Changes Are Not Always For the Better

I hadn't realized how long it's been since I've written. Since its been more than a year, of course a lot has changed. I haven't read my previous posts so I don't really know where I left off but here's the past year and then some in a nutshell:

I got my job back at CF (hello pay I can actually live off of!)
The cavelier crapped out on me, not really a surprise as it was a piece of shit the instant I drove off the used car lot with it.
I am now leasing a wonderful, working Toyota.
Jenn and I moved out on our own last June to a nearly 100 year old building in St. Paul. Lets just say it has a lot of character... and the landlord is the cheapest son of a bitch imagainable, but whose isn't?
My best friend unfortunately broke up with her fiance. After being suicide on a stick for the appropriate time, seemed like she was back on her feet but again her new plans were not to be. Oh, yeah, did I mention she stayed with us in the apartment. Emotional rollar coaster is an understatement but I'll always be there for her. Yesterday she flew to Bangkok, then off to Laos (to stay with the c*nt from hell) for a year to teach. Hopefully it is only a year.
Then earlier this week, I found out that a friend I've known since I was 16, is not who he made everyone who cared for him believe he was. He's in serious, serious trouble and I'm brokenhearted. I'm still trying to rectify the person that I knew as dependable, reliable, trustworthy, someone I could trust my life with and who I loved and the person local papers are writing about. I'm so sad.

Daleen, you better follow. Until next time....

I love Minnesota!

It's that time of year again. Minnesota State Fair time! I went with my mom last Saturday to the state fair and got in absolutely free. My aunt Diane is an EMT and usually works a few days at the state fair so she got us in with no charge, which of course is fantastic, since I have zero money and wouldn't have been able to come. Then I went on Wednesday evening with Jennie, Dad and Julie. Ate my weight in french fries, mini donuts, ice cream. I love it.

The one and only bad thing about this time of year is the weather goes from 90 degrees to 60, like today! I'm so cold!

I'm getting really excited for the Twins game Jenn and I are going to on Tuesday! Mauer better be playing, they better win and the weather better be nice is all I have to say. We have excellent dugout seats, courtesy of Dad and Julie for our birthday! I'll be wearing either somethng bright orange or a "vintage" Twins t-shirt that was my Grandpa's. It's from the '87 Twins championship, therefore vintage. Look for us on t.v.! :-)

Update, update

Wow, it's been longer than I thought it was since I last wrote. Just a quick recap: I had an excellent 25th birthday (it didn't hurt, either!). We ended up going to a restaurant in St. Paul called Everest. It was fantastic. We had delicious curry. I've been craving some since then. It was really low-key and fun! Megs, Jenn and I went to see Sex and the City 2. It was okay. Nothing to write home about but still entertaining.

I am still searching for a job. This is ridiculous and I'm exhausted! I've been trying to get ahold of UPS, which is about a minute and a half from my house, but their phones just ring, ring, ring. I almost don't want to work at UPS because the starting pay is $8.50 for uber-hard work (I'd be loading huge trailers in 100 degree weather) and I'd have to work there for a year before I could get any benefits. But I've gone beyond rock bottom so any job will do. And of course everyone has an opinion on how/where I should apply (yes, I did apply there, and there, and there, and there.). My grandma seems to be frustrated with me but what can I do? It's really not my fault the economy is down the shitter.

I had quite the eventful night last Friday night/ Saturday morning. I was sitting in my room about to go to bed when my granny walks by and says, "I don't feel so good." I asked her if she feels like she's going to puke but she said it wasn't that kind of sick. I followed her down the hall and sat on the floor next to the chair she sat in. "I was fine and then I layed down in bed and had this pain in my jaw and like a tightness in my neck and upper chest," is how she explained it. I asked her if it had anything to do with her diabetes/insulin and she said no. I asked if she needed water. No again. I could see her pulse in her neck just pounding rapidly and her breathing became labored. Now I was starting to get scared. I asked if I should call 9-1-1? No, but maybe " I should go into the hospital." I told her I would drive her and stay with her. She had the insane idea that she would go by herself. I went back into my room, got dressed and waited for my granny to get dressed close-by. By this time it was about 1 am. In the kitchen, she grabbed her purse, put on some lipstick and was ready to go. That normal 20-25 minute drive to the hospital drive felt like it would go on forever! Finally got to the ER and they moved her right away to a room The nurses were hooking her up to IV's and monitors. I just sat down and let them do there work. It's so overwhelming to see someone, in this case my gran, whose always been there for you, been strong for you and taken care of you lay on a hospital bed, surrounded by nurses and doctors. I wanted to just break down and cry because it's not something I ever see, but tears wouldn't help. We found out that she was having a Cardiac-arrhythmia and they had to pump her full of some sort of drug to get her heart rate down. It was going at 190 bpm, which is all fine and dandy if you're working out at a gym, but she was going to bed. They decided to admit her for 24 hours to monitor her and try to figure out why her heart did that. You should of seen her face when they told her she'd have to stay overnight. "I don't want to stay here. I want to go home. 24 hours? Does that mean I'll have to be here until tomorrow night?" Yes indeed grams, that's what that means. After Grams was all settled in her room, I left and finally got home around 5 am and called the family to let them know what was going on.
They eventually let her out Saturday evening and she has to do out-patient exams to see if there is any damage to her heart or if that was a one time deal. Thank god, she's okay. The funniest thing about the drama was she was just being regular, concerned Granny. Laying on the hospital bed, getting hooked up to every machine made ever, and having blood drawn, she was asking me if I was okay. She kept saying that I need to get security to walk me out to my car when I leave and to call and tell her when I do get home. I love my Grams.

Ranting, rambling, blah blah blah!

Saturday, Jenn made the vegetarian chili. It was amazing. We had the chili on top of chips with a dollop of guacamole and sour cream. It was quite filling and it really hit the spot! I tried to help make it but Jennie sent me away cause she wanted to do it herself. Okay, so I'll just sit here....

Still no luck on the job front. I applied at UPS online a week ago and haven't heard anything back yet. I tried to find the number online and couldn't, so I went home and looked in 2 phone books and still nothing. I finally just called a UPS Store and they couldn't even give me a number to the particular location where I had applied. He did give me a 1-800 number so I called that and was put on hold for a little bit. Finally talked to someone who was not helpful at all. "Sorry, we don't have any employment information." Great. Since the place is only 2.78 miles away from my house, I decided just to drive down there to see what the hell was going on, only to find that it was closed between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Ooookkkaaaay. This is so frustrating. Just give me some work, somebody! I'm a hard worker and very loyal, what's the problem, huh?

Well, the dreaded day is fastly approaching. I mean my birthday. My 25th birthday, it's on Friday. How did this happen? We've got a whole day planned out though. Coffee sometime in the a.m. with Daleen and Jenn, lunch with Daleen, Jenn and Megan, dinner and cake with my Granny. Daleen and Jennie pretty much made all of the plans. When Jenn told me what we were doing I had almost already forgotten that our birthday was coming up. Oops. Big deal. Birthdays are stupid after the age of, like, 18.

I've been thinking also, since I'm 25 on Friday, why I haven't really changed in the past 5 years. I mean, emotionally I have and all that, blah blah blah, but I haven't really done anything to contribute to society. I haven't really made the best out of my time. I feel like I haven't really done anything constuctive. The only big goals I've ever had was to travel some and I'm proud that I've accomplished that, even though there is still some traveling I'd like to do, but when it comes to having a career or my own place to live, I've failed. And I know I shouldn't compare myself to others and where they are in their lives, or I shouldn't listen to where society thinks you should be in your life by this age or that age, but it's hard. It's my life. I make the decisions and learn from mistakes. Maybe what's holding me back is the fact that I can't really handle the responsibilities of being an adult, which I'm trying to change everyday. I'm a lot better at handling things now than before I went to Australia but I still struggle. Why is this such an issue?

Then I start thinking about how different my generation is from my grandpa's. I mean, when he was 25, he was already a pro at farming (coming from a farming family, I guess that's a given), he had already served in the army, gotten married and started a family. I'm not saying, by any means, that I want to have a family so young. It's just the fact that he knew what hard work was and did it without complaining. He did something worthy of his time. Steve, my grandpa's nephew and probably the last real farmer in the family, usually comes every year and ploughs and plants corn and other veggies on my grandpa's land. I was watching him from the kitchen window as he was doing his work and was really wishing I knew how to do all of that. I mean, I get if you put a seed in the ground, it will grow (hopefully). But I guess I mean, I wish I knew when the best time to plant certain veggies is, when the soil is best, ect. off the top of my head. I feel like if I knew that, then I could carry on our family job, maybe make my grandpa proud, do something worthy and respectable, get my hands dirty, and feel good because I just did a hard day's work. Something organic and real.

Then this thinking brings me to think about the world if we had adapted Native American ways. The way they treated each other: repectfully, without greed. The things they cared about was family before anything. The way they repected the earth. Our climate, resources and future generations wouldn't be in so much trouble if we just lived simply, without so much complicated technology. I'm convinced that this technology is going to end us. Does this make any sense?

I think I have issues...with food.

I'm craving vegetarian chili like nobody knows! When I was staying with Mel in Wollongong (or as Jennie has dubbed it Boringong) she made the most amazing vegetarian chili I have ever had. She used Moby's (yeah, the musician) recipe but has altered it to her liking. These past few days I've been going to different Barnes and Noble bookstores to see if they carry the cookbook that Moby and someone else published (I can't remember her name...sorry!). I found the book at the Mall of America yesterday and wrote the recipe down only to find out today that Jennie finally got her to give up her recipe over Facebook! I think we're going to try it out this weekend, hopefully. We also asked for Mel's curry recipe, which is also to die for, but she wouldn't give it up because it's her secret recipe. Sad face.

I've been trying to make better decisions on what I eat since I've come back from OZ, where I lost nearly 20lbs. I think I've gained much of it back. I'm facing the fact that I might possibly have an eating addiction because I find myself thinking about what I want to eat next an half an hour after I have already eaten. I eat when I'm not hungry. I eat when I'm bored. I don't eat when I'm truly sad, so I guess my eating is a good sign that I'm not severely depressed. Har, har. I've tried to start exercising more. I started to run a little bit, but I'm not consistent enough for it to actually benefit from it. Do I just not care enough about my body to get serious about my health? I like being curvy, but I need to develop healthy eating habits and exercise! I'm so adamant about my skin care, and my hair care, and even other's health before mine? What's going on?

I'm starting to eat less crap in my main meals, though. My lovely grandmother has stocked me up on meatless burgers, soy chicken patties (which are really tasty, don't judge!), and such. I love my Gran. It's really meant a lot that she's done that but sometimes she still doesn't grasp the fact that I'm not eating meat. Or poultry. Or seafood. One day she asked me if I wanted Tator-tot hot dish. "There's no chicken in it, just ground beef," she says. Uhm, no, thank you Granny. One other time she asked me if I wanted to have some turkey. That would also be no. And not only because I'm a full-on vegetarian now, but because we have 5 or 6 wild turkeys that live in our neighborhood that I have grown to love!

More on this later.

Back Home

Finally got home on the 16th of March (two months ago already!) and it feels so great. I'm not going to fall back into that routine which usually leads to feeling like I was stuck in a rut. I work at it everyday and everyday it's struggle. But I have a plan for the next phase of my life, and that's a first.

The flight from Sydney to L.A. went by quickly. I took a handful of Dramamine before I got on the plane and watched about 5 movies while we were flying. I would recommend flying Virgin and if I can, I'm probably going to try to fly with Virgin on future trips. They were so friendly, polite, clean, and..well, pretty. Jenn and I prepared ourselves for our 7 1/2 hour layover at LAX and bought an all day pass for the wireless were we tried to catch up on all the LOST we missed, but by the 3rd episode, we really couldn't stay focused.

The time came when we were supposed to board our Delta flight back to Minnesota. I hate flying domestic, especially with Delta. It was so chaotic. Our flight didn't take off until 3:30 in the morning, 6 hours after our original flight time. The plane's wing had a broken part on it so they told us they were trying to find out if there was a new part to replace it, locally. Of course there wasn't. They then directed us to another gate to get onto a new, unbroken plane that was about 40 seats smaller than the first. It took another hour or so of the Delta people asking if there was anyone who could delay going home tonight. They put those people up in hotels for two nights and gave them food vouchers. If Jenn and I hadn't just spent 15 hours on a plane, 13 hours in an airport and actually had had some sleep, we probably would have taken them up on the offer! I'd always wanted to see L.A. but at that point I just wanted to get home. We were so close!

After figuring out who would stay behind, they had to redistribute new tickets. That was hell. No one knew what they were doing, including the Delta employees. Jenn and I finally got our new tickets and got on the plane. We had to wait for another hour for the flight attendants to get on the same page and for the rest of the passengers to sit down. FINALLY, we took off at about 3:30! I was so cold on the flight because I was sitting by the window. That was the first time on all of my flights that I have gotten a seat by the window and it wasn't that bad. I thought for sure I'd get sick as usual, but I was fine.

Off the plane in Minnesota, Jenn and I thought that our mom, who was the lucky one to pick us up, would have bombarded us. But surprisingly: nothing. We got our baggage and headed out the door and there was our mom, sitting in her truck. She didn't see us come out so I went and pounded on her window and scared the crap out of her. It was great fun.

After 24 hours + of no sleep, I surprisingly got my 2nd wind and agreed to drive to Wisconsin with my mom to surprise my older sister, who was visiting with my nephews, for her birthday. We told her we weren't coming back home for another month. We first saw our 3 year old nephew and as soon as he saw us he said "Oh my gosh!" That was the longest, and tightest hug I've gotten from him! After quietly kissing and hugging our nephews, my sister was called upstairs. We screamed Happy Birthday as soon as we saw her and gave her huge hugs. It's funny when you can literally see someone try to register something on their face, and that's exactly what Kassie was doing as soon as she saw us. Jenn and I had a bet going on. I bet that she would get her red blotches and cry and Jennie bet that she would just be like "whatever." She was really happy to see us but to my disappointment, no tears! Blast!

Like I said before, we've been home for 2 months and all the while I've been trying to find a job! I'm so poor, I could cry, and have! I even reapplied to Cub. Yeah.. that desperate. I'm so exhausted at applying, interviewing and not getting anything. Well, I did get a job at Stride Rite but I had to leave.... That's a different story that maybe I'll talk about later. Please hire me somebody! And unfortunately I've had to ask my dad (of all the stinkin' people) to help me out with bills. I have always been so proud of the fact that I've never had to borrow money of others, that I was always the one helping people out. It's really hard to ask. I hate this position I'm in right now but I am trying to find a new job. Tomorrow I think I'm going to call about newspaper deliveries. Not the ideal work, but it's good money. And I don't really mind having to get up that early as long as I can go back to bed!

Later, amigos.

Uhhh

Jenn and I are sitting on a stinky couch in Wollongong, Australia, watching a movie in our hostel lobby. There is another young man watching, whom, apparently, thinks it's okay to put his hand down his pants and have a feel. Excuse me, I don't want to see that.

So it has been a while since I've updated. I don't think I'll go into detail right now, but we have seen a lot. We've worked our way up from Wollongong to Agnes Water along the east coast here in Australia. Even though I'm quite sick of hostel life, we have met some really great people from all over the world. And have some pretty funny stories to tell from our experiences.

We made it all the way up to Agnes Water- Town of 1770 and then had to come back down to Wollongong to stay with Mel, with a stop in Brisbane, which I think is my favourite city so far, until we got our tax refunds. Our plan now is to go back up to Cairns, which is way, way up there, and dive in the Great Barrier Reef. And then come home. With a little bit of money. Jenn and I have been talking about finding our own place to live since we got to Australia, which is a little odd. My plan when I get home is to go back to school for my esthitician license, and find a nice, comfy spa job.

Mel has been really great. She has made it really easy and has helped us out so much. I'm so gratefull. I can't wait until she and Tom come to the U.S. and gets to stay with us (hopefully in our own place!).

That's all for now. I think when I finally get home I can go into detail about our trip here. It's hard finding wi-fi and when you do, it costs a lot of money.

Oh, yeah... Amanda should be having her Noah any day now and I'm so excited for her!! I'm going to find something real Australian to send to the baby!

Later

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!)