Week 3 In WI ft. Cheese Curds

I had been telling myself that I didn't want to update until I had something worth writing about. Well...let me tell you. Cheese curds are always worth writing about, especially if they are home 'grown' locally. But I'll get to those in a a moment. 

First, a quick recap of the last few weeks. 

Daddy Boilermaker has been working hard to bring home our bacon. And although we're not actually eating bacon...mmm, bacon...What? Oh yes...Daddy has been working his tail off to provide for us. 

Meanwhile, Mommy

That's Me

And Baby,

That's Her

 are trying to come up with things to do for ourselves. So far, we've had a pretty good time.

The first major event was our first (and only) purchase from this job. Daddy and I had been sharing a cell phone from a certain company. We had not really experienced problems with the phone or company until we moved to MO, and then on again to WI. Their roaming was silly and our phone was finally after 2 years beginning the decent into maddening slowness.

So we took the plunge, switched companies and got fancy new phones. For me, the iPhone 5s. For Daddy, the Galaxy Note 3. For the record, iPhone rules. Galaxy drools.

Daddy and I have been having a long standing argument about which phone is better. Now that we have them in our hands we have added actual legitimacy to our arguments. Confession: we have spent way too much time watching 'How To' videos and 'Tips & Tricks' videos for our own good. But I'm sure once the high of newness wears off, we will become normal again.

In the end, the Galaxy is pretty cool. But we'll never use all of the features it offers. And 9 times out of 10 when Daddy says, "Look what my phone can do!" I respond with, "Yea, mine does that too."

In other news, I've been in charge of the shopping and taking care of baby...of course. So on Saturday last week, while Baby and I were on a walk around town I saw a sign outside of a storefront with an open sign lighting the window. I have been on the hunt around these here parts for people, activity, and thrift stores! But upon further inspection I noticed this particular shop was actually a salon! And funny enough, I had just been looking at pictures online for an upgrade to my current 'do'.

So I stepped right in, baby suspended from my chest, and talked to the girls in the shop. They said I could get right in, and I was thankful I'd thought to bring some cash along on our walk. Nevermind the fact that we barely made it around 2 blocks...

Have you ever tried to get a hair cut while tending to an infant? Especially when you don't have a car seat at the very least to put her in? It was quite interesting, and I did learn something new about my daughter that day.

She is a total ham.

Lainie cries when she's tired, hungry and dirty. She also cries when she wants attention. This I know. As Mommy, I am starting to differentiate between her cries based on her needs. But before you become too amazed, the clock totally helps. We have a pretty steady routine.

When we were at the salon, she was fine. She was perfectly content...until I sat to get my hair washed. I held her upright while I laid back over the sink and as the stylist was talking to her she started to cry the most pitiful cry you'd ever heard. And of course it was accompanied by gigantic crocodile tears and a pouty lip. HAM.

But as these ladies were a bit past the infant years with their children, they ate it up and ooh'd and ahh'd all over her. One of the other stylists finished with a client and swooped over to take Lainie off my hands so I could get my cut.

Unfortunately, another customer came in. A dad with his two teenage sons. One of the boys needed a hair cut. Quick like. So as I was about to tell her to give me my baby back, the dad spoke up and said, "I'll take baby duty." I looked through the mirror at the stylist and told her, as I could see they knew each other, "If you trust him, I'll trust him." And that was that. She fussed a bit, but in no time he had her sleeping happily on his chest. My daughter, ladies and gents...

Another lovely event happened just yesterday!

Drew met a young man named Mark at work and he is a new Christian staying in a town about an hour away from us. He recommended the church he's been attending for a few weeks to us and we drove down yesterday to visit.

As we crossed over the river and into Minnesota we discovered a beautiful little town with historic buildings and lots of character surrounded by 'bluffs'. That is what the locals call the 'mountains' we have all around us up here. Who knew?

The service was lovely. We were greeted warmly by lots of folks, and as everyone loves a baby, she got a lot of attention. The worship was nice, with all songs we knew and the sermon was great, but the children's time was my favorite. The pastor's wife, Suzanne taught the children all about hummingbirds and how God created some amazing creatures! She explained about the different species and why they were created the way they are. There is one hummingbird native to the Andes Mountains with the longest beak! The Sword-billed Hummingbird was created to pollinate this type of flower, without which it wouldn't exist. Very cool. Move over Evolutionists, this is called Creation. Enjoy.

Sword-billed Hummingbird

We stayed after the service and chatted with the pastor and his wife for quite a while until it was decided we should all just go out to lunch, since Mark, Daddy and I were planning on it anyway. 

Daddy wanted wings, and to potentially see the Packer game, so we decided to try a place called Betty Jo's which was rumored to have excellent food and a few TV's in the dining area. Only one problem. It was a bar. It did say Pub and Fine Dining outside...but seriously folks. Bar central. I just kept hearing the line from Sweet Home Alabama in my head..."You have a baby!....In a bar!..."

We walked in, took on whiff, and walked back out. 

Luckily, there was a nice restuarant just next door called Jefferson's. (I was supposed to take lots of pictures yesterday. Guess how many I got?)

Home grown cheese curds with horseradish dipping sauce. YUM.

The ONE picture I did take almost didn't happen, as you can see. A few minutes later and all you would've seen would have been an empty plate. 

We spent the next 3 hours chatting with our new friends Jeff, Suzanne and Mark. It is such a blessing to meet kindred spirits and people who have the same ideals and interests as you. At one point Suzanne nudged me on the arm and said, "This is such a joy!" I agree. It was delightful.

We did some shopping in town, Daddy needed some new bibs we went over the Fleet Farm....or Farm and Fleet. Either way you say it, they both smell the same. 

On the way out of town I got some more pictures of the landscape. Enjoy.

 This is where Daddy works! See that black scaffolding right above his nose? That's where he's been spending his time in the last two weeks!

So far so good in WI. We've had lovely weather and even a chance to wear a hoodie! Daddy and I love the feel of Fall! Thanks for joining me, we'll see ya next time!

Wisconsin? I love cheese!!!

Hello from Wisconsin!

On the road...you should've seen the car packed with ... lots of stuff.

Guess what?? We moved again!!

Yay for Wisconsin!

But only temporarily.

BTW, Did you know that there are 'mountains' in Wisconsin/Minnesota? Well, we're from IL so we're calling them mountains. To anyone who is not from a flat state, I'm sure they're just hills.

Daddy Boilermaker got a job in the Great Dairy State! And we are officially...boomers. Stick with me and you'll learn all sorts of new-fangled boilermaker words. “Booming out” means to travel to another local's job for work, upon their request of course. You can't just show up and say, “Hello, I'd like to work for you today.” ...Who knew?

Here's what happened. Daddy went into the shop last Friday to weld for a bit when the office manager asked him to head to an emergency job about an hour away. To my dismay, Daddy thought he might be gone all night. Luckily, I got a text telling me he'd be home that night. But he had to go back the next morning.

Anyway, while I was packing his lunch/dinner for Friday's job, he got another phone call.

Kirk: I got you a job in Wisconsin. Be [there] Monday at 6:30 am.

Daddy: You got it, dude.

*I may have changed some of the dialogue in this conversation.

I was now in charge of details. My favorite. I am, after all, #1 Boss while Daddy is away, so I put on my decision making pants and picked up the phone.

Me: “Hello? Is this an Inn in a really small town?”

Them: “Why, yes it is. How can I help you.”

Me: “I'd like a cheap room for potentially 4-6 weeks. Do you have a microwave, fridge, and TV? How about a bathroom?”

Them: “Cheap? Heck no. Fridge? What's that? Mircro-what? Oh, and we have a community bathroom down the hall.”

Times this conversation by 7 or 8. Minus the weird no bathroom thing. That was only one place. Cheap rooms though.

Did you know that hotel rooms (Non-skeezy rooms at least, see above.) are running around $100/night?? I had no idea! I sure hope it's a Wisconsin thing, because otherwise we may have to re-think this whole booming out thing.

Let's just do some math for fun. (No common core math technique will be used in this blog.)

$100/night x 7 nights. Times 4 weeks. Or more.

Raise your hand if you know the answer!

Puh-lease.

Thankfully, we have a Heavenly Father who knows our needs and meets them with amazing skill and expertise. Oh, and lots of love. Don't forget that part.

I spoke with a sweet Wisconsin-er named Audrey very last. I believe I even said out lout, “Ok, last one.” She has one place in Dairy-town that is already let to another man, who I believe happens to be the crane operator for our job. She was under the assumption that he would potentially be moving out and therefore we could have his place. I was instructed to call back at noon.

Otherwise, she also has a place about 30 minutes from the plant that is empty...or at least it was. She worked all of Saturday afternoon and Sunday to get this lovely, [huge] apartment ready for us. We are blessed with a full kitchen, laundry room, two bedrooms, large dining room and a large living room. And like I said earlier, she came down on her price so we're not working a week for nothing.

Lainie is wearing OshkoshB'gosh. I thought it was appropriate.

So here I am, drafting my blog from the futon, while Daddy is at work.

In other miraculous news, guess what I found?! Aldi! Yahoo! I was on the hunt for Walmart and unbeknownst to me as I was rounding the bend with my eyes peeled for the supercenter, I spotted that lovely orange and blue rectangle. I could have cried.

Baby and I went in to do our shopping and when I got to the check out, I realized I hadn't activated my bank card yet. Whoops. I had some cash on me, but I wasn't sure if it would be enough. And if you hold up an Aldi line-- well, let's just assume they wouldn't be too happy.

I told the cashier my dilemma and she told me my total. $68.52. Guess how much money I had in my wallet? $69.00. God is awesome.

When I went out to the car and called the number to activate my card, it didn't work. So I typed in my PIN again, and again...it didn't work. I tried another combination that could have been it. Nope. And upon too many tries, I locked myself out of being able to activate my card.

I tried a few other things the lady at on the customer service line told me to do, but alas, I think my card and PIN didn't sync up right or something. So now I have to wait until I get home to get it sorted. However, Daddy has his card, and since he's working and I'm the one doing the shopping, he won't be needing it anyway.

I still maintain the Lord has his hand on us. Thank you, Jesus for seeing fit to protect us from things even if they seem trivial in every day life.

SIDE NOTE:

Daddy had to shave part of his beard off......sad day.