My last visit to the Farmers' Market on the Square

Time is counting down until I'm outta here...  I knew that I was working a bit today, so I thought I would go to the Farmers' Market first.  The Farmers' Market is held on Saturday mornings on the Capital Square.  It's the largest producer-only farmer's market int he US.  All items are produced locally by the vendor behind the table.  It's nice to know that you aren't going to see a huge corporation with a table set up.

this is actually a photo.  a photo that was heavily edited, but a photo nonetheless.
Madison, Wisconsin capital building

I hadn't been to the Farmers' Market since before the whole Recall Scott Walker thing happened.  That whole situation really ruined the capital for me.  Why do you think you need to hang out up there and sing?  It's not doing any good, and you're just annoying people who would have a neutral opinion about it in the first place.

*sigh*

So it had been a really long time since I'd had hot 'n spicy cheese bread from Stella's.

So off I went.  Left the house around 7AM, which is a little late since I like to be there before the huge crowds, but I went nonetheless.

First stop:  hot 'n spicy cheese bread.  Straight from the oven.  So good...  so much cheesy goodness...

hot peppers.  I never would have known if there wasn't a sign on them.

Next stop:  cream cheese croissant from "the far corner".  I don't know what the bakery is, but I always park in the same parking ramp, and I get the same croissant from the same vendor, once I'm halfway around the square.

While I was sitting on the bench eating my croissant I heard "What are you doing here?"  I looked up and saw one of the girls that I went to high school with (2 hours south of Madison), and worked with one summer at the campground where Nate now works.  Holy cats, imagine seeing someone who lives that far away at a fairly well populated event!  Crazy.

Then:  Jam.  Jam from The Summer Kitchen.  I am not regularly a jam/jelly kind of girl.  But oh my gosh hand me a spoon because this stuff is amazing!  I bought Maiden Blush (ingredients:  Macintosh Apples, Strawberries, sugar, natural pectin, no additives, no preservatives).  I put it on my hot 'n spicy cheese bread for lunch and it was delicious!

After Jam was cheese curds.  Always good, but not as good as the curds at Cheesers.  I think buying cheese curds at the Farmers' Market is just me on auto-pilot.  I ate some while at work, then gave the guys who were on lunch when I left the rest of the bag.

My final purchase was plums from Door Creek.  These little bitty plums.  So small and cute.  About the size of a large cherry tomato.  And yummy too!

All in all, I was there for about 30 minutes.  It was good to go one last time.  Now I'm ready to see what the Wednesday Farmers' & Craft Market is like in Glennallen next summer...


And FYI - all those photos are from my phone.  Not too shabby, if I do say so myself...

Getting lost near home

I was headed home today when I saw that there was a major backup on the interstate.  I am NOT the kind of person who sits patiently in traffic, so I took a quick right to the exit ramp to go home the long way.

Once on the long way, I saw a sign for the park that is just North of town, so I thought maybe it would be a good short-cut.

That was the first step in what ended up being an extra 20 minutes on the road.

First of all, I had forgotten that there were such hills and twisty-turns in Dane County.  I really don't get outside of my commute route or Madison that much.

Second of all, sometimes you think, "I won't get lost because I'll hit a road that I know soon enough" is not necessarily true, what with all of the aforementioned twisty-turns.  When I thought "I've seen that already" I knew it was time to turn the other way and try again...

Third of all, had I been the passenger, I would have been taking photos.  It really what very pretty.  You forget that "the country" really is very close when you only ever see if from the interstate.  Of course, had I been the passenger, I probably would have had my phone out looking for the way home.  I think driving around trying to find the way home was better.

All in all, what could have been a very exasperating experience (like I said, not patient in traffic), ended up being a nice one.

motivational phrases

As we all know (if you've read any of my blog posts, that is), I'm on Pinterest.  A lot.  So it's probably not a surprise that I have an Alaska board over there.  Of course I put some of my pictures from when I blogged our Alaskan Honeymoon, I've also pinned some great pictures of Alaska, some different things to do there, some houses up there once Jeff started having interviews, stuff about repelling mosquitoes, and motivational phrases.

I'm in that board today, cleaning some stuff up, moving some stuff to my new Gardening board (really?  I can't even believe that I want to garden), and thought I would share with you.




(side note - we went to church the Sunday before Jeff's interviews back in June, a nice WELS church in Eagle River.  Silent prayer I asked God to help me to trust Him and to trust Jeff.  It's not always easy, but I can't help but believe that God's hand has been in this entire process.  We are just being guided by Him.)




And my personal favorite:


I've not taken too many risks in my life.  I never snuck out of the house.  I never tried drugs.  I've not done too many things that one might call "outside the box."  In fact, I can only count 4 instances:

• Leaving home to go to college (Mom was super surprised, and I never planned to go to Millikin, but it was the best thing I ever did...  within the first 20 years of life, that is).
• Moving 2 hours away to a new state where I didn't know anyone, to take a job.
• Joining a dating website, which is something that I said I would never do.  Within a week, I had been messaged by my future husband.
• Moving to Alaska.  That's 3200 miles outside the box.  How will it turn out?  Well, in my experience, taking that first step out of the box has always been worth it.  So why the hell not.

Is That English? Also, book review of Almost Amish by Kathryn Cusham

Just going through some stuff, downsizing our massive loads of crap, and whatnot, and came across this little gem that the Almanzas sent me a few years ago.   

That's some good sense of humor right there!

Speaking of downsizing, or spring cleaning, or whatever it is I'm doing...

I took a bag of books to Half Price Books last weekend.  Of course, while I was there, I looked around and found a book that looked interesting.  I said to Jeff, "I hope they offer at least $7.50 'cuz I want to buy this book."  Luckily, they offered enough for my books I was able to buy the new-to-me book and pocket $5.  Score!

So, Book Review:  Almost Amish by Kathryn Cushman

The back of the books says:

"Over-committed and overwhelmed, Julie Charlton is at the breaking point.  She knows she should feel blessed as a mother and wife - but she just feels exhausted.  And then, the miraculous happens.  Her sister-in-law Susan, a Martha Stewart-in-training, lands the chance to participate in a reality TV series about trying to live like the Amish and needs another family to join her.  It's just the break Julie needs."

This is a good, easy read.  It didn't take long, not much thought, which is how I usually like to read.  I read it in about 4 days, in amongst my regular life.  Maybe the premise of the story spoke to me since it's been so hectic at work lately, but man, makes me think I would rather spend my day taking care of the house & making meals more than spending 45+ hours a week at work...  

And if it were reversed, I would probably wish for a job to go to.

And now I have a book to sell back to Half Price Books.  :-)

What have you been doing?

Doomed crab apple tree

We have a couple of crab apple trees out front of work that will be removed.  They have such pretty blooms right now, I couldn't help myself from bringing a branch in after lunch...

Turkey!

It's like freaking wild kingdom today!  As I was driving in to work today, this guy and his two hens were crossing the street, just a block away from work!

Photography Challenge Day 8: Routine

My routine includes putting on some yummy lotion from Bath & Body Works.  During the winter I use Body Butter.

This past weekend Jeff & I went to the Johnson Creek Outlet Mall.  Bath & Body has a store there - and they actually have some outlet store prices!  Plus they honor regular coupons and sales. 

I had a coupon to get one item free with a $10 purchase, which I made because I needed my "Look Ma, New Hands" lotion.  This French Lavender & Honey was my free item.  Plus some of their items were $6.50, so I also got a Pear Blossom lotion.  Yum!

The real reason for going to Johnson Creek was to get me some new bras.  The "normal" Lane Bryant stores don't carry the style that I like, but the outlet stores do.  Hmm, weird.  Well, it's a good thing we went, because my bra broke at work yesterday!  I now have only the 3 new that I bought on Saturday, plus one that's not nearly as comfortable...  Wow, that was good timing...

Photography Challenge Day 4: Something Green

 

Sometime in the cold of winter I went to a user group meeting for my HRIS.  A company with a recently built facility hosted.  My gosh the place was amazing.

 

 

There was a huge river rock (seriously, about 6 people could probably all sit on it), and it was partially in the vestibule, so the glass was cut to fit around it.  That's how fancy this place was.

 

In this facility, at the West end, were two giant Living Walls.  They had to have been at least 3 stories tall, and just plants.  All these plants planted into this wall.  It was really amazing.

 

It really was beautiful - and this photo doesn't do it justice.  There was a slight water noise, because you know it needs to be hydrated and no one's going to go and water it with a watering can!  See how tall it is compared to the door at the right?  I can just imagine sitting out there, with lunch, a book, or ear buds.  Man, that would be a nice place to relax at lunch time...

 

Photography Challenge Day 1: Self Portrait

Okay, so here's the deal...  I had "liked" one of those 30 Day Photography Challenges on Pinterest a while ago, and I thought, what the heck, may as well.

So I'm going to post for each of the days of the challenge.  Or maybe I won't if I don't like the category.  I guess it's up to me.

What I can tell you is that even though I'm sure the challenge is to take a photo that day, I'm going to use a lot of photos I already have, as opposed to taking new.

So, enjoy.  And maybe do the same thing, too, on your blog, or your Instagram (if you have Instagram, let me know!), or whatever social media you use.

 

So, this is my arm.  We've been getting the bedroom all reorganized because we bought a new bed (info for another post), and I got this lovely little bruise/laceration combo on Saturday when I lost my balance trying to clean off the floor of the closet so the chest of drawers could go in there.  Unfortunately it's right at the spot that usually rests on the corner of the arm rest in the car...  so it's been hard to find a comfortable arm position lately. 

 

Auto-awesomed...

I was running some work errands and took this photo across the street from my engraver's studio:

When I uploaded it to my Google account, Google decided it needed a little something more, and added this:

Hey, thanks Google...  I guess there just wasn't enough snow in the picture yet...

a surfing squirrel...

I was watching a recorded episode of Buying and Selling.  They went and rented art to stage the house they were trying to sell.  I thought this painting looked like a happy fat squirrel catching a wave...

surfing squirrel likes to surf.

You see it too, right?

Novocaine

Hi!

Is it cold where you are?

It's pretty cold here.  I think it was in the negatives the whole time I was out today.

Yesterday I drove through some awesome (not!) weather to get Rhy.  Snowing and strong winds.  Score!

So I really wasn't looking forward to cold weather.  But, hey, it's January and I live in Wisconsin.  It's life.


I had a dental appointment today to take care of a small cavity.

I have finally found the silver lining to getting a filling.

The part of your face that is numb because of Novocaine can't feel the cold.  Score!

The end of my Stay-cation

I go back to work tomorrow.  7AM.  Ugh.   I am not looking forward to it.  But, like almost everything in life, work is a necessity.

So, the result of my week off, my stay-cation?

I scanned in 477 slides.  That's at least 12 hours, but probably more like 14.  Doesn't sound like much since I used a full 40 hours of vacation, but I did a ton of laundry in the middle of scanning slides, and I got to sleep in (take that, 5:15AM alarm clock!).  And just think about how much time those 14 hours would take if it was a regular work week.  Get home after being away for at least 10 hours, do I really want to sit on the computer and scan slides?  Not so much.

I scanned countless photos, all while scanning slides - just hopping over the the other computer.

I made dinner most nights, including chicken with roasted veggies, tortellini soup, one-pot lasagna, and meatloaf.  I also crock-potted a turkey breast that we can use for lunch meat.  I love a good crock-potted turkey breast...  I ate breakfast every morning, including a new oatmeal recipe and trying blueberries with lemon Greek yogurt.

I wrote 5 blog posts (not including this one) and shared some good old photos.

I also lost more than 3 pounds.  Probably just due to cyclical monthly weight loss, but still.  It felt nice to see the numbers go down.

Things I did not do:

• I didn't use the treadmill. 
• I didn't organize anything in the house.
• I didn't take those clothes to St. Vinny's, but they are now in the car so I could take them to CAC on lunch.  CAC gives clothes to people in need, for free.  I like to support them when I have clothes to get rid of.
• I didn't craft.  *sad face*  But I really didn't think I would get the time to do any crafts.

And even with all those "I didn't" items - it was a productive week.  I only have about 150 slides left to scan, and I am confident I can get that done.

So tomorrow it will be time to read allllllll the e-mails I've gotten, listen to voicemails from those people who didn't listen to my outgoing message that I would be out of the office, attend meetings, and, in general, play catch up.  Erg.

Jefferson Memorial, 1985.  To the right you can see Dad, wearing what I always called his "Dr. Zhivago hat".

A slide from Mom & Dad's train trip to California.  1988?  1989?

And another slide from their trip.  I love the dark and light areas, but the dark areas just don't scan well.

Me, 1982.  I loved that play pay phone with the chunky plastic coins.  Susana - do you remember this?

When we were in California for Loretta & Andy's wedding in 1982, we went to Sea World.  Tina and I saw the Shamu show twice.  It was so hot that we wanted to sit where the crowd got wet.  We didn't get splashed either time.

3-27-1997 - the day I became Aunt Kristin!  Tina said that Nathan looked like me.  She might have still been on medication at that point...

Rylee and me!  She's just so cute!

Aw, Sprite.  So festive...  meow!

Me, 1999.  For my college graduation, I wanted to have a nice family portrait taken.  I also had some shots of me taken.  Look at how shiny my hair was!

Monica with her Grampa at her 1st Birthday party, September 2000.
Eh, Marcos!  (who all just read that in an accent?)
Love and miss you!

My newly-acquired hatred of scanning slides

I have now scanned over 400 slides this week - and I'm not done.  I can see that the end is near, however, as I only have one carousel and some (some - a few dozen) loose slides to scan.  And when I'm done I will so be ready to recreate the fax-machine scene from Office Space.  (start watching around 0:40 - also, this is the "clean" version, but you can pretty much still tell what the lyrics are - you might want to turn off the sound)


So this morning I timed how long it takes to scan slides.

Our HP Photosmart 3210 All-in-One can scan 4 slides at a time.  It takes 6 minutes to do this.  And that's if everything goes right.  This darn machine has scanned the wrong location, skipped slides all together, only scanned a sliver of the outside - ugh!  Plus, that 6 minutes doesn't include the time it takes to rename those slides once they're scanned...

I just keep telling myself that it is all worth it because now the slides will be on the computer, I will be able to share them, and they will be much more visible!  It is worth it!

And it. is. exhausting.

These slides are all from 1981:

I saw Santa at the Moose Lodge Christmas Party.  Can we all just take a moment to admire the polyester-awesomeness of the outfit on the woman to the left?  The amazing fashion is a great reason to scan in old slides!

I was apparently lucky enough to see Santa twice that year!  This is the school program (Tina was in school, I was not).  Remember, back in the day, when schools could have "Christmas" programs, instead of "Holiday" programs?  And when (apparently) Santa could come to those Christmas Programs?

This is one of those slides that our scanner did not want to scan because it was too dark.  I did have to lighten it up a bit, and I'm glad I did.  Who wants to have these two cuties stuck in a box?  Susana & Marcos Alan, you're looking wonderful!

This is a trip that I don't remember, other than remember some of the slides.  We went to the Amana Colonies, Iowa, and the Wisconsin Dells in 1981 - prior to my birthday so I wasn't 4 years old yet which is why I can't remember.  What I love about this slide is Mom's description:  "Wisconsin Mountain Range."  I can already hear Loretta laughing all the way from West Virginia...

Days 2 & 3 of my Stay-cation - plus some vintage photos...

1.)  Cherries are a very good alternative to raspberries in that PB&J oatmeal.  I've eaten that oatmeal 3 days so far.  I think I better mix it up and eat something else so I don't end up getting sick of it.

2.)  Laundry takes way more time than people really care to admit.  I have spent whole days doing laundry before, but I never really noticed how much time it took away until I was trying to scan slides at the same time.  Taking laundry to the basement, checking dryers, folding & hanging up clothes...  ugh!  It's exhausting!

3.)  I hit a wall on Wednesday.  Pretty hard.  I was pretty much over the whole "scan in all the slides!" thing, and spent more time than I care to admit watching America's Next Top Model.  Scanning slides is just really quite tedious.  Plus it takes just forever!  In fact, it takes so much time to scan in slides, I started hopping on the other computer to scan in photos.  It's a good thing Jeff had purchased a 3 terabyte back-up - I'm putting a whole lot on there!

4.)  Sauteed pepperoni is pretty good.  I blame Pinterest for that one.

5.)  I am not getting nearly as many other things done as I thought I would.  I will not be done scanning slides until Friday afternoon at the earliest.  Crafting has officially been scratched off of my list for this week.  I knew that one was a long shot, but it was on the list as a hope.

6.)  Mixing sausage into your ground beef when you make meatloaf is amazing!  I have no idea why I never did this before!  I really never use a recipe for my meatloaf, but on Tuesday I mixed a pound each of ground beef and sausage, Italian bread crumbs that were in the cupboard, some Parmesan cheese, egg, and chili sauce.  It was so yummy!

And now, some of the fruits of my labor...

Some of the slides:

Grama & Grampa Betz's 25th Anniversary, September 1972.  Yep, I need to flip the picture, it's backwards.

The Lincoln Memorial as seen from the top of the Washington Monument, December 1981.  The view has since changed with many additions, including the WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial.  I believe the small white object you see middle right is the WWI Memorial.  I am pretty sure this photo also needs to be flipped...

This is me.  I had broken my right wrist, but was still trying to draw with my right hand...

And some of the photos:

Rylee and Monica, Thanksgiving 2000.  The girls were about 13-14 months old in this photo.  So dang cute!

One of my senior pictures, August, 1994.  Not bad...

Andy, Nathan, Paul, and Larry.  I have no idea what year (any help?) or why the Floods were in Illinois, but I'm sure we had a good time!  

PB & J Oatmeal and Day 1 of my Stay-cation: How it went.

I found this guideline (not really a recipe) for PB&J Oatmeal on SparkPeople.com:

Cook 1/2 cup oats according to package directions, using milk or water. Top with 2 Tbsp peanut butter, 1 Tbsp all-fruit jam & 1/2 cup raspberries. Serve with milk, if desired.

Well, our quick oats are no longer in their container, so I didn't have directions.  I had to wing it.  And because I winged it, I had to add milk about 3 times so that I wouldn't have to cut the oatmeal with a knife.  :-)

I am used to my oatmeal either being in a small package from Quaker, or smothered & covered with brown sugar and maple syrup.  When you have plain oatmeal with nothing added, it does not taste like either of those things.  This is why I chose to add the jelly, even though I was not originally going to do so.

I am glad I did.

We didn't have any "all-fruit jam" as called for, so I just used some strawberry Smuckers.  And I used super chunky peanut butter, and more raspberries than called for because they are awesome.

The result was pretty good.  I'm going to try it with cherries since I am now all out of raspberries.

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For Christmas Jeff gave me an ulu.  An ulu is the traditional knive of the native Alaskans.  Jeff's mom had a decorative one from when they lived in Alaska, and the Ulu Factory was one of the places that Jeff was very excited to visit when we were in Alaska.  Of course when we were there there were a ton of blue hairs, and it was way to crowded for me, so we ended up leaving without making a purchase.

Fast forward to yesterday.  Since the wooden cutting bowl that came with the ulu needed sanding and protecting, I purchased some food-safe wood oil, grabbed sand paper leftover from re-finishing Rhyanne's side table, and went to town.

I really like using the ulu.  It makes chopping veggies so much faster and more simple.  Now that the cutting bowl is finished to my liking, I believe that I will use it more often!  And Jeff probably will too...

****************************************

So, scanning slides is taking just forever!  I started scanning pictures on the other machine at the same time since it just takes so long...  At this rate, it's a very good thing I took off all week.  I think it will take at least 4 days to finish the project.

Wish me luck!

Day 1 of my Stay-cation

Ever since I decided to take this week off, I have so been looking forward to it!  We have been so busy at work since about October, getting to take a week to slow down and do stuff at home is like a dream!

I originally made the decision to take a week off when Jeff said that our printer was obsolete - you can't buy ink or anything for it anymore.  Well, printer might be the wrong word.  It prints, copies, and scans.  And, get this, it scans slides!


I have had boxes and boxes of slides under my bed for a few years now.  I got them from Mom when I was making Tina's 40th birthday book.  When we were kids, it was entertainment to have a slide show.  Dad would get out the slide projector, and (depending on where we lived) Mom would either pull down the shade or put up a white sheet and we would look at slides.  I can hear that noise of the slides changing and it makes me happy.


Since we knew we wouldn't be able to purchase any more ink, and it was shortly before Thanksgiving, Jeff started looking for new printers.  The printers these days, however, don't scan slides or negatives.  From what we found, we would have to purchase a scanner separately if we wanted that feature.  So, while it does scan documents and photos, our new printer does not scan slides or negatives.

Which brings me to this week.  I new that our busy season at work would be over in January.  So I found a good week (no payroll, not at the end of the month, etc.) and Colleen approved a whole week of vacation!

I have a lot of things planned for this week.
Blog!  doing that right now...
Scan slides!  This is a must!  We have two printers on our computer tables right now; not okay.  The old one can go away once I finish this project.
Hair cut!  That's today at 9...
Better organize the computer room so I can use the treadmill!  This is a project today.  I have decided I will use the treadmill every day this week so that the habit is started and I can continue it past my stay-cation.
Use the treadmill!  See above...
Make breakfast, lunch, & dinner!  I am going to try PB&J oatmeal this morning.  I will report back this week.  Also, we purchased a turkey breast that I will be crock-potting.  And I want to actually make dinner every night this week.
Take donations to St. Vinny's!  Both Jeff & Rhyanne have done a wonderful job of thinning out their wardrobes, so we have a few bags of clothes to donate.  Yep, I need to go through my stuff too...
Craft!  I hate that craft is on the bottom of the list, but I know that for me, for this particular week of my life, it's least important.   I will feel very accomplished this week even if I don't have any time to craft.  That's because with all the other things done, I will have more time in future weeks to craft.

And since this is not a do-nothing stay-cation, please feel free to check in on me to make sure that I'm progressing on my list of to-do's!  I'll check in with you tomorrow...

2013

Sometimes life moves so fast that it's hard to remember our accomplishments.  Days turn into weeks turn into months turn into years.  And yes, I'm old enough now, that years turn into decades.  Sheesh...

So I decided that before I forget all I/we really did accomplish in 2013, I would write it down.

I tried a bunch of new recipes, and I really feel like I've become a better cook because of trying new things.  I now know that I can turn tomato sauce into something tasty.  I can successfully bake desserts that people go through the line 2, 3, 4 times for.  And I am really trying to keep items on hand so that when I need to figure out dinner that I didn't plan for or specifically shop for, I can make something, and not just frozen pizza.

I made more photo albums, which I love to look back at.  Not only that, but I have a plan to get the slides scanned in, and I know that I have all of 2013 pictures in order so I can make that photo album soon!  I feel so stinking organized!

We bought a new scale.  Doesn't sound like much, but what's nice is that this scale is much more in line with the scale at the doctor's office, and gives consistent readings.  With the old scale you could step on it 3 times in a row and get 3 different weights...  But we didn't throw out the old scale, because I needed to do an end-of-year weigh in with it.  In 2013, I lost 14 pounds!  Not anywhere near what I need to lose, but it's a start!  I think one of the reasons I have lost some weight is because...

I've been a better grocery shopping planner.  Using Pinterest and my grocery list app (Out of Milk), I have been better able to plan and stick to my list, which has resulted in buying much less crap.  Less crap in the house = less crap in my face.  And believe me, that is an accomplishment.

I've also done quite a few crafts.  I always feel so accomplished when I finish something, but once I get them all blogged, that will be even better.  Keep an eye on the blog here for a bunch more soon!

We hosted a German exchange student!  Anna stayed with us for two and a half weeks in October, after Rhyanne had stayed with her for 2 weeks over the summer.  It got me a little out of my comfort zone since we had two parties to go to, but it was good for me.  I am aware that I'm entirely too fond of my four walls and familiarity.

While Rhyanne was in Germany, we COMPLETELY redid her room.  She now has the coolest room of any teenager I have ever known.  Period.  The process told me that while Jeff and I are still learning how to work together, I really enjoyed being productive with him.

We have also been working on paying off debt and increasing saving.  I had over 21% average rate of return on my 401k for the year!

While we didn't do much travelling (Rhyanne had enough travelling for the whole family!), we did go to Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota, and made some memories along the way.

So what's in store for 2014?

• Scanning in the slides.
• Scanning in photos.
• Making photo albums.
• Putting up shelves and decorations.
• Monogram crafts!
• Cooking more vegetables, cooking healthier, cooking more often.
• Lose more weight.  How much?  I don't want to put a number on it because I know me, and if it gets to the point where I know I won't meet the goal, I'll stop trying, and the numbers on the scale will go the wrong way.
• Get more physical activity.  Actually use the treadmill and resistance bands that are in the computer room.
• Pay off the 401k Loan and increase my deferral percentage.

Wow, holy cow, that's one heck of a To Do list for 2014!  I guess no time like the present to get started...

How about you?

Computers...

I was watching an old episode of "Sale of the Century" on Game Show Network this morning.

The prize for the winner was a $3000 computer:

Whoa boy, if we hadn't just bought a new computer...

... I would have been jealous!

11 Random Things About Me: The "Specific Questions"

Did you read yesterday's post to catch the first half of the 11 Random Things About Me?  Good.  Here's the rest of the "survey"...

Specific Questions

1.)  What's one thing you're currently looking forward to?

Next week, 3 vacation days, home with Jeff.  It makes me happy.

2.)  What is your favorite post on your blog?

I don't really have a favorite, but I really enjoyed writing about our trip to Alaska.   It was fun re-living the trip, going through my little book that I wrote things down in, picking and choosing my favorite pictures...

3.)  Who is your best friend and why?

I've never really been a "best friend" kind of person.  But I would say Jeff, because if I had to chose one person to spend all my time with, it would be Jeff.  Oops, too late!  I already picked him!

4.)  Are you a spender or a saver?

The summer of 2009 I experienced first a 10% cut in pay, then an every-other-week layoff.  So I was really down to 45% pay, which unemployment doesn't cover.  It was really hard, emotionally, financially, but I had help from my parents, who even though I've paid them back monetarily, I could never fully pay back, so I made it through.  Now to get the credit cards all paid off...
So, long story short, a saver.  I will always be worried about money, my whole life, so I'm focused on getting the debt paid down, trying not adding to the debt, and the hard part is to not worry about money.  Not to focus on money.
Moral of the story:  Don't work for a company that makes car parts during a recession...

5.)  What's your favorite joke?

I don't really have one.  But I do a mean Norwegian accent to go along with my Ole & Lena jokes!  Like this one:
Lars & Sven were walking down the street when the police officer found them.  "I'm so sorry to hear about Ole."  "What about Ole?"  "You didn't hear?  There was a fire at his house!  The coroner needs you to identify the body."
So Lars & Sven go to identify the body.  First Lars goes in the room.  The body is badly burned, especially the face, and he asks the coroner to turn the body over.  The coroner thought, "Well, that's weird, but okay," and does so.  "No, that's not Ole," says Lars.
Next, Sven's turn.  He also asks the coroner to turn the body over.  "No, that's not Ole," Says Sven.
Finally, the coroner thanks both of them for coming down and asks, "Why did you have my turn over the body?"  "Well, because when we would be walking down the street, people would yell 'There goes Ole with them two assholes!'"

6.)  What's one hobby you'd like to learn, but haven't?

Quilting.  I blame Pinterest.  I didn't have any desire to learn to quilt until I was on Pinterest.
Luckily my aunt is a quilter and she said that whenever I'm ready to learn, just to go out to her place and she'll teach me!

7.)  What's your favorite part of the day?

Going to bed and talking/joking/holding hands with Jeff.

8.)  What's your favorite dish to order at a restaurant?

I usually order something different when I go to restaurants.  But at the Sunrise Diner here in town, I always order the Packer Omelet, with mushrooms.  It has spinach, feta cheese, and of course mushrooms.  So delicious.  It's the only restaurant where I'm in a rut.  Happily in a rut.  :-)

9.)  You have a time machine and can go back in time and change one thing without negative consequences.  What would it be?

Getting in a fight with Shannon Baratta in 7th grade.  We were egged on, both of us, by everyone else in class, and I wish I had stood up and not fought.

Also, permed mullet of 5th & 6th grade...

10.)  Who is your imaginary celebrity bestie?

Christina Applegate, Lauren Graham, Melissa McCarthy, Ellen Degeneres, Drew Barrymore.  In that order.

11.)  What's the one movie you could watch over and over?

Ever After with Drew Barrymore.  The first time I saw it we had rented it; it was Junior year of college.  I watched it 4 or 5 times that weekend.  I just fell in love with it.  I mean, I love the Cinderella story anyway, but I love how in Ever After
a.)  she is loyal to her home and the other servants she had grown up with.
b.)  she is strong enough to save herself.
c.)  the bullied step-sister finally stands up for herself.

Thank you to Shelly for posting this on your blog!