Merry Christmas

Christmas was low key for the Maske household. We all woke Thrusday morning, but did not rush to open presents, instead opted for coffee and breakfast. Oh how the times have changed.

We finally got all rounded up in the living room and started opening gifts. We all got great items. Some of those things include: Mom- new pants, slippers, kitchen items and a crockpot. Dad-socks, cork screw, sardines, and jeans. Amber - boot warmer, carhart bibs, purse, stocking hat, and socks. Josh - T-shirt, digital picture frame, gum, ties, and slippers. Me - digital picture frame, season 1 of lost, socks, slippers and a chia pet.

Once the presents were open, it was time to get the meal started. Dad of course dissappered. The rest of us prepared the green bean casserole, scalloped corn, crescent rolls, sweat potatoes, relish tray, mashed potatoes, and spiral ham. So once it was all prepared and cooked, we sat down to a nice meal. It was finished off with a pecan pie or a frozen mint chocolate pie.

We had a good time, a nice holiday, as always it goes by way to fast.

Stocking Stuffer

So with Christmas Eve winding down, and waiting for the McIlrath family to join us. I decided it was time to play a new game, "Stocking Stuffer" It was a spin on all kinds of games. After changing the rules, we decided that to play the game, you either draw an item from the stocking or you could take an item that another person has. The stocking was filled with an range of items. From candy to print cartridges, candles, pens, cheese danish's, you name it, it was in there. We had a great time.

We finished up the game, and no sooner the McIlrath's drove in. So we chatted and exchanged gifts. Then it was time for the annual photoshoot. I was wearing the world's most holidazzling sweater.

Update...

Well I have gotten behind in the blogging. The holidays really take it all out of you. Well to update you, Tuesday night was the midnight shopping extravaganza, however the weather was not the best, so Amber and McKenz did not join in on the fun. It was just me, Josh and Dad. We managed to hit all the stores before they closed. Dad's new favorite store is Gordman's, but he is mad at me cuz i would only let him stay a half an hour. Josh and I got home about 3 am, I stayed up to wrap all my gifts, and hit the bed at 5 am. Dad got home around 4.

On Christmas eve I slept to about 9:30, Josh was already outside shoveling snow. We then packed every inch of the car with gifts, food and the dogs and headed out to Plato. Josh decorated the Christmas tree, I made 2 batches of Chex Mix, we cleaned some veggies, made a pecan pie, and the potato soup. By the time we got around to taking a break, Amber and Josh showed up and the party was on.

In the meantime Dad had been putting together some beverages in the crock pot, while making oyster stew. One crockpot had a mulled cider/cranberry/orange concoction and the other was an alcoholic rendition of wassail, it was "good" er strong.

We all sat around drinkin and eating, it was 8:30 before we knew it, so we decided to open a gift or two.

Cold Enough?

Right now my computer says it is zero degrees. That is without the windchill. At least it is supposed to warm up into the 20's, which also means snow. It is Christmas so not going to complain, and I don't mind it. What I think is funny though is the people who do complain. We live in Iowa, it's December, it's winter, what do you expect to happen? Move to the equator I guess.

So do you all have your holiday shopping completed? I sure don't. This year as every year, the holidays have really snuck up from no where. At least I have the 23rd to shop, that is the midnight shopping extravaganza. For those of you who do not know, it has been tradition for many years now, ten years maybe, to go shopping for all hours on the 23rd. My dad, sister, Josh and McKenzie all pile into the car and hit all the shops before they close, usually starting with the one that closes first. Wal-Mart is open 24 hours, so is Hy-vee. The night usually ends after midnight. Last year was a snow storm, we were the only people out, so parking was no problem.

A little note about the picture with this post. We got the tree up and decorated, just before midnight one night. Being the night owl I am, I thought well we better take a picture while we have time. So I got the camera tripod out, and got things into place. Josh grabbed both dogs by the collar, then I pushed the automatic timer on the camera and raced in front of the tree, and grabbed Halen and then the flash went off. We went through this process before we had something decent, that is why Kona is licking and looking up. It was quite the photo shoot.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Today is mom's 39th birthday. Happy Birthday Mom!!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year....

Or it's the most freakin cold time of the year. That's right it is cold here in Iowa, I think the high yesterday was 9 degrees or something like that, and of course that doens't include the windchill. Also, right now it is snowing, possibility of 6 inches. Good Times here!!

Josh and I continue to be busy. He continues to referee basketball games and work the Iowa events. However this week he gets a break from the Iowa events as it is finals week.

Have you all finished your holiday shopping? Or have you started? I don't even have a good start, it seems every year Christmas sneeks up so fast. I also say every year I need to start Christmas shopping in July, then I would be done.

Last Friday night was the Iowa/ISU basketball game. Iowa won the game, and clenched the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk trophy. Halftime was filled with many events. Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and Shawn Johnson were there to help raise money and donate to Iowa flood relief. They ponied up $50,000 and Governor Chet Culver was on hand to receive the money. I of course took many pictures and have shared some with you on here. Members of the football team were also honored for their academic achievement.

Sunday we had the strangest weather. It was about 55 degrees at noon and at 10 pm the temp had fallen to about 7 degrees. In that time we had some ice, rain, sleet and snow. Josh also helped out that day with a youth basketball tournament.

i'm back

I am back home, that is all i really have to say. The roads weren't all that bad. There was one excpetion, the road linking between Dyersville and Monticello was ice covered, but i managed to keep er at 30 mph.

Home Sweet Motel

So I am stuck in Guttenberg. The weather here is a dandy. We had some ice, then it sleeted, then some snow, and i think now there is ice outside, or that is what it sounds like. The forecast then calls for 4-8 inches of snow. Who knows when it will be safe to drive home. I am a winter weather driving weinie anyway.

I guess I just complain cuz I want to go home. It has been a long time since I have been there. I didn't even bring a dog with me this trip. Josh is at home holding down the fort. I think they were getting rain the last I knew.

Hope all are safe and don't have to drive or go anywhere in this weather.

Freezin in the Gutt

So that brings me up to date. I am currently in Guttenberg with mom. It is the opening of deer hunting here in Iowa, or hunting with a rifle. I am not too sure. the motel fills up with hunters every year. I will be here at least til Monday.

I came up early to scoop all the snow that they had up here. Not a great time! I still have to go find some sand. It also continues to snow tonight, so tomorrow I will be working on the shoveling as well.

Josh is at home with the dogs. There was a men's bball game tonight. Iowa won against Bryant. Then tomorrow is a wrestling meet. It is the Iowa/ISU meet, they are trying to pack Carver to get the most people in the arena record. Then Sunday is a women's bball game, they play ISU. (tickets anyone?)

Home-made noodles

Thursday night was the annual Springdale Yuletide Buffet. We all met up at the shop (Mom, Dad, Josh, Jolene and I) and trucked out to Springdale for the annual eat til you puke, or eat til your pants don't fit.

We arrived earlier that normal, and walked right in and down to the buffet. This is unusual, usually you have to wait like 20 minutes because it is so busy. Apparently they were down 150 tickets this year.

We proceed to the buffet, I manage to pile my plate high with homemade chicken and noodles and mashed potatoes, I threw on some green beans, you know to get some veggies. All of us eat too much, all the food is soo tasty and home-made. We even try all kinds of desserts.

After the supper, dad pulls up mom's car. For those of you who don't know, not many people are priveldged enough to drive my mom's car. So my dad takes us back towards WB. Well, of course, we take the most scenic route possible back to the shop. We had to go look at the lights around town. There weren't really that many, but we made it work. We had a good time

Also thanks to Jolene, who purchased 3 jars of home-made celery dill pickles, oh so yummy!!!!

Snow

Well as you all know Iowa did not leave Boston with a win. It was a close one though. Also the corwd at BC was pathetic, there were less at that game than I think the Iowa women get. They play in an arena that also houses a hockey rink.

Josh and I had a flight back to Iowa at 6 on Wednesday, the day after the game. We were able to eat some lunch with a friend. A former intern with Iowa, now works at BC, so we were able to catch up with him. We also managed to fill our time by drinking more Dunkin Donuts coffee and another trip to Fenway park, this time to shop a bit. We were also able to eat some lunch with a friend. A former intern with Iowa, now works at BC, so we were able to catch up with him.

The weather back home was not looking good, it was snowing. We weren't sure if we would be able to get home. However things seem to work out and we landed in the frozen tundra at about 11:30. It took forever for us to get out of Atlanta (our connecting flight) so that made us a little late into Moline.

We were greeted by a car that was snow and ice covered. Josh being the smart one his is, didn't have the ice scraper in his car. So we heated the car up to try to melt the ice from the inside, and I remembered I had an expired gift card,so I began scrapping the ice from the windows. This was a big weather change for us, it was 60 in Boston on Monday. We finally got all the ice and snow off, or enough to drive and we made our way home. We counted 15 cars and trucks in the ditch on the way home, those were the only ones we could see.

We rolled into our little home at about 1:30 am, only to wake up and go to work the next day. It was a good trip. Not sure when we will get out there again, if ever. Who knows, the red sox will be calling josh's name soon enough.

As for pictures to my blogs, well you will just have to wait. Josh's computer didn't like my camera card while we were in Boston. So I am getting them loaded slowly.

GO HAWKS

So tonight is the big matchup with Boston College. If you get ESPN U, look for me on tv. GO Hawks!!

Josh and I are making our way to Fenway Park to see if we can get in on a tour, what is a trip to Boston without a trip to Fenway "Pahk"

Also my mother is now criticizing my typing on this blog...i am not a gret typist people!!! there will be mistakes! and i guess i can't spell becuase...who knew

a soggy sunday

Well I hear it is snowing back home, however it is rainy here. You don't have to shovel rain, as Josh reminds me.

We have been busy, being tourists. We are also in our second hotel room, in the first hotel we are staying at. The first room had problems with the tv, so they moved us. This new room does not have a view of the Garden parking lot. The first room did, we were able to spy on the Celtics and Bruins players arriving before their games.

On Saturday we went to the Sam Adams Brewery, via a quick trip on the T. What a nice little tour, there was free beer. It was like a tailgating Saturday, beer at 11:50am. We sampled 3 different kinds. The Sam Adam Lager, which is the standard brew, the Sam Adams Winter Lager, which was tasty, and we were priveledged enough to taste a beer contest winner flavor. It was a honey, all spice mix, not my favorite.

After we got buzzed, we thought we would go to Cheers and find out who really knew our name....or get some lunch. It was tasty stuff, we had to have some more beer there too. Then we continued our toursity day. We made our way to the cemetary where Sam Adams and Mother Goose are buried. Then went to Quincy Market to do some shopping and people watching.

We ended the day by heading to the North End of Boston, a heavily Italian populted area, with lots of great restuarants. We toured through the Old North Church and the gift shop. We then were looking for a restuarant that we had eaten at before but it wasn't open, in fact it had changed names too. We ended up eating at Al Dente, and having some home made pasta, sooooo tasty.

It was getting cold so we made our way to a nearby Dunkin Donuts to get some coffee and then headed back to the room to warm up. I fell asleep, Josh wondered off later for some beer. When Josh returned and I woke up the room was about 80 degrees. We cou;dn't figure out how to control the temp. It was sooo hot.

Today we decided to go tour the New England Aquarium. Lets just say the admission price was a little steep for the exhibits that were available. Josh says he was underwhelmed.

We then walked over to Quincy Market to grab some sort of snack. Lucky for us we found bacon wrapped scallops, oh so tasty!!!!!! They also served them with home made fries, can you say oily goodness!!! After that we went to check out Fanueil Hall. There is so much history in Boston.

Now we are going to hit the Boston Beer Works (they make their own beers) and watch the Patriots football game.

Hope all are well back home, and no one pulls a muscle scooping snow. HA HA HA

Comin atcha from the east coast

Hope all had a Happy Thanksgiving. We did, we joined my parents in Plato, for some delicious ribeye steaks. Even got a nap in, and Kona got lots of frisbee time. then we traveled to Amb's to crash for the night, becuase we boarded a 6 am flight to Boston.

Here we are in downtown Boston. We managed to lug our bags through the public transit system and settle in to our hotel right across the street from the Garden, where the Celtics and Bruins play.

We went to watch the Celtics stomp over the 76ers, a good time even from the nose bleed section. We were surprised to find out that former hawkeye Reggie Evans plays for the 76ers.

A big week ahead, lots to do, sightseeing, visiting family and watching the iowa men's bball team play BC.

Another great weekend

Wow, what a weekend! Josh stayed in Iowa City to take care of everything sports related at the University. On Friday he had wrestling and volleyball I believe. Then on Saturday he helpd run the Women's bball tournament, which then concluded on Sunday, followed by a men's bball game Sunday night. He was busy! Thanks to mom and McKenz for letting the dogs out for us, it is greatly appreciated, and the dogs thank you as well!!

I was not at home. Friday night after work I hoped into my car and headed north to Minneapolis (MPLS) I stopped at the Shell gas station in CR to get my free gas and supper, it was gross by the way. I was headed up to visit my friend Kate, go to the Hawkeye football game, and run my 5k in St. Paul. It was going to be a busy weekend. I also was trying to get to IKEA, do a little shopping. Christmas is coming!

I arrived at Kate's apartment around 10:30. I was greeted by her "clean" apartment. We caught up on "Ugly Betty" then called it a night. Saturday we thought we should go check out the 5k race course before we ran it. Didn't want to hit some unexpected hills. The race was around Lake Como in St. Paul. After taking the scenic route we checked out the course, and then came upon the botanical gardens and Como Zoo. We had to go check these places out.

The botanical garden was beautiful. All kinds of flowers and trees. This placed was like a giant greenhouse, complete with humidity and tropical temperatures. They had a room with fall mums, many palm trees and a fern room. A great place to check out. We continued touring the facility and came across the zoo. All the animals except the reindeer and bison had been moved inside. This is a great little zoo, hiding in St. Paul.

It was now approaching lunch time, so we headed back towards MPLS and stopped off at the French Meadow for some eats. Then trucked out to IKEA, which is located near the Mall of America. We shopped and browsed the strange items, made some purchases then returned to Kate's apartment. It was nearing game time.

We hopped the bus downtown. Kate needed to rescue something from her office, and I got to take a tour of Target Headquarters. Then we attempted to board the light rail to the Metrodome, however decided to walk the remainder of the trip as the light rail was jam packed with Hawkeyes. We got to the dome, climbed to our seats about 15 rows from the top. We got to see the whoel field and the scoreboard!! The game started, but things were not going good as we had burned through our 3 timeouts in the first 5 minutes of the game. However things started to turn around, and we beat the Gophers 55-0, it was the biggest big ten win we had ever had. There were no Gopher fans even left in the dome, it was rockin with Hawkeyes. Becuase of the late start, it was getting late so we decided to get some pizza a call it a night.

Sunday morning, race day! the race started at 9:30 it was about 30 degrees and cloudy, great weather! We registered and did all the approriate stretching and warming up. Next thing we knew we were off, and looping the lake. A 5k is about 3.1 miles. The best time for this type of race is like 15 minutes or so. Average about 30 minutes. The winner for the race was a women who took it in about 17 minutes. Kate and I ran the whole way, never really got passed, but passed a few people, and bunch of whiny girls and finished under 37 minutes in a time of about 36 minutes and 40 seconds. Yeah we are rock stars!!! It really wasn't a bad race, nice course. I think I may run a race in December in Betterndorf, got to convince Amber to do it with me.

Well we felt good about ourselves, but had to get moving and get back to Iowa. Kate had to come back for a funeral visitation. We were back on the road at 11:30. In no time we were back to Iowa City. I dropped Kate off at the funeral home and I went home to let the dogs out on my way to go watch the men's bball game. The frisbee dogs were the halftime entertainment. It was a long weekend. I am very tired. GO HAWKS!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

So it's that time of year again...the holiday season. With that comes the annual ligthting of West Branch. Or the drama of the lighting of West Branch. There is always a big to do about how early to hang the lights, locating the lights, getting light bulbs, oh and the big tree in the center of town.

Tonight I helped dad finish hanging the snowflake lights on Parkside Dr and hanging the banners as well. We also started with the lighting of the big tree in the center of town. Oh how this tree is a headache every year. IT is about 50 feet tall, so it is getting harder to decorate with regular lights, as it is growing out of reach of the bucket truck. One year dad and I put rope lights on the tree and by the response from the town you would have thought WWIII broke out, needess to say they did not like it. This year we need ideas. One idea was to light the tree with flood lights, alternating red and green around the base. We played with that idea tonight and it just wasn't working. Ahh so much fun!!!

Halen joined in on the decorating fun too, Kona got to stay and creat havoc in the shop.

We still have more lights to hang in the downtown area and on the main streets in and out of town. Hope it warms up a little, it sure gets cold out there. At least they started playing the holiday music in September, so we have some music to hang lights by.

Are you ready for the boom?

Hey there fellow Hawkeye fans. Here is a video from the entrance of the Hawkeye Marching Band at the 2008 Band Extravaganza. It is a youtube video do hope it works for you all. As always the band extravaganza was a great time. GO HAWKS.

Also the "O" flag was returned in time for this event. It was stolen or misplaced after the last home football game. Once again I-O-W-A can be complete.

In Heaven There Is No Beer

Lets hear it for the Hawkeyes. Friday night the men's bball team won, Saturday night the football team won, Sunday afternoon the women's bball team won, Monday morning the field hockey team won (advances to the final 8 of the NCAA tournament), Monday night the men's bball team won (barely) and now I am listening to the women's bball team take on kansas. All hawkeyes, all the time, I lead an exciting life.

It's getting cold...

Hey everyone out there is cyber space. How is life treating you? Are you gearing up for the winter and the holidays?

So last Monday night Josh and I caught up with the Iowa Rec Services for a night of bowling. We did alright, even managed a few strikes. There were four on our small team. I managed to beat Josh 2 out of 3 games, not bad. Bowling is fun, we should do it more often, someday I might break 150. Got to set my goals high. Also it is nice to go bowling now after they passed that smoking ban, you don't smell like a cigarette when you leave.

Then came Vetran's Day. Hope all you Vetran's had a nice day and were honored in style. Josh also did some basketball reffing. Wednesday came and went, well sort of, we got the front yard raked, as they are supposed to come pick up our leaves this weekend. Through the week I have been battling a small head cold, that was a lot of fun! Then it was Thursday, Josh attended a United Way function, I worked at the gym. Now it is Friday, woohoo time for the weekend. It is also a Men's basketball game. Should be a good time.

This weekend will have its fill of hawkeye events. Men's bball tonight, football tomorrow and women's bball on Sunday. That will keep us all busy.

For all of you who have been following my running progress, I know how involved you people are in this blog, I wont disapoint, here is an update. So I can now run for 38 minutes without stopping. I can run 3.1 miles, which is a 5k in 36 minutes and 30 seconds, which is fast for me. SO I have just about one week to go before the big race day. Who knows the weather could be the real factor, since the race is in St. Paul around a lake.

Penn State Video

I hope this works, I loaded a video to youtube from after the game. Hopefully it will post to this site as well. Enjoy and GO HAWKS!!

I know you have all been dissappointed that I haven't posted for a whole week. Well let the waiting end, here I am with a fresh new post....

It was another busy week. Josh started reffing basketball, I had to make a whirl wind trip to the Gutt and we had a great Hawkeye football game Saturday. Not too mention we had a historical election.

As far as the election results go in Johnson Co, there were not too many surprises as it is highly Democratic. However we had an issue about land and water conservation. It needed 60% to pass, it passed at 61% on election night. The issue details can be found online, I think it lacks in details, but it is found under Flipno.com, or under Flip in Johnson Co. However today they are still waiting on absentee ballots to come in and the measure is only up by like .7%. Also there are problems with ballots being counted that are not signed???? Hmmm.....another election issue was keeping our current county auditor. He was re-elected, but there are always problems with ballots in this county, anyone remember the North Liberty mayoral election a few years back, oh and not to mention the auditor was cleared of 2 DUI charges. Oh well I voted and so did everyone else, and that is why he stays I guess, stupid straight party voting!!

I then went up to the Gutt. It was toy show weekend in Dyersville. We get people staying with us from Green Bay and northern Minnesota. These people are dedicated to small farm toys. One guy that stays with us was released from a nursing home just to attend. I guess it is like my devotion to the Hawkeyes, I will be that old lady that has to get wheeled in every game, or the old lady that clears my way with my cane. Also we have been working on the bathroom in room #2, it was in desperate need of a face lift. We ripped off some wallpaper and it was now time for paint, so it is all spruced up. We just need someone to come hang a mirror for us.

That brings me to Saturday, another Hawkeye game day...or that is what I thought. The Hawks were hosting the #3 team in the nation, Penn State. They were undefeated, and the Hawks have had a decent season, each loss was very close. So the game was somewhat in questions, could the Hawks upset PSU?

Well the game started with a bang, not to mention it was about 30 degrees and snow flurries. Anyway, PSU fumbled on their first drive causing them to punt from the 1 yard line. We made quick work of that and put 7 on the board within the first minute. Wow, this is great I thought, but still had a long way to go.

The game continued, and we stayed with PSU the whole time even though there was a fumbled snap and an interception. We were doing every thing to lose the game, yet we weren't getting behind in points. Then things got interesting. The score was 23-21 PSU, and PSU was driving into their end zone, however Tyler Sash (hawk) catches a throw from PSU, intercepts and starts running the ball the other way. The staduim erupts, and I believe there is around 3:46 to play in the game. Ok we just need a field goal to win...but just a first down to get it going.

Those last few minutes of the game were tense. Not only did we stand for most of the game, there was no sitting these last few minutes. It seems as if we were getting to 3rd down on the first few series, but the hawks kept making the catches. Then we got a passing interference call to go our way, so we were moving the ball closer to our end zone. There were 57 seconds left in the game....ahhh things were tense, could we actually upset PSU????? All we needed was a field goal. WE kept driving the ball and getting closer and closer a few yards at a time. Then all of the sudden there were 11 seconds in the game...I remember thinking where had the time went? Ok, so what do we do run another play or just kick the ball now? They run another play to get to the center of the field.

Now there were 6 seconds left. Kirk calls on Iowa City native and Regina graduate Daniel Murray to kick this field goal. Now for those of you who don't keep track of Iowa football, he is not the field goal kicker, although he can kick field goals. Murray is the guy who kicks off. I was questioning this move, as I was chatting with the man sitting behind me. Then it was time, but PSU of course takes a time out. (Watching an interview after the game with Murray, he said he knew there was going to be a timeout and he was happy, so he could take a few minutes by himself on the field)

Murray lines up and, the ball is snapped...he runs in and makes the kick....SILENCE....then the whole place erupts in joy, Murray makes a soccer slide in celebration....the crowd begins to rush the field, but there still is 1 second left in the game, Mitch King helps clear fans from the field, the annoucer, which you could hardly hear says "Get off the field, the game is not over"....Iowa is penalized and ends up kicking off on the 15 yard line. (anyone see the Texas Tech game last week) Iowa makes this last kick off...and in attempt for PSU to score they start throwing the ball backwards, however an Iowa player catches the ball, GAME OVER. IOWA UPSETS #3 PENN STATE....Now it is time to rush the field, the whole entire field is full of black, gold, and Green (fans were asked to wear this to honor one player, i know it is a team sport) It was soooo cool, you could barely hear the band playing In Heaven there is No Beer, a great atmosphere. The game was on ABC and the sky cam was even there. Great exposure for both teams. With the win it made Iowa bowl eligible. After a win like this it sure didn't feel as cold.

Let the Wedding Planning Begin

So Mom, Brenda and I made the trip to join up with Amber. She had picked a site for her reception and wanted us to look at it. So we piled in the car and headed over to the Modern Woodsman Park, where the Quad City River Bandits play. They are a baseball team, a farm team for the St Louis Cardinals.

The place provides a huge area with many options and many places for a bar. Amb has free reign to do about anything, but remove the Yankee Jersey's from the wall. It seems like a cool place and the events coordinator is great to work with.

Then since we were all together and Amb had yet to try on any wedding dresses, we set out for a bridal store. Unfortunatley for us David's Bridal was the only place open. We walked in the door and registered Amb, but our consultant was still on lunch, so we had to wait for her. In the mean time we were told to look around at the gowns. I pulled some bridesmaids gowns that Amb thought she might like and I was carrying them around. Well apparently that is forbidden there. The dresses were torn from my grip and hung on rack. I was asked if we had been helped, as we need to be working with a consultant, and the consultant would help us get a dressing room. We also needed to check in, becuase the lady at the front plans the whole day. There are like 35 dressing rooms there and 5 were in use. Jesh lady, ever heard about word of mouth advertising????? YOU SUCK!!!!!! SO needless to say the consultant finally helped us and I never was able to retrieve my bridesmaid gowns. So I would suggest not buying anything from David's Bridal, they are mean!

However, Amb was able to try on some gowns, she liked a few hated a few, and I was able to take some pictures. So at least the process has started. She is feeling very overwhelmed.

ED

So Amb and Josh got a new puppy. A boxer, that appears to have a brindle coat. He is 6 weeks old now. That makes 4 dogs for the Maske clan.

I questioned the name Ed, and offered maybe George, as in Foreman, you know he was a boxer. I also suggested the name Tyson as in Mike Tyson, he was always famous for biting ears, who knows Ed may be into biting ears. Amb also had a name that was shot down, Briefs as in boxer briefs. But Ed it is, welcome to the fam!

Road Trip

After an evening of Halloween. I trick or treated with Ava, or supergirl, then Josh and I trekked downtown to see what all the college kids were wearing. I guess if you could make it slutty, it was a costume.

Well we made the trip to Champaign Illinois on Saturday to watch the hawks play some football. However the outcome was not that great. The hawks came back to tie the game, but that wasn't good enough, they would eventually lose by a field goal. Not only was the outcome a bummer, but so were the seats. Illinois thinks sitting people under an overhang where the score board is not visible are great seats. Yikes, they need more than one scoreboard, maybe one on each end?

I was also fortunate enough to sit to a nice lady. She predicted both interceptions, and she was very knowledgable about football. I wish I knew who she was, so I could sit next to her again. A nice change from the grumpy old lady who is very adamant about sitting directly on the center of her seat at Kinnick.

Anyway we made the trip and back in one piece. Also it makes the Big Ten football stadium list a little longer. We have been to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. We have also been to Iowa State. Guess we will have to pick a different away game for next time.

Happy Halloween

BOO!!! Did I scare you? Are you all ready for the big haunting night? or do you really care? Josh and I have been so busy lately that last night we finally were able to carve our pumpkins. Picking the design was the hard part this year. We were able to find some nice pumpkins at Hy-Vee. Since they are not sold by weight I made sure mine was one of the largest they had.

When it came time to decide on a pattern I was out of ideas. We did the Red Sox and the Hawks last year, the Cubs sucked it up this year, so it would be the easiest to do a pattern or just a normal ol jack-o-lantern face. The search was on to find our pattern books and carving tools. Of course we could not find them, I think there are with my missing yearbooks.

So Josh was on the hunt for a pattern book, he found one and after supper at about 10 pm we started the carving process. I told you we have been busy, and this was the only time we had. We do have to wait til almost Halloween to carve them anyway becuase the squirrels think we are leaving them food when we set our pumpkins out, but this was late.

So we scraped the goo and seperated the seeds out. I try to roast the seeds, every year they taste a little different. So I got the seeds into the oven so I didn't have to roast them until 2 am. Then it was time to transfer the patterns on to the pumpkin, that was not easy, and they were not easy to see once they were transfered. So we managed to carve out the patterns and viola, we had 2 carved pumpkins and it was just shy of midnight.

Kona was experiencing her first Halloween. She thought the pumpkins were food, so she started eating some of the goo and started chewing on some of the seeds. It was hard to keep her away, she always has to put her nose into things to see what is going on. Halen on the other hand took the opportunity to go sleep somewhere away from the action. We do have both extremes for pets.

Happy Halloween everyone. Stay safe!!

NKOTB

So this past weekend Amber, my friend Jen and I road tripped to Chicago. We went to catch up with the past. That is right, the New Kids on the Block have reunited and are on tour. The nearest concert was in Chicago. So we pilled in the car and headed off to the concert. We had a hotel room close to the venue. We just needed to find a place to eat, but with 23908423908 women in town for the concert it was a struggle. Amber used her charm and got us into the nearby Chili's restuarant, where we had this waiter "from" jamaica. He kept saying Jyour Welcome, it got old fast. We scarfed down supper and headed over to the concert. We were surprised to find that Natasha Beddingfield opened for them, she was good.

It was then time for the concert. Lets just say that I was a huge fan when I was 12 and they had no problem making me feel like I was 12 again. These are grown men pushing 40ish that still dance and sing together. GOOD TIMES!!! Becuase of camera restrictions, and the bulk of my camera I did not sneak my camera in. However if you go to youtube.com and type in NKOTB + 10/24/08 you can find many performances from the show. The venue also served Mai Tais, it was great!

The next day we hoped the public transportation system to downtown Chicago for some shopping. When ever you have to take public transportation it is alwys interesting. It took over an hour to get downtown. We were near O'hare airport. We also ran into a homeless lady who decided to use the train as her toilet.

After a draining day of shopping and getting free candy courtesy of Chicago mayor Daley, we decided to take the trek back to the car and come home. It was a good time in Chicago, it is so close, nice to visit, nice to come home.

However this is a super busy time of the year, trying to get a million things done before it gets too cold. We need to rake our leaves so they can be picked up by the city on the curb, however it was super windy on Sunday, so we only got a few of those done. Got all myplants moved inside, then moved in the patio furniture, and cleaned up the garage. In the mean time I have been given a butt load (yes that is the technical term) of green tomatoes. The family really likes them pickled. So far I have about 50 jars done, it is a lot of work and consumes a lot of time. Thanks to Jolene for helping me. I am even experimenting with some jalepeno batches.

That brings me up to tonight, where I need to finish raking the leaves becuase they are scheduled to come tomorrow, more tomatoes to can and need to carve my monsterous pumpkin ( i have no idea what to make) I need more time. Good thing we turn our clocks back this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend, Josh and I are traveling to Champaign, IL to go to the Iowa football game. Josh has also been busy, he got a substate football game to ref this year, in amongst all the meetings and scheduling high school basketball games.

84 cents!!!

WTF!! Ok so now my refill mug cost 84 cents to fill at Casey's, the price jumped from 73 cents. I guess this is a sign to stop drinking my beloved fountain pop. Or is it a sign to start drinking that new 64 calorie beer? Drinking at work, maybe?

back in the Gutt!

Hey all!! I am writing to you from Guttenberg. The weather has been super nice, haven't seen the weather report, so maybe it will be nice for the week.

On Friday night Josh reffed his usual high school football game, but afterwards was asked to ref the Rusty Toolbox game at the Iowa Hawkeye practice bubble. The toolbox game is between the managers and trainers from Iowa and Wisconsin. Iowa pulled out the win 7-6.

Then it was time for the game on Saturday. My friend Kate was in town for the weekend so she joined me for the Hawkeye victory. We also caught up with some other friends this weekend, it was a good time.

I am now running for 30 minutes, man I am tired, any one a massuese out there??

Well hope everyone is doing fine, we are fine. I left the dogs with Josh so he will be kept busy. I should be back home tomorrow.

register to vote!

Hey all, are you registered to vote? In Iowa the deadline is October 24th. I wont tell you who you should vote for, but I can tell you that you need to register. Check with the deadlines in your state, I know some have already passed. Which means if you are not registered, I don't want to hear you whining about who is elected.

In other news the project for a new lockmaster house at Lock and Dam #10 in Guttenberg was completed, and now you can go observe barges and pleasure craft locking through. or in other words the entertainment in Guttenberg has doubled. Every once in a while a big paddle wheel type boat come through.

It's Fall

So this past weekend I traveled up to Guttenberg, to do a little work. It was also peak leaf looking weekend. I have been working in the bathroom to our room #2. It had some dated wallpaper, time for it to go, who ever thought wallpaper was the thing to do should be shot! Saturday I ripped off the wallpaper and cleaned off the glue on the walls. On Sunday I got out the primer and painted the ceiling and walls twice and cleaned motel rooms. I also helped with a minor flooding incident in the basement of the motel. The water heater was leaking, and needs to be fixed, anyone know a good plumber? Today I put on a coat of ceiling paint, did some caulking, went running and rented a room. I am sooooooo tired, i need a nap!

On the running front, I am up to running 28 minutes without stopping, 3 times a week, soon I move to 30 minutes. I have registered for my 5k, so just have to keep up the training. I am slow, but I can do it!

Josh is busy cheering on the Red Sox in the ALCS, things are not looking so good I think the series is tied at one game a piece and as I right this the sox are losing game 3. So everyone lets cheer, the cubs aren't in it, so who else you want to cheer for?

Hope all is well with everyone!