And It's On!

 We put our tree up last night. Well, actually, the Husband did while I was at work. He left off the ornaments and decorations but at least got it up. The kidlets have been running around ever since, really excited about having it up finally, and my house doesn't seem so bare now. I told the kidlets they get to stay up a little later tonight so that when I get off of work, we can put the decorations up together.

 Growing up, we ever had any traditions. So creating traditions with my kidlets is so important to me. One of our traditions is our yearly ornaments. Everybody gets a new ornament from Hallmark each year. And as we hang them up, we talk about that year's Christmas. It's quite nice and makes us appreciate the memories more. 

 Tomorrow after I get off of work, we get to drive down to Minot and get our family pictures done. Later than I liked but life got crazy and busy and I forgot. We only do family pictures once a year so when it is time, I get really excited for them. I like seeing how my family is changing, the kidlets are growing another year older, and putting another picture up on our wall which is yet one more year for us, together : ) That's always a wonderful accomplishment. One I never hold for granted either. 

 We got some possible good news the other day. Abel finally, FINALLY, got fitted for his contact lens. It will supposedly be here in a week. And supposedly, the railroad wants to put him back to work right back as a student engineer. I'm not supposed to get my hopes up but really? How can I not? 

 So. How is everyone else doing with the holiday season? I like to wish people "Happy Holidays". I got sassed at for doing that. Let me remind everyone, my family celebrates two holidays. And this year they fall at the same time. So on the day we celebrate Christmas, we are also still celebrating Hanukkah. I am so over the lectures of how rude I am to not wish someone a Merry Christmas. Really?! Okaaaay....Don't let me trip over your ego trip but umm when was the last time someone actually wished me a Happy Hanukkah? Never mind the fact that everyone knows I'm Jewish and all. Ugh. Sometimes, Christians are the ones to make the biggest issues out of nothing. Everyone is supposed to do it their way, give them respect, and watch what they say or do around them but when do things go the other way?

  I have a friend who judges and criticizes everything everyone does to him and says it strictly out of love and according to God. He's better than anyone. Does everything better. And God forbid someone do something different than they do. But when someone approaches this guy, to tell him he's being an asshole rude or doing something not cool, you are a jerk and get them silent treatment for a few weeks. What would you do? Because I have done the whole "tell them how you feel" thing, and he called me dramatic. I. Am only slightly dramatic thankyouverymuch. And I. Am also honest. Straightforward. I annoy people because sometimes, I call them out on stuff. If I, or anyone else, come to you telling you that you have done something to hurt my (their) feelings, upset me (or them), or generally just pissed me (or them) off, at least apologize and be a big enough person to try to fix things. Brushing a person off is pathetic. And not changing anything is too. When I say something to you, and try to talk to you about how I feel, I really do it because I care. If I don't care about someone, I don't try to talk to them or get very personal at all. I keep a distance because you bug me to pieces but because I know nothing will change, I keep my distance. I have lots of friends. Some who even read this. But. Very close friends who I tell everything to or feel I can approach in an honest straightforward way? Not a lot. But in that category it is more about quality than quantity. 

 WIth that said, my first honest post is done. I'm going to begin my laundry and dishes so that I can get my child from school and get ready for work. Ugh work. We had a wonderful debate on that subject a few days ago. Welfare and work and being a mother and such. I impressed a lot of people older than me on my views on all of the above. I'd probably piss a lot off on here, lol. 

 So people, time to jet. Have a fabulous day! 

Rules, Chaos, and Holidays.

Ahhh December. The beautiful snow. Holiday music. Family and friends hanging out. Christmas specials on TV. Annnnnnnnd two or three weeks of stress. I love this time of year!

It's not really all that bad. It does get stressful and I should have done better this year. I once again left everything to last minute and I am feeling the stress of it. I have ornaments to finish creating to send off for my family ornament exchange, I have Hanukkah gifts to buy for my kidlets. Hanukkah and Christmas menus to plan. Christmas pictures to get done ad cards finished and sent off. And decorating, putting up the tree and getting things done. Agggh!

Just kidding.

Sorta.

So today I bought the first of the gifts. I bought a really cute inflatable bouncy trampoline thing. Bug and Bean tend to love jumping on the guest bed and it drives me insane. Utterly insane. So I caved and bought this contraption that is small enough to fit in my dining room and yet big and bouncy enough to let them bounce their little hearts out. And gives them an option to let out all their energy while we hibernate in our house this winter. I thought it was perfect.

We are doing our holidays differently this year. Hanukkah and Christmas both. I'm pretty excited about it. And they will fall together which will be great. The kidlets get one big gift for Christmas plus a stocking full of small goodies, plus whatever else they get from family and friends, and then they get their one gift a night during Hanukkah. So no massive overload and yet no going without. Now hopefully I don't ruin the latkes and all will be grand : )
 In other news, I am unsure of what's going on in life right now. It's always great when God topsy turvys it and you have no idea what is going on. So we take it one day at a time. Life is pretty much the same except that Husband has decided to be done with the railroad. He has pride as does any man and I don't blame him but, sadly, I was very attached to the paychecks. So the hard part is compensating for less money which totally sucks. But is hopefully very temporary because husband is also wanting to go work on the oil rigs. Boy that would be nice.......
 I'm trying to keep an upbeat tone for this blog but I think my strength is waning. There is so much controversy in life that bugs me to pieces, I am afterall human, judge me if you must but you have flaws too ; )  But at the same time, being one of those blog authors who must be negative all the time or have to stir pots to increase readers is just not my thing. I also however don't want this to be a monotonous diary sounding blog. Dear diary today I washed dishes....blah blah blah. So I will be thinking of exactly what I want this to be but it will be very real. Very my opinion style. Nothing forced upon you. But very out there. And sometimes, kind of blunt and hard to take. I have had so many pieces that I wanted to write, inspired by a friend of mine who also writes a most excellent blog, but I have a lot of fear of coming out with certain posts. So I either keep them private or I erase and never post. Sometimes, I fear judgement from people and fear what they truly think more than i fear anything else in this world. People can be cruel and heartless and as long as they step on others to make themselves feel better, everything is ok. But, I got a wonderful message last night and I have reread it many times and the best part of it (well one of the best parts) is what is truly pushing me. "Courage is not the lack of fear, but rather it means being afraid and doing it anyway." So, I'm just going to write without a second thought of it. And I don't want to limit myself by applying rules such as how long a blog should be, that it should be of a few subjects or just one, what is PC and what isn't....blah blah blah. Just. Writing. Like I should be doing.  : )
 Ahhh. A little bit of a peaceful feeling now that I posted something after such a long silence. I need to go get Bug from school and clean up the house a little before work. I hope life isn't as chaotic for any of you out there and if it is, shrug it off and have some hot chocolate. And browse pinterest.com, lol!! Until next time,

Me Oh My

 Wowza! Two weeks has gone by since my last blog. I try not to let too much time pass by, and at the same time, I don't want to post too frequently, but dang! Two weeks...
Let's play catch up shall we?

Halloween. 

 It was really fun. Bug was a spider princess and Bean was a spider. They both looked super cute but very un-spiderish in the whole "I-hate-spiders-and-will-kill-every-one" sort of way. Definitely did not want to beat these ones with my shoe  ; ) They made out with a ton of candy. Literally. Well...Almost literally. I bought a big black plastic cauldron at Walmart a few years ago, all the candy they got fit into it perfectly. So, we won't be buying candy for a few years. I did however, learn something that weekend though, babies and toddlers make more of a haul then the older kidlets. And we did compare. Big cuteness factor when a little one can barely utter trick-or-treat and thank you I suppose. Oh well, more candy for me ; )

Hannah and I have been spending more time together at night doing all sorts of crafty activities. Her favorite one which is a nightly repeat is the whole cornstarch goop. You add cornstarch and water together to make a barely liquid but barely solid kind of goop. She loves it and I do too because it is so easy, cheap to make and yet so easy to clean up too. Got the idea off of www.pinterest.com don't know if anyone uses it, so just in case you don't...you should. It is amazing and I'm not telling you anything about it just so you will go see for yourself :P

 Husband has been home for over a month and a half now. It's a big long story of a mess but basically husband lost his job for being colorblind and now is back on but laid off. His union (who is headed by Jimmy Hoffa Jr thank goodness) and it's lawyers are now pursuing a class action case against the company for discriminating and violating the A.D.A. (American Disabilities Act) I'm upset and stressed out by it because Husband is an amazing employee. How many people do you know who have never been fired by the time they were 30? Well, besides me, I've never been fired either. But not very many people can say that. He has always done a good job, never even ran a switch or derailed a train (No, not every derailment causes an explosion or huge deal, sometimes only a few wheels pop off the track by an inch, not a big deal at all) so why this company treats him and other employees like crap is just unfair.

 My sister-in-law is moving at the end of the month. It makes me sad because she and my nephew are the only family we have in this town. We have a lot of fun together and it makes it nice to know you have someone to vent to about anything and it won't go very far. But I'm really happy about it because they get to move to Minneapolis. So it isn't but eight hours away and I always enjoy an excuse to go visit the cities  : D

 I picked up an extra job and a few extra shifts at work so my week is completely blown away as far as free time is concerned. I have to map out times to get my holiday stuff started now so I don't procrastinate with it too much and it gets late. I'm doing handmade gifts this year and am part of a family ornament exchange. Handmade may seem cheap to some people, which is not all fiction, but to me, they seem to make the best sense. People get too material around this time of year. That and I don't know very many people who can even bake a pie without going to the store and buying one in the box. My goal is to get more crafty, more DIY-ish, and create my food from scratch or as close to it that I can come.

 Today was one of my biggest accomplishments (even though we didn't get a thing!) First day hunting! Really exciting to go out but a big let down when we had to come home without anything in the truck. I'm a really awesome shot, and can't wait to down my first deer. And it puts enough meat in my freezer for at least a few months. I haven't had to buy store bought meat in over a year and that's exactly how I like it. I know where all my chicken, beef and deer meat came from. And it has zero pesticides, chemicals, hormones, or whatever in it. Plus, if you cook it right, deer tastes amazing!!

 Is it too early to put on Carol of The Bells and Let It Snow? I LOVE this time of year! Hot cocoa, snow (which started falling today), and Christmas songs and movies. I have to start figuring out holiday pictures that are going on our Christmas cards this year. And getting everything ready for Thanksgiving. I stock up early because I cook for us, but then I cook for the railroad guys too. Lots of them. LOTS. LoL.

 So that about catches us up on life so far. So much has been going on, it really seemed like longer than two weeks...I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend and don't forget about tomorrow and honoring our veterans!!

Bright & Chipper : )

 Last night we went over to a friend's house and meet up with a few other friend's of ours and enjoyed dinner with them. In my personal opinion, there is nothing like girl's time with your friends. We sent the guys outside with all the kids and the barbecue and we poured ourselves some wine and enjoyed ourselves chatting and laughing. Definitely what I needed. I love getting together with people and hanging out. Especially if they have kids and it's nice enough outside to let them run loose. The kids get some playtime and so do the adults : )
 This has been an upside down week for us all. The kids and I got sick with the seasonal colds and it dragged me down. The kids are awesome when it comes to getting sick because they have really great immune systems. Bug ended up throwing up last night for the second time in her life. Pukes once and ready to go play right afterward. Seeing her today, you would never think she even got sick. Ignacio is the same way. I don't like medicine of any kind unless it is absolutely needed. Otherwise I just let our bodies fight everything off. I don't do herbal or natural stuff either except for myself because I have crappy immune system and it's too late for my immunity to build up, lol.
 I'm in the process of making plans for a quick trip to Montana. I miss my girls too much and I wanted a visit in before the snow came, so I'm hoping it holds off for a few more weeks. We're planning a girl's day ending with the new Twilight movie. I love that series. I know there are people who find it ridiculous, and that's fine, but I love books that lose you within it's story. I love reading fiction because it takes me away from the present. A little bit of an escape without actually leaving.
 I just finished Something Borrowed the book and moved on to Something Blue. I have Emily Griffin's whole set and so far these books are really good. I was really happy that the book and movie didn't differ too much. A few things were different of course but not too bad. It was the first movie that for once was realistic and not happy ever after. I dislike when movies are always the same thing. The stories might be different but they become so predictable. Something good starts off the movie, something bad happens and then everyone fixes it and lives happily ever after. This movie, was not the case, thank goodness. I won't ruin it for anyone out there who hasn't seen it but it was really good.
 Today is definitely a day of catching up for me. My house needs some cleaning up and a few loads of laundry need done. Now that everyone is all better finally, I'm going to go hit the gym for a few hours. Normally I'm at the gym for only two hours but I have missed the last four days and I need to make up for that time. It wouldn't be such a big deal but I am definitely addicted to going. Tomorrow marks three weeks going and I can already see a difference and feel a difference in my body. I pulled out my smallest size of pants that I haven't been able to get in for a few months and threw them on with ease. Realized they came on with room to spare even! Definitely a highlight of my month!  : D So maybe in a few more weeks I will finally pull on the never been touched, dust on the legs, size 10's that I bought years ago, and fit perfectly : ) I look forward to writing about that occasion : )
 If any of you enjoy a good site, I highly recommend pinterest.com I have a few friends tell me about it and one really good friend come over and physically make me check it out, lol, and it was definitely the best find in a very long time. So if you get sucked in too, let me know, I'll add you to my board : )
 Have a fabulous rest of the weekend and Go Packers!!

At That Point.

 At what point do you tell people enough is enough? 

* My husband decided to have my son's ear pierced. He being my son's parent mind you, thought it was okay. Thought that since we got our daughter's ears pierced when she was 6 months old, and that our nephews have it done and friend's kids have it done as well, why not? What would it hurt putting a tiny little diamond in his ear that he can take out later if he decides he doesn't want it in? That even though I didn't want to at first, am now liking it after all. But now I get to hear how bad parents we are for doing such a horrible thing, especially to our son. I haven't made a big production of it and actually, if the little fart wouldn't tell people himself, they wouldn't even notice. And I obviously can't hide him inside the house all day everyday. Today's grocery trip was sort of needed after all. The criticism was not however. People, let us be mindful that what one set of parents (or one parent, in the terms of single parents) decides to do with their children, is up to nobody but them. You, as the non parent party, get to step back smile and at most say "It is what it is" (my favorite saying from a favorite person) but respect the parents/parent and watch the things you say, be it to their face or behind their back later. I'm sure there are a few things they could say about you and your parenting but I in this case, don't. I think them to myself in a chuckling manner, but I don't say them. It just hurts how people think they can tell me what I'm doing wrong all according to their judgement. If I wanted opinions on how to raise my children, you would have been in the bedroom while I made mine. You weren't then, and you aren't now so butt out! 

*Friendship. It is such a tricky thing. It honestly is. Especially for me. I have a set of true blue amazing friends who don't live near me that I constantly have guilt about not keeping better in touch. But yet I am reminded that everytime I do talk to any one of them, it really is like we never lost touch for any period of time. When I visit them, it's like we were together just the other day. That does feel like a special bond to me. Don't get me wrong, it isn't always perfect friendship, I hardly ever remember to write, I often run my mouth without thinking and let's face it, they are better people than I. But the best part is that even through my flaws, they still love me and are there for me. And if it weren't for my oldest and closest friend here, I'm pretty sure I would be crazy by now as well. Wellllll....crazier than I already am that is. As I never name names on here, just to be polite, I won't drop this one's either, but it's rare to find someone who is always there for you no matter what, even in the times that sometime suck and you reeeeally don't want to be. And then to love you even after those times. 

 But what do you do when you feel like a friendship you thought you had wasn't really one after all. When people who are supposed to be close to you end up the only ones who screw you over and pretty much use you? At what point is enough, actually enough? I'm at that point with a few people and it sucks because something tells me, I'm the only one who will end up walking away caring. Sometimes a person can only take so much and if you end up on the end that I'm on, just remember, if it for your own good, do it and don't give a crap what anyone else thinks. I try too much to live for others approval and it is just ridiculous. Yet it's a constant habit that I can't seem to break because as much as I don't want to, I end up doing. And if you haven't called or texted or facebooked or snail mailed a friend lately to ask how they are, you should. And if you are one of those people who make life all about you and never care enough to listen to someone about them at least once in awhile, do the other person a favor and walk away. Selfish isn't good in any situation or relationship...

 *Politics. Seriously, when is enough ever enough with that? I am not into politics. I could care less because honestly it may affect the world, my state, my gas prices, but I really have too much going on in my life to stop and care. You can hate me if you'd like, and judge me all you want to but I seriously don't care. But I also hate haring about it on Facebook all day, everyday. Nothing is going to change about our president until next year, and as many people as there are in this country, why do some people think that if they rant on our president all day long, that maybe he will somehow see their page and change? Or that being a certain ethnicity or religion makes a political statement all on it's own. If I were president, would I be judged solely on where I was born, what religion I am, and what friends I have/had? In that case, forget it, I like my anonymity. Besides, with the power of a little red button at my disposal, enough people pissing me off might make me push the little bugger ; )

*Archeologists. Not all of them but the majority. As I was watching TV the other day, an ad came on for some show called Decoded I think. About how aliens must have put Stonehenge here and trying to decode why. Really? Does your job pay you enough to sit and wonder about statues that were here since forever? It's not that I don't believe in aliens (I don't) or that archeologists are useless (only some) but the fact that people sit around wondering about something they will never ever know the answer for, just bugs me. Like they couldn't find something more useful to do with their time. If I believed in aliens, I would like to think that they have better things to do then place rock formations on random planets. No wait, maybe they DID place them here so they could sit back and watch the clueless humans run around trying to figure out how and why. Reality TV alien style  : )

*Speaking of TV, Kim Kardashian. Enough is enough. I get tired of her and that family. She and her sisters annoy me to bits. So does that awful show Toddlers and Tiaras. And I'm sorry but Dance Moms, while entertaining to watch, those poor kidlets have my pity. I believe in dance in any form, but to dress your six year old daughter like a prostitute, have shaking her booty in front of men and women who you have no idea their background and if they have secret pedophile habits or not, just baffles me. But then again....It is what it is and it isn't for me. And that's the end of that one....(Like how I did that? Study. Learn. Do!) 

Boo!

 Have you ever been scared of the dumbest little thing? I am. A few of them actually. Bees. The dark. Tornados. Men who are dirty and homeless. And Walmart at certain times of the year. Now the first one is really not dumb as I am allergic to them so it's more of a "I-Fear-You-Out-Of-The-Chance-Of-Death" sort of fear. Dirty bugs...But they are handy because of the honey and flowers and such so we have an agreement of they leave me alone and I leave them alone. I actually feed them outside too, which is weird. Very, very weird. The second fear? The dark. It's not that I'm actually scared. It's just creepy to sit in the dark. Alone. And quietly. I always have to have the tv on. Or at least my sound machine. Something so that it isn't just me. Weird things happen in my house so me and the dark do not get along. Which is ironic in the sense that my children don't sleep with night lights and because of where their windows are, it's pretty pitch dark in their rooms. My children aren't scared of the dark and yet their mother, who is quickly reaching 30 is. That is just sad. Very, very sad...Tornados. That one is just sensible. Who would enjoy a tornado coming up and ripping apart their home, cars, possibly killing them and their family, and destroying a town that they live in? Yeah I'm nutty for that one right?? Well, actually, if you want to know the truth, that is a small part of the fear. The biggest part is that I love storms, but when the wind gusts are ripping my screen doors off my house and shaking the trees so hard you think they are going to fall through the house, I get scared that I am going to have to go sit in our basement. That is all dirt. And full of must, dampness, and spiders. And is just really icky. Did I really just say icky??...And the whole dirty men thing, it's just creepy men with long hair and dirty clothes and look at you like they just got released from prison after serving 30 years. Men scare me period thanks to an interesting part of my life. So this isn't as judgmental as it is, honest and understanding. At least from my point of view and on this, I'm right. Now comes for Walmart. This is where most people's hatred for holidays hit. It's October. I went to Walmart in September and guess what holiday they were already setting up for? CHRISTMAS! Now, I love Christmas as much as the next person but seriously? Why can't they pull stuff out in, oh I don't know, December?? Kind of ruins it for me with all the commercialization and such. This year is going to be a fun one since we are celebrating Hannukah and Christmas together but it just depresses me when I see everything set out and we haven't gotten to experience Halloween or Thanksgiving yet.
 I always stress about Christmas. I love buying things for people but then as soon as they are sent off I immediately kick into stressing out about whether they will like the gifts I got or not. Abel has the whole "either they like it or we just won't buy them anything next year" sort of mentality which I hate. I don't want people to not like what I get them. I do what my dad did every year because it is on the easy side in the fact that I can buy something for an entire family of six the same way I can get something for a family of two. But I hate it in the sense that I didn't make it or put actual time into it. But then I talk to people about making them handmade stuff and they tell me it's cheap and they'd throw it away sooner or later so not to bother. Makes me sad :(
 Today is quit random. I just felt the urge to write, not about anything in particular really, just, write.
 Life has been very crazy and very.....unknown, lately. I am a control freak. I like being in semi-control of what happens. And lately I haven't been able to control what has been happening. Husband has a decent job. The paychecks are very nice and it has been great getting things paid off and even spoiling ourselves somewhat. But I hope that very soon, after everything is paid off and our debt no longer exists, Husband can quit this job and we can move back to Montana. Not many people like being poor but I do. I actually miss it. Things meant much more back then. They were fully appreciated and were more special. Now we take for granted and even expect things. Granted we have been able to give our kids much more than we ever got but still. Sometimes money and happiness can't co-exist :( That and I feel like people have distanced themselves from us too. Like we are awful people for having money or something. And when Abel goes into the military, it would be really nice to be home with family who I know I can call in an instant no matter what. This town is amazing for community support but I feel would feel ridiculous for calling someone for something they would deem as small.
 Sooo enough blabbering about nothing. Husband came home from the store and made us smoothies and we are going to go watch Zookeeper and Rio. Have a grand evening all!

Minneapolis!

 Driving at night when you have to drive long distances is awesome. It's pretty much how I do anymore when it comes to our driving trips. Especially with the kids. They sleep, I jam out to music and talk to whoever is with me (in this case, my sister-in-law) and enjoy the road because I'm the only one on it. Score! 

 The trip went well and getting to see my husband was so exciting, I actually had butterflies of excitement/nervousness! We got in right in time for breakfast at the hotel so we unloaded the car, ate some breakfast, got showered and ready for the day, and then headed over to the Mall of America. It was the Bug's fifth birthday so we allowed for some spoiling. I backed away from them both because Husband has been gone for a few weeks, I think it was good to let them hang out. Which turned out convenient because Ignacio was too little for all the rides and I don't do any rides that make me nauseas which was pretty much all of them, lol. I had big plans for lunch or dinner at the best restaurant ever, Bubba Gump's, but Hannah chose The Rainforest Cafe instead which turned out to be pretty amazing too. I love the atmosphere which has tanks of fish everywhere, monkeys that yell and go crazy, and thunderstorms as you are eating. Tons of fun! And the food was amazing and came on plates the size of my son pretty much. My sister-in-law ordered my daughter the biggest dessert they had, complete with sparklers, and had the staff sing happy birthday to her. It was awesome that's for sure. 

 From there we went directly to Build-A-Bear. My nephew's birthday is coming up at the end of this month, Bean's birthday just passed and being as it was Bug's birthday, we decided to let the kids pick out an animal, an outfit and let them build them all for their birthdays. Bug got a kitty, a cute fairy costume and shoes, and then picked out a stroller because God forbid she have to carry the thing everywhere, lol. Beanie picked out a monkey (of course *sigh*) and was drawn to Cars pajamas and slippers for his, and my nephew picked out an adorable puppy and a cute race car t-shirt and jeans for it. We stuffed sound chips in them, and a heartbeat maker in Bug's so that every time she hugs it, she can feel it's heart beating. And then they got to step on the pedals and control how much stuffing went in to them. You get to create the birth certificate and register them. If you ever find an animal that was made at a Build-A-Bear, take it in to the nearest shop, there is always a tag put inside the animal when it is being stuffed that they scan and can find out who the owner is and mail it back to them. Best part ever. And you know, the price of the stuff there is not bad at all, I was expecting to spent a ton of money but it was pretty inexpensive. We might have to make it a birthday tradition, lol.  

 Then from there we did more rides in the Nickelodeon park, which is smack dab right in the center of the mall. I remember when it used to be Camp Snoopy :  (  Bug got to meet Spongebob and Patrick and get a few souvenirs and my son somehow won a prize from the carnies when I was unable to. The whole "toss the plastic ball into the plastic hole" thing is deceiving just so everyone knows...After about two hours in there we decided to call it quits and walk around the mall. Which was fun until the tiredness kicked in. Being up for 36 hours at this point, I felt old, off balance, and tired beyond tired. Made me wish I was a teen again, I could have been up for two days and still never felt a thing...

 So as we were leaving, my sister-in-law and her boyfriend invited us over to his house for dinner. And off we went! I felt awful because it was pretty last minute and I didn't want his family to go through any trouble cooking for us but I have to say, I am now in love with the food! His family is Laotian. We got to eat Khao poon (a spicy soup made with chicken, noodles, chilies and other ingredients I don't remember, but it's very good), som tam (a spicy papaya salad type dish, not made with lettuce or the kind of salad you are thinking of), sticky rice ( my favorite!) and a dish made with fish. It was so good and hard to stop eating. They eat on a little table on the floor with chopsticks and it was so fun! The language is beautiful and they treated us like family. The only thing that made me nervous is that they lived in the ghetto. Which is weird because I never knew Minneapolis even had a ghetto part. But it was so familiar feeling because it made us feel like we were back in California. I miss the multicultural backgrounds everywhere and I became extremely envious when two blocks down, we passed a synagogue! 

 So by the time we got back last night and into bed, it was a total of 40 hours of straight awakeness. I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow, that's how fast I went out. Waking up at 7 this morning was a bit disappointing but refreshing and convenient since breakfast was downstairs. The kidlets ate twice! And then we got to go swimming for a bit. My son hates the pool and loves the hot tub. Very fearless and on the crazy side. Bug loves swimming and jumping in over and over again. It was such a workout that I laid Ignacio down and put on his clothes only to find he had fallen asleep on me! LoL. Poor guy. 

 So after naptime, we plan on heading out and discovering the town we are in, which is 20 miles away from Minneapolis. Not far at all but far enough so that it's smaller and quieter. We like that. Today is just going to be chill. It'll be time to leave tomorrow and so much to do when we get home that I can't repeat the up for 40 hour thing again. I'll be glad when next weekend hits, Husband will be home finally. He gets OJT (on-the-job-training) for the next 6 months, and then after that he comes back here for one week, takes the big test and if he passes, he will be an engineer :D 

 Now I'm closing this down and going to take a nap too. It's what all the cool kids are doing right now, might as well join 'em :) 

 Have a wonderful weekend! 

 * Beckie *