The Fall - NOT for the Anti Foot people

Tuesday afternoon I fell down or off the 3 steps we have in the garage. I landed on my right side, twisted my ankle (severe sprain), scraped my right elbow (through my sweater) and smacked my left knee and shoulder. Plus I clonked my head on my car. All the while Christy was on the other side of the door which was unlocked but she couldn't get open. It's probably a lucky thing that she couldn't or she would have bashed me in the face with the door. I've been gimped up ever since and haven't been to class. Nice.

Blaming Others

I've really had it with people that don't take any personal responsibility for the problems in their lives. My ex husband blamed his father for everything that ever happened to him. Admittedly, his father was a bastard and his mother was no prize either, but at what point do you start moving beyond it? Are you always going to "live" your life as a victim? Or put off living because of what you say has been done to you? We watched Walk the Line last night. For most of the movie Johnny Cash was blaming his drugs, drinking etc on how his father treated him as a child (and adult). By the end though, Cash seems to have made his peace and moved on.

We deal with this on a daily basis. We erroneously get blamed for situations of which we aren't a part. I'm really over the victim mentality. Everyone has a personal responsibility for the situations in their lives. You can bitch and moan about it or you can work through it, move on, and get a life.

It's finally Winter

It finally looks like Iowa in January. We've got a bunch of snow and it's been cold. On a personal level I'm not very excited, but on a global level it's a good thing. I took my first medical terminologies test today. It only took me about 15 minutes. I swear some of that stuff was NOT in the reading. I studied for it quite a bit too. I think I will have done o.k.

The kids continue to drag all kinds of crap here. I just threw out some size 10 underwear of Nick's. Those are pretty ancient. They must be at least 6 years old. I had to convince him it was ok to throw them out.

We had zero meltdowns last week and hoping for the same again this week.

I continue to have tons and tons of homework. I'm avoiding it right now.

Friday night Kurt and I ate dinner at a new seafood restaurant in Dubuque. It was FANTASTIC! I'm very excited to go back. I had the dump dinner and Kurt had the clams, scallops, and crab cake combo. Their handcut calamari is perfection! Check it out! www.joeysseafood.com

A New Day

It's a new day here (and everywhere else, I'm sure). My mom always gets depressed on Sundays. I was having that same problem yesterday. A good cry, some cuddles, and a trip to Barnes and Noble took care of that though. The fact that the kids were pleasant when they got here helped, too.

I'm off for MLK day. Despite the snow the kids only had a 2 hour delay so all is right with the world. I'm only doing light homework so that I can enjoy myself. I took another load to Goodwill, visited my Aunt Donna, and took stuff back to Wal-Mart. I used the money (and the gift card I had from Christmas returns) to get a BMI, water weight, and regular weight scale. Kurt and I are on a mission to eat better, weigh less and improve our health. We need to live a long life.

Saturday my sainted mother came over and made us curtains for our gigantic living room windows. Four windows took 14 yards of material. It took all day. She did a great job and we really appreciate it. We can watch TV during the day without a glare AND it looks like we actually live here rather than are transients.

To the Rescue!

My husband has arrived home to rescue me.

Thanks be to God!

The Inn at Irish Hollow

Kurt and I had a great weekend in Galena, IL. It's a historic 1800's circa town, most of which is on the historic registry. Money was made from steamboats and lead mines. Kurt got a "night on the town" cash bonus from work so we used it to treat ourselves to something we wouldn't otherwise be willing to spend our own money. I did some internet research (remember how you used to have to write away for information or get a Frommer's guide?) and found an inn out in the hinterlands of Galena which offered a 2 night package that included 2 "lavish" country breakfasts and a 7 course meal on Saturday night.

www.irishhollow.com is where we ended up. It's down a long, winding road (especially long in the dark) outside of Galena. The innkeeper said the area was named because it reminded the settlers of Ireland. The inn is in an Old General store and attached house. They also have 3 or 4 guest cottages. We stayed in the main inn.

Our room was upstairs. We had a sitting room with a fireplace, a private bath, and a bedroom with a four poster bed with lots and lots of down pillows and duvets. I ordered foam for Kurt's side of the bed.

Friday night we drove back into town and had dinner at Vinny Vanucchi's www.vinnyvanucchis.com ( I should really figure out how to hyperlink). It's up a couple of flights of stairs and takes up a few floors. We had some fried ravioli with a spicy mariara sauce and a bottle of Asti. Kurt had a seafood linguini dish and I had chicken piccata. Both were yummy. We each got some (terrible) cheesecake to go. We took a short (less treachorous) cut back to the inn where we curled up by the fire and had some quiet time.

Food was a big theme of the weekend. I'm still pretty full! Breakfast was served between 9 and 10 am. I was hoping for bacon....boy was I ever wrong! It was 3 courses

1. Fresh pineapple 1/4 with bits of pomegranite, peach, pear, and apple.
2. A warm taffy apple bread with a caramel ginger sauce
3. A chorizo, green and red pepper, and cheese quesillida with a tarragon hollandaise with poached eggs.

It took an hour to eat. Then we had a nap. Then we waddled into town where we walked and shopped. We also toured President Grant's home. I had been there when I was a little kid. It seemed pretty much the same to me. Suggested donation for admission was $3. We had our own personal tour guide who answered lots of questions for us.

I'm not much of a shopper anymore. After a few hours I was ready to head back to the inn. The drive is gorgeous in the daylight. We saw a home we could buy for 1.75 million that had a fanatastic view, but needed a lot of work. We read, played scrabble and had a nap. Dinner was to be served at 7 o'clock.

We traipsed downstairs for dinner. Each table had candles and a bottle of wine. A different innkeeper (there a three of them) served us dinner. He was very nice and informative. All of their ingrediants are fresh and many of them are organic. They are self taught cooks. Dinner was a production. The food just kept coming!

1. Cheese and tarragon stuffed portabello mushroom cap
2. Roasted Apple and Butternut squash bisque with creme fraiche
3. Stilton cheese tart with a cranberry conserve
4. Kiwi lime sorbet
5. Mixed greens salad with spiced pumpkin seeds, kumquat, shaved paremesan and pear wedges with a pomegranite, balsamic vinegar, honey, and olive oil dressing
6. Damison (spelling) cherry glazed tenderloin of beef with roasted vegetables (potatos, sweet potatos, garlic, beets, and brussel sprouts) and corn pudding
7. Peppermint cheesecake with chocolate ganache

And a bottle of 2004Cabarenet Sauvignon and Rosemary bread with rosemary infused butter.

NOW those of you that know me are probably laughing. I tried everything. The beef was fantastic so was the salad. Kurt made a terrible face with the bisque. As we got further into the meal, I asked what he liked the best. He replied, "The bisque". It ended up being the corn pudding (which is something I make). Two and a half hours later we waddled upstairs for more scrabble and antacids. I don't know how people eat like that. We are not haute or nouvelle cuisine kind of people. I think a fancy or a Food Network chef's restaurant would be wasted on me. Having a predeteremined menu required I be adventurous. I've had this gagging problem for a while. So I got a visit of that when we got upstairs, too.

Kurt finally managed to beat me at scrabble. He got ticked off at losing 7 games in a row and played for blood. He "pasted my ass" in his words 309 to 240.

Sunday morning soon arrived and it was once again time to eat. I didn't want to think about it, but downstairs we went. We paced ourselves.

1. Brown sugar grilled grapefruit half
2. Bread pudding with a pure maple cream sauce
3. Ham (i think) and roasted red pepper stuffed croissant with a red pepper cream sauce and herb scrambled eggs.

Overall, the weekend was very relaxing. Kurt was shocked at the lack of internet, tv, phone, and radio. I relaxed right away and he was just getting into it when it was time to leave. It was nice to getaway. Now we need to plan our anniversary destination!

The Boudoir at Irish Hollow

Our Sitting Room

The Front Parlor

Main Street Galena

The End

The end of my vacation is almost here. I go back to school on Monday. I bought books for 3 of 5 classes. So far it's $322! All used. Again I reiterate that we are getting screwed. One of my teachers has even sent out email already. The kids are back from six days at the farm so we've been trying to readjust to routines. They go back for the weekend tomorrow night though so this weeks pretty much a loss.

For the past few days I've been sucked into America's Next Top Model marathon on VH-1. I'm doing dishes and laundry, too.

Yesterday, Mom and Aunt Jan and I went to town. We bought material for drapes for the living room (finally). Mom's going to sew them for me. We got a 50% off dark blue jacquard. Hopefully we can make them some weekend this month.

Kurt and I are getting away this weekend. He got a "night on the town" bonus from work so we are going to a bed and breakfast for 2 nights. It should be great. It's way out in the country with no phone, no tv, no internet (honey, I might not have mentioned that before...oops!)

A Trophy Wife

I played at being a trophy wife (some prize, I know) last night. We got invited to a holiday cocktail party at Kurt's boss's house. Kurt thought it would mostly be people at his level and above. We're talking Directors, VP's and people who have 3 letter titles like CIO, and CFO. Keep in mind some of these people are the ones who told me and my former employees that they weren't closing our site, we wouldn't lose our jobs, and other assorted untrue BS. (Note...I am FINE with losing my job! I was hoping for it, but most of my team member desperately needed their job).

Anyway, it was a very nice time. Good food, good margaritas, and very nice people. The ones who had lied to me didn't remember me. I answered questions about my time with the company in a positive manner, I kept my snorts of disbelief in check, and I didn't drink as much as I wanted. I even wore pantyhose...and you all know how much I hate that!

Game Night

Thursday night we went to supper at Kevin and Theresa's place. They have two kids, Ella and Austin, who are are 3rd and 1st grades. We haven't seen them since the wedding in June. Scheduling is just too difficult most of the time.

We played games with the kids and tried to visit. We got in UNO, checkers, Trouble, and Battleship. We also managed to wolf down two pizzas and catch up a little.

It wasn't the evening we thought it would be, but it was still fun.

A Cheap Date

Kurt and I went out on Wednesday night. We'd heard there was good food one town over. I wanted some MEAT! We arrived and there were two bars with equal amounts of cars in front of them. We decided to go with the one that looked newer. It was mostly a bar. They had 6 plasma screens and lots of college kids home from Christmas. The air was smokey and the menu was disappointing. It was mostly sandwiches. NOT what I had in mind. We ordered a couple of beers and some cheese fries. Both of them were disappointing as well.

We decided to try the place down the street for dinner. It to was a bar, but looked like it had a separate dining room. When we entered we ran smack into a bride. It brought back memories of being a wedding photographer. (It also reaffirmed my belief that I made the right decision to quit the biz). Kurt and I made our way to the "dining" side of the bar and got menus. There was an empty salad bar against one wall so I started to lose hope. The waitress said we could order anything off the menu. Kurt and I each got a 6 0z Sirloin which came with salad, a baked potato, and a roll. He got a beer and I had soda. It was DELICIOUS!! Our bill came to....gotta love smalltown Iowa....$17.12.

Out with the Old

Kurt and I have WAY too much stuff. I'm not kidding. We have 100...that's right...100 rubbermaids! We liberated 3 of them tonight (but filled up another two). We managed to throw out alot of computer parts, outdated records etc. I have another 3 boxes to go to Goodwill. They LOVE me.

Marnie and I had a great time in the Twin Cities. We saw White Christmas at the Ordway. We had fantastic seats. We were in the last row of the Mezzazine level. We were actually the two seats closest to the aisle. We were seated in side chairs/arm chairs! It was great! Our buckets fit and we could push the chairs back so we didn't have to stand up for people to go in and out. Plus we could stretch out our legs and had room on each side of us.

David Odgen Steirs (Winchester from M*A*S*H) was playing General Waverly. I think I recognized the lady that was the housekeeper, too. I can't remember her name offhand. We took the skywalk to the theater. It took us 35 minutes to get there! After the show we chose to walk outside. We were in the room and in our jammies in 10 minutes!

Wednesday morning we had the 99 cent breakfast at IKEA and then shopped. Not my cup of tea. It's a huge warehouse of a store. They did have some good prices on somethings though. The one thing I really liked was a double porcelain (sp) sink.

Today was the kids' last day of school. I'm taking them shopping tomorrow. Pray for me.

Christmas Vacation

My Christmas Vacation...I mean Holiday Break...is off to a roaring start. Christy woke up with the flu this morning. Luckily, Kurt dealt with it for the most part. I took Nick and Alex to the dentist this afternoon. I did make some Puppy Chow. I'm in the mood to bake but don't know if I will.

I don't have to go back to school until January 8th. I bet it will go really fast and I won't get half the things done I want to get done.

I need a good book to read. Anyone have any suggestions? I just reread A Year in Provence for bookclub. I realized though that I won't be able to go because my sister and I are going to the Twin Cities to see White Christmas at the Ordway. It's my Christmas present to her. "Sisters, Sisters...there were never such devoted Sisters!" Maybe we will wear blue dresses!

So Sad

I realize I haven't been a parent for very long, but some people's parenting style appalls me! Christy had a friend come over after school. That in itself is great. I'm glad she's making friends and wants to socialize. Of course, Christy still doesn't know our phone number so she couldn't give it to the girl's parents so they could call us to check us out (which I will require before Christy goes over there).

They walked here after school, had a snack, and got to the playing. I asked Christy when the girl had to be home and what her last name was. She said "I don't know" and "I"ll ask" to both the questions.

As it was getting darker I went down and asked the girl what time she had to be home. She said, "My mom doesn't care. Whenever. I should probably be home before it's too dark though." Well it's winter in Iowa. It was already 5 o'clock and pitch dark. Now keep in mind the girl's mom has virtually NO idea where her 11 year old daughter is, when she'll be back, and whether or not there are any adults present! Once it hit 5:30 I had Alex and Christy walk her home. Christy asked if she could come over again tomorrow. I wonder what the family situation is at that house.

Crisis Averted

I was FORCED to switch to Beta Blogger. I'd heard so many horror stories of lost archives I didn't want to do it. One day I went to sign in and it said I had to change so I said FINE. Today, I try to log in to dash off a quick post and I can't. I can't find my password. Amazingly it was very easy to reset.

The semester is winding down. I have a test tomorrow and a final on Thursday. I also get a take home final tomorrow. My final final is on Monday. I tried to sell back my Accounting book yesterday. A new edition has been picked up. It isn't worth a thin dime now. You do have to love the continued screwing of the college student.

For some reason 9 x out of 10 I can't answer my cell phone without hanging up on the caller. Evidently, a flip phone is too complicated for me!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I used a portion of my birthday money to get myself a cut and color at a nice salon. (Keep that money coming...GEESH it was pricey!)

The stylist chick straightened it when she dried it. My friends have tried to tell me it would be the way too go. I'm WAY too much of a roll out of bed at the last possible minute to deal with that ever day.

If we hadn't bought Nicky a new bed today, I'd have Kurt take me out tonight!

I'm not really handling 35 very well. It seems pretty stinking old to me.

I should have had the eyebrows done too. Doesn't look like a little make-up would kill me either!

Turkey Day continues

I'm so full I may never eat again! However, I am having a cinnamon roll right now. We had a great yesterday. Kurt's brother Kelly, his wife Jackie, and three boys arrived in the afternoon while I was at the first 50th anniversary party. Greg, his other brother, arrived from Rochester around 5 p.m. He told us of his adventure at Target yesterday morning. He was a nice guy and helped a security guard open a case which led to him being one of the 5 people that got an Xbox something or other with a bonus pack. The armed guard ended up escorting him to the check outs!

Alex came over to see his grandparents and cousins, go for pizza, and swimming while Nicky and Christy declined. We had a 48th Anniversary party for Lyle and Audra Kae at Pizza Ranch. Everyone really enjoyed the buffet and the chocolate cake we brought.

I need to write a memo for my staffing class and I'm having trouble finding an article for it.

We'll have a houseful trying to solve the problems of the world again. It's exhausting!

Anyone for leftovers?