Top Ten of Growing Up in Minnesota

My family in front of a Minnesotan winter tradition--
A part of the Winter Festival in Saint Paul, every few years they would construct a palace entirely of ice.
I believe this was 1987 and apparently I was way too cool to smash my big hair with a hat.

10- I can tell my kids 100% true stories about how every day I walked almost a mile to and from elementary school in waist deep snow. 

9- I can calmly laugh at people who are in the throes of full blown panic when they experience the sensation of their nose hairs freezing together for the first time.

8- While other people groan, I am always rooting for a good snowstorm. 

7- I am not ashamed to dress in lots of layers. 

6- I can brag about how I was raised in one of the weirdest political states in America and came out relatively unjaded. (Why is it such a weird state?  Well,  not only was Minnesota the one and only state in the union to carry Walter Mondale for president in 1984, but they also elected Jesse Ventura, of WWWF fame, as their governor in 1999.)

5-  We shopped at Target before Target was the hip discount place to shop.  In fact I didn't even know Walmart existed until I was like 20 years old.

4-  I can tell people from what they call cold weather states (like Utah or Colorado) that they have no idea what real cold feels like.  And when they happen to visit Minnesota on a -30 degree day, they agree with me.  (True story)

3- I can blow people away with the little known piece of trivia that Minnesota, with its 10,000+ lakes,  has more shoreline that California, Florida, and Hawaii...combined!

2-  I can brag to my kids that our school superintendent worked on the twelfth floor of a skyscraper and wouldn't even consider canceling school until the snow was up to his office window.

1-  ...and then I can laugh (and enjoy the opportunity to sleep in) when our schools are delayed after receiving one measly inch of powdery snow.   

Of Heating Vents and Good Books

I remember on winter afternoons as a child, grabbing my fuzzy blanket and a book to read and curling up, blanket tented around my shoulders, over our family's favorite heating vent. 

What?  Your family didn't have a favorite heating vent? 

Well then, you probably didn't grow up in Minnesota with parents who kept the thermostat set in the low 60's to save money.    Cozying up with a warm blanket over a heating vent was our idea of bliss and getting the heating vent that also happened to be in the direct path of the afternoon's sun rays was pure heaven.  Being the oldest meant that I usually got the coveted spot on the family room floor myself, but occasionally some bold sibling would get there and try to lay claim to it before I did.  It was then that they learned that  I was more than just poufy bangs and tapered jeans.  I won't divulge my enviable dueling tactics, but let's just say that I usually reclaimed my spot very quickly, which was good, because the heat made my  bruises feel better. 

While I read many a book, curled up in that spot, it also become my favored nap location.  In fact,  on Sunday afternoons the whole main floor of the house (where the heating vents were on the floor) became Naptime central.   You could literally walk around the house and find kid after kid curled up sound asleep, not in their beds, but over their special heating vent.    I can't be sure since I was usually sleeping, but I'm pretty convinced that visiting relatives would jostle us the first few times they witnessed this strange behavior just to make sure we were okay. 

Rest assured, we were more than okay.   We were making warm and fuzzy memories (other than the bruises) that will never be forgotten.

I haven't had to duel anyone for a heating vent in over 20-years and thankfully now live in climate that does not require tented heating vents to get warm in the wintertime, but still I associate reading with sitting in the warm  glow of the winter afternoon sun in my living room.    Even now when I feel like I'm deep in the trenches of life, setting aside some time to read a novel never fails to soothe my soul.   Though it seems counter-intuitive to do something as seemingly  unproductive as reading while my brain is caught up in the worries about all the things that lay undone, it's still therapeutic to me to get lost in a book for a few hours.  That's why joining a book group a few years ago was just the motivation I needed to make sure that at minimum I was reading a book a month.    

Through my participation in the book group over the last several years, I've read a lot of great books (and a few not-so-great ones too) that I never would have read otherwise.  Recently I  came across this list of what books were considered to be among the top 100  in American literature.   I'm not sure where the list came from and I'm not sure that I would necessarily agree with all the books that are listed, but I was struck when checking off the ones that I have read, at what a dent I've made by reading a book or two a month for all these years.  

some of the books I've read in the last few months

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 The Brothers Karamosov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince- Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

While I know that I would not be considered all that well-read in literary circles, I still like to think  that thirty-six out of a hundred isn't too shabby for someone as busy as I am.  Speaking of busy,   it's high time that I get back to the task at hand.  The task for which I sat down in the computer in the first place.  Book group is tonight and I am leading the discussion.  I read the book (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks) while on the plane to California, but have yet to compile my list of thought-provoking questions.  

While I sit here thinking deep thoughts about medical ethics, I'd love to hear how many books you've read on the list. 

Happy Reading! 

The Rest of the Dam Story

WARNING:  If you find references to barriers constructed to hold back water offensive, then I suggest that you skip reading this post. 

So after the too crowded, too loud, too inebriated high school reunion that I left a full six hours before it ended,  the next day I had an unofficial mini-reunion back in my home ward at church.  It's been a full twenty years since I was a member of the Blaine Ward (now the Andover Ward), but I still felt like a celebrity walking in there as people from around the chapel turned around in their seats and waved to me. 

After church we went to the high school reunion part 2---the dam family picnic.

Dam family picnic, you ask? 

Yep.  

Someone had planned a family picnic at a dam where those of us with an aversion to drunken dancing could mingle with old friends without having to yell.   We  took advantage of the aptly named location of the picnic and used every opportunity possible to throw the word, "dam" around all we could. 

First we went on the DAM WALKWAY....

and watched in awe at all the dam water...

Then we got dam lost and had to ask for dam directions at the dam visitors' center...

Then we found the dam pavilion and found this dam crowd much more well-suited to my temperament than the inebriated crowds from the night before.   There were only five of us that showed up, but two of them had been my very good friends in high school and the other two were good acquaintances. 

While all of us adults jabbered and got caught up on the happenings of the last 20-years,  the kids made new dam friends with my friends' children, blew some big dam bubbles...

made some cute little dam fairy princesses...

Then found a friendly dam man with a ginormous dam telescope who let us watch some dam fledgling ospreys in a nest.  Adam, in particular, was enamored with the close-up view of the ospreys and the man's photo book spotlighting the other dam birds he'd spotted at the dam. 

After all that dam excitement, we rushed back to Heather's house to make cupcakes (that were definitely not dammed or damned) before my cousin, Susan, and her family joined us for dessert and good conversation. 

Then we spent the next day explaining to the kids why it wasn't okay to say dam when we weren't at the dam any more. 

The dam end. 

*****

Hot New Shoes on an Old Fuddy Duddy

Once there was a lady who decided to attend her 20-year high school reunion.  Why she decided to travel 1000+ miles to go renew acquaintances with people she couldn't wait to get away from 20-years ago, no one can really tell, but she did.  She's always been a bit ironic like that. 

So there she was in the land of her childhood, waiting to see people with whom she's had no contact with for two decades, and she realizes that she has nary a thing to wear other than her too-busy-to-shop-mom-of-five-kids clothing.  What was the girl to do? 

What any other sleep-deprived mom on vacation would do---take the entire family to the Mall of America--so they can sight-see (and ride roller coasters) while she drags her sister with her into store after store while she deliberates the pants vs. skirt question. 

Did I mention that the girl really doesn't like shopping? 

Her husband hoped that that fact would have kept the receipt total down, but alas it worked to the opposite effect, as shown in her in the purchase of these highly impractical (but completely adorable) shiny red shoes.

So after revamping her wardrobe for the next few seasons (Glen hopes), it was time to come home and enjoy a while in the attorney hair salon.  They've always told her sister, Heather, that if she decides to get out of the busy tax attorney life, that she definitely has a future in hair styling. 

After a little while in the ginormous hair rollers and a few unnamed hair products, the girl was ready for a night on the town. 

So off, she and her hunky husband went, past the beautimous city and into the land of memories. 

And it didn't take the lady in the cute shoes very long  to realize that she's just as much of a fuddy duddy now as she was back then.  Somehow the too-loud of music, plentiful alcohol, and a bunch of almost 40-year-olds trying to act cool, was even less appealing as an adult as it was way-back-when. 

Don't be sad for her though.  Besides the hot new shoes and a visit with her sister that she got out of the deal, the rest of the reunion story is MUCH better (and may or may not  involve some anecdotal swearing.)  

To be continued....

Life at the Cabin...

We finished off our vacation with four nights in a cabin near Itasca State Park (where the Mississippi River begins). Long Lake (one of over 200 Long Lakes in Minnesota) was literally just a few steps out the front door, with a shallow, sandy swimming area that was perfect for everyone.
One of mine and Glen's favorite dates before we were married was fishing on the Provo River. Since then Glen's zeal for fishing has not waned even with his recently developed severe allergy to consuming fish, but it has become more of a Daddy/son activity.
So although not a mountain river, the fishing on the lake was fantastic and it was so fun to just be able to go out the front door to do it. We all caught many fish, especially after we discovered that cheese made for almost 100% success (Glen called it cheating, but the kids called it fun!)
One of the best parts of our trip to Minnesota was---HEATHER! Oh how we missed her photo taking sessions, back and head rubs, hair styling sessions for the girls, and you know that any outfit I pick out for my girls will never compare in coolness to what Aunt Heather picks out. We loved that she was able to join us on our trip, and my girls are already excited for their next shopping trip with Aitch (at Christmas time)!!

The kids would not allow us to neglect our "rustic" duty, by insisting that s'mores were part of this cabin deal (they certainly don't care about the extreme sugar overload that always accompanies the consumption of these gooey treats)! So here's sweet 2-year-old Ellie with a s'more in one hand, eating a marshmallow in the other hand, and crying that we wouldn't let her carry the whole bag. Don't you feel sorry for her?
And lastly we just played together, read the final Harry Potter, talked about the final Harry Potter in coded terms so as not to spoil for those still reading, laughed a lot, fished some more, and swam and swam and swam.

Just Like Old Times...Tubing Down the Apple River

I'll be the first to admit that my first trip back to Minnesota in 11 years was one filled with nostalgia, which ended up being quite an important factor in planning our itinerary (filled with visiting old friends, attending my old ward, driving by old houses, jobs, and my HS...boy all these olds make me seem old!).
One of our nostalgic activities was tubing down the Apple River. When I was in YW so many years ago we would regularly tube down this lazy, shallow river in nearby Wisconsin. I thought that it would be something the kids would really enjoy and they'd get to try out a little Midwestern life, so it seemed natural to add this into our plans.

It did turn out to be a great time for all, although it did take Adam a good 1 hour or more of the 3 hour trip to figure out it was actually fun and that it was okay to release his grip on our necks. Ellie was just mad at us, because not only was she missing her nap...but she REALLY wanted to be in her own tube! In the end everyone agreed that next time we come back to Minnesota that we'll definitely try it again!

Walking across the Mississippi: Everything's more fun in the rain

When I was a kid I used to love to tell people that I had walked across the Mississippi in my bare feet. Even in Minnesota, people were usually impressed or didn't believe me. So when we were making our plans for the trip home to my beloved Minnesota I knew that this experience had to be a part of our plans.
It was the only rainy day of our entire trip, and since it was sunny when we left the cabin we were ill prepared for the 3 hours of torrential downpours that followed...3 jackets and 3 towels were all that we had in the car!

Even through the torrents of rain our spirits were not dampened and in fact I think that since everyone was already soaking wet anyway that it diminished any hesitation that the kids had about walking across and soon they were just as soaked from the river as from the rain.
Just as we were getting ready to leave the sky cleared up and the torrents of people arrived. So we ran off to find a quick letterbox hidden nearby and left the dry people to dodge the crowds that had now taken over the headwaters. I'll take our soggy memories of the day and remind myself that everything is more fun in the rain!

Minnesota Adventures: Memphis, Blaine, Mall of America, Funny Nate Story

On the way out to Oklahoma City we had a nice little breakfast pitstop with Matt and Karey in Memphis.
Since we had never seen the Memphis temple and it happen to be near the IHOP we decided to take a little side trip to go check it out. It's small, but of course still very lovely...although I do have to mention that there were several toilets sitting just outside the front door due to the ongoing renovations.

At my High School...Go Blaine Bengals!

Aunt Heather, Cami, Glen, and Spencer on the scary rotating roller coaster at the Mall of America...hey someone had to stay with the little ones.
Adam and Cami on a much tamer ride at the Mall of America. Of course I do feel compelled to mention that I have a vivid memory of riding a similar ride at Disney Land as a young child with my brother Nate. Nate was petrified and was trying to crawl under the steering wheel, and since he was the one nearest the lever to move us up and down we stayed steady. I was really, really mad at him for ruining the ride for me and didn't let him forget it for a long time. Thankfully Cami and Adam both had a fantastic time and there were no ill feelings.