The end to a productive day off.

I really relished my day off today. I didn't have one appointment, phone call, or errand to run. I know what you all are thinking.... she didn't do anything except lie on the couch all day. I only watched one hour of television and that was when Brian was taking a nap on my lap :)

Here is what I accomplished:

1. Made an apple pie. I also LOVE to bake the leftover crust with cinnamon and sugar. It is almost better than the pie!










2. I did 5 loads of laundry. I still wonder how we accumulate so much laundry.

3. I cleaned the fridge and restocked it (i.e. went grocery shopping).


4. I filed 4 months of paperwork. I really need to do that right away and not let it pile up :)

5. I read a bit and knitted a bit.

6. I hung up our 4 Halloween decorations.
Now off to finish my day by............

folding clothes!

Bodily fluids and food... really?

I have to tell you about a pretty bone-headed thing a nurse did today. I was working in the blood bank and typically when a patient has special needs for their blood products, we have a nurse come down and get it as it is hard to replace if it gets lost in our pneumatic tube system.

So..... a nurse walks in to the blood bank with her soup, crackers, and fountain pop and says, "I'm here to pick up some blood."

My eyebrows raise as I look at her food. She sheepishly tries to hide it with her other hand.. which is holding her pop. I proceed to tell her, " You are absolutely not picking up blood with food". She then proceeds to question me and says "Really?"

Imagine the scene: I am standing there in scrubs, closed toed shoes, lab coat and gloves and she brings in soup, crackers and pop. Really? She is asking for Hepatitis!

Vocab lesson

On Saturday night a group of girls and I went to watch the Minnesota Roller Girls in St. Paul. I learned a whole new vocab lesson and rules to what appears to be a really fun sport. Too bad I can't skate.

The object of the roller derby is to outscore your opponent. You do this by having one of the team members, called a Jammer, pass the others team skaters.

1st new vocab word:
Jammer:Designated by a star on her helmet, she speed skates through the pack gaining points by passing skaters from the other team.

2nd vocab word:

Pack: all skaters from both teams have to skate together (minus the jammer) in a tight group that follows a pace put forth by a pivot. This pack is where the action happens. The pushing, shoving, and illegal tripping happens here.

3rd vocab word:

Pivot: one skater from each team that sets the pace for the pack. They also block the other teams jammer.

Here is a video of one of the jams: sorry about the bad filming.

On top of the new vocab words, all of the skaters pick unique names.....

Here are a few:

Suzie Smashbox

Venus Thightrap

Tiki Torture

Psycho Novia

Killaman Jaro

Sinaminn

What would be your rollergirl name?

There was also a charity booth that would give you a black eye for $1. Here is mine.

Cold and rainy weather brings.....

1. A sump pump that is working overtime. I'm just glad that it is working and we don't have water in our basement.

2. A furnace scare..... last night it was only 63 degrees in our house. We had to reset the furnace's "brain" by turning it off and on again.

3. Heidi the pin cushion: Every fall brings the flu shot and mantoux screen for TB.

4. A knitting revival: I have started knitting again due to the comforting warm feel of the yarn when it is cold outside.

5. Chili- nothing better than a bowl of chili to warm your insides.

6. Apple desserts: crisp, bars, and pies...yummy!

7. The end of sand volleyball.... pedicure here I come.

8. The half way point in Brian's coaching season, which means he will actually be home in the evenings fairly soon.

There is supposed to be some sun tomorrow! Get outside and replenish your Vitamin D levels :)

An activity filled weekend

Last weekend was jam packed full of exciting activities. It was my 3 day weekend that I get every 6 weeks so Friday I got some cleaning done and got ready for the rest of the weekend festivities.

Saturday: I played in a coed 6's volleyball tournament and Brian coached a JV volleyball tournament. Brian's team played pretty well and took 10th place out of 16 teams. He said they played much better than they had been playing.

I played with a team that I had never played before. I knew one guy and one girl. It was interesting to play next to people in which I had to learn and adjust to their playing style. We ended up winning the tournament so I made some money that day! Here is a picture of our team. Notice how short I am? The guy on the right side is one of the best players that I have ever played with. He hit a ball so hard (without jumping) that he knocked the wind out of a guy on the other side of the court. It was a really fun day.



Sunday: Brian met me and 2 of our friends down in Carver to run my first 5K ever. I'm pretty sure that I have never run 3.1 miles before, so I was very nervous. When I got there it felt like a little club that I didn't belong to.

I had 2 goals for myself for this race:

1. Finish in less than 40 minutes. ( I know this is a long time, but after 6 matches of volleyball the day before, I was pretty tired!)
2. Not to walk for any extended period of time.

Well, I completed both goals. I finished in 32:20, just about 10 minute miles and I only walked 4 steps as I was grabbing and drinking some water at the water station. I am very proud of myself for completing both of my goals and am looking to sign up for the next 5K.

I also have to say that I was not sore in the least from all the activity over the weekend. I did go home and take a nap on Sunday after the race! Brian on the other hand was a bit sore for 4 days after the race. He is a runner at heart, but he did not train for the race at all. I guess that didn't really stop him though as he finished in 23 minutes and got a medal for being 2nd in his age group.

You should all know that I can still beat him at swimming and thumb wrestling!

No, Brian did not run in his sandals.............

August update

I've really been bad at blogging in regular intervals..... maybe I should sit in a corner. Nah, then I really wouldn't get this post completed. I will just give you a brief update on the last month of our lives.

Volleyball:

All three of our sand leagues that we played all summer have come to an end. Monday nights Brian (Mens 4's) finished 4th and I didn't finish very well at all in my womens 4's. In our Tuesday night 4's league, we finished in first place and will get a T-shirt and bragging rights. Wednesday (Coed 6's) we finished first in the regular season and 2nd in the year end tournament. The first night of playoffs was the extremely rainy day. There were puddles in the court. I was absolutely drenched after diving into one of them!

Brian has started coaching JV volleyball now. I really enjoyed hearing his alarm sounding right after mine. Sweet justice!

I have started my sand league on Thursday nights. That league goes until the first week of October. Monday night indoors starts on September 21st.

Work:
Brian is getting ready for school to start. He has had his freshman picnic in which all of the freshmen were introduced to the school and faculty.

No new updates for my work.... same stuff.

Leisure:

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

2's tournament

Brian had an eventful day today. He played in his first 2's volleyball tournament. His day consisted of 11 hours at the courts and 12 matches. For pool play they were 3-5 on the day, which was good enough to go onto playoffs. They played well and actually took the

CHAMPIONSHIP game (lower brackett).

Here are the boys in all of their glory. I told Brian he could keep playing as long as he kept bringing money in!