Thanksgiving On My Mind

I'm not thinking about Thanksgiving for food purposes -- I simply can't wait for the break! I have to teach on Monday this week, but then have the rest of the week off. Monday will be a busy day with grading and meetings in the morning, but students are working on revising now, so the ball's really in their courts, so to speak. I also have to go to my "new faculty" class tomorrow afternoon which is seriously a bore, but there's really no way out of it. It'll just make for a long day. The piles of grading on my kitchen table seem overwhelming, but just knowing I don't have to teach all week makes them seem much more bearable. I should have done more this weekend in terms of that, but I just didn't feel like it.

The weekend was pretty typical except my Aunt Beryl came in from Chicago for a visit, so we spent Friday night and Saturday afternoon at Grandma's visiting. Today after church, Ken and I did some errand running and then pretty much spent the day inside doing odds and ends around the house. He's been "working", i.e., watching football, and I've prepped class for this week, did laundry, graded one set of journals, and well, that's about it. Oh, I guess I did write the Xmas letter we'll send out this week. I just need to get it printed and get the envelopes mailed.

We had some light snow Friday night, which we awoke to Sat morning. I even had to clear off the driveway! That was kind of fun to have. Of course, it melted by late afternoon, so it wasn't a blizzard by any means. That's about it for things around here.

This weekend found us at home -- both of us at home. Thank goodness too because we've been running around like crazy. Friday night we just chilled at home with Sister Kathy who was in town. She and her daughter Kristina came by for a chili supper. Then Kathy left to take Kristina to her father's, returning later to stay over at our place. It was nice to catch up; plus having company forced me to clean the house Friday night instead of my usual Saturday morning deep clean. It was nice to wake up to a clean house on Saturday.

Having a Saturday at home meant trying to get projects done. I set Ken to work on cleaning out the garage that still hasn't recovered from our last summer garage sale. We really wanted to get it ready so that come the first big snowfall, one of us can park it in. We finally got the landlady to get Larry the Maintenance Man to get us a remote for the garage door, so we can enter without having to go into the side door first. After 5 months of waiting, she finally got him to do it and we now have a remote! Seriously, we probably should have just done it ourselves!

Anyway, Ken cleared out the remaining no-sell items and set them in the basement for next summer's sale, and we can now park in there. The only problem: it's a 1 stall garage, so we'll have to take turns. Ken says well each take it for a week at a time. I told him I get it the weeks that it snows! :)

A few weeks ago, Ken and I took a short overnight trip to Pikes Peak, IA -- a spot that's great for hiking and overlooks the Mississippi River near the Iowa/Wisconsin border. Here's a couple of pictures from the absolutely beautiful day. This is a black and white one I like of Ken walking toward the steps leading away from teh waterfall. It's a cool shot though you can't see how nice it actually was outside. The next picture is better for that.

And so, wedding plans continue to progress. Last week, we met with Pastor at church to discuss some of the details and this weekend had an appointment with the cake lady and met with one photographer. We still need to settle on a photographer and invitations. I'm planning to make some real "save the date" cards and get them out over Thanksgiving when I have more time. I feel like I'm saying that all the time! Well, I will meet with the person doing the flowers next Saturday, so hopefully, I'll get some good ideas for that then.

Who knew there could be so much work involved in getting one of these things ready? And to think that Ken and I are actually trying to do things on a much smaller, more simple scale!

Yay, Election!

So this was the first time I really truely remember being happy about an election! I was so excited to go home on Tuesday night after my UNI class to watch the coverage. Seriously, that has never happened before! Ken and I hunkered down at home in comfy pants with popcorn and watched the results come in. We stayed in the living room until about 9:30 at which point we decided to lie down and watch it all unfold. At that point Ken fell asleep, but I stayed up for another hour. The next thing I knew, I'd fallen asleep myself around 11, waking up long enough to decide that I really should turn the TV off and go to bed.

I wish I would have stayed up a little longer though as it was shortly thereafter that they called the election in favor of Obama! Yah hoo! I really wish I could have seen his speech and felt the excitement of the moment. I got up super early on Wednesday though and managed to catch most of the highlights on TV before heading to work.

It was such a good feeling to know that our country is starting to move in a different direction. Like so many others around me here at school and at home, I really feel hopeful that things will get better. And while we know the war isn't going to end anytime soon and Ken is going to have to go back to Iraq in May of 2009, at least I feel better knowing that someone is in the White House (or soon will be) that really and truely wants to get us out of these wars.

On my drive into work on Wednesday morning, it was a dreary rainy day, but as I made it up toward campus, the clouds broke and the sun peeked out. As I sat at a stop sign and looked to the right watching for oncoming traffic, I saw a rainbow -- a perfect rainbow! It stretched across the whole sky and even had a double band to it. I took a picture with my cell phone to remember it; now I really wish I had a picture for this blog. It just made me feel somewhat better about the state of things. I hope it's a good sign of what is to come with the new administration.

Wedding Update Info

So, only 7 weeks to go until the end of the semester. My goodness...will it ever end? I'm so tired I can barely stand it. And the grading...oh the grading that never ends. Just when I get a large stack done, another comes in. Seriously, the UNI classes on top of the newness of the Hawkeye classes is really doing me in. Add to that the gradiose task of thinking about planning a wedding and I've been one grouchy cookie. I have to give some serious props to my sister Melissa who is working as my wedding coordinator. She has been wonderful: calling places, people, asking questions about pricing, and just plain keeping things organized for me. If you can think of any good gifts that I can give her for doing all of this, please share! I owe her big time

Regarding wedding: things are going slow but steady. We think we've settled on Saturday, March 14 for the day. Consider this your early "save the date" blog. (Official cards to follow in the future.) It will be at the beginning of my Spring Break, but I'll deal with it. We've been working on finding a reception hall, and I think we may have finally scored on getting the Slife Ballroom at the UNI campus. BEAUTIFUL!!! I am so happy with this! Now that that is almost set (see a couple of paragraphs below), I think we'll be able to book the cake lady, set the flowers with my flower lady, get the photographer and then get the invites ordered.

The good news is that I found a dress! Can you believe it?!?! The one major thing I was freaking out about took less than 2 days to settle. The weekend before my birthday, Holly and I did a marathon shopping day around Hudson, Waterloo, and Cedar Falls. I am not crazy about shopping for such a dress and a strapless gown is so not me, but that seems to be the ONLY thing that bridal stores carry these days. I was freaking. Anyway, at the last store we went to, I found one that has straps, but is essentially sleeveless. It's really beautiful. The best part...it fit as is and was actually half off because the store was trying to reduce some of it's inventory!!! I took my mom there the next Tuesday to show it to her and we decided to go for it. So that's the dress. Check that off the list!

Ok - so what does it mean to be "almost set" Well, we're still dealing with the possibility that Ken will have to go overseas again next year, hence the fast planning for the wedding. He is in Atlanta right now at a military conference hopefully learning more about dates and timelines if in fact he has to go. We've been hesitant to plan anything (and put deposits down on anything) until we know for sure if/when he'll have to go. We're hoping March will be safe. Anyway, so that's why the rush on wedding planning.

Egads. I better stop writing. It's getting late and I have to get some things ready for class tomorrow. More later!

Early Frost, Soup and Grading

So it's freezing cold in our house! Yes, really. The thermostat in the hallway said 60 degrees this morning, but it felt like it was 20...probably because it was only 35 or something outside. I forgot to bring the plants in last night, but I think they're ok. They seem to still be green at least if that is any indication of their health.

I spent the morning making soup for a potluck we're having at school today. Like I needed one more thing to do, seriously, but I felt bad because I haven't taken anything in lately and boy do people in my department like to eat. I think that should have been one of the questions during the interview: can you cook and how often can you bring food in? So I made the Zuppa Tuscana that I made for the open house in July. It seemed to be a big hit then, so I thought it might score me some points with the department people too. I may even make some breadsticks to take along. We'll see.

Not much new otherwise. Tomorrow is our midterm break for students. This means students don't have to go to class and we don't have to teach (thank goodness!). However, all faculty have to go to in-service meetings all day. Poop. So much for my day off. Oh well, at least there's a free lunch and I don't have to teach.

I have been swamped with grading lately. I forgot how much time grading actually takes. I should be working on it now, but I was taking a break to respond via email to students' drafts for my classes this evening. I'll get back to it soon. In the mean time, here is a picture of Ken doing his sword line at a wedding we went to last month. Sharp huh? Can you find Ken? He's wearing green. Actually, he's the third one back from the front on the right. Did that even make any sense? I have no idea.

Here's shot of the cat perch Ken hung up in the basement for the cats. It used to be in my apartment in Normal where Tucker would lounge on it constantly. We don' have a good place for it upstairs right now, so he hung it downstairs. The cats now get to sleep downstairs each night because their knocking on doors at 3 a.m. was starting to get a little annoying. They can get to this perch by jumping on the Rubbermaid totes which are located beneath it. It's an adventure. Tucker likes it already, as you can see. It's amazing to me that he can even fit on this thing anymore.

Quick Update

This is a quick post as things are incredibly busy around here. Not only have I been grading non-stop for the past 2 weeks, but there is no end in sight. I have had 50 UNI papers sitting in the back of my car since last Thursday's class waiting to be graded and will receive 60 more papers from my Hawkeye kids on Monday. I've been grading as fast as I can (with some much-needed break in there of course), but I have this conference in Illinois that I've been trying to get ready for at the same time not to mention other regular course preps to attend to.

Though we spent Saturday morning working from home, we did manage to sneak away for a little bit in the afternoon. We headed downtown Waterloo for the 90th anniversary celebration of the John Deere Waterloo Operations. Planning this had been part of my job when working there, so I had to see what it all ended up being. We also had some free "Deere Bucks" from Ken's work, so we went down there for a free lunch and to see the tractors. We only stayed for an hour though as we had to get home and get ready for a wedding in West Liberty, IA (down south toward Iowa City). Ken was part of a military sword line for the bridal party. It was interesting though we had to drive 2 hours down and back and spent too much time away from home and work. Pictures to come in a future post!

Sunday found us at Sister Melissa's for a small birthday celebration for Mom. We enjoyed beautiful weather and grilled out on the patio. Afterwards, some of the gang (Ken, Josh, Jeff, and Dan) tossed the ole football around. Overall, a lovely afternoon. Then it was home again to more grading and getting ready for the week.

That said, I have 5 more Hawkeye papers to grade for Wednesday and then it's time to get started on the 50 UNI papers. Ugh. I may have to haul some of those to Illinois with me for the weekend, which does not thrill me. I need to give them back next week as I'll collect another whole set of papers from them then. This whole 6-class, 3-prep thing is wearing me down. I will have 6 classes next semester at Hawkeye, but there should only be 2 preps and I'll have already taught them this semester, so less busy work then. Sigh. I am looking forward to seeing friends in Illinois this weekend though!!!

Field of Dreams and a Polka Mass

Last weekend, Ken and I journeyed East to Guttenburg, Iowa, home of the St. Mary's fall festival and polka mass. As a first time polka mass-goer, I was treated to the interesting experience of a Catholic service with a bit of a twist: all the music is sung to the tunes of polka songs such as "Roll Out the Barrell" and "In Heaven There is No Beer." It was an interesting service, nice, though a bit surreal. You see, it was sort of like a strange dream. Some parts were normal: the priests walked out in all their adornments holding crosses, Bibles, and the like. They said traditional church-like things, such as various Creeds and blessings and whatnot. Then all of a sudden a German polka band in the front of the church (complete with people in lederhosen and dirndles) would start playing "Beer Barrel Polka" and we'd all be singing a churchy song. People were swaying and enjoying the music and the experience, including me. It really was quite enjoyable -- just something like I've never experienced before.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a wonderful German lunch of fried chicken, potatoes, corn, salads, rolls, and various dessets. We all ate too much, but it was worth it. Then it was off to look at the craft tents and play BINGO! Lisa, Ken, niece Elizabeth and I partook in a few $0.25 games of Bingo. Matt chose to watch but did help Elizabeth with her cards. We were all very excited when Elizabeth got the only win of the family, yelling "BINGO!", scaring many people nearby. I think she won about $7.00. Not bad for a 15 year old drug to the Bingo tent with a bunch of adults. Here she is after her glorious win.

After Bingo, we headed to the Mississippi River to the Lock and Dam to watch the boats go through. Here is a picture of Ken and Lisa in their almost-matching sunglasses. It was a beautiful day to be on the river, and we got to see a couple of smaller recreational boats pass through the Lock. Then Ken had to make his way up to Ft. McCoy, WI where he's been for the past week and will be for the next week for a military class. I rode home with the Wilsons and slept much of the way back.

But before I forget, on the way up to Guttenburg for the polka mass, Ken and I had a few extra minutes so we took a turn and quickly stopped at the Field of Dreams movie site near Dyersville, IA. If you haven't been there before, it's basically just the farm house and the baseball field where the movie was shot in the late '80s. Still, as fans of the movie, we were impressed! Here are a few shots of us around the site. It sure seems a lot smaller than it did in the movie. Note that the white fence wasn't around the house during the filming of the movie. They had to add that to keep people from wandering up to the house. It's an actual residence and people do live there.