Saturday Morning Coffee Ponderings......

Good morning Y'all.  It is a morning of snow fall and unknown snow accumulation.  The forecasters have put us in a winter snow warning zone, but still are saying 1-6 inches.  That is a big difference particularly when you are shoveling your driveway. I am on  my second (YES SECOND) pot of coffee.  I think it is a sign of my week.





From the time that I took this video until looking out now, It has increased.  Snowing pretty big flakes.  But perspective.....we have been so spoiled that we don't know what to do with our selves when we have a bit of snow.  There will be a plethora of stupid drivers and winter complainers.






It has been a busy week.  Juggling full time employment, full time school, and life has been a challenge.  I hope that my abilities to multitask get a bit easier through the rest of the semester.


As you may recall, one of my "things" for these posts is to look through my phone and upload any pictures or videos that I took (cause they are really important - REALLY?) and talk about them.  I stopped at the "LARGEST TRUCK STOP IN THE WORLD" to use the facilities (too much tea) and in the stall was this sign.  WHO KNEW that Interstate 80 was the 2nd longest interstate.  And the longest Interstate is I-90 which is just right north of us.  HUH.......got to PEE and I learned something new.







The other picture is of the Ice Fog in Clinton when I awoke (not really awoke cuz I didn't sleep well - so emerge might be the better word) from my hotel.  First time this year I have had to scrape my windows.  SO SPOILED.  The fog was so thick that I had to completely trust my phone GPS to get to my location.  A little spooky driving in a location that you are unfamiliar.  But I survived.





Curtis, our friend Kristin and I were so fortunate to attend a Chad Elliott/Bonita Crowe show at The GrapeVine, LLC this past weekend.  Chad's mom Kathy was there and  it was amazing to see her.  She looks great and after that amazing show, we were all so proud.  We were reminiscing about 15 years ago when Chad started his career.  He has come so far and his talents have grown.  The energy from the crowd was the best I have ever seen.  He fed off that energy and had the crowd eating it up.  So very proud and happy for him as he is invited to Tennessee for a folk contest.  This is a great honor and he and Bonita will be there to "audition" his original music.  It will be a great thing.  Check Chad out at www.chadelliott.net.  I have an amazing video of Chad singing one of the classics, but alas the file is too large to upload.  I am trying to figure out how to put it on YouTube so you all can enjoy.

And in other live music updates, Curtis, Jack, Keetah I are headed to Western Iowa next weekend to see Mat D and the Profane Saints.  They will be debuting some new music and ROCKIN the Chesterfield in Sioux City.  CAN'T WAIT!  If you don't know them, check them out at www.matdandtheprofanesaints.com. I just discovered this morning, that he has songs from his new CD Holyoke posted on that website.  Guess what I will be doing this morning while I am typing.

These guys are two of the best story telling songwriters.  Am proud to know them and enjoy (and some might say obsess over) their music.



As I said, I traveled a bit this week for my job.  Two days out of the office and a 3 hour drive one way to get to my destination gave me a lot of windshield time.  Windshield time is a time where I am staring at the road and doing more internal pondering.  On this "journey" I had an experience that I am still processing and sorting through.  Bear with me readers because I am going down a road where people look at me with "SHE HAS LOST HER MIND" sparkles in their eyes but here we go.  My spirit animal is a hawk.  What does that mean?  Our nation's First People talk about an animal "energy" that we all have.  Mine is the hawk.  I have always had a wonder about these animals.  Iowa is full of them - thus the "Hawkeye State".  And many of us see them perched on an interstate sign or diving for dinner, however we just move right along.  Not me, I count them as I am driving, look for different markings while driving, and am all around obsessed.  Some people might say "Hawks really?".  There are other majestic birds - Eagles, Falcons, etc. Why not one of those more "important" birds?  I can't really answer that other than I have always had this connection.  I think of them as the "trailer park" bird - kind of like me - (A WHOLE OTHER BLOG POST).  THAT is likely why I like them so much.  Thanks to Keetah, she sent me a blog about what the Hawk symbolizes.  Any who........As I am driving home on Thursday afternoon, I am windshield pondering; struggling with some emotions regarding helplessness and what the future holds for a sista.  And I see one hawk, another hawk, another hawk, another hawk.....all within a short time frame.  Now anyone that knows me knows that I don't get emotional publicly usually.  One of my co-workers calls me a "stone" cause I "never let people see me sweat".  As I am driving and see HAWK after HAWK after HAWK, I can feel my resolve slipping.  ELEVEN hawks in about 90 miles.  Tears begin....overwhelming emotions. OMG!  This is a message that I am still sorting out.  Good thing I had to go to the bathroom (a cynical person - MEMEME! - would say "that's why you were emotional silly - you had to pee") The Divine Spirit of the Hawk blog that I talked about above basically says this:

In representation to humanity, the hawk is called messenger, protector and visionary. Keen vision is one of its greatest gifts. Hawks see things others miss.

The hawk comes to you indicating that you are now awakening to your soul purpose, your reason for being here. It can teach you how to fly high while keeping yourself connected to the ground.

As you rise to a higher level, your psychic energies are awakening and the hawk can help you to keep those senses in balance. Its message for you is to be open to hope and new ideas, to extend the vision of your life.

The Hawk is an animal of flight. It soars through the air looking down, and sees everything. It has a larger perspective of what is going on down below. With its keen eyesight, it looks down as it soars through the air looking for its prey. It can see the smallest of creatures below.

The Hawk is known as a messenger, similar to the planet Mercury, for the hawk soars close to the Grandfather Sun, as does the planet. When you listen to the power of the Grandfather Sun or Wise Spirit that lives within, you are protected from all types of harm.

The Hawk teaches you to be observant and take a close look at your surroundings. It soars with the power to overcome difficult situations. It soars in circles over the life of the earth, asking you to circle over your life and view it from a higher perspective.

The Hawk has a distinct cry, one that most people are aware of. Its cry signifies awareness. If you hear the cry of the hawk use your intuitive ability to discern the message and seek the truth.

If a hawk has soared into your life, you require a higher perspective. You need to see the details of what is going on and look at the bigger picture. Take a look at your situation from above.

I can't get it out of my brain. This energy I really feel is transferred into my intuitive abilities to "read" people.  I have talked about this with some of my besties, but I can feel when a person has "real" intentions or their energy is genuine.  When I meet someone that has ugly (sometimes evil) energy, I know it instantly.  I think this comes from my spirit animal's "keen vision".  I can see it on a different level than others.  So much so that my judgement is question constantly because others don't "see it that way".

What does all this mean?  WHO THE HELL KNOWS!  But......it has set my brain in overload processing it all.  It has helped to write (or type) it all out today.  Still working on it.  Which will lead me into my next blog subject that I hope to get done this weekend -- BEING GOOD ENOUGH!

WHEW!  Thanks for reading all that.  Yep, your brain is saying -- RHONDA HAS LOST HER EVER LOVIN' MIND.  It's okay.  I feel like that some times too.

Wind has picked up here, so blowing and drifting will being.  Headed to DSM on a mission to find something at Gordman's.  PLEASE STUPID DRIVERS STAY HOME!  Wait that's me.......TILL NEXT TIME folks....

"Sunday" Morning Coffee Pondering

Good morning.  Yes.  I am a day late.  What's the saying?  Day late and a dollar short?  That has been the theme for me this week.  A serious of unfortunate events (another children's book reference huh?) beginning on Monday morning and the hits just kept rolling.  I could blame it on a myriad of things, but I will choose that it is Karma payback for an amazing weekend with the girl friends in Omaha.  I had a good time so need to have a crappy week to balance it out?

I am going to title the Omaha weekend away the "Anti-climatic Pub Adventure".  I will explain later.

Friday, Bailey and I drove four hours to visit Wayne State College in Wayne, NE (WHERE?).  The ice and snow barreling down on the state was going to make the trip very interesting with my little red skate.  But alas, it moved to the north and east and we were able to head out west.  The trip was uneventful until we got to the Missouri river to cross in to Nebraska at Decatur, NE.  HA!  

You can't really tell it in this picture, but you see very crude, rudimentary, hand painted "toll bridge ahead" signs about a half a mile out.  Then there is a steep incline onto the bridge deck.  At this point, I thought Bailey was going to piss herself.  The deck is made of grooved steel.  My little car did not like the grooved steel and started to do this wiggle thing (NOT LMAFO WIGGLE but scary none the less).  She is breathing heavy and closing her eyes and (I think) praying.  I am laughing and holding TIGHT to the steering wheel (OR YOU WOULD SEE SOME PICTURES) and it is a very, very narrow bridge.  We meet a large duelly pickup coming toward us.  She panics worse.  I laugh louder.  (What is wrong with me?)  Any way we finally get to the other side and I have to pay a dollar toll.  I wanted to ask the toll taker if I have to pay money how come the bridge isn't a better bridge but I was laughing too hard (think tears streaming down face) and he looked at me like I have lost my mind.  This was a harbinger of a visit that wasn't going to go so well.  I won't go in to detail, but we spent three hours at the college, the last stop on the "tour" she turns around and says "WE HAVE TO GO" and proceeds to sob all the way to the parking lot in our car.  Sorry Wayne State -- she won't be transferring there.  LONG STORY!

Then we decided to head to Omaha.  The plan was that she was going to drop me off at the hotel (where Curtis was coming to teach a class to First Responders) and Joan and Keetah were coming Saturday morning.  We get to Omaha in pretty good time (despite almost running out of gas and no "open" gas station in sight).  Unfortunately, it is rush hour and my Bailey is not a good rush hour driver.  But, after many attempts and an aborted idea to leave from the hotel (she dropped me off at Westroads Mall) and headed home.  Another adventure for her but she was brave and prevailed.

Keetah and Joan arrived the next day.  Both traveling in from different points from the North and the South.  I felt like the Mason-Dixon line (just kidding).  Of course the first thing we do is head to "lunch".  The first course consisted of these beautiful girls

Long Island Iced Teas

I think that we scared our waiter.  He wouldn't come very close to the table and giggled when he approached.  Hmmmm?  

It was a great lunch (a long lunch) and we then ventured back to the hotel to get "Settled Inn" (HA!  Name of the hotel).  It was an adventure just to find the hotel.  It seemed to be in the middle of a strange land.  A very large parking lot of a mini mall.  It was just plunked down in the center.  A very beautiful drainage ditch was the view.  I bet in the Spring it is lovely.

I at this point looked up area "pubs" to figure out our evening activities.  Found one that was going to have some live music and we decided to do that.  But first we needed to head to the mall.  Walked around there for a while.  No one seemed to be in the mood for shopping.  I did find a new bed quilt and accent pillows for my bedroom.  CHEAP at Younkers.  Other than that......nada.  So we decided to continue with the theme from lunch and stop at TGI Fridays in the mall.  Now I LOVE a mall that has places to rest and drink.  Every mall should be required to have this type of establishment. 

So we "rested" here and refreshed our parched systems.

This picture looks like it is a very LARGE margarita.  But....it isn't.  Curtis just decided to take a very CLOSE UP picture of it.  And look who is sitting in the glass.  FUNNY!

I miss these ladies so very much!  We MUST schedule monthly get togethers.  It will be cheaper than medication or therapy.  We won't talk about the extra expense for wine and tequila.

After the mall, we headed to the "pub" to have some food and YEP you guessed it refreshments.  Now, I keep putting "pub" in quotes.  NOT A PUB!   GEEZ people!  Old Chicago is more of a PUB than this place!  It was a sports bar with a pub theme.  keetah and I decided to share the "Irish Nachos" -- They looked like a sad version of Taco Johns Super Potato Oles.  In fact, TJs are better.  DISAPPOINTED EXTREMELY!  So much so that we left before the band played and decided to head back to the hotel and create our own "pub".  Pit stop at HyVee for some extra stuff and away we went.

I received a gift of this bottle of booze for my birthday.  I hadn't tasted it before the night so we decided to mix it with some Sierra Mist as the bottle suggests.  Um.....nope......TOO SWEET.  So Keetah (SHE IS SO SMART) thought we should mix vodka, sierra mist and just a drip of this.  It worked for about two and then we decided that vodka and sierra mist was the way to go.  Still have 3/4 of a bottle.  I think I will save it for guests.







Our therapy and drinking session went through the night until about 1:30 am.  I so needed that energy boost from them.  THANK YOU SO MUCH!

We were up and at em for a scheduled brunch in the Old Market at this French Restaurant.

And SURPRISE Wade drove up from Kansas City to join us.

The meal was amazing.  Started with coffee -- really good coffee, not nasty hotel coffee that I had been drinking the last two days.  And then they called it a brunch, but it was ordering off the menu and I had the BEST hollandaise sauce on Eggs Benedict that I have ever had.  Sorry La Chiesa......it was really good.  It was amazing to spend a leisurely breakfast with great friends.   We then walked around the old market shopping and sightseeing for awhile.

For our next visit, I found our next "pub".  Okay not really Irish, but TEQUILA sounds great!  What a fun name.  Lesson learned that we need to hang out in the Old Market and go to a real PUB!

My favorite purchase of the weekend was THE QUEEN.  I know it is cheesy, but thought I would end my blog with her telling you all hello/goodbye.  Until next time.  Curtsy to her majesty.

(VIDEO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES -- CHECK BACK)

Another Saturday ....

Good morning.  Another Saturday.  Regular posting time.  But this time I am not sitting in my dining room watching nature out the patio door and drinking my own coffee.  Nope....at a best western in Omaha, drinking hotel coffee (YUCK!) in my jammies waiting for my besties to get here -- JOAN and KEETAH!  Miss them so very much.

It has been a busy, busy week.  But first off I woke up Tuesday morning and got ready for work.  Slid open the bedroom drapes to let the morning light in and this is what I saw.

At first glance I thought the house was on fire behind us.  My heart skipped a beat.  But then realized the sun was coming up very brightly and casting a pinkish red glow in the clouds.  It was very beautiful and then my hubby had to add some extra special effects to it.

Any who......

What an exciting weekend last weekend.  We spent Saturday with the Roberts children - Zach, Hanna, and David.  They have so grown up in the past few years.  Zach is now 15 and way way taller than me. Hanna is 12 and as tall as me and David is 8 (I think?) and so very clever and wise beyond his years.

The day began with me driving to Knoxville and watching Hanna play basketball.  I was late because apparently Knoxville is too big for me.  I got lost for about a half an hour went from the high school (thank you GPS mess up) to the middle schools (which apparently is different than a junior high WHAA???) to the junior high (which is actually the administration building).  Oh well.......a bit late is better than never there.

She is so very talented and has a pretty amazing team.  They have been playing together since they were all little so do very well.  I see the raw talent there that will be honed when they get to High School - WATCH OUT Perry opponents in 4 years!!

Here she is throwing in the ball after a turnover by the other team.








They came in second at the tournament after a tough fought championship game.  They lost by my calculations two points, but the scoreboard said five.  A great group of girls that all welcomed this strange foreigner (me) to their basketball world.

2nd place in the Knoxville tournament

After the tourney, she and I headed back to Ankeny where Curtis and Bailey had already picked up Zach and David.  Since they had a 4 hour head start - Zach and David were already giggled out when we got there.  We all descended on SMASH BURGER.  The two older kids haven't been there before and enjoyed it.  I think they really enjoyed Curtis' "smash" video app on his phone more.

Spent the night playing games and watching movies.  I beat them on all but one game of Dance Party 3.  Not bad for an old chunky lady!  After much fun, we settled in for a little sleep and up and going again the next day.

Sunday went to Jordan Creek -- they had ice cream at Cold Stone and we all met up at Macaroni Grill for an early Birthday supper with friends.  It was so good to see every body.  We miss them all....and hope to be able to spend more time.  They are all in the midst of many different sports schedules, but will try to fit some time in there before they all grow up and go away.

Quinn, Hanna and Curtis at Macaroni's

I had Monday off for Martin Luther King Day so spent it catching up on school work that I missed the previous week.  It was good to spend that time getting caught up.  I will have to work hard next week too since I won't get much work done this weekend.

Yesterday went to Wayne, NE for a college visit with Bailey.  She is graduating in May from DMACC and is looking to finish her 4 year degree in Psychology at Wayne State College.  She knew that the visit would be with mostly incoming Freshmen, so was a little worried how it would go.  It is a FOUR hour trip from Ankeny.  So we started early.  I was fearful that the snow was going to stop our visit, but it did not.  We drove out of it pretty quickly.  It is a nice campus that reminds me of BVU in Storm Lake.  They are very energetic, however not so much toward transfer students.  She left very disappointed and back to square one for decision making.  Sorry BOO!

Better go head in to the shower before every one gets here.  I am sure we will find some fun stuff to do but most of the time we are just trying to catch up on everything so spend the time "holed" up in the hotel room.

Til next week -- Everybody stay safe on the snowy roads.  Winter will be gone before we know it.  I will try to have a movie review some time this week.  Watch LOTS for my FILM class.  So will just use those I think.

What am I watching? What am I listening to? What am I reading?

It isn't Saturday (my usual posting time) however, I am up early -- THANK YOU Cecil! -- and I am waiting for my coffee to brew.  So time for a movie, book, and/or music review.

What I am listening to:
I have stumbled across something that I have been trying on Spotify and the internet but I think I am going to take the plunge and buy it (we bought a lot of crappy music before we could test run on the internet, didn't we?).

The Civil Wars.  Curtis was listening to them the other day and I have grown a bit fond.  I DO NOT normally like country music.  However, I consider these guys Alternative Country which I enjoy.  Check out their website here:  http://thecivilwars.com/  You can also listen to some of their tunes/videos.  Haunting lyrics combined with their amazing voice blend make for some great tracks.  I hope they do well.  Give them a quick listen - and I recommend an entire album - Barton Hallow.  Just an FYI - you can download from their website a FREE Live version.

From the one track at a time page - I have been listening to Good Feeling by Flo Rida.  Normally, he is not one of my favorite hip/hop performers.  But there is something about this song that I can't describe.  Maybe it is the message of the video?  http://youtu.be/3OnnDqH6Wj8.  Maybe I should stop trying to analyzing it and say "BEEFCAKE" but I liked the song before I heard the video.  That was just a bonus -- tee hee!

What I am reading:
The only thing I can put here is SCHOOL!  So nothing exciting - textbooks, etc and probably will be the next few years.  MEH!

What I am watching:
Over New Year's Weekend, I went to see Girl with the Dragon Tatoo.  Now I am a HUGE fan of the books:  Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Girl Who Played With Fire, and Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.  I am also a HUMONGOUS fan of the Swedish movies.  I have seen them all and would recommend that you see these (you can Netflix stream them) BEFORE you see the Americanized version. I don't normally purposefully watch a movie over and over again.  I have done that with these movies.

I went to this movie expecting to hate it.  That is rare for me.  Because if I think I am going to HATE it, then I don't go.  (Think "My Sister's Keeper" - still very angry about that one and still haven't seen it)  But my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to go.  Also, as you read this realize that I am taking a film class this year and so far (it is early) it has taught me to analyze different parts of a movie even more than I did before.  So bear with me.....

The opening sequence gets it going right away.  It is pretty amazing.  You can find it here.  http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/at-the-movies/a359715/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-opening-titles-watch-in-full.html  So from this point, it starts with a slap to the face and keeps going for 2 1/2 hours.  Yep....I said 2 1/2 hours.  Now I am normally a 1 1/2 hour movie watching girl - I blame my tiny walnut sized bladder.  I even plan out my liquid intake if I know that I am going to a movie.  But this one kept me glued to my seat.  I didn't even notice that it was that long or my full bladder until the end of the movie.


Music - Trent Reznor (from Nine Inch Nails fame) will be nominated for an Oscar again for his work on this movie.  The music is really, really good.  I haven't downloaded a movie soundtrack since "Hairspray".  I think I will this one.  He is a musical genius.  He and David Fincher make a pretty good team.


Actors - I am separating out actors and characters from this movie because it is important to make my point about America versus Sweden in these movies.  Daniel Craig -- while he is a fine chunk of acting specimen (did I say FINE?   YUMMO), he was too pretty for the character of Mikael.  He is supposed to be this hardened, older journalist.  While Daniel Craig is older than Rooney Mara, it didn't work.  Except for the shirtless scenes......STOP IT RHONDA!  Rooney Mara -- very beautiful actress - did a good job portraying Lisbeth Salander BUT.....I wasn't convinced.  I will get to more of that under "character" later.  Christopher Plummer - perfect!  Robin Wright - not perfect but convincing. GoranVisnjic - love him as an actor - I will talk about his character in a minute.  Joely Richardson - convincing.  MY FAVORITE in this movie was Stellan Skarsgard.  He acted his part so very convincingly -  KUDOS to Mr. Skarsgard.


Director - BEFORE I talk about the characters, let's discuss the Director - David Fincher.  An amazing film director (Social Network, Seven - one of my favs, Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons, Fight Club).  A long list of films and an Oscar for Social Network on his resume.  His interpretation of this movie is interesting to me.  We get that Sweden is a cloudy, snowy, dark place.  He just pushes that a little farther.  It isn't Batman dark, but it is pretty gloomy.  I think it helps to convey the anxiety that many of the characters feel about their lives.  I predict that he will also be nominate for this movie.

Characters - Daniel Craig as Mikael -- this character was again TOO pretty for me.  The books describe Mikael as a worn out, tired looking, journalist that was just kicked due to a court ruling.  He is depressed and beat down due to "big business" getting the best of him.  BUT.....I think his character works if you are a casual movie go-er that has not read the books.

Goran Visnjic as security host Armansky.  This character is so crucial in the next two books.....I DID NOT LIKE the way he was portrayed.  Armansky is one of Lisbeth's champions.  He portrayed him as another person that is accusatory and not supportive of her.  PISH POSH!  YUCK!

Rooney Mara -- Okay -- trying to give her the benefit of the doubt.  She has big shoes to fill.  Noomi Rapace in my eyes will ALWAYS be Lisbeth  (she played her in the Swedish movies).  While Rooney was brooding and appropriately "creepy" (again if you are not a diehard fan of the books/movies, you will think she did a great job) I think it fell short.  Half way thru the movie I had an "AH HA" moment.  Why didn't I like Rooney?  What was it?  There are very sexual (abuse and otherwise) themes in this movie.  Lisbeth was not attractive/sexy enough in the American version.  It sounds weird, but I am convinced that is it (in my little brain).  Noomi was flippin' HOT in the Swedish version.  Even through it all -- See movie two and three -- she was able to convey sex and that wasn't happening in this version.

MY FAVORITE CHARACTER BY FAR - and this is weird for me to say cause **SPOILER ALERT** he is the creepiest.  Is Martin played by Skarsgard.  WOW!  His monologue in the ending scenes is the best bit of acting that I have seen in a while.  There is an amazing story of his life that is splayed across that screen when he is torturing and preparing to kill one of the main characters.  KUDOS Mr. Skarsgard and you should be nominated as well.

So in the end, I didn't like the movie as much as the Swedish version, however, American audiences that have NEVER read the books or seen the Swedish movies will LOVE this movie.  It has action, sex, tattoos, etc.  Speaking of tattoos -- even THAT was better in the Swedish movie.  :)

Hello Winter Saturday!

BRRRRrrrrr!!!

Looking out the front door

This week old man Winter said - HERE'S JOHNNY (think the scene from the shining with Jack).  We were fortunate enough NOT to get as much snow as some parts of the state, but the wind was ridiculous.  It was howling so loud at one point, the dogs were barking at it -- intruder alert!  Speaking of dogs, they DO NOT want to go outside in it at all.  I tried to explain that they do not have an alternative but I don't think they were understanding.  I KNOW!  Looking at this picture, those of you that got MUCH, MUCH more are calling me names, BUT we haven't had ANYTHING more than about an inch and it melted the same day.  Our temps have been back to "normal" winter again (lows in the single digits) and I need to complain.  So GIVE me that would ya?  TEE HEE!

I just re-read my last post.  I think that I was in a FUNK last week.  Most of the time I am either off like that at work or at home but hardly ever BOTH!  Glad it is better this week.  Work has been busy so it takes my mind off whatever that "funky" road was that I was traveling.

Speaking of traveling, the weather interfered with a work trip (and fun trip combined) and it was cancelled so I didn't get to see my girl Dawn.  SAD ME!  I was so looking forward to hanging out with her and seeing the trailer-hood and drinking a bit of fermented grape juice.  But alas, it will be postponed for a few weeks.  Will just have to doubly do it up!

This last week was my birthday week.  Pretty uneventful.  I never want a big TO-DO because it feels like any other day.  And with starting classes this week, I needed to figure out a routine.  I arrived at my office cube on Tuesday and PARTY IN A BOX!  Co-workers decorated it with banners and hanging bells (left overs I think) and all kinds of wonderfulness.  They have been so very welcoming and I appreciate them all.  I unfortunately didn't take any pictures of it.....dang it!  But I am going to try to get better at things like that.  Then I realized that they do that for everyone's birthday.  Still felt special any way.  Those same co-workers invited me out to dinner for sushi (Ummm....no thanks -- I just ate California rolls - as "sushi" as I am going to get - raw fish in Iowa feels very grizzly bearish) and the place was really good.  We will be going back there.  I want to try a saki bomb!

Posting is short this week.  Prepping the house for the Robert's children.  We are having them over night tonight.  It has been a very long time since we have spent any significant time with them so am looking forward to getting reacquainted.  Games, movies, food and giggles.  I can't wait!

Talk to you next week -- and MID WEEK I promise there will be a movie review post!  I saw Girl With the Dragon Tattoo over the New Year Holiday and I want to talk about it.

Stay snuggled in or enjoy the Winter....but whatever you do......DO IT WITH STYLE and DO IT LOUD!

It's Saturday Again......bring on the JAVA

My life is extremely NOT scheduled (the way I like it) and when there are things thrown in there that schedule it too much, I feel like I am off center.

The new year has begun and the month has started like any other.  We just keep ticking those calendar pages off.  I feel as if things are speeding by at such a rapid pace.  It reminds me of the Indiana Jones movie "Temple of Doom" where they are riding the coal cars that start out slow and they get faster and faster until they leave the tracks. and no one is steering and there is terror everywhere.  THAT is what it feels like this month.  

Could this be because my birthday (not a big one - but another birthday non the less) is 3 days away?

Could it be because my children are all in their 20s and I remember my 20s like it was yesterday?

Could it be because I am over half way through my life?  YIKES!

Could this be that I don't have enough coffee in my yet?

Any way, I am trying to figure out what will slow that coal car down?  It feels like a weird transition.  Weird meaning, I am not taking care of children (running to and fro for appointments or school events), my job isn't stressful, and life is pretty calm (said the eye of the hurricane - just kidding).  So most people would just be enjoying the calm.  I can't figure out how to ride the waves and let it rest.  I am hoping it is just my brain this week and centered-ness will come in a short second.  I need to touch base with some meditation and calming activities.  Maybe visit a little HUGH and nature.  Keep coming calm weather.

Iowa was the center of the political universe this week with their "first in the nation" status for the caucus activities.  The media descends on DSM and all eyes are on those folks who venture out to gyms, school lunch rooms, and conference centers to cast their vote for their candidate.  On my way to work I have to walk about a block from the parking lot to my building door (THANK THE LORD IT HAS BEEN A MILD WINTER).  One morning, I see this CNN Express bus.  So I had to stop and take a picture.  In my fantasy, Anderson Cooper is in that bus and just waiting to spend some time with me – drinking, dancing, and talking about politics.  Okay, just a fantasy – let me have it folks.  But within a few days, there were NBC trucks, CBS trucks, and very large unidentified satellite trucks that were parked everywhere around the capitol and down town in DSM.  It was just weird to see Chuck Todd from NBC reporting outside Java Joes downtown.  And then they all just vanished!  Like some weird horror movie.  I think the folks from Zombie Burger took them and we will be eating their brains in future creative recipes.  (Another weird thought I had sorry). 

But there were so many media people leaving the DSM International airport on Wednesday morning they had to bring bomb sniffing dogs in for security.  Cause you know, the media personnel want to blow up planes left and right.......gotta get that story!  

ANY WHO......

I choose not to caucus this year as a protest.  But really my heart is not in it.  I am a card carrying member of the liberal party (which doesn’t always equate to being a Democrat in this day and age) and don’t usually feel any shame about that in spite of recent years where somehow being liberal and progressive equates you with Satan.  I am not sure how that happened over the last few years.  In the dictionary liberal means “Open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values”.  Progressive means “Happening or developing gradually or in stages; proceeding step by step”.  What is wrong with wanting new ideas?  It doesn’t say we MUST discard all traditional values….it says WILLING TO.  Progress!  What is wrong with progress?  If would stay reliving and/or stuck in the past, there would be no electricity, no blogs….OMG NO FACEBOOK!  

I just want the powers that be to decide that we all can agree to disagree on certain issues and then get some flippin’ work done.  Or how about my idea - a matriarchal system…Only allow women to go to DC and Des Moines – THEN some work would get done.  (I can’t imagine THIS statement is not going to garner some interesting comments since it is so difficult for women to support one another – BUT ALAS THAT WILL BE ANOTHER BLOG POST)

As is my routine for writing each week, I start - see where the thoughts will take me and in the meantime scroll through pictures on my phone for the week (YEAH!  There are a lot on there -- so many that I can't back up my phone data cause there are too many and I have been asked by my technical adviser to "go through and delete some of them").  I came across this one that I took last week......

ROO

For those of you that are reading this and don't know this beautiful princess.  Her name is Marissa Kay Dodson.  She is affectionately known as ROO.  This little girl has the best attitude.  She tells it like it is, makes no apologies for her attitude or her thoughts; yet still remains the most caring and loving child.  SHE is my centered-ness.  I forgot I took this picture.  I see this as a message that I just need to kidnap this kid on a Friday night and spend the entire weekend with her.  She brings me such joy and makes me laugh.  You never know what she is going to say or the wisdom she will share with whomever will listen.  LOVE YA ROO!

Okay that's it.  I will have another post this week because I saw an amazing movie New Year's Weekend and rented another fun movie.....so those reviews will be coming out soon!

Have a great week and enjoy your Saturday morning HOT BEVERAGE!

The Last Day of 2011.....and many other Coffee Ponderings

Happy New Year!  Another beautiful morning looking out my patio door to the East.  The weather will turn a bit blustery later on in the day and overnight.  Another difference between NW and Central Iowa is what is perceived as WIND.  We are under a wind advisory for "gusts of 35 MPH".  In NW Iowa that was a typical day.  Which brings up my theme today -- PERSPECTIVE.

When 2011 started this past year, there was a bit of a fracture. A conflict if you will of my personal and my professional life.

In the Fall of 2010, I had a personal experience that I can't even describe, but it gave me complete perspective on many parts of my life, especially personal and professional.  I was so very fortunate to be a part of something that was ground breaking and will forever affect me the rest of my life.  It was a combination of spiritual and physical healing.

Upon returning to NW Iowa, I realized that 90% of the puzzle pieces were put together.  The other 10% were scattered and fractured and I needed to take charge in either fixing it or changing it.  The process began.  My eyes were open to possible employment opportunities.  And as God would have it (and I really believe this entire process was driven by a higher power), there was a job opening still working with victims of crime, but it required a significant move.  If this were going to work, Curtis and I both needed to be on board.  Probably the most surprising part of this was his willingness to look at something new.  Particularly, since it would be a decrease in pay for me.  (In the middle of a two year debt reduction process, I was going to take a pay cut?)  I THANK him for that.  He could have decided that he didn't want to do this and we would have had A LOT of discussion about that, but he was on board right away. (THANK YOU!)

But just because there was an opening didn't mean that I was going to get it.  So the hat was thrown in the ring and the "winds of change" began.  I got the job, notice at CAASA was given (I had been there a total of 13 years), a rental was secured (again a faith moment - friends needed a renter, we needed a space), and my job began.  This was the end of April.  But this was just the beginning.  Curtis needed to find employment, we needed to sell our house, our kids were trying to figure out what this meant for them, and I quickly realized the process was just beginning.

Now throw in, moving away from my BEST FRIEND IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.  Not just my best friend, but a sister to me.  She was part of that incredible experience in Fall of 2010 and I THANK her for sharing that with me.  We are bonded forever because of it.  We are so alike (yet different - like most sisters) that our families don't like to play Apples-to-Apples with us because we always win - we know what each other is thinking.  When I lived in Spencer we would see each other every day.  Her family is so incredibly important to me and I think THAT has been the hardest transition.  (I got a recent fix over Christmas and it just made me realize how much I am missing out with all of them and hope to have a plan to increase my "time" spent with them - thinkin' weekly SKYPE appointments!).  FAMILY (biological or not) is so very important.

In the middle of this transition, we had two different "vacations" planned.  My hubby teaches classes to First Responders across the country.  He teaches them how to deal with the media in crisis situations.  Now this usually takes him to very rural parts of the country in Texas, Tennessee, and various other parts that I have really no interest in seeing (remember I grew up in SW Iowa -- Hillbilly Central was part of my life for 18 years - I don't need to see that any more).  But every once in a while he will get a venue that I want to attend as well.  There were two of those this year.

Diamondback rattlesnake hiding from us when hiking

Chase Field Scoreboard

The first one was Tucson, Arizona.  I fell in love with Arizona when we ventured to Phoenix a few years ago for Curtis' 'real' job and traveled to Sedona and Jerome (my favorite town in Arizona - if you have NetFlix, I encourage you to watch BLOOD AND WINE.  Is the story of the former lead singer of TOOL starting a winery in the mountain town of Jerome and tells its amazing history.  THAT COULD BE FOR ANOTHER BLOG POST).  But Phoenix and Tucson are like NIGHT and DAY.  I fell in love with Tucson.  You don't realize how fortunate we are in the Midwest during the economic crisis until you travel to places that were hit VERY hard - like Tucson.  PERSPECTIVE MOMENT!  We stayed downtown and many building are sitting empty, real estate has tanked, and many people have NO work.  In spite of that, the town itself is beautiful and there seems to be a resilience.  I made the comment right away that I will retire there.  (SEE FINANCIAL GOALS that I talked about earlier)  The best part of the trip was attending a Diamondback vs Cardinals baseball game at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix.  It sparked my interest in baseball again.  And little did we know, they would make the playoffs and win the World Series.  And my Cards won that game against the Diamondbacks pretty EASILY!

Our second trip of the year in the middle of this transition was HAWAII.  A once in a lifetime trip to an amazing place.  He taught two classes there so we got to stay extra time on the big island.  We stayed in a hotel on Waikiki beach.  I don't have the words in me to describe this experience and awesome X 12 doesn't really do it.  And because I am a closet socialist, I think that every person that gets married should be able to apply to a government program that allows them to experience this place at least once in their lifetime.  One of my favorite experiences was getting in the rental car and driving to the North Shore.  Watching the waves, experiencing the scenery, eating the fresh seafood -- it all was surreal at times.  That is why we MUST go back!  But I think my FAVORITE was going to see Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial.  I am not a huge history buff, but it was very moving and amazing.  My proposed government program will have this as one of the "requirements".  :)

USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor

So back to the "move".  We interjected those two trips in the middle of this transition.  While most people would have thought that created more stress, it actually helped to reduce it quite a bit.  The next process was to SELL THE SPENCER HOUSE.  We had garage sales EVERY weekend in the month of May and part of June.  We sold ALL of our furniture and most of our housewares.  Down sizing is something we all need to do every five years or so.  It was very cleansing.  Getting the house ready for sale was probably the most stressful and hardest.  My words of advice for this part - DON'T DELAY DOING HOME IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS FOR THE FUTURE.  We have done that the last 10 years.  And quickly realized that because of that we had to spend lots of money to sell this house.  Carpet, flooring, paint, new bathroom -- it all added up.  But the MOST POSITIVE UP SIDE -- our house sold 4 days after we listed it.  Again, another faith moment for us.

In the middle of that, Curtis got two job offers.  Both of them were for things that he really wanted to do.  So again, faith/fate.  At this time, I have lived in Ankeny since the end of April by myself and going back to Spencer every weekend to prepare a house for sale, garage sales, and bringing load after load of personal items when I came back.  Curtis made the move the first of July.  He started his new job right after July 4 and STILL LOVES IT. :)  Another PERSPECTIVE moment because I was living by myself and now he and the two dogs were upsetting my routine.  WHAT?  But I quickly realized that I missed them all and we settled in....kind of.

We quickly became aware that a two bedroom town house was not going to work for us.  We didn't have enough "personal space" for each other.  So we started house hunting.  Now keep in mind that I have only purchased one house in my entire life.  And I don't remember that it was a process that took a long time.  Of course, that was in Spencer and the choices were not as numerous as they were in the Des Moines Metro area.  We had a very, very (did I say VERY) patient Realtor.  Erika was so amazing and so helpful.  We gave her a total of about 20 houses to look at and not a single one of them gave me the "WOW" factor in my gut that I was looking for.  Then, she said.....how about we look at this one?  The second I walked in the door, I knew that we were home.  A FAITH MOMENT?  I think so once again.  The last of the things that we needed to get done to make this transition complete.

Now.....2011 wasn't just about our move and trials and tribulations.

I will be a mother-in-law after September 2.  Kara and Chris set a date.  I am so excited for them.  They have worked really hard to make a life for themselves and am beyond proud of my son who has become an amazing man!   And I look forward to getting to know my new daughter even better.




Bailey moved to Ankeny, started at DMACC, works for the local UPS Store (has developed GUNS - her words not mine) and is looking to transfer when she graduates from DMACC.  That process will be resolved soon hopefully.

Jordan is still in Spencer, working at a job he loves and involved in the Occupy Movement.  I am proud that he is energized about a cause and hope that he doesn't get jaded by the process.

I think that 2012 will be an adventurous year as well.  There are still many "new" things on the horizon for us this year.  We have started the process of becoming re-aquainted with old friends from central Iowa.  I start school in 10 days.  Curtis' dance business is expanding (a bit slower than he wants) and he is booking across most of the state now since he has 2 and now 2 more partners to work with.  One of my friends is getting married in June and I hope to go across country and celebrate with her.  So stay tuned, humor me by reading this blog, and enjoy the many blessings that we all have!

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE DEANS!