Blogging...

hello j-man. I'm back. :)

What a weekend! My fabulous boss gave me Tuesday off so I was able to go home for 4 wonderful days. It was great. After speeding on Hwy 7 to get to Brookings Saturday AM, I spent a great day at Kev and Joey's for Jake's b-day party. I'm hoping to get pictures soon and I'll upload if I can figure out how. Jake was so cute! He walked around most of the morning saying, "Presents? Presents?" :) And of course he loved my present. I got him a bath toy - a basketball hoop with 5 squirty balls shaped like overblown animals. So fun. Joey said that he wouldn't leave the tub that night without them. :) YAY me! I also got him a stuffed Elmo doll that is almost as big as he is and a stuff Shrek that talks. I gave that to him on the 4th and while we were having snack time we set Elmo next to him and Jake proceeded to share his banana with Elmo. When Elmo 'said', "Jake I'm full, you can have my banana," Jake said, "Tank yoo, Elmo." Oh! So precious...it just breaks your heart. :) Or rather fills a heart with joy.

The weekend was also great because Kevin took me out shooting. I think I'm supposed to qualify on an M-9 this year for guards but I've never shot a pistol so Kev offered to help me out. :) We went to the range and shot a .40, a .45 and a .44 Magnum. Sweet. I alternated between the .40 and .44 mostly to help build my shoulder muscles (.44) and to get used to the feel of the pistol (.40) since it's most close to what I'll be shooting in November. I looked SO the part of a military girl - big clunky steel-toed military boots from Kevin, jeans and a baby-doll Breast Cancer site t-shirt. Oh, wasn't I just a dainty flower. :)

Sunday night we went to Lisa and Ryan's for fireworks. All was great til one exploded wrong and shot under Dick, Harry and Mary. That was quite exciting. not. But overall Ryan put on a great show and the 4th actually seemed like the 4th again. It's interesting to celebrate it while reading David McCullough's John Adams. I love McCullough's history books. He makes them come alive, even if they are slower reading than I'm used to. I have 3 more of his waiting in the wings - Truman, Mornings on Horseback (about Teddy Roosevelt) and 1776.

Monday Mom and I ran to Sioux Falls quick and then did a Morbid Tour - we went to West to check on the flowers at Dad's, then Pioneer to check on grandma's stone - which is wrong, and then to East to check on Tuffy and Jimmy's. We would have made it to St. Olaf, but by the time we got to East Mom just wanted to go home, rightfully so. We had lunch and then went to Brookings for the 4th of July 'parade'. It was mostly rescue trucks driving down the street. But it made me tear up - I must be having a month of PMS or something - I wasn't expecting that. I don't know if it was all the patriotism I actually saw for once or what, but it was pretty powerful. Thank goodness for sunglasses. The rest of the day we just spent washing cars, taking a walk and relaxing. All in all a stellar weekend.

Now I'm back at Events full-time. It's a good thing I think. Yesterday I ran errands for Rick's party with Carol and ran some errands I have needed to for about a month (like getting a copy card!) and chatted with Carol on some other plans. She's gone today so I can work in her office this afternoon instead of the hole. I hope we can figure this stuff out soon. But until then I guess I'll just go with the flow.

Walked around Lake Nokomis twice last night. 5.4 miles - a nice start to losing those extra pounds I've gained. :) I started to fix my life a bit yesterday too. Mom and I had read this tip to help your mornings go smoother - set a timer 10 minutes before you have to leave the house- and it worked. I was 5 minutes early yesterday and 10 minutes today. Craziness that a little thing like that would help. But I'm back on my eating plan a bit. Not completely since I didn't eat at all after lunch yesterday - though I did have a glass of milk before mowing, but I don't think that counts. But I'm on my way to greatness - or was it hotness....I can't remember the motto Jay and I set up. I think it was "We're on our way to hotness." that sounds right. I'll have to find it and hang it up with my Arnold poster. I'll be set.