Violation

Amy called yesterday afternoon, and it didn't take long to figure out it was one of those calls parents hate to get. She was very upset, on the verge of tears - her purse had just been recovered in the restroom at work - without the wallet of course. Matt, her boss, fished it out of the toilet.

Amy, Jenna, Rachelle - 3 of the 4 Amigos

She was flying out for a long-awaited trip to Los Vegas (Vegas Baby!) with her college roommates - Jenna, Allie and Rachelle at 7:20 PM. What a crappy thing to happen, and what bad timing! She had her winnings from last week's Once Upon a Race in there - $100. She partnered with Allie (who just moved to Denver) and another friend to solve clues and dash between Denver bars, dressed as their fave fairytale characters. Amy was Ursula from Disney's Little Mermaid. Their team won the whole thing - beating some 700 others. That's my girl - way to know your way around bars!

Her wallet contained a few more funds too but it was lucky she hadn't yet gotten more $ for the trip. Credit/debit cards, insurance card, driver's license, library card and other assorted important stuff were in there too.

I felt helpless as she then did begin to cry as the reality of the situation sunk in. I tried to remain calm - and to keep her calm. She realized she had her passport at home, so she would still be able to fly with that ID. She would leave immediately to report the theft to her bank and get vacation money - as she wouldn't have plastic for her purchases. She's staying until Monday a.m. I advised her to cancel anything she could immediately and contact the police.

Amy works as a graphic designer at a meat packaging facility called Custom Made Meals. She designs labels and all the marketing materials for the reps who sell the products to supermarkets around the country. Super Target (Archer's Farm brand) and Krogers are two companies of their customers. There are only a few people in the CMM office, and several hundred on the production floor. I wondered how someone had waltzed into her office and stolen her purse so easily. It's such a violation!

Amy later called me from the airport to report that Matt had had reviewed security (lack of?) film. The evil girl/woman was not an employee, but had come in with people stopping at the office to pick up paychecks. She went by the reception desk and up the stairs to Amy's office, evidently quickly finding her purse. Amy was out on the production floor at the time. She snuck into the restroom across the hall, ditched the purse in the potty (why'd ya gotta do that?) and took the good stuff. Amy's migraine meds are wet. Hope she stays headache free until she can get replacements!

By the time the banks checked, the stealer had racked up $700 in charges on Amy's cards. I hope they can nail this bitch! The cops were there when Amy stopped back at work after her bank visit.  I'm not sure if she charged purchases online or in person. They said the chick would be charged with identity theft as well as stealing, since she used the credit cards - but first they must catch her!

Amy sounded much better from the airport. She will call today with a few things to take care of - like paying her cell phone bill, since her credit card is cancelled. And her library card, cuz that chick is probably planning to head to the library today to check out a bunch of stuff. Yeah! I actually emailed Amy a list of things to to when your wallet is stolen. She'll have to deal with the driver's license next week. Yuck.

Our family has been so fortunate. We've not been touched much by crime. I've had my credit card cancelled because others were trying to access it. But I was home and it wasn't much of an inconvenience. I left my purse someplace and had my cash taken - not a lot of $. Jud's TV was stolen from his apartment his sophomore year of college - those flatscreens are easy to walk off with. We suspected an inside job from the one loser roommate's friends. But heck, we used to leave our house door open - never locking it, until the past couple years.

Generally we're very surprised when others take our stuff. It's not the way things are supposed to work. My baby learned the hard way that there are some bad people that think otherwise - that our hard work is theirs for the taking. It makes me sad when my baby is upset. Coulda been worse I guess - our niece in NYC was robbed at gunpoint! 

I hope Vegas and Amy's buddies help take the sting of this violation away. And this lesson is another of life's tough ones - there are bad people. Amy did a good job reacting to and dealing with the situation. I'm glad to support my children, but am proud that they are equipped to handle life on their own!

Aaaar, talk like a pirate

Above - our guy pirates in the hot tub at our Vegas rental home last year.

One of my new fave holidays is coming up in some 20 days. National Talk Like a Pirate Day - September 19 - the birthday of my oldest sis Susi, and a buddy Christine. Plus my co-worker's son Trent who will be 4.

I learned of this holiday just last year when I was out in Vegas - my first trip ever to sin city. We went with 2 other couples (the same Dee, Don, Sharon and Al that we did last weekend with - hmmm alcohol, trips it's a common theme with all of us) for the ISU football game there in September. God knows ISU doesn't make it to many bowl games, so we decided to treat that game as our bowl.

S&A rented us a beautiful 4 bedroom house in Vegas for the long weekend - Thur - Sun. It had a pool with a hot tub. Paul and I won the lotto for the master bedroom - with its own huge closet and bathroom. But the whole place was pretty nice.

We were just getting situated when I got a call from someone I know in the trash biz - Sara runs the landfill in the Pella area. She mentioned to me that it was talk like a pirate day the next day. And that got us going for the whole weekend. Aaar, me mateys!

We mostly hung out by our pool (beverage and book in hand) that weekend. But we also saw some sites of Vegas, Henderson, Hoover Dam and old Vegas. We rode the roller coaster drunk, attended the ISU pregame party at Hooters that was one big Clone lovefest. I took pics there.

The game was pretty good, though the outcome was a heartbreaker in typical Cyclone fashion. We tied it up only to lose in OT. They actually serve alcohol at games in Vegas - there are no topless showgirls there but you can get Jim Beam! We made due tailgating in our rented van - pulling the back seat out to relax in. We saw some people we knew in the crowd - there were something like 10,000 fans there.

My Facebook page is set up in Pirate English, which is amusing to me. I know I'm a bit wacky for a 51 year old wench...

I'mmmmm 50!

When I turned 50, I couldn't get the SNL Sallie O'Malley skits out of my head. She declares, "I can kick, and I can jump and I can kick. Cuz I'mmm 50!"

I've never been too un-nerved by milestone birthdays. After all it's just a number, right? But I feel in my mind like I look and feel more like 40. But when I look in the mirror - ummm, that's no 40. But I'm doing the best I can to stave off looking and/or acting my age. On to more highlights from my 50th year on earth...

4. The annual Goldsmith Golf Tourney. Paul's family is huge - 8 brothers and sisters. Parents George and Laura passed on early this decade. Sister Connie lost her fight with breast cancer in 2007. The rest of us are married with kids, some married with their own kids. Through thick and thin we get together right after Thanksgiving in hometown Earlville and then again at remote locations for a golf tourney sometime during the summer.

This year the tourney was held in Freeport, IL home of sister Pat and her husband Dave. It was a smaller group than usual, nevertheless a good time was had by all. (a phrase right out of the minutes from my 4-H club). Paul garnered the green jacket as the big winner. I got to go for ice cream, shop and read during the golf. We always enjoy hanging with the Goldies.

5. Labor Day weekend with my Homies. About a year ago, some of my high school friends and I decided we needed to get together to celebrate our 50th bdays milestone. We finally settled on Labor Day weekend as Sally was coming back to Iowa from Portland for her son's wedding around then. Julia flew in from Boulder and Robbie Dob from Orlando. Chris and Pam are from the Omaha area. I hadn't spent long periods of time with most of this group for 25 years or so - I was a little leery of whether or not we'd have enough to talk about. I mean how many times can you tell the story about getting pulled over by the new cop and telling him that, uh no you didn't throw away a big bag of beer cans at the gas station (even back then, I was no litterbug), it was gum wrappers. Apparently lots, but that's beside the point...

Julia and Sal came to Creston to stay on Thursday night, and we got to show them around our hometown. Friday I met those two and Robyn at the Omaha airport when Jules dropped her rental car off. We piled in my Subaru to go to Pam's house. Or course when we got there, the alcohol was un-corked - but not by Pam or me as we were driving. (take note this is important!)

We were heading to Lake Mahoney a destination park , outside Omaha for the night. Since Pam knew where she was going, she lead with Sally in her SUV. I followed with Rob and Jules. All passengers had bevvies if you know what I mean. I tried to stay close to Pam so I wouldn't get lost - and when she pulled off I-80, and turned right, I was preparing to be there and have a bevvie myself.

That's when the trooper pulled me over. I had rolled through the stop sign. The trooper was a young woman, decked out with hat and everything. Pam had pulled over like 50 yards ahead and the trooper said "get your friend back here". She walked up to Pam's window and when Pam put the window down, evidently Sally's wine aura drifted out. Pam was told to get out of the car, which she did, talking a blue streak as Pam tends to do. Pam was explaining the purpose for our gathering, spilling her life's history in the process.

In the meantime I was madly flipping through every compartment in my car looking for my registration and proof of insurance. Robyn and Julia had quickly placed their drink cups in their over sized purses and tried to help. My heart pounded a 70's disco beat.

Pam assured the officer that the drivers weren't, and hadn't been drinking. She must have believed her. Between that and Pam's constant babble, the trooper caved and quickly wrote warnings for the stop sign thing (Pam had rolled through too), and we were again on our way. When we pulled into the Mahoney Lodge, I discovered I had a nail in my tire and that presented a whole additional challenge. Around an hour or so later I had my first, much deserved drink. Robyn whipped me up a key lime martini, glass rimmed with graham cracker crumbs. Damn good! When Chris joined us later that night, she was treated to a drunken rendition of the whole experience.

The next day we headed to the Old Market area in Omaha for a hotel stay. My fears of us all getting tired of each other were dispelled by then. Yeah, we had reminisced about old times a lot, and toasted our friend Fustic who had passed away a few years prior, but we talked about current events, politics, kids etc. And we laughed - until my sides hurt. What funny, intelligent women they all turned out to be! We spent the night on the town in the Old Market. The next day it was so hard to say goodbye. We vow to continue getting together every couple years.

5. Vegas Baby! A couple weeks later, our Creston friends Don & Diana McKim and Sharon and Al Higgins, Paul and I went to Las Vegas for an ISU football game. Higgins had used their connections to hook us up with a rental house for the long weekend. We had an exciting start to the trip when we left at O Dark:30 and had a flat a few miles outside town. (Creston had a hail storm and everyone was roofing).

We made the flight, decked out in our Cyclone colors and arrived on time. Higgins brought their GPS unit along - smart! Our house was fantastic - 4 bedrooms and Paul and I drew the long straw and got the master bedroom. The place had a pool with a hot tub. After getting provisions - breakfast stuff and liquor, we settled into relaxing! Night 1 we headed to the Strip.

It was Paul and my first trip to this town. Donnie had spent some time there with his folks and was convinced he knew shortcuts from parking to the hotspots. The rest of us followed him like lemmings as we traipsed through back lots, taxis areas, ramps and would then actually appear where we were supposed to end up! We saw a free pirate show that night - which reminded me that Sept. 19 was "Talk like a Pirate Day". We had fun doing that the whole weekend - ahoy matey! (Who's acting 50 now, huh?)

Friday night was the Cyclone gathering, and we needed to head to where the team was staying to get our game tickets from Ryan, McKim's son who is part of the coaching staff. We trekked out to see the Hoover Dam and headed to the fantastic resort in Henderson, where the Cyclones were staying. We waited on the veranda (complete with couches, fireplaces and beds), overlooking the lake with drinks while Ryan finished up a meeting. It was cool to see the coaching staff and players milling around.

Then we headed to Hooters for the Cyclone Bash, It was packed with thousands of Clones - all decked out as we were, in cardinal and gold colors. We saw people we knew and lots we didn't and drank free beer, finally eating around 10ish. There was a live band, and it was almost surreal in the pool area with people in the water in their clothes. I got some good photos there! We rode the roller coaster - something I don't recommend when full of beer and ribs.

The game Saturday was forgettable - the Cyclones played awful in the first half and lost in OT despite a desperate comeback. Tailgating was fun - around 10,000 ISU fans were there. After the game we hit the old strip - it was cool too! Each day we got our quota of pool/hot tub time. It was very relaxing! Sunday night it was out to eat and a nice variety show. (It turned out to be a variety of boobies, but that could be a whole 'nother topic). Renting the house on VRBO.com was a great way to travel with friends. Those friends were great to travel with!

So the theme of my 50th years was fun with family and friends. I'm hoping 51 carries on just like that. I know there are many more good times to come. And those same people will be there for us in bad times, as we will for them. This aging thing isn't bad, except for the wear and tear on the body part...