The Collected Works of Nicole Larson

Today I was thinking about all the things I had to write throughout my schooling. Then I thought about what it would look like if they made a library stocked solely with things I had created. To give you a brief glimpse into the library, I will supply you with a short list of titles:

"Loud Mouth Peter and the Big Coloring Contest" circa 1st grade (title blatantly copied from a Nancy Carlson book)

"The Life of Me" an autobiography circa 3rd grade

"Santa Hired Cows" a christmas story circa 5th grade

and more recently....

"How I know Hitler Drove a Volkswagon Beetle" circa 11th grade

and unofficially titled

"A day in My Life at the Prison Camp" circa 12th grade in which I discuss the pros of hard labor, poor living conditions, and little food.


I think I should strongly consider developing this library.

On a more normal note....my life at the moment: my computer died so I had to send it in to get repaired. I'm currently using my old computer which is slow, has a poorly functioning b button, and, and has randomly and inconsistently working volume (perhaps you recall the post about said computer from a few years ago). I should get the computer back in 7-10 business days. I'm not exactly sure what happened to it, but it stopped charging the battery and then started shutting off at random. Now it won't stay on for more than 20 minutes at a time. Stupid.

I also still never got a new camera either, so I don't have any new photos to add.

I finally got my motorcycle moved into storage this weekend. I friend is letting me keep it in her garage up here. I haven't been able to ride for nearly a month because it's been leaking gas. Now it refuses to start, so it appears I have to learn how to fix motorcycles over the winter. I had to load it on to a trailer and strap it down for the drive over to Erin's. It was interesting to say the least.

Work is still going ok, but in the past 2 weeks, 2 people have quit, so we're not doing the best on staffing. Anyone want to work at Mayo?

Other than that, it's been same old same old. Hopefully next time I write it will be on my repaired laptop...And who know, maybe I'll get that camera and add some pictures....

Bag Lady

I've been really bad about meeting my goal of two blog posts a month..... I should have posted this yesterday. Oh well.

I've been doing a bit of sewing lately. I started crocheting again so I wasn't doing much with my machine, but last weekend Andy babysat so I stayed home and had craft time. I made a few tote bag things that I've showed on here before. I got some Vikings fabric from my aunt Tracy with the intention of making Meg a tote (don't tell her, she only knows she's getting a "present"). I had extra fabric so I made another. Then while I was at it I made a strawberry shortcake one with other fabric I got from my aunt. I thought I might try to sell the extra Vikings and shortcake ones on ebay. Then I was telling a friend about the bags and she asked if I could make one for her niece, so I made a tinkerbell one too.

Then after all the bags I though I ought to make something that would let me sew but also crochet. My mom used to make baby blankets that she'd sew together and then crochet around the edges. I happened to have a baby print fabric (again thanks to Tracy) and the right type of floss/thread/yearn (i don't know what the type I used is technically called) to use on the edges so I started working on that. I don't have a picture of it yet because it's not done. I'll try to post one when I finish it. But this will be complicated by the fact that my camera decided to break.

Maybe three Christmases ago I got a digital camera from my grandma. I like it a lot, but was thinking lately about maybe upgrading. Then my camera died, and the decision to upgrade was made for me. When I try to turn it on, the lens will pop out but then it makes an awful grinding sound and the camera shuts back down without drawing the lens back in. I got the picture of the bags using my webcam, but I don't think it would be very convenient to continue using my laptop as my primary camera...I'm still undecided about which camera I would like to get though, so it may be awhile before I get anything.

On a different topic, Andy and I have taken the canoe out a few times in the past couple of weeks. I caught a pretty nice northern on one of our trips. I look silly in the picture because it was super windy, and it looks like i'm going for a fist bump because I'm holding the fishing line up so it wouldn't get tangled in the fish. Notice i'm not even wearing my normal fish glove to protect me from the disgusting slime and smell of fish. I'm such a big girl.

On a different trip my jig got snagged in a tree when I was casting a little too aggressively. When I jerked the line back to get it out, it shot off of the tree ( a good twenty feet away) and wizzed right back at me and smashed into my finger. The skin broke in a couple spots and it immediately started to swell. I put my hand in the water to attempt to keep the swelling down, but I still wound up with a pretty swollen and colorful finger. This was last saturday and my finger is still a little sore a week later.

Camping Time

Labor day weekend I went on my third trip to the boundary waters. This trip we launched from East Bearskin Lake which is about thirty miles west of Grand Marais. Our campsite was a 2 hour canoe trip through bearskin lake and onto alder lake. This time I actually got a picture of me carrying the giant back pack. It weighed about 50 pounds. I squat down to pick up the backpack and it's so heavy I can't get up on my own. One time Margaret tried to help me up, but it failed and i ended up looking like a turtle who'd been flipped on it's back with it's arms and legs flailing.

We spent a ton of time fishing and exploring the area. This trip was our best as far as fishing went. We caught a ton of small mouth bass and kept a couple for lunch. The second day we were there we went on a trip to a waterfall. There were actually three different falls and you could climb higher and higher on a trail to see each one.

The first night we were there was beautiful and had a gorgeous sunset. I took a bunch of neat picture but only put one on here. I also have a picture of our campsite. If you look on the left, you can see our food hanging in the tree to keep it safe from bears.

The second day was really annoying as far as weather goes. It was raining when we woke up, but cleared up a bit. It was chilly too. But then the sun came out and it was nice. Then twenty minutes later the clouds would come back, it would get cold, and start raining again. This happened all day. You'd get so hot when the sun came out that you'd take off some layers of clothes, but then it would get cold and rainy again and you'd have to put more layers on.

We went with andy's mom and sister. It was a lot of fun to spend quality time with them out in nature. We're planning on all going up again next year, but they want to get a cabin. Andy and I will just ditch out on the cabin for a couple days to do some real camping.

Move-ed

The move is complete. So far I really like the new place compared to the old except for a few things.

I'll start with the good stuff because sometimes i can be optimistic. The living room is very nice and has a ton of shelf space. I put all our pictures on display there rather than hanging them all on the walls. There is also plenty of light in the living room whereas our last place got light for about two hours a day. It's nice because the living room is really long, but divided a little so it's kind of like to separate rooms, but is still big and open. I painted one of the rooms because the walls were kind of gross--the landlord didn't re-paint anything so it was all kind of dingy off-white.

The kitchen is really awesome. There are a million cupboards and nice flooring. There are also a ton of windows in there. The stove is a lot nicer than the old place, and there is room for a table. (unlike the last place where we had to have the table directly against the couch. The kitchen was kind of hard to capture in a photo, so you'll have to come see it in person to get the real effect.

There are two bedrooms--one is scarily small and the other is ridiculously large. I hate sleeping in the small bedroom, but i'm slowly getting used to it. I love the big bedroom because it has enough space for both our dresser and desks with plenty of room to spare. The big bedroom was also difficult to get a good photo of, so I used one that shows the plentiful closet space.


The things that i'm not super fond of so far are the wet, scary basement that caused all sorts of problems with washer/dryer hookup, the poor placement of electrical sockets in several rooms, the location (lots of white trash, loud mouths, and college kids), the amount of noise compared to where we were at before, and the gross walls that will need to be painted or ignored. I guess I will get used to the noise and can do something about the paint. All I have to do now is figure out a way to always avoid the neighbors. That can't be too hard right?........

Cha Cha Changes

I am MOVING! Which is annoying because no one likes hauling all their crap around less than ten months after they did it the last time....but nice since i'm getting out of the death house with it's bugs and mice and mold and death. The bad news is that i'm moving into a house on elm street so now i can never fall asleep again without potentially being killed in my dreams.

The house is neat. It has a really nice kitchen, living room, and bathroom. A HUGE bedroom and then a small, insane asylum bedroom. Unfortunately, I think I will be sleeping in the small bedroom which has enough room for a queen size bed, one night stand, and nothing else..... It just doesn't make sense to use the huge bedroom as anything but the office-fun room. The basement at this place is scary, but all that will be down there are the washer and dryer so it will be ok.

I'm also starting a NEW JOB! on august 8th at the hospital. I will be a receptionist/scheduler. "thank you for visiting the hospital today! how can i assist you in dealing with your disgusting illness?" I think that is what i'm supposed to say.

Tomorrow is my last day of work at buyfun. Then I have a week off to move and relax. Then, BIG GIRL TIME!


I don't have any videos for you today. Last post was "just a phase" by incubus.

Cabin

To start this post off, I'm going to link you to the song I'm currently listening to because It's good, and that should be enough of a reason. It's going to take you there on the tab you're in, so you'll have to open a new tab to continue reading the blog. Click here.

This month I went on the annual Leech Lake vacation. This was my fourth year going. This year I was lucky enough to catch the largest fish. A 28 inch northern. It was somewhat disappointing because it didn't put up much of a fight. But hey, screw everyone. I CAUGHT THE BIGGEST FISH! My dad caught a 26 inch walleye which was the next biggest thing. I also caught a really large dogfish which was disgusting. My dad wouldn't let me bring it all the way in the boat because when they get scared or feel threatened they poop all over as a defense. It works I guess seeings as how we threw it back in the lake as soon as possible. Don't tell though because that might be illegal.....However the DNR people are probably no longer working, so I guess they can't do anything to me anyway.

Any who, Andy and I spent a lot of time in the boat with Justin (my brother for the one or two people who read this and don't know). It was fun. He and I didn't really like each other growing up, so it's nice to spend some time together now. One day we were out trying to find some bass. Justin told Andy to point the way, so he picked a spot near shore to fish. Within 10 minutes, my brother already caught 2. Awhile later I also caught one. Andy was able to find where they were at, but he didn't get to catch any.

Andy and I also fished from the shore a lot. he caught a sunny as big as his face with a giant belly. The fish was pregnant so we threw her back to have her fish babies.

There was rain in the forecast so before I left I bought a cheap rainsuit from Scheels. The first day it rained, I took the suit out only to find it already had a hole in it. When I got home I emailed the company and complained. To make things better they sent me a free rain jacket and rain pants which were over $80 on their website! The suit I bought cost $10 on clearance. So for $10 and one email complaining about the poor quality of the rain gear, I got a rain suit 8 times better than the one I bought myself. I thought that was a pretty sweet deal.

It's been so long since I've thought about name that tune that I don't even remember what the last thing I did was....I had to look it up. I still can't believe no one guessed it and I just had to tell you the answer. I KNOW some of you knew it. Anyway, this new one I won't be surprised if no one knows. Though I think there is at least one person who could venture an educated guess.
The song is from the fourth album of the band and came out it 2001. Rather different than the classic rock I'm usually trying to play for you.

BWCA

Last weekend, Andy and I went to the boundary waters. we left Mankato around 6:30 pm for the cities. We needed to load up the canoe and swap everything into his dad's van which is what we were driving up in. We went to bed at ten and woke up at 2 to start driving up. To of his friends came with, but they drove up separately. We started out from Homer Lake and canoed up to Vern Lake where we planned on staying. The first day was nice, but a little windy which made it feel a lot colder. We were supposed to have three portages to go through, but the water level was high enough that we were able to bypass them and have a little fun going through some "rapids." We were even able to go back up one against the current on the way home. We did a little fishing after setting up camp but didn't catch anything. On our way back to camp after fishing, one of Andy's friend tipped his canoe and got totally drenched. We had to build him a fire to warm up. Fortunately he had a full change of clothes. It rained quite a bit over night and in the morning Andy's friends' tent was pretty wet inside. Our was too, but not that bad. One of the guys wanted to leave since it was still raining and he didn't think the tent would dry up. We packed up all our gear and canoed back to the first lake. They took off from there to head back to the cities, but Andy and I decided to sleep in the van and stay until Monday as planned. It got nice enough that we could have dried our tent out, but it rained a ton more later, so it probably wouldn't have stayed dry. We both had rain suits, so we stayed out on the lake all day despite the rain.

My shoes weren't waterproof so my feet got soaked. Since I didn't have many changes of socks, I had to warp my feet in plastic bags so they'd stay warm and dry in my shoes. It wasn't the most classy looking thing every, but it got the job done.

The third day was perfect. It probably got up to 75 and the sun wash shining. We canoed all over the lakes in the area and did a ton of fishing. There wasn't a lot biting and for all our fishing we only came away with three northerns, a bass, and a walleye.

We loaded everything up on Sunday night and headed out basically as soon as we woke up on Monday.

Despite the rain, the trip was a lot of fun. I think I would have been more upset with it if we had to sleep in a damp tent, but as it was, things worked out just fine. I can't wait to go back again in September.

For the name that tune, I'm just going to call Daniel the winner since he was the only one to comment on the post and I know he knows that song. For the chumps who don't know, it's "Blackbird" by the Beatles.

I'll do another name that tune on the next post. This one is long enough for now.