Happy Tuesday, Indeed

I love to laugh... I also love when family comes to town. 

My sister lives West.  So far west, in fact, that I don't get to see her near enough.  Actually it's only like an hour and 45 minutes away.  But what I find challenging is mustering up the endurance to drive to her house (since, you know, I drive for a living and whatnot).  So she always ends up toting her cute little butt/baby out this way more often than she should have to.  

I need to go visit her more.  Agree, Melissa?  Agree.

And I might even stay the night.  WHABAM.  (I took that from her).

So anyhow she and baby came this weekend and Kylie loves to make my life complete.  I'm sure she does - she's never actually said it since she's only 5 months old, but I know she thinks it.  

She makes the sweetest noises and giggles (think Gerber baby only BETTER) and she yells instead of crying.  It's awesome.

Well I went out to supper with Melissa, Mom, and Kylie on Friday night when Melissa got to town since Dad was still driving home from from Duluth.

Figuring out plans for supper was a FIASCO to say the least.

Let's be nostalgic for a second:

Last week, dad was trying to make me feel better about some life drama and I and I was throwing the mother of all pity parties.  Dad was telling me about when we were kids and we used to play mom and dad against eachother.  Dad taught us independence, and Mom taught us humor.  If we wanted to do something (ie: go outside), Mom would say "no".  So obviously we would go ask dad and he would always say "be in at 8." we would reply "10?" to which he would respond "7:30?".

We got in at 8.

Back to last Friday.  Mom called me and asked what I wanted to do for supper...  I said we should eat in because it's healthier.  (If you read here, here, and here, you will see why this is important to me)

She replies "Well or we could go to D Michael B's and get a salad or something..."  So I said "Mom, I can buy 11 bags of salad to pay for 3 servings of salad at the restaurant."  So she said "We could get pizza from Little Caesars?"

We'll put this in Dialog form so you can keep up:

Becca: "no mom, still not healthy"

Mom: "well I know but it's easy"

Becca: "so is taking lettuce from a bag"

Mom: "I'll call Melissa and see what she wants to do"

As per usual, Melissa always calls me after she talks to mom.  Or dad.  Or pretty much anyone.

Melissa: "So I'm just going to meet you at D Michael B's?"

Becca: "why..?"

Melissa: "Mom said that's where you agreed to go...  but I'm not going to get a salad, I had one for lunch"

Becca: "she only called you because I said no."

Melissa: "Sorry.. [insert unimportant conversation] see you soon."

*click*

Melissa and I then called dad on conference call... (again, per protocol) laughing to tell him that we now knew where we got our negotiation skills...  

Melissa and I got the brilliant idea to conference in Mom so dad could ask her what we were doing for supper...

Dad: "hi Jack"

Mom: "hey honey, how's the drive?"

Dad: "fine, what are you going to do with the girls for supper?"

Mom: "Well, Melissa said she wants to go to D Michael B's for supper to get a chicken salad..."

Dad: "We have salad at home... why don't you just have that?"

Mom: "Well that's what I told Becca and she agreed but Melissa wanted to go out to eat"

Melissa: "NOT TRUE!!!"

Becca:*laughing*

Melissa: "Mom, I said I do not care what we have for supper and you said D Michael B's and I said sure...  I never heard the proposition of eating at home"

Mom: Where are you guys, is your dad still on the phone too?

Becca: "Duluth..."

Melissa: *laughing*

Dad: *laughing*

Mom: "I don't know what's going on so I'm going to hang up."

Melissa: "Mom, we conference called you"

Mom: "so you're not all together?"

Melissa: "See you soon mom..."

*click*

*click*

*click*

Becca: "Hello?"

 

That's why we love mom... 

Love being a twin.  

Love her... Christmas 2012

Have a great Tuesday!

My Misinterpretation of the Reason for Blogging

GOOD MORNING TO YOU!

I sure hope the sun is shining wherever you are.  It's shining here and I have a 4-foot berm of snow lining each side of my driveway.  BUT we're going to be in a great mood today, amIright??!

I sure do hope this blog post works today... This puppy was acting up like you would not BELIEVE yesterday.  We weren't on speaking terms for the entire day.  Which is actually probably a better relationship than we've had in the past...  I mean a 3-month stint is a little ridiculous!

Anyway; I decided to do something CRAZY and join a group that does the Cara Box.  Now I'm going to send you to Kaitlyn at Wifessionals to see what she knows about the Cara Box because it's still pretty fresh to me.  What I LEARNED today (evidently we're going to use CAPITAL LETTERS to emphasize our points today), was that blog-land has so much more to it than I thought:

Rebecca's original thought (no judgment, please): blogs are intrusive of privacy and are avenues creepy individuals (stalkers, if you will) take to learn all they can about you, get into your life, and BAM! You're a victim.  (self-preservation at it's finest, people.)

I guess that was my take on social media as a whole... I do NOT love Facebook because I want people to call me or talk to me in REAL LIFE versus seeing what's new via photo's and status updates (sorry if I deleted you).  I was on Match.com for a long time (see here, here and here) and was a victim of "catfishing" (yes, I just sent you to Urban Dictionary because I didn't know how to better explain it - there's also a clip from Dr. Phil...).  I was talking to a really handsome guy (if you watched the Dr. Phil clip, I wasn't talking with "Shawn") that was a special education teacher and had his life pretty much together... He was fun to talk to via email at first then on the phone.  We talked for a few weeks then we decided to meet for dinner.  Then he fell off the face of the earth, the sky fell; turned purple, whatever!  He stopped talking.  I thought something bad happened (I'm not negative, just tried to justify it for him).  Then I had the novel idea to see if he'd logged into Match.com at all and sure enough "so-n-so has been 'active in the past hour'".  His friend had a match account to pick up the pieces, evidently, so he reached out to me and let me know that the "chase" was why he was online and that he was sorry his friend was such a(n) <insert negative words here>.  Jerk.

Anyway!  Needless to say, I had a pretty jaded view of the world wide web.

HOWEVER...

Rebecca's new thought: I have been watching Melissa (I talk about her an awful lot) grow her blog-o-sphere (I do think that's a real word?) into what it is now and it amazes me in a couple of ways... 

1. She now has this network of friends she never would have had if she hadn't started blogging... These people are neat (and if you're reading this from HER page, she talks about you ALL OF THE TIME, and she really does care about her fellow bloggers)
2. She learns a lot from it: "Look what so-n-so did that I am going to try, too!  Why didn't I think of that??!"
3. She gets to do things like the Cara Box
4. She gets to show off her mad cooking skills (please note: we are twins but I don't bake the way she does).  (But I can cook.)
5. She gets to brag about her pride and joy... and sometimes her husband. :) Now I don't currently have much to "brag" (or be as excited) about but I do have some wild and crazy stories that I DO NOT make up.  This was my disclaimer, so remember this post, folks.

I would, someday in the not too distant future, love to start meeting people on here.. provide some chuckles and possibly some tears... from chuckling too much of course.  I am a work-in-progress with blogging and am quite happy with how I'm doin' so far this year!  I want to start tracking the happenings of life that make me who I am when I experience what my sister is experiencing with mommy-hood.  

Anyhow, I could drag on and on about this, but I think it goes without saying: I'm honored that you took the time to stop in and read the post, and look forward to learning more about you as time goes on!

Love from Becca

Just another day..

My Trip to Arizona

Please excuse the formatting... I can't fix it!

When people tell you that you need a vacation, they usually mean a couple of things…

• You look “exhausted” (or like crud)
• They know that you’ve been running yourself rugged and that time off has been earned

Either way, I looked at my vacation time at work and realized I had 8 days to use up by the end of February (this was in mid-January).  So posted on facebook “Looking for places to take a vacation this February and I need ideas.  GO!”

I got a bunch of responses…  But my friend Laura said she has time to use up too and would love to go somewhere!  We looked around hotwire for a bit and decided on a trip to Phoenix, AZ.  I was excited but exhausted by the time the trip came so I didn’t really know what I wanted to do (besides sleep). 

Anyhow, it was a SUPER eventful trip

·    Day 1: We got there on Wednesday night and just went to supper at a place called Claim Jumper.   We decided we didn’t want to do anything so we packed up and went to bed.

·   Day 2: We decided to start BIG.  We went hiking… We took a cab to Camelback Mountain where the cab driver made a lot of dollars… He took us on the scenic route.  Oofta.  The cab driver (criminal) dropped us off at the entrance and gave us his card.  I looked up the directions on my phone and learned that he did, in fact, make a lot of extra money.

o    The hike was awesome.

o    We decided to try to walk on the way back (after 3.4 miles on a difficult trail and no experience with hiking vertically).  We made it 3 miles and called a cab.

o    When we got back we rinsed off and jumped into the hot tub and met a group of really nice people… Paul is a coffee salesman from Colorado.  Sheri is an auditor from Minneapolis (small world!).  We met another lady from Alberta, but her name was unique and I’m forgetful.  Lastly, we met a family from Poland; Patrick, Monika, and their daughter Natalie.  That night we went to supper with Sheri and our Canadian friend… The Polish family was supposed to come but Patrick had one too many adult beverages and “fell asleep”.  Monika told us he woke up at 5am to walk to the nearby convenience store to buy a Dr. Pepper and a hot dog.

·   Day 3: We called Aunt Barb and Uncle Tom to go hiking with them.  This time we went a LONG ways… We walked for 8 miles (3 with Aunt Barb) on the national trail; Fat Man’s Pass included.  This one was neat... Lots of drops and climbs and it was beautiful out.  After this trail (and having done the difficult trail the day before), we were exhausted.  By the time we drove from the mountain to a restaurant for lunch, I was so sore that instead of picking up my water bottle I dropped in the parking lot, I wanted to lie down next to it

.

o    That night we sat in the hot tub and ordered Chinese food (to be delivered to the hot tub).

o    It was an early night…

·   Day 4:  We were so sore when we woke up in the morning that at breakfast we decided to just spend the day laying by the pool.  It was about 68 degrees so we were pretty much the only people there.  That’s alright; we got sun and sleep!

o    We went to supper with our Polish friends and got some delicious Mexican food. 

·   Day 5: I learned that a coworker had to miss a conference I was supposed to help at (be there by noon on Tuesday) so I had to be there by 9am.  Our flight was scheduled to get home at 11:20 on Monday night… That would mean I would have to drive through the night to get there during the designated set-up time.  With no sleep.  Laura and I decided to wait on standby to see if we could take the earlier flight so we left for the airport at 3pm and sat there for 4 hours to find out we got the LAST two spots on the plane.  I was put in exit row and Laura was put in the last row of the plane… a middle seat.  For the record: I did offer to switch…

All in all it was an awesome trip… Lots of exercise, good time with a friend, great foods, and the opportunity to meet new people.  I would definitely do it again!

That’s it for today, friends… I think I might have found a new hobby!!

Just another day in the life (of a mountain climber??)!

Dad's 50th Birthday Surprise

So what do you buy the man who has everything?  At 50 years old, people start to evaluate what they have and start to "give" things away.  This is probably why I received a BEAUTIFUL set of "Twelve Days of Christmas" drinking glasses.  They're nice.  REAL nice.

Long story short, I didn't know what to do for dad. 

Then I got to thinking.  About our family, friends, acquaintances that dad has impacted, etc.  I figured I would compile a list of the top 75 people that have shared a large part of our lives.  75 people is a lot of people.  I decided I would ask these 75 people to write a letter to dad about their fondest memory of him.

What I did was send a letter with one of my many fond memories of dad and a request for a response.  Consider this my first ever DIY project...

What you need:

• Your own letter with the reason for writing and a story of your own
• Tell them what your hopes are with this!! I wanted to get at least 50 letters back - one for each year of his life...
• 3 sheets of blank paper so they have the required materials (I have a pen more often than I have spare paper!)
• A return envelope with a stamp and mailing address on it 

Package all of these in your  own envelope to be sent to your friends and family.

• Compile the letters as you receive them back (if they didn't come back in the envelopes I sent to them, I put them in a new one
• DO NOT OPEN THESE LETTERS... they're not for you.. :)
• Once you have received them all, stack them up and wrap a ribbon around them with yours (in the return envelope) on top.
• The one I gave to dad had only one difference: I signed the bottom with a little note from me.  That, you don't get to see.

Simple!  There is a slight cost associated with this but it was worth every second when Dad got to read the letters.

I have my note to dad below... it's personal but it's also a good story and gives you an idea of what type of letter you can send!

Surprise for Dad!!

I hope this year has provided you with many fantastic memories so far…  I know it has for my family!  I don’t want to write a novel so I will get straight to the purpose of this here letter.  Please make time for this – it’s a very special gift for my dad.

January 24 will mark the 50^th anniversary of my dad’s birth...  He’s probably going to kill me for advertising this.  I suppose that’s why he decided to have twins - there’ll still be one left.  I live on the edge: 50 years old!!

I’ve learned over time that dad wears a variety of hypothetical “shirts” (he only wears one real hat on a regular basis): Husband (of 28 years), Father (of 25+ years), Son (of nearly 50 years… go figure) Brother (of nearly 50 years, weird!), Uncle (to 18 nieces and nephews), Cousin, Employee, Boss, Neighbor, Friend, and soon to be (thanks to the other twin J… for clarity’s sake) Grandpa.  That’s crazy to think about…  So many people whose lives he’s been a part of.

For his 50^th birthday, I’m going to do a SURPRISE gift for him.  I should repeat that. 

It’s a SURPRISE!!

Please don’t let him know I’ve reached out to you – that’s part of the surprise.  I have included in this packet: this note (but you already knew that), three sheets of blank paper, one stamped envelope, and an invisible hug of “thanks” for your participation.   What I’m asking is that you take a few minutes out of your busy life to write a note to dad and mail it back to me (by January 1^st).  It can be anything; a memory, story, or simply what he means to you…

On his birthday, he will receive 50 envelopes from his closest friends and family with reflections of his interactions with you.  To get you started, here’s a great memory of mine.

Dad and I made a trip to Colorado to move Aunt Jan (shout out to Aunt Jan!) into her new home.  I drove the CRV and he drove the Yukon & trailer.  We decided it would be best for us to drive straight through so we didn’t end up spending too many days on the road (insert “light at the end of the tunnel” cliché here). 

At 4am, I hopped in the little CRV and followed dad for a whopping 23 hours.  Sounds like a blast, eh?  It was.  Especially when he had to stop at a weigh station in traffic and I had to keep driving.  My geographical skills are questionable.

We called each other back and forth every 40 minutes just to chat and talk about things that didn’t matter.  I can’t even remember most of our conversations… Just silly things. A lot of “remember that time when [Carl] did something stupid??”  (Just kidding, Carl. Shout out to Carl! J) Or “Can you believe Melissa is dating that tall guy still?  What was his name again?” (Just kidding, Knott’s! J) 

We talked about memories.  A lot about you.  Yes you, there - reading this fancy sheet of paper.

We managed to stop at every Denny’s from Minnesota to Colorado (all 5 of them) for something more nutritional than fast food.  Though I think “nutritional” is an arguable term.  We ordered about 50% of the menu offerings by the end of the trip…  We set goals.  I would be impressed if I were you.

We made it there just before 3am, rented cheap motel rooms, and slept for 4 hours.  We got up early the next day to unpack and got a call from Great Grandma and Grandpa Draman (shout out to Grammy and Grampy): “Let’s go to Denny’s for breakfast!”  yippee…  a trend.  That made 6 Denny’s locations and a plethora of gas station food in a period of 48 hours.  Fat kids say what??

By 6pm, we were back on the road with a Yukon and an empty trailer.  We took our time and stopped at 12 gas stations (had to find memorabilia) and 3 “scenic routes”.  This was also my first experience sleeping at a truck stop.  Pleasant memories. 

We got home and 24 hours later I was on a plane back to Wisconsin, bragging to strangers about how neat my dad is.

It wasn’t about the drive or the destination; it was about spending time with dad, reminiscing.  We hadn’t really spent time quite like that since I moved away.  To this day, we still talk about the fun we had on that trip...

I appreciate you taking the time to do this, it means a lot to me.

I know it will mean the world to Dad!!

Have a fantastic weekend!!

Xoxo,

Becca