Checking In From the

LAKE!! What do you know, I'm able to pick up a wireless signal over here!!

Nick, Eric, Zander & I came over this afternoon. The boys wanted to fish. I told Nick before we left that I know how it goes, they fish for 5 minutes & then they are done. Well guess what? They fished for a few minutes & then were done. Gee, how did I know??

We did take the paddle boat out for a little ride. My cousin Jorja is over here & so we paddle down to where she was & talked to her for a while. There are actually quite a few people here. A few docks are in already too. Ours will go in next weekend.

I suppose I should be doing some cleaning, but darn it, I forgot all my cleaning supplies. Oh well, I did manage to pack a couple of beers though. I guess I'll just go for a walk & talk to the neighbors & see how everyone made it over the winter!

OH, and the best part (what I always worry about!!) NO MICE came in over the winter!!


****** I'm home now & have to made a few edits. Everything sounds great above, right?!?! Well of course after I posted that's when my luck turned.

I got the water turned on & started running it through the pipes to clear all the antifreeze out & stuff. I let it run for awhile & then remembered to check under the kitchen sink. Last year at the end of the season we noticed it was leaking. So we asked the resort owners if they could check it/fix it for us when they winterized the pipes for us. Well guess what, they didn't. So there was water all over under the sink. Was able to clean that mess up.

Then Nick says "mom, the carpet is ALL wet over here" So I look over & see the living room carpet is soaked. Got my uncle to come over & we pulled off the wood thing that was covering up the pipe & he says we have a leak. So TWO leaks that we need to fix.

Then I looked in a couple of cupboards and found evidence that we DID have a mouse, or probably mice cause we all know there is never just ONE of those damn creatures!! I wonder if it got in somehow through the water heater area. We had to replace that last year & open that all up & I bet we didn't get it tight enough when we closed it back up.

I put the signs in the windows that the place is for sale. Couple of the neighbors did NOT like that. They told me to hang them on the outside so they could rip them down! I keep going back & forth on if I want to sell or not, but after today, I'm ok with it. I get stressed out when we have to worry about things like this. They say it's just minor leaks, but still....something to worry about & get fixed. And of course a bill will come along with it too.

Lexi's Spring Program!

Singing

I was so far away I couldn't get a really good picture. But you can see Lexi in the back row waving her thing around!
She did a great job tonight & we weren't sure if she'd make it or not. She's been fighting this HORRIBLE cough all week. She's just been so worn down by it too...falling asleep on the couch at 6:30.....the poor thing!
Hopefully the end of it is coming soon.

 

Zach & Lexi

And for those of you keeping track....Nick is missing. He had already seen the program in school so we said it was fine he played outside with Eric. They worked up a sweat shooting hoops!

 

Smilin' ZanMan & Daddy...

Enjoying some goldfish!

 

Grandma & Zach

Enjoying his "juice"....that's the ONLY word he is saying. And if you give him milk when he says juice, do you think he cares? NOPE....of course as long as it's CHOCOLATE MILK!

 

Lexi & Lucas

After the show...enjoying some goldfish! Lexi & her good friend Lucas. They are always lined up together in school (and church singing) for stuff....and both their names start with L........and they both have bday's in August!! They have fun together. And for those of you that don't know, Lucas is my good friend Tami's son!

 

Coupon Fraud!??!

I figure I'm so good at writing emails I may as well do it again!!

I just emailed Hy-Vee corporate office. I did a few weeks ago because I was told that I could only use one *FREE* coupon per purchase. I knew that was wrong so emailed corp & the local HyVee manager called me & said to bring them all in at once & they'd take care of me. And they did.

Now today something else happened. I was planning on buying cereal. I had printed some coupons off the internet to use. The cashier looked them over & then asked a an asst manager & then called the manager. I was told that Hy-Vee no longer takes Internet printed coupons because of fraud reasons & because they were no longer getting reimbursed by the mfg for them.

I understood & had heard that before from other people that there store (not necessary Hy-Vee) didn't take printables anymore either). I was fine with it & was ready to move on.

HOWEVER......I mentioned this on the coupon site I frequent & one Hy-Vee shopper thought it was strange....because why then would Hy-Vee have a link to Smartsource (where you print coupons from) on their webpage if they didn't want you to print them & use them?!?! Strange indeed, huh?!?!

So I just shot an email off to Hy-Vee & asked. Explained that either they need to take that link off their webpage.....OR inform the stores that they CAN accept them!!

SO I'm sure the manager will be contacting me again. I was mainly mad because of the deal I was trying to do. This week if you bought 10 certain items, you'd get 2 Free movie tickets. I've also got some concession cash coming from another deal I did so thought the free movie tickets would go well with that!!

Those Crazy Bunnies!!

Ok so Tuesday is when Phil caught the bunnies. We were hoping Nick could take them to show & tell today (Friday). Nick actually wanted me to call his teacher & see if he could bring them on Wednesday. I didn't want to do that. Well Wed morning I took the garbage out & the three bunnies had hopped out of the box.....or I thought maybe Phil let them go before he went to work the night before. He came home & said they were already out Tuesday night.

So that didn't last long..........well until this morning. As Zander, Zach, & I were heading out to the van, I saw TWO of the bunnies! One quickly hopped under the van, the other under a chair. Oh no, now what!!?! I thought...well if I could catch them, we could take them to school later for Nick's show & tell. We were on our way out so I said let's quick get the van out of the garage & we'll try to catch them when we get home.

So we got home & I opened the garage door & one bunny was right in the middle of the floor. I left the van out, & quietly tried to sneek up on him. I found a net & caught him with that!!

I then saw the other bunny.....he was too fast & hopped all around the garage. So Eddie was outside in his garden & I said "eddie...guess what I got in my garage now?!" He said "another snake?!" Nope....a Skunk? Thank god, NO! I said BUNNIES! I told him I caught one but couldn't get the other & so he came & helped & we blocked him in a corner & got him in the box then. I told him there were three the other day but one must of hopped out of the garage this week. The door had been opened all week so we assumed that all three hopped out sometime on Wednesday....but nope! So I brought in the rest of my bags & all of a sudden the THIRD bunny hopped in sight!! I somehow ended up catching him myself & now they are all in the box!

I called Nick's teacher to see if it was ok if we brought them in later today. She said that was fine. So I HOPE I can keep them for a few hours yet! I taped the box up but you never know!!

Awwwwww

Phil mowed the lawn today & look what he found down by the woods!

 

Not getting away!

Bunny won't get away when Zander is holding him!

 

Lexi wasn't afraid to hold it!

 

Ouch!

Zachary just wanted to grab & squeeze the bunnies!

 

BABIES!!!

He went to finish mowing & found TWO more!!

 

Zander's 1st Bus Ride!

Zander got to ride the school bus on Friday when he went to the play with me & Lexi's class.

 

Published....

Were we really safe?

TO THE EDITOR: Friday morning I was a chaperone for my daughter’s kindergarten class for their trip to see the Cinderella play at MLC in New Ulm. We arrived on campus about 8:45 a.m., enjoyed a great play and left about 10:30 a.m. As we drove down Center Street hill, we noticed that Summit Ave. was closed off. I saw law enforcement, fire department, and an ambulance there. Had no idea what was going on but assumed it to be an accident or something.

Boy was I surprised to read the headline in The Journal on Saturday morning stating there were PIPE BOMBS found on the campus at MLC.

Quoted from The Journal from Ted Olsen: “We’re very much concerned about the safety of our students. Under the circumstances, putting them on the opposite end of the campus, we felt they were entirely safe.”

My question, is were we REALLY safe on campus? WHY were we allowed ON campus after a bomb was found? A bomb was found. How many others could have been hidden anywhere on campus. Even in the auditorium where the play was. Why were the parents and teachers not told that an actual bomb was found. Shouldn’t the parents and teachers have been told, since the children were in their care? Usually when there is a bomb threat (which I realize no threat was made, but still a bomb was found) an EVACUATION occurs, you don’t allow people to come onto the grounds, which is what MLC did.

The Journal stated that police arrived to investigate at about 8 a.m. and 15 minutes later the bomb squad from Bloomington was called. So I’m gonna guess the bomb squad got there an hour later? We arrived at 8:45, WHY were we allowed on campus where there was a pipe bomb found is what I want to know. As stated, there were HUNDREDS of elementary school aged children on the campus.

It was stated the campus was given the all clear at 3 p.m. THAT is when people should have been allowed on campus, not before that. I think that MLC dropped the ball with their handling or non-handling of the situation. Perhaps a review of the emergency action plan is needed. I feel let down that I was not told that my children were possibly in danger or at least have been told what was going on where I could of made a decision myself to stay there or leave the campus. Better communication to all parties involved needs to be a top priority in these type of situations. Thank God that the situation was defused before the bombs and guns were used.

We pray that the student gets the help he needs.

LISA FISCHER

Courtland

Poor Lexi!

We've been dealing with sick kids all week. Zachary has had the diahrhea or however you spell it all week. He was good on Friday & I thought we were done but then today it started again. He's also been giving us grief at bedtime. He used to go down w/o a peep. The last two or three nights he's been crying & we've ended up letting him fall asleep in our room first. Not sure if he's napping too long during the day or what the heck is going on with him but it's NOT FUN.

Zander has had the same thing the last two days. Today his butt was so sore he wouldn't even let me wipe it or get near him. He wouldn't even take a bath cause it hurt so much. Last night he just stood up in the tub.

Then Lexi. She's been coughing the last couple of days. I think she was just worn out today from it. She fell asleep on the living room floor about 6:00 pm. Didn't wake up for supper. Then she finally got up & had to go to the bathroom but Phil was in there so she went downstairs & then went to our bed for awhile. Then came back up & asked what was for breakfast. She thought it was the next day. She did NOT remember falling asleep on the floor & missing supper. She asked me if she could water her plant (just got it & she's suppose to water it once/day). I told her she already watered it today & she said no I didn't, that was yesterday. Then she got all mad at me & said I was lying to her!! She was so out of it! We had her take a bath, eat some ice cream & then she went to bed!!

Hopefully they all get over this!

Were we REALLY Safe??

For those of you that aren't local, you may not have heard of what happened in New Ulm yesterday (Friday). Here is the story

http://www.nujournal.com/News/articles.asp?articleID=6922

Yes, pipe bombS were found at MLC College. And guess what, Nick, Lexi, Zander, & myself were there......AT THE TIME!

The school was performing their Children's Theatre program Cinderalla & I went along as a chaperone (took Zander with too).

I am very upset about this. We had NO idea what was going on until we left & saw the one street was blocked off & I saw cop cars, ambulance, and the fire department there. We figured an accident or something. I didn't find out all the details until reading the paper this morning.

How can they say we were SAFE?? How could they let the show go on & allow 100's of elementary aged kids on campus??? They had NO idea if they were any other bombs on campus and did they check? According to what I read, all they did was move students to the other side of the campus.

In my opinion they should of turned all the buses around & sent us back to school. It wouldn't have been the end of the world if we missed the play.......it would have been very tragic if something would of happened with us & all those kids there.

This happened at 8:00 am when law enforcement was called there, we arrived on campus about 8:45, which if I read it right was shortly after the bombs were found.

And they state that it was handled well in light of what has happened at VA Tech earlier this week. In my opinion, in light of what happened there, this was NOT handled well. We should of NEVER been allowed on campus.

If I can get it well written, a letter to the editor will be sent to the Journal from me.

The CHAMP....

He watches 100 movies to my one.......yet I beat him in Scene It....TWICE!

He won the first game, I won the second. The tie breaker third game was the best as we were tied in the final cut & both had a hard time with the questions but once the smoke cleared, I reigned as the SCENE IT MOVIE champion!!

We just got this last week & it's pretty fun!

Bless Me? Or Bless You?

We were driving to New Ulm this morning & I sneezed. I said "excuse me"

Zander says "no, say Bless You"

I say "Bless Me"

He says "no, Bless You"

I say " Bless You"

He says "Ya, like that"

We had a pretty rough night last night. I went to bed shortly before midnight & about 1:00 am Nick comes into our room. He had been coughing on/off in bed (his allergies). He says "I feel like I'm gonna throw up" So Phil tells him to go to the bathroom then. Instead he lays down by me. Well I quickly got him up & we went upstairs. I gave him some prescription cough syrup (w/ CODIENE to KNOCK him out!!) and told him to lay on the recliner. He said no & went back to bed. I didn't hear him cough much after that.

Then about 4:30 am, Zachary starts crying. I was hoping he'd fall back to sleep. He woke up crying the other night & by the time I got up there, he had stopped. Well, last night he woke Zander up, so Zander yells down the steps "mommy, zachy woke up" (you know, just in case I could't hear him crying!!) So they are both up. I go upstairs to get Zach & bring him down by me. Get back into bed & tell Phil that Zander is up, can you go deal with him. No movement. Next thing I hear Phil telling Zander to get back to bed. I don't know when Phil went upstairs or how I missed him when he did. I must of been out of it or something! So Phil comes back to bed, Zach is with us & squirming around. I hear Zander again upstairs. So I go back up & he just wanted me to tuck him in. So I do that & back to bed w/ Zach still awake. It was about 5:30 when he finally fell back to sleep. An hour later the alarm goes off.

Not a good night for sleep for us. Good thing I can go take a nap now!!! Zach fell asleep on the way home from HyVee & Zander stayed at Grandma's. Should be nice & quiet here for the next couple of hours at least!

Not Me!

I was sitting in the living room tonight, Nick was taking a shower, Lexi was in her room playing with the neighbor girl.

Zander & Zachary....well it was quiet so I said "Zander, where are you?"

"Not in Nick's room"

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing"

"Where are you? Are you in your room?"

"Not in Nick's room"

Then he comes out giggling.........

Poor Lexi....

So last night she had to sleep on the floor. The plan was to get her a new bed this week. We want to get her one like Nick's & we got his at Walmart so thought we'd just wait until Walmart opened here on Wednesday.

Well, last night, or I should say about 5:00 this morning, she came into our room crying & said she couldn't sleep & wanted her bed back!!

So today her & I went to Mankato to get her a new bed! We got the mattress & of course there is a story with that.

First we went to Slumberland outlet center. Well I was surprised at the price of *just* a mattress, no boxspring needed. I didn't remember how much we paid for Nick's, but it seems like this was a lot more. So I left there to check out Mattress Giant. I was quoted a little less than Slumberland & then said, well just a minute & I was diggin for my calculator to see what I wanted to pay. He asked if I had a number in mind & I was diggin then he said, well it goes on sale on Tuesday so I suppose I can give you that price today. It was about $20 cheaper, & then I said well I do have cash to pay with. Then he gives me the total & I give him my money & needed just over $5 in change. He pulls out his wallet & then says that they don't allow a CASH DRAWER there anymore. HUH!?! I said, what people don't pay in cash these days? It's all credit/debit cards or checks??" Well he didn't have the change & I dug a bit more & did find the exact change! I've never seen that before! CRAZY!!

So we got the mattress.

We then went to Shopko & I found a white bed that we liked. So I got the little tickets to take up front, paid for it & then they said that they didn't have the bed in stock, but they had the headboard. So we got the headboard & raincheck for the bed. I'm going back on Wed so I will hopefully be able to pick it up then.

The poor girl was falling asleep on the couch at 7:15 tonight so I said, come on let's go to bed. I knew she didn't sleep well last night. Well at least tonight she is sleeping on a mattress!! Hopefully she sleeps well!

Dave Says...........

Sell the........

We had a garage sale yesterday & today & it went GREAT!!

We got rid of a TON of stuff. Poor Lexi is sleeping on the floor now! We sold her bed & hopefully next week will be selling our bedroom set. Not our bed, but the headboard, armoire, & dresser/mirror.

I was a little worried early in the week with it SNOWING & freezing cold. It wasn't very fun setting up for the sale, but by Thursday it looked better & then Fri & today were actually very nice. A little cold in the garage, but I survived!

I closed my Ebay store & am getting rid of most of my inventory. That sure has opened up space in the basement too.