Decisions, Decisions

Tina tries to figure out what goes best with the Illinois game and live One Carbon Hill Fantasy Football draft. She's like a sommelier of beer!
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New Home Sweet Home

Here is your first official tour of our new home (of course, it won't really be ours for a few weeks, when all the paperwork is done and we sign our lives away for the mortgage).  Ready?

This is the front of our home.  Mitch was quick to point out that the driveway won't be too long when show shoveling season begins in about three weeks.

The side view of the house - a huge deck (complete with fire pit) is attached to the dining room.

The front door.  It's hard to tell in this picture, but it's red!  While I'm not really wild about all of the rock and pots, it will soon be covered with snow, and we can redo the landscaping in the spring.

This is the kitchen area - enough room for a small table for coffee and the paper.  The kitchen is just off the foyer to the right when you enter the house.  The kitchen and dining room are the only two rooms on the main floor.  

Another view - you can see the deck from the windows.  

The kitchen.  The cabinets are probably the only thing that the current owners haven't updated, but aren't in terrible shape.  They'll do for now.  

From the kitchen, you flow into the dining room, which is quite lovely. 

Another view of the dining room.  From this, you can see the next two levels of the house - on the top there is the master bedroom, another bedroom, bathroom, and living room.  On the bottom is another two bedrooms and bathroom, a family room with fireplace, and access to the basement.

Here is the view from the top, overlooking the dining room.  It has a really great open feel.

The upper living room.  The TV does not come with it (thank goodness).

This is the downstairs living room, complete with working woodburning fireplace!

From the downstairs, you can go into the basement (fourth level).  It has a TON of storage space, and houses the laundry.

The master walk-through bathroom.  Totally updated (with the exception of cabinets and sink).  
The master bedroom.  Nice and big, and it has a walk-in closet!

Another bedroom, the smallest, in the basement.  This will be the new office, as long as Mitch's ridiculously-large desk fits in the room.

The other downstairs bedroom, designated the guest room for all who are brave enough to visit the northland.

The final bedroom, on the upper floor.  This will hopefully, someday, be a room for a kid.

Now the yard!  This is the front yard.  The house sits on .37 acres, and when you have a split-level, it doesn't take up much room on the lot.  

The backyard.  Some of it is fenced in, while the rest is not.  We plan on ripping the fence out to open it up.  Garden, here I come!

Another view from the front yard.

The enclosed portion of the backyard. 

Great, huh!!!!

Going Once, Going Twice......SOLD!

Good news everyone!  Our offer has been accepted!!!! Mitch and I will soon be the proud owners of our second home!  It was an intense day and a half of negotiating and waiting, and "our" house will soon be ours.  

Stay tuned for pictures, hopefully that will be posted tomorrow, of the new digs.  I first must go to the state fair (also very blogworthy - I'm sure you can hardly wait) and finish getting things ready at school (I am SO not ready for the first day).  A month ago I was struggling to find something to blog about and something to do - now I have too many things at once!  Such is life.

A house!  A house!  A house!

Negotiations are ongoing

Odds are about 50-50 at best that this deal will get done. The seller's counteroffer was not that good. We have counter-counteroffered, and are waiting for them to accept or counter-counter-counteroffer.
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Putting an offer in tonight

Live From The Cubicle

Or as I like to call it: Live From A Desk That Is So Small You Want To Destroy It Like Michael Bolton And The Fax Machine In Office Space.

But really, that name was too long so I settled for the short version.


Fantasy Baseball Update:
My team has been staging a dramatic late season push for the playoffs. In 11th place (out of 12) at the All-Star break, I've put together a streak of wins that is nothing short of miraculous. I haven't checked it today, because I try to keep my work usage of The Internets to a minimum, but as of yesterday I was in the 6th and final playoff spot with only 1 week left in the regular season. All the other team owners should be shaking in their boots because my boys have been getting it done with 3 starting pitchers and a shortstop all on the DL. Good luck to me on bringing home a worthless league title! (No trophy or prize money, it's a free league)


The weather this morning was a little chilly, in the low to mid 50's when I left for work at 7 am. Today's FOREcast is sunny and 79 degrees with a chance of putting an offer down on a house.

The Northern Version of Snook Inn

Mitch and I went to dinner tonight with our roommates, who had returned from a vacation in New Jersey last night.  We went to one of their (and now our) favorite places to eat - Captain Jack's in Prior Lake, a small town southwest of Burnsville.

This place is a bar and grill on Prior Lake, where boats can dock so that their riders can get a bite to eat, or fill up their coolers with ice and beer.  It reminds me a lot of the Snook Inn, on the Gulf of Mexico in Marco Island.  Upon arrival, Mitch and I decided to partake in the the local beer, the Leinie's Summer Shandy and Sunset Wheat.  Yummy!

You can see the boats on the lake, the docks, and the beautiful houses surrounding the lake.  Man, would it be nice to be able to afford a house out here.  We thought about taking pictures of the big houses and claiming them as ours, but decided against it.  

My favorite part (besides the huge walleye sandwich that I had for dinner and forgot to take a picture of) was the outdoor bar.  It actually had swings hanging instead of barstools!  I determined that if this would have been in Illinois anywhere remotely close to Morris, it's quite possible I might have broken an arm trying to get off of the swing after Friday's happy hour.  

And it seems to be becoming a theme for this blog, the Leinie's.  At Captain Jack's was the Leinie's table umbrellas.....

.....and the Leinie Lounge chair, maybe the coolest chair (besides the swings) I've ever seen.

I triple-dog-dared Mitch's dad to climb up on the roof and sit in it, but he decided to take a picture of us standing by it instead.

A great dinner to end an absolutely beautiful weekend in southern Minnesota.  What fun!

Ain't Minnesota Great?

Well, it's been a month since I've moved to Minnesota, and two months for Mitch.  While many of you probably know that it was Mitch's job that brought us up here, there are also a lot of really great things about moving to the Twin Cities.  Here's a few reasons why we love our new state and think it will work out better for us than if we had stayed in Chicago:

1.  It's not so damn hot here.

2.  We have a park, tennis courts, and a pond within walking distance.  In fact, there are parks and lakes galore up here!

3.  We both have jobs.  Thank goodness.

4.  There are trees everywhere.  And hills.  It's beautiful.

5.  It only takes fifteen minutes to get to The Mall.

6.  Gas is cheap.  Really cheap.  And you can get coupons for gas when you shop at Cub Foods.  Sweet!

7.  Mitch's family is close by.  (His parents are really close right now!)

8.  No look-a-like subdivisions without mature trees like in Plainfield.  The neighborhoods here are beautiful and hilly and there are trees everywhere.

9.  Leann Chin, the greatest fast-food Chinese restaurant of all-time.  It's seriously awesome.

10. You can be in downtown St. Paul or Minneapolis within the half hour.  Both cities have museums, theatres, symphony orchestras, and great nightlife, just like Chicago.  

11. Houses are ridiculously cheap, so we can buy one big enough for all three readers of Fifty Below Zero to stay in, with room to spare.

12. The school systems are significantly better than in Illinois, both to teach in and to have (currently nonexistent) kids attend.  

13. The humidity level has been really low this summer, keeping my hair from frizzing out like crazy.

14. We have become significantly more active since moving - lots of running, walking, tennis playing, and general enjoyment of the parks and lakes.  In fact, we've both lost some weight!

15. It only takes twenty minutes to get to the airport.

16. We can get a plethora of new brews up here that we couldn't get in Illinois - specifically, Leinie's Light (VERY delicious), seasonal varieties of Fat Tire, and Grain Belt Premium.

17. We can spoil our niece like crazy, and hopefully teach her to appreciate the fine art of shoe shopping.  (She's a bit of a tomboy at times)

18. Lot sizes are on average about a third of an acre or larger in the suburbs.  And hilly.  And covered with trees.  Have I mentioned that yet?

19. The Great Minnesota Get-Together - also known as the State Fair - is going on right now! (Soon-to-be blog post about the event, once we go next week.)  Rumor has it you can get about a billion foods on a stick.  Those pounds won't be gone for long, I guess!

20.  We have reconnected with several of Mitch's old friends now that we're back in the area.

We're both really happy to be at this stage in our life, and are excited at the possibilites that will present themselves to us in the next few months as we buy a house and get settled into a normal life again, whatever that may be.  I need to mention (so that my mother doesn't cry as she reads this) that there are certainly things that we miss about Illinois, which I'll blog about later when I am feeling sad.  There are always pluses and minuses to every situation and decision that one makes in life, and there have been days when I have wanted to go back to the comfort and familiarity of our life in Illinois.  That life, though, was not what we wanted for ourselves, and the opportunities that were there (or rather, lack of) were not what each of us has worked so hard for.  Here we can achieve the life we've imagined since getting married over six years ago.  We've chosen to take risks, accept change as it comes, chose a positive attitude on life and all that it has to offer.  Isn't that what life is all about?  How exciting!

The Very-Busy Gloomy Day

Don't you love gloomy afternoons?  I love when it gets dark during summer afternoons and the rain comes down to cool everything off.  There's something comforting about this type of day, when you don't really want to do anything but stay in your jammies and curl up on the couch to watch a movie.  To celebrate, I made homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Yummy.  

Of course, I did not watch a movie.  I did not stay in my jammies.  It was not a relaxing day (with the exception of the cookies).  I had to run, then organize and clean the house before my roommates come home from their vacation this weekend.  (Mitch and I.....ok, I......am significantly messier than our roomies).  I had to start planning the school year and figure out which insurance policy was going to be the best for the least amount of money.  I had to call the realtor and arrange our meetings for tomorrow.  I did laundry.  And tonight Mitch and I will go out to find the perfect housewarming gift for my sister- and brother-in-law, who we'll help move into their new home tomorrow.  And find something wonderful for our niece, who will be starting kindergarten next week.  

Here's to hoping that the next gloomy day will be a little more relaxing.  Or the next sunny day. I'm not that particular.  

I Heart Gymnastics

Is Shaun Johnson not the cutest thing ever?!?!  She is so cute, you could pick her up and put her in your pocket.  Mitch things she looks like a mouse, but I think she's a cute mouse.  It's the dimples, I suppose, or maybe her slightly bucked teeth.  And her wave to the cameras are just adorable.  I am so proud of her for finally winning the gold medal on the balance beam. Nastia Liukin is freaking awesome, too.  Go Team USA!! 

A Totally-Tubular Eighties Sexual Harassment Video

In almost every job, you must go through the obligatory days of training and workshops to cover procedures, rules, policies, and all of the other "important" things addressed in these meetings, usually never to be discussed again (unless you've done something wrong).  Typically, these meetings are dreadfully boring, but have yummy food and coffee.  (Thank goodness for coffee, as it was needed today - it will be a long while before I am readjusted to work wake-up times again!) This morning's new teacher meeting was no different - lots of handouts on colored paper, many people introducing themselves (how on earth are we expected to remember everyone's name?), lots of boring talking.  Until we got to the sexual harassment part of the lecture.

Our very nice Human Resources Lady with the very thick Minnesotan accent took us through the normal discussion of not harassing students or other coworkers, then proceeded to show us a video discussing what was good, bad, ugly, and all of the legal perameters of sexual harassment.  Now, while the video was dreadfully boring, I was kept entertained by the actual people posing as sexual predators, the completely lame-fake-never would be uttered today dialogue between students and teachers, and the outfits themselves.  A few of the highlights:

1.  The woman narrating the video was a stereotypical 80's business woman - an oversized bright-blue suit with huge shoulder pads that held up her curly hair with bangs pouffed up at least six inches above the left side of her forehead, then perfectly cascaded down to the other side of her face.  It actually reminded me of my mother's hairstyle circa 1989.  (Sorry, Mom.)  

2.  In one scene, a very pretty female teenager (with similar hair as the narrator), who was wearing a bodysuit (do you guys remember those?) and pinch-rolled jeans, was coming on to a totally ugly, balding, fat male teacher with a too-short tie and black athletic sneakers. Seriously, would people even think that this chick would hit on this guy?  Never would happen. 

3.  Another male teacher was making unwanted advances towards a female student by putting his hand around her shoulders.  But, she was wearing a very Lisa Turtle-inspired blazer.  She would never even feel his arm on her with those shoulder pads protecting her!

4.  The video also addressed gender discrimination.  This might have been my favorite one.  A female student came in tardy to a classroom, where the male teacher harassed her.  Then, a male student (again, with pinch-rolled jeans) came in and got preferential treatment because he was the school's running back.  (I've NEVER witnessed this in Morris......)  Anyway, the best part of this scenario was that the running back used the word "yepper"!  Does anyone else remember using that word in junior high?  Yepper, I sure do!

While we new teachers should have taken the message more seriously, it was hard not to laugh at the very outdated video.  The school should be slightly embarrassed for showing it. Nonetheless, it made a tedious morning a little more enjoyable.  I hope tomorrow's video is equally exciting!

My New School

I went to my new school on Friday to sign my contract, get my keys, and start gathering my thoughts for the new school year. I thought I'd show off the brand new music wing at Spartyville Junior High.

This is from the entrance of the music wing - the far end door is the band room, the general music rooms are behind me, the choir room is directly to the left, and the rest of the doors are storage rooms/practice rooms. It's beautiful.

This is the choir room - the room I'll be spending half my day in. Almost everything in the room is new - it's so nice! And I'm very thrilled with the color of the room. Very calming.

Another view of the choir room.

This is my office - from what I can figure, the music staff shares offices, but this will be my "home base". Not nearly as big as my office in Morris (I could have housed a whole family in there), but it'll do. And they have Mac computers!

The mural at the entrance of the wing. Looks nice, huh?

Sadly, my dog days of summer are over tomorrow. Let's hope this job is great!

HALLELUIAH!!!

FINALLY! I have found a job! After months of searching in both Illinois and Minnesota and nine interviews, I have landed a teaching position in the 'burbs of St. Paul. Here's the story -

About two weeks ago, I interviewed at a public K-8 charter school in St. Paul. While the building was very beautiful and "old school" - tall ceilings, hardwood floors, big windows - the school and people themselves were a little chaotic and unorganized for my taste. My interview (with the dean of students and one of the social workers) consisted of them asking me two questions, then saying, "Do you have anything else to add?", without even describing the job. As I drove home from this highly unusual interview thinking, "What the hell just happened?" and talking with my school consultant Cin, she decided that "Kukoo School" would certainly hire me, due to my bad luck with interviews. Sure enough, I got a call-back to meet with the principal, and back I went. While the principal is great, and there were certainly pros to the position (bargaining my own salary package, creating my own curriculum, working in a more relaxed environment), the negative part of the job was not so great - working with poverty-level kids in the inner city, far job commute, teaching K-8 without an inkling of what had been done in the past, therefore creating lesson plans from scratch. It was a daunting task, but I stayed positive when they offered me the job because, frankly, I needed it. We scheduled a meeting for Monday to discuss salary before I officially accepted the position.

In the meantime, the assistant principal from Spartyville, a southeast suburb of St. Paul, called me to see if I was interested in interviewing for their part-time 6-8 choir & general music position. I almost said no, and even thought about canceling the interview after I had scheduled it for Monday after my meeting in St. Paul, but figured I had nothing to lose. It was only part-time, after all. Well, my meeting in St. Paul got cancelled (the principal was still out of town and needed to re-schedule until Thursday), so I went to the interview, and really liked the school. #1 Rush Fan called me Tuesday to let me know they were checking references, and I went in yesterday to talk with them after they had called me with the offer. I just called this morning to accept. :)

A lot of parts of this job will be similar to Morris, at least, all the good parts about my job in Morris. I'll be working with a team of three other music teachers - two band directors and a general music teacher - and we are housed in a BRAND NEW music wing of the junior high - the facilities are absolutely stunning, and I'm really excited about moving my stuff in. I really like the administrators I will be working with, and one has previously taught in the fine arts, so she understands their importance in the building. I am thrilled to be out of the high school and into a junior high again. While some people can't stand that age group, I find them to be quite endearing, once you win them over. The demographics and size of the school are similar to what I'm used to. The area in which Mitch and I are looking to buy a house is about 15 minutes away from my school, and it will be a ten-minute commute for him. The only thing that makes me nervous is that choir element - I have only one section of it - but I keep reminding myself that I taught it in Florida, and I can do it again. The most important thing, though, is that with this job I'll get my life back. This may sound silly, but if you knew the hours I kept while working at Morris, you'll understand. No more marching band, pep band, jazz band, Booster meetings, extra rehearsals....the list could go on forever. This job will allow Mitch and I to have the life that we've been wanting for the last three years. I'm so excited.

Thank you to all of you who have been praying and sending positive vibes my way - it certainly worked! I am a believer in the "everything happens for a reason" concept, although at times in the past few months I certainly questioned that. I feel like I've been saying that for the last three years! But, if the principal in St. Paul hadn't re-scheduled our meeting, I may have never gone to this interview.

So - my days of lunching, shopping, and relaxing are numbered. Sorry to my Illinois teacher friends, who I've been giving a hard time for having to go back to work already - I'll soon be joining you, as new teacher orientation starts next week!

News and Brews

Fifty Below Zero News Feed:

-Tina is the proud recipient of 2 job offers! Way to go Tina! Stay tuned to find out if she will accept one, or if she turns both down to continue her days of lunching, shopping, napping, and blogging about sad boy bands.

-Dr. Martin reports that he passed his med exam. Congrats and watch for that gift certificate to the Silver Bullet in the mail.

-Mitch has been spending his free time at night watching the olympics, and respects Michael Phelps, even though he's a Michigan Wolverine.

Fifty Below Zero Brews Feed:

-Recently enjoyed brew: Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy

-Brew tip: do not store your brew at fifty below zero. It will either freeze or those of us from Fifty Below Zero will steal it out of your super cold beer igloo and drink it.

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She Gots Mad Skillz

We at Fifty Below Zero would like to congratulate Polly K. on passing her Aural Theory class this summer at Indiana University, earning her Masters in Wind Conducting.  We knew you could do it!!!

Clearly, she's as excited as we are.  Have fun at the U of I earning that doctoral degree - and keep those young whippersnappers in shape!  (And go to the parties, because I want to know what is going on - maybe they have new parties that I don't even know about now!) 

Mitch says, "Don't 'accidentally' spill your beer on The Other Guys at the green balconies parties".

Still Got The Right Stuff

Friday Mitch and I made our first visit to THE Mall of America since moving to Minnesota last month.  From here out I will refer to said mall as "THE Mall", as it is called around here.   Why else would you go somewhere else?  (I also want to add that we live approximately fifteen minutes away from the glorious four floors of shopping, where you can buy anything you could possibly imagine, tax-free.  That's right, no tax on clothes here.  Those Cook County people can take their 10% sales tax and shove it!)  

Mike and I were there for more than just shopping and dinner, which we did partake in.  I also enjoyed getting a few shots of LegoLand....

And Nickelodeon's Ultimate Adventure Park (formerly known as Camp Snoopy)....

But we really went for one main purpose.  We went so I could relive my youth crushes.....those guys you listened to on the radio and wanted to date.....those boys whose voices were sweeter than butter, who set the standard for "cool"......we saw these guys - 

Joey, Jonathan, Danny, Donny, and Jordan.  The New Kids On The Block are BACK!  

Best Buy just opened up in THE Mall, and to celebrate the store opening, they booked the hottest new(old) act in boy-band-land.  I decided we were going on Thursday when I heard about their performance on the news.  So, when Mitch got home from his professional responsibility test (which I'm sure he passed), we headed to the mall to scope out the best possible spot in the Rotunda for viewing.  We ended up on the fourth floor, where these pics were taken.  

After waiting for approximately two hours (I waited the entire time - Mitch fetched us Caribou Coffee and did a little light shopping - he clearly was not as interested as seeing them as I was), NKOTB finally came out to perform three tunes - two new ones, and one oldie.  I was really hoping for something to get my hand waving in the air like I just didn't care, like "Hanging Tough" or "The Right Stuff", or even to listen to Joey and Jordan's soulful singing on "Please Don't Go, Girl", but sadly, I didn't even know the name of the old one.

Here was their "custom" stage - 

And the crowd in the Rotunda - it picked up right before the concert - 

And finally, pics of the band during the performance.  Mitch was quite disappointed in their lackluster performance for a bunch of 30-ish-year-old screaming fans living out the dream like I was, but I thought it was still fun to watch them dance.  I mean, that's what they are so good at!

Here's me turning my back for a brief moment so that I could be in the picture with the boys - 

It was truly a childhood dream come true.  

Just so you can understand how wonderful it is, take the time to view one of their songs (a new one they performed) that I recorded.  (Side note - I posted this on YouTube last night, and I got almost 50 comments from people - a few great ones were "OMFG - I was there in the front row and center and if you would have seen this moment live, you would have had a heart attack.  Damn, those hips!" and "The Block is back - Oh Yeah!" and "I could just melt - they look amazing!")

Stay tuned...

Live via Blackberry:

Who or what is Tina taking a picture of at THE Mall of America?

Blogged From My Pants; test #1

Greetings from the next evolution of blogging - live from work via Blackberry. Still working out the details of posting this way so please bear with me.

Twin Cities weather update:
Sunny and 64 degrees at 7:00 am, high today of 81.

Shoutouts:
Good luck to Dr. Martin on his big ass med school exam this week! Congrats on getting 'er done!

News:
Tina saw a movie yesterday.
Mitch sat in the tiny workstation pictured here for 10 hours.

("Blogged from my pants" borrowed from author Matt Fraction's blog)

Just a Little Trim

If you've seen Mitch lately, you know that he's been growing his hair out since...well, since a long time.  Christmastime, or maybe even before that.  It all started with him wanting a "grown-up" haircut, and used Patrick Dempsey's beautiful locks for inspiration.  After only two or three haircuts since the beginning of the year, here's what it looked like last night - 

Clearly, he has missed the Dempsey boat.  After it was suggested that he change his hair to a more manageable  (and less out-of-control) 'do by me and his parents, he decided to get a hair cut.  (Thank goodness).  Here's what he looks like now - 

Ah, back to the Hottie Mitch I once knew in college.  

I managed to squeeze in a trip to the salon in my very-overbooked schedule of working out, lunching, and shopping - 

Now we are ready for our driver's license pictures on Friday!