Look Ma! No booster!

Kathleen says it's too soon, but Grandpa let Emily eat breakfast this morning for the first time without a booster chair. Birdie thought it was cool too, but was more attracted to the milk moustache made more accessible by the new arrangement. Emily will need all the energy she can get today. This afternoon we're trying out the new toboggan. It's zero out, so the sliding won't last long. Birdie will watch from indoors. The sliding hill is beside the house. We'll try to get a picture if the camera doesn't freeze up first.

Yes, we have a winner!

It was five years ago that Stan's lifetime pal, Randy, introduced his friends to the popular Texas Hold 'em poker game. This week that gang was back together a number of times for some serious holiday games at a variety of venues. In the thick of the fun as usual was St. Paul Katie. That's Randy with the big stack above and in the Minnesota sweatshirt below, here from LA for just 10 days. The joke is that the same money has been circulating around this same gang of players for five years as they takes turns winning the big pots. . . everybody pretty much has what they started out with. . . plus loads of good times and memories, of course. Cheap entertainment, indeed.
The real Christmas cash story comes from the complete non-gambler and our family friend Hai Dang. (In the photo below with an adoring Katie.)

His kin convinced this brilliant family man to go out to Mystic Lake casino for a holiday celebration. Hai initially refused, but agreed to come and just enjoy a buffet with his extended family. While there, a cousin tried to lure him to a slot machine with a house coupon good for $10. Hai still refused, preferring to watch a band perform instead.
But the persistent cousin prevailed and eventually Hai found himself reluctantly confronting a one-armed bandit for a complimentary game of chance. The enthusiastic cousin, and others, who apparently had lost some money previously to this device, insisted that the machine was hot and really ready to pay off big.
Hai just shook his head, rolled his eyes and played along. His first spin yielded some modest points, but a confused and reluctant Hai viewed this as just delaying the inevitable loss of the free credits. He soldiered on, though, and when the machine asked him to try to match five cards with five other random cards, he did just that. Five out of five. The machine groaned, then began to squeal and flash, ding and dong for what seemed like 10 continuous minutes, as a crowd gathered to see what all the din was about. Sure enough, Hai had hit a jackpot. The machine paid off the reluctant first-timer a grand total of $1,892.42. Casino officials shut down the machine temporarily, congratulated the novice, got out tax forms and took his picture.
Hai quickly handed off $900 to his persistent cousin, saved a big chunk for the IRS, gave his wife money for two new pairs of shoes, handed cash to employees, gave money to nearby relatives, and that evening, when his son Andrew sped home early with his date under a ruse that he was in trouble, Hai made the poor confused teenage couple bow. . . as he dropped a crisp $100 bill into each outstretched hand.
"I am the big winner," Hai smiles, now back to zero. "Because I got to make so many people happy." Hai will never play slots again, he vows, because now he is one of very few people who can honestly say he has beat the casino.
Stan is very proud of his immigrant "son" who during the past 15 years of their close relationship has never failed to demonstrate integrity, character and loyalty beyond all measure.

Happy Birthday Aaron!

It is 17 degrees below zero this morning, but we've still got a warm spot for Aaron Rolfsrud on his 27th birthday today. He's pictured in his new work uniform, above. Stan's nephew is the guy with the clip board who gives you the bad news at the body shop when you've wrecked your car. His skilled eye will tell if your sorry vehicle is worth repairing. He's an action figure (right) adored by many. We hope he has a wonderful day. . . as his parents flee south for the winter. It will be a sunny day, we're told, because the atmosphere is too cold to hold the moisture of a cloud. Well, that's something to hold on to anyway. We're sure Aaron's sweetie Amber (below) has something fun planned for the couple.

Happy New Year!

Stan took this photo at nearby Mystic Lake. But not last night. Six days of holiday hosting and action left your blog managers grateful for a quiet night last night. Did the New Year come without us? Well, good then. We were sleeping soundly. So Happy New Year everybody! Today we've got a poker party downstairs. We'll shuffle up and deal at 3 p.m. We can sure put a chair out for ya.
Kathleen and Stan

Here's comfort from our childhood

Forty years ago our family made many a hot dish in this yellow bowl. Among the favorites was a tuna, pea, mushroom soup, potato chip mash-up that always went down smooth, filling and heavy. A complete file of Mom's recipes are now available for nostalgic menu planning at the Rolfsrud Repository in Stan and Kathleen's basement. The oven-safe bowl, with its seasoned interior sure to impart a comforting essence, is available as well. The bowl was originally scheduled to fly with Sosie and Bill to California tonight. However, Bill also had a batch of Jacobson's lefse from Osakis to process through heightened airport security, so he didn't want to add another suspicious item to his manifest. And recalling that all passengers' shoes had to be inspected after the Shoe Bomber arrest, always-prepared Bill wore his most stylish, freshly-ironed underwear to the airport tonight.

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Tuna and Potato Chip Casserole
1/2 pound potato chips
1 seven-ounce can tuna
1 small can of peas
1 can of mushroom soup
1 cup hot milk
Put alternate layers of potato chips, tuna and peas in a buttered baking dish. Add milk to soup and pour over ingredients in casserole. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Serves 6.

Dad's tip, written in his handwriting on the back of the recipe card:
Instead of layering, just mix all together. Mix cream of mushroom with milk and then pour over. Put extra potato chips on top.

Family archivist for a day. . .

Sosie spent last night and today combing through boxes in the capacious Rolfsrud Relics Repository in Stan and Kathleen's basement. Mom and Dad were enthusiastic savers and virtually every aspect of their modest lives is documented on paper. Grade school projects from 1917 are mingled with birthday cards to "Daddy" written by his children. Every neatly-typed letter ever written to family members is duplicated in a three-ring binder. Every newspaper clipping with the word "Rolfsrud" somewhere in it has been clipped and pasted. Sosie skimmed the surface of this treasure today, often exclaiming, "I didn't know that!" or "Look at this!" or "You've got to be kidding." Needless to say, progress in categorizing, organizing and compacting this trove for posterity is slow going. Others will take their turns at the arduous task if this work is every to be done.

Update:
Sosie has unearthed a clue as to the origin of the now famous homemade Rolfsrud Coat of Arms discussed in an August 2009 post on this blog (you can look it up at left -- read the snarky comment from some outlander as well). Today Sosie discovered an envelope in Dad's handwriting that says "Patterns for Heide Coat-of-Arms" which would lead a sharp detective to conclude that the Coat of Arms in question is not a Rolfsrud Coat of Arms at all, but rather a Heide Coat of Arms honoring our father's maternal lineage. You betcha.

An Emily Dog Pile

It's Wednesday morning at Grandma and Grandpa's and there's more playmates than ever. Here's a post-breakfast moment with Bill and Sosie enjoying Duck, Emily and Birdie. Bill and Sosie are in town for the holidays and just spent a few days in Alexandria with Sosie's mother, Beverly. This noon Sosie and Stan will head to the Sofitel in Bloomington to lunch with classmates at an annual holiday get-together. Sosie and Bill will return to California on New Year's Eve.

Old friends, good times

When Venus and Mars align in the night skies it is cause for joy and pagan celebrations. So too, when Stan's old pal Randy flies in from LA for the Christmas holidays, and friend Bruce motors in from South Dakota for a dental appointment, well, it's time for this Minnesota posse to reunite. They did so last night at the Cooper in St. Louis Park. The name of this new Irish Pub is taken from the old Cooper theater that was built nearby to showcase the wonders of Cinerama technology -- a forerunner to the IMAX concept of overwhelming visual effect. The theater was torn down and replaced by a major development that capitalizes on traffic generated by the intersection of I-394 and Highway 100. All that remains of the movie house is the name on this bar and lots of nostalgia. The fellas enjoyed a couple rounds of Smithwicke's in the packed joint, then light dinner fare. Stan left the gathering long before closing to join his sister in Shakopee, but the laughter of old friends rang in his ears all the way home.

Living the Life in the Frozen North

Sosie and Bill send this message from Sosie's Iphone in Alexandria where windchills are heading to subzero again. There's still stuff to do if you look around:
"We are staying at the Cedar Rose Inn just down 7th Ave from old Central Junior High.  It comes with all the comforts, like a woodstove, sherry, and dressup clothes in the Alma Anderson room."