Not so fun Sunday - feeling OLD today

As I sit here, working on learning the ins and outs of my computer.  I am learning a ton.  In spite of that I feel OLD today.

It could be because of the whole "losing an hour of sleep" thing.  Even when I get to "gain an hour" I always feel like I am catching up for two or three weeks after.  I know that we will enjoy the extended evening sunshine and that eventually it won't be dark in the morning; but it always wrecks my schedule and I have to adjust.

Or it could be because I have to have an "old people" test tomorrow.  That's what I call it even though I know many people my age and younger have had it done, it just feels like an "old people" test.  "What the heck are you having done Rhonda?" you might be saying.

Well, I am gearing up to start my prep for my colonoscopy tomorrow.  Yep, that's right.  It is true.  Gotta have that screening procedure that at some point we all must do.  I am really not old enough to have the regular screening but having some issues, so doc thought it was a great idea.  It isn't my first rodeo with the prep and the process, but none the less I still dread the day before and then the evening prep.  There has to be a better way with our modern technology for this to proceed.  I have been googling "making the prep easier" and there are really no better suggestions other than bear down (no pun intended) and get it done.

So many people don't want to have to deal with the prep so they don't get the procedure done when they are supposed to.  I don't understand that.  I hear the same thing about the mammogram screening.  It can be unpleasant but on a continuum versus breast cancer - I will take a FLAT BOOB any day.

The colonoscopy screening tool is the best way to detect colorectal cancer.  And once it is over it really isn't that bad.  As I tell many people, the drugs they give you during the procedure are my favorite.  I go to sleep, wake up a bit later and it is all over.  I have a BRILLIANT idea -- maybe they should have those drugs available for the prep?  No...wait....not a good idea......visions of unpleasant messes in my head now.  Sorry for that visual everyone.

But leaving for Downtown Des Moines tomorrow at the John Stoddard Cancer Center.  Wish me luck everyone and keep fingers crossed that all is well.  Maybe I will share my pictures on my Saturday morning blog - won't that be exciting?

Don't forget to get your own screenings done - a colonoscopy (if you are in the age bracket), a mammogram, and of course your annual pap smear as well.  Don't put it off.  Maybe I will just take a nap today.  Isn't that what old people do???

Saturday night......sitting trying to figure things out

Well I missed my normal blog time this morning.  Curtis and I were in Iowa City after a concert night with The Fez and our friends Kristin and Eugene Johnston.  So here I am at 930 on Saturday night, writing this post.  Don't forget to Spring Forward with your clocks tonight.  I have set mine, let's see if the phone will do it by its self.

First off, I had a BIG surprise this week.  Curtis and I have been talking about me getting my own laptop so I don't have to steal one of his business laptops to do my school work.  But I hadn't really looked at any thing seriously because it has worked so far for me to use his.  But dance season is starting and he will have them out of the house every weekend so I really needed to get serious about this.  I LOVE my iPhone and I LOVE my iPad so I have been saying that I want to go all in and get an Apple computer.  I have looked at the MacBook at the Apple store and love it, but didn't think I could justify the expense.  Well, my resourceful hubby (Mr. Tech even though we had a struggle with that today) found a refurbished one on line for less than what we would likely have purchased a PC laptop.  SO.....I GOT A MACBOOK AIR.  I forgot how different the operating system was than a PC and it is taking me a bit to get used to it.  A friend suggested I get the book MacBook Air for Dummies and get to reading, but so far I am stumbling my way through it.  All that is important to me right now is word (got that loaded), Skype (got that going), Facebook (that was easy), and my blog (and here we are).  So this is the first post with the Mac.  YEAH!  And THANK YOU Mr. Tech (aka - HUBBY) for getting me this amazing present.  You are awesome.

This week was amazingly beautiful weather wise.  I saw many big fat Robins and the grass by our deck I swear is turning green.  We had a our first 70 degree day this week and I, as you can see, attempted to take a picture of the thermometer in the van on Wednesday,  Not something I would recommend doing when traveling 70 on the interstate on the way home.  As you can tell, my photographer skills are not good this way.   But keep that weather coming.

Last night we ventured to Iowa City after work with our friends Kristin and Eugene.  Thanks to Eugene for chauffeuring us in his brand new car.  It is a beautiful ride and I could get in a lot of trouble with law enforcement with that nice little Benzie.  That's why God makes me drive a little Cobalt I think.

Any way ... The Fez is the band that our friend Saul Lubaroff plays saxophone in.  They are a Steely Dan tribute band and Mr. Lubaroff has assembled the most talented musicians and vocalists I have ever seen.  They are amazing.  I was impressed when we saw them at People's Court here in Des Moines and I am even more impressed last night.  They are a 16 member band and each person has such talent.  I can't even begin to tell you.  Check out Fez Facebook Page at that link.

You can also go to YouTube and do a search for The Fez Iowa City and you can watch a couple of their songs.  I tried to upload some video that I took, but NO LUCK -- still learning remember?

After the concert we needed to find some food.  The band started at 8:00 and didn't finish until 10:45.  We didn't have time between checking in to our hotel and getting to the show to eat....so we hoped to find someplace open.  Lucky for us the kitchen at Bo James closed at 11:00 -- we just made it under the wire for Burger Baskets at 11:00 at night.  They were good, but I don't like to eat that late.  So....was preparing for a few weird dreams with cooked cow in my stomach.  By that time we old folks were getting tired.  You couldn't tell it by the "posing" boys, but we were.



After our late night meal, we headed back to the Sheraton (MOST COMFORTABLE BED EVER!! - Seriously IT WAS) and about 5:30 am this morning, the alarm in the hall way starts going off.  We are not sure if it is a fire or what, but the "recorded" voice is calmly telling us their is a "guest safety alert" and that we need to vacate immediately.  It is in the hallway so it is muffled and confusing.  Curtis was getting ready to get dressed in street clothes and make me leave the comfort of our room.  I was hesitant as you might guess.  So then, another "recorded" voice comes on.  This time in a speaker in our room.  It tells us that there is a "guest safety alert" and to stand by for further instructions (or something to that affect).  Thank God we didn't have to leave our rooms.  This repeated about three or four times and then yet another "recorded" voice tells us that it is "all clear" and that we should "resume our previous activities".  This made me giggle a bit before I fell back to sleep.  Hopefully most every one's previous activities at 5:30 in the morning were sleeping, but it is a hotel and it is Iowa City.   So who knows?

After we woke up (again) it was time to pack up and head back to Ankeny.  But not before we stopped at the Blue Bird Diner.   This place has now become a landmark on Market street in Iowa City and it was well worth the 20ish minute wait.  It is a very small hole in the wall type place with many great reviews on FourSquare and Yelp raving about the food.  I ordered the Huevos Rancheros.  And what sold me was the Polenta base and smothered in Green Verde sauce with Smoked Pork all on the top.  It was so very yummy!  This picture will not convince you of that, but trust me.  YUMMOOOO!!!!!  I will be eating there AGAIN.

So back to Ankeny.  Home by 1:00 pm.  Was an eventful weekend so far, but not over yet.  As soon as we dumped our stuff, we loaded up the van to head back to Des Moines for some errands and things that we needed (groceries, etc).  Our first stop was going to be Home Makers Furniture.  I needed to order the table that was going to go in the entry way.  Last time I checked it was on back order until end of April, so wanted to get a deposit down so I could get one of the first ones when it came in.  I walk to it and there is a CLEARANCE tag on the silly thing - about 40% off.  The clerk looks it up in their trusty computer and what do you know:  They are not going to get it any more.  It is discontinued.  I can have the floor model for that clearance price.  So....I snatched it up.  Needs a bit of scratch repair, but I can do that with some Old English Furniture Polish.  So they wrapped it up and I took it home.  Now garage sales this Spring for some colorful vases, bowls, and other assorted decor for this room.

Our next project was trying to get a television signal from an antenna to the "new" spot for the television in the family room.  Went to Lowes to pick up an exterior antenna and the supplies needed to get it going.    Got all that, headed to CostCo (BUSY AS HECK TODAY) and back home.  Started working on the antenna project.  BIG FAIL!  It works when we have the TV connected to it directly, but when we try to run the signal through the existing coax cable NADA.  Was very frustrating for my techie hubby.  We will try again tomorrow with maybe a different plan.  We will have to see.  I can't imagine what the neighbors were saying when I had the small flat screen TV sitting on the A/C unit flipping through channels while Curtis is not he ladder trying to adjust the antenna.  I am sure we are topic of conversation.  They are probably saying things like -- Why don't they just get a dish????  Great question!

All in all a great week and weekend so far:  Live Music, an early morning confusion at the hotel, an amazing breakfast, and GREAT FRIENDS!

Have a great week all and stay tuned.  PAINTING NEXT WEEKEND!

Home decorating Phase 1

This has been a great weekend!  I am not very good at decorating my house.  I kind of have an idea what I want to do, but it is always hard to explain and I never want to take the chance on how it will look if I proceed.  That is why I had GREAT help this weekend.  We began the day eating (of course) and discussing the itinerary.  I them gave Julie a tour of the house and some ideas that I had plus discussed a color change for the basement.  Also pulled out some old pictures and art work that I have accumulated and was sitting in boxes in the storage area of the basement.


We then ventured off to a little consignment decor store here in Ankeny called "The Attic".  Kara and I had gone in there a couple weeks ago just to check it out and honestly, I thought it was a bit expensive.  It is a pretty sprawling space that is very organized and decorated nicely.  Julie my GO-TO for COLOR person spotted this striped piece of art.  The inspiration is a painting that I received from the crew that started Love Takes Root - a non-profit from Spencer that is working in Haiti right now to start a new orphanage for about 60 kids.  This is a beautiful painting (you will see it later) and the colors are vibrant.  The picture below pops many colors and this will allow me to change vases, pillows (note the pillow colors we got), etc out as I get bored with them.

Living Room wall BEFORE

Living Room wall AFTER

The next place we went was Homemakers.  This is the most fantabulous furniture store in the LAND!  That isn't their slogan, but maybe I should suggest that.  Hmmm.........

Julie and Dawn had not been there before.  After the first half hour of being overwhelmed regarding the sheer quantity of items there, we buckled down and began our quest for decor and a small console table to put inside the front door and any other items that would work in various parts of the house.

I have a wine theme in the kitchen.  This theme is not overwhelming and the main focus is rich colors like rusts and greens and browns.  As we are going throughout the store, I find a very large print for a very small price that I (okay Julie and Dawn) knew would look great on the opposite wall of the dining area in the kitchen.  And it does.

Dining Room Wall AFTER

Dining Room Wall BEFORE

Also for the kitchen, we found these wine trays.  They were a little weird not because they were in the clearance room - I LOVE clearance - but because they were on these very strange legs and weren't very sturdy.  Julie had the idea to take the legs off and use them as wall hangings.  She is so smart!  We did and this is what they look like.  

Kitchen above cabinets BEFORE

Kitchen above cabinets AFTER

Note the wine bottles are the start of a collection so that I can put lights in them.  This project I think I can complete.  Yep - me crafty - I am trying.  I am going to add some grape vine and hanging grapes between the bottles to hide the cords.  What a great way to recycle icicle lights and they create a bit of ambiance to the kitchen.  Check back periodically for those, but here is what they look like so far.  And if I don't get them done, Dawn said she would come back and help me "finish" the project.  We both know it is an excuse to drink wine because we need a LOT more bottles.

The last project in the kitchen/dining room was a craft project inspired by something I saw on Pinterest.  This is a work in progress project as well, but I am trying to find a couple corner shelves that are big enough for a hurricane lamp and my wine cork barrel.  That was a task yesterday that didn't get completed so I am still on the look out.  But Dawn took care of organizing and creating this little baby and I LOVE it!  She even brought a garbage bag full of corks so we could do it.  We didn't need an entire garbage bag, but it is impressive to see none the less.

And as you can see we were contributing to the project by drinking wine as we (okay she) was working on it.



After Homemakers, we headed to Kirklands.  If you have never been there I suggest it because Kirklands is like Gordmans without the clothes.  Many decor items that are inexpensive.  I liked it a lot.  We found some accessory things there along with a very cool print for the bathroom downstairs.  I won't be putting that up yet, as Curtis and I need to paint the walls down there and do some re-arranging of furniture.  There will be BEFORE and AFTER as that project progresses.

Kirklands had some prints for our bathrooms too.  They are small and not a big deal as I just needed a couple things in there.  But the bathrooms are now DONE!

From Kirklands, we fought the crowd at Trader Joes for some flowers and wine and hummus.  Busy, busy place but every body was happy to get a few items and bounce off the shoulders of the rest of the crazy shoppers there.






Bailey decided we all needed to go into T.J. Maxx.  And good thing we did.  We found some panels for the living room that were really inexpensive and a couple pillows.  Now I have a hard time buying accent pillows.  So Julie had an intervention with me.  Julie's words of wisdom:  "Pillows and curtains are like the jewelry for your outfit."  She is correct, but I don't wear much jewelry so not sure that analogy was a good one.  We were looking for green and blue and think we came up with pretty great pillow accessories.





Julie is very detailed when she is on a decorating mission.  She decided that the panels would be better if the hem was out.  So she and Bailey worked to get them done and Bailey will come back with gray thread and take care of finishing them off.

The last piece of this puzzle today was putting together the painting that I "found" in my items that were in the closet.  The centerpiece of this room.  Like I said I have been looking for a table for this room to go by the door for months.  No luck!  Things are either too expensive or don't really match.  Curtis and I had looked at this piece of furniture at Homemakers a few months ago, but didn't pull the trigger on it.  So the decorating team was in the store on Saturday and out of the acres and acres of items in that store, the crew is drawn to the same table.  I was a little astonished that they picked it because we had looked at it once before and didn't buy it.  And of course it is on back order until the end of April, but I think we may have found the item for the space.

The painting from Haiti will go above the table and I will add colorful bowls, vases, etc.

Entry way BEFORE phase 1

Entry way AFTER phase 1

Keep in mind this painting has only been on the wall for less than 24 hours but every time I walk by it or glance that way, my heart skips a little beat.  It is beautiful.  I am so glad that I opened that storage room door in the basement and pulled this rolled up piece of art out of the closet.  It is so very inspirational and the memories that go with it are forever in my brain.

Thank you my dear friends Dawn and Julie.  They helped tremendously and I owe them such gratitude.

"It is not so much our friends' help that helps us, as the confidence of their help."  Epicurus 

Saturday Morning Coffee Ponderings......

Good morning.  Lift your cup of warm liquid this morning for a cheer.  To friends, life and health!  HUZZAH!

Not sure why I needed to do that this morning, it just felt like a cheers kind of moment.

So I woke up this morning, without my alarm (?) and the first thought in my head was my friends Joy Williams and John Paul White from The Civil Wars singing Barton Hollow in my head.  Yeah....I said it......I think of them as friends.  I am not sure that it is a reciprocated friendship however my fingers are crossed.  Okay.....at this point, I just want them to come to the Midwest somewhere........I am once again groupie obsessed with a band and I MUST SEE THEM!!!!

Any way, they were in my head and I had to get up, put breakfast in the oven and listen to their CD again.  If you don't know who I am talking about (and if you read my blog regularly - and I know you do - you are as obsessed as I am) check them out at their website.

I always start these posts out with "how busy I am", "lots going on", "school", blah, blah......decided I am not doing that this morning.  It has been a great week.  Emotional but GREAT!

For the last few months, I have been chairing the organization of our staff retreat.  Each year, the staff of 25 try to do some sort of retreat, bonding, and/or in-service to refresh and rejuvenate.  We had a great day planned of games, prizes, team spirit.  It worked out well and I think every body enjoyed their participation.  Congrats ORANGE team on their win.







Our organizational team was the Pink Party Planners.  We all dressed in costume.  Thanks "Bacon" and "Hugger" for all your support!






This weekend have friends in town to help me finally tackle the decorating portion.  We went to the Japanese Steakhouse and sat at the Hibachi.  This was the first time for some eating sushi.  Was really good and a ton of fun.  Once again I am struggling with picture technology.  So here are pictures from the restaurant last night, but they are all upside down.

Eric being brave with chopsticks and sushi

WHY CAN'T I FIGURE THIS OUT??????

Curtis, Julie and Amanda watching chef

SHRIMP!!!!!!!

Okay -- EGG BAKE is done, coffee is warm, Dawn is awake and I am awaiting Julie.  Begin the shopping day!!!!!

I will have pictures next week of our shopping and decorating adventures.

Have a great week all and see you soon!

Sunday evening Oscar post.......

What?  It isn't Saturday morning.....it's Sunday night.  Where have I been?  Why am I late?

It has been a busy weekend of being out of town , hair cut, wine, CAASA fundraiser, wine, and lots of laughs.  

So not much to say cause I have to tweet on the Oscars -- can't wait......love Billy Crystal!

But had to share what I got to enjoy this weekend!  LOVE YOU ROO!

Couldn't get it to rotate, but love it!  POSING!

Saturday Morning Coffee Ponderings....

Another Saturday and another week down.  Can you believe that we are almost at the end of February.  Who knew how fast this Winter would fly.  I am still waiting for those March blizzards that Iowa always gets during Girl's and Boy's Basketball tourneys, but the great thing is that it melts so much faster now.  A couple of posts ago, we were getting slammed with snow --- now it is all melted and brown soggy grass is every where.  Another sign of Spring is the new patio furniture out at the stores.  I am shopping for some and am hoping to find a used set that has a large table and 6 chairs.  We will see what I can find on Craig's List and/or Ebay.

This morning, I am up and going before my house guests get up.  Now that isn't really a BIG feat since Chris and Kara (son and future daughter-in-law) have what I like to call "gamer" schedules.  She usually has to force him to get up by 12:30 pm when they are here.  It has been great to spend some time with them in spite of my "puke-iness" yesterday.  The young kids had never seen "Hot Tub Time Machine".  So we exposed them to one of the funniest movies.  If you haven't seen it I recommend it....especially if you survived the 80's.  It is along the lines of Hangover (but shhh.....I think it is better) and Curtis and I have seen it 100 times.  I still laugh and get grossed out every time I watch it.  RENT it!  Or better yet STREAM it on NetFlix!  Kara and I are going to hit some wedding boutiques today to see what they have for wedding attire.  The BIG day will be here before they know it.  I can see a bit of the "overwhelmed" look on both of their faces - but it will come together.

Tonight we are headed to friends Kristin and Eugene's house for "Gumbo Night".  I can't wait.  I hope my stomach survives.  Maybe that is what I need -- something to BURN IT OUT -- what ever IT is!  I am taking Salsa and Cheese cornbread......yum.  More details next week on this.

What happened this week?  As always it is the same old story......work, school, sleep, "rinse and repeat".  Is pretty uneventful.  I have realized that I (like my daughter) am going to maybe take a different path than I previously set out.  My original plan was to go to DMACC and be done after this Fall's semester and then transfer to the U of I.  That was before my social work class.  Now, I have been "doing" social work for the past 13 years in my jobs - at CAASA and elsewhere.  Of my four classes that I am taking, it is my least favorite.  Not a good sign since I will be focusing on that subject for the next TWO at U of I.  I can't stand all the theory and conjecture of the class.  When doing the work, it is so much different.  I compare it to living in a house for an extended period of time before you buy it.  It doesn't feel right.  And if you all know me my "gut" rules many of my decisions and when it doesn't, then I usually make the wrong one.  My gut is telling me to get a GENERAL ED degree and then move on for my MPA.  SO........Curtis found a catalog for a general studies degree at USD just hanging out at work -- KARMA ENERGY? maybe -- and I can get a degree from USD online and it is cheaper than U of I.  Since we are cash flowing this whole thing......I think that is what I am going to do.  I have to do some more investigating, but it feels better to do that than my original plan.  Stay tuned.....gotta get thru this semester first!!!!!  Whose idea was it to take 12 credit hours off the bat?  Kicking my butt.......but I CAN DO THIS!!!!!

Last weekend was a complete blast.  We ventured to Spencer and then to Sioux City.  Stopped in to SCT to see Chad Elliott's commissioned art work for the new addition of the theater.  It is beautiful.  Chad is such an amazing talent.  I know, I have talked about him beforeon this blog but not only is he an amazing musician and songwriter, but he is an amazing artist as well.  There are two pieces that were unveiled -- Opening Night and Closing Night.  They are amazing.  Connie at SCT told us that they are going to sell them as prints. WE ARE IN and decided right then and there was going to be the center point of our basement family room decor.  So.....can't wait to get that project started!  I will post before and after pictures.  Decorating girl friends are coming to town the first weekend in March to help me get started, drink some wine and just have some fun!


We then moved on to Sioux City. Why "sewer city" you ask?  Mat D and the Profane Saints!  First time we have seen them in almost a year.

First of all, we decided to head to Sioux City early....Curtis' idea - I believe he said "let's go shopping".  Okay!  You suggested it....let's go.  We arrived there about 5 hours before the show was to start.......hit some stores - Gordman's, and then the mall.  Keetah and Curtis like to try to embarrass Jack and I - think mayo bowling in HyVee with Wheat Thins.  We now expect it so not really a surprise any more - you are going to have to come up with something else kids.....the old jaded fuddie duds are on to you.  Most of the time, we just keep walking and ignore them.  :)  They both slide into the mall photo booth and proceed to sit in there for a while......at one point teenagers came up to the booth to form a line to be "next" and got tired of waiting.

I took this picture right before the booth cameras were getting ready to snap pictures.

After shopping, we headed downtown.  We wanted to find a place to eat supper and decided to go to Rebo's.  It was a Caribbean - Mexican infusion type restaurant (best way I know to describe it).  It was packed and we waited about 30 minutes.  The food was really good and we once again annoyed a server.  Seems to be our theme.  I particularly enjoyed the sign (really a plastic plate) that informed me that this was the Women's restroom.  BAD ASS NAKED FEMALE BULL FIGHTER -- I think this needs to be a movie.  I cast Selma Hayek as the bull fighter.  This has prompted me to do some research to see if female bullfighters actually did their business NAKED!  Hmmmm......another blog post perhaps?

Here we are enjoying our drinks and food at the restaurant.  Keetah rocking her new hat and I just noticed that Curtis and I dressed to coordinate -- he in his green vest and me in my (okay really Keetah's) green scarf.






Okay -- Back to Mat D!  They were playing at the Chesterfield. Which was about a block from the restaurant.  So.....we headed there to begin our musical evening.  Now some of you may accuse me of an obsession.  What?  Me?  Seriously......I am!  And I wouldn't blame Mat and the boys if they decided to get a restraining order.......I can't help myself.







Any whooooo......their opening band was ShowBaby out of Sioux Falls.  WOW!  Mat told us that they were good, but who knew.  All original songs, no covers, and they ROCKED IT!!!!  http://www.showbabymusic.com/ is their website.  I am one of those girls that could easily be a groupie (20 years ago that would have been cool -- now just creepy!) and this band was "groupie worthy".  We (Keetah and I) particularly enjoyed the drummer.  His energy and style were amazing and he was a cutie patootie to boot!

Show Baby played for about 45 minutes and then it was SAINTS TIME!  From the first song to the last.....the energy was fantastic and they were in "testify" mode!  (Lots of ! points in this post!)  Dancing, screaming, etc, etc.  All in all an amazing night of music and fun......shots (too many to remember) and dragon tattoos (almost the same as Lisbeth Salander's) later, I woke up with a sore throat, ringing/humming ear drums, and sore ankles and thigh muscles......Yep!  THAT is a great night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Check out their new music video on the website.  http://www.matdandtheprofanesaints.com/

The band is working on a new CD Holyoke and I will be making a road trip to their CD release party.  So ride along if you want to come with!  I will let you all know when it is going to happen in future posts.

So as you can imagine I needed to recover a bit this week so things were calm and healing.  I did discover another tattoo design after the concert.  The very talented Saints guitar player Kurt has the mudflap mamma logo on his guitar.  I am going to steal a version of this and include a couple other details for my design.  I can't wait to be the 90 year old grandma with this tattoo on her leg!  Yes, kids, grandma is CRAZY!!

CHEERS!!!!!

So until next week........Cheers to live music, screaming lyrics at a concert, dancing until your legs tingle, and friends and family!!!!!!

Saturday Morning Coffee Ponderings.....

Brrrr!!!!!  It is a cold one this morning.  Beautifully bright but Flipping Freezing.  And this week I noticed two things that make me think that Spring is on its way:  Sun stays up for a little while longer when I get home from work and the angle has moved toward the northeast.  So Earth is waking up.  We may have a few more days like the latter part of this week, but we are on our way.  Can't wait to do some outside work at our house.  Flowers!  Deck boxes!  YEAH!

This week has been very busy once again (seems to be a theme) and throw in an emotional roller coaster and that is a combination that creates a tinderbox of explosion.  Just waiting!  The outcome may be a disaster and the Hazmat crew will need to be called in.

Can't figure out the edit tools for the photo!  OOPS!

The extreme highlight of my week was a visit with my friend Dawn (and her family) in the "trailerhood".  For work, I travel across the state to visit programs that receive grant funds.  I had to make two visits to Northeast Iowa.  I was able to then camp out at her house for the overnight and continue on my way the next morning.  First of all, I have known Dawn from my Women of Today days.  Some of you know this organization, but it is a civic club that brings women together for community service projects, fundraising, etc.  Dawn was in the Nashua Women of Today and I was in Spencer Women of Today.  Both of us became fast friends.  Our kids are about the same age.  In fact, Emily and Bailey hung out at a Women of Today State meeting once.  We would see each other at least 4 times a year when we were active in the club and have a great time.  Over the years, our kids grew up; we both decided to move on from Women of Today; but we remained friends.  Facebook has been instrumental in rekindling that friendship.  The other common ground we have is WINE.  We both love our grapes - I like the dark variety and she likes the white ones. I admire this friend as she has raised an amazing family, has a hubby that is funny (similar to mine - note the picture sneak in) and is a decorating genius.

So my visit included a bottle of red wine that she saved specifically for me - which was really good by the way -- so good I drank the damn thing by myself and decided not to just save corks any more but the whole dang empty bottle.  INSPIRED by Dawn of course!  Think Wine Bottle TREE in the "woods" of my backyard.  More on that when the ground isn't frozen.

Wednesday afternoons are dedicated to hanging out with her grand daughter Addie.  Adorable funny child that has her grandma wrapped around her finger - and her grandpa, and her aunt Emily......she has it made.  But Dawn picks Addie up from daycare and then they hang out in the afternoon.  So I arrive later than I planned because I got lost in Basset Iowa.  Who does that?  Me of course!  There were too many trailers to pick from evidently and Dawn is out in the boonies so has no cell phone reception and my desperate text and voice mail pleas were not heard until about 3 hours later.  (I actually knocked on another trailer door - thank God no one was home cause it looked a little sketchy.)  But I finally found it and arrived with Addie getting her bath.  Dawn fixed me a great supper and we sat down for some wine and fellowship.

Addie has her own trampoline in the house!  Yep!  It is set up in the living room and she jumps and has a blast.













She is also an incredibly bright child.  She was reading the dictionary to her grandpa.  Teaching him a few words apparently.







Addie can give any one the "grandparent fever".  I think I almost caught it, but I took some medicine (think wine again) so I am better now.  I am just fine with Grand Cats at the moment.  I have two - Sputnik who is a naughty child of Jordan and Kendall and now Chris and Kara got Setzer this week.  Can't wait to meet him.

All in all the evening was grand - including a little amateur Taro Card reading -- will have to do more of that later.  Wish I could have stayed longer however work beckoned the next day and I hope we can get together soon for some "junking" and wine!

Other than my Garbes family fix, the week was about school and work.  We are headed to Sioux City today (via Spencer) to see Mat D and the Profane Saints.  One of my absolute favorite bands and song writer (not just in the local area but EVER!).  It will be a really fun time and I hope the road trip breaks up my FUNK of a mood.  www.matdandtheprofanesaints.com  Ready for some testifying!  So off to shower and pack.

I have another blog in the "edit" pile and hope to be able to finish it after this weekend.  I know I promised that this past week, but it is really going to happen now!  Really!  I promise!!!

Take care all and enjoy your weekend!