Sort & Conquer

I started to "tackle" the basement yesterday.  I can't believe the amount of stuff junk one accumulates over the years.  I need a refreshers course on the important things to keep and the things I can shred.  I bought a new shredder just for this purpose.

Anchor Hocking Grape Pattern Punch Bowl

The spiders scattered as I started moving boxes around.  I found some extra space on a shelf for more of my obsessive compulsive behavior purchases! (see above: I own 3 punch bowls and see below)

Snack Trays!

I own over 200 of the snack trays and probably equal of the punch glasses.  If I see them at an antique store or thrift store I will buy them.  I have avoided buying them off eBay over the past 6 years (strong will).  I used them for my daughter's graduation.  The reason I started collecting the snack trays was to use at her wedding one day (she was 3 at the time).  It all began with a $5 punch bowl at the Salvation Army downtown Minneapolis in 1994.  It came with 10 glasses, hooks and ladle.

Don't get me wrong my glassware obsession isn't just for Anchor Hocking but....many other facets that crowd my shelves and fill many boxes.  If you ever worked for Schwan's you may remember back in the day they would give dishes to the employees.  Well, I have a few collected and then the collection grew and grew.  I still collect them when I find them.  4 canister sets, dozens of plates (both sizes) and 2 platters later...don't ask me how many mugs I have (I lost count).

But with my glassware obsession I do use all of it (well most).

Sort & Conquer!  I grabbed a few boxes and sorted out "stuff"!  Luckily I just recently purchased a few pairs of shoes so the shoe boxes have come in handy to gather "misc" items I am not sure what to do with but can't toss!  The few boxes I did get to Sunday are not even a small dent in the work to come but....I shall conquer.

New things and more

August was the last post I wrote...time really does escape you.

I have been a little busy but not so much I couldn't find a few minutes to type up my musings and vent share.

The Museum is closed for the season so it is time to get moving and work on the new exhibits for 2013 season.  There is also grant research to do to get the Garth Williams illustrations properly conserved, more organization on the items the Museum wants in the new book William Anderson is writing for us, research and proofing for the new permanent signage for the Museum grounds and of course inventorying new items into Past Perfect.  I call that list Job Security!

Here is a tip for Past Perfect....please have other Museum Professionals that have been working with Past Perfect for numerous years help you perfect the program.  There tends to be a lot of moving of hands off keyboard to use the mouse.  This is very inefficient and should be resolved.  OK....I admit I am not a MOUSE fan...I love my F keys and Alt keys and love my keyboard.  Raise your hand if you love your keyboard.....and now who love their mouse.  I am sure we are a divided force much like PC and MAC!  Don't get me wrong, I will always tell other Museums to purchase Past Perfect if they do not have a system already in place.  I have been using it since 2001 and it works (except for the clicking thing).

Enough about that....

The Museum has 47 Garth Williams original illustrations that need to be conserved...this is a costly challenge since I was reading the receipt from the last Laura Ingalls Wilder letter we had conserved 4 years ago ($1300).  That was for 1 letter!  44 of the illustrations are in top shape so that is good news.  We plan on exhibiting a collection of the illustrations in 2013 (NEW exhibit)!  It is always exciting trying to locate professional framers in our small town area.  If you have any ideas please share!

NEW exhibit 2013!  TOOLS!!!!  Household, farming and tradesmen!  I am pretty excited about this exhibit.  It brings out a lot of things out from storage.

Work....work....work...now fun news!

Registered for the 2013 Spring Semester at SMSU....not full-time of course but 2 classes maybe 3 if I can find one online.  I am up for the challenge and very excited (do I say that phrase too much)!  It is about time this girl got some learnin'!

Turkey day is tomorrow!  The day I spend hours in the kitchen for a 20 minute meal....it is so worth it.  The house smells delicious and of course I love to cook!  I am 'preparing' a few things tonight to save time tomorrow.  I want to eat by 1pm so that means setting alarm and rising early (ugh) but then I can take a long after turkey nap!  I even have EXTRA turkey gizzards for the stuffing (I heard you say ewwww....they are yummy and I chop them up so you can pick them out).  I have a small "forgot these yesterday" list to pick up after work but I am pretty set!  I'll miss hanging with Kelly & Shelly and her family....and I will definitely miss Christina who is in Florida for the holiday...and my mom & dad...and my other brothers Chris & Frank and their families but still having a Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corny, stuffing, shrimp and pumpkin pie! (There is going to be a high number of leftovers...which is always a good plan!)

Ramble...ramble...ramble!  Time to hit PUBLISH and catch a couple hours more of sleep!  Happy Thanksgiving!  Have a safe and memorable T-Day!

Julia Child would be ashamed of me!

OK, I had good intentions of celebrating Julia Child's 100th birthday in good great cooking measure but my work schedule and laziness HAPPY HOUR GREAT DISTRACTION with Marlys (so worth it and the deep fried tasty onion rings skins were yummy).  (BTW, thank you and shout out to Sarah's husband for providing a nice lunch for us....Wild Rice & Scrambled Hamburger Casserole rocks thank you for not using chicken!)

So, I failed in doing a "JULIA CHILD" tribute today in more than one way.....

I slept in and missed the GMA tribute to her....

I had to work so I couldn't surround myself in Julia's cookbooks & DVDs....

I have a VERY sadly stocked kitchen (again laziness) to even think of what to make "Julia" style.

My PBS is PIONEER and while my darling brother and his beautiful wife get to enjoy a Julia Child special I am watching a Netflix Season 4 Disc 1 (episodes I have already seen).

I used two different kinds of pasta (and they had 2 different cook times and the first one I put in was half the time which I didn't realize and of course until after I put in the less cook time one in first).

Browned hamburger with Italian Seasoning, red pepper flakes and some garlic salt and then pour in a can of Garlic and Herb spaghetti sauce because I still always add a bit more seasoning).  Warm the sauce.

2 tbsp butter on half the pasta, sprinkle on 1 cup of mozzarella shredded cheese on top of half the pasta and then add half the meat sauce.  Continue.  Stir.

It wasn't Julia but is was actually easy and delicious and I believe on using the 'INGREDIENTS IN YOUR CUPBOARD IN A STITCH'.

That may have to be a "cookbook" title if it already hasn't been used.

Happy Birthday, my sweet Julia!  I wish I had met you years ago.

Wind down of summer

I have really limited my posting (nothing since March that I forgot to publish) but I plan on getting back at it.  If I have time to repin things on Pinterest I have time to blog. http://pinterest.com

May was busy early. I attended the AAM (American Associations of Museums) conference in Minneapolis staying at the fabulous Depot hotel.

Even had a Laura connection in my hotel room!

Met some new wonderful friends & museum contacts. Would love to attend the AAM conference in Baltimore in 2013,

Had a great lunch at the delicious food trucks downtown Minneapolis (thanks to my brother and wonderful sister-in-law)  before I hopped on a plane and headed to Atlanta, GA.

Have you ever flown into Atlanta?  You probably know about the tram that takes you from your plane to your luggage.....I didn't but if you have time walk it!  Beautiful art and history!

I met up with my mother and aunts (& uncle) to head to Greenville, SC to spend family time with my other brother.  Toured the BMW plant (I now want one), took pictures downtown with some of their interesting statues and fell across a wine tasting event in Athens, GA!  Checked out the interesting town of Athens and headed back to Atlanta to catch a plane home. Disappointed I didn't get to see more of Atlanta than the hotel.

So far summer 2012 has been interesting.  If you are my friend on Facebook you know I've been to a few places this summer.  Austin, MN for the Spam Museum, Hormel House, Mower County Historical Society (which I will be volunteering at their County Fair on Friday August 10 & Saturday August 11), Steve's Pizza and a great consignment shop.

Steve's Pizza Meal

Headed to Prairie de Chien, WI for a workshop touring the Villa Louis (awesome) and just missing the Laura Days in Burr Oak, IA!

Headed north to St Paul to hang with my brother and fantastic sister-in-law!  Brunch at W.A. Frost & Company was FANTASTIC AMAZING EMOTIONAL. Felt like I was in Paris.  Thank you, Shelly, for the awesome recommendation!

Headed more north to Duluth to visit my daughter.  Hit the Glensheen mansion and other awesome Duluth sites. Duluth Hill 1 Nicole 0! Beware Crown shots & Duluth hills!

Me & my beautiful daughter, Christina!

Back to St Paul and Science Museum for their Pirates exhibit!

The Pirate Captain 

Made supper for Kelly & Shelly and of course focused on the Garth Williams illustration auction (we won 4 more illustrations for the Museum). Couples Golf Tournament and we won our flight!
That takes care of June!

July....not much happened (NOT)! Wilder Pageant was early this year because of July 4th falling on a Weds. Plum Creek & Pioneerland Library system bought out the reserved tickets for July 7th and let their patrons attend the play for FREE! LauraPalooza 2012 the next weekend so I was in Mankato Weds.-Saturday.

One of my favorite parts was the Brown Bread food demonstration done by Amy Lauters and her wonderful mother, Linnea!  Glad we made butter too!  The Long Winter is one of my favorite Laura books!

Sunday headed to Brookings for a great hour in the Arts in the Park and delicious supper at Bravo's. Miss Beadle (Charlotte Stewart) was in Walnut Grove July 14 & 15 autographing and toured the dugout site & museum.

Me & Miss Beadle at the Ingalls Dugout site

Nellie Oleson (Alison Arngrim) snuck over to Walnut Grove to surprise her (via Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway 14 and my Expedition) and came back the next weekend to autograph too!

Me & Nellie Oleson!

It has been a very eventful exciting July!

What experiences adventures August will bring?  Expect updates on my other travels (Austin, MN again and Bismarck, ND)!  Hope to get back to St Paul to hang with my brother & sister-in-law too!

Monday! Counting down the days until opening unpublished since March 2012

I had a lot of fun in Barnes & Noble yesterday buying way too many new books and a few other random items. Instead of adding to my already large late fines for the Library I have purchased a DVD for Pilates, DVD for Yoga, Yoga Mat and some contraption you use for Pilates.  Wish me luck!
Along with the "exercise" things I bought a biography of Steve Jobs, a book on the Civil War, another book of Calvin & Hobbes

Let's start this week off right!

Yesterday before Church I had the fun of learning about this Candy store in Indiana http://www.schimpffs.com/index.html. I hope to someday visit their museum and store.  It was cool to see how they make their historical hard cinnamon candies.
Caught up on the 2nd season of "Justified".  Great ending but now anxious to see season 3.  Hope I can stream it on my laptop since Westbrook Cable doesn't provide FX!
Saw about 20 minutes of the movie Fast & the Furious (I think it was part 2). Not sure if the actors need lessons or the writers...it was kind of ridiculous to watch, thank goodness the guys all had hard bodies (as did the ladies in the movie).
Fell asleep watching golf (yes, some people do) but Congrats to Phil on winning the tournament.
Tuned into Fear Factor and I think they were filming again at the "Big Sky Ranch" in Simi Valley, CA where the "Little House on the Prairie" TV series was filmed.  Flipped back and forth between that and the GRAMMY's.  First time I watched the Grammy's and really enjoyed it.  I love music.  Whitney Houston's hits  have many connections to my life.  "Greatest Love of All" 7th grade Marching band trip where the whole bus sang her song as loud as we could or "I Will Always Love You" my husband and mine first movie together sitting in the 2nd row because the theater was packed.  Rest in Peace, dear Whitney!
Time to get ready and head to my wonderful job at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum! It is going to be a successful week!

Thursday & everyday

I have started to try to follow the daily Christ in Our Home booklet.  Today's title "Pride can be fatal". I also want to become better at organization (I have a ton of piles of papers that need to be filed).  Is there a class on how I should organize my piles of papers (history, ideas, biographies, etc).  Just thinking about this makes me stressed.  I look at the piles, shake my head and go back to something else.
Today is work on Walnut Grove area veterans' biography day to get them into an exhibit.  We have over 330 veterans to honor in this exhibit.
I misplaced a book I wanted to read before the next Leadership Class on 2/29 and misplaced the charger for my Galaxy Tab! Misplacing things reminds me of the wonderful Disney movie "Halloweentown" and the scene where all lost things go.
On to pick up my friend and head to work!  Have a wonderful and eventful day!  As a good friend re-quoted John Green last night "What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable."
BE REMARKABLE & EXTRAORDINARY!