Mystery Is What This Is to Me

Stinky making that face before the Homecoming dance.

Soooo. Let's see. Remember how I told you I was going out to dinner with a friend? Well, I wasn't sure if it was a friend thing or a date. We had talked about things the week before, and he said he was just out of long term relationship, and thought he needed to be single for a while. I had had that confusion with other guys, and figured I should just assume it was a friend thing to protect myself. You know, 4,213 times bitten, 8,426 times shy and all.

Then on Friday morning he sent me this:

How can I possibly be nervous about our date tonight?

How long have I known you?

How old am I?

Just how scary are you?

Geez!

So, then I knew it was a date and got a little nervous myself. We also agreed that I was pretty damn scary.

I got off work, went running, and then met him for dinner...It was very nice and we had a great talk. Afterward, we decided to go to George's for a drink and to stay away from the Dublin and people we knew. Of course, we were there for all of 5 minutes when my friend G. walked in with some of her family members who were in town for the game. We all laughed at the odds of her hanging out there, since she hadn't been at George's for at least a year. I really don't think it's possible for this town to be any smaller.

We had a good talk about things. He's still pretty confused about how ready he is to be in a relationship, but he wants to at least date and see how it goes. We've decided to take things really slowly and that works for me too.

Saturday it rained and rained and rained. Stinky worked all day. I went for a run, but then spent the rest of the day cleaning my place and listening to music. It was a very nice way to spend a rainy day.

In the evening, I went to Stinky's friends house and took pics before the Homecoming dance. The kids all cleaned up pretty nice.

I got home and talked to the guy. We were originally going to meet at the Dublin, but he said he didn't sleep very well the night before. So, he bought a bottle of wine over and I made some food and he came over and we talked and ate and drank it was wonderful. Stinky and her boyfriend came home after the dance and before they went back to their friend's and they all got to meet. Stinky thought he was really nice and he and Stinky took a moment to bond by making fun of me, so he thought she was pretty cool too. So far so good.

It will be interesting to see how this all pans out. I think we both want to make sure we're still friends no matter what happens with our dating. I really hope that's possible.

If Wishes Were Trees, the Trees Would be Falling

The restaurant we went to a couple of weeks ago.

Okay. I lied. I'll talk about my computer again for a minute. My internet STILL doesn't work when it's raining. What the hell is that? I have no idea what to do now...

...But on a more positive note - it's the weekend. Yea! Tonight Stinky will be at the Homecoming game at the high school. A friend of mine asked me to dinner, so I we're meeting for Indian food at 7. I haven't had any for a long, long time and I'm excited.

Saturday will be a day for getting things done. Saturday night is a crap shoot. I think I'll just see how I feel and decide whether I'm going out or not. Stinky has her Homecoming dance, so I will be taking photos of her and her group early in the evening.

Soooo, what will you all be doing? going out for dinner or getting caught up in Homecoming hoopla?

We Put Faith In Our Concerns

My girls right before prom. Their dresses were very representative of them.

Oh, kids. I'm here to tell ya. You definitely want to listen to your body. Because if it's, oh, say telling you that it's tired and you don't listen to the hints it gives you, it will stop being so subtle. For instance, my body gave me a 4 day migraine. I tried to ignore it, by taking migraine meds and still doing too much when the meds started working. Then my body decided it was going to stop reacting positively to the meds to get me to slow down and then my body grabbed the hot end of a curling iron and burned the crap out of my hand right before prom pictures, so that I wouldn't be able to pick up a tool or ride my bike for a couple of days. So, yeah. I guess I'll be finding things I can cut from my busy life, so it doesn't do anything worse, like giving me Stigmata or something.

Stinky and her date. I really liked both the girls' prom dates.

Friday was pretty mellow. I had that migraine, so I took a nap the minute I got home from work on my half day. I ran when I woke up, but realized during my run that I needed to take a break. I had run around 50 miles in 7 days, and even I can see how ridiculous that is. I decided to take the rest of the weekend off of running, but I was going to try to go on a long bike ride on Sunday.

Friday night the girls both went out with some friends and I stayed home and watched the most recent James Bond movie. It was pretty standard fare. But sometimes you just want to watch pretty people race boats and cars and planes and see a lot of shit blow-up in exotic locales. You know?

Stinky trying hard to pin on the boutonniere. She finally gave up and let her sister do it.

Saturday was insane. There was just a lot of running around and getting things at the last minute and running to the mall because Coadster never got any shoes for her dress. Wow. She really is my daughter. I never think about the shoes either. I dropped Coadster off at her hair appointment at 2 and Stinky and I went to Menards to get an axe. I have all this wood to cut up from the tree I trimmed and I can't afford a chain saw. So, I got some of the bigger branches cut up, before the prom primping began in earnest.

Coadster's date's mom is a hairstylist and did Coadster's hair for free...Including a touch-up during the pics. Awesome!

I tried to help the girls get ready for the prom until I burnt the hell out of my hand. Then we went to Stinky's friend's house for her groups pictures. I took plenty of photos and then Coadster and I had to run to the other side of town for her groups pics. By 7 or so, my job was finally done and I left the girls to their evening.

Coadster pinning on her date's boutonniere.

G. wanted me to go out with her, but as I've said, I'm taking a little break from socializing lately. It's not like I'll never go out again, but it can sometimes just get too much. My friends all point out that I need to speak to adults, and they're right, but I can get so overwhelmed by socializing out at bars, so I don't think a break will hurt me. I'm very fond of people coming to my house and sitting by the fire instead. Anyway, I stayed in and G. gave me the play by play of the evening the next day, all from a safe distance. I did finally finish reading Marilynne Robinson's Home and started Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.

Coadster getting her corsage. It was so pretty and so different. Perfect for her.

Today I woke up to another migraine or the same one. Whatever. The girls got in bed with me and told me all about their nights. Then I took some more meds and took a nap. The meds started working again, and I was smart this time and still took it easy. I got groceries and ran a few errands, but I didn't ride my bike or do yard work. So, I'll be working on slowing things down for the next couple of weeks and see how that goes.

Me and Coads. She looks so sleek and I look so...Not sleek in my Meat Puppets t-shirt.

Don't Get Me Wrong, If I'm Acting So Distracted

The girls with their cousins on Saturday.

Wow, kids. This weekend was a rollercoaster of both good and bad. Since I don't like to give the bad any attention, because I don't want to encourage it, I'll just concentrate on the good.

Friday was a really great day for me and the girls. We did a little shopping on Friday, which I normally try to avoid, but we still had to get some things for the house. Then Stinky and I did yard work. We got most of the leaves in the front yard raked up and some of the trees trimmed. On Friday evening, the girls and I used our gift card to that restaurant called Blackstone. We had a nice meal and a good talk. It's so nice now that the girls are older and we can have pleasant experiences when dining out.

My nephew putting my tree to good use, by climbing it.

Saturday was hectic, hectic, hectic, but also really great. My siblings descended with their families and gave me tons of help and housewarming gifts. Hooray for me! We made a group trip to Lowes. I wanted to get an estimate from them on installing my counters and the amount was a little ridiculous, I thought. I will try a couple of other places and if I can't find something better, I might have to wait for either a friend or relative to do it at their leisure. I'm sure I'm not telling you anything new, when I say that I am very impatient with getting my house where I want it. Apparently, it's all part of my obsessive nature. Hmmmm.

After my family left and I dropped Stinky off at her babysitting gig and Coadster at her dad's, I finally christened my house the only way I know how: I cranked my music and danced around my living room like a dork. There. Now, it really is my home.

Life is Funny, Skies are Sunny

So, kids. It was another insanely busy weekend, made a little more difficult by my relentless migraine that hung around on and off for most of the weekend. It was so bad today, that my meds didn't really work on it. Mother's Day was a bust for the most part, but I'm not a big Hallmark holiday kind of girl, so I didn't feel any worse by not being able to do something special. Of course, it would have been really nice if the girls had washed the dishes and cleaned up a little while I was lying down trying to deal with my brain pain...

With all this prom business on Saturday, I just had to suck it up and deal or drive or whatever else was required of me for the occasion. In the morning I drove kids to soccer and track practice, and in the afternoon we ran a bunch of errands to be ready for the big dance.

By three, I took some time out for myself and ran and took a long hot bath, while the girls' friends came over and helped Coadster get ready.

I went to a prom once in high school, but it was just with two of my friends who had to go because we were juniors and they were in student council, so it wasn't a big deal like this. Luckily, Coadster's good friend goes to the other high school in town and just went to prom the week before. She also has an arsenal of make-up and hair care products that almost made my head hurt even more.

Here is Coadster getting her hair did by her friend. There was enough hair spray to kill our ozone and maybe a few other planets' too.

Here is Coadster's friend who did such an amazing job. She's pretty interesting. Her mom was raised Amish, but left the community before she was officially baptized. I was asking her a bunch of questions about it and what it's like to go back and visit the community. That poor girl had to do double duty between Coadster and me.

At 5:30 we went to Coadster's friend's house for pictures. Since the ex doesn't have a car, I offered him a ride. I knew it was important to Coadster, so I had to suck it up again. I took a ridiculous amount of photos. As you can see, they had some amazing lilac bushes as a backdrop.

There was some clumsy corsage exchanges that made for adorable photos.

Here's the whole gang. Can you tell they're all in show choir?

I tried to get a few photos with more natural expressions, but those were hard to come by.


Here is Coadster and her date. he's a really nice kid. She said he was a little awkward at first about dancing, but I told her a lot of high school guys were like that. Since she asked him, we just assumed they were going Dutch and she had money to pay for her meal, but he insisted on paying for hers. He later admitted that his mom gave him the money, but I still thought it was a sweet gesture.

Here is Coadster and her dance partner for show choir. They found that hat in the backyard and thought it would be funny to do a couple of gangsta type poses. Whatever. I guess it's sometimes fun to pretend that you don't live in an overeducated college town in Iowa.

Later that night, I met a few friends for a drink. One of my friends was in town from Seattle and I hadn't seen her in a year. We started off at the Dublin, but it was insanely busy there and then all of the sudden a bunch of guys in suit jackets and shorts, all somersalted down the stairs (some of them hitting their heads on the wall). It meant that the rugby team had arrived. They were all insanely drunk and I stupidly got into a discussion with one of them, who tried to tell me that guys were smarter than girls. Really? Were you one of the guys who just sommesalted down the stairs practically killing yourself? I'm pretty glad I'm not that "smart" then.

Anyway, we ended up at the beer garden at the Picador had a great time. It was a good way to wash off all of the prom business.

I hope your weekend was headache free and that you all had nice Mother's Days.

Who Needs to Think When Your Feet Just Go?

I missed this event on Friday night on purpose. An evening with Ashton Kutcher sounds like the most vapid, shallow night I can imagine. Word on the street was that he and Demi were at the Hawkeye men's basketball game on Friday too. Yawn.

So, kids. This weekend started out so nice and mellow, but got crazier and crazier as it progressed. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to tell you the weirdest thing that happened today, but tonight, we'll just stick to Saturday, shall we?


On Saturday night, I tried to cram as many social experiences in as possible. My goal is to stay at home as much as I can in the next couple of weeks, and so I thought I'd get some serious bang for my social event buck.

First, I hit the What a Load of Craft fair at The Picador. It was everything I hoped it would be. When I arrived, a" making stuffed Christmassy items" craft death match was just beginning. I didn't stay for the outcome, but I did hear the emcee giving one of the girls shit by asking her if she was making a Christmas potato. She told him it was supposed to be a bunny. Oops.

There were some extremely non-seasonal, but totally cool drawings on sale.

And some hipster boys selling them.

Even Santa and his reindeer had attitudes. How punk rock is that?

I left the Picador and headed down to the Dublin to meet my friends there.

Most importantly, my girl crush was in town, and even though she had a cold, she was all ready for some dance party action.


Judging from this photo, I think the dance party delivered... So many bad dance faces, so little time.

At some point, we all got tired and were sitting around talking, when I got a text from my friend Lyd. I warned some of the people I was sitting with, that my crazy but totally hot friends were on their way down. One of the guys asked, "So, are they really crazy?" I told him yes, but in a good way. Then he asked, "And are they really hot?" I assured him they were and he said, "Awesome, because that's my favorite combination."

The girls blew in and instantly started taking photos of everyone's cleavage. It was crazy how all the sudden, men I didn't even know were in the bar, appeared and asked to be the photographer. My friend James told me that men can actually smell cleavage, so it's not impossible that they came in from off the street right then.

After the bar closed, my hot crazy friends kidnapped me and took me down to where the younger crowd bars were. Their plan was to all dance down there, just to see what kind of reaction we would get. We stood up on one of the plant holder thingy's but didn't really dance. Apparently, we didn't need to. Once again, a group of guys appeared out of nowhere. One of them said he'd take his shirt off if we would. I told him to go ahead and we'd see. He did, and I took this photo. He asked to see it and fell in love with his own reflection. He was so enamored that he forgot to try to get us to take our shirts off. I love it when narcissism works to my advantage.

Such Spirit Through the Year

Hey, what do you know? I'm finally doing the Saturday Scavenger hunt today. Mrs. Big Hairy Woman of The Northern Sky Chronicles blog, chose the word merry this week.


So, what's merrier (more merry?) than Santa conducting a tuba orchestra with a candy cane playing Christmas music? Uh, I can't think of much. These guys played during my lunch. It was great, but it was super cold outside yesterday, so I stayed long enough to hear them play the Chipmunks song and one other, before I had to go back inside.


Last night made me pretty damn merry too. I stayed home with Coadster and watched movies all night. It was just what the doctor ordered.

Tonight my girl crush is supposed to breeze into town and I'm thinking I'll stop by the What a Load of Craft thingy at The Picador. They have craft death matches and it's always fun to watch heavily tattooed people try to out-knit each other or glue more shit on a wreath in a designated time. Come to think of it, it's downright merry.

Zoot Suit Riot, Throw Back a Bottle of Beer

Okay, kids. For reasons I'll get into tomorrow, I wasn't on the computer much this weekend. Right now, I'll just talk about Friday night. I have a shit ton of photos to post, and I'll try really, really hard not to use too many of my words.

It started much like any other night, when I go out - with boys flipping me the bird and making dorky faces at the Dublin.

Then we all marched down to Vito's where they were having their 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition party.

There were guys dressed as 1930's gangsters.

Here's me attempting but not succeeding to show up the flapper poster. You can't blame a girl for trying, can you?


The zoot suit guy really kicked ass. He was even wearing Hawkeye colors.


One of my favorite things was the shuffleboard table. I have often lamented the loss of the shuffleboard table at the Hilltop from back in the day. But now Vito's has one. Oh, happy day.

Just look at the intense concentration of the spectators.

We finally went back to the Dublin and I met this totally hot girl, wearing the most amazing hosiery I've ever seen - lacey tights. The best part was, she was a self-proclaimed attention whore, so she not only let me take her photo, she let me feel her legs as many times as I wanted...Or as often as time allowed.

I finally gave the poor girl a break and joined the dance party. Hooray! I missed my girl crush, but she said she might make it back to town next weekend, so at least I have something to look forward to.

The night ended like every night at The Dublin. One of the bartenders yelled out, "laaaaaaasssst caaaaaaalllll!" And my friend Jen and I had an extremely earnest conversation on our very chilly walk home. The end.

Then You Say, Go Slow - I Fall Behind

Tonight is going to be self-esteem night for all y'all. That's right. With the help of Nursula's (I use internet names for folks if I have them) photos, you get to see a bunch of pics of me dancing. All you have to do is view them and you'll feel a hundred million times better about yourself and your own funky fresh moves. The other part is that I'm random again today, so not only will you feel superior about how you dance, you'll feel like you have the longest attention span ever after you finish this post.

I had a couple of conversations about dancing this weekend. The first one happened when I was walking from The Dublin to The Picador and we walked past The Sports Column where people were either drunkenly lurching about or drunkenly grinding into each other. My friend Carrie pointed and laughed and I asked the people I was with to shoot me if I ever danced like that. Then I'm presented with a picture like the one above, and I think maybe someone should have shot me anyway.

On Sunday my daughters were in the living room doing homework and listening to "Dancing Machine" by The Jackson Five. Of course, I had to stop cleaning and start doing The Robot. The first time I ever saw it done, was to "Dancing Machine". Stinky immediately got out the camera. Instead of taking pictures, she videotaped me. "Have you ever seen what you look like when you dance, mom?" She asked. "Because I'm doing this for your own good. Maybe if you can see yourself, you might not think it's such a great idea to keep doing it all the time.

"Yes. I have seen a video of myself, thank you very much. And I've decided it's just easier not to look at videos any more and keep dancing like a dork whenever I want."

"Okay. If you insist. But I may have to put this up on Facebook for everyone to see," Stinky said.

"Really? Because I think you'll find you're only hurting yourself with that one. For one, you're not my friend on Facebook, so none of my friends will be able to see it. And for two, all your friends will see it instead and since they're kind of smart, they'll figure out that you have half my DNA and you just might find them forgetting to invite you to parties and dances." Stinky didn't say anything after that, but the look of horror on her face was precious.

Here I am with my thumbs up tribute to dorkiness. Derrrrrr.

On Sunday it was suddenly cold and crazy windy. My body went right back into hibernation mode and I started thinking about storing all my comfort items. I dug through boxes and found some nice mellow CD's to load into my computer - Iron and Wine, The Shins and Willie Nelson and Emmy Lou Harris' El Teatro were just some of the discs I loaded.

I also cooked up a storm. I made fresh salsa with the last of the garden veggies my neighbors gave me, I baked au gratin potatoes and made some hummus for the girls for an after school snack. I was also going to make some pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting, but I couldn't find the can of pumpkin goo I thought I had. I finally remembered that I used it a couple of weeks ago when I made pumpkin pie. Luckily it's cheap, because now I REALLY want some pumpkin bars...Especially the cream cheese frosting part.

Here's me finally flipping off someone else who's taking a picture of me. How do you like me now?

Coadster had to write a short story for her English class. It was supposed to take place in the future and be scary. So, she wrote this Blair Witch type teen story where some kids got trapped in a cabin in a Summer snowstorm caused by global warming. The cabin was empty except for a TV that they couldn't turn off, that only played campaign ads. I said, "Jeez, Coadster. That is frightening. Do they all end up killing themselves at the end?" I'm pretty sure I would after about five minutes.

Here is our artsy dance sequence. Doesn't it look like we could have easily been dancing to Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time". We're so unusual.

At work today, I was once again quoting old Hee Haw episodes. I'm sure you all know how that goes. It was one of those shows growing up that my parents were pretty much appalled by, but everyone else in my neighborhood just loved. I'm guessing that's why I'm still quoting it at my desk at work in my cubicle in my forties. Either that, or I'm just that big of a freak. (shut-up) After I sang a little of the "She met another..." song, my cubicle neighbor came up with some of his own quotes. I told him I thought it would be so awesome if he would perform a Hee Haw episode where he acted out all the parts - even Barbie Benton's. He said that if he hadn't smoked so much pot in the seventies, he may have been able to remember one. As it was, he could really only recall some Minnie Pearl'isms. Hey, that worked for me.

Trying to interpret this photo is a little tricky. I'm thinking I was trying to get back to my cultural roots by performing my version of the River Dance, and it made my friend sick just to watch it.

Oh yeah. I was tagged to pick the Saturday Scavenger Hunt word this week. What the hell, I think I'm going with Street. Has that been used?