Faaaaalllllliiiiinnnnnggggg...

So I received an email today from a "friend" with a bunch of beautiful trees from all over the world. I looked at the pics and told him there were so many beautiful trees here it was almost crazy. We are fortunate to live in an area of the world where things are so lovely. Winter can be Challenging but even that can be lovely. We are so lucky to have this most awesome season before the onset of Winter.

Looking UP at the gorgeous leaves. I wish I had a nice camera ...

More of the neighbors (I can see this from my kitchen window. That field on the left is full of sweet corn in the summer!! Yummy stuff.

Trying to be artsy fartsy about some leaf pictures. Trust me ...this doesn't do justice to the amazing color.

My toes covered in leaves!! The orange polish (called "A Good Mandarin  is hard to find') almost matches.

I just had to show off the amazing mum I picked up at the farmers market last weekend.

More awesome color from the road side.

If I had a nice camera you would see how Absolutely Amazing this is ....doesn't do it justice ...I promise!

More crappy roadside pics of the Beauty.

We live just a very few miles from the Iowa/Minnesota border AND Jesse James road. Named  because there is a small cave where Jesse James and his crew of nasties stayed when they were on their way to Northfield to rob a bank.

Sumac and some bossies and in the background.

The Hesper Friends church with the amazing trees.

More of the Friends Church with the blue recycling container in the background.

Looking UP at the color.

A cool stepping stone at the Blue Owl

The Blue Owl (aka Blue Bird -it's really your choice).

This is our neighbors house. Evidently it used to be a hotel in which Jesse James and his nasties stayed after they got tired of the cave.

 

This is the street right out in front of our house.

Even the garden looks like fall! We still haven't dug the potatoes and some beets are still out there along with some kale.

This is the neighbors backyard. Lovely huh?

So NOW you've really seen some lovely trees. I really do wish I had the talent of a real photographer but I did what I could with what I have.

In the meantime, I'm out finding myself ...

Try, try again ... right?

Still gardening! The Chamber Pots are growing! Hooray for that!

It's raining and raining it seems! We've gotten a fair amount just in the last day or so ...

2 inches 4 tenths in case you can't read off the crappy cell phone pic! I am grateful we haven't blown away or flooded though with all of the mess the world is in right now.
The garden is starting to grow. I finally got the darn thing tilled the day before mother's day and got a bunch planted the next morning. The lettuce type stuff and kohlrabi is coming up nicely. I still don't have the potatoes or tomatoes/peppers planted but they are all waiting to go into the ground -if the rain/cool weather ever quits!!
Happy Memorial Day weekend all! We look forward to a busy weekend of grad parties, birthday parties and a party of our own! Remember to attend one of your local Memorial Day ceremonies. They are always very neat. In our tiny little burg we have two cemeteries and the local Legion comes every year and does a neat little reading of all Vets names and playing of Taps.  It's very moving.
I'll be back soon ...I Hope!
In the meantime, I'm out finding myself ...

yeah I'm a voyeur ....so what???

I know the title sounds a little creepy but let me explain please.
I am an avid reader. I have been all of my life. I think I like the transportation factor of reading as much as I like the peek into another person's experiences and feelings. I love me the Facebook. Why? Because, I guess, deep down I'm a stalker. I love reading other people's blogs! Yup, I'm a creeper. In all honesty it comes from a good place but I just really love others stories!
This brings me to Maggie Mason . If you don't read Mighty Girl you surely should begin immediately! I'm serious! Stop reading this foolish drivel and GO there!!!
Maggie posted recently about childhood memories (of course I can't find the original post but that link will take you to a really good place! I promise! GO THERE). I got completely sucked into this post the other night. Reading these little blurps really struck me for some reason. I was amazed at how similar, yet completely unique, each entry was. Each one rang true for me to a certain extent. I just loved it. You've got to check it out!
Then today T9 posed a question to their Facebook fans and I'm sucked in again! I have loved the idea behind their company since my friend Kat turned me on to them a few months back. You have to get out and see them too! You don't even really need to shop, read these women's stories! They are Awesome! It is not only a great marketing tool but a way to make a real connection with the company (this is why shopping locally is so great but that is another post for another day!).
So now you know about me huh? I'm a crazed stalker person but I hope you go and read some of these links and I'll keep linking you to many others I feel are worthwhile reading.
In the meantime, I'm out finding myself ...

Tip Toe through the Tulips ....

Last week the early flowers started poking through and today we have our first bloom! Whooo hooo!! If I'm lucky I'll have things blooming constantly now through the first hard frost!! Hooray for spring!!

In the meantime, I'm out finding myself ....

The Annual exam .....

Um so you don't want to hear about mine? Hmmm, well you are no fun at all!! Seriously though, you do want to hear Heather's! Go read it!!! You have Ovaries!  That is as good as Chamber Pots!


In the meantime, I'm out finding myself ...

Chamber Pots ... because I am a child I think this is Hysterical.

You'll notice that I've started a page for my gardening/yard work. I think every year that I need to start a diary of what I plant/harvest and when and then I never get around to doing it. This year with the blog is going to be. the. year.
We finally had a nice weekend this past weekend and I couldn't bring myself to stay inside so we got a bunch of yard work done. Gosh winter is hard on things! It is hard to believe the junk that gets spread out in the yard through those snow covered months! I don't have a ton of space in our house but tried again this year to save my geraniums. If you want an EXCELLENT tutorial about this Carol posted on the other day! Go there! Read it! Do it! (I'll wait here ..... ok you back?) My mom and grandmother have done this for years with tons of success. I, on the other hand, haven't had that much luck until this year. I think I've managed to save a few of the babies from last year.
Part of what I was trying to save were the awesome candy striped geraniums I planted in the pots that sat out in front of the Decorah Area Chamber of Commerce last summer. I didn't get those babies to live but the Chamber Girls should enjoy some of the other colors I was able to get to survive from the pots my mom and I planted last year (and most quite a few year earlier as well). I have the Chamber Pots started and hopefully by the time the Iowa Weather is decent enough to leave them out there will be some lovely flowers for the Girls and other visitors to enjoy!

Sorry, as usual, for the crappy cell phone pic but in a few weeks these pots (if I don't kill 'em first) should be full and lush ready for the Chamber!

In the meantime, I'm out finding myself .... 

Thank a Farmer Thursday ....

Are you eating, drinking and clothed today? Thank a farmer!!
My friend Carol blogged about it today. Head over for more details then get out and Thank a farmer!!
The BEEFLady

I did NOT take this picture!!

In the meantime, I'm out finding myself ...

Spring is just around the corner!!

If this doesn't make you laugh I don't think we can be friends anymore!!!

This picture was NOT taken  by me ....

In the meantime, I'm out finding myself .... 

Baaaa'd Blogger

Sorry to be such an absentee blogger. Had a "rough" weekend (aka: partied like a rock star -uffda) and recovery time is longer than it once was!
I wanted to jump in today to send you over to AntiSupermom for her awesome blog content and she is also doing a super cool giveaway!! Get to reading!! (originally found Anti Supermom through Inspire(d) Media-also well worth a read!!)

In the meantime, I'm out finding myself ...

just to get a post up here ...

Via eamail from my friend Nikki the other day. Happy Friday!

BLESSED ARE THE CRACKED, FOR THEY LET IN THE LIGHT!
 TWENTY-NINE LINES TO MAKE YOU SMILE

1. My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was
God and I didn't.
2. I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.
3. Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.
4. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.
5. Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive.

6. You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me
7. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.
8. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
9. I'm not a complete idiot -- Some parts are just missing.
 10. Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.
11. NyQuil, the stuffy, sneezy, why-the-heck-is-the-room-spinning medicine.
12. God must love stupid people; He made so many.
13. The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
14. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.
15. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again? 16. Being 'over the hill' is much better than being under it!
17. Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew up.
18. Procrastinate Now!

19. I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts; Do You Want Fries With That?
20. A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
21. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.
22. Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere!
23. They call it PMS because Mad Cow Disease was already taken.
24. He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless DEAD.
25. A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times
the memory.
26. Ham and eggs... A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a
pig. (how true)
27. The trouble with life is there's no background music.
28. The original point and click interface was a Smith & Wesson.
29. I smile because I don't know what the hell is going on.




In the meantime, I'm out finding myself ...

Me from A-to Z!

**Snagged from 21 Days***
(A) Age: 33
(B) Bed Size: Queen
(C) Chore You Really Dislike: Cleaning something I have JUST cleaned
(D) Dogs? zero!!
(E) Essential Start Your Day Item: Coffee!!!
(F) Favorite Color: Green
(G) Gold or Silver? Silver
(H) Height: 5'5"
(I) Instruments You Play: Clarinet in School, Piano
(J) Job Title: DJ, Traffic Director and Office Flunky
(K) Kids: Elizabeth 8
(L) Live: Hesper, IA
(M) Mom's Name: Betty: name-sake of an Elizabeth but her full name is Betty NOT Elizabeth
(N) Nicknames: Nell, Nellie, Goofy Duck, Maid Janelle of Escargot
(O) Overnight Hospital Stays? Only after having given birth
(P) Pet Peeve: oh wow! Where do I start with this?? There are soooooo many! Probably the biggest is people who are incapable of engaging their brains! Use what God gave you!! Oh yea, BAD DRIVERS!! (seriously, I could keep going, I am a jerk)
(Q) Quote from a Movie: "peas and carrots" from Forest Gump (although I love both peas and carrots but HATE the combo of the two so really it doesn't make sense), "Epiphy-what??" from Hook
(R) Right or Left Handed? Right
(S) Siblings: 2 Sisters and 1 brudder
(T) Time You Wake Up? the alarm goes off at 6am - the clock in the bedroom is set fast so by the time I've snoozed once it is 6 when I get up.
(U) Underwear:  In kind of shameful shape! People! I didn't know the mom thing meant my underwear budget went to other things!! Good grief
(V) Vegetable You Dislike: asparagus
(W) What Makes You Run Late: The kid!!
(X) X-Rays: lungs when I was a kid I had pneumonia
(Y) Yummy Food You Make: steaks on the grill
(Z) Zoo, Favorite Animal: Monkeys!!


In the meantime, I'm out finding myself ....

the diet post

So what a great title huh?? The great life change post? I was asked to be a bridesmaid so I needed to be less squishy before September? The I'm not 18 anymore and everything I eat goes directly to my hiney? I could go on? Would you like that? A long listing of my insecurities about my weight and how I feel about my bod in general? No? I can't believe you don't want to hear me whine. Huh some readers ...

So I got married in 2007! That was lots of fun (well, except the part where certain people thought we were doing things wrong and kind of ruined the actual day for me but that is another post entirely). When I say fun I mean Fun! My hubby and I like to have Fun. We like beer. We like food. We are not teenagers. My pants  grew! I kept telling my hubby that it was because I was so happy!! Oh yeah hunny! I'm gaining weight because I'm happy! Ugh! Nice to hear from your wife right? Not exactly! I was increasingly miserable about it. Hubby wasn't thrilled but maintained being a pretty supportive guy through the chunky.

 BTW: I have no idea who this baby is-it's just Chunky!!**

My annual exam last year was as usual with my favorite doctor. This is the woman who will sit down with me and be frank. When she says "How are you" she actually wants to know and wants also to know the actual answer, not the glossed over "oh I'm ok" crap. When I left my appointment last year she was encouraging me to start on an antidepressant. Hmmm, hint hint anyone? Lifestyle change needed? Ok ok it took me a year but point taken!
I maybe needed the inspiration (i.e. Bridesmaid) but nonetheless on January 1st (how typical) I started the Atkins/Paleo diet. I cut out carbs of almost all kinds without strictly following the rules of either diet. It is the make it up as you go along but still lost some weight diet! Hooray! The Atkins thing is pretty familiar to most and this link is the best description of Paleo that I could find. Hope it kind of makes sense now. I first heard of the Paleo diet here and here.
The food change was huge at first for me. I luuuurrrrve me some pasta, potatoes and BEER!! Well, hello carbohydrates!! Come and be my BFF and forever attach yourselves to my body!! I spent the first week or so a little bit grouchy and craving (BIG time) noodles of any and all types, french fries, baked potatoes and essentially any carb I wasn't allowed to eat! I felt immediately better and lost TEN pounds in the first week! Holy hannah!
After the first week or ten days passed I quit losing weight and would still have loved to eat some pasta I just wasn't willing to sell my firstborn for it now! After awhile the weight started coming off again, just more slowly and at a more maintainable rate (Greetings sensible lifestyle! Maintainable?? Hmmm, how novel.). As of this date I've lost around 16 pounds (I haven't stepped on the scale in about two weeks) and three pants sizes! Hooray for all of this! But also, this feels maintainable (t.w.i.c.e. in one paragraph!! WHAT UP?). This way of eating is something I could/can keep up for a long time. I am anxious to include exercise into this routine (ha, I could totally have said "maintainable routine" but thought you might all leave) but at this point haven't done that. My hubby likes the change (rawrrrr!) and my kid sees that I'm eating sensibly (yes! for mom points here) and has taken notice! I have a daughter and I'm scared I'm going to be passing along the typical body issues to her! This, of course, is another post entirely!
I'm not saying I'm perfect but have read a couple of things recently that brought this post on (Dutch Blitz and In the Trenches) that made me want to share. I am extremely proud that for the most part I haven't cheated on this diet (I do have a few beers here and there and have taken to eating things like chicken strips with some breading on there) and love the way I'm feeling.
That being said - I feel like crap (finally caught the cold my diseased roommates/co-workers have had) so, in the mean time, I'm out finding myself ....

The Cooking Kid!

We had book club with the H.A.C.'s  last week. I find this is can be a refreshing mind clearing evening! Even if we don't  ever get around to discussing the book. My girls have kids around the same age as E. I have heard all of them talking about letting their kids cook or involving them in the kitchen in some way. We implemented this as our house this past week. I managed not to lose my mind (yes, I am an anal, jerk! There are many excellent reasons I am NOT a teacher!) and E did an awesome job with the supper. She picked a new recipe (two of them actually), made a shopping list, found the things at the store and did almost all the cooking herself! She couldn't have been more proud to have Hubs bragging all about her dinner the whole time we were eating. She also volunteered to clear the table at the end of the meal (at least you know she has seen that is what actually happens if I'm cooking!). She participated big time in the meal we put together later in the week as well. E is looking forward to doing this a lot more and I am actually looking forward to letting her do it! All together now: Deep Breath In ........Whoooooooosh! I can LET GO a bit!! Will wonders never cease? Thanks girls for the encouragement!!

Elsewhere:
I am loving, loving this new blog I've found! Go to this link! Immediately!! Read!! Enjoy it! Be challenged by it!!! (BE WARNED: if you are thin-skinned this is NOT the blog for you! STAY AWAY! and if you choose to ignore that warning do NOT complain to me or become a troll to the blog authors! Consider yourself forewarned!) Year of Sundays

In the mean time, I'm out finding myself ...

Winter - take ...um, who am I kidding ...we've lost track

We're back at it again - winter in this neck of the woods. We haven't gotten the weather as bad as some but it is still enough to cause angst!
Hubs owns a house in town that we have been renting out for the last four years. Our renter moved out at the end of November and for many reasons we finally decided in December to put the house on the market (picture me to doing the BIGGEST HAPPY DANCE ever!). This house is nothing spectacular but it is still a home and the price is waaaay more than right! Trust me on this one. Anyway, along with having a house come things like taking care of that house. When the area you live in gets ice accumulation taking care of the house involves removing huge old tree branches off said house. Ugh! Apparently the ice/snow accumulation got the pine tree next to house sagging (oh how I can appreciate THAT feeling) down low onto the roof of the house and on to the car parked in the neighbors driveway!
This morning I had to drop Peanut off at her dad's and I was happily on my way to work when my phone rang. It was hubs telling me we needed to meet and switch trucks so he could get down to his dad's and pick up FIL and the chain-saw and get back to the "Town-House". Well, one big old miscommunication later (my phone cut out when we had decided where we were meeting and he was waiting about 8 miles north of where I was waiting - Niiiiice!) and we were truck switched and he's on his way to retrieve help for this tree cutting project.
I am swamped at work so getting there late doesn't help that little problem than you tack on there that I'm supposed to be getting ahold of our insurance agent to discover what we're actually supposed to do with this darn tree resting on the house (does a run-on sentence make you feel out of breath too?? I digress ...). What a mess. I don't have anything that I need to have done here at work which puts me behind for the whole week. Hubs is already way swamped at work and I'm sure having to take time to do this has only made that worse! I haven't heard anything from them in hours which I hope means they have all of their appendages still fully intact. I will keep you updated ....I don't have cabin fever people - I have I never frickin' want to leave my cabin fever ....
In the meantime, I'm out finding myself .....

Got Insurance? (aka: Got Rage? oh yea I do!!)

Health Insurance. It's on everyone's mind these days with Obamacare and the potential disaster that nationalized health care is turning out to be. This post, however, isn't political at all (I promise) it has all to do with a company. A Company I have done business with for years! A company my husband has been insured with for years as well. Shall I start from the beginning? Julie Andrews would say it is a very good place to start ...
I work for a small company who has for quite some time provided us all with an option for insurance coverage. A recent turn of events has put me as the only person on this list of insured persons at our company. I am paying nearly $300 out of pocket per month for health insurance. Yes, I am a smoker (flog me now - you would be in good company) but other than that am a picture of health. I've never had an abnormal Pap, weird diseases or high blood pressure. Nothing people - I am YOUNG I am HEALTHY. I am also almost $300 poorer each month to simply get an annual exam from my regular doc. This is entirely unacceptable to me. I am sick of all of that money going to the Company and not into my pocket. There are a million things I could do with this money and none of those things include throwing it away at a worthless insurance company.
I have decided to change my insurance to a less expensive variety. It won't cover quite as much but as I said, I'm at the docs once a year for my annual exam and I'm more than willing to pay a little more out of pocket at that time rather than paying so much each month. I hope this is a more fiscally responsible decision but as of Friday the insurance company makes that in the "Remains to Be Seen" category. Let me explain: My insurance guy, George, a fellow golfer and guy who also likes to have a good time came in last week and we filled out the required information online for my new insurance. What will be happening is I will personally get the bill from the Company and will then pass it along to my employers who will pay the bill and take a stipend from my pay check for health insurance. (Hopefully also the company will also start paying a larger percentage. Currently I pay 70% and they pay 30%. My office manager thinks she can talk the bosses into 50/50-we shall see). This insurance application went off without a hitch - see above-GOOD HEALTH! Also, I'm not a person with pre-existing conditions (including pregnancy because I'm all done with that). I am a happy girl! The insurance will be less money and I will still have pretty decent coverage .....duh, duh, duh - or so I thought!
Fast forward to Friday morning. Friday: my least favorite day at work and also my busiest. My insurance guy George calls me. Normally, this is not a big deal. Normally, I like to talk to George. Not on Friday friends! George did not have good news. George got to inform me that the Company doesn't like me because .....wait for it .....my HUSBAND is also insured with them!!!! Are you kidding me?? Just what I thought as well (there might have been some colorful language exchanged -George is not happy either). My husband is also employed by a small company. His boss pays ALL of his insurance premium which makes me (and his paycheck) very, very happy. I have not approached his boss about changing to family because I don't want him to change his mind about paying 100% so we have settled for the insurance situation as it stands: Hubby has his policy, I have my policy and we have a policy (yep - a THIRD) for The Peanut. This has been the most reasonable way to do this so far. As it turns out the Company won't let me get my own policy because they want me to go on my husband's policy (turning that policy into a FAMILY plan and making it waaaaay more expensive). Like I said -very much rage and a fair amount of colorful language .....grrrrrrr...
But, let me tell you a story, it gets better! The insurance Company will let me have my own policy if we LIE to them and tell them my hubby and I (who, for the record, are very happily married most of the time) are having marital problems or are split up. My insurance guy says he is going to try and avoid telling them this because he knows it isn't true but is willing to do that because he wants me to have insurance! Are you kidding me? So the only way to have our insurance be something that is financially possible is for us to be LIARS???? This is absolutely not even something I'm willing to entertain. I can't do it partly because I am nearly incapable of lying (now if you tell me a secret or about a surprise party I can handle that) and partly because I just don't want to spend money with the Company at all anymore. I feel like a Company who would be willing to do this to their clients is not worth looking at twice no matter the quality of insurance they can provide!
So, tell me? Whaddya think? I seriously thought I was going to have a bit of some kind of episode on Friday afternoon (hysteria, heart attack, panic attack or what have you). I have calmed down a bit since then but really can not even think about telling anybody-even a faceless, nameless insurance jack-wad that I am divorcing just to get insurance. Thoughts???
In the mean time, I'm out finding myself ......








PS: Part of the reason I am calmer today is because I did about 15 million loads of laundry and got to read 300 pages of my latest book. I set myself up a little spot -see below - not quite as lovely as Sassy's but it is pretty comfy and works well!

Forgive the ugliness of the chair, orange carpet (we live in a trailer house people), random scarves (I wear them all the time so why put them in the drawer?) without homes and poor quality photo (I don't have a camera any more so the cell phone will have to do)!

AAAAAaaaaaannnnnnddddd, oh yeah .....

So I promised I would be doing this faithfully! How is that working out for me? Very well, evidently! Lovely!

So my first post was about airing grievances there are a ton of them for sure. This week most of them belong to work related things! In an effort to avoid being Dooced maybe I'll keep the stories to the fools to whom I get to speak to each and every single day.
So why, may I ask, do people in general refuse to engage their gray matter? I mean, really, it's there, not just to take up space but to actually function as a device by which information may be gained! Truly!!!

Take today for example: It was a dreadfully foggy morning and and several local school districts delayed and eventually canceled classes. Now, a person, say a person who would need to know this type of information because they have a child that may attend one of these facilities, can obtain this information in many different manners. You can have this directly texted to your phone (free), watching the ticker on the TV (free), listen to the radio (yup, free but listening would be the operative word here) or check it out on the Interwebs (probably not free but with a minimal amount of research I could discover that most of you have a computer and the internet in your home and maybe even in the palm of your hand!!). With all of these many, many ways to obtain information picking up your phone and dialing a number and asking ME to look this information up for you is not only bordering absolute insanity but also bellows LAZY LAZY LAZY jerk! I have an extremely low tolerance for laziness but it is unbelievably rampant. What can I do???

But then maybe the organized amongst us are really the lazy ones? Huh? But then 'Stina's got the ticket? Hmmm, either way! You should definitely get over and check out her new locally grown wedding blog!
In the mean time,
I'm out finding myself ..... 

Nobody cares what you had for lunch ....but ....

Maybe they care we played Life on the Farm -again tonight- and Elizabeth won -again tonight!

It exhausted the dog. Maggie Mason doesn't like the mundane for regular blog posts but a person has to start somewhere right?
In the meantime I'm out finding myself ...

Trying out the blog thing. A spot to air grievances (even thought we've just survived Festivus). A place to get me writing and tell stories. There are a lot of of them: trust me in this department.
In the mean time,
I'm out finding myself .....