Skott's latest creations

I absolutely LOVE Skott's latest artistic outlet:

These bracelets are all made from recycled/reclaimed scrap pieces of wood.

This one he made for me out of 100+yr old oak heat registers from the first house we ever owned:

This one is from a piece of oak that was headed to the burn pile at work:

And finally, who can forget the pallets?  Yes, more wonderful creations from the pallet wood:

I am very lucky and very proud to have such a talented husband!

here let me help you...

It was a looooong work week. 
I am enjoying my one day off
-indoors, watching the snow fall, and thanking all the angels that helped me get to and from work safely.  Skott was rear-ended earlier yesterday.  Thankfull he is fine and the car (still our one and only) is still driveable.  (I actually haven't seen the damage yet, as the entire back end is covered in a thick layer of ice and snow).

My "funny" story for the day:
So yesterday there was that major snowstorm.  The hotel I work at is right next to the freeway and an intersection with another freeway.  There was a gigantic 32+ car pileup.  Employees from the hotel saw it happen and immediately rushed to help.  Blankets, back braces, neck braces, first aid kits.....
One very sweet guy who works front desk rushed out to help.  Adrenaline pumping, he forgot gloves, hat, etc.  He did manage to grab a "first aid kit" -only when he reached the scene of the accident, he discovered he had actually grabbed a box of tampons.
Now I am not sure how you can confuse a box of tampons and a first aid kit.... 
but can you imagine?
(insert endless tasteless jokes here)

I laugh at this story, but....
sadly, after quite some time helping victims, he himself was admitted to the hospital with frostbite and will be out of work for a few days.


Contrary to what the news is portraying, the hotel did offer to house the accident victims.  Granted, we were completely booked already but they opened up the big skybox conference room, set up air mattresses, etc. free of charge.  It is a very sobering thought to put yourself in their shoes.  Many people had no idea who towed their cars or what shop they ended up at.  Most were from out of town and quite literally, stranded with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
I only wish the rest of the hotel guests could have been as grateful as these victims....
Seriously?  Due to the number of lifeguards calling in (not driving in the insane mess), the waterpark had to close three hours early because they legally didn't have enough coverage.  Boy, you would have thought we stole Christmas.
Ok, #1: Do you honestly want your kids swimming with no lifeguard?
#2:  Would you want your inexperienced teenage driver to try and drive to work, endangering their lives for minimum wage?
No.
Ok then people, relax.  Let's try and make the best of it.
Instead it was a big huge whine-fest/let's see what we can get for free riot.
So glad the majority of it had passed by the time I arrived, otherwise I might not be employed anymore.  I would have lost it on someone.

here's praying for spring

A sign of old age

To celebrate Valentine's Day, Skott and I went to "The Cities" (Minneapolis/St. Paul) on Sunday, our only day off together.

Our first stop was Rustica Bakery.  Delicious coffee and we each tried a new pastry.  I would tell you what they were but I can't remember the french names :)

Then we headed to Penzey's Spice on Grand.  This is like a candy store for us.  For Christmas, I got Skott an Indian food cookbook and a bunch of spices.  Yesterday, we stocked up on more good spices:

and of course, had to hit Ikea later to buy more spice jars!  (Any excuse to go to Ikea is a good excuse, right?)

So this was the little shelf we kept our spices on before Christmas.  Now it is mostly grilling stuff.

We had to rearrange a bunch of cupboards in the kitchen so we could devote a new, bigger space for spices:  (and this doesn't include Monday's haul)

We went to the Mall of America and hit up a couple of our favorite boutiques.  I was also looking for shoes and stuff for work.  I love people watching and listening to all the different languages being spoken there...

We needed to stop by Home Depot on our way home so Skott could get a better miter saw for his latest project (see upcoming post soon).  Of course, I went to look at plants while he went to the tools. Imagine my excitement when I found these:

I have wanted "Living stones" for, oh, like TEN YEARS but never saw them in any nursery we ever went to.  I had a hard time picking just three!  I am super excited to pot them today.  They actually bloom in the spring so if they do this year, I will be sure and post pics.  Wheeeee!! So excited!
As I was wandering the plant aisles, I could smell something so good -like lilac almost.  After sniffing perhaps every plant there, I discovered the source and had to buy one:

I know these hyacinths will only bloom for another month or so but I am going to enjoy every minute. 

I also picked up a couple new pots for an idea I have for the deck this summer ($1.50 each, thanks Ikea!):

On the way home Skott and I were talking and we realized that

We are getting old

We bought one thing at the Mall of America and it was work related.

Everything else we spent on spices and plants.



tax time.... and a few laughs

Since starting my job, I finally got two days off in a row.  That may not sound like a big deal to most, but when I work until 7:30 in the morning on my day off, I have to sleep until at least 1 or 2 to be able to awaken somewhat human.  Then, I try to stay up as long as I can that night, sleep, wake up the next afternoon and have a few hours to do stuff before it's work again.  Bleh.  Anyways, my point to all of this was that I have had an amazing couple of days.  I think it's more psychological than anything else, but whatever the reason, it has helped my mood immensely!

Had my first experience with a total "bridezilla" at the hotel.  Wow.  That was interesting.  She got all huffy right away when (god forbid) I didn't know who she was.  She walked up to the counter in her dress and everything and said "yes, I need to check in".  I said, "Ok, what's the name on the reservation?"  She gave me a big huffy sound and really snottily told me her name.  Then, I had to get her license and credit card info and you  would have thought I told her to hand over all her presents.  Geesh lady.  And then her credit card was declined.  Oh boy, that went over well.

I had another guest accuse me of being a liar.  She called around 1am Saturday morning to make a reservation for that day.  I told her we were sold out and she argued with me.  Uh hello dumb lady, why would I lie?  She said it was the middle of winter in Eau Claire Wisconsin and she didn't believe that we could possibly be sold out so I better just quit lying and get her a room.  Well, we do have a rather nice breakroom with it's own bathroom down in the basement that no one uses....

Whatever happened to the concept of being nice to someone that you are trying to get to help you?

But, my story for the week is a really young, cocky guy who calls at 5:36am from his room.  (Usually when the house line rings at that time you know it is going to be bad).  He says "Yes, I need a wake up call for 6am, 6:15, and 6:30."  I told him we can only program one wake-up call at a time but I would try and reset it if I wasn't busy.  I actually got busy so he got two out of those three calls.  At 7am, I am giving my passdown to the next shift and the phone rings again.  Same guy.  "Yah, I need wake up calls for 7:15, 7:35, 7:45, and 8am."  At this point I wanted to just tell him to GET UP ALREADY!  How bizarre?!

Oh, and I can't forget the nasty woman wearing something only best described as a cross between a homemade poncho and a snuggy.... it was just cut (no hems) and was the most hideous pattern imaginable.  There was some kind of charity benefit thing going on for kids with hemophilia so her and her six kids were staying.  That's awesome.  Have fun.  But noooooo she had to stand down at the front desk and tell me her life story while my eyes are watering from the stench rolling off this woman (B.O. and SMOKE).  I felt bad for being so repulsed but really?!  She was going on and on and on about how all her kids had ADHD, how one had hemophilia, how another had OCD, another severe asthma, and yet several others with autism.... how she was on welfare and food stamps and that the various fathers were losers.  It just made me so sad that our government enables and encourages this behavior.  Having kids IS a choice and there are MANY free birth control options out there.  And seriously -what was going on that ALL her kids had these problems?  Environment?  Genetics?  Drugs?  Poor kids don't stand a chance.  There were actually some guests that were visiting in the lobby that came up to me after she left and said "Wow, how did you do it?  How did you keep such a professional straight face?".  yah, it was that bad.

I realize these stories make me sound like a shallow individual.  But this was a really hard week of seeing a lot of mistreated kids.  I don't understand why people are allowed to have so many when they can't take care of them.

Anyways, we got our taxes done today.  Relieved to find out we have enough to hopefully get my car fixed.  It's becoming some sort of weird tradition that every year around December my car breaks down.  As in major breakdown/cannot drive it.  And in previous years, we have just let it sit until late spring before getting fixed.  Not really an option now.  We are carpooling, but Skott is either done hours before or hours after I am.  One of us ends up waiting a long time every day.  Now I can't say that I don't blame my car.  It's kind of smart, really, to break down for the worst months of the winter.  No trying to start when it's 30 below, no getting saturated with salt and road grime..... yah, I think my car has got the right idea!

On our way back from getting taxes done I spotted this road sign:

Hi, My name is Jodi and I live on Tru-Gas Road.  No, no not false gas, Tru-gas!"

Have an awesome week everyone!

Already dreaming about summer

Like everyone else, I have been plagued with seasonal depression....
To keep my mind on brighter things, I have been thinking about summer projects.
Some of the things I want to do this year are:

1) Build a bat box
Contrary to popular belief, bats rarely bite humans!  In fact, they are very helpful to humans.  Bats are essential for maintaining healthy ecosystems. Most bats eat huge amounts of insects, including farm pests and many of the nasty bugs that harass outdoor gatherings.
Our backyard is situated on a bluff that overlooks a giant body of water.  We love to sit around the fire pit in the evenings and watch the bats swoop in and eat all the mosquitoes. 
Here's some great links for building a bat-box.  Make it an FHE activity and reduce your population of mosquitoes!

http://www.nwf.org/Get-Outside/Outdoor-Activities/Garden-for-Wildlife/Gardening-Tips/Build-a-Bat-House.aspx

http://free.woodworking-plans.org/bat-house-plans.html

Once you have built your box, here are some tips for attracting bats:
http://www.batcon.org/pdfs/bathouses/attractingbats.pdf

2)Another project I want to continue is creating a native pollinator flower bed.  Before doing work with The Prairie Enthusiasts, I naively bought those wildflower mixes you can get in any store, -not realizing that many species in the mix are invasive and/or not native.  The problem with non-native species is:  the local pollinators don't benefit from them and also, the non-natives can become invasive.  I always wondered why people had flower beds in their gardens.  It seemed silly to me until I took an entomology class and learned about all the different pollinators.
Did you know that pollinators are responsible for the production of 75% of the food we eat?

Want awesome fruit tree production?
An abundance of tomatoes?  Strawberries?  Raspberries?  Potatoes? Beans?  Broccoli?  Squash?  etc...?
Plant some flowers.  You don't need to devote a large area, even just a few pots will do.
For some ideas on finding native pollinators in your area and what you can plant:

http://www.fws.gov/pollinators/PollinatorPages/YourHelp.html
this link is a wealth of information and lists many links to allow you to research specific to your region.

Also, contact your local DNR, FWS, or BLM and find out if they have prairies that you can harvest from.

3)  I want to start composting.
Initially, the thought sounds disgusting.  But, after growing some vegetables last year, I realized the importance of providing nutrients to my plants.  Plus, we are conscientiously trying to eliminate waste in our household and composting is a fantastic solution to both!

There are many ways to compost.  Last year we just threw a bunch of stuff into a pile in our backyard.  This year I want to get a composting barrel, or at the very least, construct a bin behind the garage.  Here are some links for composting tips:

http://www.howtocompost.org/

http://vegweb.com/composting/

http://eartheasy.com/grow_compost.html

4)  I want to make bird baths
I have been saying this for years.  I don't know why it always gets pushed to the back burner.  The magazine article I have kept for YEARS in hopes of making one, is this:

http://www.gardengatemagazine.com/extras/53birdbath1.php


Anyone have any other suggestions?