My Be-lated Valentine's Gift

I found out this morning that I do have a V-day gift, but it just didn't work out for Zach to have it in time. He was going to have the matching love seat for me. So we are going to get it ordered sometime soon. I really hope we can go in this Sunday and get the last of the President's Day Sale. I just hope that they have the matching piece since I got the couch last May. I can't wait. Practically a full set!! I love you, honey!!

Afton Alps Part Duex

This last weekend started at 3:45 am after 3 hours of sleep as the previous evening was consumed with going with the Youth Group to a Starz hockey game and returning home at 11 pm. I packed our lunches as Zach ironed wax onto his skis. That stuff smells and makes smoke like incense...cross your legs and start "mmmmming". We got to bed around midnight. I was so very close to just staying up for the next 3 hours, but was vetoed by a sleepy husband. Good thing that we weren't going to be driving. I prepped the espresso machine to compel me to wake up sooner and started sawing "Z"s, well Zach does the sawing.

The morning came way too soon and I had to be dragged out of bed. I successfully whipped up a caramel macchiato (very comparative to Starbucks and since places such as aforementioned aren't open before 4:30 in the morn.) with my eyes mostly shut as Zach loaded the truck. I grabbed the predished and warmed oatmeal and we headed out the door. It is so hard to look forward to something that is supposed to be fun like skiing when you have to suffer such an early morning knowing that going back to bed is so very far at the end of the day.

We got to the church, seemingly very quickly since I think I slept on the way up, and met with our fellow skiiers from our young married's class. There were a couple way too chipper for the time of night (I do mean night). Zach and I climbed into the very back of our new yellow church van and ate our oatmeal. I didn't last long after that and I was out. The trip on the way up was a bit sketchy for me, but for the fact that we learned that the back seat in the yellow beeping van is the worse place to try to sleep..or eat...or really do anything at all. This is due to the fact that you are continually and radically bounced off your seat at various time according to any little crack that might be in the road. It was miserable trying to sleep. Thankfully, on the way back we were able to trade with the Hartwig brothers who were single on this trip. They tried an illegal trade back 1 minute after we started back home. No way, Jose, boyzos!

We got the Alps and latched on our ski boots and stepped into our skis. While those who were renting equipment were aquiring their gear, Zach took me down the bunny hill a couple times to get the feeling back from two weeks ago and since this is my second time ever skiing. The snow felt so very different this time since it was icier. It was so very much slicker and I fell in the middle of a blue run. Embarrassing!!! I was so very much more hesitant this time. I actually didn't even go down any diamonds, though I should have tried one. (Are you more relieved Mom?)

The three of us couples skiied together for the morning, while the two "single" Hartwig brothers took off on their own to conquer the hills on ski and snowboard. It was fun as we took all blue runs and then rode up lifts with each of our honeys. I was trying the entire time to get the swishing turning part of skiing down which is the whole control factor of skiing. You gotta do some leaning and some major hip swinging.

After lunch, us girls stayed in the chalet for a little longer and watched the guys ski on the diamonds right in front of the big window as we requested. I think it did the guys a lot of ego good when we requested to see them show us their skills on the slopes. After a while, we decided to go back out. The three of us took our time and hit only the blue runs and had a ton of fun. The only injury that I did get, Mom, is a bruise the size of Dallas (for you, Jenna) on my hip. Okay, so that is pretty big, but the way it was acquired was pathetic. You see there was this lift that carries three persons. We were excited since we had been so far taking turns on who would ride alone on that turn. We got to the top and Tara, on my right, skiied off around to the left and fell, then Christine and I kinda scooted off and then fell right over on the left too. I was on Christine and my hip landed hard on her ski and boot. Well, we were laughing so hard while we were trying to get up that it took a little bit. It was a shorter time that it couldv'e taken though, but we still got an annoyed icy stare from the kid in the lift control box.

After a couple of hours, we were pooped and we got out of Afton Alps at about 5 pm. Home was another 4 hours away and then we stopped for dinner. This guy at Chilis was the most chatty waiter ever. Tip tactics I assume, but still I expected him to ask to swap best friend bracelets or something. He did provide good service though.

Because of the switch and after a couple of Yahtzee games with Zach on his compy, I blissfully conked out most of the rest of the ride home. Home was so very sweet to come home to and my bed so much more sweet. That was my second ever and and last for this year of skiing. I did my best, sweetheart, and I got my hips to turn and I got some good swishes. I did really have fun too! Till next year!!

Bio-Hazard Recall at FBBC

My co-worker, Maria, and I have had many a fun time with random free stuff given to the school and have come up with creatice uses. I refrain from further details for reason of job security. Most recently my boss ordered some trash bags that were very cheap from a school/education discount website that we are members of. Well, they arrived we opened and with delight discovered that they were red! I love colored trash bags! Pretty pathetic, I admit, that I would get so excited over the color of plastic trash bags, but hey, when you're in my line of work after a while strange things cause happiness...maybe it has to do with the chemicals we use.

Anyhow, when I went to use one a couple of days later, I discovered that when fully opened they were actually bio-hazard bags. Very cool! Maria and I immediately designated them for the men's bathrooms. You have NO idea how bad those bathrooms can get! We even took boxes of them to the guys' dorm.

Well, my boss got a phonecall this morning from Ankeny Sanitation informing us that we need to discontinue the use of those bags. Ahh, man!! Apparently, at first they were alarming to the trash peoples, and then they came to realize that it was all "safe" and normal trash inside. I guess it is a no-no unless you have good reason. So we have to retrieve all the bags that we dispersed and the ones in storage. The fun was great while it lasted!

My Problem With Speed

Okay, for those of you with twisted minds, I am not speaking of the drug. I am referring to my first time skiing. Zach and I went up with the youth group to Afton Resort in MN this last weekend. We had about 21 people - 8 sponsors and 13 kids. All but 2 kids skiied. No one died either or is currently wearing a cast or renting a bed in the local hospice.

Now Zach is a huge lover of the snow and skiing. He went all out and bringing out his skis and making sure the outfit didn't clash. I usually never have to redo an outfit for him (though I did ask that he never go back to the sweater vests stored in the closet from college). He has pretty good average taste. Well, I didn't expect such detail on his skiing outfit though. He did look professional and pretty dudish coming down the hills. I have my own personal hot ski instructer. Bonus!

We found waterproof swishy pants for me, ski gloves, and some cheap sunglasses. No goggles for us. Thankfully, my green, white, black coat is easy to match...ya just look for black stuff. We borrowed some very nice skis from Zach's boss and his wife and after a few set up and step out lessons in the apartment, I was as ready as I could be before hitting the bunny hill.

Actually the lessons started as soon as I stepped out of the van in the ski boots. You cannot walk like a normal biped in those things. I felt like a clone storm trooper with slightly bent knees. The worse thing was walking down stairs. I prayed before each step that I wouldn't land on my face. I made it through every step that day thankfully.

Next was the bunny hill. I wasn't sure what to expect since just getting across the flatter terrain was so much work even with ski poles. My armpits and sides are still sore. Since Zach and I had brought skis, we were able to have about 15 minutes to get me to get a feel for this great sport. After all I was a sponsor and needed to help out with the teens. Ha!

The ride up the hill in the ski lifts were all quite pleasant and scenic. It also allowed for some moments of recomposure after times of a hard landing or time for convincing myself that the only way down the next run was by skis. I never did chicken out at the top, but was oh, so close on the last black run. You will see all reason for this proved to be true when I later relate.

I made it down the bunny hill a couple of times with really no problem at all. My greatest fear all day was running into somebody. I did run into two people all day...Zach took all my weight on the bunny hill and then later James (another sponsor) as I tried to slow down in the lift line. So I knew both of them. After the bunny hill, my honey apparently had enough confidence in me to take me to another hill. A blue one! The blue ones were intermediate!!! Well, I decided that if I died, heaven would be warmer and I could watch everyone else learn from an awesome view...and seriously, if little kids no more than 3 feet tall could do it then I could.

So down we went. I beat him since apparently my biggest problem is slowing myself down. No speed control. I almost always beat everyone down. That made stopping though questionable and at most very memorable. I was told that the couple of big ones looked pretty cool!! I made myself get back up and go again though everytime.

After that first great landing, I drug myself into near exhaustion with my ski poles back over to where the teens were slowly arriving from being fitted. Time to be sponsor. So I went down the bunny hill a few more times, this time trying out my turning. My teacher couldn't teach any longer, so I was on my own. I was beginning to gain more confidence thanks to no falls and a growing excitement for the thrills of speeding down a snowy hill and icy corners, so Stef (one of the older teens who had been skiing for a few years) and I took off to ski wherever we could handle.

We hit half of the blue trails (one was a black and we didn't realize it), got a little lost, and then came back for lunch. After lunch and seeing that half of the sponsors were happy being on the bunny hills with some of the other teens, we took off with the three most experienced ski sponsors. We started at one side of the resort and just started hitting every trail, then lift, then the next run, slowly moving to the other end where the hardest black runs were. Stef and I ran most of them with the guys, but for one. I only had one hard landing too.

We got to the hardest black runs. It didn't look too bad from the bottom, but my heart was unwillingly beginning to pound much too fast for real excitement. By this time, a newbie skiier of the age of 12 with no fear and full of ignorance had joined us and I would not let him outdo me. We loaded onto the lift, as we rode up the hill began to look a lot steeper and there were two hidden hills. You should really be able to see those from the bottom before you sign your death warrent and scale up to the top.

I got to the top and was being egged on nicely that it would be fine and it would be a short trip the speed I went. I think I began a cold sweat when I could see nothing, but a drop-off less than 25 yards away. Everyone else was more than ready and somebody shouted "last to the bottom is a rotten egg!". I knew in my pulsing heart that I would be the freshest egg out there. Sure enough, speed took over, I did all I could to keep my balance till the bottom. Everything was going fine as I plowed wind and swished by everyone else. Then all of a sudden the second hidden hill was there. It jetted me up as well as out and the back of my skiis caught part of the hill. I couldn't keep the landing (no one told me about speed+hidden hill=unwanted and unexpected air). I plummeted down the hill on my back as snow packed up under my coat, then asmy elbow barely missed contact with a snowboard, I was flipped and spun to my stomach with my skiis still attached. I plowed snow for a little and then finally came to a stop.

I got up as soon as I could since I wasn't hurt. I don't like people clammoring over me like that. I sat up shaking a little and tried to figure where I had stopped and how I was going to get up. The medic guy came over and was checking on me finally commenting that I shouldn't be crashing like that on hills such as this. In other words, I heard if you can't handle it, don't do it since we don't like to pick the limp and contorted bodies off these slopes. My hubby and one of the teens came over. KD was going on about how I just disappeared over the hill and then was a blustering ball of powder snow, arms, legs, and skiis. "It looked terrible!!!" Great! Everyone had a show at least. I wasn't hurt at all though. My honey knows that I hate to make a scene when other people are hurt everyday worse than I could be and kept on asking me if I was ok such. I finally was able to reassure him that I was fine, but that I need to just sit for a while. My stomach was still doing the previous somersaults and my head was a aching. I also needed to unload the snow in my coat and pants in a more appropriate place. I declined KD's request to go back up with her and try again and wished them on their way to more fun in their experienced skills.

On my way back, I did run down the bunny hill a couple of times, so that the last thing my body felt and remembered was better than the previous. Then I joined my couple of non-skiing friends for the last couple of hours drinking a hot cuppa joe and watched my ski dude take the Afton hills like he hadn't really missed the few years since he had taken the slopes in MT.

We get to go once again with our young married's class in a week and a half. I am very excited and I plan on getting the turning down and the speed under control and yes...I will go down that black diamond again and make it!! I'll save it till last though, so I can enjoy most of the day in fully stable physical state...I hope!

BYOD Night a.k.a. Superbowl Night

Our young married's class had a superbowl party last night only 5 minutes away at the Trahms. I love the get-togethers in Ankeny!! We all brought differents dips with which to make a meal out of. It was quite a lovely sight when they were all on the counter. Here are some of the wonderful tasties that were presented with "oohhs", "yummms", and "I need that recipe".
-- Spinach and Artichoke dip
-- Buffalo Chix Dip
-- BLT dip
-- Mexican corn and cheese
-- Bean dip (with guacamole :) )
-- Jalepeno and Cheddar cold dip
-- Spinach Ranch cold dip
-- Chix Cord En Bleu Hot dip
Then there were the fun sweet snacky mixes and some Nestle homemade chocolate chip cookies.
Earlier in the day it took a little bit of discussion to figure out who was bringing what favorites so that we didn't double up on anything. Once settled, I decided to step out of the box and experiment. I took the Buffalo Hot Dip and turned it into a Chix Cord En Bleu dip. It was a hit, so I may bring it out again some time. A tip for ya'll though, when they say bake at 350 for 20 min. uncovered, remember to uncover it or you will spend 45 or more minutes waiting whilst all people get happily full on what dips were done on time. Then you will end up with a lot of it to take home, which isn't good when you are trying to keep the sneaky little inches off.
Once the girls were done laying out stuff and snacking and chatting, we dished our plates ready to go down to sit with the guys and start the Teevo recorded game. As we started filing out, we had to move back and inside as the guys came back up for seconds...full seconds.
Downstairs, the girls got the couch, the guys the folding chairs (how considerate), and then the game started. This is where my interest in the evening left...poof! Now had I decided that I was going to cheer for the Patriots for three reasons. Here are my reasons: I really, really dislike almost everything from NY, how cool would it be to have the first 19-0 season every, and I like a little competition in the home. It makes life interesting! Well, right after the toss, I no longer cared and I instead looked forward to all the commercials. Almost all of them, by the way, were clean and hilarious. I loved the squirrel in the road one and then the Dorito mouse one (which I do remember from last year). The talking baby who spits up was weird, but then when he comes back and decides that the clown he hired was way creepy was really good. I hate clowns!
So I got to talk to my friend, Tiff, for the longest that I have for weeks till she left at 10 pm. Lucky duck! Then from then on I was watching the clock, the commercials, and the TV screen go in and out of focus as my eyes were fighting sleep. I will admit that for what I could understand, it was a good and close game. It got really loud at the end too! I was so beat by 12:30 am when we got home, but I am very glad that I got to talk to Tiff, see some pretty sweet commercials, and that my hubby could watch the game with people who really do know what is going on and have loyalties to the NFL. Go Giants!! I really need caffeine!!!!

Putting A Husband on a Diet

Zach is slowly getting better from his bout of mono. This is week four and we are both so ever ready for this to be over. His main symptoms are gone, but the extreme fatigue and a little swelling of the spleen remain. He is back at work, but having to take it very light. Our average new bedtime is about 8pm and we wake up a 6:30am.

Well, I hate having to stand by and not be able to do anything to make him better and this bothered me for sometime, but then I got the idea. I made up a get-better plan. This entails a very healthy lifestyle for the next 2 weeks so to boost his immune system and give him every advantage of a quicker recovery. Prayer does the best wonder and he could still use a ton!

So I wrote it up at lunch yesterday divided into diet, physical activities (pretty much rest and to bed early with a lot of no-nos), and social activities (again besides a couple of youth group and a Sunday School get-together, none will be added). Then he looked it over last night for ammendments and/or approval. He made several faces while reading it and then he was pretty quiet for a little while. Finally, a little later after a dinner of spinach beef hamburgers topped with mozzarella (getting the dk leafy veggie in), he told me that he would follow my plan the best he could. So maybe I might even lost a couple pounds in the couple weeks. Also I am going to get him immunity boosting vitamins. Too bad they don't make adults doses in fun shapes and all. I love the gummy Cars ones! I remember the Flinstones as well. We loved those things! I think there were even times when we sneaked in to get more or when we passed them out to our younger siblings, that we pulled the one-for-you-two-for-me trick.

By the way, he said that the hamburger was actually pretty good. Yay! Little step, by little step.

Bammm!!!! What was that?!

I was sitting with my jr. high girls on the couch on Sunday afternoon watching "Emma" while waiting for the pizza to get done. Zach had left to go hang out with a guy friend not to be outdone and outnumbered by four girls. While Emma was introducing Mr. Elton to the shy Harriet, we all jumped as an explosion sounded from the kitchen. I sat there for a few seconds trying to guess what on earth that could've been. I cautiously entered the kitchen, after a couple seconds of quick deductive thinking, I zeroed in on the oven. I carefully open it hoping in case there were going to be any more explosions resulting in pizza sauce all over my face at the least.

At once I saw the problem and I let out a disappointed moan. My new pampered chef round stone had exploded and split into six pieces!! The pizza seemed uneffected, so we quickly salvaged it with helped of a airbake metal pan. I grabbed some handy tongs and removed the pieces while trying not to burn myself or destroy the other pizza.

Well, the pizza was good, the pieces are still sitting on my stove, we hit the Bath and Body Work sale with fun stuff to bring home, and Zach eventually bravely came back. I will call my Pampered Chef lady and I hope to get a new one since it was a wedding gift. It really was rather exciting though! Oh, and Zach will now be happy, that I enjoyed the Freschetta pizza a lot more than the DiGiorno.