Week 16- 2013

Link playing with my band from giving blood.

Sunday- I finally felt prepared for taxes, but Jackie wasn't able to get them to work electronically.  So she filed for an extension, again.  Kind of a relief, but kind of not.

Bryce has been working overtime to prepare for upcoming work event.

Monday- The exciting this I did this day was record the Extension News on the radio.  I didn't even listen to it though.

Tuesday- I had suggested to my co-irker earlier this month that it might be a good idea for me to go to the Clayton County Health Fair as the Food and Fitness Initiative Rep, but she insisted that she go.  When I came in the office today she told me she wasn't going and I had to go in her place.  I had to take Link with me, which was ok.  Then Sadie joined us for pizza and ice cream at Joe's Pizza.

Thelma spent the day with Link at the shop.  Her dad owns the shop next door.

Wednesday- Farm to School in North Crawford

Thursday- Badger Camp in the morning.  A Regional CYC meeting at the dairy center in the afternoon.

Friday- Two Farm to Schools.  New farmer in Seneca.  Canceled ushering to go to my brother's for dinner.  Found out that my uncles are splitting up.  So sad.

Saturday- Agnes went on the Chicago trip.  I worked at Whimsy and then went to Prairie to be a guest speaker on a panel after the documentary "Food Fight."

Week 15- 2013

Sunday- The most eventful thing we did on Sunday was take Waukon's set back up to them.  My dad and mom drove their truck and Link and I sat in the back.  It was quick.  Then we went to Hardees.
Later that day I found that the bridge to Prairie was closed.   I was very concerned because of my heavy Wisconsin schedule.  Without the bridge I would have to drive all the way to Dubuque and then back up, so about 3 hours just to get to Prairie.  Fortunately it opened up later that day.

Monday- Back to the Farm to School grind.  This time we are doing honey.  Julie Trimpe presented on beekeeping with her 5 year old daughter Cora in tow.  Cora was a little needy at first but by the end of the day she had the presentation memorized and was taking over.  The kids sample was honey popcorn. 

Tuesday- What a great day.  It almost felt like the life I remembered in January, before I started working for the extension.  Back when I was less busy and happy.  I see it coming again in the future, but this was a taste.  I started my day early with a meeting at the extension.  Then I rushed off with Link to library.  He learned about worms and made a creative crawl to show everyone.  Then Link and I went to Old Man River to try out the new menu.  Pretty tasty.  After putting Link down for a nap I had a meeting at Fire Farm to discuss social media marketing.  Then I went to YOGA.  First day in three months.  Afterwards Link and I went to the movie store and got Wreck it Ralph. 

Wednesday- I started my day at the extension.  I didn't have that I was coming in so my co-irker (totally stealing that from you Debbie) made a point to yell at me.  If she had known I was coming in she would have slept in more.  Mind you I was on the schedule to fill in for her later that day and if she said she wanted to be gone the whole day I would have.  So note to self, if I work more unscheduled hours I'm going to get yelled at for inconveniencing others.  I worked until 5 then I had to drive to Prairie for a wellness meeting at Prairie Catholic School.  They had a couple of speakers there who wrote a nice hard cover, photographed cookbook to support there wellness committee.  Then I cut out early and went back to the extension for a board meeting and a speaker on a guy who set up a way to transport farmer's foods in a truck and cover the costs without burdening the farmers.

Thursday- Crazy day.  Joan was sick so we scrambled to find a place for Link to go.  Bryce was filling in for me at Whimsy all week because Sadie was taking her massage therapy boards.  We finally got Trish and Richard for part of the day.  For the first time in Anna and my Farm to School career the farmer who scheduled to be there wasn't there.  We had to scramble to get a slide show, but we had samples.  After we were done I went to Waukon (again) this time for a blood test.

Friday- I started my day with Farm to School again and then I got done early so I went to Whimsy to relieve Bryce.  I spent most of the time finishing up taxes.  I am pretty sure I am losing one of my vendors so it has been on my mind a lot.  That night Link and I went to Burger Barn, which recently opened for the season.  It is still so cold though, the place was populated with teenagers, all shivering in their cars.  Then Link and I went to Grandma and Grandpa Dallenbach's house.     

Saturday- Link spent all day at all day at Grandma and Grandpas while I did the store and worked on paperwork.  Lots of people came in and were very chatty.  One guy in particular whose daughter was shopping for prom dresses (and did end up buying one).  I know feel like I know all I need to know about riding lawn mowers, cowboy boots, and Dyersville.  I felt guilty not being at the St. Paul Fashion Mart or the Decorah Women's Weekend but I wanted to work at least one full day at the shop.

Week 14- 2013

Nice

Not Nice

Tuesday- After a day back in the office I drove to Ames for a training.  I had to spend a night in a hotel.  I imagined myself soaking in a tub, eating thai take out, watching house hunters.  When I got to my hotel (it was my own pick) there was no one there.  It was a mix of nice and ugly.  There was a nice big shower, but no tub, there went that idea.  The only take out available that late was Pizza Ranch.  I ordered chicken.  I didn't realize until the delivery person was gone that I got the wrong piece of chicken.  I also got sides with no silverware and my coke was open and 1/4 gone.  Well, at least I've got tv, I thought.  It was reruns of the shows I had seen in Ohio.  Oh well, it was a good night sleep.

There is even a bacon cupcake in there.

Wednesday- I had a 4-H online training for the majority of the day.  On the way home I did a little shopping and got a dozen cupcakes from Scratch Bakery to bring back home. 

Cheering on Aggi.

Winning

Thursday- I had a few meetings with people for the Extension.  Mostly talking about the summer garden program.  Then Link and I went to Agne's track meet at Starmont.  She won here heat.  We went to Grandma's after the meet to play and chat.

Health Fair

Friday- I started my day at Fire Farm getting to know a little bit more about the business that I will soon be marketing.  Then I finished out the work day at Whimsy Market.  At 5pm I headed over to Monona school to help with a Health and Wellness Fair.  Link went with me and was a little moody, but in the end he had some fun.  It was the first year for the fair, so not a huge attendance, but it went pretty well.  And I meet some key people.

Dotsy's

Saturday- Bryce and I went to Jackie's for our tax appointment and got our laundry list.  I worked at Whimsy again.  I get so energized when I am there, I love it.  Still have that apetite for delicios food so the family and I went to Elgin to try out a new restaurant everyone has been raving about called Dotsy's.  There was a half hour or more wait for a table, which for a town like Elgin and nothing to do, it was a while.  But the food was good.  It was very bbq, country-style.  Bryce and Agnes had a fabulous brisket.

Sunday-

Week 13- 2013

Monday- It was Extension week so Tammy and I put a slide show on the tv and put it in the window. In the evening I went to a presentation on food tourism in Wisconsin and of course now I add agritoirism to my life goals and I have an appetite for unique designing experiences like mad.

 Tuesday-Link and I got our hair trimmed. Then we got ice cream for being so good getting our hair cut.  We went to Prairie to a skatepark meeting then to Walmart and Link convinced me to leave him in the car with a new toy he got. I just had three things to get, but of course when I came back he was crying.

Wednesday- Wrapped up work and packed.  Link had daycare.  I love this photo because it shows how much he doesn't like to get messy.  I would be like the little girl in the front.

Thursday- Spent all day driving to Ohio. The highlight was a stop in Galesburg, IL. We ate at the Landmark Creperie (a favorite stop) and visited their cute shops like the Calico Cat.  We got in late to Columbus.  Enough to give hugs to Bryce's parents and go to bed.

Friday- I started by taking Agnes to Easton, Ohio. She got her prom dress. She also took me to Sophoria, which I had never been to before. It's a make up concept store. I loved it. We also went to Victoria Secret and almost shoplifted. We walked out of the store forgetting we had something with us, we were not caught, but we caught ourselves and went back in to pay. By the time we got back to Bryce's parents all his brothers and sisters and their families had arrived.  Betsy made her famous pizza that night and Mason helped. 

Saturday- Easter at Durbins. We had a great meal, egg hunt in the back yard, went to the park, had family photos.  The usual.  Teresa had been gone much of the day before to be with her mom at the hospital and Chris was working in Texas, but overall it was fun to see everyone.

Sunday- We stayed the day as the family slowly left to catch planes back home.  After such a cold snowy winter it was nice to see Spring.  

Monday- We spent all day driving home. This time the highlight was in Indianapolis, IN.   Bryce chose our dinning location to be Goose The Market and it was amazing.  It's a specialty meat and cheese deli that is very much like Italy (we even had gelato).  I had a tongue sandwich that blew my mind.  There was also a great looking children's museum nearby, that we didn't go to, but is on our radar for next time. I was very engrossed in "The Unschooling Handbook" while driving.  I am a big fan.  We already are doing it so we might as well continue.  I do see some rearranging of our house a little though so that Link has more access to educational materials.  Here is his name.  He is getting really good at signing it.