Jane M. Says

Moving On

2006-09-11T21:20:00.000-05:00

I'm moving off blogger to my own website.

Update your links and come visit me at seejaneblog.com

9.11

2006-09-11T06:53:00.000-05:00

Five years ago today, I got up, got on the bus, and went to work.
I don't even think I was past my morning emails when Lisa sent me an IM that a plane had crashed into the WTC. By this time the office was buzzing as none of us could get through to any website that would tell us more info.

I'm not even sure when I heard the 2nd plane hit. I know we eventually watched some coverage on a 4" TV in a co-workers cubicle, because the breakroom was full.

We were sent home before noon, as our offices at the time were right next to the IDS Tower (the tallest building) in downtown Minneapolis. The buses were packed mid-day as everyone was being sent home.

I was home by myself. My parents were in Iowa on vacation. My brother was in Colorado for work, and Chad was stuck at work. I didn't have cable, so there was nothing on TV except coverage. So I decided to take advantage of the day off, and mow the lawn. I normally listened to the radio while I mowed, but again, nothing but coverage of the tragedy.

It was a long long day. Chad finally got home from work so I wasn't by myself. My sister-in-law called. Apparently Drew was in the stage where it was fun to push buttons and turn off the TV, so she wasn't getting all the coverage.

A day after I was thinking how I had no personal connections to anyone in NYC. But then I remembered my friend Dan. He lived in Cleveland, but had been working on and off in NYC for the last few months. I called him immediately. He answered! His trip had been cancelled that week at the last minute. He was supposed to be staying in the hotel attached to the towers. He was supposed to be there, but he wasn't.

My brother drove home from Colorado with co-workers shortly after. My parents got back from their trip. And a few days later, my friend Beth got married, and it was a celebration, because everyone was able to make it, even those who had to get on a plane.

I'll always remember where I was (and where my family was), who told me, and that day, and how it changed our world.

More 9.11 stories.

Blog-Light on The Perfect Closet

2006-09-11T06:18:00.000-05:00

At The Perfect Closet, the author is remedying her love of shopping with blogging about clothes. It's a great daily fashion "fix" without using cash or credit.

The blog also includes a "Frugal Friday" feature for those of us who pay close attention to our price tags.

So here it is– every Friday, I will attempt to put together an entire
outfit for under $150 with each piece being $50 or less.

It's been a fun blog to read. And if you have kids check out The Perfect Closet Kids.

Wedding, Football, and Birthday

2006-09-08T21:34:00.000-05:00

There is a going to be a lot of celebrating this weekend!

First, tomorrow afternoon Nicki and Todd are getting married! Yeah!! Nicki has been a very patient girl and waited a long time for this, so we are thrilled to pieces for them!

Second, the NFL season started yesterday! I'm excited! I love football season for lots of reasons! 1. The Packers 2. Love watching the Vikings never quite measuring up (I know a bit vindictive, but I'm a Packer fan living in MN and I've been mis-treated several times!) 3. I love to have people over for games, because I love food that goes well with football!

And third, we have Jana's 3rd birthday party on Sunday! It is also Jana's mom's birthday tomorrow!

Lots to celebrate!

Mmmm... my favorite!

2006-09-08T15:59:00.000-05:00

For those of you that were wondering.

I Am a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Traditional and conservative, most people find you comforting.
You're friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular - without even trying!

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

Thanks to FridayNightGirl at Another Day for this link!

American Idol in the Air

2006-09-08T11:29:00.000-05:00

American Idol has come to Minneapolis. Minneapolis Season 6 Auditions started this morning. I wish I still worked downtown. I think I'd be camped out and people watching!

Coming into work this morning I was also tuned to KS95 and heard "Dead or Alive", but it wasn't Jon singing it was Finalist #4 from last season, Chris Daughtry.

I know not everyone understands the country's fascination with American Idol, but I just can't help myself.

Can't Fight the Moonlight

2006-09-07T12:08:00.000-05:00

As the weather has been cool, we have been living without the A/C. At night we leave the windows wide open. 2 of the last 3 nights I have woken up to the Moon shining bright right in my eyes. The first night, I thought it was a spotlight outside. Luckily I have been able to just roll over and fall back asleep.

More Free Stuff

2006-09-06T19:20:00.000-05:00

Boston Gal's Open Wallet has a link to a free sample of Dove Deep Moisture Hand Wash

Coupon Hunt

2006-09-05T22:04:00.000-05:00

If anyone out there has a Bed Bath and Beyond coupon they care to part with I would really appreciate it!

I found curtain hardware, including a rod, that I would like for our living room curtains, but if I can avoid paying full price I would love it!

And I can't believe I don't have any coupons. I've been on spree, where I throw out coupons if they will only tempt me to buy things I don't need. Except now I have the need!

Moving On.. but where to?

2006-09-05T09:29:00.000-05:00

I'm seriously considering getting my own space. Moving off of blogspot.

Settling down.

Owning vs. squatting.

I just don't know WHERE to move to? What do you think?

PollPub.com VoteWhat should the domain of my blog be?

Some Laboring on Labor Day

2006-09-04T20:13:00.000-05:00

Two "projects" today:

I made a big batch of spaghetti sauce. I froze 4 containers which is probably about 1 1/2 meals each for the 2 of us. And we ate it tonight and have more for a couple lunches this week.

Chad and I also put up this shelf in the main (my) bathroom. This bathroom doesn't have a medicine cabinet and so I tend to clutter the vanity because some things I want right there. I had been looking for a while without much luck. Then a few weeks ago, I found this one in the Pottery Barn catalog. After pricing out others on the internet, I ordered it. It was not super easy to hang. I measured about 4 times before it was finally right, and then it was still tough to get up there. Plus I had to dismantle the drain under the sink after I dropped one of the screws down it! But it's up, without any extra holes in the wall and the drain is back together and the shelf looks great.

Blog-Light on Buzzville

2006-09-04T09:16:00.000-05:00

In my meanderings through the blogs I read regularly, I often find several that I will come back to repeatedly.

Buzzville

Just discovered this week. Exciting, because Kelly blogs about crafty things. And she has great pictures (which I love). Plus she and another blogger just opened their own online store for Japanese print fabrics: superbuzzy.com

You can't help but enjoy a crafty entrepreneur... She's living my dream. (and I like bees... buzzz)

Blog-Lights

2006-09-04T09:13:00.000-05:00

Since as of lately I've been doing a lot of "blog surfing", I thought I'd start sharing some of my interesting finds.

The Perfect Closet - 09/11/06
Buzzville - 09/04/2006

This post will always be accessible from the sidebar under BlogRoll.

Project Wallpaper - Take 2

2006-09-03T19:17:00.000-05:00

Whew... Two afternoons of work and all the pink floral wallpaper in our entry and stairway is down! Plus the country blue/pink wallpaper at the bottom of the steps! The walls just need some minor spackling, sanding, and then rinsed, before we can paint!! Yeah!!!

Tomorrow we are not working on the walls. Just getting the house cleaned and running errands. Although I won't have to go grocery shopping, because Chad and I went tonight.
Note to self: Do not take a "Hungry Chad" to the grocery store!

Sunshine and the Rain

2006-09-02T08:15:00.000-05:00

Last night Chad and I went to dinner and a movie. Dinner was Mexican. Yummm.. The movie was Little Miss Sunshine. It was a great movie with a great cast (Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carell) The movie was about an off-beat (somewhat dysfunctional) family and their trip to get their youngest daughter to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. The movie was so well cast, and had good timing. It didn't drag and the story and characters were well developed.

Apparently the movie is probably the only sunshine we're going to see all weekend. Ernesto is not allowing the rain to merely pass through, but is trapping it up here for a few days. Not nice. So our goal of staining our deck is out. So I'm ready to tackle Project Wallpaper Part II.

School Dreams

2006-08-31T17:27:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had a recurring dream about school? I haven't had one for a while, but I used to have the same dream over and over. I usually don't remember dreams at all. This dream is different, and as far as I know I usually remember.

The Dream:

I'm in college (it's never distinctly UW-Stout or UM-Duluth, just a general college). It's the end of the semester. I've been skipping one or several classes very regularly, and now have come to the question of how I plan on passing. It's too late to drop any of the courses. In some cases I don't even know where the classroom is. Usually it's because the class meets across campus, and I've been too lazy to walk that far. I'm panicked about my transcript and mostly how I'm going to tell my parents.

What does it mean? I'm not sure. I do know that I only dream it when I'm stressed out or feeling stretched pretty thin. Obviously the worrying about my parents probably means that I'm concerned with how others view me. (In college I really did worry about my parents standards)

Chad said he has had the exact dream. Apparently it's pretty common. The alarm this morning was set to KS95, and they were talking about people's dreams there too. That's how I got thinking about this today.

I spent a little time researching on the internet, but I didn't find much (I really didn't look long) about school dreams. The only thing really relevent was this link which is a similar dream to my dream. (Except in mine the problem class isn't Math. I never had a problem with Math)

I'd be interested in hearing if anyone else has had similar dreams. But for those lurking, feel free to keep it to yourself too. (sarcasm) Just kidding.. does the guilt factor help at all? Maybe the guilt will sit in your subconscience and you'll have your dream tonight.

If You Like Free Stuff

2006-08-31T10:37:00.000-05:00

Free Samples of:

Links originally shared at Boston Gal's Open Wallet

On High Fashion

2006-08-30T20:16:00.000-05:00

When I was 9, my mom made me the coolest outfit. I remember it was an "Annie" pattern (as in Orphan Annie). It was a pair of pin striped denim pants with a shirt that was off white with navy pin stripes. The pants had suspenders, and the shirt had a red ribbon bow tied around the neck. Very cute, with my red hair. :) The whole thing was very reminiscent of the outfit in the picture (found at Anne Taylor Loft)

I know that fashion has cycles. I know that in the last few seasons we've seen ballet flats and gauchos come back. Two styles I really like (although I don't own any gauchos).

But my big concern tonight was not the suspender pants. How could I hate anything I loved in the 4th grade? My bigger concern at Anne Taylor Loft and New York & Company were the slim fit pants. Not just slim through the waist and hip, but the whole leg. Yes. Tapered pants. I'm just wondering what Clinton and Stacy will say about that, because I tried a pair on, and it emphasized my belly and butt. Not good!

Maybe I am becoming an unstylish thirtysomething, but I always said I wouldn't! Anyone else worried about tapered pants?

Madison In The Morning

2006-08-28T20:54:00.000-05:00

Why would people be googling on the phrase "Madison in the Morning"? Is it a song or show or something like that? They keep finding my post, and I'm sure they're disappointed as I was actually traveling to Madison in the morning...

Hmmmm.... If you know, please fill me in...

Weekend Recap

2006-08-27T19:34:00.000-05:00

We had a great weekend. Friday night Chad and I headed to Hudson to have dinner with Sarah and Curt. Always a good time with the 2 of them, the only downside is that Chad sometimes comes home with new electronic dreams! We had a great time and finally got to experience night life in downtown Hudson!

Saturday morning we ran some errands, including scouring the area for Burnsville Blaze t-shirts. We finally actually found some in Apple Valley.

The shirts were for the bike tour yesterday afternoon. The bike tour is an annual event with our friends in Northeast Minneapolis. We weren't actually sure if we were going to go. But once we found the shirts for Team Burnsville Blaze and realized we could get both bikes there, we were very excited. Can you believe I can fit 2 bikes in my Corolla by taking off only the front tires. And the trunk shuts all the way!

We started out at Kyle's, moved on to Jim and Bridget's, then to Mike and Beth's, stopped at a bar/restaurant for dinner before heading to Jim's (another Jim) and back to Kyle's. Always a fun time. I think the attendance was down a little this year, but very fun, as I've gotten to know more of the ladies in the group recently, so we usually hang out and make fun of the weird girls we don't know or the guys.

This morning we went to church which was followed by a lazy afternoon. The down time was nice. I finished reading my book, and I think Chad watched some golf.

Chad's at a Fantasy Football Draft tonight. Hard to believe the NFL season starts in 2 weeks! Crazy! Summer's still go by too fast!

Stupid and Contagious (a book)

2006-08-27T14:40:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading the book Stupid and Contagious, by Caprice Crane. A great read! It's the first in a while that was a real page turner for me. The story is about a friendship of two next door neighbors, Heaven and Brady.

It was so funny. Lots of laugh out loud moments. The chapters flip flop between Heaven's and Brady's perspective which really keep you turning the pages. That and you want to know where the story goes.

I don't know exactly how I stumbled on this at Barnes and Noble. Last week I was just hanging out; actually walking up and down aisles looking at books. This is one I found. Now that I've read the whole thing I've checked out other reviews at amazon.com and bn.com, and they are both averaging 5 stars. And I'd have to agree, because the humor and the story, and the characters suck you in, plus this book has a total feel good factor!

WOMEN READ THIS: An Aggressive Form of Breast Cancer

2006-08-25T07:04:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, my friend Anne sent me a video clip. Now I hate being an alarmist. It's really not a great tactic to teach people. But I think in this case, awareness needs to be raised quickly.

The clip was from a news story that Channel 4 out of Seattle (KOMO - ABC) did in May. The story was about Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC). IBC is a very aggressive form of Breast Cancer that most women (and some doctors) have never heard of. The story centers around how many women are told they have bug bites or were just too embarrassed by this rash they had developed on their breasts, when in fact it's IBC.

Everything we hear about mammograms and lumps does not pertain to this type of breast cancer. Yeah, scary stuff. So I highly recommend that you read the article and watch the attached video clips. Here's the link.

As there is no definite cure, the best chance we have is not being ignorant of the disease and catching symptoms early.

My mom is a testiment to catching Breast Cancer in it's early stage. My friend Karin's mom also! We have to be educated and attentive to beat this.

The article states that 1 of 8 women will have breast cancer at some point in their life! One of the women in the first news story was 16 and died, because she was too embarassed to tell her mom when she first noticed symptoms. My point is here: you're never too young and we'll all know someone.

Please pass the word, this is important stuff!

Thanks, Anne, for sharing with me! P.S. While searching for more information on this. I found a link at Snopes which confirms this is not a hoax.

Happy 30th Birthday to Sarah!!!

2006-08-24T06:42:00.000-05:00

Today is Sarah's 30th Birthday!!

For those of you who don't know Sarah, she and I go way back!!
We met in college (we were both cool math geeks)
Later we became roommates (post college).

Best of Friends!

It'd be even awesomer if we:

A) weren't both so busy, B) didn't live so far apart C) all of the above!

Here are some highlights.
Believe me I have many more, but they are pre-digital camera era and my scanner is not cooperating.

Disney World - Spring Break 1998 - Our Senior Year of College
I like to call this one: Cocktails and Curlers. We lived together one year after college, and I'm sure we were heading to O'Garas shortly after this one was taken. Probably 1999 or 2000.
Sarah and I at her wedding. She was a princess that day. September 2001.
2003: Jennifer and I pulled off a surprise birthday party for Sarah!
Sarah as my Matron of Honor. November 2003
Left to Right: Steph, Sarah, Karin, Nicki

Here we are with Nelson. (yes the twins, and yes they cut their hair)
Sorry it's not a better picture. Chad's Camera Phone sucked. February 2005?
Sarah and I at the Awesome 80s Prom: August 2005. We both fit into our high school dresses!
Here we are in California with a couple beverages of choice! April 2006

When The Levees Broke

2006-08-22T20:17:00.000-05:00

As I'm in a hotel last night and today, I've been able to catch Spike Lee's "When The Levees Broke" on HBO. Well still watching it right now. It has been pretty good so far.

Right after Hurricane Katrina, people kept talking about how this was going to wake up America and help people realize the racial and class inequities in this country. I'm not sure it has. I think it did, but now I feel like it's kind of been forgotten. Especially if you don't know anyone that was directly affected. Sad, very sad.

Valparaiso

2006-08-22T20:11:00.000-05:00

I got to Valparaiso yesterday afternoon. I flew into Chicago Midway, and had to drive out by myself. I did not enjoy my drive through south Chicago. But at least it was daylight!

I'm here by myself (meaning no one else on my team is here). I'm just following up with our store here. Making sure things are going smoothly for them with using the new application. Also gives them a chance to ask questions and for me to help them with any shortcuts. They are not very demanding, so it's been a pretty relaxing, but still interesting couple of work days.

Although not so relaxing today as one member of our team was let go. Cost containment. Sad as I have been the one let go before. I'm flying back tomorrow evening. I think I will just be spending a couple hours in the store here, before going back to Chicago and meeting up with some team members in Alsip before heading to the airport. Then home where my husband is all by himself right now. I'm sure he misses me. Unless there is baseball on, then maybe not.