Monday, February 27, 2012

2012- Week 8

1. I'm reading my first Michael Pollan book, In Defense of Food.  It is a such a radical view from what I grew up on.  One of his suggestions be makes is to determine if you are eating real food or imitation you are to eat food the way your Great Grandmother would have eaten.  All I can remember is her eating circus peanuts and I don't think that is what he means (probably what she ate as before she was 90).  I am making my own rule up of not buying anything that I couldn't make at home.  Ex. If I had the time I could make Skippy natural peanut butter which contains roasted peanuts, sugar, palm oil and salt, but I could not easily make JIF peanut butter which has roasted peantus, sugar, fully hydrogenated rapeseed and soybean oil, mono and digylcerides, and salt.  "Excuse me sir, what aisle can I find digylcerides in?"

2. We bought a van.  It was a little earlier this month, but a bit complicated.  My brother sold our Navigator and then used the money to buy a KIA.  So we just go the KIA this week.  The benefit of having two cars (thus far) has been the fact that Bryce can put Link to sleep while I am at work by driving him around.  Except the shocks aren't great so we are taking it to Hawkeye Tech College for the mechanic kids to work on. 

3.  Bryce turned 33.  I had an entire date planned out in Dubuque but we couldn't get our schedules to coordinate so we went out for coffee in the morning and I gave him a nice pair of new headphones which he likes a lot.

4. Fish Fry at St. Mary's church.  My favorite fish fry.  On the years I miss it I want to cry.  This time I even got mint chocolate cake for dessert. 

5. Went to see Joyful Noise at the movie theater.  It had good songs but wasn't that great of a script.   Bryce and I are big Dolly Parton fans and her role was smaller than I wanted it to be.  As a fan of Sister Act 2 in the 90s, this show was incredibly similar, even the same set.

6.  Central High School is mending clothes again for free.  It is part of their sewing class.  I always have a bin dedicated to this so I can't wait to bring it over.

7. Dinner at Victories with the Peace Church board.  We had great conversation with the Buckmans and Halversons and had really god food, including a coffee creme brulee.

8.  We got accepted for the housing revitalization grant in Elkader.  It was income based + need base.  We are number 3 out of 6 homes that are being done.  Super excited to see what they will do.

9.  Link washed his own hair, put on shoes, underwear, wanted to sleep in his own bed, brought a chair over to a cupboard to get a cup.  A little independent this week.

10.  Spent time with my family shopping in Waterloo.  Got two new pairs of pants.  When we came home the Oscars were on so we got to watch them.  I was pretty happy with the results.  I wish there had been a different best actress and I was disappointed that Bridesmaids was not an option for best picture, yet War Horse and Incredibly Loud were.

Monday, February 20, 2012

2012- Week 7

1. I got my blood test result back on RH.  I am negative.  Which means I don't have rhesus disease (like the other doc told me I did) and I can have more children without having to worry about death from RH. 

2.  I found a new website that I love so much I almost hate it.  Jealous Currator.

3.  More Linkisms- shmarshmallows = marshmallows, hide and sleep = going up to bed, putting the covers over your head and falling asleep,  i have supplies for you = i have a surprise for you + handing me something I just called art supplies, number 8 burp = a funny line her heard on an episode of the "simsims" that he likes to say often, slippely = slippery

4. Valentine's Day Bryce worked at Schera's.  After play practice I met up with him and we had left overs from their fancy pants dinner.  OMG goodness.  Duck with port infused cherries, carrot and ginger soup that knocked my socks off, red skin mashed potatoes, overcooked green beans (which means exactly the way I like them), and all three desserts.

5. My family went to Waverly to have dinner with my uncle Lee and his family.  This was the first time that my parents and Dustin's family has visited with them in about two years.  Bryce commented on how awesome is was that he had known my family since when they first made comments about wether or not Lee was gay and talking about how terrible it was to spending a whole afternoon with Lee and his husband and not mentioning it or let it bother them.  On the way home my parents gave me a mini tour of Oelwein from their era so I could see where some things were that were mentioned in Methland that I wasn't sure about.

6. Lost in the Light- Bahamas.  I've been singing this song all week and I love it

7. Carnival at Central High School.  Which means pops concert plus games and a meal.  Link had fun playing bowling, a version of musical chairs, and duck pond.  He got a little scared when his balloon sword popped but otherwise had a lot of fun.  It was fun watching my play students do skits and sing and play jazz band. 
8. Google Search Images.  I just found out that you can drag an image into the search area and it will find the exact photo on different websites or ones that are similar in color pattern.  This led to about 3 hours of me pinning images that I had saved on my computer for the past few years on pinterest.  Sorry for filling up the boards of the people who follow me.

9. Call from a bestie, Jasmine.  Thinking of possibly visiting her in Michigan when we go to Ohio for Easter.

10. Fun at work.  Amy and I spent most of Friday on the floor figuring out how to program robots.  I told her if a youth walked in at that time they would think we had the best job in the world.

Monday, February 13, 2012

2012- Week 6

1.  Leslie Schiller (and her family) is amazing.  We went to her house for dinner.  We helped each other with our individual problems.  We shared stories.  Link played with the kids immediately and didn't even complain that his parents were not with him.  God, I miss seeing her on a regular basis.


2.  Bryce borrowed a book on bread making from Leslie and has been a busy little baker ever since. 

3.  Family Fun Website.  I have been using it a lot for after school program snacks and I just want to give it a shout out because I love it so much.

4. Creative Connections Board had it's first meeting.  One of the first ideas I am really proud of creating during my AmeriCorps position.  The board seemed to be the right people.  They are all willing and interested in continuing the program.   

5. Methland.  I checked this book out from the library and I LOVE it.  I relate a little better than a most readers as I was teaching in the high school in Oelwein during the years that the author was doing investigating and the first person mentioned in the book, Nathan Lein, rode my bus when I was growing up.  But this is such a great read for everyone to see the behind the scenes of Meth in the US.


6. Bridesmaids Dresses and another Bridal Fair weekend (again).  Amber bought her dress and it looks like we might be going with a dress I like for the bridesmaids dresses. 

7.  Bryce got the part he wanted in the Opera House Production.  I was teasing him that he would probably end up making out with another actor who we thought would get play opposite him and he will be. 

8.  We did spin art at Creative Connections and there was a Spaghetti Dinner afterwards that the Lions were putting on at the school.


9.  Link was an absolute ham this weekend, picking up everything and saying everything.  I got my first picture of him with both dimples showing, even though he looks a little funny.  Just shows the personality he was having all week.

10.  Valentines all got sent, although I forgot to take photographs of most of them. 

Monday, February 6, 2012

2012- Week 5

1.  I was able to experience a learning moment with Link.  He decided it was time to push the pedals on his tricycle and now he can go off on his own.

2. Michelle (my partner at Whimsy Market) dropped a bomb on me saying that she will not be renewing her lease with Whimsy Market after our 1st year anniversary in August.  So I am faced with a huge issue of whether I take this store on myself, close it, or find other partners.  It is mind-bogglingly hard to decide, especially with it working so perfectly right now.  My heart is broken and this is taking most of my attention this week.

3. Had lunch with Amy, my boss at AmeriCorps.  Chicken PoBoys and Nine Irons at Simply and I am in heaven.  I was thinking she might have bad news for me too, but it was a joyus lunch.  I excitedly returned to work dreaming up summer camps for this year.

4. I talked with the 5th grade class about being munchkins in The Wizard of Oz and I have a great cast of them going. I held auditions today and their nervous little wavering voices were perfect for the song.


5.  Bryce auditioned for the play at Opera House.  He seems pleased with how it went.  I don't want to say anything else because I know the director may read this blog post.  Or maybe I should.  With talent like his he will have the audience weeping, laughing, and giving a standing ovation in the middle of the performance.  (JK)

6. Link discovered the other difference between moms and dads that doesn't deal with nursing.  We also made valentines and made hand puppets by drawing eyes on the side of our hand.

7. Pay day.

8. A couple got married in the hallway outside where I work (in the county office). 

9. Superbowl party at Paul and Paula.  Really good to catch up with a few friends. 


10.  Making Valentines with Naomi.  This time we are making them in our seperate locations, but still fun to do.  She is so creative it was a delight opening up her box of Valentines.  And she let me pay her share with the left over istock credits I have that are about to expire.