Broke my promise!

Ughhhh I was doing so good! And I even had a topic to post about. Dang it!
Well... hopefully I can make it up to you!

My next post will be what I was going to talk about but didn't get around to actually taking photos... you got it... week one of dumpster diving! Wooot wooo!

In other news... I've lost a diamond out of my new wedding ring. Ugh. I've searched... I'm still on the look out for it but I think it's a gonner... perhaps down the drain in the tub :(

I've also been toying around with my other site that you'll need to update your bookmarks to point to the correct place, www.returnofnkotb.com. New banner, new colors, new stuff!

Media Super Star

So those of you who don't follow me closely probably thought I fell off the face of the earth... actually, I've been kinda swamped. And... as Andy put in the side bar... I've been in the media. It all started a few weeks ago when I was in a group of girls that were interviewed about NKOTB... yeah I know.... well... it became front page news.

Then, I was on the radio, not once... but twice in one week trying to win tickets to see NKOTB backstage... yeah yeah yeah... I'm obsessed... I know.

Then... the guys (like I know them on a first name basis) came to the Mall of America and I waited in line an entire day ahead of time... yeah.... I was first in line... you gotta problem with that? I got front row seats... and a memory that I will never forget. While I was there... I was interviewed for the local news channel.

What's Happening Hot Stuff?

So this past weekend we had a few things going on... 

First on Friday I did a photo shoot with the rest of the Blockheads for the interview that we did while The Monty Crew was visiting us.  Ends up that the article should be running tomorrow.

Then Saturday we went to one of Jerome's co-worker's homes for a BBQ poolside.  It was fun... we drank and ate... everyone scarfed down the things 1, 2 and 3 (Cheese Salsa) that we brought...  We stayed poolside but not in the pool as that was mostly where the kids were...

Sunday Jerome and I went shopping for a few things together and headed to a BBQ at Anna's house and then headed home.

I'll have more news tomorrow hopefully... and on Wednesday I should be getting my stitches out!

We're alive

No, I didn't start having convulsions last week with all the NKOTB hype going on... I'm alive. This past weekend we were busy doing some spring cleaning... getting ready for Dumpster Days here in the Twin Cities. Ohhhh I can't wait...

What have you been up to?

Diddy... just admit it already!

Sean 'Diddy' Combs denies link to Tupac Shakur shooting. Really? Why? This is over 10 years old... honestly... just admit that you were in the mix of getting Pac shot. Read the full story in the LA Times.

As most of you know... I've been and will be a 2Pac fan. He was the best rap artist around... without him many of today's so called artist wouldn't even exist.

Woman stuck on toilet for two years

Did you guys here about this story... ???

Apparently some lady has been stuck in the bathroom for two years. Her boyfriend would bring her food and drink each day and ask her to come out. Her skin actually became one with the toilet!

Now why did it take TWO YEARS for her boyfriend to call the police to say something was wrong with her? Where is her family?

STRANGE!

Read the full story on CNN.com.

Thank God They Didn't Have... you fill in the blank

Thank god they didn't have Facebook, MySpace, Camera Phones or Blogs back when I was in high school or college. Well, they may have been invented but not everyone had them like "nowadays".

Whew, I dodged a bullet there... See what happened to some high school students when their photos were found on facebook here in Minnesota.

I'm not going to say that I would have gotten into trouble... okay yes I would have...jeeze... we were more worried about who was playing tonsil tag with who what our T-shirt said or passing notes in class in high school.

I recall one photo that came through for an ad for in our Senior yearbook. It was of a few of the "popular" girls in our class... with beer bottles and wine coolers. Needless to say, Mrs. S caught it and told them that they best find a new picture of themselves to use because that one wasn't going in her yearbook. They found another... and no, I was not in the picture!

What are you glad they didn't have when you were in High School or College?

Super Fat Tuesday 2008

Well today Super Tuesday meets Fat Tuesday...

Per Wikipedia, Super Tuesday is the Tuesday in early February or March of a presidential election year when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to select delegates to national conventions at which each party's presidential candidates are officially nominated. Minnesota is one of those states this year.

Per Wikipedia again, Fat Tuesday is the final day of Carnival, though the term is often used incorrectly to describe the days and weeks preceding Fat Tuesday.

So, who's getting your beads?

It worked... and then stopped...

So last night I tried one "last time" to turn on my laptop. It didn't work.

So, knowing that there is no warranty on it any longer I decided to go forth and take all the screws off the back of it... I thought perhaps if I open it up and see if there is a pound of cat hair perhaps that would make it go if it was removed...

Well... I did find some fuzz... cleared it out of the way and well... it worked. I was so excited that I called my mom to let her know the good news. As soon as I got off the phone with her it shut down. Dang it!

So I attempted the same thing... it powered up only to shut down again. There is life in there... it just needs a little resesitating. I'll be playing the mad scientist tonight with my attempt to get the entire back off of the laptop up so that I can blow out any debris.

Here's to hoping it works! Anyone have any pointers?

Bomb Threat

You heard me right. There was a bomb threat at the building across the parking lot from my job today. Mind you I didn't know that when I was driving into work this morning and ran into the traffic four blocks from work.

No one was directing traffic. People were making U-turns in the middle of the street. People were cutting through parking lots... all trying to get to work. Me being one of them. I called a few co-workers... no one answered their phones. I finally got someone who didn't know too much about what was going on either.

When I arrived inside of work our security guard was telling another person about it. But said that we were a "safe distance away". Alright. I went upstairs and looked out the window with my teammates.

We received this email from the building:
We have been informed by the Bloomington Police Department that there has been a bomb threat at the Immigration and Naturalization Services parking lot located on the corner of American Blvd and Metro Drive. This area has been blocked off by the police making travel on American Blvd difficult. The Bloomington Police Department has informed us that the {name of company I work at} area is not under risk.

Okay. I got on the horn looking at new sights, turning the radio on, etc. etc. I called Jerome and let him know what was going on.

Now at 10am all the fire trucks, squad cars, police vehicles, police tape, and bomb squad trucks have left. Traffic has resumed on American Blvd and all is calm... no real news on who, what, when, or why... I'll keep you posted.

She's already a SUPER STAR!

There was a segment on KSTP news about all the babies that were born last Thursday at Regions Hospital... as you know that's when Jerome's Grand Baby Tinker was born.

Here's the story and on the right hand side is the video. We taped it as well if this should go down we've got a copy.

Storm August 2007

Update: We came home from Anna's to find that our power had been restored! I asked a neighbor how long it had been on since we were gone most of the day and he said only about an hour before we came home! Which would mean from Saturday at 3am until Sunday at 7pm is when we had no power. Ugh.


Holy Cats!

So Friday night we had JST over for the night. We ran to the grocery store to pick up something for dinner and walked away with $100 worth of grocery - surprise surprise. We watched a movie and just hung out until we decided to head to bed. We were asleep in our house when for some reason I awoke. It was 3am. Outside there was flashes of lighting - but no lighting bolts - just the sky was light up like daylight. I nudged Jerome and told him to move the car that was on the lawn since it looked like it was going to rain. He got up in a dash and tossed on some shorts and headed outside.

I figured I would take a look at what was outside to see if I really wanted to deal with it getting wet since we were having a Block Party Saturday afternoon. Off came the cushions of the chairs and we tossed the carpet pieces into the garage.

When that was done I went inside and turned on the TV to watch the weather channel. It stated that we were going to get some high winds (50-60 mph) and there was a sever thunderstorm warning. And then it happened... the TV cut off along with the fans, air, lights, clocks... you name it. The power was out.

It's kinda funny that JST had made the remark before heading to bed that there was a flash light in her room! Good thing as we needed it. We found the other flash light and I light some candles. I just stayed watching the rain since it's been so long since we've had some like this.

It started to rain and the winds picked up. I went downstairs to check the window/wall in the laundry room... sure enough there was a leak. A bad leak. It was spurting out of the window well. Ughhhh. I grabbed the dirty towels from the laundry and started sopping up the mess. I ran upstairs to get the mop.

Jerome woke JST up and told her that it was cooler the basement to go and sleep downstairs. Which, we all did after having a quick snack and chat. (Gotta love having an 8 month pregnant person in the house!)

I called the electric company and their machine stated that we should have power by 8am. Fine and good - we don't really need it while we sleep downstairs. We woke up at 9am or so, with no power. I called the electric company again. Now, it stated that we may not have electricity until end of day Tuesday. WHAT?!?!?!?! ugh.

There was a pretty good sized branch in the middle of the road from the tree that recently lost big branches when Monty Crew was at our house last. We had twigs and a few branches in the yard but nothing major. I figured we better check the gutters since I noticed a few of our neighbors up in theirs. Sure enough it was packed. I got to cleaning it out.

Since we had no power, we didn't dare go in the fridge for long. And, with an electric stove now we had to cook our bacon, eggs, and grits on the grill! It was kinda fun, until we realized that both of our cars were in the garage - that has an electric opener.

JST's mom and sisters came to pick her up and take her back to the land of A/C and TVs. We of course stayed in our "campsite". I called Lisa and asked if she had power. Sure enough she did, so I asked if we could bring over stuff from our deep freezer and our fridge/freezer. I packed up the two coolers and we were on our way. We hung out there until about 3 pm when we left for our Block Party, that we weren't even sure if it was still going to go on.

I set out two chairs and a table out front and brought the charcoal grill around front too. We figured we could grill up some of this chicken from the freezer for the party... and figured other people may want to too.

We hung out with Denise and her daughter and a few of the other neighbors showed up too. We ended up going to Denise's garage to "congregate" and stay dry as it decided to rain again.

We headed home and went to the basement to sleep. I'm starting to feel the pains of not sleep in my bed... the floor and that couch are not cutting it. Ughhh. I awoke this morning hoping we would have electricity... not the case. So, today, we headed over to Anna's where we are BBQing up the last of the meat that we kept.

I'm sure I'll be calling into my renter's insurance this coming week. Wonder if they will cover everything????

We went around the neighborhood to find out that about 5 block south of us many large trees were down, along with power lines and electric poles snapped in half. We took pictures, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to load them here.

And by the way, I am not cracked up for this whole camping thing!

Super Stars, Finally?!?!?

I finally got our wedding announcement/anniversary announcement out the door today.

So, check out the Appleton Post Crescent next weekend (August 19th) to see a special insert of yours truly :)

To find where it is, go under "other top stories" and click on RECORDS, a new page will appear and then click on Special Moments. A PDF will pop up or go further down on the page where is says: "This week's Special Moments will automatically download in a moment. If it does not, please click here."

Weekend in review - a drinking weekend

So Thursday night we went out to dinner at FRIDAYS and hung out for happy hour there... cheap drinks and appetizers! We went home and decided that since we weren't working on Friday that we should just kick back and have some drinks. Rum and cokes were on order... we were watching TV downstairs when the doorbell rang. (Mind you it's like 9pm!) What the heck?!!?!?! Jerome's cousin RM showed up at the house. We ended up going out to a little bar with him and his friend. It was pretty fun - anyone been to Hogsbreath in St. Paul?

Friday early morning RM and friend left back home. Jerome left them out and locked up. I continued to sleep in. We went to see The Bourne Ultimatum. It was pretty good! Although, I did notice two things that I didn't notice in the other "Bourne" movies... one - When you drive forward and hit a car and then throw it in reverse and show a car driving backwards, there should be front end damage to the car, and two - really long fight scenes that start to look like "b*tch slap flights" should not be part of a "man movie" especially when it's two guys who are in the fight. Other than that... great flick... that's all I'm saying... no more details.

Afterwards we went to Anna's for a BBQ. We ended up leaving earlier than planned - someone drank a wee bit too much I think. But we won't go into that.

Saturday night we went to Collette's 40th Birthday party for a bit. We got lost on the way... going past our destination. Eventually we made it there and were greeted by the Pep into the house. We made our way to the food and cocktails and then outside for fireworks and smores over the fire. Yum.

On our way home Jerome and I stopped by a park and looked at the ducks swimming in the stream. It was so peaceful... we really enjoyed the "park in the city".

Sunday we didn't do much of anything... I ran to the bank and the grocery store... that was the extent of my outing for the day...

Not much planned for the week... I hope to make it down to the bridge site to take some photos, but other than that... nothing at all.

We're okay!

As some of you know a major bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. We are safe and were not in the area when this happened. Jerome of course works downtown so I'm sure he will have an interesting day tomorrow.

Check out cnn.com to find out the latest or even CNN tv.



We are having issues with our cell phones not being able to call out and call each other or even go to voicemail. Please know that we are safe and will contact you when we can. Know that we will be checking email and as always you can chat with us on the left side of the screen here.


Other places to check for updates:
www.startribune.com
kare11.com
wcco.com
kstp.com

A quick Sconnie Trip

Friday night we set the alarm clock to wake us up around 4:45 am. Yes, that's right on a SATURDAY! Jerome woke up some time around 4 am and started his shower. Once he was ready he woke up the bear, I mean me, and tossed me in the shower. We were headed to Sconnie for the day/night mainly to pick up our wedding photo album.

We left around 5 am and saw the sun starting to rise - that's the first time in a long time for me. And it was such a red sky that got me thinking of Dad's old sailor saying... red sky at night sailors delight, red sky in morn sailors be warned.



We stopped for breakfast at McDonald's after I woke up from my sleep and also to fill up the tank. We were back on our way and made it to my parents house around 9 am.

Once we were there I immediately went into the photos. Ughhhhh! There was no picture of us with Anna, there was the black and white photo of Jerome that turned out way grainy, there was one of me and my family that when blown up didn't fit that framing of the page thus white strips around the photo - ummm no... fake the wall and carpet or crop it different! Not to mention all of the ones that were out of focus! And then our large wall photo had totally different coloring from the same photo that was in our book. What the heck?

I will say it again, never do business with Together Photography. Their customer service sucks. Their contract is worded funny, and they chose to pick out our photos - even the blurry ones! Ugh.

So, I took the book and Jerome and I headed down to their shop. Of course, no one was there because it's a Saturday and they are out taking awful pictures of someones wedding. So I called my mom to have her look up the phone number for their New London location, perhaps someone would be there. Nope, that number isn't listed. Grrrr. So I called the owner at her home - but she didn't answer either. I left a message at their location in town saying I wasn't please with my photos and that I am only in town today and tomorrow, that someone should contact me asap.

With that said and done we left and went to The Monty Crew's house for lunch. We had planned to BBQ for lunch, but before that Jerome and Andy were going to build some shelving units for Delaney and Maddee's room while Trisha and I were going to head off to Target for some baby food that was 2 cents a jar.

On our way there though, my phone rang. It was Jerome's daughter JST who is due in September with Jerome's first grand baby. She was having some tightening and she thought contractions. Oh boy. Ends up it was nothing out of the ordinary and the baby is still inside for the time being!

Trisha, Baby M and Baby D and I left for Target. Funny thing happened... we ran into my sister P, brother-in-law J and their kids MJM and GWM. Too funny. They were off to buy glue sticks for MJM's first school year in kindergarten. We split ways and headed to the baby section.

I asked Trisha what Delaney needed, since you know, she's already got three kids! Apparently crib sheets are in order. Can do. Next. ;)

We headed to baby food land and stocked the cart. We headed for the check out and the cashier flicked her light on and called a manager over. Apparently Target's coupon won't work at her Target... how annoying. We even spoke with a manager who said that "corporate" sent out a statement that said to limit people to two coupons... COME ON! Needless to say, I'll be trying at my Target here in the cities.

When we got back the guys were wrapping up the shelving unit and we started the food. It was delish! My compliments to the chefs :) We hung out for a bit longer as I got my baby fix knowing the next time I see Baby D he won't like me, but then again there will be a new Baby D that will "hafta" like me!

We headed home and ate dinner with the family. Mashed potatoes, caramel carrots, beef roast... YUM! Then it was time for cards. PJM, mom and I played 500 solitaire. Mom ended up in first place, I got 2nd and PJM... well she lost. And then PJM and I played 100 solitaire and I won. Yippy!

We woke up the next morning and took showers. We came downstairs and said that the clock in the bedroom doesn't keep time... since it was 11am and the clock said 9am! Jeeze! We had breakfast and then hopped in the car for home. We planned to take the long way home so that we could stop at our favorite cheese factory - too bad they aren't open on SUNDAYS :( Grrrr.

So we kept heading the long way instead of turning around. We went through Green Bay when Jerome said something about taking a picture of Lambeau field. Why taking a moving picture, instead we went and actually went inside. It was first trip inside the stadium... you could totally feel the love. We hopped back in the car and were on our way when someone stated that he should have found the bathroom before leaving. So we made a pit stop for an ice cream cone and potty break at the McDonald's down the street from the stadium - it was even decked out in Packer attire!

We drove home and ended up stopping at our other cheese factory stop for some curds and a brick of cheese - and gas and switching of drivers. Once we were in the cities we stopped for dinner. We unpacked the car after and then Jerome left to see how JST was doing. All is good as far as we know now.

Novel California...

Well, we are back from the city of Angels. Los Angeles, California.

We left out on Thursday afternoon to the airport around 5pm after having the entire day off from work, (and the day before for the Fourth, but who’s counting?). I had checked us in the night before online so we went straight to the security checkpoint. Of course, I got pulled over so they could inspect both of my bags. Not me personally, just my bags, and yes, I was told I was a great packer!!!

I ended up in the very back row of the plane in the aisle seat… which apparently always gets hit with every cart or stewards that heads to the back galley. Thankfully I was sitting with two little teenagers who were busy playing cards so I could read 7 chapters in my book during the flight. Jerome was two rows up from me with a mom and her daughter. I didn’t hear any complaints.

We got into Cali around 9pm California time, 11pm Minnesota time. We didn’t check any bags on the way there so we headed out to feel the Cali air in the ground transportation area. We found the spot where we were suppose to stand to hail down our hotel shuttle which arrived about 5 minuets after we did. We hopped on and were on our way to the hotel… which was all of a hop, skip and a jump away from the airport. Seriously, like two minuets!

We checked in at the front desk and headed up to our room. Our king size bed awaited us along with our view of the airport and an office building. No biggie. We headed downstairs to check out the main floor of the hotel and decided to order a pizza for “dinner”. We got a BBQ Chicken pizza that was divine. It was cooked in a stone oven and the crust… oh the crust. Yum. The only request we could have made was more sauce, but I knew that was the Cali way of making pizza and informed Jerome.

We headed back upstairs and tried to go to sleep as we were picking up the other Thompson’s from the airport in the morning. Every time the a/c would kick in I would wake up. Every time I moved to get more comfortable something would bug me about the sheets. It was a rough night trying to sleep. I found out later that I wasn’t the only one having a tough time sleeping as Jerome complained as well once we awoke.

We got up and showered and ate a slice of pizza for breakfast. We jumped on the shuttle bus to the airport. We found our way around eventually and staked out a place to stand near the luggage belt. Jerome’s mom, dad, sister Jacqueline and niece Taylor showed up in no time. On the same flight were a few other relatives. We exchanged our hellos and hugs and then turned as the luggage belt started up.

We gathered all the luggage and headed out to the ground transportation spot again. We waited for the shuttle and eventually it arrived. Once we got to the hotel they other Thompson’s went to see if they could check in, but it was too early, which we already knew… so, we hauled their luggage to our room.

We got ready to go on a tour or explore the city. We headed down the elevator and talked with the concierge. He explained that the tour we had wanted to go on was fine, but that we would need to make arrangements on how to get to and from the pick up location of the tour. He stated that basically there was another tour that would pick us up and take us on a tour and return us to the hotel. We ended up going with convenience – the one to and from the hotel.

On the tour we started off and drove through Fisherman’s Village, basically a boat yard – seen one, seen them all, especially since there weren’t any “star” boats in the yard to see. Then we headed off to Venice Beach. This is a shot of the court from the movie White Man Can’t Jump. Jerome and I headed to the beach to stick our feet in the water to prove that we had made it all the way to the Westside of the U.S. (Mind you, we’ve already made it to the South and now just need to go East!) By the time we had dried off our feet it was time to head up the hill to catch the bus… it was only a 15 minuet stop there. The other Thompson’s had picked up something to eat, and we were hungry and ran in to grab a quick burger for the ride on the bus.

We ran to the bus, not wanting to be late or left behind only to find out that two people were missing from the bus… there’s 10 minuets down the drain!!!! We ate while we waited for them to arrive and then we were off to see Santa Monica Pier. We didn’t stop unfortunately. But Jerome and I knew that we both would like to come back and see more of Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier as soon as we were back on the bus… perhaps on Saturday we said to each other.

We drove around and around seeing the “Hotel California”, (which isn’t the real one…but hey, it was funny!), the UCLA campus, Boulmiche (the store that Julia Roberts went into and was turn away at in Pretty Woman), and eventually getting us to Rodeo Drive. We drove around much of Rodeo Drive and took pictures and then we were left out to walk around for 15 minuets… WHAT?!?!?! Why? We’re on the cheap tour, and like someone can shop and purchase something in 15 minuets, especially on Rodeo Drive. HELLO!??!?!?!

We packed back up into the tour bus and started driving again. We saw the “hot spots” for young Hollywood party goers (if you check your Star magazine these spots are mentioned) Spago, The Rainbow Club, and the Roxie. We only saw one plastic surgery place, but we weren’t really looking until this one was point out to us! And of course, we got a photo of the Beverly Hills sign.

We spotted the first house that Marilyn Monroe supposedly lived in Hollywood but I have yet to find a site that says so. We also saw the Laugh Factory, the church where Sister Act was filmed, and the place where Julia Roberts lived in Pretty Woman where Richard Ghere rides up on a horse.

We had another pit stop near the Walk of Fame, the Chinese Theater and the Kodak Theater where we were able to take our only pictures of the Hollywood sign. I gotta say, I wasn’t to impress with the size of any of these places… they seemed “so big” in my mind… and then to see they’re just these rinky dink little places. This is the same area where the Roosevelt Hotel is. That’s where Marilyn Monroe’s ghost supposedly still haunts.

We boarded back on the bus and headed out after about 30 minuets. One place that I had wanted to stop at was Pink’s. It’s a local hot dog stand known for celebrity sightings… all I got was a picture of us driving by it on the way to the Farmer’s Market. While we were at the Farmer’s Market we picked up some fruit for the next few days for breakfast and some soda for mixing drinks later on. And back onto the bus we headed…

We went past the La Brea Tar Pits… nothing too much to see there and also the Staples Center. When all was said and done the driver forgot to drop us off at our hotel. What a jerk!

When we were back at the hotel we knew that we were cutting it short for the family reunion gathering that was suppose to happen that night. We thought that it was going to be held at the hotel, but none of the hotel staff knew anything about it. Ends up that the gathering was being held near Fisherman’s Village, where we had just come from! There were cabs taking people where they wanted to go – of course at a price. Jerome and I opted to skip out on the gathering part and let the other Thompson’s take the cab (car) to the gathering. We instead walked to the Marriott and had dinner – chicken wings and mini burgers with cheese fries. YUM!

Once we got back I slipped into my swimsuit and headed to the outdoor hot tub. I was only out for a bit before Jerome was too cold to be sitting out in the air and we had to go back to the room. Grrrrr.

The next day we got ready to go out on another tour or site seeing of the city. Jerome and I had eaten some of our fruit and breakfast bars and were ready to go. But, the other Thompson’s hadn’t had breakfast yet… so we walked “forever” to Denny’s. Then we turned around and walked all the way back. Ugh. I did get a little crabby I admit it. WHY DIDN’T WE RENT A CAR?

Then we decided to take the free trolley to Manhattan Beach. Not much there honestly. We walked the pier and at the end of it was an aquarium that made me think of Free Willy or that one zoo that Melba and I went to on spring break in Florida! It was bad. We walked back and Taylor stated she wanted to put her feet in the water. She couldn’t go by herself so Auntie Kim came to rescue and went with her. We hung out there for a good bit and then headed back to catch the trolley back to the hotel.

Once we got back we were told by some passersby that there was a fish fry going on at Mavis’s house. We ran upstairs to drop off some things and then off to Mavis’s we went in a 16 passenger van that someone had rented for the weekend. Once we were at Mavis’s I met a few other members of the family. There was Tammy and her daughter (didn’t catch her name but she’s cute as a button!), Fifi and Willie, and Tat. There were others there too but I don’t recall their names.

Anyways, Fifi came in the room where Jacqueline, Taylor, Jerome and I were sitting saying she was headed to the garment district and was wondering if we wanted to go. HECK YEAH! Jerome stayed behind while just “us girls” went shopping. He was in good hands and had a heck of a time with Tat explaining just who he was.

When we got down to the garment district Mavis told us that it was 20 blocks of shops. Whew! We picked a spot for where we should meet up at later and we were on our way. Pretty quickly Jacqueline, Taylor and I were separated from Tammy and Fifi. Then I was separated from Jacqueline and Taylor and was shopping by myself. I eventually caught up with Fifi for a bit and then lost her again. It was so much fun and I got myself a “couch” purse and wallet…. (Coach), another smaller purse that was a “no-name” and a shirt for Jerome.

We headed back over to Mavis’s house after cruising Crenshaw for kicks and giggles… I ducked over as we went through a bit per Mavis’s request for Fifi and me as we were both in red shirts! As we went down Crenshaw Mavis pointed out the church where Johnnie Cochran’s funeral was. When we got back the fish was fried and ready to eat. Boy was it good! After eating and chatting for a bit we got a ride back to the hotel.

Once we got there all Taylor could talk about was going swimming, so again she and I went at it. Jacqueline joined us out there until she was too cold and then we all went in. We had a few drinks and went on our way to bed. I packed up our bags as the next morning Jerome and I had to check out of the hotel.

The next day we brought our bags to the other Thompson’s room and checked out of our hotel. We called a taxi van to pick us up. We were headed back to the garment district, some for the first time, others that we veterans from the day before.

We picked a place again to meet up and a time. After everyone was there we called the same cab company back to pick us up… only they didn’t show up when they were suppose to. I called them back and was put on hold. I called another cab company and they said they would have someone out there in 15 minuets. As we were waiting and it was getting to be the time that the actual reunion was suppose to start a cab car stopped near us to let people out. I told the other Thompson’s to go back to the hotel, since they needed to change and that Jerome and I would go directly to the reunion in our own cab car. The left.

We called around and found a cab company that would take credit cards in the cab. Great since we had spent most of our cash at the garment district. They showed up and we let the cabbie know our destination. He plugged it into his navigation system and we were on our way. I told him that we were paying with credit and he got a bit of an attitude. Ughhhh. He ended up not taking us the way that I thought we should go, because he said that there wasn’t an entrance that way… bull-loney! He had slowed down as I yelled out the window to someone who was washing their car outside...yup, I was right. JERK! We went back the right way and entered the park. Not knowing how big or where the park was I told the cabbie to let us out since I didn’t want to pay him any more. I figured we could find where it was suppose to be since everyone was going to be in the same color shirts.

As I was paying the cabbie, Jerome went to talk to the park entrance people to find out where the reunion was going to be. A mile up the hill. Shoot. Oh well, I’m sure someone will notice us and bring us up… and just that happened! Mavis’s husband was heading out of the park and saw us walking. He whipped around his vehicle and took us up the hill. I don’t think we would have made it, or at least if we did we wouldn’t be happy once we arrived at the top! Whew!

There was singing and dancing and excellent BBQ. We had a great time and took lot of pictures. Remember the guy who was the police officer on CSI Miami that is Jerome’s cousin, well he was there and I was sure to get a photo with “my cousin”.

When it came to the time when the reunion was suppose to end we wondered how we were going to get back to the hotel. We ended up getting back into that 16 passenger van and heading back. Good thing too because Jerome and I were already looking at the time for when we needed to be at the airport to catch our red eye flight home.

We left around 10:15 pm Cali time and headed to the airport. Our flight was suppose to leave at 12:30 am. I had printed out our boarding passes ahead of time again but we needed to check some bags as we had accumulated some items on the trip J Then we went through the security screening and then sat our tushies down while we waited for the plane to arrive. I wasn’t looking forward to the flight since I was going to have the middle seat in the row, but the only comfort was that I would be next to Jerome. Before the flight took off I think I dosed off a bit, but I know once we were stable and in the air I was out like a light. Jerome says he was bumped by everyone walking by… I didn’t even notice.

We arrived back in Minnesota around 7 am and had our two bags by 7:30am. We took the light rail over to my job where we had parked a car to get home. Once we were home we both jumped back into bed for our first real sleep of the night, I mean day. Whew… what a trip.

More guests in town...

This past Friday we had some guests come into town. Yup... Monty Crew visited us - well the adults did anyway! They had a little "get-a-way-from-me" weekend from the bambinos and their dog and choose to come to MN to visit us!

Friday we had plans to meet up with them at the stadium for the Twins vs. Red Socks (baseball - for those of you who don't follow that's MN vs. Boston). Jerome had a happy hour gig after work so I road the train to the stadium to meet him. As I was waiting for him to ride the train from the other way to the stadium one of the security guys walked up to me and told me that the train that was coming in next would be out of service once it reached the stadium. I told him, "I don't care as long as my boyfriend gets off the train"... WOOOOPS... (go back and re-read that sentence.... I'll wait....)
Yup... I called my husband of nine months my boyfriend. Doh! I started laughing as soon as I said it and the security guy probably thought I was crazy so I told him what I was laughing about and he chuckled himself! I was glad to see Jerome actually get off of that train and walk away from this situation.

We waited for The Monty's since they had purchased our tickets so that we could all be seated together. Finally Susha called and asked where we were... we saw them standing at the corner of the landmark that I gave them looking for us. I told Susha to turn around, keep turning, keep turning... (making a full turn around!)... then she spotted us and headed our way.

We made our way into the stadium with our tickets in hand. We also made a whole lap around the stadium... thanks to Andy's guided tour :) Tee heee! Jerome went in and found four seats - ends up there wasn't assigned seats for our section - what do you expect for $10??? The three of us went and picked up some food and drinks and then headed up.

We saw a very drunk little girl (little girl ha... she was probably 20, maybe even 21... isn't that just how old I am????) fall all the way down the steps and knock poor Jerome's beer over a bit. She'll feel that in the morning I suppose. We left at the 7th or 8th inning since The Monty's were giving us a ride back to our house and had parked in a parking ramp. Now I'm speaking from experience here... if you are going to stay all the way through some event... do not park in a parking ramp... it will take you an hour to get down from the 9th floor of the ramp (Smile Lisa!)
We headed home and I warned them ahead of time of the dumpster dives that were going on in our area to beware of crazy drivers and heaps of junk on the lawns. Well guess what we did... yup... me and Susha went out for a bit! We left the guys at the house and took some flashlights to sniff around. It's much harder in the dark but we still managed to find a few things... and Susha made the bigger haul than me :) Needless to say she said she wants to come out next year when this is going on... should be a fun time!

They stayed at our house Friday night and when we awoke on Saturday morning I thought to myself I wonder what I should make for breakfast. I went to the cupboards... hummm only enough pancake mix for two people. Went to the fridge... only four eggs... enough for two people... checked the milk - we could always just have a bowl of cereal... only enough for one person... JEEEEZE! Andy saved the day by heading over to Mickey D's for some breakfast... yummy!

I checked for when the nail shop opened - 9:30 a.m. We planned to get there shortly after they opened... and we did. Trisha and I both got pedis I couldn't wait. The guys ended up going after Trisha eBay winnings an hour north of us. Her kids better be on their best behavior... momma got them some nice things this weekend!

After our pedis we looked around Bloomington to see if we could find any dumpster treasures in the daylight... on pick up day. We didn't have much luck - I wish she could have seen it on Thursday... she would have died! We decided to go on a quick shopping trip into Target, I picked up some coals for the grill. Then I showed her The Avenue. Great store for big girls and plenty of sale items! We headed home and started getting food ready for lunch. Brats and hamburgers on the grill. I ran to the store to pick up milk, eggs, tomatoes and potato chips. This way I was set for Sunday's breakfast! After dinner they hung out for a bit and then headed over to their hotel for Saturday night after their concert. Sounds like it was pretty posh.

Jerome and I headed to Anna's to take her the twin bed that we use to have in our 2nd bedroom in the apartment. It was originally hers and she let us borrow it for when we had guest or the girls over night. Jerome helped her switch the locks on the bedroom doors (one had a lock and one didn't) and Chris made himself at home in his new bed. We watched Firehouse Dog and then left out.

We headed home and I started cleaning up the kitchen to prep for Sunday's breakfast with The Monty's. We made plans to have omelets in the morning. They were bringing the bacon and juice, I was supplying the eggs and veggies. I chopped up the veggies and shredded the cheese. I also set the table and got the coffee pot ready. I headed to bed around 2 a.m.

I woke up Sunday morning and was brushing my teeth as they called to find out if we were up yet or not. But of course! The headed over and breakfast started. The winds started to pick up while we sat at the kitchen table chatting and while Jerome was eating since he was the last to have his omelet made. It sounded like the house was shifting from the wind, the lites even flickered a few times (I'm sure it had nothing to do with cutting limbs down last weekend... wink wink!).

At one point I got up and walked into the living room... and then I noticed... two huge limbs from the tree that is between our house and our neighbors had broken off and were sitting in our driveway. Oh boy! Well at least The Monty's had pulled their van up to our garage... imagine if they had just left it near our front door vs. our back door... well I'd be writing a totally different post! The guys got up and hauled the branches to our backyard. And the Monty's left out of town while they could. Jerome went back to eating his omelet and I went a picked up other sticks that had fallen from all of our trees.



I told Jerome they should have just put it between our houses instead of our backyard... what were we going to do with it... we couldn't cut it up! So he and I hauled it to the grass between our houses and told the neighbors son about it. He came right out with his chainsaw and chopped it up. We picked up the rest of the yard and Jerome told me he was heading to St. Paul to pick up JST.

I stayed home and chatted with the neighbors since it seemed like everyone was out picking up their yard. To bad the dumpster crew picked up on Saturday - lots of people had tons of sticks and limbs to go out!

JST came to our house and hung out for a good bit. She and I chatted while Jerome mowed the lawn. For those of you who have been wondering.... JST is the mommy to be. Yup, I'll be a grandma before I'm a real momma! We caught up about things going on in her life, how she's feeling and we even took some belly pics. The photo is manipulated to protect her privacy. She's five months and is due Sept. 25th. She seems very happy... I hope she stays that way.

She looked at our wedding pictures that I had out on the table since we are going to be ordering them in two weeks. She asked why some were glossy vs. matte. WHAT?!?!?! Oh good lord. Here I or Jerome had mixed up the original pictures with some that we had reprinted. Big no no since we needed to bring the originals to the shop to order. We figured everything out... thank goodness but without JST looking at the photos we could have had some big issues with the photography people (not that we haven't already!)

All in all it was a pretty good weekend. I even managed to cut some lilacs for inside the house and plant the rest of my peas in my garden.

Oh shooot... that's another thing. When my parents were in town last weekend we tried to help one of my purple lilac trees from growing into the while lilac bush. Well perhaps we shouldn't have helped it by tying it to the fence... one of the limbs busted in the wind storm. I don't know if lilacs will "regrow" or not... but I stuck it in the ground in hopes that it would... we will see!

Camp what?

So you know I live in the city of the biggest mall in the land... Mall of America.

Camp Snoopy use to be part of the mall - the amusement park section. Today, it will get a new name after the decade or so partnership with Snoopy and friends that ended in 2006.

There is talk of Sponge Bob... I'll let you know when I know... I'm sure it will be the talk of the town, right up there with all the snow and bomb squads!

UPDATE: Yes, Nickelodeon will be the partner with the park inside of MOA. Meaning yes, Sponge Bob, Dora, Jimmy Neutron and more will be in the mega mall.

In Spring 2008 expect to tote your kids over this-a-way to see what all the buzz is about. Just don't say "I don't know" so you aren't slimmed!

Two miles away...

The following is pulled from KSTP.com (local news channels website). This is all of two miles away from my house...

Neighbors stunned after Bloomington raid
"It's shocking, somewhat upsetting," said neighbor Jason Manning. He added that he's never worried about letting his 7-year-old son play alone outside in the area.

The man removed from the home has Terry Lee Dahlen, 60. He is in police custody. Second home searched in connection to Monday's raid

Neighbors were stunned after authorities raided a Bloomington home on Monday, seizing bomb-making materials.

Homes in the area of W. 84th St. and Knox Ave. S. are roped off and residents are still waiting to go back inside after they were evacuated during the Monday raid. A number of emergency vehicles showed up in the neighborhood as 'a precaution' Tuesday afternoon.

The man removed from the home has been identified as Terry Lee Dahlen, 60. He is in police custody.

"It's shocking, somewhat upsetting," said neighbor Jason Manning. He added that he's never worried about letting his 7-year-old son play alone outside in the area.

Inside the home, officials found detonation cords, blasting caps, military explosives, and semi-automatic weapons.

Five nearby homes were evacuated, though authorities said there appeared to be no threat of an explosion. Those families will not be allowed back into their homes until authorities finish searching Dahlen's home.