Guns 'N Roses... the later years....

Halloween was a blast this year. I got to be a rock star. Score.

Hawkeye Football = Happiness

Couldn't have asked for a more picture-perfect Fall day for college football in Iowa City with one of my favorite people. Homecoming to boot. Crisp autumn air, dogs on the grill, cold cocktails and a victory over Penn State. Life is good.

UNcrush. And awesome time at the lake.

OK. Totally lame absence... just been a busy summer!!

SO, the "crush" thing. He was in Omaha for 5 weeks and decided to move to Martha's Vineyard for a job offer!! Just packed up his junk and drove out to the East Coast. BAM. Gone. End of story. Failed before it even got started! HA! Oh well, c'est la vie.

But the summer's not a complete bust... just got back from a week-long visit to Lake Okoboji with some BFFs. Had a blast. The lake was clear and cold. Cocktails and cigars on the dock. Booze cruise boat rides, swimming dogs, sleeping in, and lots of laughs. That, exactly, is what summer is all about.

Now it's back to reality. BOOOOO. :oP

Crush

So, I met someone new this weekend. I think I have a crush on him, and I hardly know him. I mean REALLY hardly know him. We've had a couple brief (but really funny) correspondences on facebook, and I've met him in person once, for about 2 hours. I don't think I'm ready for this. How can I possibly be ready for this? Life is just simpler when you don't have romantic feelings about someone. Sigh.

Turkey in my tree!!

So, Easter morning, I get up early to get my tired butt ready for church (out too late the night before with my Des Moines posse!). I let the dogs out the back door for their morning peep, and lo and behold, there's a friggin' HUGE male turkey in my neighbor's yard!!

The turkey is startled by the dogs and runs into the neighbor's deck fence... bounces backward a few feet, then makes the most UNGAINLY flight up over her house, veers north and lands in my pine tree!!!!

There he sat for the next 45 minutes until I left for church. My Easter miracle!

SOOOOO ready for vacation!

Well, it's finally here. A week in California with some of the craziest, funnest mo-fos I know. And now it's SNOWING outside - even better reason to get the h3ll out of Dodge - I am SO READY for sun, cocktails and hangin' out.

I'll try to bring some sunshine back with me -
peace out!

Liking this lucky streak...

Earlier this week I came home to find a message on my answering machine from a local radio station announcing that I'd won tickets to the upcoming Tom Petty concert. The fact that I entered the contest via email as a random, last-minute afterthought and then actually WON brought a huge smile to my face. I'm totally stoked to go see Tom.

Then later this week I went to the local I-Club (Iowa Hawkeye Boosters) cocktail hour at a local watering hole. While there, I met some nice folks and had a coupla nice glasses of wine. I was coveting the Hawkeye ball cap that the host was carrying around as she drew a couple raffle ticket numbers for some miscellaneous goo-gahs like tiger-hawk emblazoned notepads and buttons, etc. Lo and behold, the third and final ticket she drew had MY number on it, and she handed me the cap! I was jubilant!!

I am SO buying a lottery ticket today!!!

I want a frickin' magic wand.

I consider myself a "doer". When I'm stumped by a problem or I hit a roadblock (mental, emotional or physical), the competitive nature in me kicks in to high gear and I make it a priority to find a solution.

So....How frustrating it is to me that I can't always "fix" things.

I couldn't fix my marriage. It was a bitter pill to swallow when I came to the realization that the other party was never going to be willing to make an effort, so all of my attempts to "fix" what was broken were completely useless. FAIL.

I can't fix the drippy faucet on the south side of my house. I've finally come to the realization that I'm going to have to hire a handyman (I don't think I could ask my brother to endure the crawlspace in the basement). Sort of FAIL.

And now I'm feeling frustrated that I can't fix the pain and uncertainty that one of my little chicks is going thru right now. She definitely has her head squarely on her shoulders, but it's been a really tough year of some colossally difficult circumstances, and I can feel the burden she's bearing. The mother hen in me wants a magic wand to wave over her and make it all go away. I wan't to be able to say, "the decisions you make today are the right ones and from now on you'll be happy and satisfied."

But life doesn't work that way, and it frustrates the hell out of me. All I can offer is an open heart, a shoulder to lean (and cry) on, a big ear for listening, and an assurance that I'll be there no matter what.

But for me, that's not enough. I want to step in and say, "Do this. Then do that. DON'T do that one thing, but do a little bit of this other thing." You know, just give her a list of instructions on how to fix everything. But I know I don't have all the answers. Even the answers that I DO have can't be imposed on someone else. We all have to scrape our way along in life... it's the bloody knuckles that make us strong, give us character.

But I still want a magic wand. Dammit.

Could be the best lasagna ever...

So, my PPPs are coming from Des Moines tomorrow to celebrate Challe's birthday. I'm so excited. All the bros are coming, plus some fave friends and also the awesome Fremont crew. I have the makin's for Old Fashions, lots of wine, and a really cute birthday cake plus ice cream!

The best part, tho, is the lasagna. At least as far as I can tell in putting it together, taste-testing the sauce, using a new methodology for the construction... this might possibly the best lasagna in the history of the universe. Only time will tell, of course... tomorrow night after it comes out of the oven, oozing with its bubbling cheesy goodness.

I haven't had lasagna in over a year. I think the last time was Christmas 2008, when my now-ex-husband made it. He liked to think that HE made the best lasagna. Frankly, I was never that fond of it... BUT, the girls loved it, so I have some big shoes to fill.

So, I'm a bit nervous, but pretty confident in my cooking skills. Tomorrow will be the pasta throw-down. I'm hopeful I'll emerge victorious! If not, then we'll just have to drink more wine! :oD LOL. Salut!!