Christmas joy!

Well, my baking is finished for another year. It was, as always, a ton of fun. For the first time, I tried making peanut butter fudge. I found a couple of recipes online and tried one but it didn't work. So, much to my sorrow, I threw out fudge and tried a recipe of my own. I've always had good luck with the fudge recipe on the back of the marshmallow creme jar so I made that but inside of putting in chocolate, I threw in a bunch of peanut butter. And it worked!

Matt and I already had our Christmas together. I wanted an MP3 player, which I received and Matt, for fun, received a variety of food items. Rice vinegar, hoisin sauce, havarti cheese, and anything else unusual that I could find at our grocery store. Matt's grandfather always liked Limburger cheese and every time we go to the store, Matt smells the cheese, which, by the way, smells like old, dirty socks. Very old dirty socks. So for fun, I picked up a package of Limburger and hid it in the bottom of our refrigerator (behind the oranges, where I knew he wouldn't look because he doesn't like oranges). For the past couple of days, Matt has been commenting on the odd smell in our refrigerator and in our kitchen. "What is that smell?" he's been asking. And I knew the entire time: it was the hidden stinky cheese.
Two days ago we tried the cheese. Opening it slowly and taking brave whiffs of smelly cheese, I watched as Matt tried the first sample. He didn't show any reaction on his face and once he had finished swallowing, he stated, "Ok, that's gross." Then it was my turn. I took a piece of cheese and placed it on a cracker. Being careful not to inhale with the cheese near my nose, I quickly shoved the entire cracker in my mouth and chewed as quickly as I could without choking. FYI: Limburger tastes like it smells. We had been hopeful that maybe it would magically taste like something else. But it doesn't. I quickly chased it with a piece of chocolate, which took the taste right out of my mouth. But not from my memory.
So we tried Limburger. And now there is an extra addition to our garbage for this week.

For Christmas, my mother in law gave us a laser pointer for the cats. It projects a red dot on the floor and the cats go NUTS!!!! Gus runs in circles, chasing this dot that somehow always stays right in front of him (unless something gets in the way, like a chair) He will do figure-8's, a kitty obstacle course around the living room, or just straight circles (he prefers going clockwise). Mac will chase it for awhile but Gus would go all night if we let him. It's great because it's a toy that he can't knock under the couch AND it's hilarious to watch him. What a great toy!

We're headed back to Indiana tomorrow, assuming that the latest snow storm we're expecting doesn't hit us too bad. We already have over a foot of snow on the ground and they're calling for another 6 inches tonight. I'm already running out of places to stack snow when I shovel but this is great weather! I just love winter!

I hope that everyone has a fantastic Christmas and a wonderful New Year!!!!!!

I love the holidays!!

I hope that everyone enjoyed that post from Matt. Just a few caveats: we wouldn't really eat the cats. I think that joke started as a comment (probably from me) about their behavior and the consequences if it didn't improve. Also, the drier doesn't shrink any of my clothes, only Matt's and only in the waistband, no where else. It's a puzzle....

Finals are finally done! Yay! I had forgotten the joy of the academic calender! Yay for Christmas breaks! I know I've been MIA for a while but this past week I had: 3 tests, 2 papers, and my application for student teaching due so needless to say, I'm happy the week is over! Now I can look forward to Christmas baking, wrapping, and cards and I have more time to work on them than I've had in the past with a couple of days off. Yay! I'm gonna destroy the kitchen with Christmas baking!!!! I'm looking forward to it. This year's cookie list:

Doods
Fudge
Butter cutouts (like sugar cookies only yummier)
truffles
sugar free meringues
spritz/cookie press cookies
TBA

Oh, I can't wait!! My only problem is that I'm a dough eater/spoon licker/professional bowl cleaner (which totally grosses Matt out and makes him question my sanity and potential for developing salmonella) (and that's fine with me because then I get more dough!). Well, it's ok to lick the spoon for one batch of cookies, but with that amount of baking, I just might go into a sugar coma. So I've developed a solution: chew gum while baking. No one wants to have wintergreen gum AND fudge in their mouth at the same time! Ha! I outwitted myself! (having just finished Abnormal Psychology, part of me really wants to dissect that statement, but I'll leave it alone)

For part of my student teaching application, the director of clinical services commented that schools google potential students to see what comes up. So I thought I would google myself and some pretty normal things came up: this blog, my facebook page, some articles I've been quoted in (yes, I'm famous), and other community related items. Then, on the next page of "Merrilee Lee" finds was:
Merrilee Lee, Utah, convicted in 2000 of manufacturing meth.

Crap.

That's not me! I've never been to Utah, let alone manufactured meth. AND, there's two of us in the world! One "Merrilee Lee" was not enough??!?? The only good thing is that she was 34 in 2000 when convicted and I was in college in 2000. For the first time. And, I wasn't Merrilee Lee then! Yay, I have an alibi!! So any of you who knew me in 2000, knew of my whereabouts and the fact that I'm not a crook, I mean, jailbird, I just might need to call on you as character witnesses!!!!

Anyhow, now that school is done, expect more posts from me soon!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you are reading this entry in the “Blog-O-Mer” then my plan to hack in, infiltrate....I mean.....post a lovely note about my wife has succeeded! Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the massive amounts of blessings each of us have. I am thankful to be able to share a few thoughts with you. Without further whatever……….I present to you, my 2008 version of “Life with Wife”.

1. Merrilee Lee – Kismit?

2. Our mall in Dubuque was basically off limits. So much retail fluff in there – gives my lovely wife a headache. Big-box, mainstream, mass-consumption, parking problems……..”Honey, I heard that the Dubuque Humane Society has a store in there now, can we go see the kitties?” We now have one mandatory stop every time we are in Dubuque!

3. We have cable for two reasons: Ghost Hunters & British accents. I tend to migrate more to Chicago sports. A television in the Man-cave has been provided for this purpose.

4. You may have seen the ads on TV about the Dannon yogurt that has magical ingredients (bacteria) that is healthier for your digestive system than other yogurts (and more expensive). I was eating that yogurt for a bit of time until Mer convinced me that it is a “Yogurt Marketing Ploy.” I now eat Yoplait…………………it tastes better.

5. 5-POUND TATER TOT CASSEROLES!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!

6. While we’re on the food issue (amazing that I went there) I have a few more insights. Mer tells me that all my memories revolve around food; where I ate, what I ate…..This just isn’t true…I can remember our first date…..we both wore green tops and jeans on the bottoms, we sat in a booth next to an old picture on the wall, she told me what year the picture was taken and the style of house the people stood in front of. We started our date in Illinois, drove to Wisconsin and then Iowa – our first date – a tri-state date. We had a wonderful time together – I found her wit to be challenging and lovely. She of course pursued me from the beginning, constantly hounding me with calls and love letters. I never once flirted with her – I simply told her in my banker-boy wit “I will attend an evening of conversation with you”. By the way, I had a ham steak (nice and salty pork)!

7. This year she finally did it. Mer got me hooked on canning. She was proud of that accomplishment. She also found an old silver quarter in the change at the museum!

8. We have two wonderful, darling (these are not my words) cats. She has taught me how to personify these cats in all situations. It is like a living cartoon. We love them and they know that. And they know who is in charge. We have made it clear to them that, if their behavior worsens and/or economic times warrant, that they could be a stew-kitty and a roaster-kitty. And they know the difference! We would never eat the cats (or would we mwaa-ha-hah-ha) but we do know that the indoor plants love the spray bottle and the cats hate it. We also know that if it were not for our cats, the couch and rugs would float away from gravity. They have taught us that the soles of our shoes need to be massaged quite regularly for the best comfort and that in every good cat fight (and our cats belong to the UFC – ultimate fighting cats) there is always time for a 2 minute self cleaning break.

9. Did you know that knitting attracts cats? I learned that from my wife.

10. We have a faulty dryer. It shrinks the waist in all my pants. It has forced me to buy expand-a-pants with the comforting stretch band. This has nothing to do with my love of all things dairy and my annual winter hibernation. It has to do with the faulty dryer. My lovely Merrilee agrees with a “Yes Honey”. We both know that ultimately it is Gus’ fault. Gus is the roaster kitty. He takes the blame for many things like global warming, why Saturday Night Live is horrible and of course, FAULTY DAMN DRYERS (sorry for the strong language).

11. My wife is amazing and I am about to tell you why. If you come home from the grocery store with 8 full bags, two gallons of water and a gallon of milk, how many trips from your car to your kitchen would you make? I believe this average would be 3-4 trips. For me it would be at least 4 trips. For Mer, 1 TRIP! She takes pride in this ability to carry ¼ of Wal-mart from the trunk, up the stairs, past two semi-conscience cats to the kitchen. I ask to help…..”No, Honey, I’ve got it”. I am convinced my wife can dead lift the equivalent of 474 large cans of Campbell’s soup (which I don’t like – try Progresso!).

12. I know my wife loves me. She lets me run a boarding house for homeless post-holiday Poinsettias. She also didn’t get upset when I planted part of a fallen tree next to our garage. It was from a tree at my parent’s farm that I wanted to re-root and save. She said it would die. I didn’t give up hope. Next to the tree, many pumpkin vines started to sprout. I threw out a bunch of pumpkins there last year. Mer always tells me that the best pumpkins are “Sh-t pumpkins”. Long story short, the tree died, for good this time. But all was not lost. That lil’ baby was the best pumpkin trellis ever!

13. The Sunday Nap. The world would be a better place if we all did the “Sunday Nap”. Mer does it. In fact, she has perfected it. I think she should write further about the wonder that is the “Sunday Nap”. She will show you the way. The cats apply this principal to the remaining 6 days of the week. For me, it is simple….either stay quiet or join the Sunday Nap Movement!

May you all have a happy turkey-induced nap this Thursday! Happy Thanksgiving

Mr. Lee

Another grey day

Apparently, Wisconsin is trying to be England with grey days full of little spits of rain. What's odd is that the sun will be shining in Illinois when I leave but by the time I get to Wisconsion, it's gone and we have grey clouds covering the sky. Unfortunately, days like that make me want to 1. go back to bed and wait for the sun 2. drink tremendous amounts of tea 3. eat scones in companion with the tea 4. read long British stories involving a wealthy wayward duke, a poor but beautiful woman, and a traumatic event that throws them together. Basically, anything by Jane Austen or a Bronte sister. Please notice that none of the things on my list actually involve anything that I have to get done today or should finish today. Oh well.

Tonight I have an appreciation dinner for one of my tutoring opportunities. I'm helping a very nice lady who's about my age study for her TOEFL test, which is the test that foreign born/non-native English speakers must take to enter grad school. She is looking at attending grad school to study ESL. She's originally from Columbia and speaks/writes/reads English very well but sometimes the little detail rules are difficult (as they can be for native speakers!!). Last night we were working on the difference between "effect" and "affect." I told her that's tough for me too! I get them mixed up all the time. She's a little nervous, I think, but working on being prepared. I hope it works out for her because it would be a great opportunity for her. Anyhow, the organization that hosts the tutoring is having a dinner at a local restaurant tonight. I really enjoy working with my friend and I'm hoping that my schedule will work out so that even though I need XX amount of hours of tutoring, I can keep helping her at least through her test. I think it would be cruel to stop tutoring just because my goal is achieved when her goal isn't yet.

I registered for classes this week and it looks as though I will be able to do my student teaching next fall. So in and out in a year and a half. Then it's onto finding a real job. This stresses me out quite a bit but as Matt reminds me: there are more teaching jobs in the world than there are museum jobs and if I found a museum job, then I will find a teaching job too! I appreciate his support but I'll feel better when I actually find a teaching job that doesn't include coaching football. However, by the time I finish, I will be able to teach: US history, World History, Government & Current Events, Economics, Psychology, and Geography. Surely, someone will want to hire me, right?

OK, faithful blog readers, I have a request to help me (sorry for being selfish!):
What was your favorite part about studying social studies in school and why?

Funny things seen around town

First of all, canning season is done!! Yay!!!!!! It's officially done when I put away the water-bather pot (I'm sure this has a technical name for it but I prefer my use-descriptive one instead), I stop searching for Sure-Jell rather than any other lesser pectin, stop buying salt and sugar in abnormal quantities, and replace the tongs and jar lifters back into the drawer. I have no idea how much we canned this year but I'm pretty certain that we could live the rest of the winter on our applesauce, pear sauce, pickled beets, spaghetti sauce, and various jellies, although we would probably end up with some type of protein deficiency BUT we would be scurvy-free! Yay for no scurvy!!

We had been freezing our tomatoes as they came ripe so we could "can them at a later date" which made perfect sense every time you popped a tomato into the freezer but after a while, our freezer was only tomatoes and we had no room for ice cream (a true tragedy if you ask me!) So last weekend was "Can or Bust" weekend. Matt and I canned 5 quarts and 3 pints of spaghetti sauce which we cooked down in our Nesco cooker because we don't have enough large stock pots to cook down that much sauce (no one has enough stock pots unless you have an institutional kitchen with 30 gallon pots). We also made 16 jars of beet jelly. We could have made more. I had enough juice for one more batch but I was out of sugar, pectin, and jars. I only had jello and juice. SO, I made the hard decision and dumped the juice down the drain. Still, we have plenty of jelly! But now our freezer is ours again complete with pumpkin ice cream (very yummy!) and now when you open the freezer, frozen tomatoes don't come flying out at you like little frozen Ninja balls of death fruit.

School is going well. I found out that if I take a full load next semester (which I was planning on doing) and some summer classes (what else would I have to do in the summer), I can student teach next fall and then start job hunting/subbing more full time. Most of my classes are fairly easy but a couple (microeconomics) make me want to pull my hair out. But I just have to get through them and I will. (This philosophy comes with age, experience, and grad school, in my opinion. I would not have felt this way in Mer's undergrad experience, part 1, the saga begins)

Ok, for the true nature of this post:

Three funny signs seen this week:
Sign on a quik-lube place "Stop here for your tranny flush"
At a health foods place "Colon cleanse, yay!"
"O-B-A-M-A" spelled out on the sides of hay bales (true sign of living in the country, when you campaign for president using hay)

Matt

Today is Matt's 30th birthday and in honor of that momentous occasion, I'm going to list my top 30 favorite things about Matt:



30. His green thumb and love of plants.

29. His willingness to water said plants every night.

28. His handiness with a drill.

27. His ability to play the drums and actually make it sound like music.

26. He took me to my first blues concerts: Buddy Guy and B.B. King. Now what?

25. Playing "drums" in the car on the dashboard.

24. His growing historical and architectural snobbiness. (Wonder where he picked that up??)

23. Cooking supper and often having it on the table when I walk in. Can we say role-reversal?

22. His joy of grocery shopping.

21. His "Uh-Oh" sound. Very funny and a clear sign that something bad happened.

20. Constantly losing his cell phone.

19. His patience with all things kitty and Mer-related.

18. Grilling in an old green apron.

17. Accepting that I'm old fashioned and like to sew, knit, and can food.

16. He lets me take Sunday naps and doesn't complain. ( He learned that no Sunday nap makes for a cranky Mer!!)

15. Dancing in the living room. Alone.

14. He can often only remember places or events through food. He likes food, what's wrong with that?

13. His acceptance and eventual love for indoor cats. Even two cats!

12. The look on his face when he is struggling to wake up in the morning.

11. His hands, very distinguished.

10. His chuckle.

9. His enjoyment of life and acceptance of what he can't change.

8. His desire to live simply and close to nature.

7. His love for his family and mine.

6. His honesty.

5. The fact that he wants to help people, and not just because he thinks he should help.

4. When he smiles, it lights up his entire face.

3. His warm, friendly eyes, the first thing I noticed about him.

2. Matt's open, trusting heart.

1. His love of God and desire to share that love with everyone.

I'm still here, I promise

Hello intrepid blog readers,

I'm still in the land of the living and blogging. Life has just gotten incredibly crazy the past couple of weeks. I'm back in college and so far my classes are going fine. And I'm not the oldest one in any of my classes! Yay!!!! I am, however, I think the only female social studies major. All the others are guys with coaching tendencies.... More on that later.

It took a little bit to get back into the swing of college life/homework. It was much easier when I only had an apartment to take care of. But Matt is, as usual, a big help and the kitties are getting used to being more self-sufficient by holding things down for us like couches, rugs, beds, windowsills, etc.

For two of my classes, I have to do Service Learning, which is a technical description of volunteering. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I help in a special needs classroom with two fun students. Dillion, who needs help with his math, and Tiffany, who needs English help. They are fun and a challenge, Dillion more so than Tiffany. But working with them completely makes my day every time. And it reminds me of why I am doing this. Watching them learn and realizing that I am helping them to do that makes me so happy in a way that really nothing else does. On Thursdays I volunteer at a center that helps immigrants learn English and study for their citizenship tests. I helped a lady named Alexandria who grew up in Columbia. She has very good English and just needs to practice conversation. Total piece of cake!

Otherwise, life is good. Matt and I have been canning like fools. Our motto: Yes, we can!
We've canned: apple sauce, apple butter, pear sauce, pear butter, tomato sauce, pickled beets, & apple/pear jelly. We still have tomatoes and beet jelly to go. Then canning season is done, we can enjoy the "fruits" of our labor, and put away the large kettles and spare jars. And I can mop the kitchen floor, which hasn't happened since canning season started because, why? We're just going to get more dirt on it.

So life is good. Busy but good. I still have pictures to post but we now have dial-up at home which takes forever so sometime I'll have to post them from school.

A funny: My abnormal psychology professor said on the first day of class that after this semester, we will not be able to diagnosis anyone, not our parents, boyfriends, roommates or cats. But I've been using Gus as a test subject and I think that he is either OCD, ADHD, or schizophrenic. Or maybe just plain crazy.

Computer woes

I have some truly awesome images to share with you of our garden in full bloom, or actually, more like full produce. But we are having technical difficulties with our computer(s). Multiple computers are now not working. We currently have two towers, a monitor, and a keyboard/mouse on our kitchen table trying to get the computer(s) to hook up to the internet. We'll get it resolved. Or we'll go all "Office Space" on our computer(s). Please, please tell me that someone knows what I'm talking about, where they take out the copier into a field and destroy it. We're not quite that frustrated with our computer(s) but it's close sometimes.

Anyhow, since I can't post any pictures, let's paint some pictures with words.

Green leaves growing,
Tomatoes reddening,
Potatoes completely overtaken by pumpkins
Beets just "beet"iful!


I know, I'm a poet, what can I say?
I'm Poet-Laureate of northwestern Illinois! (No, not really)

Ok, what's your favorite Olympic sport?
Mer: Swimming, gymnastics
Matt: Gymnastics, some track and field
Kitties: Greco-Roman wrestling, tumbling (they practice all the time!!!!)

This is why....

I want to teach.

Overheard today in the museum:
A girl says, "I didn't learn nothing, and I'm glad!"

Now, maybe there's something we don't know. Maybe she had said that the only way she would go to the museum was if she didn't have to learn. I don't know; I stretching here a bit.
Anyhow, she's glad she "didn't learn nothing." And I'm glad for the reminder of why I want to teach.

News

There has been something that has been weighing on my heart for a while. Even though I love my current job and generally enjoy what I do, I feel as though I'm being called in a different direction. Although topically similar. I love history. There is no denying that fact. Sometimes, it feels like history is flowing through me like my blood. I honestly can't remember a time when I didn't enjoy history. It hurts my heart when I hear people say that they hate history. (now, I hate math but that is a completely different matter. I'm certain that when I say that, it doesn't hurt my dad's heart (math teacher)) Just kidding, Dad!!

History, to me, ties all people together. It is the great connector. History can be great events: war or small events: rising gas prices. It can affect two people in completely different ways depending on those individuals' personal histories. And to me, that is fascinating.

History is more than the study of events; it is the study of the human heart. What makes people react in certain ways to certain events? If you were a recently freed slave in the 1860s, how would you feel? How would you react? How about if you were a slave owner? How would you feel? Regardless of where or when a person lived, we all react with the same range of emotions.
Greed, hate, love, lust, anger, jealousy, kindness, compassion, and pain have been around for millennia. All of human history has at least one of these emotions involved, if not more.

So, after this diatribe on my passion for history, I'm resigning from the history museum and returning to college to get my teaching license. I'm just a few credits shy and it will take roughly 2 semesters of classes plus one of student teaching. I told my executive director yesterday and gave my month's notice and she accepted it well (I had mental images of her yelling at me and telling me to leave but I knew she wouldn't do that!) She agreed, I have to follow my heart and she wished me well.

Matt is completely supportive. He has been wonderful through this entire process. I'm constantly amazed at his supportiveness and can only hope that I return it in some small manner. (He's also excited about being with a college girl and that I now get the student rate at movie theaters!!)

I should have my schedule worked out soon. I also might have an on-campus job already. They need some help in the school museum and the regional archives located on-campus.

So in less than a month, I'm returning to school (again). I'm attending UW Platteville (Home of the Pioneers) and am looking forward to it although I'm looking forward to having it finished more than anything else. I would like to teach jr high/high school history. I think I can help the most in those grades and younger than that I would also have to teach math. Bleh! Hopefully I can help explain that history is not singular, unrelated events but rather a long string of interconnected events. And help to bring it to life for my students: even if that means wearing funny clothes!

So that's my news!

Yay!

I have some exciting news to share: I don't have consumption. No TB here!! Yay!
I had to have a TB test at the doctor's and I came up negative. Not that there was much of a concern that I would have consumption but I definitely don't. Yay! Now I don't have to move to a drier climate or live in a consumption ward. Goody!


Blog consumer update:

In an effort to be a little greener and smear fewer man-made chemicals on me, I switched to a greener deodorant. Tom's of Maine makes toothpaste and deodorant. I tried the apricot scent which smelled more like peaches than apricots but that's ok. And I found out something very important: if you are going to switch deodorants, don't do it at the end of July when it's 88+ degrees outside. Stick with your Secret powder fresh until the heat of summer is done. Tom's works for about 3/4 of the same time as Secret does. It doesn't have aluminum in it but instead has hops. And no, you don't hop around when you put it on nor do you make some kind of funky underarm beer (which would make for an interesting marketing technique if it did: "In a long boring meeting? Need something to make the time go faster? With Tom's of Maine hop underarm beer fermentation tank, you can have all the beer your underarms can make! Try our ale flavor as well!)

So I switched back to Secret until fall. A lesson learned.........


Last night I went for a walk. I'm not certain why but the everywhere I walked, butterflies were there. You know the little yellow butterflies that always end up on your car's grill? Those. They were right alongside the road in droves and as I walked along, they flew up and flutter along next to me. I think it might have been mating season but it was still lovely to walk along with the butterflies. Made me feel like a Disney Princess albeit a sweating, headphones and tennis-shoe wearing Disney princess.

Deep thoughts with Mer: I thought of something while I was walking last night. We have a country road near us called Pleasant Hill Road. Sounds lovely, doesn't it? Well, you know those treadmill programs that have you walk up an incline, down an incline, and repeat to simulate walking up and down hills? God made a natural one for us here. I personally think it should be called Butt-kicking Hill Road. It's a great road to walk on because of that. And I can say hello to cows, dogs, cats, and more cows. It's just a beautiful road!!!

As I was approaching the last steep incline, I thought, "Self, you know, this hill is hard to climb. Instead of thinking about how hard it will be to reach the top of this hill, I need shorter goals. My new goal is: walk to that mailbox, then the next driveway, then that patched bit after that, and finally that shady part. All I need to do is think about reaching that mailbox. And I do. Then that driveway, and so on up the hill. Suddenly I'm at the top of the hill and I didn't even realize how hard it was to get there. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, listening to my Wayne's World 2 soundtrack CD, and suddenly I'm there! Goal achieved.

This is kinda like life. We all have long term goals in our minds: debt free, families, living in our dream home, a dog name Louie. But those goals are so far off sometimes that we have to make shorter goals: pay off a credit card, be happy in ourselves, save money to buy that dream home, occasionally pretend the cat is a dog named Louie. One foot in front of the other to the shorter goals and bam! Suddenly you and your husband Fabio have adopted Louie Dog to run free in your mortgage free dream home on 50 wooded acres. Just make it to that mailbox!

A Fair Weekend!!

Very punny, Mer, very punny!



It was a fair weekend: Matt and I went to 2 (two)!!



Yay for fairs! I love fairs. They are just fantastic!! We went to the fair in our small town (the only community one in Illinois) and had a great time! Last year I entered a couple of canned goods: beet jelly and pickled beets. I won first for my pickled beets (thanks to Aunt Genny's recipe) and my beet jelly took second because some other woman had violet jelly. Violet jelly? What a waste of sugar!!! (Does anyone else remember making sugared violets? And if you have never heard of them, they are exactly what they sound like: boring pieces of sugared flowers) Anyhow, last year I was quite perturbed that I lost. I eventually stopped muttering, "Second, second? Violets, violets?" and started coming out of the basement more and more. Ha!

This year I didn't enter because I don't have too many canned goods to enter and I mistakenly opened the jar of chili sauce I was going to enter. Oh well.



But enough of my contest woes. This year we just went and had fun. The best part is saying hello to all of the animals: sheep, goats, and cows. They also had truck pulling, which is a sport I don't get. But it was still neat.



That was Friday night. Saturday night we went to Wisconsin to a county fair.
Now that was F-U-N!! I haven't been to a county fair in years!!!!! The rides, the food, the exhibits, the carnies (small hands, smell like cabbage) Oh such much fun!!!!!!

We also went to say hello to the animals! We're just like that. You know those people that actually say "hello" to the animals as if they know English? Yeah, that's us (well, me at least!).
We looked at all the dairy cattle (we're in Wisconsin, so there were a lot. And please ignore those commericals for California cheese, our cows are far happier than any other cow!!!!)
We looked at pretty Jerseys, Guernseys, Brown Swiss, Red and Black Holsteins and who knows what else. I like cows.
Then we went to the goat/sheep barn and a strange occurrence happened. At first it was just the goats. Matt and I thought that it was because I had a gyro for supper. The goats kept coming up to me and nibbling. On my dress, on my fingers, whatever they could find. They would come to me from other side of the pen. We thought since I had a gyro, maybe I smelled like goat??? And my dress was flower print, so maybe they thought it was actual flowers?? Some of them even ran (or trotted) over to me!!!! (I have the same effect on men:)

But then the sheep starting doing it!!!!!!! All of them let me pet them like dogs. It was very funny. And odd. So now my name is "Mer of the Goat People." All goats and sheep were strangely drawn to me.

Except that sheep do call for Matt: "Maaaaat, Maaaaat." According to him.

We also saw the awarding winning Swiss Cheese (remember, Wisconsin)
And I had ice cream (Wisconsin)
Matt had corn (Wisconsin)

All it all, it was a very fair fair!!!!

This weekend there is a fair in Iowa. Wonder if they'll have elephant ears? I am on a years' long quest for elephant ears. I have been craving one for at least 4 years. There weren't any at our fair and only funnel cakes in Wisconsin, elephants being a foreign creature and therefore protected by the Anti-Margarine Code of 1889. We even asked around for elephant ears but no one had any. Some people didn't even know what they were! I could find a deep-fried twinkie or snickers bar but no elephant ear. What is wrong with this picture!!!!!!

Ok, someone please tell me that you have been to a fair recently and have at least seen elephants ears being sold! Otherwise I might go back to the basement......

"E" is for the way I enjoy you
"L" is for the way I love you
"E" is for your yumminess when I eat you.....

and that's enough. You get the picture!
Elephant Ear, Stat!

The wonder of our world

I'm in the process of reading Gorgeously Green and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. It is also my inspiration for this post. That and Alaina's recent post on the same subject. Sorry Alaina, I don't mean to copy, it's just that I share your opinion on the matter and it has been weighing on my mind recently.

The author believes, and I agree, that one change can make a difference. So as we continue to use up our old light bulbs and replace them with CFLs, I try to remember to bring in bags when I go to the grocery store (why do I always remember in the dairy section? What is it about cheese that makes me think: I forgot my bags!), and we try to use as little water as possible (which means I stuff the washing machine with as much as I can get in there. There's always room for one more towel!) we are working to improve the environment.

However, just because we try to live green doesn't mean that we have to wear only hemp clothing! We can be pretty women too (sorry guys, this book is not really for you) I'm only on the second chapter but it's already helped me to realize that I have no idea what is in my makeup, lotion, shampoo or conditioner. I looked at many of the labels which start this way: water, glyercin, and continue to list chemicals that I can't pronounce. Does anyone know of eco-friendly shampoo, soap, etc, that would be readily accessible? Remember, I live ten miles from the middle of nowhere, so it will have to be pretty mainstream.

Something else that is recommended is to spend 1/2 hour with nature each day, even if it's weeding your flowers. So this morning, I woke up early and took a walk. The world is very new at 6:30 in the morning. I love that time of day except that it comes so early! I also re-remembered how beautiful our area is. It's not that I forget but more like I just recognize its beauty again. I walked along a country road and admired the lovely colors of tiger lilies, chicory, clover, and even the garlic mustard which added a nice yellow. Nature's bouquet, growing in a ditch. We move so fast anymore that we forget to enjoy what we have, whether it be nature or each other. I did laugh at a squirrel. He was about 50 feet in front me and kept running away from me as I walked closer. We did this for about 200 feet. I'm certain that I looked like a crazy woman walking along and laughing but come on, squirrels are funny!

Even if it is a squirrel running away from you or the simple beauty of wildflowers, it is our duty to protect this earth. We shouldn't think, "what can we get out of the earth" but rather "what can we do to help the earth while still enjoying our time on this planet." The earth is wonderful. Just think of all the different animals, plants, insects, and life that co-exist here. The beauty of a sunset or snowstorm. The season cycle with spring teeming with life, summer's bounty, fall's colors, and even winter's promise (and beauty, if you are me!) There is so much to enjoy and appreciate and yet we don't. We blast through hills to pave roads. We speed by nature to get to a jungle of concrete and asphalt. We irrigate our land to grow grass where it shouldn't grow. We trash the planet for our own selfish wants. And we complain about the smell from landfills. But, there is a cure. The other wonder of our planet is that it can heal itself. Much like our bodies, nature, if given enough time, can erase most of its scars. Have you ever not mowed a section of your yard for a period of time? What happens? The grass grows longer, bushes begin to grow, birds and rabbits move in. The same is true for our planet. It is not dead or dying. We are hurting it but we can stop. We just have to be aware of our actions and their consequences. So please, remember to turn off the light when you leave a room or turn off the faucet while you brush your teeth. If you don't recycle, try to begin. See if your community has a recycling program. If you don't, try to recycle at home. Find new uses for items that you would normally toss into the trash. Don't spray pesticides or herbicides on your yard: find homemade, eco-friendly ones. I found one yesterday for pests on plants which was soap, vinegar, and garlic.
We only have one planet and we need to care for it. Just remember, every little action can change the world!

Good luck!

A berry good time

A riddle:

My hands are stained but my teeth aren't.
I have bramble scratches on my arms.
I'm dreaming of toast and pancakes.

What am I?

I'm Merrilee after picking wild blackberries!!!!

Matt and I picked, are you ready for it? You might want to sit down.

12 cups of berries last night.
12!!
From wild bushes growing along side the road.
12!!!
I'm in shock.

We added that to the berries we picked previously and now we have about 21 cups of berries total. Just from the last week! They are all in the freezer which is a little full right now!

We're thinking blackberry jelly and blackberry syrup. Yum!

We left quite a few on the bushes for the birds and wildlife because we don't have to have the berries to live. We can go the grocery store for food. There isn't a grocery store for birds, although designing one would be really cool. Little shopping carts for birds and aisles of different bird seed and suet types..... Ok, I need a life.

Random Miscellany

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July!!!!!
I certainly did. I was able to head back to Indiana for a long weekend. Matt wasn't able to go so he was sorely missed. Anyhow, I was able to see family that I haven't seen in years and spend time with Mel and Jenny which was great fun. (Jenny made me promise to mention that)

What do Julia Childs, Emeril, and I all have in common? We like to cook!! I think I might have invented a recipe but I'm not certain. Has anyone had White Chicken Lasagna before?
The subtitle to this recipe should be: How to use up those lasagna noodles you impulsively bought a couple of weeks ago. Some people impulsively buy cars or furniture, I buy pasta. Oh well.

Anyhow, in case you are curious, here is my pseudo-recipe. I don't believe in recipes. They're only guidelines for cooking anyhow, not commandments.

Chicken, cooked and shredded. Saute onions. Make roux with onions. Add canned tomato chunks or just a little tomato sauce for some color. Use for sauce in lasagna strata.

Enjoy!

It was good, really good. And the best part is that it makes a ton so I have plenty of leftovers to pack for my lunch this week. Although I think by Thursday I might start sprouting lasagna noodles for ears and ricotta for hair!!


P.S. I do have approximate measurements that I can share if anyone is interested. But they're only approximate!

BOOKS!

The Big Read is an NEA program designed to encourage community reading initiatives. They've come up with this list of the top 100 books, using criteria they don't explain, and they estimate that the average adult has only read 6 of these.


So, we are encouraged to:
1) Look at the list and bold those we have read.
2) Italicize those we intend to read.
3) Underline the books we LOVE (Or, I'm making mine red since I read them. :)
4) Reprint this list in our own blogs and share!


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo


Holy carp, I'm a total geek! What is wrong with me? I've read the Count of Monte Cristo but haven't read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?? I love chocolate more than I love sandwiches, what am I doing??

Ok, since I read 49 of them and I'm only supposed to have read six, does that make me a nerd?

Marching Bands and History, Yay!

Yesterday Matt called me at work and asked what I was doing that evening. Well, I had an exciting evening planned: take out the trash and recycling, wash dishes, and make a grocery list. (I know, I live on the edge!). He asked if I wanted to go to a marching band contest in the next state (12 miles away). We both enjoy marching bands and were in them when we were in high school. Actually we both attended a national marching band contest in Indianapolis when we were in high school but didn't know each other then. (Neither of our bands were in the contest, we just went to watch and be impressed).

Anyhow, we went and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The bands all did a fantastic job. Before the competion, they had the participants of the color guard summer camp perform. Little girls (5-8 years old?) did a routine to Miley Cyrus. It was so cute!
However, the bands were great. The one that I enjoyed the most had a Spartacus theme to their show. The color guard all wore tunics and started the show in "shackles." About half-way through the show, one of the drum majors walked up to a guard girl and "killed" her setting off the slave rebellion which had to be coming at some point since Spartacus led a slave rebellion in ancient Rome before being betrayed by pirates (Never, never trust pirates, even if they look like Johnny Depp!) Next thing you know, the guard members all have spears and shields. Using their shields, they form a testudo, Roman defense trick to protect all members in unit by creating a "tortoise" shell with their shields. I clapped for the testudo and suddenly realized that I was the only one clapping.

Yes, I clap for historical accuracy. I can't help it, I'm a nerd. Well, as you might know, the slaves/guard were defeated by the Romans/band but it was still fun. The end of the true story has all the slaves crucified on the Appian Way because they all claim to be Spartacus and aren't willing to give him up to the Romans. Well at the end of the show, the guard was in the back of the band with their arms outstretched like they were on crosses. I hope someone else got the reference but I did! And I again clapped for historical accuracy.


None of the other bands had historical themes but I enjoyed them too.

Did I mention that we once had a dog named for Spartacus? Sparky was the best dog......

Weekend movie recommendation: Spartacus starring Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, and Tony Curtis. Very good!!!!!!

Baby animals everywhere!

Well, not quite everywhere....

Here's the story. About three months ago, we noticed a bird building a nest in our carport. Mrs. Robin nested and nested and didn't seem to mind the cars pulling in below her. After a while though, we noticed that she seemed to be gone. I was afraid that she had abandoned her nest. Last night, however, I noticed at least two hungry birdy mouths popping up from the nest. So now we have baby robins in our carport. Yay!!!!!!!

And, our neighbor across the street has a puppy. Matt and I thought we saw a puppy in their yard but we weren't certain. Last night, Rob, our neighbor brought over their 6 -week old rat terrier Sammy. Who is adorable!!!!! Rob let me hold Sammy (worst idea ever because I didn't want to give him back!) and Sammy proceeded to cuddle on me, nibble on fingers, and in generally be a puppy. So cute. Sammy weighs probably about 3 pounds. Rob said that they have a cat but their cat doesn't mind Sammy. At this point, our cats outweigh Sammy by about 3 times, so I would actually be worried for Sammy that Gus "The Chunk" Cat would crush Sammy.

So Matt and I had the dog discussion again, with the continued consensus of "not right now"....
I'll keep trying to teach the cats to play fetch (actually Gus does kinda fetch, sometimes, when he wants to (he is a cat after all)). Both cats do roll over, wag their tails, and both play dead (or maybe they're just sleeping since being a house cat is HARD!)

Gardening, yay!!!

The long-awaited pictures of Casa de Lee

Our tomatoes behind our house. This year I cut back on the number of plants. Last year we had 19, this year, only 12. (I freeze the tomatoes and can them once I get time. Last year I made chili sauce, "Mer"inara, and just chunks) We also have a pepper plant and two plantings of beets.

(And, how in the heck do I rotate a picture on my blog? Does someone know?)

This is the back of our house. Our garden is right at the base. We added the little border and cleaned up the area for our garden.

Matt's potatoes did come up. And a squash or a pumpkin, we're not certain yet. I think we have some of each which is what you get from a compost pile.

Matt's "Victory Garden" also known as Mac's hangout. We have become a foundling home for poinsettias. I think you can see them in the picture. We have about 12 around the house. Most come from the bank after Christmas and a certain husband of mine can't stand to see the plants thrown away. So enter these scrawny near death plants and I think, "Ok, I can stand have a house full of poinsettias since they are so near death. They deserve a decent place to pass away." Oh but no, that's not the case. After about 2 weeks under Matt's green thumbed care, they thrive. And thrive. And grow into huge healthy plants that completely take over our back room. Oh, goody......

And the front of our house completes our backyard, front yard tour. I hope that you have enjoyed your trip around the Lee household. Please watch your step and pet the kitties as you leave. Thanks for coming!

Rain, Rain go away

We have had enough rain already. Honestly, enough. Luckily, we haven't had any problems with flooding like other areas have had, i.e. Cedar Rapids, IA which is completely underwater. The only good news is that with all this rain, our garden is looking very nice. Our tomatoes and pepper plants are growing well and my beets are coming up! Matt's potatoes are coming up too!!Yay!!!!!

This past weekend was our Cemetery Walk fundraiser for the museum. We have it at a beautiful cemetery here in town: rolling hills, huge trees, and nice paths. I wore my '86 wrapper for a change (everyone always wears fancy clothing when they dress up, I like to wear oldey-timey normal clothing: proof yet again that I"m a social historian.) Anyhow, when I was putting on my dress, it felt like I was slipping into an old friend. You know that feeling you get when you put on clothing that you used to wear all the time and stopped wearing, only to start again? Yep, that one. I even wore my apron ( I needed the pocket for my keys and cell phone.)

I did have to chuckle to myself though: my dress was the only one with "authentic" wear patterns. Underarms and bodice front issues. Plus bleach stains on the hem!

I'll post pictures of our garden soon and show you all our new exhibit at the museum!

Verminator!

Well, luckily, we haven't had any more mousey friends here at the museum but we did have another guest of the winged variety. Yes, a bat managed to find its way into our museum. And since apparently I'm the courageous one of us, I got to dispose of it. Thoroughly dispose of it because that was the second time today that it had tried to get into the museum. And I feel just awful. Did you know that bats not only squeak but they also hiss like a cat? I didn't.

This morning our visitor's service staff person found it attached to the broom. She simply took the broom outside and shook the bat into the bushes about 10 feet away from the front door. Then about an hour later, our executive director came to the front door and found the bat under the threshold. Not a good place. So, she used her cell phone to call me to get rid of the bat. Thank goodness for modern appliances! The bat was acting oddly, even for a bat and we decided since it apparently really liked the museum, we needed to get rid of it.

Anyhow, I still feel bad. I don't like things squeaking in pain at me because of something that I'm doing to it. (Note to self: a career option not open to us "CIA interrogator")

I even don't like it when I kill box elder bugs in my house even though I hate box elder bugs.

Such a softy...

Is anyone with me on this??

Umm, what was that?

We are officially in "school-tour season" here at the museum and I have some funnies to share with you. Now, I know that for all my intrepid blog readers, if you ever had the joy to work at a living history museum or are currently working there, you have far better one-liners than I do, but please remember that I don't have: fires, flies, chickens, or horse doo in the street to spur on some of the best visitor comments.

So here are my school tour comments, 2008:

Why do you have so much old stuff here?

You have nice teeth. I like them. (directed towards me from a middle school girl)

So which one is older, WWII or the war of 1812?

It smells like old stuff in here.

Is that a real man in the mine shaft? (it's clearly a mannequin)

I don't want to look at this junk, I want to go to the gift shop.


And my all time favorite which happened a few months after I started here:

This town is so old, it doesn't even have a Starbucks. (from a cranky 15ish year-old)

Merlock Holmes and the Case of the Kitty Prints

So, I know that some of you know what I've been doing the past few days: trying to finish painting the basement steps. We have two flights of steps that lead into the basement, one by the back door and the other in the center of the house. Well, we've had the steps pretty much primed for about a month now and I decided it was time to finish the job. So Saturday, I was painting the treads of the center steps with the white primer. Now, all the fun kitty stuff, like food, water, and litter is in the basement. I thought (ha!) that if I left one door open and closed the other, the cats could still get into the basement to their essentials. In a perfect world, this would have worked. I don't live in a perfect world. After painting a couple of steps, a tan blur rushed past me up the freshly painted steps. I, of course, shouted at him "Gus, what are you doing?" which made him run faster because suddenly "shorter, blond one who feeds me" is yelling at him. I yelled at Matt to grab Gus but he missed. So now there was white cat prints on our wood floor in the living room. I reacted in the appropriate manner: paint on floor first, cat second. Luckily it all came up with only a slightly traumatized Gus to contend with.

So last night, I was painting the same steps, only this time with the finish coat. I closed that door and left the other one open for the cats (apparently I don't learn). I had finished and was sitting in the living room. Matt came downstairs from the second floor and I asked him to go look at the freshly painted stairs. When he opened the basement door, guess who came out? A painted Gus. This time he had run up all the steps, leaving nice cat prints on all my newly painted steps. And now there is brown paint on our kitchen floor (which isn't a problem because it needs to be replaced anyhow). So we grabbed Gus and I held him while Matt cleaned his feet. Gus was a very good kitty to let us wash his feet and cut away the painted fur.

We decided that at least Gus did it in the correct order: primer first, then top coat.

So, I doubt that Gus has learned his lesson but I have: close both doors while painting and the cats can just hold it for a bit!

I'm the worst blogger ever!

Yes, it's official. I'm a horrible blogger. If you look at my blog, nothing has happened in my life for the last month or so. Apparently, I've been doing nothing. Well, as you can imagine, that's not true. I will now post many, many, MANY pictures in a not-so-veiled attempt to make it up to you. And maybe it will tell a story......

Even though we were all happily hibernating throughout the winter, Spring came anyhow. (This is what happens if I don't make the bed in the morning quick enough)

There was much rejoicing and feasting the end of the long hard winter.

Early flowers began to bloom. This is a now domesticated Jack-in-the-Pulpit. It was found running wild through the hills nearby, tamed (i.e. dug up) and moved to the wilderness preserve on Ash Street.

We all took our Spring baths in anticipation of what was to come.

Matt's potato garden. Yeah, I don't see anything yet either. This began as a spot to dump used potting soil, then a compost heap (see the pumpkin shells) and is now a potato hill. We'll see.

We received new toys to enjoy the spring weather.

We're all so excited about it, we just can't contain it.

We're all giddy about Spring! As giddy as schoolgirls, I mean, schoolboys.

THE END

Why is my cat addicted to kitty treats?

This is a serious problem! Mac just can't get enough kitty treats!! We give our cats Whiskas treats, the soft ones because Gus doesn't like the crunchy ones since he is a truly spoiled housecat and crunching his treats takes far too much energy. Anyhow, Mac is the problem. He can snark 4-5 treats in one sitting and want more. Sometimes, when we aren't paying enough attention, he steals Gus' treats as well. He sits on his table by the back door and anytime we come home, walk through the room, or are anywhere between 5-10 feet away, he is meowhining for treats! He always wants more (hence the addition issue). He eats his food fine, no problems there. But this kitty treat thing, ugh! What I find particularly funny is that his treats sit on his table about 1 foot away from his normal spot. He could open the package and eat all the treats. It's only paper and foil and he does have sharp teeth. Luckily, this thought hasn't occurred to him and I'm not going to mention to him.







Do kitty treats have small amounts of crack and/or cocaine in them? Is this the explanation for the issue?

Mer: 3 (!); Mice: 0(ish)

Yay!!!!!! Success!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our curator was upstairs near the collections storage rooms and heard a rustling noise. She yelled for me because part of my job description is official rodent remover. My two missing traps? Found. One with a dead mousey and the other with one still looking at me. I hate that. Both had just put one paw in the trap and had been caught by only one leg. Horrible. I managed to get the still live one outside and the last I saw of it, it was sitting in our front yard licking its leg. I don't think it will last long since we also have several cats in our area and one in particular that likes the pigeons that roost on our building. We found a present on our front porch last week with a tell-tale bloody cat paw print.

Anyhow, success with the mice. I left the traps and we will hopefully have no more unwelcome visitors.

Do you remember my post about hunting? I couldn't even bring myself to kill a mouse, how could I kill anything larger?

What the Bleep!

Another mouse trap went missing. Same room, same area as before.

I think I need to invest in a rat trap.

I will kill this rodent if it is the last thing that I do before dying of the black death from rat bites. So help me, God, I will get this thing.

Mouse: ???: Mer: 1

I had a lovely present waiting for me this morning. A dead mousey. Yay!!!!!!

And a fantastic way to start a Monday!

Now, we don't know how many more we might have. But there is one little (actually, he was kinda plump) mousey who is now in mouse heaven.

I recommend these: Better mousetrap
I find mine at Walmart but the principle is the same. And no danger of fingers getting in the way with the old fashioned wire snap traps.

And that is the end of today's session on mousehunting!

The wonder of email

Email just fascinates me. It has completely changed how we communicate as a culture. Whereas written notes used to contain "frilly" phrases and words like "whereas," now with email, it is cut and dry. There is a meeting at 10 a.m. Did you receive that memo? You're fired. Things of that sort. However, it also allows us to communicate with people that we might not have ever had the chance to meet. For example, on Monday I received an email from the curator of the New York Botanical Museum. He had a question regarding our county. Now, I get plenty of work related emails but rarely from someone like this. We email chatted a couple of times about spring coming, the weather, issues with museums regardless of who or where you are. Now, in my professional life, I will never meet this man. Our paths would never cross. But because he had a question about Jo Daviess County and my email is on our website, I got to meet him. Fascinating.
www.galenahistorymuseum.org If you are interested. info@ is me.

I'm in the middle of war. With a mouse. He or she is leaving mouse artifacts all over our collections storage rooms, the absolute worst place to have a mouse. So far, I have lost one trap and the other was sprung with the bait gone. On the missing trap, it's just gone. I placed it on a shelf and now it's not there. I looked on the floor, behind the shelf, under the shelving on the other side of the room and nothing. If I did catch a mouse, I'll know in a couple of days....


Anyhow, I have yet begun to fight! More traps and PB are on their way!!!!!! The mice might have won this fight but I'll win the battle!!!!! It's Friday and I always feel more militant on Friday:)

A Beautiful Sight

Yesterday as Matt and I were headed home from church, we passed 6 wild turkeys and at least 40 deer. Deer are such an amazing sight to me. They are so graceful and beautiful. Roughly 25-30 of the deer that we saw yesterday were all in one cornfield and it looked like someone had turned them out to pasture. It reminded me of something that had happened to me last summer.
Last summer, I was picking wild berries on my in-laws property when I heard this odd little moan. I had no idea what it was but it clearly wasn't a cat or dog. Then the bushes about 10 feet away from me started to shake. I suddenly realized how far away from the house I was and the fact that I was completely alone, minus the berries and flies who were not likely going to protect me much! Then I heard the noise again but it was closer this time. The bushes shook again. I tried peering through the bushes and then I caught sight of a pair of brown eyes. The noise I had heard was a fawn calling for its mom. This fawn was all alone walking though the cornfield and fence line when apparently it thought I was its mom and came within about 5 feet of me. I was trying to think of how to adopt a deer when it ran away. It was so cute!! I'm not certain why it was alone. I hope that its mom was alright and that they had just gotten separated. The fawn looked exactly like Bambi!!!
When I see deer, I don't know how a person could hunt it. Sure, I understand all the logical reasons for hunting: food, keep numbers down with lack of natural predators, and while I'm certain I could hunt if I had to, I don't have to. The supermarket does all of my hunting for me. And shooting such a noble looking animal as a deer seems like a travesty to me.

Now, hunting for the boxelder bugs that have somehow survived the winter in my house, that is a different matter!!!!!

I have spring fever. I want to plant flowers and veggies, open all my windows, and turn off the furnace. I am also missing my flipflops, skirts, and open windows while driving. Is anyone else feeling this way or am I just crazy???

If I have one more meeting...

Honestly, how many meetings can one person have? Yesterday I had meetings at at 4:30, 5:30, and 6:30. That's insane. When I came home, I tried to give Matt an agenda for the rest of our evening and teach the kitties Roberts rules of order. They didn't get it.

On a happy note, our Christmas cactus is blooming. Just three months late. It's beautiful right now. There is one bloom right now and about 6 buds. Gorgeous and nice to see something in bloom right now.

Just in case you were worried, our sidewalk is still clear. No violations there. And, yes, I quoted Alice's Restaurant. It's a family tradition to listen to it at least once during Thanksgiving. And then quote it excessively the rest of the evening.

Last Saturday we had a business trade show in town and the museum participated even though we're not really a "business." We ran the 50/50 and "What is it?" We had three artifacts from the museum that people could try and guess what they were. We, of course, picked the three easiest artifacts, hah! We had an ancient wringer mop, carpet stretcher, and tobacco plug cutter, that I demonstrated multiple times without loosing a digit! Yay for me!

However, I did fail a very easy test: can I change a lightbulb? No, is the answer. I thought there was something wrong with the bulb or the socket but our handyman said he got it in just fine. I must have stronger points elsewhere, I just know it!
We tried to install wallpaper at the museum but it's not going so well. We worked really hard to find pretty, time-appropriate but affordable wallpaper and found the perfect stuff. Unfortunately, when our contractor tried to install it, the wallpaper started curling on the edges. Drat. He tried everything but what it comes down to is, we need to pick new wallpaper. The worst part is we already painted the ceiling to match the wallpaper so we have to stay in that color range. Wednesday was not a good day in the museum.

I know that this post is all about work but it's kinda what I've been all about recently. I called Matt to ask him out on a date for tonight because I've been so busy in the evenings. I have Subway and Pizza Hut coupons so we get to pick from one of those!! Yay for coupons!!!

Spring is definitely here!!

How can I tell, you ask? Did I have a sighting of the elusive robin? Or perhaps a brave crocus was struggling to lift its head above the frozen soil? No, dear blog readers, it was nothing of the sort.

I was at a local drugstore and spotted the first true sign of spring. It was.......Cadbury Eggs! They only come out at Easter (a fact that my hips appreciate!) and are the first true sign of spring. I think that they are my most favoritist candy in the world. (My grammar has been overcome by my excitement regarding these fabulous chocolate eggs). There is just something borderline addictive about them. Maybe it's the milk chocolate shell or the gooey inside. And I only like the original ones. Cadbury came out with caramel eggs a few years ago, but I only like the "true" Cadbury Eggs. I know that some people (i.e. Matt) find them gross and too sweet. Well, that is fine with me as long as they give me their Cadbury Eggs!!! Well, since I had to buy important things at the drugstore like posterboard and contact solution, I also purchased an egg, completely ignoring the fact that I had just spent 45 minutes on the treadmill at the gym. I figure that one egg is probably equal to 45 minutes walking on the treadmill so I broke even. The egg didn't make it home. It was consumed before I even reached the last stoplight in the county. Yummmmmmmm.
Unfortunately, all this talk about Cadbury Eggs makes me want to buy more. Maybe I need more contact solution and posterboard..........

Sign #458 that we live in a small town:
Matt was in our driveway after work on Wednesday when the police drove by. And circled around, which is enough to make even the most law-abiding citizen a tad bit nervous. The police chief of our town (we only have two police officers and I think they take turns being "chief") told Matt that he ( the popo, E-town 5-0, or whatever you want to call them) had been told to enforce the clean sidewalk law in town and we needed to clean our sidewalks. Now, I had shoveled the sidewalk clean after the last major snow but it had drifted over in a couple of spots, which made us in violation of the "clean sidewalk act of 1927." Please also keep in mind that we are having the snowiest winter in 50 years with a record-breaking 70+ inches of snow. What I find the most ironic in this whole story is that the only crime the police had to fight at that moment was our snowy sidewalk. There were no dead bodies or burglarized homes to investigate, car accidents to report, or even a run-away dog that needed to be found. Oh, no, we were the major law breakers in our area with our drifted over sidewalk.

But you can relax, we're not going to end up the pokey for our unshoveled sidewalk. Or even on the "Group W" bench. I shoveled the sidewalk when I got home. All the way to our neighbor's property line. Who, by the way, haven't shoveled their walk either!!!!!

Friends

Last night Matt and I visited one of our friends who has been in, as she put it, a "happy depression." She's just been in a funk recently and we thought we'd visit her for a while and maybe cheer her up a bit. We took over some baked goods and canned goods but she beat us in the yummy treats department. Rina, our friend, is a 70 year old Italian lady and she loves to entertain and cook. When we got there we talked for a little bit and then she looked at me and said, "Coffee or chocolate milk?" Well, that's a tough decision but I went for the chocolate milk, which turned out to be the best hot chocolate I've ever had. Rina doesn't simply heat water, or if I'm spurgling, milk, in the microwave, oh no. She got out a pan, poured in milk, and let it heat. She did use a hot chocolate mix but it was darn good. And to round it out, since she's Italian, she got out the Nutella and told us to put some in our hot chocolate. Which we did, since we do what Rina says! Oh, it was good. She also had made something called bumblinoni (not spelled correctly) which were a fried dough flavored with lemon. Very good. And perfect for a chilly evening.

Visiting Rina sometimes reminds me of visiting my grandma. No matter what time you visit, you will eat. Don't fight it because it will happen. We went over after 7 and we still had to have something while we were there. And she sent us home with food, homemade biscotti, yumm. Rina and her husband used to own a bakery and she says that his baked goods were always better than hers, but I find that hard to believe since her's are delicious (he passed away a few years ago).

I hope our visit helped. Rina is one of those people who is just always cherry and full of life. To see her upset is probably more upsetting to me. She's a sweet lady.

Did I mention that 1. She lived in Italy during the reign of Mussolini and 2. she grew up with Pavarotti? And now she lives about a mile from us? Wierd!

Jenny's Meme

My band: The Regar District

(It's in Tajikistan. Yeah, I didn't know that either.)

First album: Lived One's Life Properly

Cover

So I'm guessing that I'm some sort of Euro-pop band? Cool!

On a different note, I've had some thoughts on winter. I read somewhere that Midwesterners show the greatest amount of hope compared to any other region in the US because we know that regardless of how long the winter is, spring will come. There is no doubt about that. I think it's not just Midwesterners but anyone who experiences drastic changes in weather. We all know that spring will come. It's just waiting for the right time.

True for many aspects of life, just waiting for the right time.

For example, Matt and I would love to have a dog. But we're concerned about how our two cats would react. Matt suggested last night that we get a small herding dog who could herd the cats around. And while the thought did make me laugh and think about "herding cats," I'm afraid it wouldn't work. Oh well, eventually we'll get Scraps and Louie (our dogs, Scraps is a little fellow and Louie is a big silly dog) Yes, we've already named our nonexistent dogs! We need hobbies!!!!

The end is here.

Our total count: 15 inches in less than 12 hours. That's a lot of snow.
And it's beautiful!!! It's a heavy, wet snow and is sticking to all of the trees. It looks a little like a Currier and Ives print. I'll try to get some pictures this weekend, when we are supposed to get 2-4 more inches. Yay.....

Don't get me wrong, I love the snow. But I need more time inbetween snows to clean up. It still takes me about 3 tries to get out of our driveway because of the snow.

On a side topic: I thoroughly enjoyed my snow day but I think we need to start a sunny day. Here's my thought: we get out of school, work, whatever when the weather is bad. We should also get out of school, work, whatever when the weather is gorgeous. We should close businesses when it is 80 and sunny outside and not only when it's -13 and snowing outside!!! Let's have snow days AND beautiful sunny days!!!!!!!!

Who's with me?????????

Still more snow

12 inches and counting. It's 2 p.m. here and the snow is going to stop soon.

I hope.

Matt came home for lunch and got stuck in our driveway. Our neighbor and I had to push him out. It's still snowing and blowing. I have never seen so much snow falling all at once. Maybe over a couple of snowfalls but never this much at once.

It's amazing!!!!!!!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it, well, you get the point

Forecast for today: 8-12 inches of snow. WOW!!!! That's a lot of snow! Everything is closed (except Matt's bank, poor guy)!!! Schools, history museums, governmental offices, and colleges in a nearby town. I think that in attending various colleges for about 6 years, I never had the college close because of weather. Of course, we never got this much snow in one day either!

So I have snow day and I 'm enjoying it by slowing drinking my second cup of coffee, watching Price is Right (just not the same without Bob) and randomly staring out the window, just waiting until I can shovel the snow.

There's a road in there. Actually a major highway in our county (honestly, THE major highway in our county) If you don't see it, don't worry, I don't either and I even know where it is.

Bird feeder. The poor birds are just so hungry but they keep getting blown off of the bird feeder.

Roads are closed, towns are in snow emergencies, etc... You get the picture.

Last Tuesday we were supposed to have an all county historical society meeting, which was cancelled due to the blizzard warning that we were under. We re-scheduled for today. Yesterday, we canceled it again and rescheduled for April, when hopefully, it will have stopped snowing.

Ahh, winter, how I enjoy thee.

Mer's gardening tips for today: Don't plant in a snowstorm. Also, if you have an apartment on a major street in a small town, don't use a glow light to start plants in front of a window in your kitchen. At night it casts a purplish glow out the windows and it looks like you're growing something other than tomatoes and squash.... (voice of experience)