Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Pretty Blue Water with a Sprinkle of Six Months of Cable TV in 2 Days


My Thanksgiving was awesome, thanks for asking! I would go into every detail of the food, drink, merriment and thankfulness, but most of you have probably had enough of your own and don’t have a need to read all of that.  After waking from a tryptophan induced coma on Friday, I returned to the land of the living to experience much road rage from the Black Friday Crowd on my way to the grocery store.  No, I did not shop.  I am one of those rare women who actually hates shopping, especially when there are crowds of people.  I can spend hours on end in a bookstore or at a Farmer’s Market, but braving the mall at any time of year is a horrifying experience to me. Possibly I got it all out of my system in my teenage years, being part of the 80’s mall generation.  My shopping was done online in the form of booking a mid March vacation to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.  I have not been out of the country since 1989, when as a senior in high school I was fortunate enough to spend a few weeks in France.  I was not old enough to appreciate everything I was seeing, being more enamored with the lack of drinking age and possibly the fact that our “chaperones” were too busy drinking wine to keep track of a bunch of teenage kids.  Lest you judge these “chaperones”, I should remind you that this was back in the days when no one batted an eyelid at letting a bunch of crazy teenagers walk around Paris without an adult present.  I personally would have a hard time allowing any of my own children do this, but then again I am pretty sure my own mom and dad never told me about all of the sleepless nights they had while I was gone.  At any rate, I have never been anywhere with “pretty blue water”, so I am beyond excited to be finally experiencing it at the ripe old age of 40.  Beyond my spring break years, but young at heart, I am sure my vacation will be a milder version of that of my younger counterparts, however enjoyable nonetheless.

So now you can all worry yourselves for the next few months about whether I am going to return, or work toward my future goal of running a jewelry stand on the beach.  No fears…. I could not leave my darling treasures of children behind and there is school and work to attend to…  for a little bit longer at least!

As far as my six months of cable TV in two days, well, it’s amazing how much junk TV you can watch when you are feeling sick.  I seemed to have come down with something the past few days, which left me on the couch, wrapped up in blankets watching everything from “Locked Up Abroad” to “Sister Wives” marathons.  I finally feel like the small car payment my cable company charges me each month has shown its worth! I am feeling better now though and back to homework, and studying for finals.  The semester seems like it flew by, yet I am looking forward to the next.  It is always funny at the end of the semester to think back to the first day of class and meeting new people and comparing first impressions to your relationships with instructors and fellow students after spending an entire semester with them.  And hey, that’s something to be thankful for. 

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Did We Miss Thanksgiving???

It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas.  And isn’t it a bit early? My mind is more wrapped up in finals and putting homework in the books for the semester than the horror of stringing Christmas lights.  I did make the bold move of tossing my long used faux Christmas tree to the curb a few weeks ago.  This tree seriously wanted to be a real live tree for so long that I was still picking up the fake needles it shed well into July.  Many of my friends have not only started their Christmas shopping, but also almost completed it.  The homes in my neighborhood bear a striking resemblance to the Griswald’s house in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”, blinding me with lights every evening when it gets dark at the ridiculous hour of 4:15pm.  One of them even complete with an inflatable snow globe the size of my garage!!!  The foam on the eggnog of all of this came last Sunday.  I stopped at my mother-in-law’s house to pick up some hot sticks and venison sausage from the deer my father-in-law had processed from his hunting trip in Canada about a month ago.  I came home with five small Christmas bags of ornaments, gifts from my husband’s grandmother who passed away last spring, and wanted all of us to have an ornament from her tree.  Every Christmas Eve has been spent at Grandma’s house, so I got a bit choked up at the thought of these ornaments hanging on my own tree, rather than at Grandma’s house this year.  In addition was a large wrapped box, which contained a gift for our 11 year-old daughters Rachel.  My mother-in-law (Grandma Sissy, as we call her) told us that Rachel’s Great Grandma wanted her to have it and her fingerprints were still on it from all of the times she went there and touched it, fascinated by it.  We opened it up when we got home, and it contained a large snow globe, almost as large as a lamp, that lights up and plays music.  It is sitting on an end table in our living room now, and I am having the most fun turning it on and scaring our dog, Beatrice, a 100 pound boxer/German shepherd mix and a big baby! See photo of the snow globe below.



Then there was last night; I decided to use the blender.  I have not used the blender in years so when I pulled it out of that really high cupboard above the fridge that my 5’4” self can barely reach on my tiptoes, a folded piece of paper fell out.  I opened it up and found a letter to Santa from Rachel from our first Christmas in this house. (She was probably 4 years old, not so good at writing yet!) Either Jason, my husband or Cody, my son had written it because their left-handed handwriting is almost identical, no one remembers who did it.  It says: “Dear Santa Claus, I’m not sure what I want this year.  But, I know something I really want.  It is a sleigh bell and a string for a necklace.  I’m not sure what else I want.  But please don’t use the chimney, because we don’t have a fireplace.  When you come you will see me on the bulbs on the Christmas tree.  I’m the only girl in my family so all the girls on the Christmas tree are me.  If you see a picture I made of you please write back.  Love, Rachel.  P.S. The picture of you is right next to the Christmas tree, and I’ve been a good girl.  And there is a pencil on the white beard of the picture.”  I seem to recall running inside that Christmas Eve as we were coming home from Great Grandma Bebeau’s house and taking her note and hiding it (obviously in the high cupboard I can barely reach above the fridge) and putting a note from Santa in it’s place, right by the picture she made of him.

On that note, Happy Thanksgiving my friends, and to all a good night!!!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Life is Short, Take Chances, Make a Difference

The other night, as both of my sons were leaving the house, one to go visit a friend and the other to Buffalo Wild Wings, I realized that they now have a better social life than I do.  When did THIS HAPPEN??? (Thank you Rachel for sticking around the house most nights with mommy.) Therefore, my motto for this weekend was going to be “Life is short, take chances.”  Well, let me tell you about the scandalous and adventurous weekend I have planned!!! If you are prone to extreme envy, DO NOT READ ON ANY FURTHER.  This afternoon, my sister from Sheboygan is coming into town with her husband to take my mom to lunch for her birthday, which is tomorrow. I will probably join them, do a little lunch at the Olive Garden, maybe stop at the Home Depot…. (Yes, I know I sound like Will Ferrell’s character at the beginning of the movie “Old School”).  Later on this evening, dinner with friends.  Yes Cody, SOMEONE ACTUALLY INVITED US somewhere!! (Last night my son Cody was in shock that someone really invited us adults to do something.) Tomorrow, sandwiches and cake with my other sister and mom for lunch, homework, and if I really decide to live on the edge, I might stay up until 10:30 to catch at least the first half of Saturday Night Live, knowing full well I will be asleep with the TV on before the musical guest plays their first set.

Since I find myself unable to take wild and crazy chances this weekend, I can do something better, provide you with some information that make a difference to our environment.

Has anyone ever heard of The Great Pacific Dump? Most of us are not aware that a garbage patch exists in the North Pacific which extends several miles into the deep sea.  Not only do fisherman and ocean liners have to avoid the world’s largest landfill, that comes from both the East and the West, but it is also dangerous and toxic to marine life.  Yesterday, I was manning (or “womaning” to be politically correct) the Phi Theta Kappa booth in the NWTC Student Commons.  Though I was aware that Phi Theta Kappa is working to eliminate plastics from polluting our waterways by collecting bottle caps, I was unaware of the enormity of the issue. Pretty ignorant of me, considering one of my closest friends is a supporter of saving and protecting our rivers.  I want to implore anyone reading this to be cognizant of exactly what products you are using and how you are disposing of them.  Stopping this problem from getting any bigger can be done by using as many bio-degradable materials possible, and disposing of plastic items (such as bottle caps) into a recyclable collection bin. Phi Theta Kappa has bottle cap collection bins scattered throughout the building at NWTC. The bottle caps that Phi Theta Kappa collects go to several national companies who melt them down and recycle them into things like shampoo bottle caps and toothbrush handles.  (Just a side note, I would love to name these companies and give them credit, however, I am not sure exactly what the restrictions are about giving free publicity on a blog. Yes, I know this coming from the woman who mentioned Olive Garden, Home Depot, and Buffalo Wild Wings above.) In conclusion of this post, I have attached a photo of the great garbage patch, and if it changes the actions of just one reader, I will have succeeded in making a difference. Something to think about this weekend.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Monday, moving, birthdays and a few good friends....

Monday… possibly the most dreaded word in any hard working person’s vocabulary.  Personally, I have always felt better once it was Monday morning, compared to how I have often felt on Sunday evenings.  It’s not as if I have some horrifying job to go to, slaving away in unbearable conditions, though at one point I did have a job that I didn’t care for much at all. One horrible job in 26 years of working isn’t so bad. Well, make that two jobs that I didn’t care for. One of them, I will plead the fifth. The other one I can speak of was back in 1989, when I worked at Chuck E. Cheese for one day. I think it was just transitioning from Showbiz Pizza, so as the “new girl”, I was required to dress up in a big rat costume, which was old, and hot, and was definitely in need of a good dousing of Febreze. At 18 years old, I wasn’t exactly a kid friendly kind of gal either, so after that experience, coupled with dropping an entire pizza on the floor, I decided the job wasn’t for me. These days I don’t mind Mondays at all. Getting out of bed might be the most difficult part, but I love my job and my classes, so once I am up, I am ready to take on the day.

Yesterday was a different kind of Sunday. As I mentioned before, it was my twin boys 18th birthday.  Had me thinking back to the day they were born, which sure doesn’t seem like 18 years ago, and remembering the feeling I had that day. That feeling which someone should patent and bottle.  Chances are we could do away with every anti-depressant on the market if we could share THAT feeling with everyone. Anyone who is a mother might understand what I am talking about.

This weekend I also had the opportunity to help one of my closest friends move to a beautiful new home.  I was so happy for her, that I found tears rolling down my cheeks as she gave me the grand tour of their new home.  During the move, I also came to another realization.  Manual labor is NOT FOR ME.  I am more of an “un-packer” or “moral support provider” in these situations. Fortunately, there were others there to make up for my lack of muscle.  At one point watching two of our friends load living room furniture into the trailer, my friend, the "movee", joked with me about our lack of strength by asking me to come inside and help her carry some cotton balls out to the truck.  At least we could laugh about it.  Despite that, at the end of the day, I was left with a sense of accomplishment, comingled with love for these friends of mine.  I am blessed to have them in my life. Such a diverse group of women, all of us work, go to school and run households full of children.  Our ages vary, as do our jobs and our chosen fields of study at NWTC.  Yet, some twist of fate brought us together, and with our friendships we all have something unique to offer, to our employers, to our school, to our communities, to our families and to each other.  I am very blessed to have all of you in my life. 

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Let's Not Talk About the Weather


What a crazy weather day!  I was prepared to attend my first Phi Theta Kappa meeting today at NWTC at 3:30; however, my built in Doppler Radar is suggesting I might want to get home by early afternoon! Unfortunately, I missed the induction ceremony because I was not feeling well that day, so I have been looking forward to attending a meeting, and publishing a full report right here, where you can read it first! Not that I don’t have enough to keep me busy at home this afternoon. I am in the process of compiling a list of questions for the Admissions Rep at MSOE, where my son Cody will be pursuing his higher education next Fall.  I also have a big dream of de-cluttering my house this winter, which might be a task better suited for a crime scene cleanup crew. To put the frosting on the cupcake, my twin boys Mack and Cody will be turning 18 this Sunday, November 13th, along with my nephew Zak’s 18th on Friday, I have a lot to prepare for this weekend. There actually might be some crying involved with this milestone birthday (from me) and some thankfulness (that they are alive and turned out to be such good kids).  That said, back to the weather, I am seriously not ready for this wintry mix stuff.  Someday I may pursue my dream of living like a gypsy in a tropical climate, making my living running a jewelry cart not too far from a beach, and living a simple life with few possessions, but with much wealth. Because no matter what I do or where I go, I know one thing, my life is “rich” with love.

Below is a photo of my twin boys - 1996ish, probably 3 or 4 years old.  Even though they will be 18 on Sunday this is how I will always see them! 


 Let me just snap back into basecamp of reality at this point.  It is hard to believe we only have five weeks left in this semester.  For the past few weeks I have been overwhelmed with homework, even waking in the middle of the night to obsess about an error I might have made on an assignment for my Wills and Estates class.  I have been eating and breathing legal research, to the point of citing cases to my sister in law when her sweet dog Floyd was attacked without provocation on Halloween by another dog.  There are times when my family grows weary of me spending hours at the kitchen table, my laptop a ball and chain.  When I do have down time, conversations that should be relaxing often turn to what I have learned in my legal classes.  After hours of spending Sunday afternoon doing legal research, I finally felt caught up to the point that I could enjoy the second half of the Packer game. (Go Pack! 8-0!)  Yet, after the game, I found myself lecturing my mother about where she is lacking in the area of Estate Planning.  So last night when I found myself at the kitchen table, laughing a true genuine laugh and enjoying the company of three almost 18 year old boys, who I call my sons and my nephew, I realized that no matter how much of an overachiever I am, those moments make life worth living. Those are the moments I will always treasure. And lastly those are the moments that leave me going to bed thinking it was a truly good day, and that I look forward to the next.

Monday, November 7, 2011

How to Post Comments from the Home Page

Just a note about posting comments.  If you are on the main page, at the end of each blog post you will see something that looks like this:

0 comments   

If you want to post a comment, simply click on where it says 0 comments and it will bring up the comment box. If you click the envelope, it will allow you to share the blog with friends via email. There are also icons below that where you can share on Facebook or Twitter, or Google Plus. Beneath THAT you will see boxes that you can check if you think my post is funny, interesting or cool! 

OTHERWISE, if you look to the right side of the page, under the heading Blog Archive, 2011, you can link directly to the post you want to comment on.  It will bring you to a page that only shows that post and then you will see the comment box right underneath the post, or if there are other comments, it will be below any other comments.

I hope that makes sense!!! :) 

Friday, November 4, 2011

Hello Weekend...


As tempted as I am to greet everyone with “Happy Friday”, I can’t bring myself to do it.  This is probably due to repressed memories of my unemployed days of the not so distant past.  Not my finest moment. You would be surprised how little the weekend means when you don’t have a place you are required to go every weekday.  One morning I was so discouraged after reading about 112 “Happy Friday!” or “TGIF!” comments on Facebook, I posted a less than kind status about “Happy Friday” on my page. This was only to be met with a comment by my nephew Jake who said, “The weekend misses you Auntie Karrie and cannot wait to welcome you back!” Ok, that might not be verbatim, but it was something similar.  (By the way, my nephew Jake is a working adult, just so I don’t misrepresent him as a goofy third grader...)  So here goes:  HAPPPPYYYYY FRIDAY!!!!!

This week I learned a few new slang words from the “cool kids” at school.  As a mother of teenagers (and a teenage nephew who spends an inordinate amount of time at my house), I am probably exposed to more slang terms than most people who are as close to their golden years as I am.  I am often greeted by my nephew with, “Hey brah, you wanna be my bro? Brosef?” Though, I have to admit I am not quite sure when it’s an appropriate time to pepper my sentences with the word “swag”.  In fact, I can probably understand the recent brochure asking me to choose Place That Shall Remain Nameless Memorial Gardens for my crematory needs than to make sense of today’s slang.  Remember, I grew up in the 80’s so my slang probably is closer to Charlie Sheen’s recent ramblings,  Valley Girl Speak or MOST  DEFINITELY Keanu Reeves character in “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventures”.  (I still can’t remember if he was Bill or Ted.)  So, it shouldn’t surprise you to hear that I said “Girl WHAT?” about five times when one of the 18 year old students in my Oral and Interpersonal Communication class was speaking in a group presentation about how gender plays a part in non-verbal communication.  He finally spoke very slowly so that I could understand the term he used was “Girl Dime”. Never heard of it.  Apparently it means a “Ten”, or an extremely attractive female.  I learned a lot in class that day about non-verbal communication, but I also walked away with a new word in my vocabulary, thinking I would all hip with the kids when I got home. On that note, feel free to throw some of your own slang terms at me in your comments, and maybe I will pull some out of my own archives from the 80’s!

Before we all commence to enjoy the weekend, I wanted to address what my former corporate supervisors would call:  A Few Housekeeping Issues.  Thank you all so much for your comments. Keep them coming!  I love reading them! Despite the fact that the blog site I am using does not enable me to reply directly below your comment, I will comment back to each and every one of you using the @ symbol and your name to address specific comments. So you might have to check back to see my responses or I believe you can click on subscribe before you submit your comment, which means you will be notified via email of any updated comments. You can also click on “follow” in the upper left of the screen above the blog title, which means you should receive an email when I publish new posts. I am not exactly tech savvy so I cannot explain exactly how that works, but I do know I was able to become a follower of my own blog. I am currently the one and only, so jump on the bandwagon and join me!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

An Introduction - Not Necessarily the Short Version


If you haven’t figured it out yet by the blog title, my name is Karrie Minor and I am honored to be writing for this new blog NWTC has developed.  I am a student at NWTC in the Paralegal Program, which I started in January of this year. In addition to being a student, I also count myself as a mother, a wife, a sister, a daughter, a co-worker, an employee, a classmate and a friend.  Way back in 1989, I graduated from high school in a small town called Crivitz, Wisconsin. You may have heard of it, and if you have, you likely refer to it as “up north”. I went off to pursue higher education, first at UWGB with a major in Social Work, and then to Marquette University in Milwaukee to study Journalism.  In 1991, I took a few years off of school.  A few years turned into twenty, which included marriage, three children, and many years working in the corporate world, not necessarily in that order.  When I lost my job in the summer of 2010, it was a blessing in disguise.  My husband was attending NWTC in the CNC Machine Tool program at the time, and came home with a brochure for the Paralegal Program.  Being fully aware of my obsession with law, true crime books and those “48 Hour Mystery” shows on TV, he felt it would catch my interest. He was correct.

As adults, many people pass in and out of our lives.  Some we lose to marriage, some to careers, and perhaps some to a path in life we don’t necessarily approve of.  But there are some who stick around, and the others, who come back.  Many of those people we have met in school, or in the workplace. When you get to be my age (40, yes I am saying it out loud, the dreaded 4-0) you have seen your share of people and places (jobs, schools) come and go and some of them come back again.  I have not only re-connected with old friends at NWTC, but also have met some pretty amazing new friends.  I was apprehensive about being labeled as the dreaded “returning adult student”, yet now I can honestly say some of my closest friends in school are much younger than me.  Considering I am the mother of twin teenage boys, as well as a pre-teen girl, they might see me as a mom-type, but I do think we also connect on a peer level.

Now, at the ripe old age of 40, I am possibly a more well rounded individual than I was way back in 1989. One of my close friends, whom I met in my College Math class at NWTC, said it best when she said she feels like she has so many more intelligent things to talk about now that she is back in school.  I have been involved with volunteering and campus events that my whole family can attend.  Considering my two boys are graduating in spring, it has also helped me to know the process to assist them in their future career goals.  (On a side note, my son, Cody, was recently accepted to Milwaukee School of Engineering and awarded a $40,000 scholarship. Go Cody!)

I look forward to writing this blog and hopefully you will come to look forward to reading my weekly posts, which may not be quite as long as this one.  Please forgive the length as this introduction covers a lot. (Did I mention that 40 years is a long time?)  Comments and suggestions are always welcome!