New year of adventures!

What's up?- Where to start...a lot of life goes by in 2 months! The only sucky thing that I can think of is that my camera broke. I still need to get it in to try to get it fixed. I've been trying to get used to my new camera phone - no luck there - so I went a bought a pocket camera that I'm still trying to figure out. Everything is chugging along so nicely, I'm just enjoying life as it comes. I've been busy lately getting ready for the holidays of course...and planning my winter vacations! Steve and I will be hitting the road on Christmas Eve to spent some time with Nolan, Jenny and our new grandson Caiden. The family is getting together at Sadie and Mike's for Christmas morning brunch. Pajama attire is encouraged at this event so, needless to say, it's pretty laid back. The rest of Christmas day will be spent in Princeton visiting my Mom and Dad. There will be a big crowd of us at the AmericInn...POOL PARTY! My goal for the week is to stay stress free and enjoy the company of all the people I love!
Activity- While out shopping, I bought myself a pair of snowshoes. I've used them a couple of time and enjoyed myself. With all the recent snow in Barnum, I'm looking forward to going out and enjoying a walk in the woods. It's really beautiful but there are a lot of animal tracks. Mostly deer but I've seen some others also, maybe wolves or cougar, both of which makes me a little nervous. I could start treking around with my gun but that seems a bit much even for me!
Laughter- Having "The Tanner Show" in my livingroom everyday is my kind of entertainment!
Kindness- Tis the season! I never pass a Salvation Army kettle without putting in a little something!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

ABC's to live by.

What's up?- Long time, no blog! Well, "What have I been up to?", you ask. Where to start? I finished up my 50th year celebration with a surprise party for the whole gang of 50ish friends - Hubby Steve, myself, and friends - Patty, Craig, Dan, Wayne. Many family and friends were there and it was so nice of the party planners to put it together for us! Steve and I have moved into his parents house for the winter. Steve's folks go to Arizona for the winter so we have until April to figure out where we will camp out next...will the new house be ready in time? I doubt it so I'm thinking we'll have one more summer at the lake and hopefully be move in ready next fall. In the meantime we continue to plug along with construction projects. The windows and doors are nearly in and the electrical and plumbing will be next on the list. One of the fun things I did since Iv'e last blogged was my roadtrip-in-a-jar. It was a blast and I'll post some pic's on it when I get some extra time - sorry for the delay. My camera battery went out and I haven't been "to town" yet to get it replaced.
Appreciation- hot showers, a flush toilet, TV- Thanks to the inlaws for letting us stay in their house while they're away. With our constructuion project right next door, we are hoping to make great strides this winter!
Laughs- TOOOOOO MANY to count! It's really been a fabulous last few weeks.
Kindness- Nola gave me one last gift for my birthday - I know you may be thinking... ENOUGH ALREADY ABOUT YOUR STUPID BIRTHDAY!!! She found the perfect gift and I love it! It's a marble looking plaque that contains these words words :
Abandon doubt Be adventurous Call Dance Eat cake Forgive easily Give joy Hope Initiate romance Just say yes Kiss discriminately Love passionately Make out more Not in public Open your heart Play Quench desire Reciprocate Save yourself Touch Upset convention Vary technique Wear very fine lingerie X-rate often Yearn Zip

if fun was illegal...I'd be in for life!

New York City! I can't even begin to say how much fun I had on my latest trip to NYC! First of all, I went with some of my very best friends- Nola, Brenda, Paula. Nola and Paula had to work from Sunday until Wednesday while Brenda and I spent the day seeing the sights and running into famous people at every corner. On Wednesday night I found out that the ladies had tons of fun planned for me for the remainder of the trip. They would just bring me places and surprise me with all sorts of fun things. Wednesday we went out for pizza and then to the show "Stomp". Loved it - they make all kinds of music with everyday object as they dance around stage - very cool! Met some interesting people from Australia that night. Had I only known I was going to get up at 4:30 AM for the Today Show, I may have gotten to bed before 1 AM! Thursday morning it was off to Rockafeller Plaza...and yes I'm wearing a crown and a sparkly tank top that says, " Queen of been there, drank that". Super classy but we were all in it together.Tina Fay was there too! She's super-duper little in person! We took a short nap before we left for our next adventure to Coney Island -but before we went out the door I was given a very nice purple bra as a gift... unusual to be sure but just roll with it I thought. In fact everyone put on new cute bras....Hmm...more on that later. Throughout our day at Coney, I was given things to do, such as Pole dance with the only palm tree non the beach, do a "happy" dance in the water ( best part is the men in Speedos in the background), talk to someone about their pet. I probably would have gotten more things crossed off my list if we hadn't stopped at "Jeremy's" bar in lower Manhattan. It's a cheap local beer joint who's claim to fame is....women leaving their bras on the ceiling....YEP! It all became clear in the instant it took me to walk in the door. It took several doses of liquid courage for us to finally get them up there, but we did. We had a blast dancing the night away to our favorite juke box tunes. If anyone new came into the bar I greeted them with a big "Thank-you for coming to my birthday party" hug! I think we succeeded in bringing a lot of life to the little hole in the wall! There are so many other adventures and laughs that we had during our days in New York I'm sure I'll post more as I get time to go through the 380 pictures I took! For now, I'm off for another weekend of fun - ROADTRIP-IN-A-JAR!

On the road again...

What's up? - I'm busy tying up some loose ends before I leave tomorrow morning. I'm heading to Sadie and Mike's first to drop off the woodsplitter so they can start stockpiling wood for winter. Then I'm going to do something I've NEVER done before - - get a manicure! There's never been a need when you are a nailbiter like me but I haven't bitten my nails for nearly 3 weeks now. My hands still look like farmer lady hands, with nicks and scrapes from working at the house but when I clean out the dirt from under my nails, they do look a little better. I'll be staying at Jenny and Nolan's on Saturday night. It's been a while since we've hung out and I can't wait to see them. They won't be there until the evening because they have a birthing class all day on Saturday--how exciting for them! I'm going to try to get some sleep on Saturday night because I'm getting picked up by two of my favorite ladies, Nola and Brenda ,at 4 a.m. Sunday for our trip to NEW YORK CITY!! YEAH!! We'll be in New York until next Friday so we'll have plenty of time for fun, fun, fun! A big shout out to Brenda for passing her physical therapy exams!
Appreciation - I'm so very thankful for all my lovely family and friends. Seeing them is what I like best in all the world!
Laughter - The other day I chatted with my sister-in-law, Kelli. She is so funny and always makes me laugh with her of the wall, almost always outrageous statements. I really love her.
Kindness - Carol and George - my inlaws - were over at the house helping me again. They never have to - they just want to! It made my job over there today go much faster and it is kind of them to help us out. Carol offered us their house to live in this winter while they're gone to Arizona. As October quickly approaches, it looks more and more likely that we'll need to take them up on their offer, at least until our house gets livable. (It will be great to have satellite TV when the Twins get to the Series!)

Goodbye rain...Hello sun...goodbye sun!

What's up? - The rain and clouds cleared out just in time for a spectacular sunset. It's so dramatic with all those dark clouds around. I wish all my love's were here to share it with me! The sun is now setting so far to the south that I can't get a good view unless I'm down at the lake. Earlier I went out to the house and took some new photos with the windows installed. We've had the windows since last year when we got a steal of a deal on them. Someone ordered the wrong size and then returned them to Lowe's. We ended up designing the south end of the house around the windows we had. This is the view as you drive up... ...and from the south... ... and from the backyard. There's still a big hole in the front where the door will go. I ordered that door yesterday along with a door for the back porch. All the posts are part of a wrap around porch that will get done eventually. Everything should be shut in by the end of the month. I found out the insulation is arriving tomorrow morning. We are trying a do-it-yourself spray foam product for the exterior walls. I hope it's as easy as the video shows on line.

Activity - I did some yoga today. I think yoga is tricky. It's so controlled compared to other exercising I've done (eg. Turbo Jam, which I also love). It's thoughtful and calming but and I still work up a sweat and I can feel it in my muscles as I sit here typing.

Laughter - I watched "Date Night" last night and I thought it was HILARIOUS! I was in tears from laughing so hard. It's a simple story and sometimes it was hard to see beyond Tina Fay and Steve Carell's television roles but I would definitely recommend it!

Kindness - Our friend Tom is in the hospital with a severe injury so some of his dentist friends are helping by working at his practice for him. That's so kind. Also I went to the Caringbridge website and read some of the kind words people have left in Tom's guestbook.

While clearing out photos from my camera...

...I came accross these pictures of Saniya. Her and I were hanging out at Jada's soccer game this spring and she was bore. She got down on the grass next to me and said,"Nana, I'll laugh and you take my picture," so that's what we did.

Labor Day Fun

The Neumann clan came to the cabin over Labor day. They spent some time out on Sturgeon Lake fishing and tubing. I think everyone caught plenty of fish - mostly small stuff - but the kids thought it was great. Savannah was determined to take her own fish off the hook.It's kind of a tradition at the cabin that the girls go for a nightime swim...sometimes skinny dip...so we got the sauna going on Saturday night. After getting nice and steamy warm in the sauna, we all make a mad dash down the dock and jump off the end into the lake. Hearing the clomping of all the feet on the dock followed by splashes and then usually screams or laughter(depending on how cold the lake is) has been a familiar, happy sound over the years. It was a beautiful starry night. Savannah provided the full moon. Jada was old enough this year to join in the fun. The first time down the dock, we all jumped in ahead of her and she chickened out and ran back into the sauna. The second time out, I made sure I was behind her so when she hesitated to jump, I was there to persuade her - yeah I threw her in! Man, did she scream but she was absolutly giddy with delight. On the third run she didn't break stride as she launched herself off the end of the dock and into the chilly water. Maybe next year we'll be able to talk Saniya into joining us! On Sunday, the weather was great for tubing... ...until they ran out of gas! Thanks Mr. Stranger for bringing my stranded sailors home.

I'm back

What's up - It's been a while since I last blogged, or been on line for that matter. I've just spent the last three hours cyber-stalking all my friends and family. I opened my chat box on facebook and touched base with everbody that would answer me so now I feel better. My absence from my computer all started on Labor day weekend when I went over to our new house project and discovered that aliens had replaced my usually managable husband with a big giant ----head! I left for a couple days out of town...luckily I didn't have my passport or I would have gone out for margaritas on a beach...in Mexico! After my return home and some discussions about more appropriate, more respectful ways of communicating - gotta love that-all is well on the homefront...at least until the next alien transplant! Everyone fights I guess and it's not fun and it's not pretty, and I really prefer when it's someone else, not me. Last year my Mom and Dad even got into it pretty good and they've been married 50 years. Cripes, I guess it just never stops. Anyway, two days turned into two weeks, and before I knew it the mail was piling up, the refridgerator was bare, I had missed hundreds of witty and not so witty status updates and it was just time to jump back into it - - life that is. There has been some good progress on the house. The roof is done, all the windows are in and most of the interior framing is done. We just ordered the insulation and it should arrive in a day or two. That will be quite a project. Finally, all of this seems insignificant in the light of some bad news I recieved today. A good friend suffered serious head injuries in an acident this weekend. It is still unknown what the outcome will be. Treasure each day!
Activity- I'm doing some yoga but I'd like to do more. Also, I'll soon be starting a 3 day/week workout program with my friend Patty.
Laughter - My biggest laugh came from my grandson Tanner. I went to visit Heidi last week and when I came in the house Tanner started giggling and when he giggles, it's infectious! When I picked him up he snuggled his head into my neck and giggled even harder. I'm sure that is the happiest anyone has ever been to see me in as long as I can remember. He just melts my heart.
Kindness - I'm afraid I've been self absorbed lately and have not paid attention to the kind deeds of others. Tommorrow is a new day to see beyond myself and do a good deed for someone else.

State Fair Time!

What's up?- What started as a simple plan to meet Heidi at the State Fair turned into two days of fun! I started out for the cities on Sunday night (Steve left for work out of town on Sunday too) because why not take the opportunity to visit my favorite daughter-in-law. I spent the night at Nolan and Jenny's house. They're in the middle of a kitchen facelift that looks fabulous so far! I had a hair appointment on Monday at noon, so spent the morning shopping...I really miss that now that I'm in the boonies...picked up a couple of new novels and a Yogafit book that my friend, and yoga instructor Nola, recommended. I've started reading it and am looking forward to getting hooked on yoga! Then on to my hair, which also turned into a pedicure, appointment. I really can't say enough about how awesome it was. My hair looks great and they made me feel totally pampered and special. I have another appointment set up for right before I leave for New York(more on that later) to get a another pedicure and dare I say it ...A MANICURE!! If there was a prize for the most devoted nailbiter alive, I would win it for sure. Well, I promised the manicure lady, Jane, that I wouldn't bite my nails or rip at my cuticles until my appointment scheduled 17 days from today. I'm not sure I can do it but sometimes it's easier to keep a promise to someone else than to yourself . Wierd huh, that I would feel worse about disappointing someone I just met than I would about disappointing myself. There's something screwd up about that and it's definitely something I'm going to work on. I picked up some cuticle oil and have dug out my previously unused Mary Kay Satin Hands from the back of my cupboard to help guarantee my success! Anyway, Monday afternoon I met Heidi and Tanner at our hotel in Roseville. Sadie and the girls joined us for a fun time at the pool. After a short night's sleep, we ended up getting to the fair Tuesday morning at about 6:45. It's awesome getting there early when things are just getting rolling. There were a few sprinkle at first but the sun came out soon enough. Tanner did his best to spread a little touch of kid cuteness wherever we went. I forgot how facinated people are with babies. Many people would talked to him to try to coax out that beautiful smile. We ate and drank our way around the fairgrounds (most interesting-Chicken Fried Bacon...most delicious- pork chop on-a-stick --yummy). I got a free book and spent some quality time in the Harlequin Romance booth - double yummy! and we ditched out about 1:00 PM when it started getting very hot and very crowded. On the way home, I had an eye appointment where I picked out some too, too cute glasses that I should have in my moisturized, not bitten and picked at, hands by next week sometime.

Activity - Doing some of the stretches and poses from the new yoga book and feeling inspired!

Laughter- I love seeing my grandkids and spending time with them. It always makes me happy and fills my heart with laughter!

Kindness - I always knew I had married a kind man but he still surprises me sometimes. Last weekend we were putting the pontoon in at the boat landing where we met a man who had lost his car keys. No big deal right, except he had lost them at the end of the dock while he was putting in his boat. He and his wife were up to their chests in the water, digging their feet into the mucky bottom while their two little kids looked on from the boat. When we got back to the cabin, Steve asked our neighbor, who in turn called a friend on the lake, who did indeed have a magnet that would help. Steve went and picked it and brought it to the stranded family and floated around on the pantoon while the guy continued searching. After about 15 minutes, the man raised both hands above his head to signal success! He retrieved his keys and Super Steve saved the day. Awe! Steve didn't have to take the time but he did. I'm proud of him.

Me again...

What's up?- I had a fun couple of days when my friend, Nola, and her beautiful daughter, Megan, came up north to get some senior photo's taken. It wasn't hard to get several good shots of Meg! Here are some of the one's I like. The three of us spent last night around the campfire while we watched movies on my computer. I think it may become my new favorite pass time!

Activity- Still...I got nothing. This is getting serious now! It's been so long since i've done any "real" exercise. I hearby pledge that before I blog tomorrow I, Candice Mae Cross, will do some form of exercise! There, a promise made is a promise kept!

Laughter- I had a few laughs while I had company this week and just in general I been having an overall peaceful feeling in my life...I really like it!

Kindness - It's sometimes tough to do kind actions when you don't see people everyday but everyday I do think of my family and friends and wonder about their lives and their ups and downs. I'm trying to always have kind and generous thoughts about them. Positive energy, positive attitude and all that!

Productive day

What's up?- I feel very accomplished today! I woke up with a mild case of the blues but I was determined not to waste the day away being lazy - like I did yesterday! I started by sorting through my gigantic pile of mail. It's an easy job so it's a good place to start when I don't feel like starting anything. Anyway, one thing led to another and before I knew it I had all my bills paid, my office organized, cleaned out the refridgerator and I was out the door. One of the things on my list was to get shelving and storage tubs for all the stuff I moved out of our Anoka house and piled into the basement at our new place. When I say piled...I mean PILED! I tried to take a shortcut to Menards in Duluth, trying to avoid some of the construction, but only managed to make it a VVEERRYY LLLOOOONNNGGG cut! There were a lot of cool, old houses along the way so it was okay. Now the shelves and tubs are in my truck waiting to be put to good use...maybe next week!
Activity - Don't want to talk about it!
Laughter - Nothing happened to make me laugh today...sad huh? I'm always a little disappointed when a day goes by without laughter so I decided to be proactive and make myself laugh by standing in front of the mirror and forcing myself to laugh while I made funny faces. I did manage to give myself a couple of genuine chuckles due to the general dorkiness of the whole thing!
Kindness - I talked to a nice, older gentleman at Menards about which shelving was better. He was also doing a shelving/storage project in his garage and offered some good advice. Then we helped each other load our 120# shelving kits onto our carts.

In case you were wondering...

... where Tanner gets his adorability from. . . Nana, of course!

Quick update

What's up? So much has happened in the last two weeks I'll just have to sum it up..trying to keep it short and sweet. I spent a few days at the North Shore with Cassie and her kids. It was a blast-and -a-half! I've already reserved some campsites at Temperance River State Park for next August. Went to Sadie and Mike's for a party.It was a hot weekend so everyone enjoyed the pool. Brought Jada and Niya to the cabin with me for four days. It was during the hot, hot weather so we spent hours swimming in the lake. When we weren't swimming we were either eating chicken strips and ice cream, watching movies, or reading fairytales...I loved it! I hosted Bunko last Thursday for 16 friends at Goose Lake Winery in Nowthen. They have winetasting and a great set-up for small gatherings. I'd love to make it there for a winemaking class sometime! I went to a summer party at Pam (Steve's sister)and Terry's but I knew I couldn't be at the party long on Saturday so we PRE-partied on Friday with Kim (Steve's sister)and Bob and some others...which in my opinion is always way more fun and hilarious than the official party. This past Saturday we went to a wedding reception at a refurbished barn...super cute...drank tequila and danced...awesome fun! The garter was caught by Dan - the most confirmed bachelor I know! Another long time bachelor, Doctor Tom, was also in the crowd but didn't really try too hard to get the garter...he's the one on the left stirring his drink. Steve danced to Wipe-out but he was the only one doing the dead cockroach , right next to the spilled drink puddle, which was TOOO funny! I spent the rest of the weekend cleaning up the construction sight at the new house. Things are moving along nicely and I'll get some new pics soon. I have a few days to try and get caught up on household stuff (bills, cleaning, groceries) until I leave midweek for the cities. I'm visiting Nolan and Jenny on Wednesday, helping my neice, Lindsey, move back to college on Thursday and Friday, babysitting Tanner on Friday night and then returning to the old homestead in Barnum on Saturday morning. Next week, I'll be helping my sister, Kristi , move to northern Minnesota. I think I've helped her every time she has moved (17? times) so I can't skip it - it's become a tradition! Well, that about wraps it up. It's been busy and it doesn't look to be slowing down any time soon.
Activity - Nothing structured - just a lot of living(swimming , hiking, cleaning, dancing, playing)
Laughter - Seriously, too much to even measure!!
Kindness - My overall impression of the last two weeks is that I've seen more kindness and goodness than meanness. Most of the family and friends I hang with are down-deep good shit! But before I can appreciate all the goodness in the world, and I know there is plenty, I need to have a little vent time about the crap that's out there. Unfortunately, and maybe because I've seen such a wide variety of people lately, there have been three times over the last couple weeks that I've seen the darker side of human nature - abuse - lies - cheating. Surprise, surprise...all men! Quite frankly - I know I'm sexist - men suck. As a species, I don't think very highly of them at all and I try to never expect much. However, I sometimes get caught up in my quest for brotherly love, giving the benefit of the doubt, blah, blah, f'ing blah, let my guard down and end up having to smack myself upside the head to knock off my rose-colored glasses! Thankfully it isn't Steve who has disillusioned me...this time anyway...but he is male so it's only a matter of time before he does something irritatingly full of testosterone! There...vented...moving on! Thank goodess...thank goodness...THANK GOOD-NESS for the women and children in my life, who offer unconditional love, hugs, kindness, thoughtfulness, gentleness, praise, compassion, acceptance, caring and laughter.

Beautitiful Yard

What's up? Carol made Steve and I an Anniversary dinner last night. Her homemade pies are delicious. Guest list: George and Carol of course, Steve and Me, Pam and Terry(Steve's sister and husband-they are also our neighbors from across the street), and Smitty. Poor Smitty was picked on endlessly. Grandma was busy singing cousin Allie's praises to Josh in hopes of getting Josh to marry her. I'm not sure Josh was falling for it. Today Nola and Wayne are coming to the lake to hang out. It's cloudy this morning so I hope the weather improves. This evening, Cassie and the kids are also coming in preparation of our north shore camping trip. We're all looking forward to camping along lake Superior for a few days this week.

Activity- I thought about getting out my bike...does that count? I don't know how people find the time to get formal exercise. It's not like I sit around on my butt all day...usually...but I know some good, sustained cardio would be awesome for me. I think I need to reset my priorities on this subject!

Laughter- There were many funny stories and jokes flying around the dinner table last night but here is the one that busted me up. Grandpa Cross was hauling some stuff on a trailer behind his wheeler...meanwhile Terry was pulling a mower behind his wheeler. They met each other on the road and Terry says to George, "Hey what happend to your trailer?' George had unknowingly lost the bulk of his trailer and was pulling around just the tongue. George looks at Terry and says, " Where's your mower?" It seems both dorks had lost everything they were towing except the trailer tongues! What a pair!

Kindness- I was over at Pam and Terry's the other day and I noticed how beautiful her yard is. She says it's her therapy and you can definitely tell it's her passion. Everywhere you look there are flowers blooming. I took some pitures on Friday while Pam was at work and assembled a scrapbook for her birthday. I hope she likes it. Here are some of my favorites.