Tuesday 10 - The Good and The Bad

I almost forgot about this weeks list but I remembered. Here's this weeks list in honor of the good and bad things going on in my life right now, was it sir issac newton who said - for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction well I haven't figured them all out yet but seems that with some of these he might have been right.
Tuesday 10 The Good and The Bad:

1. Good - Went to the track Saturday with Jeanne and Rick!
   
2. Bad - I got really really sunburnt at the track Saturday.
3. Good - My sunburn might turn into a nice tan. :)
   
4. Bad - I pulled some muscles in my back.
5. Good - Jay's now in charge of all the house work and cooking (it's just a like a maid only much cuter).
   
6. Bad - My project at work might be coming to an end soon (September).
7. Good - Some of the next projects sound like lots of fun - India or NYC!
8. Bad - My grandpa is in the hospital.
9. Good - My aunt is able to stay and take care of him and my grandma.
10. I could have tossed in another bad one but I want to end on a positive note so - Good - I got a nice Box in the mail from Laura today.
    

TGIF!

Back to work. Ugh! I rather liked getting up early and playing in the afternoon while I was in Michigan, but at least today is Friday and I can now sleep in tomorrow although not to late as we are meeting miss Jeanne and her husband at the track for brickyard qualifying hopefully it will be a fun time. I don't think I've ever been to qualifying for the race so it's also something new. I'm in the process of uploading all 335 pictures from Michigan to the internet. At about 2.1 mb per file it's taking quite some time. cross your fingers it doesn't time out! Well I should stop breaking for lunch and get back to work.

TGIF!

Tuesday 10 - 10 Michigan Moments

I should have wrote things down as they happened like Mom but I'm not anal enough for that. So here's my Tuesday 10 a day late.
Tuesday 10 - 10 Michigan Moments:

1. Grandpa telling Grandma that "those people" emailed her. ("Those People" = their longtime friends Neil and Mary I think it was).
   
2. Hanging out at the Beach in the Fog.
3. Mom telling me that even though she couldn't read the actually locations on the map that since she could see the curve and it looked the same as the one we were on we must be getting close.
4. Feeding the chipmunks. I think they love Grandma their cheeks were so packed with food I'm quite sure if they actually ate the food they would explode.
5. Mom asking the AAA tire guy - "How do we avoid running over screws?"
6. Looking for beach glass.
7. The freezing cold lake superior water nothing like going into shock when you stick your toes in.
   
8. Guy on porch telling Aunt Thea that the Berry Patch was out of ice cream and her believing him.
9. Sharing Onion Rings, Nachos and Black Bean Salad with Aunt Rachel for dinner I'm sure that sounds appetizing doesn't' it?
   
10. Watching the sunset.
    

Dear Jeanne -

My timer takes 3 pictures on the timer so I don't look so goofy in the other two. No worries.

:) Katie

What Have I (We) Been Up Too?

Quincy Mining and Eagle Harbor

Well we spent a little bit of the afternoon at Quincy Mine we didn't have enough time to see if we could get some copper out of the mine. But we did walk around the graveyard of old mining tools (check out my ride below).
After that we went to Hancock Airport as Aunt Thea was arriving on the 4:50 flight. The airport was much smaller than I imagined I was surprised how close you can park to it. But surprisingly the plane that arrived was bigger that I imagined I thought it would be about the size of the one that USAir put me one when they tried to send me to Bangor. Thea made it here safely and actually a little early and G&G met us at the airport to pick her up too. We drove the scenic route to Eagle Harbor passing the dunes and the thimbleberry patches. We got to G&G's cottage and took in their groceries. Then we headed to the Eagle Harbor Inn for supper. They have the cutest little restaurant in there with these big windows. After supper mom and thea walked back to the cottage and Grandma and I drove back.
After a little chat mom, thea and I went for a little stroll to see the sunset on the lake. The Rocks and lighthouse are almost the same as I remember except there seems to be many more trees and bushes growing amongst them. We took the long way back and looked for someone's hand prints but we didn't find them.
Mom and I left not long after we got back to the cabin as it was getting late. On the way home the low tire pressure light came on in my car and of course I'm all worried about this as there's not really much in this area. Luckily we came across the Calumet gas station and we were able to get air into the tire just in time - at some point we must have run over of something as it was VERY low when I added air to the tire. So I filled it up and we crossed our fingers we would make it back to the hotel. Luckily we did and I stopped at the walmart gas station across the street just to be sure there would be enough air so I can take it to the tire place tomorrow. More adventures tomorrow I'm sure Aunt Rachel and my cousin Sara will arrive too so it shall be fun I'm sure.

Oh and here's a few photos we snapped. Me at Quincy mine do you like my Jeep? it was very very rusty and not really stable but I couldn't resist the photo opp.


Mom with a pulley that once pulled the miners and copper out of Quincy mine doesn't she look nice?

Eagle Harbor Light House just as I remember with a few more taller trees.
Rocks in Eagle Harbor. Aunt Thea on the the rocks and amongst the vegitation.

And last but not least one of the sunset.

Houghton, Michigan

We took a little journey into Houghton this morning - I haven't been here since I was a small child probably 10-11. Anyhow Houghton once was a copper mining town. It is connected to Hancock Michigan via a lift bridge I think it move so tall boats can pass under it (not sure how that works but I hope my grandpa can explain it). This is also the home of Michigan Tech University (maybe you've heard of it maybe not). Lots of Finnish settlers came here way back when probably because of the long cold snowy winters - in fact one of the shops sold these little finish bags and games and things made by a company called marimekko - too cute! We walked around downtown there's not many people around in fact most of the little shops didn't open until 11. We bought some souvenirs and postcards and then drove around a bit. Here's a few of the things we saw.

I believe this is an old copper mine along the river. It's partially falling down but isn't it cute. Look at how rustic and perfect it is along the waters edge.
Here's the lift bridge according to my postcard it once allowed Trains to pass on the lower level; however today that's used for foot traffic.
Mom outside of the old Daily Mining Gazette Building - the Gazette had been the local area paper since 1858 - that's a LONG time. A little miner statue. This may or may not be my great-grandmother's childhood home we haven't talked to grandpa yet to confirm and mom isn't quite sure as she hasn't been here in a long long time and she hasn't been by her house in even longer.




Now we are off to see ourselves a copper mine. More Soon.

Mom and Katie Road Trip Day 1

We made it to the Upper Penisula and yes there's Wifi! :D It only took 13 hours to get here. Here's some of the few photos we took along the way.

Paul Bunyan's Shanty. Look I'm not even as tall as his boots.


The Pine Trees I love how they are naked at the bottom and all the needles are at the top.
See we made it to Michigan we stopped in Land O' Lakes for gas and the welcome to michigan sign was right there it was too perfect.
And here we made to Wisconsin (note we got to wisconsin before Michigan).

15 Things I love!

Since I'm on a roll with all these lists I thought I would keep it rolling since this is this weeks challenge. (Blog about 15 things that you LOVE right now. They don't have to be things you have always loved (but that's not to say they can't) but try and include things that reflect where you are in your life right now and what you are truly enjoying and passionate about. )
So here is my list 15 things Katie Loves Right Now 07.18.07:

1. Buttons - They seems to be all over lately I just found one in my bathroom sink (not the drain that goodness), I love scrapping buttons, crafting buttons, sewing buttons, keyboard buttons, buttons on my pants, button shirts, elevator buttons, vcr buttons what's not to love.
2. Polka Dots - I don't know why but I'm crazy for polka dots all the sudden. I just bought polka dot red flats that I can wear to work too cute (not this is where I would insert a photo if I took one).
3. Talking on the Phone - Sure I love just talking in general I can hold my own in most conversations that don't involve religion or politics but I mostly just enjoy rambling about nothing or everything on my mind. In the last two days I've been over 4 hours on the phone each day. SHOCK FACTOR - I've even been enjoying talking on my cell phone I've never been a big advocate of this before, but I'm finally annoyed that it's got horrible coverage.
   
4. Messes - I don't like to clean them up. But I love to make them! I even actually enjoy having them it's like a sense of accomplishment to me it says "someone lives here and enjoys life".
5. Little tiny miniature things - What is it about these that I'm just drawn to them. I see them and I want them I want to examine them and see how they got so dang little. Micromachines and Polly Pockets where are you?
6. Rain storms - I especially enjoyed these the last few days as it brings a little hope that might grass might turn a nice lush green again. There's just something about the smell of rain that appeals to me too it's yummy! (Please note I don't really give a hoot about big sticky rain though as there is a difference).
   
7. Cheesy Bad British Soaps - Hip Hip hooray for BBC America I can get my fill of bad tv now that all my shows have officially been canceled. If you aren't watching Footballers Wives or Hollyoaks you are seriously missing out on some cheesy bad (good) television.
8. Working from Home - At first this is a hard transition as I so miss seeing my office buddies but after a while I've become accustomed to having a shower at noon and working from the couch as opposed to my desk.
9. The Best Year Ever - Everyone should be jealous you don't have a year like I do! As I am so in love with it I might redo 2007 next year! I mean how can you not be jealous of changing jobs and taking one that involves lots of travel and slightly higher pay, tons of BFF get togethers and road trips, free vacations in DC and Phoenix, Scrap Retreats out the wazoo (yes I said wazoo), Rodeos, Trips to Amish Country, Milwaukee cheeses, a birthday that lasts 10 days, and much much more. Seriously you should be jealous! ;)
10. My New Purses - I must say I like my red one much better than the black even though I thought I would heart the black one the most, the are both a downsize from my old purse but sometimes you don't really need to carry around a 10 pack of batteries or an extra pair of glasses when you are wearing one already.
11. Jay's passion and excitement for making homemade pizza - (yes I also love Jay) He thinks he's on Top Chef or something on the food network ever since I taught him how to make his own pizza for like less than $3 and you can eat if for more than 2 meals. Unforunately I'm not as excited to want to eat it every night as he would like but I do like a little homemade pie.
12. The Parking Button in my "newer" car - What's not to love - see item #1 but this button is so much more. When it's pushed so it's on it tells me when I'm going to back into the garage door, or that I'm getting too close to the neighbors fence (which I did run into a time or two). It even beeps like a garbage truck that's backing up! How stinkin cool is that!
13. The Mailman - I've not yet seen him or I'm sure I would have kissed him by now he's been bringing me all sorts of goodies in the mail lately sure sometimes they come with bills and all that jazz, but he's brought me some sort of treat in the mail every day probably since June 27th. I wonder how long this can keep up.
14. My BFFs - I'm sure you were wondering if I would go through this entire list without giving them a plug I almost didn't give them a second plug as they are on #9, but I bumped off travel just so I could get them on here again so Travel I do love you so but I love my BFFs a tick more. So here's too my very special BFFs as Kim would say LYLAS!
15. 79 Cent Slushies From Speedway - What a fabulous treat this is! Hello what is not to love! All summer long Speedway is offering Slushies for less than $1. And Double bonus if you buy 6 and have a Speedy Reward card you get one free! Ching Ching Ching! I am not kidding when I say I have drank no fewer than 12 slushies since they middle of June when I discovered this little deal. Of course they aren't like blue Slushies from J's Dairy Inn. But who the heck cares when it's so freaking cheap. If you haven't had one yet this summer you better run out to your local Speedway! (Dear Speedway Executives - If you are reading this. Let me personally volunteer to be your slushie machine tester. I'm even willing to travel to Alaska to test slushies and how they taste in the super cold if it means drinking more slush, while I'm there I will drink enough for the whole state to make it well worth your while to put a machine in that store. XOXO yours truly Katie (that's big K, littl e a, t, i, e :))
    

Tuesday 10 - Looking Forward to Michigan

Well I'm starting to look forward to going to Michigan with Mom. I haven't really thought about it much until I realized we were leaving this Friday. So here's 10 things I'm looking forward to.

1. The Car Ride - well not really so much it's much to far but it will be fun to catch with Mom.
2. Cooler Weather - I think the UP is in the 70's yay!
3. No Humidity - Need I say more.
4. Nature - Okay I'm not much of a nature person but sometimes it's good to see it anyhow.
5. Jam - I heard someone was making some.
6. Black Bears
7. Seeing my Aunts. I haven't seen Rachel or Thea in over six years.
8. Seeing G&G.
9. Lake Superior in all it's coldness.
10. Working remotely.

Now I'm sure you would have also enjoyed the list of things I'm not looking forward to as well, packing, gas prices, traffic.

More Pages

Worked on more pages for my high school album so I started a slide show for them.

Some Uglies

My brother finally got his Uglies so I can share these with you.

Here's one I made way back for Jay's step-neice - we called him Grimace. She liked all her dolls.
One that Kim Shrum received. I think his name was Fugly Buttons
This is Deno! He was supposed to be a giraffe. But looks like a dinosaur we decided to keep him since he's got some shadey craftsmanship.
These were for Jay Jones - they are Ketchup and Jello probably my cutest uglies.

10 Highlights from Lunch Today

Thanks Jeanne for the topic. Today I had lunch with Kim, Cheryl and Deb, here is my Tuesday 10 in honor of this lunch.

10 Highlights from Lunch Today

1. Meeting Cheryl for the first time.
2. Her darling quiet children (I thought someone told me they were rowdy - clearly they are not).
3. Interrupting calls from my co-worker (ok so not my favorite highlight)
4. Getting gifts from Deb and Cheryl - it was like my birthday all over.
5. My Satay Chicken.
6. The Sauce for my Satay Chicken.
7. Seeing my BFF Kim.
8. Taking Photos in the lobby.
9. Good conversation.
10. Hearing that Cheryl spent $75 at Archivers (I only spent $25 this afternoon - hehe)
    

We're Back!

That was probably the quickest worldwind tour ever. But we had a lovely time.

Yesterday we went to the Milwaukee County Zoo in the blistering hear it was near 105 with the heat index. We saw lots of critters there my favorite were probably the monkeys although they seemed to be doing some crude things. But they seemed to be some of the only things not sleeping. I did get to touch a stingray and a shark and I also fell down on the wet floor in the exhibit luckily everyone was watching the fish and the only person that saw me bite the big one was the zoo keeper. But now I have some lovely souvenir bruises. One thing I did enjoy at this zoo was they had these little mold your own animal sculptures where you pay and a machine makes you a plastic animal right there. It was pretty cool I got a polar bear.

After that we went to Miller Park where the Brewers play they are out of town so we didn't get to see a game but we saw the stadium and watched a few minutes of a little league all-star game at this mini field they have just outside the field. It's a new stadium with a slide in the outfield but it doesn't look all that new as some of things are already rusting (someone didn't plan well).

Then we went back downtown which isn't any easier to navigate the second time around although this time we did find the Summerfest Music Festival although we didn't do anything but drive by it as we hadn't a clue where you would park. But we did find another park along the lake where we stopped and checked out lake Michigan and some grandeous houses that are along the lake bluffs they were all very nice. After that we got ourselves lost trying to go to the Port of Milwaukee (which is actually a port) not very interesting lots of icky industry and some big ugly boats and trains.

On the way home we stopped at the Cheese Castle and Tom and Tim's House of Cheese to get some Cheese and Sausage (which is all very very yummy). We also got stuck in the Chicago traffic again someone should teach these people how to drive what should have taken us 45 minutes to an hour to drive through took almost 3 hours! Regardless to say we did not stop in at the Pizza Pot Pie Place as we figured we can get it another time. But we made good time once we got to Indiana. Below are some of the pictures I took. I'm trying to upload the whole collection but it's going slow as molasses.

Jay at the lake (please don't mention he needs a hair cut).
Me on a bench this is Florence Someone and her son Tom or Joe or Dave or something and her dog.
Oh the Cheese! I'm not sure if we bought this kind or not but it looked so pretty I had to photograph it.
Me and the Cheese Man. Tom and Tim's Cheese place had several little things to take photos of. The Cheese man was just one of the many.
Now at the Zoo. Here's a baby Banaboo (sp?)
Jay and an Elephant this little guy was all about posing for pictures he was such a ham. His friend however wouldn't look at us.
A Hippo asleep in the sun hopefully he's wearing sunscreen.
The Brown Bears were very active. I think this one wanted to eat a child or something as it was pacing all along the front of it's enclosure growling every so often.

Hank Aaron at Miller Park I didn't know he played for the Brewers and Jay told me he didn't but rather the Milwaukee Braves or something like that.Jay at Miller Park
Katie at Miller Park.
And a few snaps from Saturday too. Downtown Chicago as seen from traffic on I-94/90.
Superman made of Jelly Belly's Mom we took this photo for you!
Me and Jelly Belly (do you like my hat? - they make you wear these on the tour of the warehouse. I'm not really sure what this hat really would catch but it makes a nice souvenir.

Hello from the land of dairy....

Or something to that effect. I am here in Milwaukee, WI blogging from my TV. Yes that's right my television in my hotel room this is what happens when you forget your laptop. Jay is taking a nap. Our 4 hour drive took almost 5.5 when we seemed to hit every patch of construction in Illinios and Wisconsin.
we did finally make it to our first stop the Jelly Belly factory though. We went onn a tour train ride through what appears to be the warehouse not the factory which was much to my dismay. But it was fun regardless and afterwards we got postcards and souvenirs (including but not limited to Dr. Pepper and grape soda jelly bellys and very cherry jellies, and pressed pennies).
from here we made our way to downtown Milwaukee (or as wayne and garth would say MillEwalkAY). Downtown is a mess of constructionn it's like some kind of chaotic mess, and there's all these people everywhere. So we decided to table our adventures to find some italian sausage and cheese until tomorrow, and we headed to our hotel. We are staying in the burbs in a lovely marriott with a rowdy little league team called the cyclones - forunately they are actually a few rooms down and not right on top of us. After checking out the digs we got directions for lunch ideas and set off for some lunch. After seeing numberous places we finally settled on a lovely place called Dano Charogrill or something to this effect. We started out meal will the yummiest cheesesticks after eating them we regretted ordering an actual meal we were so full. But then our soupp (which apparently comes with everything at Charo's arrived and it smelled so good we couldn't not taste it. It was worthy indeed I thought Jay wouldn't give it a chance when he was examining it but to my surprise he liked it. We couldn't eat much of it before our meals came I had some kind of cajun chicken sandwich and jay prime rib sandwich. Both were yummy although we weree so full we only ate a few bites before we were ready for a box.
After lunch we came back to the hotel so Jay could nap as he's going onn 40 some hours with no sleep. So here I am. So I can't share any pictures of our adventures but I haven't a clue how that would be accomplished on this TV. Later - K

More from the craft room...

I almost did some sewing this afternoon but I couldn't decide what to make. So I did some scrapping. Another one for the high school album sorry it's not all in my school colors I just don't have much RWB.
And one from my DC travels. This is the Navy Memorial. FYI these arrow stamps are from Mandarin Pixie.

27 So Far...

not entirely different that 27.
got up with a phone call from mom.
messed around the house for a bit.
ate a cupcake for breakfast.
surely that's not good for the waistline.
jay gets up around 11.
we pick a movie out of the paper.
head to metropolis - a FUN mall.
talk to lita on the phone.
she has birthday greetings for me.
talk to jon jones on the phone.
he has birthday greetings for me.
fun fun fun.
poke around outside before movie.
see ratatouille.
we are the only adults in the theater without a kid.
i don't worry about this.
jay does.
movie was good.
not as funny as i thought.
enjoyed the animation.
head to red robin for lunch.
this is our first time at red robin.
jay thinks it's too busy.
i tell him i don't care it's my birthday.
it's not really that busy.
we get seated right away.
i order some kind of strawberry lemonade.
it costs $4.
who cares it's my birthday.
yum yum yum.
i have a burger that has pineapple on it.
jay has fancy mac and cheese.
my burger is raw.
ick ick ick.
i send it back to the kitchen.
we get it for free.
what a nice birthday treat.
it is well the second time around.
yum yum yum.
on the way home we stop at a pond.
there's a giant fish in it.
i demand we take pictures with it.
the gorilla enjoys this.
snap snap snap.
drive home and chat with jay jones.
he sends me birthday greetings.
i send him birthday greetings.
we have the same birthday did you know?
arrive home for a little afternoon nap.
snore snore snore.
awake to see a little nascar and concert for diana.
she has our birthday too did you know?
as does sterling marlin.
i'm sure everyone was dying to know these facts.
decide on a trip to walmart.
it is busy.
but not too busy.
we mosey around.
i don't really want anything.
jay wants BBQ sauce.
spend $5.98 on something.
ching ching ching.
head home where i blog this challenge.
happy birthday to me.
27 is not entirely different than 24, 25, or 26.