Breaking It

For Memorial Day weekend Anthony & I decided we needed to take a little break from our stresses and have some playtime. Anthony had heard of a 4-wheeling club called MIOBI (Make It of Break It) in Southern Iowa that sounded like the mini-vacation we needed. We loaded up Swamp Thing and made our way to the grounds just North of Albia.

I was surprised at how many people filled the campground. This was obviously not the small affair I had imagined.

On our first run through an area aptly named the Playground we discovered that Swamp Thing was not quite as up to the challenge as we had originally thought. We found that her carburetor had a tendency to flood on steep inclines. This was not a convenient problem to have when traipsing through a 400 acre former strip mine full of steep hills and rocks.

After we were pulled to level ground and gave Swamp Thing a chance to recover we attempted to climb the West side of an area called the Rock. Halfway up we encountered the same problem.

The break while Anthony operated on Swamp Thing gave me the chance to play around with my camera.

Once Swamp Thing was up and running again we decided that she would be better suited for running through the mud than climbing rock walls. We set off along a muddy forest trail not paying much attention to the twists and turns that we were taking. That would prove to be our undoing but also the beginning of an interesting adventure.

At the bottom of a steep gully Swamp Thing found a challenge she could not surpass. We were buried up to the bumpers in mud and not able to move more than an inch in any direction. MIOBI requires that every vehicle in the park be equipped with a working CB. Anthony hollered across the air waves for help but we didn't know our location. We tried to talk our would be rescuers through the path we had thought we had taken but it took them nearly two hours to find us. It seems that we had ventured down a seldom used dead end path that many didn't even know existed.

We were pulled out of the mud and backwards up the steep hill by two buggies strapped together.

As it was nearing dark (closing time for the park) we were told to follow the buggies to the campground. They had to go rescue another vehicle on the way so we were taken down a path meant more for buggies and rock crawlers than old, heavy and big 4-wheel drives. The buggies had to hook together again to pull us up another steep rocky incline before we once again entered the muddy forest.

The mud in this part of the forest was deep and that morning's rain had filled the deep ruts to their brim. A little ways down the path we slid in the mud into the wall of one of those ruts. The impact popped the bead off the passenger side tire. It was getting dark and we did not have a spare tire with us. There was nothing we could do to limp Swamp Thing to the campground so we accepted that we were there for the night and hitched a ride back to the Tahoe.

The hospitality back in the campground was amazing. We had people offering to help us in the morning, sharing their dinners and beer with us, and inviting us to enjoy fellowship and warmth by their campfires.

Early Sunday morning Anthony set out with several of his new friends and a borrowed trailer tire to perform their magic and rescue Swamp Thing. I was given the opportunity to sleep in (a rare occurrence) and read my book while snacking on our small supply of Lunchables. It took the boys from 6 am until 2 pm and working through a thunder storm to bring Swamp Thing back to the campground. During this time I watched with amusement as the tent across from me blew over sending several people scrambling out into the cold rain.

When they returned with the disabled truck we had another challenge to confront. How were we supposed to reseed the bead without running water? Anthony adapted with the only liquid we had left.... beer.

I watched with amusement as the beer foamed from the air filling the tire. In all my years around vehicle repairs I have never witnessed anything quite like this.


It worked like a charm though and we had Swamp Thing loaded on the trailer before 4:00.


I played around with my camera for a few more minutes while Anthony said his good-byes and then it was time to hit the road.
Swamp Thing has developed a few more issues since our little weekend jaunt, so it doesn't look like we will be taking her out again anytime soon. It was definitely a different experience that we both enjoyed despite all of our obstacles.

Peace of Mind

A little late, but better than never right? I shot this photo on Sunday as we drove to Anthony's Dad's. The fresh fallen snow made everything look fresh and soothing.

The next week or so is going to be full of chaos and adjustments for me as we welcome my first grandchild into this world. I do hear rumors that I am to be party to a "backwoods photo shoot" on Saturday though, so I may actually have a chance to post something for the next theme. I have temporarily put poetry writing on the back burner though as that requires much more thought process than I am capable of at the moment. My mind is currently filled to the brim with baby related agenda.

The majority of this week's submissions centered on the new fallen snow. Run on over to Photography139 and check them out!

The 4th on the 5th

We have been getting a lot of rain here in Central Iowa. The weather has been mostly nice but with almost daily brief thunderstorms. The storms have usually been short lasting but dumping a lot of rain on us all at once.

Except on Sunday, which was a mostly day long drizzle. So the Independence Day festivities got pushed off for a day.

Bug and I got the honor of watching the local fireworks with a close friend of mine, her two children, and her cousin-in-law. While it wasn't a spectacular show, we very much enjoyed visiting and watching the reactions from our little ones.

This little guy wasn't really playing with fire. He is holding a plastic battery operated light. The batteries were running low on my camera causing the flash to delay longer than normal, but I sure found this to be a fun effect.

Bug and the little tomboy princess were anxious for the show to start.

Oooohhh...

Ahhhh.....

Enjoying Our Freedoms

I'm not going to lie. The weekend was very hectic and stressful for me. I know that a lot of you have been checking back here often in anticipation of the blog announcing my reactions to the latest life changing events around here. You will just have to wait on that one, if it appears at all.

On Sunday, Bug and I decided we needed a break. It was a three day weekend due to Memorial Day and we hadn't set aside anytime to enjoy our freedoms other than the freedom to assemble at Friday Night Supper Club.

We decided that we wanted to do something that we both thought was relaxing and fun plus take advantage of the beautiful weather. So we changed into our swimsuits, packed the blanket, a book, and the camera and headed to Ledges.

We followed the creek to a bend where we couldn't be seen from the road.

While I sunbathed on a sandbar and read my book, Bug enjoyed splashing around.

He even found a perfect skipping stone, which ended up traveling home with us for him to use again.

This was my view laying back on the blanket. Ahhh... so peaceful and serene.

I had to keep a watchful eye that Bug didn't wander too far away while I dozed off and on.

Two hours resting and relaxing was exactly what I needed. It still didn't make my stress hives entirely disappear (that didn't happen until last night), but it did help strengthen me. Make sure to thank a soldier for our ability to enjoy peaceful days at the park, a day off from work, and the millions of other little freedoms that we have because of them and their families!

Easter at the Lake

What a lovely Easter weekend the kids and I had! We were very ready for a vacation, so we headed to my Auntie's house on the lake. We had a perfectly relaxing time just visiting, eating, and enjoying the company of loving family. We came back refreshed and motivated.

Enjoy some photos from our trip:

Sis trying out her new fishing pole. Later in the day she & Ricky wandered down to the grade to try their hand against the seasoned fishermen. They quickly found out that their lack of bites resulted from using minnows instead of mill worms. I didn't really feel like cleaning fish for the anyway. Better luck next time kids!

Saturday was cool and windy, but Sunday was warm & sunny. It didn't take Bug long to kick off his flip flops.

Bug enjoyed watching the waves roll in.

But he enjoyed climbing the rocks even more...

from one side of the property to the other.

After convincing him that he should really change into play clothes, he decided to break in his new pole.

Bug didn't get any bites on his Mister Twisters either, but he had a lot of fun practicing his casting.

I spent 2 hours out on the deck reading. I was so comfortable and relaxed that I didn't even realize until much later in the day that I had developed a slight sunburn.

On the way home we planned to stop at my cousin Jill's house but I knew we had a little time to kill before we were expected to be there. I decided to take the kids on an impromptu detour to the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend. I hadn't been there since I was about Bug's age.

Easter was the perfect day to visit especially since we had missed church due to our mini-vacation.

On the way home Bug asked me if there were any other amazing places in the world that I can show him.

This is the display that moves me the most in the Grotto

Sis wondered how many people thought Dobberstein was insane rather than inspired when he first started his Grotto project. She was amazed by every little stone and needed constant reminding not to touch.

The Stations of the Cross glittered with all their colored mosaics in the setting sun, setting off another wave of awe.

Blessed

Today is my birthday. I had rather expected it to be a quiet day with no fuss. After all, who do I have to fuss over me? I'm pretty alone in my little corner of the world. No parents capable, an only child, no family other than my kids for 90 miles.

Last year I had a celebration. What I figured would be my last "big" celebration. Truthfully I was celebrating so many other things than my birthday last year.

Nope, this year looked like it was going to be quiet and simple. I could handle that. Over the last year I've really come to set my standards high & my expectations low. That way of looking at life has made me very content with whatever comes my way.

So today took me totally by surprise. All day long I've been receiving birthday wishes & greetings, starting with a serenade from Bug & Sis as I went to wake them up this morning.

Sneaky little Sis had a plan up her sleeve. You see, she has apparently been conspiring all week. Sending text messages and emails she managed to pull together a surprise celebration. This isn't the first time Sis has done this. Two years ago she managed to throw a surprise party for me with our friend Wendy helping her out. This year she did it almost entirely on her own.

She says it's payback for the party I threw for her in January.

She got me and she got me good. She distracted me at lunchtime by having me drive her to get her driver license (yes she can drive on her own now, wow). I came home after work to find a great many people in my living room and more stopping in throughout the evening to celebrate with us. Sis made chicken & dumplings for supper and purchased a cake.

I feel extremely blessed and loved tonight to be remembered by so many friends and by all the hard work that my children went to to make my day so special.

My pretty princess cake

I was "crowned" right before Sis and I got into a frosting fight

Now I'm going to go relax with my present (and wash the frosting out of my hair)

Thank you to all that made this day so special :)

I've lost my muse

Courtesy of Sis & Ricky, hopefully these will lift my spirits

I'm trying to figure out why. Why every time that I get a good creative flow going, life has to knock me down & complicate it, so that eventually the creativity gets pushed aside and I have to deal with whatever is so pressing.

That right there is the sum of my last two weeks. Everything was going great. I was baking up a storm, I was writing up a storm, I was living and I was happy. I had started several poems and had the beginnings (or middles, or ends) of several more. I had started the outline and first sample writings for a new blog. I had even started writing a short story, something I have not attempted for years.

I will admit that part of the problem is that I became distracted. I let a few messes clutter up the counters. Then I realized that I had put off the necessary phone calls to secure a location for our next Scout meeting. I have a tendency to become temporarily obsessed with my inclinations. I don't think I'm alone in that. We all become a little caught up in our own creativity every now and again.

It would have been all fine and dandy though, I am comfortable with letting a few minor details slide now and again, except that I got into a huge argument with Ex. Admittedly, I had let my guard down. I had begun to trust that maybe, just maybe, Ex had grown up just enough to be trusted in a co-parenting roll. Perhaps he now realized that his actions reflect on his roll model status as a father. Or perhaps not. There was a lot of hurt and betrayal felt by Bug & especially Sis as Ex followed his own whims and left their feelings and admiration behind. I wish I could say out right the terrible decision that he made, I will keep to my promise not to discuss his transgressions on this blog however, but I am very thankful that I have been able to raise my children well enough to realize that it was a moral mistake without my pointing it out.

So I spent last week consoling my children instead of writing and being creative. It was the right decision and I have no regrets about that. Then Christmas came. A 3 day weekend alone with the kids! No one can really be expected to sit themselves in front of a computer on a long holiday weekend can they? Instead I cooked, did some light cleaning, made phone calls to loved ones, and played the wii with the kids. We had gotten a lot of snow and travel was not really advised, so we stayed in where it was warm and simply enjoyed our time together. The one time I did venture out I managed to get pulled over, but that's a different part of the story and not where I'm headed with this particular little rant.

So Sunday night came and I was very relaxed. I was sitting right here in this very spot with the computer in my lap. I really thought that maybe I could find a little bit of that creativity and write just a little bit. I was a little cold though, so I ventured over to the thermostat. 65 degrees it read. Not bad, but lower than I usually had it set. I went down to the basement to check, sure enough the pilot light was out. No big deal, I had become a pro at relighting the old rusty contraption since Ex moved out.

After getting the heat flowing again I decided I should probably just head to bed and jot in my notebook. I listened to the furnace hum as I went about my nightly rituals. I could feel the house starting to warm. And then, suddenly, nothing. The pilot light was out again.

I braved the frigid basement and lit it again. I fell asleep listening to the rattle of heat blowing through the vents. It seemed like the furnace was running a long time now and I was quite toasty.

I woke up at 1:00 shivering. It was now 57 in the house. I re lit the pilot. Then I lit it again at 3:30. And again at 5:30. And once more before I left for work at 7:00.

I sent a text message to my best friend, who's dad happens to be my furnace guy.

I stopped by home real quick while I was running the work deposit to the bank. I re lit the furnace twice. The temperature had dropped to 53 degrees. The kitchen faucet was starting to show signs of freezing since the pipe runs along an outside wall.

I got a text back. My friend's dad would be over after 5:00 to see what he could do. He was pretty sure it was a cheap part & simple fix. I took the rest of the day off work and used two space heaters and blankets to set up warm rooms in the house. I opened up each of the faucets to a drip so the pipes wouldn't freeze. I did laundry just to run the dryer and I curled up under a blanket with Bug to read a book. Every couple hours I would check the faucets & move the heaters.

My friend's dad came over sooner than expected and set to work. Throughout the even I could hear pounding and the occasional shrill of his phone ringing. At 8:00 he came up to tell me the bad news. He had done all he could, but sadly my furnace was beyond repair. The good news was that he had used furnace in his daughter's garage and he would put it in for me free of charge.

The man is a saint. I have said before that he is an angel in disguise. You wouldn't know to look at him what a huge heart he has. He looks like Chris Farley if he had lived to his almost 60's and had chosen a career in plumbing & heating. He is always laughing & smiling and rarely has a bad word to say to anyone.

So last night he put in the new furnace. It took him until 11:00. He left here with an apple pie as my thank you to him. I know that was not nearly enough thanks for the wonderful kindness he bestowed to me.

Now I have heat, wonderful heat. Maybe I could pick up where I left off, but now I have the sniffles. I suppose that's what happens when you go 2 days without heat. I just want a clear head so I can concentrate and unplugged ears so I can hear my muse again.

Oh well, such is life. Maybe next week. The start of a new year, the start of new creativity perhaps?

Tis the Season

I just realized that it has been almost a month since I've blogged. I wish I could say that's because it was a quiet month without a lot going on, but instead it has been fraught with drama. All this intrusion on my nerves has served some purpose though, it has forced me to start thinking about my future and what I want out of it.


I haven't come to any solid conclusions yet, but I have enjoyed entertaining the thoughts of moving, going back to school, and writing a book.

Funny that I wrote about keeping one's perspective just a month ago.

This past weekend I needed a change of perspective. I was tired of being strong. I was tired of trying to shield my children from events I had no control over. I was sulking about how I had not done as much with my life as I had planned by this point. I was just plain worn out.

Which of course meant that it was time to do something to change my perspective.

What better than spending the entire weekend baking with my little Buggaboo?

Raisin Puffs just like my mom used to make every Christmas.

Bug's favorite job was to make the Almond Bark Pretzels.

Excellent decorating Bug!

We made a lot more than this. We also made 6 dozen Lemon Cookies, 4 dozen sugar cookies, and 2 pans of Scotcharoos.

All that baking has made me feel a lot better and changed my perspective back to what's most important of all... spending quality time with my loved ones.

Now if I could only find the time to deliver all the cookie trays we made!

A Thanksgiving Lesson in Perspective

I have a few friends (mostly male?) that complained this year that they had nothing to be thankful for in this season of Thanks-giving. One had lost his job, one thought his girlfriend was considering leaving, and the one lone female had just wrecked her car. Being the friend that I always am, I made room on my shoulder, and tried to talk each of them up again.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Nothing is required of you except presenting yourself and a little help in the kitchen. It is a time to reflect on the joys in our lives and give thanks to the one that made those joys possible.

It's also about perspective.

I could easily say that I don't have a lot to be thankful for.... money is tight, I never have enough time in my day to fully appreciate & spend the amount of time I want to with my children, I don't have a special someone at the end of each day, I've reached a point where I get more bills than junk mail. The list could go on and on.

That's not how I see my life though.

While I may vent occasionally about something that makes me unhappy, irate, or upset, for the most part I know that it's the little joys that make life so much brighter. And I know who I have to thank for them.

Those are His little reminders to me not to be bitter or sad about the trials in my life. Each joy is a reminder to me to change my perspective and be thankful for all the things we try to take for granted.

Here are a few snapshots from my Thanksgiving up at the lake:

Doesn't Sophie look so regal here? She's not a very nice kitty, but I am thankful that my Auntie & Uncle have her love & devotion, and Pepe's too. I"m also in a funny way thankful for the laugh she gives me every time she stalks or attacks me for paying attention to her.
Of course I'm always thankful for a delicious Thanksgiving meal.

I am thankful that at 92 my Grandma is still in her own apartment (I am also extremely thankful to Auntie for her patience!)

I am thankful for having an Aunt that I can share a bottle of wine with.

I am thankful for having family to share the holiday with.

I am also thankful for a strong cup of coffee & sunshine the next morning!

I am thankful that I have 2 great kids that get along so well.

I am thankful that I am able to share the beauty of the lake that was so important t my childhood with my children.

I am thankful for the rare treat of being able to just sit back with nothing pressing to do.

I am thankful for random bits of silliness.

I am thankful for nature's beauty

I am thankful for it all.