Tracy's Birthday Weekend

Andrew and I hit the road Saturday morning, heading for Council Bluffs. We listened to the Hawkeye game and enjoyed the beautiful fall day. Our destination was Tracy's house, and our purpose was to attend her 40th birthday party.

Now Tracy is not one who likes to call a lot of attention to herself, but when confronted with the question of how she wanted to celebrate her birthday, she thought of the perfect thing. She wanted all her dearest friends around her so they could get to know one another. Beautiful idea, yes?

After an afternoon of visiting and enjoying the kids, we grown-ups went to the Kitchen Emporium and Wine Shop in Council Bluffs. There were 16 of us, and we had a great time. We laughed, we ate, we drank, we talked, and we laughed some more. It was a great party. We started with a meat and cheese platter, and then we all ordered from the menu. Lacie and I split and shared... she ordered the Hawaii 5-0, and I ordered the Roasted Veggie Focaccia sandwich. They were both deeeeelicious! The evening ended with a chocolate/raspberry/layered/dreamcake. WOW!

It was so fun having Andrew there with me and introducing him to my friends and Tracy's family. At the end of the night, my face hurt from smiling so much. What a wonderful problem to have!

On Sunday, we had a nice breakfast and enjoyed Tracy, Steve, and the girls. When Tracy left for work, I drove Andrew around Council Bluffs, showing him all the places that were pivotal to making me who I am. It's weird that I went to his home in England before he went to my home in Iowa. I had to have him taste Christy Creme, of course! The flavor for Sunday was lemon, and it was perfect. We ended our jaunt by going up to Lewis and Clark Monument... the best view in the area. We stopped back by the library to hug Tracy one more time, and then we hit the road. It was a quick trip, but a lovely one. I loved celebrating my best friend, in exactly the way she'd dreamed up. It was perfect!

hugging my best friend after a rousing rendition of "Happy birthday"

so many laughs

our table... Charity (taking the pic), Tony, Max, Lacie, me, Andrew

my love and me

A Little Laugh for Today

Andrew is a big fan of Bizarro comics, and he had this one posted on his Facebook the other day. It seriously tickled my funny bone. Enjoy!

Featured on Another Blog

Andrew's Holly had a fun night not long ago teaching one of Andrew's coworkers, Darin, and her boyfriend Jack how to make Okonomiyaki. I had fun eating the results! Today we were featured on Darin's blog. Click here for the highlights!

Hawks Win!

What a game! What a day! Most of this game was just pure ugly, but when the Hawkeye Mornin' Crew puts on its rally caps, enemy beware! Greatest Hawkeye comeback in history!

She Knows Me Too Well

Look who made Mrs. Kaska's Daily "Pun"ishment today! My 8th graders couldn't wait to tell me. I had to go down and take a picture. It sometimes pays to be a Drama Queen! :)

Out of My Box

Calling parents of students has never been my forte. I, in fact, dread it. I think it's been on my self-improvement goal list every year since I've been teaching. Today I had to call home for a third tardy. It was the first phone call of the year, but it wasn't a big deal. I know the family, and it was an easy conversation. Then for kicks, I did something I have rarely (if ever... I can't recall right now) done before. I went through my roster and made 2 other phone calls home, but for positive reasons.

Phone call #1 was about a cool project a student had done today. The mom was glad to hear from me, and it turns out she had a question about an assignment anyway, so it was a very productive phone call.

Phone call #2 taught me a lesson. Don't ask for the parents before introducing myself. The dad thought I was a telemarketer and told me that he and his wife weren't home. I asked to leave a message, and as I was introducing myself, he introduced himself back! :) His child had shown a lot of kindness to my new-to-FMS students today who were having some challenges logging on to Google Docs to type their essays. This student volunteered to help while I was answering other questions, and I really appreciated it. The dad seemed really pleased that I called, once he found out I wasn't trying to sell him something. Ha!

I need to do more of that. I feel good, and I think the parents feel good too. Maybe I'll go out of my box a little more often this year.

A Full Weekend

Jeff came down from Minnesota this weekend, and we had a wonderful time. Friday night we went to Vivo for dinner (How could they take the asparagus/goat cheese/prosciutto/balsamic appetizer off the menu without consulting me first????), and then we chatted with Andrew for a good long while (and when I say "we chatted," I mean that the 2 of them talked about BBC television shows, and I yawned and played Tetris and surfed the net and occasionally gave a polite smile or nod... LOL).

Saturday Jeff & I were up & ready to do some serious damage in Fairfield. We started with coffee at Revelations, and then we hit the square. Thymely Solutions was having a birthday sale, and they had 20% off the entire store. It was absolute chaos, and we waited in line to check out for over half an hour, but it was worth it. We walked around the square (it was SUCH a beautiful day), and then we headed back to Revelations for lunch. From there, we went to Wal-Mart for yarn for my crochet-along, to Goodwill, to Everybody's, and to the MUM bookstore. The low point of the morning was when a guy behind the counter actually thought I was Jeff's mother. Yes, you read that correctly... Jeff's MOTHER! Upon leaving the store, I asked Jeff to just get in the car and run me over to put me out of my misery.

Do I look like his mother?????

The Hawkeye game was a heart attack that ended badly. Thank goodness I was with Jeff and didn't waste 4 hours of my life watching it. I just ended up watching the end of the 4th quarter and the 3 overtimes. Oh well, what can you do? Back to the drawing board, Coach Ferentz!

For dinner, we met up with Andrew and Holly and ate at Top of the Rock. I had a delicious filet mignon, and I felt quite virtuous, replacing my potatoes with steamed broccoli. Guess I ruined the virtue by having a glass of wine, but it evens out, right?

the whole gang at Top of the Rock

After dinner, we went to hear the Beautifully Broken give their hometown concert at the Sondheim Center. These are Fairfield girls who have left home to make it in life and in the music industry. 2 are former students, and 1 has joined me on stage several times. It was a great concert, and we were so proud of them!

Jeff & I ate at George's for breakfast, and then he headed on his way. I love it when Jeff visits Fairfield, and I was sad to see him go. The visit was too short! Avery was sad too. He just sat in the doorway watching him pack that morning... he didn't even want to play. Come again soon, Jeff!!!

I had bells at church, and then Andrew and I went to Ottumwa for some shopping. He needed new clothes because he's dropped 20 pounds, and his clothes are dropping off of him. I've only lost 10. It's so unfair that boys lose weight so easily. :P I'm proud of us though... we're totally trying, and it's so much easier to do together.

We had swordfish steaks for supper, and I made sesame spinach. I'm sort of obsessed with this recipe right now. I've tweaked it a little, but this link shows the basic idea. It's SO good! Andrew is making his Kenny Nelson-inspired roasted turkey tonight, and I'm making my mouth water just thinking about it!

Last night, I thought a lot about 9/11. I watched some of the coverage on TV, and it's sobering to feel those feelings again. Whenever I see video of that plane going into the second tower, it makes my stomach clench. In watching the coverage last night, I heard two things that I'd never considered before: 1. The passengers on Flight 93 knew they were going to die when they burst into the cockpit. It's one thing to be heroic when you think there is a chance for a happy ending, but they knew what was happening with the other planes and sites. I think they went into their mission knowing they were going to die. That is bravery beyond measure. 2. The "pile" at ground zero was basically dust. All those offices with all those desks, phones, chairs, equipment... dust. The firefighters said when they realized that, they knew they weren't going to find lots of survivors like they'd initially hoped.

Today I talked with some of my classes about the anniversary. My students were four years old and under, and most have no memory of the day. I teared up when I talked about the fear I felt that day... that I'd been scared before, but never scared for my whole country. I talked about how I didn't sleep right for weeks because I felt if I turned off the TV, I would miss something. What a terrible time.

The memorial looks beautiful. Once the museum opens, I want to make a pilgrimage. I want to stand on that ground and remember those people. We can never forget that day.