Go Pack Go!!

Sorry about the red-eye in that picture.

Before we talk about the incredible Green Bay Packers, I have to give a shout out to Lisa L who has recently discovered our blog and has been discovering all the craziness that is the Brue Family. Hi Lisa!!

OK...how about those Packers?? Oh man!! Did you see the game last night?? I do have to say that I feel slightly bad for the Denver community. On Sunday night the Rockies lost the World Series in a sweep by the Boston Red Socks. Then the Packers come in and beat the Broncos in OT on Monday Night Football. Oh well. I'm done feeling bad now. hehehe Are the Packers REALLY 6-1 this season?? Holy Cow!! Who ever, in their wildest imaginations, would have guessed this is where we'd be going into November?!! I'm so stinkin' excited! If anyone deserves to have some goodness come his way, it's our fearless leader, Brett Favre (as Deanna said in her book "Favre---it rhymes with starve. Don't pay attention to the order of the letters."). He's been through so much in the past couple of years. Now I realize it's only November and lots can happen between now and the end of December, but we're looking pretty good. We even seemed to have a bit of a running game last night. Who is that Grant guy, anywhere?? Whoever he is, YEAH!!! Mark told me before the game that Denver is one of the stadiums that Brett has never thrown a TD pass in. Well, last night he threw two. BOTH BOMBS!!! And wouldn't you know I missed BOTH of them because I was doing laundry. DOH! Thank God for replays. So I stayed up late last night watching the game and putting trick-or-treat bags together for our handful (or two) of trick or treaters that we'll hopefully have tomorrow night. And now I'm thinking ahead to the rest of the season. Here's the run-down:
This Sunday we're at Kansas City. Packers should win that one. That's the game I wanted to go to this year because we love the Chiefs since their training camp is held in River Falls each summer. On 11/11 we have the Vikings at Lambeau. Packers should win that one, too. We've already beaten them once this season. 11/18 the Packers host the Panthers. No idea about that one. Not keeping up with the Panthers this year. I'm thinking that could be a W, too. Then on 11/22 we're at Detroit. That'll be a tough one. Detroit is fairly good this year and it's a road game. The next week is the worst for me: 11/29: Packers v Dallas. Man I can't stand the Cowgirls!! That's like Mark and his dislike for the Vikings. That last time the Packers played the Cowboys they were in Dallas and I was at the game. I almost got kicked out of Texas Stadium because I was standing up to watch the game. Sheesh!! The Packers lost that game, so hopefully they can win this one. This is undoubtedly their toughest game of the season. Many "experts" are picking the Cowboys to go to the Superbowl this year. UGH!!!!!!!!! Onward: then we're home against the Raiders. Should be a win. Then we're at the Rams and the next week we're at Chicago. We've GOT to win that game against the Bears because that's our only loss this year---and they handed it to us at Lambeau!! Payback's a ..... Our last game is at home against Detroit. OK...so I know most of this is boring to most of you, but nobody, including yours truly, expected the Packers to be doing what they're doing this year. Could it all crumble at any time?? Sure. But I don't think it's going to. Will we end the season with just one loss?? I'd be surprised. But I do think we can win our division and get a good start in the play offs. Time will tell.

Here's another picture from last night when Hope was cheering for the Packers and "Uncle Brett." Yep. She thinks Brett Favre is her uncle. Now where would she get an idea like that?? Oh---and every night when we do our prayers I say, "God bless.." and she always finishes with this, "Daddy and Uncle Brett." She's got green and gold in her veins, too!! TOUCH DOWN--PACKERS!!!

Have a great day.

Proud to be an Air Force Aunt!

Well, today was the day. After 6.5 weeks of BMT (Basic Military Training), my nephew Andrew graduated today!! I was so hoping I could have been there. I got a call this afternoon from Alison and also got to talk to Andrew. He did such a great job in BMT. He got to lead his flight crew for graduation today. As I understand it, it was at his TI's (Training Instructor) request. Pretty cool, huh?? My sister told me that Andrew's TI (a female---how cool is that???) told her that usually recruits come in and you can tell they've had little or no discipline at home. She said that wasn't the case with Andrew. She barely had to do anything with Andrew. So Alison told me that and I started to cry. Not only because I'm so unbelievably proud of Andrew, but because I'm so proud of Alison. She did a great job raising Andrew---especially considering she had no help from Andrew's father. Of course there were others in his life that were role models (my parents, John, hopefully myself and my sister Jo and my brother Geno), but the credit really goes to Ali. So kudos to you, my little sister! After graduation today Ali and John got to take Andrew off base. They were going to see the Spurs game tonight. FUN!!! He has to be back on base tonight, but they can have him off base all day tomorrow and then I think they'll see him on base on Sunday. Not sure what time they'll be leaving SanAntonio. Andrew leaves for his technical training at midnight on Sunday/Monday. He'll be spending the next 12 weeks at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS. I'm hoping we can go down there for Thanksgiving so he won't have to be by himself. I'm also hoping that if I get down there, Dawn and Dan will be around so I can see them (and, of course, baby Isaiah), too. That would be such a great trip!

Anyway...I'm a proud Air Force Aunt, for sure. I'm proud of all my nieces and nephews, but today is a special day for Andrew. As soon as Ali and John get back and I can get my hands on some pictures, I'll post them. Alison said that Andrew has grown up a lot in the past 6 weeks and that he looks very handsome in his uniform. I'm sure both of those statements are true.

40 has turned my brain to mush...

Here is an email I just sent to my friend David. It relates what happened to me tonight. Laugh alert: be prepared! I truly think this is the single most stupid thing I have ever done in my life. Here's what happened tonight:

Oh man!! 40 has turned my brain into mush. Either that or I'm naturally blond and I've never known it. Now usually I'm a pretty smart cookie...even if I do say so myself. No genius here, but no moron either. Well, tonight I pulled one that has me laughing (at least now) and worrying that maybe Alzheimer's has set in. The first Tuesday of every month Baldwin does this community supper. It's held at Gethsemane, but each church takes a turn making the meal during the year. Mark's Mom and Dad always bring Hope to the dinner, we eat together and then I take Hope home from there. So tonight was no exception. Hope and I got into the car (note here: Mark traded the Touareg in last week for another HHR. The only difference from the purple HHR we already have is that this one is sunburst orange: the color that Mark has wanted since we started looking at the HHR. I'm driving the orange one right now because it has more miles on it than the purple one does. We're trying to even out the mileage between the two cars) and were going to head home. I put the key in the ignition and the blasted thing wouldn't move. I turned the wheel a bit because with some cars you have to do that. Well, this key was not moving at all. I got really ticked because I wanted to get Hope home at an early time and get her to bed. Plus it was raining (not that we were in the rain, but it added to the mood). I had no idea what I was going to do. I called the Chevy Roadside assistance. A lot of good that did me. They said all they could do was tow the car to the dealership in town. I asked how I was supposed to get home. They had no idea. I ended up giving the guy on the phone a piece of my mind and hanging up on him. He called back and said, "Mrs. Brue. We were disconnected." I could tell by the way he said "disconnected" that he knew we had not been disconnected. I said something to him about me hanging up on him because if they weren't going to help me I had to find someone who could...and then I hung up again. I had called Mark, too, to let him know that I think the HHR's are crap and that he was taking this one back to the dealership on Monday and getting something else. I think I hung up on him a few times, too. I was MAD!!! Oh...and a few tears were shed, too, because I had no idea what I was going to do. So at one point Mark called me back and told me that Greg Jacobson (the Chevy dealer in town who we've done lots of business with...but we didn't get this orange car from him) was on his way over. I looked up and also noticed Mark's dad coming into the parking lot. So my father in law messed with the key and he couldn't get anything to work either. Then Greg showed up. He didn't see us at first and I wondered why because he had driven right past us when he first came into the parking lot. He turned around and realized it was us. He wondered why I had the orange car since that was the color Mark kept bugging Greg about. He got out of the car and as soon as he sat down and started messing with the key it dawned on me what had happened. He said the problem just as I was thinking it (are you ready for this???): I HAD THE WRONG FREAKIN' KEY IN THE IGNITION!!! I have TWO HHR keys on my key chain...one for the orange car and one for the purple car. Here's the kicker in all of this. I usually have two sets of keys: one for each car. There's usually a house key on each chain, too, so that I don't have to stop and think about which set of keys I have. Well, Mark always tells me that I need to have ONE key chain with all my keys on it. So today I did what he said---and look what happened when I listened to him!! LOL I felt so stupid!! I told Greg that I'm not normally that stupid...that I'm actually fairly intelligent...that I graduated in the top 10% of my class...that I have a college degree.

So here's what I'm thinking. Like I said earlier, either I have Alzheimer's, 40 has turned my brain to mush, I'm naturally blond or I'm so tired and so stressed that I'm finally starting to crack. Maybe it's a combination of the four (although the blond possibility is pretty far reaching). Yet I'm betting on the last possibility to be the most accurate. And with that, I'm going to tell you that I'm scheduling my massage at Lori's for sometime SOOOOOOOON!!!!! And, I'll be going to bed now. It's already 11:30.

You have a brilliant friend, my friend:) hehehe

So that's how it went tonight. Lord, help me!! At least I can laugh about it now. Trust me when I tell you I was NOT laughing earlier.

Oh...and a bit of good news, too: in case you're wondering, the results of my mammogram came back normal. WooHoo!!!

With that...I'm going to go sleep next to my wonderful little girl (yeh, I know...she's almost 27 months old and she still sleeps with us. What can I say?? We like the family bed idea. Good thing we're not having any more or we'd have to get a bigger bed. hehehe)

4 and O!!!

Oh man!!! Wisconsin really IS the place to live right now. If you're a football, fan, that is. The Badgers are undefeated so far this season and have the longest winning streak in college football right now. Go Badgers Go!!! And how about our most beloved Packers??!!! Did you see that game on Sunday against the Queens??!! I must confess that I have not yet watched the entire game. I caught the last 9 minutes of the game LIVE (I was putting Hope down for a nap) and I listened to the first few minutes of the game LIVE (I heard it when Brett threw his record breaking TD pass to Greg Jennings). We taped the game so now I've watched it through Brett's record TD, but that's it. I'll watch more tonight. So the Packers are one of 4 teams in the NFL with a 4-0 record. They ALSO have the longest winning streak in the NFL right now. Is this to good to be true?? When I have a few extra moments I'm hoping to include some links to great game footage and interviews with "Uncle Brett" as Hope calls him. hehehe It's not only great that the Pack is 4-0. And it's not only great that Brett beat Dan Marino's record. It's great that we beat the Queens...AND BEAT THEM IN THE DOME!!! So Sunday night we play on national TV--against the Bears. Could be a tough game, but the Bears got beat pretty badly on Sunday by Detroit. Plus, we're playing them at Lambeau. Two things definitely in our favor. If only our siding project wasn't happening this weekend I think Mark and I would go to the game.

That's it for now. Thank God for the Packers and the Badgers bringing just a little bit of sunshine into our lives because it's done nothing but rain here for the past 8 years. Seriously...it's another gray, rainy day here. I'm so ready for the sun to come out again. But until then, I'll keep taking victories.

My first 40-something milestone

I just got back from the River Falls Area Hospital where I had my first 40-something milestone performed. Yep, I just had my very first mammogram done. What a bizarre thing. The radiologist was wonderful. She made it as comfortable as could be. Actually, I felt nothing really. I'm still trying to decide if having large breasts is a good thing or an embarassing thing when having a mammogram done. Let's just say that when that machine is squashing down on your breast, HOLY COW!!! It gives you a whole new perspective on the size of your breasts. LOL They'll read the mammogram on Monday and will let me know how things look. I'm sure everything will be just fine. I don't have any history of breast cancer in my family and I've never had any other problems, so I'm assuming all is well. Oh...just FYI: I will not be posting any pictures of me getting my mammogram. hehehe

Thanks for reading this. And if you haven't gotten a mammogram lately, PLEASE GO SCHEDULE YOURS NOW!!!! It's so important that we are our own health advocates.

Love,
Melody

Short one...

The Packers are 3-0!! Woohoo!!! Who would have thought this really young team would be undeafeted so far this season?? Thank you, God!! This Sunday is game #1 of 2 vs. the Vikings. It's in the Dome. We don't have a great record in the Dome. Hopefully we can win! More about our weekend in a different post. We got some great pictures of Hope at the apple orchard.

My first day as 40-something

Yep. It happened. At 8:01 this morning I officially turned 40. Funny. I don't feel any older than I did yesterday. Well, that's not entirely true. I'm actually feeling pretty crappy right now due to a cold that I had been fighting all weekend. Over the weekend I was pretty much winning the battle, but now I'd say the cold and I are about even. And now Hope seems to have the sniffles.

BUT...despite this cold thing, 40 is great so far. In my last post I told you that Mark felw my friend Marsha up from Dallas to surprise me. What a great surprise and what a great time I had with her. The bad part about her coming is that she always has to go home. I don't really like that so much. But Marsha wasn't the only surprise my husband (and my Mother-in-Law) had up his sleeve for the weekend. Marsha, Hope and I went out for brunch and did an errand on Saturday. When we got home we were all tired so we thought a nap was in order. Hope had just gotten asleep and I was almost there myself when I heard the dogs barking. I sprang out of bed to get to the door before someone could ring the doorbell and wake Hope up. It was my sister!!! She drove up from LaCrosse to surprise me. That was so wonderful. So Marsha, JoEllen and I sat around and talked. After a little while Hope woke up and entertained us. We talked a lot about my sister's (and her youngest son, Shane) upcoming trip to Thailand! Lucky ducks!! Jo's oldest son (Barry) is living is South Korea right now and taking all these great trips. He's taking Jo and Shane to Thailand for Jo's 50th birthday. Anyway...later Sat. afternoon the doorbell rang again. It was my Mom, my sister Alison, brother-in-law John, niece Sophie and nephew Jack. Another surprise!!! We all went out for supper that night and then Marsha and I went to the hotel where they were staying and had girls time with the beautiful cake she made me (I'll get pictures of the weekend on here soon). But the surprises didn't stop there. I found out when I read through the bulletin at church on Sunday morning that there was an open house for me on Sunday afternoon. Sheesh!! I guess turning 40 is a big deal. LOL Then I was surprised when people from my former congregation came to wish me a happy birthday. It was just a wonderful, wonderful weekend. I couldn't have asked for a better celebration!

Now for my actual birthday: it started out with Ian Punnett (talk show host extraordinaire) wishing me the best day ever!! Mark sent Ian an email asking that Ian wish me the best day ever. Ian gave me crap about giving Mark a bad time about being almost 50. It was funny. When that was done I went to pick up the phone to tell Mark thank you (he's away for job stuff) and the phone rang. It was Mark's aunt Donna who lives in Minnesota. She was listening to the station and called to wish me a Happy Birthday. Then when Hope woke up she sang happy birthday to me. That was the best! Other great events of the day: nice cards from special people in my life, a visit at the office from Mark, Gail and little Hope H., great lunch with my friend David, and calls from my sister Jo, my Mom and Marsha, and new pictures of little Isaiah Daniel. He is SOOOOOOO cute!!!

Ya know what?? This next decade in my life is going to be the bomb!! I already love being 40. I truly am blessed. I know I don't deserve all these wonderful people in my life, Lord, but thank you for putting them here for me to enjoy. Help me to be a blessing to them as they are a blessing to me.

Now it's time for this old fart to go to bed! Old fart?? Nope!! Young 'un (as they'd say in Texas). Pictures of the weekend to come.

OH...one more really important thing: my Mom told me that Ali heard from Andrew! He's alive. YEAH!!! Well, not that we thought he wasn't alive, but I guess he's only allowed 1 phone call during bootcamp. It's probably a good thing she wasn't home when he called because the message said, "Mom, it's Andrew. If you're there, DON'T pick up the phone!" Can't they let a guy talk to his Mommy?? He wasn't very clear on the message so she couldn't understand his address. She's going to contact Andrew's recruiter. Hopefully he'll be able to get Andrew's address for us so we can bombard him with letters. I want to send him Packer articles from the paper since the Packers rock (at least so far this season). Go Pack, Go!!

Now it's good night!