Nashville Flea Market

At the end of September, we headed South to visit Karson's brother and sister-in-law and their cute kiddos. I had never been on an Army base before. It was fun to see the differences/similarities between the Air Force and Army bases. His sister-in-law has been great with my transition to military spouse life, answering questions, sharing stories from when she and K's brother first got married and moved, etc. It has been beyond helpful!
We spent time grilling out, playing Scrabble, going to church and having a movie night watching Tangled with the kids.
When deciding what to do with our Sunday afternoon, my sister-in-law mentioned there was a flea market in Nashville that happens monthly and happened to be that weekend. Karson's interest in going was not much, and his brother's was even less. The kiddos were even less excited. So off the two of us went in search of something fun. I must admit, I've been to many garage and estate sales over the years, but never a flea market. I'm also not a good negotiator.
We arrived and began wandering around when I spotted a chandelier painted blue and turned into centerpiece. Originally $40, it had been reduced to $30 because it was Sunday. I mentioned I liked it, S-I-L thought it was cute. She knew her husband would hate it if she brought it home. I figured K wouldn't really care one way or another. S-I-L went to work. I paid $22 for it! Score!
Here's a link to the Nashville Flea Market if you're ever in the area and want to go check it out. It's supposed to be one of the top Flea Market's in the country. http://www.nashvilleexpocenter.org/expo/fleamarket/dates.asp

Here my find on our dining room table. Need to buy candles for it

Trip to Ames

Karson and I made a trip to Ames this past weekend to catch some Hilton Magic.  We'd originally been planning to go on February 19th for the ISU- Mizzou game, but that didn't work out.  Since we would have been cheering for opposite teams that day, I'm okay with that not working out.

After arriving in Ames on Saturday and buying tickets, the cashier directed us around the corner, where we ran into the Knops heading upstairs.  We stopped to talk to them for a few minutes before heading to our seats.  We did a lap around the arena got some snacks and found our seats, which were decent considering we walked up and bought them that day.  Karson spotted someone in a argyle sweater that he liked.  He's been telling me for almost a month that he plans to wear overalls when we attend VEISHEA.  This can be attributed to bad fashion choices in 1997 and 1998, he's convinced that everyone at ISU must wear overalls.  (HA HA!)  I told him the sweater would be a better option.  The game against Nebraska ended up in an overtime win, and he even bought me a Clone cone!

Once the game was over we made our way to the Memorial Union to hit up the bookstore - he wanted to find that sweater and check out the UnderArmor gear.  While we wear there, we ran into more people. Erin, Andy and Katie were there along with some people I tailgate with.  None of these run ins were planned so it was random and fun.  The sweater wasn't at the bookstore, and they didn't have UA gear in his size, so we headed off on a cold, walking tour of campus.

Then of course....Great Plains. YUM!!!  We followed that up with some relaxing in our hotel hot tub. 

Sunday morning we met up with my sister, brother-in-law, their kids and my aunt at the Machine Shed.  Someone may have pointed out the staff was wearing overalls.  After being stuffed with the breakfast buffet, we headed off to check out the DaVinci exhibit at the Science Center. Absoulutely fantastic. 

Oh and the sweater was found at the Hy-Vee on Fleur.  One of my friends told me she'd seen it there.  Karson didn't want to drop $45 on it.  Now he's wishing he'd bought it. :) Number of ISU things Karson already owns: 3.  Number of Mizzou/Arkansas things I own: 0.  Pretty sure I'm winning the conversion.

Mini-vacation

I took Monday and Tuesday of this week off for some mental health purposes. On Monday, I took my nephew, Ethan, to the Iowa State Fair. I figured after chasing after him all day, I'd need a day to rest and catch up.

We arrived at the fair just before 10 on Monday and got a funnel cake. It's vacation, right? There was a veterans parade, so we grabbed some curb and sat down to watch it. As the different troops went by we watched and cheered at different times. Eventually, a WWII replica jeep passed. I turned to Ethan and said, "That's the kind of jeep that your great-grandpas would have ridden in when they fought in WWII." (Keep in mind he has met neither of these men as my maternal grandpa died before I was born and my paternal grandpa died when I was nine). Ethan's response - blank stare basically communicating, I have no idea what WWII is and I don't know who the heck those people are either. I gave about two seconds of thought to explain WWII to Ethan and decided it was a concept for another day.

Posing on a lion, the kid loves playgrounds. I probably could have just taken him to one of those.

We took off for the midway as he wanted to ride some rides and play some games. These are things that I don't normally do at the fair, and I know he doesn't do either. Other than maybe the "Giant Slide" or "Sky Glider." He enjoyed some bumper cars, small roller coaster,I rode something that I thought was going to make me vomit from spinning, and we won some stuffed animals.

Time to find more food and free stuff. He loaded up on some free tatoos, and went to play in the spray fountain, and some nice older lady gave me some free ride tickets. Seriously, is the Midwest great or what?

Fair Squares - Being sold for $2, I opted for the with peanut butter, the plain ones, were also $2, but twice this size.

After a healthy lunch of food on a stick, we sat and watched a free kids show, checked out the butter cow and butter Dr. Suess. And then headed over to the "exotic" petting zoo. We were able to feed the animals here, most of which were goats, which are apparently exotic. Um, okay. After which Ethan and I had a discussion about needing to use the hand sanitizer. Which basically boiled down to because you need to as I didn't quite know how to explain hoof and mouth disease to him.

After almost 6 hours at the fair, we were both tired and decided to call it a day and headed back to the car. Here's what Ethan looked like when I got back to my sister's house....

Wiped out.

Vacation - Day 2: Epcot and a LOT of Rain

My mom and I woke up and headed to breakfast at Kona. The trip we were on provided us with free breakfast at any of the restaurants in the Polynesian. We'd talked to people at dinner the night before about the restaurants. They suggested avoiding the Cook's place in our hotel. (We were going to be having a character breakfast at Ohana on Day 3.) I decided to get the banana stuffed french toast for breakfast. Um, clearly should have asked to see a picture of that before ordering. It was about six pieces of toast, along with the bananas somewhere inside. And it came with strawberry syrup. And a side of bacon. It was massive and literally looked like half a loaf. The guy sitting next to me said he was "going to get that, but decided it was too big." I looked at the hellacious meat platter (bacon, sausage, ham, etc.) he was eating. His platter also included toast and eggs. I wish I'd taken a picture. I finished maybe half of my french toast before giving up since I didn't want to be sick later.

After breakfast we went downstairs to buy Mom a ticket to Epcot. I'd done volunteer work so my ticket was free. :) And then we boarded the tram to make the trek. After arriving I got not only a ticket but a supercool Miss Piggy button. I adored Miss Piggy when I was about 3. And I was amazed that people kept thanking me for volunteering and asking me what I volunteer work I had done.

We started out on some random ride that I was so not impressed with, I didn't bother to remember the name. My mom liked it. People had been mentioning Test Trak, so I wanted to try it. Mom refused. It was a lot of fun - fast moving.

We checked out a few other rides, went to ride Soarin which was A-MAZ-ING!!! It's a tour of California where you feel like you're there - sights, smells, rushing through the areas. Unreal! Then we checked out Honey I Shrunk the Audience before I was really hungry. It had begun to rain, someone steadily so we picked up some fashionable Disney ponchos.

Mom and me in our trendy ponchos

Next we took off toward the world area of Epcot in search of a meal. My mom prefers to sit down to eat. We stopped in at British Pub - that had a 15 minute wait. Nope, mom didn't want to wait that long. Let's go back to that restaurant in Canada. By now it's POURING! We get back there, they're booked for the rest of the day. I made the executive decision that we were going back to the other place because if I didn't eat soon, I'd be gnawing off my arm - it was almost 3 p.m.

Lunch was fantastic - I had some shepard's pie type meal, and we were sitting by a small lake that overlooked all the other countries. Our waitress had been on the cruise we were heading out on the next day, so she offered suggestions. By the time we were done eating - the rain had subsided. So we wondered around and checked out all the countries and worked off lunch. It began to rain again around Norway, and we managed to find another ride just in time. :)

After all that, we stopped in a store, picked up some gifts for the kids and headed back to the hotel. Since we ate lunch so late, we decided to just do some appetizers at the Polynesian bar for dinner. My mom doesn't drink much anymore, so I asked if she was going to get anything to drink. "Yes, a daquiri." That sounded reasonable as I thumbed through the drink book. She continued, "And if they don't have that, a whiskey sour." Wow, go big or go home. I was fairly confident they'd have the daquiri. Which was good, since I couldn't carry my mom back to our room. The bartender also provided some cruise related tips. Apparently everyone has been on a Disney cruise. And with that we headed back out into the rain to trek back to our room.

Viking helmut I made mom try on, she was less than enthusiastic.

Vacation - Day One

Definitely a bit late on this, but I'm going to back up and post about the vacation.

The trip to Florida was entertaining. My mom had not been on a plane in 45 years. Needless to say, things have changed slightly and I'd done my best to prep her for air travel. Easy on/off shoes. Nothing scary in the carry on, etc. Um, she was pulled aside to be searched and her purse had to be searched too. We were insanely early to the DSM airport. After boarding the plane we sat at the jetbridge for an eternity. Eventually the captain told us there was something wrong with the plane and we had to de-board so they could fix it. Looking at the clock, the odds of us making our connection in STL - slim. Once the plane was fixed we were off and running, only half an hour late. Lucky for us, there were 16 people transferring from our flight to the Orlando flight so they held the plane. An added bonus - the connecting flight was closeby in St Louis.

Arriving in Orlando, we were thrilled to find out that our luggage even made the flight. Woo Hoo!!! The travel agency transferred us to the hotel, where we checked in with the Polynesian hotel and then had to check in with travel agency and cruise line. Which would have been awesome, if I had the paperwork that was in the baggage below the bus. So once that was delivered I completed our check in and took a nap. After my mom told me she had decided to leave her cigarrettes at home (in an attempt to drive me crazy) she announced she was going for a walk. The idea of my mom not bringing cigarrettes along in theory is great. I would love for her to quit, but I knew we'd get on each other's nerves easily and her not smoking would not help.

photo of the Grand Floridain

After my nap, it was time to get ready for dinner which was being held on the beach at the Grand Floridian. Dinner was a pirate themed event. Some of the stuff included: pirate band, temporary tatoos for everyone, pirate moustaches. face painting, pirate gear for the kids, appearances by Mickey and Minnie. Due to the fact that I don't talk about work here, I won't be mentioning the people that were there. I liked all of them very much, but I don't want to get into any of that stuff. The food and drinks were great. Afterward, my mom and I headed back to the room to catch the fireworks and call it a night.

fireworks from our room

Two weeks, two weeks, two weeks.

I am so excited that my vacation is coming up in two weeks. Work is stressing me out lately. I feel like winter is neverending. The daily snowfall isn't helping. It's cold and I have a stupid sinus infection. Okay, enough complaining....

I leave for vacation on Tuesday, February 23rd. We're going to spend two days in Disney World at the Polynesian Resort and then we're off for a three day cruise to the Bahamas!! Half of the meals are included in the cost of the trip. I did volunteer work, so I get into Disney World for free. Woot! Warm weather!!! Sunshine! Temps in Orlando should at least be in the upper 60s. And in the Bahamas it should be in the 70s. Can't. Wait.

As if that wasn't awesome enough, it gets better.

Today, I went to the orthodontist and had my permanent bottom retainer put it. It attaches to my lower canine teeth on the inside. Clearly, I'm nearing the finish line. I get my braces off on Monday, February 22nd!! Just in time for vacation.  I am beyond thrilled.

2009 Recap

Overall, 2009 was a pretty good year. In late January/early February, I made a trip to Chicago for my friend, Amanda's, 30th birthday. I haven't been to Chicago in ages. It was great to catch up with a lot of friends there.  May saw me going to a bunch of concerts, which was a great time - Jason Mraz, the Nadas, Billy Joel and Elton John. I also traveled back to Eastern Iowa for my cousin, Alice's wedding in June. In July, I headed to Vegas for my 30th birthday, it was definitely an experience to remember. August had me heading to Lansing for a week of training for work. I ended up catching up with some friends there too.  And I managed to make a complete idiot out of myself in the process. YES!!! Football season kicks off and I feel like I move to Ames, which is always a good time. This year, I also got to travel to Kansas City to see Kati and Sara and their Justin's along with Stacy. November, hmmm....oh yeah, I bought a house in November. And December seemed to be all about the holidays. So really I can't complain. I managed to not go to the ER last year, so I achieved my biggest New Year's resolution goal since I'd gone twice in 2006, once in 2007 and twice in 2008. My health insurance company probably thinks I'm dead.

Throughout the year, I managed to make a bunch of new friends in Omaha, and reconnect with a few old ones too.

Not my kids, but still cute.

My sister had her friend, Kristin (she's my friend too), take Christmas pictures of Ethan and Anna, my niece and nephew. Kristin recently started her own business.  My nephew would wear sweats every day if he could, but obviously my sister wasn't going to let him wear that for the photos, hence the sweater and slacks. Ethan told Elizabeth he'd never worn a sweater before. I thought that was hilarious, that he can't remember the last time he's worn a sweater. Since he only had the sweater on for like 30 minutes, she asked him if he wanted to wear it to school the next day. His answer, "No, kids will make fun of me." HA!

Holy Housewarming!

I traveled back to Iowa for the Thanksgiving weekend and was incredibly grateful by how generous my family was with housewarming gifts. My mom had sent me a few emails weeks ago asking a few questions  about my current kitchen items. After hearing about my cheapo pots and pans and how the handles smoked in the broiler decided I needed something of a bit "better quality."  So, she and my dad were kind enough to buy me a set of 10 pots and pans with lids. With the impending mortgage, I am going to be cooking at home a LOT more and it's going to be nice to have a good set of cookware to use.

Here's the skillet, as you can see the sticker is still attached. And in the back, you can see the new paint for the 2nd floor.

As if that wasn't enough, Friday my aunt asked me if I wanted my Grandma Pugh's stoneware. My maternal grandmother died when I was five, so my memories of her are somewhat limited and unfortunately I missed out on a few traditions. I felt bad that I didn't even offer up the stoneware to my sister before saying yes. However, when I talked to Elizabeth today, she said, "Well, you never got a quilt, and everyone else in the family has one of those." The family tradition you're supposed to have a quilt made for you. I've pretty much given up hope that I will ever see this quilt. So basically, the stoneware is now my quilt. Here is what my new stoneware looks like - considering that it's at least as old as I am, it's held up well. Twelve place setting, and only two cups have chips.

Salad plates

Dinner plates, normally not a big flower fan on things, but I think Grandma did a good job on the pattern.

So after that, I'm already thinking I've made out like a bandit. Saturday morning, my aunt announced that she was going to buy me a housewarming gift - and that she would buy me a mixer - she gave me a price range. I was floored and after trying to tell her it wasn't necessary and getting nowhere... I hopped online and did some bargain shopping. Younkers BF prices were still in effect, plus they had a $30 mail in rebate. I got an awesome mixer for an insane price. It's new and shiny and black, technically "caviar." It has the dough hook, wire whip, flat beater and a pouring shield. Just in time for holiday baking. Normally Amanda and I do holiday baking and make fudge. Our arms get so tired from mixing that we go back and forth. This year, we'll just set a timer. :)

New mixer, better view of the new paint color, raffia ribbon.. It looks lonely. I need to add my toaster.

Friday Fun

Today, I didn't really do traditional "Black Friday" activities, but I don't typically shop either. I'd rather do something like Cyber Monday. I went to Walgreens and got a bunch of free/practically free things and will probably return tomorrow to finish it off. Once I'm done working that deal, I'll take a picture, with my results, I'm guessing I should end up with about $30 - $40 worth of stuff for about $15. We'll see.
Anyway, my sister and I were emailing and decided test run a Christmas baking project: Hot Chocolate on a Stick. I'd found it via a message board that linked this blog: http://giverslog.com/?p=3290 So, we checked out the ingredients, the only thing we didn't actually have - the popsicle sticks. A month ago, they would have been everywhere. Now, I couldn't find them to save my life. I showed up at my sister's after hitting Walgreens and ended up taking Anna to Hobby Lobby. "Shopping!?" Anna asked excitedly. She ran to get her shoes and coat. We improvised with lollipop sticks as that is what we could find.
My sister didn't own a double broiler so we created a makeshift one with two pots and it worked fine. We used baking disks from Hobby Lobby that I already had on hand and brought from Omaha. Melted those and then added the dry mix. And then my sister exclaimed, "This is so not going to work! We made fudge!" This stuff is thick. I was bound and determined to make this work. I'm patient, but I'm stubborn as hell. "It'll work, put it in the ziplock bag." My sister transferred it in the bag and I cut off a corner. Have you ever tried to pipe frosting? It works fine because of it's consistancy. Have you ever tried to pipe fudge? Elizabeth was laughing to the point that she was almost rolling on the floor. Which in turn made me laugh.
And after about two cubes, I decided it would be quicker and easier to just spoon the mixture into the cubes. After I spooned a row, I smoothed it, and then added the sticks. We let them set for about an hour or so and then they popped right out. That was my biggest concern, getting them out. We microwaved some milk and then proceeded to stir. And then we ran ito Elizabeth's biggest concern - the lollipop sticks are cardboard. Milk is hot. The chocolate came off the stick, and then we needed spoons to stir.
This hot chocolate was a-maz-ing!!! Seriously!!! Way better than Swiss Miss or any other powder. Elizabeth, Walker, Cyote and I all tried it and thought it was great. I'll take a couple pics of it tomorrow, when I head over to drop off Walker's birthday present.

The marker incident

My sister had to work for a few hour on Sunday because she missed most of last week since my nephew, Ethan, was sick. Sunday, when I left their house, my brother-in-law, JJ, was hanging out with the kids. Anna had been put down for a nap, and Ethan and JJ were going to play some Wii after I left.
At some point during the afternoon, JJ fell asleep, Anna woke up and located a blue marker. JJ was not asleep for long and woke up to discover his two and a half year old daughter had covered her hands and face in blue marker.  Elizabeth asked if I was still there for this, like I would have let my niece marker the daylights out of herself. I laughed and said, "No, but given her OCD, I can imagine what she looked like. JJ had a heckuva time getting her to take her shoes off for her nap." Apparently it wasn't just a few marks her and there, Anna had managed to cover her face with the marker. Which does and doesn't surprise me, considering what a neat freak she is, but she also likes things to be very exact. JJ looked at Ethan, as if to say, "How could you let your little sister do this?" And Ethan basically had a look that said, "You and Mom always say I'm not the boss of Anna." Luckily it was a washable marker and not permanent and it all came off. Still very funny to me.

A little clarity

So growing up, whenver I'd start complaining about something or try to throw myself a fantastic pity party, my dad would always remind me that there were people in the world who had situations who were much more dire than mine. And I've tried to keep that in mind throughout my life, but at times, frustration gets the best of me.
Over the weekend, one thing after another seemed to be going wrong, things that would normally seem trivial and insignificant, the dryer ate my quarters and didn't dry my clothes, I had to work until 6:30 Friday night delaying leaving town, I got a massive bill from my doctor, the milkshake from Culvers basically exploded all over me in my car. Saturday, I ripped a contact and managed to lose my car on one of those supercurvy streets near the stadium. Nevermind that my stupid team couldn't locate the endzone with a road map. Seriously nothing really huge, but I've been letting work stress me out way too much lately which doesn't help and  I'm buying a house, which is just a bit stressful so I lost it for no real reason over the weekend.
I had a great Sunday morning/early afternoon with my sister, brother-in-law and Ethan and Anna which reminded me how lucky I am to have such a great family. After playing a little Wii, I left for Omaha, stopping to get a cup of coffee for the trip.
And then an email hit my blackberry from my mom. One of my dad's cousins had been killed around 6 a.m. Sunday morning in a car accident. My mom stated early speculation was that the other driver was drunk, which surprised me because of the time of day. He was only 41 and his 18 year old son had been with him as they were on their way to go hunting.  News spreads quickly even though we have a large family and everyone had heard by evening.
My great-aunt has been so amazing about everything. I guess that's what happens when you're in your 80s. She has incredible compassion toward the other family. And after hearing about everything that had happened I felt so childish and selfish over everything that I was whining and moaning about. My great-aunt had just lost her son, four of her grandchildren lost their father and she just took it all as part of God's will, accepting it as a part of life. I just don't know that I could be so calm, so at peace with all of this if it was someone close to me.

Four weddings...

As many people know, I come from a large extended family. My dad is the oldest of 12 children. All of his brothers and sisters got married and had 2 to 3 kids. I'm the third oldest grandkid. Growing up, many years of my childhood were filled with the annual family wedding of the year. It was an event. In 2010, there will be not 1, or 2, or even 3, I am now up to FOUR family weddings. OMG!!!1!! A wedding in May, June, July and October.

I'm just hoping that next year doesn't turn into the Hugh Grant movie, because I really don't like the flipside of that idea.

Back to happier topics, I was recently involved in a online discussion about getting the father's permission/blessing for marriage. Both times that my sister has been engaged, her fiance has asked my dad for his permission/blessing, so I guess I just naturally assumed that someday when I got married, the guy I would marry would ask my dad too. That said, I'm also now 30. And while I talk to my dad several times a week, it's not like I get to see my parents very much. It's not like my parents support me or have in about 10 years. I just think it would be a nice gesture. Is this an antinquated tradition or do people still do this? Thoughts?

Weekend

I had a great weekend - despite the massively disappointing performance of my beloved Cyclones.
Friday night I was able to hang out with my sister and brother-in-law, niece and nephews. I have three nephews: Walker, 12, Cyote, 11, Ethan, 6 and my niece Anna is almost 2 and a half. What she lack in age and height Anna makes up for in attitude. Elizabeth had told me that they'd be having board game night which meant I stood half a chance of winning - I get schooled at Wii everytime I play. So after a healthy dinner of pizza and chocolate milk, it was time to put Anna to bed - teeth brushing, book reading, singing - meanwhile the boys were downstairs roughousing like boys apparently do - I didn't grow up with brothers. Then we settled in to play some Blokus. I really liked this game - not incredibly long, fast-paced. pretty easy to figure out too. And I love a good strategy game. After a couple rounds, it was time for the boys to brush their teeth and head to bed. Elizabeth and I chatted briefly and then I went to bed - I was getting up at the crack of dawn on Saturday.

Tailgating on Saturday was great. My friend, Jenny, has a spot in C4 and along with her good friend, Andrea, had prepped a bunch of breakfast burritos that just needed to be reheated on the grill. Not to mention the fruit salad, and smores brownies they'd made.YUM! I made Andrea a cookie cake for her birthday, even though she cheers for the wrong team. After meeting up with Steph and Matt, I showed up at the tailgate shortly after 7, and enjoyed my healthy breakfast complete with OJ and vodka. I did horribly at my bag playing yet again, but I question the scoring as I think some shady things went on. Steph and I also wondered over to see Salsa and her cousin, Eric who also lives in Omaha. AND I got to drink a beer from one of the cool ISU Bud Light cans. Yes, Bud Light, your marketing has worked on me.

And then we headed into the game The first quarter was going well, we scored. Steph and I went to the bathroom and came out to buy another bottle of water - total time - maybe 3 minutes in real life. Then we hear, "First and goal, Iowa," we looked at each other so confused and looked at the TV in the concourse as iowa scored. When we returned to our seats the guys let us know about our brilliant decision to do an onside kick. Well, I think people know what happened from there. The sights and sounds for me included watching an older Iowa fan getting arrested from our section during halftime. I don't think I've seen anyone get arrested since I sat in the student section. We toward the end of the third quarter. It was hot, we were tired. I was sunburnt. Naps were needed. I was so exhausted I fell asleep around 10 or 10:30.

Sunday, Ethan and Cyote both had soccer games, but since I needed to pack for a work trip, I wasn't able to go to both. I went to Ethan's soccer game. This is Ethan's first year of playing and considering he's just getting started, he's pretty good. His team is pretty good - my sister said they practice twice a week. He scored a few goals, made some good stops and had a few good passes. He told me earlier this year that he hopes to be as good as Cyote someday. Cyote had to try out for his team and plays in a competitive league.

So minus the part were my team sucked and I was sick the entire time, it was a great weekend - full of friends and family.