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In honor of American Idol starting up tonight….for your viewing pleasure!! haha!

that people in minnesota start to go a little wacko.  its cold and snowy and that means we all drive even more like ding dongs.  cold and snow washes out some peoples memory of which is the gas pedal and which is the break.  it gets interesting on the roads

we also start to get a little …. ready for spring and summer…. especially when our forecast reads as such…

monday - 3-5 inches of snow… blizzard warnings, winter storm warnings, wind chill warnings

tuesday - high around -1, lows around -14

wednesday - high around -5, lows around -15, snow flurries

thursday - high around -10, lows around -17

friday - it finally warms up!!!  high around 0

woo!

So I am a big fan of fiction mystery, thriller, etc books.  I love Stephen King and Dean Koontz among other thriller writers.  They don’t necessairly have to have blood and gore and weird stuff like that, but I do like the books i can’t put down due to me just having to know what happens to the character next. 

Among my favorites are Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King; Angels and Demons by Dan Brown; Excavation by James Rollins and Intensity by Dean Koontz.

The book Intensity is best described in one word, mentioned in its title, Intensity!  I was reading this book and I finished it in 2 days.  I couldn’t put it down.  It’s about a woman who goes to visit some friends in the mountains and she is woken up in the night by a loud bang.  She goes down to discover that the parents of her friend have been murdered and her friend is missing.  The killer does not know she is in the house. 

She hears her friend crying and follows the voice only to see the killer put her friend in this camper.  She decides to sneak into the camper when he isn’t looking to try to save her friend. 

From there the book gets wild.  Her pursuit in keeping herself hidden while trying to save her friend is gut wrentching. 

I remember the night I was finishing the book, my husband and I were on our couch.  He was reading a book, too, so we had the tv off and the room was silent.  There I was on the edge of my seat, nose in the book, worried and pulling on my hair as I do when I’m nervous.  My husband sneezed, breaking the silence, and I jumped and shook the couch.  Both my bottle of water and my book fell to the floor.  I looked at him with shock, I’m sure, on my face.  We both erupted into laughter after that.

If you like a good thriller… I highly recommend Intensity by Dean Koontz

I am a defensive driver… I live by the motto (on the road) “Everyone else on the road thinks they are the only one on the road”.  Although I have never been in an accident (besides when some lady hit me because she didnt check her blind spot then blamed it on the sun in her eyes - the sun was on the opposite side of her vehicle from where she hit me), I have had a few close calls.  I do talk to other drivers knowing they can’t hear me and laugh at people stupidity.  BUT, I do have to remind myself to be thankful for how well people do drive here in the winter.  If you are asking yourself, “what would make you thankful for stupid drivers?”, I have a story for you…

A few years ago, I had the privelage to travel to St. Petersburg, Russia from December 28th through January 9th.  We spent some time there with some friends and travel around a little bit.  It was fun and exciting to be in a completely different atmosphere over the holiday season.  I saw and experienced things I never thought I would.  It was an amazing trip, ending in Amsterdam (wow!).

BUT…….the DRIVING there!!!!  Ugh, ok so the roads are wide in the city and they don’t get plowed really at all, so no one can see the lines dividing the lanes so they just drive where ever!  They dont obey the normal traffic rules… They will just park anywhere (literally) and to get to their parking spot on the street, they will cut across lanes of traffic and just stop! 

It’s chaos and people drive just anywhere… then if someone gets in their way, the will stop and get out of their car, in the middle of the street, and start yelling at eachother!  There were accidents everywhere.

Then we travelled north to the finland border (to Sortavala) and we had to ride in this 15 passenger van for 6+ hours on a winding twisting road that had not been plowed.  It was the worst 6 hours I’d spent in a vehicle ever!  It was so bumpy and slippery, there were accidents and spin-offs everywhere.

The country was so interesting and amazing in its history and culture, but I am glad for minnesota streets when I think back to that week.

Christmas is right around the corner.  Which means gifts galore are being purchased and will be given in about a week.  Most people purchase gifts, wrap them and give them on christmas.  Not quite the case in my family, and there is a reason to that.  My dad has never been the go out and seek presents, wrap them and give them type.  He is always worried he will get the wrong thing.  My mom was the present purchaser, and would put my dads name on them.  My dad is good at giving money in cards though! My mom passed away from breast cancer last december, so last christmas my dad just got me what I needed for my new apartment and that was that.  So i wasn’t sure how it would go this year, so I gave him a list of the things that I wanted.  Number 1 on my list was a piano.  When I was younger my mom sent me to Piano lessons, I played piano until I was in 5th grade which is when I choose to learn the Cello.  I can still play the pinao but since I dont have one around on a regular basis I can’t just play and learn songs.  So I wanted a pinao so that I could pick up my piano playing skills and be able to play farely well again.  So I put that on the list, thinking that maybe he would just call and purchase it.  Instead he had my purchase it online for him.  Some may think, well thats no fun, christmas is about the surprise.  But it’s how my dad has always been, he likes to know that I am getting what I want.  So I am happy with it I got my piano and I can’t wait for christmas when I can play it!  I have many songs I plan to learn.

Along with millions of other Americans - I spent the Holiday weekend eating way to much food.  Turkey, ham, two different kinds of potatos (mashed and cheesy), O salad, Spinach and Artichoke Dip, Stuffing, Sweet Potatos, Dirt and Worms, pumpkin pie, cookies, etc.  Along with trying out tons of wines (my favorite was pumpkin wine) and beers.  Traditionally in my family we all pile into my Aunts huge house (we are a 20+ family, we can fit no where else) around noon.  We snack on appetizers, which I have concluded is not smart when you are planning on eating a huge meal, cause then you end up eating way more then you should.  Around 1pm the food is set out, it spreads between the kitchen and the serving table (we always have enough food to feed 3 familys our size).  After you pile your plate full of food we all make our way to our spots, Kids at the kids table, Adults at theres.  It’s been that way since we were babies and even though us kids are as old as 30 and as young as 20 we still have a kids table.  We stuff our faces with the yummies of Thanksgiving.  After we eat, the kids head downstairs to pick our spots on the couch and the floor, to begin our tradition of watching movies.  This year we watched 3 (yes we are bums) we watched Wall-e, Sex and the City, and What Happens in Vegas.  All great movies, and more often or not some of us end of falling asleep during one or two of the movies.  It’s usually the ones on the floor, it just sucks you in.  If you start to lay down on the floor to watch a movie, we all know you are done for.  That darn turkey sure knows how to make a person sleepy. Before we know it 3 movies go by and it is almost 8pm at night, where did the day go! This is how most of our holidays pan out, we plan before hand what movies to bring and pick them out as the day progresses on.  There is nothing better then eating way to much food, spending time with your family and curl up on the couch watching great movies.

This Saturday will mark the closing of the Minnesota Golden Gophers run in the Metrodome. The matchup between the beloved Minnesota Golden Gophers and the pathetic Iowa Hawkeyes squad, who just happens to be the al ma mater of Chuck Fowler, VP of Sales at FFUSA (Please don’t hold this against him). In this classic battle of good vs. evil, the Gophers have an opportunity to win the rivalry trophy, Floyd of Rosedale.  This year I predict that good will prevail and the Gophers will take this game 31-27.

I have been a faithful Gopher fan and season ticket holder since 1992. This means that I have sat through 16 seasons of frustrating plays, desicions and screw ups. Not only have I had my heart broken countless times by horrible Gopher performances, I have had to watch them in arguably the worst stadium in all of football. So, all I ask this weekend is for one last win. One last win to help turn the page as the Gophers move football back to the U of M campus and open TCF Stadium. The task will not be easy, as usual the entire state of Iowa will travel north to marvel at the sight of a real citie and tall buildings. And as usual, all of the Hawkeye fans will spend the entire game trying to prove that they are educated by spelling I-O-W-A! And we will be very impressed. But this year, the Gophers will leave the dome victorious and start a new era of let downs and disappointment in TCF Bank Stadium. Ski-u-mah.