40 Things Before I'm 40 Update:  Split Rock Lighthouse

I have to say that I'm a bit biased about my home state of Minnesota.  I know that we're known as the "Land of 10,000 lakes", but I have to tell you that northern Minnesota is probably one of the prettiest places in the USA.  I know when people travel to MN, they often hit the Mall of America (it is pretty cool), but I seriously want to encourage anyone who is thinking of traveling to MN, to consider going "up north".


There are so many things to do for free (or for minimal cost) that it would be a shame NOT to go up north.


Now that I've done my bit for the Explore Minnesota campaign, here are some pics from our trip to Split Rock Lighthouse.


Location:  Two Harbors (approx 20 minutes north of Duluth)
Website:  Check it out here
Cool fact:  the precision equipment for the light itself came from Paris, France

It was very cold.  Very windy.  Very rainy.  

But we went!  And would go back in a heartbeat!

Farm Friday:  Asparagus

The farm has a wild asparagus patch.  

Is it a bad thing to eat asparagus at every meal?

I hope not.


Wondering how we prepare it?

Toss in a little oil (I use a gallon zip lock bag...less mess).
Sprinkle with sea salt & pepper.
Grill until tender.
Eat.
Enjoy.

Clearly, they KNEW we were in Town....

Why else would they have a drink called the Opulent Sugar Daddy on the special's board?

Yeah.  OK.  I know...enough with the Sugar Daddy stuff.
I promise.  No more Sugar Daddy jokes for a while.

I Slept in a Lighthouse....
This weekend, the Big Guy and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary by going up to Two Harbors, MN and staying at the Lighthouse Bed & Breakfast.  We received a gift certificate as a wedding gift and took advantage of it for a weekend get away.


This lighthouse is a real, live, honest-to-goodness, working lighthouse.  Now owned by the historical society in the area, they renovated the building and have now opened it as a bed and breakfast.  The lighthouse operations are actually automated and run by the Coast Guard in Duluth.

The Big Guy walked out onto the pier and got these fun photos

We went up in to the lighthouse itself....up into the tower with the rotating light.  It was pretty cool and a little freaky all at the same time....

The one photo I didn't get was the sign that said, "Please do not climb the ladder--Thank you, The Lighthouse Ghost."


Oh.  I forgot to mention it.
The lighthouse is haunted.


Yep!
And I experienced it first hand.


The room we were in was a fairly large room, but sadly, the bed was a full size bed.  We currently sleep on a king.  We looked at that bed and we knew instantly that we both wouldn't sleep well in that bed.  The Big Guy tosses and turns all night.  I like to sprawl out.  It just wouldn't work.   I took the roll-away bed out of the closet (the room technically slept 3, so that's why there was a roll away bed).  I set it up running perpendicular to the full size bed, but it wasn't touching the bed.


At about 3:00 a.m., I felt the bed being pushed.  I was started awake thinking that the folding legs of the bed were collapsing.  I got out of bed and realized that they were not collapsing or folding under.  I crawled back into bed.  As I dozed off, the bed got pushed again, like someone was trying to push it out of their way.


I thought nothing of it, thinking it was maybe the wind coming through the window was blowing the blankets.  Or maybe I have restless leg syndrome?  


The next morning at breakfast, two of the guests were talking about how the lighthouse was haunted.  There was a ship that sank off the shoreline in the late 1800's and two stow-aways on the ship died.  Apparently they are the ghosts of the lighthouse.  This was confirmed by Rose, the staff member who makes breakfast and keeps the lighthouse beautiful and tidy.  

I guess someone didn't like the fact that I wasn't sleeping in the same bed as my husband!  But I'm sorry, lighthouse ghosts....we just don't fit in a full size bed.


Maybe that is their way of telling me to go on a diet?

Farm Friday:  Inhaling Sunshine

Google Images

“It’s the best feeling in the world to take sheets off the bed, wash them, hang them on the clothes line to dry and put them right back on the bed.  It’s like you're inhaling sunshine.” –The Big Guy

I couldn’t agree more.

(But I didn’t put those sheets back on the bed)

(I feel that if I don’t rotate the sheets in the linen closet I’ll keep using the same ones and they’ll wear out.)

(same with the towels)

(you do that too, right?)

The Sugar Daddy Joke Never Gets Old....
Amy got me this.....

A Sugar Daddy lunch box.
It's reasons like this that I thank God we're friends.


Don't get the joke?  Read here and here.

I Believe I Shut Down Blogger....
Yesterday I wrote a SCATHING post to be published this morning. And shortly after I put it into 'scheduled' mode, Blogger took a nose dive.

And now, the post is missing from my dashboard. And now the original post can be seen here, but I may be the one who single-handily took down blogger.

Why?

Because I was really, really, REALLY P.O.'d at Google check out, and as you know, Google now owns Blogger. So, if my really upset post took down Blogger....I apologize.

What's the big hoopla?
My Google Checkout account had been suspended because I tried to make a payment to secure the custom URL's for our 3-day team webpages.

Seems simple enough, right?
Not so much. Rather than taking me to a page with my account information, the link provided to me to make payment, automatically tried to charge my card. The charge didn't go through because the address google has on file (our old address) does not match the address on file at the bank (the farm address).

Rather than be able to update it and move on my way....Google wanted me to provide them a copy of my drivers license AND a copy of a recent billing statement (for a credit card, utility bill, etc.) to prove I lived where I live.

SAY WHAT?!?

I was furious.
Why did they need that?
Oh. Yeah. I know. Protection against identity thieves. I get it.
But they weren't going to get that from me.
Nor should they get that from anyone else. Google has no right to ask for copies of private information like that. I felt obligated to stand up and say "NO!" and provide options that would satisfy both google and myself.

In the end, I won. Google eventually worked with me in the end and everyone is happy. They have $20 dollars in their account and I have the Card Blog and the Auction Blog URL's for one more year. But it came down to 4 days worth of e-mails to get me to this point.But I feel it necessary to tell those of you who have secured URL's through Blogger by using Google Check out to remember to update your user information BEFORE you receive the "time to renew" e-mail. Otherwise, you, too, may have to provide copies of your personal information.

And if Google reinstates my blog post....well....so be it.
Maybe I'm destined to be a detective because the screen shots I uploaded certainly made me feel like I was a member of the investigation team on Law and Order.

(did you just hear the Law and Order "bom bom" sound, too?)

3-day Garage Sale & Quilt Raffle....
In 2008, I participated in my first Susan G Komen for the Cure 3-day walk.  This walk takes place over 3 days, and the participants walk 60 miles during that time.  In order to participate in the walk, walkers make a commitment and agree to raising $2300.  This means that before they can walk one step, they need to have that money accounted for--or they don't walk.


To do that, teams do a variety of fundraisers.  Our team, Amy's Angels, has been doing a number of different fundraisers over the years.  This last weekend was our annual garage sale.  This year, a new walker on our team, lives in a neighborhood where they have a community garage sale every year--and it is well known in their town.   This is good news for us....because this could mean big bucks!!

I wasn't able to attend on Friday, but came by at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday with Amy and her son, Mr. J.  We showed up and couldn't believe the amount of stuff we had in this sale.  Look at this!

And that was only what was out on the lawn and driveway.  This isn't nearly what was left in the garage!!  I'm happy to say that my little tote of items, sold (at least, I think they did.  I didn't anything of mine left.....)


We also had a quilt raffle.  A couple who is friends with one of our walkers donated the time and materials to make this quilt.  It was no small quilt....it was a queen/king!!  

Isn't it neat!  Such fun colors.  I said that this would have been a great quilt for a girl's room.  So fun and retro.


We had the drawing at 2 p.m. and we had 3 little fellas who helped us draw out the name from the 10 gallon tote.


Yes.  A 10 gallon tote held the names.  

While we are still waiting on the totals for the garage sale, we did raise approximately $1800 just on the quilt raffle alone.  We sold them for $1 a chance and many people bought $20 or more worth of tickets because they knew it was going to a great cause.  


The girls who put together this garage sale and raffle did a GREAT job.  This was one of the best garage sales that we had and it was all because of their hard work.  One of the great things about our team is that we are all pretty much on auto pilot.  We all have our events to work on and they all go off without a hitch.

And of course, Mr.J made getting up at 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday a lot of fun!

Farm Friday:  Charlie 
I mentioned a few posts back about a meal disaster that not even the farm dog would eat.


This is the farm dog.

Charlie.
Or as I like to call him, Charlie B. Barkin
(name that movie)


He's a good dog.

He loves to rub his rough, wet nose up against you and nudge you until you pet him.


I came home the other day and as I got to the curve in the driveway, which runs parallel to our garage, I noticed Charlie laying in the yard.  Head on the gravel road.  The dog didn't budge one inch as I drove by.


I came out of the garage with my camera and snuck up on him....

I'd be lying if I didn't check to make sure he was still breathing.  He's an older dog, and he wasn't moving.  

Then I noticed he was running in his sleep and whimpering.
Chasing rabbits?
Birds?
Barn cats?


As I got up to him, he opened one, groggy eye and looked my way....

Well, hi there Charlie B. Barkin!
How was your nap....

That good huh?
No.  I won't be bringing you any of that left over pasta dish ever again.
But I'm sure if you asked the Big Guy there may be a pork chop in your future.

I love that dog.

Update:  40 Things Before I'm 40....
Oh, snap!  
It's May!
How did that happen?
It also means I'm 6 months away from the big 4-0.  And it also means I'm 6 months away from completing this list.  I'm not doing too badly....actually!


Here's the update.  


5. Go on a trip to somewhere I've never been (airport layovers don't count).
--In May we're going up to the North Shore...someplace I've never been!  Photos to come after the trip!  We're staying in a bed & breakfast....yum!

9. Pay off my credit card and shred it when it's paid off
--DONE!  D....O....N....E....done!  Whoooo! (and the cards have been shredded well before I paid it off so that I couldn't add to the debt).  


14. Go out to the Split Rock Light House on Lake Superior
--Doing this in May!

16. Research my family tree and find out more on my dad's father (he was adopted and we have very little information on his biological family).
--I've hit a serious dead end with this one.  But!  I did find out more about my grandma's family (my dad's mom) and discovered that I am able to be a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution!

19. Try every drink on the Caribou Coffee menu
--Seriously, people.  This one is a no brainer.  DONE!  And they've added new drinks....and yep!  DONE!

23. See a shuttle launch 
--We actually made plans to go in April, but with my new job we couldn't do it.  DARN IT!

25. Read the entire Harry Potter series again
--DONE

28. Go to a Minnesota Orchestra Concert
--DONE!  We did this right after my birthday!

31. Take at least one course online and finish it
--I wrote this when I worked for the online university where I could take classes for free.  I don't work there now, so this one may be a challenge to find something I like.  Sadly, my new school is a state run school, which means I'm union, which means I can't take classes for free for 3 years.  So....any ideas?  

33. Own something with the new UND nickname (I don't have to like it...)
--Well.  This may not happen due to the fact that the ND House and Senate have blocked the name change!!  

34. Learn to make artisan bread
--DONE!  I have photos to post (once I download them)...

36. Make a birthday calendar and send cards to those who have a birthday
--Done(calendar) and In progress (on the cards).  I have been doing this throughout the year!

38. Make 100 handmade greeting cards
--DONE!

40. Watch every episode of Friends (believe it or not, have not seen them all...)
--I'm on Season 4 right now!




To be clear, this update was more for me than anyone else, because I needed a swift kick in the rear-end on this list!