Chapter One We Didn't Really Get Along

My first year of planting tulips.

So, yeah. I've been reading some books. I told you how I went through all of those "best of" lists to find some of the best written novels from the last 10-15 years. I had good luck with most of the books I found, but I did recently run into a couple of clinkers.

Our garden is keeping the cats up to their tiitts in fresh, organic catnip. Duuuuuuude.

I can't remember what book I talked to you about last, but here are the last few I've read:

Room is the story of a woman who was kidnapped and kept in a shed behind her captor's house. I know a lot of people who didn't like this book, but I did. Sure, the first part was a little long and it's told in the voice of her 5 year old son which took some getting used to, but I liked the book overall and I was very happy with the ending.

Ten Thousand Saints - I was excited to read this from the review, but I never really cared about any of the characters and there wasn't enough of a story to it, to make up for that. Disappointing.

House of leaves - This book was also well reviewed, but I didn't think it measured up. It was supposed to be a scary story, but none of it really frightened me. It was kind of about a haunted house, with rooms that grew and changed and growled and from what I can tell, were supposed to represent the female psyche. I have a feeling, this book would have been a lot scarier had I been a man. Most women I know are pretty used to our own growling and unpredictable spaces.

The Accidental - I'm almost done with this now. It is an English novel and I like it. I don't love it, I don't feel like I want to devour it, like some books I read, but it's interesting and well written. I do agree with the review that had problems with the stranger who imposes herself on the family - she isn't either likable enough or fascinating enough to explain how taken the family was with her. She was more of a catalyst, than a person and she felt a bit contrived.

Here are my lilacs - a month or so early.

Tomorrow I will start reading is called The Sisters Brothers. One reviewer described as the book Cormac McCarthy would write if he had a sense of humor. Man, I hope it lives up to that.

When I Look Out My Window. Many Sights to See

I don't have a lot to say today, so here is a picture of some sheep in a field. It is Spring here in Iowa and there are lambs and calves aplenty. We startled tons of them by riding our bikes past. I really do love Iowa...No matter what anyone else says about this state.

Do you love the state you're in?

What is It About This Place, Keeps You On Your Feet?

I'm posting some pics that JS took of me from the fire last night. Thank god, his flash wasn't working when he took this close-up of me...

It was warm today, but I can still feel Fall in the wings. The shadows lie differently on the ground and I find myself going more and more inward these last few weeks. I'm not fighting it. I'm ready for the slow down and a little escape from the external world.

...The lack of flash helped here too, where Bry was being his usual, inappropriate self.

All Summer long I've mostly been doing - running, hiking, kayaking, cycling, mowing, gardening and playing. It was glorious. I have so much energy when it's warm outside. I often forget to eat when I'm so busy doing other things, and then when I do remember, I really just want to grill something anyway.

JS finally got the flash working just as we were leaving. So, at least you all get to see the kick-ass Wolverine t-shirt I was wearing.

Now, I'm back in the kitchen, cooking and baking all the time. I've had to go around, dropping stuff off at my friends' houses, I've been that damned productive.

My inner life is shaping up nicely too. All the books I read, the miles I run and the music I hear take me on a different tangent. I'm reevaluating, examining and processing. This is the time of year where I can finally sit down long enough to write. Sure, it doesn't sound as interesting as all the things I've done over the Summer, but there are all kinds of adventures taking place in my own little world, and I'm excited to sort them all out and get them down on a page in the coming months.

And Life is Like a Song

Daisies!

I know I probably say this almost every day, but this could very well be the lamest blog post I've ever written. I only have a few days before the grad open house and I've been scrambling. The good news is that I don't have any more school functions to attend (aside from the actual graduation) and I only work a half day again on Friday. It will all get done and then it will finally be over. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about Coadster's graduation, but I've been putting so many things on hold until it happens.

So, as soon as it's over, I am ready to get some play time in. I'm going on long bike rides with friends, I'm learning how to kayak and I'm going to spend some time on my back porch reading a book and drinking a beer. I'll still get work done around my house, I'll just balance it better with fun things. I am soooo ready for Summer now.

After a Storm, There Must be a Calm

Stinky roasting her marshmallow perfectly...According to her.

So, remember how yesterday I said I was overwhelmed and needed more time and money? Well, there isn't much I can do about the money I don't have, but I did do something about the time issue. That's right. I started asking for my Summer vacation time off of work. I won't be able to take it for a while, but just knowing it's coming helps me.

I'm going to take my last half furlough day off this Friday. Since it's the only time my girls will be going to the same prom...That is unless Coadster comes back from college and starts trolling for high school boys (when I made this funny joke to Coadster, she rolled her eyes so hard she almost had a seizure). Anyway, I figured I'd need an extra half day to calm down while my girls are in school on Friday to make up for whatever it will take to get both my girls to the prom.

I'm also taking 3 half days on the last three Fridays in May. That will be something nice to look forward to. Once I get to June, I should be able to calm down a bit, it's just the next couple of months that have me a little worried. I've been stressing really hard about everything I want to get done before Coadster's graduation party on Memorial Day weekend. I talked to some of my friends about it and they told me to just calm down and chill out. They said my house looks fine the way it is, so I should consider whatever else I get done before the party a bonus and let it go. Nothing like good friends to help put things in perspective. Of course, I'll still try to get as much done as possible, I'll just try to lessen my self-imposed stress and call it "good enough".

Once June comes along, I'll start taking at least a week off a month through August. Have I mentioned how much I love Summer?

Got a Short Little Span of Attention and Wo My Nights are So Long

I'm posting photos of fallen leaves. Here is a photo of a leaf that landed on the cobblestone on Brown Street.

Tonight you all get a quickie. It's been a long rollercoastery week and I'm beat. I don't have many plans for the weekend yet. Tomorrow, Stinky is having a couple of girls stay the night after the football game. Coadster has a friend who usually stays over at least one night of the weekend, so she may be here as well.

Here are some leaves that went down on the sidewalk on Bloomington Street.

The weather is supposed to be amazing, so I'm definitely running as much as possible. If I can find a big block of time, I'd like to ride my bike toward Kalona and take bucolic photos of barns with quilts painted on them and if I'm lucky, I may even try to steal the souls of a few Amish people riding around in buggies. Of course, this is all dependent on that big imaginary block of time I think I'm going to find somewhere. In other words, I doubt any souls will be robbed this weekend. A girl can dream though, can't she?

This leaf had a softer landing on the grass in a yard on Rochester Street.

I'm sure there will also be some painting and drawing and movie watching and beer drinking and cooking of food. Basically, it will just be another weekend. I love my mellow time.

As usual, I'm interested to know how people with actual lives plan to spend the next couple of days. Help me live vicariously through you in the comments, please.

You Talk About Just Every Band, but the Names You Drop Are Second Hand

So, the squirrels around town have been acting a little squirrely lately. I'm sure they're getting all ready for Winter, but it's not like there aren't tons of black walnuts all over town for them. For a while there, I thought I might need to wear a helmet when I ran to keep from getting knocked out by all the black walnuts falling from the trees.

Tonight I'm doing a meme from Chance at The Sapient Sutler blog. Here's how it works.

Turn on your iTunes or equivalent.

Put it on shuffle.

Write something (a sentence, a paragraph, a story, a word,) about the first 5 songs that come up.

I started photographing this one squirrel that was hanging out in my friend J.'s front yard. She seemed just as interested in me.

1.) "A Million Miles Away" by the Plimsouls. I can't hear this song without thinking about the movie Valley Girl. It's from my high school years. Sure, Fast Times at Ridgemont High is my all time favorite teen movie from when I was in high school, but Valley Girl is right up there. Even if Nicholas Cage's teeth weren't fixed yet.

She also seemed to love the camera. She would climb a little, then pose a lot. Then climb a bit more, then pose again.

2.) "Middle of the Road" by The Pretenders. I guess we're still going with the middle eighties theme. The strongest memory I have of this song, was back in 1984 at my friend Craig Wyricks' college graduation party. They cranked this song through speakers facing out the windows and we danced to it in the middle of the road...Or South Linn Street. At least until the cops came and told us to quiet down.

3.) "Rich" by the Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's. This song and this band always reminds me of Coadster. She was so into them a few years ago and listened to them in the way only junior high kids can stand - over and over and over and over. She didn't quite ruin them for me, but I still can't listen to them all that often.

I think this is it's best angle right here. Sure, she's got that walnut in her mouth, but she can still pull off the full frontal.

4.) "Come as You Are" by Nirvana. This song reminds me of my friend April. She worked with me at Great Midwestern when this song was big. She used to think the lyrics were "...Oh yes, I smell and I don't have a job..." And I can't hear them any other way now. I bet Kurt Cobain wishes he had written them that way too.

5.) "Fox on the Run", by Sweet. Hell, I can't remember if I've ever admitted to you all how much I love the band, Sweet, but I do. "Love is Like Oxygen" is probably my favorite Sweet song, but this one is a close second. It was the soundtrack of every skating or make-out party I went to in junior high. When I was 19 and just starting to work at a restaurant in Iowa City called The Mill, the other cook recited the lyrics to me out of the blue, like he was starting a conversation, "I don't want to know your name. Cuz you don't look the same. The way you did before." I played it off and tried to act all serious while responding, "Okay. You think you got a pretty face, but the rest of you is out of place. You looked alright before." He was my best friend for years after that.

As If Everybody Here Would Know What I Was Talking About

Here is a photo of Stinky and her friend before the Quince. As you can see, we have about three nice dresses that we all interchange. Stinky wore the dress I bought for the wedding I went to in June. Thank god we're all the same size and build.

As it turned out, this was a very restful weekend for me. On Saturday, I ran my eight mile route and found a 20 dollar bill on the sidewalk. There was no one around, so I figured I should take it. I hoped someone rich lost it, just like I hope a poor person finds any money I've lost. I bought a couple of lotto tickets with it and some ice cream for me and Stinky and saved the rest. How would you spend a found $20?

The rest of the day, I spent shuttling kids around town and then finally it was the evening. I didn't hear from anyone, so I decided to stay home and watch movies for a second night in a row. It was an excellent decision, by the way. I watched Ironman and loved it. Robert Downey Jr. was H-O-T, and he's old, so I don't have to feel creepy saying so.

I slept almost eleven hours both nights of the weekend. I'm still trying to fight this stupid cold. I don't quite have it, but I've been waking up with the sore throat and I'm sneezing a lot. I figured I'd battle it by being well rested and eating well. I'll let you know how that works for me.

I ran all seven days this week. I clocked over forty miles. I know that I'm not supposed to do that, but I'm feeling that urgency. You know the one. Where it's Fall and the weather is amazing and I know it won't last, so I have to milk it for all of it's warmth and sunshine and bright, bright colors. I walked around today taking dorky photos in the afternoon. I realized I wasn't the only thing feeling that urgency.

It's that time of year when Mother Nature is bringing out the big guns. It's like the end of the fireworks display where the whole wad is being shot.

Summer's flowers are still blooming, and fading around the edges, but trying to compete...

...With Fall's own dramatic reds. Sure, they know it's all futile. In less than a month, they'll lie dormant and we'll be subject to the starkness of Winter. I suppose you can't blame us all for fighting it, can you?

You Got to Get it Underway

Here is some kind of building brace I felt the need to photograph.

I mentioned in a comment on My Boring Life blog that I keep forgetting it's almost Christmas. LauraB. asked me how I could possibly forget, what with being bombarded with all the stuff in stores and commercials and all. How I do it, is that I live in my own world. I see all the stuff when I go into stores, and think, "Oh yeah. It's that time again." But then I go on my way and start thinking about some other stupid shit and forget, until I accidentally walk into a wrapping paper display.

I know I've talked at you about my love/hate relationship with Christmas many times before. I've had so many crappy ones in the past, that the last few years I've tried to do as much of the parts I like as possible and forget the rest. I still do a family Christmas thing or two, but I keep the gift buying and holiday festivities to a minimum...Unless I think they're going to be really fun.

This weekend will be my first holiday celebrating of the season. Friday night I'll make some frosted sugar cookies. On Saturday my aunt and my sister will come up and we'll go to the matinee performance of Coadster's Winter show choir festivities. In the evening, there are a few fun events. One is the The Load of Craft sale at the Picador where my friend J. and this other guy Fodge (they call themselves Killed by Death) will spin their funky fresh serious metal grooves from 6-8. I've wanted to check them out forever, but they usually spin records on Tuesday nights and I think we all know that I'm too old to stay out late on a school night.

Later in the evening, I'll be meeting a bunch of chuckle heads for the the Santa Crawl. I've got my clothes all picked out, and my boots are made for walking and then maybe stumbling a little by the end of the evening.

On Sunday we won't rest like we should. Instead we'll go to a farm on Dane Road and cut down our tree. At three I'm meeting friends down at the Vine for the BIG GAME of the Steelers against The Patriots. I pretty much have to watch it for sure, and even then, I'm a little afraid that my mojo won't be enough.

Once the game is over, I'll go home and the girls and I will decorate our tree. I'm kind of excited about coming home for the next couple of weeks and having our house smell so strongly of pine. I still need to do the tiny little bit of shopping I actually do for people, and so I'm taking a half day of vacation on the Friday before Christmas so the girls and I can go see a movie and finish anything that didn't get done beforehand.

Cookies, beer, football, RAWK! and movies - see what I mean? None of that should really be too bad, and some of it will probably actually be fun. Bring it on, bitches.

Cold as Ice - You Know That You Are

Here's me talking some shit to my coach at track practice when I was sixteen. I would have taken pictures of my daughters today, but I didn't want to get frostbite on my hands.

You know how I always talk about how much I love my daughters on here? Well, lately I've had to put my money where my mouth is. I am right in the middle of Spring activities for the girls, and I've been doing things that I would only do for them.

On Sunday, Coadster had a choir concert at St Mary's church. They sang religious music and it was all very beautiful and a lot of it was in Latin, but it was also really, really long. The show lasted almost two hours. I was so glad I took a nap beforehand, because even on a hard, unforgiving church pew, my friend sitting next to me, fell asleep. Not just a little doze either, he was dreaming and everything and his head started falling into the people in front of us, before he woke-up and bolted upright. Once again, I got caught laughing in church.

Today I got to leave work an hour early to attend Stinky's track meet. She throws the shot put and discus. In the eight or more years I was in track, I never once got to see the field events. They're actually pretty cool. It would have been great, if the winds hadn't been blowing and the temperatures dropping by the minute. I don't like to be cold. I'll say it again - I REALLY don't like to be cold. After Stinky finished her events, I went home for a half hour before I went back out to Coadster's soccer game. I had to grab the biggest, warmest comforter to wrap myself in while I sat on the aluminum bleachers. And since I was feeling a tiny bit dramatic, I also took a minute to call my friend K. and whine about how cold I was. K. is an awesome friend. She not only didn't tell me to suck it up and leave her the hell alone, she stayed on the line and commiserated with me until she was actually at her destination and didn't want to be one of those "talking on her cell phone in the store people".

The soccer game was much better than the track meet, because I was actually dressed properly. Plus, I finally stopped whining after I watched Coadster and her teammates running around in shorts and kicking up tons of water and mud from the saturated soccer field.

Tell It to Me Slowly

I took this almost exactly a year ago today on the railroad bridge behind the Union. I couldn't bear to post a snowy picture on the first day of Spring, so I had to steal from some back files.

Even though the breezy, thinner air has made it feel more like Fall the last two days, it is indeed the first day of Spring. Woo hoo! It's like someone flipped a switch and things both inside and outside of my scary brain, are rapidly changing to accomodate the new season.

Both girls have started their Spring sports. Coadster has soccer practice everyday after school and Stinky's doing track. It means that soon I will be frequently watching sporting events and catching up on the gossip with the other parents, while we remind each other to pay attention enough to see our kids do their things.

My head is burning up with Spring fever. It makes me so stoooopid. I'll be in the middle of a task, and suddenly forget what the hell I was doing. I can't tell you how many times I've caught myself thinking, "Uh, wait. What?" It's as if my stoner roommate from college is couch surfing in my brain.

I have that early spring conundrum where I'm just starting to shed the Winter pelt, but I still have a ways to go, and I also want to wear my cute, warm weather skirts. I keep trying them on and telling myself, "Next month. This will look so much better on me in just a few weeks."

On Monday night, I went to my friend K.'s house to plan out the garden we plant in her backyard every year. We did talk about at least one related topic, like how we'd just buy peppers from her neighbor who works at the Co-op and apprentices at an organic farm where he grows tons of them. It will be less seedlings taking up my kitchen table and her shelves. Most of the night, we forgot about why I was really there, and talked a bunch of shit instead. We'll figure out all the garden stuff as we go, I'm sure.

You know how I'm super immature with my potty brain, and my extreme love of the double entendre? Yeah? Well, that is even worse in the Spring. I keep misreading words or hearing things wrong at work, so that it seems as if everyone is being completely inappropriate in a supposedly professional environment. I've even accidently typoed my real name twice this week, once as Tata and the other time as Tarta on work related e-mails. It was hilarious...to me, anyway.

All I Want Now is Happiness for You and Me

Oh, Winter. I know I've talked so much shit about you in the past, and I'm sorry. You've also paid me back by making those below zero temperatures last week, so I know you've heard me. All those people who call you "Old Man Winter", have never experienced the wrath of a teenaged girl before. Old men can be cantankerous, but they do not have the energy to throw the kinds of tantrums you do.

Because everyone is sick to death of celebrity feuds, and I'm tired of harboring all this hate in my tiny blackened soul, I thought maybe we could settle our differences. It's not like we have to be best girlfriends and drink wine and make fun of Wife Swap together or anything. I was just thinking along the lines of peacefully coexisting.

Since I've become a bit of an expert on dealing with teenaged girls, I understand that I will have to make the first move and appeal to your vanity. So, I'll start by telling you how pretty you looked today. Seriously, that fresh snow really becomes you and it was the good kind, that you can make snowballs with. You also did a great job of evening out your temperature. It was in the upper twenties all day and you controlled your wind. (I don't want to make you feel bad, but you had a little problem with that the last few weeks)

Mostly, I just wanted to thank you for giving me such a great day. I even stepped out of my lair for a couple hours and took photographs and went running. When I got home, after all that exercise, I was still appreciating you because it felt so right and seasonal to take a hot bubble bath and then get out and drink tea while wearing my gigantic, very warm, hideously ugly, lounge clothes.

I hope you accept my apology and we are able to live happily and without incident for the next couple of months. Oh, and if you had anything to do with The Bears winning today, then my daughter thanks you too.

Love,

Churlita