Homecoming - noun. home-com-ing, A return to one's home; arrival at home.

I am terrible at remembering to do certain things. One, for certain, is calling people back (sorry Ash!), but I'm an expert at texting. Also, I can never think of anything good to post for a blog, but I guess the point is just blogging....

Anyway, we have returned from our time in Minnesota. It was so nice to be home. So nice to sit in my dad's living room and my grandma's backyard. I always miss Minnesota and it's people whenever I have to leave usually until the next time I get back. Someday I think I'd like to move back.

We went to the Mall of America, once we all landed and gathered our things at our cousin's house. We headed straight for the cheese store for the samples and ended up buying a bag of cheese curds, they're so good!

We spent a day at the Minnesota Zoo in the surprising heat! It was fun running under the misters to cool down, even though the baby thought it was the worst idea at the time. They have a new exhibit with the Grizzly Bear, little man loved watching him swim by the window. We saw a bird show and the dolphin show and by the time we all went home we were beat. But what a great day!

And camping of course was a blast! Except for the rain and the mosquitoes...but that's stuff that you have to deal with in Minnesota, and for the most part we didn't mind, just glad we only camped for 2 days instead of the whole week.

Minnesota we love you!

Relief - noun. re-lief, Alleviation, ease, or deliverance through the removal of pain, distress, oppression, etc.

Home sweet glorious home.

They say you can never go home again...this is when they are wrong. Minnesota makes me happy and it takes away my worries. Minnesota is my liquor I go to when I need to drown my sorrows. It might not make sense but it's the truth. I can't wait to be with family and see my parents and my sister and laugh and sit around the fire and take a tour of my old home town. I'll show Caleb my old house and my old yard and drive around the entire town in maybe ten minutes. It will be wonderful!

I wish it were snowing and cold. Atlanta is ridiculous and hot and a sauna. But, I'll take a Minnesota summer too. We will be camping for the weekend but pretty much sitting around and visiting the entire time. Tomorrow we fly in super early and then have coffee with the family and then off to Mall of America. Wednesday we go to the zoo then to grandma's then to dad's...yikes. Friday we camp until Sunday. Then to dad's again and then home...It hasn't even begun and I'm tired!

I'll try to post, but if I don't you know why...

Swap Meet - noun. A fair or bazaar where objects, usually secondhand, are bartered or sold.

So much for All-American...

Today Anheuser-Busch sold in a multi-billion dollar deal, 49.91 billion actually, to InBev, a Belgian company, to make the largest brewer in the world. Currently Miller holds that title, but not for long. At first I was really indifferent to the entire deal, but the more I thought about it the more it kinda rubbed on me. I don't like that an American Icon is no longer American...and I don't even like Budweiser. And then I remembered that my sister-in-law's sister has worked for them for quite some time. Say a prayer for Amy that she gets to keep her job. When talks first started there was argument about selling to a foreign company but InBev just upped their price from $65 a share to $70 and that's all the board needed to sign away.

America for sale!

Link

Obsession - noun. ob-ses-sion, The domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.

I'm sorry. I've been ignoring blogging, but not intentionally, I promise. I've been hog-tied and pistol whipped into my obsessions, my newest drugs....Lost, yes the tv show and this ridiculous, and embarrassing, game off of Myspace called Mafia Wars.

Lost, is really addicting. If you haven't seen it yet I'm sure you had the same feelings that I had about it; it's ridiculous, it's far-fetched, the commercials are almost comical. And, yes, it's pretty much all true...but I dare you to watch a couple episodes and tell me you don't want more. It's like that chip commercial from the 90's, 'bet you can eat just one...' Just give in, go to Blockbuster and start with season one. We rented all of them, up to season three, and then they stopped. We didn't know what to do with ourselves, having to look for things to talk about again. And now it's so bad I've resorted to watching season four on the internet, which let me tell you, is less than ideal. Which led me to my next obsession...


Myspace Moffia Wars, how desperate do you have to be? Apparently pretty. I'm addicted to this ridiculous game of gathering money and fighting other mobsters. I wish it were real life and I could make thousands in a day just robbing banks without consequence....hmmmmm. As you can see, I either need a job from home or another child because I've obviously got too much time on my hands.

Stupidity - noun. stu-pid-i-ty, The state, quality, or fact of being stupid.

You've got to be kidding.

A California woman accidentally shot herself and a friend the other day while trying to kill mice that she saw run across her trailer floor. Yes. One of the many reasons why Americans should need an IQ test before they travel, because you know that she is the kind of person going across the world asking people to 'speak American!'

The story:

POTTER VALLEY, Calif. — A Mendocino County woman who was trying to kill mice in her trailer with a gun ended up shooting herself and another person.

The 43-year-old woman pulled out her .44-caliber Magnum revolver after she saw the mice scurrying across the floor of her trailer on Highway 20 in Potter Valley, sheriff's officials said.

But she accidentally dropped the gun, which went off as it struck the floor. The bullet went through the woman's kneecap, bounced off the keys sitting on the belt loop of a 42-year-old man in the trailer and grazed the man's groin before ending up in his coin pocket.

Authorities did not release the shooting victims' names.

The mice escaped the shooting unharmed.

At least the mice are ok.


Link

Independence - noun. in-de-pend-ence, Freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others.

Happy late 4th of July! I love fireworks, actually I just love holidays in general. I'm not sure why, but you'll see around Christmas time, which I start celebrating right after Halloween, and you think I'm joking...

It was the babies first experience with fireworks so that was exciting. The only problem was that by the time they started he was so tired he just sat with his head against my chest and I held and ear and he quietly fell asleep during them! So cute though. He was awake for the first couple and pappa held him, when the first one went off he squeezed Caleb's arm super tight, but didn't cry, what a big boy!

Here are a couple shots of the sparkles.

There's Avery, my niece making an 'A' for her name with a sparkler. Whatever setting Caleb had the camera set at when he took the picture captured it perfectly...












And more sparkle fun!

Alien - noun. al-ien, Unlike one's own; strange; not belonging to one.

I read a crazy article in the news about a sound that's emitted in space from the sun's solar winds hitting the earth's magnetic field. It sounds kinda scary in a 'Contact' sort of way. From this we can hear other planets that have their own magnetic field and also, think about it, this sound can be heard by anything out there that might be listening...not that I think there is...but, you know, it's weird. Here are the links:

Article and video

Gluttony - noun. glut-ton-y, Excessive eating and drinking.

This morning I was watching the Food Network, one of the staple channels around our house, and the Food Challenge came on. Usually I don't watch it but I was playing with the baby and it was on in the background. 10 minutes into the show we were both glued to the tv with our mouths watering. The topic was macaroni and cheese and I'm still craving some of those cheesy dishes...so incredible. I mean, my grandma's mac'n cheese is famous, no joke, but these recipes called for the most cheese I've seen in one meal.

Check the Food Networks Mac'n Cheese challenge:

Here

Site is complete with recipes from the contestants. Yum!

Also, I tracked down a book on Amazon.com that a friend and I used one night, we made chipotle mac'n cheese and all I really remember is that it was awesome. Here's the link to the book on Amazon, some that are selling for as cheap as $2.45. A used book is just as good as a new one!

Here

Addict - noun. ad-dict, A person who is addicted to an activity, habit, or substance.

I can't stop playing this game. I spent a good hour during 'Baby Einstein' time this morning stressing out about the balance and these poor graphics. But oh, so addicting...Don't start playing unless you have the time.

It's simple enough, stack the boxes up to the line.

LINK