Flying to Madison to Go Shopping

Last week, our friend Tony emailed Ray and I and asked if we wanted to fly to Madison with him to go shopping at REI (an outdoor gear store). We couldn't possibly say no!

We met Tony at MaxAir in Appleton on Friday afternoon. It was really neat to not have to go through security or arrive an hour before our flight or anything. Tony had already done his pre-flight safety check before we got there, so we pretty much got out of our car and hopped into the airplane!

On the flight down, I got to sit in the front with Tony and Ray sat in the back seat with Tony's gear (yep, that accounts for all of the seats in the entire plane!).


It was really neat. We flew over Lake Poygan and the Fox River. Plus, we flew a lot lower than commercial planes do, so we could see houses and cars and things during the entire trip. I even got to take the yoke ("steering wheel") and fly! Obviously, I did not kill us :)

Once we landed in Madison, we took a taxi to REI and had some dinner.


Ray took the front with Tony on the way back. I think I actually like the back seat better. It was very relaxing!


Oh, and we flew past the Capitol building! It was lit up and really looked gorgeous. Here's a picture, though it doesn't do it justice.


A very fun night!

Orthodontic Update, March 2009

It's been awhile since my last orthodontic update!

I went in today to get my last two "free" teeth banded. They are the last molars on my upper jaw. There's not much room up there, so things are pretty sore. There's also hooks sticking out on the inside of the band, so my tongue is really sore, as well. I can see why Dr. Olsen saved these bands for last :(

When I was in last month, I asked for a timeline update from Dr. Olsen. I was really happy when he took a couple of minutes to think about it before answering me. It wasn't just an off-the-cuff answer.

Anyway, he said I should be ready for surgery by November or December of this year. I was hoping for a little sooner, but afraid it would be even longer, so I'm ok with this!

Please say a little prayer that my tongue will "toughen up" soon and I can eat more than just ice cream... wait a minute, I love ice cream! I guess you should still pray for me since I don't think ice cream in and of itself is a balanced meal :)

Breaking News: Wedding Scrapbook Completed!

It finally happened! I finished my wedding scrapbook! It's about time, considering that Ray and I have been married for over a year and a half now :)

It was a really fun book to put together, actually. Many times, I found myself smiling, remembering.

Now it's time to get started on the honeymoon scrapbook. A scrapbooker's work is never done!

Five-Year-Old Cheesecake

I made a box of no-bake cheesecake for Ray today that expired in 2003. Yep, you read that right! I inherited the cheesecake when I married Ray, along with a lot of other expired foodstuffs. Most of it was tossed shortly after I moved in, but the cheesecake stayed. You see, Ray is not afraid of expired goods - not even if they've been expired for five years.

Yes, Ray got fair warning of how long the cheesecake has been expired. He happily ate it anyway. So far, he is not dead or sick.

Anyway, it was my birthday last week, and I wanted to show off my awesome birthday present:

Don't know what it is? Well, let's take a look inside:

A sewing machine! Ray's mom loves old sewing machines, so when I asked Ray for one, I knew I'd end up with a classic. It's really heavy, but it works great! Definitely quality. Isn't the carrying case awesome?!? Thanks, Gimpy :)

Archie, The Three-Legged Cat

I mentioned my parents' cat, Archie, in my last post. Here he is in his Christmas finery :) The missing leg would be in the back on top. He gets around really well. Missing a leg doesn't seem to bother him at all!

Funny People

I will be the first to admit that I'm not really funny. I'm sure that's evident from reading my blog. Informative, maybe, but it's definitely not funny. I do know some funny people, though. I'm even related to a few :)

My husband, Ray, has a pretty dry sense of humor that really cracks me up. He's especially good at writing zingers in emails. Ray sent out one of these emails recently.

My immediate family (parents and siblings) picks names for Christmas. Before picking names, we each write a few ideas of things we might like for Christmas. These lists then go into a bucket and that's how we pick names. We do this on Thanksgiving Day every year and then my mom spends from Thanksgiving until Christmas trying to figure out who has which name.

Recently, my mom sent a silly email out saying that she knew which name everyone in the family has. In response, Ray sent a "picture" of his person's list, to show that Mom had guessed incorrectly. This is what Ray sent:


To explain, my parents have this really cute cat. I wish I had a picture of him, I would have posted it. At any rate, the cat's name is Archie and he's an indoor/outdoor cat. This past spring, Archie showed up one morning with a broken leg. My mom took him to the vet and they said that they couldn't fix the leg. The only thing they could do was to amputate it.

I grew up on a hobby farm, so usually a case like this would have resulted in the cat being put to sleep. My mom had grown really fond of Archie, though, so she had the vet amputate Archie's broken leg. Thus, a new leg is the only thing on Archie's Christmas list this year!


To continue with the funny people theme, I started reading a cute blog recently. It's just called Big Mama and chronicles the life of a wife and mother in Texas. How can you not love reading a blog by someone who can come up with the sentence "She rolled out the dough with the grace and precision of a monkey after too many shots of tequila."?! Too funny :)

Orthodontic Update: Bad News Bears

I had my most recent orthodontist appointment at the beginning of December. I got bands around my last molars on the bottom (fun times).

At the end of the appointment, I asked Dr. Olsen where we were in the process and what he is currently doing with my teeth. He said he's currently turning and lining teeth up. After that, I will get new impressions done (more fun times), and then he'll see if my teeth are lined up properly for the surgery... yeah, the surgery. Dr. Olsen said that it's currently not looking like he'll be able to get my teeth where they are supposed to be without the surgery. Needless to say, I was pretty bummed.

It took me a day to recover from that news, but I'm ok with it now. At this point, I just want to hurry along with things and get the surgery done as soon as my teeth are ready. Let's get this over with already! I'm guessing it still won't be until Fall 2009, but I didn't ask (I think Dr. Olsen is sick of all of my questions!).

*sigh*

ps- How weird is it that I'm trying to look at the surgery positively by thinking that it will be an easy way to lose some weight??? (I'll be on a liquid diet for a couple of weeks after the surgery)