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The varsity boys have been having 2 a day practices for football, once in the morning from 6 to 8 a.m. and again in the evening from 6-8 p.m. so that means getting up earlier than usual for me. 5 a.m. is not my idea of a good time. Brent has always loved the early morning. I've never known anyone who loves to get up as early as he does except my mom, my dad when he was alive and one sister who thinks 4:30 a.m is a good time to put on the coffee pot. Brent thinks so too. So I have been joining the crowd for these 5 a.m. sun rises and I actually saw one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen just a few days ago. I would have missed it if I had slept in til 7 which is my time for waking up under ususal circumstances. I didn't know there were those kind of sunrises anymore. Farmers and construction workers all take advantage of the morning hours to get alot done and probably enjoy the morning like Brent does. "The early bird gets the worm" is what my dad used to say... [More]

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I remember when we first started in newspaper and the very first Polish Days (Help) and how we tried to cover every event and make sure to print every picture by hand in the dark room we built. I think Brent lived in the dark room and Ivanhoe for all of the Polish Days weekends. It was very time consuming. There was no dark room when we came to Ivanhoe originally so Brent who loved doing the black and white photos, and loved the darkroom work, had one built. It wasn't fancy but it was his. Mondays and Tuesdays could be very hectic and I recall many times wondering if he went in there on purpose! Now with digital cameras, everything goes to computer right away, so things like Polish Days are so much easier. Thank you God. . . no more dark rooms!! This week Cara Nielsen gave us a jingle from the bar  at about 8:30 or so at night to let us know about some unexpected and interesting Australians who were passing through town. I had already had a long day of work and then babysitting later, so I passed the baton on to Brent and he... [More]

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The computer that I use to update our website went down recently and it required a trip to Marshall to drop off our trusty computer. Thankfully, we have others that we use all the time, but this was the one I like best so I was fustrated to say the least. Fortunately it was a minor thing and ended up being a very small bill thank goodness. But I realized that we rely on computers more and more each and every week. We also rely on the internet. What would happen if the whole internet went down? Scary thing for most people. I was able to keep in touch with all of my facebook friends but it is also our main photo computer so I lost a whole bunch of our personal photos. Oh Well. It happens. Many I have backups of anyway, but it did tell me the need to save my photos often if I plan to keep them. I usually upload to Snapfish if I plan to get prints anyway, but now I will also need to backup regularly on less important stuff. Since everything is now filed in computers now, we have a couple years of...

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Brent says that when I run out of things to write about or talk about, just remember the most important part of life besides being a wife and mother . . . being a grandma! My grandson Colt turned one in March and like all grandmas, I think he is the most precious, adorable, gifted, sweet and most entertaining child on this earth. We have bonded! He likes me just the way I am and I totally, postively and ridiculously adore him. I have to say for a little guy he has a quick sense of humor and likes plenty of attention. But mostly he likes for me to take him outside to see out kittens and our dog. They are his buddies. We took him to a church potluck for the first time and I gave up trying to follow him from table to table so that I could eat. He may have been reaching up to a few plates for goodies, but mostly he was socializing as only a one year old socialite can. He was basically dancing from table to table with a little run and twirl here and there. Oh to be so carefree and giggle... [More]

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It's not everyday that you get kind words and thank yous from others, but when I am working late, it really makes a difference, even if it is on my computer at home. Last night I had an advertiser email and ask if she could still get something into the newspaper for an event this weekend. I said sure since she had it all ready to go. Her kind words back to me were "thank you so much, you have taken a huge burden of weight off my shoulders!" Now that is a thank you we rarely get and I was only happy to be able to get her open house into our next edition. So many times the nice thank yous are from people out of town, but that's how it is.  Sometimes those you see everyday think they know you far better than they really do and in a small town that is my biggest pet peave. When people who don't know me act like they are my social conscience and then try to look down upon me for not being in their social circle, I totally ignore them, because  I have much more important people to serve...

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This week I was looking over the number of photos that were taken for the newspaper and also online and I found out

that sports photos seem to outnumber everything else this time of year. Well, it may be because during Christmas break there was not a whole lot going on at the school except sports, and as January got underway, more people stayed home except to give blood, go to fish fries, go to ballgames or attend funerals and church. As the weather warms up there will be plenty more activity. I almost didn't want to put a photo in about moving snow by the city and salting and sanding by MnDot trucks, but that is the news this winter. That and local budgets. The city was happy according to the Mayor that cities under 1,000 will not get state aid cut for this year, but it could happen next year, so our boards are planning ahead very carefully even for this year. I noticed on the agenda for school board that the school board is looking for ways that they can save on their budget. We all hope there won't be any more budget cuts but the reality...

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When it dips well below zero, we all psychologically prepare ourselves for going outside for any amount of time. I think it's the whole idea of dangerously cold that gets to us because we want to be outside for more than five or ten minutes and we don't like to have choices taken from us. This is how I psychologically cope and I hope it works if we get another cold spell. I tell myself that I work inside and for this I can be thankful. I tell myself that I live inside and for this I can be thankful and I send up many prayers for those who live outside in cold areas. I think of why this can't be global warming afterall and for that I can be thankful although I was a proponent of global warming. I tell myself that all those people living in warm areas including some sisters, have told me the truth, their springs and summers can be miserably hot. Even their falls in some years. Would I take that tradeoff. . .to be miserably hot for longer than I am miserably cold? No I don't think so, but I was getting used to... [More]

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 I think President-elect Barak Obama will be a good fit for America during these tough times. He has a vision for where he wants America to go, he has real plans about how to make America healthier in many ways, and he cares about all people in America. I don't get the sense that he is there to return favors to all those who helped him on the way which is nice to see in comparison to some of the stuff that is going on in Illinois with their Governor.  From all that I have read the President-elect seems to understand that being President is about being a public servant first and foremost, and that is very refreshing. I like some of his choices for people to serve. Sanjay Gupta for surgeon general is one example. I watch Sanjay on CNN and after all this time I had no idea he was a real surgeon, and a brain surgeon at that. I thought he was a family doctor who came on from time to time to help us understand how to have better health for us and our families. Gupta even helped at Charity Hospital in New Orleans after Hurricane... [More]

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I read that most of us have re-gifted at some point and most of us are careful to make sure that the item is new or barely opened. The only time I re-gifted was when were were first married and we received duplicates of items for our wedding. We received two very nice toasters so I left one in the box and when one of those many weddings of friends came along I had a gift ready which was nice. I also received about three really nice salad bowl sets and those were super popular so I saved two in their original boxes and gave those also. As long as they were new and not used, I knew someone else would appreciate them. But I like to shop for loved ones and I don't have anything that I can regift now that I have family. I think once you get past those wedding days, there isn't really a time that you get that much from anyone as far as a gift that would be a duplicate or something to pass along. My loved ones as in husbands and sons usually select for me things that they know I will want... [More]

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I have written about this before, but most of us are forgetful; I can't even remember what I wrote the last time. I come from a family of lefse makers. They make it only for family and maybe a few select friends and company that comes over. It started with my grandmother on my mom's side, and I suppose the recipe was given to her by a loving mother or aunt who showed her all the tricks for making perfectly thin and delicious lefse. She then taught my mother who I watched move with ease and skill every year making the lefse and cooking it on a lefse griddle as I was growing up. They (aunts included) all had a lefse griddle and that funny lefse stick and also the perfect rolling pin. I never learned how because it apparently takes many years to get it right under the tutelage of a skilled lefse maker. My mom trained two sisters who lived closer, and they have for years made the lefse for family get-togethers. As we got older and had our own family traditions, that meant no lefse for us unless they sent it. I tried a few times with... [More]

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