Hum… It’s Wednesday.  Hump Day!  Hooray!  This week is so much better than last week.  Thankfully my boss is back, wobbly, but back.   She had vertigo and still has some lingering effects.   We are just as busy but there isn’t the uncertainty like last week.

On Sunday, Eric and I went to American Reunion.  We have seen all the other American Pie series of movies, even the one that didn’t make to theater, so we had to see this one.  It was ok, not as funny as the other ones but they are 10 years older now and have kids and responsibilities.  And we all know that when you get old like me, you aren’t as funny anymore.

Also good news this week…

I went for a run Monday night.  It was so beautiful outside that I had to do it.  My toe still hurts and it hurt like hell for the first quarter of a mile or so.  Eric of course took off and was way ahead of me so I had nobody to complain to so I kept going.  I don’t know if I’m I becoming more tolerant of pain or if my toe just went numb, but after that I didn’t have any pain.    The run felt good…well as good as running can feel I guess.  The last quarter of a mile I was dealing with lower back pain.  That is a new pain for me, maybe my toe pain transferred to my lower back.   I’m always complaining about something.

Last night I had my last volleyball game for the season. L  As I’ve mentioned before, I love volleyball but it gets hard to play indoors when it is so nice outside.  We lost 3-1 but the games were all very close and we only had 5 players. 

That’s about it from here.  Saturday we are heading to Wisconsin (I know…again?!?!?) My Godparents are celebrating their 50th Anniversary so I thought I should go.  I know Mom is excited to see us again.

Time for Ginelli’s pizza.  I’m SO glad Lent is over. J

Yesterday I went to Zoo with the Stayers.  Eric had class all day so I had to do something fun because cleaning my house doesn't sound like fun.  I also got to try out my new camera...with amazing results.  Pictures are down below.

It didn't seem like a good day to the go to the zoo since it was cold, gray, cloudy and rain in the west.  But really it was the perfect day!  Most of the animals that I never see because it is too hot were out and active.  The caribou, moose, tiger, wolverine and lynx were in open view.  I got some amazing shots of the tiger.

We started the day walking around in the outside portion since we knew the rain showers would be there soon.  We did the whole loop and it started to sprinkle when we got to the end.

Then we went on the Tropics Trail and Minnesota Trail which are inside the building.  When we left the zoo it was pouring.  We had perfect timing.

It was a fun day and Evelyn loved it.

Here are some pictures.  More can be found at http://kim-eric.com/2012/04.21.12/04.21.12.htm

Bear scratching his ear

Greg, Celeste and Evelyn in the Grizzly Coast Exhibit

Evelyn enjoying the slide

I finally got to see the Minnesota Moose!

Very regal tiger, I got many shots of him, visit  http://kim-eric.com/2012/04.21.12/04.21.12.htm to see more!

Greg, Evelyn and Celeste...Evelyn wanted to run!

Puma!

Lynx

It has been a tough week at work.  My boss was sick all week and this was one of the busiest weeks of the year.  It was just crazy!  I am so thankful for the weekend.  I looked forward to sleeping in and lounge around right...well...

I woke up at 5:30am this morning to the purring, kneading, monster, Swirl.  He likes to knead my bladder and at 5:30am that is very uncomfortable.  So after running to the bathroom, I kicked him out of the room and tried to get back to sleep. I was drifting in and out when 30 minutes later Swirl was scratching at the door, I ignored it, then he started banging at the door. I still ignored it but I couldn't sleep through the bang, bang, bang.  We aren't exactly sure how he does it but I can tell you that he isn't just using his head.  I think he actually throws his body at the door. 4 minutes later Eric rolled out of bed .  He has his last class today and he must present his final paper...(which I help write last weekend).  I continue to drift in and out of sleep until I hear Eric puking in the downstairs bathroom.  Typical Eric, he waits to the last minute to prepare,  he gets stressed out and he pukes.  What a pleasant way to wake up, huh?

I've been a very big slacker in the running department.  But it doesn't take much for me to find excuses to not go running.  About a week ago, I  developed a very painful toe.  I'm not sure what is wrong.  It doesn't hurt all the time but when it does it is a sharp stinging pain.  It feels like I have a blister on my toe but there is no blister. It doesn't matter if I'm walking, standing or sitting, it hurts.  It doesn't matter what shoes I'm wearing, if I'm bare foot or not, it hurts.  I'm ready to cut the damn thing off.

On Tuesday night after volleyball, I was laying in bed and all of a sudden I had a sharp pain in my ankle and it was stiff. I'm not sure if I tweaked it in volleyball. I don't think so.  Maybe it was the weather. It is hell getting old!

I haven't been a complete slacker though, Eric and I went on an almost 10 mile bike ride on Wednesday.  Low impact physical activity...my toe didn't hurt until the last mile or two and the ankle didn't hurt at all.

Well I should get cracking and clean my house but instead I'm creating new clip art for my website.  Someday my house will get clean...but today isn't that day...I'm nursing my sore toe!

I’m like my dad in many ways.  Mom has told me “you are just like your father” often. I don’t like to gamble, I really don’t like playing cards, I love new cars, I want to buy cars all the time and I always have to have the newest gadget. So it really shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that I bought yet another new camera.  Here is a run down of camera that I have in the last 10 years.:

1.    The first digital camera was the Fuji point and shoot that I liked.  It really help me start the website with lots of pictures.  That lasted a couple years until…

2.    I upgraded to a better Fuji with a bigger zoom.  Loved this camera.  I still think it takes the best pictures of any of the camera I’ve owned but the display was only a one inch square. LOL! so I…

3.    Upgraded again to yet another Fuji.  Nothing too exciting with this camera except for the 2.5 inch screen.  It didn’t \take as good of pictures as my older version.  I think I somebody ended with it.

4.    I got a cheap Sony Cybershot for our trip to Mexico, and good thing I did because I dropped it on the beach in water.  Much to my surprise it still worked after that even with sand in the lense!

5.    Then I bought a Nikon…that was a mistake, I hate that camera.  I didn’t use it for very long because the pictures were awful and I was sick of carrying a heavy camera so I got…

6.    A small point and shoot camera with a great zoom.  It was the first Panasonic Lumix.  I really loved this camera but unfortunately it fell in the toilet at Mammoth Cave and never worked again. 

7.    I replaced it with the next model of Panasonic Lumix.  That one got a dust spot on it (which apparently is a common compliant) that you can’t clean and it didn’t  take great pictures so I …

8.    Got the better Panasonic Lumix model.  This camera is great.  The Lumix takes great outside pictures and is very light weight so I’ll still use it. I really like it but in my opinion the inside pictures taken in low light don’t turn out the best.  They can be grainy.  Which lead to my recent purchase…

9.    Canon Rebel T3.  This is a DSLR camera and it was $$$.   But I think I’m going to love it.  It has interchangeable lenses and my old lenses from my film camera from college fit this model!  So far the photos seems to be much better than similar photos taken with the Lumix, especially inside with low lighting (which is the main reason I got it).    With all the Confirmations, Graduations and road trips coming up I wanted something that takes great photos, Below are some very limited examples of my new camera.  I’m so excited to use it.

Easter has come and gone and now it is spring…but the weather got colder.  What gives?

On Holy Thursday I celebrated the end of Lent (per Eric) by making Monster Cookies.  Yum!  They were delicious.  Good Friday I spent relaxing at home, a short bike ride with Eric and a drive to Wisconsin via Mankato (we shall go west to go east).  We picked up Danielle on our roundabout way to Wisconsin.  It was cool because I got to meet her boyfriend, Bradley.  First impression was good.  :-)

We spent Friday night at my sister’s new place in Holmen.   It is very nice.  We are such party animals that we devoured a cheese pizza, drank A&W Root Beer, watched the Breakfast Club on HBO and went to bed early.  We are such losers. 

Saturday morning I managed to somehow sleep until 8:30am.  It is amazing.  I got to see the annoying robin that is terrorizing Nancy and Greg.  I don’t get it this robin bangs his beak against the glass starting at the bottom and flying up the glass.  He falls down the bottom and does it again, and again, and again, and again. I got a 40 second clip of it on YouTube.    Nancy, Greg and I went shopping for Mom’s birthday present. We got her some new clothes (Greg is a fasionista and loves to buy clothes for people) and some sandals.  The sandals were my idea because she loved mine and they had the exact shoes at Rogan Shoes.  Now Danielle, Mom and I have the exact same shoes.  Haha.  Mom loved her new clothes and shoes.  We did good!  Saturday afternoon we had a grill out on Greg’s new grill.  It was some good food.  T-Bone, Chicken, Ribs etc…  After dinner we drove to Mom’s for the night.  Of course we had to watch Molly B’s Polka Party on RFD-TV.  This is a tradition at Mom’s house.  LOL! 

I had a bit of a fright Sunday morning.  Mom’s alarm went off at 6:15am and after 2 minutes she still hadn’t shut it off.  Of course my heart raced and I thought oh dear God Am I going to find my mom dead on Easter morning? I know it is a horrible thought but my mom usually wakes up.  I went into the living room and shook her up.  She didn’t hear it! Scary start to my day.  We went to 8:30 Mass in Whitehall and then went to Mike’s house.  Mom started barking orders again. LOL!  But we got everything ready and it was a good meal.  The whole family was there as well as my aunts Betty Jane and Jackie and my cousin John and his wife Sheri, and some of Mike’s friends.  After we ate we had an egg hunt.  We were put into teams. I had Sheri. Mike gave us clues as to where the eggs were hiding and we had to find them.  Our first one was difficult. “Wind them up and plug them in”  Do you know where the egg was???  Some of the other ones were easy.  We found an egg for one of the other teams, I thought it was Dylan and Greg’s egg so I hid it…bending the rules a bit.  It was fun.  Nancy and John won. Either they cheated or their clues were too easy.  So the answer to the “Wind them up and plug them in” the egg was in a box of extension cords.  UGH!

After all that fun we had to make the long journey back home via Mankato and MSP Airport.  First was the 3 hour drive to Mankato.  We stopped over to DJ’s house for dinner and then drove to Greg and Celeste’s house, picked up there van and drove it to the airport.  We finally got home at 10:30pm.  What a long day.  But it was fun.  I'll put the pictures online tonight.

Per Eric Lent is over so I can indulge in these beauties I made

I don’t really have a lot to say.  I’m still running…I know amazing.  I’m not getting any faster which makes me feel very dejected.  But I’m still doing it and I’m going on three months. I think that is the longest I have ever stuck to a running.  Of course Eric is a much faster runner…in the time it took me to run a mile, he covered almost a mile and half.  Boo.  Hopefully I can keep running but it will be hard with the biking and rollerblading I can do now with this nice weather.  I need to dedicate at least three days a week to it.

Last night was the last night of volleyball. It makes me so sad.  I love volleyball but the days are getting nice and going to a gym to play is getting difficult.  It is bike riding and rollerblading weather! 

Speaking of weather…it has been so warm.  March was the warmest month on record. Actually I think April has been colder than March.  I just hope we don’t get some random snowstorm that we have been known to get…especially Easter weekend.

Easter weekend is coming up.  In four days I can eat American candy and Ginelli’s pizza (my Lenten sacrifice).  Last year I worked out every morning before work.  I was very religious and didn’t miss a day, even when I was sick.  I also watched what I ate and counted calories…I lost almost 10 pounds.  Not bad for 40 days.  This year I didn’t work out any morning, hardly worked out at all except for running, didn’t watch what I ate and ate like a pig (ie. Killer brownie, regular brownie, cookies and non-american candy) and I lost almost 7 pounds.  Was working out every morning last year really worth the 3 extra pounds??? I don’t think so.  I’ll keep running and biking and swimming.  

I originally gave up candy but that last all of two days…however, my candy bar was made in Canada so I decided I was going to give up just American candy.  My friend and co-worker Alice’s sister was in Berlin and she brought me back Maltesers, also not American candy.  Recently I was craving candy so I bought a Toblerone which is made in Switzerland.  I have perfected getting around my sacrifice…I’m so bad!