There's So Much That We Need to Share. So Send a Smile and Show You Care

During these funky times, I've been doing a lot of trading of things with friends. I love to share and give people stuff, which is how this all started. Then the people I offered to give stuff to, said they wanted to trade me for stuff. And so, I have traded a ton of shit lately, and it feels really good.

I traded a lot with my friend, Brittany. She is a baking fiend, and I don't have the patience or the exactness (?) to bake very well. So, she traded me some coconut muffins, and I made her and  her boyfriend some chicken enchiladas with homemade refried beans and fried tostada shells. When she saw all of that, she threw in some Impossible burgers and some African groundnut stew.

That same day I traded my friends, Rob and Dawn some of those same enchiladas and beans and tostada shells for two and they reciprocated with two rolls of toilet paper, some farm fresh eggs and they colored (blue, appropriately) a card with the word, "balls" on it. Have I mentioned how much I love my friends?

I said something about how I was trying to keep an eye on my drinking (this virus has me very stressed-out and parched) and trying to find some fun non-alcoholic cocktails. That same friend, Brittany gave up alcohol about a year ago, and sent over a bottle of this non-alcoholic cocktail mixer and  some ginger beer to make mock Moscow mules. I then traded her for some lemon zucchini bread, which is one of the few things I do bake.

I really love trading food, especially meals with people. I've never made African ground nut stew and it was amazing.

My friend, Brittany dropped off some chocolate banana cake this week. I didn't have anything to trade for it then, but this weekend, I hope to make some veggie lasagna and some chicken wild rice soup in the crockpot, that I will drop off for her on Sunday.

My Spring flowers are finally blooming, so when John goes to drop off groceries for his mom in her retirement community, I try to get a bouquet ready for her. I also make sure he has a book or two. I gave her the first two books in the Olive Kitteridge trilogy last week, and the first book of the "Little House on the Prairie" series this week.

Now that it's garden season, I've been giving or trading like a banshee. My friend, Kathy had her husband drop off some cilantro and parsley plants, and I will bring over some snapdragons, bell pepper, and Mexican Torch Sunflower seedlings as soon as it's warm enough to plant them outside.

I traded my next door neighbor some red raspberry bush shoots, and some cone flowers, and he gave me some red onion shoots, and dropped off buckets of mulch. He later told me he took the mulch from the community gardens across the street, but since I'm not the one who pinched it, I can't feel too badly, can I?

Of course, I've been making plenty of food for my girls during this crazy pandemic. This week I made mashed red potatoes and green bean casserole and tomorrow when we drop off Coadster's bike, we'll bring them some lunch take-out from a restaurant of their choice.

So, if you haven't already, give somebody something. The act alone will make you feel better, and who knows what you'll get back.

Here is the Main Thing I Want to Say. I'm Busy Twenty-Four Hours a Day

First off, I want to apologize for not having written. I've been having bad migraines that make me stoooopid and not very eloquent, and on top of that, we've been amazingly busy at work from home.

Second off, I want to say, Happy Earth Day! I hope you can get out at some point and pick up some garbage, or enjoy the outdoors in some way that doesn't ruin it. It's all we got, so let's respect and treat it like we want to be around as a species for a long, long, time.

 Today I'm going to talk about my husband only working part-time during the Covid time. I wasn't sure how it was going to go. John and I both have our own way of doing things, so we've had to be better about communicating why and how we want things done. Like, he does most of the dishes (which is one of the best things in my life right now), but apparently it drives him crazy that I put dirty dishes in the other side of the sink (just so you don't think I'm an animal, I put them there and put water in them so they can soak). So, now I will try to only put dirty dishes on the counter to the left side of the sink where John washes the dishes. The things you learn about a person after being together for almost ten years...

Anyway, it's going pretty well so far. For the last two weeks, John was working Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Starting this week, John will only be working Tuesday and Thursday.

The key to a happy partially employed husband, is to keep him busy on his days off. He is always asking what projects I want done. Well, just let me scroll out this list that should cover most of state of Iowa.

His first project was to attach a bike rack to my car. Since he didn't get a new car after the car accident where the woman ran the red light into his car, we are sharing mine, and so we need a bike rack on it. Consider that job done.

Since I bought the house, I've been meaning to get to the yard on the East side of the house. It doesn't cover a lot of space, and it's mostly big ferns that do well in shade, but increasingly there have been more and more big weeds and scrub/volunteer trees. My plan this year was to grub up all of the trees, rake all the old leaves, dig up most of the ferns, then enclose most of the area in a brick border with weed cloth and red lava rock in it. I would also cut some holes in the weed cloth where I intend to plant every other plant a Hosta or a fern. We'll see how that goes. Last Fall, our friends had some extra pavers they wanted get rid off for free, if we were willing to cart them off ourselves. We're planning to use those for the border, and buying a few more if we need them. Of course, I'll put up after shots when we're done with it all.

I had been chipping away at it the last couple of weekends, by grubbing up trees and roots, but yesterday, John spent almost the whole day raking and getting the trees out of there. He has a couple more tree roots to go, but with him doing so much work, we might actually get it almost all done this weekend. We'll see, though.

The other project he's been working on, is putting pet screen on some of the windows. Since Archie was a kitten, he has made it his mission to rip any screen in our house. He's done one hell of a job too. John had already replaced a few of them with pet screen the last couple of years, but there were some more where we just couldn't open certain windows, since the screens were shredded (thanks again, Archie). John finally got a couple more done last week.

And let me tell you, the cats are thrilled to  have that new window to look out of and smell from. Especially since our neighbor's cats hang out in their screened-in porch that faces this particular window. This could be the best Summer ever for the cats.

I would say that we're dealing with John being home more often and me working from home just fine. I just have to keep a list of projects handy for him, and if  you've seen our house, you know that will not be a problem.

Don't You Ever Feel Like You're a Rider on a Downbound Train

It was really nice out this day, and the window was open, and the cats were ever so happy.

 So, Hey! Guess what? On Saturday I went to the store and not only was there toilet paper, they had dish soap too. Neither was my normal brand, but I haven't seen toilet paper or dish soap for sale at the store in over a month.  A few months ago, I had no idea how exciting this would be. How long after this pandemic is over will we still appreciate something like this?

Also, am I the only one who watches movies where people are in big groups, and shaking hands and hugging others, and I scream in my head, "What are you doing? How irresponsible of you.".

I was laughing the other day that instead of being jealous of your friends who seem to always be posting on Facebook about taking trips to exotic places, now you can judge them for it and feel so much better about yourself. There's always an upside.

In the interest of not drinking WAY too much during this pandemic, I'm working on making Temperance cocktails, or Mocktails. A friend gave me this Seedlip stuff, that is a mixture of different infused spices, to use in place of vodka or whatever your alcohol of choice might be. So far I made a mockscow mule, and a tonic drink with lots of lime and a splash of cranberry, but not vodka. They were both very refreshing. I'm still drinking some alcohol, I just want to make sure that doesn't become a problem during these stressful times. After all, I'm already overeating enough to fulfill anyone's vice quota.

You know how I said John and I were watching at least one zombie movie a week during this pandemic? Well, a friend of ours recommended one called "Train to Busan". It's on Netflix, and it is my new favorite South Korean zombie apocalypse social statement movie ever. It's so stressful, that I told John I might actually have a heart attack before it was over. I'm sure you won't overlook a recommendation like that.

Lastly, this might be the first year that I almost forgot the Iowa City tornado anniversary. I guess all it takes is another tragedy to happen the same time of year, to take your mind off a thing.

Little Darling, It Feels Like Years Since It's Been Clear

Well, Kids, this weekend was so much more wonderful than the last few. That's right, I got to go outside and play for the first time in almost a month. I had that bad head cold for over three weeks, so I was very limited in what I could do.

Of course, I've lost all kinds of fitness, so I was doing everything very slowly, but it felt so good to move and to play outside.

 We were supposed to do a trail running race on Saturday, but it got changed because of Covid-19. It was now called a "run-in-place". You were supposed to run it away from others wherever was closest, and safest for you. We chose to run the route it was supposed to be. We went to Hickory Hill Park in the morning when there weren't many people out and about.

It was a lovely run. Since I hadn't done any exercising in almost a month, we went slowly and had fun with it. That run was just what I needed to get me back on track playing outside.

After we finished that run, we made plans to ride bikes. Again, I wasn't very strong, but the winds were from the North on Saturday, so we rode the hilliest route around us. I didn't ride very fast, and it was fine. It was very windy out. but I let John lead and shield me from the wind.

On Sunday we decided to ride the Lone Tree Loop, that is about 40 miles long. It is much flatter, thank Jeebus, and it wasn't quite as windy. There were a lot more people riding bikes on this route. There were much fewer cars, though. Mostly, we saw motorcycles and fancy old cars that people brought out and were parading around in the lovely weather.

We gave everyone we came in contact with a very wide berth. I felt a million times better after playing outside for two days straight, but MAN, were my legs sore for a couple of days after that.

This weekend looks a little colder with rain predicted for both days, but I'll figure out a way to get out and play. It's so good for my fragile sanity.

And The Earth Died Screaming. While I Lay Dreaming

Today is the day to go over my traveling through books for the month of March, and boy howdee, do we all need a vacation through books these days.

I read seven books for the month of March. One of them was HUGE, and I switched around the order of my books, since at about the middle of the month I wanted to read escapist fiction, or "beach books".

1.) The first book I took a trip through was "The Japanese Lover" by Isabel Allende. It took me to San Francisco mostly, In a retirement community, but then flashbacked to several places. It was a about a younger woman with a lot of scars from her childhood who gets a job at a retirement community right around San Francisco, and meets an old woman there who's story she discovers. It wasn't groundbreaking fiction, but it was a nice little story and a fun vacation.

2.) The second book I traveled with was "4321", by Paul Auster. It was the VERY long book I was telling you about. It started right around WW II and went into the early 70's. It told four different stories of four men all with the same name and parents and family history, but then each boy had different things happen in their lives, to make them all different. The concept was interesting, the writing was good, but at almost 900 pages, I ended up skimming the last part of it. It was too bad, but you know how my attention span is...

3.) My third book trip was "Daisy Jones and the Six", by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I was hoping it would be a fun Summer type book, but it wasn't great. It took place in the 1970's, mostly in the LA area and it was about a band and the two lead singers in it, and their issues. I wish it had more of a feel of the 70's. These people are all being interviewed after the fact, but it would have been nice to be taken back there a little better. It definitely felt like the writer hadn't lived back then and remembered that people that age were all talking in SNL quotes, and wearing their gigantic combs in the backs of their too tight jeans pockets. Mostly, the story wasn't that great, sadly.

4.) My fourth book trip was Sally Rooney's "Normal People". I loved this novel. It took place in Ireland in the 2000's. It was about a relationship between two people from different backgrounds that evolved as they went through high school and college. The woman was from a wealthy family and had an abusive home situation that made her feel like she was a bad person (because her family kept telling her she was), and then she sought out relationships where guys treated her like crap, since she believed her family, and thought she deserved it. Boy, did that feel way too close to home. The freeing thing about reading this book, was that it reminded me of how far I've come. I kept thinking,"why is she putting up with that? Why doesn't she leave him?", but forgetting what it felt like to feel so badly about yourself, that it wouldn't occur to leave in those situations. This book trip was so liberating for me, because it made me look at myself in my twenties, and early thirties, and feel just how far I have come since then. I'm glad I've worked so hard on my shit.

5.) The fifth book I read was "Imago" by Octavia Butler. It was the third book in the trilogy. I love Octavia Butler, but this series wasn't my favorite, and I can't figure out why. I really loved the second book, mostly because it seemed more emotional with more of an actual story and characters I could feel something about. The first book was a lot of set-up, and the third book was the closure. I'm not sure if the third book was hard to read because of what's going on in the world right now, and this post-apocalypse seemed too close, or what. I think I'll have to read it again in happier times to see if that makes a difference.

6.) The sixth book I read was by another Iowa Writer's Workshop alumni, Curtis Sittenfeld. I read "American Wife". It was very loosely based on Laura Bush. It took place mostly in Wisconsin and then at the end, in DC. I really enjoyed it. I thought everything was believable and I was really into the story of it. I basiclly devoured that book in a couple of days.

7.) The last book trip I went on was written by someone who lives in Iowa City. It took me to Minnesota, but right right on the Iowa/Minnesota border. "The Current", by Tim Johnston was a detective/mystery book about two college aged women who's car goes into a creek and falls through the ice in Winter, and about another young woman who died in that same river about 10 years before. It was a sad trip, but also one that kept me up until three in the morning, trying to figure it all out.

So, I had mostly good reading vacations last month, which I'm glad for, because I REALLY needed them. I hope for the same in April. Since I'm stuck at home for the most part, I plan on traveling through my books as a necessity now.

I Want to Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin

Today I'm going to talk about how lucky I am in all of this crap...And how much luckier I am than I would have been 25 or 40 years ago.

First of all, I don't live with abusive people anymore, or even people who would drive me crazy if I had to see them and only them. I think about children and adults in abusive situations, trapped in a house with their abuser, and every trigger going off to cause that abuse. Shudder. I feel for those people and hope their lives get better very, very soon.

Secondly, I am thankful that I don't live in a big city. Some people who live in high rises can't leave their building without getting on an elevator, and being in a small space with other people. Even if they say we can't leave our yards at some point, I have a screened in porch to hang out in, a garden to work in, and I can walk right out my door without being stuck in a little box with someone who might be contagious.

The third thing I'm thankful for is that I like spending time alone in general and most of my hobbies can be done by myself or with John. Oh, also, I can, and like to cook. Having to distance myself isn't a huge hardship for me, since I live in my own little world most of the time anyway. A lot of people assume that since I'm loud and gregarious when I'm out in public, that I love to be surrounded by other people, and those people are wrong. Being social takes a lot of energy. I love my friends, but I need lots of breaks from people to recuperate, and I love my alone time. I know people who play team sports, or have other very social hobbies, and I feel badly that they can't do the things they love right now.

A friend of mine said there was an article about New Yorkers having stay in place orders and one woman was quoted as saying something like, "It's gonna be like "Little House on the Prairie", where we have to eat leftovers and make our own soup." After seeing that, I thought that I must live in "Little House on the Prairie" world all the time. I like to eat leftovers and make my own soup.

Archie is my kid bothering me while I try to work from home, but I can always shut him in a room and leave him if he's annoying, without DHS becoming actively involved in my life.

Out of the millions of other things I'm thankful for, is that as of right now, I still get to work from home. Even a year ago, we weren't set  up with skype and the technology to take phone calls from home. Now, I can hang out by myself...And with the cats, and do my damn job. Both John and I are getting paid our full paychecks, and we know how rare that is right now.

Also, the last couple of weeks it's been just me at home. I don't have a husband blaring the TV, or kids fighting while I'm trying to help someone over the phone. John said he called someone at work yesterday about an insurance claim and he could hear the woman's kids screaming in the background. Poor woman. fifteen years ago, that would have been me. We think that next week, John will start having some time off from work, and if that's the case, he's really good about keeping earbuds in while he watches Youtube videos of mountain bike races, or cyclocross races, or whatever other kinds of bicycle porn he's into. We will also probably have to give him projects to do, I can't imagine how antsy he'll be with nothing structured to do. So far, though, John and I have been doing pretty well being the only people we see for the most part. There's probably more eye rolling behind each other's backs, and some heavier and more frequent sighing than normal, but I am VERY lucky that I'm with someone I can stand to be around all day without getting stabby. Let's hope all of the good stuff in this post lasts this pandemic out.

I Wanted to Walk Through the Empty Streets, And Feel Something Constant Under My Feet, But All the News Reports Recommended That I Stay Indoors

So, how's everyone holding up out there? I know I keep saying this, but it's all so weird. Not only do we all have to isolate ourselves, but there is a very real possibility that any one of us could get seriously ill, or die from the is stuff. Ugh! It's a lot to think about. I guess, all we can do is try not to obsess about the stuff we can't control, and take care of ourselves, both mentally and physically as best we can.

For me, some of the mental health stuff means resorting to my two favorite things - comfort and escapism. I have been watching so many things in order to use two of my favorite crutches

I caught a really bad cold about a week before anyone else in Iowa were told to stay home, so I got a head start on the social distancing. In that week, I finally started and finished watching "Mad Men". Knowing my love of pop culture, my daughter told me years ago that I should watch it. I basically lived that show for a week. I'm sure I'll have to watch it again, sooner rather than later.

John and I have been watching a lot of old, goofy, movies in order to deal with all the serious drama of our real lives right now. We saw "Silver Streak", among other older, escapist, movies in the last few weeks.

I also have a thing for '90's quirky Aussie films. My sister got me and my daughters into "Strictly Ballroom", back when my girls were young. I introduced John to it last week, and he loved it. I was lucky enough to rewatch "Muriel's Wedding". It was just as cheesy/lovely as it was the first time I saw it.

Besides cheesy movies, we've actually been watching some that others might consider good. We watched "Little Miss Sunshine" last week. We also saw "Blinded by the Light" and "Knives Out", and enjoyed both of them.

Of course, an apocalyptic pandemic wouldn't be complete without some zombie movies, and we seem to be watching one a week. So far, we've seen "Shaun of the Dead", and "28 Days Later". I think next week we'll try to catch the first "Zombieland" movie. Bill Murray and Woody Harrelson. What's not to like?

I hope you all are doing what you can to stay sane during crazy making times.

No, We Can't Help It. We're Always Restless

This is the can of paint I'm going to use to paint our aluminum screen door...Someday.

In my head, during this social distancing time I was going to get a lot of projects done around the house. I'm still working full-time (and I'm very grateful for that), so I'm not sure where I thought all of this extra time was going to come from. Also, after two and a half weeks, I'm still getting over this stupid head cold. Also, also, even though I don't actually bleed, I still get almost every other symptom from my fake periods, so I'm in that part of my cycle where all I want to do is lie around watching movies and eating sugar - not very productive.

Anyway, I now have all kinds of things in order to do house projects during some imaginary time in my life where I will have all kinds of time and motivation to do them. Man, when that day comes, I'll be all set.

The one thing I am making time for, is cooking. I went out and bought a bunch of food - I didn't hoard, I stocked up. I would just buy two bags of whatever, not 50.

Since we can't really go out to eat, I am cooking more, and trying to fix things that aren't too similar to the last thing I cooked, so we don't get tired of the different same things. So far this week I've made shrimp tacos with black beans and Mexican rice, hummus, falafel and quinoa tabouleh,  baked salmon, baked sweet potatoes and steamed asparagus, and cauliflower au gratin and turkey burgers.  Apparently, we're on the fast track for gaining the Covid-19 pounds.

I've also been reading a ton lately. I just started Curtis Sittenfeld's "American Wife" and I'm really enjoying it.

I finally got around to planting my seedlings last week and they've started sprouting. It's one of the few things giving me hope during these tough times. I'm planning on planting lettuce greens and beets this week outside too.

On Sunday I was feeling a little better from my cold, and decided to do some raking and general lawn maintenance. Sadly, I was going through that whole fake period thing and my equilibrium was off. I went to push the big bin I was putting the leaves in, hit a bump, and fell hard halfway into the bin. For a minute there, I thought I might have broken my elbow, but I think I just bruised it. If there's one positive thing about my body at this age, it's that I've been a runner for almost 45 years now and my bone density is like a 20 year olds...Well, in my head it is, anyway.

This Ain't No Party. This Ain't No Disco. This Ain't No Fooling Around.

Well, kids. how is your apocalypse going so far? I'm on my fourth day of working from home and it's been good and bad. It's definitely getting better. Getting my wireless mouse attached to my work laptop has REALLY helped. If you're an old person like me, I'm sure you can understand.

So far, John and I are lucky that we're both able to still work. John's situation may change, since he works at an orthopedic clinic and they just canceled all elective surgeries, but they gave them two extra weeks of paid time off and he has another month saved up in addition to that, so depending on how long this all lasts, he might be okay.

Archie was pretty excited that I was working from home last week. He wanted to sit on my lap all day, which made it hard to access my keyboard, since he is fat and that made for quite a reach for me. Luckily, I have freakishly long arms.

 We are able to answer phones for my university because they installed skype for business for us all about a year ago. Fortunately for me and anyone who might call me, there is no video capability. I don't think anyone wants to have to see me in my work from home attire - boxer shorts and gigantic t-shirts.

And now a new weeks starts. Archie believes the luster has worn off from me being at home all day. He would be fine for Corona virus apocalypse to be over and for me to leave for at least 9 hours every day again. Poor guy.

Nobody Told Me There'd Be Days Like These. Strange Days Indeed

Well, it's some strange times we're living in right now. Starting tomorrow I'll be working from home for the first time in my life. It's going to be weird not seeing my two office mates for what could be months.

My daughters and my son-in-law all work in restaurants and bars, so since those are closed here, they're a little stressed about finances. My oldest, has plenty of money saved, and she still will be able to work taking care of to-go orders, but not as many hours and she may not get tips. Luckily, my son-in-law can apply for unemployment benefits, since the bar he manages has closed. I'm also going to try and help them all out as much as I can. This isn't the kind of thing that people prepare for, since we didn't think it could happen.

Right now, I can't go to a bar, or a restaurant, or the movies, or a gym, or the casino, or the library, or see a show. The good thing is, that I can still run and ride my bike, and hike outside. I can still read books and garden and draw and paint, and we'll hopefully get a bunch of house projects done. Best of all, when I work from home, I can touch my face all I want.

I hope you all are riding this out and finding ways to stay healthy and sane at the same time.

It's The End of the World As We Know It (Time I Had Some Time Alone)

Archie would be thrilled if we had to stay home from work.

Sorry I haven't written all week, but I have a good excuse. I had a bad head cold all week. It was just a head cold. I promise. I took my temperature several times. Only once was it a little over 100 degrees, and I didn't go to work that day. I went the next day, and then stayed home yesterday. I'm back today, even though my boss was a little annoyed with me.

I looked up the Corona Virus symptoms, and I don't really have any of them. I have a slight cough and I only had a very slight temperature for a day. The worst part of my cold was that I had such a bad sore throat, which isn't on the list.

Another guy in my workplace just came back from Washington State and has been hacking away. Now there's a rumor that he had dinner with someone who tested positive for Covid 19, but I don't know if that is just someone building on his visit to Washington state, and it isn't true. I assume if he was in contact with someone who was infected, our boss would make him work from home. Classes at our university are moving on-line until two weeks after Spring Break, but we've already heard students talking about taking trips after that, since their classes are on-line anyway, and the flights are going to be so cheap, so we'll see what happens.

It's such a weird little world we live in lately. We haven't been asked to stay home from work yet, but there's been 16 confirmed cases in Iowa (14 in my county) and when everyone comes back from Spring Break, those numbers will probably go up.We've seen how the spread of this virus has been slowed when governments' responses to the virus are strong and tactical. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda. I wish our government was better about responding to it.

I hope you all are safe from the virus and that you get paid sick leave and have decent insurance through all of this.  

When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?

It's time for my February book trip post. Last month I read eleven books. Eleven! Apparently, I needed a lot of escapism. Although, a couple of those I DNF'ed on (did not finish), but we'll get into that later in this post.

1.) The first trip I took was to Scottland by way of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Kidnapped". I love this book. As you know, I love most adventure stories, and this was no exception.

2.) The second book trip I went on was "Winter" by Ali Smith, it is the second book in her season series. I thought it was only appropriate that I read it in the correct season. Anyway, I didn't love it as much as I did "Fall", but it was still pretty interesting.

3.) The third adventure I took was to Vietnam and the Philippines and some other places around the world during the Vietnam War era with "Tree of Smoke" by Denis Johnson. I normally like Denis Johnson's work, but this one did not hold my interest, and it was really, really, looooooong. I didn't know you could make the Vietnam War boring, but he managed it. Mostly, because he needed to edit a couple of hundred pages out of it. It had so many conversations and incidents that didn't need to be there. By about the halfway point, even with some skimming, I was done. I didn't finish it, so maybe it got a lot better later on, but life is too short for me to find that out.

4.) "These Things Hidden" by Heather Gudenkauf is a book my daughter asked me to read when she was still in high school. I finally got around to it last month. It's a YA novel, in the vein of Jodi Picoult and written by a woman from Iowa. It was an easy and quick read. I did have to laugh at the end when the young woman main character talks about maybe moving to Wellman. What the hell is there to do in Wellman for a woman in her early 20's?

5.) The fifth trip I went on was to England in the 1800's with "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens. I have only ever read an abridged version of this novel in 9th grade. I loved this book. I'm sure I'll reread it many times in my life. Pip! Pip!

6.) "Ms. Marvel" by Wilson Alphona Herring was my next adventure. This graphic novel took me to NYC in the time of superheroes. I loved it. I can't wait to read more. 

7.) I read "Winter's Bone", by Daniel Woodrell for my seventh book. I loved the movie, and I really liked the book too. It took me to Southern Missouri among scary clans of meth makers (Scary Clans of Meth Makers just might be my new band's name).

8.). The eighth book I tried to read was "Seating Arrangements" by Maggie Shipstead. I thought it would kind of a beach book, but it was not. It was about a rich person wedding on the East Coast, and all of the people were horrible, nobody was funny, and the biggest problem the dad had was not getting into some rich people country club. I just couldn't finish it. Again, that whole life's too short thing... If you ever want to read a fun beach book about rich people also written by an Iowa Writer's Workshop grad, I highly recommend, "Eligble" by Curtis Sittenfeld instead.

9.) My ninth book trip was all over the place with another Iowa Writer's Workshop guy in Charles J. Shields' "And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life". It was an interesting biography. I found out so many things I didn't know, like the last year that Kurt Vonnegut lived in Iowa City, he rented a house about a block from where we lived when the girls were younger. Also, he wasn't quite as cool as I had hoped, but whoever is, really?

10.) My second to last book trip was scary and hard to read, but very well crafted. It was "The Vegetartian" by Han Kang (another Iowa Writer's Workshop graduate). The novel takes place in South Korea, and it is about a woman, who, because of brutal dreams, becomes a vegetarian. She is abused in so many ways and ultimately asks, "Why is it such a bad thing to die?" It's not exactly the feel good book of the year, but it is fascinating, and so well written. I'm not sure if I would recommend it to people, but it is definitely worth reading...If you can stomach it.

11.) The last trip I took was to the ocean outside of Cuba with Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea". I'm not usually a Hemingway fan, but I did like this story. It was also great escapism from Iowa in the Winter.

So, eleven is a lot of books to read in a month, but don't worry, I'm reading an almost 900 page novel this month, so my book count should be one hell of a lot lower for March.

Feel the City Breakin', and Everybody Shakin' and We're Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive

I'm just writing a quick little post about health. Yesterday I went for my breast ultrasound in the morning. I've been doing this thing where I take sick time for my morning appointment, and then take half a vacation day after, just in case the news isn't good and I need to deal with my feelings, or in case it is good, and I need to celebrate.

Yesterday the news was good. Yea! My appointment is right next to Trader Joe's, so I stopped there and bought myself some flowers, and a ton of food. The good news is, if we have to get quarantined for the Corona virus, we should be okay on sustenance for a while.

Also, it was weird to see so many people with face masks on when I was at my doctor's appointment. My husband says face masks only help not to spread the disease if the infected person wears one. If you aren't trying to catch the disease, the face mask can make your chances worse because people mess with their face masks all the time, and you aren't supposed to touch your face. Of course, if touching your face means you'll get the virus, then I'm screwed. I touch my face all the time. I don't even realize I'm doing it most of the time. The most embarrassing thing, is that I've been known to try and push my glasses up on my nose when I'm not even wearing them. It's hell being spacey and old.

Since I was off for a half day yesterday afternoon, I stopped into our local store to see if I could make an appointment to get the Shingles vaccine. My doctor said to get the shot when you won't have to do much the day or so after, because it can really make you feel like crap. The pharmacist told me they were out of the vaccine again, so it was a moot point. I guess I'll just have to call every Friday until it's in. Luckily, my insurance covers it. Stupidly, Medicare doesn't cover it, and it's really expensive. So, older people who need it the most, might not be able to afford it. Sigh.

On a positive note, I went to the garden store and got a ton of seeds and black dirt and peat moss, so I'll start planting seedlings this weekend, and it's warm enough in Iowa that I can start planting greens, and beets outside. Hurray!

Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards

Hey! We got an extra day this year, and in Iowa, anyway, it was pretty nice out. It was also a pay day for me. So many great things. Normally, I would think of all the things I want to do on an extra day, but this Leap Year we were asked to help my daughter move in with her boyfriend to a new small town about 40 minutes from where we live.

She didn't have much to move and she and her boyfriend were super organized about it (that's how you know it was my oldest daughter, and not my youngest). Anyway, it only took one trip, and then we spent the rest of the day going out for lunch and wandering around the adorable little town she moved to. There are all kinds of little antique and specialty shops and a lovely town square. We also got to check out her boyfriend's house. He owns a nice 3 bedroom house with a fenced in yard. Of course, the best part about all of this was that we finally got to meet his two dogs. He has a Husky and a German Shepard, and they are the sweetest pooches you ever want to meet.
 

We didn't get home until 4'ish o'clock, which meant we didn't have time to get a bike ride in, but it was a lovely day with The Oldest and her boyfriend, and I thought it was a great way to spend an extra day at the end of February.

Sunday, was a different deal altogether. It got up to 65 degrees on the first day of March, and that almost NEVER happens in Iowa.

We did a bike ride with a few of our friends. We went to Kalona for brunch and back.

The roads were perfect, the weather was unbelievable, and the company was goofy and fun.

When we were close to Iowa a City, a friend of ours suggested that we take the bike path around Sand Lake. It was insane. There were so many people and dogs walking and riding and sitting on benches. At one point we had to almost stop because there was a dog jam - a group of people with dogs stopped while the dogs sniffed each others' butts.

Since we were going to pass right by it anyway, we decided to stop at Big Grove and get a beer. It was also packed with almost more dogs than people. There were people eating and drinking by fires, playing ping pong at the tables out on the grass, and the kids were climbing all over the big concrete pipes and tire piles. It is such a nice set-up there.

We finally got it together and pulled ourselves away from the fun, and headed home. I made tostadas for dinner and John and I watch "Terminator 2" before we fell asleep. If that was a preview of what our Spring and Summer will be like, I'm excited.