Pickle Street Creations

O vs. E

2009-09-26T13:42:00.002-06:00

I'm sure everyone has noticed that by changing just one letter you can change a word (and its context) immediately. Lover becomes Lever, Both becomes Beth, and Moss becomes Mess. But there's one O vs. E exchange that not only changes meaning, it changes attitude: Got vs. Get. As in "I've got to wash the dog" (making it a chore) vs. "I get to wash the dog" (making it a privilege). I had a "got" vs. "get" experience this week, and I'd like to share it with you.

Wednesday night Hannah came home from school and said, "Hey Mom! Guess what! The DeWitt marching band is coming to our game Friday and they're going to play with us! It's gonna be so cool!" She was excited. However, this Friday was the one where I'd volunteered to organize the after half-time meal that the band eats, so I asked her, "Are we feeding the DeWitt kids too?" "I dunno," she said. So I sent an e-mail to the band director and sure enough, we were going to feed the DeWitt kids, too.

Now, this is where "got" vs. "get" comes in. I could have gotten upset and grumbled, "Great. I've got to organize this, too." But I didn't, no way! This was an "I get to!" moment. I had the privilege of sending out a mass e-mail asking our Benton Band Boosters for extra food at the last minute, and I was overwhelmed by the response. By noon Thursday I had almost all of the food lined up, and by 4PM I had everything. Thanks to Amy Mihm, Carol Nulty, Amy Knaack, Mary Horst, Kathy Gage, Nancy Veldhuizen, Sue Harthoorn and Kristi Wibe, we doubled the amount of sandwiches and desserts we usually have, plus we had cut fresh fruit, and bottled drinks. The DeWitt kids were delighted. The comment I heard most was, "I want to come back here and march every weekend!" They obviously enjoyed themselves and thanked us over and over and over again. It was neat to see the kids, theirs and ours, happy. It was also neat to be involved in making it all happen. It was a pleasure to get to do this, to be a part of this organization. I'm fortunate to be a Benton Band Booster. I get to be included in helping out the band, and it's great. I love it! Honestly! I'm not just saying that because this blog will wind up on Facebook and I have Facebook friends who are Boosters and who therefore might read it. I'm not trying to be patronizing. This is the first time I've been part of a group where everyone who wants to help out gets to help out. It's wonderful, and I can't wait for the next "I get to!" moment. In the meantime though, there's one more thing I want to say....

THE BENTON MARCHING BOBCATS TOTALLY ROCK!!!!

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted.....

2009-07-11T10:59:00.002-06:00

When I was a kid, our family had a motto: "Why waste a perfectly good vacation having fun when you could be working?" We usually did end up working, whether it was one of my parents taking "vacation" from their job or it was a calendar holiday (Thanksgiving and Christmas being the exceptions). My Dad had a perpetual to-do list in his head, and when vacation time came around one of those projects was tackled. We only went on a real vacation twice (that I can remember): one was to the Ozarks when I was about nine years old (had a great time but got a horrible sunburn) and the other was to Nashville when I was in high school (I think my folks had fun even if I didn't). I know my family took trips to South Dakota and Wisconsin, but I was really little at the time and don't remember them.

Anyway. The point I'm getting to is that I just spent three vacation days working around my house. Mary was away at diabetes camp, so I took advantage of that time to clean up and clear out. I got alot accomplished:

I thoroughly cleaned Mary's room, and moved alot of her toys to the basement. I also threw out a big black plastic garbage bag full of junk, mostly paper and cardboard. This kid never throws ANYTHING away.
I cleaned and sorted through the east half of the basement. I shuffled stuff around so that the northeast room, which used to be storage, is now set up for the girls to recreate in. They had been using the "sewing" room (aka the fourth bedroom) but I cleared all of that stuff out and took it downstairs. Hannah, bless her heart, help me carry stuff, and she sorted through all of the toys and put everything back in order. I couldn't have done the basement without her help.
I turned the sewing room back into the sewing room. We had been using the dining room, but once the sewing room was cleared out I took all of the sewing stuff upstairs and got it arranged and ready. Now I can help the girls tackle their projects.
I turned the dining room back into the dining room. Now all is right with the world.

In clearing out stuff I boxed up all kinds of things that hadn't been used in a long time and gave them to Brianna Scott, a young lady in our church who is holding a garage sale at the Novak's house (Steve and Corie Novak are youth sponsors) to raise funds for a local homeless shelter. The timing couldn't have been better. I was able to get rid of stuff without Mary raising a fuss over what was going, and I didn't have to store the stuff somewhere, either. If Brianna's happy with the donations, I'm happy because she helped me clear out my house. Thanks to Brianna, Steve and Corie!!! Whoo-hoo!!!!!!!

Meanwhile, Carl and Hannah went to pick up Mary from camp this morning. I didn't go along because I had an extremely important meeting at church, but Carl called a little while ago and said that they should be home in about an hour. They were just finishing up "lunch" at the Dairy Queen in Toledo (the lucky skunks) so I had better go prepare for the inundation of dirty camp laundry.

I mean, why waste a perfectly good Saturday having fun when I could be working!

Driving Miss Hannah

2009-06-11T20:03:00.002-06:00

It's my fault, really.

When Hannah was 12, she was (in my opinion) tall enough to start learning to drive. We were at Loren's farm (Loren is Carl's brother) so I drove Hannah up the farm lane, turned the pickup around and put her behind the wheel. I had her drive down the lane, but towards the end she mixed up the brake and accelerator, and she accidentally gunned it. Fortunately we weren't going too fast, and I was sitting next to her, so I reached down with my left hand and slammed on the brakes. I reached up with my right hand to put the truck in park, and sat up. Right in front of us was the old chicken house. A few more feet and we'd have been part of the structure. Carl, who had been sitting on the back steps watching, ran over to us. Needless to say he looked rather pale. And poor Hannah was terrified to the point that, when she turned 14, she refused to get her permit and start driving. And that's my fault.

Well, along came Hannah's freshman year and with it immersion into extracurricular activity. Involvement in marching band, jazz band, pit band, honor band, mixed choir and set crew meant being at the high school both early and late. For early morning obligations I was able to get her rides with a senior who was also in band (I helped pay for his gas) and for late obligations she was usually able to ride the 6PM shuttle bus. However, things didn't always work out and sometimes Carl or I had to drive her there or pick her up. Every time this happened we'd say, "You know, you could avoid this problem if you'd get your license." Usually she'd give us her annoyed teenager vulture stare, and then she'd pout a little. Oh, well.

Next week, though, Hannah turns 15. She's beginning to understand the need for a driver's license, but we need a way to teach her to drive without wrecking a vehicle or a barn. So we've discussed getting a golf cart. Golf carts are legal to drive without a license in Atkins as long as you stay off Park Ridge Road (the main drag through town) and have a Slow Moving Vehicle sign on the back, plus an orange safety flag mounted six feet above the ground. Golf carts don't go fast, so they're the perfect thing for Hannah to learn the basics on. We've been looking for a while, and last night we found a cart we like. It's copper colored, and Craig (the seller) needs to mount the roof on yet, but the tires are good and batteries are only a couple years old and in great condition. Carl and Hannah test drove it last night. Carl says Hannah over-corrects when she steers and she takes corners too fast, but with a few lessons and some practice Carl seems to think she'll get the hang of it pretty quickly. And since there's no age restrictions Mary will be able to drive it, too. Then I can take Mary to Loren's and give her a driving lesson.....

Or, maybe not.

Wish List

2009-03-18T19:33:00.003-06:00

This blog post will be an ongoing project. I'll be adding more wishes as I think them up. But for starters - I wish.....

that I knew how to fish. I love to go fishing, and so does Mary, but I don't know how to catch the little buggers. I'm absolutely clueless about what kind of bait to use and when, how deep to let the bait fall into the water, where the best place to cast is, and so forth. I have lots of nice gear, but I don't know the best way to use it. If I did know, I'd take Mary fishing with me and we'd go more often.
that I knew how to whistle loudly with my fingers in my mouth. My dad could whistle - he'd be outside in the field, far from the house, and when he whistled you could always hear him, even with the windows closed. I want to learn to whistle like that.
that I could play guitar or piano. I can't, because I have a minor learning disability. I'm a "method learner" which means I can't read and process more than one line of notes at a time, nor can I coordinate several fingers over frets and strum at the same time. It stinks.
that Hannah would learn to drive. It would solve alot of our transportation coordination problems, especially the school related ones.
that I knew how to build a house. I want to understand the ins and outs of framing, wiring, plumbing...all that sort of stuff. I also wish I knew more about landscaping and gardening. I'm cursed with a black thumb, and Carl and I want to landscape in front of our porch this spring. I need to move some plants that I have, and maybe break them up, but I don't know how or where best to plant them. That they've lived this long is a miracle.
that I could do a better job of styling my hair in the morning.
I knew how to fast-yodel.

What Should I Do?

2009-03-08T18:44:00.002-06:00

This Wednesday, March 11, the Benton Community boys basketball team will be playing in the State Basketball Tournament. This is the first time any high school I've ever been affiliated with has gone to a post season tournament, so I'm excited. Not only for the team, but also for Hannah. She gets to go to the game as a member of the Pep Band, and as a proud band mom I'd like to go and see her play. School has been cancelled for Wednesday so as many kids (and parents) as possible can go to Des Moines and cheer on the team. School being cancelled and Hannah being gone means that Mary has no one to stay home with her during the day. I don't mind her being home alone for an hour or so, but not all day. I'd really like to go to the tournament game and take Mary with me, but I hesitate. For one thing, I don't know that I can afford the time off. I don't know what kinds of projects are due at work (last week was super-quiet) and I don't know if I'll be able to save 40 hours of vacation for this summer if I go. For another, I feel a little silly wanting to go. I don't have a son on the team (I don't have a son, period) and I wonder if I'm living vicariously through Hannah by going to these types of events. I don't want to be pedantic, but I would like to experience the excitement of being at a tournament game and cheering on my school district's team. So what should I do? Should I go to the game or not? I need to make up my mind soon so that if I do try to go I can ask for the day off without leaving my fellow drafters buried in excess work. Is my desire to go to the game an immature attempt to recapture my youth, or am I overanalyzing myself? Having never been in this situation before I'd like to get your opinion. What do you think? Should I go?

3AM And All's Well

2009-02-17T21:43:00.003-06:00

It's Tuesday. Nothing monumental happened today. It's supposed to snow tonight, but not too much.

It snowed last Friday night into Saturday morning, making the rural roads icy in spots. That's not so bad during the day when you can see the slick spots ahead, but driving at night can be tricky. I happened to be out Saturday night - no, wait, it was actually Sunday morning at 3AM. Our high school's music department hosted their annual show choir competition, "Touch Of Class" and I volunteered to help. I signed up to lend a hand in the kitchen starting at 6PM. I was a food server - they put me in charge of the ice cream machine. All night, until the kitchen closed, I dispensed soft serve ice cream into little cups. Not an unpleasant job to say the least. I also signed up for clean-up and tear down. Now that was a job! Again, not unpleasant, but man oh man is the equipment they use ever complicated! Lights and curtains and risers and platforms and chairs and speakers and so on and so forth. The gentleman who brought in the equipment really knows his stuff (I think he's from Kansas - at least the license plate on his truck was) and he handled the organized chaos beautifully. Speaking of beautiful, the show choir competition was spectacular! High school choirs from all over Iowa (and one from Nebraska) put on shows that were colossal and over-the-top impressive. From the sets (which their crews had to put up and tear down in minutes) to the music and choreography it was an incredibly dazzling experience. The music department brought in a video company, and they were able to show the performances over televisions that were set up all around the cafeteria. Not only that, but the day before the competition a group of volunteers came in to set up and decorate, and they made the high school look fabulous. One of the kids said it looked better than the decorations for Prom, and I believe him. Everything I encountered made me wish I'd been there all day, and I plan to volunteer for even more time next year. I hope to be able to be there all day doing whatever jobs need done. However, I think I'll leave when they start tearing down the gym. I'm getting too old to be driving home at 3AM.

That reminds me - the music teachers who ran the event are truly heroic people. I can't imagine the work and organization that goes into an event that big, but I think that they all deserve a ginormous reward for their extensive exertion. I'm pretty sure they were all there somewhere, but I only saw Ms. Stoddard, Mrs. Lampkin and Mr. Hayden. (It was Mr. Hayden who stayed with the tear down crew until 3AM Sunday morning. He still seemed energetic at that hour - how I don't know. He must be nuclear powered or something.) Anyway, volunteering was thoroughly enjoyable, and I can't wait to help again next year. I really admire the work and dedication of our high school's music instructors. They put the class in "Touch Of Class".

To Schnorg Or Not To Schnorg

2009-01-26T20:18:00.002-06:00

A couple of months ago, I had to take Judah to the vet. He was wearing his prong collar so I could control him - a prong collar is like a choke collar except it has wide prongs that spread out the pressure so it's not too strong in any one place. Now, I can control Judah with that collar, but the vet couldn't. He suggested I get something called "The Gentle Leader" which is kind of like a horse halter, but you fit it to your dog so that he can still open his mouth to eat, drink and pant. The collar works by putting pressure at the base of the skull instead of on the throat (like the prong did) and the vet said it's a good collar for a dog as large as Judah. However, I managed to amaze the vet by getting Judah to sit and stay while I put my gloves on. Basically, I gave the leash a yank and said, "Judah, I need to put my gloves on. Once they're on, then we can go, not before!" And he sat there until I had my gloves on, then he lunged for the door. The vet was shocked: "If you'd have told me mid-afternoon that he'd behave like that I wouldn't have believed you!" "That's because you're not Mommy!" I said we tumbled out the door.

But I really didn't like the way the prong collar make Judah hack and choke, so for Christmas I bought him a red Gentle Leader collar, and tonight I fit it on him. He didn't like it at first, but after I took him around the house a few times he seemed to get used to it. Of course, I bribed him with a few treats to make things easier. I still need to work with him on that lead, but by spring we should be ready for long walks outdoors.

The cats were none too amused with Judah romping around the house. Even on a leash, he romps. But then they realized that Mom was giving That Dog treats, and they gathered around the pantry door looking for their handout. They're like little kids - you can't give one something without giving the same to all the rest. And they know that Mom is a sucker for a furry begging face. All four of them have the old soulful eye routine down pat.

I really want it to warm up soon. I want to get outside and walk, with or without the dog. Carl wants it to warm up so he can re-banish Judah to the backyard "where he belongs". It's been so cold this winter that Judah's taken up residence in our dining room, and at night he occupies our furnace room in the basement. The cats want it to warm up, too, so Judah will get out of their house and they can stare at him through the back door, giving him little kitty sneers and sticking their tongues out at him. You know they do that - they're spiteful little monsters with innocent looking faces.

I wonder what the "cat language" word is for "Neener!".

Snow Job

2009-01-17T15:41:00.002-06:00

I'm sitting here, blogging and listening to Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" CD because I can't go anywhere. Once again, just like last year, the weather has me pinned down at home. I'd hoped to take the girls shopping in Williamsburg today, but the wind is strong from the northwest and the roads out here are drifting shut. AGAIN. Arg!!!! I know how bad the roads are because I had to pick Hannah up from the high school at 1:00 (jazz band contest) and I had to use four-wheel drive twice trying to get home. The plan had been for me and Mary to get Hannah from the school, go out to lunch, then drive down to the Tanger Outlet Mall, but nnnooooooo.....

Most people are comparing last year's winter to this year's - a very valid comparison. Last year at this time we'd had a little over 23" of snow. So far this year we've had 25". The difference, though, is last year it was consistently cold and we never had any thaws. The drifts piled up and you couldn't see the fence posts on the west side of the road. This year we've had at least one major thaw, and although the drifts alongside the roads are high, they're not as high as last year - you can see the fence posts above the snowline. We're supposed to have another thaw this week, which will be nice because last week it was so drat blasted cold that Cedar Rapids set a new record for low temperature. Not just for a particular day, but for all time! The previous record had been -28 degrees, and we bottomed out at -29. We had windchills at -51 degrees. Between that and the snow we had (3+ inches Monday night and 7" Tuesday into Wednesday) the girls ended up with three snow days. And, to add insult to injury, we are temporarily without the services of our little garden tractor and its snow thrower attachment. A pulley (either the drive or the clutch) fell off when I tried to start the tractor Wednesday night, and Carl can't get the bolt that holds it on to stay tight. But I called the place in Keystone that sells and services little tractors like ours, and they're coming Monday to take a look at our problem. If they can fix it on site, they will, but if they can't they'll haul it back to their shop. They have a trailer that they can haul the tractor/snow thrower combo on. Yeah, it'll probably cost me an arm and a leg, but it will be worth the money not to have to shovel out the driveway like I had to do Wednesday night in the subzero weather.

So, needless to say I'm already sick of winter. Not so much that I'd want to trade in blizzards for hurricanes, but enough to make me doubt the forecast of "light and brief flurries". I mean, I can hear the wind pounding against the side of the house even though I have ear-buds in. (By the way, I've switched from NGDB to Mannheim Steamroller.) At least the temperatures are going up. It's warmed all the way to 26 degrees above zero! Wahooooo!!!

Now, everyone sing....."We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave....."

Chirstmas Eve Blatherskite

2008-12-24T20:14:00.003-06:00

Carl and I have quite a few Christmas CD's. Like everyone else, we have our favorites, but there are always discs that have songs on them that you just can't stand. For instance, on the fifth Mannheim Steamroller Christmas CD Chip Davis took his beautiful Christmas Lullaby song and wrote lyrics to it, and then had Olivia Newton-John sing them. I can't STAND Olivia Newton-John (aka Olivia Neutron-Bomb) thus the instrumental version of the song is all but ruined for me. Another song I can't stand is Stevie Nicks' version of Silent Night on our Very Special Christmas CD. If there was a prize for the worst butchery ever done to a Christmas song she'd have won it.

But the one song that really grates my cheese is I Believe in Santa Claus sung by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. What especially torques me off is the lyric line "I believe there is a God somewhere although He's hard to see." Every time Dolly sings that line, the girls and I say, "Open your eyes and look around, stupid!" Sheesh. God isn't hard to see: you just have to want to look for Him.

I mean, I see God all the time. I see Him in the night sky, when all the stars are out and the air is clear. I see Him when I watch our daughters playing their trombones in band. I see Him when our three cats are cuddled up on the couch together. I see Him in my husband's beautiful blue eyes, especially when Carl has that "I really love you" look on his face. When I stop to consider where I might be now and what I may have become if God hadn't put Carl and me together I can see how God's plans work out for the best. I see God in the brush-strokes of everything I've ever painted, and it's very humbling to know that He has provided me with a wonderful talent. God is everywhere - from the tiny little molecules of DNA that make us up to the Earth that we all live on. He's there if you want to see Him. And what better time to look for Him than that time of year when we celebrate the birth of His son Jesus? God's not hard to see if you open your eyes, your heart and your mind and really look. He's there. I know. I've seen Him.

Merry Christmas, y'all.

Blog-ojevich

2008-12-14T21:30:00.002-06:00

When we went home to South Dakota for Thanksgiving, we spent time at Carl's brother's house. Carl's niece brought a kitten in from the barn, and it ended up cuddled in my lap. A little while later I swatted at something, and discovered that the kitten had fleas and they were migrating onto my sweatshirt. Carl and I ran outside and got the shirt off of me, and Carl's sister-in-law put my shirt in the washing machine and cleaned it for me. To paraphrase an old saying, "If you cuddle up with barn kittens you'll get up with fleas."

This is a paraphrase that Barack Obama would be wise to consider. I mean, in his past he has had close, friendly dealings with people who are in serious trouble with law enforcement. Rod "Blago" Blagojevich and Tony Rezko are names that are infamous. How is it possible that Mr. Obama can hang around with these guys and not have their sleaze rub off on him, unless he's clueless and naive, in which case he shouldn't be president? (Not that I voted for him.) Oh, yeah, and Bill Ayers, too. I mean, Barack's resume has some real losers in his reference list. And the news media has documented this, and the brave ones actually broadcast it.

But I feel bad for my various relatives who live in Illinois. Mostly I feel for Kathy and Sam, my sister and her husband. Sam used to work for the State of Illinois, and the trickle-down corruption of Illinois politics haunted him during his entire tenure. He retired as soon as he could and now works in the private sector, but the crap they had to endure was overwhelming. Now they're being oppressed by the Illinois judicial system. They're basically being forced to deal with a legal matter longer than I think is necessary, and they're not getting any help from the court. One of the court officers they had to deal with is (in my opinion) a radical man-hating feminist who published a report that was basically a work of fiction. It was so full of bull that they immediately challenged the report in court, which just makes the process linger longer and longer and longer. They have a strong, solid case, but they can't seem to get it in front of a judge. It's frustrating, maddening and completely unfair - Kathy and Sam are two of the most decent people you'll ever meet, and they deserve better. But it all starts at the top. The people who work under the governor see what he gets away with, and if he can so can they. That attitude is passed down throughout the system to the point where if you want a certain job promotion, it'll cost you "X" amount of dollars. Or, if you want a contract to work for the city, county or state, you have to know whose palms to grease and by how much. Corruption is ubiquitous in Illinois and it's the citizenry that suffers. I wonder if the "machine" built by Richard Daley in Chicago can ever be completely dismantled. I hope it can be, and if possible I'd love to help. I'm pretty handy with a Sawz-all.

Meanwhile, those of us who are outside of Illinois watch Blago's unfolding soap opera with increasing disgust. He comes off as narcissitic, arrogant and imperious, and I hope the Federal government throws the book at him and gives him the maximum punishment. And I can't help but wonder about Barack Obama. I mean, he was in tight with these people. Hopefully he didn't pick up any of their fleas. I don't know who we could get to wash his sweatshirt.

I sure ain't gonna do it!

What A Week!

2008-12-13T16:21:00.002-06:00

Let's start with Monday. The kids didn't have school, so Carl took the day off to do some things around the house. I screwed up his plans by having truck trouble. Then the weather got nasty. However, Carl and I still went to my company's Christmas party. The main roads were fine going home, but the two-lane road that leads to Atkins was a sheet of ice. So was the street in front of the house. Fortunately Carl is a good driver and kept us out of the ditch.

That brings us to Tuesday. School was cancelled and I stayed home with the girls. With the weather, my truck problems and a recent adjustment made to Mary's pump, we figured it would be better if I stayed put. But - if life gives you snow days, bake cookies! Hannah helped me, and we made Hilda's sugar cookies, chocolate crackles, seven layer cookies, and lebkuchen. Carl paid me the ultimate compliment: he said my lebkuchen was just as good as my Mom's!

Wednesday the girls had a two hour delayed start to school. Carl covered that, and I went to work...very carefully. He and I had traded vehicles for the week so he could observe mine, so I was quite cautious with Carl's pickup, especially on the railroad overpass. I almost wrecked his truck last year on that bridge, so I'm really leery of it. But all went well which bring us to...

Thursday. All was well until I got home. I hurried to put dinner on the table, then Carl and Hannah took off for Van Horne. Hannah had a concert at a cathedral that night, and Carl went along and taped it because I couldn't go. I was obligated to help with setup at the Legion for the ACC Christmas party, and Mary had Girl Scouts, so Boo and I stayed in town. However, I wish I had gone with Carl and Hannah, because Mr. Hayden (the high school choir director) invited audience members to join the Concert Choir in singing Handel's Hallelujah Chorus, a song I dearly love to sing. Mr. Hayden said he wants to make this a tradition, and I hope he does because I want to sing with them next year. But I got super stressed out, trying to get everyone fed and out the door, plus Carl wasn't feeling good so he laid down for a little bit, and with trying to get Mary's carbs added up and her pump going and so on and so on, I got overwhelmed and started stuttering. That happens sometimes, when I get a brain overload. My speech center shuts down and talking becomes difficult. It got better as the night went on, but apparently the stress chemicals in my brain didn't dissipate completely which takes us to...

Friday. This was the first night of our congregation's Living Nativity, and I had to get the girls up to the church and get them fed (some ladies bring in dinner) and because there were problems with the setup outside Carl couldn't come in and help me, so I was working with Mary when I was needed to help put costumes on people, and I went into overload again. Fortunately the girls were able to help me by finishing sentences I couldn't quite get out (they've done this before) so by the end of the evening I wasn't stuttering nearly as bad as I had been. The Living Nativity continues tonight, which brings us to...

Saturday. I had signed up to help at the high school with the Madrigal Dinner setup, so Carl took the girls to the ACC Christmas party and I went to Van Horne. I had a blast!! They needed someone to make the table-tents that mark who sits where, and I ended up doing that. I had some help (thanks Abbey and Kelsey!) and they turned out pretty nice. However, next year I plan to take our laptop computer and portable printer and make the table-tent cards using Power Point. Much easier, neater and faster. After I finished with the cards I did various other odd jobs, then left after I retrieved my tools. I had taken my tool kit into the school with me, and my screwdrivers and pliers managed to migrate around the room to wherever they were needed. But when I left I stopped at the convenience store and got a Diet Mountain Dew, and it had a Buy One Get One Free cap, so that just topped off a great day. Tonight we go back to the church building and do the Living Nativity again, then of course tomorrow is worship service, after which we'll go home and try and catch up on chores. Busy, busier, busiest.

I love my life!!

Monday Blatherskite

2008-12-01T20:25:00.002-06:00

Well, the Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone. We spent our time in Chamberlain, South Dakota, and we had a great trip! We got to see most of Carl's family on Thursday, and Friday night we went out to his brother Loren's for pizza. Also on Friday the girls and I went shopping in downtown Chamberlain (all three blocks of it). We had fun going from store to store. It wasn't quite the same as going into downtown Davenport with my grandmother, but it was nice, leisurly, uncrowded and friendly. The Chamber of Commerce has a "parade of lights" on Black Friday, and as part of it they have a drawing. During the day you go from store to store getting a card punched, then after the parade you turn in your card for the drawing. I had a card, but we didn't go back into town for the parade. We figured that Carl hardly ever gets to see his family and it's more important to spend time with them than to go to a parade and hope I win something. Carl did spend the day with his Mom while us girls were shopping, which was nice. Although, now that I think about it, I wonder what they were talking about....

Anyway. The weather was spectacular for the end of November - Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the skies were clear and the temperatures were in the mid 40's. That only made the shopping more pleasant. Saturday when we had to go home, though, was another story. It was cloudy, windy and cold. We stopped in Mitchell at the Cabela's store, and running from the truck to the store was nasty. But we managed to find what we wanted there: three pairs of flannel lined jeans for Mary (ladies size four!) and a pair of insulated black bib overalls for Hannah to wear out "in da snow". Mary needed jeans to wear with the new cowboy boots she got in Chamberlain. I told her she couldn't wear the boots with the sweatpants that she favors, and since she doesn't like regular jeans, we got her flannel lined ones because they're so soft inside. So, mission accomplished. Going home, though, the weather got worse. We ran into drizzle and mist in Minnesota, and by the time we got to Mason City, Iowa, it was snowing. It snowed almost all the rest of the way - it finally quit halfway between Waterloo and Cedar Rapids. Needless to say we had to slow down because the roads were getting slick, and it was really late by the time we pulled into the garage.

The snow chased us home. When we got up the next morning we had three inches on the ground. Then the wind picked up and started drifting it, thus leading to a two hour school delay for the girls today. Ick. I hope this year isn't a repeat of last year, when there was a delay or cancellation at least once a week from mid-December to mid-March. The girls ended up going to class for an extra week in June. Ew!

Anyway. Now Thanksgiving is past, and Christmas is coming. I really don't know what to get the girls this year. I know what not to get them: Mary hates Hannah Montana and High School Musical and stuff like that, so I avoid those things. Hannah dislikes anything to do with sports (except for the marching band at football games) so no sports stuff for her. Neither girl wants a video game console (we still don't have one) and the shopping trip in South Dakota filled in their clothing needs, so I'm kinda out of ideas. The girls aren't much help - if you ask them what they want they roll their eyes and say "I don't know!" So shopping is a challenge. But actually, I like a good challenge.

Bring it on!

Getting Pumped

2008-11-15T11:18:00.004-06:00

Mary got her new insulin pump yesterday. It's this little pink thing about the size of a cell phone. She even has a pink cell phone case to carry it in. The pump has already made a huge difference. Her blood sugars are much more stable, and giving insulin is so easy! You tell the pump how many carbs Mary ate and what her blood sugar was, and the pump tells you how many units of insulin to give her. Then you tell the machine "Go" and it delivers the insulin to her. She even has a glucose meter/remote control that talks to the pump and tells it what to do. That way Mary doesn't have to take the pump out of the case. It looks like this:

Actually, all you can see is the pump in the case, some of the tubing, and a very happy Mary. I have other pictures, but you'll have to come to the house to see them because Mary doesn't want them posted. They're "too embarrassing".

Tweenagers.

Speaking of the house, here are some updated pictures. They were taken at night so you can see the lights that Carl installed. This is as far as the contractor has gotten, but we're very pleased with what's been done. Some people think Mike is slow - I say he takes his time and does the job right, and he's worth the wait. Anyway, the pictures:

This last picture is of the door Mike installed for us, with the porch lights shining through it. Mike and Carl worked on this together because Carl did the electrical and he had to move wiring out of the way in order for Mike to widen the hole to put the new door in. Sunday night we're going shopping for Christmas lights and stuff to decorate the porch with. We have a special certificate to Theisen's, so we're going.

Meanwhile, it's 11:45 AM here, and I'm getting hungry. I bought a big bag of kettle korn at the Atkins craft show, and the scent of it is filling the house.

Lunch!!!

Busier Than You Think

2008-11-09T22:10:00.005-06:00

You probably think, given my last blog, that I have lots and lots of time on my hands. Not so, my friend. We've been very busy...

1) Hannah is in band - up to her eyeballs. She was in marching band and had 7AM rehearsals at least three days a week. The marching band season ended October18th, but jazz band started right after that, so Hannah still has 7AM practices three days a week (but at least now they're indoors). Along with marching, jazz, concert and honor bands, Hannah was in the pit band for the high school's musical Damn Yankees. The final performance for that was last night, so that's over, and honor band is sometime next week, so things will slow down for her a little after Thanksgiving. But since she's so involved in band, I custom painted her trombone case. She loved it, and a couple of the upperclassmen told her they liked it, too. It looks like this:

2) Halloween was a fun night. We put a light out on the scarecrows and they garnered a few laughs. And not only did our girls dress up, we also dressed up our dog, Judah:

3) The contractor we hired finally started on our porch. Since we took these pictures, Mike and his assistant have put on the rails, balusters and edge soffit. Carl installed the outlet boxes and recessed lights. That's a story - one of the lighting vendors came into the office one afternoon, and my co-worker Ryan suggested I show him the drawings of my porch and get his advice on what kind of lights to get. Not only did he give me advice, he gave me the lights! Ten recessed can lights, gratis. They were leftover surplus inventory, but I'm not one to look a gift light in the socket. I had to buy the baffles (the liner-thingy inside the can) but they were less than $50 total, so all things considered I really got a great deal. If you can imagine the rails and balusters in place, the porch looks like this:

4) Last night was our church youth group's Spaghetti Dinner/Dessert Auction/Talent Show fundraiser. I made a chocolate eclair cake with mint filling (which turned out really good - thanks, Sis!) and I also performed a comedy routine. It was called "Storytime with Granny". It started with four girls (Mary was one of them) running up to me on stage, begging me (Granny) to tell them a "kissy-smoochy princess" story. I obliged (obviously) and told them the tale of Rindercella. This routine was originally done on the old TV variety show Hee Haw by Archie Campbell, who played the barber. It went really well. Carl taped it, and I had people coming up to me, telling me they were amazed at how I was able to tell the story and not get mixed up, and also how funny it was. If you don't know the routine I'm talking about, the first paragraph goes like this:

"Once upon a time in a coreign fountry there lived a geautiful birl named Rindercella. Rindercella lived with her mugly other and two sad bisters. Also in this same coriegn fountry lived a very prandsome hince."

I'm glad I made people laugh. Lately it seems like everyone is so uptight and serious about everything that they don't know how to lighten up. I think I was able to help them with that.

5) When Mary turned 11, the doctor told her she could have an insulin pump to replace her daily multiple injections. We ordered the pump, and it finally showed up last week. This week and next she, Carl and I have a series of classes to go to so we can learn how to correctly use the pump, which by the way is pink. Last night Mary won a pink vinyl cell phone case which is the perfect size to hold her pump, so she's pretty happy. We're looking forward to these classes, and hopefully everything goes well so that we can use the pump when we go to South Dakota for Thanksgiving. I hope the weather is decent for this trip, because I'm looking forward to going shopping in downtown Chamberlain the day after Thanksgiving. Chamberlain is a small town, and going into their shopping district is like going back in time about 40 years. I remember going shopping in downtown Davenport with my grandmother at Christmastime, and I'm hoping to have a similar experience to the one I had as a child. Most people will be going to the malls in Mitchell or Sioux Falls, so I don't think there will be much of a crowd. Plus, in the evening, the city holds a chili supper, and we're looking forward to that, too. And of course we get to spend time with Carl's family, something we don't get to do near enough.

Busy, busier, busiest. But hey, we haven't gone insane yet (not totally anyway) and we have alot to look forward to and alot to be thankful for. And...the storal of the mory is this. If you go to a bancy fall and want to have a prandsome hince loll in fove with you, don't forget to slop your dripper!

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Creedence

2008-11-08T21:59:00.002-06:00

So today, while I was working in the kitchen and Hannah was at the table doing her homework, the subject of music came up. I think it started with me mentioning that we'll probably be listening to Christmas music on our way home from South Dakota after Thanksgiving. I found out that Hannah still remembers the lyrics to my parody of "It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas" from last year (12-07-2007) and then I said something to the effect of, "Don't you wish there was a Creedence Clearwater Revival Christmas album?" Well, that started the wheels in my fertile little mind spinning (it's your conjecture as to what kind of fertilizer is in my little mind, exactly) and this is the result:

Santa Is A Travelin' Man (to the tune of Travelin' Band)

Santa and his reindeer coming out of the sky
They're delivering his presents on his midnight ride

chorus
He's on the move, Santa is a travelin' man, oh yeah
Well he's flying 'cross the land, please give him a hand
Santa is a travelin' man

Landed by a chimney, swell
Bag is stuck, oh well
Come on, come on, down into the living room

chorus

Listen to the radio, they're predicting more snow
Children get excited as they watch The Weather Channel

chorus

Here he comes again on a Christmas Eve night
If you're fussin' and a-fightin' you won't get to see the sight

chorus

Santa is a travelin' man, Santa is a travelin' man,
Won't you give St. Nick a hand, because Santa is a travelin' man
Yeah he's flying 'cross the land, please give him a hand
Santa is a travelin' man

Hannah loved it. I jotted it down quick on a notepad then wrote it out tonight on this here blog. Normally I don't listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving, but now I can't get this song out of my head. Serves me and my fertile little mind right, I suppose.

'Tis The Season

2008-10-04T14:41:00.003-06:00

Over the past few years I've really soured on politics. The best description of politics I've ever heard is this: "poli" - Greek for "many" and "tics" which are blood-sucking creatures. As time has passed I've not seen much difference between the Republicans and the Democrats, especially where taxing and spending is concerned. Both parties want your money, and they both want to waste it on crap like the Rainforest Project here in Iowa that, fortunately, went down in flames just like the Alaskan Bridge to Nowhere.

So I decided that I would make my political opinion known to my neighborhood while at the same time decorating my yard for Halloween. The pictures below show two scarecrows: one is John McCain (who leans slightly to the left) and the other is Barack Obama (who leans waaay to the left). This is how I see the election - not much of a choice between two stuffed suits.

I suppose it could be worse. I mean, right now, the best candidate running for an executive office is Sarah Palin, whom some people consider to be Ronald Reagan in drag. (Oh, were that only so!) She appears to be the kind of no-nonsense conservative I prefer, and should she and John McCain win the election I hope she exerts a strong influence toward a more conservative handling of government. A tax decrease followed with less spending and smaller government would be like a breath of fresh air. But I'm not holding my breath, either.

So come Halloween we'll run a spotlight out to the scarecrows so that the trick-or-treaters and their parents get a chance to view my political protest and hopefully get a laugh out of it. If that doesn't work, maybe they'll laugh at my dog. I bought him a hockey jersey at Goodwill, and he's going to wear it while tied up under a sign that says "Hockey Dogs for Palin!" If I thought it would work, I'd make him wear lipstick. By the way, just so you know: I'm registered as an Independent.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

P.S. BOO!!!!!

Ya Gotta Follow Up

2008-09-08T19:43:00.001-06:00

I decided to respond to Carl's comment with one of my own. To understand the "won't fall asleep" reference, you need to go to this link:
http://www.kgan.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/kgan_vid_1346.shtml

BTW - in case you didn't guess, I'm Aunt Nancy

When Ya Gotta, Ya Gotta

2008-09-08T18:21:00.002-06:00

After the floodwaters went down in Cedar Rapids, FEMA came in and set up Port-a-Potties in the affected neighborhoods. Tonight on the news (during dinnertime) we learned that FEMA is removing the potties from areas that have had city water service restored. This is inane, because the homes that have water still don't have toilets. They don't even have drywall up or plumbing roughed in. So one guy put a cardboard box out on the curb with a sign indicating that this is his squat spot. The sign he used can't be reprinted on my family-oriented blog, so I'll leave that to your imagination. However, this news made for some very interesting conversation at the table. Usually, I'm the one who comes up with the pithy ideas, but this time it was Carl who had all of us rolling in laughter. I double-dog dared him to post his idea on the KCRG website, and he did. You can read the news article and his comment at this link: http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/28030674.html You may have to click the "View Comments" button, but his was the first comment so it should be easy to find. You've got to go read this. You'll love it!

Meet CaliJune!

2008-09-07T14:58:00.001-06:00

CaliJune on my lap.

CaliJune and Skeeter.

Powerless Blatherskite

2008-08-30T13:59:00.002-06:00

Back on June 13th, I blogged about our electricity going out and us having to bucket-bail our sump pit to keep the basement from flooding. This was at the same time that Cedar Rapids was having its very, VERY nasty flood. Shortly after that, we decided to buy a generator for the next time the power went out. We bought a nice one at Farm & Fleet in Davenport, and Carl got it all set up to be ready - everything except the very expensive power cord that runs to the 220 outlet in the garage. I mean, you could use the generator, you just had to run extension cords from it to whatever you wanted to power. You need the 220 cord to run power directly into the house.

Anyway. We put the system to the test Thursday. We lost power during a thunderstorm, somewhere around 5:15 AM. Carl was (fortunately) ready for work, but I needed to clean up and wash my hair, and without electricity it's kind of hard to blow dry and curl one's tresses. So Carl, darling that he is, started up the generator, plugged a 100' heavy-duty extension cord into it, and ran it to the first-floor bathroom. I attached a power strip to the extension cord, and what do you know, it worked! I managed to get a pretty decent hairdo, considering that my light source was a battery operated lantern. I felt a little silly, though. I mean, using a 5500 hp generator to dry your hair? Sheesh! But once I was done Carl took the extension cord downstairs and plugged in the sump pump. The pit had just become full, and the only water coming into the pit was from the outer tiles, so his timing on getting the electricity down there was just right. He monitored the pit until the power came back on (around 6:30). I must say, this was a successful test of the generator. And yesterday, Carl bit the bullet and bought the 220 power cord. He's got it all wired up, all we need to do is test it. That requires throwing the main house breaker, so all non-essential electricity users need to be shut down.

Now that I've related the light-hearted stuff, it's time to get serious. I had been taking art lessons from a wonderful lady named Elaine Peyton. I had to quit a year ago because school and work were consuming all of my time. I asked Elaine to call me in a year when her new classes started up, and she said she would. Well, I hadn't heard from her. I assumed this was because the Cherry Building, where her studio was housed, was affected by the flood. So, I Googled her to see if I could find her phone number. Not only did I get her number, Google showed me on their maps where she and her husband Larry lived. Their house was in the Time Check district, one of the areas that suffered the worst damage in the flood. I called her, and she told me that they had 8 feet of water in their house. The City issued them a yellow placard, which means that they can enter the house, but only on a limited basis. They were able to do some cleanup work, and they're in FEMA housing now, waiting to see if the City will let them rebuild. Elaine is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. She's wonderfully talented, and fortunately for me she's very patient. So I'd like to ask all of you out there to pray for her and Larry. They suffered a double whammy by both their house and her studio being affected. I can't begin to imagine how hard this must be for them, but I can imagine how God can help them if we only ask Him.

Thanks!

August and June

2008-08-22T06:43:00.002-06:00

It's hard to believe August is almost over. Once again, the summer has flown by. Much has happened in the past two weeks, and I'll bring you up to speed, starting yesterday and working my way backwards.

School started yesterday. Hannah is now a high school freshman (eek!) and Mary's in the fifth grade down at Norway. This is the first time we've not had a child at Atkins Elementary. That will make scheduling doctor and dentist appointments more difficult, but I'm sure we can manage.

Saturday the 16th was the Chilla Family Reunion. I got to see alot of relatives that I rarely see, mostly in the cousin category. My sister and brother-in-law made it up (it's a long drive for them) which was way cool because I don't get to see my sis nearly as much as I'd like to. For that matter, I don't get to see all of my family as often as I'd like. But I'm going to remedy that around Christmastime. More on that later. Anyway, the reunion was wonderfully fun, and of course there was lots and lots of great food. When the Chilla's get together, there's always lots and lots of great food. It's a given.

Thursday and Friday (the 14th & 15th) I took vacation from work. Friday was a travel day, but Thursday Carl and I took the girls to Lost Island Waterpark in Waterloo. What a blast! The girls really enjoyed themselves, and Carl and I got to relax a little. The girls (especially Mary) loved the slide where it drops you into a bowl-like structure, and you swirl around inside the bowl a couple times, then you drop onto another slide that takes you to the end pool. I don't remember what the park's name for the slide was, but the girls called it the Toilet Slide because that's pretty much how it works. Whoever designed that slide had waaaaaay too much time on their hands.

Tuesday and Wednesday (the 12th and 13th) I had the house to myself because Carl took the girls to Des Moines. He'd taken the whole week off, but since I only had two days' worth of vacation they had to go without me. They went to the State Fair and Living History Farm on Tuesday, and Adventureland on Wednesday. They stayed at a hotel that had three swimming pools, so the girls got to spend alot of time in the water. They had a fun and relaxing time, which ended abruptly when they got home.

Which brings me to June. On Tuesday, we found a little grey calico kitten in the parking lot at work. She was obviously a stray (although she was used to being around people) and my heart went out to her immediately because she looked just like Juniper, a cat we'd had on our farm when I was about Mary's age. Poor Juniper died of a foot infection after one of the inbred brats from town shot her through the foot with a B-B gun. So naturally I didn't use any logic but immediately decided to take her to my vet, who happens to have an office about 1/4 of a block from my workplace. I dropped her off there and asked them if they could look the kitten over and do whatever was necessary so that I could take her home after work. They treated her for every parasite a stray could have, plus they vaccinated her, so she was set and ready for me at 5:00. They told me to keep her separated from our other cats for a few days, then they asked me what her name was. It's CaliJune - Cali for calico and June for Juniper. I couldn't bring myself to tell Carl about this on Tuesday night when he called. I didn't want him stressing out about it while he was supposed to be having fun on Wednesday. But when they got home that evening, I told them I had a little surprise for them, and introduced them to the cat. Mary loved her immediately, and hailed me as a hero for rescuing her. Hannah was indifferent. Carl was furious - he didn't just blow a fuse, he blew out the entire fuse box. He growled and pouted about it for a couple days, then told me he didn't like it but she could stay. He's softened up to the point now that he'll actually talk to her like he talks to the other cats, so I guess she's growing on him.

That pretty much summarizes August. For all you curious readers I hope to have pictures of CaliJune that I can post here soon. Otherwise you'll just have to come and visit to see what she looks like.

Ooh! That reminds me. I was going to tell y'all about Christmas. Well, I managed to talk my family into gathering at a cabin in the Wisconsin Dells for three nights, two full days and two half days over the holidays. I reserved a five bedroom, 3200 square foot cabin in a waterpark resort. Come Thanksgiving time all of us girls will get together via e-mail or phone and figure out who gets what meal on what day, and who's bringing what desserts and snacks (a must-have at Christmas). Some of the family is looking into going skiing for a day, and the rest of us will hang out, relax and take the kids to the waterpark. Best of all, I've asked everyone to bring their instruments so we can play together. That's what I'm looking forward to the most. Food, fun, and music - the best Christmas gift anyone could ask for.

Favre Farce

2008-08-07T17:29:00.002-06:00

Earlier today, I sent an e-mail to my husband and brothers, lamenting the fact that Brett Favre has been traded to the Jets. I said that with little or no offensive line to speak of, sending Favre to the Jets is like sending the Marines into Baghdad clad in nothing but loincloths. Without proper pass protection, Favre will get massacred. I anticipate him ending his career on a stretcher, much like Joe Theismann of the Redskins did.

I also said that someone should write a parody of Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets" and call it "Brettie and the Jets". At that particular moment, I didn't have time to dedicate to the task, but the idea festered in my mind all day. So, after work I pounded out the spoof below. It was difficult, because the song is so syncopated, but here goes:

Hey kids, huddle all together
The spotlight's hitting someone
Who can play in frigid weather
We'll start the football season soon
So stick around
You're gonna hear the sound of tackles
Slamming to the ground

Yeah, Teddy and Mikey had to let him go
But they're so screwed up, Brettie and the Jets
Oh but he’s wired and he’s wonderful
Oh Brettie is still wearing green
He’s got to make a move, and make it soon
You know he’s going to-a New-a Jersey
Brettie and the Jets

Hey kids, this seems kind of brainless
Should have stayed retired
But Brettie thinks he’s ageless
He shall survive, and he’ll try to take the Jets along
We’ll watch him play in Giants Stadium
And find if he was right or wrong

I wish I could get my hands on a karaoke version of the song and record it, and then maybe send it to a radio station or two. Who knows, it could become a short-term novelty hit! Or not. But speaking of short-term hits, Brett Favre will be one in New Jersey (New York, whatever) if he gets sacked alot. A quarterback is only as good as the line protecting him.

Good luck, Brett. You're going to need it. I have a sneaking suspicion that by the end of October you'll be wishing you'd stayed retired.

Or not.

A Corny Twist

2008-07-02T18:54:00.005-06:00

When I got home from work tonight, I told the girls that their dad would be late getting home. He was going to attend a celebration for a project that his team at Collins had certified (I really don't know what "certified" means). He and his co-workers were headed for Carlos O'Kelley's for a buffet, the lucky skunks. So the girls asked if we could go out to eat since Dad got to, and after some discussion we decided to go to the Johnson Avenue Hy-Vee and get Chinese. But it was only 20 minutes before 5PM, and we didn't want to eat too early, so I suggested we drive west toward Blairstown and check out the seed corn fields owned by Pioneer Hybrid Seeds. Hannah signed up to detassel this year, and I wanted to see how badly delayed their plantings were.

So, off we went. The National Weather Service had been warning of the possibility of severe weather, but as we headed west all we got was some brief heavy rain. We saw the fields: they're pretty far behind where they should be (thanks to our extremely wet spring) so detassling will be pushed back to the end of July, when Hannah has band camp. Thus, she may not get to detassel this year since band camp is a priority.

Anyway. We got as far as Keystone, and I turned around to go back. I really didn't think the clouds looked that ominous, but suddenly Mary said, "Hey! That looks like a tornado!" and sure enough, it was. The funnel was long, ropy and hanging in the air, but it did touch down. We could see the debris cloud at the bottom. The tornado was to our north and east, and as soon as I found a safe place to pull over I stopped and called Benton County Emergency Management. I reported what I saw, then pulled back onto the road and kept going. However, the tornado (which had disappeared) came back out. We could see it snaking horizontally across the sky, so we stopped again to see what it would do. It disappeared again. By now the wall cloud carrying the funnel was over Highway 30 and directly in my path, so when we got to Highway 218 we turned north. We heard on the radio that damage had been reported in Benton County at the intersection of Highway 218 and Road E-44. I wasn't sure where that was, but it happened to be the very intersection I was headed for. The only debris we saw was clumps of insulation here and there, and the Van Horne fire department was on the scene checking things out. So we turned east and headed home. The girls kept an eye on the wall cloud, now directly to our south, but nothing more happened. I did get a picture of the funnel on my cell phone - it's at the end of this blog. I should mention that Mary was ecstatic about seeing her first tornado. She loves meteorology, and this is a story she'll no doubt repeat for months. And months. And months.

By the way - we did eventually go into town for Chinese food, and I won a "buy one get one free" Pepsi bottlecap. Wow. I saw my first tornado, and I won a free Pepsi. Adventure, excitement, and a lucky soda purchase.

**sigh**

What a day.

More Soggy Blog Pictures

2008-06-13T21:15:00.003-06:00

These first two pictures are of the field to the south of our house. Alot of water and debris came down out of these fields and was deposited in the street.

This is the ditch that the field drains in to. At the height of the storm this ditch was full, and nearly backed up to the garage that you see open on the left hand side.

This is the ditch in front of that same house (the one with the open garage). It was taken 30 - 40 minutes after it stopped raining, and it's FULL.

Soggy Blog

2008-06-13T14:05:00.004-06:00

No doubt you've heard all about the flooding in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It's very sad, really. It's one thing to see flooding somewhere and pity the poor people who've been impacted. It's another to see it happen in your own backyard, in places that you relate to as "home" - streets where you've walked, stores you've been in, roads you've driven. I've not yet seen the flooding up close and personal. Carl has - he had to, driving up Interstate 380 to get to work. He called it "eerie" or "creepy" or something like that.

Here in Atkins, things are much better. We have 100% water capacity (Cedar Rapids has only 25%), we can get in and out of town (but not much further) and the citywide Garage Sales are tomorrow. (Wheee!) However, we did have a close call yesterday. At 6AM the power went out. A grain bin fell on some power lines and knocked out service until 9AM. During this period we recieved 3.5 inches of rain, and no electricity means no sump pump. And the durned pit filled up in a hurry. We tried to hook the pump up to a truck battery via a power converter, but the initial inrush overloaded our weenie little converter. Then we tried using the pressure washer to pump out the pit, but the incoming water has to be pressurized, so that didn't work either. Last resort time. We bailed our sump pit for a couple of hours using only buckets. I would draw the water from the pit, fill buckets, and Carl and the girls would carry the buckets upstairs and into the garage. They dumped the water onto the driveway, and thus away from the house. Once the power came back on it took over 30 minutes for the sump pump to drain the pit and connected drain tiles. You can still hear water rushing at a pretty fast rate into the pit, but our good ol' sump pump is keeping the basement dry.

Some of our neighbors were not so lucky. (Or, for that matter, so smart.) The family across the street had a flooded basement. We watched their teenage sons carry soaked carpet and trash out to their driveway. What gets me about this is that they had a generator going! Why they didn't hook their pump up to it is a mystery. I've seen piles of carpet outside other houses, too. It's really a mess.

Speaking of which, I'm attaching some pictures of the neighborhood after the rain let up. I'll try to caption them as best I can. Here goes:

Our flooded garden.

Corn stalks in the street left there by water from the field (to the right). The water you see in the ditch at one point was nearly backed up to a house, but before it got to the house it over-ran the road.

Our rain gauge, the red float at 3 1/2".

The **it Hits The Fan

2008-06-09T20:45:00.002-06:00

Last week, I bought a cow chip bingo ticket from a co-worker. He's a volunteer firefighter in Keystone, and they had their big fundraiser this past weekend. For those of you who have no idea what cow chip bingo is: a numbered grid is painted on a concrete or asphalt surface, then a pen is constructed around the grid. A cow is put into this pen, and whatever number the cow does its number on wins. Well, it just so happened that when the cow dumped its doots on the grid, it landed on my number. I won $1000! No kidding! $1000 for a pile of cow doots. I was shocked when my co-worker came into my cube today and handed me a check. I was happy, and that check couldn't have come at a better time because...

...our church basement flooded. It started last Wednesday/Thursday when water seeped up through the floor and soaked the carpet. No one did anything to alleviate the problem during the week, so I called Servicemaster 380 and had them come Saturday afternoon to extract the water. They did, and even though the carpet was still damp it was a definite improvement. Sunday morning, there was some discussion about what should be done, and it was agreed that I should call Servicemaster back and have them remove the carpet, stripping the floor down to the bare concrete. Then last night, it rained. And rained and rained and rained and rained and......the basement flooded. I found this out when I called our pastor at church to see if he'd be around on the morning Servicemaster came. He told me we had standing water in the basement, 3/4 of an inch deep in spots. So I called Carl to have him cut power to the outlets, and he called me from the church building to tell me that it was really bad. Our pastor put out an appeal for help, and I went out and bought a pump. After work I raced home, got the girls and a bunch of tools, and we headed in to church. Some people were already there moving stuff out, and more people arrived shortly thereafter. The pump I'd bought was too tall to suck the water directly off the floor, so we used Shop Vacs to take up the water and then used the pump to empty the Shop Vac tanks. By the time the evening was over everything had been removed from the basement and most of the water had been extracted. However, more water was seeping in at the spots where we'd already extracted, and it got to the point where we could have kept it up all night and not made any headway, so we quit. During all of this we bought pizza, so the helpers did get some supper. It was a pretty good turnout - at one point I think we had four Shop Vacs going simultaneously. But just think: if I hadn't bought that ticket, I wouldn't have won $1000, and I couldn't have afforded a water pump without which we never would have gotten the water out of the basement. We also wouldn't have had supper. I'm still amazed by this, but I guess I shouldn't be. After all, no one has a better sense of timing than God. Once again, God was right on time. I think it's funny, though, that the vehicle He chose to use was a pooping cow.

No one has a better sense of humor than God.

Mow Or Less

2008-06-02T20:48:00.002-06:00

In two weeks, Hanah will be 14 years old. In Iowa, that means she's eligible to get her driver's learning permit. She's eligible. I didn't say she was ready. To that end, Carl and I decided it was time to teach her some driving skills. Carl figured since he learned to drive behind the wheel of a John Deere tractor, what's good enough for Dad is good enough for the kid. Unfortunately we don't have the 2010 that Carl grew up driving (I think Loren still uses it at the home place) so Hannah got her lesson on our little 214 garden tractor. In addition to learning to drive, she's also learning to mow the grass - double bonus. (I think)

Anyway. She started out a little rough. Carl had cut a path for her to follow in the back yard, and she had trouble tracking it. Carl finally had to walk in front of her to show her the spots she needed to get - it's a slow moving tractor so he was in no danger. Once the back yard was done Carl had her drive through the gate and around to the front yard. She did really well going through the gate, and she did better in the front yard. When she was done Carl teased her about him getting out a lawn chair and having a cold drink while Hannah was out there working. She gave him her "teenage" stare.

The one thing I found interesting about the whole episode is that while Hannah was out mowing the front yard, teenage boys driving and/or riding in various vehicles kept going past our house, calling out and waving to Hannah. She thinks it's coincidence - I don't. Guys tend to gravitate toward pretty girls, and also things with motors, and when you put the two together you have an almost irresistable guy magnet. I guess there's just something about a blonde and a gasoline engine.....

Time to polish the shotgun, Dad!

First Impressions

2008-05-27T19:22:00.002-06:00

I started my new job at Design Engineers today. I got there at a reasonably decent time, did the tour, met my new co-workers, and filled out paperwork. I'm temporarily set up at a table in the Company President's office, but when they get the new furniture next week I'll move in with the CAD techs. I sat in with Ryan (the most senior of the CAD techs) and watched him do some edit work. I was happy: this is the way I thought CAD tech jobs should be. An engineer gives you a marked-up drawing, you do the CAD work, and then return the edited drawing to whoever gave you the original. They have one guy who sets up a "starter drawing" with every new project so there's a standard already set for blocks, layers and text. As you learn more, you can get promoted to designer status. This is the way a Drafting Department should be run, and I figured I could get settled in real easy.

Then at noon, my cell phone rang. It was the elementary school. Mary had come in saying she didn't feel well, and she had a temperature of 102 degrees. Someone had to go get her, and I was on the phone negotiating with Carl over who was going to go when Ron Foster, the Company President said, "You really should go. You don't have any deadlines to meet, and you can start over again tomorrow. Go home and take care of your daughter." Wow. What an incredibly super nice guy! Honestly, Mr. Foster is just the kindest person you'd ever want for a boss. He understood I was conflicted about leaving, but he made the situation seem like nothing. He had (obviously) been listening to Carl and I talking, and he figured out that Carl was supposed to do some test flight work today, so even though it was my first day it was more convenient for me to go than for Carl. So I grabbed my stuff, checked out for the day with Steve Foster (Ron's son and the head of Administration) and picked up Mary from school. A doctor's visit revealed that she has strep throat, so now she's on antibiotics and will be for a while. Carl's staying home with her tomorrow, and she should be well enough to go back to school on Thursday.

Sheesh! What a way to start a new job. I wonder what else is going to happen. Or maybe, I just don't want to know. :-P

The Price Of Gas

2008-05-22T08:17:00.003-06:00

Gas prices are high right now - everybody knows this. Most people gripe about it. Yet on May 14 Congress (yet again) passed legislation preventing oil exploration and drilling in Alaska, and off both coasts of the US. Meanwhile, Cuba is allowing China to drill for oil 45 miles off the Florida coast. Go figure.

But this blog isn't about the price of gasoline. It's about this morning's trip to the veterinarian. Last week I made an appointment for all three of our pets to see the vet. This is something that had been put off for months. I was in school and working, and Carl was working regular and overtime, so neither of us could get away. Plus, up until mid March the weather really stank, so even getting out of the house was a challenge. But this week I'm between jobs, so I'm catching up on all of those neglected chores (housecleaning, gardening, blogging, etc) and I needed to get the pets to the vet.

Taking all three at once is rather difficult. I can handle Moose Mutt myself, or I can handle both cats by myself, but I can't manage the menagerie. Carl had to help. I made the appointment for 8AM, the soonest possible slot after getting the girls off to school so Carl would miss a minimum of work time. He and I put our heads together and came up with this scheme: since the can redemption place is on the way to the vet's office, I would take the animals in my truck along with our cans and bottles, leave early, stop at the can place first then meet Carl at the vet's. Carl took the girls to school, and since he didn't have the pets he had doot duty. This works best because he has the pickup and can put the specimen bags in the truck bed so they won't raise a stink. The stink got raised in my truck because I had the doot producers with me. Fortunately it was a nice morning, so I could put the back windows down part way without freezing. Plus, Moose Mutt got to stick his head out the window and sniff, and also draw the stares of other motorists who couldn't believe the size of that dog!

Anyway. I should clarify that none of the pets made doots in the truck. However, their gas emissions were almost overwhelming. I'm going to be blunt: when comparing molecule for molecule cat farts smell waaaaaay worse than dog farts. But our dog is so big that he produces more gas in one fart than the cats produce in a week. Combine that with the relatively small enclosed space of a Ford Expedition, and the need to open the windows becomes obvious.

Long story short, though, I got my cans turned in ($5.60 worth) and I made it to the vet. Carl got there about 10 minutes later. He took the cats; I got the dog. They put us in one room, but that wasn't a problem because the cats and dog get along OK. Dr. Shaver (who is a wonderful vet!) took care of Judah first, and when he was finished I took him back out to the truck while Carl handled the cats. All three pets are very healthy, although Judah is a couple pounds overweight. Their vaccinations are now up to date, and Judah's heartworm test came back negative. I guess you could say everything came out all right....... in the end.

HA!

Final-ly

2008-05-09T20:26:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow I graduate from Kirkwood Community College. I had my three final finals this past week, and now all I have to do is the Pomp and Circumstance Shuffle across the stage at the US Cellular Center where I'll receive my empty diploma holding folder. That's right - all they give you is the folder. The graduates won't be seated in any particular order, so they won't have any way to quickly distribute the real certificates. Instead, when you show up to register they give you a card with your graduation information on it. As you approach the stage, you give your card to an usher who gives the cards to the MC (or ringmaster or whatever you call him) and when it's your turn they read your card and hand you the folder. The diploma comes in the mail later.

In some ways, it's nice to be done with school. I'll have my evenings free again. I won't have to do homework, and I won't have to bring work home from work because I'd spent the day in classes. But I'll miss my classmates. OK - I'll miss most of my classmates. There's a couple that I have to admit I won't miss. And I'll miss my instructors: Jorge, Tom, Jim, Steve and Barry. They were great to work with and learn from. They were friendly and nice, and if you wanted to learn something extra, or you needed help, they were happy to spend time with you. All things considered, my two and a half years at Kirkwood were pleasant and enjoyable. Maybe someday, I'll go back. I'm definitely going to try to get my girls to do their first two years there. The tuition will be lower, they can live at home (cheaper than an apartment) and they'll have a better chance at scholarships.

So what will I do now that I'm done with school? I'm going to change jobs. I found employment at an engineering firm that's only 1/3 the commute distance compared to where I work now. My last day will be next Friday (the 16th - also my 21st wedding anniversary) and I'll start the new job May 27th. I'll also have more time to spend with my girls. I promised them that this summer I'd teach them how to sew and paint, and I promised Boo-Boo that I'd start walking and jogging with her. I'll also have more time to spend with Carl, but what we're going to do is none of your dang business. ;)

Speaking of Carl, he just came in here looking for Skeeter, one of our cats. We shut the cats in the basement at night, and while Maya doesn't mind going downstairs, Skeeter usually hides. She also hides when she doesn't want to come in from the garage. I couldn't get her to come in tonight, so I stood in the doorway between the house and the garage and pressed the panic button on my SUV's remote. The truck only honked twice before this flying black streak of fur went whizzing past me and into the living room. A quick and effective solution to the problem.

Tomorrow I graduate. I'll have more time for my husband, my kids, my pets and myself. I can get my studio cleaned out, and I can start painting again. I can feel myself beginning, ever so slightly, to relax.

Life is good.

Weather Or Not

2008-04-25T18:47:00.002-06:00

It's been a weird few days here in Iowa. Wednesday was beautiful - warm and sunny. Yesterday it started raining, and it rained on and off for about 36 hours. Rainfall levels varied from 2" - 6" (at our house we got 2-1/2") and with the ground already saturated from the meltoff of our record snowfall and the rain we've had after it, well, the water had nowhere to go but downstream. Every major waterway is flooded, and depending on where you are you may not be able to get past the road closings.

This is very reminiscent of 1993, when it started flooding in April and didn't leave off until late August. I vividly remember that year because the flooding seriously impacted me and my family. Carl had lots of problems trying to find roads across the Iowa River that were open. The Mississippi River in Davenport rose so high that River Drive was closed and the downtown was pretty much shut down. I worked for the state Department of Agriculture, and after the waters receded we had to assess the flood damage that affected the farmers along the Iowa River. I was amazed at the destruction. The river channel had changed in several places, and the piles of sand and silt were sometimes 5 feet deep. The winter of 1992 - 1993 was pretty snowy, too, so the similarities keep increasing.

Ick.

But back to today. This afternoon, around 2PM, the temperature was 72 and it was sunny. Now the temperature is 44, the sky is cloudy (again) and the wind is really blowing from the northwest. It's supposed to stay cold through the weekend, and we may even get snow on Sunday.

Ick.

All of this bad weather has played havoc on the AYSO soccer season. The start of the season was delayed (apparently you can't play in the snow) so they rescheduled the games for Saturdays and Sundays instead of just Saturdays. But last weekend, the fields were too wet to play on, so AYSO had to tweak the schedule again. And - you guessed it - the rainfall of the past 36 hours has cancelled this weekend's games, too. I don't know if they'll get any games in at all. The fields they use in Ladora are in the Bear Creek bottom lands, and if the Iowa River is flooded (which it is) then Bear Creek is flooded. Apparently you can't play soccer in flood water, either.

Ick. Icky, icky, icky, ick.

And did I mention - ICK!!!

Indescribable

2008-04-20T16:05:00.002-06:00

I need to make a confession - I screwed up, and I feel very guilty about it. Back around the first of the year Carl's place of work sent out notices that they had "buy them before they go public" tickets to The Fresh Aire Music of Mannheim Steamroller concert. I was ecstatic - this is my favorite group, period, and I wanted to go. I told my Mom, and she wanted to go too, so Carl was going to look into tickets. But then I started thinking "The ad doesn't say it's Chip Davis - is this really going to be Mannheim Steamroller or just the Cedar Rapids Symphony playing their music?". So I checked out Mannheim's website but didn't see any spring tour information. Therefore I assumed that this was a performance of the Symphony.

Well, you know what they say about assumptions: they make an ass out of u and me. About two weeks ago, TV advertisements started for this concert, saying that because of the interest in the concert and the demand for tickets, they would be holding a matinee. This didn't sit well: why would anyone be this interested in a CR Symphony concert? So I went back to the Mannheim website and found out I was WRONG. It was Mannheim Steamroller coming to 'lil old Cedar Rapids, and I had blown my chance at getting really good tickets. I also hosed my Mom out of a chance to see them in concert with us, and for that I feel really guilty. I'm sorry, Mom. I wish you could have been there.

Obviously, by now you've figured out that we did get matinee tickets. They were in the first row of the balcony, and were decent enough seats, although I couldn't stand very long because of my vertigo. But this concert was indescribably wonderful. The music, the visual effects, the music, the enthusiasm of the musicians, and the music were fabulous beyond words. The topper was the encore: after they finished the main program they did three more songs. Two of them were Christmas songs - Winter Wonderland and Deck the Halls. The third song was the last one on Fresh Aire II. What made the encore particularly spectacular was that during Winter Wonderland they showed scenes from Terry Redlin paintings. Terry Redlin is my all-time favorite painter, and having Mannheim's music together with Redlin's paintings was just about as perfect as you can get. The only thing that would have made it completely perfect is if they'd been serving Temptations Fine Candies dark chocolate truffles. (http://www.atkinschocolateshop.com/)

All in all, it's been a banner weekend for our family. Friday night we went to see Ben Stein's new movie Expelled:No Intellegence Allowed. Saturday Mary's soccer game was rained out, so she and I went to shopping in Williamsburg. (I'd taken Hannah earlier this year.) And then today we went to church, got Chinese food for lunch, and went to the concert. Plus, today is a gloriously beautiful spring day, so the girls went to the park. I guess they thought they needed more Fresh Aire.

**sigh**

Why can't all weekends be like this?

How's That Again?

2008-04-14T13:34:00.003-06:00

I'd like to start this blog with a couple of definitions:

Mondegreen - the misinterpretation of a line or lyric in a song due to homophony.

Homophones - words with the same pronunciation.

The following info was copied from Wikipedia:

(start quote)The American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term mondegreen in an essay "The Death of Lady Mondegreen," which was published in Harper's Magazine in November 1954.[1] In the essay, Wright described how, as a young girl, she misheard the final line from the 17th century ballad "The Bonnie Earl O' Murray." She wrote: When I was a child, my mother used to read aloud to me from Percy's Reliques, and one of my favorite poems began, as I remember:

Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh, where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl Amurray, [sic]
And Lady Mondegreen.

The actual fourth line is "And laid him on the green." As Wright explained the need for a new term, "The point about what I shall hereafter call mondegreens, since no one else has thought up a word for them, is that they are better than the original." (end quote)

Although most people don't know the actual term mondegreen, they're familiar with them. I can actually remember the first mondegreen I ever encountered. I was very little (I hadn't learned to read yet) and in church we sang a hymn called "He Lives". Part of the last verse goes, "the hope of all who seek Him, the help of all who find none other is so loving, so good and kind." I thought the verse went "the hope of all who seek Him, the help of all who find none other is salami, so good and kind." Maybe I was hungry, or something.

The reason I bring this subject up is because a favorite band of mine, Creedence Clearwater Revival, is one of the worst offenders when it comes to mondegreens. "There's a bathroom on the right" (which is supposed to be "There's a bad moon on the rise") is #2 in the top three mondegreens listed by some dude named Jon Carroll. I don't think that it's a coincedence that "bathroom on the right" is #2, do you?

Whatever. Back to the point about CCR music being rife with mondegreens. I believe the reason there are so many of them is that John Fogerty is nearly impossible to understand at times. Take the song "Good Golly Miss Molly". I can't comprehend half of what he's trying to sing. And then there's "Willy and the Poor Boys". I had to Google the lyrics to discover that part of the first verse, which sounds like "Willy pulls a doo-dad and his nose has got a hump" is in reality "Willy pulls a tune out and he blows it on the harp". However, there are those times when Fogerty enunciates well enough to be understood. I love the songs "Looking Out My Back Door" and "Travelin' Band". They're both fun to sing along with, although I've not yet mastered the Fogerty yell in "Travelin' Band". (My girls have.) Right now I have The Best of CCR two disc set in my truck's player, and I've discovered that the best way to listen to "Travelin' Band" is with the volume all the way up, the windows all the way down, and the pedal all the way to the floor. Well, not quite all the way. But if I don't set the cruise control I find myself moving waaaaayy faster than I should be. Fortunately I've not done this in front of any law enforcement vehicles.

The Wikipedia article goes on to say that Fogerty cashed in on these misinterpretations and would deliberately sing them in concerts. Not that anyone would notice the difference. He was probably just an unintelligible live as he was recorded. But he must have had fun doing it, or else he wouldn't have, now would he?

Just so long as he kept on chooglin'.

P.S. A special note to my friend Bismuth: ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!!!

It's 5 AM...

2008-03-31T04:10:00.002-06:00

...do you know where I am?

Of course you do! I'm right here, sitting in front of my computer. I've been up since 1:30 with what doctors blithely refer to as "gastric distress". In order to keep noise to a minimum, I decided to dork around on the computer rather than turn on the TV. Not that it's been exactly silent around here. I mean, besides that. I was talking about the cats. They realized that someone was awake and started howling at the basement door, hoping to either be let out or fed or both. They got neither, and they finally gave up and went back to bed. I'd like to go back to bed, but until my gastrointestinal system settles down I think I'll stay right here.

The challenge with being awake in the wee hours of the morning is finding stuff to do on the computer. I'm not a gamer (except for that annoyingly addicting Marbles game) so I head over to FOXnews and Drudge to see what's up, if anything. Not really. The jist of the news is that the economy is still in crisis, Hillary and Barack are still sniping at each other (and neither of them is in Bosnia - HA!) crime is still running rampant and all four of the Number One seeds in the NCAA basketball tournament made it to the Final Four for the first time in tournament history.

How many of you have watched the games? I've caught most of them (except for Drake's humiliating loss to Western Kentucky) and so far it's been a good tournament. West Virginia beating Duke was wonderful, and some of the really close games have been terrific - I loved the Louisville/North Carolina game. Right now I tend to favor Memphis for the national championship. They have the look and feel of a NBA team. I mean, they really put on a clinic when they played Michigan State. (Sorry, Jonathan!) I don't think Drew Neitzel knew what hit him, and he probably still doesn't know what hit him. And that was his last collegiate game, poor kid. But I bet he'll go pretty high in the draft.

Anyway. Back to web surfing between restroom runs (pun intended). Hmmm...what else to do, what else to do? Ah! Go back and read my last blog, and the comment from my brother...

Bad idea. I read it and suddenly the word "chooglin'" sounds completely unpleasant. I think I'll head over to Amazon and see if they have anything that I'd feel like wasting money on.

Jewelry? No thanks. Metal things attached to your body isn't recommended when working for an electrical contractor. Ooh! the new Christopher Paolini book is coming out! In September. I think I'll buy it once it's actually on the shelves. Ah! DVD sale! The Star Trek TV series, starring William "I'm not a starship captain, I'm a lawyer!" Shatner is half price. Sort of. You have to buy each season individually because the 3 DVD set isn't half price. Whatever. I think I'll hang on to my money for now.

And the time has come for me to get the girls ready for school. It's raining, so I'll drive them to the elementary school where Hannah can catch her bus and Mary can wait in the gym until the start of classes. Which, until April 9th, are extended 30 minutes a day to make up for some of the 13 snow days we've had.

I'd better get "chooglin'".

The Return of Blatherskite

2008-03-13T11:15:00.002-06:00

Well, since my last posting, we've had two more snow days. That makes a grand total of 13. The school district is trying to figure out how to make up the time without extending the school year any farther than June 5th. Good luck to them.

In today's travels (to and from KCC) I saw a car with a bumper sticker that said, "Ban Mercury from Vaccines. Stop poisoning our kids!" As I read this, the driver tossed a cigarette out of her window. Good grief. Don't poison our kids with mercury, but second hand smoke is OK? Not to mention polluting the environment with what you throw out the window. Some example she sets.

Meanwhile, the weather here is slowly getting better. We've had several days of temperatures above freezing, so alot of snow has melted. The 10-foot tall drifts along W-28 are now only 6 feet high. With all of the melting, of course, has come some flooding, but nothing too drastic yet. Not that flooding would affect me: I live on a hill. The melt-off is exposing stuff that was hidden for weeks: my Dutch yard figures, my birdbath, the sign at the end of W-28 that says "Cedar Rapids 26 miles" and scores of fence posts. Also exposed are all of the poochie bombs in the back yard that got covered with layers of snow. All over the drifts along the fence, it's doots, doots, doots, looking out my back door. They're everywhere!

Why, all of the sudden, do I have a desire to listen to Credence Clearwater Revival?

Anyway. Along with the warmer weather is a harbinger of spring that I watch for every year. I haven't seen one yet, but today for the first time I heard the distictive song of red-wing blackbirds. They're true migrants (robins aren't) so when the red-wings come back, spring is near.

And the nearer, the better.

No Surprises, But Some Relief

2008-02-22T18:55:00.002-06:00

Wednesday was snow day number 11 for the girls. At this rate, they'll be in school until July. I have lots of work to do to get all my hours in at ESCO, but I have one lines to do, so I can get what I need.

Today we finally got some weather relief. The temperature rose to around 20 degrees, which may not sound that great except for the fact that temperatures had been in the single digits for most of the week. Lots of melting went on (or should I say off?) the roads, and when I went down to Cargill today for a meeting Mount Vernon Road and East Post Road were passable in two wheel drive. I still needed four wheel drive to navigate around the plant, but the rest was pretty decent. Even W-28 had only patchy areas of ice left. That will hopefully disappear in the next two days, as temperatures are expected to rise to around 32 degrees. It's a veritable heat wave!

However, it won't last. Another storm system is supposed to come in Monday night, with a chance of rain and snow. Hopefully, more rain than anything, but with my luck both Benton Community and Kirkwood will call off classes. Again.

This is getting monotonous!

Piling It On

2008-02-19T21:45:00.002-06:00

Today was Benton Community Schools snow day number 10. The snow just keeps piling up and piling up and piling up. And it isn't always falling snow that's the problem. Lately it's been blowing and drifting snow. If you go to KCRG.com (channel 9 - HA!) you'll see articles that they've had on the news about how bad the Benton County roads get when the wind picks up. If you read yesterday's blog, you know that I was stranded at home again, snowed in. Carl, either bravely or foolishly, decided to go into work. He left at 5:30 AM and didn't get to his office until 7:30 AM, because he'd tried to plow his way through a drift on one of the north-south roads (the Shellsburg road) leading out of Atkins, and he got the pickup hung up and stuck. It took him two hours to dig himself out and then creep his way into Cedar Rapids. When he came home last night, only one lane of our two-lane road (W-28) was open, and just barely at that. On last night's news they made a deal out of the fact that all three of the north-south roads leading out of Atkins were blocked. I wonder who from KCRG lives out here. Some KCRG employee probably bought a house out in the Ralston addition last summer and is now regretting it, but at least whoever it is gets an easy story to report.

Anyway. Last night Carl and I decided that it would be better to try to get to work later (i.e. once it was light outside) than not at all, so we told the girls that we were both going to work today, but Carl was driving both of us in. We went over the ground rules (again) and had Mary choose what she wanted for lunch so that she'd know how much insulin to take, and then we left. W-28 hadn't improved much - it was still one lane, and where the road was open the pavement was snowpacked and icy. Carl drove slowly and carefully (and in four wheel drive) until we got closer to the city, then the roads cleared up a little and we could go in two wheel drive. That is, until we got to Blairs Ferry Road, the street that takes me to work in Marion. That was as bad as W-28, worse actually because there was lots of traffic on it. Carl put the pickup back into four wheel drive and managed to deliver me safely to work.

Coming home was better. The main highways were, for all intents and purposes, clear. Blairs Ferry and W-28 still stank, but at least the plows had widened W-28 back to two lanes. The bad news? The wind is supposed to pick up again after midnight, and the drifting problems will start all over again. Already tonight Benton Community Schools has declared a two hour late start for tomorrow morning. I wonder if that will degrade to snow day number 11. I wouldn't be a bit surprised.

Number Nine

2008-02-18T10:00:00.003-06:00

Before I start into my diatribe about the number nine, I want to point out that my profile has been updated. This happened because my husband switched our e-mail accounts, and I had to jump through a bunch of hoops to get my Google account lined up with his Google account because that's where the new e-mail is.

Anyway.

So what's up with the number nine? Well, normally not much. The most notoriety nine has gotten was back when I was little and The Beatles did some sort of something where if you played a record backwards you could hear someone saying "number nine" in a really freaky voice. You can't do that now-a-days unless you have an old fashioned record player and the old vinyl album. You can't exactly spin a CD backwards, now can you?

But right now nine has me really frustrated. Why? Because nine is the number of snow days that Benton Community Schools has had this year. NINE!! We've had somewhere around 55 inches of snow, with lots of blowing and drifting. Needless to say getting out of my little rural town has been something of a challenge. We haven't been to church in two weeks because we couldn't get out, and I've had to stay home from work almost every time the girls have had school delayed or cancelled. Both Carl and I are very frustrated by the weather, and I can only imagine how my boss and co-workers must feel. I know it's not my fault, but I still feel guilty for not getting to work when everyone else did. Hannah's frustrated, because she likes school and she's not looking forward to classes extending into June. Mary loves the snow days, but it's a pretty safe bet that she'll be frustrated when she realizes how far into the summer the school year will go.

Meanwhile, here I am again, stuck at home because of the weather. Also, Kirkwood Community College is closed, so I'll miss my Monday night Estimating class again. I hope Jim comes up with a way for us to catch up, or else I won't be able to graduate. All in all, the weather really has me down. I can't go to school, I can't go to work, I can't go anywhere, period. Truth is, all I want to do right now is sit on the sofa and cry.

Sorry to bummer all of you readers out. Hopefully spring will come soon, and things will return to normal. Except they're predicting excessive flooding when the snow melts.

Yip yip yahoo.

Now What Did I Do?

2008-02-11T19:37:00.000-06:00

Every once in a while, something comes up that you just can't stay quiet about. Such is the case with the Benton Community school board. They've done some weird things recently, including re-admitting some students that were expelled according to the school's "zero tolerance" policy. But the thing that got me wound up was when they "voted" to hire a new attorney. It's a long article, and the part about the attorney is the last half of the article, but I've posted a link to it here: (you may have to cut and paste this link into your browser)

http://showcase.netins.net/web/bpunion/Benton%20County/Week5storiesBenton/BCboardspecial5.html

Anyway. Their shenanigans prompted me to write a letter to the editor of the South Benton Star-Press, and it got published. There's no link to it, so I'm including it below. It goes like this:

I have a question for the Benton Community Schools Board of Directors:

What is UP with you people?

I ask this question in light of the article in the South Benton Star-Press (30 Jan) where the board "discussed" hiring a new attorney. I use the word "discussed" loosely, because it didn't really sound like a discussion at all. The impression received from the article is that five members of the board had met informally and decided to choose a new attorney. Two members of the board were not notified of these informal meetings (which I assume were probably by phone or e-mail). Then the five members, primarily Board President Schanbacher and Vice President Harrington, defended this decision by declaring it their "right" to do so. Ms. Schanbacher is quoted as saying "... we are in the realm of ourselves to change legal counsel." (emphasis added).While it may be true that the board can change their legal counsel, the manner in which this change was made is highly irregular. Normally, a motion is made during an open meeting to replace counsel, then research is done with the knowledge of the entire board and several firms are chosen for review. The board then chooses from among the options, and the best firm is chosen by a majority of the entire board. To have one person choose a new law firm and then not inform all parties involved in the decision making process smacks of conspiracy and imperiousness. Is this the impression that the board wishes to leave with the parents and taxpayers of the Benton Community School District? I certainly hope not, but given the information and quotes from the article it would seem so. When board members go on the defensive, stating "it's our right" "this is the board's attorney" "it's in our realm" and "the president shouldn't have to call you on matters like this", the people of the school district sense a definite problem within the board, and especially in the leadership.

President Schanbacher is quoted in the article as saying, "Change is sometimes a good thing. ... maybe a new fresh perspective on what has happened could be something that would definitely help the board out."

Very true. But perhaps the change shouldn't be with the legal counsel. Maybe it should be with the board when the next election cycle comes around.

Submitted by:Nancy A, BodeAtkins, IA

WELL!!! You'd think I'd just have written the Magna Carta, given the response I've received about this. I've had cards, e-mails and phone calls all praising my "well written article". "You've hit the nail on the head", a couple of other people told me. (At this point, you should imagine me digging my toe into the dirt saying, "Aw, shucks!") At the last Community Club meeting, Carl had several people tell him that they agreed with my letter. All these accolades are rather overwhelming, considering the only thing I did was tell the truth in a letter. But apparently folks around here felt the same way I did, and I just managed to be the one who was chosen to have their words put in the newspaper. I've not had one negative comment (yet) although I wait with trepidation for the upcoming edition of the paper on Thursday. I wonder if I've opened a can of worms with this letter. If I have, I can only pray that good will come of it, because all I did was tell the truth. I mean, isn't the truth supposed to set you free?

Let's hope so.

Introspection

2008-01-17T17:08:00.000-06:00

For a long time now, I've been wanting to move out into the country. I mean, farther out in the country than we are now. We live on the edge of a small town, and there's a cornfield right across the street, but I'd like to have a place where there are no other houses around, and the nearest neighbor is at least 1/4 mile away. I want to have a view to the west that's unobscured, and I want to have the option of playing loud rock music at 2AM without receiving a visit from the sheriff. Not that I'm ever awake at 2AM playing loud music, but I'd like to have the option.

So over Christmas this desire to move became a topic of conversation, and I had a relative remind me that when I was in my teens I hated living in the country. I apparently resented our family's move from the town to our farm when I was seven, and I guess I let everyone know it. What my relative said has been whirling around in the back of my head ever since, and I finally figured out how to reconcile my desire to live in the country now against my resentment of living in the country in my youth.

It wasn't the farm itself I hated. What I hated was the fact that the only place I had to go (outside of school and church) was home, and my Dad (at times) could be a very nasty bully. I felt trapped, and all I wanted to do was get out of that trap. Once I started college, I was able to spend long periods of time away from home, and the feeling of being trapped began to recede. When I married Carl, and he defended me and made my Dad stop his bullying, I finally felt released from the trap and the farm became a very welcoming place to go. I especially liked going home in the fall, when the maple trees in the front yard blazed with orange, the air was crisp and cool, and my kids could play in the large piles of leaves around the house. Those were good years, and they more than made up for the bad moments of my childhood. I had a great relationship with Dad, and so did Carl and the girls. It was an overwhelmingly sad event when my Dad got sick and my parents sold their farm and moved to town. For all I can tell, the farm is in good hands: the family that bought it has made some very nice improvements, and they've allowed the lilac hedge to grow and thrive.

But I miss the feeling of space that the farm had. You could go outside at night and look at the stars without having to deal with streetlights. You could let the dogs out to run and not have to worry about them going across the street to irritate your neighbors. You had room to play a game of football, not just a game of catch. If your neighbors set off (illegal) fireworks, you were far enough away for them not to bother you. Living in town, even a small town like the one we live in now, gives me a closed in, restricted feeling. I feel the need to get out, to stretch out, to have a place where I can look at the stars without all that in-town light pollution.

I feel the need to get out of the trap.

Ew! What's That Smell?

2008-01-04T17:16:00.000-06:00

The Iowa Caucus is finally over. In our house, we refer to it as the Iowa Carcass, when political vultures hover over the state looking for whatever they can scavenge. The buzzards squawk at you on TV and radio, and they phone you ad nauseum hoping to suck some political voter blood out of you. Then on Carcass Day the politically active types go and decide which vulture they think is the cutest. All in all, an annoyance that Iowans have to put up with every four years.

Remember - "politics" is derived from the Greek "poly" meaning "many", and ticks are blood sucking creatures.

Get the feeling that I'm fed up with politics, politicians and political ads? You bet I am! I'm registered as an Independent, but that doesn't seem to deter anything. Both parties called our house begging for our caucus support. Meanwhile, as the politicking is going on, we're teaching our girls the difference between liberal and conservative values, and explaining to them why we're conservatives. To that end, Hannah (a chip off the old block) wrote the following:

'Twas the night before caucus, with signs up and other "fun"
No one was stirring, not even Hillary Clinton
And as dumb as they were, they'd wait for phone calls from politics and then
The next day they'd caucus for liberals like Joe Biden
My sister answered the phone hoping it would be Shannon
But the look she had told me it was a politic - it was Bill Richardson
She still had that look on her face, I knew what she would say
She said, "You have the wrong number! Seriously, GO AWAY!"
All I have to say is, "listen to me if you can,
Liberals are not that honest - vote Republican!"

A nice sentiment: what my daughter hasn't learned yet is that the Republican party isn't all that honest, either, nor are they all that conservative any more. She'll learn with time.

And now, a few other observations about politics:

I wish they had a "none of the above" category. If a majority voted "none of the above" it would force the political parties to go back and try again. Hopefully they'd find someone with actual leadership ability.

Joe Biden (who's now thankfully dropped out of the race) was campaigning in Iowa on an honesty theme. This from the guy caught plagarizing stuff in the 80's. Go figure.

Am I the only one who thinks Barack sounds like the noise you make when you hurl?

Ron Paul had a helicopter flying over the Cedar Rapids metro area yesterday, pulling a banner that said "The Ron Paul Revolution". It had the letters EVOL highlighted in red. That's "love" spelled backwards. Doesn't "backwards love" equal "hate"? Is that what this guy stands for? Did he put any thought into that banner? Sheesh!

Also yesterday, very early on a very frigid morning, there were young women standing at busy intersections holding huge "Hillary" banners. Puts new meaning into the nickname "Chillary".

For some reason, Mary liked Mitt Romney as a candidate. I can't get enthusiastic for anyone named after a piece of sporting equipment. Does he have a sister named "Bat" or a brother named "Cleat"? Wouldn't surprise me if he did. However, for Mary's sake, I will end this blog with the campaign slogan that Mary made up:

Wit-A-Pit-Pit, Vote for Mitt.

A Cup Of Christmas Blog

2007-12-25T14:49:00.000-06:00

Today has been a very nice Christmas Day. Everyone loved their gifts: Mary got an American Girl doll, Hannah got more spy toys, Carl got The Complete Farside Collection and a Milwaukee Sawzall, and I got a new kitchen faucet and track lighting (installed!) and a Brian Urlacher football jersey. Each girl got a tween-size inflatable sleeping bag, stocking stuffers, plus some books: Hannah got two books by Dave Barry (her newest favorite author) and Mary got a stack of books by Louis Sachar (he wrote the Wayside School series). Even the pets got toys and snacks in their stockings. A lovely morning altogether.

Christmas dinner was a pleasant surprise, mainly because I managed to cook it without undercooking, overcooking, or burning anything. I roasted two ducks stuffed with apples and raisins, and since I had some apples and raisins left over I made a baked apple pudding from a recipe I got off the Internet. It was an impromptu thing, but it must have been meant to be because there was a carton of vanilla ice cream in the basement freezer to go with it. We also had baked potatoes, veggies and rolls. Fortunately I had lots of help from Carl in the cooking which is probably why it turned out so good.

Yes, today was definitely a vast improvement over yesterday. I had to take Moose Mutt to the vet first thing in the morning, and the two-lane road between our town and the main highway was still blocked from the weekend snowstorm we'd had. Only one lane was open (barely). I've never seen drifts that high - they were level with the top of the pickup cab! The poor plow driver was trying hard to clear the road, but the traffic was seriously hindering him. If I'd had some warning I'd have taken another route out of town, but there were no signs to redirect traffic, and no humans out on the road (besides the plow driver) to control vehicles. I managed to get to town and home again, but only because I had four-wheel drive and an obstinate attitude. I was angry that the plow driver didn't have any help. Someone else should have been out there to direct traffic, and every time the driver had to get out of his truck to handle cars was time taken away from his main task of plowing (and was thus a waste of my tax money). So I wrote a letter to the county board of supervisors giving them a piece of my mind. Don't worry, Mom. Carl read the letter before I sent it, so it wasn't too nasty or mean. It was as diplomatic a letter as I could muster. Fortunately, the road was cleared by the time we went to church last night, so all's well that ends well.

I'm looking forward to Thursday and Friday. We're going to my Mom's Wednesday night (after I get home from work - the curse of not having vacation days - blech!) then we're headed to Illinois to my older-older brother's home. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up on the latest. I'm hopeful that next year I can convince the family to come to my house for the holidays. I know it's a long way for some, but I've never had everyone in my house all at once, ever. So, family, if you're reading this, Christmas 2008 is in Iowa.

PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE?!?!?

A Cynical View of Christmas

2007-12-07T20:19:00.000-06:00

So - today as I was driving to work, I was looking around at the new snowfall we'd gotten, and thinking about how pretty it was. It wasn't pretty two hours previous when school was delayed, but it was pretty now. But I'm driving along and the Meredith Willson song It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas starts playing in my head. And of course I start humming it. Then it hits me - this song, in this day and age, makes absolutely no sense! Only us old folks remember the "five and dimes", and also going downtown to the department stores (every one of them had toys) to go shopping. This song was written in a more genteel time, when there were no shopping malls, ladies always wore dresses and everyone wore hats. But it really struck me at how things have changed. Christmas is no longer a celebration of the birth of the Christ Child. Now it is, as Lucy Van Pelt would say "a big commercial racket. It's run by a big Eastern syndicate, you know!" So I started contemplating - what is today's equivalent of a five and dime store? When the answer came to me, my slightly deranged brain began to rewrite the song, and it came out something like this:

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas (2007)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, every where you go

Take a look in the dollar store, glistening once more

With Chinese imports lined up in a row

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, shopping online stores

And you'll notice diversity, Kwanzaa candles there will be

At the house next door

A pair of Pokemon balls and a cell phone that calls

Is the wish of Barney and Ben

Dolls that go pee and a new MP3

Is the hope of Janice and Jen

And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, more and more each day

There's a tree in the shopping mall, but not in the school's hall

The ACLU took that one away

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, it's that time you know

Oh to be a small child again, think I'll go outside and then

I'll play IN DA SNOW!!!

Cynical? I suppose so. But at this point in my life, I'd like to see things slow down a little. I very nostalgically wish for the days when Woolworth's and Petersen's ruled downtown Davenport, and toy recalls were unheard of. And I especially wish that more people saw Christmas for what it really is: the celebration of the birth of the Christ Child, that meaning of Christmas that Linus quotes to Charlie Brown in "A Charlie Brown Christmas". A more genteel time when re-enacting the Nativity as your school play wasn't unheard of, but was actually encouraged.

Maybe this year, I'll wear a hat.

What A Concept

2007-11-01T08:39:00.000-06:00

That today is the first day of November is a hard concept to grasp. November? Already?!? School just started yesterday and I still have my summer clothes out. But it is November - three weeks from today it will be Thanksgiving.

The semester is more than half over, and I seem to be doing pretty well. I finished researching and writing the study guide for my Honors Project, and I'm holding A's for grades right now.

Football season is half over, and right now Team Moose Mutt leads the fantasy league by one game. This weekend I have to play the guy who has both Tom Brady and LaDanian Tomlinson on his team. How this guy isn't in first place is beyond me. He must have had some negative defense points somewhere. (BTW - is that how you spell LaDanian?)

Carl and I did manage to go to Scream Acres last Saturday. It scared the you-know-what out of me - I missed a whole bunch of stuff the first time I went through because I spent most of my time looking at Hannah. This time I screamed about as much as she did, but when Carl wasn't laughing his head off he was being as protective as he could. After Scream Acres we went to Collins Pub. Every small town in Iowa has at least one bar, and for Atkins Collins Pub is it. They make great cheeseburgers, but we weren't hungry. We did drink (a little, Mom, nothing overboard) and I got to do karaoke for the first time. It was kind of fun, actually, and Carl said I had the best voice in the place. Yeah, like Carl is going to be subjective.

Yesterday for Halloween Mary went as a genie. I bought her a costume from Oriental Trading, then I bought her a tank top to wear under the costume to cover her bare middle. It was cold last night!! Anyway. Hannah (who didn't dress up this year) took Mary around the neighborhood while Carl and I set up for trick-or-treaters. I did what I usually do: I put out a big basket full of hackey sacks, set up a lawn chair in the garage, and tethered Judah to the bumper of my truck so he could be out in the garage with me. He has a Halloween bandana that I make him wear, and this year I taped a sign to the table that said "Beware of Cerberus". Kids asked me what that meant, so along with their toy they got a brief lecture on Greek mythology. One kid was impressed: "Wow, a kickball and we learned something, too!" is what he said to his Dad when he left. Lots of kids petted Judah, and he performed tricks for some of the kids (which means he got plenty of treats). One mom told me that her kids insist on coming to our house because they know they'll get a toy instead of candy. That made me feel good.

After Hannah and Mary got back from trick or treating Carl took them to the Atkins Community Club Halloween party. I think they had fun although Mary was mad that she didn't win the costume contest. Oh, well. I was told the winners were two brothers who were dressed as Legos.

I guess that means they know how to put it all together!!

Haunted Blog

2007-10-25T08:03:00.000-06:00

As mentioned in the previous blog, I took Hannah to Bloomsbury Farm's haunted cornfield, Scream Acres. This was supposed to be a treat for her since she babysat Mary and her friend Shannon for me. She really wanted to do this. Really.

Well, we got there and stood in line. Not bad - we knew the people in front of us and became acquainted with the people behind us. They let us go through the haunted barn (very mild, no human haunters) and they saved our place in line since the line wasn't moving. And the weather was mild, so standing outside was actually pleasant. Finally, we got to the front of the line. Hannah and I were put in a group with the people behind us, and off into the cornfield we went.

Now, I like haunted houses. The scarier, the better, and this one was fabulous. However, it terrified Hannah, the poor kid. The first time someone jumped out at her she ran to me for protection, and by the time we left I had both arms around her and I was half carrying her. This is significant in the fact that Hannah is mildly autistic and doesn't like to be touched. In this case, though, she figured it was better to have Mom holding her than to be approached by a guy in a mask holding a running (but chainless) chain saw. The noise really set her off. I don't think she realized that the actors weren't allowed to touch her, but sometimes they got too close. They were very understanding, though, when I told them Hannah was autistic. They backed right off, usually with one hand in the air signifying retreat. But it was a great haunted cornfield, really well done. It was so good that my maternal protective instincts kicked in and at a couple points I considered decking one or two of the actors.

Anyway. Once we finished the maze (the haunted field was a maze...a really long maze, which added to its fabulousity) we went to the concession stand. Hannah said her throat hurt from screaming, and she needed a drink. So I bought her a bottle of water and some popcorn, and we sat and recovered. One nice thing she said - she appreciated my Mom reaction and the way I protected her. Usually, when I ask Hannah if she's OK (she's been coughing or she looks sick or upset or something) she snaps at me and says I'm over-reacting. This time she was grateful.

So after our snack, we went home and told Dad and Mary all about it. Mary was mad that she didn't get to go, but I reassured her that if she had gone she'd have been reduced to a sobbing ball of fourth grader and would have had to be carried out of the maze by her Dad. But I want to go back to the maze this weekend with Carl. We haven't gone to a haunted anything in years (at least, not together) and I really want him to experience this. I think I can get Hannah to babysit.

I wonder if this time she'll ask for "payment".

Auction Update And Other News

2007-10-20T15:35:00.000-06:00

I won't keep you in suspense - we didn't win the auction. Here's the long-story version of how it went:

Carl and I got to the auction site around 9:30. There were already lots of people there - we had to park along the road a fair ways away. Once we got on the property we started looking around. This place has alot of small, old, crummy buildings on it, most of which weren't worth saving. The house itself was, as I said in another blog, uninhabitable, and in my opinion it would be cost prohibitive to try and restore it. But since we weren't interested in saving the house anyway, we decided to stay and give bidding a try. At 10AM sharp they started the auction. The auctioneer first asked if someone would start the bidding at $100,000. No one said a word. Then he asked for $75,ooo. Again, silence. Then the auctioneer asked for someone to call out an opening bid. Just as I opened my mouth to say "$10,000" the guy next to Carl called "$25,000". Then the bidding went back and forth between the $25,000 guy and another guy who was on my side of the yard but a little ways away from me. The bidding went fast, from $25,000 to $80,000 in a matter of seconds. Carl and I had set a top threshold of $60,000 so we never even got to bid. Once the price hit $80,000 the auctioneer conferred with the landowner's family, and they were satisfied with getting at least $80,000. Then the auctioneer asked if anyone would give $81,000, and the bidding went up again, more slowly this time. But the final winner was the guy who initially called out $25,000. He was a younger man, maybe in his early 20's, and there was an older man with him who I assume was his father. Once the bidding on the property closed, the two men went with the auction staff to the trailer where they had to sign the contract and provide proof that they could pay. Since the rest of the stuff up for auction was junk, Carl and I saw no reason to stay, so we went home.

Once home, we picked up the girls and headed for Cedar Falls. Mary's friend Shannon had stayed overnight, so she went along, too. We were supposed to have had Mary's last soccer game today, but it rained alot, so this week's practices and games were postponed. Therefore, that which we were going to do next weekend we did this weekend. Thus, up to Cedar Falls we went, for the primary purpose of getting Mary's ears pierced. Why go all the way to Cedar Falls for that? Well, I have a friend and classmate who has several piercings, and I asked her to recommend a safe, clean place that wouldn't scare a ten year old, and she sent us to the Mohair Pear on "The Hill" a.k.a. Campustown for the University of Northern Iowa. The Mohair Pear sells vintage clothes, wigs, costumes and novelty stuff, and they'll pierce just about any place you like. They pierce with needles instead of a piercing gun, which is what I wanted since I don't trust piercing guns. I had one stuck in my ear when I got my ears pierced, and I didn't want the same thing to happen to Boo. But the guy who does their piercing did a nice job - he was wearing rubber gloves, used prepackaged sterile needles, antiseptics and all the other stuff I thought necessary. He was very patient considering Mary cried and howled so bad that all of The Hill heard her. But now it's done and she's happy. After we got Mary's ears pierced we went to Farm and Fleet, and I got some new jeans, a couple pairs of slacks, and three mock turtleneck tops. I like Farm and Fleet's clothes, but it's hard to find anything in Tall sizes except for jeans. They had some nice wool blazers, but the sleeves were way too short. I suppose that's what Penney's catalog is for.

Later this evening I'll be taking Hannah out to Bloomsbury Farms so we can go through Scream Acres, the haunted cornfield. This is her payment for babysitting Mary and Shannon after school yesterday and then again this morning. It should be fun.

Actually, it should be a scream!

Random Jottings

2007-10-18T09:38:00.000-06:00

My Mom made Hannah a sweatshirt in her school colors, blue and gold. On it is a picture of a trombone and the words "Proud To Be A Band Geek". Yesterday it was finally cold enough that she could wear it to school, and her teachers and classmates loved it. They thought it was cool! Not only that, but one of her pals told her that because it was in the school colors it was even cooler!! For once, being a geek is good.

We got 1.75 inches of rain last night. Everything is soaked, and the practice soccer field was partially flooded this morning. I wonder if they'll practice tonight. If she played rugby I wouldn't be wondering.

In 48 hours Carl and I will know if a new house is in our future or not. The auction starts at 10 AM and they're selling the property first. Did I already mention that somewhere? I forgot.

Team Moose Mutt is on top of the Eastview football fantasy league. Now I'm paranoid, like a pheasant in a clump of weeds surrounded by hunters and dogs.

I bought a bag of peanut butter taffy last night. You know, the chewy candy wrapped in black and orange waxed paper that's only available at Halloween. I love the stuff, but I can only have a piece or two a day since I'm still watching my weight. At this rate, it'll last until Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, I'm disgusted by the fact that stores are putting out their Christmas stuff before Halloween, even before Boo-Boo's birthday (which was Monday - she's 10!!) I refuse to shop for Christmas before Thanksgiving, except for the occasional toy or clothing item that's on a special sale, or on clearance. And I have no clue what to get the girls for Christmas. Hannah is especially difficult because I don't know her size and she's not into alot of teenage "trendy" stuff. Maybe we'll do what we did last year, and give them money with the caveat that there's a limit on how much they can spend on toys. On the other hand, when we did that last year, we ended up with two cats in addition to our very large dog. Argh.

Speaking of pets, can someone send me a reminder e-mail saying that I need to give the dog a bath on Sunday? Saturday's too busy for his bath, and the poor mutt stinks to high heaven. It's supposed to be warm on Sunday, so I think that will be my best chance. I'd e-mail myself, but I'm at school and can't get to my e-mail, except for my school e-mail, and that's a major pain in the butt to access, so I'd rather have one of you nice readers e-mail my reminder to me. Thanks!

Meanwhile, speaking of school, that's going well. I'm only taking two classes, but I appear to be acing them. Plus, the instructor who's advising me on my Honors project is very pleased with my work, so I'd say things are moving along quite pleasantly.

And now, for my last random:

Diet Mountain Dew makes a wonderful appetite suppressant. Prosit!!

Here We Go Again

2007-10-11T20:34:00.001-06:00

Last Saturday, as the girls and I were returning home from a soccer game, I noticed what looked like a real estate sign in front of an old farmhouse on the Norway blacktop. Turns out that this old house, built in 1898, is up for auction along with the 2.33 acres it sits on. From what research I've done, I've discovered that the house in uninhabitable, but the acreage itself is primo, so Carl and I decided to see what it would take to attend the auction and bid on the property. To that end, we went to our bank today to see what they would do for us, and I was quite pleasantly surprised. They pre-approved a loan to buy the acreage should we win the auction, plus they extended our line-of-credit home equity loan to cover the 10% down that's required of the winner on auction day. We have a maximum bid price in mind; however, from what I've heard these acreages usually go for a lot more than we're willing to pay. But we're at least going to try.

Here's the thing, though - securing the financing went so well that I feel like God has something in store for us, and soon. Hopefully it's a good something and not a bad something we'll be spending money on, but nonetheless I feel like we're getting set up for a major event. Otherwise, I don't think we'd have gotten the loans.

If we should win the auction, here's what we have in mind to do: first, we'll take a really good look around the grounds and through the house to see if there's anything salvageable. My uncle Bob has a metal detector, so he'll scan the grounds to see if he can find anything useful. Once we're done salvaging, we'll contact the local volunteer fire departments and see if any of them want to burn our house down as a training exercise. If they don't, then we'll demolish the house manually. (This is something Carl's done before.) Once the old house is gone, we'll put up a new one. There's a rural water connection on the edge of the property so we won't have to dig a well, but we will need to put in a new septic system. I have alot of ideas of what I'd want in a new house. I figure I can at least dream big.

The auction is Saturday the 20th. I'll blog then to let y'all know what happened.

News Update

2007-09-15T18:08:00.000-06:00

Well, we broke a temperature record here last night. The old record was 36, and we hit 32. Brrrrr! Oh, and our high school football team won their game last night, 21-17. Go Bobcats!

Speaking of football - Iowa State beat Iowa 15 - 13 today. Everyone expected Iowa to win because they were 2-0 and ISU was 0-2, but I guess the Hawkeyes left their A-game at home. Oh well. Too bad for them. Go Cyclones!

And since football is the subject, I'll tangent a little bit to soccer and tell you that Mary had her first game of the fall season today. I missed it because I had a long standing appointment to get my hair done (how lame does that sound?) but the good news is that Mary made the first goal for her team today!!! Her game has improved so much. I'm really proud of her, and I'm looking forward to going to the rest of her games this season. Her team is called The Heartbreakers (no, we haven't see Tom Petty around here) so Go Heartbreakers!

That is all the news for the moment. You may now return to your regularly scheduled life.

Frost On The Pumpkin

2007-09-14T20:08:00.000-06:00

Tonight's weather is supposed to be record-breakingly cold. Carl covered our tomatoes with blankets, and I turned on the heat in my truck tonight coming home from the football game. We didn't stay for the whole game: we saw the second half of the freshman game (they tied) and part of the first half of the varsity game, and then we (meaning me, Hannah and Mary) came home because Mary has a soccer game first thing in the morning and she's a pain to get out of bed. (BTW, Carl has a cold so he stayed home.)

So, why were we at only part of a football game? Because between the freshman and varsity games, Mary participated in the Junior Cheerleaders thing they do every year. Last Saturday she went to the "camp" and tonight she cheered. Hannah went along, too, which was kind of a surprise. Even more surprising was the fact that she chose to sit with the rest of the middle schoolers instead of with Mom. My little wallflower is slowly but surely blossoming. (Also, she keeps talking about this freshman boy in the band, and I noticed she was sitting at the end of the bleachers so she could watch him as he sat in the band bleachers. Hmmmmm...)

Anyway. I love fall, when the air gets nippy and you need to wear a jacket with your hoodie. Tonight I even had to go back to my truck and fetch the blankets. Unfortunately, this is also the time of year that I miss my parents' farm the most. (Sorry, Mom) I miss the maple leaves on the ground and the apple trees and especially the smell in the air - clean and crispy with that dusty, earthy smell you get when the farmers are out combining. Harvest time has its own fragrance, and while I can get a little of that here (living across the street from a farm field) it's not quite the same as having fields all around you and that aroma permeating the air. I also miss the bonfires that Dad used to build, so tomorrow I'm going to get stuff for s'mores and make a fire in the fire pit.

While I like the cooler weather, I really hope this freeze warning we're under (for tonight) doesn't mean an early or prolonged winter. I like icy as long as I don't have to drive on it! I hope any snowstorms we get come on the weekends when we don't have to go anywhere. And by the way, it was dang cold out there tonight. Global warming? Yeah, right.

So I'm pretty much done for this evening. I'm going to put the cats in the basement, shut down the computer, turn off the lights, and go to bed. If I remember, and if I have time, tomorrow I'll blog about our record breaking cold temperature, if we actually get one.

Gute Nacht!

Go Figure

2007-08-28T20:25:00.000-06:00

I am back at school for the fall semester. I aced all of my summer classes, and I hope I can do the same again this fall. I did have to drop a class (Principles of Management) because I just didn't have time for it, what with working full time plus doing the Mommy Boogie. There's only so many hours in the day, and in order to be a good time manager I had to drop Management class. Go figure.

In the good news department, Carl and I finally completed refinishing the old china cabinet. This is the piece my Mom and Dad started refinishing 35 years ago, and now it's done. We had a little trouble making the glass fit, plus Carl had to make a new part to replace the one Moose Mutt chewed (see blogs from February 2007) but long story short, the cabinet is together and standing in my dining room. I filled it with my Pfaltzgraff dishes, and it seems to be holding them pretty well. I took pictures (see below) and after the pictures my Mom gave me two pieces that had been in the china cabinet when Grandma had it: my Dad's baby cereal bowl, and a small blue glass pitcher with a picture of Shirley Temple on it. A pitcher with a picture. Go figure.

I'm ready for fall. I can't wait for the weather to change into those crispy, cool days that require you to drag out your sweatshirts and ankle boots. Wearing shorts and sandals has been nice, but I'm ready for the leaves to change and harvest to start. Already the soybeans are getting "rusty" and losing leaves, and the corn is turning from green to gold. I only hope we don't get an early frost - I'd hate to lose my tomatoes too soon. My Mom came up for a day in mid August and taught me how to can tomatoes in a hot water bath. That was fun! And now that I know how to do it I can try canning other things like peaches and salsa and spaghetti sauce. For someone who doesn't like to cook, I seem to find ways to keep me behind the stove in the kitchen. Go figure.

Meanwhile, I am now very tired, so I want to go to bed. Here I am, a college student (albeit part time) and I'm looking at the clock, seeing that it's almost 10 PM and thinking that it's nearly past my bedtime while my classmates are just starting their evenings. I feel like such a geezer. Go figure.

PICTURES!!!

Juvenile Delinquency

2007-08-07T12:06:00.000-06:00

This past Sunday Carl and I took the kids to the Noelridge Park Aquatic Center for some summertime recreational activity. Not being much of a swimmer, I took along a book to read: Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs. It's a very short (but extremely hilarious) book, and it had me in stitches despite the fact that I've already read it several times. Hannah was curious about what I was laughing at, so when I finished the book I gave it to her. (I told you, it's a very short book.) Needless to say Hannah was soon absorbed in the book and laughing just as hysterically as I was. Once we got home I showed her the rest of my Dave Barry collection and told her she could read them, too. Well, she's already gotten through Dave Barry's Greatest Hits and is currently working on Dave Barry Is Not Making This Up. The latter book contains the articles on which Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs was based, and she just finished reading them a few minutes ago. For some reason she read aloud to me the portion where Dave is commenting about the song Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus (released in 1992). And because I am a good mother intent upon furthering her children's education, I went to the stereo and played Achy Breaky Heart for Hannah. (Yes, I have this CD. Don't laugh - I bet half of you out there have it, too.) I went into the kitchen to get her reaction, and she was singing along to the song using the lyrics from Dave's book. The combination of her singing those words and holding that book was too much - I laughed so hard I cried. It's just a darn good thing I wasn't trying to drink anything at the time.

As Hannah said, "Oh, the things you teach your children."

Speaking of teaching our children and going to the waterpark, this past Sunday Hannah had to learn about the use of feminine hygiene products while swimming. I won't go into too much (GROSS!!!) detail, but let's just say that by the time we'd left Hannah had gotten a real (and slightly painful) education.

And on the subject of education, I need to go get ready for school now. It's the last week of the summer semester, and today my team is giving their presentation on building styles in American Architecture class.

YAAAAAWWWWWNNN!!!

A Spare Moment

2007-07-03T11:46:00.000-06:00

I have a little time before I have to leave for class today, so let me catch y'all up on the latest news:

First and Foremost - Mary was at Camp Hertko Hollow (a week long camp for kids with diabetes) last week, and while she was there she learned how to do her own insulin shots! This is a big step forward for her, and a huge Praise The Lord for us. I've been told that she had a good time, and that she'll miss her new friends, but I haven't seen her since we took her to camp on the 24th. Carl and Hannah picked her up on the 30th, and they went straight from Boone, IA (where the camp is located) to South Dakota to visit Carl's side of the family. I wanted to go, but the second half of the summer semester starts today and I can't miss any computer labs. It's practically impossible to catch up.

I'm very proud of Mary. Not only did she learn to give herself shots, but she also managed to stay showered and non-sunburned, and she didn't lose anything from the clothes and supplies I sent (except maybe some towels, but that's no big deal). How she did that without Mommy nagging her is beyond me. I guess the counselors really keep the kids on their toes.

Second - as has been previously mentioned, Carl and the girls are in South Dakota visiting the Bode relatives. That means I have the house to myself, and I also have Carl's pickup since it only made sense for him to take my SUV (you know, roomier, has a CD player, etc). Thus I have half the garage available in which to spread out work projects, and last night I got my china cabinet stained. Before Carl left on vacation (bless his fuzzy little heart) he milled out the piece I needed to complete the cabinet, and when we did a trial re-assembly it all fit together. Whew! Anyway. So now the wood is stained a Walnut color, and as soon as it dries I'll sand it lightly and apply finishes. Probably sanding sealer, then polyurethane, but I haven't decided for sure yet if I want to put on sanding sealer. I need to re-read the instructions on the cans. It's been a while.

I suppose that, in a way, it's nice to have the house to myself. I can work on projects without interruption, and I don't have to listen to the girls quarrel, but on the other hand I really, really, really miss my family, even the girls' quarreling. And, as has been mentioned before in this blog (somewhere) whenever Carl is gone I get terrible insomnia. This week is no exception. I actually slept pretty good last night, but that's only because Sunday night I kept waking up every hour on the hour, and what little sleep I did get wasn't very helpful. I also worked for nine hours yesterday (which gave me a headache) and that helped make me weary enough to sleep well. We'll see how tonight goes.

Well, I need to leave for class. I have to stop on the way there and get cat food. (I don't think Mary would be very happy if I let the rotten little vermin starve.) So I'd better leave now in order to have enough time to run errands before class.

**sigh**

Did I mention that I really, really, really, REALLY miss my family?

Happy Moments

2007-06-20T22:16:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day. It had been hot, but a cold front passed through and brought lower humidity and northwest winds plus a 20 degree drop in temperature. Very nice. Mary had soccer camp in the afternoon, and somewhere during the day as I made mention of how nice it was I asked her if she'd like to go fishing. Of course she jumped at the chance - Mary loves to go fishing - so after soccer camp we drove down to Hannen Lake to try our luck. As usual, we didn't catch a darn thing. We saw a snake in the water: he swam all the way around the wing dam we were set up on, and he scared the living daylights out of Mary. While we were eating supper we saw a rabbit (which Mary ran off to chase) and on the way out we saw a big, fat raccoon run across the road and down a slope, plus at a bend in the road we saw a doe and two fawns in a draw. No luck with the fish (other than seeing grass carp fins sticking up out of the water) but lots of luck in the wildlife department. While driving home Mary asked me if I minded going fishing with her and not catching anything. I said I really didn't mind: it was nice just to get out, and what mattered is that Mary will have happy memories of fishing with Mom. However, I think the next time we go fishing we'll call my Uncle Hep and ask him to join us. He's very good at fishing and can teach us a lot. That will be helpful as we happen to know very little about fishing!

Anyway. I know I've not been blogging much lately, but quite honestly, I've been busy. Along with summer school and household chores, I'm working as a part-time CAD technician intern for the ESCO group. (I think I've mentioned this before.) I need the internship hours in order to graduate, and I should be able to get my AAS in Architectural Technology in May. But last Friday my boss stopped me in the hall and quasi-offered me a full time position. I'd start that in August, and go to school part-time while I work. I was surprised at the offer, but I told him I'd get advice from Carl and my instructors and get back to him. Long story short, I accepted his offer and re-arranged my school schedule accordingly. Fortunately I can work from home, so I can get my 40+ hours per week there at the office (during the day) and here at home at night to make up for the time I'm in school. I'll still double-major in Construction Management, but it will take me longer to complete that degree since I'm going to go at it more slowly. One nice thing about this job is ESCO will help pay my tuition for classes that will benefit the company, so I need to track down the Electrical Eng. Tech. instructors and find out if there's anything I can take to help me understand industrial wiring and circuitry.

Speaking of school, I should mention that Hannah is in College for Kids this week and next. She's taking Sumi-I (Chinese brush painting) Chinese (the language) and "Sherlock Holmes" (which is a class about solving mysteries and applying logical thinking). She just turned 13 last Saturday (wow!) and when I'm home she spends most of her time in her room. I think that's typical of a teenager, isn't it? When I'm not home she's keeping track of Mary, so I can understand her wanting to get away when her responsibilities end. I don't blame her one bit. And we did offer to take her fishing, too, but she declined. Fishing is not her gig.

I have to say that I'm proud of the way my girls have stepped up and helped us this summer. With both of us working, plus the time I'm in school, the girls are home alone more than they've ever been before, and so far nothing bad has happened. They're also helping me with more chores (like folding laundry, doing dishes and washing the dog). It's been a relief, the way they've behaved, and at the end of the summer I'm going to have to do something special for them. Not that College for Kids, soccer and diabetes camp, and going to Adventureland aren't special, but I think they deserve a particular reward for their efforts. And in May, when I get my AAS degree, I think I'll reward myself, too. I'm pretty sure this reward will involve Carl somehow.

It will definitely involve chocolate.

Kitchen Perspective

2007-06-05T14:32:00.000-06:00

When I got home from school today, I found a pile of rhubarb stalks in the sink that Carl and Mary had picked for me. I'd told Carl that if he'd harvest some rhubarb for me, I'd make pies. Nothing like motivation, eh? Anyway. So the girls and I got busy right away on the pies. The girls washed the stalks while I chopped, and then Hannah helped me with the rest of the pie making. She wants to learn how to do these things, and she does so by watching me and then doing what I've done. Mary, on the other hand, is a total experimenter. She took a few chunks of rhubarb (I had plenty - thanks, honey!) put it in a bowl and added milk, Splenda, flour and baking soda, then mixed the goo up. I had some leftover pie crust, so I lined a small glass dish with it and let Mary pour her goo in. Then we nuked it for 2 1/2 minutes, and when it came out, it didn't look too bad, but it was spongy. It may yet harden as it cools, I don't know. For all I know, it may actually be edible!

But today's events got me to thinking: what is cooking? Is it an art form or is it chemistry? If you'd ask my sister, she'd probably say art form. That's because she's an extremely talented cook - she can go into almost any restaurant, eat a meal, and then go home and re-create it perfectly. I, on the other hand, regard cooking as chemistry. You mix stuff together, apply a heat source, and after a measured amount of time your "experiment" is done. Unfortunately, this approach results in meals that taste like a lab experiment. I think Mary is also approaching cooking this way. However, she's bolder, mixing things together and cooking it just to see how it turns out. I don't have that kind of courage. And Hannah? I think she'd consider cooking an art form. If she wants to explore this type of art, I need to find her a tutor, one who has the ability to stand at a counter for hours mincing garlic and peeling the rinds off of oranges. Hmmmm.....where to find a cooking tutor.....

Oh, Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaathy!

Ocean's Two

2007-05-31T06:40:00.001-06:00

Hannah was complaining that her room was getting too crowded, and she wanted to move some stuff out. So Carl asked her "Do you want your room painted for your birthday?" Of course she said "Yes!" Repainting the girls' rooms is something we've been planning for a while now (like a couple of years) and to that end I've been buying stuff to redecorate their rooms with. They wanted "beach" rooms, so I bought tiki lamps (the kind on the bamboo poles) foam parrots, flower garlands, tropical bedspreads and a bunch of other stuff. I also went through my paint swatch cards matching Delta Ceramcoat and Deco Art paint colors to the colors on the bedspreads so I knew what colors I could decorate with.

So last week I got the paint swatches out and asked the girls which colors they wanted their rooms painted. Both girls wanted the same colors: Delta Ceramcoat Salem Blue and Latte. I took the cards to our lumberyard (I love our local lumberyard) and matched my colors with theirs: Valspar paint, Blue Dream and Adobe Tan. Very nice colors. Hannah wanted three sides of her room painted Adobe Tan and one accent wall painted Blue Dream, and Mary wanted her room painted Adobe Tan on the bottom 3 feet of the wall with Blue Dream the rest of the way up, and she wanted "waves" where the two colors meet. No problem.

We started a week ago Friday. Hannah went through her room boxing stuff up, and we got her mostly moved out that night (everything except the bed). Saturday I got the paint while Carl moved the bed out and started masking off the woodwork. By Monday morning her room was painted, and we started decorating. She and I had taken a bamboo mat and covered her headboard with it, and tied two tiki lamps to the end as bedposts. I tacked garlands up all the way around the top of her walls (like border) and we put the bedspread on her bed. (She had, of course, rearranged her furniture.) I brought out the little knick-knacks I'd bought for her, and by noon she had a very neat, tropical room. That afternoon Carl got started on Mary's room, and he worked on it every evening this week. I helped him make the "waves" and I sponge-painted along the line where the two colors met (to make it look like sand) and this morning we finally finished it. This afternoon Carl shampooed the rug, so tomorrow we'll move her stuff back in and start adding her decorations. Hopefully we can get that done quickly enough to go out to Hannen Lake for a picnic, and also to do some fishing. It's Free Fishing Weekend in Iowa, and we want to take advantage of it. Yes, that means relax. You can't work all the time, can you?

OK! Who's the wise guy who answered "yes"!?!

Updates

2007-05-25T07:09:00.001-06:00

I'll start with the good news. I managed to get all "A's" again last semester, so I should be getting another Dean's List notification soon. Also, I've started on an Honors project - I'm writing a textbook (a small textbook) for the Building Construction Systems II class. I volunteered to write the book, and Jim Off, the instructor suggested I make it an Honors project. If it passes faculty muster I'll get a little sticker on my diploma that says I successfully completed said project. I like Jim. He reminds me alot of my Uncle Andy: super laid back, never gets flustered, easy going and good humored, but smarter (a LOT smarter) than his demeanor would suggest. This guy knows more about the inner workings of commercial construction than I could ever put into any book. He's the kind of guy you wish you could mind-meld with so that you can learn from all of his experiences.

And now, the bad news. After months of waiting, the Department Head who interviewed Carl for the Project Manager position finally made a decision, and unfortunately he chose the other candidate. He still wants to keep Carl's name on his "A-list" of PM candidates, but after all the waiting and suspense this was a major let-down. It wouldn't have been so bad if the guy had made his decision within 2 weeks of the interview, but I think he waited something like 6 - 8 weeks. I'd hate to have to wait behind this guy at a Whitey's Ice Cream Parlor. By the time he decided on an ice cream flavor I'll have died of starvation.

Another bit of discouraging news, at least for me: with the increased demand for corn (due to the increased demand for ethanol) almost all of the land coming out of the CRP program will most likely go into row crops. This means that my dream of buying some land to put a house on is all but dead. Of course, all this crop demand is good for the farmers as they are now getting good prices for their corn. So it's good news for my Uncle Andy, and also for Carl's brothers Loren and Lyle.

But now I must go back to good news, and I must also get going, because I have to be at the Esco Group offices at 9:00 to fill out paperwork to start my part-time CAD technician job. This is mainly to fulfill my Intership requirement, but it also means money, and I need to save up some to pay for my fall semester. I'm looking forward to this job as I will be working for a man who goes to our church, but of course I'm nervous starting a new job. I have no idea how this will work out with the girls out of school, but we'll work it out sometime.

Then I'll have material for another blog!

The Romance Blog

2007-05-18T21:05:00.000-06:00

It just wouldn't be fair to have my 20th wedding anniversary go by without blogging about it. I'd have gotten to this before, but Carl and I were busy. I mean, besides that. (Sheesh!) Let me break it down for you by days:

Saturday 12 May: My Mom came up to spend the week with our girls while Carl and I went down to her house for a week's vacation. I know that sounds weird, but the idea was to take little day trips from her place in the Quad Cities. This was partly her idea: she'd offered in the past to "swap houses" with us, and we finally took her up on her offer. We got down to the Q.C.'s in time for supper. We went to Harris Pizza, which is the best pizza in the world (in my Midwestern opinion).

Sunday 13 May: We went to church with my brother Keith and his wife Cindy, and after church we grabbed a quick lunch then headed to downtown Davenport for the Beaux Arts Festival. Lots of vendors with lots of neat stuff: Carl got me a brushed nickel beaded necklace and a silver and blue bracelet. After walking around the festival we went up into the Skywalk, which crosses over River Drive. It's a really neat skywalk, with a wonderful view up and down the Mississippi River.

Monday 14 May: We day-tripped up to Galena, IL, a small town on the Mississippi which was named for the lead ore found and mined in the area. Galena has a bunch of eclectic little shops (some more bizarre than others) and some nice restaurants. We ate at a place called Paradise Bar and Grille; the food was excellent. We walked around all the shops and we bought a few things, mostly food: cheeseball/dessert mixes, flavored popcorn, caramel apples, and crackers and cheese. Non-food wise, I bought some brushes that were on clearance; Carl, mushy sweetheart that he is, bought me a Black Hills Gold ring with a blue stone set in it. It's beautiful, and is a lovely remembrance of 20 years of wedded bliss.

Everyone, all together now...aaaaaawwwww!!!!

Tuesday 15 May: It was cold and rainy, so we stayed in the Quad Cities and went museum hopping. We went to the museum on Arsenal Island first. They had displays of all kinds of ordnance, from Civil War cannons to modern rocket launchers, plus they had histories of what the local people did during the World Wars and how the Arsenal helped America win those wars. It's a neat place, if you're in to that kind of history. And the Arsenal has a gun collection (both long guns and hand guns) that spans two long walls, covered with firearms from top to bottom. NOTE: if you're an anti-Second Amendment liberal, never go there. The place is guaranteed to give you both the hives and the heebie-jeebies. (Personally, I found it fascinating.) The other museum we went to was the John Deere Pavilion in Moline. This was kind of a let down, because they didn't really discuss the history of the Deere company much. It was mostly just displays of equipment both old and new, and kiosks that explained how Deere is helping to feed and clothe the world. I was hoping for a chronological history presentation, one that incorporated information about the Plow/Planter division that my Dad worked for. But oh well. They had a nice gift shop, but it was really expensive so we didn't get anything there. Later that afternoon my brother Keith took Carl to Guitar Central, and Carl bought himself a new Breedlove acoustic guitar. I sat and watched while Keith and Carl discussed the instruments at length: at one point, one of the sales clerks asked me if the guys were still talking, and I said "Yeah, but I'd rather have him solving his mid-life crisis with a guitar than a Mustang." The clerk laughed. NOTE: today was the 1st year anniversary of Boo-Boo's diabetes diagnosis. She's doing well so far, but I really wish someone would find a cure. SOON.

Wednesday 16 May: Our actual anniversary date. We went up to Bellevue, Iowa, and walked along the riverfront there. It's quite pretty. The levee is paved with cobblestones and it's nicely landscaped. I checked to see if that area had suffered flood damage: it did (in 1993 and 2001) but most of that was below the levee we were walking on. Unfortunately, the antique stores in town were closed. I guess you take your chances before Memorial Day. At lunchtime we bought Subway sandwiches and went up into Bellvue State Park, located on top of the river bluffs. We ate up there, then hiked a couple of trails. We saw some old Indian mounds, and also got a great view of the river from above. After Bellevue we drove down the river to LeClaire, Iowa. We walked around their downtown and checked out the antique shops that were open. I didn't find anything I really wanted, but I had a neat conversation with the owner of The Captains Wives Antique Shop. We discussed art and antiques while Carl patiently listened. (He is such a saint!) Anyway, after LeClaire we went back to the house, rested a little, then got dressed up and went out to dinner at the Iowa Machine Shed Restaurant. This is a very nice place with great food, however I made the mistake of mentioning that it was our anniversary, so once we'd finished our entrees the wait staff came out with a complementary dessert and sang us a "Happy Anniversary" song to the tune of The Beverly Hillbillies. We were not the only ones subjected to this torture: anyone with a birthday got serenaded with birthday song to the tune of The Farmer In The Dell. But the food was so good, it was worth it.

Thursday 17 May: We drove around Grant County, Wisconsin, and checked out some of the little towns up there. First we passed through Dickeyville. There's an antique mall there, but it opened at 10 AM, and we got there at 9:30 AM (Arg.) Anyway. Next was Potosi/Tennyson, then Platteville. At Potosi we toured the St. John Mine, and at Platteville we toured another mine that was connected to the Rollo Jamison museum. We checked out some shops in Platteville, but they really didn't have much for antiques. After Platteville we went to Montfort, where we got some cheese (and a "tour through the window" of the cheese factory) some more flavored popcorn, a book and a little toothpick holder shaped like an antique Mason jar. We also got ice cream. After Montfort we went to Muscoda; we thought there were some shops there (the Wisconsin Tourism website said so) but they had nothing, so we wound our way along some country roads to the Spurgeon Vineyards and Winery. Naturally we bought wine there. After that we went through Fennimore (nothing there) then on to Lancaster. By then all the shops were closed, but Lancaster is the county seat and the Grant County Courthouse is a wonderful piece of architecture. Carl got some great photos of that and also of some of the other buildings with cool details. After that, we'd had enough, and we headed home. NOTE: Grant County has some super-beautiful scenery. It was never covered by glaciers, so the county has these huge domed hills all over the place. You'll find a wide, flat valley with a tiny stream running through it, then suddenly a hill rises off the edge of the valley. There's no gradual incline to take you to the hill: the hill just suddenly starts from the valley and goes up. Grant County has a bizillion little roads that cut through this countryside, and thanks to the GPS system we got to travel lots of these little roads and thus saw alot of countryside without getting lost. I think the landscape was the best part of the whole trip.

Friday 18 May: Last day of vacation. I was kind of bummed because I hadn't found any neat antiques, so Carl let me buzz around Davenport by myself while he went over to Keith's to help him build a retaining wall in his backyard. It was a good trip: at Riverbend Antiques I found a green glass Hoosier-style mixer-thingy, and at Antiques on Brady I found two Hoosier jars with green lids, and a green handled dough cutter. A very successful antiquing trip, finally. After shopping I went back to the house and packed our stuff up, then I drove home. Carl drove home separately from me: we'd brought down our F-150 to loan to Keith for his landscaping work, and while he has Carl's pickup Carl has Keith's Jeep. (Whhhheeeeeeeee!!!!)

The last thing I want to mention is how nice my Mom made this week for us. Not only did she watch over our girls, she made us some embroidered heart-shaped ornaments and put them in a basket with some chocolates and put it on our bed. She had a book of our wedding pictures laid out, and she'd bought some champagne and other goodies and left them in the fridge. Carl and I had a fantastic week - relaxing, unstressing and totally romantic. How romantic? I'm not going to tell you.

I have to leave some things to your imagination.

Oops

2007-05-07T15:01:00.000-06:00

Hannah came home today and told me she'd misunderstood her vocal instructor. She thought she'd won a solo - she didn't. She's not mad about losing, she's just mad that she misunderstood.

I personally think that the teacher should have held auditions earlier, and announced the results earlier, so that the soloists had a least a week to prepare. It kind of stinks that the winners find out that they're soloing at the last minute.

Arg anyway.

Slowly Does The Blossom Open

2007-05-05T07:14:00.000-06:00

When Hannah was around 3 - 4 years old, we were told that she had autism. This was, of course, a shock, but with early intervention and lots of encouragement she progressed nicely, at least educationally. She spent some time in the Resource Classroom, but by the time she reached the 5th and 6th grades this was minimal, and this year they took her out of the IEP program completely - she didn't need it.

Where Hannah's autism has had the most impact is on her social life. She has none. Not that this is a bad thing: she prefers to be by herself, and she's very defensive about her personal space, so we've never pushed her to become involved in anything that she didn't like. We've never tried to force her to make friends, but we've encouraged her to be friendly with her peers so that they would be friendly back to her. This has worked, for the most part. It was especially helpful when, back in elementary school, the school had an autism specialist come in and talk to Hannah's classmates, explaining why Hannah was the way she was. Her classmates were wonderful and kinda-sorta adopted her as the class mascot. They all watched out for her and helped her, which made things easier for everyone.

Now, though, Hannah is beginning to show signs of opening up and becoming more social. First off, she wants to actually engage in conversations by beginning them. She's always participated in conversations when someone else started them, but she's never been the instigator. But she tells me that there are people she wants to talk to and I'm trying to encourage her the best I can. Second, Hannah auditioned for a vocal solo for an upcoming concert, and she won! Hannah has never shown an interest in volunteering to be the center of attention, but now that she has we're behind her all the way. I wish, however, she'd have planned it a little better. The situation went down like this: (Wednesday May 2nd, about 40 minutes before I needed to leave for my art class)
Hannah: Mom, I want to audition for a solo in the vocal concert.
Me: Which concert?
Hannah: The one next Monday (the 7th)
Me: When's auditions?
Hannah: Tomorrow from noon to 12:30
Me: What do you want to sing?
Hannah: I don't know - do you know a song I can learn?
Me: (after a momentary panic) Do you really want to do this? Isn't this kind of last minute?
Hannah: Pleeeeeeeeeze?
Me: (deep breath) OK.
I go fetch my autoharp, then go to the bookcase and pull out a songbook that was written and arranged for dulcimer and autoharp players. We start thumbing through it, looking for something I know that I can teach Hannah in a hurry...
Me: How about this one? (It's Red River Valley)
Hannah: How does it go?
I pick up my autoharp and start strumming and singing. Soon, Hannah starts singing along. I look at the clock. I need to leave in 10 minutes to be on time, and I still haven't eaten.
Hannah: Are you going to help me learn this?
Me: Hannah, I need to leave for my class! And I still haven't eaten! I'm going to be late as it is...Wait! I know! Go to the DVD shelves and get the little crate with the Riders In The Sky CD's in it.
Hannah returns with the crate. I pull out the Cowboy Songs CD, and Hannah puts it in the player. I show her how to play track 8 over and over and over and so forth, so she can practice singing Red River Valley with Ranger Doug. She sits down by the CD player and starts practicing. I go to class, leaving Carl to coach Hannah on her song.....

When I got home, Carl told me that Hannah was doing very well with the song by the time she went to bed. The next morning, we can hear Hannah singing the song in the shower (she always sings in the shower) and she actually sounded pretty good. I sent the book to school with her, and viola! she wins a solo spot in the concert. Quite an achievement for a child who we thought might never even speak. Slowly, gently, cautiously, Hannah is beginning to blossom. I suppose talking to boys will be next.

Oooooooh...good grief.

The Day After

2007-04-12T13:27:00.000-06:00

The snowstorm has come and gone and left 2 inches of heavy, wet snow on the grass. It mostly slushed up on the pavement (except the Jones Hall parking lot, more on that later) and that's already melted away. Thus, we didn't have to do any shoveling, so I guess Mr. Murphy's attempt at causing regrets over my tractor went for naught. You can hear the sounds of melting snow and running water everywhere. The gurgle coming from my gutter downspouts is almost as enchanting to listen to as one of those table top fountain-thingies.

Anyway. Yesterday the snow started around 5:30 AM, just in time for the morning commute.(thank you Mr. Murphy!) If you took it slow and easy you made it to your destination just fine, albeit about 10 minutes later than usual. The girls had school dismissed at 12:30 (no surprise there) so I had to leave Kirkwood a little early to make it to the bus stop on time. The heaviest snow fell while I was waiting (in my nice warm SUV) for Lou's bus. The falling snow was actually rather pretty, although it would have been prettier in January.

The roads weren't much better this morning. They were wet, with lots of slushy spots, so you had to be careful. Plus the wind was blowing hard and shaking my truck, so it was a white knuckle drive to campus. When I got there, yesterday's snow and melt-water had frozen solid on the Jones Hall parking lot, turning it into an ice rink. I tried to park in my usual spot, but when I spun out and slid sideways (at only 2 miles per hour) I figured I'd better park away from the traffic and not in the middle of the lot, so I took an edge space. By the time I left the ice had melted away and the lot was drying out, so parking tomorrow should be better.

Speaking of Jones Hall, we're still running on a generator, and will be through Finals Week. The new transformer won't arrive until May 9, and finals are over on the 11th. Whatever. I've seen the movie previews, and I hope this transformer is one of the friendly ones. :-)

Meanwhile, I still have lots of homework to do, mostly revisions to my drafting class drawings. I also have projects due in Arch CAD and regular CAD, and I have an exam Tuesday in Survey and Site Layout. This past week (the day before the snowstorm) our class went outside in the raw, windy, cold weather and did surveying around the campus. This coming Tuesday we have an exam, and the weather is supposed to be 65 degrees and sunny. Doesn't that just figure?

Mr. Murphy is at it again!

Murphy's Law at Work

2007-04-10T13:33:00.000-06:00

I was once told by a female (notice I didn't say "lady") who used to attend our church that I had weird taste in music, specifically Christian music. In a way, she was right, even if it wasn't a particularly nice thing to say. I only like two Christian groups: Apologetix, a band that does Christian parodies of rock music, and Rising Hope, an obscure band from Cincinnati that played gigs around the Midwest in the late 1970's and early 1980's. (I think they broke up in 1982.)
Anyway. The reason I mention this is because Rising Hope did this great little song, humorous in its own way, called "The Lord Will Be My Snowtires" and the first verse goes like this:

Snow came down in April
And the green has turned to white
The Lord will be my snowtires
And He'll pull me through tonight

And why would I mention snow in April? Because we're under a winter storm watch! Yes! And what does Murphy's Law have to do with this? Simple! Carl took the snow thrower off of our John Deere tractor and attached the mower deck, so Mr. Murphy is off in his corner, snickering about how he held off sending snow until after our tractor was set up for summer use. Someone needs to find this Murphy guy and slap him upside the head, or something.

Speaking of my tractor, I got to spend all afternoon yesterday doing yard work with it. I de-thatched our yard, then sucked up all the dead grass with the tractor's bagger attachment. Last year, I couldn't get the bagger to work, but this year it did. I think it had something to do with the fact that the mower blades were dull. Go figure. Anyway, now we've got quite a pile of hay in our garden, which Judah immediately dug into so as to build himself a nest. After I finished with the mower and thatcher (affectionately named Margaret) I tried to spread some grass seed out in the yard, but it was getting dark so I'm not sure how successful I was with that. I'll have to try that again another time, preferably after it stops snowing. (By the way, if you didn't get the "Margaret" joke, you either were born after 1988 or you slept through the Reagan administration.)

So now it's time to watch the weather radar and monitor the storm's progress through the state. I hope that, if it has to snow, it will snow enough to delay or cancel school. I have a bunch of work to do at home (including the never-ending task of laundry) and I could use a day off. Of course, Murphy's Law being what it is, it will snow enough to make the roads treacherous but not enough to cancel anything.

Wouldn't that just figure?

Power Outage Update

2007-03-29T06:40:00.000-06:00

After two days of idle dawdling (HA!) I am back at school. The building's transformer is not yet repaired, so they're powering Jones Hall with a huge-o-mondo generator. This thing is half the size of a semi-trailer truck, and has a dozen or so 1-1/2" cables running from it to the building. It's a rather noisy object, but it's on the other side of the building (outside of the welding labs and the loading dock) so the sound shouldn't bother anyone. I don't know if it runs on gasoline or diesel, but whatever it is it's probably costing the college a pretty penny to run it. Even though it was nice to be home and get some chores done, it's nice to be back at school, back in the routine.

I wish I'd had that generator during the ice storm!

Power's Out - Where's The Ice?

2007-03-27T19:56:00.000-06:00

This morning, like every school morning, I got up, got dressed for school, went downstairs to the kitchen and turned on the TV. I wanted to see the weather, but one of the first things I heard Scott (the news anchor guy) say was, "No school in Jones Hall on the Kirkwood campus today." I wasn't sure I'd heard correctly, so I got online to check and sure enough, Jones Hall is closed because of a power outage. Now, it just so happens that Jones Hall is where I have all of my classes, so I had the day off. Of course, I took advantage of the time to catch up on chores, especially laundry. It seems like whenever I have time off, I'm doing laundry. That's one downside of having a house full of females.

Anyway. So tonight I check the school's website, and Whoa! Jones Hall is closed again tomorrow, same problem. Now, let's think about this a moment. The building where students are trained in Industrial Technology (drafting, carpentry, HVAC systems, metalworking, masonry and electrical systems) is CLOSED because the power grid went crap-kablooie (or something like that). I mean, really, how embarrassing is that!! It would make sense if, say, the power went out in Cedar Hall where they have all the froo-froo classes, but nnooooooo. It had to be Jones Hall. Sheesh.

Of course, not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I will use this time to catch up on more chores. I have a list, believe me. But in all honesty I'd rather be in school. I mean, I busted my butt getting my homework done, and now I have to hold on to it for a week. I will be very careful not to misplace any of my hard work.

And speaking of hard work, Carl finally heard from the boss-person who was hiring project managers, and he didn't hire Carl. I find this horribly unfair, but I guess God has a plan for where he wants Carl, and besides wanting him sprawled out on the couch (where he is right now) God must want Carl in his engineering position.

Aha! I just got an e-mail from my CAD instructor, the wise and benevolent Tom Hyde. (I really like this guy!) Apparently, the transformer behind the women's restroom failed, and they're having trouble finding a replacement. According to Tom, they may try to bring in a generator, but he's not sure. To use his words, he's "in the dark." HA!!

So now it's wait and see time. Meanwhile, I'm trying to find the humor in the transformer going crap-kablooie behind the ladies' room, but it's not coming to me. Yet.

Any suggestions?

Farewell To The Shadow

2007-03-19T20:04:00.000-06:00

In 2002, we bought a Shadowcruiser fifth wheel camper and a pickup truck from my parents. This past weekend, we sold the camper on eBay to a very nice fellow from What Cheer, Iowa. Yes, that really is the name of the town: What Cheer. I have no clue, so don't ask.

Anyway. He won the auction on Saturday, and came up with his boss on Sunday. His boss has a fifth wheel hitch on his pickup, but our buyer didn't, so his boss helped him out. Soon, however, our buyer will have a fifth wheel hitch because our hitch was part of the camper package, along with our old steel truck toolbox. All in all, I'd say the guy got a good deal.

And so did we. Since I'm going to be in school all summer, we weren't planning on using the camper this year, or next year (same reason). Therefore, we figured rather than have the camper sit there, sucking up space and insurance premium payments, we'd sell it. We also sold our tractor-mount roto-tiller to a guy from Muscatine. He's coming Wednesday to get it.

Really, this wasn't a tough thing to do. We'd outgrown the camper - Lou's twelve years old, and it was getting very difficult to find room for her clothes, Boo's clothes, and everything else, plus it was hard trying to move around in there. Maybe, someday, we'll get another camper, but it will be a while.

So, we bid our old Shadowcruiser a fond farewell yesterday. Along with the camper, hitch, and toolbox, our buyer also got our leftover camper chemicals, twin sheets for the small beds, a section of spare sewer hose, and a package of camper toilet paper. I mean, what was I going to do with that stuff?

Don't answer that.

The Old Grey Mare Goes Chestnut

2007-03-17T19:51:00.000-06:00

I spent yesterday in the Quad Cities with my Mom. We went shopping, and had a blast. I got some new jeans and shorts, some t-shirts, two pair of boots, and a dress. I got most of it at Farm & Fleet, a store that was 6 miles from the place where I grew up. They have a really nice clothing department, plus they sell tools, tires, small farm equipment, lawn & garden stuff, vet supplies, and so forth. I always manage to find the tall sizes of jeans I like there. When I was little, and my parents would take me there, they'd always find me in the same place if I got separated from them. They'd find me in the large animal department, staring at the saddles and other horse-related supplies. I'd just stand there, breathing in the scent of leather and dreaming about maybe someday getting a horse. I figure, if you're going to dream, you might as well dream large.

Anyway. So while we were out shopping, I bought something for myself that I swore I'd never buy (and it has nothing to do with leather, so get your mind out of the gutter!) - I bought a bottle of hair coloring. Not the permanent stuff, but the kind that washes out after 6 to 12 shampoos. I've had a bunch of people tell me lately that I should color my hair, now that I've lost so much weight. My hairdresser told me, some ladies at church told me, and my Mom told me, so I went ahead and got a rinse-type dye, just to try it. I had no clue about how to use it, so my Mom helped me. Honestly, it turned out really nice. My hair is now the chestnut color that it was ten years ago, and everyone who's seen it says it makes me look younger. My Mom and my brother Keith were really impressed at how well it turned out. When I got home this afternoon, though, Carl's response was somewhat reserved. He told me he was used to me being grey, and that I was beautiful either way, so right now I'm not sure whether I'll go for permanent color or not. I'll see what kind of reaction I'll get at church tomorrow, and decide after that.

In other news, we sold some stuff on eBay: the roto-tiller attachment for my John Deere lawn & garden tractor, and our 24 foot Shadowcruiser fifth wheel camper. We really didn't need the tiller since we decided not to have a great big humongous garden, and the camper just got too crowded for the four of us. Plus, with me being in school for the next two summers, we really won't get a chance to use it, so rather than pay insurance on it and have it sit in the driveway idle, we sold it. Very soon I hope to list my old autoharp and a banjo on eBay, because I need the money to help pay for the new autoharp I ordered from Elderly Instruments. It's a nice 'harp - it has an amplifier output jack-thingy on it, plus it has the fine tuning attachment at the bottom. Very cool! I also need to put all my "fat" clothes on eBay to help pay for the stuff I bought this weekend.

We're still waiting to hear whether or not Carl got that management promotion he interviewed for a month or so ago. The guy who makes that decision has been gone alot on business trips, so it's taking forever for this guy to make a decision. The suspense is driving Carl and I crazy. Arg!!

And speaking of Arg!!, our beloved Boo-Boo got another one this week. She tripped and fell on the school playground and sprained her ankle. She's on crutches, and can't go to recess or gym for the next two weeks. Poor kid! She's an active type of kid, and having to spend all day on her butt is really annoying her. It's also annoying me, because I have to keep finding things to keep her entertained. Maybe I should take her shopping, and let her breathe in leather fumes from the saddle department at Theisen's.

It didn't do me any harm! :-P

It's In The Jeans, Part Two

2007-03-13T05:43:00.000-06:00

I did something this morning that I've never been able to do in the nineteen years and ten months (minus three days) that I've been married to Carl: I fit into a pair of his jeans. While this may not sound like a big deal, it's a monumental one for me.

So, why am I wearing his jeans? Because right now I only have two pair of Misses jeans that I can wear: both are new and unfaded, and I want to work out in the garage today, so wearing nice new jeans is out of the question. (My third pair of new jeans is damaged from my fall in the parking lot, and they need patching.) The pair of jeans of Carl's that I'm wearing are worn and faded and suitable for garage-type work. I wasn't able to ask permission to borrow his pants because Carl's at work, but I don't think he'll mind.

I hope.

Spring Break!

2007-03-12T11:05:00.000-06:00

This week I have spring break from school. Now, don't tell me I've nothing to do. (Remember the Statler Brothers song? Ya geezer.) Anyway. This week will be jam packed with work...What did you think I was going to do? Go to Cancun or something? Sheesh.

Already today I've assembled two electronic games for our PTA carnival. I had the basketball one half finished last Monday, but then I tripped over my bootlaces in the Jones Hall parking lot and tore up my right knee (last Tuesday) and I've not been able to do much since. It will take a while for my knee to heal completely, but at least I can walk without limping now.

The rest of my week will be filled with homework. I have revisions to do for Drafting, and I'll need to spend some time on campus working on Arch. CAD because only their computers have that program and the final drawings are due on the Wednesday that we get back.

I will spend some time recreating. I hope to be able to do some woodworking out in the garage, and Friday I get to go to the Quad Cities to go shopping with my Mom. My favorite jeans store is there (Farm and Fleet) and the Q-C's also have a Hobby Lobby. Plus, my brother Keith's new band is playing Friday night, and I get to go to their introductory performance. All in all, it should be a good week.

As long as I don't spend my time counting flowers on the wall...

It's In The Jeans

2007-03-03T17:57:00.000-06:00

Sometime during the middle of the past week, Hannah handed me a pair of her jeans and said, "These are too small for me." So I said, "Well, Saturday after your babysitting class, I'll take you shopping." I had a feeling she'd need new jeans soon. She was still wearing girls size 16 jeans, and she'd grown quite a bit since I'd last bought her any pants. I took her to Kohl's (since we were on the north side of Cedar Rapids) and I bought her five pair - Junior size 7 tall. I was shocked that she'd wear such a large size, but then I held her old jeans up to a pair of her new jeans, and the waistband on the new jeans was only slightly bigger than the old. Go figure.

I, on the other hand, am having the opposite problem: my jeans keep getting too big. It was just a couple weeks ago that I bought new Misses size 18 jeans, and already they're so baggy that I can pull them off without unbuttoning them. Therefore, today (at Theisen's) I bought myself three new pairs of jeans - size 16 tall. I was so thrilled! I was dancing around in the dressing room, and Hannah was rolling her eyes up with that "My mom is a dork!" look on her face. But I was in heaven. I haven't worn size 16 pants since before Mary was born, and that was over nine years ago. Of course, once we got back out to the truck, the first thing I did was call my Mom and tell her. And then when we got home I went upstairs and put on a pair of the new jeans and showed them to Carl. His reaction was, well, something I can't print on a family blog. I think you understand. ;-)

So I'm in a pretty happy mood right now. I don't know how long it will take me to "outgrow" these jeans, or even if I can, since my hips are stretched out from childbearing.

But I'm sure gonna try!!

Winter Storm, Round Two: Power's Out!

2007-02-26T08:25:00.000-06:00

Shortly after I posted my blog on Saturday, the power went out. Obviously, the ice had downed the power lines, so it got dark in a hurry. The power had been blinking on and off all afternoon so we figured hey, it'll be out for a little while, and hopefully it will be back on by bedtime. We meant bedtime Saturday. We didn't get power until bedtime Sunday. 28 1/2 hours without electricity is a long 28 1/2 hours, believe me.

It could have been worse. We're on city water, so we still had water pressure, and we have a natural gas range, so we could cook food and boil water (lots of water) for hot beverages. Our house is only 10 years old, so we have good insulation and no drafts. We only lost 12 degrees in temperature over time, and foodwise all we lost was a carton of vanilla ice cream. We ended up putting our food in coolers and setting it out in our uninsulated shed which was just as cold as the outdoors (27 degrees). Carl and Mary managed to scrape and salt the ice off the paved portion of the driveway Sunday afternoon, so when we get our next batch of bad weather (allegedly Wednesday night/Thursday morning) we won't have to deal with ice under whatever we get.

We didn't realize how bad the power outage was until we listened to the news. I can get the local TV stations on my weather radio, and they said that 100,000 people in our utility's service area were without power, and more than 1000 poles were down. 500 miles of lines and cables were downed or damaged, and they were saying that it could be Friday before everyone had power restored. For some reason, they singled out Benton County as the worst to restore, and that freaked Carl and I out to the point that we called my brother Keith to see if we could somehow get his generator. It's kind of an old generator - it belonged to my Dad originally - and my sweetheart younger-older brother tried to get it to work. He managed to get the motor started, but there was something wrong with another part of the machine, so that option was a no-go. (Just to let you know how nice my brother is, he even offered to bring it here if he could get it working. What a great guy!) Anyway. So Carl and I decided that, first thing in the morning, if the power still wasn't on Carl was going to go generator hunting. We laid out a plan of which shops to hit and when, and I also made a short list of other items needed (milk, batteries, etc) and we went to bed. About 20 minutes later, I felt Carl stir and he said "The power's back on!" He walked around the house to make sure everything was running and that the air coming from the furnace was warm, and all was well. We slept until about 4:45 - Hannah caught a cold over the weekend and was coughing, so we got her some medicine and sent both girls to their own beds. (We'd had them huddled up together on our futon.) Hannah went back to sleep, but about an hour later Mary came in and laid in bed with me to watch TV. Naturally, the girls and I don't have school today, but good ol' slave-to-his-job Carl went in to work. Devoted, ain't he?

So now everything's pretty much back to normal. I have some cleanup to do: putting storm stuff away, sweeping up all the dog hair (he spent the weekend inside with us) and folding the laundry that I managed to get washed before the power went out. Over all, I'd have to say that even though it wasn't a nice weekend, it wasn't bad, either.

I mean, it could have been a LOT worse.

Winter Storm, Round One: The Ice

2007-02-24T17:34:00.000-06:00

This is our front porch. It has about 3/8" of ice on it.

This is our mailbox. I'm guessing those icicles are around 5" long.

This is our purple ash tree, coated with ice and bent by the wind. Poor tree. Maybe it needs a hug from AlGore. Global warming? HAH!!

This is our basketball pole. It is not an optical illusion that the net and icicles are all leaning to the right (pointing west). The wind is strong from the east, and they froze like that.

This is our ice-coated driveway. Sensing a theme yet?

This is a north view of our swingset/treehouse thingy. Again, notice the icicles pointed west.

A final view of the swingset/treehouse thingy. And a big thanks to my wonderful husband who braved the elements and went outside to take these photos. They may come in handy later; if we have damage, the insurance company may want proof. Brother, they'll get it!

Boing!!

2007-02-19T07:38:00.000-06:00

My daughter Mary saw a robin this morning. She was so excited! Both she and her sister can't wait for spring. I must admit, I'm a little tired of winter myself. Fortunately, this week the weather around here is supposed to be warmer. We're finally supposed to have an entire week where the morning lows will all be above zero. Whoo-Hoo!!(Today's high is supposed to be around 40.)

The arrival of spring means the arrival of shorts-wearing season. This could be a problem - all of the shorts I have hanging in my closet are either size 20 or 22 (women's) and I'm currently wearing a Misses size 18. Depending on how you count, I've lost something like 2 to 2 1/2 pants sizes. My weight is fluctuating between 195 and 198. If I'd stop baking stuff, I'd lose weight faster!

Anyway. So I don't have many pairs of shorts to wear. I have a couple pair of denim shorts that are around 15 years old, and I'm sure I can get into those, but I don't think that will be enough to get me through the spring and summer. That means I have to go shopping. I don't mind going shopping for clothes (I am, after all, female) but somehow I have to find time to go, and that could pose a problem given the increasing workload school is giving me. Oh, well. Everyone should have such dilemmas, eh?

Speaking of dilemmas and workloads, would all of you pray for Carl tomorrow? He has an interview for a Project Manager position at his job (around 1 PM, I think). This would be a major promotion, and Carl feels that he's ready for a new challenge. He wants to use the knowledge he got with his Master's degrees, and this job would utilize all of his skills. But mostly, Carl wants to follow God's will, so please pray that His will be done as Carl interviews. He has another interview sometime next week, and I'll let you know when so y'all can pray for him then, too.

In the meantime, enjoy the weather. I plan to. Since I live in Iowa, the weather will probably change in five minutes anyway, so I'll take nice weather whenever I can get it.

Caked Over

2007-02-15T18:57:00.000-06:00

The weekend past, I assembled an office furniture kit for my Mom: a computer desk, return and hutch. I mention this because I happen to think that I'm pretty good at kit furniture assembly. I had to call Carl for help only once, and his advice worked. Put tools in my hands, give me a set of instructions, and I can (99 times out of 100) put it together.

Which brings me to Tuesday. Carl, bless his fuzzy little heart, bought me (as a Valentine's Day gift) something I've been wanting for months - he got me a new electric hand mixer. I got the gift on Sunday when I returned home from Mom's. It's a good mixer, a Kitchen Aid. So I thought, "What can I give Carl for Valentine's Day, something he really likes, that I can make with my new mixer?" The answer was simple. I'd make him a cake - German chocolate with coconut pecan frosting, his favorite. At first, I figured I'd do it the way I always do it: with a cake mix and ready-to-spread frosting. But then I thought, " You know, he's such a great guy, always thinking about what I want, I should really do something extraordinary for him." So I decided to make the cake from scratch, using the recipe his Mom always used when she made him that cake for his birthday. I have the recipe in a three ring binder, and I took the binder with me Monday when I went to school. I stopped at the grocery store on my way home and got the stuff I needed - so far, so good.

My troubles started when I got home from school. I tossed the grocery bag on the counter, and forgot to put the buttermilk in the fridge. It sat out for hours and got warm, so I pitched it. I went to our local convenience store to see if they had any (since going back into the city was not an option) and they didn't. What to do? I pulled out a "substitutions" chart that I've had for a while, and discovered that buttermilk and sour milk were near cousins. But since I'm no cook, and I wasn't sure what to do, I called my Mom and my sister for help. I was assured that replacing buttermilk with sour milk would be OK, so I relaxed. No problem, I thought.

HA!! Tuesday rolled around, with 2" of snow and 35 mph winds, so school was cancelled for all three of us girls. Since I had the entire day before me, I decided to do the cake. I figured it would be best to lay out all of the ingredients first, then put the cake together. I began reading, and soon discovered that this was going to be harder than I thought. For one thing, the recipe called for cake flour. I didn't know there was such a thing as cake flour, but my chart-thingy said you could substitute all-purpose flour for cake flour if you took out 2 Tbsp. per cup. For another thing, the recipe said you needed three 8" or 9" round pans, and I only had 2. What to do? Call my sister, of course. She advised me to use the chart's flour substitutions and to use one square 9" pan with my two round 9" pans, then cut off the corners later. OK. Fine. I'll do that. Later down the recipe, it said to melt the chocolate in a 1/2 cup of boiling water. I didn't think you could do that, so I called my Mom and asked her if I should grind up the chocolate before I added the boiling water. She said no, just break the chocolate bar up into chunks and melt the chunks three at a time. You'll be alright, she assured me. Of course she was correct, but the concept of melting chocolate in water instead of over it was a little freaky.

So now I had all my ingredients laid out, and I started mixing stuff together. I tried to use my hand mixer for the entire cake, but it soon became evident that I'd have to use my pedestal mixer for the heavy work. Finally, I had all the ingredients mixed together, in the pans, and in the oven. Whew!

HA!! again. When the cakes were done, I flipped them out onto plates to cool while I made the frosting. That was yet another adventure, but I got it done and started to assemble the cake. However, the cake stuck to the plates, so I had to scrape the cake off the plates and pile the stuck parts in the middle of the cake and "glue" it all together with frosting. But once completed, I put the cake in the fridge, wrote Carl a nice little note to accompany the cake, and started cleaning up.

This was one ugly cake. It leaned to one side, was terribly uneven, and I was scared that it would taste as bad as it looked. But fortunately it actually tasted good, and Carl was happy to have his favorite cake. But, he said, he and his Mom had always put it in a 9 x 13 pan, so the next time I try this cake I'll have him bake it for me.

If I ever try this cake again. It'll be a looooong time before I tackle a cake from scratch. I don't want to be pestering my Mom and Sis with questions, and besides, cake mixes are so much easier.

Given the choice between furniture assembly and cake assembly, I'll take the furniture, any time.

Parts Is Parts

2007-02-06T15:55:00.000-06:00

It started last week (Wednesday, I think). I let the dog in after school, kind-hearted fool that I am, and took him down into the basement with me while I worked on my china cabinet. I've been sanding pieces, trying to get most of the old stain off so I can restain the pieces a uniform color. So I'm working away, not paying attention to anything but my work, and I thought the dog was on his rug next to the table, about six feet from me. I finished a piece, shut off my palm sander and took off my hearing protection, only to hear the phone ring. I ran to my studio, picked up the phone, looked down and saw wood splinters all over the floor in front of my dog. I told the caller, "Please call me back later. My dog just ate my china cabinet!" Apparently, the dog was either bored, or jealous of the cats (or both) and decided to take his frustrations out on an 80 year old piece of poplar. I promptly sent him back out to the yard - he had that hang-dog expression on his face, the one where he knew that he was doing something bad but he felt worse because he'd been caught - and went to analyze the damage. The part Moose Mutt had chewed was a curved piece that attaches to the top (underside) of the cabinet and holds the glass in place. Fortunately, this piece had lost its veneer, so I was going to have to re-veneer the piece anyway, but unfortunately, this curved piece had tenons cut out of the edges, plus it was routed on one side, so trying to fabricate a replacement at home was impossible. I quickly ran to the lumberyard, where the ever-wise Tom Lange told me to call a guy near Fairfax who does custom cabinetry to see if he could make a replacement. Well, he can, but it will cost me.

Enter Tom Hyde, my AutoCAD instructor. (I know alot of Tom's, don't I?) I told him my sob story and showed him the remaining pieces (there's 3 left) and asked for his advice. He said I could draw up a copy of my needed replacement on AutoCAD (with his help, obviously) and if I can find someone with a CNC wood router, I can take my CAD drawing on my memory stick to them, and hopefully get a replacement part fabricated at a lower cost than the cabinet guy quoted me. I was afraid that I wouldn't be allowed extra time on the CAD computers, or that it wasn't allowed to do non-schoolwork projects, but not only is it allowed, it's encouraged. So I took a tracing of my piece to school today with all the necessary measurements, and with Tom's help I was able to draw up my piece (2D only). My printout matched my tracing, but the real test was at home, where I put the mirror piece (the same shape as my missing piece, but from the bottom of the cabinet) on my CAD printout, and it matched!! It wasn't a perfect match, but it was darn close, so Thursday I'm going to go back and get the 3D image done. Then I'll start calling cabinet makers in the area and see if one of them will help me out at a reasonable cost, since I've already done all the hard work.

Wish me luck!

P.S. I should mention that Tom Hyde is a super great guy - not just because he wants to help me out, but he really wants students to learn and is willing to take extra time and teach them. Plus, he reminds me of my dad in that he's extremely smart and understands all that engineerical-type stuff, and he reminds me of my Uncle Don (from when I was high-school age) with his facial expressions and his body posture. Going to CAD class is kind of like going to a family reunion, only without the potato salad.

EEEK!!

2007-01-29T07:58:00.000-06:00

It's been almost two weeks since I've posted anything. Hmmm...quickly, before Drafting II class starts, let's see if anything's been happening that's worth blogging about...

1) My Mom let me have the antique dining room set. It really looks nice in my dining room: it's a beautiful oak table - I wish you could see the grain of the wood! Maybe I should post a picture.

2) My husband is turning into a complete mushwad - he let Skeeter (the cat) sit on his lap for almost an entire meal!! He NEVER would have let our old cat (P.C.) do that. What a softie.

3) I got a card from my school over the weekend that said I'd made the Dean's List. I'm happy, but not ecstatically excited. Don't know why.

Oops! I must run to class. Have a great day, y'all!!

Looking Up

2007-01-16T15:35:00.000-06:00

Today is going along much better than yesterday. I had the day off from school again, but the kids had to go, and since the laundry was done (except for folding) I spent my time in the basement working on my Grandma Frances' old china cabinet. I'm almost done cleaning pieces. The old finish had "sugared" and needed to be removed, so I'm taking it off using denatured alcohol. It's a sticky, messy business, but the alcohol is working better than lacquer thinner or a combination of the two, so I've been forced to conclude that the old finish was shellac and not lacquer or varnish.

This poor old cabinet has been in pieces for years. Someone (my dad, I think) took it apart years ago and started stripping it, but never quite got done. When I found it (spring of 2002) it was in a long, dusty box in my dad's barn. I took it home and now that I have a dining room in which to put it I'm trying to get it cleaned up and looking pretty again. The good news is, I still have the glass. The bad news is, the back is missing. I think it got wet and disintegrated years ago. However, Tom at the lumber yard said that the wood was oak (really old oak, probably white oak) so I should be able to buy a piece of red oak plywood and rebuild the back. I plan to stain the piece a walnut color (its original color) and with a finish that dark the pinkness of the new plywood won't be a factor.

Moose Mutt has recovered from his accidental cookie feast. I was worried, because these were chocolate chip cookies and chocolate is toxic to dogs, but the worst thing that happened is Moose Mutt's overindulgence in sweets led to some major flatulence. Carl went out last night to put the citronella "barking" collar on the dog, and said the entire shed reeked of methane gas emissions. Judah was still emitting aromas (as Dave Barry would say) this morning, but by noon he was pretty much over it.

Meanwhile, in other news, Mary came home with a "Gym Star" award for the month of January. This is a good thing, because Mary's never really had an easy time of it in gym class even though she's fairly athletic. A "Gym Star" award means you've followed the rules, helped others, encouraged others, put forth a good effort and worked hard at developing skills. I was especially happy to see the "follows rules" item. Mary sometimes tends to march to the beat of her own drummer, and while that's good in some respects, it's not good in an elementary school gym class.

And finally, I want to update my devoted readers on my weight loss progress. I gained a couple of pounds over the weekend (I usually do) thus this morning I was at 202.8 pounds. However, last Saturday I weighed in at 199.8, and with some effort I should be able to get back down there before my doctor's appointment this Friday. Maybe I shouldn't be so angry that the dog ate all those cookies after all!

Day Off Daze

2007-01-15T18:34:00.000-06:00

1) I had to get up early today, even though none of us girls had to go to school. That made for a crappy start to the day.

2) Mary was uncooperative at breakfast and lunch, and thus got grounded from going outside and playing in the new snow that fell overnight. Needless to say she wasn't very happy with me, and let me know it in no uncertain terms.

3) I baked cookies this afternoon, then went to run errands. I gave Hannah explicit instructions to guard the cookies from Moose Mutt and the Feline Sisters, a job that was supposed to have continued after I returned and went outside to shovel off the driveway. Hannah abandoned her post, with the result that Moose Mutt ate half the batch of cookies off the kitchen table. After I cooled down a little (I was really mad) we discussed the situation. Hannah told me what she'd learned from this experience (namely, never trust Moose Mutt) but after supper Hannah had to go out in the -5 degree windchill and feed the dog as a punishment. (like he needed to be fed!)

4) I've been working all day on laundry, thus proving conclusively that there is no such thing as a day off, unless you're Ferris Bueller.

5) This entire day has reduced my brain to oatmeal mush, so I'm going to put the last load of laundry in the dryer and then go give Mary her shower. Then I'm going to bed

I'm tired.

Steaming mad

2007-01-09T07:43:00.000-06:00

Stupid murzen-furzen-bricken-bracken Buckeyes anyway. 41 - 14? Good freakin' grief!!

Meanwhile, in Iowa City, the Hawkeyes are snickering behind their hands muttering, "We knew Troy Smith was overrated!"

Stupid fricken-fracken Buckeyes.

Grrrr.......

Monday Blatherskite

2007-01-08T21:05:00.000-06:00

Today was the first day of spring semester. Pretty blah - I only had one class, Drafting II, and it was over by 10:00. I ran some errands, then went home and caught up on some paperwork (PTA and Community Club). After supper I went out to feed Moose Mutt, and as I walked back in the door the phone rang. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Hello?
Him: Is Nancy there, please?
Me: This is Nancy.
Him: Hi! I'm Steve with the Army Reserves. How would you like to come and work for us part time?
Me: Uh, no, I can't, I'm a student now. (thinking - I don't remember giving them an application last year when I was searching)
Him: Oh, we'll pay for your college if you...
Aha! NOW I understand!!
Me (interrupting): Do you have any idea how old I am?
Him: (sounding cautious) How old are you?
Me: 43.
Him: Oh! Just past our cut off age. (Me - thinking "Yeah, right.") So do you have any relatives who might be interested?
Me: I'm sorry, I already have a nephew in the Air Force.
Him: Thank you for your time. CLICK

I couldn't help it - as soon as I put the phone down I doubled over, laughing. Apparently, this recruiter thought I was an 18 year old college student! I guess Kirkwood just hands out lists of new students, and the recruiters start at the top of the list and call everyone, regardless. I mean, really, you'd think they'd separate us "mature" students from the kids so the recruiters don't make fools of themselves over the phone. But then again, isn't "military intellegence" an oxymoron?

The more I think about this, though, the more annoyed I get. Not at the recruiter - but at the college! For Pete's sake, do they have to give lists to all these people without any consideration as to whether or not that student fits the callers' parameters? And it's not just the callers, but the junk mailers, too. When Carl was getting his Masters degrees, he got stuff all the time from loan companies wanting him to consolidate his student loans into one easy payment. They even sent us letters addressed to Carl's PARENTS, for crying out loud! It was stupid! With a little data mining, the schools could have figured out that Carl and his classmates were having their tuitions paid by their companies and it wasn't necessary to give their names to the loan consolidators. Sheesh!

And while I'm blowing off steam...Ohio State is down 20 points to Florida in the BCS Championship game. Looks like the Buckeyes accidentally put the football uniforms on the band. Maybe the second half will be better..

Yeah, right.

As Purr Your Request

2007-01-03T07:32:00.000-06:00

In the comments, Bismuth asked for kitty pictures. This is the only one I have to post - Maya is on the upper step, and Skeeter is on the lower. Right now both of the cats are lying on my lap - this makes typing difficult, especially when Maya starts licking my earlobe. She has an ear fetish, or something.

Now that we've had the cats a week, their personalities have really come out. Skeeter, who was shy at first, has come on strong. She's still the calm one compared to Maya, but she's also the first one to go check out something new. Maya, who was the leader early, now follows Skeeter's lead.

We finally got a reaction from the dog about the cats, and it was very disappointing. My 100 pound rottweiler-mix dog is afraid of the cats! I tried to hold him by the collar while Carl brought Skeeter up to him, but he backed away and cowered when she tried to touch his nose with her paw. Skeeter is definitely not afraid of Judah unless he comes bounding around a corner and startles her. Maya is more shy of Moose Mutt, but once I get Moose and Skeeter to be friends I'm sure Maya will follow. The trick is convincing the Schnorg that the cats mean him no harm.

Otherwise, things are going pretty well. The cats adjusted nicely to having collars, and since the collars have bells on them you can hear them coming. Both cats are affectionate, which is good for the girls. We do shut the cats down in the basement at night so we can sleep, and they don't seem to mind as they have each other for company. However, in the morning they sit by the door and meow, and I can't let them up until both girls are ready for school. That's the rule, made to keep the cats from distracting the girls, especially Boo. That kid has two speeds: slow and stop. Therefore, if she wants to see her kitties before school, she has to hurry and get ready or else she's out of luck.

This afternoon I have to pack up the cats and take them to the vet for a check-up. The Humane Society requires this, and if there's some problem they didn't catch, they have some kind of insurance that will pay to fix the problem. I was really impressed by that, and also by how careful they are in the adoption process. They spayed the cats (it's Iowa law that all adopted animals be spayed or neutered) plus they made sure their shots were up to date and they implanted microchips in each one in case the kitties get out of the house and are lost. The Humane Society also provides microchips for your current pets (for a small fee, I think) and I'm considering taking Moose Mutt over there to get one, since he sometimes escapes our backyard.

That should be a fun trip!

The Dining Room Story

2007-01-01T15:46:00.000-06:00

As mentioned in last night's blog, I finally have a dining room. By that, I mean I have an official "dining room" - i.e. a room set aside for dining, not just a room designated as a dining room on the houseplans. I've had a space called a dining room for 10 years (ever since we built this house) but it's never been officially a dining room. At first, it was storage (as we finished the house) then it was a play room for the girls, right next to the kitchen so I could keep an eye on them while I worked. The vast majority of the time, the dining room served as office space: the computer and file cabinet were in there, and almost five years ago we added a desk. The two places we lived prior to this house were too small to have a dining room, so it's nice to have the space for one.

I bet you're wondering what transpired to finally make my dining room a reality. Well, as usual, I have Carl to thank for this. He's been trying (for over a year) to get the interior of our house repainted: in September of 2005 he got our foyer done, and in the fall of 2006 he got the dining room and living room done. Then he took a couple extra days off for Christmas break (his company shuts down between Christmas and New Year's) and painted the family room. We took our pool table apart and put it in the basement, where we'll set it up once (if ever) we finish the basement, and we put our office furniture in the family room. It really looks nice, and it finally opened up the dining room for my dining room furniture. Not that I have a lot - right now I only have a hoosier cabinet and a dry sink, but I plan to add to that. Downstairs I have the pieces of my Grandma Frances' old china cabinet, and I'm going to get that refinished (I hope) soon. Plus my Mom said that (someday, no pressure, Mom) I'll eventually inherit Grandma Frances' kitchen table and chairs. With those things, plus some shelves I'm working on, I should have a very country, antique-looking dining room.

And there's a possibility of adding more antiques, too. It just so happens that our 20th anniversary falls in the week between the end of Spring semester and the start of Summer school, so Carl and I hope to go somewhere for a few days where we can relax, enjoy each other's company, and go antiquing. Right now I'm thinking maybe near Lansing, Iowa, or the Villages of Van Buren in southern Iowa. (If I have to haul furniture I don't think I want to drive any farther than that.) I'd like to find a pie safe or sideboard or something to put dishes in. I hope I'll be able to do some entertaining. I'm not much of a hostess, and I really can't cook, but if I'm going to fill my house with antique furniture and my paintings, I kinda want to show it off. I suppose I can always have someone else cook for me, like a caterer or something. Or maybe I can take cooking classes, like my sister. Or maybe I can kidnap my sister....hmmmmm.....

Just kidding, sis. ;-)

Population Explosion

2006-12-31T23:35:00.000-06:00

Our family had a very nice time over Christmas. We took the girls for a weekend to Grand Harbor Resort and Waterpark (indoor waterpark) in Dubuque, Iowa. I highly recommend this place, especially if you have kids. It's very kid-friendly. The girls also got some stocking stuffers and some money on Christmas Day, plus they got money from their grandmothers. With this windfall, both girls immediately started asking about how they could spend it. (Money just burns a hole in kids' pockets, doesn't it?) Lou spent some of hers buying "spy toys". She already had some, so I guess she's kind of collecting them. She does play with them, and she enjoys them, so it wasn't a waste of money.

Boo, however, has been begging Carl and I for a cat for almost a year, so her first question (obviously) was "Can I buy a cat?" We'd anticipated this, so we told her that, if she was willing to spend her money on the start-up supplies she could get a cat. I looked up the Humane Society website, checked out their selection of felines, then called them to ask which ones they recommended for a household with two kids and a very large dog. They recommended four, mainly because they'd been declawed. Two of the four happened to be sisters who'd spent their whole lives together, and when I went to tell this to Carl (he was out in the garage) he said, "You know, if we get two cats, they could keep each other company and be less of a nuisance than if we just get one." I thought maybe he'd been breathing in too many garage fumes, so I asked him if this is what he really wanted to do. He said "Yes" so I told him that if he wanted two cats, fine, but it would be Carl and Boo sharing the caretaking responsibilities. (Lou and I will share the dog.) Long story short, we ended up adopting the sisters, Maya and Skeeter. They're seven months old, and just about the tiniest, skinniest, furriest cats I've ever seen. Maya's a grey-brown tiger, and the leader of the pair. She's more outgoing and adventurous, and doesn't like to sit in once place very long (kind of like Boo). Skeeter is black and very laid back. She'll sit on your lap for hours if you let her. You can tell they're sisters because if one starts yowling about something, the other immediately goes to the yowler's rescue.

Moose Mutt hasn't really reacted much to the cats' presence yet. I let him in this afternoon, and he mostly hung around me while I was working in the dining room. (I finally have a real dining room after 19 1/2 years of marriage, but that's another blog.) Anyway, when I let him in Maya growled a little, but Skeeter just sat on Carl's lap, watching the dog but doing nothing. After a while the cats figured out that the dog wasn't going to charge them, and they've been within 12 inches of him (mostly from behind) checking him out. Hopefully soon I'll be able to let the dog in and not worry about whether or not he'll try to eat the kitties. I'd like them to get along since they'll be members of the family for a looooooong time.

And by the way - for Christmas Carl got me a Garmin GPS for my truck. Way cool!

Numbers Update

2006-12-16T16:14:00.000-06:00

Five of six classes have posted grades - so far, all "A"'s. I've never had a straight "A" report card in my life (except maybe for junior high) so if Drafting comes back with an "A" this will be a first.

My weight is down to 204.4 pounds. I wanted to reach 200 by Christmas, but I don't think I'll make it. Too many goodies lying around!

See ya later!

Hope and Encouragement

2006-12-15T14:24:00.000-06:00

There was an article on the Drudge Report today that said Canadian scientists have possibly found a cure for type 1 diabetes. You can read the article here if you'd like. Please pray that this is the miracle we've been asking for ever since May 15, 2006.

As I was reading the article, Mary (who is home sick with a cold and fever) called me into the living room to help her shut down the TV (her DVD had finished). She asked me why I was crying and I told her "Some Canadian doctors may have found a cure for type 1 diabetes." Her first question? "Does this mean there won't be any more diabetes camp?"

What a kid.

A few minutes later she came and sat on my lap, and we talked a little. I told her that I would find a camp for her to go to (that has horses) even if she was cured of diabetes. I said, "Wouldn't it be nice not to have to get shots every day? Not to have to ask if you can have a candy cane, and then check your blood sugar before you eat it? Wouldn't it be nice not to have to carry your insulin kit everywhere?" "Well, I'm kinda used to it" she replied. "But I think it would be nice for you to be cured," I said. "No more having to worry about snacks at school. No more having to test your sugars during church. No more counting carbs at every meal." Then I hugged her and said, "I love you, punkin." In reply, she burped.

As I said before - What a kid.

In other news, so far three of my classes have posted final grades: Microcomputer Applications, Plans and Specs and Building Constructions Systems. All are "A"'s. So far, so good.

Please pass the chocolate!!

The Party's Over

2006-12-12T12:23:00.000-06:00

I took my last final today, in Math. It wasn't bad - about as hard as I expected. There were a couple of problems where I didn't quite understand the English, so Barry had to interpret them for me. Once I understood what he was asking for, I was able to solve the problem. (I think.)

So after my final I took my books to the buyback counter. My expectations weren't high: anyone who's ever been to college knows you get pennies on the dollar for what you paid. But they wouldn't buy back two of my books (Math and Microcomputer Applications) because they were too old. I figured they probably wouldn't take the math book because half the class had the old version and the other half had the new version (which came in three weeks after school started). But I was a little upset that they wouldn't take the Micros book. Oh, well. And for all my trouble, I got a whopping $40 for my BCS and APS books. Yip yip yahoo.

Well, onward and upward. It's a relatively warm day (50 degrees) so I gave Moose Mutt a bath. He has to go to the vet tomorrow afternoon, so I wanted him to be as clean as possible. The front of my pants below the knees are soaked, and so are my boots. I laid out some old blankets for His Mooseness to lay on while he dries out, and of course I gave him a couple dog biscuits. Later this afternoon I hope to work up enough ambition to bake cookies. Carl's been begging me for a couple special treats that I bake only at Christmastime, and I have all the necessary ingredients, but none of the necessary determination.

I probably won't know my grades until next week, after all the finals are over. The KCC website gives you access to your report cards, and I'm eager to see if I finally managed to obtain the ever elusive 4.0. With my luck, I'll probably get a 3.997 or something. My next semester starts January 8. Hopefully between now and then I'll get at least half of my to-do list completed.

Do you think maybe I should start with the cookies?

Quick FINALS Update

2006-12-06T13:13:00.000-06:00

Well, my oral exam in Drafting is now a memory, and fortunately it's a pleasant memory. My instructor told me that it's the best presentation he'd ever seen (I'm the only person who's ever used PowerPoint slides, apparently) and I seemed to know my stuff. But there was one hitch - as I was giving my presentation, I saw something I'd forgotten to add on one drawing. Luckily, the instructor turned his back for a moment to look for something, and I drew in the missing item really quick. Hopefully I won't lose points for that.

Well, onward to the Plans and Specs test over the Wendy's Restaurant prints we've been studying.

Two tests down, five to go!! :-P

Bus Stop Politics

2006-12-06T09:34:00.000-06:00

I know I've already mentioned this (ad nauseum) but my girls, Lou and Boo, have medical problems. Lou has autism and Boo has diabetes. For these reasons, Lou likes to sit by the vehicle window and stare out (it's her routine, and it helps keep her calm) and Boo has to sit on the bus by Lou so that if she has a hypoglycemic episode Lou can help her.

Getting these points across to the kids' at the girls' bus stop, though, was a difficult matter. No matter how early the girls were, the other kids would try to be first on the bus ahead of them. Lately I've been driving the girls to the stop (because it's been so dang cold) and as soon as the bus shows up the kids swarm my truck, so Lou and Boo can't get out. So they're last in line, even if we were there first. Yeah, I know that sounds petty (if I can't be first I'm gonna whine!) but I hated riding the bus, so I'm trying to give my girls as much help as I can.

To that end, today I drove them to the other bus stop - the stop BEFORE the girls' usual stop. I figured that being last in line at the first stop was equivalent to being first in line at the last stop, so that's what we did. I watched the girls get on the bus and get a good seat (sitting together) therefore I have one less thing to worry about regarding them.

Overprotective? I suppose. Overbearing? Maybe. But as long as my girls are together on the bus, and Lou's routine isn't disrupted, it's worth going three extra blocks to a different bus stop.

Besides, I get to leave town five minutes earlier, and thus get to my school early. And that's good for me.

Speaking of school, I must now go to my Drafting Final. It's an oral exam, and I'm scared to death. Pray for me and wish me luck!

Educational Update

2006-12-01T11:25:00.002-06:00

I was using last week's paper to wrap some stuff, and I came across the Benton Community Honor Roll for the first quarter. Hannah was on it! Of course I cut that section out.

I only hope I can do as well.

The FINAL Countdown

2006-11-29T13:29:00.000-06:00

This is it, folks! The last two weeks of my first semester back at college. They're going to be busy ones. I have seven tests and/or oral exams between now and December 13. Allow me to detail:

Tues 5 Dec - Trig (math) exam
Wed 6 Dec - Drafting presentation (oral exam)
Thu 7 Dec - Plans & Specs Exam
Fri 9 Dec - Microcomputer Applications Exam
Mon 11 Dec - Construction Lab Final
Tues 12 Dec - Math Final
Wed 13 Dec - Building Construction Systems Final

I only have four "finals" - drafting, lab, math and BCS. But of the remaining three, the trig exam and the Plans & Specs exam will be brutal. Trig, because it's Trig(onometry) and Plans and Specs because it's over the 29 pages of plans, plus the specifications, for a Wendy's Restaurant. The Microcomputers exam will seem like a vacation compared to everything else.

Of my four finals, I think Drafting and BCS will go the smoothest. BCS will be "easy" because it's vocabulary only, and I have all the words written in note form so all I have to do is refer back to my notes if I need help. (Jim lets us use notes for his tests.) Drafting is a little scarier - it's an oral exam, where you have to convince Jim (the same guy that teaches BCS) that he should "hire" you to build an addition on to his cabin. I have the drawings 99% done: I only have to modify one thing, and then I have to put the presentation together, and that will take a while. I'm mostly nervous about what questions Jim will ask and what "extemporaneous" drawings he'll expect from me. I'm not good at extemporaneous.

The Math and Lab finals I am NOT looking forward to. Barry teaches both of those classes, and Barry has a nasty habit of tossing in "distractors", things that can confuse you and make you screw up. The worst thing about it is, Barry seems to really enjoy watching you panic. I would say that he has a sadistic streak, but outside of his tests, Barry is an incredibly nice guy. He's given me lecture notes to help me study, which is why I don't understand the reasoning behind his test-writing. Maybe he has an evil twin, or something.

So the countdown to the end of the semester has started. Two weeks from today, at 10 AM, I will have officially completed my first semester in the Architectural Technology program. One down, four to go.

Pass the chocolate!

This Is Just Wrong

2006-11-21T21:13:00.000-06:00

The Iowa Hawkeyes are going to a bowl game - The Alamo Bowl. This is unbelievable, because the Hawkeyes went 6 - 6 on the year.

Here's a list of the teams they beat:
Montana
Syracuse
Iowa State
Illinois
Purdue
Northern Illinois

Not exactly a list that will have you shaking in your boots, is it?

Here's a list of the teams that beat them:
Ohio State
Indiana
Michigan
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Minnesota

There's a couple games in that list the Hawks were supposed to have won, but their quarterback, Drew Tate, has a severe case of Brett Favre-itis. That means he throws alot of bad passes that are caught for interceptions, and Tate (like Favre) has a bad habit of slinging the football anywhere in the hopes that one of his team-mates will catch it. I don't think either Tate or Favre have come to the conclusion that this is a bad idea, because they keep doing it, and they keep throwing interceptions. Sheesh.

There's two reasons that the Hawkeyes are going to The Alamo Bowl this year. Reason One is their former coach Hayden Frye. (or is that Fry? whatever) Anyway. Frye is originally from Texas, and when he coached at Iowa his teams were spectacular, which made Frye an icon of collegiate football, thus "his team" gets to go to "his state" for bowl games. Personally, I think they should call The Alamo Bowl "The Hayden Frye Bowl". It's his clout that gets the Hawks there. Reason Two is Iowa Hawkeye football fans. These people are seriously rabid. They paint their homes black and gold, fly tacky little Hawkeye flags from their car windows, wear ridiculously tacky outfits to all of the games, and are usually the ones the media puts on TV, thus perpetuating the myth that Iowans have no life. They'll travel anywhere (and I do mean anywhere) to watch the Hawks play, and they make arrangements with travel agents months in advance so that they can get trip packages to whichever bowl the Hawks get. And they spend tons of money in the bowl's hometown, boosting that town's economy. Hawkeye fans will take over the bowl's town for an entire week, and there will be 10 Hawk fans for every opponent fan. That's why the minor bowls trip over themselves to get teams like the Hawkeyes to come and play at their venues. They know that the fans will spend obscene amounts of money, and they want that money.

But I wonder how many really decent teams will sit at home this year, with 7 - 5 records, puzzling over why they're home and the Hawkeyes, at 6 - 6, are at The Alamo Bowl. I think it's vastly unfair to teams with better records that they don't get post-season play while Iowa does. It's also a little pathetic that there are so many minor bowls that take mediocre teams. I liked the old system better, before the BCS computer and the minor bowls. The Big 10 always played the Pac 10 at the Rose Bowl, and that was a game to look forward to. It had tradition. It had class. It had impact. But now, a computer decides which teams play in which major bowls, and the minor bowls go around and jockey for second-rate teams just so they can suck money away from their fans.

This is just wrong.

Happy Blatherskite

2006-10-24T14:49:00.000-06:00

Life, it seems, gives us a pretty fair mix of good days and bad days. Some days are better, some are worse, but every once in a while, Life gives us a phenominally wonderful day.

I had one of those today!

It started in math class. Barry (the instructor) gave a short lecture over geometry (eek!) and then he handed back our midterm exams. I not only aced it, I got the only 100% score in my section. (I don't know about the other sections.) That floored me. I've never gotten scores like that in math before. Of course, much of the credit for my mathematical success goes to my tutor, aka my engineer husband. Thanks, honey!

The day got better as it went along. I got out of APS class early (I had all the homework done) so I went to run errands. First stop was the City of Cedar Rapids Building Department. The last time I was there, I did not have a pleasant experience. This time, though, it was great. The nice lady behind the counter found the old building permits for our church building, and I was able to glean the info I needed from them. She also gave me the guidelines for "How To Be Your Own General Contractor" and she said that I can be the G.C. on any carpentry-only project that our congregation does. Plus, we don't need to hire a contractor for carpentry-only jobs: anyone from our congregation can do the work. This is a huge relief, because we have several carpentry jobs to do, and our tiny congregation can't afford to hire a carpenter. All I need to do now is line up volunteers. (I hope someone volunteers!)

Onward and upward. My next stop was at P.J.'s Vacuum Sales and Service. Phil (the "P" of "P.J.'s") is a wonderful guy - he sold our church its current vacuum and he does all of our service at a reasonable price. I took him our old cheapo household vac (it was making this really loud, obnoxious whine) and he said the motor was shot. I decided that, rather than replace my broken vac with another cheapo-from-the-repo-depot, I'd buy a good quality unit from Phil. So onto the cell phone I went; I discussed the situation with Carl who agreed to the purchase of a really nice machine. (I also bought bags.) Next to P.J.'s is Technigraphics, a print shop that also sells drafting equipment. I wanted some enlargements made of the original blueprints of our church (dated 1959) so while I was there I had Tech's make my copies. A quick, easy, nearly painless stop. (No stop that costs money is completely painless, but this time the pain was tolerable.)

After my vac and print stop, I went to Michael's and bought a giant portfolio folder in which to store my prints. I want them stored flat, not rolled up, and this should do the trick. Plus this thing has a handle, so I can hang the prints from a nail in the wall, if I want to. Michael's is in a strip mall, and a little way down from Michael's is Catherine's, a clothing shop for "plus sized women". I went in there and tried on a pair of size 18 Tall jeans (I've been wearing size 20) AND THEY FIT!!! Plus, THEY WERE ON SALE!!! Needless to say I bought them. It's my reward to myself for weighing in at 216 pounds this morning.

Next stop was Uncle Stan's Military Surplus. Hannah is wearing Carl's old Civil Air Patrol battle fatigues for Halloween, but Carl didn't have a hat, so I went to Stan's and got one. Another man was in there, buying a military costume for his toddler son, complete with toy gun. I didn't even consider buying Hannah a toy gun. I don't need the FBI breaking down my door because my kid took a "gun" to school.

But anyway. Last stop was Wal-Mart on the north side of town. (I refuse to go to the Wal-Mart on the south side, but that's another story.) I ran into my Aunt LaReatha there, and she helped me figure out what size boots to buy for Mary. Mary wants to go as Patsy Cline for Halloween, and she no longer fits into girls size shoes. (She wears a women's size 6.) We figured out that boys size 4 1/2 would fit her, so I got the boots. I also bought her a denim skort and vest (on the clearance rack!) and a western style pink floral blouse (not on the clearance rack, oh well) and took them all home, hoping Mary would like the outfit. To my great relief, Mary likes her new clothes, and has agreed to wear the boots with other skirts so that she gets my money's worth out of them. She's not big into wearing jeans, but maybe the boots will get her to change her mind. And the topping of the day? I bought a Diet Mountain Dew on the way out of Wal-Mart, and it had a "buy one get one free" cap on it. Is that not the cherry on the cake, or what?

It's nice to have a day where everything goes your way. They don't come along very often, so I need to try to remember these days when things are going phenominally bad. Blogging about today gives me something to refer back to when things get lousy, like when the girls or Carl get sick, or when I do poorly on an exam.

Or when I lose at Fantasy Football. :-P

Moonlight Blatherskite

2006-10-06T19:00:00.000-06:00

According to the Farmer's Almanac , tonight's full moon is the Hunter's Moon. Did you get to see it? Wasn't it pretty? I thought it was. So much so, in fact, that I took Moose Mutt out for a sunset walk through the rail trails. It was a nice night for it. It was cool but not too cool and not very breezy, either. And the only sounds out there were crickets and the distant rumble of a combine. (For you citified folks, "combine" is pronounced with the accent on the first syllable. A combine is a giant harvesting machine.) Anyway. We had a lovely walk. We watched the moon rise over the trees; we saw a raccoon (the largest dang raccoon I have ever seen!) and also a doe and a bat. The air was filled with the scent of autumn in the country, and off in the distance someone had a wood fire burning. It was wonderful.

Autumn is my favorite time of year. I love the cool, crisp nights, the sounds and smells of harvest, and the beauty that blossoms briefly before the leaves fall and winter comes. I love wearing jeans, boots and sweatshirts and being completely comfortable in them. And I love the fact that I can walk through the woods at sunset and not be feasted upon by mosquitos!

However, my love for autumn is bittersweet, because it's this time of year that I miss living in the country most of all. I miss being able to go out at night and listen to the crickets and the combines. I miss the scent of the bonfires Dad always built for our youth group's Autumn Party. I miss looking out my west window at Fredrick's woods and watching leaves go from green to orange and yellow and brown, and then falling. I miss coming home from school and grabbing an apple off the tree as I walked to the back of the house. (About the only thing I don't miss is riding the stupid school bus.) But no matter what, autumn is my favorite time of year.

Time to go out and buy a pumpkin!

Now I Remember!

2006-10-05T21:09:00.000-06:00

Yeah! I have a blog! However, as the more astute amongst you have guessed, I've been too busy to blog. School has me bogged down, so I can't blog. There's a rhyme in there somewhere, but I can't think of one right now.

I need to go study for a BCS vocabulary test.

Ciao!

Quickie Observations Before Drafting Class

2006-09-20T07:39:00.000-06:00

1) There isn't a pot scrubber as abrasive, yet as gentle, as a dog's tongue.

2) Two weeks ago, I was looking for hints of gold in the green corn. Now I'm looking for hints of green in the gold corn. Harvest is nearly here.

3) Last year at this time, I couldn't button my denim jacket around my hips. This year, I can, even when I'm wearing a thick hooded sweatshirt. I'm down to 225.6 pounds.

4) Even after 25 years, algebra still gives me a headache.

5) There is no #5.

6) The later a third grader is for the bus, the slower she moves. At least, that's true in my house.

7) I will be 43 on Sunday, September 24. I plan to spend my weekend helping my Mom in her garage, and also helping my aunt move stuff. However, I think Mom and Aunt Jane are taking me and my cousing Laura out for brunch. (It's Laura's birthday, too.) However, I still feel like 43 is old. Eek.

8) Speaking of my birthday, Carl is giving me the same gift this year that he gave me last year. He's painting inside the house. Last year it was the foyer. This year it's the dining room, first floor bathroom, the living room and hopefully the game room, too. And he only works inside when he can't work outside on reshingling the roof. This is what you call a working vacation.

9) Carl's employer is having a sweatshirt design contest. They want a shirt that depicts all of the projects they're doing for a certain vendor. I have an idea, and Carl's approved the rough sketch. I'll tell you if I win.

10) I need to leave for Drafting class now.

'Bye!

The Measure of a Man

2006-09-11T13:28:00.000-06:00

Today in Construction Lab class, I learned how to run a circular saw. This is something I've wanted to learn for ages, but never had the time. Usually when The Men were working on a project, I was in the house minding the kids and making sure The Men got fed. I'm not complaining, mind you. I did my part and they did theirs, and I was always pleased with the end result, because I usually got a new bathroom or deck or something out of it.

But today, the roles got reversed. Mary (poor baby) has a cold, and she was coughing so hard she (and we) thought she was going to throw up, so she stayed home from school. I couldn't afford to miss Lab because our class is behind the others due to Labor Day, so Carl stayed home with Mary while I went to school. (He went in to work when I got home.) And because he was home, I asked him to do some laundry for me. I gave him detailed instructions on how to do it, and by golly, he did it and did a darn good job, too. But it was strange, me running the power saw and him home, watching Boo and doing laundry.

Now, some guys couldn't handle that. They could maybe stay home with the kid, but laundry? No way! They'd probably spend all their time on the computer or watching TV, but there is no way they'd do laundry. However, Carl is different. He's the kind of guy who can do laundry on Monday, fix a door lock at church on Tuesday, and then spend the weekend reshingling the garage. He's not afraid to tackle the challenge of laundry, because that's the kind of man he is. A real man. A manly man. And that's why I don't mind making him apple pies. He deserves it.

Thanks, honey. You stud, you!

Curly Blatherskite

2006-09-09T12:46:00.000-06:00

I got a perm this morning, so now my hair is curly on top. It's still short and straight on the sides, but the top of my head is doing the Shirley Temple Boogie. It looks nice.

Really!

Meanwhile, I'm nursing a strained ligament in my right ankle. I injured it walking on the treadmill at the rec center. My doctor gave me Celebrex to take (one a day) and told me to stay off the treadmill for a few days. She also told me to get a good pair of walking shoes. So I did, and I plan to try them out on Tuesday for 15 minutes. The doc wants me to ease back into exercize. Having an injured ankle is rather disappointing: I don't know if I'll lose the ten pounds I want to lose by my birthday. I hope I do. I've lost about eight pounds so far.

I seem to be doing well at school. I've gotten "A's" on everything I've done so far, and that's relaxed me quite a bit, so I'm starting to pay more attention to the other students around me. And the main thing I've noticed? These kids seem to completely lack a sense of humor. My instructors crack jokes, and I giggle (usually) but the kids just stare back with that "deer in the headlights" look. I think a Dave Barry-esque course on humor should be taught as part of the curriculum for Construction Management and Architectural Technology students. They could call it "Lighten Up 101" or something.

The girls are also doing well at school. Hannah's grades are holding in the A - B range, and the papers Mary brings home have good marks on them. Mary's very busy this fall - she's in soccer again, and she would have been in Future Stars basketball, too, but basketball practice and soccer practice are held at the same time on Tuesday, so we went with soccer since we'd already paid the entrance fee. We'd also paid dues into Girl Scouts, so Mary's doing that, too. Plus next Saturday she has "Cheerleader Clinic". That happens once a year - the little girls who go to Clinic learn a routine from the high school cheerleaders, and then they perform their routine at a home football game. It's really quite cute, and the girls have a good time, plus they get a t-shirt out of the deal. Hannah's in band, and she'll be marching in the Homecoming parade with the rest of the middle school band members. That should be good. I hope the weather is nice, because I plan to dash out of BSC class and go straight to the parade so I can videotape her. Since she plays trombone, she should be right up front.

And speaking of Homecoming and football, the Regular Season of NFL football shifts into high gear tomorrow, so I'll be watching games closely to see how our Fantasy Football team does. Carl and I teamed up this year. Hopefully we'll do as well together as he did alone last year.

Go Nuclear Coyote!

TGIF!!

2006-09-01T15:38:00.000-06:00

As usual, folks, there's good news and bad news. We'll dispense with the bad news first: I failed my typing test in MicroApplications class. You needed 90% proficiency at 25 words per minute. I got 99% proficiency at 24 words per minute. Accurate, but not speedy. You can't have everything, can you?

And now the good news. First, when I weighed myself this morning the scale said 229.6. I haven't seen my weight in the 220's for years. Yeah, I know, when you round up it's 230.But I'm trying to round down, remember? And in keeping with the weight business, today I tried on my non-elastic waist jeans, AND THEY FIT!!! I could even do the "sit and tie your laces" test without pain. WHOO-HOOO!!!!!

Second, I did pass my math test. Barry (the instructor) told me I got 95%. I know which question I missed - I e-mailed Carl right after the exam with a condensed version of the question (a dreaded story problem) and realized that I'd put a zero on the wrong side of the decimal. Therefore, my answer was wrong. Oh, well. Better luck next time. I think I also aced my BCS vocabulary test. (BCS stands for Building Construction Systems.) So far, so good!

So now I'm packing. I'm spending the weekend at my Mom's, cat-sitting for her while she's out of town. I'm taking homework and I hope to complete it while I'm there. I'm still trying to decide if I should take along the ingredients for making banana bread. Mary asked me to make some, and I bought the nearly over-ripe bananas, and if I don't take the stuff with the bread will never get made, unless Carl does it. That's not all that scary of a prospect: in some respects Carl is a better cook than me. But I don't think he'll want to do it. He probably has other plans for the weekend that involve manly things, like doing repair jobs at our church. I assume he'll also want to watch football. And belch and scratch and grunt and so on and so forth.

Like I said, manly things.

Classes Update

2006-08-28T15:06:00.000-06:00

The good news is, we get to use tools in Construction Practices Lab. The bad news is, I need to pass a proficiency test using a circular saw and a table saw, and these are tools that I am deathly afraid of. However, if it's for school, I know I can get Carl to tutor me in their use. He's already had to tutor me in Math. It's nice to have an engineer in the house who understands all these technical things. Plus, I have the added benefit of getting to sleep with my tutor.

How many of the other students can say that? ;-)

hee hee hee

Between Classes

2006-08-25T10:34:00.000-06:00

Yep! That's where I am. I had Microcomputer Applications this morning, and it's supposed to last until noon, but because it's the first meeting it was incredibly short. Basically the instructor went through the syllabus, told us what he expects, and told us what equipment we need, then he let us go. Right now I'm in Benton Hall, across from Student Services, where I went to hand in my "Learning Accomodations Form" which was signed by all my instructors. That means that if I need extra time to finish a test, or if the classroom environment is unsuitable for me to take tests, I can take tests in the Testing Room in Linn Hall, and I get unlimited time to finish said test. I get this accomodation because I have a method processing disability. That, and I think the counseling staff takes pity on me because I'm at least 25 years older than most of the people (read "kids") here.

Speaking of the younger generation, I've found them to be extremely polite here. Especially the guys - I've had more doors held open for me this week than I've had held for me all of last year. Maybe they think I'm feeble, or maybe it's because I remind them of their Mom, or maybe they were just raised right, but whatever the reason I always smile and say "Thank You!". Many of them are quite cute: makes me wish I was 25 years younger myself!

And on the topic of being "younger" - last week I started counting carb grams along with counting fat grams (something I've been doing for quite some time) and I've already lost about 5 pounds. Along with that, I've been going to the rec center here on campus (it's free!) and walking the treadmill after classes (when I remember my gym shoes) so I hope to lose at least 10 pounds by the time my birthday rolls around. Wish me luck! And don't worry - I consulted with "Blueprints for Health", an advising service provided by my insurance company before I started, so I know that I'm counting the correct number of grams.

As far as classes go (we started Tuesday) so far I've had 2 math classes, 2 plans and specs (APS) classes, a drafting class, the microcomputer class, and a building systems (BCS) class. I have another BCS class at 1 PM. The only class I haven't had yet is Monday's Contruction Practices Lab. I'm hoping that's more fun than Drafting. I wanted to learn good ol' fashion drafting, and thus use Daddy's tools from when he drew plans, but this is a sketch only class. We'll learn real, modern drafting next semester in AutoCAD class. But I hope we get to use tools in the Construction Lab. That would be great!!

Pass me that hammer, will ya? There's a screw a-stickin' out here!

Just kidding.

Going Home

2006-08-16T19:31:00.000-06:00

I just found out, via the Quad-Citiy Times online, that my hometown of Maysville is having a sesquecentennial celebration. (Gee, I hope I spelled that big word correctly!) For those of you who are interested, you can read the story for yourself:

This link better work

I want to go. I've always wondered about Maysville's history and this seems like a good time to go find out. I'm especially curious about the cemetary walk. I've been in that cemetary hundreds of times, wondering about the old tombstones. Maybe I'll finally find out if any of them are significant. Plus, they're having some sort of history tour, and I want to go on that, too.

And I'm curious to see if anyone recognizes me, or if I'll recognize them. I think Gary Fears, my junior high social studies teacher, still lives there. I can't imagine how he's changed in twenty years. It's been that long since I've seen him. And I wonder if my Mom will want to go with me. I'd like her to, so she can see all those people that she spent 30 years living near.

Plus, she can tell me who in the heck they are.