Cry fest

Chad and I are in Grygla visiting family this weekend. It's been a while and it's nice to visit.

It's especially fun to see Oliver. He's 2 1/2 and full of it. His favorite joke is Tio Chad loco! Tia Holly loco! Grandma loco! And his favorite thing to say is "Tio LUKE!" If we ask him to say Uncle Chad or any other uncle he would rather say "Tio LUKE!" Chad and Luke have made quite an impression on him, he has a lot of fun with them both. But for some reason saying LUKE! is a sound he really likes. I can’t really convey over the Internet how he says it, but it’s very short and blunt.

But none of that has to do with crying.

The crying part came in last night when Chad, Penny, Katy and I watched "Million Dollar Baby." Very, very sad movie. I liked it, but it's definitely in the category of what I call "a good cry movie." If any of you (females) need a good, cleansing cry, watch this one. On the other hand, Chad liked it OK too. Then afterward we were talking about other sad movies and I just couldn’t stop crying. So I definitely got some crying out of the way last night.

My theory of crying is this. I’m like a cup. Everything cry-worthy that happens, good or bad, might not be enough to make me cry. But it might add a drop in the bucket. The sad story I read in our newspaper, the good thing my boss said to me at work, the happy fact that I harvested a lot of zucchini (my favorite!!), ect, all that stuff slowly fills me up until it spills over. Better that I watch a sad movie or something on TV (even a commercial!) and let it spill back out, than let it build up and spill out at work or in the grocery store.

So! I’m now safe for a while. I wrung the well dry last night.

Brrrr

Our house is cold.

I love that we have central air (I'm not good in extreme heat either) but I'm really not a fan of air conditioning. I hate air blowing on me. Example: this morning when I HAD to go potty, LIKE RIGHT NOW but I was also cold. But the downstairs bathroom is particularily awful for blowing cold air on me. And the small room is rather ice boxy. So I ended up cuddling in the towel that was hanging on the rack.

I thought it was a funny story.

Doh!

Last time I figured out what I did wrong all by myself. This time I am clueless. So I guess you guys will have to wait for the photos, the computer guy is asleep and the clueless girl is in charge.

my candyboy

Sweet Chadly had sort of a long week this week. He had a headache for several days and was just really tired out. We got home from eating supper (Pizza Ranch) and buying cat food (Wal-Mart) and he promptly fell asleep on the couch. So cute.

So I'm posting a pic of him I took when we went camping.

Isn't he hot? Don't have to answer that, it's enough that I think so.



Here's another one of him piloting the boat that weekend.



And, the kicker. One of him playing catch with Oliver. What a good Tio!



I love you Chad!!

Filler

I have no idea what to post about today. But I woke up early and decided to update my blog, can't leave it on the emotional/yeah me post forever.

I was going to post about how, Saturday night I thought I was cured of my caffeine aversion and ordered a Dairy Queen cappuccino moolatte. (or, as Chad said, cow crap.) I'd tell you all about how I couldn't fall asleep until 7 a.m. because of it, but it's old news now.

I had planned to post about how, after all these months I finally realize, doh, Ms. Smarty Pants and I have the same template, and she had it first. I could explain how I'm not a copycat, when I first signed up I thought I was clicking on a link to see more choices and the *&%^$ing! site told me, thank you for creating a blog... and then I was too lazy to change it. But I won't because somehow I doubt the Pants lady has been seething with anger over the duplicity all this time.

I considered posting about how I followed a link on a friend's Web log (her preferred term) to people that comment on her site and to the people that comment on the sites of people that comment on my friend's site. I'd explain how I read about yet another person that lost their job due to what they’d published on the Internet on their site. But it's too exhausting.

I could blog about how we're going on our boundary waters trip in less than two weeks and I've yet to exercise in preparation once, but honestly, just thinking of talking about exercising is too much work right now.

In desperation for a good topic I've finally decided to post about

Me = OK

I went to a training session with a Star Tribune writer yesterday. It was awesome to say the least. I'm really excited about my profession and improving myself, growing as a writer again.

Many, many notable things happened, as my loving husband can attest. But the most significant is that at the end of the nearly 7 hours of training, I talked to him briefly to tell him how much I appreciated/was inspired by the training session. I told him I really wanted to keep improving as a journalist. He then said something to me that totally caught me off guard and that I took as a HUGE compliment, considering his stature as a writer.

He said:

"You are going to be OK."

After that part the whirling universe and the tears I was choking on (yes, I teared up) prevented me from hearing/remembering the rest. But it was something to the effect that he could tell from the comments I'd made during the class that I was going to make it as a journalist.

I interpreted it to mean that he saw abilities in me and that I will be able to keep improving as a journalist. With obvious tears in my voice and eyes, I told him thank you and left the room.

By his few words he calmed me of perhaps one of my biggest professional fears, and/or the fear of many journalists/people. That this is as good as it will get, I will never move beyond this, as much as I want to. Honestly I’ve been feeling very burned out and slightly discouraged lately and the training session and his comments to me afterwards have really made me glad I am a journalist.

This experience may not seem like a big deal, but to me it was electrifying. Imagine if somebody who has "succeeded" in your field and done things you don't dare dream of achieving told you that he/she saw something worth mentioning.

Here insert cliché. I will never, as long as I live, forget those words. “You are going to be OK.”

da gaa-den

So I've been meaning to post some pics and info on the garden. It's so much fun. We've been eating radishes and lettuce like crazy.

Here's the first bunch I harvested.



And I was so excited to find the beginings of two, count em, two squash and a pumpkin starting. The corn, carrots, green beans, onions, spinach (ate some of that in a salad already too), and zuccini also seem to be doing well.

I'm so obsessed with the gardening this year. Saturday night at the motel I told Chad I couldn't fall asleep because I kept thinking about the garden. When should I harvest the spinach? Have I been watering enough? Then this morning I was up at 8:20 watering the garden for an hour. That may not seem strange but it is since I worked until midnight last night and don't go into work until 1 p.m, this afternoon. I ussually don't get up until 10 a.m., so this was definatly an event!!

more pics

I was on a roll so I decided to post this series of photos of our nephew Oliver. He's 2 1/2, speaks Spanish and English and loved the waterguns Tio Luke (my brother, his (in English:) uncle Luke) gave him. Here's him obsessing over the water spigot at our camp site. Mama is my sister Penny by the way.

Trying to fill the watergun, ALL BY MYSELF, mama.



Mmmm. Water.



Good to the last drop.



Isn't he just the cutest!

As promised...

Here's a pic of Chad and I camping. Warning: I'm a bit grubby, I am camping, afterall. (Just wait for the pics of us wilderness camping for a week. Good thing the blog isn't scratch and sniff....)

Anyway: here we are.

We're baaaaack!

We'll we had a wonderful time. No rain except at night and not enough to ruin the whole night with wet/sleepnessness. And it was a lot of fun for me to spend time with the family. Canoeing, eating like pigs and sitting around the fire laughing.

Asa, so where, exactly did you grow up? This was Rainbow Resort near Wahbin, or however you spell that. We just camped in tents, not cabins. But loads of fun.

I took lots of pics, I promise to post some later.

the whole fam damily

Well, were off to spend the weekend with the Nordvick side of the family. (my relatics) My bro Luke is in the Army, which I may have mentioned, and is on home on leave. He got back from a year in Japan a while ago but this is the first I have seen him since our wedding, almost a year. Then in Oct. he thinks they will send him to Iraq. I guess pretty much all the guys at his base are going eventually, it's a question of when.

So my mom, dad, two sisters, brother in law, nephew Oliver, Chad and I are all going to go camping near Itasca State Park this weekend. I've got so much stuff packed I looks like we are going to be gone for weeks. Sheesh. Camping takes lots of stuff.

I'm excited though. Should be a lot of fun.

Hope you guys have a wonderful Fourth!