Things I have learned living in Wisconsin

1. California cows are not happy. Wisconsin cows are.

2. Cheese is a food group. So is beer and sausage/brats.

3. Apparently there's a football team in Wisconsin that is good or something like that. And the Bears are evil/bad.

4. A snowstorm must measure 4+ inches to be serious trouble. 1-3" is just annoying.

5. Snowboots go with EVERYTHING!!! Dress pants, dresses, jeans, sweats, everything.

6. There is nothing wrong with wearing said snowboots all day long or anywhere you go.

7. Winter is just here and there's nothing we can do about it.

8. There's no reason to not be nice to other people; you can be crabby but that's not going to help.

9. There's something wrong with Illinois. No one's certain what it is but the state is just screwy.

10. Shoveling snow in shorts or a t-shirt is perfectly acceptable.

11. No testing, prior experience, or skill is needed to obtain a driver's license.

12. Enjoy the world around you no matter the season! Be outside having fun in winter just as much as you would enjoy summer!!

Thoughts on Fall

Tonight as I was driving home, the sun was shining through the trees and some early leaves were falling across the road. So pretty! I love this time of year with the colors and crispness in the air!

This week has been Homecoming around school. Each day has been a dress-up day and therefore, each day has been a little crazier than the one before. Today one of my students came in wearing a full body suit that covered his head (morphsuit?) and thankfully I could tell which student he was. Gesh. So far my dressing up has only been to wear a red sweater on color day! And super-hero day? I dressed up as an economics teacher. Shocking, I know.

Matt has moved up here so now our family is together again. I really missed him and I'm glad he's home!

Life

Sometimes it just amazes me at how blessed I am. I try not to take it for granted but I know that sometimes I do.

Teachers are struggling to find jobs all over the country.
I find one in a great (growing) school district.

Houses aren't selling.
We sold ours in two weeks and made money.

Banks are trimming staff and aren't really hiring a bunch.
Matt found a job about 15 minutes away from where I teach in a job that fits him better than what he is doing now.

All of this happened in about two months. We sold our house and Matt found a job in two weeks. How can I not be blessed? Look at my life!

I really enjoy teaching! I wasn't certain about teaching economics but I like it. I like that it can be current and we can talk about current events in an economic setting. Yay!

Apartment hunting

Ahh, the hunt. Wanted: 2 bedroom apartment/house with storage, kitties must be ok, dishwasher would be nice, washer/dryer please. And we found it!!!!! It is in the next town over but it's only about 6 miles so that's good.
We found it after looking at:
the third floor walk-up with no elevator
the former grow house for pot
the kitty-smell apartment
and many more that I don't want to go into. I'm excited about starting soon except I keep thinking about all the things I need like bulletin boards, classroom rules, a working syllabus, etc. The to-do list is like the Energizer Bunny, it keeps going and going and going.......

Home Life and Organizational Blues

Have you ever started one chore to create more for yourself?
Last week while I was washing the sheets, Matt and I decided it was time to flip the mattress.
Which led to...
A discussion about replacing the egg carton foamy thing on the bed. It was a split decision. Mer: nope; Matt: yep. It hurts my back but Matt's back needed it.
Which led to....
Matt cutting the foamy thing in half, replacing his half and leaving my half empty.
Which led to...
Matt putting the leftover foamy thing on the couch overnight where it was immediately welcomed by the furry members of our household. Mac didn't leave it for about 12 hours.
Which led to....
I found a blanket given to us by the Humane Society that was a little too small for comfort. However, it was just right for a pillow case. I sewed up three sides, added some buttons, cut the foamy thing into three parts, and presto chango: a kitty bed. It has been inaugurated by both kitties and seemed to pass with flying colors, or more like snoozing colors.

Back to the mattress flipping (one chore led to several, like a flow chart)
After I took the dust ruffle off the bed, the several clans of dust bunnies that were living under our bed suddenly became very noticeable.
Which led to...
I removed and sorted and tossed gazillions of milk rings and swept the underbed clean!
Which led to...
Re-organizing the underbed storage so it was more, well, organized. I was so inspired by the reorganization that I kept going.
Which led to....
I completely organized my canning jars. They are all packed carefully in one footlocker and one Rubbermaid tote. Each jar is wrapped in cloth (some leftover socks from under the bed). All my lids and rings are packed too. There is even room left for the few jars we're still using!
Yay!
Which led to....
Sorting through the pantry. I haven't tackled the 'food' side but the storage side is nicely organized, in my opinion. Especially now that the empty canning jars are out of the way.
Which led to....
Matt and I cleaning out our closets. We're getting there. Organization is always on my "to-do" list, which now has a couple of more things crossed off!!!!


I just wanted to flip the mattress......

A New Year

This year so far has gone well. I'm substitute teaching in a couple of our local schools. I put my name on our regional district list and called the schools to introduce myself. One school I called said "Great, thanks for introducing yourself, what are you doing on Friday?" Job conquered. My goal is to make enough to pay for our heating bill during the winter and maybe a little more.

I have decided though that being a housewife is exhausting. We don't have kids but I'm still pooped at the end of a day. Of course, I doing more, like making our own bread and today I baked scones and a jam tart but still, I'm tired. But I'm enjoying it and enjoying working on my ever-growing list of "to-do's" like: clean out the junk drawer, somehow organize my canning stuff so it's not all over the kitchen, clean out three closets, etc. So far I haven't taken anything off my list, only added more!

We had a great Christmas!!! Matt and I headed to Indiana for a few days and managed to see lots of family members and spend great time with Mom, Dad, John, Leah and Daniel. It was fantastic, especially spending time with Daniel. An 11-month old makes Christmas fun!!!

Well, off to start supper. I think today is a great meatloaf day!!!

Student teaching

This week is week 3 of my student teaching and so far, so good. The students (fifth graders) are pretty good and I know all 60 of their names! Yay!! I've only had two snarky comment to me, which must be some sort of record. So far I'm kinda working into the classroom and taking more responsiblity. I like it. Hopefully it continues to go well.

Last weekend, Matt and I went to the Madison Zoo and had so much fun!!!! We forgot our camera so we don't have any pictures but it was fun. We got so close to a tiger I could have touched it (but I didn't). And the Madison Zoo was free, even better!!! We needed a fun day out and we got it!!

A good weekend!

I hope that everyone had a great weekend. Matt and I did. Part of my window project this summer has been to replace broken glass. Now, I can do this in theory but then, I can also do a back handspring in theory too, (meaning I know what I need to do but the true question is: Can I do it?) I had been putting it of and putting it off until I just had to do it. So I went to our local lumber yard and told them the size of glass I needed, they cut it, I came home, removed the broken glass, glazing and old points from the window, and replaced the glass with new, uncracked glass. I have to admit, I'm pretty proud of myself. I replaced three windows and Matt and I worked on replacing the fourth. That one was a bit of a struggle but we got it replaced. The new windows look pretty good and you can't tell the difference! The only problem is that I can't wear gloves and handle glass, even broken glass. For the first three windows I didn't have a problem but with the last window, I sliced my middle finger which began to bleed profusely. Now parts of our new glazing have little bits of red in them from my blood. Blood, sweat and tears. (I haven't actually cried over this project yet but I have definitely sweated and now bled.)

Saturday evening Matt and I went to go see "The Proposal." It's a very funny movie with a happy ending. I like that. Do all movies have to be thought-provoking or awe-inspiring? Sometimes, I just like a few laughs. Anyhow, this one is good. A little risque in parts, but still funny. Both Matt and I are Sandra Bullock fans which made us like it even more.

Before the movie, we had about 45 minutes to kill so after we purchased our tickets, we headed over to the mall from the movie theater (about 100 feet). Now, the best part of this mall is the humane society adoption center. They always have cute cats and dogs in there. As always, we headed for the shop to say hello to the animals. In the front window they had two kittens who were just going nuts with playing. They were very cute and one of them looked like Gus when he was a kitten, about 35 pounds ago (ok, not that many, more like 12) They had supercute dogs, rats, and even more cats. For each animal, they have a card next to it with the reason the previous owners brought it in and generally it's something like: couldn't care for, moving, too many pets, new baby, etc. One of the cats, a longhair domino cat, according to it's card, was brought in because of "unrealistic expectations." Now, this made Matt and I wonder what sort of unrealistic expectations might an owner have for a cat? Did they expect the cat to feed itself? Scoop it's own litter box? Maybe balance the owner's checkbook? "I thought this cat would know nuclear physics but I don't think it knows where it's tail is!" "You told me that this cat would change my life but I still have trouble with the can opener!!! Take it back!!" And so on. I had to leave the shop because I was giggling so much at the idea of "unrealistic expectations" and how Matt and I perceived it. It probably means that the owner thought the cat would get along with other animals and didn't or something like that. But the phrase "unrealistic expectations" could mean so much more....

I have unrealistic expectations for our cats: that Mac won't jump on the bed when I'm trying to make it and that Gus will realize that there are more comfortable places to sleep besides purring loudly between our heads while we're trying to sleep. Or there is his litter box issue, namely his misuse of the box. Yes, very unrealistic....

Updates, updates, updates

This weekend my dad finally had knee replacement surgery. It only took Mom years of nagging for it to happen. No one in my family is stubborn! Anyhow, Dad is doing well and at home, enjoying his new armchair (which I also enjoyed and must admit that it is quite comfy) Dad, I'm glad you had the surgery and I know that in time, you'll be glad too.

Also, as for my classroom vents, we changed rooms and now I (along with most of the class) sit on the opposite side of the room from the annoying girls. The professor is doing what he can to get them to keep up but they need to learn that this isn't high school; no one is going to hold your hand. One of the girls has now missed two days of class, which is equivalent to 2 weeks of a normal-schedule class. So I sit next to three other girls and we help each other work out problems and discuss topics. Ahh, productive students....

I'm less annoyed with the world now and feel better about things (i.e. I'm not going to start yelling in the grocery store about the quality of crackers available.)

And, I think that this weekend, I might get another elephant ear!!! I'll keep you posted!

Things I learned this weekend:

1. Even when you are standing in the shade, you can still get a nasty sunburn. For proof, look at my lobster red shoulders.

2. Husbands can be quite shocked to learn that their wives have apparently never realized the validity of #1. (Matt was in disbelief that I didn't know that and my excuse of "But I was in the shade" didn't help my case)

3. Old glass breaks pretty easily. Especially when you're chipping away old window glazing. So now I have two more windows to replace. Oh well.

4. Free musical concerts bring a crowd. On Saturday we went to a free big-band concert and it was fabulous!!!!!!! Really enjoyed it but unfortunately there was no dance floor. Not that we can dance but we really like to give it a shot.

5. I'm in a minority of women whose husbands FORCE them to buy clothes. Matt made me buy more teaching clothes this weekend. We were looking through the store and I had one item to try on; Matt had 6 for me to try on. He's very good at shopping for women's clothes because of all the time he spent with his mother and sister shopping for clothes when he was a little boy.

6. We need a backwards dictionary or one that lists the definition of the word and then gives the word. I need it because I usually can think of the definition of the word but not the word I am looking for. Here's my quandary: Last week as I was driving into a neighboring town, I ended up following an Amish buggy. This town has been trying to crack down on people speeding into it and has set up those "Here's your speed" digital read-outs on the edge of town. As the buggy passed by, it was going a whopping 8 miles an hour. But just the sight of the buggy passing the speed-monitor was .....and here's where I need my dictionary. The word I want is not: ironic, oxymoronic, but more like "out of sync, out of place, seemingly backwards from the norm" Can anyone help me with this??

I'm smarter than a tub of window glazing!

This weekend we had beautiful weather, so I decided it was time to tackle the windows. Well, not literally "tackle" because that could be very painful and/or destructive. On Friday, I started on a window that no one will ever see because it is at a very odd angle and location. Scraping and scraping old window glazing, old paint off the windows, and the flaking paint off the window sills is a great, yet productive way to spend your weekend!!

I figured out the glazing process and now have two windows scraped and reglazed. Only 22 more plus 5 basement windows. I love all the windows in our house but now I'm starting to wish we lived in a cave...

We also went to a one-year old's birthday party this weekend. Matt's cousin Eric and his wife Katrina threw a party for their son who turned the big "1." It was so much fun. He is a very happy baby but he really didn't like playing with his cake very much. I don't think he liked the icing on his fingers. It was supposed to be a Curious George cake but it looked more like the losing monkey from a monkey knife fight, missing an ear and his tail. It was the joke of the party. Luckily Katrina didn't make the cake so we could just make fun of it without hurting anyone's feelings.

Also, just to continually proof that Gus the cat is special: On Sunday night, Gus was sitting in the window. Having just discovered the "open" window means that he can sit in the window AND be inside at the same time, he was enjoying the evening breeze when he suddenly became hungry. Looking up he saw a paint chip from one of the 22 windows not yet tackled. Before any human could stop him, he reached up, grabbed the paint chip, and ate it. Yes, the cat ate paint. Now, I know that children can eat paint chips but no one ever mentioned that cats might do the same thing. Luckily, we don't have to worry about developmental disorders with Gus because he is already disordered.


So that was our weekend: scraping windows, smushing cake, and a paint-eating cat.
A very destructive weekend!!!!

*HELP* This Old House, the window edition

My next goal for our house is to work on the windows on the first floor. The second floor windows were replaced before we purchased the home and the original owner had intended to replace the windows on the first floor as well. Luckily they didn't. The windows are the original and to this history nerd, are super cool!!! But they do need some work. They need to be: recaulked, repainted, and in some places, the glass needs to be replaced. I also need to repainted the stuccoed foundation, which is currently off-white and will stay off-white.

Faithful blog readers, all 4 of you, I need your advice. Here are my window options:

A. Start with the first floor windows and work down, painting the foundation and basement windows last so any drips from the 1st floor windows can be covered up

OR

B. Work my way up starting with the basement windows and foundation moving to the first floor

ALSO:

1. Do those handy-dandy caulk pointer things that you can buy to get a smooth line actually work or am I better off using my fingers?

2. Should I scrape all the old caulk off the windows or just the sections that are crumbling? When scraping caulk, should I use a special tool so that I don't scrape/break/shatter the glass?


A non-home improvement question: I heard somewhere that if you are craving a food item, you should eat it. The craving is your body's attempt to get you to eat that item and regulate your body. So if you are craving veggies, your body needs the vitamins found in veggies.

My question is: Does this apply to donuts? I had a dream last night about a chocolate donut and now I really want one. Is my body telling me that I have a donut deficiency? I'll stay away from the donuts but I'm still curious about donut deficiencies....

This Old House, the gardening edition

Sorry for the lack of posts. After school ended, I came down with some sort of bug. It wasn't the porky flu but Matt said that I had the Monkey Virus or M1K1 as he called it. It took me a couple of weeks to feel better but now I'm myself again, except for my insatiable appetite for bananas....

Matt and I have been very busy around our house. We decided not to plant any vegetables this year and instead focus on our flowers and pretty gardening. So we laid a brick border around our flower beds and planted new plants to help pretty-fy the place.

Look at our pretty home. I must say, and I'm not biased, that this is the prettiest home I've ever owned (of course, it's the only home I've ever owned...)

I forgot to turn this one, so it's sideways, but this is the brick we laid along side the house and some of the flowers we planted.

Our front flower bed. I just planted 53 annuals, most of them in the front but it's going to take them a while to take root. Also planted: lily bulbs, dahlia bulbs, and a rose bush. The flowers on the front step are pansies. My Grandma Ethel loved pansies and I searched for them last year to plant in her memory. I couldn't find them anywhere but this year we have a lovely memory garden for Grandma. Every time I look at them I think of her. (She would be embarrassed by all this attention in my blog but it's my blog and I'll type what I want!)

This is our dwarf burning bush. It was very hard to plant since it is ON FIRE!!! Hahaha, what a bad joke!!! To dig a small hole, we called JULIE. I don't remember what all the letters stand for but basically it is a free utility-marking service. All our utilities came and marked their locations in our yard, which now looks like a clown exploded because of all the different colors of spray paint on the yard!! Anyhow, where we wanted our fire bush was just fine. Yay!

So I think we're good on the yard improvements for a time. Actually, I think we're running out of yard to fiddle with!

And while all these pictures have been uploading, I've been cleaning out a closet. I really don't need training notes from CP anymore or notes from college. If I haven't looked at them in five years, they're gone!!

Mac is trying to help me clean the closet, investigating all the new smells and climbing into the boxes I'm cleaning. What a helpful kitty.......

A plague upon the Lee Household

Recently we have been experiencing a plague of biblical proportions. Well, at least with our small appliances.

First, our microwave decided that it would no longer microwave and would only kinda "defrost" sometimes. So we took it out to the small appliance pasture/graveyard (the garage until electronics recycling day) where it quickly made friends with the space heater that blew up, the record player that wouldn't turn, and other small electronics. It reminds me of the Land of Misfit Toys but instead the Land of the Useless Appliances, which is not as musical or Christmasy.

Luckily, my in-laws had an extra one from someone's dorm room so now we can microwave again.


Then, our blender decided that it would rather leak everywhere than blend. Now, the upright members of the Lee household often enjoy a fruit smoothie or occasionally a homemade milkshake, if we're feeling dangerous. So the death of the blender was quite a blow to us. Since we didn't have to buy a new microwave, we decided to splurge and buy a new blender. (No one ever told me that once you're married, living on the edge means looking at new blenders. I probably wouldn't have believed them anyway....)

Our new blender has a glass pitcher, which I will break. It is only a matter of time but even more intriguing is that it is a "digital" blender. Will someone please tell me how a blender can be digital? Does it have a clearer picture? What, are the digital blenders replacing the analog blenders? Do the analog blenders not have as crisp of a blend? No where on the box does it describe how its "digital" (I checked four times).

I think its a marketing ploy. "Oh, this blender is DIGITAL. It must be better than these other non-digital blenders." It didn't work on the Lees. Instead the marked-down price tag caught us!

Because of our small appliance issues, I'm keeping a crash cart right next to the coffeemaker. I will give it CPR (coffee pot resuscitation) if I need to!!!!

Friday fun

It's hard to believe that it's been over a month since I last blogged. I guess that's because nothing really out of the ordinary has happened. Just life, taxes, cat poo, and dirty socks which are the complete opposite of exciting.

However, yesterday (Friday) was a good day. It started out well because my first class on Friday is at 10, which means that I can sleep in until 7:30!!! I went to school, worked, and came home. When I walked in the back door, Matt said that we were going on a picnic since Friday was a glorious day (70+ and sunny!!!) and that he already had the picnic packed! So I changed shoes, got in the car, and let Matt drive to the Thomson Causeway . We had our picnic sitting on a bench next to the Mississippi River while watching geese, ducks, and other birds enjoy the day. Then we walked around the woods for a while, and just enjoyed nature. The last time that we were there, baby garter snakes were everywhere which frightened Matt and might have made him scream like a little girl. And being the good person that I am, I did not remind Matt of this fact several times and tease him with snake-like sticks. Nope, I didn't.....

Then on our way home, we stopped at Matt's parents house to meet their new cat. Well, not actually their new cat. They had a stray that showed up at their house and I wanted to check him/her out! She (I think it's a she) is a black and white kitty that is very friendly. Either she ended up lost or someone dumped her because she likes people! Matt ran home to get some cat food for her (our boys won't miss a cup or two) while I petted her. She is very sweet, very matted, and looks to be in tough shape. She's been on her own for a while. I call her "Diamond" because she has a diamond shape on her back. After she ate some and I combed her a bit, she wandered towards the road. We thought she was headed back towards the farm on the other side of the road but none of us saw her cross. I looked around and decided that she must have crawled into the drainage pipe. I looked for her but couldn't see her in the pipe. About five minutes later, she showed up again and this time I saw her crawl out of the pipe. We left some food for her and headed home. Once we got home, we both immediately changed clothes and showered because we don't want our boys to get sick from her. And they both weregiving us looks like "Where have you been and what other cat have you been petting? Cheaters!"

So, this morning, Matt is taking Diamond to the local humane society to be checked out and hopefully put up for adoption. We would take her but I've never seen boy/girl cats get along very well and our boys are kinda spoiled and set in their ways. I think she needs a home with only her in it. And Matt has some silly rule about pets equaling the number of people in the house. Whatever.... If it were up to me, I would have taken her home last night and let her sleep in our garage.......

About a month ago, a Jewish lady spoke in our church about her faith and she said something that really resonated with me. She said that there is a Jewish proverb about helping animals. Helping animals, in this proverb, is the best act you can do because animals can not thank you or pay you back in any way. You help them out of the kindness of your heart. I like that quite a bit although I believe animals can pay us back. Gus is constantly paying his rent by holding things down, attacking killer milk rings, laying on slippers so they don't wander off, and monitoring the closed window situation....

So that was our Friday. It was a good day.