News on Tour wraps up

News on Tour wrapped up last Friday.

It's a bittersweet ending. These newscasts tend to be more community centered with pre-planned stories... which makes for a slower day in the newsroom. It gives the series a very school-is-out-for-summer kind of feel. We go out to lunch. We work on other stories. It's 6 days over the summer where we get to take things a bit easier.







We get to see people out and about. I got to sign an autograph and have been teased ever since.

Now they are over. While our editors are happy to be back to a normal news schedule, I think we'll miss the red shirt Fridays.

Jack featured in local money-saving blog

Jack's picture is featured in this blog...apparently there's a deal with the photographer:

My Candid Moments Photography Free Newborn Session (Local)
By Laura Wales on July 30, 2010


[photo courtesy of My Candid Moments]

Twin Cities readers: If you or someone you know is expecting a baby during the next three to six months, Shannon Steffens of My Candid Moments is offering a free newborn session and a free 8×10 image from your session as a thanks for participating in her newborn casting call.

There are a limited number of free sessions open and will be filled on a first call, first scheduled basis (call 612.799.1579). The session will be done on location at your home when your child is between 5 and 14 days old. If you do not make the casting call, you will receive a certificate for 50% off the session fee for a six-month or newborn session.

Shannon is Carrie’s professional and family photographer of choice and took photos at the Meet & Greet back in March as well as other photos of Carrie’s family here and here. I (Laura) can speak from experience and say that having a newborn session done was one of the best decisions we made in that post-baby haze, as we have some gorgeous pictures of our son when he was absolutely tiny and oh-so-sweet. You’ll treasure these pictures always!

Celebration

In our house, Dave says I'm the CEO and CFO and he's the head of security and part-time lawnmower man.

Last year we embarked on a money saving venture that I've talked about a few times in this blog. It was partly to prepare for parenthood and partly to be better stewards of our money. This included carefully examining our expenses and trying to determine where we could cut back and how we could pay down our small, but annoying debt.

Part of the time I felt like I was dragging Dave through this process by his hair. Dave accused me of being too much of a penny pincher; I accused him of letting his "it's only money" philosophy rule his spending habits. We were both wrong: When you don't spend any money for enjoyment, you get discouraged. When you spend it all, it becomes much more than just money because it's causing fights, discomfort, and headaches. Somewhere over the course of the last year, I think we finally met in the middle.

As Oprah would say, we had a big "aha" moment this summer. After our bank started dividing up expenses in a pie chart, we were slapped in the face once again with our perpetual downfall.... the high amount of money we spend on eating out. It's one thing to know and say how much you spend on something. It's quite another thing to see it in black and white in comparison to what else you are spending money on. So, we decided to do something drastic. Starting the day after our anniversary, we made a commitment not to eat out for an entire month.

We had to cook ahead. We had to plan. We grilled a alot. We pre-made lunches. When we moved too fast to fix a lunch or forgot it or plain ran out of food between grocery store day, we ate soup or ramen noodles. We encouraged one another. And we survived.

One disclaimer: we both ate out individually once as a part of a work thing/meeting. We also ate at friend's houses or at parties, which was nice to break up the flow.

When Dave saw he actually had a decent amount in his checking account after bills this month, he finally got it. We applied our extra cash to reducing our debt.

When we celebrated at a nicer restaurant than we would normally patronize, I finally got it. We even ordered dessert, and Jack really wanted some.

Ironically enough, in this month of deprivation, we were given two different gift certificates to restaurants. We spent one last night, meaning our tip, dinner and dessert only cost us $15. And we plan to spend the other one next month, when we celebrate again.

Jack and the Ladies

Everywhere we go, Jack is surrounded by little girls. Our friends that we routinely hang out with all have girls who think Jack is the next best thing to a doll. One girl named her baby at home "baby Jack" and she puts him to bed every night. She came over to help me give him a bath one day. Another girl gave Jack her own nickname, "Jackers." Our sitter has a one year old girl who cries when she sees me coming, because she knows I'm coming to pick Jack up. At home, my best friend has a little girl and Jack has a girl cousin.

This was the scene Saturday night... Judging from this picture, someday we may have some work to do regarding what he thinks of the roles of women in society....but something tells me any one of these girls will be able to set him straight.

Summertime.

Nothing says summertime like this picture. A sweet girl gobbling up sweet corn.

Dave and I attended the summer festival in our adopted hometown. In great summer fashion, we walked downtown with neighbors and met up with other friends. It was a beautiful summer evening with live music, cheese curds, and vendors selling crocheted hats, jewelry, and Wolf T-shirts. We did eat the sweet corn, but we ate more of the stuff we shouldn't have.... pork chops, french fries, fried cheese curds, funnel cakes. Just thinking about our food consumption on Saturday night makes me want to take a pressure washer to my stomach. We will do better.

This week we learned our little Jack really isn't so little at all. He's in the 95 percentile....meaning he's one big baby. He weighed in at 21 pounds and 27 inches at 18 weeks/4 1/2 months old. We're getting some biceps picking our little linebacker up and toting him around. Dave already has dreams of a hockey forward....who will perform better than Dave did at his favorite booth. A kid from the hockey team played goalie while you could try your shot at scoring. One buck bought you three shots and if you won, you got a Coke, er...up here they call it Pop. Not a bad deal. Although the Diet Coke we got wound up costing us 2 bucks, or 6 shots.

A girly shower

Today I discovered a batch of party pics that make me totally want to go out and get some scrapbook paper, make invitations, and throw a party. A really girly frou-frou party. The kind of party I never get to throw because all my parties usually must involve men, and men do not do green polka dots paired with pink plaid. They want beer, not matching punch served out of dainty cups. They just want to show up and don't care that the frilly invitation came in a matching envelope.

I know a girl who helped throw this Delta Zeta-inspired baby shower. Since I attended a small undergraduate college, we might have been in rival sororities but we all knew one another. I knew several girls in the pictures, but I couldn't quit staring at the decorating. I am totally in awe of this endeavor. I want to throw a party like this!

A very Minnesota celebration

Congratulations to our friends Jason and Lisa! They got married in early June in upstate New York, but we celebrated this past weekend out on Medicine Lake.

Getting a pavilion on the lake is no easy feat during the summer in this state. Dave put signs up the night before that were very Minnesota Nice. They said something to the effect of: 'We know we can't really reserve this space, but we are reserving it for Saturday evening. You can use it if you want, but we'll be here at 3:30 pm to use it.'

Dave showed up sometime around 11:30 am to stake out the space. Jack and I showed up at two in the hot, muggy, drippy afternoon. We were constantly telling people 'we have a party here' all day. I started putting up decorations and stuff on every table. They still didn't get the hint.

About 25 or 30 of Jason and Lisa's coworkers and friends trickled in throughout the evening. The weather started clouding up. It started to rain. Tornado sirens started going off. The lifeguards packed up and left. On their way out, they advised us to leave. Did that stop us? Nope.

In what is definitely a sign of the times, people started taking their smart phones out and comparing radars. Fueled quite possibly by the fact we had no backup plan, we decided to stay. Cooking and eating followed. Then, the guys challenged a neighboring pavilion to a volleyball game. We started packing up when people started comparing radars again and saying another line of storms were coming through. Best not to tempt fate twice. I would say it was just in the nick of time, but it wasn't. Several people got stuck in the storm on their way home.

So, we packed up and left. The only dismal failure of the party was the sweet corn debacle. We couldn't move the stationary grill under the pavilion, so during the first rainstorm our small fire was sheltered only by a big pot of sweet corn that got ready just as we were about to leave. I worried beforehand that I didn't have anything to pass out as party favors... I shouldn't have worried because the gallon-sized bags of sweet corn seemed to please folks just fine!

How very Minnesotan of us all.