking beer with friends was a better activity. : )
Sometimes I miss home in Wisconsin for the friends I had there, but we are all dispersing so much that it doesn't really matter whether I would be here or there. That's the thing about life and growing up. Things always change. Sometimes I think its up to us to determine if it going to be a good change or a bad change. Good thing absence makes the heart grow fonder. I still manage to keep in touch with many of my old friends, I have to, they helped form the person I am today. I owe them many thanks.
Faith:
I unfortunately have been slacking a little in this department. The current turn of weather certainly doesn't help. I can't wait for spring to really come. It'll make a lot of things a heck of a lot easier. Friday when I went to adoration last, there was actually a stranger who came in, looking a bit distressed, asked if I was from that church, and then asked if I had 1.25 for his bus fare home. I usually have no cash on me at all, not having a bank up in Duluth (I have two back home, and I'm quite okay with those, having online banking and all), but God must have been on his side for him that night, for I had exactly that amount in my pocket. I gave it to him, and said a prayer for him after he left. He must have needed a prayer, cause I'm just too ditsy to think to pray for random people on my own. God be with him.
Flurries:
The amounts of snow have been really stressing me out. I have been getting stuck a lot with my car and 15-20 inches more of snow are expected in the next 36-48 hours. I really hope that wont get that much. as much fun as it would be to stay at home and not mind the snow, I need to get to work and driving gets dangerous, if it is even possible. Not that work is that great, but it pays the bills, and if I have to miss work, it makes it take longer to clean up some of those things, like student loans, in a timely manner.
Food:
The high veggie diet has been getting fun. I am learning to cook a lot more and am even inventing some of my own recipes. Most of the time I don't even follow a recipe that much anyway, mostly only for the cooking temp. I cook like my mother, I don't really measure anything, I just use what looks like the right amount. So far so good. Once in a while my roommate and I have people over and so far I haven't gotten booed out of my kitchen. The great thing about having a high veggie diet is that they are low in calories and high in fiber, basically, forces me naturally to cut back in caloric intake without feeling deprived. My favorite way to start my day lately is to have my glorified scrambled egg(beater)s with asparagus and mushrooms. I call them glorified scrambled eggs because I have not perfected the egg flip to call it an omelet. Maybe it's the eggbeaters. Oh well, they don't add cholesterol or fat to it all.
I've been getting into eating healthy big-time. One of my best friends has been my inspiration, as well as a family with heart issues. We don't get cancer in our family so much, we usually can't live that long. My mom has highish cholesterol and my dad has the same kinda issue with blood pressure. Two reasons right there to try and break bad habits when I'm young. I made it a goal for myself to keep up the good habits until next Valentine's day, cause then it'll have been over a year. Hopefully by then I will have fully adopted the lifestyle.
Fun at Work:
Not really, but I had to keep in with the theme. Two of the managers pulled me in the office a couple of weeks ago and asked me to consider going to work in the cafe. I am not ecstatic about it by any means, but it will give me fresh area experience, which is one of the fastest growing areas for management opportunities. With that little carrot dangled in front of me, I said I'd try it. They also said they wanted me because they've had bad attitudes from the workers in the past and they know and trust me to be a good worker for their team back there. Let's hope all goes well, even if I don't want to proceed with management, having a change can be nice. I hope it will be.
