Custer, Wisconsin...Not just the home of the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair!

This past Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day. Now I am not Irish...but I find it a fun holiday to celebrate in this weird winter-ish/spring-ish time of year when the weather just can't decide what mood it wants to be. For a few years I have seen an ad about a St. Patrick's Day celebration at Clancey's Stone Lion in Custer, WI. Now let me tell you, Custer has two roads, three bars, a small auto sale place, and a post office...you have to cross Hwy 10 to get to the church. It's just a blip on the map, like any other country blip-like town. (Like Arnott...or Fancher). And up until Tuesday, the biggest event we knew of that occured in Custer was the annual Midwest Renewable Energy Fair...and that's not in Downtown Custer (Insert snicker at the words..."Downtown Custer") Well, I told Perry that it would be fun to go to Clancey's since it's the one bar out of the three that we have never patronized AND it was having a St. Patrick's Day celebration AND it was serving corned beef and cabbage.

Now remember, Custer is not a huge metropolis. Most of the time when you drive through it, the only reason you even need to go through it is to get onto Hwy 10. It is usually pretty ghost-town-like. (I always think tumbleweeds should be blowing through the street or something.) Every Tuesday in the summer when I play volleyball in Polonia, I drive through it and it is whisper quiet...it's eerie. Now we have been to the other two bars in Custer on a Friday and Saturday night. No Problem and Custer Pit Stop are across the road from each other...and it being the country and all...you can walk back and forth with your drink and not have a problem. Hey, it's the country...and it's sad that I think it's okay...but I am becoming a bit too country!

Anyway, you can only imagine our surprise as we drove up Custer Road towards Custer and saw cars parked all the way up and down the road. We were dumbfounded. This couldn't be for the little St. Patrick's Day dealio at Clancey's?!? Then we saw the floats...then the throng of people...then the Guinness truck...and the tent set up outside Clancey's...and we were stunned. How had we lived down the road for the last however many years and never knew that there was this huge St. Patrick's Day festival/parade/celebration in little ole Custer, WI!?!

Everyone was dressed up in green and other St. Patty's Day garb, there were Irish bulldogs, a green hearse for the mock Irish funeral, flags, football scarves, etc. You seriously would have laughed if you saw the dumbfounded looks on our faces. We headed to the tent...and got ourselves some Smithwicks'...they also had Guinness and Harp on tap outside...no green beer in sight (Apparently that is the POLISH way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day...as we were told.) And then we stepped into Clancey's and I was transported back to Ireland. I had studied abroad in the Spring of 2002 and lived in London. I had the pleasure of visiting Ireland, Scotland, and Wales while I was in London...along with a two week tour of the continent. Clancey's Stone Lion reminded me of an Irish pub overseas. Beautiful wood bar, Strongbow & Guinness on tap, smooth Irish whiskeys...it was unreal. And we LOVED it. We kept asking each other, WHY HAVE WE NEVER STEPPED INTO CLANCEY'S BEFORE!?

Needless to say we had a lovely time and really enjoyed our St. Patrick's Day...we saw old friends there and just took in the whole experience...and we made a promise to visit Clancey's more often. The picture on this blog is of the actual parade...thank you Stevens Point Journal!

And on a a follow up note: I finally received the dress from Target that I wrote about in my last blog. I was so excited to get it and when I put it on...it looked terrible! Perry and I were both disappointed in the ill-fit of the dress. So I am going to send it back...and I am not going to go through the rig-a-ma-role of ordering a different size or getting it altered. I just don't think it is worth it...and then of course everywhere I look I see pictures or shows with people in one-sleeved dresses that look fabulous. Oh well, I guess it wasn't meant to be AND it really proves how hard it is to buy clothing on the Internet. I have had the same problem with buying shoes as well.

I Want It

Shopping is something I limit myself to. I usually go to Goodwill, St. Vincent's, or a local thrift store to look around for stuff before heading to a "normal" store if I can't find what I am looking for. I agonize over every penny it seems. For example, just this morning, I was at Copps in Plover and I wanted the Mann's Sugar Snap Peas for $3.49 and the already cut fruit (which had kiwi...and that sounded SO good!) for $3.63. I carried those two items around while having an argument in my head over whether or not to buy them. Was it really worth it? Should I just pick a less expensive fruit and vegetable? It's so expensive since it is out of season, yadda, yadda, yadda! I finally put both items back and bought a bag of baby carrots for $1.99 and two bananas for $0.59 a pound (I know, I know...Kwik Trip is cheaper for bananas...but I was already cutting it close on time due to the aforementioned argument in my head.)

It's not that I don't indulge...I do...but I try not to let it happen too often so that when it actually does happen...it feels like a treat. But sometimes, I have trained myself so well that I still feel guilty for spending the money. But I digress...because really I want to buy something. I don't need it...I just want it and I want to wear it to Perry's birthday party even though it is probably too dressy. I found the dress pictured above at Target and I want it so terribly. It is $39.99 and so amazing...I am SO tempted to just go there and try it on...but then the big debate will start.

So here's my big internal debate...I just got my tax return...and it was a pretty nice return, I was able to pay some bills and have a little left over...so do I splurge or save it? I told myself I would finally get my hair cut and colored with part of my return instead of just a cut (I had my hair colored back in September...so it would be nice to have it done again...especially before his party.) And then I think about his birthday party and what I have left buy for it, a few baby showers I have coming up, my normal expenses, etc. And I can't decide. All I know is. I. WANT. IT.

Sigh. You know, it if it was for someone else I would buy it in a heartbeat.

Best Monday Ever!

I am back in my regular position at work and it is the best feeling in the world! For the last three and a half months I had been a part of a special team assigned to a special project. It required me to move to a different department, do very different job duties, and be away from a job & co-workers I love.

But TODAY I got to move back to my department and be with my beloved co-workers once again. They tried their darnedest to keep me in the loop the last few months and I greatly appreciated it. But it is so much nicer just being able to pop my head into their cube and talk instead of sending or receiving an e-mail or getting the cute newsletter they made me. I am so happy to be back...I can't stop smiling.

Not to say I won't miss the people I met and worked with on my special project. I was very happy to have worked with those five other ladies. They are all special in their own ways....and I am grateful to have had that experience with them. We'll always be the Super Six, The Six Pack, or whatever else we were being called. I can't imagine doing that project with anyone else at this point...it was quite the ride and we rode it together. I hope they are enjoying their first days back in their departments as well (Except for two...two ladies were asked to stay on one more month to wrap up the project...so I hope they are doing well as a Dynamic Duo instead of a Six Pack.)

Anyway...Happy Monday! Because to me it is a SUPER HAPPY FANTASTIC MONDAY!