Home away from home.

I promised Ben I wouldn't sell any of his things while he was away but explain to me this, why does one man need 3 trucks? I don't think any of these beasts get over 10 miles to the gallon, thank goodness he can only drive one at a time. (To be fair the gray one in the middle is now property of Morrie's Auto and the maroon Jeep doesn't really go!)

We have our first house showing tonight at 8 o'clock. I know we shouldn't get our hopes up but I also know it only takes one buyer to make a sale. More fingercrossing would be good and thanks Grandma for your prayers, they are working.

Here's our sweet pad for the next 4 months. Ben says it is pretty nice but pretty lonely. I can't wait to join him there, living in separate houses might work for some couples but it isn't doing much for us. The blue cottage has 4 bedrooms and like 10 beds, if anyone wants to come visit, book your tickets and call us from the airport, we would love to have you!

Sad Day

I can't get the picture below outta my head; Ben sitting behind the wheel of a car filled to the brim with clothes and camping gear, wearing a really sad look. Not that I blame the guy for looking sad, I lost all composure as we were saying goodbye. Being 2000 miles apart is going to be tough but we knew moving away would have its challenges, this is one of them. Luckily Father Bert was game for a road trip as Ben is a pro at sleeping while driving. The father-son duo are heading through Canada which should be a little more exciting than going via Chicago. Safe travels you two, MN isn't the same without you! Why am I here and Ben is there? Well we have this sweet piece of property we need to sell, check it out. Cross your fingers we find a buyer, I miss my bearded Asian already. If you decide to schedule a showing, please don't look in the oven, that is where I keep the dirty dishes!

I just got an update from the road and they lost a bike tire. The yakima wheelfork is a total piece of crap! I have lost a tire on two other occasions but have been able to recover it both times, today Ben was not that lucky. After searching for an hour and a half the guys gave up and Ben now owns a unicycle. And sadly enough, I was the one who talked him into using the dumb thing, darn it.

Goons on Bikes

Hey some of us made the IronMan online photos! These 2 goons are just happy to be outside, look at their crazy smiles. And wow, nice matching blue helmets. That is me in between Dave and Ben in the black, way back there. Once again I got dropped on the hill and then add injury to insult, one of the bikes that dropped me was the fat guy on the recumbent. How embarassing....

Lobsterland

What a gorgeous weekend, a gorgeous weekend to wreck myself. We did the Lakeville Ironman Ride and wow I am not feeling like an iron person. I feel more like someone cracked me with a rod of iron in the butt and then in the neck, oh big hurt. Here is our whole gang along with Dave's new aluminum friend, all very happy because the ride was over.In more riveting news Ben and I are heading to Lobsterland and we couldn't be more excited. Ben is loading up the car and heading out next Wednesday to start his new job in Bangor ME, I am here until we get our house sold (cross your fingers people)! Then the real fun begins as we plan on moving all our treasures 1700 miles via U-Haul. A wise older cousin told me driving a U-Haul pulling your vehicle across the country is a rite of passage that every young couple should experience. Hmmm I guess we will see. On any note please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, we are going to need them in the coming weeks.

Done, Finished, Finito

And every single piece was there. I claimed I would mess my pants if all the pieces showed up, we are still waiting for that to happen.

Freaky Friday the 13th

Hey we made it to our 3 month anniversary. I guess not that big of a deal if you consider my grandparents just celebrated their 59th YEAR and both of our parents have 30+ years in. Yep we are not a big deal yet. At least not a big deal like the city of Willmar has been.

Willmar has been the headline in both the Pioneer Press and Star Tribune multiple times in the last couple of weeks. Not for anything cool though, mostly for really stupid stuff like blowing a red light, smucking into an oncoming car and then driving your vehicle through a storefront, you know typical spring fever behavior.

For those of you interested, yes the puzzle is close to being complete, so close I can taste it. In fact it is a hundred pieces better than what you see here. I am almost dragging my feet to not finish because the puzzle is the special place I go when I cannot deal with the stress of living with a man who doesn't hear half of what I say. Yes, the same bearded man who runs outside in his underwear and carhartt jacket, shotgun in tote, to shoot the bastard raccoon that is eating the cat food for our imaginary pet, the same man I love dearly. Oh giant ugly puzzle you are the glue keeping our marriage intact, don't leave me now.

Speaking of pets, we housesat the week before last in Uptown and got to care for a trio of flying squirrels. Being as they live on the outside of the stucco house they are very little work and just require a nightly feeding. Alot like our imaginary cat but you can see them and you don't have to imagine them. I got a decent picture of the fat dominant one, Rocky. As you can see they are really cute but really ugly at the same time, kind of just like the dude who drives the 7:30 bus. (You saw me running at the bus, I was 10 feet from the door, why didn't you wait? I hate you!)

Turning the Page

That doesn't look safe you say, well you are right it wasn't. But hey somebody has to paint the corners in the stairwell. Believe it or not I did not fall off the plank, spill the paint or drop my brush. Not even once! Our basement remodeling project is all but done, we took the final step last night and picked out carpet. Painting, staining, mopping and scrapping has all been great fun, but hallelujah we are done.

Lately I have been requesting people pose for photos that I remember my mom asking me to pose for as a kid, which of course I hated. You know what I mean, like go stand by that sign or let me take your picture with your new christmas underwear. Ben is mostly a good sport about it but he doesn't fully cooperate. Usually he gives me a not cute face, this time I got a pretty nice smile with his Easter eggs but HEY you put that naughty finger away. Jeez what a poor example for the next generation.

Yesterday was a sad day for Northeast Minneapolis. My all time favorite coffee shop closed down over the weekend. Boo-Hoo StoneArch Espresso and Tea is no more. I really don't know where I will find an iced americano or homemade chocolate chip cookie quite as tasty. Brothers Chad and Deric ran this mom and pop shop and did a great job. I hope their bluegrass band The High 48's took off and they don't have time for coffee shops anymore but I am doubting that is the case. Ode to you StoneArch Espresso, you helped me make it through many a tired and godawful boring afternoon at this desk. Your point is taken, sometimes it is just time to move on. RIP

T+ 68 The Great Puzzle Challenge

So people have been asking and no the puzzle is not done. And yes I realize I am 68 days past due, oh well. Here is where I am at.

Close but I know, NO CIGAR! It took me at least 50 shots to get this crappy picture. Holding a camera at the ceiling is not fun and yes those are my feet on the bottom.

In other news totally unrelated from the puzzle. Check out these 2 studs, separated at birth.

NCAA feva

Well it is basketball time again, what a treat. We have a board going here at work, the wager has not yet been determined and being as I am leading I am sure everyone else will pick a candy bar or something useless for the prize. pfft I never win when it counts.

Ben and I hit the east coast the weekend before last. Neither of us had been there before which was reason enough for us both to jump on cheap tickets, a cheap rental car and cheap hotels. Turns out it was the offseason in more ways than one in the coastel regions of New England. The views were still sweet but most shops, state parks and hotels were open in limited capacity only. Bummer, I guess that is just a reason to go back someday!

If you are truly a physics nerd you will cring at this word.....FORTRAN. As an undergrad physics student I was all to familiar with this ancient programming language. Turns out Fortran was developed in 1957 and 40 years later professors were still applauding it on its merits and making me learn it! Phooey I thought it sucked but I will pay tribute to it today as its creator passed on. Fortran I salute you for making my life a living hell in the basement of the science center but more importantly because you paved the way for innovation in physics and engineering.

Donuts?

Here we are stuck, stuck again, snowblowing and snowcatting (I look like the dude from Excitebike!) Oh Minnesota is sweet in the winter. Total bummer the unseasonably warm weather stole all the snow.

I spent most of the past week and a half in Iowa, have I said before I hate Iowa? We were busy with field work which was thwarted by high winds (surprise, surprise), cold weather, wet weather, fog, snow, fields with lakes and rivers, 2 broken radios, a busted ATV, a stuck ATV, an ATV with a bad leg and a bunch of cow poop. Bleeech. And just because a vehicle has tracks doesn't mean it can go anywhere, I think we should have rented a hoovercraft instead.

Now I am home and it is good, life on the road is not for me. (I HATE continental breakfast!!!!!) This morning I had a chocolate sprinkled donut for breakfast, I know that is not much of an improvement but I had to be rewarded for missing the bus. I can be such a loser and Ben you attribute to my loserness, I mean you bought the donut.

This is what I have been waiting for....

the snow, I love it. Thank you for the snow. We are going to check out Giant's Ridge this weekend, it should be awesome conditions.

Blizzards don't scare us, we braved the weather last weekend and even caught some fishies on the way. Well the girls did anyways, the boys (aka expert fisherman) didn't do quite as well. Check out the sweet fish we pulled out of Red Lake. (And yes Ben I know you believe you technically caught my crappie after the line broke and you dove down the hole after it, but that fish had my name all over it!)

How could it be March 1, time flies! Everything wedding is now done as Ben finished his thank you's last night. I guess we still have to contend with our photos and stuff, but hey there is not timeline for that. We are still getting surpise packages and cards which is kind of fun. One recent package we were not anticipating contained 28 tubes of toothpaste. It is good stuff, Crest Pro Health clean mint, and no we are not complaining but we will be working on that for quite awhile. We were also surprised by the one year subscription to Woman's Day. I never dreamed that would arrive in my mailbox, seriously who sent this to me?? I mean isn't the average reader about 50 not to mention the fact I think the magazine is a joke. This month' s headline read, "Lose 10 lbs without trying" and is overlaid on a giant picture of a chocolate cookie.

.....only if it's Peter Pan!

What luck, our jar of peanut butter has the same product code as the ones they are flashing on the news! Woohoo! It is kind of like winning the lottery and being as the jar is 2/3 gone and we haven't been sick we did win, a new jar of PB! Hey 2007 has been pretty nice so far.

V-Day was for the most part uneventful. We made a nice dinner and hung out at home, got a movie, and vowed to do no household chores. That is pretty much what we do besides work and sleep. So it was a good night except I did not pick a good movie for the occasion. I thought a romantic comedy would be that, you know romantic and funny not depressing and sad. Well the Last Kiss is a depressing and sad romantic comedy. Bad choice, not a bad movie, but it would have been more uplifting to watch Schindler's List.

Oh my I am turning into my mother. I took this picture of our dinner and then I even tried to get Ben to pose by the table. Agh.........

No Snow No Problem

Hey look at the cool kids! We completed the 30 km Vasaloppet race yesterday and it was a good time. There were no wipe outs, involving me, no meltdowns, involving me, and no crying, involving me. It was all fun and the weather was great thanks to the lack of wind and lots of sun. I guess if I want to be picky I can complain that there was not a whole lot of snow, but hey at least there weren't any puddles!

Seriously I don't understand all the hoopla surrounding the new dollar coins. For one they are really ugly, they look like a high school art class designed them. And two, why the millions in advertising to convince people to use them. Uhm hello if that is all that is available, what are we going to do?

I switched over to the new version of blogger today. Not because I wanted to but because blogger.com made me. I guess so far it is working pretty well and I can change the font color again, which is nice. I have heard the new version sucks so I would not be terribly surprised if the blog goes down in the next days. Not that anyone is sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to hear what I have to say......

Feel the Pain

The Andersons are a hurting unit. Ben had some unsightly lumps removed (7 of them!) and I got smucked in the face at broomball. We look good huh?

The Vasaloppet is this weekend and that also is going to hurt, we have not been training. I don't really care to participate in events I am not prepared for, Ben he prefers it this way. We did go out skiing one time this season which is a sort of compromise for both of us and like they say that is what marriage is all about. See, we got this husband and wife thing down!

I had been anticipating the arrival of our new baby, the Dyson DC 17 Animal, for over a week. Well the sweet silver beast arrived yesterday and that thing sucks dirt and dust like no other. Unfortunately it also sucked up a pair of sweatpants and now is not working. pffft.......I am bummed out, I love vacuuming. And science, I love science too. (update, vacuum has been fixed, this thing has no instructions and I did not know what that button did!)

The Honeymoon is Over!

And I am not that sad. With all the wedding prep and excitement/stress it is good to be done and start living our life together. Bring on the gift opening, thank you cards and domestic life of laundry and bag lunches. I am ready....

We did have fun away in fact here we are at day 4, still happy, still smiling, still talking to each other. Never mind that Ben lost his ring about 24 hours after the nuptials and we spent 16 hours in the car driving across NoDak and Montana. Agh those are just details.

Montana was awesome, honestly how can you not be happy when you wake up to a view like this? Let's just say I know it is possible but still Bozeman Montana would be one cool place to live. Besides the sweet view we also got to snowboard at both Bridger Bowl and Big Sky, got in some skate skiing and stayed in a little shanty at the base of the Crazy Mountains. Good times!

Survived!

Well we made it through our big day, I am all moved in with my man friend and my name is changed. Still kind of feels a little surreal. I guess alot of sinking in needs to happen. And I need to accept the fact that I am married to a guy who would pose like this for a photo. Hmmm, that is going to take a while.

T-2 The Great Puzzle Challenge

I accept my defeat, the puzzle is not going to be finished. Here is where it stands...

and I am on my way to Willmar.

I stopped in the office to take care of some last minute things and noticed an email from Netflix that my card had been declined. Hmmm what would cause that? Maybe a charge from Mexico for $65 followed by 3 attempts at $100 and an attempt at $700 all in one day, yep that will put a hold on your account. Good thing I had been using the card to download some songs from I-tunes here in the US or the transactions from Mexico would probably not have been flagged. Thank you Bank of America you rock!

T-2 The Great Puzzle Challenge

I accept my defeat, the puzzle is not going to be finished. Here is where it stands...

and I am on my way to Willmar.

I stopped in the office to take care of some last minute things and noticed an email from Netflix that my card had been declined. Hmmm what would cause that? Maybe a charge from Mexico for $65 followed by 3 attempts at $100 and an attempt at $700 all in one day, yep that will put a hold on your account. Good thing I had been using the card to download some songs from I-tunes here in the US or the transactions from Mexico would probably not have been flagged. Thank you Bank of America you rock!

T-7 The Great Puzzle Challenge

Wow in one week my life will be very different. If I have any last minute cold feet I can always pull this, but I don't foresee that being necessary. It has all become real now, my dress and Ben's suit are both hanging in my car ready to be transported to Willmar and pretty much everything is done so yeah lets get this moving on, huh?
Ben would tell you we can't really move anything on until all 5000 of my puzzle pieces are connected. Here is where we are looking, we made good headway last night, Ben even helped for a couple of hours and notified of every found piece by yelling BAAMO. Oh boys, they are a weird species.

T-10 The Great Puzzle Challenge

Well the long holiday weekend did not lend me much time to work on the puzzle but I made a sizable chip in it yesterday. Thank you Ben for your help, I know you got 4 pieces before you fell asleep in the chair.

We spent the weekend in Wausau for a special wedding. The kicker was we shared a hotel with the Harlem Globetrotters, Sweet. I got a photo with the tallest dude on the team, the guy who had a nose as big as my whole face. Hey Gordon Malone, you are tall and I think I could take a bath in your shoes.

Well the day we had been waiting for finally came, we got the results of our Professional Engineer exam. Ben passed! I thought he was going to break out in song he was so excited, oh wait he did, "I passed, I passed, I can't believe I passed!" I had my results mailed to my workplace so I had to wait until Tuesday morning to learn my fate. When I got to work my mail was on my desk and it wasn't the same envelope Ben had received so I knew. If I got to pick which one of us passed I would have chosen Ben because he needs it for his current position and would have slaved through it again in April. Myself I wouldn't really use a license even if I had it and I probably won't retake, it was a royal drag.

Let it be known that I could change my mind, I am a glutton for punishment. Every time I am running a marathon I say, this it, never again because this sucks. Well eight marathons later I am pretty sure I will run another and in less than two weeks this city girl is marrying a 75 year old farmer trapped in a 28 year old enginerd's body. That could be the challenge of a lifetime!