Brenton is in demand!

Brenton was on the news out of Minneapolis this evening! The Associated Press picked up the MPR story, and it is very popular!

Check him out at http://wcco.com/consumer/econo.cars.money.2.711647.html

Celebrities in the Household!

For the two people that read this blog, you know that as President of the Friends of the Library, I was in a couple local articles. Well, not to be outdone, Brenton went and called MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) to talk to them about the rising cost of gas, and these cars he sells called Geo Metros. He appeared on the station this past Friday. Tim Post came to our house on Tuesday, and spent a couple of hours with Brenton. Mr. Post did a great job with the broadcast and article. Check it all out (with pictures!) at: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/23/geometro_man/

There is also audio so you can even listen to the broadcast if you'd like!

Yes, both of our heads are getting too big for our little house!

Marjorie McNeely Conservatory

I went to the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory a couple of weeks ago. Located in St. Paul, it had a beautiful display of spring flowers for people to enjoy, and it was great to enjoy them. I went on Sunday the day after we got dumped with a lot of snow (hopefully our FINAL snow fall). Lots of people were out enjoying the sunny weather, and I took over 70 pictures of flowers. Here are a few (view the rest on my Flickr photostream):




And one of me!

Tulip Update

Since I've planted over a billion tulips (okay maybe not THAT many - it just felt like it after awhile!), I check them every morning to see how may are popping up. And it is another way to prolong going into work!

Today the count is up to 24! Many look pretty good even after being buried under a lot of snow from last week.

Now if only some of the other stuff I planted would start coming up because I honestly can't remember what all I planted!

Emma taking a bath

Poor pathetic dog!

Tulips

Well, I thought I'd show you what my tulips (all nineteen of them!) were doing last week Tuesday (April 8, 2008):




This is what they looked like on Sunday morning (April 13, 2008):



Gotta love 6 months of winter.

I just finished reading "Change of Heart" by Jodi Picoult. It was about a death row inmate from New Hampshire who wanted to give his heart to a young girl after he had been executed. The young girl's father and half-sister was killed by the death row inmate. It was about the death penalty, religion, faith and beliefs.

It was a good book, but I've read other books by her I've much rather preferred. I've been trying to include all the books I've read (or am seriously reading) on my Library Thing shelves. I've realized I'm much better announcing what I'm reading on my blog than adding them to my online bookshelves. I am going to try to be better though. I just added today that I'm reading "Julie & Julia" by Julie Powell which is about a "30-years-old, living in a rundown apartment in Queens and working at a soul-sucking secretarial job that's going nowhere. She needs something to break the monotony of her life, and she invents a deranged assignment. She will take her mother's dog-eared copy of Julia Child's 1961 classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and she will cook all 524 recipes. In the span of one year."

I'm thinking I might start a little less intense and maybe pick a Southern Cooking or Cooking Light book and make all of those recipes. I'll keep you posted if I actually go through with it...

We've been busy remodeling the kitchen. We put a new back door in and WOW! Did that ever bring in some light for us and make that space look a little bigger. We also have most of the trim work done. A little more needs to be put up. I plan to spend this weekend painting what we were able to put up this past weekend.

We also put a new light fixture in the kitchen. We had this huge ceiling fan, and now that it is gone it really makes the space a lot bigger. One disappointment though: no bead board for the ceiling! We tried but the glue didn't want to stick and the nails didn't either due to the plaster. At some point (years from now) we'll have to redo our ceilings, and I hope at that point to add the bead board to the ceiling in the kitchen. I knew it was going to look so nice in there if it would have worked!

Now that the kitchen is almost finished I need to go on a decorating spree!! I've got some ideas...which I'll have to share with you all later since I can't remember the artist whose print I am thinking of putting up in the kitchen. Here are a couple of pictures for you:

We love IKEA!

Brenton and I heart IKEA! This place has great furniture that is not expensive, easy to assemble, and other fun gadgets! We've gotten a few ideas for the house by spending a few hours walking around IKEA. AND they have a restaurant where you can get Swedish meatballs, french fries, and all sorts of other goodies at a reasonable price! It is a serious date night for us when we go there.

Last time we were there, we decided to play around a little bit. They have bathroom displays, and the toilets always say:



So here is Brenton...well you can see from the picture what we did!



Did I mention we are dorks?!

Chuck Norris Rocks

For those people that are Chuck Norris fans, this site is pretty funny: http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/.

Look at some of these facts:

• Chuck Norris can lead a horse to water AND make it drink.

• Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.

• Chuck Norris doesn't actually write books, the words assemble themselves out of fear.

• When Chuck Norris talks, everybody listens. And dies.

And my favorite:

• Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.