Pucks and S'mores

I've been years since I've had a s'more and lately I've been craving one. Neenah was having their annual Washington Park Winter Festival today complete with hot chocolate and s'mores. I lured Danielle and Gavin out of the house with the promise of s'mores.. okay so Danielle was game, Gavin not so much. Luckily he was a good sport.

Winter Festival was advertised as a free event for the entire family. There was to be skating, sledding, hockey, games, and s'mores. It was sponsored by the Neenah Park and Rec department and one of the local credit unions. Based on the lack of snow, I was pretty sure sledding wasn't going to be an option but there was plenty of everything else.

The ice rink was flooded and frozen. None of us had skates but we still ventured out on the ice to shoot some hockey. If you made a 5 point shot, you got a blizzard coupon... if you made a 2 point shot, you might a dilly bar stick... if you were under the age of 5. Okay so I may not have gotten my free blizzard but I did get a two pointer and five pointer. Apparently hockey was my sport.

Inside there was free lunch of a (lukewarm) hot dog and a bag of chips. Free is free. It was nice they were offering lunch. You could get hot chocolate outside or an itty bitty cup of water inside to drink.

After lunch, Danielle and Gavin tried they luck at a few of the games.

The games were geared towards the younger kids but the volunteers let the us bigger kids play too. I would have joined in but there were little kids that wanted to play.

Once we were done playing games, we headed back outside to make s'mores. Yum. They set a fire pit with pre-packaged s'more kits. a baggie with 2 graham cracker halfs, a fun-sized Hershey bar, and a marshmallow. It was perfect. Just pick up a stick and roast away.

Even though the marshmallows were not very soft and the s'more not very good, it was quite delicious. I don't know if the lack of gooeyness or the smaller Hershey bar was the reason but it was not a sweet as normal which I was completely happy with.

It was a great way to spend an hour or so on a winter day. It got us outside and into the fresh air. It is definitely geared to the under six crowd but it was still a lot fun. If you have small children, I would highly recommend going to this next year. I may go just for the s'mores.

I am no Bob Ross

Kimberly-Little Chute Library was having a paint like Bob Ross night.I hemmed and hawed about if I wanted to spend the $10 to paint. At the end I decided that it was something to do and I had nothing better to do while the hubby was at basketball.

To help us to paint like Bob Ross, we were provided Bob Ross wigs if we wanted one.

We had step by step instructions from You Tube how to paint with shades of grey. The librarian would play a step of the painting a couple of times and we were supposed to paint what Bob told us to paint with the right color/brush. He took us from a white canvas to a beautiful mountain scene... or should have.

We had to mix blue and brown to make grey... apparently Bob used special paint to get his grey because initially mine was a lovely blue-green. However with enough paint, I managed to get a grey color. Why couldn't we just use black and white. Plus we had to have a dark and light grey.

We had to make clouds to start off.. well my clouds went light and fluffy but more stormy and angry. I couldn't get my clouds to look like clouds. I think I had too much paint on my brush.

The mountains were slightly easier... until we had to start shadowing. I can't shadow to save my life. Everything is very one-dimensional with me. It went from mountains to waves crashing on rocks.

We had to add trees then. I couldn't figure out how Bob was making his trees so I made my own.. itty bitty trees that blended into the background mainly because I was over this whole painting thing by then (we were there for over an hour already) and my painting looked nothing like Bob's. I pretty much gave up.

I tried to make it a little more like Bob's mountain scene but every time I tried to "fix" I just made it worse and I was completely done. While everyone was adding more trees and shadows, I was done.

The wig definitely did not help. It was fun to wear but I don't think even Bob Ross standing next to me guiding my hand could help my lack of art skills. Needless to say, painting scenery is not my thing. Maybe they could do some sort of pop art. I might be able to handle that. Or maybe a Picasso.

So next time the library offers painting night, someone remind me I am no Bob Ross and it might be better to stick with basket weaving and print making.

575. See the Harlem Globetrotters

I've been wanting to go to the Harlem Globetrotters for years. They come to Green Bay and now they are also in Oshkosh right around Christmas/New Years. The hubby promised me we would go last year. Unfortunately the Globetrotters were in Oshkosh on New Year's Day so technically I didn't get to go last year but it became the first bucket list adventure of this year.

Tickets were more expensive than I expected them to be but not completely outrageous. If you wanted to meet the team and participate in a pre-game skills clinic of sorts, it would have been an extra $20 a person or something ridiculous like that. I didn't think it was worth that. I could see $10 but not $20.

We saw the Harlem Globetrotters at the Menominee Nation Arena in Oshkosh. The venue had limited parking and we ended up walking a good four blocks. Parking was free even in the itty-bitty parking lot. Oshkosh really needs a parking garage down there.

The Globetrotters was everything I expected and more. I knew they were famous for trick shots and family friendly entertainment. However I didn't quite expect the comedy show that went with it. Fans in the front row would randomly be pulled on to the court to be assistance or one of players would go into the crowd for one reason or another.

The game would randomly stop and players would preform balls tricks. That was pretty good. There were even ball tricks in the middle of the game.

What I did not expect was that the players could barely make regular basketball shots. The actual shooting at times was pathetic. Maybe I just watch too much basketball and pick up on these things. Maybe it was just part of the show. Who knows.

I also did not expect there were going to be two teams. I thought the Globetrotters would play against each other. The Washington Generals were not very good and apparently the Globetrotters normal opponent. The Generals star player was the villain of the game. He would try to cause trouble and at one point near the end of the game pulled the plug to reset the scoreboard to zero so that the first team to 6 would win. Naturally the Globetrotters sunk a 4 point shot to win the game.

It was a great way to spend a few hours on New Years. Would I go again? I probably would. It would have to be the right opportunity as I don't think the show changes much. However if you are a basketball fan, played basketball, or have kids into sports, I would highly recommend seeing the Globetrotters at least once.

2019 Bucket List Goals

Looking ahead to 2019, I have a feeling it is going to be EPIC. Since I only need to cross 100 more items off my bucket list to reach my goal of completing half of my (original) bucket list, I thought I'd celebrate with trying for an "official" bucket list adventure every month this year.

January -- See the Harlem Globetrotters (already have tickets)
February -- Play Tiddlywinks
March -- See a NHL Game
April -- Make a bird house (Danielle has kits)
May -- Make a bird feeder (Danielle has kits)
June -- Go to Breakfast on the Farm
July -- Go to a Toga Party
August -- Go to Hershey, PA
September -- Go to the YMCA
October -- Go to a Porn Shop
November -- Go to Chuck E Cheese
December -- Kiss under a Mistletoe

There are definitely a few additional items that could and most likely will get crossed off the list especially in August.

Will I get everything done? Who knows but it will be fun trying. I'm always looking for bucket list partners in crime.

A couple other goals for the year

• Finish a 5K under 40 minutes
• Read at least 2 books off the (extended) bucket list

2018 in Review

2018 was another busy year. The adventures added up quickly. It just didn't seem as busy as last year.

Here's a quick look back on 2018 by the numbers

• 13 official bucket list adventures
• 30+ extended bucket list adventures
• 13 states (3 new ones)
• 4 State Capitols (3 new ones)
• 194 Counties (107 new ones)
• 8 states watching baseball(2 new states)
• 2 state we played mini golf in (2 new states)
• 4 Major League Stadiums visited (2 new ones) for a total 11 major league games
• 4 Minor League Parks visited (4 new ones) for a total of 7 minor league games
• 3 Spring Training Stadiums visited for a total of 4 Cactus League Games
• 3 Brewer Play off Games
• 1 State Park.. a lone trip or two to High Cliff
• 10 Museums 
• 1 World Heritage Site
• 7 National Parks
• 2 National Forests
• 3 Great Lakes

• 1 Big Ten Stadium (1 new)
• 6 wineries in 2 states (4 new ones, 2 of which are my new favorites)
• 1 Brewery
• 2 states that I had ice cream in (1 new)
• 1 movie in the theaters
• 110 Books Read (including 2 off the bucket list)
• 18 new movies watched
• 7 Visits with Sisters
• 5 Random Postcards to arrive (thanks Danielle and Alison)
• 2 5Ks

I can't wait to see what 2019 has in store for me.

Gridiron Glory at the Castle

The History at the Castle Museum was hosting the traveling Football Hall of Fame Exhibit Gridiron Glory. It was going to be there through the end of the year and I wanted to go. We could have gone in October but that's when I hurt my foot and thought more walking wasn't a good idea. With the hubby's limited availability during the holidays, I made sure to find a day that we could go. Although it was slightly pricing at $15/person, I knew it was going to be worth it.

The Gridiron Glory highlighted artifacts from the NFL. You came into the entry of the museum and you could try your hand at instant replay.. there was even an instant replay booth. The hubby tried his hand at instant reply as we left and of course he got it right.

Because of the layout of the museum, the exhibit was spread out on all three floors... pretty much where ever they had space to put it. There was artifacts from the early days of the NFL including the heating cables under Lambeau Field that Lombardi had installed.

There was also memorabilia from the modern era and the players that kids today recognize.

It is always amazing to see what players wore as protection back in the day or should I say lack of protection. Some of my bras probably have more padding than those shoulder pads did.

The Gridiron Glory did not take up the entire museum and there were a few other exhibits going on including the mainstay Houdini Exhibit. However, the one that the hubby was most impressed with was the model railroad exhibit of Appleton in the 1950's. It was an N-Scale model railroad of downtown Appleton which was pretty much spot on.. a few minor tweaks had to be made for space issues. The model railroader was there and explained the model railroad as well as answered any questions. The hubby was in his glory.

Of all it was a nice afternoon. If you haven't gotten to the History at the Castle to see the Gridiron Glory exhibit, I'd say hurry on over before January 6th. It definitely worth it especially for football fans. Hopefully the museum continues to get traveling exhibits... maybe one from Cooperstown??

Celebrating Festivus

I heard about Festivus, even though I'm not a Seinfeld fan but I never celebrated it before. The Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass was celebrating Festivus as part of their Art After Dark series. I told Danielle to mark it on her calendar, we were going. Between work and sickness, we almost didn't make it but the Festivus Gods were in our favor and we were able to celebrate Festivus.

What is Festivus? Well as I like to say "Airing your grievances so you can be joyful and thankful at Christmas". Festivus is more than that. According to Wikipedia "Festivus is a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as an alternative to the pressures and commercialism of the Christmas season." Apparently it's been around since the 60s but really has gotten popular since Seinfeld in the 90s.

There are many aspects to Festivus:

There is the Festivus Pole which is just an aluminum pole in the middle of the room. It's actually kind of boring. I guess it's supposed to represent the lack of commercialism in your life. There were songs you could sing around the Festivus pole such as "It's a Pole", "The Festivus Song", and "O Festivus".

Then you have the traditional Festivus dinner which is meatloaf and mashed potatoes. We had meatballs and M&Ms. Close enough. It was still tasty. It is difficult to put mashed potatoes on a stick.. maybe next year they will do potato puffs.

One of the parts of Festivus I was looking forward to was the airing of grievances. After my bad day at work, I really needed to air some grievances. I probably was a little too specific but I really liked some of the grievances people aired. Next year I'll have to be more creative.

The last part of Festivus was Feats of Strength. There were several feats of strength that the entire family could partake in -- staring contest, thumb wrestling, and arm strength. Gavin totally beat me at the staring contest. However after a slows start, I managed to take two out of three in the thumb wrestling competition. To find out who won the feats of strength, we held out paper weights in each hand. The goal was to see who could keep them outstretched the longest. Even with Danielle cheering Gavin, he tired out quickly and I was named the Feats of Strength Champion. Not quite sure how fair it was since there is a 30+ year age difference.

The Festivus celebration was a lot of fun. Besides the Festivus Celebration, we got to check out some really cool new glass creations in the museum.

I hope to be back next year for another Festivus celebration. Who knows maybe I will inherit an aluminum pole myself and I can host my own Festivus celebration.