Sunday, April 29, 2012

A lovely piece of history...


This weekend I went to the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis with 3 of my girl friends.  It was the first time that any of us had ever been there.  It was a rainy and gloomy day, so it was perfect for spending the day inside and checking out the museum. 

Throughout the afternoon I learned a lot about the history of the building as well as the history of Minneapolis and the flour milling industry. 

This museum in housed inside the remains of the old Gold Medal Flour building right on the Mississippi River, which is a beautiful setting.  Throughout our time at the museum we saw 2 movies detailing the history of Minneapolis and the flour milling industry located here.  I had no idea that Minneapolis was such an integral part of flour milling history.  At one point in time, Minneapolis had 3 of the 4 largest flour mills in the U.S.! Who knew!?!?  I certainly didn't!

We also sat in on a rhubarb cooking demonstration, felt the weight of 20 pounds of water pressure, and took an elevator ride up to the observation area on the eighth floor.  The view of the Stone Arch Bridge is stunning!  Across the river is the Pillsbury Flour Mill, the rival to Gold Medal. 

Here's a fun fact I learned - flour dust is 50 times more explosive than gunpowder!  How random is that!  From here on out, any time I bake I will make sure to keep all flames away from the flour dust!

 

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

A lovely bit of psycho...


So, I have this little kitty named Josie.  Most of my friends and family would say that she is not a particularly lovely cat to own.  She doesn't like anyone other than me, and even then she doesn't always like me very much either!  But I think Josie is a perfectly lovely cat to have...despite her psycho tendencies. 

When Josie gets in a mood, you better watch out!  She will come at you with back claws exposed and teeth bared - I even have the scars to prove it!  Unfortunately, there are many things that flare up the psycho in Josie, like walking past her, brushing up against her, moving too quickly near her, etc.  As you can see, she's just a little bit touchy.  She's been like this since she was just a little kitten, but thankfully she is mellowing out a little bit.  She still gets absolutely psycho at times, but it doesn't seem to happen nearly as often as she once did...thankfully!

Despite all of this I still think Joise is a lovely, if a little bit psycho, kitty to own.  It sure is a good thing she's cute!

Monday, April 23, 2012

A lovely bit of comic relief...


Yesterday I spent the day helping my youngest brother move to Wisconsin.  He had been living in Wyoming and Colorado for the past few years and storing his things in my basement.  Now that he has his own apartment, my mom, dad, and I helped him pack up a load of his furniture onto a truck to bring to WI.

The pickup truck was backed halfway into my garage while we packed.  As I made my way around the side of the truck I just so happened to step on the bristles of my push broom, which was leaning against the wall.  In total '3 Stooges style' the broom handle came flinging up and hit me smack dab in my left eye!  Immediately, I started both laughing and crying as my eye began throbbing - I just couldn't decide what my response should be!  I was able to open my eye and I could see without any issue, so I finally settled on laughter.  As soon as I was full-fledged laughing my family joined in with me.  Thankfully I am totally OK and it didn't even bruise at all, but I'm pretty sure that I'd never be able to recreate that 3 Stooges moment again!