ugh

Why does blogger sometimes leave big spaces in between text and pictures? When I preview it it looks just fine, then I post and it gets reformatted. Yuk!

Treasure Hunting

Laid-back weekends to do whatever I want are my absolute favorite. PLUS, today is just gorgeous, so it makes it even better.

Ryan's helping a friend's uncle move, so I decided to go to Hudson to see if there were any garage sales and work my way over to Stillwater. I'm beginning to think that Hudson has the BEST garage sales--I always find treasures. :) The one garage sale I went to was way out in the middle of the boonies but I kept following the signs and finally found it. I found this great milk can for only $5. I'm thinking of putting a round glass top on it to make it a small table. I also bought these 3 bottles at that sale for a quarter. They make cute vases for my daisies!

I went to my favorite shops in Stillwater, but only bought one thing. They have so much awesome stuff there. Kind of expensive, and it stinks knowing that all that stuff would be so easy to make! I like the quote on the thing I got, and I think I'm finally satisfied with how my "ledge" looks. That was the finishing touch.

Here's both sides of the ledge (the white hangey thing is the new thing):

...and here's the quote:

To laugh often, to win the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded! -Emerson

I might get around to finishing the painting of our kitchen, but who knows. Enjoy the beautiful weekend!

The dog that thinks he's a cat...

I've posted lots of flower pics, but these are extra important because I didn't buy them myself...

That's right.

They are actually from my husband.

Yup.

Someone was in the doghouse. :)

Not anymore!

Fiesta

Ryan threw a mexican "freedom" fiesta yesterday for one of his best friends to replace the bachelor party that won't be occuring. It wasn't the best terms for a get-together, but a nice day and a good time (mostly).

Anything for our Nick E C. :) He's quite the guy, and it was nice to see lots of people turn out to show the love.

Note: Ryan's moustache was SOLELY for the purpose of the fiesta and will hopefully be removed now!!!

Project

I saw this idea quite awhile ago and have been wanting to do it every since. Christy and I did some major scrapbook shopping on Thursday at MOA's Archivers, and I had to promise not to "scrapbook" since we have a scrapbooking retreat in about a month.

This project was not scrapbooking.

It was pretty time consuming and hard to make perfect (don't look close--LOTS of imperfections, for sure).

Still, I absolutely L-O-V-E it. It makes me very happy.

I like things to be very balanced and linear, so it was fun getting each piece in the right spot. I felt like I was putting together a puzzle. This could pose a problem since I can see myself doing a few more of these... I'm sure Ryan likes squares too. :)

Now, I'm off to spend the day at the park for fiesta de la libertad Nick e c. Should be fun on this beautiful sunny day. I will, no doubt, have some interesting pictures from this.

Happy Weekend!

On a brighter note...

...I took some pictures of the weekend and might as well do something somewhat productive other than complain about my crabbiness. It was actually a good weekend despite my inner turmoil. :)

Saturday-- Ryan and I went canoeing with our friends Trisha, Kari & Tyler. The forecast was for sunshine and clear skies. We got rained on. Not just once--on and off all day. Despite that, it was fun! We ate some bar food in New Richmond then went to Kari & Ty's for board games. Pretty sure that we're going to be champions at that game at the rate we play it when we're together.

THIS is the truck I have been driving for the past 3 weeks. AND YES. We actually drove the truck like this with more than 1/2 a canoe hanging out the end. Boys!

Me, Kari, and Trisha. We bought sunscreen, but really only needed our umbrellas. Sad!!! (This is right before we got in the canoes)

Sunday-- Slept in. Woke up crabby, but was able to be productive anyway. I went to Home Depot rihgt away for spray paint and flowers. I painted my rocking chair (hurray!!!) and planted all the flowers at the front of our house. Looks pretty good if you ask me. Then, I went on a 10-12 mile bike ride. Still crabby ;). I do love Sundays though and now my favorite way to end them is with Extreme Makeover Home Edition and Desperate Housewives. They're both season finales though, boo hoo.

My once blue but now "dark gray" rocking chair.

Crabby

That's me.

C-R-A-B-B-Y.

It's not just today. Not yesterday. I'm pretty sure it started around Monday. I have never felt SO long-term crabby. Not just a little bummed or irritable, I'm talking BIG TIME-crabby-just ask my husband-yell at the dog-frustrated-irritated at everything-shouldn't call my mother- should dig a hole and go in it for a few days-for not particular reason in the world-crabby.

This is a crabby that no chocolate can cure and I'm not sure why I can't shake it. It's annoying (which helps the crabbiness).

I can't put my finger on it (and no, it isn't just a certain time of the month).

Ugh.

Stear clear of me, I'm definately not a pleasant person to be around right now.

Treasures

Ryan and I did 5 hours of garage saling last Friday looking for treasures. I didn't have any luck...he did (if you consider a neon sign that says OPEN a treasure like he does!). BUT, the next day, my mom and I went in LaCrosse and I found 3 treasures (again, Ryan and I have differing views of garage sale treasures, that is for sure!!!).

My very favorite one is my rocking chair. It's old, it's blue, and it is fabulous. I'm painting it black or dark brown so it won't be blue for long, but if it is possible to adore an object, I do.
























The chair has now made my new very favorite place in our house. I love my little rocking chair nook. And, I have to point out the other garage sale finds in this picture: the lamp (which is part of a 3-lamp set) and the wood crate. These are both treasures from previous years of garage sales. *SIGH*. I sure do love those.

Suburban Troublemakers

These guys are everywhere lately. They block traffic on main streets, they think they own the place, but this morning, they touched a little too close to home.






I woke up to HONK, HONK, HONK...HONK....HONK.

I went to let Tytan out and there, perched atop the two houses behind us, are 4 of them. Right at the very peak of the rooftop. Troublemakers!




Ryan, who didn't get home from work til 5am, is trying to sleep. If they keep this honking up, it's a good thing Ryan doesn't keep a bb gun up here. Darn birds. Just like the roommate in Failure to Launch and the mockingbird. Could be unpleasant. :)
























Hard to see, but if you look closely, there are definatley 4 of them. They didn't just perch and fly away again either. Oh no. They're still there.

Week 5

Down 1.4 for a total of 12.6

I decided to buy myself flowers at Trader Joes to celebrate. :)

Summer

Summer is just around the corner (Finally!) I have really high hopes for it too.

1. Amanda's Wedding--June 13th
2. Brad's Wedding--June 26th-29th in Decorah
3. Witcraft Family Reunion-- July 17th-20th
4. Family Jellystone Vacation-- July 24th-28th
5. A few camping trips--Ryan and I only went once last summer (with Jeff and Steph) but we recently purchased a lantern and a sleeping bag. Better make use of them!
6. A road trip! Ryan's brother Ben bought an RV this weekend. We're planning on heading out west sometime this summer for a road trip (no sandbars for us, Jeff, and Steph this year).
7. My first 5k--TBD
8. I want to try kayaking for the first time...somewhere!
9. A visit to Christy and Baby Connor will be due sometime (with some scrapbooking, of course!)
10. I'll have to leave this option open. Only time will tell what the summer will bring!

Super cool

We went to my parents this weekend for Mother's Day. Anna and I snuck outside yesterday during the day and ran around. We ended up picking dandelions in a little patch of grass. I started making Anna a dandelion crown. She was watching me put it together and all of a sudden said:

"Sarah, you're sil...soooo super cool!" (Kids! So easy to please!)

5k?

I want to run a 5k! Not tomorrow or anything, but sometime this summer! I actually really LIKE to run and it will keep getting easier and easier as I keep losing weight (not to mention that it will HELP me to lose weight, of course!).

So, the question is which one?

June 8th-- Dakota Communities Walk on the Wild Side (Como Zoo)
June 21st-- Challenge Cancer 5k (Como Lake)

There's a couple of options. I'll have to find a buddy and get working! Once I'm signed up there will be no turning back.

PS--I ran tonight while Ryan rollerbladed with Tytan. Phew! I'm pooped!
PSS--Of course, I didn't run the WHOLE time. It was good motivation to have Ryan with me though.

Its a G R E A T Day!

I think I said "I love my job!" a lot today.

I went to Cub and bought like 14 bouquets of assorted flowers and then spent about 2 hours seperating them all into little vases for our RNs and LPNs for RN appreciation month (some people do a week, we do a month). I think I will be a floral designer in my next life. :) I don't think it can get much better than playing with flowers and making people happy! PS--NOT my money. ;)

Then, I got to teach a class that I really have fun with. The class was about making work fun, investing in staff, and creating a good work environment. Check. We watch the FISH video, which, if you have never seen it, is really a good video for the workplace. http://www.pikeplacefish.com/

My work is so great because I really get to do the things that I really like to do on a daily basis. Sometimes I think that all people feel that way, then I realize THAT isn't true. I was talking to someone at work about it today, and she determined that within our company a lot of people get to do the things they really like and the things they're really good at. So...not a lot of grumpy people or complainers around here. Isn't that awesome?

Then, to end the day, I rode my bike to my weigh-in and lost another 2.4. That's 11.2 lbs total! (4 MEDIUM CANTELOUPES!!!)

It's a G R E A T Day!