The ramblings of a woman,
wife, & mother, who loves:
Jesus / my man / the three,
learning about parenting /
mamahood / childbirth,
cooking foods healthy /
international / yummy,
pretending to garden /
write / design,
attempting to run /
exercise / lift weights,
enjoying traveling /
camping / adventures,
finding ways to love /
serve / sacrifice for others.

It is not to say she does these things
with style or grace, or even skill.

A WORLD OF MANY HATS AND NOT ENOUGH SHOES

The rest of the time...

June 16, 2008 - 11:40 PM

Friday night, Josh and I decided to enjoy 1 dinner date while the kids were out of town and went to Jade Sisters (the rest of the time we were enjoying volunteer foods). Then we headed out to the Marriott to help build sand bag walls on the backside of the building until late. That night (and the next) Josh and I slept at the office. (After having watched other businesses around us wake up the next morning and have 3'+ of water in their buildings, we were ready for anything.)

sonic

Saturday, the Bovey's let us shower and fed us yummy coffee, we took care of a few loose ends and made our way back to the office, and heard word that our building was set to be sandbagged Monday. I continued to work in the back room and front office, lifting up more things above 3', clearing out drawers, anything, to get it up and safe. Friends came to help in the heaviest lifting part and the office was as ready as it was going to be (and the employees still able to work in case nothing happened). Then, I worked late into the night migrating info from one server to another, a mundane task but important, never the less.

Photo via PC?, Picture Annotated by Tony S.

Sunday, we did more migrating and prep work and then we worked to figure out if it was ok to leave (a huge storm was moving in) to go get our cuties, it was so we left (the storms center thankfully went south of IC).  We got our cuties and enjoyed a wonderful Father's Day brunch and oh, how we missed them... *sigh*

the orange line under the water is a sandbag wall that was not tall enough

True, I didn't get much done on my list; however, the things I DID do on my list, flood activities and helping others, were by far the most rewarding things. All the other stuff, eh, it'll get done, the kids will be a part and it'll be good, goofy, fun and, I'm sure, character building for all of us.

(While driving I had heard Culver say that the damage to farmlands were in the billions and driving 80, I could totally see that... on the news they said the flood has destroyed 20% of Iowa's corn and soybean production... wow.)

How's the List Coming?

June 13, 2008 - 6:47 PM

1. Get a haircut
2. Finish the basement exterior door
3. De-weed the retaining walls
4. Paint the exterior of the house
5. Re-do the landscaping around the house
6. Fix the "eave situation"
7. Insulate the attic
8. Spend the whole day weeding at the garden
9. Learn how to swim
10. Paint the living room
11. Add an exhaust vent to upstairs bathroom
12.
If office floods, do whatever it takes to help
13. See if I can go on a long bike ride
14. Clean and take a load to the garbage dump
15. Power wash the exterior of the house
16. Clean out the stubborn downspout
17. Plant prairie grasses in front yard hill

18. Babysit or help out my friends around me
19. Convince my rock climbing friends to take me rock climbing
20. Attempt to find a pair of jeans that fit (or dare I say, a swim suit)

In case you were wondering what I have been up to since our cuties left for Minnesota on Wednesday afternoon...

Wednesday afternoon, I sandbagged a client's office and our internet node for 4 hours (we were told to double our height from the day before), met up with Josh and we then sandbagged out at Normandy Drive until dark (unfortunately the levee did not hold and folks were eventually evacuated at 2AM that night).

Thursday, I sandbagged for 6 hours at the one, main water well that supplies IC's drinking water (they had to build their wall from it's 3' level to 7'6" which means that not only do you build taller but for every 1' up you have to make it 3' wide), went to visit a dear friend who was in town for a very short visit (I love you friend!), ran a myriad of errands for CIT (oddly enough, Qwest going down has been good for our business), helped evacuate friends and friends of friends from Hawkeye Court. I also went grocery shopping and stocked our house with tons of food so that if someone(s) need anything and things go from bad to worse, our house is ready for use on the East side (call me if you need help and are stranded on the east side).

Friday, I got cracking early, packed up 3 days worth of gear (for our next adventure), did taxes and deposits and paychecks early (our bank was under 3' of water but thankfully our branch was up and running), continued to evacuate people from Hawkeye Court and move them into their new temp housing (the parking lot went from no water to half full of water since the night before, folks had to be out by 4PM today)...

John and Jades Apartment Area

ran errands for CIT, and began to clean and lift up equipment and other gear off the floor and up no less than 3' in the CIT office (we could get flooded by the below creek that is causing all sorts of havoc when it reaches the Iowa River or may loose power due to other flooding nearby, please pray neither of these things happen).

Creek Behind our office

Josh (and Dan) are working on a new blog to chronicle all this fun at www.iowaunderwater.com.

What's a Mom to do?

June 9, 2008 - 9:01 AM

My children are being whisked away to their Gpa Mac & Trish's house for 5 days per the request of Grandpa. I love my kids so much and to be without them and at home at the same time, is breaking my heart. SO, to thwart off those feelings I have been thinking, "What to do" during their absense. (Outside the definite pleasure of enjoying the time with my husband, :)!)

Some things are obvious when you are a full time, stay-at-home mom, like getting a haricut. Other things may not seem so obvious, like learning to swim. It is not that these things can't be accomplished with children present either, but for me, if things require too much planning I just forego it and well, it doesn't get done.

Here's my initial list, you are welcome to add more. Sadly, weather will play a big part in my final decisions and these are not necessarily ordered on importance.

1. Get a haircut
2. Finish the basement exterior door
3. De-weed the retaining walls
4. Paint the exterior of the house
5. Re-do the landscaping around the house
6. Fix the "eave situation"
7. Insulate the attic
8. Spend the whole day weeding at the garden
9. Learn how to swim
10. Paint the living room
11. Add an exhaust vent to upstairs bathroom
12. If office floods, do whatever it takes to help
13. See if I can go on a long bike ride
14. Clean and take a load to the garbage dump
15. Power wash the exterior of the house
16. Clean out the stubborn downspout
17. Plant prairie grasses in front yard hill
18. Babysit or help out my friends around me
19. Convince my rock climbing friends to take me rock climbing
20. Attempt to find a pair of jeans that fit (or dare I say, a swim suit)

Out of all of these, I think my haircut and finishing the basement door are the two things I will definitely do. I don't know which of anything else would be the most important so I need to get some input on what next and obviously, weather plays a big role in this.

One thing I think I will definitely be doing the whole time is missing our cuties something fierce. They mean the world to us/me and wo/man, I would rather have a day of complete insanity with them, then to be without any one of them.

It's Not Dead Yet!

June 4, 2008 - 6:02 PM

Growing Garden

HOME

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About Me and This Blog...

Begin Our Adventures of Fall/Winter 2012 to CA, MN, CO
   Ladies Trip to Napa Valley
   My Parents Rode in a Plane!

Begin Our Adventures of Summer 2012 to MN and CO
   Vacation to the North Shore and Cabin
   Boulder for the Summer
   Life in Boulder

Begin Our Adventures of Winter/Spring 2012 to UT
   The Drive to CO/UT Begins
   Vacation in Moab
   Living in Moab / Denver

Begin Our Adventures of Fall/Winter 2011 to CA
   The Drive to CA Begins
   Living in the SF
   Living in the Suburbs
   Coming Home to IC

Begin Our Adventures of Summer 2010 to Eastern Europe
   Life at Czech English Camp
   Travels in Germany & Austria
   Travels in Czech & Poland

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