How Allan Spends His Time

Allan is now 8 months old and is getting more and more grown up. Well. . .kind of. He still likes to play but not as much as he did when we first adopted him. During those early months he would play constantly with anything he could find. Lately he just plays fetch like a dog. His cousin Izzy the white fluffy dog gave him some small mice with little weights in them for Christmas that are good for throwing and batting around. He will bring a mouse to me when I'm sitting on the couch, drop it, and jump down to the floor. Then he will stare with expectation until I toss the mouse. He will chase it and repeat. I had to buy him some new mice because he destroyed the first three already.

In the guest bedroom there is a window with a bush outside of it right up against the glass. Most days it is full of little fluffy birds. These birds are the most fascinating things in the world to Allan. He loves staring out the window at the birds with his tail twitching with the intention of a serious predator. The poor little guy still has his hunting instincts. At least he gets to play fetch!

I snuck up on him! You can't see the birds in this photo but they were there!

Speaking of birds, this little bird house is attached to the deck in our back yard. It was a bright sunny day this morning and I noticed that it was being used by the little birds that also hang out in the bush! There were three of them perched on it. Our little neighbors! I appologize for the picture. I forgot to rotate when I uploaded it so it is sideways. I also took it from inside the house and didn't catch it when there were perching birds.

I grew up on a farm and we had many cats and kittens over the years. We also had a creek in our yard that frequently hosted ducks. Someone in the family (not me, as far as I can remember) compared the way cats sometime sit, with their paws curled under them, to the way ducks look when they are floating. Allan often assumes the "duck" position and I had to make a photo opportunity when Justin brought home this duck decoy (I'm not sure where it came from because Justin doesn't hunt ducks!) Sorry that Allan's eye looks weird in the picture. . .strange things happen to his eyes in photos!

Gooooooing to the Gazebo. . .

Finally, the wedding day. . .Please note that the pictures that look really good and vivid are the ones from the photographer and I take no credit for them.

Here is a fabulous group photo taken with my camera before the wedding. The sun was blinding and my eyes in this picture were being fried by ultraviolent radiation and in many pictures they may or may not be open. I couldn't tell which camera was photographing because all I could see was searing sunlight burning my corneas. I'm sure others were feeling this issue as well because I've discussed with my dad and uncle (I think it was years ago at one of my brother's high school baseball games) the problem of sun sensitivity, squinting and even sun induduced sneezing after being exposed to sunlight after being accustomed to a dark or dim environment (which has a name, by the way, the Photic Reflex, which is believed to be an inherited trait in around 20% of people.) They both have it, as do I and my brother and I'm sure some of my translucent-eyed cousins do as well. It's a decent picture, even though my arm looks like a big blob of white dough compared to my mom's and sister's.

This picture was taken by the photographer of all of the wedding guests. I thought it was kind of silly that they had us do that wierd fist-pump thing. Maybe we should have waved instead! I don't know why my grandpa isn't looking up. Maybe he was having a photic reflex attack or something!

I took this photo of my lovely cousins, sisters of the groom! It is one of the few I took myself at the wedding that doesn't have a head or arm in it so I had to put it on here!

The wedding took place in a gazebo on the hotel premises. I like this picture because it gives a good view of the bride's dress and the bridesmaids' very cute shoes! (I guess they weren't too comfortable, but it was worth it for the cute pictures!)

I love this photo because of how bright and beautiful the dresses look!

Ahhhh, the newlyweds, posing on the beach while the rest of us got into the alcohol and cigars. Again. . .

I love this photo because the colors, especially the ocean, look amazing!

The wedding was celebrated at the Brazilian restaurant at the hotel and included the usual festivities of toasts, champagne, and cake. We also had a performance of the man who lit goblets of coffee on fire! My pictures of that didn't turn out very well so I didn't post any but it was fun to see (we saw it nightly as the coffee carts travelled around the hotel.) I enjoyed it even though I was sick from the food the night before (it was so delicious, too! Why? Why?) and didn't eat or drink much at all. There was no dance arranged just for the wedding, but there was a dancefloor for all of the hotel guests and Greg and Lindsay had a first dance to a lovely solo by Greg's cousin (in-law, I guess!) Staci (She can auctioneer and sing!) then most of us hit "Da Club" (the hotel's lame discoteque) to dance like fools while the DJ tried to fog us out of the place with a smoke machine. He didn't succeed.

So, it was a fun wedding. And I have two more cousins getting married in the spring. Laura "Skjo" in May and my cousin Katie "Kathy Ann" Pratt in March. I have to mention a non-wedding related story. On Wednesday night, I had the coolest dream of my life. My dreams have been vivid lately and two nights ago I was even dreaming about the alphabetical order of people's names. My sister thinks my brain needs more stimulation in daily life and my brain is trying to give itself a workout in my sleep. I agree-this blog is one attempt at it! Maybe I should study for another state's bar exam. That should be sufficient to suppress any crazy and creative brain activity!

Anyway, on Wednesday night in Mexico I dreamed that my dad and my uncle decided to start their own beer label and they were trying to think of a name and we came up with the name "Skjo Bros." It is actually pretty obvious but I never have thought of that in my waking hours and no one else has either that I know of. Very strange. In the dream, I apparently was a graphic designer and whipped out my art supplies and paper and designed a label that portrayed an old fashioned stage (similar to the stage for the nightly shows at the hotel, except it had maroon velvet curtains like the stage at Hatton High School.) It got stupid when my aunt got mad at them because they wouldn't let her join the Skjo Bros. label and told them she hoped for their failure. Like they were all children again and the big brothers were being mean. Hilarious dream, and it is still very clear to me. I don't know where any other detail came from because the hotel bars served beer in cups and the beer in the room was in green bottles while in the dream they were brown. My cousins and I might create some Skjo Bros. merchandise in the future...when will it surface? The following night I dreamed that the mayor of Bismarck came to my house but the mayor was in the form of a random woman I had seen on the beach that day, complete with beach coverup and visor. Weird business, but at least its funny and not scary or disturbing!

More Mexico! Excuse the delay. . .

Hello! I appologize for not continuing my Mexico wedding account faster. I went to Fargo this weekend to ride on a party bus with some college friends and got stranded in a blizzard. Now I really miss Mexico!

I believe I left off in the middle of the week. On Wednesday morning I went on a zip line rainforest tour with Justin, My parents and Kirk and Andrea. It was quite an adventure. We were dropped off at the "Vallarta Adventure" center then boarded this crazy open-air truck that looked like it belonged in a combat zone or in the oil fields of the Middle East! Soon we were cruising down the Freeway being blasted in the face by wind!

We rode for about an hour, through suburbs and smaller towns until we were in the forest of the Sierra Madre. It was an interesting trip because the base of the mountains seemed to be an agricultural area and we passed bean fields, tractors, and seed and chemical stores, complete with farmers hanging around outside. Very authentic. We finally arrived at the "canopy" zip line and were fitted with harnesses that made our shorts look like diapers! My dad was promply given the name "Papa Grande" after the standard helmet was tight for him and was constantly admonished to keep his legs up when he approached the platforms.

The tour was pretty sweet, and included 15 zip lines, as well as some ladders and scary bridges made of rope. There was also a "Tarzan swing". The zip lines were not even scary-the bridges were the worst! There was a great emphasis on safety, however, and the staff never allowed anyone to be without a safety attachment, even for a second. It was a fun experience. I don't have any pictures because they didn't allow cameras because they had photographers hanging from trees. Afterwards, they tried to sell you the photos at exhorbitant prices. The pictures were pretty neat, but very expensive ($15 for a single photo, as well as other more affordable package options that made my senior photo shoot look cheap!) So it will have to be remembered only in my imagination, I guess!

We arrived back at the hotel in time for a late lunch. While we were gone, my cousin, Kara, and Laura's fiance, Kevin, had arrived! We soon found them at the pool and the fun started again.

That is Kevin and Kara, that late arrivals, with Laura in the middle.

The following pictures were taken with one of those disposable water proof cameras. I think the pictures are fun!

Greg and Lindsay

Tim and Gale, the Skjo Bros.

Kara, Barb, Andrea, Cynthia, and myself.

Wednesday night was the Groom's dinner, which we ate at the hotel's Asian restaraunt. I love Asian food and I ate massive quantities. Delicious.

The wedding was on Thursday, so I will address that in a separate post.

Monday and Tuesday

Monday began as beautiful as the days before. Soon we realized that a few people were missing, however. My aunt, uncle and Lindsay the bride had become victims of the common and dreaded travel illness sometimes known as Montezuma's Revenge. They were out of commission for the day, which is a shame! Who wants to miss a day in Mexico? For the rest of us, the day went on as usual. Gale and Barb made an attempt to join us around lunch time but soon returned to the rooms feeling gross, I'm sure. I don't really remember much of what I did that day, actually! The days kind of all run together (in a good way!)

I think this was taken on Monday, but who knows?

On Tuesday morning at breakfast the worst had passed and the missing members joined us again, looking happy to be back in the action! We enjoyed the typical beach and pool until we ladies excused ourselves early to attend a surprise shower for Lindsay, complete with an underwear theme! We hung out in a corner of the bar/lobby area and enjoyed giving advice and telling stories about Greg! My favorite gift was the white fluffy bunny ensemble courtesy of "niece/dog" Izzy who had to stay home in MN! That dog apparently has an instinct for fashionable lingerie!

On Tuesday evening, we took a taxi ride into Puerto Vallarta to eat at a restaurant because the food at the resort was getting repetitive. My uncle heard a reccomendation from someone he talked to at the hotel to try a place called Turrito's in "Old Vallarta." The cab ride went through the city until we were driving on cobblestone roads and the cab was rumbling like a vehicle on a gravel "washboard" road. We stopped in front of the restaurant and went in after several Americans sitting at tables and practically hanging out the open windows encouraged us to join the fun! It was full of Americans (Old Vallarta is a place with alot of tourists.) It was a sports restaurant with American sports channels on TV and a combination of Mexican dishes and ribs and seafood. The food was good in my opinion, but the people who ate the various manifestations of shrimp were really going crazy (shrimp really isn't my thing-especially when you have to pull the legs off! Yikes!) I thought the bathroom was hilarious (it was plastered with "beefcake" posters of shirtless men from the 1990's) and I had a delicious and gigantic glass of Corona which I was delighted by because the resort didn't have it!

This place knows what the ladies want to see!

After that, my mom, Andrea and I hit up la farmacia (which as being tended by a man who looked about 19 years old and didn't know anything about any of the medications!) while my aunt tried to get the truth in a sliver shop and the others drank cheap cans of Corona on the sidewalk. Ahhh. . .I love Mexico. . .even touristic Mexico. . .I wish I could go whenever I wanted!

More excitement ahead on Wednesday and Thursday!

So Much Fun!

Our first two days in Mexico, Saturday and Sunday, were just so lovely. All we thought about was fun and more fun. We consumed countless watered down all-inclusive drinks and migrated between the beach and the pool, with its convenient swim-up bar. Notice my beach bag in the picture below. . .my aunt bought us those so we all had multi-colored matching bags to use for the week. Very nice.
This was taken at the beach buffet. It was a pretty large buffet that was shared with many birds. I thought it was strange, though, that the birds were not the usual gulls but smaller, black birds that were not as aggressive as gulls usually are. I didn't see a seagull the whole time we were there! (I'm not complaining.)

This photo was taken at the "dry side" of the swim up bar. I don't remember what matching drink we all have. . .it could be a Miami Vice, a daquiri, a Bahama Mama. . .oh what's the difference! I'm sure it was delicious!

The afternoon on Sunday flew by and tension was building because the Vikings game was starting soon! Would it happen? Would it finally happen? Everyone excused themselves to get ready for the game and gathered in the "Sport Bar" in the hotel. The "Sport Bar" had probably 20 TV screens that were all about the size of my laptop screen. Great. At least the game was broadcast though. We joked that we would arrive and a soccer/futbol game would be showing instead of "American Football" but that didn't happen.

The game was close all along and we spent halftime eating a frantic dinner in the hotel buffet. We all know what happened after that. . .what a shame, but not a suprise! A good aspect of the evening was that some surprise guests arrived! My aunt Barb's sister had told us at the beginning of the trip that none of her kids were able to make it on the trip. On Sunday night, her son and daughter-in-law arrived unexpectedly from Montana! I always thought it would be fun to surprise someone like that!

!Vamos a Mexico!

We got back from Puerto Vallarta, MX last night! My cousin, Greg, got married there. We arrived around lunchtime on Saturday and returned a week later. I have so many pictures and stories that I am going to make this a multiple day Mexico extravaganza! Otherwise, it would be way too long and no one who is reading a blog is wanting to read a chapter book!

So. . .I'll start at the beginning, only because I think these pictures of Allan are cute. He wouldn't leave me alone when I was orgainizing my "resort wear" collection (furnished by Old Navy, TJ Maxx and various clearance racks) and constantly was laying on the clothes and getting in the suitcase. I think he knew a long separation was coming!

I finally shut him out of the guest room, which is where he often hangs out because there is a bush that usually has birds perched in it outside the window. He continued to pester me from beyond the door.

I think this cat is acting a little bit desperate! Al, ladies don't like that!

Before we met with the rest of the group, we, along with my parents and Andrea and Kirk, parked at this TravelLodge hotel so we could sleep for a few hours before taking a cab to the airport early in the morning. We "kids" were put in this ridiculous room that I think was really intended as a kids room! The bedspreads, curtains and lampshades all had this weird teddy bear pattern and there were framed posters on the wall with larger versions of the images! It was really funny and my parents' room wasn't like this. We were just lucky! (By the way, the rest of the group includes my grandparents, my aunt and uncle Karen and Terry, my aunt and uncle Gale and Barb (parents of the groom), my cousin Laura (my cousin Kara and Laura's fiance Kevin joined us later in the week), the bride and groom, my aunt Barb's brother and sister and thier spouses and a few of their kids, and the bride's parents, sister and brother-in-law, aunt, uncle and their family, including a cute little two-year-old.) And of course, Greg and Lindsay!

It was an exciting occasion because the siblings (Gale, my dad Tim and Karen) hadn't vacationed together since a trip to Winnipeg in 1964. Also, I before this trip I had never been on a trip with my cousins from my dad's side of the family before! (although the three youngest and my brother were missing-sorry guys!) I knew this would be fun!

The flight went fine and eventually we escaped the bad weather and the mountainous, green land of Mexico emerged under us. We all went right to our rooms to change into our beach clothes and the afternoon was beautiful! We ate at the beach buffet which seemed bountiful and delicious and went to work drinking the menu of slushy, blended drinks. Above is a picture of the hotel from the beach side.
Here is a nice shot of the beach. I have many more like this from different angles at different times of day, so maybe I will show more later!

El Bano

We're going to Mexico in a few days so I might be incorporating some Spanish into my posting! Sorry, I don't know how to add the tilde symbol above the "N"!

I have been irritated by the condition of my areas of the bathroom for awhile. I was going to organize it after we were completely moved, but of course I never did. So now I finally did! I have always kept my cosmetics in a big makeup bag. The problem with that situation is that I have to dig for everything and all of the compacts, the lovely silvery clinique compacts as well as the cheaper drugstore ones, end up scuffed, broken, and streaked. The makeup bag ends up the same way-gross, full of pulverized eyeshadows, and generally nasty. I saw these little boxes in the $ aisle at Target and thought they would serve my purpose.

Some of you may think it still looks pretty chaotic. . . you should have seen it before! I sure love that huge cabinet!

I also have a bunch of crap in the linen closet, such as hairspray, rarely used products like aloe vera gel for sunburn, and, apparently, an aresenal of makeup bags that could rival the number of makeup bags in my old sorority house belonging to all of the girls combined. What you are seeing isn't even all of them! I threw one away and eliminated a few before we moved and there are a few more in that big grey bag you can see protruding in the corner! In my defense, I get all of these for free when I buy Clinique products and I don't bother donating them because the thrift stores and rummage sales are already full of them (apparently I'm not the only one with this habit.)
Justin's basement project is now finished. Well, not completely because there is no carpet or furniture yet, but last night he covered the nail holes in the baseboards and tonight he painted them. I haven't taken pictures of it yet, but it looks the same as it did in previous pictures so you can refer back if you like!

A Story to Make Your Day!

I heard some news that delighted me yesterday. I was at my sister's house in Fargo and she was talking to my mom on the phone in another room while I was getting ready in her bathroom and experimenting with all of her makeup and products. When she got off the phone she casually said, "Mom said to tell you that the Carlsons adopted that cat you were worried about."

Now some background information. . .In early December I was at home and I went to the grocery store to buy a Christmas tree for the Ford Garage. I was examining the trees lined up in front of the store on the sidewalk when I noticed a brown tabby cat with a fluffy tail. It was kind of shivering and when I petted it I could feel how bony it was. It looked right into my eyes and meowed once, like it was saying "Hi." The cashier didn't know whose it was, and it seemed to be homeless.

I couldn't take it with me because our dog at the farm doesn't like cats and would have just chased it away or worse. The town doesn't have any formal animal control procedures so that wasn't an option. I also was worried that kids might be cruel to it and about how cold it seemed. (I know animals can adapt to cold, as I have seen throughout my years with farm cats and dogs, but this one seemed affected by it, as though it didn't; have the thick fur of an outdoor cat.) I thought about the cat all day. The image of the poor thing, looking for a family by the Christmas trees, was so sad and I really wanted to help it! I have continued to think about it during the past several weeks.

This weekend my parents went to a party at a friends' house and they heard that our friends had adopted a stray cat! My mom asked if it was the cat that was hanging out by the store and it was! Mr. Carlson encountered the cat as well and decided that it should live with them! That news really made my day. . .my week! That is one lucky cat! This family already has a cat that is as fat as a beach ball so I know that my Christmas cat will never be deprived! They also have a young daughter to give it alot of attention. I still don't know the gender of the cat or what its new name is but those are minor details!

New Trim! Better Than Christmas!

Justin installed new baseboard trim in the basement this week. It's all done now! Now all we need carpet.


Around this neigborhood, there are gigantic squirrels. Well, they are giant compared to the ones I saw growing up on the farm and the ones that frequented UND and NDSU! They have huge bushy tails and they look like cats! I tried to capture one on film a few days ago, along with the pretty frosted trees.

Can you see it? It is perched on the side of the tree, directly above the hole in the birdhouse at the bottom of the picture. I know, it's not a very good picture. But its either a picture of a squirrel or another picture of my cat. What? You want to see another picture of Allan? OK, OK, OK. . .

That's a big paw, kitten! And big ears, too!

January, Tedious January

Is it over yet? January is my least favorite month. Whatever gym I have ever belonged to has always been really busy and congested (but only for January, of course!) I want people to get healthy, but I also want them to give up already, because I know most will, so I can have my favorite equipment back and a close parking space! The weather is bad and cold (so cold!), and there isn't much to do except watch TV and clean.

There are some good aspects of January. My favorite aspect: Bargain shopping for wrapping paper and sweaters! Also, my brother, sister, and cousin all have birthdays one week apart on the 11, 18, and 25! Justin likes it because he can go ice fishing and there is always football on TV. We have more good aspects this year because a new baby joined the family on Friday the 8th! I'm not sure how to spell his name, so I'm not going to butcher it right now, but he is the son of Jenny and Cory and i can't wait to see him. Also, we are going to Mexico for a week at the end of the month for my cousin's wedding! I get to leave for one whole week of my least favorite month!

Here are some photos from the last week. . .

Justin loves a perfectly cleared driveway! Good thing one of us does! We have a lot of snow, and there are still 3 months left of possible snowfall! Blaahhhh!



The envelopes from our Christmas cards that I separated while I was organizing them. So many friends and relatives! I love hearing from everyone!

Yes, that is Allan on top of the fridge. I think we have a problem. He is constantly striving to find the highest surface possible. I think he found it! I will admit that he lookos very dignified. He's not a baby anymore!


A few days ago I was trying to put a dish away and one of the brackets in this cabinet broke and I caught it just in time before it collapsed and broke all of the dishes! Can you imagine the tragedy if all of this lovely Fiestaware broke! I can't think of it! It's fixed now, though. Sorry the photo is sideways. I forgot to rotate it!