tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-107941042024-03-07T14:18:25.542-06:00Sauce for the GooseMusings of a frazzled mom, wife, student, and traveller through life in an itty bitty town.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.comBlogger786125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-41747802095532816522014-12-27T07:12:00.001-06:002014-12-27T07:17:12.929-06:00Making do...Today's prompt: Time to show off your handiwork: what did you make this year?
Seriously, the only thing I'm really good at making is a mess. I'm secretly very jealous of crafty folk. I've tried knitting; my stitches get too tense and tight. I think I crocheted once. Maybe I could handle that. I managed to spray paint a frame without ruining anything. &Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-31400726532776899482014-12-24T17:09:00.000-06:002014-12-24T17:09:02.358-06:00Today's prompt:
What are you thankful for? Maybe it's from this year – or maybe it's something in your past that resonated with you recently. And – we hold people, places, and things in equal regard: a sense of gratefulness can take many forms.
After the Thanksgiving bandwagon on November, it seems trite to count my blessings in a blog. However, I shouldn't disdain the Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-57502331645944931032014-12-21T10:15:00.003-06:002014-12-21T17:39:55.803-06:00Good intentions renewed!As I tick projects off my list, I am renewing my own focus on reading and writing for pleasure. Nora over at Chez Pez unwittingly tipped me off to Think Kit, so I joined the party late, but will use the prompts to kickstart my own narcissistic writing efforts!
First prompt:
A Thousand Words
Nothing like a strict word count to kick off our month of blogging...just kidding! Share Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-24528181814011076202014-12-21T09:35:00.000-06:002014-12-21T17:36:37.247-06:00Peevish... Sometime in the past twenty years or so, it became de rigueur for a restaurant server to check in with a table after the food arrives, and ask, "How is everything tasting?" This has irritated me from the first time I ever heard it. I could never quite put my finger on why it bothers me so much. Does it focus too much on the food and not enough on the rest ofAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-948748311396908182014-09-06T08:55:00.001-05:002014-09-06T08:55:12.560-05:00All roads lead homeI'm sitting on the patio of our camping chalet at Camping Het Amsterdamse Bos, enjoying a cool breeze, watching the bunnies swarm the grounds, and wondering where the last two weeks have flown. We have had adventure and misadventure, climbed the Scottish midlands and strolled the North Sea beach at Den Haag, and as much as we have enjoyed it, we are ready to be home. This campground Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-10168990896307116172014-08-11T20:26:00.001-05:002014-08-11T20:26:31.615-05:00I did a food thing! We're eating kinda weird at Casa del Goose lately. We're trying to use up anything we wouldn't want to greet us after a two-week absense. We don't want anything crawling out of the fridge and attacking the house-sitter. This had led to a few interesting concoctions such as Mac and cheese with leftover spaghetti sauce and a can of ro-tel stirred in (pretty good). As IAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-59963376504546507122014-08-07T18:07:00.002-05:002014-08-07T18:07:23.872-05:00Exercising futility Well, hello there you few poor stragglers. It's been awhile, I know. Every time I come back to Blogger, I have renewed intentions of writing more consistently. You'll note, it's been mostly a biannual exercise in futility. Facebook and Twitter are terrible for writing stamina, encouraging shorter blurbs and pithy remarks rather than content and reflection. IAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-14824167984414570592014-01-01T15:58:00.000-06:002014-01-01T16:04:03.356-06:00Happy New Year!Rather than "resolutions," a friend posted a New Year's "Bucket List." I like how her bucket list items were very specific, and completely attainable. My ideas are still more ephemeral, and less specific. I haven't had the time to sit down with myself and formulate such concrete ideas, but I will start here and keep working at it. Putting these out here for accountability and Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-73936484922812824292013-08-20T20:21:00.001-05:002014-08-07T23:41:29.288-05:00Summertime, and the living is crazy...The waning days of summer have arrived, just in time for the heat to return. Uck. Also, iPastor is having some terrible neck pain, so if you're of the praying sort, put in a good word for him. He had a tough day yesterday, and couldn't get settled in well at bedtime. Subsequently, I slept fitfully, if at all, and finally got up and switched to the daybed in the library about 2:Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-78387691351623227852013-08-20T19:43:00.000-05:002013-08-20T20:33:19.644-05:00CountrysideI went to a conference in Washington, DC, last month. I absolutely loved it. It was a good conference; a nice blend of USEFUL information and camaraderie, with enough free time woven in to check out some sights and spend a little time with a BFF. One of the highlights for me, however, was just being in the city. Not even a particularly big one, compared to Boston or New Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-87126363323375337742013-08-06T23:24:00.001-05:002014-08-07T23:39:36.896-05:00SequencesAround here, you may frequently hear my husband or I refer to a task or an outing as "going fishing." One may quizzically ask what we mean, only to receive a rambling reply along the lines of, "well, we read this book once (well, actually we listened to it on tape) where the author, it was Lewis Grizzard or Robert Fulghum or someone like that, talks about going fishing but first he has all Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-64732538663907949642013-07-20T10:13:00.001-05:002013-07-20T10:13:40.339-05:00Eating healthy is destructiveI may have killed my blender this morning. I don't remember where or when we got this blender. It may have been a hand-me-down from a grandparent or parent downsizing. I may have purchased it; if so, I'll guarantee it was for less than five dollars at a thrift store or rummage sale, and long enough ago to be lost in memory. It's an off-white Hamilton Beach 14-Speed. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-35481776655029249282013-03-18T19:12:00.001-05:002013-03-31T08:55:37.871-05:00Cabin Fever Well, according to my School Reach message logs, today was our fourth snow day of the year. We've also had seven late starts, one of which was immediately followed by an early out, due to windchills and road conditions. We had one late start prior to Christmas. The rest have been since January 21st. Up 'til then, winter had taken its time getting here, Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-54249518204503033672013-01-01T13:13:00.001-06:002013-01-01T13:13:04.349-06:00Happy New Year!Well, Happy New Year and all that. So, what's been going on?
I found a draft of the Costa Rica trip that I promise to save and add pictures to, but not right now. The trip was wonderful, a long weekend with family that we miss dearly, and the weather was terrific.
I came back to the usual whirlwind of school, more school and family stuff. The elder two Things are off at Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-2320860925472269462012-10-15T08:49:00.001-05:002012-10-19T19:36:50.789-05:00Fall break!In Minnesota, the 3rd weekend of October is affectionately known as "MEA break." The former Minnesota Education Association changed its name to Education Minnesota years ago, but the only place you see it used is on the school calendars. The fall professional conference happens this weekend every year. It's a great time to pick up some continuing ed credits and network. Many families in this Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-41845003336723249502012-09-29T07:52:00.002-05:002012-09-29T07:52:30.100-05:00Fall Once we returned home from Europe, it seemed as if someone set the rest of my summer to fast forward. The apples started dropping quite early, due to our dry weather, I assume. We had just had our house connected to the new sewer main in town, so the back yard was bare dirt rather than the usually overgrown grass that would camoflage the fallen apples. This Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-13407951377556197282012-07-23T22:10:00.001-05:002012-07-30T10:22:47.748-05:00All good things...I tried to stay up late to ensure that I'd sleep some on the plane, so we packed and replaced for most efficient passage through security and customs. We had chosen to travel with only carry-on bags, but DDs family gave us an old suitcase for overload. It was actually larger than we needed, so the challenge was to make sure that anything that could be construed as liquid got checked, and the Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-50036900121944734182012-07-23T22:09:00.001-05:002012-07-30T10:07:35.295-05:00VolendamOur last day in country, DD1 and her boyfriend brought us to Volendam, the most "touristy" destination of our trip, but absolutely delightful. Volendam epitomizes the concept that the Dutch are out of space, do they use every inch as efficiently as possible. The homes were hard to discern from the shops, as many fronted the sidewalks directly, and decorated their picture windows accordingly, to Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-54651199603347316342012-07-23T01:16:00.001-05:002012-07-30T09:38:48.262-05:00OstfrieslandWe headed out for our Dutch home base, routed through Leer, a town in Ostfriesland heavily connected to iPastor's genealogical line. We hit heavy traffic immediately, so we rerouted the GPS and started over. After that was smooth sailing. The autobahn is not the speedway some Americans romanticize it to be, but we clipped along nicely. The "suggested" speed is 130 kph, with slowdowns of Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-61610586448208882022012-07-22T02:20:00.001-05:002012-07-30T10:03:34.441-05:00BerlinGD#2 got home from work, and there was much laughing, hugging and card playing. I crawled off to bed before the rest, but I'm told the night dragged out plenty late.
The rain finally went away, but it was still pretty cool for July. We had a relaxed morning before hopping the train downtown to see some wall-related sites, eat, and watch people. We picked up GD2's boyfriend at the train Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-1358443394267345322012-07-21T18:19:00.001-05:002012-07-23T01:28:36.199-05:00Road Trip!I'm using the iPhone version of Blogger, which is a bit limiting. I haven't found a way to insert or caption pictures in any sensical order, so they're just getting thrown in until I get home to fuss with them on the laptop.
Thursday, we were on the road by 5:15 to Berlin. Autobahn driving, at least the route we took, was never any faster than a Dakota interstate, but frequently slower, since Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-18993967528483349612012-07-21T05:30:00.001-05:002012-07-30T10:09:10.351-05:00Hangin' with the locals.Wednesday was quieter and more relaxed. DD and I ran errands in the morning and went to Curves. In the afternoon, her boyfriend joined us, and we drove around the "neighborhood" of little villages and dikes. We also visited the equivalent of a Sams Club or Costco, where we sticked up on most of our food and candy souvenirs, at warehouse prices, rather than souvenir stand prices. We stopped atAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-57136972794829730772012-07-21T03:53:00.001-05:002012-07-21T05:26:03.122-05:00AmsterdamIt seems I've started and saved this post several times, but when I come back, it's gone, and I'm usually too wiped out to hassle with writing coherent thoughts. I am exhausted daily, but loving every minute of it. As we rode the train to Amsterdam Tuesday morning, it occurred to me that many of the experiences I find remarkable, the folks here think of as commonplace. That's a good thing, so Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-67994135333316214282012-07-16T16:22:00.001-05:002012-07-21T05:26:10.906-05:00Day 3: AntwerpWe headed out with both DDs for a day trip to Antwerpen, Belgium. Couldn't be this close and not sneak one more country in. Did the sightseeing thing, ate, walked, ate more, and just had fun visiting with our girls. :). Have to steal pics from the iPastor. He was far better with the camera thani was today. We visited a lovely cathedral and the "Hidden Street," as well as an America Today store,Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10794104.post-63824339041202791442012-07-16T15:47:00.001-05:002012-07-16T15:47:00.671-05:00Day TwoAfter going 36 hours straight, I finally crashed about 8pm local, only to wake at 4 am. We had a little Skype session home, then managed to go back to bed for a while. We headed to Vlissingen where DD (Dutch Daughter) #2's parents are vacationing, and where DD #1 lives. We had a quick visit with the parents at the beach, then we're off to celebrate our Dutch Granddaughter's 5th birthday. She wasAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16353094400938089023noreply@blogger.com0