Minnesota

Ah Minnesota! It is nice to be in Minnesota. The lilacs are blooming here and they are so nice. The lilac bush on the corner of my parents house makes the house smell so pleasant.

The past two days I've been hanging out with Katie. She had surgery on her foot yesterday. She is recovering nicely. She hasn't been in too much pain which is good, just very tired. I've been hanging out and enjoying spending time with my sister. She wasn't too happy I took this picture but doesn't she look good for just having surgery. I think so. :)


It has been nice to be around the animals. Here is a cute picture of my parents cat, Cricket.

Memorial Weekend in Review

Okay, above is what the weekend gave us. Rain, clouds, humid weather. Yet, I still went swimming twice, both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday night we relaxed with some friends and daringly got in the cold pool. It was very chilly. The apartment complex opened it on Friday and had just filled it a week earlier and it is most definitely not heated.

Erik did a lot of baking of bread this weekend. I baked some ANZAC cookies tonight... ANZAC stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. We went to a local grocery store that we only go once in a while - a very nice store. Once Erik and I had taken a trip to Omaha just to go to Cost Plus World Market to get golden syrup to find out they were sold out. It seems that it is hard to find in regular grocery stores. So as we were walking around what do I find... golden syrup, so I had to make the cookies once I had the syrup. I had them when I was in Australia and found the recipe in a magazine and thought I'd try it. They didn't turn out quite like I thought they should, but they still turned out.




























Our veggies are doing well. Erik's cucumbers are about an inch long and I have flowers on my tomato plants. The basil is going crazy too. We have had a rainy spring and with that has come a fungus on the cucumber plants, so we went to Earl May and got some fungicide so it doesn't spread.
Today was pretty easy going day. We ran some errands and did some laundry. I packed for my trip to Minnesota. Katie is having surgery on Wednesday and I'm going to hang out with her and my parents for the week. I'm excited to see them!

Horses, Turtles and Cookies

I kept on wishing it was Friday seemed like every morning this week, but now tomorrow is Friday and it seems it came fast.

Tuesday night Erik and I had smoked pork chops from the farmers market. It was very good. I'm so happy to have a place like that to get fresh food and you know where the food comes from.

Last night was a busy one. Windsong riding lessons were canceled because the weather was predicted to be 80% chance of rain. Christina and I still went out to the barn to ride and feed. It wasn't too bad out just cloudy and we joked about how it wouldn't rain because we canceled the lessons. I rode Mamasita. She was awfully muddy. I scrubbed her for a long time. The horses seemed very calm maybe from the humidity. We rode out in the outdoor arena. It was nice. Mamasita and I were working on collecting and I cantered a little bit but the poor girl is out of shape so she was not too happy. She through a little fit at the gate - she was telling me she was done. I told her we weren't. :) We rode until we felt a few rain drops and went in the barn. About when we got our horses tied up it downpoured. It was so very loud in the barn. There was pea sized hail too. Mamasita wasn't use to the sound the rain made in the barn. I think all four feet were off the ground for about a minute, but she calmed down after that. The barn cat passed away this week too. Very sad. He was a nice cat, but there has been a new cat I named Cooper hanging around the barn for the past few weeks and so we are trying to feed him so he'll stay around. He is a very nice cat and loves to be held.

After riding, we went to see Trampled by Turtles play at Knickerbockers. We got there about 8:45. The opening band played for an hour... it was an hour I want back. They were terrible. Trampled by Turtles put on a great show. It is amazing how fast Trampled by Turtles can play. I'd definitely see them live again. So we got in late last night - way past my bed time.

This morning it was very hard to get going. I could have used a little more sleep, but I guess that is what coffee is for. I got a big coffee from the gas station across the street from school this morning. It was a productive day at school which is always good. I made a lot of cookies with Kimpy tonight. Erik worked tonight and Kim and I grilled some chicken and made salad for dinner. We made some chocolate chip cookies to send to a friend. It was fun. The recipe makes a lot of cookies, but they are good! Kim and I thought about other pudding flavors to make with the recipe like banana... hmmm banana chocolate chip cookies.... yum.

Sunday was a nice day too. Erik and I went to the south Lincoln farmers market. We tried some Honey Limeade. It was great. I think we paid too much for what goes in it... here is the recipe:

Honey Limeade

• 1 cup lime juice
• 5 cups water
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey

Mix the lime juice, water, sugar, and honey until all of the sugar is dissolved. Chill and then enjoy!

Sunday afternoon we went on a nice bike ride (see it was a nice day). We went out of town on the Mopac Trail. It was a bit breezy but that was nice since it was warm too. It was a relaxing day. We had a nice dinner too of bacon wrapped turkey and cucumber salad.

Today, it was back to it. Back to the work. I did mostly data entry this morning followed by organizing data and more data entry. It wasn't too bad and actually the day flew by. Tonight I had softball practice. I was asked to help out with a first grade softball team and I thought it would be fun. It was fun... a little unorganized but fun. The girls threw overhand for half of practice and there were balls all over the place. First graders are so small too and have a lot of energy. It was fun.

A Nice Saturday

It was a nice Saturday. I most definitely enjoyed it. Erik was the bread master today. He made wheat sourdough bread today, 2 loaves of it. It turned out oh so good! We went to the Haymarket farmers market this morning in hopes of getting some things for dinner, but we got eggs, tomatoes, cherry chocolate cookies, and apple butter; of which we only used an egg in the stir fry that Erik made.

We went to Earl May and picked up some Vinca flowers for our hanging basket. I had bought a hanging basket that was just beautiful and over flowing with flowers and I was so excited because I had gotten a very good deal on it, too good of a deal. The day after I hung it it looked injured... the Nebraska wind took a hold of that poor basket and broke off most of the long hanging flowers. I tried to revive it, but no such luck, so I went in search of a flower that is wind tolerant... I think I got the hardiest thing - Vinca, loves heat and tolerates wind. Let's hope it still looks nice in a week.

When we moved into our apartment all of the apartments were full... then slowly through the winter we lost neighbors, I guess we stink. ;) There were only about 4 apartments occupied out of 11 at one point this winter. Within the last month and a half we have gained neighbors. Today we gained an upstairs neighbor... 4 of them. Now, we have a one bedroom apartment, although spacious, still one bedroom, and the apartment above us is also one bedroom, for 2 adults and 2 little guys maybe 3 and 5 years old. It will be interesting having new neighbors. I think we got used to the silence above us and so it will take a little time to get use to the foot traffic above us, but that is living in an apartment.

Erik and I went on a walk through the neighborhood tonight. It is fun looking at the houses and talking about what we like and what we don't and what we'd change about this house or that house. We walked to the ice cream shop too and finished off our walk eating our ice cream cones. It was a nice day.

Kleenex, Keenex and more Kleenex

It has been a kleenex filled week. This past weekend I got a cold and then I think it turned into allergies. Now I never had allergies until I moved to NE. It is just one more reason to move back to MN. So I have gone through two boxes of kleenex, the nice kind with lotion too.

Sunday night Erik and I had the girls over, Kim, Jen and Ingrid. Jen left for Illinois to go test some fish. Erik made delicious ribs with apple cinnamon bbq sauce. We had cucumber salad and sourdough/rye bread - homemade. Yum! I made vanilla cupcakes with chocolate ganache frosting. They were so good, and I made them in my mini-muffin pan. It was fun.

Monday I stayed home. Tuesday I was struggling. Wednesday was better although I sounded like a seal. I did a lot of sleeping those days. Wednesday night we made pizza. We get these great par-baked pizza crusts from La Quartier, a local bakery within walking distance. We had italian sausage, red onion, garlic, sauce, and italian cheese on our pizzas.

Today I felt pretty good, although my nose still is on the run... I felt good enough to be crafty tonight. I've been planning on making this whale. I got the idea from another blog called Wise Craft. It is a fun one to read. So I made this little blue whale from some scraps that I had. I'm going to give him to Brenda & Chris's little boy, Simon.

I don't know what the plan is for this weekend, but I'm glad not to have any plans. And I'm very happy tomorrow is Friday! :)

Spendy Saturday

Today wasn't the happiest day ever. It was an unexpected money spending day, but I guess that is what savings are for.

Last night we went to Robert and Gloria's house, we had pizza and birthday cake for Gloria's birthday... Erik and Robert spent the rest of the evening replacing the O2 sensor on Erik's truck - one of the O2 sensors. They accomplished it and we thought our worries are over.

Today, the check engine light reappeared. So Erik replaced another O2 sensor - thankfully this one was easier, but still just as costly.

Later this afternoon we decided to go for a walk and locked ourselves out of our apartment. So there went another 50 bucks. We do have two spare keys, beside our two keys... all four inside the apartment. :)

So that was the bad part of the day. The good is that we went and looked around/took pictures at a garden center that we really like. They have a large variety of indoor plants and specialize in flower arrangements too. They have some really neat things. Here are some pictures from there.

The First Post

Here it is. I decided to start a blog so that I could share pictures and what I've been up to with my family and friends.

This week has been a busy one. I'm thankful it is almost Friday. Today started great, with a call with my sister. She is headed to Guatemala next week. I'm very excited for her! At the end of the month I get to spend some time with her and my parents and I'm greatly looking forward to that too! I had a productive day in the lab looking at bug heads today too. I accomplished what I normally get done in two days all in one day - today!

This weekend I think Erik and I and some others may be headed up to Omaha to go to the Farmers Market in the Old Market and go to Cabela's.

This past weekend the Farmers Markets started in Lincoln. It was very nice to get fresh fruits and veggies. Erik also got some sourdough starter and made a loaf on our rainy weekend.

Here are some pictures from this past weekend:

Lincoln Farmers Market

Rain, rain and more rain

The threat of hail brought the garden inside

I had time to finish a quilt for a friend with all the rain