The Schmidt House

i know that we did - it went so fast that i can hardly remember what happened. i am wiped out - truly wiped. we had a great time with family and friends, had a lot of laughs and made a lot of memories. jg and his cousin he were kids captains @ the t-wolves game saturday night - they actually won which was an added bonus! dan and i were chatting are realized that jg has played between periods at both the gophers, and the wild, been kids captain twice at the t-wolves met his IDOL adrian peterson...and he isn't even 8 years old yet. gosh, hope we haven't set him up for disappointment for the next ten years, don't know what we can do to top those...

but really could have. We have to start every meeting at work with a safety story - since our business is a mostly production environment - large grain elevators and soybean crush plants - this would make sense. Last week one of the guys on my team shared the following story about his buddy - which I can totally imagine would happen at our home. The story: My co-worker's buddy's family had a squirrel problem - two took up residence in the family's chimney and with the cold weather the husband decided that something needed to be done about the squatters. So the wife suggested that they call an exterminator to relocate the squirrels. The husband decided that he would be able to handle the situation himself. So, he decided to smoke out the squirrels. He started a fire in the fireplace, and waited. One of the squirrels panicked and rather than going up and out it went down and out - through the fire - and started its tail ablaze (poor squirrel). Husband panicked and started cha...

We went to the Jost Xmas get together last night at Dan's aunt Diane's house. As usual it was good fun, the family just keeps getting bigger and bigger, we added three little ones over the last year (all adorable). AE and JG are actually becoming the "big" kids because the former "big" kids are now in college - how did that happen??? I seriously think that there 50 people there. We had a lot of laughs with Dan's aunts Diane, Kathy, and Sharon. Never a dull moment...

Probably not. I am finding that the older I get the more set I am in my ways, the way that I am wired I can't explain. Does anyone else have those traits that are so embedded that no matter what you do you can't change them? They are non-negotiable. Really, truly. Can't change. They define you. One of these items in my make-up is rules, I am all about rules. If the rule says that it is A and not B then B does not exist to me. People who break the rules and aren't truthful - I can't deal. There is right and wrong - deal with it - please teach your kids. If you don't have your integrity - there really is little else.

This December has been especially crazy and I am looking forward to a few days off to relax with the kids. I have a few items on the to-do list: 1) See "The Blind Side" 2) Start scanning photos with new printer we bought back in September. Finally got it hooked up (already checked that off the list) 3) Read at least three books - entire library book bin is full 4) Clean out the DVR - think it is full - don't want to look actually 5) Finally hang the pictures back up after Dan painted the basement this summer 6) Goodwill run - or maybe pull stuff together for garage sale in May for Nationals fund raiser :) 7) See friends that I am sure wonder if I am still kicking 8) oh yeah...what was the other thing??? 9) RELAX

Alright really hoping that this will be the last installment of the "basketball diaries" until next year. Didn't want to blog again but had to tell the latest sordid tale. Warning this post is not warm and fuzzy like last post, instead let me start by telling everyone that warm and fuzzy is gone - how can you be warm and fuzzy after being called a ho? I will explain. Last night was finishing up my senior high registration and needed to follow up with one last kid, he called on Wednesday and left a message and wanted to get him registered. So I called the number he left on the voicemail. Woman answers phone... Woman: Hello Me: Hi, is Bob (changed his name to protect the innocent) there? Woman: Oh, no you just didn't. Me: Didn't what? Woman: I can believe that you ***beeping*** called here for Bob, you need to text him you ho. I'm not taking this. Me: What? I am calling about basketba... Woman hangs up... I sat stunned. What just happened? Had a moment to colle...

So, was feeling a little guilty about my rant about the basketball thing. It is a tremendous amount of time and frustrating at times sending out, "Thank you for your email, I am sorry to hear that you are incapable of navigating a website...." I don't really say it that way, am much nicer than that. However, tonight I received a note from a kid, or should say young man, I have been working with this past week. He is a senior and emailed himself to say that he really wanted to play basketball and didn't have any money to pay for it. I spoke with him and inquired if he would be able to come up with half (about $75) and the association would cover the rest. He said that he is working at Burger King and that money goes to help out his family since his mom lost her job. Dad isn't around. I told him I would follow up and I forwarded his info to one of my fellow volunteers with a note and asking what we could do for him. I hadn't heard back from him until tonight. I ...

About a year ago I made the decision to visit and ultimately join our basketball association board, I know yet another thing that I sign up for thinking that I have enough time when in the end time is the one thing I am very short of... Long story short - I ended up on the executive board and was asked to be in charge of registration - we have about 1,500 kids overall in the program and most make it through the process with no intervention from the registration coordinator = me. Well, that was until today when I received since last night @ 12:48 a.m. - 117 emails thanks to the Senior High kids who evidently do NOT know what a registration end date is. I am done now and don't want to be on the computer ANYMORE. The only redeeming factor that is keeping me going right now is that Cargill has this Care Points program where you are able to submit your volunteer hours for donations. I think that with the amount of time I have put in it will be something like $500. So that is my little h...

So, this is what our kids do when we aren't around... they fight over the new computer.

i am still completely obsessed with the new computer. it is pretty, its screen is clean and it works when i want it to. we have a busy tomorrow and i am typing away at 1:40am. SUSAN GO TO BED!!! ok think i will. more tomorrow friends. here is a little music to brighten your morning - think of little man dancing around our kitchen singing this tune while playing air guitar:

OK so this is the first post from the new iMac...everything looks the same for the most part. Can't tell you how nice it is to have a computer that actually works. The laptop we bought last year never really worked right - EVER. I was thinking this a.m. that I never dreamed that I would ever live in a house with FOUR computers. The worst thing about having four computers is that your stuff is scattered throughout the house in different states of OS and consistency. My family tree stuff is downstairs, basketball email is upstairs, movies are in the kitchen and work is in the laptop bag hanging in the laundry room. Each PC has different passwords etc. Oh well, too tired to conquer that right about now...will avoid it for as long as possible, but for now am very, very thankful of the new "home share" on iTunes.

We are entering uncharted territory here at the Schmidt House since AE decided that she wanted to join the band because choir is "painful" and the clarinet is way cooler. About two weeks ago we went to the district sponsored "pick your instrument" night where my former instrument of choice (clarinet) was chosen by our pre-teen. After the meeting I immediately called my dad to see if he would be able to locate said clarinet for his granddaughter to try out. He called last week informing me that it was nowhere to be found and I would need to go rent one for the time being until the woodwind was located. This week has been crazier than usual and I completely forgot everything about the clarinet until... Tonight at 7:08pm AE mentioned, "You know I have band tomorrow." Oh crap. So began the calling to music stores that I could remember from the parent's night and by 7:25pm a clarinet had been located. So we got in the car and headed to A to G Music. We wait...

Today in one word:  draining We have been working through our "stucco" issue for two years, yes I said two years. And today it ended, from a legal perspective.  So very happy to move on with out lives and not wake up in the middle of the night panicking that the front is going to fall off and we are going to have to figure out what to do about it. 

Well I'll be darned it worked.

Trying out this mobile posting thing.

My favorite place in the whole world for a very long time was my grandma's house in Aitkin. It to me was a sanctuary from everything going on in the crazy, crazy world especially after we moved back to Minnesota. I could go to her house and everything seemed right with the world and I was in a 14 year old cocoon reading John Irving under the trees while grandma sat in her chair in the lawn drying her hair on a Saturday afternoon. Since grandma left us almost a year ago I have waited for the day to come when her house would be ready to be sold to another family where little girls would hide in the storeroom and sit under the maple trees. Last weekend I searched as I do every week for her house and this week I found it there. I was taken aback at first almost scared to click on the button that would unveil my sanctuary for the world to see. When I finally did, I found only a house, with bare floors and strange colors. There were things so familiar and some in front of me for the fi...

How did that happen? This has been one of the fastest summers that I can remember it flew by. However can't say that I am disappointed that school is starting on Tuesday. We are ready for a routine. I worked from home today and had most of the day planned out for the kids, however the plans went a little awry when little man was in a "mood". I did a SOS call for our neighbor NR to watch JG when I just couldn't take it. At one point I thought about just leaving and going to the library for some quiet, peace, and wireless. Devil may care what happened to the house. We made it through and I am ready for the weekend, so am watching a little tennis, having a little wine, and enjoying the quiet and peace...

Here is a video I found out on YouTube, it is of the champions for 8U, 10U Division 1 & 2. We played in Division 1, placed 22nd overall. The team that won the whole thing was from Tennessee. Check out #42 - she seriously was at least 6'0" and could move. They had another girl that was 6'1" or 6'2". They are 11!!! It is amazing how well these girls play...it is sooo much fun.

This past weekend JG was exposed to Donkey Kong for the first time at our friends' cabin. Their son JT had a Game Cube in the basement and Donkey Konga was the only game available, Donkey Kong and some bongos . I must admit that I am completely clueless when it comes to most video games, but laughed when I saw little man with the bongos. For some reason whenever I see bongos I think of Matthew McConaughey and his unfortunate incident. I digress... JG became a Donkey Kong bongo playing clapping fool for the weekend. It was rainy and the kids were stuck inside and all you could hear was the beating of the drums. It must have made an impression on our young son because I have been awoken the last three nights to someone clapping in the night. At first I was scared thinking that someone was in the house and trying to wake us up, but no it was JG clapping away in his sleep on to his all time high on Donkey Kong. Had to laugh again because Dan said that when he picked JG out of bed to ...

I have been waking up at night feeling guilty because I am not blogging - good ' ol Catholic upbringing again. I am realizing that I am not documenting our life at the Schmidt house as the kids are getting older and I feel like the bad mom. We have had a very busy summer (now that summer is actually here!) we went over to Chetek this past weekend to spend about 29 hours with our friends the Tordsens . Dan and Noel went to high school together and have seriously been friends since they were something like 5 years old. They used to do some pretty stupid things together and after this weekend it is good our children live far away from one another because it is very true that history repeats itself. We went boating yesterday on Pokegama Lake and Rachel (Noel's wife) said she laughed so hard at JG her cheeks hurt. He was in rare form this weekend. Most of his conversations start a little something like this: "So, what do you think would win...a badger or a wolverine?" H...

We leave for Florida in 30 hours. AE is getting really nervous she asked today, "Mom, what if we get down there and all of the girls are really good?" I responded with, "Well, AE they wouldn't be there if they weren't." This is going to be a whole new adventure. All the info is posted here: http://www.aauresults.org/girlsb/re_nationals.php?lkid=&s=115&y=2009 We have two of the top five finishers in our pool right off the bat so guess we will find out right away if we have what it takes, might as well get it out of the way. Our pool is a team from Maryland, Indiana, and Georgia. We are staying at two houses, all 26 of us and the girls think that it is going to be one big slumber party, however they are going to be in for a rude awakening when they have two games a day. Dan and JG are going to do some "just JG" things, like go to Animal Kingdom etc. We will keep everyone posted on the girls' progress, say a little prayer for the little St...

Guess the home office brought down the house in some dive bar in Biawabik singing the following tune in bad karoke. Biz Markie - Just A Friend Uploaded by rikma . - Watch more music videos, in HD!

this song - it's been in my head all day - "Don't Cry" by Olivia Broadfield.

AE wrote me a card for Mother's Day, I was going to post it then obviously got busy and came across it today and wanted to share. mom awesome - authentic - amazing wishes to have peace on earth dreams of reeses peanut butter cups who wants joe and allie to stop fighting who wonders what goes on in my head who fears scary movies who is afraid of spiders who likes watching my basketballgames who believes that i start all the fights who loves joe and allie who loves to read books who loves a vacation who loves piano who knows i love her who plans to conserve energy who listens to classical music who is my mom - the great

I don't know what is wrong with me and what I really have against this whole blogging thing now - I have become a fair weather blogger and deep down I hate it because there are so many things going on I would like documented. Summer is upon us and I feel completely and utterly unprepared. Case in point, we do NOT have childcare next week since the Kidstop does not start until 6/15. Dan and I actually spoke about this on Thursday and realized that we didn't have it covered. Thank goodness for grandparents! My mom and Dan's folks are going to be here during the week to help out. THANK YOU GRANDPARENTS! Then Dan leaves on Thursday a.m. for his annual golf weekend with 7 of his friends. The kids and I have to head to Des Moines Friday because AE plays at 6:00 pm Friday night in the Midwest Bash. Then Mimi has to go to Auntie Shirley's house for a night with her cousin dogs. Then my sister and family will be there Saturday night with 5 dogs. By Sunday at 9:00 pm our family w...

I had two days vacation this week now am in the middle of a basketball free weekend and I don't know what to do with myself. It's crazy, if we aren't mach 10 with our hair on fire I don't think that we are doing enough. Oh well, I managed to get all of the laundry done, going to mark some clothes for a friend's garage sale, and am finally taking AE in for a very long overdue haircut. The kid has more hair than anyone I know it is crazy how much hair she has. She can no longer go to Kids' Hair because she looks like she is 15 and has more hair than 5 kids combined. I realize how much she is growing up and am thinking she and I need to go and hang out. JG is going to a hockey game and then having a sleep over with his best buds. AE is growing up and I want to stop the clock, make it go backwards a bit like Benjamin Button.

Sibling love as I walked with one arm on each of my children's shoulders having a nice stroll on a beautiful Spring day. JG: I am gonna buy a shirt that says, "AE is a dork." AE: Oh yeah. Well, I am gonna get a shirt that says, "I'm with stupid."

JG's back in rare form. The other night after AE's game one of AE's teammates mom congratulated JG on his game winning goal. "Thanks," said JG. "I shot it right in the five-hole ." AJ's mom (who has three girls) looked puzzled. "Five-hole?", she asked. "What's that?" JG with a completely straight face said, "That's when you shoot the puck right at his nuts." I wanted to crawl in a hole, but not a five-hole.

Take a look at our website when you get a chance - I am having a pretty good time as the admin. http://www.mplsladycardinals.com/page/show/64624-10u-martin

**Warning - (kinda) bragging parent post - also update for Auntie Shirley** Yesterday was Schmidt sport day - the kids were able to play most of the day and then we had three different games, two sports, two locations in three hours. Whew. The mini-van was moving yesterday folks like a pinball in a machine. Stop1 - Cooper HS - MN Stars Martin 10U vs. Rochester Shock 11U The girls moved up for this weekend to play 6 th graders basically because there isn't a 5 th grade team in the state that wants to play us. Don't know if that is good or bad, probably good. AE and team played awesome, poor baby girl had a few errors throwing the ball in during the press. I wonder sometimes what is going through her mind and then have to remind myself - SHE IS ONLY 11!!! Her coach told her if she kept doing that she would run 10 killers every time she does that again. Think that got her attention. The girls won 46-23. Stop 2 - Plymouth Ice Arena - Renegades vs. Buffalo Little man skated like...

I need to share this with my blogging friends, and others of course. Last weekend I picked up People and went right to the book pick section (always go there first) and there was the Critics Pick of the week for "The Girls from Ames " by Jeffrey Zaslow . It chronicles the friendship of 11 women who grew up in Ames in the 60s and 70s. To this day they are friends who get together every year for a reunion and are one another sisters. I made a mental note to request it from HCLIB , however never got around to it until it was too late - 209 requests and 6 copies in the whole stinkin ' library system. So...was at Costco the other night and took a break because my work shoes were killing me and lo and behold there it was in front of me: "The Girls from Ames ". I bit the bullet and bought it (even though my resolution was to NOT purchase anymore books since I have a library of unread books in the basement). Last night after a very trying couple of days at work - can ...

That is a record. I haven't posted a bit in 32 days. Can't say that I haven't thought about it but just am in a writing funk and can't think of anything to say. My little muse is growing up and saying very serious and not so many silly things these days. My baby is growing up and I can honestly tell you I am not liking it. Well, I am liking it a little bit (I can relax a little bit when he walks out the front door), however I want my snuggly little guy back who would give me kisses whenever I wanted them and wouldn't be embarassed to hug mom when she was leaving. I am also no longer "mommy" but now just mom. Short and to the point - MOM.

Had a good laugh this weekend at the basketball tourney, I sat with the parents between one of the games and one of AE's teammates brother sat down to chat. I moved my Mary Poppins' Dooney & Bourke bag so he could sit down. "OMG your purse if so cool." "Why thanks CS." "That is just so cool that you got your purse at Dave & Busters. How many tickets did it take to buy it?"

Now I have that stupid Lionel Richie song in my head - So, how is everyone in Blogland? I have really fallen off the face of the Earth the past few weeks. Think that it is I am completely full up with everything else that life is throwing at us right now and just have nothing left to say by the end of the day. We finally had our first low key weekend at home in months. It is our brief respite before Spring basketball and hockey go into full swing. AE and I went to watch, imagine this...basketball. Her friends were all playing at Maple Grove HS this weekend and then Dan and I had the opportunity to clean the garage. We managed to complete the task without a fight (small miracle). He did at one point tell me to get out of his space, if I recall, the quote was, "You have the rest of the house - in fact you took over the last spot that was mine (the basement), so now this is all I have (the garage) and here you are." I believe that is when the door fell off the cabinet and he was...

Last night I was laughing as little man read "Clifford's Red Sled" to me. He is working on punctuation at school and they must be on the exclamation point this week because he would read a sentence, get to the end, see that there was an exclamation point, then re-read the sentence with feeling. "OH NO CLIFFORD COULD NOT FIND ROSEBUD!" If you ever wondered how often an exclamation point is used in a child's book, you need not wonder any longer - I can tell you. Too much!!! Also another little funny, AE couldn't find something (can't remember what). AE: Mom, where is the blah, blah, blah? Mom: It's in the junk drawer under the phone. AE: Where? JG: MOM SAID IT IS IN THE DRUNK DRAWER! Nice.

This has been one of "those" weeks where I often find myself scared to slow down and assess the situation because when I do I start to get this really tight feeling in my chest and I feel nauseous. Does anyone else get that? When life is going mach 10 with your hair on fire...and if you stop you just might fall right over from that string you are balancing everything on... I am going to bed.

We played in the MSF state tourney yesterday. The girls went 2-1, AE played well and had fun. I had to laugh, one of AE's best friend's (AP) mom (AP plays on the other Maple Grove team) told me about a little exchange she had with another parent while watching our game. Guy: You know I've heard about that #44 on Maple Grove (#44 is AE) AP's Mom: Really, what? Guy: Yeah, I heard she is cocky as all get out and has a mean streak. AP's Mom: Seriously? Guy: Yeah, that's what I heard. What are you the mother? AP's Mom: No, but close enough my daughter is one of her best friends. Guy: Oh gee, so is she like that? AP's Mom: The way you described couldn't be further from the truth. AE is the most humble, gentle child I know. Guy: Silence. I find it amazing how someone could possibly think that about our daughter. I told Dan this morning, had totally forgotten about it because it was so absurd. His response, "You know that would really bother me...

AE and I were asked to join a mother/daughter book club last summer. The members are old friends from Weaver Lake and her new friends from Rush Creek. It has been a great experience for both of us, she has her friends and I have met some new friends, really great women. However, each month I have to hold my breath a little for fear of what might come out of my child's mouth. We have raised her to speak her mind for which I am very grateful, however we need to now work with her on filtering what she says/doesn't say. AE has no filter. Example: We read "When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit" and were having a discussion about how the family in the book had to flee Germany since the father (a newspaper writer) had opposed Hitler and the family went to Switzerland leaving her beloved pink rabbit behind. One of the mothers asked, "Is there anyone in the world today you girls would compare to Hitler?" (looking for maybe Saddam Hussein...) AE raises her hand enthusiastical...

one of life's hard lessons summed up by one of my faves Ben Folds. Love this song. I have been trying to explain this concept to my kids (except hopefully the part about mom f'ed you up)...it is life. **btw I so love Ben Folds and his music, however feel that the world has not embraced him enough, therefore I am going to share Ben with you all on a weekly basis.

AE is 11 today - yikes!!! Happy birthday honey!

This is going to be one of those "purging" posts - getting it all out on the table. The Schmidts went to Rochester this weekend for a tournament, here it goes in plusses (+) and minuses (-) in chronological order... + we were going to Rochester + we had a hotel - with one king bed for 4 people + the Newskis had inflatable mattresses + we got on the road - traffic stunk (thanks to SNOW, when will it end????) + we made it to Rochester - in 3.5 hours (normally takes us 2) + everyone was having fun at the pool, saw Amy, Brad, and kids - time for bed + kids went to sleep - Dan went to bar - Susan woke up @ 2:45 a.m. NO DAN + Susan found Dan - - Dan had partaken in a bit too much fun + Dan found the room - Dan only got 2.5 hours sleep + Dan made it to car for 8:00 a.m. game + MG5A won (barely) + Dan and Joe went to let Justin (my sister's dog out) - Justin ran away + Justin came back + MG5A won 2nd game (barely) - Dan thought he had the flu (self-inflicted kind) + went to mall ...

So here is Dan's first production, a highlight film from the trip we took to Iowa last month with AE's AAU team. I had to laugh at Dan's music selection, the girls listened to Beyonce when we were down there, however he never listened to the lyrics. Technically all of the girls are single ladies since they ARE 9, 10, and 11. It is pretty amazing to watch this team, they had four practices and like I mentioned all of them are 11 and under. Wow. It is going to be a lot of fun watching them this year. AE is #34.

This life is getting pretty hectic. Therefore, I am going to start adopting the "Ostrich approach". I am just going to bury my head in the sand and hopefully when I pull it out of the hole in a few months the world will be normal again... I know that this isn't facing my problems head on, however I need to cocoon for a bit and come out swinging... Trust me on this, this too shall pass...

The kids didn't have school today, why? Can't remember, must be Workshop #41 for the school district. AE spent the night at a friend's house, so I was looking forward to no fighting from the get-go this a.m. JG woke up at the crack of dawn and was in rare form - he wanted to call a friend to play at 8:00 a.m. Finally at 10:00 I gave in and thought it might not be a bad idea, had to better than JG antagonizing Mia and making her bark which seriously resulted in me doing a conference call from my closet at one point because I had the phone where the mute button doesn't work and didn't think my co-workers wanted to hear me "lose it" on the phone. Little man's buddy JV came over and the world was right. Until... I heard the water running, in the bathroom, with the door locked. The six year olds decided to have a boat race in the kids' bathroom and forgot to turn off the sink... of course while I was on another call. Cleaned up the mess. To find the b...

I don't know what it is about January, but 'round about January 15th I go into a complete and utter funk - hence no blogging. It is as if I need to cocoon for a bit, metamorphosize, and re-enter the world in February. This year has been especially bad due to our chaotic schedules with the kids, plus I have been working almost 60 hours per week as it is budget time and we are determining what exactly does "hunkering down" look like. Don't worry, work is still fun, challenging might be a better word. I truly love my new job, actually it was a promotion - didn't officially know until this week, so that jump starts the old engine as well. Other than that I have also realized in the last week my body is really, really mad at me. Things are just not working as they should and finally made the decision to go see the doctor who helped with the torn ligament a few years ago. Bottom line, just haven't been taking care of myself and he cracked me around a bit so can ...

My gift for Xmas was a new video camera. Here is Dan and JG's first video production of AE's championship game this weekend. Love the Benny Hill Theme music... Baby girl is #44. She had 16 points in this game.

This ad helps explain what I do at my job, everyone asks me and this pretty much sums it up. The systems we support: buy the grain, identify it, trade it, then we export it all over the world. That is why I have been down at the export plants with the rats, making sure our systems are safe. As I have always said, not the sexiest thing in the world, but people have to eat.

by all of the changes to the blog look lately... I really liked the fun flowers, however couldn't read a blasted thing on the iPhone. Hope you all have a great week!

Mom, Dad, Amy, Sam, and Hailee, How are you? I'm fine, but a little tired today. It is raining again today, it sees like all it does is rain here. How is the weather at home? Sorry again about calling at 1:00 a.m. in the morning. Yuki and I went shopping yesterday and I bought this paper at the bottom is Mt. Fuji. I am kinda excited at school. I am sad they are done with their tennis and basketball unit. Now we are starting swimming - yea! Last night at dinner we had a salad with cucumbers and tomatoes. Well, I was pushing the alfalfa to the side and I found this purple thing - it was raw octopus. It had the suction cups and everything - I about died. It tried it - didn't taste like anything. So I guess it wasn't that bad. All I do since Yuki is gone today is try to find my way around the neighborhood and watch TV. I think I've seen "An American in Paris" three times. I write a lot too. Tomorrow I am going to a flower arranging class somewhere. Next week I am ...

after the downer kind of post yesterday (really after I typed up the note from Gram I was sobbing), but I guess I needed it because today was a good day. I heard this song this morning and sang it all day...I want my money back. Lenka - The Show

I was looking for one thing and came across something quite unexpected. I somehow had put some old letters in a box and forgot about them. It was a bittersweet surprise. They bring back so many feelings and memories. I am really missing Gram.

I guess I had some disappointment at work - can't for the life of me remember what it was - must have been big because my mom told Gigi. Dear Susan, I talked to your mom on Sat. and learned of your disappointment at work. As usual here comes grandma's unsolicited advice. Every day I say a prayer for all of the grandchildren which includes the following: "May they go forward with open and receptive minds to meet their future, that they may live and face up to disappointment, that they may learn to accept themselves and not lose heart." Growing up you learned that life has its peaks and its valleys. You have much for which to be grateful. It is good from time to time to take stock of the plus side as well as the minus side of the ledger. Just keep applying your many talents to your job. The day will come when you can say, "All is well that ends well." Amen! Enjoyed your card and am still enjoying my birthday goodies. My writing is terrible - hope you can rea...

Dear Susan, It is unbelievable how quiet & lonely the house is without you and Amy. The dogs keep watching the doors waiting for someone to come home. They practically attacked Grandma when she arrived yesterday. The Evanses decided to leave a day earlier than planned, so Amy left on her trip yesterday (Sunday) at 7:00 a.m. She & I had to really scramble to get all her clothes and supplies ready, plus we had to get the donut down from the garage & ready to go. She called us from Salt Lake City last night and said all was going well, with the exception of Donny's driving. I am trying to not worry too much, however, for me that isn't an easy job. I understand Dad called you the other morning to make sure you got a conversation with him. I know he misses you both a lot, but of course he doesn't say much. Friday night around 7:00 p.m. the doorbell rand there was Erin Lefdahl. She was driving a large station wagon and wanted to know if you wanted to go "cruising...

Every year at the Jost family (my mother-in-law's family) Xmas Eve we do the White Elephant gift exchange. Usually you walk away with something you gave the year before, however JG walked away with the six-year-old mother load this year. He was a little bit disillusioned when he opened his gift and there was a piece of paper with a bunch of tickets stapled to it. In fact he almost threw it away, thanks to Dan it was recovered. Dan was definitely more excited than his son. JG received numbers for all of the college Bowl Games. JG and I had completely forgot about the numbers until Dan's aunt Debbie called last night to check in on JG's numbers. I read her what he had and she said, "We have a winner!" JG won $45 bucks on the Cotton Bowl. Dan's mom is not going to be happy when she finds out her grandson has gone to school and informed all of his friends during his class sharing time: "Yeah, I won $45 this weekend with my numbers. I like gambling cause you w...

I have had it. Over the past two weeks I have lost my drivers license. Then we couldn't find our Chase replacement cards - they did come in the mail last month - where they went I HAVE NO CLUE. So old card was cancelled and replacement was sent. Then on Saturday my Wells Fargo debit card was flagged for fraud because they sent me a new card on DECEMBER 3rd which I didn't receive. So old card was cancelled and replacement was sent. Today in the mail there were two envelopes. One was from Chase and the other from Wells Fargo. I was soooo excited!!! Both contained new cards... with the old numbers. I called to ask why and no one could explain why they sent out cards with old numbers that will not work for ANYONE. Got completely lame standard response, "ma'am I do not know what happened but we did send you the card and you lost it, however I apologize for your inconvenience... blah, blah, blah..." They are both sending another set of cards which could take 5-7 busines...

How did the past two weeks go by so quickly??? I am not looking foward to tomorrow and getting back to the daily grind. At least I managed to decrease my work email from 848 to 103. That my friends is an accomplishment which will allow me a better night sleep tonight. Here are a few photos our our Holiday...

One of my good friends from childhood put a picture out on Facebook that I have not seen for 25 years (gosh, it seems so strange to say 25 years). It is of our 6th grade school basketball team and what a motley crew we were. I was 12 when this photo was taken. It is actually quite embarrassing. We were the Paintbrush Pirates and had to wear these God awful uniforms with white, yes white shorts that would pretty much be classified as a swimsuit nowadays. I do remember the day the photo was taken, I even curled my hair for the occasion. I just received a curling iron and was still trying to figure out how it worked as you can see from the photo. Always had a hard time in the early years trying to make sure I didn't turn it the wrong way and end up with a crease. Did anyone else feel my curling iron pain? Well here we are...if you can't guess I am #50. As I can see now, my mom was right, I did need the reminders to "stand up straight!" Look at my posture, I was really st...

Dan brought it home tonight, fell asleep and then I watched the whole thing for some reason. Completely confusing. Was there another movie that came before this one cause when did Scully and Mulder hook up? I missed that. I used to watch this show, but I don't have a clue what is going on. The best part of the movie is the music playing during the end credits... ** out of 10 stars. That is being generous.

1. Blog more. Need to document the Schmidt happenings, I feel like I forget so many of the little things the kids say/do. Plus my mom really, really likes to read what we are doing because she can never get us on the phone. 2. Start book? Just need to figure out what to write about...perhaps crazy family? Who wants to proofread? 3. Stop procrastinating. Don't know if there is any hope on this one, but thought I would give it another go before I turn 40. After then, not gonna try to teach an old dog new tricks. I will forever be on Galarneault/Schmidt time and up until 4:30 a.m. Christmas Eve. 4. Purge. Just when I have done it, there is always another round. I feel like I am suffocating with the amount of "stuff" we have in this house. Do I really need 17 empty bins/containers/holdy things??? If there isn't anything in them maybe they should leave the house. Does anyone need any holdy things? 5. Do not buy anymore books from book store. I have at least two bookcas...