Medical Test Dummy?

I've suffered from migraine headaches since college. When I first started experiencing them, I thought they were extreme hangovers. Now I know they were more likely the result of dehydration from a night of beer drinking.

Partying at the White Rose in Atlantic

As I aged, my body found more headache triggers - menstrual cycle, air pressure, looking into the sun for long periods. In the early 1980's there weren't many meds for migraines. My family practice doc prescribed something that kinda helped.

By the time we moved to Creston and had kids, I was spending about one day a month out of commission - lying in my darkened room. Twice Paul took me to the hospital where they gave me injections to relieve the pain. If someone had given me a drill before the pain subsided, I may have put it into my eye. It's hard to describe migraine pain to those who haven't ever experienced one. 

Finally, I got a referral to see a neurologist in Des Moines. One CTScan later my headaches were pronounced likely migraines. Dr. Brenton tried various meds on me - but my cranium (and the rest of me) is a tough nut to crack. Finally, a new med came out as a self-injectable shot - Imitrex. At $10 a shot, I had an inner self-debate every time my head began to hurt. Is this headache "worthy" of a shot? I didn't have the guts to push the button on the injector - so Paul had to do it. He didn't have a problem jabbing me! Oh, the wonderful feeling when the pain started to ebb.

Our new house - Creston 1998

A few years later, Imitrex came up with a pill version of the med. Yay! I switched to a female neurologist who seemed to better understand how hormones can affect women and brain pain. Today, I have a different woman neuro. I've blogged about her before - Dr. Schmolck. She's very direct and helps me manage my migraines.

And about that. At my September appointment with Dr. Schmolck, we talked about new meds on the market for migraines. Finally after all these years! I had read about them - a story about a woman in Davenport who had almost daily attacks who had been helped.

In the past four years, each fall I've suffered from frequent migraines - 5 days at a time. They do respond to the medicine I take, but the medicine takes its toll. The doc said to call when this started - so today was the day after a long week of gobbling high powered meds nearly every day. The nurse showed me how to self-inject aimovig. I will do this once a month to see if it helps reduce the number of headaches I get. I'm happy to report that the self-injector is much easier than the old Imitrex one used to be and I was able to handle it no problem.

I hope this helps. I used to think fall was my favorite season. I do like it - but it doesn't bring out the best in my head. And I like heat. I pick summer. Wish aimovig and me luck! 

Scary Movies Scare Me

I blame my childhood - watching Creature Feature featuring Dr. San Guinary on Omaha's KMTV channel 3 (one of 3 channels we SW Iowa folks got). 

Dr. San Guinary

The goofy, somewhat scary character hosted a show that ran old horror movies on weekends in the early 1970's through 1982. The early seventies were when I was home weekends - staying with my baby sister Betsy, guarded only by our faithful doggy Jud. Those old black and white movies, like "The Blob" were creepy! Suddenly the noises houses make took on a new meaning! I'm sure every light in the house was on when Mom and Dad returned from Poker Club.

Jud the dog

In high school, we were sometimes desperate for entertainment - and the only movie was a horror movie. I spent more time with my eyes covered than not. I love to read suspense - but do not like suspense in movies! I always scream like a little girl. One movie involved a lady's head - her eyeball and a paper spindle. I still have spindle trust issues!

I blame peer pressure in a weak moment for causing me to go to the original Halloween movie in Ames while I was a college student. My friends and I were so freaked out after the movie we had to get a guy friend to check out the back seat of the car before we drove back to our apartment.

This was about as scary as our Halloween costumes got

When I became a mother I wisely chose to avoid scary movies - though they were on TV every Halloween. I'm sorry to say I passed my weakness of heart for scary movies over to Jud. He'd get one glimpse at Chucky and have bad dreams for weeks! We avoided scary stuff at our house - we didn't want the poor kid scarred for life. Amy was a bit bolder, but preferred mystery movies over horror.

Today - I still avoid horror. I still scream when surprised in suspense movies - and gory ones. Though I must admit - I'd still rather see a human get it rather than the horse or the dog... Confession - I did just watch one of my all-time fave kid movies last Saturday when I caught it switching between football games - "Goonies". It was filmed on our beloved Oregon west coast area by Cannon Beach. 

Big Vic and Baby's Birthday

Corey and Amy came all the way from Denver for the Iowa State University Cyclones vs. West Virginia football game. A Clemson grad, Corey is a bit spoiled as a fan. His team won the national championship two years ago - he was there! Our team...finally made a bowl game last year after a drought. Corey is a good sport about being a fan of our team. He's even got his wife somewhat interested in football - never her fave sport. 

They flew in Friday evening and we took them to the Cheese Bar on Ingersoll in DSM. It's a small joint that specializes in - you guessed it - cheese. We started with a lovely tray of meats and cheeses with nuts. I had a yummy specialty drink - and they have beer and wine on tap. We finished up splitting a grilled cheese sandwich and some ribs - not made of cheese. I saw some others eating fondue. You sit at long tables - so it's easy to spy on other's food. Din din was a success! 

The Cyclones didn't play until 6 PM on Saturday, but we had some tailgating to do - so we left just after noon. Amy and Corey had to go to Scheels and get some Cyclone gear first. It was a brisk day - nice in the sun, but we were glad Kari and Kevin put the side on the tent. Our tailgating neighbors provided entertainment - dressing in authentic Octoberfest lederhosen with hats, swigging beer from steins. Later they played musical chairs. Is that a German game? 

Paul grilled up burgers and brats. Amy and Corey got to see plenty of pals including Conovers and McKims. I'm glad they got to meet Ehreckes. Fireball shots sent us into the stadium for the game. Things didn't start out great. Our QB threw a pick and our kicker got a field goal try blocked for a touchdown. Despite those setbacks, our defense was marvelous. 

Corey didn't know why we weren't going crazy before halftime!?! We've seen this before - only to see our team fold. But no! The Clones came out strong after half, holding the Mountaineers to very few yard and points. In the end, the crowd rushed the field - celebrating a win over #6 West Virginia. 

Sunday was our baby girl's birthday! Wow. I've been a mommy for 33 years. I joked that Amy should come lay in bed with me so I could tell her the story of her birth - like I used to every year that we lived together. She loved that! It was a special day - overdue by a week. She was born a little after 7 PM, just after the Cardinals beat the Dodgers - Ozzie Smith homered. Yes, I had a labor plan with lovely music on cassette tapes I brought to the birthing suite. But...baseball....for my husband and doctor. It was distracting. 

Amy with Rachelle, Jenna - college? 

Making the phone calls to our parents (long distance ya know) was so joyful. She was beautiful and perfect! Just like she is today. Once the nurse wheeled me into my hospital room - and put her in the nursery, I thought I'd sleep. Nope. I was too pumped up. I was a MOM. And every part of me hurt like a little 9 lb 7-ounce truck had run over me. Even my fingernail hurt. We had a bundt cake at the football game - it was delicious. 

Amy attended a baby shower for her college pal Rachelle - due to have a baby boy in a few weeks. Later she and Corey spent the evening with friends. Paul and I recovered from Saturday. Being outside all day is exhausting! 

On Monday, Paul and I got to each lunch with Corey and Amy in the East Village. They worked at our house that day - before their flight that evening. We'll get to see them at Christmas - still it was hard to say goodbye. What a fun weekend of having them around. Special times. 

Amy's birthday - not this year

Big Screen Memories

Do you remember the first movie you ever saw? For me, movie memories are similar to songs - who was I when I saw this movie?

One special movie memory is from 1967, when I was ten years old. Gone With the Wind was re-released and our mother took my sisters and me to see it in a big city - Des Moines? The theater had a curtain that closed at intermission. Mom cried during the opening credits - she'd seen this show before. The saddest parts of the movie to me, even then, were when Scarlet rode the horse to death. And when Rhett shoots the pony.

I have many more wonderful memories of "going to the movies". My movie love affair started even before age ten. Our school and the local theater had a summer movie deal. We could buy a sheet of summer movie matinee tickets - giving our parents (moms really) a break from the kids during the endless school break. We saw movies like Frances the Talking Mule and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (Don Knotts Y'all).

The tickets were valued at something like $.25 each. The real money for the Atlantic Theater came from concessions. Popcorn and candy! Back then, soda pop came from a machine in the lobby - a thin dime for a small cup that would shoot out, be filled with some crushed ice and Coca-Cola. It was fun just to watch the machine make the magical mixture! But wait...there's more! If you got the "lucky cup" you got to go to a movie FREE.

Face it, in small town Iowa, there aren't a lot of options when it comes to activities. So we went to "the show" a lot. It was exciting to see the movie marquis - to see what we could go to next. One theater in the whole town of 7,000 people. Comedies, RomComs, Horror - we went to them all. I went with girlfriends. In junior high, I met my boyfriend Mike Carlson there. We held hands. It wasn't all it was cracked up to be. My hand got hot and cramped. I wanted to move it, but was scared to....that boy/girl stuff was hard. In the balcony at the theater there were actually twin seats - with no arm in between. Sweet! My high school boyfriend, Mike McCauley and I went to Funny Car Summer - a movie about drag racing. Hmmm, must have been teen love - that movie sounds horrible to me now.

I saw a few more movies with my mother that were important in my life. I was in high school when the movie Summer of 42 came out. It was rated R so I needed an adult to take me. Sally's mom Anna Day and Mom took Sally and me to that show - a coming of age story about a teen and an older woman who loses her husband to the war. Mom and I cruised over to Omaha to see the movie Jaws. She left to go use the restroom and didn't appear until much later - after I began to get worried about her. She said she ended up sitting down in the back - because she didn't want to miss the action. I also saw John Travolta's Staying Alive with her. She became a huge BeeGees fan after that movie. These memories of Mom make me smile.

Okay - when I said there was only one theater. That is true. But in the summer there was one other movie option. The Drive-Inn! I don't remember our family going there. As a teen - you can bet my friends and I went. With beer! We saw all sorts of crazy movies - like Death Race and Blazing Saddles. It was easier for me to go to horror movies at the drive-in - I could distract myself there - not as scary. Wednesday night was Buck Night - we'd all pile in one car. Lots of good Drive-Inn memories.

College was another great movie memory time. There were some classics from that era. My college pals, Sally, Vicki, and Jane loved Rocky so much. We listened to the soundtrack endlessly. We had the poster. Adrian! One Saturday, after a long week, we attended a sobfest The Other Side of the Mountain - the Jill Kinmont Story". It's about a skier who becomes paralyzed. Then we went to a party and drank beer. Oh, college. Ghostbusters, Animal House, Halloween, Monte Python, High Anxiety, Kramer vs. Kramer, Grease, Heaven Can Wait, Goodbye Girl. I could go on...Halloween scarred me for life against horror movies.

We've come a long way from buying sheets of movie tickets for summer school break. Paul and I went to the new "A Star is Born" Friday night. I loved it. Stefani Germanotta (Lady Gaga) was perfect in her role, as was Bradley Cooper. Lady Gaga's voice has it all. I really appreciated a chance to see her without all the glamour of makeup. It was her first acting gig and she nailed it.

We live right by a huge theater complex. We used to look up movie times, arrive at the theater and buy tix. No more. There's a new way to buy movie tickets - it's complicated! I miss the days of real people. Yesterday I got online to buy tix on the Cinemax website. I needed to login with a new password and select the time and seats. Then I needed a password for Visa. Sure it may be less complex next time I get tix. If I remember my password. And my seat did recline - even better than those twin seats at the Atlantic theater!

Paul and I like to re-watch some movies - sometimes over and over again. We especially like comedies. I tease Paul about his go-to movies. Gladiator, Twister, Shawshank Redemption. He just can't seem to flip by those on the TV Guide without watching. We must watch Animal House, Caddyshack, Vacation and Ghostbusters every few years.

Paul and I don't to nearly as many movies as we used to. We have Netflix. There aren't as many that we wish to see. Movies are expensive (and tix are complicated). But I'm glad they still keep making them. Movies are important in our culture and as stated in this blog, they help make up the framework of our lives.

Paul Left Again...

Man, I really got you readers with my last headline about Paul leaving me. Yes, I baited you and it worked. I can see how many readers there are for each blog - it really jumped on that one. Sorry to disappoint. He's stuck with me. We do joke that someday he'll ask me to dress up in a brown outfit with an antler hood and I'll be walking in the woods - oops! Hit by an arrow. No officer - I thought it was a deer. Okay - that's creepy, but it makes us laugh.

This time he's in Green Bay with our son Judson. They have started a "thing" where they attend an NFL game each year. Jud is a Cowboys fan (did we fail here? or just let him be his little self at age 4?), and Paul is a Packers fan. Last year they were in Dallas for a Cowboys/Packers game. Paul had never been there before - Packers pulled out a win at the end of the game.

This year it's a Packers vs. Buffalo game at Lambeau Field. Paul took his Rodgers jersey for Jud to wear. A full one half of Paul's wardrobe is either Cyclone or Packers - so he's covered. The beautiful part of these trips is that Jud figures out all the logistics for his dad. We're hard to buy gifts for - so this is such a gift. They flew into Green Bay and had a room at an Air B & B very near the stadium. They will fly home right after the game.

Next year they plan to go to a Cowboys "away" game - visiting more venues around this country. I love this tradition - even though I'm not part of it. Hmmm, what can Amy and I do? Bonding - adult children are wonderful.

I love dive bars

Lunch at Hickory Park - Sunday

Last weekend Paul and I enjoyed another tradition that has become an annual thing - Cyclone Football with college pals. Steve (Moose) and Kay came from Gurnee (north side of Chicago) along with their children from the Twin Cities. Vicki and Fred came from Northfield, MN. My college roomie Jane and a couple of her kids came too. Others stopped by our tailgate too. I can't say enough about our host and hostess Kevin and Kari - so thoughtful and generous setting up the tents and chairs, sharing their spread.

The weather gods blessed us on gameday. It was a perfect early fall day. The Cyclones beat Akron. We went to the classic dive bar the Tip Top before retiring to our hotel in Ames for the evening. When we walked in the door, a guy was standing on a table trying to put his foot behind his head. It must have been a bet. Or the beer talking! 

It's such fun catching up with our friends. And we are starting to plan an Alaska trip for next summer. No college friend weekend is complete without a Sunday morning lunch at Hickory Park. We all know what we're going to order before we see the menu: smoked turkey on an onion bun with mashed potatoes & gravy. Paul and I shared a delicious hot fudge sundae. I had to rest on Sunday - having fun is hard work! 

This weekend is a quiet one. I went to the Farmer's Market Saturday morning where I found the jigsaw puzzle for this Christmas in Vail, and a baby gift for my new grandniece Lily Lopez. (Leslie's daughter). I love sending those Cali kids Iowa gifts.

On Saturday night, college roomie Jane and I watched the ISU game at the Angry Goat. I've known Jane since I was 18 years old. Lots of history! Of course, the game didn't come out like we wanted it too. The Cyclones hung in there but didn't have enough offense in the end. I trust our coach to keep these guys on the right track. 

Funny: at work, the State of Iowa switched our operating system to Google a year ago. Last week my Gmail updated to a new version that anticipates what word I'm going to type. I can hit tab to accept the word/phrase or just keep typing.

I started an email to my co-worker Becky to ask her to update my program webpage with a new document. When I send emails like that I sometimes just sign with an L instead of typing my whole name. Gmail tried to fill in

Love you,

Good thing I caught it! I actually laughed out loud. And didn't hit tab to accept. But I wondered - what if we all expressed our love and appreciation to each other more often? I've worked with Becky for 10 years now. I told Becky the story - what I nearly sent. And I shared with her that I have grown quite fond of her.

Thanks, Google, for reminding me that I should appreciate all of my relationships more. Please don't let me start emailing stakeholders - citizens of Iowa and landfill operators signing "Love you". That would be weird!

Parking Ramps 2 Leslie 1

Just a small town girl...living in a big city world. I have to confess. After nearly 10 years of big city life - 4 commuting and 6 as a full-time resident - I still feel out of place at times. Like this week when I crossed the Des Moines River west into the "downtown" part of the city. Tall buildings, one-way streets and my nemesis - parking ramps.

This week I attended the Food Waste Recovery Summit at the Downtown Marriott, sponsored by EPA and the Iowa Waste Reduction Center. DNR pitched in some funding too. In my job, I deal with all things waste. In Iowa, after last year's series of waste composition studies at landfills, organic/food waste was the big "winner". We're tossing a lot of food, people.

I usually work in the Wallace Building, located on the east side of the Des Moines river. On the east side, we have the beautiful Iowa State Capitol, but no skyscrapers on our side of the river. Downtown Des Moines - where the banks and insurance companies hang out, while small for you real city-dwellers, is still intimidating to me. For the Summit, I had to negotiate my way through downtown to a parking ramp for the day. On day one, two ramps were full before I found one of those corkscrew ones. Dizzy!

Des Moines has a great skywalk system and we made our way to the Marriott through that. I should have dropped breadcrumbs! The system does have maps but I find it easy to get confused there - and it was beautiful later summer weather out - so I walked outside when I left that night. The ramp on day three of the conference almost got the best of me! The first attempt to get it was a fail - the button to get the arm to go up didn't work. I backed out and tried the next opening - private for Wells Fargo. Oops again! Third time was a charm. That is why I plan meetings away from downtown - parking is complicated and expensive there. Give me wide open spaces.

Single Speed beer-yum!

Who attends a cool conference like this? It was an interesting mix - government folk like me, people from restaurants, food banks, transportation, composters, biodigesters, students, brewers, and educators. I attended interesting sessions on topics like food rescue and anaerobic digestion. There is a new program many moving van companies are adopting where they will take all leftover usable food from people moving. They deliver the food to area food banks. All it took was one guy to see the need. He is the son in a family that owns a moving company out east. He ran with the idea and this non-profit now employs over ten people to coordinate events and moving food.

Des Moines, the Quad-Cities and Muscatine all were represented, with speakers talking about their food rescue missions. In Muscatine, a non-profit group teaches people to cook - 4 2 hour sessions with transportation and childcare provided. At the end of the sessions, each person receives a laundry basket filled with pots, pans, and utensils. How cool is that!?!

In one session, we drank craft beer (it was the end of the day) while listening to brewery spokespeople from Bell's (MI) and Single Speed in Cedar Falls talk about sustainability. Brewing beer uses a lot of resources. I was glad to hear about the things they do to reduce their marks on our world while providing delish beverages.

I learned more about food labels. There is no rhyme nor legal reason for most of them - except on baby formula. So use your nose and eyes. Best by is just that. Don't toss something just because of a label.

One session was like "Shark Tank". Three project spokespeople each gave a five-minute spiel on their project. At the end of the session, the crowd voted.

• Eat Greater Des Moines pitched their partnership with Wesleylife - they use the Meals On Wheels Smart Cars and drivers to pick up prepared foods from Kum & Go (convenience store) to deliver to rent-controlled apartment complexes. 
• A gentleman from Decorah started up a compost site just outside of that city. They are running it on a shoestring, and are taking certain organics from around the state already. 
• A woman from the Houston area presented her water-based composter made from a blue plastic repurposed drum with a motor aerator. You put food scraps in and end up with a water product that is rich in nutrients. 

The Decorah composter won. Yay! I voted for him. $1,000 can go a long way for a small business like that. 

Paul and I are good at cleaning up leftovers, but I wish restaurants would reduce portion sizes. They have gotten much better at "splitting" meals. Paul and I share a lot. The foods we struggle with are bread and produce. Those go bad before we can eat them. 

I miss the Earth Machine composter we had at our Creston house. We aren't allowed to have composters here in our DSM townhouse. They're worried about smell and pests. I like many things about living in a townhouse - but that is a negative. 

The bad thing about conferences is the challenge to take the stuff you learned and do something with it. Co-workers and I took notes. My big takeaway? Good things are happening Y'all!  More needs to. We waste too much. Even though the Midwest is the breadbasket - Iowans are hungry! Volunteers (and money) help so much in these efforts. And good infrastructure. 

This week was a good one. I love what I do (except parking)! 

 

Lovett, Storm Warning, Emergency

Months ago I purchased two tickets for a Lyle Lovett concert at Hoyt Sherman Place. Why, you might ask. How did I become a Lyle fan? I blame it on my friends Mary Faber and Deb Peterson.

In 1996, not long after my Mom was diagnosed with lung cancer, those two asked me to go to a Lyle concert. They knew I was feeling sad. I knew who Lyle was - a couple of his band's songs had made it to the radio. But I didn't know much about him - except that he'd had a brief, ill-fated marriage to Julia Roberts. Never-the-less, a night out with those two wonderful friends was just what I needed! I don't remember much about the night except the love and care Mary and Deb provided. And that Lyle Lovett and the Large Band didn't suck. I didn't rush out and buy all their CDs - but their music kept percolating in my head.

Years later, living in Des Moines, I searched for music to fill out my library. I often wear earbuds at work to drown out the cacophony of cubicle-land. Especially since I sit by loud-talking phone guy. He seems to think his phone is like those old "cans with strings" we use to put together when we were kids. He yells at people on his phone. Ugh. Insert earbuds, turn up tunes.

I ended up getting a Lyle CD and they had me at "That's Right You're Not From Texas" and "MONEY". I'd always thought they were a country band, but no - they're more swing. And the individual talent of the Large Band is special.

Deb and Leslie love cheese and fancy drinks

I knew Paul wouldn't be too wild about seeing a band he's never really listened to. And he's left me...for his hunting trip. So I asked my pal Deb and come up for the 8/31 concert. We made a night of it, visiting the Cheese Bar and Eatery A.

Band members have been together for many years. Cello player was born in Iowa! 

Hoyt Sherman is such a special concert venue - the musicians always bring it up. The acoustics are marvelous. I got seats up close but off to the side. They played many of my favorites. The musicians and female singer Francine get a lot of solo time. They played for over 2 hours. Fun night. The while weekend Deb and I enjoyed time to catch up on each other's lives. I miss that! It was hard to say goodbye Saturday morning - but it was Game Day baby!

Or so I thought! I packed up the gear and headed to Ames about noon. Kevin and Kari got a slick new trailer this year. Tailgating was fun, but no lie, I missed my honey.

Kevin and the babes at the game

He did call while I was still on my first beer of the season. He was high on a mountain peak. The phone was cutting out - I heard a story about how he and his hunting buddy Al had come upon a father/daughter team riding mules to hunt elk. It was her 16th birthday present. For some reason, the mules spooked and dumped the riders. The dad hit his head and the daughter was injured and couldn't get up. Paul and Al dumped their packs and hiked back to the parking area to call mountain rescue. Chainsaws had to be used to get a 4-wheeler up the path to get a stretcher up the get the girl. I was concerned about the mules (of course). They ran back to their trailer. Phew! The dad left a note on their windshield yesterday - thanking them. It turns out they ended up with only cuts and bruises. Yay! No other hunting news - the elk are in hiding.

Creston's Trevor Downing (the big guy) Freshman lineman

Hmmm storms look ominous. There's a Cyclone warning! 

The game was exciting! All 4 minutes. The usual cast of people that sit by us was accounted for. Yay! We high-fived after ISU's touchdown. Then lightning and rain hit. Game Over. We sat in the car. It turns out they have to wait 30 minutes after every lightning strike. Which means the game could have started at roughly 3 in the morning. It was the longest lightning show every.

We finally ended up back under our tailgating tent drinking a beer, eating sugar cookies - what a combo! We laughed taking down the tent in the rain. Those people are so damn cheerful. Big thanks to Erecke's for putting me up at their house Saturday night. And to everyone, who stopped by our tailgate. It was fun seeing you all. Next time there will be a real game to follow!

This group laughs a lot!