A Late/Early resolution...

...that I am going to follow-through on!

I have decided this weekend that this would be the week that I jump back on the feel-good bandwagon. this embraces all things physical health, mental health and spiritual health. I kick-ed off this notion last night as I pulled out the workout clothes from the dresser. Hello, old companions...

Jillian Michaels 30-day shred began.

After my workout last night, I got to thinking, hmm, since Derick wakes up and leaves a lot earlier than I do, I should get up when he does and try to work out every morning of the work week (unless there is going to be a strenuous activity - like an all day floorset). I think that Jillian was trying to get into my head because that sounded like a brilliant idea last night. This morning, however, came a bit too early for me, and I had just rolled over and had gotten re-comfortable when Derick came over and said, "Time to get up - time to work out." My initial response was less than thrilled, I can assure you. But I did it! I got up, put on the workout gear again, walked stiffly down the stairs (already feeling last night's workout in my legs) and hit play on the mini dvd player. Crap that woman is persistent and motivating! I did it to the best of my ability that morning - even added the 5lb weights in some parts of the workout again. Man - amazing how those can feel more like 25lbs when you haven't used them in awhile! Sheesh!

But all complaints aside, it helped me wake up a little - though I am not sure that I enjoy that method of being called to consciousness. I felt pretty good. Immediately after the last stretch ended, I hauled it back upstairs to shower and get ready for work. I must have had some extra energy already this morning because I showered, dried my hair, got dressed and ready, packed my lunch, and let Tucker our twice and STILL had time left over before I had to leave for work - about 15 minutes worth! wow!

I have also re-started taking more Vitamin D - as suggested by my doctors - and I want to try to drink more water throughout the day. I think that is where some of my problems have come from in the past - not getting enough water. I just forget during the day and then, before I know it, the day is over and I am home on the couch, or doing other things.

On the spiritual health side, I am going to make more of an effort to go back to church-searching. I feel like I need it back in my life and I have to go and do that. No more anything holding me back, no more waiting. Now is the time - ok, more like this Sunday and then after Thanksgiving weekend when we are away. I am going to see if some friends go to a good church, otherwise, out on my own again. I would love to find one that is reasonably close to me - I know that might be picky, but come on, the chance of finding a good one that is close isn't completely out of the realm of possibility, I don't think anyway. I still have a few that I can check out that are just about within the 10 mile range from my house still! Granted, I might not find it there, but why not give them a shot - they are close!?

I think that is all that I have for now! Just thought you deserved the update!

-L

100th Post!

And what better way to celebrate it than with nature's winter confetti - snow!! Yesterday - Saturday, MN got hit with a doozy of a snowstorm!

I was content to stay inside and work on baking Ava's 1st birthday cake and get other things done around the house, but Derick had other ideas in mind! We piled into his truck and ventured out to Target to see if they had anymore folding table and chair sets on sale as listed in their ad. We got there, I took one step onto the tile floor and almost wiped out! I am sure the security camera watchers had a hay day with that one - it was not so graceful - almost like the "Superstar" pose from Mary Catherine Gallager followed by the final move of a vaulting gymnast. I think I might have even exclaimed "Ta daaa!" afterwards! I also saw that they had "my" snowflake dishes back in stores, so that also got me excited to maybe pick up another piece or two this year after the holidays.

Well, we had to call someone to ask if they had any more of the table chair sets - and he went in back and brought out the very last one they had - and we took it! We picked up a few other random things and ventured back out into the sloppy wet snow. Just from being outside for a small amount of time, we were both soaked!!

Most of the afternoon was dedicated to Ava's birthday "cupcake" cake. I think it is all going to come together and be very cute! It is hard to believe that she is one year old already! Time flies!

I also fulfilled my duties as Board Secretary by typing up the very long meeting minutes from our annual board meeting. I also typed up a few other documents for them and posted them for all to see. Our annual board meeting was pretty lively and entertaining as well as a bit shocking!

I am not too sure where the rest of the day went yesterday, but all I know is that it went very very quickly!

Derick made lasagna...mmm...that is one of my most favorite things!

Today there are still a few snow flurries out there flying around, but hopefully that dump of snow we got yesterday will be all the dumping we will get for a little while.

I guess that is all that I have for now!

-L

Christmas has come early!

Christmas has come early to the Doberstein household!

Last night, as we were eating dinner, Derick and I were talking about what we wanted to do for the rest of the evening. I told him that I really wanted to go look at dishwashers at some point. After a small discussion, we took my car to the Appliance Smart in Champlin to look around at new dishwashers. We had one of the best salespeople that I think I have ever had! He was nice, very informative, able to easily compare two models that we were looking at and gave us a lot of time to “play” with the models. Then when we had it narrowed down to two models, he showed and told us how to install one ourselves – and that it was fairly simple. So, as we usually are at Appliance Smart, we found “the one,” bought it, went home and got Derick’s truck, and came back to pick it up.

After debating in the store for awhile to go with a “dream” dishwasher (stainless model for about $120 more than what we paid) or go for the slightly down-grade (white) one – we chose to go with the white one based on a few uncertain variables coming up in our lives. With Derick’s job, there could be the possibility that we could be moving sooner than we had thought originally. Also, the benefits and the color, for about $120 more, wasn’t exactly worth it to either of us.

It was pretty exciting to take it home that night. We had decided that we would try to install it that night. We first had to find which power breaker switch was linked to the dishwasher, shut it off after testing a number of the switches in our breaker box. We had to shut off the water to the dishwasher. Once we did that, we pulled out the old dishwasher from under the counter. I was dreading looking behind the old dishwasher – as I was not sure what kinds of dusty bug monsters there might be to greet us. One spider crawled out right as we started to pull it out – good sign right there…but when we unhooked everything, there wasn’t too much room for anything to BE back there! So that was good! *whew * we slid the new dishwasher into place, were hooking up everything, and everything seemed to be going really well. Oh – side note – regardless if you turn off the water you will end up with a puddle on your floor because the hoses hold water…

Well, when Derick went to hook up the last part of the dishwasher – the water hose – to the water supply, we reached our mandatory stopping point. The old hose we had was a lot bigger than the current one, so we have to get an adapter piece before we can hook it up and use it. Ugh. So close! Oh well, I can use it hopefully tonight, as my kitchen is slowly becoming a dirty dish mecca…

That is my current excitement, which I have been labeling as “nerdy news,” but as my friend, Ben put it, “It’s not too geeky…it’s home ownery.” Haha. I guess that’s true.

From Toys to Dishwashers

From toys to dishwashers, I am not sure exactly where the transition occurred.

I remember pouring through the Fleet Farm and JCPenny Holiday Toy catalogues the moment they were delivered to our house – flagging, circling and starring all of the toys that I dreamed of having and playing with. I would make detailed lists out of the American Girl catalogues that would add up to amounts in the $300 range and I would sigh and say, someday. That was the old definition of “Christmas List.”

If I were to compare those lists to the “list” that I just compiled for my family, I am pretty sure that you would not be able to tell it was for the same person. My current list still has a few “toys” on it – a new video game, a couple DVDs, and then we get into the practical gifts – snowflake dishes and a new dishwasher top the list.

Our dishwasher has not been living up to its name. It more or less swishes around dirty water in there for awhile before calling the dishes “clean.” I think our dishwasher has a very casual loose definition of clean…the majority of our drinking glasses and other assorted kitchen items are caked with gunk, of course, at the bottoms of each glass. I end up having to handwash almost everything in our kitchen – and who really wants or expects to do that when they own an appliance called a dishwasher, anyway?! So I told Derick that is what I wanted – for Christmas or otherwise – a new dishwasher. I am pretty sure I cringed after I said it, just the thought of asking for a kitchen appliance sounded “unfun.” The dishwasher is supposed to help make life easier, but just ends up making more work for me, it is time to make a change! Maybe I will even end up killing two birds with one stone and getting a newer, more efficient AND one that is a lot quieter than ours now. Currently, each time the dishwasher is run, you’d think a 747 was landing in our kitchen (and just so we’re clear, that is NOT fly like a G6…sorry, had to make that reference in there).

I seem to be all about change in my life right now. On the lookout for different things, improvements, different things to do, etc. I have already found good and bad things out about going and looking for things to change. Some things I can change and others, I cannot. I have to deal with the things that I can have an impact on to change – for the better.

As the weather remains warm, 50s and 60s still (wait, it’s still November 8^th, right?!) I am feeling like I am actually getting to experience one of my favorite seasons – Autumn – for a longer-than-normal period of time. I am really enjoying this. I am looking forward to the holiday season – Thanksgiving (my favorite) and then Christmas soon enough afterward. I actually already started shopping for Derick’s birthday and Christmas…and keeping that a secret will be pretty hard. Gifts are the hard thing to keep secret. I usually end up being so excited about them that I want the person to have them right away and share in that excitement with me! But then again, I always like to open something on Christmas Eve/morning. Last year, for example, I went Black Friday shopping and got a pretty good deal on some video games that Derick had wanted. I ended up giving him one or two of them after I got home because I didn’t want to keep them a secret for that long. Also, with that one, I have his birthday AND his Christmas gifts to keep secret! That is a lot of pressure on one person!

Oh well. I am sure that everything will turn out. I just catch myself sometimes in one of my “grownup moments” and laugh to think that I am thinking or doing things that I would have not thought about before. I must be getting older.

dream a dream

Here was my latest dream from last night that entirely made me scared and angry beyond all reason:

I was going to a convention where I was going to be the main person representing my dad's company. I had two giant hockey bags - that were pretty light weight. I was checking in at the registration desk with this lady, a security guard close-by with a telephone with a cord that went to no where, but for some reason, I had picked up the phone to make a call out, to no dial tone. After I hung up the phone, I was shown to my room where I dropped off the two hockey bags that held the convention booth set-up materials. Then I was sitting on the floor of this large circular room with all of the other convention booth presenters and their personal luggage, as well as my own. We were each individually visited by the same lady from the registration booth as well as a man from the head of the convention. I consulted with the woman (who looked a lot like one of my neighbors) and she was asking me to pair up the things in my suitcase that I planned to wear together during my time at the convention from the nicer "presentation" clothes to even my sleepwear.

There was a small pile of things that she re-folded nicely and placed in a pile and then there was everything else that she laid out on the floor. The attention was suddenly on me and the man and woman leading the consultations as she wielded a large pair of scissors and began cutting all of my clothes apart that were not in the small pile deemed "convention appropriate." I was shocked and angered that no one told me about this odd procedure, and the fact that she was cutting up clothes of mine, many of them gifts from my family from the past Christmas, or a couple of tops that I had just purchased for the sake of the convention. Each person was focused on as the man and woman cut up their clothes - even the lounge items that for no reason should have been seen by the rest of the individuals at the convention. I remember specifically a floral short sleeved shirt, a pack of patterned socks and a couple pairs of lounge socks cut to shreds. Another man's ski cap with a large pom-pom on top was also shredded after he begged and begged them not to cut it.

So here we go...

Convention
To dream that you are at a convention, represents your need for contact and communication. You need to keep in mind that the choices you make with effect those around you. Don't be hesitant in getting them involved in your decision making. The dream is also a metaphor for bringing various aspects of yourself together. Consider the type of convention for additional clues as to what may be lacking in your life.

Bag (hockey bags)
To see a bag in your dream, represents the responsibilities that you carry. If the bag is ripped or torn, then it indicates that you are carrying a lot of burden. The symbol may be a metaphor for an "old bag" and refer to someone who is old. 

Baggage (my luggage)
To see or carry baggage in your dream, refers to the problems and things that you are carrying on your shoulders and weighing your down. You feel that you are being held back by past emotions or problems. Alternatively, baggage symbolizes your identity.  

Register (registration @ the convention)
To dream that you are registering for something, signifies your commitments toward your goals. Alternatively, the dream may be a pun on something that has made an impact or impression on you.  

Security Guard
To see or dream that you are a security guard, suggests that you are seeking security in some situation or relationship. The dream is compensating for the lack of security in your waking life. Alternatively, the dream means that there is something of value that you want to protect. 

Telephone
To see or hear a telephone in your dream, signifies a message from your unconscious or some sort of telepathic communication. You may be forced to confront issues which you have been avoiding. Alternatively, the telephone represents your communication and relationship with others. If there is no dial tone or the phone is left off the hook, then the dream indicates that you are shutting yourself out. You are experiencing difficulties in getting your thoughts and feelings across.   

Scissors
To dream that you are using scissors, denotes decisiveness and control in your waking life. You need to get rid of something in your life. It also represents your ability to cut things or people out of your life.Perhaps you are being snippy about some situation.

To see a pair of scissors in your dream, indicates that your focus is being divided into too many directions. 

Cutting (cutting clothing)
To dream that you are cutting something, signifies a broken relationship or severed connection. Alternatively, the dream may be a metaphor for something you need to "cut out" in your life. Perhaps it refers to a bad habit or a certain food.  

Socks
To dream that you are wearing socks, signifies warmth and comfort. Alternatively, to see socks in your dream indicate that you tend to yield to other's wishes. You are flexible and understanding in your thinking.  

So, in other words, I need to make some changes in my life and "cut" some things out, is what I am thinking. maybe some of the negativity that is surrounding me, and a new change of pace...  

Halloween Dress-up Day

Today was one of my most favorite days of working in corporate retail…Halloween Dress-up Day!!

It makes the day just go by a little happier and goofier than a normal work day. My costume this year has been very well received – from my drive into work this morning.

I got many laughs, points, even a guy snapped a quick pic at a stoplight and a mother driving her minivan with her child in the front seat – she did the first glance over, then did a double-take and motioned for her son to look over at me. What a hoot!

So, my costume this year was inspired by one of my passions. It was dreamed-up by a co-worker and put together by my grandma. So, without further ado, I give you, my costume...

I was a CUPCAKE! (I also was called Strawberry Shortcake, but that works too). It was a lot of fun! On our floor, not many people dressed-up. There was a pirate and myself, and a couple of others, and more downstairs. We had a costume judging contest at 2pm and I won 2nd place!! Yesss!

This weekend was more productive than I had originally imagined. I got all caught-up on Project Runway and was so disappointed that Gretchen won....UGH! I wish they would judge on attitude as well. I thought that Mondo deserved to win the most - I am pretty sure that I would buy almost any of his things that he showed on the runway for his show. SO fun with mixing patterns and colors!!

Derick and I tried a different Chinese restaurant that we had not been to before - and it was pretty yummy. When we went to open our fortune cookies, Derick's was right on - and there was NOTHING in mine! No message, no nothing! Crazy! Wonder what that means...

We ran up to Maple Grove and ran a few errands there between Saturday and Sunday. We went to Petsmart and got Tucker a sweater - yes - you read that right - we got Tucker a black sweater because he has been getting very cold when we have him outside on walks and sometimes at night - he will shiver and crawl into bed with us! So we decided to try this out and see if it would work out. Derick also got him a "costume" football! haha. Oh man, I will have to post some pictures! He looks funny in it - but oddly does not mind wearing a sweater or the football costume! Funny dog!

Also, this weekend, we got the house almost deep-cleaned! Derick really stepped it up and helped deep clean the kitchen - I woke up one morning to find him scrubbing the stove and sink! We still need to put together a list of things that we need to get done - or should get done soon. That includes getting the fireplace cleaned out so that it works properly. Second, getting our air ducts clean to see if that alleviates the problem with no vented heat or air going into the office/guest room.

I went major grocery shopping this weekend to stock up on things for awhile. That was much needed - and our freezer is now BUSTING with good things to make! Aldi is pretty much my favorite!

Sunday we went to Kohl's for Derick - to get him some new work teaching clothes! He got mostly solid-colored dress shirts, one new tie, an argyle sweater and one pair of new pants!! Then after we brought his clothes home, I played stylist with him and all of the other shirts and ties in his closet - pairing them together to give him ideas of what ties he could wear with what shirt, etc. While at Kohl's in the men's athletic dept, I was "attacked" by one of my college friends, Kim E! It was so funny! All I could hear before I saw her hurling towards me was, "I KNOW she must be here with you...what are the odds that she...LAURAAAAA!!!" " I knew you would be here with him!" (she saw Derick first and then figured I might be with him!) So that was entertaining and frightening all at the same time!

Sunday we went to the Corn Maze that was right by our house - it was a Twins theme maze and it was pretty neat. We should have brought my cousins with as they would have loved the Twins Trivia game for sure! We did not participate in that game, but rather walked around in the maze, and ended up finding our way out rather easily. We walked in the main part of the interior of the maze where they had a lot of things for kids to do - an entire hay-baled off area filled with corn kernels - that was the hit attraction for kids. They also had a children's hay bale maze, a super slide, a "pumpkin slinger," climbing tower, play area, live music and concessions. We got the cheese curds - delicious and mini doughnuts. yum yum yum! It was a fun thing to do to support the local community!

 

Then I watched some of the Packer's game with Derick - and went to carve my pumpkin right after. I was all excited because I was going to try for the MN Wild logo - but that did not work out so well with your normal knives, so I made my unsuccessful attempt into a large-mouth vampire catfish. Derick carved his too after trying to tell me that he had zero interest. Not an option sir, try again!

I set the pumpkins outside on our patio, ran a couple strands of orange halloween lights around them and put small tealight candles inside the pumpkins and waited until it got dark enough to light them.

 

Once it got dark enough, and after 5 kids came to our door, I lit the candles and plugged in the lights! I sat on the futon down stairs reading my book as I waited for the trick-or-treaters to come to the door. We only got about 15 kids. We don't have a lot of candy left though because Derick had taken it upon his self to grab candy out of the bowl much earlier than Halloween... hopefully we will be able to run out to Target after work on Monday to get some more candy so that I can make some cookies...mmm.

Other than that, I think that was about all that we were up to this weekend. Hanging out and getting things done around the house!

-L