Chillaxin'

So we are totally chillin' out and relaxin'. We've done pretty much nothing this Saturday or Sunday. I have every other weekend off from JCP and Duane for the Sheriff's office...and for the first time in a while, we had nothing else to do on those to days. That's right. 48 hours of sitting on the couch cuddling, watching movies, watching Enterprise, reading, etc... With the exception of an ice cream run and a soda run we've been home. It has been wonderful and MUCH needed.

Anyway, with that aside, I thought I'd share a few pics from our last weekend off. We went to visit Duane's Grandma and Grandpa Duenow. His parents also were there so we finally had a chance to do our Christmas together. Aunt Ardys came to dinner with us on Saturday and Aunt Joyce and Cousin Nicole (with IZZY!) came to meet us at the casino and buffets for the evening. Much fun was had by all in our little mini-vacation. Help us keep Grandpa Duenow in all thoughts and prayers this week as he goes in for yet another surgery on Wednesday. We'll be thinking of you!

SUPERBOWL CHAMPS...AGAIN

WAY TO GO PACK FANS! We are still UNDEFEATED in the history of they Chunky.com Click for Cans Superbowl. I guess that just goes to show the WE LOVE OUR TEAM and that generous Wisconsinites will gladly click for cans on a daily basis to win a large donation to Wisconsin Food Banks. Well Done...and remember, pre-season is only 6 1/2 months away!

Light Rain

Is it raining? I thought we were expecting a hurricane...

This one is from Duane...

****WEATHER ALERT**** people of the state of Louisiana, you have a three day notice to vacate your houses and head inland. A Category 4 Hurricane named Brett is coming and is expected to make landfall on January 24th. (Who Dat? Dat be the Vikings and we're coming to pillage ...woot!!!!)

and from me...just to be a turd...GO SAINTS! Lol...

Bad Weather...

...is rolling in. I hope it does. If we have a snow day tomorrow, I'll have time to fill you in. You have a couple of things to look forward to...like

1. Our weekend in New London and Morton
2. Chunky Superbowl update
3. Pictures? (who knows...still can't find my camera)

HAPPY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUANE DUANE
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUANE DUANE
HAPPY BIIIIIIIRRRRRRRTHDAY DUANE DUANE DUANE
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUANE DUANE!

I'ma Baack...

Boy, that really doesn't make sense unless you here it in a little Mario voice every time you have to use a continue because you've been thrown off a ledge or into a turtle one too many times. If that makes sense to you...you've been Wii'd.

Mario games were one thing we did repeatedly over break. It started on Christmas. I've already told you that we did make it to Dad and Mary's house despite the weather. I'd promised Dad on his birthday that I'd bring the game and our controllers so he could give the game a shot on his Wii. When I was little and the original Nintendo came out, Dad and I spent lots of time playing together on the Mario Game (and Duck Hunt!)so I figured he'd get a kick out of playing 4 people...on the same board...at the same time. So...with Duane and Mary looking on; Emily, Dan, Dad, and I embarked on a Mario crusade. I think the MOST amusing moment was when we finally made it to the end of the first board and Dad asked "why do you have to push left to run right?" He had the controller upside down. It was a BIG laugh...and still makes me giggle.

When we left Dad's that night we had already all decided to do it again soon. Within a couple of days, Emily and Dan decided it had been SO much fun that they teamed up to buy themselves an early anniversary present and Duane and I were soon taking a tour of Dan's new house (very nice!) and sitting around playing Mario. Funny how fast time flies when you're trying not to kill each other...

The last Wii Festival happened on Saturday, Jan. 2...just before the big football day on Sunday and returning to school on Monday. Mom and Dale were inviting us all over to get them in on the Wii action. Emily and Dan couldn't make it because Dan was visiting his family and Emily had one day in a million where she had NO ONE she had to talk to. She took the time for herself...as I would have done. Mental health days are good, especially for those in this family! Duane had all the plans in the world to join us, and Brandi was looking forward to visiting her cousins. Plans took a minor turn though...Duane stayed home because he was still pretty sick. Nasty colds have been running rampant around here (we're all better right now though!). So...Brandi and I took off together around 3. She played with the cousins, mom fell asleep on the couch (after she and Dale whipped up some awesome dinner!), and Dale and I battled evil krupas together until the remote batteries died.

All in all, MUCH fun and very addictive. Watch out if you decide to give it a try!

Christmas

3 Families, 3 Christmases (is that plural even right??? weird...)

1. Christmas Eve. Duane and I joined the sisters along with Mom and Dale at Dale's sister's house. It was a pleasant evening with the yummy food that always seems to go along with these events. After the festivities we went to Mom's La Crosse home (Dale's parents are currently in assisted living and since mom works in La Crosse now, she stays at their place a few nights a week to avoid a commute) and did some of the family presents since Duane and I weren't going to be around on Christmas Day. Emily, Dan, Duane and I got in a game of Euchre, gifts were exchanged, and we headed home. It was a wonderful little Christmas even if it wasn't exactly traditional.

2. Christmas Night. Duane had to work on Christmas Day. Brandi and I slept in (as much as a dog with a bladder on a timer lets you sleep in anyway) and picked up around the house. That night, despite his reservations about the bad weather that had been threatening to roll in, I managed to talk Duane into heading into Tomah to Dad and Mary's house. It's a good thing we went because Grandma and Grandpa hung around waiting for us and we got to say Merry Christmas and hand out hugs to loved ones we don't see often. Uncle Steve was also still there as well as Cousin Jean and her entire family. We had fun trying to convince shy little Laura (Jean's little girl) to take pictures with us. Emily finally succeeded by promising Laura she could open one of Emily's presents for her. Very cute! After a frozen pizza (Duane and I missed supper and the leftovers had been sent away to re-appear at Grandma's birthday party the next day) and another round of gift opening, the remaining family members all went to the basement for another round of fun. I won't go into detail now because that is part of the next blog. (Is that enough to entice you back?)

3. Jan. 16-17. Hey, look! It's in the future. I can't give you further details right now except to say that Duane and I are REALLY looking forward to visiting his Grandparents and his Parents on that weekend for the last Christmas. I'm pretty excited about the gifts we have for Duane Sr. and Wendy...so I'll do my best to get you an update after the event actually takes place.

Ok...that's all I've got. I'll try to do better with pictures next time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR WENDY
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Past tense

So what have we been up to since my last post? Good question. I guess I haven't posted much because nothing sticks out as extraordinary, but life is very good indeed. I can't find my camera. It's around somewhere but pictures will be lacking so I hope this post is not too boring.

Dec. 7 was our Christmas concert at school. I am fortunate to work in a school district that EXPECTS Christmas music at a Christmas concert. That doesn't always happen in public schools today. I was satisfied with the concert although as always, I know there is more that I could have gotten out of students. However, several parents decided to share with me that they thought it was not only a great concert...but the best concert they'd heard in a long time especially out of the High School. Good. I'm glad. And maybe it was. It is very possible that I've just greatly raised my standards for this year's group based on the abilities I know they have.

After the concert, the students were GREAT at tearing down. In fact all equipment was stacked and ready for transport within about 10 minutes of the end of the concert. I was in my car and on my way home only 2 minutes into the second quarter of the Green Bay Monday Night Football Game. (It was the game vs. the Ravens...and GB won 27-14) The night was a complete success on multiple fronts.

The day after the concert was pretty basic. It really was just a normal day at school. We were all hoping to be let out of class early due to the snow storm blowing in, but it didn't happen. I did skip out on the music booster's meeting after school though...the snow was falling and another hour delayed would have made the roads a mess. I got home and made a quick grocery list and headed out into a storm so I could hunker down at home with the dog if we didn't have school Wednesday. Other than nearly losing my purse at Walmart (just being stupid, no story here) and having to scrape 1/2inch ice of my windshield after only 35 minutes inside there is really nothing to tell.

Wednesday there was a SNOW DAY and we even got a late start on Thursday out of it. Other than that, to pass the days I picked up a few hours at JCP, and Duane at Best Buy. We got 3 of our 8 regularly scheduled pep bands performances out of the way and basically just chilled out.

Winter break came and went. It found us freezin' Brandi's paws off playing in the snow, burning my arm on the over rack when Brandi decided she wanted to help with the monkey bread, much cleaning of the house and doing laundry, and Duane in bed sick by 9:30 on New Year's Eve (I went to bed at 11:30...no point in staying awake alone). All in all, it was relatively but not entirely uneventful...and it was VERY restful...which was MUCH needed.

I plan on writing up a couple of blogs yet tonight about the specifics of those few events over the holidays (something about wii festivals and Christmas celebrations) but I'll wait a day or two to actually post them. I intend on posting one on Thursday night and one on Friday, but we'll see. Anyway, I guess that gives you all SOMETHING for now. Sorry it's been so long!

I promised

I know I've been REALLY post lazy lately, but I was really busy before Winter Break at school and then I was really enjoying not doing anything during break. This post isn't much but I'm posting because I promised Wendy that I'd post before I went back to school. I leave in 5 minutes.

I seem to do better posting when I make promises because I'll do anything I can to NOT break them...so now to all of you that MAY be reading, I promise a better post on Wednesday night. I work tonight, have pep band Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday and then work the weekend...so Wednesday is it. I'll spend my down time between school and pep band on Tuesday preparing either one big post or a sting of smaller ones. See you then!