Shoulda been in Wausau.

Every now and then, the Fiskars plant here in Wausau has a big warehouse sale, where they try to get rid of truckloads of scrapbooking supplies for dirt cheap. If you want to see women go crazy, it's a pretty good place to hang out. They push around these huge three level carts stuffing them full of boxes of stuff. I only purchased a few items, but they were an incredible value.

For example, they have packs of designer, 2-sided paper, 25 sheets per pack, for only...



...are you sitting down?



...one dollar each.

Or scrapbook embellishments - fabric flowers, rub-on, stickers, ribbon, etc. in packs of up to six sheets for only...



...you won't believe this...

...one dollar.


Or more brown brads than I will ever possibly use...



...you guessed it.

One dollar.

They even have something for the man in your life. I got Preston this pair of tackle box shears to cut fishing line....



...for 50 cents.

And you thought Central Wisconsin had nothing to offer...

World Travelers

Preston and I traveled the world this past weekend. Bristol, Bath, Milan, Montevideo...

All on the way to Grandma's house, of course. If you were wondering what rural South Dakota looks like, it's something like this:



We had a lovely time in Aberdeen and were sad to leave.



Doesn't Grandma look sad too? I think she's wiping away a tear.

Darn groundhogs.

I just got this straight from MSN, but I thought it was one of the more hilarious things I've heard lately. These people should try working from home. It's awesome...

Here are 12 of the most outrageous excuses employees have heard for being late to work:

1. My heat was shut off so I had to stay home to keep my snake warm.
2. My husband thinks it's funny to hide my car keys before he goes to work.
3. I walked into a spider web on the way out the door and couldn't find the spider, so I had to go inside and shower again.
4. I got locked in my trunk by my son.
5. My left turn signal was out so I had to make all right turns to get to work.
6. A gurney fell out of an ambulance and delayed traffic.
7. I was attacked by a raccoon and had to stop by the hospital to make sure it wasn't rabid.
8. I feel like I'm in everyone's way if I show up on time.
9. My father didn't wake me up.
10. A groundhog bit my bike tire and made it flat.
11. My driveway washed away in the rain last night.
12. I had to go to bingo.

Yay me.

Hmong Lessons

A couple of weeks ago, I made the comment to my hometeaching companion that I would enjoy learning some Hmong. In the community that we live there is a substantial Hmong population and since there are many members in our ward who only speak Hmong, I figured I should a least learn how to great them correctly.

Well today, without me having thought much on the conversation, Gilbert, my companion, came up and invited Emily and I to their class. It was very fun. The Hmong speaking Elders taught the class, and out of about 15 students and Emily was of course the best. She can already properly pronounce all of the vowels!

I figure a couple of you out there might be interested in learning to so I have included my class notes:

Hmong Vowels -

Character - Pronunciation

A - short "A" sound, like in Apple
E - Long "A" sound, like in Grape
I - Long "E" sound, like in Eagle
O - Short "O" sound, like in Off
U - Short "U" sound, like in Goofy
W - Egh (this is what I wrote. And yes it is a vowel in Hmong)
AI - Long "I" sound like in Isotope
EE - "Ang" (sounds like the "ung" in hung)
IA - Long "E" sound followed by a short "A" sound. Eeh ahh
OO - "Ong" (sounds like the "ong" in Song)
Au - Like the "Ow" sound in Cow.
Ua - ohh ahh
Aw - Oohegh

I hope this is a helpful reference for your personal Hmong study.

Projects

This post goes out to Jessica, who started me on this project about a year and a half ago in some sort of quest to make me crafty. It probably should have taken about a month to finish, but well...

I actually finished the stitching a long time ago and I knew I wanted to frame it instead of making a pillow or anything else, so I've spent a lot of time (figuratively speaking) looking for the right frame. I finally found it, so here is the finished product.



It's not perfect, but I am quite proud of it nonetheless. Of course, I finish it now that we're beginning the spring thaw and hoping not to see snow again until December, but hey, at least I'll be able to pull it out next winter all ready to go.

American Idol

This is the first year I've actually watched American Idol. Since I gave up Biggest Loser, I needed something to entertain me on Tuesday nights. (And Wednesday nights. And the occasional Thursday night.) I've found American Idol to be moderately entertaining, but soooo predictable. For instance, the wild card show was kind of fun, but was it really necessary? Take for example...

Megan - She could have sung the ABC song and made it through because the judges love her. I don't know how long she'll last though, because I don't know how much America loves her. One thing's for sure - she has to figure out what the heck to do with herself on stage because that hip swish/arm fling thing is painful to watch.

Jasmine - I always liked her, but she really hasn't done that great the past couple weeks. Again, however, the judges took a liking to her early (can you say "commercial?") and because they decided the competition needed her, she's in.

Matt - I knew either Matt or Ricky would make it though. I was pulling for Ricky - he had two really good performances and seems like a classier guy - but Paula and Kara had a thing for Matt (they said the term "bluesy" a few too many times last night), so on he goes...

Anoop - America loves Anoop. I love Anoop. Simon was right in saying he definitely isn't the best singer there, but he's clean cut, smart and sincere and I think he will go far just because he has the likeability factor.

As for the rest of the finalists, there are some really good singers, but I think Simon was right again in saying they needed some more personality or it could get boring real quick.