A LONG Two Weeks

I have not posted any of my 365 pictures for the past two weeks so I figured it was time to catch up. There is a reason for my absence which basically boils down to the fact that I was being slowly poisoned by some medication that was supposed to keep me healthy. Oops! On the bright side we figured it out and I'm headed towards normal (whatever that may be.)

I'm going to TRY to keep my comments brief during this post because otherwise, well, you'll never get to the bottom of my post. That plus, some of the pictures are just so lame that to say more than a sentence would be fruitless.

The first two pictures and the last two pictures are pre and post-illness shots.

February 12 - Baby shower for John's sister's son's wife - Jen. Fun was had by all as we tried to guess what she's going to have. Some said boy, some said girl, thus some of us will be right. For the record, I'm guessing girl, but I'm really clueless.

February 13 - Met with our small group. This sweet girl joined us for dinner before our Truth Project video. She always cracks me up!

February 14 - This bottle of Dr. Pepper (which John left work to buy for me) was pretty much the entirety of the sustenance I took in during the day. My Valentine's gift (other than the Dr. Pepper) was a fun-filled trip to the Emergency Room. That John, he sure knows how to show me a good time.

February 15 - I was well enough on Tuesday to go see my chiropractor. His assistant Shirley agreed, somewhat begrudgingly, to be my picture of the day AND told me, once she saw it, that it "wasn't a bad" picture of her.

February 16 - I reached a new low in my "picture a day" quest when I took a shot of the clean laundry drying on the shower rod.

February 17 - I was still hanging around the house and my big activity for the day was working on a baby blanket for an upcoming shower gift. This one rates right above the laundry but below the sign that you'll see in a couple of minutes.

February 18 - I actually got out of the house on Friday and found my friend, Carla, working at the store. She too, was a bit reluctant to have her picture taken, but I promised her I'd make her look good.

February 19 - I was so happy on Saturday that I felt well enough to go to a baby shower for Renee. She is the daughter of one of my very best girlfriends and I would have been sad if I'd missed it.

February 20 - Sunday was John's (and my mom's) birthday but the blizzard we drove home from church in that day preempted any birthday photos I might have planned. The rules are that there can only be one picture a day and it should be taken on the day you post it on the 365 Project website. Some people cheat but I'm hoping I won't have to (thus the laundry photo.) So, I had to actually post the blizzard on the day it happened and I saved John for the next day.

February 21 - I was back to being quite sick again on Monday but on the bright side, this was the day we determined the root of the problem. Since this was the picture I had planned for John's birthday, I made him don his new camouflage Snuglee for the picture. I bought it as sort of a joke, but I heard talk about him taking it hunting. He keeps me entertained, that's for sure.

February 22 - I half expected to find a friend at the grocery store to use as my subject for Tuesday. It's a small town and generally when you go to the store between 4:00 - 6:00 PM there's a pretty good chance you'll see someone you know. I did see a girl I thought I knew and waved from five aisles away only to find out it wasn't her when I got closer. (Seriously, I was hunting her down to be my photo subject!) But, not to despair; on my way out of the store I found this sign which cracked me up when I really needed to laugh.

February 23 - I was back at the chiropractor's office on Wednesday and since it was my only activity of the day, Dr. Pat McIntee became my "subject."

February 24 - I finally felt almost human again and knowing that I was at least not contagious allowed me to go visit my friend, Betsy, who is "walking towards heaven." It was a tough day and this church along the way stood as a reminder that she is not walking alone, nor am I.

February 25 - Though the baby showers were fun and going to the ER in the midst of the hospital's changeover to electronic records was um, interesting; Friday was my favorite day of this past two weeks. Friday night John and I got to babysit our sweet granddaughter. We had so much fun and it's clear that she already has John wrapped around her little finger.


There you have it. You are now all caught up on my life (or lack thereof) for the past two weeks. If you want to read more about the pictures, or see them each day as they are posted you can visit my little corner of the 365 Project website at http://365project.org/nana.

Until next time; make some memories, take some pictures, spend time with the ones you love.

On the Mend

If you'll recall from my previous 365 project blog, I ended the week fighting a stubborn virus and I'm happy to say that I'm on the mend. Phew! That was a tough one but when I read other friend's status updates on Facebook I come to the realization that I had the "easy" version, if you will. But, on Saturday, February 5, I will still in "will I ever get better" mode. So, I decided to make lemonade out of lemons, as they say.

I have loved scrapbooking for years and recently have moved towards doing digital scrapbooks, primarily because it's easier to tote around the materials needed (just one laptop) and they take up significantly less room on the bookshelf. At first, I wasn't a huge fan of doing my books digitally and then having them printed, but just as I grew to love digital cameras, I'm learning to love digital scrapbooking. My illness gave me some time to watch some technique webinars which has increased my enthusiasm immensely. So, my first picture of the week is of my computer, because pretty much all I did was sleep, eat, and watch digital scrapbooking webinars.

On Sunday, I woke up for the first time in four days without a sore throat, which meant I could go to church. Yahoo! It also happened to be our little granddaughter, Amelia's first day at church AND the first time I'd seen her in over a week (which was really more annoying than my virus) so she, along with her parents were Sunday's picture of the day. As you can see, she was very excited to be the "star" of the show.

This next picture may seem a little lame, but still, it represents my day on Monday - the day for my yearly blood tests - cholesterol, chem 8 panel, etc. All the fun stuff they start testing as you get older. The lab was full of interesting things to take pictures of (not the least of which was the wall painted to look like a Caribbean beach complete with a sign that said "Cabo san Labo") but I decided on the vials for the blood. They are so pretty (in an odd kind of way) and organized sitting there waiting to be filled. Fortunately, I only had to fill one. (I actually thought about taking a picture of the needle in my arm but I didn't want to upset the squeamish ones who might be reading this.)


Tuesday I was so excited to get to spend some time with two of my good friends, Leslie and Nancy. Leslie's birthday was in January but Tuesday was the first chance we had to get the three of us together to celebrate. We had a fabulous lunch at the Lake Elmo Inn. If you've never been there - go. You can thank me later. When the three of us get together it's hard to get us to stop talking. Let's just say they were setting up for dinner by the time we left. What great friends!


On Wednesday, I had big plans for a picture and well, it just didn't work out. The temps were in the sub-zeros so once I got back home I didn't especially want to go out "looking for a picture." Once again, I decided to look outside my back windows to see what I could find. The sun shining on these beautiful icicles and even though I had to open the window to get the shot, I did so quickly. I love icicles but you really should read what a fellow "365er" has to say about winter in general and icicles in particular. She presents a pretty convincing case that winter is trying to kill us.

I actually forgot to take my 365 picture on Thursday and was pulling into town at 10:00 PM when I realized my mistake. I took a few other pictures of our downtown area at night but this one of the car thermometer really summed up my day the best. It was just plain cold and I was ready to be done with it. The next day it warmed up to the 30's (a real heat wave.) Actually, in the early hours of Thursday morning my computer said it was -18° so one could make a case that -5° was just the beginning of the heat wave. In the meantime, I'm praying that I don't see this number again for awhile; many, many months . . . or even years.

We ended the week by going to "Marriage Night" at our church, thus it seemed only appropriate that we get a picture of the two of us together. And yes, our church has a fireplace in the lobby, which was handy because even though it had warmed all the way up to 30°F, it was still cold. I have to admit also, that, having been married for 35+ years I wasn't convinced that I'd get much out of "Marriage Night" but I was wrong. Peter Haas from Substance Church gave a great message. Considering the fact that I got married about the same day he was born, I was pretty impressed. Only goes to show two things. 1.) You CAN teach an old dog new tricks, and 2.) It's always a good thing to spend time investing in your marriage.

There you have it; another week of memories. Hope your week is filled with some fabulous memories of your own. Look for them - make them happen.

Define Sweetheart

It’s February – the month of LOVE! The month of hearts and flowers. It would be hard to miss the fact that this is the month that we celebrate Valentine’s Day. Even television networks are eager to promote the romantic holiday. In December, immediately after Christmas had ended, I started seeing little pop-ups on the Hallmark Channel that said “Only 50 days left until Valentine’s Day.” Seriously! We didn’t even have all of our Christmas gifts unwrapped yet!

It came as no surprise, then, when Wheel of Fortune started the month with “Sweethearts Week.” Yes, it’s true, at times we do watch Wheel of Fortune at this house, which is really quite remarkable considering I abhor crossword puzzles and Wheel of Fortune is basically a giant crossword game that comes at you one phrase at a time.

Here’s how Wheel of Fortune’s “Sweetheart Week” works. Instead of having just one player at each position they have a man and wife working together as a team. So, the other night John and I are watching the show and he has apparently missed the fact that it is “Sweetheart Week” because suddenly he says to me “Why are there two people answering the questions? Are they married?” “Because it’s “Sweetheart’s Week,” John. Haven’t you been paying attention?” I replied. I kid you not when I tell you his response, “Oh, so they’re not married.” It wasn’t a question.

I’ve got three days until Valentine’s Day. I’m thinking I’ll go out and buy heart shaped post-it notes and start sticking them around the house as a reminder. Maybe I’ll even stick one on myself that says “Your Sweetheart.”

Happy Valentine's Day!

What a Week!

What a week! I can't believe it's been only eight days since our little granddaughter entered the world. In some ways it seems like just yesterday but when I look at the pictures taken since her birth I'm amazed at all the life squeezed into those eight days! Of course, I'm pretty sure I didn't feel this way when I was the one who had just given birth. So, here we are on week four of my 365 Project. Though most calendar weeks go from Sunday to Saturday, my 365 Project pictures go from Saturday to Friday, primarily because January 1 was a Saturday.

When I started week four, I was at a scrapbooking retreat. I was zipping through pictures, getting so much done. Lee Anne, pictured below, was the consultant who organized the retreat and answered my 42 gazillion questions about digital scrapbooking. She told me later that she was glad Amelia had waited until Sunday to be born so she didn't lose her spot as my picture of the day!

I learned so much at the retreat and went to bed on Saturday night with plans of finishing up a few pages of Christmas pictures in a traditional album before heading home. BUT, our little Amelia had other plans. So, I left the retreat at 2:45 AM, Sunday morning to take Amelia's mom to the hospital. As I mentioned in a previous post, it was an interruption of the very best kind.

To be on the safe side, I took this picture as a "back-up picture of the day" for Sunday just in case Erin had one of those 36 hour labors you hear about. It is a picture of the view out of Erin's hospital room. Not a bad view but I don't think Erin appreciated it as much as I did.

I was much happier to be using this picture of Amelia as my "picture of the day" on Sunday. Amelia has stolen our hearts to be sure.

Of course, Amelia made it as picture of the day on Monday, too, because, well because she's adorable, that's why! Don't you agree?

On Tuesday, it was time for my annual check-up so Tuesday's picture was of my doctor, Alice Suchomel. Dr. Alice took full advantage of my new grandma status to guilt me into a pertussis shot. Ouch! Well, getting the shot was not painful, but it took a few days for my arm to recover. It's all worth it though. I'd feel horrible if I ever gave pertussis to Amelia - or anyone else for that matter, though I have heard that some people lose weight when they have pertussis. No wait, that wouldn't be worth it.

On Wednesday it was "life as normal" again and time to get back to the workout center. My friend Mary was there who I met shortly after I moved to Minnesota over 30 years ago. These days we see each other most often either at a Rotary Club function (our husbands are both members) or at Fit on Fourth (our workout center, which coincidentally, is on 4th Street.) The limestone walls you see in the picture make it "not your average" workout center. Mary and I like to think that we solve the world's problems as we work out though on Wednesday the conversation seemed to revolve around babies; specifically, my new granddaughter. Imagine that.

Barb has been my massage therapist for over 10 years. She's simply the best! Before you go thinking I'm all spoiled, let her give you a massage first! I feel better when I leave but let me tell you, she knows JUST where to poke to make you squirm. She keeps me moving, though, so I'm grateful. We decided to have a little fun with her picture on Thursday. She's been watching me post my pictures on Facebook and was afraid it might be her turn to be the "picture of the day." She was right!

The last shot of the week was of Pastor Alan (and me.) Alan is the Youth Pastor at our church and all the kids love him! On Friday, Alan celebrated the big 4 - 0 in style by throwing a benefit birthday bash. Instead of bringing gifts for him we all made donations to an organization working to stop stop human trafficking. You may recall that in August 2009 John and I went on a mission trip to Russia. Alan was the pastor who lead the trip. We had such a blast getting to know him better and working beside him at the orphanage. He has such a huge heart and we were so honored to be part of his 40th birthday celebration.

And so, another week is already underway. One thing is for sure; life is an adventure!

A Million Years Ago - Earlier this month

I realize that I haven't posted pictures yet from week three of my 365 Project (a picture a day.) And, since week four is nearly half over with, I thought I'd better hurry or I'd have to post week threefour. (It's a new word - not in the dictionary yet. Maybe next year.)

So, we ended week two with my long drive in the snow to a Women's Ministry Leadership meeting in Dassel, MN. Well, my first picture for week three was taken on the way home from that meeting. I found this church and thought the architecture was quite intriguing. An added bonus was that the sun was shining on it at just the right angle. I would have been satisfied just to see it shining, but this was like a little reward from God for not giving up the day before. Getting to the church was a bit harder than I first anticipated but I thought it was worth the trip.

On Sunday afternoon we had a baby shower for Erin and Heidi at our house. I titled this picture "Guess Who's Due First?" but I suppose, in light of my last post, (the one about becoming a Nana!) it's pretty obvious by now. O.K., I suppose it's also obvious from the picture. Perhaps I should have titled it "Comparing Bellies One Week Before Erin's Delivery." Hindsight is so very helpful.

Angelina is married to our youngest son, Scott. She went out Monday morning excited to shovel the sidewalk (bless her heart, she hasn't lived in MN very long and still considers this fun.) Part of her shoveling involved working on a snow "amphitheater." When I came out to take her picture she said, "I bet I'm more what you were expecting in a first grandchild than in a third daughter-in-law." As long as she's willing to shovel, I say, "have all the fun you want out there."

On Tuesday (1/18) I had a bittersweet lunch with my friend, Krista. On February 11, she and her family are moving to Swaziland, Africa to work as missionaries with Children's Cup. She has the biggest heart and I know she will do great things for God in Swazi BUT, I'm going to miss her so much!
If you know me at all, you know I am by no means a morning person. But when I woke up at 6:30 on Wednesday morning and saw this view out my bathroom window I just had to get a shot. I've always loved the view out the window in the early morning hours and was apparently feeling more inspired than I usually do at 6:30 AM. So, instead of going back to bed, I went in search of my camera and tripod. I think the moon's shape is a bit distorted by the glass. Perhaps I should have opened the window but it was way too early for me to think that clearly. Plus, it was -5 degrees outside!

I'm really wanting this project of mine to represent my daily life which includes people we meet along the way. Almost every week I make the trek to the health food co-op 15 miles from my house. Kathryn is one of the many kind cashiers whom I encounter there. She doesn't know this yet, but she's one of my favorites; always ready with a smile.

And before I knew it I was at the end of the week three at a scrapbooking retreat with one of my best friends - Debbie. We had so much fun working on our albums and talking, and eating, and talking and eating. But, don't think that means we didn't get anything done. We are great at multi-tasking!
All of this seems so long ago in light of the recent arrival in our family. Any guess what one of the subjects will be in this week's photos. Hint: you've already seen one.

Announcing . . .

Normally, by today, I would try to have my 365 project photos here on my blog but I was gone this weekend and today there is much more exciting stuff to talk about so I’ll post those later.

I’m sure most of you who read my blog have probably already heard the news but if not, here it is. On Sunday, January 23, 2011, I became a Nana for the first time! Amelia Louise Holte was born at 7:48 PM. There is nothing like it in the world!

As it happens, I have my own “labor and delivery” story though I’m not stupid enough to think that my story was even close to as challenging as my daughter-in-law, Erin’s. She did such a great job bringing Amelia into the world. Because Paul (Amelia’s dad) is a commercial airline pilot I was on stand-by as back-up assistant to get momma to the hospital should baby decide to show up when dad was on a trip.

I was at a scrapbooking retreat this weekend so, because of my duties as back-up labor coach, I left plenty of phone numbers with the mom-to-be. I even texted on Saturday morning to check in and make sure that everything was status quo; which it was. My friend, Debbie, and I stayed up kind of late on Saturday night because, well, when you’re scrapbooking, that’s just what happens. So, when the phone rang an hour and a quarter after I’d gone to bed it took me a few minutes to figure out what was happening. You see, even though Paul had scheduled plenty of time off around the anticipated arrival date of February 8, Amelia had other plans, even though her daddy had just landed a plane in Lisbon, Portugal.

Fortunately, Paul was able to get right back on a plane for the flight home, miraculously make a tight connection in Newark, and arrived at the hospital, looking somewhat like the Prince on a white horse coming in to save the day after most of the work had been done. Erin’s mom and dad had arrived from Michigan around 9:30 that morning so we’d been tag-team coaching throughout the day. Once Paul arrived we let him take over and when it was apparent the birth was eminent we left the room and waited in the visitor’s area for the arrival; or until Diane and I got anxious, as the case may be.

We’d received news that things were getting close, and by now John had arrived and joined us in the waiting area, so Diane and I left the guys and stood outside Erin’s room to “listen.” We talked in soft whispers so as not to be found out. We heard a big clunk, which we assumed meant they were moving the bed into position, and some other indiscriminate noises, but eventually we heard the sound we were waiting for – the first cries of our granddaughter. And right after that, the crying of her very happy dad. To a Nana’s, and a mom’s ears, both were priceless.

We might be prejudiced, but we think she’s the most beautiful baby in the world.

What's Wrong with this Picture?

There is a restaurant about 25 miles from my house that I visit on a fairly regular basis. I have three main reasons for frequenting this restaurant. 1.) Nice atmosphere, 2.) it's close to my church and thus, a number of my friends, and 3.) they have at least two things on the menu that I can eat despite my food sensitivities. Those are all good reasons to frequent a restaurant. But, this blog isn't really about the restaurant. (It's the old "bait and switch" blog.)

It's the business across the parking lot from this restaurant that keeps drawing my attention. This is the sign above the door to this business.

My first thought, upon seeing this sign is "Wow, maybe now would be a good time for me to go back to school and get my masters or even a doctorate degree." I mean really, if I can have someone else write all of my essays, how hard could it be? And check out what it says on their window.

Guaranteed A!!! Even better! That should help my GPA.

O.K., but let's get serious. Isn't the point of going to high school, college, or graduate school to learn something? If someone else does your research for you, what will you really know when you graduate? Are there people running around with degrees, perhaps practicing medicine, or law, that didn't really do their own work? That's kind of scary.

And get this! This company has been in business since 1998. That's 13 years of people cheating on their essays! To their credit, they don't plagiarize, and they can get a paper done super fast - for an extra fee. I'm not sure who uses this essay writing service but I don't think it's your average college kid. The cost for a five page essay is $125 plus $10 more if you need it in a hurry.

I love that part of their advertising says "Essay writing can be very time consuming. The research that goes into it can be a bit overwhelming. The complexity of your assigned research paper may even discourage you from completing it." Well, we wouldn't want you to get discouraged or overwhelmed. Why should you be like ever other college student in the country? Not when you can pay someone to be discouraged and overwhelmed for you!

There are a few testimonials on their website but this one is my favorite: “My professor assigned a 10-page essay that was just too complicated for me to research. This writing company wrote a custom essay for me in 2 days!” Too complicated? Shame on that professor! What was he thinking? Was the entire class forced to dish out $25 a page in order to pass the class, or did they manage to figure it out on their own?

Let's call a spade a spade here. What this company is encouraging is called cheating. I just can't see any reason that would justify paying someone else to do your course work for you. How could you possibly feel good about graduating knowing that you'd basically cheated your way through school? At least if you copy out of the encyclopedia (which I'm not encouraging) you've taken the time to do a little bit of research.

So, I guess I won't be getting my doctorate any time soon. But, I do have days that cause me to be overwhelmed and discouraged. Maybe I could just find someone I could pay to say tidy up the paperwork, or do the laundry. I may go broke, but at least I wouldn't have compromised my integrity.