Lucky Baby

As luck would have it, this is one lucky kid!

7 7 7 7 7

Jack Allen Falkner was born July 7, 2007, considered by many the luckiest day of the century. But Jack's luck didn't stop there. The infant weighed in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces, at St. Joseph's Hospital in Chippewa Falls. He was born at 8:12 am.

The number seven is considered lucky by gamblers, numerologists and the slew of couples who chose Saturday as their wedding date. If the string of sevens in that date makes for auspicious associations, the extra digits in his weight could bode that much better for the infant.

The only way his luck would have been better is if he'd been born about an hour earlier at 7:07!

Bikini Bread

The first "fruits" of the garden are a half dozen tomatoes, a bucket full of green beans, a dozen squash and seven huge zucchini. These zucchini are, of course, the main ingredient for Bikini Bread.

Small aside here - the boys can't say zucchini all that well, so it comes out as bikini. Hence - Bikini Bread. =)

Emily is helping me make the bread. A single zucchini has produced 4 large loaves and 1 mini-loaf with some leftover! I think we'll make three sets like this, for a total of 12 large loaves and 3 minis. Assuming we have enough of the OTHER ingredients - running a little low on flour right now.

I'm going to take a couple of these to work on Monday and label them Bikini Bread. See if they disappear faster that way. Shh - don't tell Kim!

If anyone is interested in a loaf for themselves, just let me know - I'd love to give it away. Otherwise, it just sits in the freezer or lands on my hips (I ate almost whole loaf by myself in one day a couple years ago - just couldn't stop!).

New Laptop!

OK - for the record, it was not my idea to get a new computer. I didn't argue mind you, but it wasn't my idea. So, on Monday, I got this nifty little HP Pavillion dv6000 - built in webcam, Microsoft Vista and office 2007. 2 GB memory and 140 HD. I'm in heaven. Joe isn't so much.

Now, if you've ever gotten a new computer, you know it takes time to set it up - loading software, moving files, making sure everything works. I've been working on this thing for 3 days now - off and on - and I'm still working on it. iTunes doesn't like my new music, I haven't loaded my anti-virus yet and the printer won't connect. It's nerve-wracking. And then Joe tells me I need to put it away!

AARRGGHH!!

So - I'm using it to bllog more often (yea!) just to take a break from setting it up. Only problem so far - typing with these long nails of mine. Guess I'm gonna have to pare them down some or get a wireless keyboard.

Guess which one will happen first....

=)

Happy 4th of July!

Don't have a lot to say here other than Happy Independence Day! Hope you all enjoy the day with your loved ones and stay safe with the fireworks.

Flood rains + no canoes = Unhappy Camper

This past weekend we had our 9th annual Float Trip and it was a rather interesting and WET trip. Roach MO had rain from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon - with flash flood warnings and very wet camping conditions.


Joe & I spent all day Thursday shopping and packing for our annual canoe trip. If we would have been able to use my van, we would have been ready to leave first thing Friday morning. But, we had to take the time to take mine to the "car doctor" and pickup the rental van. Seriously, i talked to four different people at the rental agency and told them we needed a van - not an SUV, a van. So, what did they have when we go there? An SUV. So, we had to convince them to give us the van they had sitting right out front. Sheesh!

We finished getting the last few items for the trip (like marshmallows, since our two little monkeys got into the bag we had on Thursday night) and finished up the loading. We were literally leaving the house at noon - really good for us!

We went to a new place this year - ab out 2.5 hours LESS driving time. I didn't get nearly as carsick as I usually do. We got all set up and were ready to eat at 6pm - another first for us!

The rain came that night. luckily, of the 8 "groups" (6 couples and two single guys) 6 of them brought free-standing canopies. We set them all up BEFORE the rain and made a "condo" of sorts - in a big L shape around the campfire. If we hadn't had those, the trip would have been a total bust.

The float part of the trip was cancelled before 8:30 Saturday morning. But did that stop us? NO!

Most of us went down to the river and did some swimming and then they let us take the canoes on the wide part of the river that went right by the campsite. The river was disgusting as it had turned over in all the rain, but it was still freezing cold so that was good (yes, sarcasm is a strong point of mine).

We still drank a lot both Friday and all day Saturday and ate lots of good food. Saturday, since we weren't going to be exhausted from the canoing, a few of our group went and got LOTS of fireworks. Since it was so wet out, we were free to do more than just ground works and they shot off mortars and bottle rockets and all kinds of fun things. Have you ever shot a firework into a body of water? It's pretty funny!

Anyway, Sunday turned out to be the rainiest of them all - with flash flood warnings. We packed everything up in the rain and got the heck outta Dodge.

All in all, most said it was the best trip ever. I missed the float part and I'm not much of a camper, but I have to agree that it wasn't too bad.

I'll be getting pictures from Rex soon (I hope!) and I'll post them later.