Seriously, how adorable are these incredibly talented girls?

I saw these girls on Good Morning America this morning, they are so sweet and talented. I guess they have landed a recurring role on Nashville. Did you watch it last night? I was pleasantly surprised. It has gotten so much hype I was worried that it wasn't going to live up to it. I liked the music, I am excited to see where they take it. It reminded me of a little of Dallas, Melrose Place and Falcon Crest, all the drama!

Benched

My post with my Tablescape and brunch menu for the boys dad's birthday on Sunday will have to wait until tomorrow. Pity party for one going on. I am scheduled for surgery on my arm next Thursday and I have just been cuddled up in pain and have not gotten anything done that I needed too. Hopefully tomorrow I will have a better attitude. We even missed "Extraordinary Measures" last night. Rough day yesterday and I just did not feel up to leaving the comfort of home. Not looking forward to surgery, I will be down and out for two weeks :(

SO, tomorrow is a new day!

Advice and A Winner!

First things first, ElleBee, you are the winner of the fabulous JLM cookbook! If you would kindly email me with your address, I will get this off to you tomorrow!

We are back from the lake and had a great time, but this week has also been crazy. Nuts actually.

The lake was nice and relaxing, but we were pretty much constantly on the go. I did get some reading done which is what I love to do at the lake, and we did get a couple of nice walks in, which I also love. Both the boat parade
and the regular parade
around the lake were a ton of fun and we didn't have a ton of drama due to the fact that the boys brother and SIL did not come up until Monday afternoon, and we had left Monday morning to head over to where my sister and her family had rented a cabin for the week and spent some time with them, so we didn't even see them. The boys nephew and the SIL's son did come up on Thursday, but they are 13 and 15 and very easy to be around, and then his niece came up on Saturday and they all left on Sunday.

We cooked up some fabulous food. Beer can chicken that was delicious, (recipe next week)
pulled BBQ beef and polska kielbasa kebobs which were a huge hit. We also did hot hoagies on the grill which was a wonderful treat. Sunday evening, after the kids left, we decided to go out for a couple of cocktails, the four of us. We had heard about Carlsonna's ice cream drinks and thought we would try one out for dessert. When I asked about them, the bartender rattled off about 8 different varieties, but she said that one was enough for 4 people. We just could not imagine, but it was a good thing that we only ordered one, they were HUGE, next time I will get a picture, I am so mad I didn't. We went with the Brandy Alexander and it was wonderful!

We had a great time with my sister and her family, the kids are always a ton of fun and it is just fun to spoile them.
My aunt, cousin and his daughter also came up for the day, I had not seen them in over 4 years so it was good to catch up with them. We didn't get back until after 11 Tuesday night, barely got unpacked.

Wednesday evening we helped T move some furniture around in order to get ready for hardwood floors to be installed. She was nice enough to provide pizza and some beers. We didn't get home until about 9 and then I was able to finally get us unpacked, but no laundry.

Last night, we saw the Cirque de Soleil performance of Kooza

in St. Paul after dinner at Pazzaluna.
Dinner was wonderful and the show was amazing. That was my 9th Cirque show, and I think it is now tied for 1st with Love as far as performances go. Cirque de Soleil tent performances are such an experience and this was the first time and the boy had been to a tent show, we had an absolute blast and amazing seats.

Tonight we are having 15 friends for a BBQ and then we are off to see Foxxy Tann and the Wham Bam Thank You M'ams

burlesque show Red, White and B**b. Our small BBQ of 6 grew to 15 and I am not even sure how. I was going to do some fancy burgers and a couple of salads, but now, it is going to be brats and pre made burgers. With 15 people I am just hoping to be able to get home and get a nice table put together at home and get the food pulled together! I am sure it will be fun though.

So. Here is where the advice comes in. I love to entertain, in fact these just came in the mail yesterday and I just love them,
and I love going up to the lake, and having plans and such. I also need at least 7 hours of sleep a night, which I have not been getting lately because I am usually in the office by at least 7:15 and then leave around 5. I know I like to stay busy, but something is lacking and I am feeling a little out of sorts. I just simply don't have enough "me" time. I love to go for a walk around the lake by my house, or just even stroll down the streets in my neighborhood, there are some amazing gardens, I love to have a pedicure, especially in the summer, and while I have been able to give myself one at least once a week,
I don't think I have had a real pedicure in almost a year. I also love to play tennis, but have not played on a team or with a league in a year. My Wii fit has fallen by the wayside and I have not even opened the Active package.
While I have been wearing a pedometer, and syncing it with the Walking program for my DSi, I have really realized how little of activity I get in a day. I think I am actually more sedentary now that I am in an office on more of a regular basis than I was when I worked from home. At least at home I would get out of the house and take my walk, now I have to squeeze it in either before I leave my house at about 6:30 am or after work when I get home around 5ish, but that is on top of somehow making dinner as well as plans at least three nights a week. I don't take lunch very often at work, I usually get to somehow eat the lunch that I packed at my desk in betweeen meetings or conference calls, so a lunch walk would be out, at least at the moment. I know I could cut back on evening activities, but I do enjoy everything that we do as well. We actually have not even seen a movie in quite a few weeks. I know it sounds like I am complaining, and I don't mean to, I just cannot figure out how to successfully balance it all, and I don't even have kids or pets, at this point, I cannot even imagine.

Right before we left on vacation for the 4th, I was given a really nice promotion, bonus and raise. I know that this actually means more work and responsibility, so, I don't see an end in sight really when it comes to work. And I do really like what I am doing (although working from home more often may be the key actually, I just know that it is not going to happen for a couple of months), but I also know that my job can be demanding. I guess I am just starting to feel like I am not doing myself any favors but can't figure out how to make time for some things that are key that would make me happier. How do you do it?

Things I am NOT Digging!

*WARNING* Negative post below!

Yep that is me, Miss Sour Puss today!

Okay, so most of you know that I run a wine group. I have for over a year and a half now. I do it for fun, I don't get paid to do it, I am not a professional organizer, I am not an event planner and I actually have to PAY for it, to keep the website up and available to the rest of the members to RSVP through. Well, next week is restaurant week here in the Twin Cities. I have arranged 8 (actually I only did 7, a wine club member did one) reservations for 8 different restaurants. This means that 8 different emails get sent out from the site with the pertinent information along with the RSVP option. On top of that the day after I sent these out I sent out a rather lengthy email (which I have only done one other time) the next day explaining the ins and outs of restaurant week, the fact that I would not be hosting all of the dinners (how in the world was I supposed to be in all of those places, there is only one of me) but that other members would be helping out in hosting these dinners. It also had information regarding some other upcoming events and such.

Today I sent out four more updates with the menus to the dinners that still had availability along with an email for one more event. So in total there were a TON of emails from me this week. If I add them all up a total of 13, so yes, a lot of emails. But that does not give people the right to be down right rude to me does it? When you signed up to be a part of this group, you signed up for the emails, there is an option to opt out of these emails as well. So why not just opt out instead of abuse me over email? There was one person in particular who accused me of sending out 36 emails in one day and then accused me of being rude. So be it, whatever I say. I have adopted a zero tolerance policy for 2008 with this group. If you RSVP yes for an event and do not show up for the event I kick you out. Yes, I have the power to do that. If you contact me with a very reasonable situation of course I take that into consideration, but still. So far I only have had to kick one person out this year. That person also decided to berate me via email. UGH! How in the world am I supposed to plan events if 40 RSVP yes and then 18 show up?

Restaurant week happens once a year, I got a ton of emails from regular members who were so happy with all of the options and exclaimed how happy they were about the events. Why does it take one bad pea to spoil the pot?

Anyway, whew, that feels better.

So yesterday I was telling a friend about a problem I have been having with my cable DVR unit, asking her if she was having the same problem. Lets call my cable company Bombcast (right Suz?), in the past 15 months I have easily spent a total 15 hours on the phone with Customer Service (if that is what we are going to call it). They never cease to amaze me and each time I promise myself I am not going to let them get the best of me and I am just going to remain calm. Sometimes it works. Last night I am not sure if it did.

My cable box will all of a sudden freeze when we are watching something and then at that time it will just automatically shut off and reboot itself. This process takes about 8 minutes. Now we all know if you are watching something like Law & Order if you miss the first 8 minutes you can pretty much forget it. This happened last night at the beginning of Law & Order. Instead of calling them, I logged onto my handy dandy laptop and decided to resolve the issue via a Live chat session. I guess I really did not feel like wasting my breath last night and let my fingers do the talking.

After waiting in an online queue for 10 minutes I was finally connected to my session. The first thing they did was ask me for my account number which I had to go rooting around to find since I do not get a paper statement and just log into my account, which I was logged into to have this session. Where was I going to get that information? I found it, then I proceeded to tell the CS person the situation and how it would just reboot itself randomly and then would also lose all of my scheduled recordings (so for example last week it was Cashmere Mafia I missed and this week it was the finale of Dance Wars) and I would not even be aware of it. He then proceeded to tell me that my account was in soft closure status for being 57 days past due and that was probably why. WHAT?

Now this is where I was set off because on a regular basis they have messed up my bill, the last time was February 10th and I spent a good 45 minutes on the phone with them while they corrected it. So why all of a sudden am I 57 days late and why would that cause technical problems to my box, is that how they just mess with us? The fine CS person then proceeds to tell me that he sees my last payment for $167.37 was entered on 1/17/08. Now I wasn't a math major, but that does not seem to be 57 days ago does it? And another thing, that is A LOT of money to be paying for this fine CS experience I am getting.

Anyway as all of this is going on I decide I better get someone on the phone because this is obviously going nowhere fast. So I dial me up some CS, two is better than one right? As I am now waiting on hold on the phone, this fine CS person is making more of a mess of things by telling me that since my account is in soft closure status they can't send anyone out to take a look at my box (again, why is my account in soft closure status?). So he then proceeds to tell me that I need to go IN to an office to get this straightened out. So we have now logged 45 minutes in this session, I have spent 37 minutes on hold, we have not resolved ANYTHING, and you want me to waste my gas and more of my time to go in and talk to yet another lovely CS person? No.

Bombcast really has us between a rock and a hard place here because they are the only ones that provide high speed internet access (I don't want to go the DSL route) at the moment here. They are also the only ones that provide digital cable and digital voice. Yeah, I have the WHOLE package. I have not had a LAN line since 2000 but I signed up for one this past fall after I started racking up $400 cell phone bills working from home. It was a necessity and I thought this would be a good way to go, the whole "package" route. The problem is, because I have the "package" but added on bits and pieces here and there, my bill is constantly screwed up and I am not really even sure what the real amount is supposed to be!

So we concluded the call with the fact that he could not help me and that I would try to straighten this out over the phone today. I asked him to send me a transcript of this session via email for my records. He told me that he did not have the ability to do that but I could copy and paste it into a word document (totally missing the point that I wanted them to do it so that I had a paper trail at least). So now today, have I contacted Bombcast to look into this today. No. I have no patience today because of the whole wine group situation. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day for this.

One last thing. This is a family thing, so brace yourself, I usually do not vent too much of that here, I do love my sister very much. My sister and I are very different though. We do not even see situations the same way. She emailed me today asking about some tickets that I got for my niece, my sister and myself for a dinner and fashion show (for American Girl). I have mentioned this event to her about a half a dozen times. She kindly let me know that she had just committed herself to something until 7 that night and was hoping it wasn't going to be a problem. Well since the event starts at 5, maybe it will be. Lets keep in mind, this is not the first time this has happened. Last fall my sister mentioned to me that so and so was coming to town and that the kids would really like to go. So I got tickets, again these tickets were not inexpensive. So as I am talking to my sister the week before the show about it, she says oh, well the kids are out the latter part of that week so I was thinking I would take them up North (to see my Aunt) and we would not be back until Sunday (the concert being Saturday). I was silent. What do you want me to do? She asks if I can sell the tickets. Do you know how ticked I was? I did sell the tickets, but totally not the point. My sister also NEVER responds (at all) one way or another to any invitations I send to her. Then when I call her to ASK her if she is coming or not, she very nonchalantly says oh no, I am not coming. She never reciprocates ANY invitations and then wonders why I am not happy with her at the moment and now this. I am kind of at my wits end here. I want to have a relationship with my niece and my nephews. I gave up my life out East to be here closer to them to have a relationship not only with them, but with my sister who obviously does not see a need for one.

So sorry for my bad mood today, but when it rains it pours, maybe if it will get a little bit warmer here that will help!

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest!

I hope you are all having a good Wednesday!

Things I am NOT Digging!

Yes, believe it or not, time for a little venting. But this is serious stuff people!

The boys mother went to the doctor yesterday. She told us on Sunday that she would be doing this, she said that sometimes she gets short of breath and that her stomach was bothering her. Yesterday afternoon, while I was off-site (not at home) I got an email from the boy saying that they were wheeling his mother into surgery for an angioplasty and a stint. This may be a regular procedure, but we are so unfamiliar with this and it was scary to us. The boy was able to go and see her when she came out of recovery, but the doctor was gone already. He had to make sense of what was going on through his dad and sister and none of it made sense. Hopefully things will make more sense today and she will make a full recovery and be okay.

Technical teams. Our development team, one arm of my project team, throughout this entire project has kept telling us during status meetings how they were on time, everything is swell, yada, yada, yada. . . well guess what, now that it is crunch time and we are about to implement, things are NOT so swell and I am having to burn the candles at both ends. AND, I have a meeting to present our project to the CIO Monday. Hmmmmm, this is so not easy. I have not told the boy or anyone about this meeting. It is not a small meeting and I don't want to stress myself. It will all be good. Right?????

Okay, this one is huge. . .not happy about daylights savings, but NOT for the reason you may think. The boy has been busy painting my friends loft at night and such, so of course our shows are DVR'd, right? Or are they? I have not been watching them either so that I can watch them with him. WELL, let me just tell you that throughout the daylights savings thing, I LOST all of my scheduled recordings! SO, no Big Bang Theory, no Rules of Engagement, no How I Met Your Mother, no Two and a Half Men, NO DANCING WITH THE STARS! SO MAD! So we sat down last night to have dinner, IN FRONT OF THE TV (we NEVER do this), it was late for us, about 8:30, and I thought, good we can catch up on our shows. Well. No SHOWS!

RSVP's. I have vented about this before, but running this wine club is not the easiest thing in the world. Luckily I love to plan and so that is the enjoyment I get out of it because it does take a lot of planning and thinking and such. We now have over 300 people and I have been planning about 3 gatherings per month. But inevitably there are a few people every month who RSVP yes for something and then drop out at the last minute. Most events can only handle about 25 to 50 people, but if I tell a restaurant that we have 25 coming and then 5 drop out at the last minute, that is just rude. Rude to the restaurant who has planned for us, rude to the staff who is expecting 25 and rude to the rest of the group who is looking forward to meeting the 5 people that don't show up. Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. Some people don't even drop, they just don't show. There are exceptions who will email me personally and let me know, I can appreciate last minute things that come up, but come on people!

It is finally really cold here. It was 25 degrees this morning when I woke up. For some reason my body has to get adjusted to this. I am constantly cold for the first few weeks that it is this cold and I need to wear a ton of layers to keep warm. I am not sure why this is. Before I lived here and would just come home at Christmas to visit, my parents would crank the heat to 80 for me so that I would stay warm for the short time I was home. Well, now that I live on my own, I don't crank the heat to 80, but I do have space heaters all over. We still have not had a fire, not enough time. . . .but I am ready.

Whew, there, now I feel better, sorry, I don't like being a negative nelly, but I was frustrated and didn't sleep well because of all of this, I will sleep better now tonight.

Dinner tonight for the wine club at a new place I have never been. I am looking forward to it! Hope you are all well and staying warmer than I am!

Ovarian Cancer Why's and Maybe Some Answers

After my post yesterday there were a lot of why's. I certainly do not have all of the answers, no where near it, but I am involved with a couple of advocacy groups trying to help prevent this from happening to anyone else. Katie Couric did a report on this last Friday, she also blogged about it, you can find more information here.

As I hear of anything more, I will pass it along. The most important thing you can do is be aware of the symptoms which are

• Bloating
• Pelvic or abdominal pain
• Urgent or frequent urination
• Difficulty eating or feeling full very quickly

These may all seem like things that happen when we are about to have that time of the month, but we all know our bodies better than anyone else, and remember, if it is detected early, your chances of survival are so much better.

There is a test CA 125 that can be done, it is a blood test and is not 100% accurate and there are a ton of false/positives but at least ask for it if you think that you may be experiencing the symptoms. It is also hereditary. If you know of anyone in your family who has had Ovarian Cancer or passed away from it, one I am sorry, but two, you are at greater risk.

I lost a great friend and a wonderful woman a little over a year ago to Ovarian Cancer. She always made me feel so special and wonderful and I hope that I returned some of that. She was misdiagnosed for over 4 years and when she was finally diagnosed she was already stage IV. She went on to do great things for women, and for women with Ovarian Cancer over the next four years but she is greatly missed but lives on in my heart and my thoughts. This is a little about her, I could never give you more than a glimpse though, because she was that special of a person.

Lorraine "Raine" Snyder
Snyder, Lorraine "Raine" age 56, Eden Prairie, MN, passed away peacefully May 4, 2006, finally running out of time in her fight with ovarian cancer, which had been diagnosed in 2003. Survived by husband and soul mate, Robert ("Tripp") Snyder; son and the pride and joy of her life, Brody Felchle and special friend Heather Gaus, Chicago, IL; step-son, Sean (Karie) Snyder and grandchildren, Jasmine and Taran, Denver, CO; parents, Hilbert and Jordis Baumgarten, Durbin, North Dakota; sisters, Lynette (Gary) Nieuwsma, Bemidji, MN; Cheryl (Randall) Naze, Minot, ND; brother, Rolland (Tama) Baumgarten, Belfield, ND; six nieces and nephews including godson, Douglas Naze; former spouse, Brody's father Mitch (Dawn) Felchle; many beloved friends and many ovarian cancer survivor buddies; and special healing companion, Bailey. Born Lorraine Kay Baumgarten, July 24, 1949, in Fargo, ND. Raine taught us volumes about the will to live and she did so with grace, humor, faith, and dignity. The challenge of ovarian cancer was formidable and yet it never, ever defined her, muted her spirit or squelched her ability to move with generosity, commitment, wisdom or authenticity. Her unwavering goal was to bring the awareness of ovarian cancer "front and center" so that fellow travelers would not be in isolation, so that physicians acted with mindfulness and humanity in treating patients, and so that each and every woman might have access to the best medical care possible. She was a visible and valued participant in MOCA, an articulate spokesperson and a caring friend. Relations were the centerpiece of Raine's life. She treasured Tripp, Brody, Bailey and her ever broadening circle of family and friends. She leaves a very rich legacy of great love, values, dreams, memories and reminders to hold on to possibility. Sometimes, in illness, people turn inward, worlds become smaller and hopes shrink. Not so with Raine! That which ultimately took her body never took her LIFE or her SPIRIT! Raine loved the clients of her business, Human Resource Strategic Partners. She was an active member of Human Resource Professionals of MN and the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), which honored her with the "Wise Woman Award" just prior to her cancer diagnosis in 2003. Raine's life was enriched by her membership in the Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance (MOCA), serving on its Board of Directors, and by her sister survivors. She was proud to direct an education/awareness program through MOCA at the University of Minnesota Medical School and the Mayo Clinic; and to raise funds for research and earlier detection in the MOCA "Silent No More Walk/Run" "The women of teal are women of steel." Thank you to Dr. Matthew Boente and his dedicated staff of angels at MOHPA for their compassion, encour- agement, and the best medical care. Visitation at Washburn-McReavy Eden Prairie Chapel, 7625 Mitchell Road (1 blk No. of Hwy 5), Eden Prairie, from 4-7 PM Sunday, May 7. A celebration of her life will be held at 10:30 AM, Monday, May 8 at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, 13600 Technology Drive, (1 mile West of 494 along State Hwy 5), Eden Prairie, MN 55344. Memorials requested to the Raine Synder Fund for MOCA, in the care of Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance, 3751 Alabama Avenue South, St. Louis Park, MN 55416. (952-890-8775).

Things I am NOT Digging!

So normally I like to post about things I am digging. Today, not so much. I am bugged. But I know that it is not THAT bad, and that this too shall pass, I just need to get it out of my system.

Gas prices here are OUTRAGEOUS at the moment. I REALLY hope they do not plan on keeping this up all summer. I REALLY wish I had that Vespa I have been wanting. Or the vintage Schwinn I have been looking for.

Time. There never seems to be enough of it and there are so many things that I would RATHER do (like catch up on all of my favorite blogs) but instead I get stuck doing things I HAVE to do.

The weather has been very up and down here temperature wise. Monday, 91, today I think we are lucky if we saw 60. I am just keeping my fingers crossed for beautiful weather Memorial Day weekend, we will be up at the lake for four full days, and are even toying with five, I cannot wait, I think that is what is keeping me sane at the moment.

I know I have mentioned this in the past, but people, what is wrong with people not getting how an RSVP works? I set up the dinner for tonight over a month ago, and TODAY people change their RSVP. I have to make reservations, the restaurant has to account for a bigger group and there are a lot of people that wanted to come but could not because the event is full. UGH! I guess this is just part of what goes with the job, is it a job. That is a good question. . . .

I hope everyone is having a good Wednesday. I know that mine is about to get better!