The latest technique in lawn mowing!

We have two new sets of neighbors. One set is East Indian...not sure if they are from India or Pakistan or what. They live behind us. The other family is next door. I have no idea where they are from, but they seem very nice. They built a beautiful deck and fence. They also painted the interior all kind of colors...but not to the point that it's ugly. Sometimes they play music...not in English...but it is very enjoyable. They should be moving in the by the end of the month. We have been very entertained by the neighbors behind us. They are a very young couple and have never mowed. The guy mows like you would vacuum the house! It's crazy. His wife stands and laughs at him and then she gives it a whirl. In the end, the lawn does get mowed...well, mostly mowed. You can tell where he experimented with the different height settings and sometimes he misses strips. I guess it doesn't take much to entertain us.

Albertville

This weekend I was able to get away with Nancy and the girls (my sister-in-law and nieces) to Albertville to the outlet mall. We left early Sat. and returned Sunday evening. I didn't come back empty handed, but we just didnt' find the bargains we were hoping for. I did manage to get Alex 9 pieces of clothing for just at $50. That's not too bad. I got some undies and a pair of shoes! Paul was in charge of Alex, and he seemed to do just fine with out me. I'm not sure Alex reallly noticed I was missing. I guess I expected him to be a little more excited when I got home.

Alex has now figured out how to turn himself around and go down the stairs! He also gives "low 5's." The toilet and toilet paper are now his objects of interest. If you come to visit, the tp will pr0bably be either unrolled in a pile on the floor or rolled back up in a messy roll. I guess it gets the job done either way! :)

It has arrived!

I've been waiting for my medicine since the beginning of May, and it finally arrived on Tuesday! This might come as a shock but someone didn't know what they were doing which is why it took so long. :) I have 3 month supply in the fridge. Paul and I figured out we have over $20,000 worth of medicine sitting there! Unfortunately, the pain that I'm getting isn't quite what I expected. They suggest taking Tylenol, but I haven't found it to be too helpful. Maybe by next week I'll have gotten use to it.

Today we are out to Paul's boss's lake cabin. Each year he has a lake day. We've never gone before. I'm excited because there should be some kiddo's for Alex to play with. Tomorrow I've got a baby shower to attend. I'll be gone for most of the day. I'm hoping to relax Sunday and slowly get the house cleaning under control.

Have a great weekend!

Divide County---Class of 98

Yep, you read that right. I did graduate from Divide County High School. I managed to have perfect spelling tests both my junior and senior year. That's why I can't spell Charlotte or arachniphobia! Actually, I am a terrible speller. The perfect spelling was something my parents and I always laughed about. The way I did so well was from memory. Hmm...what a fine academic institution. You should ask me to show off my math skills! :)

Arachnophobia...gotta love Mondays!

So yesterday as I was transferring laundry from the washing machine to the dryer and there in the bottom of the washer sat a spider. Not just any spider, but a spider with a big bulbous butt. Think Charolette from Charolette's Web. In retrospect, I wish I had taken a picture because I get accused of freaking out over itty bitty spiders. I would say the bulbous part was about the size and an eraser or two. My first thought was "Is it dead or alive?" I decided to just believe it was alive which brought me to my next thought..."How am I going to squish it?" There was no way I would use a paper towel. I considered the end of the Swiffer but pictured missing and it running up the handle. I considered closing the lid and waiting until Paul got off of work but was worried it would crawl somewhere and hide and then I'd have to go to a laundromat until it was found. I ended up getting a 2x4 and squishing it. I left the board in the washing machine until Paul got home because there was no way I was wiping the spider off....just in case some part lived. I spent 30 minutes researching spiders last night trying to identify it. I came up with it being a web forming spider. I went over many scenarios as to how it came to be in my washing machine. None were comforting. I continued my laundry this morning. The idea came to me to use tongs to remove the clothes....just in case the spider had a buddy. I then decided I was a real pansy and ditched that idea. While changing out the laundry I was again thinking about why an outdoor, beautiful web weaving, spider would end up in the washing machine. A light bulb appeared over my head. On Sunday I decided to hang clothes outside. My suspicion is that the spider was a stow away in the laundry basket. My hope is that he/she was the only stow away. Since the spider didn't look like the typical kind I find now and then, this is the only logical explanation I can come up with. I just hope I'm right!

Week or so in review.

Paul has decided to bike to work now to save on gas....and he just likes to ride his bike. So, he packs his lunch and rides along with a little back pack. On Tuesday and t-storm moved in as he was half way there, and he got soaked. Target is on his way so he was going to stop there and get new clothes, but they were closed. He ended up going to Wal-mart and well......the nicest thing he picked up was his boxers! I'm still not sure why he didn't just call me but...oh well.
Alex has every toy under the sun yet his favorite toys include: wine stoppers, a jigger, and a shaker! I hope this isn't a sign of the future. We seem to battle each day with keeping him out of the dog's water bowl. He is very strong willed!!
I had a very nice b-day. Paul took me to a sushi bar for lunch. He even baked me a chocolate cake from scratch. That night we drove to a little town in MN for pizza. It turned out to be very good pizza. We had quesadillas for an appetizer. Instead of being made with tortillas, they were made with lefse.
The rest of the weekend was very relaxing. Paul left Sunday night for Omaha for work. He isn't suppose to be back til late wed. night, but he told me tonight they might get to come back tomorrow night. I sure hope so. I don't sleep well when he is gone.

Let Freedom Ring!

We enjoyed a very relaxing weekend. The morning of the 4th Paul ran in a 10 k. When he got home, we decided to pimp Alex's ride for the festivities that day. We attended a parade at MSUM. I was a little worried because Alex hasn't appreciated the emergency vehicles sounding their sirens and horns in the past. He did really well until one of the floats sprayed water on the crowd. It felt great to us but ticked the baby off. After the parade we listened to a band play patriotic music and had hot dogs. This is one of Alex's favorite foods! By about 2:30 he started dozing in his stroller, so we decided it was time to get back. He was out like a light before I even fastened him in his seat.

Saturday we decided Alex needed some cultural diversity. We visited some of the local international stores. Our favorite is the Asian market. We thought about stopping at one called "discount market" but it looked very shady so we continued on. In West Fargo we found the Tropical Food store. It ended up being a Bosnian market....not sure what's so tropical about it but whatever. We did get a chocolate bar there and it was very good.

Last night Grams and Granddad stopped in for the night on their way to Arkansas. Alex always enjoys being a ham for them.