Happy Holidays

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas.  I know I did!  Not only in the “stuff I got” department, but also because I got to see my family and everyone got along.  Of course, Christmas gifts are always fun and I am incredibly happy with my haul this year.  I must have been pretty specific when I was asked what I wanted from Santa, because I can’t think of one “WTF were YOU thinking?” gift…  J  I received several books from my Amazon wish list, mainly sewing and crafting books, but also the Farmer John seasonal cookbook!  Yea!  I also got enough Christmas cash to combine with a Hancock giftcard from the DH to buy a serger last night!  Whoo-hoo!  Merry Christmas to me! 

Giving gifts is always fun too, of course.   I wrapped up 4 calculators for the dog to give to the DH.  Our last calculator finally died, so I picked up a bunch of replacements…it’s fun to watch someone upwrap the same gift over and over and over…  For my mom, in addition to a massage gift certificate, we gave her an ornament from the Statue of Liberty while I was in NYC for the marathon…  It took her a moment of closer inspection to realize where it came from and then her face just lit up – perfect!  My nephew seemed to like the sock monkey I made him…not as much as the paper and ribbons from all his other gifts, but he’s only 8 months old, so what’d’ya do?  I tried to convince my sister’s fiance that the golf course gift certificate we gave him expired at the end of January, but he caught on…eventually. J 

We didn’t give anyone too much – 1 or 2 gifts apiece – but I think we put a lot of thought into each one and that made them more than enough.  For an entirely mall-free Christmas expirience, I think we did quite well…

 

But Christmas has come and gone and it’s now time to focus on the New Year.  Are you making resolutions?  After cleaning out our pantry last night, and trashing about ¾ of my spice rack, I’m going to focus on being less wasteful with food!  I can’t believe how much I threw away…it was quite disgusting…  From now on, I’m not buying it if I don’t have a plan to eat it within the coming two weeks...which should have been my MO this entire time, I know… J

I’m also going to throw myself back into the the workout world – I’ve been slacking and it’s starting to show!  No sense in outgrowing all the clothes I’ve made lately.  I’m also going to push myself to dance everyday.  This was one of my Best Year Yet goals and I did well for about a week…  I love to belly dance, but practicing has never been something I can make a habit of… this is the year that changes!

Since my braces are going on in just under 2 weeks, my other new habit will be brushing and flossing multiple times a day… 

Happy New Year everyone!

 

Good thing I like my parents...

In Starre’s post today on Eco-Chick, she talks about the legacy we are leaving the generations to come, in the way of environmental disasters and other fun stuff.  Her point was basically that our kids are going to hate us.   The problems we don’t fix today are not going away, just getting bigger…and if the next generation doesn’t take action, the snowball of disaster just keeps rolling downhill.

 

While reading the story this line stuck out to me, , for entirely different reasons:

“Isn’t it the American way to hold your parents in contempt until you’re at least 25, and then become them?”

.  I have become my parents.  I see so much of their behavior in my actions.  My mom had a big garden when I was growing up.  She also had a compost pile, a memory that recently resurfaced.  She still loves to grow things in the dirt and make things – cooking, sewing, crocheting, just as her mom (as well as my paternal grandmother) before her.  Like both my parents I have a tendency to overbook myself – they are constantly busy and forever exhausted.  I also have the not-so-great trait of my father to hold a mean grudge…

Is it so bad, becoming like your parents?  Maybe not.  I like to think of myself as the upgraded version. J

 

I've fallen (off the wagon) and I need to get up

6 months. 6 months without buying any new clothes (other than a few misc belly dance items). But still, aside from that, nothing from the mall, nothing from the internet, no new cute clothes. Until this weekend. I went to New York City with my siblings to watch my brother run the NYC Marathon. And I shopped. Way too much. I bought a new jacket, a cute reversible hoodie, a pair of jeans, a pair of gloves and a scarf (that purchase was a necessity – it was cold!), a couple of tops…it was bad. I have learned something about myself. I have absolutely no willpower. The only way for me to avoid buying new clothes is to complete avoid the opportunity. If I’m presented a chance to buy something, I will take it. Much like my inability to just say no to chocolate, I have no control over my shopping impulse. It must be completely avoided.

All that being said, I love NYC. All the people, the public transportation – I mastered the subway and the New Jersey Transit system – the sights and sounds – that was all good. Traveling with siblings? Not so much. Suffice it to say, this was our last family vacation.

One of the highlights of the trip, aside from witnessing the marathon – that was cool! - was stumbling into this little burger joint with my brother. Appropriately named Brgr, it was seriously the best hamburger I ever had – gruyere cheese, avocado, herbed mayo, a side of sweet potato fries…and then I noticed the sign on the wall. It was grass-fed, all natural, hormone and anti-biotic-free, humanely-raised meat. All sauces were made on-site, using locally-sourced ingredients when possible. How cool is that! It was totally an accident, too. J

Another very cool aspect of the trip was meeting my mother’s friend’s future sister-in-law, Ally, who designs handbags. She has two lines – recycled-material bags (aGaiN NYC) and sustainable-material bags. Both sell for more money than I have to spend, but it was awesome to meet people who share that kind of passion about sustainable production. I am horrible jealous of her and her fiancé, though – they lived in a million $ apartment in the West Village and have artsy/creative jobs. So not fair. J

But I’m home now, and tired from all the walking that we don’t do enough of in Nebraska, tired from carrying my heavy carry-on bags everywhere because we didn’t plan that part very well, tired from arguing with my family, being generally bitchy and frustrated, and getting in rather late from the airport. I’m ready for a nap and getting back to my routine. I’m climbing back on the no-shopping bandwagon. It was a momentary slip and I’ll recover. Eventually.

sugar coma

We have leftover candy, and the DH’s low-carb diet is going to force ME to finish it all. Not that I’m complaining… J We had a pretty good run of trick-or-treaters last night, even some trick-or-cheaters – the kids that came back more than once… Kids these days, huh?

Our own “kid” wasn’t too thrilled with his costume. Yes, I’m one of those crazy people that dresses her dog in clothes. But I do it for a good reason – if he has a shirt on, he doesn’t move and that keeps him from jumping on people. Oh, and he’s cute!

Tomorrow morning, I’m heading to the airport with my siblings and we’re off to the big city. My younger brother is running in the New York Marathon and invited my sister and I along to watch. He actually invited us so we could plan the trip for him and defray his costs, but he won’t admit that outright… I’m not sure I’m looking forward to this trip. I haven’t packed yet, I have a slight cold, and I’m super cheap. Being cheap in NYC doesn’t seem like it will work out too well. Gee, don’t I sound like a pleasant travel companion? I’m sure it’ll be better than I make it sounds, but optimism is not my thing today…

Emo week

It’s been a pretty emotional week in the Diva Soma world.  We have one dear friend in the hospital and another lost a loved one.  These are just two in a series of sad events this year, it seems.  I don’t generally get emotional in front of people, but on my way home last night from a Diva vigil at Gnosis, I nearly broke down.  

This morning wasn’t much better – I was listening to Story Corps on NPR; it was a story about how this couple, now married for 57 years, had met, courted, and married within 3 days and never regretted it.  It moved me enough to call the DH and reminded him that I love him.  Sappy, huh?  We have our share of silly little arguments, but I don’t foresee any regrets in my life concerning my marriage.  

Make sure your loved ones know how much they mean to you!  And if you get a chance, send some good vibes towards the Divas – we need it!

Being thankful for the bad times...

Yes, I'm blogging on a Saturday night. Sad, I know. :) I am actually getting ready to go out; the DH and I are heading to ML's Omaha Roller Girl bout in a few minutes...but it was such a rough day, I thought I'd relieve myself, bloggily speaking.
The plan today was to drive to Lincoln with ML for the Nebraska-Oklahoma State game, while the DH spent the afternoon recording some tracks with his band. What I actually ended up doing was spending the morning and early afternoon in the ER while the DH's blood sugar returned to a normal state. I'm not complaining - I'm perfectly happy to be with him anytime, anywhere, in sickness and in health - that's what marriage is, right? It was just so frustrating and heartbreaking to have to call paramedics - being helpless while your loved one is in pain is the most horrible feeling ever. Thankfully, everything is fine. As much as I hate days like this, it reminds me how fragile we are in the grand scheme of things, and how grateful I am that I have someone I love so much - who would do the same for me if things were reversed. Sometimes we need these reminders to make us appreciate the good days all that much more...
We had a relatively pleasant rest of the day - ate some lunch, bought some new running shoes, took a nap...then got up to make an awesome dinner of mostly organic spaghetti squash (I added non-organic pesto) and all organic mozzarella and tomato salad...mmm...

Looking forward to being not-too-excited tomorrow. It's Super Diva Sunday, and the DH has band practice, and hopefully all goes according to plan this time...

The D-est DH ever

I call my husband the DH, or Dear Husband, because it’s just plain easier than typing out his name, or saying “my husband”, as much as I talk about him, but also because it’s so true!  When we first met, I wasn’t crazy about him, to be honest.  Years later, when we finally started dating, I was pleasantly shocked to find out that he’s a real sweetheart and will do just about anything for people that he loves.  (Now, I shouldn’t have been too surprised – once in college, he bought a girlfriend her own star for Christmas.  I thought that was a pretty creative gift, as well as being quite a statement about how he felt about her.  At the time, though, the fact that I still thought he was kind of a jerk outweighed any other feelings, so this particular memory didn’t resurface when he asked me out.)

After dating for two years and being married for one, you’d think I’d not longer be surprised when he does really wonderful things, right?  Nope!  And therefore I was completely taken aback last night when he suggested the sweetest, most unselfish thing I’ve ever heard.  You see, my brother is running in the New York City marathon next month and invited me and my sister to go along.  We’ve had our plane tickets for months now.  However, last night my sister called in near tears – she couldn’t justify the expense of the trip and felt guilty going when she has a baby at home…  When I told the DH about this, he immediately offered to give her money from his own pocket to pay for her trip.  He volunteered to work an overtime shift to pay for it.  So not only is he giving up his own money, but also his own time – for an SIL he doesn’t always get along with.  I couldn’t believe it…and now looking back, I can’t believe that I was so surprised, because this is such a typical DH act.  If he believes in the cause, he’ll support whole-heartedly, even if that cause is just making me happy.

Regression: a weekend of just too much food

I set myself up with a pretty regular workout routine the last couple of years, and was done to a decent weight for quite a while.  However, I noticed that despite my healthier local eating this summer, I was still adding a little too much junk to my diet, and perhaps being a little lax with the workouts.  I blame the heat – I’m not a summer runner.  So I hopped on the scale this morning…and it’s gone up 5 lbs!  This is not good.  A 1-2 lb fluctuation I could brush off as typically daily water intake, but 5 is a big number – too big to chalk up to excess H20.  Sigh…I’ve gotten lazy.  More so with the diet that the exercise, which is actually worse for me – I used to be able to eat whatever I want and just work it off, but alas my metabolism must have disappeared with my rapidly-fleeting youth!

So I am sitting here on this beautiful fall morning, vowing to start monitoring my food intake a little more closely – I will stop and think before I eat that ice cream sundae! 

Ice cream was only one of many things I indulged in during this fun-and-food-filled weekend…  On Friday, I skipped a few hours of work to help at the River City Roundup’s “Rough ‘N Ready Challenge”, a rodeo event for handicapped children.  It was an awesome event; a special rodeo just for these kids that normally wouldn’t get to participate in something so elaborate.  They could ride horses, pet goats, rope “steer”, ride the “bucking bronco”, get their faces painted and their pictures taken, all in the company of real cowboys.  There was even a gun duel performance to entertain us while we waited for lunch. (Major food event #1:  BBQ pork and cornbread). 

Friday night was the Junior League’s Toast to Omaha event, an annual fundraiser.  This year it benefitted the Ronald McDonald mobile dental service that brings dentists to kids at lower-income schools.  I got to wear my new dress and chow on hor d’uerves. (Major food event #2). 

My family was in town for the weekend; we all walked or ran in Saturday morning’s Cathedral Cup Run at the St. Cecilia Church.  OMG!  I had been warned about the “Mount St. Davenport”  (a large LONG hill) but I had no idea how bad it was…but my feet sure do now…  I’m due for a new pair of running shoes…actually far overdue, and it’s starting to show.  The past week, my right hip and knee have been completely out-of-whack, and now my feet are aching too. 

After the race, we headed to the Radial Café for breakfast (Major food event #3: Apricot-stuffed French toast and bacon).  Stuffed and exhausted, we headed to Lincoln to watch the Husker-Iowa State game.  It is much more pleasant to watch football when your team wins!   (Major food event #4: Pop, Runza, ice cream sundae).  My dad likes to find new restaurants to try by reading the reviews in the paper; after the game, we met up with my folks at the Europe Café, or as the free pen the owner gave us proclaimed, the “Aurope Coffee”.  The owners were a lovely European couple, but they had recently immigrated and weren’t quite caught up on the language yet.  Regardless, the food was great, as was the service, so I might convince the DH to go back there another time… (Major food event #5: Mediteranean burger and fries).

We took it easy Saturday night – after getting up at 5, running a hilly roadrace, and then sitting in the sun all day, we were both exhausted!  We watched a movie and I worked on my latest belly dance costume.  Sunday morning, the sweet DH made me breakfast (Major food event #6: fried eggs and dill rye toast).  We went our separate Sunday ways (me sewing, him watching football); after a rather lame belly dance rehearsal, I indulge in Major food event #7 (more ice cream) and then #8 after my second and third rehearsals of the day (leftover pizza).  Ugh, so much food!  No wonder my butt looks like a bag full of Jello!

So, another busy weekend (what else is new, huh?).  This week is full already too – belly dance class tonight, two rehearsals on Wednesday, helping at the food co-op on Thursday (plus picking up my first order!) followed by the first official JLO Leadership Academy meeting.  On Friday the DH and I will meet up with some of my friends at Espana in Benson to watch La Tamara, a flamenco dancer from whom I’ve taken a workshop.  Then Saturday is finally Yallahween! 

Loonnnggg weekend

After a not entirely pleasant weekend, I’m almost relieved to be back at work this morning. Almost…

It wasn’t a longer weekend than any other, but it sure felt like it. I started the weekend off fighting with traffic, running errands, and preparing our house for a visit from my family. My parents came up Friday night with their dog, picked up my nephew (5 months) on Saturday afternoon to stay with us, and my brother and his girlfriend visited for a while on Saturday night. Since it’s usually just one or two of us, plus one small dog, in the house at a time, it was feeling a bit crowded…

Saturday was definitely the busiest day we had. The DH rose at 4:30 to jog before we left for the NU/Ball State game. We met up with his friend Ron and Ron’s son at the governor’s mansion in Lincoln for a tailgate party. Free beer and politicians at 8:30 in the morning – can’t beat that!

The game started off great…but quickly went downhill. What should have been an easy win became a total cluster that came down to the last seconds. I’ve never heard the crowd boo like that at Memorial Stadium; it was so disheartening. The only thing that salvaged my spirits was the fact that we did end up winning – by 1 point. This was pure luck; we didn’t deserve to win. I’m a little afraid of next week’s contest against Iowa State… The only thing I’m sure of is that I WILL remember sunscreen on Saturday – I can barely move my arms.

After a long drive home, more errands, cooking dinner with the fam and visiting with my brother, the DH and I chugged some coffee and went out for the evening. We were invited to a birthday party at a couple of bars for the singer of the band’s wife. It was fun – I hadn’t met some of the new members yet, and one of their wives and I seem to get a long pretty well. Plus there was another b-day party at the second bar and I was able to talk my way into some cake. J Mmm….cake.

My dad ran the half at yesterday’s Omaha Marathon. He was out the door at 5:30, making me really happy that I signed up to help with chip stuffing instead of race day events! The DH and I are now somewhat considering running the half next year – we’ll see…

The rest of Sunday was filled with more family time, working on my dress for next weekend, and dance practice – Core (now code-named Salome) rehearsal, Angeli Tennanbrarum rehearsal, and some duet practice with ML.

Phew! I guess I’ll never get the hang of these lazy weekends…

Another football weekend

Here's a shot of Memorial Stadium last Saturday night, before half the fans left in disappointment.

This weekend we play Ball State, which hopefully will be an easy win. We need it! The DH and I will head down to Lincoln tomorrow with my folks, and then they will bring my nephew back to our place with them to spend the night. I'm not sure that my sister has let him spend the night away from her yet, so I'm curious as to how many times she calls to check on him. :)

Aside from the game and having family in town, I'll also be working on what will probably be my final Wardrobe Refashion for this pledge term. I'm really considering signing up again - there are still dozen of projects I haven't had time for in the past two months, and I really don't need to step foot in a mall any time soon. This weekend's project will be a dress for the JLO Toast to Omaha party that the DH and I are attending next weekend.

Throw in some dance practice and cheering for my dad at the Omaha Marathon, and it's another busy weekend.

Dude, you're so lucky!

That’s what the DH’s new band mates were telling him last night.  It seems every time they’ve come over (last night was practice #5), I’ve been cooking something or have been otherwise occupied in the kitchen.  Last night I made peach crisp with the last of the weekend’s peaches. (More on the way apparently – my lovely mother-in-law is dropping off bags of frozen peaches and cherries from their yard this weekend).  Let me tell you, peach crisp and vanilla ice cream is the breakfast of champions!  But I digress…

I have been spending a lot of time in the kitchen lately.  Between chopping, peeling, blanching, boiling, canning, stir-frying, and baking, we’ve gone through quite a bit of really great food this summer.  I guess that’s what happens when you limit the conventional convenience foods and cook with fresh, local ingredients.  

I’ve always been a little food-obsessed.  I’d rather be in a supermarket than a mall – even just to window-shop.  When my second-grade art teacher introduced us to collages, I pasted together photos of food and built my own grocery store.  Since food is pretty much on my mind at all times, I figured it was best to start focusing on “real” food – fresh veggies and fruits, meat and dairy from happy cows, etc.  I can’t say it’s doing much for my waistline, but my digestive system and conscious are all the better for it. 

I just hope the DH doesn’t think this is a result of my donning the title of “wife”!  I enjoy cooking, but all motivation escapes me the moment I am expected to perform.  He better just enjoy the good life while it still captivates my attention – and he better keep up on the dishes!

 

One of THOSE weekends

Exhausted on Monday, as usual.  It was a busy weekend, mostly good, some definitely bad.  My poor baby-dog was still sick on Friday afternoon when I got home.  To add insult to injury, the DH and decided to finish the dog’s haircut (it’s starting to become a two-day project – he squirms and whines too much) then give him a bath.  Then he threw up again.  It quickly became a low-key stay-at-home kind of night, watching movies on the couch and following Ryker around with a towel in case he yacked on anything else.  

My parents showed up later that night and we all woke bright and early to head to a charity fun-run.  Yes, we are one of those silly families that goes to road races for fun! J  This one wasn’t bad – it was the 2-year anniversary of the first race my now-husband/then-new-fiancé had ever done.  Plus my sister and nephew joined us and we got to check out the Lincoln Farmer’s Market.  Wow, what a selection!  Heirloom tomatoes and a rainbow of peppers like you wouldn’t believe; the Old Market FM doesn’t carry this much variety.  It was hard to comparison shop, but I got a great deal on multiple pounds of peaches and nectarines, plus some peppers, onions, an odd cucumber, raspberries, and some ground lamb.  We sampled salsas, fruit butters, fish, root beer, and ostrich meat.  

Saturday night started off good, as we headed out for ML’s birthday party, but ended poorly – the DH and I got into an argument at the bar, effectively ruining any fun I’d been having.  I won’t go into details, but neither of us was happy until the next day…we’ve made up.  As usual, we tried to find the positive aspects of this fight – what things we could use to make our relationship stronger, as well as what NOT to do during a fight!  Oh, well – all’s well that ends well, and hopefully ML is not too grumpy with us for staging the whole thing during her bar crawl… J

Sunday was a bit more relaxed.  I did yard work, finished Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (I highly recommend it!), and worked on a new Wardrobe Refashion project while waiting for ML to come over.  We went out for sushi to celebrate her actual birthday as well as the fact that she passed her Roller Derby skills assessment!  Woo-hoo- way to go! 

 

 

One Sick Puppy

I’m an awful pet parent.  There was a story in the local news about a vicious canine virus circling our area, and the vaccine every dog needs to prevent it.  I immediately rushed Ryker to the vet for this shot, with the blessing of the DH.  The vet warned me to keep the dog under observation for a few hours, in case he turned out to be the 1 in 5 dogs to have a bad reaction from the vaccine…  Well, he was the 1-in-5, and several hours later, he got pretty violently ill.  I was up all night with him, washing our bedding and towels and following the poor dog around the house to make sure he didn’t puke on anything I couldn’t clean.  By 5 a.m., everything was out of his system, and I fell asleep.  Needless to say, I didn’t make it to work on time this morning.

I had my dear sweet husband call the vet – turns out this story was propagated by the manufacturer of the vaccine and most dogs do not in fact need it.  Generally, the DH is under the opinion that the benefits of vaccinations far outweigh the risks, but this was not the case here.  A 20% chance of allergic reaction should have been our first clue.  I am very not-happy right now – both with the drug company for needlessly pushing a medication with such high risks (and I’m sure they thought it was OK, since it was only a DOG vaccine and not for HUMANS!), and with myself for not researching the issue a little more.  I just hope Ryker won’t hold a grudge.

Dude, your wife is kinda weird...

That’s the thought I’m sure was rolling through the minds of my DH’s guests last night.  He had some guys over from a new band – they’re looking for a drummer – and I had decided to keep myself busy in the kitchen while they jammed downstairs.  When they arrived, I was deep into a salsa canning session, as well as baking zucchini bread, and working on an embroidery project.  I’m sure any one of those activities would have made me look like a good little housewife, but I was doing all three at once.  Add to that the fact that I had two loads of laundry drying on the clothesline when they all ventured out onto our back deck, and I’m sure they were surprised I was wearing shoes. 

Is all this stuff I do now weird?  I guess it is all pretty traditional and domesticated, but I’m not doing any of it because I have to – I’m having fun!  Cooking, baking, sewing, and making things are just hobbies to me.  

I ended up canning 10 jars of salsa – 8 pints and 2 half-pints.  I made 5 mini-loaves of zucchini bread from the last of my garden zucchini – had to sent the poor zucchini plant off to an early grave.  I finished the embroidery project I mentioned, but that’s it as far as sewing-related goodness goes.  I wanted to start on a skirt to match the top I did as my first Wardrobe Refashion, but I also had to spend a good portion of my evening comforting the schnauzer-mutt who was totally freaked out by the sounds of death metal radiating from our basement.  I’m not sure our place is the best practice space…

 

Just the two of us...

My DH and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary this weekend. Despite the enormous array of things that we could have been doing with other people, we decided to just spend the weekend together, obligation-free. For me this meant saying no to helping with the grand opening of the new belly dance studio, which was very hard to turn down as this is my favorite extracuricular...but I figured that my sweet DH turned down 8 potential gigs with his (former) band for Saturday night, so the least I could do was be "us-selfish" instead of "me-selfish" and do the same. I think it was a good decision - we had one of the best weekend we've had in a while. We started Thursday night with a picnic at Jazz on the Green - I secured us a great spot by showing up hours early with a blanket. We continued on Friday night with the YAP Art Crawl (with ML and Ev), hanging out in the Old Market with a bottle of wine for a few hours afterwards. Saturday was filled with walking the dog through the Farmers Market, doing house stuff together, and then heading back to the OM for dinner and a carriage ride.

Local band A. Symbiot was playing at a West O club, so we met up with some friends there...unfortunately I overstuffed at dinner and was nearly dozing off during the show - quite the task considering we were in a loud smoky bar with blaring live music... :)

Sunday we celebrated our actual anniversary date by eating the wedding cake that's been sitting in our freezer since last August...for year-old cake, it wasn't bad! We then drove South to help out at the Raven's Nest 5k, a dauntingly muddy and hill-packed trail run. For a 5k, it was a doozy! We assisted with pre-registration and then headed out on the trail - I took 3rd in my age group. Woo-hoo! :) A nap was in order upon our arrival home, at least for the DH - I spent my late morning/early afternoon chopping veggies for salsa and making coleslaw from my FM bounty. We attempted to spend the evening at the Plain White Tees free concert, but a brutal thunderstorm rolled through town after we had barely sat down. The 3 hour rain delay was longer than we were willing to sit in the car, so we headed home for the night. Other than that slight disappointment, I'd have to say it was a pretty good anniversary weekend - it will be hard to top for sure!

Oh the humanity

I took a little road trip home this weekend - home being my parents' house about 3 1/2 hours west of my present address.  I don't visit often, partially because they come down this way a lot (all 3 of the kids in my family live on this side of the state, as well as the new grandbaby), and also because I really hate to drive.  I can not stand to be in a car for more than about 30 minutes.  This was the second multi-hour trip I'd taken in the past 2 weeks, so it was not the most pleasant time.
Anyhoo, the purpose of this visit was to peruse this awesome second-hand store my mother frequents...oh, and to go to my cousin's wedding.  Mainly the store, though - I confess that I abhor weddings.  Does that make me a bad person?  I thoroughly enjoyed my own wedding, but I was also quite drunk the whole time...  In general, I find weddings boring and irritating - especially church weddings, with all their sexist traditions.  I scrubbed my own ceremony of as much of that crap as I could - not least of which the introduction as "Mr. & Mrs. His Name."  Um, hello?  I still have a name? Grrr...OK, angry feminist rant coming on, so I better drop it! :)
The highlight of the trip was definitely the secondhand store.  This place is awesome - they clean up at estate sales, so it's partially antiques, but also just a lot of really useful junk.  I made a beeline for the vintage fabric collection, amassing quite a pile to use during my 2 month Wardrobe Refashion pledge that starts in a few days.  I also got my own canner.  I'm not sure if I saved money buying it there (at some point this place was amazingly cheap, but then the owners figured out that people were willing to pay good money for old stuff), but at least it is getting a second life.  Now I can try the great jam experiment again! :)  And hopefully come out with actual jam!
As for the wedding, the most interesting part was the drive there.  My cousin got married in the same country church that my parents  used.  It's out in the middle of nowhere on a gravel road (that was freshly washed out during that morning's rains).  The entire drive was right through corn country, with the occasional soy bean field appearing.  As we drove, I started to notice a stench.  It wasn't the small hog farm we passed...it was the giant feedlot operations just a little ways up the road.  I was chatting with my mom about the problems small farmers face and the inhumanity of feedlots, and discovered a fact about my grandfather, a lifelong farmer, that I never knew before - he was allergic to corn.  Couldn't touch it or eat it.  I bet that made mealtime interesting, as well as all of his field duties!  Imagine how he would have lived today, where a large majority of our food is corn-based?  They think his allergy, which didn't develop until his mid-forties, was triggered by exposure to certain farm chemicals.  Another point for organic farming, huh?

A lucky day

My sister, Erin, had her baby on Friday, April 13.  I can’t say she seemed that excited about giving birth on Friday the 13^th, but we all got quite a few laughs from all the “unlucky” jokes…Anyhow, both mama and baby are doing fine – Erin should be released from the hospital today.  You can see the little guy here:  Preston William Crawford

 

 

Famous relatives...

I was listening to NPR’s story of the day from Feb. 24^th (I’m a little behind) on my way back from the gym. The story was about this man, “H.M”, who underwent an experimental brain surgery in the 50’s to correct his severe epilepsy. The procedures caused him to lose his ability to produce new memories, leaving him unable to live on his own. The name of the physician that performed the procedures (and later advocated to have it banned from use) caught my attention:

William Beecher Scoville

Here’s another relative that got off the farm and made a name for himself. When I found the article below, I sent it to my Grandma Scoville, who tracked this man down. Turns out he’s my great-grandfather’s cousin, and in their youth, he dated and almost married the woman who became my great-grandmother! Fortunately for me, THAT didn’t happen!

Merritt Scoville

And of course, we can't forget about Wilbur Scoville, who invented the Scoville Scale.