Funny game
This blog that I read on a regular basis Give Me The Booger posted a cool game that she had been wanting to try out. I thought I'd give it a whirl and post my results. Here's the deal:

You go to Google Images and search these terms. Post the first (or your favorite) picture the search engine finds. Here we go!

The name of the town you grew up in

The name of the town you now live

Your Name:

Her name is LaShada Allen. How does that translate to Kristin?

Your Favorite Food: pizza

Huh? Obviously this wasn't the first picture that showed up, but it was the funniest in relation to the word pizza.

Your Favorite Drink: Coke

I can't read the balloon, but it was something to do with snorting Coke.

Your Favorite Song: Since I can't ever decide, I just used what my current favorite song is. Gold Digger by Kanye West.

Last, Your Favorite Smell: I love the smell of Roast Beef cooking in my mom's kitchen! However, everything that came up was just not even funny.

What's even funnier is when you type in words like poop or fart into Google Images. Cuz I'm just that way.

Greetings from the city of boat sex scandals....this picture from our local radio station, KDWB, says it all.

:)

Although I am not a huge football fan (come to think of it, I've really gotten away from hockey and baseball too), it's still really disappointing to hear that your hometown team had to go and do something THAT STUPID. It's going to be a very long season indeed.

Forgot to mention, I think, that we started Lamaze classes a few weeks ago. We had our third class last night and it was better. Next week we tour the birthing center. I am a person who likes to visualize new experiences in my mind, so seeing where labor and delivery is going to be will be a huge help. Now, it's starting to come down to weighing the consequences of using epidurals, drugs, etc. I don't if I am out of the ordinary, but when they ask me what goals I have for giving birth, I just don't know. I don't have any. I just want to get the kid out, do it the best way I can, and without too much pain. I'm not into saying things like: I will not have drugs, I want to have it quiet, I want it soothing, I just don't have any clue. To me, it's like, you give birth. Done. I know there is more to it, but I guess I don't have any strong feelings in any areas that are pressing me to make goals. I feel very overwhelmed at the number of choices being presented to us not only with labor stuff, but also about what to buy for the kid and how to prepare for them. It honestly gives me a headache. This whole baby industry is a racket in my opinion. You don't need half the stuff the stores try to push on you anyway!

My first baby shower is Nov. 6th at Pam's, thrown by my family. Nov. 19th is the next one at my friend Jill's. I'm sure I'll feel more prepared after those events. The time is drawing nearer.

I went to physical therapy for my back yesterday. I've been struggling with lower back pain and my OB suggested I go and work with the PT to see if she could help me figure out what is going on. Turns out my right hip was out of whack, causing my pain, so she did some tissue adjustments and gave me exercises. I felt good last night, but today is tight again. Gotta get to those exercises tonight! That darn growing belly seems to be throwing things off. :)

Busy week at work-board retreat to get ready for. Thankfully, I don't have to go, just had to help get ready for it on top of doing my job and the admin assistant's job who was on vacation. Fine when I'm not pregnant-but it's harder to be on my feet as much then I realized. I'm ready for the weekend. No plans.

Friends Kelly and Bill had twins this week. Boy and a girl, about 4 weeks early. Sounds like all is well, but they'll be in the hospital for awhile. Babies everywhere! Or, it just seems like everyone is pregnant.

I met up with my TM gals that are pregnant (Alana and Jessie) and Jeannette (who is not!) the other night and had a great time. We all look different-even though we're due within 10 days of each other. Crazy! Hard to believe it happened this way too. We laughed at how crazy it would have been if we had still worked together!

My favorite song currently: Kanye West's "Gold Digger" with Jaime Fox. I'm not a Kanye fan (in fact, this is the first song of his that I've even heard) and I'm not a Hip Hop person either, but this song is catchy! And, with the old Ray Charles tune "I've got a Woman" as part of the song, it just rocks. I'm also still loving Brad Paisley's "Alcohol" tune.

Tyler's Confirmation

Just a few pictures to post from Tyler's event on Sunday. Hard to believe he is 16 and towers over both Sara and I, his godmothers!

The last shot is what I call "Heisman Tyler." I told him to do the pose of the Heisman Trophy! :)

Otherwise, things are some what busy but the same for us. We started Lamaze classes last week, continuing for the next 6 weeks. It's kind of retarded, but I'm sure we'll learn some stuff out of it. I went home last weekend, while Mike stayed to visit with his aunt from Florida. Mom and I drove down to Harmony to see Grandpa and Grandma. It gets harder and harder to see them. Grandma was having a pretty good day. She patted my belly and asked how long she had to wait before she could hold the baby. I'm glad that is still hanging in there with her. I just hope she is still doing ok when the baby comes.

I filled Grandpa in on my trip to Montour, and he was able to answer a few questions I had. We also got to talking about education, being smart, etc and he bragged BIG TIME about all 3 of his sons and how proud he was of their achievements! :)

I'm tired a lot lately as I move into my last trimester (28 weeks=7 months and 1 week) so I haven't gotten a whole lot done. My burgeoning belly is causing some major acid reflux at night and making getting comfortable a bit of a chore. Hopefully I can figure out some way to get comfortable soon!

Busy Week

This week has been busy at work, so not a lot of posting. Going to bed at 9pm and getting up really early does not agree with me so much. :)

Wanted to post a few things that the Webb clan may enjoy. Cousin Janet sent this picture to me recently.

This was the garage in Montour that was own/run by Jake and Vance. Grandpa was born in the house on the far right of the picture. Cool, huh?

This is Wayne pitching the ball to Vance, with Grandpa at the left. This was taken around 1951, at Vance and Julia's in Spring Valley. Obviously, Wayne is either just home from Korea or on leave.

This is Wayne, Dad, and Gus Price (Laurene's son) taken in 1976 on the front steps of Grandpa and Grandma's house in Burr Oak. Check out Wayne's shirt-better yet, check out my Dad's shirt! I have distinct memories of it for some reason. Dad, did you get that in Nashville?

Anyway, enjoy the trip down memory lane. :)

Stuff

After reading my cousin Molly's blog, I am insanely jealous that she is getting the new iPod Nano. It sounds SO cool. I have yet to even get even a regular iPod! I can't wait to hear how amazing it is. But, I do love my tiny off brand Mp3 player too.

We didn't do much this weekend, which was fine with me. Friday we stayed home and hung out, ate some take out from Carbone's and watched TV. Saturday, Madison decided that even though Daddy was already up, she was going to lick me from 7:30-9am until I got up. She eventually won. I spent most of the day cleaning the upstairs, doing laundry, etc. Mike washed the new vehicle (I keep forgetting to take a picture of it) and vacuumed it all.

Later, we went over to Matt and Jill's for the evening. They were childless for the night, so we went out to dinner and then sat in their new hot tub. No worries-the temperature was a lukewarm 97 degrees, so I am allowed to sit in there. It was like bath water and felt really good. I also had to break out the borrowed maternity swimsuit, which was oh so joyful. Thankfully it fit fine, it's just when you look in the mirror and see your belly hanging out that you're like, "gah". I am still gaining weight at a slow, but steady rate, which is fine with me.

The evening was late for us, which is unusual, so I slept in. Madison decided that 6:15am was the time to eat, but thankfully she went back to sleep this time. She is my shadow. On Sunday she stayed with me as I finished the laundry and was putting it all away. She tends to lay right on the bed, in the midst of it all, but she has to be near me. She even follows me into the bathroom lately and sits there. I've been wondering what that is all about? Maybe she is sensing more hormonal changes in me and is overprotective. This morning I was resting before work and reading a couple pages of my book and she put her paw in the middle of the page like, "Excuse me, pay attention to me!"

Mike worked on the basement yesterday and has gotten most of his framing done. The wiring will have to begin shortly, which he needs help on. Otherwise, it's moving along really well. I am very proud of all the work he has done on his own, since he's had no experience before. Although I am sure he enjoyed the beginning of the NFL season this past week, he is more then counting down the days until October 5th when the NHL season begins. (Which is ALSO Mario Lemieux's birthday, Sidney Crosby's debut, and our first Lamaze class, so he has to tape it all anyway!)

Post-Labor Day

Back to work, thankfully not back to school. :) Iowa was pretty fun, although gas prices made the trip in our new Durango rather expensive. I remember moaning a few months back that I had never paid $2/gallon before. Now, I've paid over $3.

We didn't get to Muscatine until after 11pm Wednesday night. We had to drop off Madison in Rochester and it seems like Hwy. 63 at night takes forever to drive on. Thursday morning I took off for Toledo, Iowa which is just under 2 hours from Muscatine. It was a nice drive, mostly all on I-80.

I enjoyed meeting Janet and Richard, who live on a farm at the edge of Tama and Toledo, which are two cities basically joined. To the West is Montour, where my grandfather was born. The rest of his siblings were all born in the area of these little towns as well. The house that Grandpa was born in is now gone, but I did see two other homes in the area that are of historic importance to our family. They are old, but well maintained and are still in use.

There isn't much to Montour anymore. There is a lumber yard and a restaurant, but that is pretty much it. My best explanation is that it looks much like Burr Oak does now and is about the same size.

I did get to visit the Maple Grove Cemetary, which is where Jake and Sina Webb are buried. These would be Grandpa Vance's parents. Also buried here are Vance's first wife (and Ethel's mother) Ingrid, Sina's sister Aunt Sadie, Grandpa's little brother Glendon who only lived a day, and a few other relatives.

Janet and Richard are a hoot and I enjoyed spending time with them both. They took me out to dinner at the Meskwakie Casino where they are both well known because they eat there often. What was most enjoyable was that they are quite liberal and we had many of the same views of current politics. For their age (early 70's) and occupation (farmers) I guess I would have thought they would have been more conservative. As I was leaving Richard said, "Well, Janet said you would be a delight, and you certainly are. Please come back and visit." Janet's response was, "Well, of course she is, she's a Webb isn't she?" :)

I didn't get back to Muscatine until about 11pm Thursday night, where Mike, Uncle Mike, and cousins were having a good time together. On Friday, I slept in and we pretty much just hung out through the day. Mike and Uncle Mike went to cousin Mitchell's sophomore football game and proceeded to embarrass Stephanie (Mike's daughter age 14).

Saturday morning the boys all got up bright and early and headed to Iowa City for the Hawkey vs. Ball State game. With a Hawkeye win of 56-0, they had fun. We left Sunday afternoon and headed for Rochester.

Madison was VERY happy to see us, enjoyed her stay with Grandpa and Grandma, and behaved really well. For some reason they have the best luck in wearing her out, so she slept all the way home and most of Monday too. We actually left her out of her kennel for an hour on Monday while we went to the grocery store and Menards, and she did not mess up anything. We were impressed and I hope that its a sign of things to come. Either that, or she was just too tired to get into trouble!

And so, our travels went well and it was nice to have a 5 day break. I'm officially entering my 6 month this week and head to the doctor next week for a check-up. The baby continues to be active and I'm feeling good.

No words for the Katrina devestation-it's overwhelming to watch and my heart goes out to all of them.

Johnny Knoxville or my sister-in-law on MTV's Jackass?

Okay, when we were up north a few weeks ago, Patti decided to find her mom's old wheelchair and see if she could take it down the hill by their house. You know, kind of like a Jackass stunt? Well, it worked. And it worked so well, that she went off the dock at one point, into the lake! Anyway, the above picture is of her as she went flying by me.

Imagine this being your backyard? This is the view you get from looking out the living room window of Mike's parent's home. Nice, huh? This is a great shot of Madison's first trek of being off her leash fetching a tennis ball out of the lake. She loved it-and especially loved biting at the waves coming in. Mike calls this picture: Man, his dog, his lake.

This is Madison and Jesse, who was visting this weekend. Madison enjoyed sharing his blanket, although she really wanted to lick him! Jesse, on the other hand, loved looking at her.

A Dog's Life. What more could you ask for then this? This is how you will find Madison on most nights, in the living room on the couch, all spread out.

A quick side-note as well: Mike was able to feel the baby kick last night for the first time. He was pretty happy I think! I was feeling some major league kicks going on, so I told him I just couldn't imagine that he wouldn't be able to feel them. Sure enough, BOOM! There it was. In fact, it was such a hard kick, we saw my belly move twice where that little kick came from. How cool is that? :) We enjoyed the experience a lot.

It is, indeed, a baby!

On Friday, Mike & I were thrilled to see our first born live, in-concert, weighing in at 13 oz. at the doctor's office. There was a lot of movement of hands and feet and after that day, I have felt nothing but real kicks, no longer those little pokes and prods. It really is an amazing process how they can view our children before they are born. What's even more amazing is that I can share it with my friends and family via technology.

We do not know the sex of the baby, and don't plan on finding out. I'm happy to be surprised. All is well, everything looks great, sounds great. Tests have all come back normal. And if you look carefully on the chest, you will see a little white dot which is the heart. COOL!

Summer is officially close to being over because the Great Minnesota Get Together aka State Fair begins tomorrow. I think we'll head over there on Friday night, which seems to be a nice, low key night. Saturday, the Seegmiller gals are coming up with Jesse to spend the night with us while we attend the first Ethiopia Day at the Children's Home Society through which Jesse was adopted. Otherwise, I'm hoping to catch up on some rest and Mike want's to work on the basement.

We are heading to Iowa next week for a visit to Muscatine. I'm taking a day to drive over to central Iowa (Toledo) to visit my dad's cousin Janet. I have not met her (Maybe when I was a baby?) but she also does family history and I've wanted to visit the area that Grandpa Webb was raised. There I should also be able to see the graves of my great-great grandparents Webb too. Looking forward to that.

Might buy a vehicle tonight-will let you know more later.

Who liked Anchorman?

Last summer when the Legend of Ron Burgandy came out, Mike and I went to see it with Pat and Lyn. I was the only one that laughed. The other three thought it was dumb.

Okay...is it because I had a degree in Journalism and wanted to BE an anchorperson that I thought this movie was funny? Is it because I love Will Ferrell? Is it because I have seen up close how local reporters can become small time celebrities? (Or at least think they are?)

I'm not sure what the answer is. But, I do now have Mike hooked on this movie. It might just be one of those movies you have to watch a few times before it becomes funny. Since it's been on HBO this summer, we now own this movie. The reason? We just couldn't stop saying the phrases that come out of Ron Burgandy's mouth. Examples:

"By beard of Zeus!"
"Great Odin's Raven!"
"Knight's of Columbus, that hurt!"
"Uncle Jonathan's Corn Cob Pipe!"
"Sweet Lincoln's Mullet!"

We have also become huge fan's of Steve Carell, now seen on NBC's The Office. (And, he also has a new movie coming out today called The 40 Year Old Virgin). Two favorite Steve lines:

"I'm Brick Tamland. People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks. Years later, a doctor will tell me I have an I.Q. of 48 and am what some people call mentally retarded."

and

Ron: "Um, Brick, before I let you go, are you still having your celebrity golf tournament?"
Brick: "Um, no, no. Too many people died last year, so we're not gonna."

I am also fond of Will Ferrell's conversations with the dog in the movie. When Madison was barking at me the other day, I looked at her and said, "What? You pooped in the refridgerator? You ate the whole wheel of cheese? I'm not even mad, I'm impressed."

Guess where I got that from?

Yes, I'm a dork.

As I always do on this date, I have to take a moment to honor the King.

Elvis Presley died 28 years ago today. Long live the King of Rock-n-Roll.

On to other things...

We had our 13th Annual Garness Family Camp-out this past weekend. It was honestly one of the most low key events we've ever had! The Winnebago Bowl did not occur-no one seemed interested in playing football this year. Instead, a bunch of them played a card game called In Between and lost a lot of money! No thanks...

Weather was great-not hot, not cold. No one was decorated-except Randy's tent. Randy ate so much Saturday night that he ended up going to bed at 10pm. This did not cut it with the crew so they decked out his tent with TP and twist tied the zipper to his door shut. Much giggling at 2:30 AM happened! Sadly, this pregnant lady was in bed by 12:30am both nights, so I didn't get in on much. :) Here are a few pictures of the families that attended:

Jesse after trying Banana's for the first time.

My Aunt Charm with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren!

Mike and I-too bad you can't see the new shirt I'm wearing. It's a picture of John Schneider from his Bo Duke days. It says "Bo-delicious!" I was in love with him when I was about age 6. My belly isn't very 'showy' in some shirts, but it's definitely popping out.

And I must add as a note to my brother's blog about our visit to Moonlight Graham's grave-last week I finally purchased the DVD of Field of Dreams (I only had it on VHS) as well as the novel it's based on, Shoeless Joe.

We also have an ultrasound scheduled for this Friday, so we'll be able to see our kiddo in real time. Should be interesting! Otherwise, just recovering from our weekend. We're heading up north this weekend to hang out in Babbitt. Fingers crossed that the weather is good.

Mike just sent this to me. Today is one of those days that I'd love to start saying that at work!

I figured everyone was probably tired of looking at the picture of New Kids on the Block for 2 weeks, so I should post something.

Speaking of New Kids, I just had lunch with my best friend Jess that was my fellow NKOTB freak in JH. She, her brother, and her daughters were up at the MOA to do some shopping, so I met them at Bubba Gump's for lunch. Her bro, Jordan, is a senior at Luther College and I hadn't seen him in probably 5 years. I used to help BABYSIT this kid! And now he's a card carrying Republican, majoring in PolySci, and spent a semester in DC this year working for Republican National Committee. Where did we go wrong with him? Just kidding. :) It was fun to see them all. We had to ask him if he remembered certain things we had done to him as a kid-some of which he did remember! Example: "Jordan, go get us the Doritos out of the kitchen." At age 4, his response was: "Okay." 2 years later his response was: "Do it yourself." Then there was the time we left him sitting on the toilet for 2 hours while we watched a movie because he refused to wipe his own butt at age 3! I seriously feel bad about that one! Thankfully, that was one incident he doesn't remember! :)

Gotta love what you can do to younger siblings.

Doing a lot of reading lately, sitting outside in the heat with Madison as she plays in her kiddie pool. In the evenings, it's actually quite tolerable to sit out front of our house. Yesterday, it cooled down and felt awesome. The neighbor lady's dog had puppies 9 weeks ago, so we went to see them last night. SO CUTE! There are 6 left from a litter of 9. 3 were adopted. The father is a golden retriever mix, mother is a boxer/lab mix, so there colors are all over the place. 2 of the puppies look like the mother, but one is black, the other is tan. The rest are a mix of colors and all resemble goldens. Soft, sweet, so cute. Madison doesn't know what to think. One of them tried to pick up her tail as if it were a toy and run away with it! Mike and I both had one that we particularly liked, but have to keep ourselves from caving. We just got out of the puppy stage-don't need to go back to it yet!

Mike's cousin Mikey is visting us this weekend. Mike picked him up in Waterloo yesterday. Today they are going to Minneapolis to Block E to a cool arcade, lunch at the new Hard Rock, and then on to the Twins v. Boston game. Mikey's fave player is Manny Ramirez, who is not playing because he ran into his teammate on the field and is hurt!

Mike was thrilled to see new Pittsburgh Penguin Sidney Crosby on Jay Leno last night. I haven't seen Mike this excited about hockey since Mario came back in 2000. It will be fun to have an NHL season back.

On the baby front, I officially have a 'belly'. It seems in the last couple of days that it has popped out significantly and people at work have started to actually say, "wow, you look pregnant." I haven't gained more then 2lbs, so it's not too big. I am feeling movement here and there, but nothing major. It's still hard for me to tell. My belly button is stretching, it itches constantly, and my belly is now HARD all the time. One thing I didn't realize-don't lay down on your stomach because it is not comfortable! I was on the floor reaching underneath something to retrieve Madison's ball and my belly was rebelling! Otherwise, I am feeling a lot better. Just tired on certain days, but I feel like I've finally turned a page and gotten over that hump. Back to the doc on Tuesday for a monthly check-up.

My mom is coming up tonight to stay over. Barry is in Fargo at the Tronderlag event (those Tronders know how to party). Next weekend is camping. August is pretty much full!

Have a great weekend.

Ahh, remember the good old days? I came across this picture recently of New Kids on the Block. And now, I just can't help but think, DORKS! Seriously, I still will always have fond memories of how they took over my life for about 3 years. :)

If anyone of my family/friends have finished the new Harry Potter book, will you please email me so we can discuss?!? Mike has not even started it yet and I need to talk to someone about the events that ocurred in this 6th book! They was a lot to process and much to be anticipated. It took me from Saturday afternoon-Monday afternoon to read it. Then I re-read the last 5 chapters just to make sure I could take everything in again. All I have to say is: WOW! It was a good book. Now I'm just in that post-Harry Potter funk.

Heat Wave....

It's HOT in Minnesota-hotter then it's been in a long time! 90's since last week. Madison has acquired a plastic kiddie pool from the neighbors and is loving her time spent in there. She likes to dig which is a riot to watch as the water splashes all over the place. Although she won't get herself completely wet (as in lay down) she does enjoy walking around in it and putting her entire face in the water. And I like wading in it too when it's this hot!

We had a nice vacation. It was nothing major, just lots of time with family and relaxing. My nieces have grown in both height and maturity-which is a joy to witness each time we see them. Grandma took them shopping, we all went to the Mall of America one day as well, so they are equipped with a variety of new things for school this Fall.

For the third year in a row we went canoeing on the Upper Iowa River with my dad, step-sister Janelle, aunt Diane, cousin Allie and her boyfriend, cousin Tyler, Mike, and the rest of us. Beautiful day-not intensely hot and the river was ideal. We really enjoy the leisurely ride down the river taking in the scenery and the wildlife. The kids love the water and it's always a treat to see them swimming at "Big Rock"-the 4th generation to do so. It's amazing to think that my Grandma Webb learned to swim there, as did my dad. I highly recommend going to Bluffton, Iowa and renting a canoe from Randy's Bluffton Store.

We also spent an afternoon in Forestville, a small town in SE MN. It is no longer a working town, but had it's hey day at the turn of the century. It's now a re-creation with people in character talking about life in the late 1800's. I had never been there, considering I grew up less then 45 minutes from there. We all enjoyed it.

Otherwise, I did not feel very well most of the week due to allergies and pregnancy. I was bummed because there was a lot more I would have liked to have done with the girls and my family, but my energy just did not allow for much. I complained to my doctor on Tuesday, who in turn prescribed my old allergy medicine and said to go back to it and see if it makes me feel better. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

This week at the appointment I did hear the baby's heart beat, which is always a thrill. However, yesterday I do believe I felt the first kicks of our little bundle. It was fairly consistent through the day, on both sides of my belly, so I'm thinking this might be it. It's early-just 15 weeks, but the experts say it can begin to happen between 14-18 weeks. While the doctor was monitoring the heart beat, it kept fading away which was due to movement as well. Pretty cool.

Mike is beginning work on the basement this weekend. His final paper is due in just 3 weeks, so I am also giving him a limited time to do basement stuff, and then back to the paper again! Hey, he asked that I be the hard ass, so I am!

We also received an email this week that our friends Amy and Cris, in California, had a baby girl on Monday evening. Welcome Kylie! Looking at the pictures they sent made it suddenly seem much more real to me that we are having one of our own soon. :) Congrats to the happy family.

Have a good weekend!

If I have a baby this large, please shoot me now. This little girl in Wisconsin weighed 13lbs, 12oz. And I thought my brother was big at 10lbs 1oz! Her parents call her the "Big Enchilada."

He's back!

Mike is now back to the blogging world, after taking time off because of school. I've added a link to his site here on mine.

I also encourage you to read my friend Jeannette's new blog about her adventures in Hawaii. She is a GREAT writer and I love to read what she's up to.

I can't wait for this week to end. Vacation begins on Friday at 3pm. I'm looking forward to the break down in Rochester. We have Jesse's baptism, a Mall of America trip with the NY Webb's, canoeing the Upper Iowa, and hopefully a few family history research treks. (Those would be mine-I've got a few places I want to check out.) Mainly, I just can't wait to hang out with all of my family and relax. The only thing that would make it perfect would be if we had the lake from Mike's parent's place to be at as well!

I hope to get through a book or two while relaxing too. I finally finished Clinton's autobiography after starting it last summer. It was a lot of information to process, but I enjoyed it overall. I will say it again: I miss the guy being president. He is my JFK for my generation. He had the ideas that I have, wanted to accomplish the things I wanted to see, and had hope, love, and respect for our nation in the same way that I do. To me, he is a Great American. I guess what I liked the most is that he has all the same faults that we do. And he wasn't afraid to admit to them. That's my take on him.

I'm also reading a book Pat lent to me about the Wright Brother's. It's really interesting to see how passionate these two brothers were to change history forever. My brother's love of flying is contagious-our entire family has all taken a second look at it and hopefully tried to learn more too.

Last Dog Class tomorrow, then Madison goes to the Vet for shots on Thursday. She is my bestest friend-this morning when I was throwing up in the bathroom, she stayed right next to me. How could you ask for more?

Kristin and some Rants of the Day


'Just take those old records off the shelf'...
and then move over for Tom Cruise Psychiatry

I downloaded the interview between Matt Lauer and Tom Cruise today, because I wanted to hear what happened in their discussion over anti-depressants. Holy crap! Tom Cruise is....I don't even know what he is anymore. I understand that he doesn't agree with drugs-that's fine. A lot of people don't believe in anti-depressants. But what got to me was that he was claiming to be an expert, and that psychiatry is a lot of 'bunk', and that he knew the research. He totally got in Matt's face and was rude, inappropriate, and to be honest, if Matt would have just punched him the face to get his attention, it would have rocked.

I guess I never realized how against psychiatry the whole Scientology thing was.

Matt asked a simple question about Brooke Shield's and her use of anti-depressants for post-pardom depression-it worked for her. How come it works for her, but Tom Cruise says she shouldn't have used them? The guy wouldn't answer the question. Yow.

Matt Lauer was awesome. He hung in there. He didn't get his questions answered, but he pushed back against a guy who is using Katie Holmes for a lot of personal gain, in my opinion.

It's been a long time since something like this got me so riled. To quote Roscoe P. Coletrain: "You dipstick."

Another retarded couple: Kevin and Britany

I read a review of Britany Spears and Kevin Federline's show "Chaotic". It said that those two made Nick and Jessica on "Newlyweds" look like Mensa candidates. That was hilarious!

Karl Rove
I won't go there. You know my feelings on using the terms 'liberal' and 'conservative'.

A new look

It was time for something new, so I changed up the template a bit. My HTML background is kind of coming back to me again.

Parents and Aunt are back from the Motherland, as my brother said. Sounded like a great trip and I can't wait to see all the pictures. They were a happy, but tired bunch when I picked them up on Sunday. Nice to have them home.

I received 2 emails this week that were surprising and full of good news. My former co-worker Jessi, and my former boss Alana, (from the TM experience) are both pregnant and due January 16th, and January 10th respectively. I'm due January 6th, so I guess we'll all just get to be pregnant together! So ironic. Alana has Dylan, who just turned a year old this month, otherwise this is the first for Jessi and Chris too.

Madison did much better at dog class last night. I was happy. She loves being around other dogs too.

Mike had his last graduate class last night, and is now just one thesis away from having his Masters Degree. WHOOHOO!

And, we might have to buy a new car because the Grand Prix is close to dying. More later on that.

Last, I bought the COOLEST Johnny Cash poster on Ebay yesterday for $3 bucks. I swooped in with 3 minutes to spare, and pretty much grabbed it. Can't wait to see it up close. I'm still thinking that if we have a boy, his middle name should be Cash. How cool would that be??? It can't be Elvis or I will never hear the end of it!

SUN, Blessed Be the Sun

We have 4 straight days of good weather-today being the 2nd day. After all the rain we have had, I can't tell you how great this feels!

I had inquiry today from awesome TMer friend/former co-worker Jeannette as to whether blogging was something she should give a try. Since she is spending her summer in Hawaii housesitting, I told her that we, the dorks in MN, would want to hear all about her adventures in the beautiful Aloha state! After giving her 2 good examples of blogs, I hope to welcome her soon.

This week we hit our first milestone in the pregnancy-Mike and I heard the heart beat of the baby! It was very cool and made it seem so much more real. Mike announced that I have an 'alien' in my stomach. :) The first signs of a belly are starting. Very small, but I can definitely notice how the flab just isn't there anymore because it's starting to stretch and get tight! My energy level is starting to come back somewhat, and the nausea has taken a good backseat for the most part.

Madison began a 3 week refresher class called Better Dog 1.5-she has much to remember! We had an enjoyable first class on Wednesday with only 2 other doggie classmates. This will make for more attention and hopefully better results. The two other dogs are a 10 month old mix of spaniel and something really large, like a doberman. His name is Henry and weighs 70lbs, and is HUGE. The other is a little terrier/poodle mix, cutest face, 10 months too, name Maggie. Madison likes them both and wants to play of course! We hope to work on the jumping issue because we are concerned about that with the baby coming. She loves to jump on the neighbor kids because they are closer to her size.

Mike's big thrill this week was meeting one of his sports heroes, NASCAR drive Rusty Wallace! Rusty is retiring after this season and is making his "last call" tour around the US. Mike was able to get his autograph, shake his hand, and have his picture taken. It was very cool for him and I'm glad that I found out about it at the last minute!

This weekend we are driving down to Albert Lea to a 30th birthday party for a college friend. Otherwise, we'll be picking up Mom, Barry and Pam at the airport on Sunday evening where they'll return from their 2 weeks in Norway. I spoke with Mom on Monday and they sound like they are having an amazing time. The highlight so far had been that they were able to hold the violin of their great-grandfather, Benedik Thoreson, who was a famous fiddler in Norway. Mom searched for him for 5 long years and the rewards have been worth it. Probably the best reward was when Mom finally received a photo of Benedik, she showed it to her Uncle Ernest, who had never met his grandfather. Ernest just stood and stared at the photo with tears in his eyes and then said, "Thank you so much." Then he joked, "He was pretty handsome too!" Mom has said many times how much that moment made everything worth it. And now, holding the fiddle, there is just no comparing!

My grandfather turned 90 years old on Monday. What a milestone! Pat told me last night that Paige had said, "Well, now maybe he can make 100 his goal!"

Paige has been asking also what everyone thinks I'm going to have-a boy or a girl. It's so cute that she is excited about this!

We are in the process of picking out names and have come up with the girl name, and down to 3 boy names so far. Anyone that wants to send suggestions (Serious ones-not Seymour Butts or something) we'll be happy to hear them! Uncle Tom has already let us know that Tom is a great name! :)

And I'm excited to listen to the Podcast, 5 minutes with Witchita, which I downloaded today. I'm already really liking Adam Curry's Sourcecode a lot.

Congrats to Molly and Paul for a successful Bonnaroo 2005-I enjoyed reading about your adventures!

Have a great weekend everyone. Happy Father's Day!

Couple things...

-Dad, quit posting at 2:20AM and you might not get so frustrated. :)
-My parents are in Norway with my Aunt Pam. Uff da.
-Cousin Allie graduated from H.S. I feel old.
-Thanks to Pat for introducing to me to Adam Curry's podcast. I love it.
-MP3 players are just cool.
-I had to buy maternity pants.
-Mike has two weeks of school left. Yay!
-Today is Friday. I am happy. 3 more weeks and I have vacation.
-Today is Uncle Charlie's birthday. Happy Birthday!
-It is also my cousin Jenni's birthday and my cousin Ryan's birthday.

I have had a lot of time to think lately, as traffic has been particularly heavy. This time of year marks a date that I struggle with at times. June 10th was the day my step-sister Mary was killed in a car accident in 1991.

At the time, our parents weren't married, but we'd sure known each other long enough. I guess long enough to know that our parents would probably get married to each other eventually. We didn't always get along. Probably because we were so close in age and our maturity levels were different. She tended to act younger, I wanted to hang out with her older brother Matt. She still liked to play dolls at age 12, I was on to other things. But at 16, we had both gotten our licenses, it was almost summer, and we were starting to connect and looking forward to hanging out. I think a lot of it too was that our parents weren't forcing us to get together, but that we could do it on our own agenda.

Needless to say, losing someone at 16, who is the same age as you, was life altering and scary. It was unreal and threw me off course for a good 3 months. None of my friends knew what to say to me, they left me alone when I really needed them, and I was deathly afraid to sleep by myself that entire summer. Plus, my mother had to deal with her own grief, deal with me, and try her best to help Barry get through what was the most difficult time in his life.

I guess what struck me to write about this is a conversation I had with my uncle Charlie a few weeks ago. We were just chatting about stuff and started discussing dreams that people have about their loved ones that passed away. I had a number of good/bad ones about Mary for a year after she died. Charlie mentioned that he still remembered what he was doing and where he was when Pam called to tell him that Mary had died. It threw everyone.

When I drive down to Muscatine with Mike to visit his relatives, I have to drive that same stretch of road that Mary was killed on. They have now re-routed traffic and created a bypass around the city of New Hampton because there had been so many accidents attributed to that spot. And even though I know now that it's changed, I still subconsciously worry each time that Mike drives down there.

That day remains the hardest day of my life, with my grandmother's funeral ranking only second. My father splitting from my mother near Christmas is also on that list. But I can remember the details so vividly from that day it scares me. When I feel myself trying to recall June 10, 1991, I shut it down. The memories are too painful to even think about.

Overall, the reason I wrote this, was out of therapy. Yesterday I sat in my car on my way home from work and just cried for Mary. It's been 14 years, and a DAY does not go by that I don't think of her. And what got to me was how unfair, damn unfair, that she can't be here with me to celebrate turning 30. She's frozen at 16. I'm having this baby, and I wish she were here to have a family too and go through these milestones with me. We went to the cemetary to put in her urn on Memorial Day and I just couldn't stand it. I haven't felt this way for a long time, but the enormous burden of it all just came crashing down yesterday.

I miss her. And I guess I always will.