Kristin's Blog

I Think I Found my Internet Twin!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 23:25:00 +0000

I found this on a blog called a Daily Dose of Tony. Totally hilarious! You would swear this was me. And it so would be me but for three things.
#1. I might do this around the house, but I would so never record it!
#2. OK, I would never do that to my hair! Eeewww.
#3. Definitely not the song I would choose.
But otherwise? Totally me ;) notice all the bookshelves? laundry? tv tray full of clutter? two little kids in diapers running around?

:)

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:32:00 +0000

OK, now I'm just posting something to get that goofy picture of me holding my first check off the front screen ;)

Things are continuing to go really well around here. We are both digging our new jobs :) I'm scheduled to teach a Comp I class in the spring! I'm excited about that. While I am enjoying teaching that class that I am this semester (professional development) I really enjoy teaching English classes. What can I say, I love lecturing about comma splices and sentence fragments. And I sadistically enjoy reading student papers and editing the crap out of them ;)

I'm just amazed at how fast time is flying by! Mid-terms were last week! Before I know it the semester will be over! And then it will be Christmas! I'm just not ready to think about Christmas yet!

But here's what I think we're going to try to do this year w/the house

not

Motivation

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:54:00 +0000

Check it out :) It's the first paycheck I've gotten in about 3 years! ;)
And I must say that I am really enjoying teaching again!
Tonight the topic I taught was "Motivation" and of course when I think of motivation, I think of motivational speakers... and when thinking about motivational speakers, who can forget Chris Farley's character? So my plan for tonight was to start with showing my students this skit from SNL. Unfortunately, the classroom technology got the better of me and I couldn't figure out how to get the sound going :( I will have to hunt someone down before class on Wednesday to help me out with that...

Wow!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:04:00 +0000

Has it really been almost a month since I posted anything here? Geez. What a slacker ;) Sadly, it's been even longer since I posted anything on my crochet blog. And I actually have subscribers to that one.

We've just been busy as always. And amazingly, we have yet to organize/unpack two of the downstairs rooms. One of them being my craft room. The other being the kids' room. Of course they still sleep with us, so it's no big rush. Although I do really need to get their clothes much more organized and into their dressers... which means going through lots of boxes in their room! Of course the best time to work on anything is when both the little ones are napping. But both of those rooms are between their nap areas - and who wants to disturb them? It's a catch-22.

Anyway, with my first week of teaching under my belt, I'm glad to say that everything went really well. I have a good group of students and my teaching persona came right back to me :) I was pretty nervous about teaching again as its been 2 years since I've taught a class. And probably just as long that I haven't had many adult interactions aside from family members... I'd actually become pretty comfortable with isolation. But really, it's just not good for anybody. So I'm really glad to have a reason (aside from grocery shopping) to leave the house. The scheduling and driving is a little crazy, but I'm glad that everything worked out so well and we didn't have to try to find child care.

Getting Settled

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:30:00 +0000

We are finally getting everything situated here. We had our living areas done within a few days of moving back, but we've been steadily working on the extra rooms (craft room, office, etc.). My craft room is almost ready (thanks to Mike who spent the day working on it Friday). Next is the office.

Things have been going really good. We have all been feeling so much better. The move back was definitely the right choice. It just feel so good to be back in our house.

The only thing different is no Brutal (our outside dog). We had to give him up for the move to Iowa. And it turns out that he was most likely keeping the bears away. Back in the Northwoods for almost two weeks and a bear got into our garbage. Brutal used to bark every now and then at night, and we could tell he was barking at something, so now we are figuring he was probably barking at a bear.

Before we moved here, I never would have gotten a dog for outside. I didn't see the point. But there is a pretty clear point up here. Most of our neighbors have outside dogs.

We had a cookout yesterday for Beatrice's 1st birthday (which was this past Thursday). It turned out to be a beautiful day. Uncle Al helped us celebrate. It was a really nice afternoon. I can't believe my baby girl is 1 already! The time really flies by and they grow up so fast. She's going to be walking any day now. She's taken a few steps on her own, and she can stand up and hang out for a while, and boy does she cruise around the furniture pretty good. I have a feeling once she starts walking she will be non-stop. She already tries to run and jump :)

My 20-year high school reunion is next month. I can't believe it's been 20 years already. It just does not seem like that long. OK, rephrase that, it doesn't seem like I'm that freaking old! :) Sometimes I think in my mind I'm still 18-years old. And some people would probably readily agree with that ;) On the other hand, high school feels like forever away - like several lifetimes ago.

Gettin all packed up

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:01:00 +0000

We made some good headway over the weekend! We filtered out tons of paper garbage that we'd been carrying around with us... then we took a truck load of stuff to Goodwill! We got rid of 3 bags of clothes, two boxes of junk, a box of books and a bag of shoes! :) Yippee. One truckload of stuff we don't have to move! Every bit of space will count. We had the largest U-haul packed full on the way here. Luckily we haven't acquired too much since we've been here...

The packing is going a lot quicker this time around. I think we're more motivated to get back home than we were to get here in the first place! It feels damn good to be going back.

On our way back home

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Well, it's official. We are headed back to Wisconsin.
In a way I'm a little sad and disappointed. But in reality I'm mostly relieved and glad.
So many times since our big move we've thought about what a mistake it was. The two trips we made back up to our house in Northern Wisconsin made us feel even more so.
Things just didn't work out well for us here. It was a challenge from the beginning. From moving issues to housing issues to job issues and family issues. It's been one hell of an experience. And I'm glad to be done with it.

Now, I just can't wait to get back home :) Of course we may be jobless, and that's somewhat daunting. There is at least one prospect out there, and we are really hoping that it works out! Otherwise, things may be a little on the bleak side for a while. But at least we will be in our own house. And be able to keep our dogs. And be able to once again enjoy our fenced-in yard. And all of the space we've been missing.

Well, here we go- packing madly once more. After just getting a lot more unpacked a few weeks ago! :)

Getting Settled

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Sat, 24 May 2008 18:52:00 +0000

We finally are really starting to get settled here. And things are starting to feel a little better. We spent last weekend unpacking the books and office stuff. We can actually see the floor in the office room! At least we could until the kids got to the toybox ;) we just expanded their play area. which is good because the living room was starting to feel so cramped.

Today we moved things around in the kitchen for like the 4th time. Every time we squeek a little more space out of it. It finally feels pretty good in the kitchen. Someone can actually move through it without it feeling like an obstacle course! :)

Everyday it just gets a little better. Of course I still can't help but missing our house up in northern Wisconsin. We were just up there again this past week. I really hated leaving it. But it wasn't as bad coming back this time as it was last time, since we had started getting the office area settled before we left.

My once a month post

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Sat, 24 May 2008 02:53:00 +0000

:) Guess I should have called this one "Kristin's Monthly Blog" :) Only posted once last month and once in March. But of course we've been super busy, and this is just my little catch-all blog for things I want to talk about that don't fit in with my other blogs... I could just say that I mean "everday" as in ordinary.

We have just had so much going on since our big move. Updating my minor blogs has been very low on the priority list. Also, I don't think both of the little ones have been asleep at the same time since we moved...unless we're in the car. Actually I spent the first few weeks here driving somewhere right around naptime.

But now we're finally getting somewhat of a routine going, which includes a regular naptime (for Duncan at least) and sending that little boy up to bed before we go up. So maybe I'll start having some time in the evenings. Did I just hear you laughing? ;)

Back to blogging...??

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:22:00 +0000

I haven't posted here in exactly a month! We've had so much going on! The least of which at this moment was our big move. And make that a double... as we ended up not even unpacking and then moving to another house a couple of blocks away... you can read my post about it on the Northwoods Blog if you wish.

Of course things are far from settled around here. We are still living amidst boxes... the getting settled and moved in part is going quite slow. But eventually it will get done. Not to get all whiney, but it's really hard to get anything done with two little ones. And of course in my post about the move on the Northwoods Blog, I said how great Beatrice was doing even with teething... I shouldn't have said anything ;) she's cutting her second bottom tooth and she is also quite congested, probably the cold that's been going around. So needless to say she's been very cranky this week. Sick and teething is much worse than moving and teething.

Now I'm just anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new bed! Our queen sized bed wouldn't fit up the stairs... good excuse to get a new bed eh? We needed a bigger one anyway with the two little ones still in our bed. Once we get the bed we can get the living room in shape. Then things should really start to fall into place.

The Big Move

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 02:33:00 +0000

Moving day is coming all too soon. No, really we're actually in pretty good shape this time. We have two days left to pack and we are almost there :) This move, being another big one, makes me think back to our move here from Iowa almost two years ago.

Duncan was just a month older than Beatrice is now. We had a really hard time packing that time because not only was Duncan a pretty needy baby, but he was also teething... everytime I would put him down to pack he would scream. All that, and I'm sure he could sense that something was going on.

That move was especially difficult because we had to get everything out and clean up afterwards... at least this time we aren't pressed to get everything out and have the place clean enough to get a deposit back :)

The move itself was quite the experience... We had reserved a U-Haul online, and were supposed to pick up a 26' truck in Iowa City the morning of loading... We got a call the day before saying that we could pick the truck up at the U-Haul in Cedar Rapids! We called the one in Iowa City and they said all they had was a 24' truck. So we decided that would probably be OK.

The 24' truck died about 3 or 4 times right after we picked it up. We took it right back. Of all things, they then said that all they had was a stick shift 26'! Which they didn't mention before.

So, Mike spent most of the day loading the U-Haul by himself. My brother came to help when he got off work. Mike's sister and my mother came to help us finish packing. We still had stuff to pack on loading day.

We finally got everything loaded and were ready to take off before noon when we discovered there was a gas line leak in the U-Haul... We called them and they said they would send someone out after lunch. The repair guy showed up at maybe 1:30-2pm. He messed around and was finally finished fixing it around 4. We finally got on the road a little after 4pm. We figured we would make it as far as we could then stay in a motel somewhere about halfway or so...

An hour into our trip we noticed that the tire on the truck was getting low, so we stopped to fill it up. It blew up! When I called U-Haul they said they would send someone in the morning! We called back and made sure they would send someone out that night so we could get going first thing in the morning... ugh = what a nightmare. Luckily we broke down right next door to a motel. That part was pretty damn fortunate.

So that was the U-Haul story... of course we're going U-Haul again this time. It's just the cheapest way to go. Hopefully it all turns out well this time. At least this time we checked at the rental place here to make sure they would have the right size truck when we needed it. And it was a good thing we did. He told us to cancel our online reservation and call him up to make one. Otherwise he wouldn't get the order until the day before and may not have time to get the right truck there. The amazing thing about that? The truck rental was actually quite a bit cheaper that way! You would think it would have been the other way around... of course the box purchases were the other way around - 1.70 online and 2.50 at the store - but I'd rather have it that way and save almost 200 on the truck rental.

Well, this will be my last blog for almost a week... back to packing.

Moving, moving and more moving stuff :)

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:06:00 +0000

I need a new name for this blog too, as I've been so awful at posting here... been much better at keeping others updated ;) This one is just kind of the catch-all blog.
Man, moving is some serious business... so many phone calls and arrangements to be made. I'm so afraid that I will end up forgetting something important. I've got lists and info strewn out all over the place... memos and stickies... task lists on the computer and pda... at least this time we don't have to get everything out by some deadline! That is nice.
I'm starting to get so anxious! My brain is already there! I wish we could just skip the physical act of moving all together and just beam everything there! :)
I'm so excited about all the possibilities and opportunities that we will have there. I just can't wait! It's just too bad that things were so difficult here. I do love it here for certain reasons. It's one of the most beautiful places in the world - and I will miss that. It's just so damn hard to live here.
Anyway--- guess I should really try to get some more packing done ;)

Moving Update

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 17:44:00 +0000

So it wasn't such premature blogging afterall! The funny thing is that we ended up renting that house in the end. We ended up with three choices, and it was really the best of the three. And it's really not bad at all - it just needs to be cleaned and painted and it will be great. And the town really is quite quaint! I'm really super excited now! I can't wait! We really need to buckle down this weekend and pack our butts off! :)
That's where we're at now... so probably won't see much on this blog until after we move. It's coming sooo quick! 11 days left!!! The first things we packed were the movies (except a few of duncan's fave cartoons) and my crochet stuff and Mike's radio stuff :) packed most of the distractions away. We should really pack up the computers, but you know that will never happen ;)

Premature Blogging ;)

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 15:25:00 +0000

Grumble, Grumble...
We sent my husband's sister to look at the house we were going to rent... It just didn't sound very good. So now we are still looking. Who knows which town it will be in. I'm pretty disappointed - the town that the house was in sounded so perfect. I was really set on that town. Oh well. I suppose there's other good towns out there. After we're there for a while we'll look for something to buy - and I'll be looking pretty hard in that town ;) And once we're there we can really check out all the small towns in the area and get a better feel for them.
Anyway... we officially started packing! But now we have to spend more time searching for a place to live... :(

Newsflash! We're moving!!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:06:00 +0000

Yes, you heard it right. That's why I've been so busy. And I didn't want to say anything until we told everyone and until my husband gave his notice at work...
We are going from a city pop of 96, to one of 1500!! Woo Hoo!! We're stepping up in the world ;)
We spent this past week exhautively and desperately searching for a house to rent near the city of the new job. It was very rough going, but finally all those calls to city halls of neighboring cities paid off! We found a 3BR to rent about 20 miles from the new job :) yay! And it's in a town! And the town has a school (abt 7 blks from house)!!
Anyway, we've been really busy with getting things settled in that way...

Busy Busy Busy ;)

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:50:00 +0000

Man, have I been really bad about posting lately! I've been pretty absorbed with other more important activities, which of course I can't really say much about yet.
Other than that, I've been feeling pretty good lately. It seems that things are looking up and going good ;)
My big plans for the weekend are to get my kitchen in order!!! That has just got to be the priority! I lost control of the kitchen just after Christmas... and it's been out of control since. I was completely proud of myself that I had kept it under control from Thanksgiving until Christmas :) Anyway, I need to get everything under control relatively quickly...
So, just wanted to post quick and say that I will probably not be posting everyday for a while... maybe every other day or every few days...

BRRRR

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 02:58:00 +0000

Yesterday it was almost 40! Today? right now its -10!! Is that crazy or what? This winter has been horrendous! We've spent almost 2 months at pretty consistent below zero temps. I was going to venture out today to the store... but then everything that melted last night froze up overnight... lots of slick spots on the road and such. Then it started snowing... and blowing... I think there's wind chill advisories for tomorrow. It's just so depressing. I'm so tired of the cold! :) Winter hurry up and leave! :)

'88

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 04:29:00 +0000

We just watched "Donnie Darko" tonight. The movie takes place in '88, the year I graduated high school. Somewhere in the middle of the movie I made the comment to my husband that the person who did the music for the movie must've been about our age because of the timeframe of the music. Here's the funny thing -- throughout the entire movie it flashes up with the current date and a countdown to the "end of the world" and the year just never quite sunk in for me - my husband had to point it out. Can you say "Duh!" :)
Right around Christmas we found a site to download some music. Mike asked what my perfect playlist would be. Many of the songs I thought of were from that time period, and as a matter of fact at least 3 of the songs in the movie I had either downloaded or was looking for to download. That must've been a good year for music! The songs were "Head Over Heels" by Tears for Fears, "Love Will Tear Us Apart Again" by Joy Division - and I looked forever for "Under the Milky Way" by the Church and couldn't find it... well, those three make my list anyway. I'd probably have to have a 10 cd collection for my ultimate playlist though ;) so many songs! But lots of them from my high school days would make it.

Ugh.

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:04:00 +0000

I have a horrible headache. I've had a horrible headache for weeks now. I think it's my new glasses - they're pinching my head ;) my husband fixed them last night, so I'm hoping that solves the problem... but I had a headache again tonight. I guess we'll see if I have one again tomorrow night. I feel fine all day, but then in the late afternoon/early evening on comes the pain. I tried not wearing my glasses the other day, but then I was getting a headache from not wearing them... so then I wore them for a while until the headache got worse, then I put on my old glasses, but it was already too late... but now the new ones definately aren't pinching my head. Ugh. I may have to go get another eye exam. Which would suck. But I really don't think I got a good one last time.
How's that for a nothing ramble?
I'm just so sick of having headaches.. they permeate everything. make me not want to do anything. make me unable to do things.

Lethargic Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:30:00 +0000

I'm still in quite the "not wanting to do anything" funk. I did manage to load the dishwasher last night and ran it this morning. That's one step forward :) And we did manage to get the stench out of the fridge ;) it smelled like something died in there when we got home from our trip. We were both a little scared of it. We thought maybe a mouse climbed into it somewhere and we'd have to take something apart... turns out it was just some old broccoli!! Which broccoli stinks anyway - it wasn't really that old. There's stuff in there that's much older... I'm horrible about cleaning out the fridge. Not that I don't like doing it... it's not one of those despised household chores. It's just one of those forgotten ones. What's in the fridge is hidden most of the time. It's not staring you in the face begging you to do something about it. Until there's a horrid stench coming from it.

Lazy Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:09:00 +0000

So I've managed to do absolutely nothing today. Not proud of it or anything. There's a million things that I really need to do or take care of. I just have little motivation to do it. That and all of the things I need to do are a little bit on the overwhelming side.
I did manage to get two small things done. I called Infantino about the shape sorting castle that was recalled and I returned way back at the beginning of December. They apologized and said that the toy they were replacing it with was on backorder and if it was ok w/me they would send me something similar and an extra toy to boot. So that phone call really paid off.
My least favorite thing to do is making phone calls. I really really hate calling people.
I would rather do dishes than call people :)
And I managed to get a load of clothes in the washer :)
I just can't believe it's 3:30 already.
Must go do dishes...

slight change

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:41:00 +0000

There I did it. I changed the header title to Kristin's Almost Everyday Blog. Now, I'm only obligated to publish a post "almost" everyday ;)
tee hee
as if I'm under any kind of blog obligation anyway...
but I do like to give myself some kind of goals. though it should probably be dishes, laundry, or some sort of cleaning instead of some sort of blogging... ;)
oh well.
that said. I do have dishes to contend with today.

Yet more on travelling

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 15:11:00 +0000

Thought I was done rambling on about travelling eh? Guess again.
Last night while I was sitting on the toilet, my husband reminded me of a couple of things that happened while we were in the motel. Yes, one of them had to do with the toilet.
I have to say, when it comes to putting the toilet seat down, my husband is awesome! I don't think he's ever forgotten. Probably because he grew up with many sisters. Regardless, it's one complaint I will never have about him.
But that second night in the motel... I had to go in the middle of the night. When I have to go in the middle of the night I have to take the baby in to go with me. Can't leave her unattended in the bed, and if I set her down somewhere she will wake up and cry...
So, anyway - here's me in the dark with a baby in my lap thinking that the toilet seat feels weird. Feels like I'm sitting lower and feels like my butt is practically in the bowl... I feel behind me and sure enough feel the seat of the toilet! Just as I'm about to totally freak out, I realize that we're in a motel, and at least there the toilet gets cleaned either daily or at least between guests. It was definitely gross, but not as gross as it could have been.
The second thing is really just silly ;) My husband got a sub-laptop and a wireless card - and I was test driving a laptop with wireless built in and the motel had wireless :) so I suggested that we could im each other to have an adult conversation. Mainly because in a room with children there's pretty much no such thing as an adult conversation. Apparently he took the word adult to heart. Poor guy found a new way to get turned down ;) we were after all in a motel room with 4 children.

Traveling :)

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:16:00 +0000

So, no new blogs for the past few days because I was travelling. We got home around dinner time last night - and we were all pretty exhausted! Everyone was so glad to be home.
We had a good time visiting with family. Had a great time in the nice motel. They actually had a wireless connection. I planned on blogging, but ended up chatting with an old friend and my husband (who was sitting right next to me) :)
Travelling just takes a lot out of ya! We all slept in this morning. And now comes the business of picking the dog up from the kennel, unpacking, getting everything all back in order from the trip - which will probably take a couple of days...
But of course it's all worth it to spend time with famiy :)

Travel woes

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:31:00 +0000

Man I hate travelling. I used to absolutely love it. 18 hour drive? I'm in. No problem. It's so much more complicated travelling with 3 or 4 kids and at least one dog.

I have to start getting ready to get ready to travel like a couple of weeks ahead of time. No more spontaneous travel... have to call the dog kennel to board the spastic black lab (actually, they love her there - says she is very well behaved and a pleasure - are they really talking about my dog?) ...arrange for someone to come over and feed the crazy outside dog (he's actually the best dog we have - but way too big and clumsy and happy to be an inside dog) ... and make sure that wherever we're going will allow us to bring our loudmouth stinky weiner dog.

Then it's getting tons of laundry done. Making sure I have enough clean bottles to bring. Get most of the dishes done so they don't stink up the house while we're gone. Call the post office to hold the mail. Call the bus garage and let them know our older daughter won't be going to school, call the school and tell them the same thing. Make sure most of the bills are paid and go to the bank to get cash to travel with as we have no atm card or check cashing card (which I actually prefer - so much easier to keep track of when it's just a checkbook). Make sure the car is mostly clean. The actual getting the dog to the kennel...

Then comes the packing. Must make sure older daughter packs appropriate clothes (for some reason she thinks traveling means showcasing her worst clothes), making sure I have enough diapers and wipes for the babies, bottles, onsies, sleepers, 2 outfits for each day....spares in the diaper bag for when we're on the road. Then throwing my stuff and my husband's stuff together an hour or so before we leave and hope I don't forget underwear or my toothbrush...

Then it's making sure we hit the road by 9am so we can make McDonald's breakfast on the way!

The traveling part is OK sometimes. As long as the kids are happy. How it usually works is that they are great for the first half of the trip, and just when you think everything is going great is when the meltdowns start... then it's stopping to change diapers, stopping to feed the baby, changing more diapers... and when you need a diaper change the gas station you stop at doesn't have a changing station... Most of the time it's the very last half hour of a trip that gets crazy. But the last road trip it was the *entire* trip home. At least it was a relatively short trip (half the distance we usually go)...
Anyway. It's going to be lots of fun.