Fredrick Buechner

A facebook funny...

My 92-year-old Grandma is on Facebook. I made her an account when I was with her in Arizona after showing her pictures of my cousins in New Zealand. She's really computer savvy, and has been able to keep up to date with all of her grandkids ever since.

I just got an email from her, sent to her entire family, where she wrote, "I spent the whole morning looking at pictures on Facelift--hadn't ever found them before, my, that was fun."

Calling Facebook, Facelift made me laugh out loud.

If you're reading...Grandma, I think your computer skills are amazing and I think your new name for facebook is perhaps more accurate than you know!

Every day life scrapbooking

This has been a funny scrapbook class because a lot of the layouts were designed for families with kids. So the whole book is ending up VERY Rory and Becca centered. But I have started to embrace this fact, grateful that I can use some of our more random pictures like coffee cups and helium balloons given after my last day of summer camp, into my albums. Usually I am more of a trip-specific scrapbooker, but I think this album will fill in the everydays in between.

The first day of school...

Technically in Nebraska, kids have been in school for three full weeks now. But I am still on my Minnesota clock, where the first day of school always fell on that highly anticipated day after Labor Day. I have sweet memories of waiting so anxiously to drive to Greenleaf Elementary school at the beginning of August to find out who my teacher would be for the year. They would post the class lists on the school doors and we would nervously chatter about what we had heard about Mrs. so-and-so and wonder if she'd be nice or mean or strict or funny.

This was also the time we would get our school supply list. I would hold that list so carefully as we shopped through the pandemonium of parents and kids at Kmart. One year I got these crayons that had different colors at each end. I made a special holder for them out of a check box that I decorated with stickers and wrapping paper. Oh how I love new crayons!

And then we'd go shopping for something new to wear on that first day of school. I specifically remember going to work with my mom in Minneapolis and making a special trip to the downtown JCPennies for this outfit. It usually was very comfortable, because I loved leggings and one piece outfits and sweatpants. (I didn't own a pair of jeans until I was in 7th grade!) And we'd get new sneakers and a hairthingy to go with it too.

Finally, the day would arrive, and with great joy, I walked my new crayons in my backpack to the bus stop wearing my new clothes from Pennies. That's me in the one piece white and purple striped outfit with the new hairthingy and sneakers holding Jennifer's hand.

The Great Minnesota Get Together!

Today is the last day of the Minnesota State Fair, my second favorite holiday right after Christmas. I love everything about the fair, love that I am a part of the fair and love the tradition and sameness of our routine from one year to the next. This year, in the 12 days recorded (today's attendance hasn't been added into this total), 1,663,573 people will have walked through the fair grounds, consuming an estimated half-a-million corn dogs. (I helped with that stat...) Below are pictures of my favorites at the fair:
Here's what you're seeing in these pictures, going left to right, top to bottom...
1. The Butterheads. The lovely ladies of the court of Princess Kay of the Milky Way hold this honor of having their busts carved in Minnesota butter.
2. One of my favorite food stops, up there with Sweet Martha's cookies and Hawaiian Shaved Ice.
3. Family friend Marcus and one of the pigs he showed his year. Last year, the pig he showed went home to have five piglets, but died during labor. They removed the piglets by c-section and Marcus and his folks BOTTLE FED all FIVE piglets every TWO hours for the first THREE weeks of their lives. Marcus brought three of those piglets-all-grown-up to show at the fair this year.
4. In the Creative Arts building, all of the quilts, canned goods and baked goods are on display. It is a life goal to enter cookies at the fair. Maybe next year...
5. Could there be a better center picture for a photo collage? I didn't think so. Behold, a finished Butterhead.
6. This was my favorite new experience at the fair! We watched the 4-H cow show. Oh my word. You cannot tell this from the picture, but these cows are naughty. And they don't like to be on leashes. And the poor middle school 4-H'ers have to do their best to pretend like they have serious control of these large, opinionated animals. There were scuffles, and tempers and I couldn't get enough. This is a new fair tradition.
7. The reason I love the fair like I do: My family arranges flowers for competition with the Minnesota Gladiolas Society. A lesser known of all societies (please smile here), we are a fascinating combination of people who love beautiful flowers. This is my Uncle Carl and one of his AMAZING arrangements. He always makes stunning, huge, glorious arrangements.
8. This is the white ribbon I won this year for this sweet little arrangement.
9. Pork Chop on a stick. Be sure you get one of these. Salty and perfect. And my mom's favorite fair food.


So, basically, if you haven't ever been to the Minnesota State Fair, you've just got to get there. I drove 12 hours round-trip from Nebraska down for 12 hours of fair fun because it's just great.