BHS

  Is there such a thing as "Bored Housewife Syndrome"? Because if there is, I am most certainly afflicted (even though I'm not a "housewife"). Holy cow, I have been bored the last few days. It's not like there's nothing to do. In fact, there's plenty to do, I just don't feel like doing any of those particular things (laundry, vacuum, clean the bathroom - yuk!). I don't even have a book to read. The week before my surgery, I tore through three books in as many days. Typical summer reading - smutty chick lit. I'm still waiting for one to come from the library, and one to come from B&N. At least my brain is getting some entertainment.

  I guess it all comes down to the fact that my life lacks excitement. I need something to spice things up a bit. Any ideas? I have a few, but a) those things are frowned upon by mainstream society, and b) there's nobody close by. Let's just say that in my mind, I'm a wild woman, but in real life, I'm just the nice lady that knits and works at the toy store. HELP!

Fine (in the musical sense)

I'm using a musical analogy. If you can't read music, I apologize, but it seems to fit the situation.

I went back to the DS and reached the Coda.  Now I get to play to the end of the piece. Yes, the repeat being another surgery, and the coda being the completion of the whole reconstruction process. Normally, I hate playing codas - I can never move my eyes across the page fast enough and I miss a measure or two. But this one isn't so bad, I only missed a beat. I'm back to work, back to knitting, and hopefully I'll be back on my bike in a week or so. Kind of like Bombasto - one of my favorite marches to play, even though the trumpets have barely 3 beats of rest in the entire piece (I'm always a little dizzy by the end) -no rest, no sitting still.

And I'm sure you're wondering how do I like the new girls? Well, there's still some swelling, and they're not quite their final shape yet, but they are little and perky! I'll let you know in a few days.

One More Time!

  One more time, and I hope it's the last! Surgery, that is. Tomorrow is the final step of my reconstruction - removal of the tissue expanders (aka "the rocks"), and placing of the permanent implants. It's only a day surgery, and both the doctor and the nurse assured me that it will be a piece of cake. I'm counting on them to be right, because I have a dentist appointment and band practice on thursday, and I'm going to work on friday.

  I'm certainly not sitting around waiting either: Four performances (with 2 different bands) in the last 6 days have kept my mind (and lips) occupied. I just got home from #4, which was fun (as usual). I have a whole week off until my next gig! Whatever will I do with myself? I'm thinking I may do some knitting, maybe read a book or four.

  Since it's getting near bedtime, I need a snack. No food after midnight, you know. I believe there's a big bowl of ice cream with my name on it.

That long?

Wow, it's been 13 days since I posted. I'd better get something up or everyone will think I dropped off the face of the earth. I've been sort of busy. Here's a quick rundown:

• School ended
• I weeded the garden a few times
• I went to work
• I did laundry (a lot)
• I cooked (a lot)
• I kept Katrina entertained
• We went to the zoo
• I did more laundry
• I played my trumpet on several occasions
• I went to Menards, hauled mulch

And that is a little of the goings-on around here - just your basic everyday stuff.

The next week is a busy one: three LMS performances, including our annual Hangar Dance; a City Band performance, and my last surgery. Hooray, more surgery. This one is supposed to be a piece of cake, just a day surgery. I'm really looking forward to being done (and buying new bras - new, little bras).

Our pictures are up from our wonderful biking trip. You can see them Here. Leave a comment by your favorite!

It goes by quickly

Wow, one week ago today, we were driving. Driving all day to Greenville, SC. It was a long drive, with at least one pit-stop per state. But it really was not a boring drive. We went from one extreme to the other - flatlands of Illinois to mountains of Tennessee and the Carolinas, and skirted the edge of a huge storm for much of the way.

Yes, that is my hand

 We narrowly missed some hail outside of Knoxville. We came through just a couple of minutes after it fell. We stopped for gas and this was what we found.

But we made it to Greenville unscathed.

It was a "whirlwind" kind of trip, it seemed a lot shorter than it looked on the calendar because two whole days were spent in the car. We had one day to explore the city - it was a chilly and rainy day.
The next three days were filled with biking of all sorts: biking by me on a time trial, watching the pros race in two separate races, Karl and I riding our charity ride. I brought just as much bike clothing as I did regular clothes - and it all got worn.

Karl and I made it to the finish of the Stars and Stripes Challenge.

I think the highlight of the trip (for me, anyway. I can't speak for Karl) was meeting my favorite pro rider. He was busy getting ready for the race and I felt bad bothering him, so I didn't talk to him very much.

He is Ted King.

After all the biking was done, we packed up the car and headed back to the land of cheese. Another long drive. A drive I hope we will make again.

Catch-up

  I've finally had a chance to catch my breath after a busy weekend. The weather wasn't fabulous for Syttende Mai, but the sun came out for the parade, and that's all I wanted. I found a couple of newer food stands to support - chicken salad on lefse from one of the Lutheran churches, and some fabulous kettle corn (I think it was Ernie's Kettle Korn, but I'm not sure). The line was too long for corn-on-the-cob, so I missed out. Now I'll have to wait until July. Despite smelling their delicious perfume for 2 days, I managed to avoid the deep fried cheese curds from the FFA (lats year they gave me a belly-ache).

Yesterday was mildly productive, and today I launched into the garden preparation. It was time to move all the compost-turned-dirt from the pile to the garden. It was not an easy task, every shovelful needed to be sifted to remove all the "big stuff" like sticks, garbage, etc. It took me all day - about 10 wheelbarrows full. Then I had a little help from Katrina moving all the nice dirt around the garden. Next up - figure out how to get the rototiller into the garden (there's no gate, the fence is buried to keep the bunnies out, and the tiller is much too heavy to lift over the fence). But, that's Karl's department. I hope it gets done in the next couple of days, so I can plant this weekend. I'm glad I put  off buying my plants because we actually had frost warnings last night.

I do need to get it done this weekend, because we leave for vacation in a week! Yippee!! OK, so the 12 hour drive will be a little annoying, but I'm sure it will go by quickly because it will all be new scenery. Oh, and we'll be staying overnight at the in-laws the night before, and that's always weird. But I really looking forward to the trip to Greenville, where I hope the weather will be warm and sunny. I really need to get some vitamin D on these pasty legs.

Everyone's Norwegian!

This morning, I realized that it's almost May 17th. If you're Norwegian, or if you live here in Stoughton, you know that means Syttende Mai. And as the saying goes: Everyone's Norwegian at Syttende Mai! Syttende Mai is the celebration of Norway's independence from Denmark, and here in Stoughton we have a HUGE festival. Parades, races, lots of food (yes, even lutefisk bratwurst), and royalty.

Two years ago, our household hosted some royalty - Katrina was selected to be the 2009 Princess. We had no idea what it entailed, and when I look back on it, I wish we could have taken even more photos.

Here she is at the State Capitol, along with the Prince, the King and Queen, and our State representative. We attended a session of the House, where the official proclamation was read, and the royalty was introduced.

We also attended the official banquet, where they serve a cake with the Prince & Princess's picture on it! The downtown bakery also sells cookies all weekend with the same photo. I think my mom still has one in her freezer! She got a custom plaque, hand painted by a "famous" rosemaling artist (as famous as you can be in that style, I guess).

Of course, the mother of a Princess has to look the part!

But the best part was the parade. There are 2 parades, one on Saturday (the smaller of the 2), and the "big" parade. Karl hates parades, he almost never watches them, especially the Syttende Mai parade (since it usually lasts more than 3 hours!). I was thrilled to find out that he'd be the one driving the Prince & Princess's car in the big parade! So, in 2009, the entire Baumeister family was in the parade, along with Grandma!

Since then, Syttende Mai weekend has been a little of a letdown.