Monthly Archives: May 2008

05.31.08
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ugh…the swimming suit

I’m going to do it…I’m totally freaked out…I took my tape measure to work tonight so Alayna could measure me for a swimming suit…My Land’s End catalog came in the mail and in it are bathing suits that will flatter every figure…now I should be smart enough to know this is a bunch of hooey…in fact a huge pile of hooey…I’m overweight by about 65 or 70 pounds there is not a swimming suit made that is going to look good on me…but I don’t want to spend my summer on the boat wearing a tank top and shorts…and just what if I do want to jump in the water…I won’t…but what if I do…you won’t, Nina remember the last time….what last time…the time you weren’t overweight and you jumped in the water from a boat with no ladder and you were greased up with baby oil..remember..the boys couldn’t pull you in because they couldn’t hold on to you…oh ya…I remember now… well, it’s not like no one knows I’m fat unless I wear a swimming suit.  Good Point!!!

I’ve also been looking for a portable potty for the boat.  He didn’t understand at first why I could possibly want a potty on the boat…I said, well I don’t really think you want me to be jumping in the water (see story above) and you will be quite irritated if you have to take it to shore everytime I have the urge..so he’s all for it now.  I haven’t gotten to Des Moines due to my work schedule and I didn’t order one off the internet because I was sure I would get to Des Moines so I’ve been on the internet frantically checking the availability from one of the box stores.  Alayna says I probably should have started doing this before 11 at night…so I think at 0700 I’m going to go on a portable potty mission…I need it by Sunday..Walmart has a hassock one that I can settle for until I find one that has a flushing mechanism…for those of you still with me here…thank you…I’ll quit talking about it now…

I was served a supoena last night to give deposition reference that 24 year old girl that was being held against her will on her way to Des Moines a few weeks back.  Sounds like the dirt bag will be going to trial…who knows..maybe I’ll get to meet her…that will be special for me.

Okay…I’m going to place an order….

Until next time….

05.21.08
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Weeping (trees and life)

The fog may be lifting a bit…I spent a little while outside tonight picking up sticks…I ended up down at the bottom of the property admiring the weeping willow trees…he and I were trying to remember when we planted them … they are huge…maybe 10 years???  He thinks one of them has a willow branch drop diameter of 20 feet…they are gorgeous.  I always believe you can’t really appreciate a weeping willow unless you are standing under it and “feel” it surrounding you.  You other tree huggers out there will understand…everyone else…just take my word for it.

Brett and Chris are camping at Walnut Woods south and west of Des Moines this weekend.  I talked to both of them on the phone tonight (first time perhaps since New Years Day night???)  I didn’t know it until I talked to them but that may be all I needed.  They are like my family…we usually go to Bennett Spring with them but since it is so wet and the stream is so high this year, we may just be hanging out closer to home….I think “he” and I are going to go up Saturday after he gets up and just hang out around the campfire until he has to go to work.  The four of us are never at a loss for conversation.

Kate is flying home the 2nd week of June…just a few days late for her 21st birthday…she will only be staying a few days but I’ll take a few days over nothing.  She got a really good price for tickets flying into Des Moines.  Normally we all fly in and out of Moline because we actually save enough to drive the 2 hours…I get so irritated when they are spending money advertising that “we should be using the Des Moines airport” yet who can afford it…so much cheaper to fly out of Kansas City, Omaha and even Moline, Illinois.

Need to finish up some chores before I “get to” head off to work so until next time…..

05.15.08
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I filled in at work for a couple of hours this morning – the only good thing about it was getting my lazy butt out of bed early so I didn’t miss this beautiful day…I went to the banks for our deposit and mom’s deposit…went to 3 different stores in town looking for those picture hangers made of heavy wire that you push into the sheetrock and turn,…they are anchored inside the wall and have a hook for the outside.  They only leave a pin size hole in the wall yet can hold lots of weight…no where to be found…they are probably an As Seen ON TV item but Katy bought some for me last year and I’m pretty sure she got them at a big box store???

I dropped by Earl May to pick up a gift certificate for our old Quest repairman who is retiring.  Jim aka Willie Nelson has been a fixture in the radio room for many, many years and always gives us fast service and knows his stuff…we even made up a name plate with his name for an empty computer desk to show our affection.  Jim is retiring so we took up a collection for the gift certificate.  He says he is going to have a big garden and when he is not camping, will be sitting out along the road selling his produce.  While I was at  Earl May, I purchased 8 bags of brown mulch and a few annuals.  Not sure how I feel about the brown mulch – it is pretty dark.  I took these few pics when it was starting to get dark – but you’ll probably get the idea…may snap some more under the sun tomorrow and after I get the back flower pots filled.

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Check out Billie in the window above…this is his assigned spot

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Some of the trees are still looking a little rough after the 2006 ice storm…they look better this year than last year

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I’m becoming terribly frustrated with the presidential race.

I feel so sad for all of the people around the world dealing with natural disasters.

The media, in general, makes me feel like my head is going to blow off…

Until next time….

05.11.08
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The Dreams

I usually don’t have these conversations with a lot of people…mainly because I don’t want people to intake a breath and say whooooeeeee she’s a nut.  About a year ago, I had a recurring dream three  times..the only other times this has happened in my life is when my dad died and I think I was trying to deal with the loss….anyway.  I had this dream that I was  visitng my childhood home because I wanted to see what it looks like now – there was a huge addition added on to the center of the house right off of the kitchen and that is where the major portion of the detail stops…but it was the same all 3 times.  A few months later, I was playing on google earth and decided to  fly to  my childhood neighborhood…and guess what…the house has a huge addition going north from the center of the house.  It litterally took my breath away…..

Every now and then I have those wierd little coincidental things happen like meeting a childhood friend in the very same spot in a certain building at the huge Iowa State Fair two years in a row…that is the only time we see each other – we now live 35 miles apart.

3 or 4 nights ago…my dreams took me back to the neighborhood…I was driving down the street and came to the corner where Theresa Crews lived and there she was – of course, looking the same…sitting in the yard with kids running all over and there were lots of flowers…when I woke up, I thought wow – haven’t thought of her in a long time – maybe I should try to make a connection … I wonder what she looks like.  This morning while reading the Des Moines Register, I was stopped once again breathless.  There was her obituary….noted in the obituary she married her soul mate in 1994 and combined families which gave her 5 kids and she was a master gardener and it mentions their lawn was the envy of the neighbors.  I sat and studied the obit for about an hour…totally overwhelmed…a huge sense of loss even thought the last time I layed eyes on her was probably 1974 when she married the neighbor boy and I was very irritated.

I am very humbled…..

05.09.08
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I’m seeing a change come over me…is it because I”m now over 50 and just have no tolerance left or has my personal internal therapy cleansed me of my  need to please everyone.  My mother taught me very well…first and foremost, I must please her and do her bidding and make her somebody by being successful…I think my history reflects a sick people pleasing personality.  I believe, now, that I had no idea who I really was because I didn’t have time – I had everyone else to think about.

I was very irritated when I got to work last night because I received an email from a jail employee…I have always had the horrible thought that this is one of those guys who would take a gun into a public place and blow everyone to smithereens…He has a very volitile personality and short fuse.  I’ve actually been a little hesitant of him and absolutely did not want to represent him during a disciplinary hearing.  Unfortunately I put that exact information into an email and of course he got a copy of the email.  (I know… don’t put anything in writing you don’t want someone else to see).  Needless to say, everything in the email was exactly how I felt but it was probably inappropriate for me to send those thoughts to someone else.  So…to make an incredibly long story even longer…last night I received an email from him blasting me clear to hell…my first reaction was oh, for crying out loud…the psycho….then as the night progressed, I thought that I would be really angry too if someone said the same things about me – so I decided I probably needed to apologize..but actually I am not sorry about feeling the way I do just the email…so I apologized about the email said I was wrong…short and sweet.  This is totally different from how I would have reacted when I was an active “people pleaser”.  I would have apologized and justified and excused myself…but NO…not doing that anymore.  You can either like me or not like me.

End of rant….

05.05.08
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New Bed

He and I are thinking about coming out of the  70’s and getting a new bed.  We’ve slept on a full flotation king size waterbed our entire marriage which is approaching 29 years.  In fact…he bought this waterbed in about 1976 or 1977 🙂

Need opinions…I’ve been thinking about a sleep number bed because we like different firmness but he is thinking a memory foam…Any suggestions, ideas or opinions?

 

05.02.08
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Check out the short videos I took at Niagara Falls over the weekend…it is amazing to think about how much water falls 24/7 year after year after year.

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It is good to be home – spent the day cleaning and organizing.  I sorted through book shelves today replacing old books with newly acquired books.

Just a couple of thoughts after more than 20 hours on the road in the last 5 days…traveling thru Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.  What is up with the toll roads, people.  I wonder how much toll money actually goes to road use and how much just goes to maintain all of the huge toll booths at every exit and the wages of all the folks needed to man (woman) these booths…

THERE IS A FARMER…(note to self – do not drive because this gives “him” time to think)  It obviously bothered  him that on a beautiful spring day, there didn’t seem to be farmers out in the fields…because everytime there was a farmer working the field he announced…THERES A FARMER.  I decided that if he continues the farmer watch the way he spots hawks, wild turkeys and other very small creatures not clearly seen with the naked eye that his door was suddenly going to open on a curve and he was going to need to tuck and roll.

All of this got me thinking …. what is the major crop in Ohio?  Obviously there is a moratorium on billboards…what do you folks look at while driving the interstate..surely not the cars ahead, behind and beside you.  When people talk about Iowa being so boring to drive thru, I always think – but it is so green and lush and beautiful and now I can say and Iowa has billboards to read.

It was a great trip  – and many, many hours on the road, I didn’t have one moment when I thought about calling 911 about someone not driving like I thought they should.  With the volume of calls I receive on a daily basis from I-80 about the way drivers perceive other drivers, this was a surprise that I didn’t see a bunch of morons on the road. 

That is it for now so until next time……