I spent a couple of hours last night in the emergency room with my grandma and my great-aunt Sal, who happens to work in the ER. My grandpa was taken by ambulance to the ER from the nursing home he lives at because he was having trouble breathing and was very lethargic.
He has some sort of respiratory infection and had a fever but seemed to be feeling better after they pumped him full of Tylenol and antibiotics. He'll probably be staying overnight there for a couple of days.
It's a surreal experience to see the man who gave you whisker rubs and snowmobile rides and who could make and fix anything in his woodshop looking so small and helpless in his hospital bed, hooked up to machines.
Get better soon, grandpa.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Post-Christmas Blues
So sad that Christmas is over. I keep wanting to listen to my Christmas songs I downloaded from iTunes, but somehow can't retain that holiday spirit to stick it out through two or three songs. Bummer. The magic of the season is gone.
I took the week before Christmas off, which was the best thing I could have done. I got so much accomplished and felt like a half-way decent mother who was able to stay home and clean, bake cookies, etc. Heck, even the dog was happy to see me around during the day. I was able to attend Erika's choir concert without feeling rushed and the house was clean enough to have Erika's grandmothers over for brownies afterwards (ok, the baked goods were actually store-bought, but whatever.)
Now our house is a mess with post-Christmas crap scattered everywhere. Our tree is drying up and spreading needles everywhere, poking me through my new socks from Santa when I step on them. Erika needs to go back to school. She calls me at work several times a day, telling me I need to bring home dinner from: Quiznos, Rafferty's, McDonalds, etc. - you name it - and that we need to go shopping at Target so she can get outfits for her new iDog.
I'm looking forward to New Year's Eve. Erika may be staying at a friend's house and Nels and I will likely be parked in front of the TV watching Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. We're not an exciting couple, but hey, we have fun.
I'm sure our sad little tree will still be in our living room as we ring in the new year.
I took the week before Christmas off, which was the best thing I could have done. I got so much accomplished and felt like a half-way decent mother who was able to stay home and clean, bake cookies, etc. Heck, even the dog was happy to see me around during the day. I was able to attend Erika's choir concert without feeling rushed and the house was clean enough to have Erika's grandmothers over for brownies afterwards (ok, the baked goods were actually store-bought, but whatever.)
Now our house is a mess with post-Christmas crap scattered everywhere. Our tree is drying up and spreading needles everywhere, poking me through my new socks from Santa when I step on them. Erika needs to go back to school. She calls me at work several times a day, telling me I need to bring home dinner from: Quiznos, Rafferty's, McDonalds, etc. - you name it - and that we need to go shopping at Target so she can get outfits for her new iDog.
I'm looking forward to New Year's Eve. Erika may be staying at a friend's house and Nels and I will likely be parked in front of the TV watching Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. We're not an exciting couple, but hey, we have fun.
I'm sure our sad little tree will still be in our living room as we ring in the new year.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
There's going to be a wedding!
We got a call today from Nels' brother, Mark, who told us that he and his girlfriend, Patti, are getting married! Yay! I get another sister-in-law. I'm very happy for them. She's a great person.
But it sounds to me like their wedding plans are going to be TomKat or J.Lo style ... quite secretive until the big day so the paparazzi don't show up in their helicopters. The wedding will be the weekend of Feb. 22, but they're not telling us where, just that we have to take that Friday off from work and make sure our entire weekend is free for the festivities. Our only clue is that the wedding will take place about three hours from Brainerd.
Sounds intriguing, doesn't it?
But it sounds to me like their wedding plans are going to be TomKat or J.Lo style ... quite secretive until the big day so the paparazzi don't show up in their helicopters. The wedding will be the weekend of Feb. 22, but they're not telling us where, just that we have to take that Friday off from work and make sure our entire weekend is free for the festivities. Our only clue is that the wedding will take place about three hours from Brainerd.
Sounds intriguing, doesn't it?
Saturday, November 18, 2006
No sooner had I written this and ...
So Erika babysat for a new family that lives in our neighborhood tonight, the same night that I had my column published about her babysitting experiences ... and I mentioned she hadn't had any big problems babysitting ... until, of course, tonight, of all nights, she had a mini-disaster.
Erika was caring for two little boys, ages 2 and 4, and the oldest has severe food allergies. While nothing bad happened in that way and the boys were great, Erika was checking out one of the epi-pens a little too closely, opened the top, thinking it was the "pretend" epi-pen that the dad used for a demonstration because she couldn't see the thin needle and the thing discharged on the table. She cleaned it up, she wasn't poked with the epi-pen but she spent the night tormented, feeling guilty and worrying that they were going to be mad at her. She called me a couple of times, saying that she just felt so guilty. I felt so bad for her. She said they were really nice about the whole disaster, she told them immediately, but she still felt so bad.
I guess it's a good lesson for her -- to leave the dang epi-pens alone -- but it's hard when you're the mom and it's your kid that makes a bad choice. I guess I just need to be prepared. I'm sure she's got bigger mistakes to make along the way.
Here's the column I wrote:
The baby sitter sometimes needs baby-sitting
Mom sometimes feels like a receptionist for the baby sitter in demand.
By JODIE TWEED
Staff Writer
There's that oh-so-brief moment in a young girl's life after the Barbies and Bratz dolls are packed away into storage but the trappings of teen life - dating boys, summer jobs, cell phones - have yet to fully consume their lives.
It's the age of the perfect baby sitter, or the time when most girls begin their teenage baby-sitting careers with unbridled enthusiasm.
My 13-year-old daughter, Erika, started baby-sitting for other families about six months ago, which has made my life as a parent all the more busy.
I've become her receptionist of sorts, making sure she is aware of her various baby-sitting duties and briefing her on the names and ages of the children she will be caring for. While she could easily do much of that herself - and it annoys her when I'm constantly reminding her of the obvious - it's hard to stop being a parent. Plus, her baby-sitting has to be worked out with our family schedule, which can be hectic.But I'm thrilled that's she's found something she truly enjoys and she's helping out other families as well. She is mostly baby-sitting for families from our church and those who live in our neighborhood.
I've noticed that baby-sitting for other people's children has made her more responsible at home. She's also proud of herself for earning some extra spending money, which came in handy for her when we went to a concert at the Xcel Energy Center this week. She could spend her own hard-earned cash, instead of mine, on an overpriced concert T-shirt.
Baby-sitting is more than just about earning money. A teen has to enjoy it. As my daughter has told me before, baby-sitting allows her to be a kid again by playing with the children and she likes that part the best.Baby-sitting starting at 11 allowed me to earn enough money to pay for my Madonna and Duran Duran cassette tapes and countless Tiger Beat magazines, but I haven't heard of a lot of other teens who baby-sit as often as my friends and I once did. So I asked a few moms what they look for in a baby-sitter or even if they use them. Several moms said they find their sitters through referrals from friends or by finding teen sitters through their church.
Courtney Neifert, a stay-at-home mom, moved to Baxter four years ago with her husband. They don't have any local family members to lean on to occasionally baby-sit so they've had to rely on hiring baby-sitters for their daughter, Lindsey, 1, and son, Brandon, 3."Sometimes it's tough," Neifert said on finding a sitter. She said she and her husband try to go out two to three times a month and are in need of a sitter those nights. They have two older teen girls they now use, but she recommends having at least three different names of sitters in case they're too busy with their own activities.
"They're about to get their driver's licenses, which is great, but their social lives are expanding," Neifert said of her teen sitters.
Joleen Merrill, Breezy Point, is a coordinator of the Mothers of Preschoolers group that meets at the Crosslake Log Church. She said finding a sitter is often a topic among the other moms in MOPS, who often make recommendations to one another. Merrill has two children, ages 1 and 3. She said they haven't yet hired a baby-sitter but she and her husband "talk about it a lot." She said they've done a baby-sitting swap with their friends where they watch each other's children when they need it.
"It works out nice because you don't have that added expense of baby-sitting and going out for dinner too," said Merrill of trading baby-sitting services with friends.Merrill said she, too, started baby-sitting at age 11 or 12 adding, "And I don't know for the life of me how those people learned to trust me."
She said when she and her husband do decide to hire a sitter, it'll likely be a girl who attends their church where she would know the family.While I trust my daughter, no matter who she's baby-sitting for I'm at home wondering how things are going. I'm always worrying about whether she's being responsible, respectful and picking up after herself and the children. I'm hoping the children aren't dangling precariously from a balcony or that whatever she's making for dinner isn't burning on the stove. But so far, she hasn't had any baby-sitting disasters (that I'm aware of) and I try to call at least once while she's baby-sitting to check and see how she's faring.
Like a teenage Mary Poppins, she has a red canvas tote bag she designed in her baby-sitter's training class last spring that she carries with her whenever she goes baby-sitting. The bag contains all the essentials - stickers to use as a reward or bribe, coloring sheets, parent information forms and a copy of her baby-sitting training certificate.
It's been a transition for me to become a baby-sitter's mom, especially when you still consider your child to be your own baby. But it's so much fun to watch her come home after a long night's work and be happy with the job she accomplished all on her own.
Erika was caring for two little boys, ages 2 and 4, and the oldest has severe food allergies. While nothing bad happened in that way and the boys were great, Erika was checking out one of the epi-pens a little too closely, opened the top, thinking it was the "pretend" epi-pen that the dad used for a demonstration because she couldn't see the thin needle and the thing discharged on the table. She cleaned it up, she wasn't poked with the epi-pen but she spent the night tormented, feeling guilty and worrying that they were going to be mad at her. She called me a couple of times, saying that she just felt so guilty. I felt so bad for her. She said they were really nice about the whole disaster, she told them immediately, but she still felt so bad.
I guess it's a good lesson for her -- to leave the dang epi-pens alone -- but it's hard when you're the mom and it's your kid that makes a bad choice. I guess I just need to be prepared. I'm sure she's got bigger mistakes to make along the way.
Here's the column I wrote:
The baby sitter sometimes needs baby-sitting
Mom sometimes feels like a receptionist for the baby sitter in demand.
By JODIE TWEED
Staff Writer
There's that oh-so-brief moment in a young girl's life after the Barbies and Bratz dolls are packed away into storage but the trappings of teen life - dating boys, summer jobs, cell phones - have yet to fully consume their lives.
It's the age of the perfect baby sitter, or the time when most girls begin their teenage baby-sitting careers with unbridled enthusiasm.
My 13-year-old daughter, Erika, started baby-sitting for other families about six months ago, which has made my life as a parent all the more busy.
I've become her receptionist of sorts, making sure she is aware of her various baby-sitting duties and briefing her on the names and ages of the children she will be caring for. While she could easily do much of that herself - and it annoys her when I'm constantly reminding her of the obvious - it's hard to stop being a parent. Plus, her baby-sitting has to be worked out with our family schedule, which can be hectic.But I'm thrilled that's she's found something she truly enjoys and she's helping out other families as well. She is mostly baby-sitting for families from our church and those who live in our neighborhood.
I've noticed that baby-sitting for other people's children has made her more responsible at home. She's also proud of herself for earning some extra spending money, which came in handy for her when we went to a concert at the Xcel Energy Center this week. She could spend her own hard-earned cash, instead of mine, on an overpriced concert T-shirt.
Baby-sitting is more than just about earning money. A teen has to enjoy it. As my daughter has told me before, baby-sitting allows her to be a kid again by playing with the children and she likes that part the best.Baby-sitting starting at 11 allowed me to earn enough money to pay for my Madonna and Duran Duran cassette tapes and countless Tiger Beat magazines, but I haven't heard of a lot of other teens who baby-sit as often as my friends and I once did. So I asked a few moms what they look for in a baby-sitter or even if they use them. Several moms said they find their sitters through referrals from friends or by finding teen sitters through their church.
Courtney Neifert, a stay-at-home mom, moved to Baxter four years ago with her husband. They don't have any local family members to lean on to occasionally baby-sit so they've had to rely on hiring baby-sitters for their daughter, Lindsey, 1, and son, Brandon, 3."Sometimes it's tough," Neifert said on finding a sitter. She said she and her husband try to go out two to three times a month and are in need of a sitter those nights. They have two older teen girls they now use, but she recommends having at least three different names of sitters in case they're too busy with their own activities.
"They're about to get their driver's licenses, which is great, but their social lives are expanding," Neifert said of her teen sitters.
Joleen Merrill, Breezy Point, is a coordinator of the Mothers of Preschoolers group that meets at the Crosslake Log Church. She said finding a sitter is often a topic among the other moms in MOPS, who often make recommendations to one another. Merrill has two children, ages 1 and 3. She said they haven't yet hired a baby-sitter but she and her husband "talk about it a lot." She said they've done a baby-sitting swap with their friends where they watch each other's children when they need it.
"It works out nice because you don't have that added expense of baby-sitting and going out for dinner too," said Merrill of trading baby-sitting services with friends.Merrill said she, too, started baby-sitting at age 11 or 12 adding, "And I don't know for the life of me how those people learned to trust me."
She said when she and her husband do decide to hire a sitter, it'll likely be a girl who attends their church where she would know the family.While I trust my daughter, no matter who she's baby-sitting for I'm at home wondering how things are going. I'm always worrying about whether she's being responsible, respectful and picking up after herself and the children. I'm hoping the children aren't dangling precariously from a balcony or that whatever she's making for dinner isn't burning on the stove. But so far, she hasn't had any baby-sitting disasters (that I'm aware of) and I try to call at least once while she's baby-sitting to check and see how she's faring.
Like a teenage Mary Poppins, she has a red canvas tote bag she designed in her baby-sitter's training class last spring that she carries with her whenever she goes baby-sitting. The bag contains all the essentials - stickers to use as a reward or bribe, coloring sheets, parent information forms and a copy of her baby-sitting training certificate.
It's been a transition for me to become a baby-sitter's mom, especially when you still consider your child to be your own baby. But it's so much fun to watch her come home after a long night's work and be happy with the job she accomplished all on her own.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Cheetah mamas and their girls
Erika, her friend, Carissa, and I had a Cheetahlicious good time Wednesday night at the Xcel Energy Center.
We went to the Cheetah Girls concert and from what I could see, the entire audience was made up of moms and their daughters, some as young as 3 or 4, dressed in leggings and cheetah prints. And I'm talking about the Cheetah moms AND their daughters, many of whom were wearing matching cheetah clothing. Yikes.
Vanessa Hudgens, the female lead in High School Musical, was supposed to be the opening act but the girls were so excited that in her place were Aly and A.J. (And if you don't have a preteen daughter or a guilty pleasure of watching the Disney Channel , you probably have no idea who I'm talking about.) Erika and Carissa knew all of Aly and A.J.'s songs and had a great time singing and dancing along.
When the audience would scream or cheer, it was like 50,000 school girls were yelling in unison on the playground. Pretty funny, but sweet, too. It was nice to see all these young girls at a G-rated highly entertaining performance. (Unlike the Gwen Stefani concert, which Erika and I enjoyed, but where we had a long row of girls under the age of 10 seated behind us singing along to "This shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S." That seemed a little inappropriate.)
Erika and I have been to a few concerts together in the past year. In addition to the Black-eyed Peas/Gwen Stefani concert, we've been to see Sara Evans, Jessica Andrews, SheDaisy, SuperChick, and maybe one or two others I can't remember.
Until I moved to Nashville when I was 20, I hadn't seen many musical performances live so it was fun when I got the internship at the "Nashville Now" show, formerly on TNN. Every night for a year I was able to watch celebrities and entertainers perform, which was great for a small-town girl like me.
While for a long time I thought concerts were sort of a waste of money, a 5-year-old girl named Mariah and her dad, Scott, taught me otherwise.
When Erika and I went to the Jessica Andrews concert in Walker last summer, we ended up sitting right next to Scott and Mariah, whom I've known for many years but not very well. Scott had lost his wife, Mariah's mom, to a brain tumor about six months before the concert and I told him how sorry I was about him losing his wife and that I hoped they were doing well. His wife had been ill for quite some time, since Mariah was 2, I believe.
He told me that he and Mariah had been going to many, many concerts together from Barney the purple dinosaur (Mariah's favorite) to jazz concerts with no words (Scott's favorite, Mariah couldn't stand them, she told us) since around the time that his wife got sick.
He said doctors told him that live music released endorphins in your brain, making you feel good. So concerts were their own version of therapy, to help them both get through losing Mariah's mom.
It was touching, too, to see little Mariah snuggled in on her dad's lap, clapping along and smiling, as she watched the show.
So even though it seemed a bit silly to see those moms dressed in cheetah prints at Wednesday's concert, I soon found myself thinking of Mariah and her dad, wondering if they were out there somewhere in the Xcel Energy Center, and hoped if they were, that she was having a cheetahlicious good time, too.
We went to the Cheetah Girls concert and from what I could see, the entire audience was made up of moms and their daughters, some as young as 3 or 4, dressed in leggings and cheetah prints. And I'm talking about the Cheetah moms AND their daughters, many of whom were wearing matching cheetah clothing. Yikes.
Vanessa Hudgens, the female lead in High School Musical, was supposed to be the opening act but the girls were so excited that in her place were Aly and A.J. (And if you don't have a preteen daughter or a guilty pleasure of watching the Disney Channel , you probably have no idea who I'm talking about.) Erika and Carissa knew all of Aly and A.J.'s songs and had a great time singing and dancing along.
When the audience would scream or cheer, it was like 50,000 school girls were yelling in unison on the playground. Pretty funny, but sweet, too. It was nice to see all these young girls at a G-rated highly entertaining performance. (Unlike the Gwen Stefani concert, which Erika and I enjoyed, but where we had a long row of girls under the age of 10 seated behind us singing along to "This shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S." That seemed a little inappropriate.)
Erika and I have been to a few concerts together in the past year. In addition to the Black-eyed Peas/Gwen Stefani concert, we've been to see Sara Evans, Jessica Andrews, SheDaisy, SuperChick, and maybe one or two others I can't remember.
Until I moved to Nashville when I was 20, I hadn't seen many musical performances live so it was fun when I got the internship at the "Nashville Now" show, formerly on TNN. Every night for a year I was able to watch celebrities and entertainers perform, which was great for a small-town girl like me.
While for a long time I thought concerts were sort of a waste of money, a 5-year-old girl named Mariah and her dad, Scott, taught me otherwise.
When Erika and I went to the Jessica Andrews concert in Walker last summer, we ended up sitting right next to Scott and Mariah, whom I've known for many years but not very well. Scott had lost his wife, Mariah's mom, to a brain tumor about six months before the concert and I told him how sorry I was about him losing his wife and that I hoped they were doing well. His wife had been ill for quite some time, since Mariah was 2, I believe.
He told me that he and Mariah had been going to many, many concerts together from Barney the purple dinosaur (Mariah's favorite) to jazz concerts with no words (Scott's favorite, Mariah couldn't stand them, she told us) since around the time that his wife got sick.
He said doctors told him that live music released endorphins in your brain, making you feel good. So concerts were their own version of therapy, to help them both get through losing Mariah's mom.
It was touching, too, to see little Mariah snuggled in on her dad's lap, clapping along and smiling, as she watched the show.
So even though it seemed a bit silly to see those moms dressed in cheetah prints at Wednesday's concert, I soon found myself thinking of Mariah and her dad, wondering if they were out there somewhere in the Xcel Energy Center, and hoped if they were, that she was having a cheetahlicious good time, too.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
There's a separation of church and state for a reason
If I have to watch one more political ad on TV I think I'm going to vomit. I can't wait until Wednesday when this whole election is over. I'll be busy working all night I'm sure covering the local House races. Hopefully results will magically come in early so I can get outta here.
I've been trying to get Erika to come with me to go vote (They have a Kids Voting program here where kids can vote, obviously unofficially, at the same time as their parents) but she refuses because she's sick of all the campaign ads.
So I've been trying to become more involved with my church lately ... Erika enjoys the youth activities, including being a member of the church drama club, and she's also involved in Confirmation. Also, I've been having fun teaching Sunday school to the 3-year-olds.
I get a lot of e-mails from our youth director about various events and I've been trying to volunteer often in some capacity. I was a waitress at the recent lutefisk supper and then I helped with this intergenerational Reformation Day event last weekend.
Anyway, so I open up an e-mail from her today and it's a forwarded message from Dr. James Dobson to his "Minnesota friends," telling us why we need to vote for Mark Kennedy, rather than Amy Klobuchar. She had literally e-mailed at least 100 people, including all the Sunday School teachers.
So I'm now fuming. I don't need to be told whom I should vote for ... I'm capable of figuring that out for myself.
Nels doesn't think it's such a big deal, that people are entitled to their own opinions and just delete the e-mails. (She sent it to me twice.) But I feel if I don't stand up and say something, that it looks like I'm complacent. Then again, I may change my mind once my blood pressure returns to normal.
In any case, I think it's best when the church butts out of my politics ... and politics butts out of my church.
I'll step down from the pulpit now. :)
I've been trying to get Erika to come with me to go vote (They have a Kids Voting program here where kids can vote, obviously unofficially, at the same time as their parents) but she refuses because she's sick of all the campaign ads.
So I've been trying to become more involved with my church lately ... Erika enjoys the youth activities, including being a member of the church drama club, and she's also involved in Confirmation. Also, I've been having fun teaching Sunday school to the 3-year-olds.
I get a lot of e-mails from our youth director about various events and I've been trying to volunteer often in some capacity. I was a waitress at the recent lutefisk supper and then I helped with this intergenerational Reformation Day event last weekend.
Anyway, so I open up an e-mail from her today and it's a forwarded message from Dr. James Dobson to his "Minnesota friends," telling us why we need to vote for Mark Kennedy, rather than Amy Klobuchar. She had literally e-mailed at least 100 people, including all the Sunday School teachers.
So I'm now fuming. I don't need to be told whom I should vote for ... I'm capable of figuring that out for myself.
Nels doesn't think it's such a big deal, that people are entitled to their own opinions and just delete the e-mails. (She sent it to me twice.) But I feel if I don't stand up and say something, that it looks like I'm complacent. Then again, I may change my mind once my blood pressure returns to normal.
In any case, I think it's best when the church butts out of my politics ... and politics butts out of my church.
I'll step down from the pulpit now. :)
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Ballet bullies
I'm not sure why I should be surprised, but I'm constantly amazed at how thoughtless some people can be.
Last night I took Erika and her friend Hayley to watch one of their best friends dance the lead role of Clara in "The Nutcracker" in Little Falls.
It was a wonderful experience. You should have seen the girls' beaming faces as they watched their friend just light up the stage as she danced. While I don't know her friend that well, I was amazed at how well she danced. She made ballet look almost effortless, which of course, it isn't. The girls each bought her a rose to give her after the performance and then also made handmade cards for her at our house before the show. Her mom, who graciously gave us the tickets, said her daughter was so excited to have her friends there, watching her perform.
Anyway, a guy behind me during the performance listened to a football game via headphones the entire time, giving play-by-play information to the people he was with during breaks in the action and the intermission. (Quite loudly, I might add, since he had the stupid earpieces in and didn't realize he was talking louder than he should be.) What kind of role modeling does that provide for children when dad is more interested in listening to a football game than being "forced" to watch his child (likely a daughter since there were only 3 or 4 boys in the performance) dance in a performance she's probably been practicing for many months?? The women he was with seemed to find it pretty amusing, but I thought it was so sad.
After the play, Erika and Hayley (who sat a half-row away from me because, after all, I'm the mom and chauffeur!) were upset because some older girls seated behind them were making hurtful remarks about their friend as she danced.
They also said some older people wouldn't stop talking loudly during the entire performance, even though they tried the Minnesota Nice version of getting people to shut their pie holes by turning around to look at them, hoping they'd get the hint. They didn't.
On the way home we talked about how some people can be so rude and maybe in the case of those nasty girls, it's because they're jealous of her. I'm hoping the girls don't tell their friend about the rude ballet bullies because it will likely hurt her feelings and, after all, who cares what those girls think?
It bothers me when people display their own special kind of stupid like that in public. They should have been home watching television.
Last night I took Erika and her friend Hayley to watch one of their best friends dance the lead role of Clara in "The Nutcracker" in Little Falls.
It was a wonderful experience. You should have seen the girls' beaming faces as they watched their friend just light up the stage as she danced. While I don't know her friend that well, I was amazed at how well she danced. She made ballet look almost effortless, which of course, it isn't. The girls each bought her a rose to give her after the performance and then also made handmade cards for her at our house before the show. Her mom, who graciously gave us the tickets, said her daughter was so excited to have her friends there, watching her perform.
Anyway, a guy behind me during the performance listened to a football game via headphones the entire time, giving play-by-play information to the people he was with during breaks in the action and the intermission. (Quite loudly, I might add, since he had the stupid earpieces in and didn't realize he was talking louder than he should be.) What kind of role modeling does that provide for children when dad is more interested in listening to a football game than being "forced" to watch his child (likely a daughter since there were only 3 or 4 boys in the performance) dance in a performance she's probably been practicing for many months?? The women he was with seemed to find it pretty amusing, but I thought it was so sad.
After the play, Erika and Hayley (who sat a half-row away from me because, after all, I'm the mom and chauffeur!) were upset because some older girls seated behind them were making hurtful remarks about their friend as she danced.
They also said some older people wouldn't stop talking loudly during the entire performance, even though they tried the Minnesota Nice version of getting people to shut their pie holes by turning around to look at them, hoping they'd get the hint. They didn't.
On the way home we talked about how some people can be so rude and maybe in the case of those nasty girls, it's because they're jealous of her. I'm hoping the girls don't tell their friend about the rude ballet bullies because it will likely hurt her feelings and, after all, who cares what those girls think?
It bothers me when people display their own special kind of stupid like that in public. They should have been home watching television.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Happy Halloween
Erika decided before Halloween last year that it was going to be her last year trick-or-treating. I was fine with that, after all, it's such a pain trying to dodge costume-clad kids running around Pequot as I'm trying to keep track of what doorway Erika and her friends are trick-or-treating at while I'm their chauffeur.
While I was at work yesterday it made me a little sad thinking that Erika wouldn't be going trick-or-treating this year, that she had "aged" out of the tradition. But I was looking forward to being home for a change on Halloween and being able to pass out candy. Whenever Nels was home on Halloween, he would hide out in our computer room with all the lights off, usually eating some of the candy I bought for the trick-or-treaters while he was avoiding them. Yes, a regular Halloween Scrooge.
Our first trick-or-treater was our neighbor, Carissa, who was dressed as a giant candy corn. It didn't take much arm-twisting but she talked Erika, who was dressed as a "Drama Queen" witch, into going trick-or-treating with her and a friend. It was 27 degrees and off they went. They had a great time. I was worried about letting them go out alone, but she had my cell phone and they had perimeters on where they could go and how late they could stay out.
I only had about 5 or 6 kids stop by all night and I finally turned the front light off around 8:15 p.m. because it had been an hour since the last trick-or-treater stopped by. I think the cooler temps was a big deterrent this year. It was a little disappointing.
My coworkers are now enjoying the candy bowl leftovers, although they're typically groaning every time they reach in the bag for another Twix or sour gumball.
And I'm pretty happy that I still have a 13-year-old who hasn't yet grown out of celebrating Halloween.
While I was at work yesterday it made me a little sad thinking that Erika wouldn't be going trick-or-treating this year, that she had "aged" out of the tradition. But I was looking forward to being home for a change on Halloween and being able to pass out candy. Whenever Nels was home on Halloween, he would hide out in our computer room with all the lights off, usually eating some of the candy I bought for the trick-or-treaters while he was avoiding them. Yes, a regular Halloween Scrooge.
Our first trick-or-treater was our neighbor, Carissa, who was dressed as a giant candy corn. It didn't take much arm-twisting but she talked Erika, who was dressed as a "Drama Queen" witch, into going trick-or-treating with her and a friend. It was 27 degrees and off they went. They had a great time. I was worried about letting them go out alone, but she had my cell phone and they had perimeters on where they could go and how late they could stay out.
I only had about 5 or 6 kids stop by all night and I finally turned the front light off around 8:15 p.m. because it had been an hour since the last trick-or-treater stopped by. I think the cooler temps was a big deterrent this year. It was a little disappointing.
My coworkers are now enjoying the candy bowl leftovers, although they're typically groaning every time they reach in the bag for another Twix or sour gumball.
And I'm pretty happy that I still have a 13-year-old who hasn't yet grown out of celebrating Halloween.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
A year already?
Nels and I celebrated our first anniversary together. ... We are quite the exciting couple. No roses, not even a card. We both figured, "What's the point?" We were just happy neither of us had to work today.
Instead we watched the Vikings beat the Seahawks and then headed out for Alaskan king crab at a nice restaurant near my parent's home where we had our groom's dinner and where I learned to make salads as a "salad girl" at age 16. We dropped Erika off at my parent's house beforehand.
It would have been quite romantic, considering the location, but you know, it's hard to hold hands and gaze into one another' s eyes when you're trying not to cut yourself with the buttery scissors you're using to cut away the shell to get to the crab meat.
We were so stuffed that we didn't even have a piece of our wedding cake that has been in my grandma's freezer for the past year. But my mom and Erika did and they said it was still very good.
It's hard to believe we've been married a year.... only what, 49 years to go?
Instead we watched the Vikings beat the Seahawks and then headed out for Alaskan king crab at a nice restaurant near my parent's home where we had our groom's dinner and where I learned to make salads as a "salad girl" at age 16. We dropped Erika off at my parent's house beforehand.
It would have been quite romantic, considering the location, but you know, it's hard to hold hands and gaze into one another' s eyes when you're trying not to cut yourself with the buttery scissors you're using to cut away the shell to get to the crab meat.
We were so stuffed that we didn't even have a piece of our wedding cake that has been in my grandma's freezer for the past year. But my mom and Erika did and they said it was still very good.
It's hard to believe we've been married a year.... only what, 49 years to go?
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Jesus loves the little children ...
How cute are they?
OK, you can't see their little mugs, but what a fun bunch of 3-year-olds.
I had to share a photo of my 3-year-old Sunday school students wearing their masks we made last week during our unit on Noah's Ark. They are ravens and doves, the birds that helped Noah.
I started helping with the preschool Sunday school class at our church last year and when they decided to split the class into separate 3-year-old and 4/5-year-old classes, I immediately volunteered to teach the 3-year-olds. While last week we only had five children in class (one boy didn't want his photo taken), we have had as many as nine kids.
I was nervous about everything at first, especially since it's been 10 years since I was the parent of a 3-year-old but so far I'm loving it. It's sort of my own personal test to see how much I enjoy teaching and whether it would be something I'd like to do in the future. So far, so good. I can see the rewards that go along with teaching when the kids are having fun and learning, too.
I try to do a fun craft with the kids every week, whether it be making baby Moses baskets out of coffee filters or making hand and feet angels. The kids loved it when we painted one of their feet yellow and had them stand on a blue piece of construction paper. Then we painted their hands white, which became the angel wings and used googly eyes on their angel face.
While I don't consider myself a crafty person at all, I now find myself scanning the internet in search of fun crafts that would fit into our lessons.
This Sunday we're learning about baby Jesus and how as a grown up Jesus healed a sick man so I'm off to Wal-Mart in search of a toy nativity set that the kids can play with.
While I love my students, I can't imagine letting them play with the expensive ceramic nativity Nels and I got for our wedding last year.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
So scary ...
So my grandma had a man stop at her house Sunday afternoon while she was outside washing windows. The man asked to use the phone, said his dad had car trouble up the road, but my grandma, who was apprehensive, told him that her dog gets upset when strangers come inside so she would go get her portable phone and bring it out to him. The man then said something like the call was long distance and that he'd just go to the auto shop up the highway and use the phone and he drove off in his red pickup.
The situation unnerved my grandma and she told several of us about it later on Sunday.
Well, she was shocked today to find the man's photo on page 5A of today's paper. The man is a fugitive, wanted by the FBI for the murder of another man on the Red Lake Reservation. My aunt called the auto shop up the road that the man said he would stop at, and the owner said no one stopped by there on Sunday. He had an employee there all day.
Such a scary experience and it gives me chills, thinking about what could have happened had my grandma allowed this man in her home.
I found a website that offers safety tips for single women but the tips could apply to everyone.
It's frightening to think how quickly life could change. I'm reminded of this everytime I've turned on the television to hear about another school shooting, rape or murder.
Be safe.
The situation unnerved my grandma and she told several of us about it later on Sunday.
Well, she was shocked today to find the man's photo on page 5A of today's paper. The man is a fugitive, wanted by the FBI for the murder of another man on the Red Lake Reservation. My aunt called the auto shop up the road that the man said he would stop at, and the owner said no one stopped by there on Sunday. He had an employee there all day.
Such a scary experience and it gives me chills, thinking about what could have happened had my grandma allowed this man in her home.
I found a website that offers safety tips for single women but the tips could apply to everyone.
It's frightening to think how quickly life could change. I'm reminded of this everytime I've turned on the television to hear about another school shooting, rape or murder.
Be safe.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Before you go out with him ...
The cops and courts reporter I work with shared a nifty little Internet tool with me today and I thought I'd share it with my single friends navigating through the dating scene.
Anyone can conduct online public criminal history record checks in Minnesota through the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Web site for free. All you need is the person's full name and date of birth. (Scroll down to the link "MN Public Criminal History Record Search" on the main page.)
The Web site contains public data maintained by the MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and includes criminal convictions for 15 years following the completion of the sentence. It includes: the offense, court of conviction, date of the conviction and sentence information.
So before meeting him for a drink, ask for his full name and date of birth.
And why not Google him while you're at it.
Happy searching!
Anyone can conduct online public criminal history record checks in Minnesota through the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Web site for free. All you need is the person's full name and date of birth. (Scroll down to the link "MN Public Criminal History Record Search" on the main page.)
The Web site contains public data maintained by the MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and includes criminal convictions for 15 years following the completion of the sentence. It includes: the offense, court of conviction, date of the conviction and sentence information.
So before meeting him for a drink, ask for his full name and date of birth.
And why not Google him while you're at it.
Happy searching!
Sunday, September 24, 2006
An example of why Nels and I need a baby
How cute is Daisy in her new Halloween costume? She looks thrilled doesn't she? You can't see it in the photo, but our two cats were sitting behind me, mocking her as I snapped away.A friend at work last week brought in a photograph of her dog dressed up in her pajamas (Yep, you know who you are, avid blog reader you) and I teased her about how she needs more to do in her life.
Well, apparently I do too. Erika and I went to Target today and we thought this was the greatest dog costume and therefore we needed to buy it. Nels hasn't seen it yet, but we're going to have our barking pumpkin greet him at the door when he comes home from work tonight.
I can't wait.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Monday, September 11, 2006
Friday, September 08, 2006
Trick or Treat???
First I had to buy school supplies for Erika back in July because I was afraid we'd have a repeat of last year's school shopping trip when we couldn't find any book covers two weeks before school started ... and now the large stores have all their Halloween candy out on the shelves.
Which means I'm staring at a jar of pumpkin-shaped candies that my coworker brought in today located on the top of the filing drawers in front of my cubicle. So far I have resisted the urge but then, it's only Sept. 8. Halloween's nearly two months away.
What's next? Candy canes in October? Peeps in January?
Is nothing sacred??
Which means I'm staring at a jar of pumpkin-shaped candies that my coworker brought in today located on the top of the filing drawers in front of my cubicle. So far I have resisted the urge but then, it's only Sept. 8. Halloween's nearly two months away.
What's next? Candy canes in October? Peeps in January?
Is nothing sacred??
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Malls, iPods and 13-year-olds
Well, it's official. I'm the parent of a teenager.
Erika turned 13 Friday.
She spent most of the day babysitting Nathan, the 9-year-old boy she's been babysitting every weekday for the past two weeks. I took the two out for dinner one night when Nathan's dad worked late and being around Nathan made me really want a son. He lives with his single dad and loves drawing race cars (in action, complete with squealing tires) and is deeply attached to his six frogs and one large toad, which he caught himself and now keeps in a terrarium, feeding them crickets and grasshoppers. I asked Erika if there was a way we could adopt him but she agreed his dad probably wouldn't go for it. Plus, it would put her out of a job, I guess.
Being around Nathan made me realize how much Erika has grown up in the past few years. This summer she moved all of her Bratz dolls and other toys out of her bedroom because they're too "babyish." Her room now is filled with posters of dreamy boys and one or two Lindsay Lohan and Hillary Duff posters. It's crazy. She has a larger CD collection than I do.
So for her birthday she got lots of great stuff - a gift card to the movie theater from her aunt and uncle and cousins; a "really loud" alarm clock, to get her up in the mornings during the school year from her great-grandma; and a queen-sized bed from her grandparents who spoil her the most.
From her cool mom and stepdad, Erika got three tickets to the "Cheetah Girls" concert at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul in November. Also performing is the lead actress from "High School Musical." Erika is allowed to bring one friend to the concert with us. I will be serving as the designated driver and keeper of the disposable cash. She was very excited about it, but thought the "Cheetah Girls" birthday cake was a little over the top.
It's hard to know where to draw the line.
Her dad and stepmom got her an iPod shuffle for her birthday so I'm now charging it on my computer. She's already picked out about 90 of her favorite songs to put on it. I don't own an iPod, so I'm a little jealous. She said a few of her friends already have iPods, including her stepbrother, who is 11 days younger than she is, so I guess we're behind the times in our house.
Tonight Erika and her b/f/f, Rachel, are going to a PG-13 movie (yes, now they CAN!) together while again, I'm the designated driver. Then it's slumber party time at our house. This means a sleepless night for me and Nels because of all the chitter-chatter, laughing, loud music, etc.)
Then Sunday, Erika, Rachel and another friend or two (not sure what the head count is yet) and I are going to head to St. Cloud for a day of shopping as part of her first official teenage birthday party.
This time I get to meet my b/f/f, Suzi, there, too. :) Suzi's driving from the Twin Cities to meet us, hang out with her goddaughter but mostly to chat about boys with me.
I should call her and ask if she wants me to bring my Madonna or Duran Duran tapes.
Oh, to be 13 again.
Erika turned 13 Friday.
She spent most of the day babysitting Nathan, the 9-year-old boy she's been babysitting every weekday for the past two weeks. I took the two out for dinner one night when Nathan's dad worked late and being around Nathan made me really want a son. He lives with his single dad and loves drawing race cars (in action, complete with squealing tires) and is deeply attached to his six frogs and one large toad, which he caught himself and now keeps in a terrarium, feeding them crickets and grasshoppers. I asked Erika if there was a way we could adopt him but she agreed his dad probably wouldn't go for it. Plus, it would put her out of a job, I guess.
Being around Nathan made me realize how much Erika has grown up in the past few years. This summer she moved all of her Bratz dolls and other toys out of her bedroom because they're too "babyish." Her room now is filled with posters of dreamy boys and one or two Lindsay Lohan and Hillary Duff posters. It's crazy. She has a larger CD collection than I do.
So for her birthday she got lots of great stuff - a gift card to the movie theater from her aunt and uncle and cousins; a "really loud" alarm clock, to get her up in the mornings during the school year from her great-grandma; and a queen-sized bed from her grandparents who spoil her the most.
From her cool mom and stepdad, Erika got three tickets to the "Cheetah Girls" concert at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul in November. Also performing is the lead actress from "High School Musical." Erika is allowed to bring one friend to the concert with us. I will be serving as the designated driver and keeper of the disposable cash. She was very excited about it, but thought the "Cheetah Girls" birthday cake was a little over the top.
It's hard to know where to draw the line.
Her dad and stepmom got her an iPod shuffle for her birthday so I'm now charging it on my computer. She's already picked out about 90 of her favorite songs to put on it. I don't own an iPod, so I'm a little jealous. She said a few of her friends already have iPods, including her stepbrother, who is 11 days younger than she is, so I guess we're behind the times in our house.
Tonight Erika and her b/f/f, Rachel, are going to a PG-13 movie (yes, now they CAN!) together while again, I'm the designated driver. Then it's slumber party time at our house. This means a sleepless night for me and Nels because of all the chitter-chatter, laughing, loud music, etc.)
Then Sunday, Erika, Rachel and another friend or two (not sure what the head count is yet) and I are going to head to St. Cloud for a day of shopping as part of her first official teenage birthday party.
This time I get to meet my b/f/f, Suzi, there, too. :) Suzi's driving from the Twin Cities to meet us, hang out with her goddaughter but mostly to chat about boys with me.
I should call her and ask if she wants me to bring my Madonna or Duran Duran tapes.
Oh, to be 13 again.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Walleye kisses and other Canadian happenings
We are back from Canada. What a fun trip. Nels was even surprised that I enjoyed spending a week in the Canadian wilderness.
We spent the week at Camp Lake St. Joseph, a small resort located on Lake St. Joseph in which you have to be boated to the resort. No roads, just a massive waterway, lead to this resort. This lake is comparable to Lake Mille Lacs and Leech Lake but there are only two small resorts on it and a couple of fly-in places far to the west, I think. We rarely saw other anglers on the lake.
I had only caught one walleye before in my short fishing career and that was a month before while Nels and I were night fishing on North Long Lake. While in Canada, fishing was our full-time job and surprisingly it was very fun. We fished probably 8-11 hours a day, except the day before we left because the wind was blowing so hard. We fished about 4-5 hours that day. We figure we averaged about 25 walleye each day and brought home 8 walleyes (our limit), cleaned, frozen and packaged, for my grandparents to enjoy and Nels' mom, who also loves fish.
I caught the largest walleye, a 23-incher, beating Nels, whose largest walleye was 21 inches. Nels was a little disappointed we didn't catch massive northern pikes on this trip. Maybe next time.
I realized when Nels and I were sitting around our cabin one night that this was the first time probably ever that I've been so disconnected from the rest of the world. No TV, radio, newspapers, cell phones. Nothing. I worried about what Erika was doing while I was away (she was having the time of her life being roommates with her great-grandma!) but other than that, it was wonderful.
I think it was the first time I've truly been on a vacation. No distractions. No long lines filled with annoying people to listen to at DisneyWorld or Universal Studios. No worrying about what was going on at work, at home, etc.
So we'd like to go back. Maybe to a different lake, something a little closer to the Canadian border. It was about an 11-hour trip one way and we passed a lot of great fishing lakes along the way, Nels said.
This is what I learned in Canada:
• When you're around Canadians you start to unconsciously begin imitating their accents. Nels and I had fun with this.
• Magazines are a great feature in an outhouse. They keep your mind off the spiders, bugs and other animals that may be lurking around, as well as the moose and bears you imagine waiting outside for you when you make the dash to your cabin. We enjoyed the Ontario Out Of Doors magazine previous anglers left for us so much that we brought it home.
• Walleyes may taste good to eat but you don't want to kiss one. I finally learned how to properly hold a walleye after the largest one I caught slipped out of my hands and planted a big slimey smooch on my lips and cheek. It was so nasty. And it got goo all over my J.Lo-inspired black sweatsuit I got on clearance at Wal-Mart before we left. Nels hates this outfit but it kept me warm up north.
• And lastly, I learned I'm a much happier and contented person in the wilderness. I think it was the simple lifestyle I enjoyed. This could mean someday I'll end up like the unabomber, living in a small cabin in the woods, or as the neighborhood cat lady. I tried to talk Nels into buying a Canadian fishing lodge with me that we could run each summer but he had to go and keep reminding me we have no money.
Oh well. The cat lady thing may work out.
We spent the week at Camp Lake St. Joseph, a small resort located on Lake St. Joseph in which you have to be boated to the resort. No roads, just a massive waterway, lead to this resort. This lake is comparable to Lake Mille Lacs and Leech Lake but there are only two small resorts on it and a couple of fly-in places far to the west, I think. We rarely saw other anglers on the lake.
I had only caught one walleye before in my short fishing career and that was a month before while Nels and I were night fishing on North Long Lake. While in Canada, fishing was our full-time job and surprisingly it was very fun. We fished probably 8-11 hours a day, except the day before we left because the wind was blowing so hard. We fished about 4-5 hours that day. We figure we averaged about 25 walleye each day and brought home 8 walleyes (our limit), cleaned, frozen and packaged, for my grandparents to enjoy and Nels' mom, who also loves fish.
I caught the largest walleye, a 23-incher, beating Nels, whose largest walleye was 21 inches. Nels was a little disappointed we didn't catch massive northern pikes on this trip. Maybe next time.
I realized when Nels and I were sitting around our cabin one night that this was the first time probably ever that I've been so disconnected from the rest of the world. No TV, radio, newspapers, cell phones. Nothing. I worried about what Erika was doing while I was away (she was having the time of her life being roommates with her great-grandma!) but other than that, it was wonderful.
I think it was the first time I've truly been on a vacation. No distractions. No long lines filled with annoying people to listen to at DisneyWorld or Universal Studios. No worrying about what was going on at work, at home, etc.
So we'd like to go back. Maybe to a different lake, something a little closer to the Canadian border. It was about an 11-hour trip one way and we passed a lot of great fishing lakes along the way, Nels said.
This is what I learned in Canada:
• When you're around Canadians you start to unconsciously begin imitating their accents. Nels and I had fun with this.
• Magazines are a great feature in an outhouse. They keep your mind off the spiders, bugs and other animals that may be lurking around, as well as the moose and bears you imagine waiting outside for you when you make the dash to your cabin. We enjoyed the Ontario Out Of Doors magazine previous anglers left for us so much that we brought it home.
• Walleyes may taste good to eat but you don't want to kiss one. I finally learned how to properly hold a walleye after the largest one I caught slipped out of my hands and planted a big slimey smooch on my lips and cheek. It was so nasty. And it got goo all over my J.Lo-inspired black sweatsuit I got on clearance at Wal-Mart before we left. Nels hates this outfit but it kept me warm up north.
• And lastly, I learned I'm a much happier and contented person in the wilderness. I think it was the simple lifestyle I enjoyed. This could mean someday I'll end up like the unabomber, living in a small cabin in the woods, or as the neighborhood cat lady. I tried to talk Nels into buying a Canadian fishing lodge with me that we could run each summer but he had to go and keep reminding me we have no money.
Oh well. The cat lady thing may work out.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Cutest couple ever
My grandparents, Les and Vonnie Tweed, will be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary on Aug. 31.
I mention this now because I'm hoping I have a sizable worldwide Tweed cousin following on this blog (who else is going to read my ramblings but family???) and I just wanted to remind them so they can call or send a card. I think a small family gathering is being planned in their honor. Ask Aunt Shari.
Their wedding photo and anniversary announcement will be in the Dispatch and Echo in a couple of weeks (Shhhh...don't tell them. It's a surprise.) but I wanted to upload their photo so you could see what a couple of hotties they were. :) Grandma was 17, a child bride, when she got married and Grandpa had returned from serving in the South Pacific in the Navy during WWII. She's now 77 and he's 82.
Did we inherit some great genes or what??
Naughty kitty
Cost for us to adopt Callie, a stray who showed up in our garage and jumped straight into Nels' arms last November: $0.
The cost to spay Callie after she went into heat, scaring not only me, Erika and Nels, but Daisy our dog and Sam, our puzzled 15-year-old male cat: $120.
The cost for de-worming medication after Callie puked translucent flat worms on my new Rachael Ray magazine in the living room: $20. (Poor Sam had to get de-worming meds, too.)
The reaction on Nels' face when I tell him through this blog that last night I caught Callie gnawing on the top of one of our brand new dark wood dining room chairs, destroying the wood finish, because she's one naughty, little kitty: PRICELESS.
Monday, August 14, 2006
You're from Pequot Lakes ... Did you know Dru?
Here's a column published in Tuesday's Dispatch that I wrote about Dru Sjodin:
“You’re from Pequot Lakes. ... So, did you know Dru Sjodin?”
It’s a question I’ve gotten about a half-dozen times this summer when I’ve met new people, whether it be while I was hanging out with friends or out on assignment for the newspaper doing stories on area festivals and other events.
And it’s a question that’s tough for me to answer.
No, I did not know Dru. I graduated from Pequot Lakes High School years before she did, although I have a faint memory of seeing Dru at my cousin’s high school graduation party at my aunt’s and uncle’s home. Dru graduated from PLHS in 2000 and my cousin, Hans Tweed, graduated in 1998 with Dru’s brother, Sven.
That’s the simple answer, but it’s not entirely accurate.
I did know Dru, not in life but in death. I covered the extensive search for Dru after she went missing from a Grand Forks shopping mall Nov. 22, 2003. I spent those five months writing stories about Dru and the impact her disappearance had on those from Pequot Lakes. I interviewed my neighbors, my former teachers, Dru’s family and friends, including my cousin, who took a leave from college to spend those months searching the snow-covered fields of North Dakota in sub-zero temperatures for his missing friend.
Along with hundreds of other people, including my daughter and most of my extended family members, I lit a pink candle, in hopes that Dru would return home, at a candlelight vigil for Dru in downtown Pequot Lakes in December 2003.
Dru did come home, but not the way anyone had wished for. Her body was found April 17, 2004, in a ravine near Crookston. Along with more than 1,500 people, I attended Dru’s funeral on April 24, 2004, at Grand View Lodge in Nisswa.
As emotionally detached a news reporter may attempt to be while covering difficult stories like this, it was particularly heart-wrenching for me to watch the tears streaming down the faces of my cousin and his friends as they tried so hard to be strong as they carried Dru’s casket into the resort’s convention center during the memorial service.
After Dru’s funeral, her casket was placed in a white funeral coach, which led the long processional from Nisswa through Pequot Lakes to Crow Wing County Road 16 on the way to Crosslake, where she was buried in the Pinewood Cemetery. Along the way, cars in the southbound lane slowed down and stopped along the road to show their respect to Dru and her family.
And in a simple act that seemed to symbolize the five-month search for Dru, the processional came to a halt in Ideal Township as Dru’s family, along with the funeral coach, took a side trip on Ruttger Road to the home of Linda and Sid Walker, Dru’s mother and stepfather.
Dru’s family, true to their promise to Dru while she was missing, had brought their daughter home.
The pink bows, placed around Pequot Lakes after Dru went missing, were taken down long ago in the city. After a year or so the tiny pink ribbon that had been taped to Dru’s senior photo in her senior class photo display in the hallway at Pequot Lakes High School was removed, too.
But that doesn’t mean the Pequot Lakes college student has been long forgotten.
Visitors may stop by Dru’s Garden, located across from Silver Creek Traders in Pequot Lakes in the Trailside Park, a living tribute to a hometown girl who loved art, elephants and butterflies and whose life was tragically cut too short. It’s a great reflective place to stop after biking or walking on the nearby Paul Bunyan Trail.
And thanks to Dru’s family and other supporters, her unnecessary death has spurred action. On July 27, President George Bush signed into law The Adam Walsh Protection and Safety Act, in which Dru’s Law is included. Dru’s Law requires convicted child molesters to be listed on a national Internet database and face a felony charge for failing to update their whereabouts.
Opening statements in the trial of her accused killer, Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., a convicted sex offender, began Monday. And for the first time since Dru’s body was found, prosecutors presenting their case against Rodriguez to jurors released some of the graphic details of her violent death.
It’s not an easy thing to hear or read. I felt like I had received a swift sucker punch to the gut while I watched the news Monday and learned how Dru was killed. I’m sure many others in Pequot Lakes were feeling the same thing.
But, I guess after this initial shock, I prefer instead to focus on the glowing pink vigil candles, the many pink bows lining the Pequot Lakes streets, the countless volunteers who searched for a woman they never knew and finally, the life of a young woman who will never know the humanity she left behind in her hometown community.
JODIE TWEED can be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.
On the Net:
Dru's Voice, the Sjodin family's official website dedicated to Dru Sjodin.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Bad Boys, Bad Boys ...
A co-worker introduced me to an interesting web site that allows people to check out who was recently locked up in the Crow Wing County Jail. It's pretty addictive, actually. The web site is updated every half-hour or so and will tell you the time and date they were jailed, the charges against them and how much each inmate is costing taxpayers while locked up. They're in the order in which they were jailed.
Heck, they've even got photographs, too, which is always nice.
Check out the link here.
The information is based on the Crow Wing County Sheriff's In Custody list, which can be found here. The inmates are listed by the county in alphabetical order.
I've found former schoolmates (including one who's locked up now) and other people I know in there.
If anything, it's reassuring when you don't find your own mugshot posted there at the end of a long weekend.
Heck, they've even got photographs, too, which is always nice.
Check out the link here.
The information is based on the Crow Wing County Sheriff's In Custody list, which can be found here. The inmates are listed by the county in alphabetical order.
I've found former schoolmates (including one who's locked up now) and other people I know in there.
If anything, it's reassuring when you don't find your own mugshot posted there at the end of a long weekend.
MS Challenge Walk
Starting Sept. 17, my longtime friend Julie Wenschlag will take part in the three day, 50-mile MS Challenge Walk in the Twin Cities to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
This is the first time Julie has ever participated in the MS Challenge Walk before but for the past few years we've had a team at the annual MS Walk in Brainerd.
If you're not sure what MS is, just ask Julie. She was diagnosed three years ago with MS, a chronic, unpredictable neurological pain-in-the-ass disease that affects the central nervous system.
This MS Challenge Walk is not only important to Julie because it raises money to hopefully find a cure for a disease that personally affects her, but it's a way for her to show this stupid disease that it's not in charge.
So, if you have a moment, please think about making a donation in Julie's name at the MS Society, MN Chapter, web site.
Here is the link to Julie's web page
Hopefully we can one day make a difference.
This is the first time Julie has ever participated in the MS Challenge Walk before but for the past few years we've had a team at the annual MS Walk in Brainerd.
If you're not sure what MS is, just ask Julie. She was diagnosed three years ago with MS, a chronic, unpredictable neurological pain-in-the-ass disease that affects the central nervous system.
This MS Challenge Walk is not only important to Julie because it raises money to hopefully find a cure for a disease that personally affects her, but it's a way for her to show this stupid disease that it's not in charge.
So, if you have a moment, please think about making a donation in Julie's name at the MS Society, MN Chapter, web site.
Here is the link to Julie's web page
Hopefully we can one day make a difference.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Bathroom humor
My husband and I both subscribe to several magazines and while I often read mine from cover to cover the day I get them, Nels won't even crack the spine of some of his photography and fishing mags, which is frustrating for me.
So in an effort to expand his literary horizons, I've been making a point of circulating all his new magazines in our bathroom magazine rack.
This morning as we were getting ready for work he informed me that I should be using the hair dryer to dry underneath my arms before I put on my gel deodorant.
"Yeah, whatever," I said. "Who told you that?"
Oprah did. He said he read about that in my Oprah magazine, right by the toilet.
Our bathroom library appears to be working.
Go figure.
So in an effort to expand his literary horizons, I've been making a point of circulating all his new magazines in our bathroom magazine rack.
This morning as we were getting ready for work he informed me that I should be using the hair dryer to dry underneath my arms before I put on my gel deodorant.
"Yeah, whatever," I said. "Who told you that?"
Oprah did. He said he read about that in my Oprah magazine, right by the toilet.
Our bathroom library appears to be working.
Go figure.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
These Modern Socks
I was bleary-eyed and in a semi-comatose state at 7:30 a.m. Sunday after staying up until 2 a.m. waiting to pick Erika up at her babysitting gig when I turned on the T.V. and recognized a familiar face on KARE-11.
My cousin, Corey Palmer, and his band, "These Modern Socks," were featured on KARE's "Whatever" Show. It was pretty cool and today I checked out his band's website. Great music, great website and I was happy to find out that their album is available on iTunes.
So check out this up and coming Twin Cities band on their website, where you can also listen to their album.
My cousin, Corey Palmer, and his band, "These Modern Socks," were featured on KARE's "Whatever" Show. It was pretty cool and today I checked out his band's website. Great music, great website and I was happy to find out that their album is available on iTunes.
So check out this up and coming Twin Cities band on their website, where you can also listen to their album.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
eBay or Google? Let me count the ways ...
I'm not sure which Web site I love more, eBay or Google.
Google allows me with a touch of a button to search for former classmates, former boyfriends, friends' former boyfriends, former friends' former boyfriends, co-worker's former boyfriends (Ok, you get the point), lyrics to songs I loved when I was 15 and much more.
A random question pops into my head at any given moment like, what the heck is the name of the foster dad on the 80's television show, "Punky Brewster," I can find out instantly. (Duh, Henry Warnimont, played by actor George Gaynes. Thanks, Google.) I no longer have to retain any irrelevant pop culture trivia in my head. Or anything of any real importance, really.
I love eBay because I can purchase the dumb stuff I wanted as a child but could never own and the dumb stuff I had but no longer own. And dumb stuff I never thought I'd ever want to own but do now.
Take my Amy Carter Peanut Doll. I was about 8 or 9 years old back in 1979-1980 and was a huge fan of President Jimmy Carter. I wrote to him, he sent me back some White House literature. We bonded, me and Jimmy. He sent me a booklet about his daughter, Amy, growing up in the White House.
Now of course it was some White House intern who probably sent this stuff to me, including the president's fake autograph, but I became a Democrat that very day and later, before Jimmy Carter lost the election to Pres. Ronald Reagan, I campaigned for him on the playground at school. "Tee for two, Carter's for you." C'mon, I was a kid.
Well, around that time my mom bought me an Amy Carter Peanut Doll, which she now swears I'm making up since no one in my family recalls me ever owning such a thing. But I remember how much I loved that doll. My Amy Carter doll fit in the palm of my hand and arrived in her own plastic peanut. Of course the doll looks nothing like Amy Carter but I loved it.
My doll met an untimely demise after my dad spilled his Fleischmann's whiskey and Coke on her. She got drenched in alcohol in her little plastic peanut and she smelled so bad, like a drunken sailor, that I had to throw her out.
Fast forward to 2006 and I found an Amy Carter Peanut Doll on eBay and paid about $13 for the doll, including shipping and handling. I'm attaching a photo of my new doll because frankly my co-workers think I'm making the whole thing up, that coupled with the fact that my mom doesn't believe I ever owned one.
But I do...once again. Thanks to eBay. And this doll is going to remain sober.
(Sorry, I had technical difficulties and couldn't post my photo to this post ... so click on this link to check out my Amy Carter Peanut Doll.)
Google allows me with a touch of a button to search for former classmates, former boyfriends, friends' former boyfriends, former friends' former boyfriends, co-worker's former boyfriends (Ok, you get the point), lyrics to songs I loved when I was 15 and much more.
A random question pops into my head at any given moment like, what the heck is the name of the foster dad on the 80's television show, "Punky Brewster," I can find out instantly. (Duh, Henry Warnimont, played by actor George Gaynes. Thanks, Google.) I no longer have to retain any irrelevant pop culture trivia in my head. Or anything of any real importance, really.
I love eBay because I can purchase the dumb stuff I wanted as a child but could never own and the dumb stuff I had but no longer own. And dumb stuff I never thought I'd ever want to own but do now.
Take my Amy Carter Peanut Doll. I was about 8 or 9 years old back in 1979-1980 and was a huge fan of President Jimmy Carter. I wrote to him, he sent me back some White House literature. We bonded, me and Jimmy. He sent me a booklet about his daughter, Amy, growing up in the White House.
Now of course it was some White House intern who probably sent this stuff to me, including the president's fake autograph, but I became a Democrat that very day and later, before Jimmy Carter lost the election to Pres. Ronald Reagan, I campaigned for him on the playground at school. "Tee for two, Carter's for you." C'mon, I was a kid.
Well, around that time my mom bought me an Amy Carter Peanut Doll, which she now swears I'm making up since no one in my family recalls me ever owning such a thing. But I remember how much I loved that doll. My Amy Carter doll fit in the palm of my hand and arrived in her own plastic peanut. Of course the doll looks nothing like Amy Carter but I loved it.
My doll met an untimely demise after my dad spilled his Fleischmann's whiskey and Coke on her. She got drenched in alcohol in her little plastic peanut and she smelled so bad, like a drunken sailor, that I had to throw her out.
Fast forward to 2006 and I found an Amy Carter Peanut Doll on eBay and paid about $13 for the doll, including shipping and handling. I'm attaching a photo of my new doll because frankly my co-workers think I'm making the whole thing up, that coupled with the fact that my mom doesn't believe I ever owned one.
But I do...once again. Thanks to eBay. And this doll is going to remain sober.
(Sorry, I had technical difficulties and couldn't post my photo to this post ... so click on this link to check out my Amy Carter Peanut Doll.)
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
"What happens at BIR, stays at BIR"
I was sent to Brainerd International Raceway today to interview campers who were up this week for the 2006 Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, which begins Thursday. As a local who often has been annoyed to have to drive around all the busy traffic at the track as I headed home from Brainerd, I never saw the allure in watching the drag races.
But after talking with several campers who absolutely live for this event, I realized how much fun it can be. A group of 50 campers from Wisconsin create an unbelievable party campsite each year, a great way for racing fans to hang out with their favorite NHRA drivers and their pit crews. The campsite has two outdoor pool tables, a massive sound system with a dozen speakers, couches, love seats — you name it, they've got it.
While at BIR, I interviewed not a bunch of gearheads like I thought I would, but truly nice people. One guy spent two hours this morning helping to fix another camper's golf cart, a person he didn't know until today. Shoot, I had three people offer me cans of ice-cold beer, which would have been great in the 80-plus degree weather but a not-so-great thing to do when you're working. This kind of stuff never happens to me at city council meetings.
I was telling this to a BIR staffer, who said I should have taken them up on the offer.
"What happens at BIR, stays at BIR," he assured me in a hushed tone.
It was too funny.
Check out my story on BIR camping at the Brainerd Dispatch Web site Wednesday.
But after talking with several campers who absolutely live for this event, I realized how much fun it can be. A group of 50 campers from Wisconsin create an unbelievable party campsite each year, a great way for racing fans to hang out with their favorite NHRA drivers and their pit crews. The campsite has two outdoor pool tables, a massive sound system with a dozen speakers, couches, love seats — you name it, they've got it.
While at BIR, I interviewed not a bunch of gearheads like I thought I would, but truly nice people. One guy spent two hours this morning helping to fix another camper's golf cart, a person he didn't know until today. Shoot, I had three people offer me cans of ice-cold beer, which would have been great in the 80-plus degree weather but a not-so-great thing to do when you're working. This kind of stuff never happens to me at city council meetings.
I was telling this to a BIR staffer, who said I should have taken them up on the offer.
"What happens at BIR, stays at BIR," he assured me in a hushed tone.
It was too funny.
Check out my story on BIR camping at the Brainerd Dispatch Web site Wednesday.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Oh, Canada!
In a couple weeks, my husband and I will head to the Great White North (Ok, it's not so white right now, mostly green) for our first-ever week-long fishing excursion in northern Ontario.
I have to concede, I have caught the fishing bug lately. There's nothing like fishing after dark, the lake backlit by the rising moon. Friday Nels and I went musky fishing on a small lake north of where we live and I caught a huge small mouth bass after dark. (Alas, no muskies on this trip but we had some follows.) The bass put up quite a fight, which was fun to experience - my first brawl with a fiesty fish - and it was even more fun to overhear my husband tell his friends and brothers about the "monster" small mouth bass I caught.
But I'm worried about this trip to Canada. Here we live less than 30 minutes away from dozens of great fishing lakes. I can go home at night, sleep in my own bed and don't have to worry about bears or moose attacks. (Although we have a large raccoon with an attitude that seems to enjoy mauling our bird feeders.)
Canada will be a different story. The cabin my husband booked at this small resort offers the bare-minimum amenities surrounded by nothing but miles of water and the Canadian forest. We have to pontoon 12 miles on this lake just to get to the small resort. This is not Madden's or Cragun's. There's no Target or Cub Foods down the road. We have to bring everything in with us that we will need for the week.
There's a showerhouse, but I'm not sure if we share it with 20 other smelly anglers or just the smelly angler I'm bringing up north with me. We have our own outhouse, my husband assured me, but no running HOT water in our cabin. Oh, and no electricity either.
I'll be heading north across the border with an open mind. ... but if there's nowhere to plug in my hair dryer, I'll be heading back to Minnesota with hair that looks like tightly curled hairballs our cat Sam threw up.
But that's Canada, eh?
I have to concede, I have caught the fishing bug lately. There's nothing like fishing after dark, the lake backlit by the rising moon. Friday Nels and I went musky fishing on a small lake north of where we live and I caught a huge small mouth bass after dark. (Alas, no muskies on this trip but we had some follows.) The bass put up quite a fight, which was fun to experience - my first brawl with a fiesty fish - and it was even more fun to overhear my husband tell his friends and brothers about the "monster" small mouth bass I caught.
But I'm worried about this trip to Canada. Here we live less than 30 minutes away from dozens of great fishing lakes. I can go home at night, sleep in my own bed and don't have to worry about bears or moose attacks. (Although we have a large raccoon with an attitude that seems to enjoy mauling our bird feeders.)
Canada will be a different story. The cabin my husband booked at this small resort offers the bare-minimum amenities surrounded by nothing but miles of water and the Canadian forest. We have to pontoon 12 miles on this lake just to get to the small resort. This is not Madden's or Cragun's. There's no Target or Cub Foods down the road. We have to bring everything in with us that we will need for the week.
There's a showerhouse, but I'm not sure if we share it with 20 other smelly anglers or just the smelly angler I'm bringing up north with me. We have our own outhouse, my husband assured me, but no running HOT water in our cabin. Oh, and no electricity either.
I'll be heading north across the border with an open mind. ... but if there's nowhere to plug in my hair dryer, I'll be heading back to Minnesota with hair that looks like tightly curled hairballs our cat Sam threw up.
But that's Canada, eh?
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Orange shirts, khaki pants
It was too funny today. One of our sports writers and one of our photographers (not my hubby) walked into the newsroom together wearing matching outfits! No, it wasn't intentional and they just happened to arrive at work at the same time. They were like twins in their orange polo shirts and khaki pants.
We cracked up...and had to laugh again when I looked up at the newsroom television and noticed one of the reporters on CNN was wearing an orange polo shirt, too.
He must have gotten the memo.
We cracked up...and had to laugh again when I looked up at the newsroom television and noticed one of the reporters on CNN was wearing an orange polo shirt, too.
He must have gotten the memo.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Macaroni and cheese soup
My daughter officially became a babysitter Monday. She graduated from a babysitting certification course this past spring but hadn't had the opportunity to hone her sitter skills until this week when a couple from our church called and asked her to babysit THREE times this week for their two young sons. Erika was so excited.
As a mom, of course I was worried. I was worried she'd get spooked about being at a stranger's house past 9 p.m. when the kids were in bed and that she would have a hard time preparing dinner for the boys. I started babysitting when I was 11 but my first venture into cooking dinner for my three cousins was a disaster. I couldn't figure out how to use my aunt and uncle's ancient stove so I forced my cousins to eat cold hot dogs and green beans for dinner. I still haven't been able to live that one down.
Well, Erika had her own cooking disaster Monday. She was convinced by the 7-year-old boy that she had to keep the water in the pot from the noodles and then add the cheese powder, thus creating her own version of mac and cheese soup. She said it wasn't that bad, that she and the boys ate the whole box of mac and cheese. The 3-year-old even had two bowls. The funny thing is, their dad is a chef. I wonder what he thought when the boys told them that they ate runny mac and cheese.
She is babysitting for them now. I can't wait to call later and see what adventure she had today.
If you have a youngster who is just starting her own babysitting business, I found a cool Web site that may help.
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/babysitting/
As a mom, of course I was worried. I was worried she'd get spooked about being at a stranger's house past 9 p.m. when the kids were in bed and that she would have a hard time preparing dinner for the boys. I started babysitting when I was 11 but my first venture into cooking dinner for my three cousins was a disaster. I couldn't figure out how to use my aunt and uncle's ancient stove so I forced my cousins to eat cold hot dogs and green beans for dinner. I still haven't been able to live that one down.
Well, Erika had her own cooking disaster Monday. She was convinced by the 7-year-old boy that she had to keep the water in the pot from the noodles and then add the cheese powder, thus creating her own version of mac and cheese soup. She said it wasn't that bad, that she and the boys ate the whole box of mac and cheese. The 3-year-old even had two bowls. The funny thing is, their dad is a chef. I wonder what he thought when the boys told them that they ate runny mac and cheese.
She is babysitting for them now. I can't wait to call later and see what adventure she had today.
If you have a youngster who is just starting her own babysitting business, I found a cool Web site that may help.
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/babysitting/
Friday, July 28, 2006
What happens when I click on this ...??
Welcome to my blog, my first venture into the wide open world of blogging. Please bear with me. I'm trying to figure this Web site out.
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