Long Live the LIONS!!! (or not)

Well, I’d like to take a moment of silence for the sadness that Daniel feels for the results of the draft….poor thing. The only good thing that came out of the draft was being able to spend quality time with ‘da boys’ and watching the draft with someone that understands the pain of being a Lions Fan, after all I would never have thrown a drink at the TV because of the pick. We’ll hope for a good season…but in my mind the Lions can only go UP from here!

I am also excited that I am done with my marketing class—I received an A and am relieved that I am done! I’ll put the MBA on hold until after the summer and pick up a few classes again in the fall. I’m still a little scared about taking managerial accounting!

In Pampered Chef World, I am getting ready for Help Whip Cancer Month. They have a great product line that will donate with each purchase and it is Pink!! I’ve been getting boxes with product or supplies in them and somebody has taken a definite liking to them. I am not quite sure what it is with our cats and packing products…

We watched the movie “Doubt” this weekend…It was a discussion movie. Meryl Streep plays a great role and I give the movie a ***` (a 3 ½) on the DanandAmanda Movie Scale. I did like that it made me think and Dan and I had a great discussion over it!

This weekend we are branding calves…stay tuned for another Farmer Dan experience!!

The NFL Draft and everything else!

One week has passed but it has felt like a year or two has gone by because of all the activity that has happened!

At work, the main consultant, Don, who has been the main driving force of my grant and project, flew up from Nebraska to sit down and spend some time with me. Just for clarification, I work with 7 pre-determined communities in Western North Dakota to help them build capacity and sustainability. Basically these communities are seen as struggling, whether out population or lack of resources. My job is to help them build on their strengths and eliminate their weaknesses. The main catch is that I work only with non-tangibles—youth, leadership, entrepreneurship and charitable assets. So I can’t build a park or a community center but work on creating a leadership summit or an after school girl’s program. Right now I’m working on a grant review to submit to the Bush Foundation, where my funding is from. It was exciting to have Don there and present to piece things together. We have some great project forming right now and I’m excited to start the third year of the grant!

Thursday was the 9th Annual Strom Center, we’ve been planning it at work for the past couple months and it felt great to finish it and have a high caliber of speaker present. On Friday, I took off for the Geographical Center of North America—RUGBY! I (and a co-worker Lenny) attended a Community Engagement Forum that was hosted by UND. It was a great experience, a perfecting networking opportunity and we also took some time to peruse the community. We saw Samsara Cues pool cue customization office. We spent some one-on-one time and they showed us their trademark and their factory. We also ate at a renovated antique parlor/restaurant, Rockin’ Relics. My Aunt Denise would have loved all the Coca-Cola collectibles! The parlor used to be a hardware store and I loved the original ceilings.

While I was in Rugby, Dan made a trip to spend some time with his boys in Bismarck. He spent some time Halo’ing with Korey and caught up with Bryan. I think he is more looking forward to this weekend. The NFL draft—(Trumpets sounding)! He’s spending some time with Bryan lamenting over more Lions mishaps! Once again-I got to give it to him for loyalty. He’s been gearing up and talking about it FOR-e-VER! I guess to a Lion’s fan, it’s the closest thing to the super bowl!! He did find out that he needs a root canal and has it scheduled for April 29. I know he is not looking forward to that…or the idea of paying for that.



The two of them are VeRy cute!!

Hoping the Easter Bunny didn't get flooded out!

HAPPY EASTER!

Dan and I have been busy…he’s been playing a lot of g-tar lately. He’s been playing everything from the Eagles, to Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison, Guns N Roses, and the Kinks. He lets me sing along sometimes but said he’s more of a solo act.

We had “the couples” (Jack & Kim and Lenny & Miranda) over on Thursday night. Jack got back from flood fighting all over the state and we celebrated his return! Lenny and Miranda proceeded to beat us in pinochle…but officially Lenny seceded halfway through the fight! Here is a picture of Dan and Miranda holding the curtains up…the two of them couldn’t figure out this fancy curtain rod!

Well, it’s official; I’m a Pampered Chef Consultant. I had my first party and I want to thank my mother for being my first host. I learned a lot and will be much more prepared for this weekend, which is Kim’s party. She has decided to have red, white, and blue dessert trifle, a chocolate banana phillo, a chicken club pizza, or 9 other different things. So if anybody else would love to have a cooking party or a catalog party, I would be so EXCITED! I also am the big WINNER of Pampered Chef Sweepstakes.

I spent Friday and Saturday night back at home. Mom and Dad treated me to a ticket at the Rural Firefighters’ Concert, I saw Williams and Ree, AKA the Indian and the White Guy. I had never seen them before and think that Dan would love their comedy and g-tar performances. The opening act was a guitar picker who performed “Achy-Breaky Heart” in the stylings of Waylon, Willie, John Adams, Bob Dylan, and Roger Miller! I think Dan and I should see them together at the Hostfest in October. But at the farm, I can’t believe how the weather the water and of course…the mud. When I left this morning, I was amazed at the flooding of hay creek. I had never seen the bridge or Schultz’s land like that!

On the health spectrum, Dan and I are both making medical acquaintances in Dickinson. Dan has been struggling with teeth and jaw problems for the past couple days. He will soon be visiting a dentist, we’ll keep you posted and hope that he won’t require too much work. I hate dentists…they always make me cry! I visited the eye doctor this week and discovered that I’m practically blind in my right eye because the vision is no where near 20/20....I could be a pirate and just patch up my right. Hmmmm....I like having career options.

Coming up this week…it will be busy! The main consultant and project manager at my job is coming on Monday, from Nebraska, and is staying overnight. Tuesday and Wednesday holds meetings for YP. Thursday is the Strom Conference. We have a great line up of speakers and are hoping for a great turn out. Friday and part of Saturday I will be spending in Rugby, the geographical center of North America. Dan and I may hardly see each other!

17, Dad's New Friend, Slumming, First Show, and Tagging Along!

Well….we had a trip to Bismarck this past weekend and did something that we haven’t done since 2008- we went to Target! We were in shock! So many pretty things, so different than Wal-mart…oh niceness! However the main purpose of the trip was to celebrate my sister’s 17th birthday. I made an almost fat free dirt cake (the generic Oreos is what killed the fat free) and had a small get together with family. Dan and I gave Alaina some make up and NDSU pj pants but it was hard to compete with what Mom gave her, a personally crafted necklace that was our brand, which has been Alaina’s trademark for a long time. It’s nice to see her excited!

Dan further developed his farm roots—Dad and him worked on the feeder wagon and did chores together. According to my father, Dan is the only one that helps him, well at least Dad has one potential friend! :)

We watched Slumdog Millionaire tonight, we were both very surprised at how good it was. So on the DanandAmanda Movie scale I give it a 4(outta 5). I was impressed with the story within the story and the images that were portrayed revealing India’s slums.

This weekend is Mom’s Pampered Chef party. I’m still debating what I’m going to cook…I want it to turn out well and am nervous about my first party. I’ll keep you posted! Mom is doing well. I did see her cast this week and her impatience with it this weekend. Her cast and irritation reminds me of my experience with plaster. I hope she heals well and time passes quickly! She did get a black cast, I guess she really is celebrating her 50 year old debut…way to keep with a theme mom!

Dan will be having a ride along this week, this is the second guy he’s trained this year. He just found out this week that Mid Continent is dropping their contract with Fox. That means that he will get busy again so that people will be able to keep their American Idol and Viking Football!
Sorry no photos…I forgot to charge the batteries. I’m hoping that my mother emails some pics to me of the little girl at her party!