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!

Off to the races

Brian, Stacy and I experienced our first day at the horse races last Sunday. It was one of our J.U.Gs outings (with husbands). We met the others at Canterbury at 1:30pm and from there it was all fun and betting! Luckily you don't have to be a big spender to participate!

We mainly bet the easy way... pick a horse to win, to place (1st or 2nd), or to show (1st,2nd,3rd). After a while Brian did get more adventurous and bet an Exacta, which is choosing the 1st and 2nd place horses in that exact order. He did pick the 2 horses, but got them in the wrong order- no win there!

Here is Brian placing his first bet of the day and two of our winning tickets!

It was also amazing some of the maintenance and traditions that were upheld during the races. The had tractors come out after every race and drag the field. they also sprayed it down after every run as well. I guess so that the patrons did not get dusty! Before every race they had the guy with the horn come out and musically announce the horses in the typical port to call. They also had a winners circle where the winner's family could come and have their picture taken with the horse and jockey.



They ended the day with something for the kids. They got to run out on the field and race just like the horses did. They took all that were under 8 in one heat and the over 8 in another heat. It was funny to watch or more to listen to as one of the local radio voices from K-fan announced all day and kept going through the kiddie races!

All in all: Betting $36, Eating $9, Winning $28, A day of fun Priceless!

Funny husband

This is my weekend to work overnights and Saturday morning I got home from work and went right to bed. Brian was off to a volleyball tournament (which they won) right after I had gotten home from work. When I woke up the next evening and went to get the mail, I noticed that the garage door had been left open. Here is the conversation that followed.

Me: Honey, you must have forgotten to shut the garage door when you left this morning.

Brian: Really?

Me: Someone could have stolen me.

Brian: They would have brought you back.

Glasses.... Be gone

In about 15 minutes I am traveling to an eye clinic, where I hope to get rid of my glasses and contacts for good. Well, at least until I am in my mid-40's when I will need reading glasses. I am having LASIK performed. Wish me luck, I am certainly nervous and I will surely be taking advantage of the sedative that they offer!

My first card making class

I recently went to a card making class. It was really fun! The good thing about this class was that it removed the most difficult part of card making- the creativity. I went to the location and she had 6 card stations set up with a display. She had all of the stamps and ink right there. Here is the collection of cards that we made.
The women there were really fun and I actually had met two of them on the bus when I used to ride to school. Small world.

Here is a close up of my favorite card that we made.

Blood alcohol -vs- the breathalyzer

Last weekend, I was made aware of a court ruling that could have me visiting the courtroom a lot more in the upcoming months. It turns out that the breathalyzer is under fire due to the company that manufactures them. They apparently won't release the breathalyzer's computer software that the courts are requiring in certain cases. Here is a link to the Star Tribune article. To combat the potential of dismissed cases, local precincts are now opting to do urine or blood alcohol tests instead. Hmmm, I wonder who does the blood alcohols? Yep, you guessed it, lab personel. This past weekend, I worked my overnights and I drew 3 legal alcohol levels. My coworkers each drew 3 as well. That is 9 total. I don't mind doing them as I know I am helping the cases, but it takes officers off the street for an extended amount of time versus the breathalyzer and me away from the lab work I am doing for 20 minutes. The actual blood draw only lasts about 5 minutes but the paperwork for chain of custody takes an additional 15 minutes. More importantly what I don't want is another piece of mail like I got last week.

This is my subpoena, I am to appear in court for this case. There is still the chance that it will settle out of court, but they have to send it to me anyway. I have never received a subpoena before, but apparantly what they ultimatley ask is how I drew it. For instance, the ask about the expiration date of the kit, they ask whether I checked to make sure the required powder was in the collection tube, and whether or not I used an alcohol pad to disinfect the area. Simple questions, but a little nerve racking never the less. I guess I just have to think of my willingness to do whatever it takes to help revoke the drivers licenses of the guilty!

Fondue

We had Ardella over to our house last week as a thanks for watching our house while we were on vacation. We decided to fondue! Brian was in charge of the oil fondue and I was in charge of the cheese fondue and dessert. We dipped steak and shrimp in the oil. Brian also decided to try cheese curds in the oil, but they really didn't work too well.

In the cheese fondue we dipped potatoes, bread and cauliflower.... Well we really didn't dip them in the cheese as the fondue pot was a candle pot and didn't really keep it that warm. As you can see from the picture, it was a little gloppy. You might also be wondering why it is pink. Our recipe calls for a dry cherry liquor. We only had grenadine, so we get pink cheese! I think it is prettier than plain light yellow cheese anyway.

For dessert, we had chocolate covered strawberries. We didn't have another fondue pot, so I had dipped them earlier and placed them on a plate.


Here's to good food, good company, and good fun! Thanks Ardella for taking good care of our house!