33 posts tagged “iowa”

One thing I've learned to do since moving to northeast Iowa is to really.....really....appreciate spring.  After a hellish winter of brutal cold, endless inches (feet) of snow and wind that'll rip the skin off your face, a 60 degree day seems like a day in paradise. 

Yesterday was amazing.  The sun was shining, just a light breeze and really warm.  Birds were everywhere - most seemed to like the small brush piles in our year and kept busy taking small twigs for their nests.  A few robins waited by the edge of our vegetable garden plot and grabbed at worms and grubs.

About the garden plot - Mark and I decided that it was now or never to get our vegetable garden plot prepared.  Being folks with few garden tools and even less money to buy them, I supervised while Mark dug the sod up from a 12 x 20 foot plot in our backyard.  It took all day but now we have the beginnings of what I hope to be a productive source of healthy food. 

I've made some serious changes in how I shop and what we eat.  I've done this before but this time I feel very committed to making a lifelong change.  I've had several high school classmates die in the last year and it's made me very aware of my age and my health and the need to control what I can to stay healthy. 

I took a look at what we were eating and began to eliminate what wasn't nutritious, like white flour, sugar and chemicals.  I'm trying to limit our intake of starches like white rice, potatoes and pasta and concentrating on cooking lots of fresh vegetables.  Meat has become a side dish and I try to buy only lean meat and fish.  It's a little difficult because our meat department is made up of predominantly pork, but that's what happens in the #1 state for pork production.

I've found that now I rarely shop in the "middle" of the store - the place where the processed food is kept.  No more mac & cheese, Tuna Helper,  Rice-a-Roni", thing I'd cook when I was too lazy to put thought into what I was feeding my family.  My grocery list is full of fruits and vegetables and we're eating fantastic salads.  The best thing that's happened so far is that we're losing weight.  I'm down almost a full size and have lost 12 pounds.  I'm amazed at how easy weight loss has been when I don't "diet" but eat healthy food.  

So, back to spring.  We'll be outside again today, finishing up the veggie garden and digging some new flower beds.  I'm going to get out the Weber and cook some Beer Can Chicken for dinner.  It  should be a good day.

Serves 6.

Chicken sits on a can of beer for 2 hours in this dish from barbecue expert Steven Raichlen. (BBQ University)

1 whole chicken (4 to 5 pounds)

3 tablespoons of dry barbecue rub

1 can (12 ounces) beer, with 6 holes punched in the top of the can

1. Remove the pockets of fat inside the chicken cavity. Rinse and dry the chicken. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of rub inside the bird, 1 tablespoon rub all over the skin. Use half the remaining rub to sprinkle between the skin and flesh.

2. Light a charcoal fire using the indirect cooking method: Set the charcoal around the sides of the grill. Set a foil .

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled today that the ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.  The only recourse at this point is for the Legislature to bring a referendum to the voters.  My problem with that is if a law is said to be unconstitutional, how can the people vote against that?  But for now, I'm happy for my friends who will benefit from this ruling.

The following is the message I will present tomorrow night to the Delaware County School board

Two of my three children have required special education services.  When we lived in Maryland, obtaining these services was frustrating and difficult.  I had to rely on my training as a paralegal and even went to the extent of getting training in Special Education law just to be able to get them the minimum amount of help they needed.

 When we came to Delaware County, I was shocked at the ease in which my children were helped, both in the middle school and high school.   The IEP team bent over backwards to design plans that would meet the challenges that my children had and their Skills teachers, Stephanie Maury and Jim McDermott, were able to bring them to a level of achievement beyond what I thought possible.  This couldn’t have happened without the presence of special education associates in their classrooms. They are a vital and irreplaceable part of the IEP team.

 Most of these children spend one period a day in a Skills classroom and 3 periods in a general education setting and their difficulties don’t end when they leave that Skills class.  Special education associates are a bridge between Skills and the other classes and they are there to help the students apply what they have been taught in Skills to those other classes.  I think it is asking too much of a regular associate to be aware of the individualized help that special needs students have and it would be to the detriment of all the students they try to assist. Without the specialized one-on-one help of the Special Education Associates, it is my firm belief that my children would not have been able to function in the regular classrooms. 

The following is the message I will present tomorrow night to the Delaware County School board

Two of my three children have required special education services.  When we lived in Maryland, obtaining these services was frustrating and difficult.  I had to rely on my training as a paralegal and even went to the extent of getting training in Special Education law just to be able to get them the minimum amount of help they needed.

 When we came to Delaware County, I was shocked at the ease in which my children were helped, both in the middle school and high school.   The IEP team bent over backwards to design plans that would meet the challenges that my children had and their Skills teachers, Stephanie Maury and Jim McDermott, were able to bring them to a level of achievement beyond what I thought possible.  This couldn’t have happened without the presence of special education associates in their classrooms. They are a vital and irreplaceable part of the IEP team.

 Most of these children spend one period a day in a Skills classroom and 3 periods in a general education setting and their difficulties don’t end when they leave that Skills class.  Special education associates are a bridge between Skills and the other classes and they are there to help the students apply what they have been taught in Skills to those other classes.  I think it is asking too much of a regular associate to be aware of the individualized help that special needs students have and it would be to the detriment of all the students they try to assist. Without the specialized one-on-one help of the Special Education Associates, it is my firm belief that my children would not have been able to function in the regular classrooms. 

Woke up this morning to a beautiful blue sky and the sound of thawing ice dripping coming from the gutters.  The ice in the driveway (all 6 inches of it) was turning into mush.  Mr. Weather Dude was forecasting a balmy day in Northeast Iowa! 

The temperature got up to 41 degrees and after days of minus 30, it felt like summer.  No winter coat for me, just my fleece jacket.  No Thinsulate gloves...I drove the car bare-handed.  I opened all the windows just enough to let a little fresh air in and get rid of that stale winter air.  It was a glorious day!t

I've gotten a little sick of hearing the crunch of snow and ice under my feet and navigating through icy parking lots with a shopping cart.  (Try it sometime...it isn't easy.)  I'm already being seduced by the flower and seed catalogs and their promise of sunflowers and herb gardens.  This is the teaser, the warm few days that make us think about spring and warm dirt under our feet.  I've even begun planning the World's Biggest Vegetable Garden.

But it's only February 1st and there can still be plenty of winter to come. Husband said today that the worst snowstorm in Iowa that he can remember happened in mid-April.  I'm trying not to worry about that.  I just want to think about Spring.

President-elect Barack Obama is being sworn into office today. Where are you watching the events of this historic day unfold? 

I started my day at 6:00 am CST when I tuned into "Morning Joe".  I turned on the Tivo at 9:00 am, settled down on my comfy couch and began watching all the festivities with my son and daughter.  It's now almost 6:00 pm and the TV is still on - watching the magnificent parade. It's been a very long day but one full of joy and inspiration.  I never thought I'd see and African American taking the oath of office, but it's happened and I'm very proud of us all. I'm also proud today to be an Iowan because we gave Obama his start, the momentum that propelled him to victory.

It's 5:00 a.m. and it's MINUS 21 degrees.  That's not the wind chill....that's the actual temperature.  The wind chill is MINUS 50 degrees!  The weather guy on tv says you'll get frostbite on unexposed skin in 5 minutes. 

I'm afraid to go outside this morning to drive to work.  At last notice, our schools were only on  two hour delay.  They really ought to close because we have so many kids who don't have bus service and it's just too cold to walk.

(must keep repeating...."I love Iowa"...."I love Iowa"..............)

A little frigid Iowa humor (funny but not so far from the truth) -  

You know it's cold when - 

you have to chisel the dog off a lamp-post

your shadow freezes to the sidewalk

you have to break the smoke off your chimney

you have to open the fridge to heat the house 

your false teeth chatter, and they are still in the glass

the fire department advises you to set your house on fire

the snowman begs you to take him inside at night

 

I'm not one of those bloggers who gets online every day and shares every minute detail of every day.  My life are pretty mundane and I doubt anyone would really care about my usual daily routine.  So I write when I think I have something to say, which apparently isn't very often.

We're in  the doldrums of winter.  It's not as bad as last year when the snow started in late November and didn't stop until March, but it's winter nonetheless.  Cold, very cold.  I heard someone say that when the windchill was minus 35 a few weeks ago, it felt like the skin was being ripped from her face.  That about sums it up.  I don't mind the snow so much when all my activities are in town.  But we had plans to go to Cedar Rapids today to visit the bookstore and Menards (our mega home center).  Nope, that isn't going to happen - I woke up to see 7 inches of drifting snow.  Did I ever say how much I hate Iowa???  (Which I really don't.  I just hate cabin fever.)

I finally joined the ranks of the gainfully employed and I wish I could be a little more upbeat about it.  Jobs are so hard to come by here, especially the Admin Assistant/Paralegal/Office Goddess sort so after months of nothing, I applied for and was hired to be a cook at a daycare center.  I guess I should be grateful to have the paycheck since we're in such a financial mess. 

It's really not so bad. I get in at 9 and prepare a healthy (?) lunch for 50 little tykes and their teachers, wash a sh*tload of dishes, mop the floor and then I can go home.  The problem is pretty simple - I'm absolutely exhausted.  I feel like I cook a huge Thanksgiving dinner every day.  I'm 52 years old, in not so good physical shape, and each day is an intense 4 hours of moving, reaching, bending and lifting.  I get home at 1 pm and sit....and sit...and sit.  Once I recover, I do my Mom/Wife/Homemaker routine to make sure my brood is cared for and then wind up going to bed by 9 pm.  I'm not sure how long I can keep this up. All thius fun for $7.50 an hour.  For this I went to college??

One bright spot on the horizon is the lead I have on a pretty good job in the County Auditor's office.  Not secretarial (yeah!), dealing a lot with real estate issues (I know a lot about that), it pays pretty good...amd it has benefits!  Benefits...like health insurance.  Of course, I lose my proud affiliation with the 46 million uninsured, but I think I can deal with that.  Networking is a good thing and it really helps to know the Auditor personally.  The application is in and I have my fingers crossed.

When was the last time you drove out of town? Where'd you go and why?

Now that's a good question, but it depends on the definition of "out of town".  I mean, I live "out of town" if you consider that my little 'burg is 40 or so miles from a mall, bookstore, Starbucks or Home Depot.  When we want to do some real shopping, it's a day trip to Cedar Rapids or Dubuque.  Woo Hoo....Mama and Daddy go to the big city!

If "out of town" means a real road trip to some far away place, that would be our convoy from Maryland to Iowa when we moved the whole brood here.  Hubby driving the 27' U-Haul and me in a minivan with 2 cats, three kids and a rather large dog.  We underestimated the time it would take to make the trip with a fully loaded U-Haul truck.  What should have taken 14 hours (a simple overnight) took 23 hours.

My next trip out of town will be in  the summer when I meet my friend in Virginia and we take a wild road trip back to Iowa.  We're going to stop in the northern Indiana Amish area and do some serious flea market shopping.  This is a trip we started planning 30 years ago and just let life interfere with our plans.