What You're Watching on the Tube.

I recently checked my YouTube account for some of my old videos (yes...I was procrastinating on an assignment).

70 people have tuned in to see deer roaming in our backyard.
179 people have been interested in Kaelyn's beatboxing skillz.
400 people have witnessed the magic of "Hook" by my husband.

20,551 people have viewed THIS video, which is cute despite the gross audio discrepancy. I can't believe ANY of my videos have attracted over 20,000 views. Wow.


Click away, and bump up that count!

Sorry...Obligatory Update.

So, here's what's going on! You may have noticed an infrequent blogging pattern on my part. This is because I'm currently enrolled in an online class that is...how shall I say this...kicking my butt. Every waking spare moment has been spent reading novels, writing papers and participating on my discussion board. This is why I have been neglecting you lately. It's nothing personal. :)

I haven't been to Target in over two months. I think that must be a personal record for me. That's how busy I've been.

I had a job opportunity come my way- a part-time position with the school district that I applied for before starting this class. Since interviewing on Monday, I've decided not to pursue the position for numerous reasons. It's much more time intensive than I'd originally thought, and I don't have the time outside of class to spare right now. I would also only be employed through April, so I decided to retain my sub contacts and stay available. It's gotten much better now that I am mostly working in repeat classrooms.

Bear with me in the coming months. I promise I'll keep this thing as updated as possible!

The UGGS are Coming! The UGGS are coming!

I'm jumping around the house with excitement...Chris is picking up my very tardy Christmas present at the post office right now. This means, very soon, my feet will be WARM!

(These boots have been on backorder since before Christmas. Thanks a lot, Southern Californians.)

Fun With Kindergarteners.

(After singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)
Me: What do you suppose stars are made of?
Student 1: DIAMONDS!!
Me: Well, they're sparkly like diamonds, but that's not what they're made of.
Student 2: Light?
Me: What makes the light?
Student 3: The moon!
Me: Yes, the moon makes lots of light! But what do you think the stars are made of?
Student 4: Snow! (Why not...everything else around here is made of snow...)
Me: Nope- snow is very cold, but stars are made of something very hot!
(Lots of hands up)
Student 5: TWINKS!

Guess it's too early for that science lesson :)

I've Got An Eye For Alcohol.

Ok- one of my assignments for the ridiculous class I'm taking is to monitor the television for 3 hours, choosing a particular "angle" and reporting on it. So, tonight, I'll be watching 5 channels intermittently, focusing on the use of alcohol in popular reality television. Monday night is a popular night for shady reality shows (and, believe me, I'm cringing having to watch some of this trash). Here are the shows that will (sadly) get my attention tonight:

The Bachelor (ABC)
Double Shot of Love (MTV)
The Real World (MTV)
Bromance (MTV)
Intervention (A&E)
America's Next Top Model (OXGN)
Tool Academy (VH1)
Confessions of a Teen Idol (VH1)

Gee...do you think the drinks will be flowing tonight?

Taking the Ice.

Hi folks! In lieu of playing broomball tonight (cancelled because it's dangerously cold outside), I thought I'd blog about it instead! It's been an interesting experience, to say the least. Prior to moving to MN, I was more of an "indoor" sports girl. Heck, I was more of an "indoor" girl, period (this has served me well, being cooped up inside lately!). HOCKEY was a foreign idea to me, so Chris gave me an extensive tutorial on the sport. We've even been to a few hockey games. I'm a terrible ice-skater, so I have mad respect for those guys on the ice.

BROOMBALL, however, requires no skating...you just have to keep upright on the ice. The first week was rough. We didn't have the special shoes needed to maneuver on the slippery ice. Therefore, we could hardly move. Week 2- different story. $80 bucks made a big difference! Anyway, even with the shoes, we're still terrible. Much like our volleyball Cinderella story, though, I see a comeback in our future!

What We Do when it's -32.

We do a whole lot of stuff INSIDE.

For Christmas, we received Seasons 1&2 of "The Unit", and that has absolutely wrecked our free time- if we've got a few free hours, it's consumed with fitting in as many episodes as possible! And, thanks to NetFlix, we can fill in the missing seasons soon!

I put up all our Christmas pictures so we can enjoy all of your lovely faces a little longer :)

We got the above puzzle for Christmas, too...it was lots of fun piecing some of you together!
And, of course, we're all about the new seasons of American Idol and 24! We've got a little premiere party going on tonight, so I've gotta run...

Eating Away At My Soul, Little By Little.

I've given up, for the most part, Starbucks and Chipotle.
I've even given up on high fashion.
When I moved to Duluth, I scoped out the grim shopping scene.
With only JCPenney and Sears to choose from, I thought...
"Well, at least we have The Gap"!

Front Page of the Duluth newspaper yesterday:
Popular Mall Retailer Closing.

I'll give you one guess as to which retailer it is.

The Best Husband Award.

I decided to conduct a little experiment on Sunday.
I counted how many times he said "I love you".
He clocked in at a whopping 34.

It's no wonder it's hard to wipe the smile off my face
because I know he means it every time.

So, sweetheart, this is for you...
I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you! (That's 35) :)

The Great Croc Debate.

Okay...one of my friends on Facebook just bought Crocs for work, and subsequently asked the Facebook world if this compromised his "coolness". Almost instantly, he had nearly twenty comments, overwhelmingly against sporting the Crocs. This made me think, if so many people dislike them, WHY are they so DANG popular???

My personal opinion will trouble many of you...I don't like them. In fact, I intensely dislike them. Their ugliness outweighs any comfortableness they may claim. I can endure them on little boys and girls...they really don't look bad on the kiddos. But on grown men? Seriously?? They must be REAAAAALLLY comfortable for you boys to proudly galavant around in them.

Love 'em or hate 'em?

Could This Be Said Of Us?

"It is the Christians, O Emperor, who have sought and found the truth, for they acknowledge God.

They do not keep for themselves the goods entrusted to them.

They do not covet what belongs to others.

They show love to their neighbors.

They do not do to another what they would not wish to have done to themselves.

They speak gently to those who oppress them, and in this way they make them their friends.

It has become their passion to do good to their enemies.

They live in the awareness of their smallness.

Every one of them who has anything gives ungrudgingly to the one who has nothing.

If they see a traveling stranger, they bring him under their roof.

They rejoice over him as over a real brother, for they do not call one another brothers after the flesh, but they know they are brothers in the Spirit and in God.

If they hear that one of them is imprisoned or oppressed for the sake of Christ, they take care of all his needs. If possible they set him free.

If anyone among them is poor or comes into want while they themselves have nothing to spare, they fast two or three days for him. In this way they can supply any poor man with the food he needs.

This, O Emperor, is the rule of life of the Christians, and this is their manner of life."

- Aristides 137 AD

part of a longer Apologia written to the Emperor in defense of persecuted Christians.

Did I Mention We Got Some Snow?

Yes, yes. My first December in Duluth, and we get record snowfall. SO MUCH snow, in fact, that it was the fifth snowiest December since 1875. Duluth received just over 36 inches of snow in December- about 2 feet more than normal. Basically, an entire winter of snow landed on us in one month. I think God is laughing at me.

When we arrived home from the cities, our driveway was knee-deep with snow. The drifts you see here are courtesy of Chris' snowblowing.

Aaaaaand, the porch got a little snow, too. This made it a little difficult to open the door!