Lazy

Just wanted to write and apologize to those who read my blog, the two of you. I've been so lazy about blogging lately. I'm either out walking all over Australia all day and too tired to update it when I get home or I think I have absolutely nothing interesting to say to anyone ever. I'm not too clever and my sense of humour really doesn't come off in a blog. But I'll update it soon. I promise!

Australia so far...

I really need to update this blog. I haven't in awhile so I have a lot to say but I don't think I'll get to that today.

I've been in Australia for a week already and I really fucking miss my dad. It's so strange. When I was in Europe for a month and someone asked me if I missed anyone, I could've honestly said "hell, no!" But here I feel so homesick. And I know it's because I've never been this far away from my friends and family. Australia is fantastic and I know I'm lucky to be able to travel but I feel like it's not meshing as well as I thought it would. Don't get me wrong, I love this country so far, it's beautiful and the people are so nice but it doesn't feel quite right.

I'm probably jumping the gun being the homebody and worrier that I am. I'm going to give this experience a chance. I just really miss my dad.

An era has ended

Today was my last day of work. I did good until I was leaving and saying goodbye to people. And then I started to bawl. I cried on my way to my sister's house too. I absolutely hated that job but I'll miss so many people. I also got a beautiful bouquet of long-stem roses and a box of chocolates from Vera. I wonder what it says on the box because it's all in Russian. I also got lilies from Margie, a card from Ted and the gang in the bakery and a "We'll Miss You Balloon." And tons of hugs. I still have the urge to cry my eyeballs out. I've never quit a job before so it's all new to me. Especially since I've worked there with the same people for as long as I have.

An era has ended. Time for something new.

Soon, Soon, Soon!

Today is Monday, October 12th. My last day working for Cub Foods, after 8 years and 2 months, is this Saturday. Our plane takes off in 15 days. Right now I don't feel excited, scared nor anxious. Don't worry, it will hit me. It comes in waves.

Thinking about my last day at Cub brings mixed emotions. I was hired in August of 2001 when I was 16. I've worked in 3 different departments, found good, good friends in co-workers and have had to deal with a range of crabby customers. At the end of the day that job sucked and I should have left it a long time ago. But thinking about it makes me a little bit sad. I was talking to my friend Daleen about it and she said "yeah, it's normal to feel sad about it. It's like an era of your life coming to an end." So true. It also has me panicked. I will be unemployed for the first time in 8 years. No income. That freaks me out, like it would anybody. I think I will definitely stop in the Saturday before we leave to say goodbye. People I will miss: Susan, whom I was hired, orientated and worked with in the deli and all of our talk about my 'engagement' to her foxy son, Matthew (still wanna marry him, by the way), Stacy, all of our make-up talk, Ted, Vera, Mike, that dirty-mouthed bitch Amy, Shelly and Lisa. I know there's probably more.

Soon I'll be getting on a plane, flying towards Sydney, Australia to hopefully start a new era in my life. I know I'll be back in 8 months but I will still miss some of thrills and tortures of working at Cub.

I Am Obsessed With Vintage

Lately, I find myself obsessing about the 40's. The hair, the make-up, the clothes, and of course the shoes! I've been craving more and more knowledge about that decade. I have always been fascinated with those years: life before, during and after the war, the glamourous men and women of the movies, etc.. But more so than lately. I only want to watch movies set in or of that time and I just bought a book about vintage hairstyling. I'm so excited! In cosmetology school, once I got the hang of it, I rocked the fingerwaves and pin curls. Looking through this book though kind of overwhelms me but practice makes perfect so I'm going to try them! Now if only I could find a pair of 40s-esque Spectator Pumps (size 10 please) that would make my life!

Whatever movie I watch, I'm always curious as to how they did the make-up. Sometimes I stare and stare and wonder about the techniques that I have to rewind large parts of the movie because I wasn't really paying attention to the plot. The same goes with hairstyles, especially in movies of the '30s, '40s and '50s. I'm glad I found a how-to book... That ought to keep me busy.

I'm off to watch a movie. Maybe Leave Her to Heaven with the insanely beautiful Gene Tierney? Or Since You Went Away? Or The Palm Beach Story? Or Gilda? Okay this could go on and on...

Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk

The Memory Walk was today. It was a little bit disappointing. Our team, Team Adelmann that is, shrunk instead of growing. And we didn't raise as much money as we did last year. This year it was Aunt Debs, Christopher and I walking. Melissa didn't participate this year because she had so much going on this weekend and to drive 3 hours back up to the Cities would have been too much. Jennie was going to go but woke up this morning feeling like crap. As soon as Jenn told me she wasn't going to walk, I thought "Oh crap, this will be weird." I don't know why but I have never felt 100% comfortable with my aunt. I love her to death but I have always felt....judged? But it wasn't bad at all. I met them this morning at 8:30 and off we went. We just pretty much arrived, registered, walked and left. When I first start to walk though, I always feel so emotional. I think because it's the one time I actually let myself really think about my Grandpa and how much he suffered. I miss and think about my Gramps everyday, but I feel like I kind of compartmentalize my grief and move on and then never really think about it unless forced. Maybe that's how everyone grieves? But on the walks I let think about the grief for about 5 or 10 minutes and put it back for another year. I just hope next year, on another walk, we can manage to add more people to our group and raise more money. I know I can be annoying about this organization, but it's so close to my heart, I can't help it.

I also had lunch with Amanda today. She's so darn cute with her growing baby belly. I'm hoping her dream comes true and she does have a girl. I can't wait for her to find out what the baby is!

P.S. Andrew turned 3 on Tuesday. One of my favourite classic actors, Paul Newman passed a year ago already. Time really does fly.

Sorting the Last Few Things Out

I can't believe how fast the seasons have come and gone. This year it seems they have passed exceptionally fast, which is odd. I'm excited to go to Australia and have been waiting to go since February of this year. Usually it takes forever for time to pass. I shouldn't be so happy that October 27th is coming so swiftly, since I still have my insurance to straighten out, doctor appointments to go to and a bedroom to pack up.

I decided I was going to go through all my boxes in Granny's basement, throw out the things that I don't need and then repack them. Those boxes have been sadly neglected since November of '06 when I hurriedly moved out of my dad's house in one night. On top of that, I'm going to also go through all of my things in my bedroom, organize and pack it then bring it downstairs to sit with my other (hopefully) organized and nicely packed boxes. The only thing I'm leaving in my bedroom upstairs is my bed. I love my Granma, but she's a bored, nosy old lady and I'm strange about my privacy. I don't even like it when she stands in my doorway and looks around. Snoop. What's to stop her from going through all of my packed boxes in the basement while I'm gone, you ask? Granma doesn't go downstairs if she can help it. She has hip problems. In thethree years (actually 2 years, 10 months and 10 days) that I've lived with her, she's gone down there maybe four times. Not joking.

All the planning for Australia has gone quite smoothly, surprisingly. The only thing that is stressing me out is my insurance company. When Jenn and I tried to make doctor appointments last week, the receptionist said we were not covered. Hold the phone, whaaaaat? I've worked at the same unappreciating, soul-sucking ass-hole company for 8 long, unworthy years. I've paid my dues every week. I've dealt with pissy and sometimes incredibly stupid customers, giving them everything they want, all the while smiling and you insurance fucks can't pay one or two doctor bills? I will not give up the fight with them. I refuse to let them win. You're going down, evil insurance. I need to go to the doctor, I can't give up.

Megan has finally come home from Scotland. I am so excited to see her. It's been about a year since we have hung out and made each other laugh until we pee in our undies. I don't know if she is just home for a visit or if she's home for good.

I really want to have a Bon Voyage party. We would but we really have no venue. Both my aunts Sandy and Diane have offered up their houses as a place but I doubt any of our friends would drive 45 minutes to an hour for a party. My aunts both have a lot of land that people could mingle easily. I would like to invite some people from work but I don't know... It would nice to have everyone I care about and that I want to say goodbye to in one place without bitching. Who knows. The family was going to throw us a surprise party but mom blew that...

I hope everything just falls into place.

Memory Walk

The Alzheimer's Memory Walk is coming up. It will be on Saturday, September 26th at Hyland Park in Bloomington from 8:30- 10:30 a.m. I hope some of my friends will join me. It would really mean a lot to me since I watched, along with my family, my beloved grandpa suffer through and eventually succumb to complications of this terrible and unfair disease! You can either walk .7 or 3 miles.

Australia!

Today, like everyday now, I was reminded by Jennie that we have only 50 more days until we board our flight from Minneapolis to Sydney, Australia. I can't believe it. Only 50 more days. From a small idea at the beginning of this year to an actual trip.

I find now that after all of our plans for Australia were set in stone (visas granted, healthcare insurance and the plane tickets bought) my attitude in life is better, unless you catch me at work (sorry). I was thinking to myself last night about how much happier, generally, I am about life. I was thinking about why before the Australia plans had I felt so blue? I think it's because I had the feeling that I was useless. Or that I wasn't really doing anything with my life; that I was just going through the motions. Worthless. Jenn and I are finally achieving one of our long-term goals in life: traveling the world. I wasn't much of a student but now I am proud to say that I'm becoming educated by the world, which, hopefully will satisfy my always curious brain. Going to Europe really opened up my mind and I can't wait to see what Australia has in store for me!

65 Years Ago Today...

June 6th- I didn't even stop to think about the date today and the importance of it in Amercian history. At work, I had noticed that customers had ordered cakes with American flags on them, and it still didn't dawn on me!
When Jennie leaves work before I do, she usually stops back to say goodbye. Today along with saying goodbye she said "why doesn't anyone remember it's D-Day today?"

DING! The lightbulb turns on and now I finally get it.

Just thinking about the men who stormed Normandy humbles me. Especially since my Grandpa Thesenvitz, who was in the navy, stormed the beach that day and was wounded. 65 years ago today, my grandfather, who had just turned 23 years old 13 days before, stormed Omaha beach . He was also awarded two Purple Hearts in his military career for his bravery. Wow. That just blows my mind.

I'm sad I never got to meet him. He died Christmas day of 1984. His birthday was May 24th, just four days before Jenn's and my birthday. Mom always says he would have gotten a kick out of twins!

My dad has always had a great, great respect and huge fascination with WWII which I believe has been passed down to Jennie and I. We both try to honor these days and show our appreciation as much as possible to those who fought in the war and those who fought and died. So thank you Grandpa Thesenvitz wherever you are. I'm so proud to call you my grandfather.

I almost died!

Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration but I could have!

On Saturday, I decided to go back up to my mom's house in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, since I had Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday off. I had checked the weather before hand to see if we were going to get a big snow storm and saw that one was going to hit Tuesday night-ish. I figured by the time it hit, I'd be home already.

I had a good weekend at mom's. The nephew's stayed over night on Sunday and that, as usual, was exhausting, but fun.

On Tuesday, after colouring mom's hair ( a beautiful brown-red) I took off at about 3. The whole drive was fine. Just a little misty here and there so I was still able to go 75- 80 mph! Just as soon as I hit Rosemount though, the blizzard hit. I thought okay almost to Dad's house, nothing to worry about. As I was coming around the last curve on 42 before my right turn on 3, I completely lost control of my car. I slid into the other lane, slammed across the curb of the divided highway and I thought I was going to go into the ditch, but finally and luckily slid to a stop on the shoulder. It all happened in about 5 seconds but it kind of felt like slo-mo. I got out of my car and took a look to see if I had done any damage. My front driver's side hub cap came off somewhere. I got back into my car and sat there for about 30 seconds trying to process what just happend. I looked at the oncoming traffic and thanked the Gods that there were no cars coming at me whilst I slid acoss the highway because I truly believe if I were hit (which would have been head-on) I would have died. My hands shook for a least an hour afterwards. I finally got into the right lane, and drove to my dad's. When I got to my dad's, I told him what happend and you know what he does? He makes fun of me. I shouldn't be surprised though, that is typical Scott Adelmann for you.

He did go rescue my hub cap, so I guess that makes up for it.

Hello!

I've started a blog (um, obviously). I don't know how interesting or exciting it will be to read. Sorry, Miss Amanda, but it will probably be kind of boring. But I will try! Until next time... (See I told you it would be boring!)