The Great Fish Tank-off

Alright, so, apparently the Doberstein Great Fish Tank-off has begun!

This past weekend, Derick and Paul got together and had a man-date over fish, plants, heaters, lighting, filters fish tanks and I am sure a plethora of other fishy business.

First, there was the purchase of a 55-gallon fish tank.

Then there was the conversion of the 45-gallon tank hood, and the 2 10-gallon hoods.

Then last night there was the drive down, pick up and "donation" of $10 for a used 55-gallon tank stand.

(mind you this is in ADDITION to the 45-gallon and the 2 10-gallon tanks we currently have set up in our sunroom at home currently)

I am not entirely sure of the rest of the events of the weekend, but a few 2-liters of Mtn Dew and a messy kitchen later, I assume that they finished what they set out to do this weekend.

Where was I this weekend, you might ask?

Well I was at only the most AWESOME place ever. Naturally, Camp St. Croix, or better known for the next 2 weeks: Camp Needlepoint 2010!!!

It was time once again, for me to assume my role as "Camp Mom" Friday night for the counseling and CIT staff who would not be driving the long distance back home, but who would be staying overnight at camp. It is usually a really fun time. We work around camp, prepping things for the week, go out on the town of Hudson, eat a good "last meal," and call it a late-er night. Usually, in the past, the group has been about 4-6 people spending the night. Well, that number BALLOONED up to 25 people this year! Yikes! It worked out well though because we were able to have 1 cabin full of the girls and one cabin for the rowdy boys (who ended up staying up into the wee hours of the morning). It was SO hot out that night that it kept me awake until about 4am, that, and probably the fact that I was excited to be there and my brain was running, running, running!

Saturday was more camp training - more in-depth. That night I temporarily moved into the "Staff House." WOW. Was that ever a nice place to be!!! It was newly-remodeled this year, and complete with 2 bathrooms, 2 living areas and air conditioning! SO nice! It almost didn't feel like you were at camp staying there! I slept really well that night for sure! Becca, Wendy and myself went out to buy supplies and 2 carts full of junkfood to feed about 80 counseling staff for "staff snacks." It is always amazing to me how much junkfood we go through for one round of staff snacks- and we're diabetics! haha.

Sunday, we were up and setting up the front of camp for all of the 220-some campers that were coming to Camp Needlepoint session 1. It is always a whirlwind of activity, but this year, everything seemed to click into place! And THEN the campers showed up! For the next three hours, I stood outside in the sun with my Camp Store clipboard taking people's camp store money forms and playing "flight attendant," telling the moms, dads, siblings, and other miscellaneous relatives of the campers the next steps in their camp check-in experience.

After that, the rest of the opening day activities fell into place and we were off and running. I ate dinner at camp - tacos- YUM and then decided to head for home around 7:30.

Back to the real world, work. Boo. It was funny because after dinner, me, the camp director, asst. camp directors and I were all standing around thinking of ways to tell my boss I would be gone for the 2-week time span of camp that year...it was priceless!

So, those are the most recent events in my life right now. On Sunday I will be back out at camp with the Camp Store responsibility once again and I will be there to help kick off another awesome week of CNP!

-L

Training the Future Leaders

Friday morning starts off one of the best times of year ever. Camp Needlepoint. Staff Training.

I will be busy packing tonight for my 3-day stint out at camp, assisting the camp director in training the new staff and the counselors in training. Friday morning it all begins, and I become the "camp mom" Friday night for all those staffers who are too far from home to drive back home that night and come back the next day. We usually end up staying out at camp, finishing up some things in the medical center, going out to dinner as group, coming back, showering and calling it a night. I might have them help me with putting together the staff "get to know us" board that night, so it is all ready to go. we'll see.

Saturday is day 2 of all-staff training and everyone comes with all of their belongings for the entire week or 2 weeks that they will be on staff at camp. That night, we all hang out, eat a lot of really bad junk food and then turn in for the insanity of the next day, which is camper check-in and arrival day!

Sunday, the campers, parents and, yes, sometimes pets, come to camp, check-in, move-in and the week begins! I usually end up collecting all of the camp store forms (Becky says it's because I look so trustworthy...). I hang around for awhile, checking in on cabins to see if I am needed. Most times I stay until dinner and then head home, other times I have stayed for the opening campfire and then call it a night. Only time will tell.

All I do know is that I am looking forward to it. The usual things happen, but then again, the new people and some new twists are always evident and keep things interesting. I get to see staff friends that I haven't seen or talked to in some time, so that is always fun to catch-up and see what they have been up to.

So- until later, happy trails!

Stay-cation

So since last Thursday, I have been on a "Stay-cation" with my husband.

Initially, we had plans of going camping, or working on some house projects that we have been wanting to get done. We went another direction, for the most part, due to some plan changes!

On Thursday morning, we headed out on the dreary-sprinkling day, to the Como Zoo. Our initial thoughts were, well, it looks like it might be a rainy, cooler day outside, so maybe that will deter some of the people from hitting the zoo. Wow, were we wrong...we got to the zoo about 1/2 an hour after it opened. We had to go down and park in the overflow zoo parking lot and hop the shuttle back over. (At the end of the day, it was mutually decided that we would just assume to park over there next time, as it was rather easy to get to and home from, and the shuttle came and went fairly quickly!)

Friday afternoon we caved and got the entertainment center we had been eying at Target. We spent most of the afternoon putting the beast together and now it looks very nice and the room is looking even more put together!

Saturday morning, Derick's cousins: Joe, Cathrina, and Joe's girlfriend, Brittney came over and we headed out to Bunker Beach in Coon Rapids for the afternoon. It was a pretty fun day! We hit the body slides, the tube slides, the wave pool, lounge chairs and the fabulous lazy river! The day was fun, but when we got home, most of us discovered that mr. sun had not been too kind...we were burnt!! Mine is still sore in places as I type this!

After our fun in the sun, we came back home, showered, and the girls and I ran to Cub to get cupcake decorating supplies to make the Stirng Monsters (see my facebook album) and the guys prepped the kitchen to make our "state fair food." Most of the food turned out really well. We made mozzarella sticks, popcorn shrimp, popcorn chicken, cheese curds and then mini doughnuts the next morning. We played Apples to Apples and found out that Derick and Joey are connected on some sub-atomic level that no one fully realized until that night. We all seemed to crash pretty early from the extensive sun, fun and fair food, so it was off to our respective corners for some well-deserved sleep!

Sunday morning, we all got up and I took the girls shopping in Maple Grove. We were successful getting Cathrina some of the left over things on her college list. I also bought some jeans from American Eagle - on sale (and thank goodness because I was in desperate need of some jeans!!) and a new fragrance of foaming soap from bath and body works. mmm.

After the gang left, Derick and I relaxed and watched some tv. I then went into the office and began sorting through all of my magazine tear sheets and put them into the binders that I had started long ago. Today I finished that up for the most part, with the exception of moving the overflow of the "articles" section to a new binder and placing them all within that new binder. But it makes me feel so much better that they are all in there and I can now flip through them to find something, rather than go to the dreaded box - that had become the dumping ground for the clippings that I wished to file "at a later date." Whew, at last, the "later date" finally came!!

Tonight, a couple of the ladies from our townhouse association and I will be going out to Costco and the dollar store to rangle-up items for our National Night Out - Tomorrow night!! Finally I will be rid of the prizes that have been on my counter for the past month and a half!!

Whew, so that is the Reader's Digest of what I have been up to, so I will leave you with some pictures...

Prayers for the family

This is one of the sadder posts that I have made.

Yesterday I got an email from my dad - that I did not get until later that night - that said my Grandpa Krutzig was transferred to Hospice care at the hospital, the doctor had detached his defibrillator and if I wanted to come say my goodbyes, this would be the time to do it, as it looks like he'll only have a couple of days left in him.

I was debating whether or not I wanted to go - I am becoming more of a believer that I don't like going to see people in the hospital because I want to remember just the good memories, not how awful, or struggling they are in the hospital, ya know?

Well, my mom called at about 9:30pm last night after I had just gotten out of the shower and told me that just our "little" family was there, and they sent my Grandma home for a couple of hours so that she could get some rest. I hemmed and hawed about going, and felt the daughter-to-father pull that he needed me to be there.

So, I changed out of my pjs and Derick and I drove to the hospital. It was rough. As we walked into the hospital, everything about the place seemed unwelcoming. The smell of sterilization and sanitizer and even the lady and the security guard at the information desks weren't overly pleasant. One more thing about hospitals - why is it that just about everyone is like the hardest building to navigate period?! You would think that they would have another method. Like, for instance, Derick and I had to enter through the Emergency patient entrance, ask at the info desk where to go, go over to the security desk to get a visitor badge and he said to go to the end of the hall and take the elevators to the 4th floor. Ok, we walked to these huge, grey, steel double doors that look like all of the ones in the shows and movies that you "cannot go through." but, we had to then press an intercom and he had to buzz the doors to let us in.

Once we got to his room, my mom made me go and sit in the chair by my Grandpa's bed. I was not ready for that. I should have said no and gone to where I ended up spending the rest of my time there that night - sitting in a chair behind my dad on the other side of my Grandpa's bed.

Watching him was hard. Both my dad and my Grandpa. My Grandpa struggled to breath and then would wake up a little and struggle to sit-up and get comfortable. I liked the quiet in there with him. You just felt led to think about happier times with him and just zone out and be there for him and for the rest of the family. That is, until my mom began her nervous (?) chatter that seemed to last too long. Then my Grandma and aunt Beth showed up again. My Grandma seemed happy to see me, but seeing her there trying to take care of him made me very sad as her whole world seemed to be falling apart.

It has been her life for so long to take care of him as he has had failing health for years and years. There was one point where I looked over at her leaning over his bed and she was just shaking her head. That is one of the most helpless moments that I have ever experienced.

We stayed until after 11pm and then I hugged my dad again - and he seemed like he did not want to let go. It was a good moment, one that also made me realize a couple of things:

1. Life is too short
2. The good ones go too soon
3. I need to tell people that I love, that I love them more often

and one last thing...

4. I think that I inherited my love of plaid from my Grandpa. He was wearing a plaid shirt (that I later found out was not his, but one that the hospital had put on him) and he usually wore plaid shirts.

It is going to be a rough week for the Krutzig clan, so please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers.

-L

Happy Birthday America!

How nice is it to have a four-day weekend? Let me tell you – it is a beautiful thing!  I was able to relax as well as be rather productive!

On Friday, Derick and my dad went up to their lake place to work on the cabin and the boat. Later in the afternoon – I picked up my mom and we headed up there. Shortly after we arrived, we got things together and went over to my aunt and uncle’s cabin just a few miles away from my parent’s cabin for dinner and fireworks. It was nice to sit, relax and chat with the family. They have a “Lighting of the Lake” that takes place every 4^th of July weekend that is really cool to watch/see. About 9:45 pm, when it is dark, each cabin lot gets about 3 red flares, spaces them out on the shore of their property and lights them. You can see them go all around the smaller lake that they are on and also the larger- adjoining lake through the channel.

Awhile after that, the fireworks started and lasted awhile. My uncle lit fireworks until they started and some of them were crazy! Fireworks always make me a little nervous, mostly because you can never fully trust them to do exactly what you expect them to do or go where you aim them to go!  Derick and I drove back to the house that night. He took off the next morning to go work on the boat some more and then go fishing with Joe, who met up with him up there. The guys fished up there, and ended up spending the night – Derick slept in the truck and Joe, in his car. (what some guys will do to have a fishing weekend…)

Saturday I did a lot of cleaning and also made a new type of cookie. Last week I had brought in some cookies to work, and now have more people telling me that they will be my cookie taste-testers always! So, I might have to bring those in and have them try them out. Jana and I went to see Toy Story 3 in 3-D in Champlin. That was a really cute movie, and made me want to go out and get both of the other Toy Story movies, since I don’t have any of them and don’t have many cartoon movies in general. I still have my doubts about the 3-D technology, but it was interesting and both my sister and my first time watching a movie in 3-D.

Let’s see – Sunday, the 4^th, Derick came home in the morning because it was raining and looked as if it would continue all day. Sunday was a pretty lazy day for us, and I was just fine with that! We watched tv – caught up on the season of Parenthood (just an ok show) and watched some comedy central. I made another new cookie – that one was pretty yummy. Then later that night, since it was kind of yucky outside, we watched the Boston Firework show and that was pretty amazing!! They were all synced up to music that was playing and there were a TON of fireworks going off at one time off a small barge-type set-up.

Monday I had off from work and Derick had off from watching the boys. We were pretty lazy in the morning, but then got down to business in the afternoon. I did the finishing touches on cleaning the house, then we prepped, cleaned and painted the sunroom!! It is now “Prairie Green” vs the original white paint we had before. It looks really nice with the light woodwork and wood blinds that we have in there. It just feels more ours and more finished now. We are still debating on painting one wall with all of Derick’s fish paintings on it – just because there is some funky wall architecture going on and we are debating on how we should address that.

This week should go by pretty quickly. I have a mini-floorset tomorrow and walk-through Thursday, so that will keep me out of trouble. Then just a ½ day again on Friday! I think this weekend Derick, Joe and Paul are all going to try to go fishing, so me, Jenny and Ava might have to have a girl’s day/weekend! We still have to see if it will work, but at least that would give me something other than cleaning and organizing this weekend!

I am thankful for a great weekend that I got to spend with family this weekend, and yet be able to be at home and spend time with my husband and our puppy Tucker.



I hope that you all were able to have a nice, relaxing 4th of July as well!
-L

"untitled"

Since I have a mass-update to do for this post, I figured I would call it "untitled," rather than try to come up with something witty and all-inclusive.

Let’s see…where to begin:

Age

I am now officially a quarter of a century old! I don’t really feel any older this year, but then again, there are for sure certain things that make me feel older at certain times like: when my cousins from North Carolina came to visit – they are getting so much older and grown-up! What an impact that has when we only get to see them once or twice a year!! Another thing is the fact that more and more friend and people my age are having kids. That is nuts – in a good way, but I can’t even begin to comprehend taking care of someone else other than myself, my husband and my dog right now!

Along with my birthday, Derick and I went camping on my parent’s lake property in Wisconsin Thursday, Friday, Saturday last weekend and it was fun and relaxing. Thursday night we were watching the sky as the storms rolled in and around us. The sky was a weird orange and gray color. I tried taking some photos, but they don’t do justice to what it really looked like when we were there living it. We took the canoe out on the lake that my parents are on and caught a TON of little panfish. I think I like that more than fishing for bass…it is more entertaining for me to KEEP catching fish rather that cast, reel, reel, reel, cast, reel, reel…I got to take my first ride in Derick’s new fishing boat. It is pretty nice – all that room to move around. I have the whole back casting deck to work with when there is just the two of us.

Father’s Day

Saturday afternoon we headed over to the nursing home in Amery for my grandma’s 95^th birthday party. Wow. That is another thing – she is almost exactly 70 years older to the day than I am! We only could stay for a little bit – we had to get back home and clean our house because we were hosting Father’s day lunch at our house the next day and we hadn’t gotten a ton of things ready yet!

Sunday was really nice though – my parents, Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Don and the kids all came over and we ate and talked and played games on the Wii and PS3. They are growing up so fast!

This weekend

We don’t have a whole lot going on this weekend. Saturday we have our second wedding of the year to go to – Derick’s friend Beth from BSU is getting married in Oakdale/St. Paul, MN. That will be fun as this is the last wedding that we will be going to this year! Next year we will have one that I know of for sure – my friend Laura C!!

Other than that, I am just getting some things ready for our National Night Out event in our association - in August. Yes - we are pre-planning things which will mean a trip to the dollar store to rangle up some prizes this year!

Have a good weekend!

-L

Is it Friday yet?

Okay, I know that it is already Wednesday, and it would ALREADY be a short week...but I also took Friday of this week off to get ready for our start of our insane-month-of-June-weekends!

This Friday I am meeting my mom at her house in the am to go get my license renewed and then get things set to get a passport (one day she wants to take my sister and I to Paris, France!) I also need to find time before Friday night to get my car in for an oil change and tire rotation...This Friday when Derick gets home from teaching, we will pack up a vehicle and head to Medford for the Medford Rodeo!!!! I am excited! It is going to be crazy!

Then, next weekend, we will bounce back to Medford for Joe & Cathrina's joint-grad party (similar to mine and Jana's- Joe is graduating from college and Cathrina is graduating from high school.)

The next weekend is my birthday. We were thinking of road-tripping up to Bemidji and camping up there, but we might reconsider after having been on the road 2 weekends in a row.

The last weekend in June, a friend of Derick's is getting married in St. Paul, MN. So we will be around somewhat, or, somewhat closer to home!

So, it'll be a busy month, but it will be a lot of fun too!