Multiple Choice Question

This week Loki
a) fell out of the kayak
b) simultaneously put his head out the car window and stepped on the UP window control
c) was REALLY interested in a toro ant killer trap before I noticed what he was doing
-or-
d) all of the above

HUGE gratitude post, part 1

Well, it has been about a month since I posted a gratitude post and my list of items ... blessings ... is formidable. I'm not entirely convinced that you want to read ALL of them but seeing how this is my blog, I can post them all and seeing how it is your computer, you can read how much you want.

#1676 - #1724

- safety in all of our travels
- our car, selflessly cleaned by my husband
- the car ride up to the cabin, spent talking with Eva
- Penny sleeping in my lap
- relaxing with friends
- being back at the place where our marriage/relationship basically began

this empty bench

- getting to sleep at the same time as my husband =) it doesn't happen all that much working nights
- yummy drinks served lakeside
-picnic tables on the beach
- Ray's mean fire-making skills
- the lighting for this photo: (can you see the littlest dog ever in the middle)

- lounging in hammocks
- pasta salad in the summer
- bedtime hugs
- praying on the pontoon boat
- perfectly cooked marshmellows
- the kids, making faces with their peas and squash (from here on out, "the kids" refers to our niece and nephew)
- seeing Loki after a few days away
- finding a little boy's shirt mixed into our laundry
- an etsy sale to a non family/friend buyer. yay!
- my little patio garden is growing!!
- Crooked Lake!!

- the eagle perched above our dock
- birds at the bird feeder
- Loki being part of the "paper plate club" (wondering what that is ... come up to the Schumann cottage)
- going up to the cottage and only bring watermelon and brats (i.e. not being in charge of all the meals)
- my mom who DID plan all the meals
- tubing and realizing that my arms are much stronger (because I have been working out) than in previous years
- harp music, played by our neighbor
- seeing deer each morning while walking Loki
- the American flag over the lake

I know this picture was in my previous post, but I love it

- sail boats
- doing crossword puzzles on the shores of the lake
- my mom's potato salad
- changing from my pj's into my swimsuit because it is just that nice out
- coffee on the pier
- the smell of sunscreen
- my grandpa's hat on my husband's hat
- listening to my dad talk about summers at the cottage long ago
- taking Loki in the kayak

He loved it!

- Loki was also pretty excited about boating

- eating around the table that my grandpa built
- playing Indian with my family
- water lily flower

 - seeing fireworks as we drove home the night of the 3rd.
- going back to Rochester (again) to see the Butz family
- being present for Megan's baptism
- silly kids jokes
- seeing Lindsay while she was in Rochester - unexpected and totally wonderful
- a DQ run with my girls
- fireflies
- a huge, joint effort city in Carcassonne


Well, this is a little more than half of my list that is accumulating in the drafts folder of my gmail account but for now, it is more than enough!

Happy 4th of July!

We spent the last weekend at Crooked Lake with the Schumann family 

and we will spend the next few days in Rochester with the Brenna/Butz family. 

We are taking a little pit stop in Franklin so I can work tonight. 

 

Loki loved the cottage. But he wasn't sure of the water - he did a lot of this: 

Before he did this for about two seconds.

After he went in the water we pulled him in, 

he turned out to be quite the sportsman:

Hope you had a wonderful weeekend and holiday

Five Minute Friday x 2

One of the best things about this blog is that I can do whatever I want. I can post twice in one day (what IS up with that? oh wait, it probably has something to do with my awesome new computer!), I can post tons of pictures or no pictures at all, I can even type in all letters of the rainbow.
And so tonight I am linking up with Gypsy Mama and I'm writing two posts - "Home" and "Backwards" the prompts from this week and last week. The rules are simple: write for 5 minutes without editing or over thinking. 


Home {start 12:20am}
Home is a fairly fluid concept for me right now. I say I am going home when I leave work to go to the apartment that I share with my husband and our dog; my projects sit in piles in the "office" and I explore the park nearby with Loki. I say that I am going home when we drive across the state of WI to the city where my husband was born and where I spent four years of my adult life; we stay up late playing games and eat at my favorite restaurant with some of my favorite friends. I say I am going home when we drive a little longer and go to my parents house; I help my mom in the kitchen and we play games around the table that I ate dinner for decades. 
All of these place are home ... and yet none of them really are. 
John 14:2&3 -- In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I got and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may also be. 
{stop: 12:26am}

Backwards {start 12:27am}
I work twelve hour night shifts, three nights a week on a unit with far too few patients for my liking. I often feel that I live a little backwards. I try to stay awake play Banana grams work when everyone else is sleeping and I crawl into bed around the time that most people are having their morning coffee. Even days/nights that I don't work, my life is a little messed up ... you see, after doing night shifts for awhile you figure out what you have to do to stay awake for the whole thing and for me that involved staying up really late the night before and sleeping in. And so, I snuggle with my husband, kiss him goodnight and (my favorite recent activity) sit down at my sewing machine, play a good playlist on my ipod and work on one of the numerous projects that I have decided to do this summer. Sometimes I blog and eat some Trader Joe cinnamon-ized almonds and Loki wakes up and comes out to see if he can get some. I tell ya, that dog could be in a dead sleep and when I close the refrigerator door, he is standing there expectantly. And then, when the almonds are gone, Loki sits there and looks at me until I go with him to our bedroom and invite him up onto the bed where Christopher is sleeping. (I'm not sure what happened to the girl who didn't want the dog to sleep on the bed but at least he waits for permission.) 
And so, if you'll excuse me, I am almost done with a project and now I want some almonds!

{end 12: 32}