Did you know.....

....I hate cutting my nails?
....there's a bull frog in Africa that can eat an antalope?
....my husband will kick your butt at the farming game every time?
....my little toenail grows sideways?
....I havn't worn makeup in 2 months?
....I want a mental vacation?
....I am back from blog vacation????????

Well, now you do!

This week in photos....

......aparently not a very exciting week..........I only have 2 photos for you. I take that back, it HAS been an exciting week, just didn't tak photos!

I bought this onion when Ty and I went down to the very southeast corner of MN to go caving and camping. There is a large amish population down there and we decided to take a tour. We bought an audio CD that brought you to several amish family farms. When and if I ever get a large sum of money.........there are a few pieces of furniture that I will be blowing it on. AMAZING! Sense I'm not flush with money, we bought jams, honey, and this little beauty. For 60 cents, this GIANT onion may be the best deal ever! (spice bottle for size comparision only!)

Saturday night, I did some senior pictures for the daughter of one of Ty's co-workers. Lots and lots of editting to do but here is a sample.

A day late but not a dollar short...

....I guess the end of summer means more frequent blogging activity. At least this is what I keep telling myself sense I'm convinced my lack luster posting activity has to be blamed on something.....and summer is as good as an excuse as any.

Ty and I are heading down to Southeast MN to go camping, caving, and amish people harassing. But before I go......I will leave you with today's (or yesterdy I guess) ThankfulThursday.

Today, I am thankful for.........

...my chacos..................made the fair sooooooo much better

...speaking of the fair....pig noses.........arn't they the greatest?

...clean sheets....what could possibly be better????

...Dryer sheets......mmmmmmmmmmmmm

...people who actually pay me to take their senior pictures.....isn't they like double dipping?

...cinnamon roasted almonds.......in the top 10 best things I've ever eaten

...toe nail polish.....how else do you cover up ugly toes?

...a dog who will do anything to make me laugh......or at least I convince myself its on purpose:)

...garden fresh potatoes......I have never tasted anything like it....AMAZING!

...THIS guy!

Because it is a physical impossibility....

....to wait until I'm actually done editting all of the photos until I share them.......her are a couple of Miranda's senior pictures! I will post more when I'm done! What do you think?

Class participation needed....

.....I want your favorite quotes, stories, poems, knock knock jokes........whatever makes you smile, gives you courage, or just a chuckle.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Brittany posted this on her blog and I havn't been able to get it out of my head.

Come to the edge
No we will fall

Come to the edge
No we will fall

They came to the edge
He pushed them and they flew
-Guillaume Apollinaire

Or Jes and Kurt told me this AWESOME joke!

what's brown and sticky???? (A STICK!!!)

But the one that has gotten me through the most lately was from a small poster hanging on the wall at the Dr office that read:

Courage
doesn't always roar
sometimes courage is
the quiet voice at
the end of the day saying,
"I will try again tomorrow."

So bring on the participation!

Life altering lesson learned at the como zoo.....

........

.........

Life isn't always black and white.............

sometimes the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence!

Ha! I crack myself up!

ThankfulThursday

Is it bad that I'm thankful that I'm not the only one that lets blogging go by the wayside in the summer? Kinda of like misery loves company....

Here goes....
I am thankful for...

1. Insurance pays at least a part of the $46 dollars a box of contacts that I have to purchase 2 of every 3 months
2. My $1 planner that has more than earned its keep..........its fueling my list obessesion
3. My Pfaff...........we are having a love affair, MOVE OVER TY!
4. Tour de France........well and the fact that my dad doesn't have cable and is forced to watch it at my house. My dogs always have someone to let them out on time:)
5. SmashBurger.....mmmmmmmm
6. Etsy..............www.etsy.com
7. Cheese graters......seriously...think about shredding cheese with out it
8. My talent....ability....magical power to french braid my own hair:)
9. Water proof mascara
10........................YOUR MOM!!!!!! .......cause if she didn't exsist, you wouldn't be here to read my ridiculous posts!

A good reason...

.....to deal with power tripping security guards?
...to stand for 3 hours smashed into a sweaty...sweaty place?
...to lose 75% of your hearing for and hours after the noise is over?


....to live the evening with paranoia because a certain previously mentioned security guard tried to take one of your lens to you camera because he says its to long and then you hide it and sneak it into another door and use it anyways.

...to stay up until 2 in the morning at which time you have to go deliver newspapers and don't actually get to bed until 4 in the morning when you didn't go to bed until 3:30 the morning before.

....is it a good reason to get to enjoy the single best show you have ever seen in your life?

.....welll.....is it??

You bet your hiney it is!!! GREEN DAY was absolutely the best concert I've been too! If you ever get the chance...I would suggest. Or.....just wait for me to win tickets again and hope I invite you this time. In the last year I've won 4 sets of tickets from the radio.....so you can calculate you odds.....

So let's talk about the single worst security guard in the city. When I was getting ready to leave, Ty called the Target Center to see what their policy on cameras was. I didn't want to bring my SLR and then be told it wasn't allowed. Target Center said that as long as the camera didn't have video recording or sound recording (which really what camera BESIDES an SLR doesn't have that feature) it was okay to bring in. So we go to get in and the guy asks to look into my bag. He pulls out my camera and proceeds to tell me that it is a video camera. After telling him 3 times that it was not he decided to try and tell me that my lens was too long. All this time he kept trying to ripped my camera out of my hands. You don't grab an expensive piece of equipment away from someone, or at least someone like me, and not expect me to get a little snarky about it. There were too other female security guard who kept telling him to let me go in. So when I started to walk by he grabbed my arm and told me he was calling his manager and I couldn't leave. Well the manager called back and said that I would have to go put the lens in my car. Are you kidding me? This is downtown! Not like there are parking lots conveniently located near by. So I ripped my stuff away from this dude and walked away. I then proceeded to put the smaller lens on my camera, hid the long lens very well in the many compartments of my camera bag and go to another entrance. The security guard there started to tell me I couldn't bring an SLR in but when he saw the length of my lens he told me I was fine.

So what did I do??? As soon as Green Day came on I switched lenses! Ha!

The top 10 observations when attending Valleyfair.....

.....be warned! Several, but not all, of those revolve around the choice of swim suit!

For those of you not from around here, Valleyfair is an amusment park...think Lagoon. Ty and I spent out 5th aniversery riding rides that, in a reasonably sensible persons mind, should kill you with Jes and Kurt last week. I guess we are just big kids! I dare say this is one of the most fun Anniversaries yet! However, lets just say that more than just the roller coasters had me wanting to puke.

10. It is not acceptable to walk around all day wearing only your bikini top and short shorts any where else so why do it here?

9. One who spends more then 2 hours in an amusement park is somehow convinced that $4 for a soda is a 'good deal'.

8. It is perfectly acceptable to wear only your swim suit while hurdling full speed down a nearly vertical slide but you are in no way allowed to take off you shirt (guys only of coarse) when you are riding the wave. Discuss.

7. Husbands will often time do anything humanly possible to win a giant, and I do mean giant, stuffed dog that just happens to look like Blue just to make there wives happy.

6. Forbidden fantasies can be lived out through a mear $6 air brushed tattoo on the inside of ones wrist.

5. Parents should not allow there 5 year old to venture 5 feet out into the middle of a calm wave pool and than expect him to be fine once the waves start. If they do, concerned anniversary celebrating guests will grab said child to keep him from continuing to drown and return him to dry land while little drowning boys look at her like they want to cry.

4. 'Muffin Top' is real.

3. When nagged enough by ones husband....one finds the courage to go on terrifying roller coasters and learns that one likes them!

2. A giant tramp stamp (lower back tattoo) is made all the more ridiculous when it is your name with a swirly design around it and body glitter rubbed on it. I'm not kidding! I actually saw this.

and the number 1 observation is.....................

1. just because you are in the age ranges of 14-29 does not mean you are required by law to sport a bikini. If you have a less than tight physic.....avoid this choice in swim wear. I saw far too much of some peoples bodies and its time people take a good look at what will flatter. Between the cracks and the 2 sizes to small bottoms I beg of you to stop!!!!

What happens when.....

....the Army and the Marines duke it out???

After an afternoon at the lake with our favorite Marine family Travis and Nicole (Ruby was not in attendance), I thought I would be able to answer that question..........

...............But clearlly I am not prepared to make that call.

You tell me???

Technical Difficulties.....

.....please excuse this weeks interruption in the ThankfulThursday line up because the author of said line up has lost a good amount of faith in human kind after today's grand jury. Please tune in tomorrow for our regular programing.

Thank you.

Food PORN!!!!

So I've decided that I want to make a cook book.

I get to make everything, take a picture of it, print it in a book, and use that book to make it again.

Wow, that's a vicious circle.

But that means food PORN!!!! My biggest vice....well really next to eating this stuff! I could spend all day staring at a cookbook. Give me the chance to want a fantastic movie....ie:the labyrinth, or watch food network and my mouth will start a watering.

So now, my cookbook means I get to produce my own food PORN!

Does this mean I have to go to the bishop???

na na na na na na na na na na................

BATDOG!

When I wake up in the morning....

......Do you think that I am neglecting ThankfulThursday??? Well you are WRONG WRONG WRONG! I got busy. My goat stole the key board. I mean the virtual blog thief stole it. Errrr, no wait! My mom's whooping cough vaccination wore off and we had to go to the hospital. Or....I printed it, folded it into a paper airplane and it got hijacked......

Take your pick, but you are WRONG if you think I just didn't do it!

So today is an abbreviated TT in the name of whooping cough vaccinations.....well, and that I have to share something awesomely terrible with you at the end of the post too!!!

I am thankful for...

.....people who WANT to scrub my feet and paint them pretty for a living because I sure don't!

.....Green Day tickets....yep, that's right! I won them on the radio.

.....Jury Duty on my anniversary.......(not really but maybe if I say it, I won't be so mad!)

.....neighbors who understand that you don't care if they smoke but appreciate not leaving the butts on your lawn when they come to visit.

.....that there is a water park close by!!!!!!

So now to the awesomely terrible part!

What would you call the perfect evening??? Would it include 80 nostalgia? Overacting? Zoobaz???

Well mine does! A couple of weeks ago my sister Molly and I went and saw the single greatest theatrical production ever in existence. It had everything! Romance, drugs, dancing!!! What could be better! What is this delightful show you might ask? Here are some clues:

1. Included some fantastically cheesy hand gestures.

3. Cell phones were the size of dust busters.....er well I guess they were dust busters.

3. Male bonding included such endearing nick names as 'muscle bond monkey' and 'preppy'.

4. Teachers show there concern for there students through mid life crisis'

5. Characters often burst into song and dance while wearing leotards more often then one would hope.

Whoever thought to make Saved by the Bell a play is my HERO!!!!!!

Stop blocking my shot!!!!!

....so I know that sometimes you don't want your picture taken....I'm the same way. But its time to get over your photo phobia and just let it happen!

Because when you do......you end of with some of my favorite shots!!!!