Life on Sandy Point

Friday, January 4, 2008

2008 Resolutions

Dan and I generally don't make a big deal out of New Year Resolutions but we have already made some changes that I consider to be "earth friendly." I thought my blog would be a good place to share some of those changes with you. Here are a few to get started and more will follow now and then as I have some nifty green images to use.

1. Reduce plastic shopping bags. I purchased 3 Trader Joes bags and keep them in my car. When I do get the plastic bags, we re-use them for kitty litter, trash bags, or donate them to the library, humane society or the new thrift store.

2. Stop buying styrofoam products-they are evil. When I have leftovers at a restaurant I request a bag if it's appropriate.

3. We drive Dan's car whenever possible as it gets 35 mph compared to my measly 18.

Okay, that's it for now. Feel free to chip in with your own suggestions. We're starting to recycle more but I'll save that for another post.

Ahhh... Friday

Dan is on his way home, in fact I think I heard him just pull in. I have Norah Jones playing and am working on my first glass of chardonnay. I have the oven warming up for dinner. I am preparing an Italian meal this evening..Di Giornio supreme rising crust frozen pizza. Yes, I work all day and cook too.

I stayed a little late at school today cleaning science trays. We were dissecting owl pellets and identifying tiny little mouse bones, doesn't that sound like fun? It really is. Go to kidwings.com and you can try it yourself without getting your fingers dirty. Then Mary, Shirley and I spent some time gabbing about the thrift store. We're going to work tomorrow morning and I plan to bring my camera so I can snap some pictures to blog later. I stopped in yesterday with some of the items that Pam and Jen donated over my lunch hour and there were about 10 people in there working like busy little bees. I gathered about 4 more bags of my own various things and have them in my truck ready to go. It does feel good to reduce clutter.

Shari will be happy to hear that Dan reminded me that FNL is on tonight and it's a new episode, something about a tornado so it should be exciting. I am looking forward to watching more of season one this weekend too. Did anyone watch The Apprentice last night? I didn't watch last season because they were in LA and I was bored with the whole thing, well, they brought it back to NYC and are using celebrities and Omarosa, who is a "reality celebrity." Gene Simmons rocked last night and Omarosa was a big pain as usual and should have been fired but of course they didn't fire her because she makes things interesting since everyone hates her so expect her to stick around for awhile. I think she is jealous of the real celebrities.

Time to put the pizza in. Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Taking down the tree?

I know many of you have your tree down already but I think I will be leaving ours up awhile longer to add a little cheerfulness to January. This is the first year the tree has been in this corner and I like it there. I did take off most of the Christmasy type ornaments and eventually I'll be down to just the lights. One year, I kept it up through the end of February and had a Valentine's tree. I don't think I'll carry it that far this year but you never know.

My car said it was 10 degrees on the way home today but it felt colder than that. The thaw is going to feel good this weekend. I remember 6 or 7 years ago when we had a long stretch of

-20 to -30 below and thought 0 degrees would actually feel warm and it DID! Does anyone else recall that? Dealing with the cold is a badge of honor we can wear in Mn but that doesn't mean that we won't whine about it.

I might have some fun interior pictures for you in a couple of days if I get permission from the owner.... Stay tuned!

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Happy New Year!!

I made chicken pot pie (nice warm comfort food for January) and had a little fun with the extra crust. I've been cooking a lot in the last couple of days and have lots of leftovers for school lunches such as lasagna, shepherd's pie, and chicken noodle soup.

It has been so cold today. We spent a good chunk of last evening and today watching season 1 of Friday Night Lights. Dan and I both like the program as Shari predicted we would. Dan was starting to watch season 2 this year so it's fun to go back and catch up. Whenever the writers strike ends we'll be caught up. I also collected enough items to fill another box for the thrift store, a small dent. How did you spend your first day of 2008?

A Little Smith Choir

Christmas Songs 1

More Smith Christmas

Deb & Tim

Ted & Pam

Warren, Ted, Matthew

Alex & Tina

Smith Christmas

We had a great time last weekend celebrating Christmas with the Smith Family. Everyone was great about posing and I got some great shots and cute videos of the kids too.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Happy 2008

Wishing all my dear blog readers a very happy 2008!

Opening Soon!

Here's the Open/Closed sign that I made for the Bargain Bazaar. January 15 is the day the store will open. There's still a LOT of work to do but there are a lot of hands pitching in so I know everything will work out. Thanks to Mom, Pam, Shari & Jen for the items you have donated and to those of you have told me you will be donating. We still have a big need for children's and teen clothing. So if you are doing some January cleaning please keep our store in mind. I plan to work on my closets tomorrow and my kitchen cupboards too!

Fun with our nieces

We got to have Courtney & Kelsey last Thursday while Jen & Eric celebrated their 10th anniversary. Dan took the girls to a matinee-Alvin & the Chipmunks while Sarah and I shopped at the mall. We had pizza at Sarah's house with Ann and then went back home to set up their bed in front of the TV so we could have a slumber party/pillow fight (short!) while watching Ratatouille. C fell asleep halfway through but K made it through the end. Dan and I loved the movie and discovered that we could tape off of pay per view with our CDR. Very cool! Friday the girls had fun helping me feed the birds and then making tents inside the house and making a puppet show. Before we knew it their parents were back to pick them up! They were lots of fun!!

Saturday we headed for Shakopee for the Smith Christmas and I have lots of photos that I will download in the next couple of days plus a few more movies too.