So I Finally Did IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy Crap!!! After months of saying I was gonna do it, I cracked and made the phone call this morning! After all, today was the day of Donna Wolf's breast cancer benifit to raise money for her AND today was also the day that Derek's Aunt Joni went thru a 9 hour surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from her jaw.

Some back ground info (and to procrastinate the point of this post): Joni was going to need part of her jaw bone removed because of cancer that had settled under her molars. They were also removing the small bone from her leg to replace her missing jaw bone, and skin from her thigh was going to be removed to repair her leg and inside of her mouth. She will have a trach (for breathing) and a feeding tube for 3 weeks, and have to stay in the hospital for at least a week. But she came out of surgery ok, she probably have to do chemo and/or radiation. For now she will be recovering with all of us thinking of her. Donna had breast cancer a few months ago and they were able to remove the lump without taking everything. But is was pretty close to entering her lymph nodes so she had to do chemo and has to do radiation after the first of the year. The chemo made her hair fall out......

Which leads me to.....Yep, you guessed it....I cut my hair!!!

Almost 3 years ago, January 2005, I donated 17 inches to the Locks of Love Foundation and I still had hair down past my shoulders. Derek's little sister, Ali, also donated 10 inches on the same day.

So today, I figured that I should beat that and donate 20 inches!! Now my hair is super short. I told the stylist to cut it so it would still be about 2 inches below my shoulders, but she got a little trimming happy and it actually sits ON my shoulders. And for those of you that remember, probably only April, I haven't had my hair this short since, like, 7th grade, seriously. It's so weird!! Derek doesn't like it at all, it's too short for his liking. I wish it was a bit longer too, but I can't glue it back on?! Well....no nevermind! Anyway, cuz I'm sure you all are dying to see or you scrolled down already and are reading this after seeing the pictures (shame on you), here they are:

BEFORE:


BEFORE:


FIRST CUT:


AFTER:


AFTER:

All I want for christmas...

Is to have the whole store all to my self...No stupid clerks asking if they can help you with anything...No retarded shoppers to get in your way or take up over half the isle and know that someone is waiting behind them to get by but the still won't get the fuck out of the way!!!! My GOD, What chaos! I, a.k.a. WE, got our most of our shopping done this weekend. We drove to Grand Forks on Saturday and shopped for a couple of hours and only went to two bookstores. Then we went and watched Aiden while April and Kevin went to Kevin's work christmas party. I can't get over how big he's getting...Aiden, not Kevin! Silly readers, don't be goofy. Aiden has four teeth now and is just the cutest thing ever! April asked me to make his birthday cake and I've already got a few cool ideas. I figure it's the least I can do since she's gonna take some family pics of us and Derek's little sister and their cousin. We're gonna do that on Saturday, then I'm gonna do Aiden's cake for his party on Sunday. So, Doug and Karissa, we'll be in forks hopefully early Saturday, I'll call ya and see if you want to do anything.
Oh yeah, so I'm not the greatest critic, definitely no Doug, but I said my next post would have comments on the movies we saw; here ya go:
Beowolf 3-D: I'd never been to a 3-D movie before so it was pretty good, very cool graphics, it really did feel as thou things were jumping off the screen, the characters were awesomely drawn (or computerly animated, whatever), sometimes they looked so real and other times they'd look so cartoony, I'm not quite sure how well I would have enjoyed it if it wasn't in 3-D since a lot of the frames were made to be cool for 3-D but not lame old 2-D!
The Golden Compass: I actually enjoyed this one a bit more than I thought I would. It was pretty good. Nicole Kidman did pretty good as the "bad guy." I've never really like any of her movies, so this part suited her in my opinion. I loved the idea of having you soul be a companion that walks through life with you as a counterpart. And being based off of another trilogy of books, they left you hanging for some closure, so now you're stuck seeing the next two.
That's All Folks!!!

What's new with me?

Absolutely nothing...nothing exciting anyway.
I'm sick again. This is like the 4th time this season already, which is definitely out of the ordinary for me. Normally I only get sick 2 or 3 times every winter. My immune system must be really out of wack this year.
I haven't done any of my christmas shopping yet. Mostly because all our extra money seems to be going to the garage lately. Hopefully I'll be able to get it done this weekend or next weekend. I'll have to make a trip to Grand Forks or Fargo because shopping here sucks balls!!! I hate it.
Garage Update: STILL NO ELECTRICITY!!! That's all I will say about that. Derek is driving me nuts because he is so board but has no where to go to tinker with things. It better be done by next weekend. Stupid electricians! Grrr!
Work is the same old work. We've really slowed down now. We're at our 10-15 rooms a night during the week and if we have and hockey or wedding groups then our weekends are at 20-30 rooms a night. Sundays, if we're lucky, we'll have 3-4 rooms. Very quiet times. On the upside of that, I am able to get a little bit more done. This week I put up all the christmas decorations. And I am training Lisa, my boss/owner, on doing manager stuff so she'll be ready when I decide to leave.
Yes, we do still plan on moving. But it's probably going to be next fall instead of the spring. My bosses offered me a really good deal to stay at least thru the summer. It's going to be a very hard decision to make. I make really good money here and I know that I would continue to make more good money with them. But, I wanna have babies!!! And I don't really want to do that here. Reasons: 1-Doctoring in forks would be much more comforting than here, 2-We would already have daycare for our baby with Karissa, and 3-I'm not to keen on having a baby in a hotel room! It would seem a little trashy. Plus, I really want a house of my own. I really, really, really, really want a house of my own. I have been waiting for, like 5 years to have a house. And I'm tired of waiting. But it wouldn't make much sense to move away form a really good paying job without having a pretty good job lined up. So that's the next step, I suppose.
We'll that's enough for now. My next post I'll tell you about Beowolf in 3D and The Golden Compass.

What we did this weekend...

I worked on Friday til 3pm and had a very frustrating week with my desk clerks. My boss and I had a unannounced meeting with our night auditors, because they seem to think that we are paying them to watch movies and play on their laptops and only do about 50% of the work that we ask them to do. Our full timer, I think is just retarded...he doesn't do even the simplest of tasks; like taking out the garbage in my office, making a new bucket of wash water of the breakfast room-cuz I love to wipe down tables with 3 day old cold water, and stocking breakfast supplies...OMG I could go on forever, but I'll spare you all. Then one of our evening clerks isn't very happy with us either. She complains because she doesn't get enough hours, but then you offer them to her, she says yes, and then the day she's suppose to work she call 3 hours before her shift and assumes that myself or my boss will work it for her because she wants to go to Fargo....uh, NO...I DON"T THINK SO!!! I finally said that we are not working for her, so either show up at 3pm or don't work here anymore. She said "Well, you guys make it seem like it's such a big deal!?" I said "Ah, Yeah! It is a big deal! Your scheduled to work, so show up and work!!! It's as simple as that!" She was all pissy and I didn't think she'd show up. But she did and she didn't even say anything about our conversation! I hightailed it out of there like 5 minutes after she showed up.----Sorry for the rant!
So Friday after work, I took a nap, then Derek and I stayed up late watching TV and went to bed again later. Saturday was filled with housecleaning. I spent 3 hours doing laundry, but I cheated because I did it all at the hotel and got to use the big huge washing machines and dryers.
Then it got exciting when Doug and Karissa came over on Saturday night and hung out with us. We hung out at our place for a little while and then ended up going to the 11th Frame. Karissa was fairly tuned before we even left so she made it lively. Her and Doug are so funny when they're "arguing." It's just hilarious...Sorry guys...the drinks I had may have made it more funny than it really was, but who cares. We left there around midnight and I made Cheeseburger Macaroni Hamburger Helper when we got home. It was a pretty good night.
Sunday was pretty boring. I got called in to work at noon because our battery backup was flipping out and constantly beeping. I found out it was because the breaker for all the front desk outlets got flipped off and then on again. So I got that fixed and then Derek and I moved his pickup from the hotel to our garage. I know exciting, right? Now I'm kinda being distracted by Family Guy. So I'll check ya all later...Peace Out!

Farnum's 9th Birthday Cake

My nephew turned 9 years old on October 28th. Oh my god, that make me feel so old! Anyway, we were in Fargo for the Rob Zombie and Ozzy concert on the 29th, so I hadn't had a chance to make his birthday cake yet. I have made his birthday cake for every birthday he's had, except his 3rd birthday when Derek and I were living in Laramie, WY. "tear, sniffle" So better late than never! This was our dessert for our early thanksgiving dinner that we had on Sunday, 18th. My mom and my grandma came to town and Wendy made an awesome turkey dinner. It was delicious. I can't wait til Thursday, when I get to eat more with Derek's family.


These are lego blocks, if you can't tell. Made from 2 13" x 9" cakes.


Frosting was a little difficult because I almost ran out. But I think it came out ok.


Can anyone guess what the little knobs on top are made out of?
Hint: They're edible.

Here it is, in all it's Glory!!

View from the street...Exciting, huh?


Derek saying hello. He finally has a place to call home!


Crappy garage doors and an old time wood stove


An awesome work pit. A lucky workman crawls in here and someone else drives a car on top of him so he can work underneath the car - or - it could be used to bury a body!?


It's a 3 ft wide, 6 ft long, and about 5 ft deep...Creepy!

These pics were taken before we did any work on it. I'll have to get some new pics this weekend and post 'em . I'll keep you updated.

Finally, we're property owners!!

On October 23rd, we closed on a small residential lot with a 24'x34' garage on it. I'll post some pictures later. We started this process back in August and of course, nothing is easily done, so it took two months to finalize. Now we need to rewire, insulate, and cover the inside...all BEFORE snow falls. We don't have electricity in there right now because the wiring is pretty old and we need to get it replaced. But all the electricians are not available for another two weeks. So Derek borrowed a small generator so we could work on tearing out the windows and framing and boarding them up. We finally finished that last night. It's hard to get anything done, when you only have 2 hours of light to work with. Frickin' Winter!!!!
Anyway, I am going to Fargo this weekend with April and Karissa for a Girls Weekend Out. Only now I have caught myself a good cold. And I'm hacking and blowing and not feeling too well. I'm just gonna make myself better, so I can go and have fun. Hopefully, I don't pass my illness along to them.

It's been a long, long time...

I've been super busy lately, but I'll try to get everything posted sooner or later. I'll start with a follow up to my last post....

Karissa ended up not coming to Devils Lake with Doug on Oct. 19/20 cuz she wasn't feeling very well. So we just hung out with Doug for a little while on Friday and Saturday night. We just stayed at home and watched tv, surfed the internet, and I painted my toenails (orange with silver stripes, for the Halloween spirit)...exciting, I know! Derek and Doug discussed building a stand up bass out of a cardboard box and possibly one out of aluminum. They got there guitars out and had a nice little jam session. Sounded pretty good. I got a few pictures until my camera decided to crap out on me. It only turns on and works when it wants to...suppose Ill have to get a new one soon.

Derek and Doug jammin' out

Kitty wanted to play too!

Mr. Pumpkin meets Ms. Kitty

Ms. Kitty likes Mr. Pumpkin!

And his friends!!

Bars (including LAME OLD LOTTA'S), the Dentist, and Not Much Else

Here's a quick summary of my week...okay, it may not be so quick:
Last weekend April came to town, all by her lonesome - no baby and no husband. Which was pretty cool. It was nice to just hang out with her and not have anything to do. We pretty much just hung about at my place and watched TV. On Saturday, we decided that bar bingo may be fun...and boy, we're we wrong. We went to the Night Owl, and it just happened to be Customer Appreciation Day so they had free food. I didn't get any, but Derek and April did, and from what I tasted it was pretty, uh..not good. It was home made food; meatballs, deer sausage, cheese dip (that was cold), etc. Anyway, I did Bingo on one game, but the stupid people didn't hear me, but it was only for $15.00 and one other person bingoed too, so it would have only been for $7.50. Whatever, it was LAME and we left right after bingo was done.
Then we waited a while and went to the new bar in town called "Lotta's." Derek and I know the owners, and they actually have this older bar right next door called the "Ye Olde Tavern" that we really felt comfortable at. We got there and went to order a drink and everyone was so rude. One of the bartenders was Robin, who used to work for me in the bar at my hotel but quit there so she could go work at this new bar...but she wouldn't even look at me! I don't care cuz she was dumb anyway, but it's the point of the matter....Don't be a BITCH! Then the other bartender that got our drinks was very insulting when April asked if she could write a check. He was like "well, yeah, you can" like duh, are you stupid or something? Word for the wise, there buddy, not everyone takes checks, cuz people like you don't understand the concept of actually needing money in their account to write out a check. IDIOTS! We decided that we would just have the one drink there, since they were so LAME, plus we were waiting for April's friend Blake to show up. While we were waiting, April and Derek went into the Tavern (the two bars are connected) to get some cigarettes, and the got the stare downs and evil glares from there too. Plus, the owners (who Derek and I have known forever) don't even come over to say hi to us. One walked right by us with out even glancing our way, and we did get a wave from across the room from the other. To sum it up: I was extremely disappointed and will not go back there. Our new nickname for the new bar: LAME OLD LOTTA'S
Once Blake got there, we all went to the 11th Frame which is connected to the bowling alley and has become OUR bar of choice. The bartenders there are very nice, especially Sheila. And we are much more comfortable there. Plus it's right across the highway from our place. So we walked there and proceeded to get drunk. And it was fun. When we were all done, we walked home. I made sloppy joe's, Blake stayed in the room next to ours, got sick and went to bed, and April stayed in our room and we made a Derek sandwich...just kidding. She slept on our airbed. And in the morning...more like noon, I made toast for April and Blake's soar tummies. Derek made a breakfast pizza that wasn't very good. And we watched more TV. That was pretty much it.
On Wednesday I had to go to the dentist. I haven't been to the dentist in 5 1/2 years...probably cuz I hate going. It's worse than going to the doctor. I think I'd rather have a pap smear than go to the dentist. I absolutely hate it. But I went anyway. The nurse made me take out all my piercings to do this panoramic xray. So I took all my earrings out, my nose ring wouldn't come out and when I went to take out my tongue ring, she looked at me all disgusted. She said that they are just gross, and even with all that she sees there, tongue rings creep her out. I actually thought this was a little unprofessional, and felt a little angered by her comment. After all, if you can crack open someones jaw, rip out some of their teeth, and stitch everything back up, whether you like or dislike tongue rings you should be kept to yourself. I even wore a plastic bendy one, cuz I know they say tongue piercings are bad for you. Anyway, I have no cavities and no decay but I do need a good cleaning and my wisdom teeth out. I only have upper wisdom teeth, so I only have 2 to remove. They are already most of the way thru so they don't need to be surgically removed, they can just pull them. Not so sure if that's such a good thing. They are going to do it here, which will save me money. The extraction will cost about $280, which is mush less than the $800 I was expecting to have to pay. I haven't set a date yet cuz I gotta figure out time off of work and save some money.
Other than that my week was pretty boring. Work was work and sucked really badly on Friday. I have the weekend off and am very excited about it. Doug and Karissa are suppose to be coming to town. So we'll probably hang out...maybe we could take them to LAME OLD LOTTA's?!?! NOT!! We'll probably go to the 11th Frame. I'll let you know what happens.

Shop Kitty Helping with the Dishes

Okay, she didn't really help me do the dishes, but she did help entertain me while I did the dishes. Isn't she just the most adorable thing EVER!!!!!!! OMG, I love her to death!!


Checkin' out the soap suds.

She didn't really like the bubbles on her head...but I thought it was hilarious!

She got pissed at me and dissed me :-(

Ohh, don't tempt me to slap you! - She can be so feisty sometimes.

Geez, she takes horrible pictures. She always looks grumpy. I don't care, she looks so funny it's cute.

Blue Potatoes?!?!?!?!

That's right, you read it right....Blue Potatoes!!!! The cook at the hotel restaurant that I manage is a regular "Old McDonald" and has tons of animals (that he butchers himself, yuk!) and has a huge garden full of every vegetable you can imagine. Anyway, this year he tried Blue Potatoes. He's always willing to share his home grown goods, so I scored some. He also fried some up as french fries so I could try them, and believe it or not, they taste just like regular potatoes...But they're BLUE!!! It's so weird. So, Monday I really wanted pork chops...and I thought "what better to serve them with, than Blue Potatoes." So I made Blue Mashed Potatoes. They were pretty good. They were just a little bit more grainy feeling, and maybe a little bitter compared to regular "white" potatoes. And let me tell you, they definitely have a cooler presence on your plate!


Peeled, it's almost more purple than blue...

Cut open...this one had a couple of bad spots in it.

Cut up and ready to boil....

Boiled and mashed...

TaaDaa!!! Boneless Pork Chop Dinner complete with Blue Mashed Potatoes, Pork Gravy, and Extra Sweet Corn....Beat that Banquet TV Dinners!!!

Devils Run June 2nd, 2007

This is me after a "few" drinks...okay, more than a few.


This is my sexy husband, Derek. Isn't he cute?!


This is Derek's little sister, Ali Jo. She's 11 now and can be the sweetest and most annoying thing at the same time!!!! But I love her to death.


This is my best friend, April. We've known each other since 2nd grade.


This is my older sister, Wendy. Yes, I said OLDER!! But I won't tell by how much.


This is my nephew, Farnum (Wendy's son). He's 8 years old. This is a duplicate of the Mystery Machine from the Scooby Doo cartoons that was in the parade for Devils Run.

my profile pic