It's a Baby!

My roommate from college, Ashley, who I always call Roommate, had a baby on November 7.  His name is Theodore Robert and until yesterday I had only seen pictures.  I finally met the little guy, my Jr. Roommate, and he is a very cute little baby! 

 He seemed reasonably comfortable with me.  Many babies squirm around in my arms and seem like they want to escape but Theo hung out for quite awhile.  It was fun.  Who doesn't like to hold a snuggly little baby?

Oh, hello!

It is hard to believe how far we have come.   Well, how far she has come, I guess.  I'm not a whole lot different than I was in college but she has grown up quite a bit!  Haha.

Here we are in my room our senior year of college.  I think it was KD parents day because we usually wouldn't be wearing dresses around the house.  Although, we usually had to have our rooms clean for KD parents day and that obviously isn't the case judging by the overflowing garbage on my right and the miscelaneous debris piled up on my left. 

Awww chili!  For three years we were the Chili Feed Chairs together.  It was the worst event ever.  It was messy, a hassle, and a huge relief when it was over.  Also, that much chili is kind of gross.  But whatever, it was all for charity!

Here we are at our friends' apartment on Superbowl Sunday with some Jello shots.  Classy!  I loved the all girl superbowl parties we used to have in college!

Congrats Roommate!  (And dad Ben, of course!)

Homecoming Part 2

 The Saturday of Homecoming was quite a whirlwind.  I don't have many pictures because I was busy talking to people all day.  I posed for a few big group shots but they were on other people's cameras so I will have to wait for them to show up on Facebook to see them. 

When I was younger, after I turned 21 and the first few years I was out of undergrad, my friends and I always had a goal to go to the bar at 8 a.m. before the parade and other festivities.  We made it I think maybe one or two years.  Last year I remember getting up at 6:30 am and waking up everyone at Andrea's house and jumping on their beds until they wanted to murder me and also calling and texting everyone who wasn't there repeatedly until they got up.  This year, we finally gave up on the idea and instead planned to be at campus around 9 or 9:15.  We made it!  This lovely shot is me waiting for my ride with all of my friends' mugs that they had left in my car the night before. 

I should mention that Justin was not here.  He left after the ribbon cutting on Friday for a long planned trip.  So, although it may seem like I am focusing this whole post on my own activities, I am not disregarding him.  He wasn't there. 

The traditional brunch at KD was pretty good.  The cook there always makes some kind of egg dish, which is welcome after a night of little sleep.  I have never ventured to the fraternities brunches, but I have heard that there are alot of stale donuts so I think I will stick with KD's brunch.  Haha.  I spent alot of time at that house, more than most alumni probably would after graduation, because my sister lived there and after she moved out her friends still lived there.  Also, some of my friends who still lived in Fargo after I moved to Grand Forks were involved as alum advisors so I would go there with them sometimes.  Well, it's official...I am old now and no one there has any idea who I am!  I used the dorm bathrooms and walked into rooms like I still lived there and none of the girls had any idea who I was.  Roommate and I were up there together (she is a member of house corporation) and she heard me talking and started yelling "Rooooomate" from one of the bathroom stalls and a current member was getting ready and looked at us like we were crazy.  Hahaha. 

The parade was typical, kind of long and boring but liveable.  I used to go to that parade as a child with my brother and sister and my cousins.  It was in the days when the football games were still played outdoors and I remember it always being cold.  I have a specific memory of my cousin Brenna at the parade in her snowsuit!  After we went to our parents' houses my dad and my uncle would dissapear (I believe they were probably having drinks at the Turf or something like that) and my mom and my aunt would take us kids to McDonalds.  We would get Happy Meals.  Remember when in October the Happy Meal toy was not a toy at all but a pumkin or ghost shaped bucket intended for trick or treating?  Oh yeah, we got that!  Then, we would go back to my aunt and uncle's house where their neighbor's teenage daughter was waiting to babysit us for the rest of the day.  Fun times. 

Tailgating came next.  It was short but fun and the weather was perfect.  There were people to see and talk to everywhere.  I think I only got one beer down because I didn't have time to drink!  Which is probably a good thing.  I went to the football game in my dad's place because he had to stay home and work on the farm.  And we lost.  The homecoming game is supposed to be an easy team!  Before the D-1 days, it would always be Moorhead or some team like that and we would win 80-0.  I guess those days of dominance are over...Hahah. 

After tailgating I walked with my cousin Katie and her husband Adam to the Turf and we jostled our way to the bar to order some delicious food.  My sister and our friends were already on the way to being in the bag and some had even moved on to the next bar already.  Wow, I was behind! 

I finally met up with my "old" friends and soon we were indulging in our new homecoming tradition (I guess to replace the old 8am drinking one!).  Since Chub's doesn't serve food, we have started having pizza delivered there.  Hahaha.  Let me tell you, it really hits the spot! 

Another fun weekend.  I love football season. 

Homecoming Part 1

The weekend of homecoming was alot of fun, just as I knew it would be.  On Friday afternoon, there was a special event.  As you may or may not know, Justin was a member of Alpha Gamma Rho, a national fraternity that traditionally emphasized agricultural interests.  It can be found at most land grant universities.  Justin's father, Dennis, was an AGR as well.  He died in 1991. The chapter at NDSU has just completed a big renovation of the chapter house and during the fundraising campaign Justin and his mom, other family members and Dennis's fraternity brothers donated to the project and now Dennis has a room in his name at the new house. 

On Friday afternoon, the new house was formally revealed at a ribbon cutting ceremony.  It was a perfect fall day that emphasized the spirit of homecoming.  It was cool but lovely outside, with leaves falling and the sun shining.  And the house looks so great!  I feel an attachment to AGR myself because my house was right across the street.  The members of our houses and the other greek houses lived our day to day lives together and while we were walking to classes, doing afternoon studying or night time socializing I became friends with alot of great people that remain my friends.  Roommate and I even lived in AGR for one summer to avoid dealing with leasing and paying bills for an apartment. 

Here is the text of the tribute to Dennis that was printed in the ribbon cutting program:   

 

This is Justin with Mary and Michelle outside the room in the new house.  It is on the third floor and outside the windows you see trees and campus.  It's very nice. 

One of the active members brought two gigantic pumpkins for the ribbon cutting and I couldn't resist posing!  I love pumpkins!  Also, I love how you can see my old home KD in the background!

Check back to hear about the rest of the weekend!

Homecoming approaches...

I don't really have anything to write about right now because I am distracted...I have a fun weekend ahead of me, filled with friends I don't see too often and definitely don't see all at the same time!  It's Homecoming week!  I loved this week during undergrad.  It is a beatiful, summer-like Thursday evening right now and if it were 2002, 2003, 2004, or 2005 (the years I was in undergrad) I would be unstoppable right now.  My friends and I would be amped and ready to have a blast!  If we were underage, money and a shopping list would be discreetly slipped to a 21+ person and if I were of age I would be helping my younger friends (usually my sister was the negotiator) get their night started.  There would be float building combined with dance parties, long dinners at the Turf, homecoming show tickets for sale, skit rehearsals for the homecoming show and other fun nonsense.  Something that was nowhere to be found was books or studying. 

By the way, although I was never nominated for the homecoming court like my younger cousin, I was in the show once, when I was a sophomore in college. Our skit was a little caper about stealing hamburgers or something.  It didn't make any sense.  We are supposed to be chicken McNuggets.  I don't know why we are wearing eye black like football players.  This photo makes me laugh every time I encounter it.  

OK, you know that when I get nostalgic I keep carring on and I guess I was wrong at the beginning of this post. I, of course, do have something to write.  It just doesn't pertain to our life, homeownership, or anything specific like that.  Oh well, whatever!  Check back early next week for a full recap of the weekend.  Well, the appropriate parts anyway.  

Sewing projects

I like sewing. I have sewn clothes before. Who could forget this moment?


Hahaha…that’s when I did “Little I” at NDSU when I was a senior. That event is called the Lamb Lead and it entails making a garment out of wool, making a matching blanket to represent your sponsor, putting the blanket on a lamb, and showing the lamb. It also entails an interview with the judges prior to the show and a written test about the wool industry. It was a blast. I always wanted to participate in Little I since the first time I attended my freshman year of college. It is a spirited event dedicated to agriculture. Afterwards there is a dance in the arena and after THAT everyone would stay up all night partying.

When I was a junior I got a work study job sewing theatrical costumes for the theatre department where I expanded my sewing skills beyond the home ec sweatshirt I made in middle school and my senior year I decided it was finally time to do the lamb lead. The sewing a garment out of wool was the easy part…the part about showing an animal was the hard part! The lamb lead was different from other events because the competitor didn’t have to spend the time maintaining and preparing the lamb (which, by the way, was a full grown sheep that was still considered a lamb because it was under 1 year old). I borrowed a nice AGR guy’s lamb that he was preparing to show and spent a few hours with him in the weeks beforehand to get acquainted with my lamb.

During those days of preparation I was exposed for the first time to what is involved in showing animals. Although I spend most of my childhood on a farm, it was not a farm that had livestock and the area I grew up in was more of a cropland type of area. Also, my county was not a big 4-H county (although it used to be during my dad’s childhood…go Garfield Rockets!) I was kind of fascinated by the preparation. The animals were washed and groomed and washed and clipped and once again washed! The black colored cows where sprayed look shinier and even touched up with paint! Some of their fur was combed into a little mohawk down their backs! While this was all going on, they just stood there like they didn’t give a crap about any of this and pooped as they wished.

On the day of Little I, there is a morning show, where the in-depth judging takes place, and the night show, where there is more pageantry (complete with king, queen and princess!). During the morning show, the lamb lead judges asked a few questions (we had already had interviews earlier in the week). I recall being asked the difference between worsted wool and wool felt (which I knew) and what the term “blood weight” meant, which I couldn’t remember (wool is measured by the American Blood Grade System. I still don’t really understand it.)

The photo at the top of the post was taken during the day show. That lamb looks beautiful! (No thanks to me!). For the night show I didn't wear that distracting scarf!

During the night show, the animals were all getting really annoyed and starting to act up. One of the lamb lead ladies’ lambs kept trying to lay down. Her dad had been in the animal area earlier and thought she (the lamb) might be pregnant! Mine was starting the be uncooperative as well and when we were lining up the heifers from the previous show paraded by, also rowdy and starting to thrash around, and got the lambs all agitated. Well, not surprisingly, I didn’t win! Hahaha. I think there were seven competitors in the event and they were all long time 4-H members who had grown up sewing and showing. My outfit, a deep purple knee length coat, was really nice. An old rancher type from my hometown area who was in attendance even told my mom it was the nicest one (and he wouldn’t just say that!) The problem was that I didn’t know how to show a sheep! Hahaha no one told me what to do! I was told, if I remember correctly, to walk on a certain side but I didn’t know. I just did what the others did. Also, apparently, you aren’t supposed to touch the animal when you are showing. I was petting mine the whole time because I thought it would calm her down! Ugh! Oh well, I didn’t care. I had a blast anyway. I had a huge cheering section too!

This was taken at KD before I went to my intervew.


There I am in action during the main event! Coicidentally, that guy in the white at the bottom is the guy who let me use his lamb! I never noticed that before now! He is probably looking away in shame at how bad I was at showing.
My fans!
I started talking about sewing because I was sewing yesterday and today. I made a few quilts and I was going to showcase them! Since this is already so long I will just show one.
I made the top of the garish monstrosity two years ago! It is composed of many of my t-shirts from college. I had previously made one of these from my old high school t-shirts and also a few for other people. This one is the biggest of them all, 5 squares by 5 squares, and I know it is waaaaay over the top and almost hurts the eyes to look at! Kind of like pictures from my college years! I put flannel between the squares and on the back so it is very soft. I knew I had to have that crazy flannel as soon as I saw it and based the rest of the quilt around it. With the front and back and batting it is so heavy and I knew sewing it together would be an ordeal so I put it off for two years. Hahaha. Well, DONE! I have to say that my sewing has improved a lot in two years! If you look up close, this quilt is full of little mistakes and puckers. That’s OK, though, it’s just for my own enjoyment. I had a lot of good times in those t-shirts! And that’s not even all of them! I kept some of my favorites to keep wearing. (Some of the ones in the quilt, especially the ones from my freshmen year, were pretty oversized compared to what I prefer to wear now so I didn’t mind parting with them). I like to search thrift stores and rummage sales for old Bison shirts so maybe one day I can make a themed t-shirt quilt!

I made this square with all the little logos from the fronts of the shirts! They were too cute to throw away!