I had a nice day today. Read some notes on my blog about car salespeople and now I do not feel so bad. Read Pat's blog and had a good laugh about Elijah's kicking skills.

Breanna and Luke got dressed to go trick or treating and Pennie showed up in her Cat in the Hat costume which I thought was a pretty good costume. Pete came home and he and Pennie took the kids out while I stayed home and handed out treats. We had at least a hundred kids and ran out of candy so we do what we always do when we run out and that is turn off the lights and jump in the car to go see my dad and then to my mom's house so they can see the kids in their costumes.

Got a call from the doctor and Breanna's tests were all normal which we were not surprised because she is feeling better...whew!

Pete's got a pretty good cold and I keep hoping it will get better but the poor guy sounds and looks like he has a cold. He said he had fun taking the new van to work and then to Best Buy on his lunch to buy printer cartridges for my printer. (Did not buy anything else...good job, Pete!) He also thought about how much money we could save if he did not eat out for lunch to help pay for the car and I am going to try to make him a lunch to take to work. Breanna and I are going to make menus for supper so we know what to have for dinner rather than going out on impulse. I need to learn how to cook more things besides tacos, parmesean chicken, meatloaf, chili, french toast and hamburgers so if anyone has any good ideas for a quick and good dinner, let me know.

Well, I know this is a boring blog so I will end it now before your head hits the keyboard from falling asleep and you wake up with the letters 'qwert' on your forehead.

Lori

Loseing a freind by brea

hello its been a while but I'm writeing again . This time i'm writeing about a freind
who's been with us for along time. I'll give you some hints on who it is . Its brown
holds lots of people and everyone has at least seen or been in it. ITS our car we got a new one. The new car is so cool I can't belive its ours. ITs a light light blue.On the way back home I thought about our old car and how its waiting for us to come back but we're not comeing back that was sad. the crazy object breanna

Searching and shredding

Well, guess what I did most of this weekend? You guessed it, shredding papers in the shredder.

This all started because we could not find the note from the bank in Crystal saying we paid off our van five years ago and we spent all night looking through boxes of documents. Finally, Pete called the bank and they are sending us the document we need. Meanwhile, we decided to start shredding because we do not need bank statements from eight years ago, health statements from the last 12 years or insurance statements or work statements from whom we are no longer with. So, I watched the Packers lose while shredding documents with the new shredder Pete got for me because we could not find the electical part for it to plug it in (it is probably with the bank document).

Then there was the whole deal we spent at the car dealership. Things were going well (sat through and listened to every thing they wanted us to buy and I said "no") until the financial lady showed up and ignored me. My biggest pet peeve, umfortunately for her, is snippy sales people. I got a little snippy with her (she did it first) and finally we cooled down but she totally ignored me the rest of the time and the next day even though she said we were all set and could leave before we gave her the down payment. I asked if she wanted the down payment and she said, "Oh, well, we would have realized it by the time you got home anyway."

I feel bad about stooping to her level and being snippy and have decided I do not need to do that and could have walked out and will do so in the future (which is what I normally do but I couldn't let this one go). Poor Pete was stuck in the chair in the corner and had to watch the whole thing unfold.

Tomorrow Luke gets to wear his costume for Halloween to school and the parents are invited to watch the costume parade before class starts so that will be fun.

Now, where did I put that costume???


Lori

Carving pumpkins

We did a lot today. First we went to Sam's Club where we bought the usual and I checked to see if we could put mom on our account but she can only be on it if she lives with us so that did not work out. We also bought Halloween candy we do not like to eat ourselves so we won't be tempted to eat it as we have done in past years.

Then we went to Perkins where we had to wait forver for the food but Luke ate his pizza, Pete had breakfast and Breanna and I each had the salad bowls.

Then we headed over to Steins so Pete and I could pick out our pumpkins since the kids already had theirs. There was not a good selection left. Pete's would not stand on its own and mine has a huge scar in the back but a good front for carving. We also picked up some gourds and a corn stalk bunch to put around the lamp post. THis is the only Halloween decoration we have.(I'm not big on halloween decorations and technically, the stalks and gourds are "Fall decorations".)

Then we decided to go to the car lot to see what was there. Back home, Pete called around for loan rates and the credit union in Crystal definetly has the best rate.

We carved our pumpkins. It took Luke and Breanna about two hours to get all the seeds out. (Luke's pumpkin is the size of a grapefruit but it kept him busy). Pete cut out the face for Luke's pumpkin and it turned out pretty cute. Breanna has a cat on hers which she did all by herself. Pete's looks like a scared bald man(The painting 'The Scream' comes to mind) and mine has the name "Linna" carved out with a spider and a web and it is not very good. I then roasted the seeds in the oven and they turned out pretty good.

Finally got around to making supper. None of us were all that hungry so we just had sandwiches....whew!

It was nice to have Pete home on a weekday and he is home tomorrow as well. We are taking the van in to see what the dealer will give us for it. Pete is checking the bluebook on the internet for it now.

Read John's blog and wished we could have gone up to visit today to make his day a little better.

I keep checking Pat and Pennies blogs but they have not blogged lately....I miss them!!! Chrissie, if you read this, I somehow am not able to respond to your comments but do know you will be here for Thanksgiving.

Have a good one...Lori

Last night we went to meet the family of the girl we are ride sharing with for Luke's preschool. It went well...they are such a nice family. This morning was the first time we picked up Anna, Luke's classmate, and went to the school. We waved to Breanna, who was on patrol duty at her school, as we drove past.

Later, Anna's mom picked me up and we went to get the kids and the first thing Luke said was, "I do not want to go to school!" I asked him later what happened and he said school was fine and they had Jello for snack. They learned about how God takes care of people when they are scared.

Tonight Pete took the kids to Breanna's school for the fall fest. They wore their costumes, Breanna as a princess and Luke decided to wear the cow costume and we could not talk him out of it. (In fact he is still wearing it and it is bedtime).

I talked to Pete about going to Crystal and his dad sent a note saying Betty would not be there Sat. so he decided we should stay home so he can finish putting up the Christmas lights.

We are not doing well on our family exercise program since Breanna has had homework or we had errands to run. We will try tomorrow night. I have done well so far this week on my Weight Watcher points. I read Betty was the biggest loser in her TOPS group so I am glad someone is doing well in that department.

Pete and I have been watching the World Series except last night I finally went to sleep after the tenth inning...it went 14. Tonight they showed Barbara and George Bush in the stands and Barbara was keeping score. I asked Pete if she was really doing that and he informed me that true fans keep score. Learn something new everyday.

Have a good one...Lori

Luke says grace at dinner

Last night at dinner I asked "Who wants to say grace?" Luke says he wants to and says the following, "Before we eat, we have m&m's...Amen"

Pete, Breanna and I all chime in, "Noooooo..." tryin not to laugh.

He does end up saying, "Dear God, thank you for the food.Amen."

Pete broke his mask last night and therefore had a terrible night of sleep. I think he was waking himself up everytime he started snoring. I hope he gets a new one today otherwise it will be rough until he does get a new one.

We are trying to decided if we should go up to Crystal so Pete can help with the laptop or stay home and clean the house. Breanna is off Thursday and Friday so Pete took those days off as well. If we can get enought of the house clean, maybe we will go up afterwards.

The other thing we want to do is check out car prices since the end of October is supposed to be the best time of year to purchase a car. Pete also found on the internet that there were a couple of used '05's that are quite a bit less than a new '05 (plus they are blue!) and that is the route we would have to go since a new one is out of the question. It is always fun to go car shopping and dream.

This past Sunday we went to my mother's house because her sister and family were in town for a visit. I made my lemon roll cake and it went over well. Then Pennie came and took Breanna to a movie (Dreamer) and Pete and I watched the first game of the World Series.

Pete went to the doctor yesterday and got a couple of prescriptions to help his tummy. The poor guy has had it rough lately expecially now that the mask is broken...uff da!

Have a good one...Lori

I don't want to talk about owls!

Since Breanna was home today, Pete took the morning off. They both picked up Luke from school. As soon as he came out, he said, "I don't want to talk about owls!"

Pete thought, "Alrighty then" and they went to lunch before coming home. Pete then went to work and got a lot done because most of the people were gone and he could get things done.

We watched the show, "Three Wishes" tonight. One of the wishes was about a woman who wanted to find her birth mother and she got her wish. (Both her adoptive parents had passed away). I have never had the desire to find my birth parents and feel lucky I do not have the desire (mom did something right!). The story I was more impressed with was about a guy who stuttered and was fitted with a hearing device that delayed his hearing so it stopped his stuttering...it was pretty amazing and he was so happy.

Tomorrow is Make a Difference Day and I am trying to figure what we could do as a family to make a difference. I already put out the food for the Boys Scout food drive which they will pick up early tomorrow (I never seem to get it out early enough). Hopefully we can come up with something and I blog about it later.

Have a good one!

Lori

Good Deed for the Day

So far, this week has gone fairly well except neither Pete or I are getting sleep but that is not unusual.

Tuesday, my dad took Luke and me out for my birthday lunch. Afterwards he stopped at a store. As he walked in, he grabbed a cart someone had left in the parking lot and brought it up to the store while Luke and I stayed in the car. I said, "Grandpa is doing his good deed for the day". Luke asked what a good deed was. I told him it was when you do something nice to help someone out without asking. He said, "Like when Breanna helped me pick up all the dominoes?" and I said, "Yes". He then asked me what my good deed for the day was. I had to think for a moment but said, "I put the root beer in the fridge so it would be cold when daddy came home."(whew!) We then decided his good deed would be going to bed without crying that night and he did not cry (whined a little but not too bad).

After we stopped at the store, dad took us for a drive to look at the fall colors. He used to do this a lot when I was a kid and it was nice to do it again. Luke fell asleep and had a nice nap. We got back home around two in the afternoon. I was proud of Luke for behaving well at the restaurant (Dad took us to a supper club!).

Breanna has the day off from school tomorrow but Luke still has preschool. I am starting to think about what to get people for Christmas and I am not doing well.

We have done four family workouts since last week. We skipped the last two nights so we need to make sure we do it tomorrow night.

Have a good one....Lori

Three strikes, you're out!

What a crazy weekend. I hit my head three times...once Luke and I bonked heads, then I hit it on the cupboard door (which I left open by the way) and then Pete was up on the roof and I ran right in to the ladder with my face! I thought I broke my nose but it just turned very red.

The whole reason that happened was because I was talking to my neighbor and our kids were in the back yard when she heard crying so she took off. I was holding Maya and she took off after my neighbor and I walked right into the ladder. Luke comes running around the other side crying because someone was on the swing and he walked right in front of her and got hit in the mouth so he was bleeding and I am trying to focus and check to see if my nose is bleeding and put the dog in the house. Pete is wondering what the heck is going on and mutters "I told him a million times to not walk in front of the swing!" as he went inside to get a cloth for Luke.

Meanwhile, one hearing aid is in the shop so I keep being annoying by asking everyone "What?" a million times. Pennie was nice enough to take Breanna and I to the mall. I was looking at sweaters and pulled one out to look at it and could not see the detail on it...did it have a zipper, buttons, what? Another adjustment I am going to have to get used to.

I was glad to see Monday come.

Breanna did well at her parent teacher conference. She needs to work on math and penmanship and is doing great in everything else. Her teacher says she likes how Breanna works hard and keeps working to try to get something done and does not give up easily so that was nice to hear. We also talked about how next year she will have to be in school at 7:30!!!! Now she does not have to be there until 9:00. This will be an adjustment for all of us.

Pete was up on the roof putting the Christmas lights up so he won't have to do it when it is too cold and slippery like last year. He also did some fall cleaning around the yard, applied some more insect "remover" and put up some plastic on some of the bigger windows.

We went to church on Sunday, watched Notre Dame lose at the last moment and Wisconsin win at the last moment.

I will end with a Luke statement. he had his picture taken at school and I asked him the name of the photographer and he said, "Mr. George like George Bush!"

Have a good one, people, and watch out for that ladder!

A New Plan

Not a whole lot new today, but that is ok. Luke and I had a good day at home. He had a bath and helped me make banana bread. He likes mixing and pouring in the ingredients.

I came up with a family exercise plan which we are starting tonight and the reason I am writing this blog early. We are going down to the basement, Breanna, Pete and I are going to spend 20 minutes doing either the treadmill, the bike or the weights/stretches and then we will switch to another station for 20 and switch a third time to get a total workout for one hour. I'll let you know how far we get. Breanna is going to make a chart for us to keep track of how we are doing. Luke does enough bouncing around, he is exercising all the time. Tonight we will do it while we watch'Survivor'. I have done well on my watching my Weight Watchers points this week so far.

Turns out Pennie did stop in last night and left the information I needed in the mailbox which we did not find until today. Too bad we missed her but we were out longer than we thought we would be.

Tonight I helped Breanna with her spelling words and she is now taking a bath. I made noodles for supper and it all went. Luke ate all his meal and also ate well during lunch (this info is for Grandma and Grandpa - they were a good influence on him while we were gone.)

Pete mowed the front and side lawn and will put insect treatment on it tomorrow after work. He will mow the back Saturday. We also plan to do some fall clean up this weekend since there is no Packer game.

Have a good one!...Lori

We have a leopard in our house

Tonight when Pete got home we dropped off a stamp it up order before heading to the mall to get Breanna a leopard print vest.She now has a black shirt with leopard print, a jacket with leopard print, a pair of jeans with leopard print belt and patches, and now a vest. I sure hope this print is not out of style soon because she is wearing it until she goes to college!

We also found some tap shoes (usually this feels like a treasure hunt but this year we found them at the first place we looked) and also slippers for her to wear with her princess costume. We also picked up a couple of shirts and pants for Luke since the ones we bought before for winter are too big.

Speaking of Luke, he did much better in preschool today and even got a paper apple with a note on it from his teacher saying he played very well today...whew! He is not going on Friday to class since they have a field trip to Heritage Hill and not enough parents are allowed to go so we are keeping him home rather than send him with someone we do not know. I am not sure how much a four year old cares about old buildings anyway.

Talked to my friend from Fond du Lac today who told me her parents had moved to the area but were not able to get into their apartment until Nov. 1 and would have had to rent a furnished place for a month...sounds familiar to me. Her parents ended up driving all the way to California and are spending a couple weeks with a relative. Somehow I do not think John and Betty want to travel for three months out of the year! We keep telling them they can stay here but they are not sure what they are doing yet. (The house across the street from us went up for sale!)

We have not heard from Pennie yet so maybe I misread her e-mail and she is not coming tonight.

Pete and I are going to walk 10,000 steps every day and whatever we need to do before the end of the day, we will walk it together. We really need to focus on our health. I started lifting arm weights, using the Weight Watchers point system and walking more.

Have a good one!...Lori

Florida trip and more

Pete and I are back from Florida where it rained every single day. I felt bad for the people who brought their families for actual vacation. I spent most of my time going to get candy, refilling my soda, and fighting off the mean saleslady at the Disney store in the hotel. Actually, I thought about fighting her but decided not to. (She took a Ariel figurine out of my hand and said another customer wanted it. Wouldn't you know it was the last one and we cannot get them online because they are only for purchase when you are on Disney property. I wrote them an e-mail and wonder if anything will happen. The Weed Man story is happening all over again!)

We sure missed the kids but as soon as we got home and gave them their shirts, they spent the rest of the night with grandma and grandpa so now we know where we stand with them!

Breanna was in an art show and Luke and I went to see it after school. She did not place but I am proud of her for entering the show. I saw some other parents I have not seen in awhile so it was good to catch up with them.

Breanna tried on her princess costume for me and I inserted a cardboard cone to make her hat stand up and it worked out pretty well. I sent the picture to every one and my cousin sent me a note saying her five year old son said, 'Wow, what a pretty princess'. Grandma did a great job on the costume, now we are looking for shoes to go with it.

Luke had a rough day in preschool but we hope he does better tomorrow after both of us talked to him. He did well with me at home today and we played outside for awhile even though it was raining a little (can't get away from the stinkin'rain!)

I sent Pat an e-mail asking how he and Alex did on fantasy football this week. Pennie sent a note she is stopping in Wed. to drop off some information.

Have a good one, people! Lori

someone get mickey a boat

We have been here 5 days and no sun. I feel like the guy who has a black cloud over his head. I learned a lot and have more work to do when I get back. We can't wait to get back but are not looking forward to the plane rides and the waits in the airports. I feel sorry for Lori who got stuck at the hotel almost the whole trip. It is a good thing that we did not bring the kids they would have been bouncing off the walls. Well see you soon

PJL

Mickey is very wet.

Well nothing like being in Florida Between two Tropical storms. My class went okay. Going to opening session now. We are missing the kids.

PJL