2012- Week 44 & 45

1. On Tuesday Bryce and I went to the Morrissey Concert at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake.  The tickets were an anniversary gift.  When we got there it looked like there was construction going on so we checked the website and the concert was canceled.  So we walked the cold dark beach and headed home.

2. Halloween was a great day.  Link had so much fun being "The Flash" and excitedly telling everyone until he got tired and started telling people he was a skeleton.  We stayed in Elkader, though we had been invited to Independence and Decorah, because Link had tap and gymnastics that day as well.

3. There was a zombie run in Elkader on the 3rd, but we skipped it because Agnes was interested in seeing Obama in Dubuque.  It was quite a wait, but pretty fun.  She was also excited to see Kate Walsh from The Practice, but less enthused about John Mellencamp.

4. While we were in Dubuque we also did a little sightseeing.  We parked at the top of the hill for better parking and then rode the cable car down.  We stopped in a few of the shops I had never been to and a few of my standard favorites, the book store and Crust.

5. I was so saddened to hear that one of the people I admired the most died from liver failure.  He was a 50-something dad of a kindergartner, who changed his life totally around when he had the little girl and the mom went to prison and later died.  You could see the effects of 30-some years of drinking and drugs on his body, but boy was his heart and mind in a good place for the last 5 years.  He was so excited about purchasing his first house this summer and so helpful in all the programs I did in 4-H.  He will be dearly missed.

6. Over the weekend we went to Door County to see some of Bryce's family for a family vacation.  Door County was mostly closed, but we did spend time playing games with Joy and Corey and Grandma and Grandpa.  I definitely would like to go back in the summer.

7. Election night was on Tuesday.  We stayed up way to late watching results.  I was pretty confident Obama would win and was happy to see him pull through.  I was way nervous about some of our local races, especially when I went to bed Roger Thomas was behind, but when I woke up he had pulled through.  (Obama shirt designed by our friend Maddy)

8.  On Wednesday I was dropped off at the Kalahari in Wisconsin (wow, that place is grandiose) and went to a health and wellness conference for Farm 2 School.  It was a one day conference and had many great speakers including Olympian, Casey FitzRandolph, and Dr. James Painter who is a great speaker and scientist who also directed a movie called "Portion Size Me."

9. The van broke.  The belt to the air conditioner and alternator snapped.  So we are down to a two door car for hopefully only a few days.

10.  On Thursday I went to the Women's Clinic in Waterloo.  I love this clinic, but rarely go due to distance.  The last time was 5 years ago.  All my tests came back very healthy.  I love it when they say that word, because I am always nervous something is wrong.