Yakking

I need to get fired up! I'm get to go kayaking Friday - on the Upper Iowa, my fave kayaking river. I've had a rough week...and I'm feeling mopey. So I've got one day to get out of mopesville - tomorrow is it. My crabbiness will dissipate tomorrow at around 4 PM.

Why the bad week? I'm sure you're dying to know - because none of you have had your own stuff do deal with. Sunday was a great day...walking and kayaking with Deb. And Monday started out well, with breakfast with my homies. But went downhill when I got to work.

I had worked on a PowerPoint presentation for my Nashville talk for 2 days. It was based on a paper I had written for that event. The problem is four of us are doing the talk together on our Environmental Management System Pilot Project (I know - I bet you're sad you won't get to see it!) - and 1 person (not me - another queen bee) is in charge of melding all the presentations together. I get to present last, and didn't have the benefit of seeing the other people's stuff before doing mine.

The Queen Bee dissed my presentation and nixed half the slides I worked so hard on. My giant ego was crushed and it was back to the drawing board. I finally finished version 2 today. That all happened late Monday.

After work that night I decided to shop - figured that should perk me up, right? I even had a coupon for Eddie Bauer. But no luck. Stopped at HyVee for a few things on my way to Joan's - then discovered I'd forgotten to drop off my 3 bags of clothes at Goodwill on the way there, AND my milk was leaking. Yep, TRAGIC!

You know what...writing it all down...it all sounds pretty stupid and not worth being crabby over. I'm still mostly sad because of Boldie's illness and another friend who is also ill. I need to find a way to deal with this stuff.

And I get to kayak Friday!

Babs, Carol Ann and Mandy

The Poolboy hopped in his car...well, my car tonight and drove up to the big city to go out to eat with his sis Carol, her daughter Barb and Barb's daughter Mandy, age 12. Paul has my car as he's preparing it to go to NE Iowa to kayak. He arrived early at Scheels to they could help him adjust his bow for hunting.

I got there around 5:30 PM and looked around the store while he finished up. Then together we cruised through Dillards. The Dooney and Burke purses are looking might fine. Must have a new one for my bday! We hit the Barnes and Noble for baby gifts for the new slew of Goldsmith great nieces and nephew. Of course we had to get books for the big sister and big brothers too! I hope Paul remembers what to wrap for whom!

We met Carol and the Archer girls at PF Chang. It was my first time there. I loved the lettuce wraps. The entree was nothing to brag about - Paul and I split a chicken dish. But we also split a rib appetizer with rub. Those were yummy!

It was fun catching up with three generations of that fam. Carol had big news! She sold her lake place just today and will move back to Northwood, finishing the place she and Bud had built. I'm happy for her. I'm sure she's a bit sad about it. It's a beautiful place -but we worry about her that far from all the fam.

Barb recently started a new job at Blue Cross. Mandy is a sweet kid - so patient to be around adults and no act bored. I forgot to ask where Barb's hubby Mike was tonight. Pablo just called - he made it back to Creston without any deer denting my car. I plan to head home tomorrow - will skip out before 4 PM when the crowd starts to head in to downtown for the State Fair parade!

The Kitty

The kitty is getting really weak back legs. At least yesterday they were weak. When she jumped off the stool suddenly, she collapsed. And she was pretty wobbly otherwise the rest of the day.

I'm worried about her. She is 17 you know. I read on the Internet that weak back legs can be a sign of lots of things - one being chronic renal failure. She drinks lots of water - another sign.

One good thing is she's not feeling any pain. So we've got that going for us!

This is the bad part of owning a pet. A couple weeks ago She was was laying on the bed and I thought perhaps she was dead. But no...just sleeping very soundly. She's pretty deaf! Sometimes I wish she would just slip away - so I wouldn't have to make that call...

In the long run, pets are worth it. But the end-of-life decision is a gut-wrencher.

That sucks

The canister vac is similar to the one Deardorffs and Bullocks had

I wish I had my Grandma Morehead's old Eureka canister vacuum cleaner. It was part of our inheritance when she moved into Heritage House the retirement home in Atlantic. My friend Chris Deardorff had the job of vacuuming at her house, and that fam had a vaccuum just like it. I got to see the unit in action quite a bit because she had to finish chores before we could do fun stuff. But me...vacuuming at our house...not so much! We always had a cleaning lady. I vacuumed on special occasions, but not routinely. Hmmm those were the days!

Those old vacuums had lots of suction. At Deardorffs, when Chris was supposed to be doing chores, we had fun sucking our cheeks into the metal tube. It was actually hard to pull the vacuum tube off of our firm young skin. It would make a red round mark. I could be dreaming, but I think I remember Chris saying her brother Scott gave himself a hickey with Eureka once. How funny is that!

My current Panasonic, despite good reviews in Consumer Reports, doesn't do the job (on dirt not skin) that well. And I refuse to spend the big bucks to get an expensive unit. So I struggle along, doing a half-assed job. I should shop for a new one. The tape on the frayed electrical cord is probably another good reason why!

Back when we were young parents, door-to-door salesmen would try to sell us high dollar vacuums - Rainbow or Kirby for $600! That would be like $1,200 today. One guy even came in and spilled dirt on our lovely green pile carpet to demonstrate how great it was at sucking. (is that a great phrase or what?) Payments on a vacuum? We were already making furnace, car and house payments thank you very much! I'm amazed to find out how many people I have worked with through the year actually have those expensive vacuum units. That sales guy scored with them!

If you have a newer vacuum model that you would recommend (or a cleaning person), feel free to drop me a line!

Upper Crust!

Congrats to my friend Cynthia Wolf for her determination (see the photo I uploaded earlier this week above). She has loved baking, welp, all her life! Yet she's worked at Gits Manufacturing for probably thirty years - at many different jobs.

That's where I got to know her well, during my two-year stint as a production planner at Gits. In the mid nineties, Cynthia, Jeanne Piel and I were all planners - in our own little office in the middle of the plant. We became very close during those years, sharing everything.

Cynthia is also a topnotch seamstress, and she's wonderful with people and would make a fine therapist. But baking is her true love (only behind husband Joe and son Tyler). CW has baked for various shops, catering services and restaurants around town for years. But for the past couple years, Christy Whited, another gal who did a stint at Gits, and she decided to open a bakery. During all this, she still does her day job, probably mostly because that darn health insurance.

The oven is in the old bank vault

Cynthia and Christy worked with one downtown property owner, who informed them he was going be forced to jack up the rent much more than they had discussed, AFTER he took their money to do some work on his property. That set them back. Finally, a wonderful (and wealthy) couple in town decided to remodel a historic main street  building just for their business. Upper Crust Bakery and Tavern proudly had their Grand Opening this week!

Paul and I stopped in this morning first thing. Besides a hug from Cynthia, we got a tour of the facility - which includes: an oven in the vault (it IS the former First National Bank building) and a counter area where Cynthia and Christy can teach cooking classes. Plus those glass displays of delicacies! I selected rhubarb coffee cake and Pablo got peach pie. Cake balls were a free gift, courtesy of Grand Opening week. The coffee cake was so rich it made my teeth ache. Yum!

Paul and I had a nice chat with CW - catching up a bit. Tyler is getting married! We're Facebook friends, and my life is an open book between FB and this blog...so she knows most of what's happening with me. But you can't hug on Facebook!

I'm so glad I got a chance to see her new store - and happy Creston has a quality establishment like the Upper Crust. But most of all, I'm proud of CW for her determination - to pursue her dream!

Oldie Moldy Boldie

My sister Cindy's husband Brian has prostate cancer. Everyone calls him Boldie - it's a childhood nickname, short for Boulder, cuz he was a chunky little kid. I'm not sure anyone in Vail, Colorado knows his real name. Cindy and Bold have lived in the Vail area for 35 years or so.

Today their home is actually in Edwards - west of Vail, where Boldie is the Mayor of E-town, a bar there. If you are a regular blog reader, then you know from my Christmas blogs, Cindo and Bolder have lots of friends in Vail. People love 'em! I think that says a lot about people. So lets get those positive thoughts zapping those evil cells...

They have a son Colby, who is 22 and just graduated from Johnson and Wales College in Denver with a Bachelors in management and culinary skills. He has a job in Vail working managing a barbecue restaurant. I'm glad he's back home now - hanging with his folks during this time.

Boldie's surgery was last week, and the bad news came back that it has spread to his lymph nodes. So he needs further treatment. We were all crushed - so hoping for good news - that the surgery would get the damn stuff! Now he's awaiting word on what his follow up treatment will consist of. Chemo, radiation, and hormone therapy are all combinations used to treat the disease.

I feel so bad for him and them. Hell I feel bad for all of us! Boldie is a wonderful guy, and we all love him. And I don't know what to do to help! I imagine they are going through stages of grief. Life as they knew it is over. I hope and pray they find the strength and grace to hold it together and fight cancer together. Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated!

Massage

I had a massage today. Yum! Before she started, Christine - the masseuse, wanted to know if any of my parts were sore. Nope! It was a legit question, cuz I did go to see her the first time right after I fell on the stairs at Joan's and broke my foot. Another time I saw her right after I flew ever so gracefully off a lil step stool whilst dusting in the kitchen. I had placed the step stool on our bamboo floor and it slipped out from under me...and I landed right on my tailbone. I didn't move for quite a while - wondering if I was paralyzed. Youch!

Today I was just there for a basic overall rubdown. With no benefits for anyone afterwards (except the cash tip I planned to leave her). The kids gave me a massage gift certificate (from my usual masseuse) for Mom's Day. I've been looking forward this occassion week.

Christine is a Presbyterians pastor's wife and mom of 4. Can you imagine that pressure? I only have to live up to being wife of the soil conservation guy. That's stress enough. Farmers calling at all hours, expecting me to be cheerful about said call. No dammit, he doesn't wish to speak to you about your pond.

But to be a pastor's wife. You couldn't swear or nothin! Slam you finger in the door? No F bombs. Or you'll be the talk of the congregation! Actually Christine sounded a little worn out by her parenting and pastor's wifery schedule. The fam just got back from a week at a church camp in Storm Lake - where she attended a session about dealing with being the wife of a preacher. And her kids came home with strep throat.

I almost felt like jumping up from the special massage table and giving her the once over massage. Except I'd suck at it! The poor thing needs a break. Soon though, two of the four kids will be away at college. That will help. And the other two will be back in school. And before you know it, all four will be growed up.

For now though, just listening to her reminds me how glad I am that my kids are fully functioning adults who gave me a nice gift certificate for a massage. Life is good!