A Dog's Life...

My sister and I took my mom to Riverside Theater today to see A Dog's Life. It is a musical about a dog adopted from the animal shelter. I admit I was a bit nervous about it being any good, but it was really worth going to see.  The singing was excellent and I really enjoyed the humor throughout it.  The way they depict the events through a dog's view- like getting neutered, being dressed up by their owners, and being tricked into taking pills.  It was a hoot!

Friday night my nephew played football in Mount Vernon and my whole family came to see him play. Afterward, we had a birthday party for my step-dad who turned 63!  Lots of goodies and gifts!  Here is a great picture that Sophie drew of her with Grandpa Mike. It really looks like him!

Roosevelt Eugene's many positions

My cat Roosevelt lays around all the time.  He's a bit plump, I prefer to call him big boned. (it runs in our family) He relaxes in very interesting places and is really the sweetest cat I have ever owned.  I wished all my life for a lap cat, and believe me... this cat could lay on my lap all day.

Home cookin'

The garden... I will admit, I have not given my garden the annual TLC that I usually provide it. I seemed to be pulled to other more urgent calls this summer. It's know excuse for leaving my garden to fend for itself amongst the weeds and beetles and cool summer air. I was lucky though, it survived and some things really thrived.
For example, we eat greens beans every day. There is really no meal that somehow the green beans haven't snuck their way into if they are already no prominently placed on the side of the main dish. They are delicious at every meal and I do not see tiring of them in the near future.
Our beets are a glorious color and taste better then I could have imagined. We attempted to grow them last year, but being so on top of my weeding last year, I think I hoed them up in early June. This year, so busy with incarcerated people, the beets flourished and now they giving my husband the creative juices he needed in the kitchen. Who knew that beets could go in so many different dishes.
Jeremy and I tried some new ideas out since were tired of the annual zucchini bread and muffins, and green bean casserole. Last night we made veggie burritos with our garden veggies- broccoli, zucchini, green beans, peppers, lots of cilantro, and corn from the farmers market (and onions- not home grown). What a treat!!!
Carrots were planted this year and sadly, I saw one sprout but nothing ever came from it. Next year, I promise to be better at watching my garden grow and tending to it's needs. I did learn though that plants are tougher than I thought and maybe a little more space is a good thing.
School starts tomorrow and my goal is to keep on blogging. Last year, I really took on too many things and blogging was abandoned. I vow to blog at least twice a month this school year. If you see that I am not holding to this, please feel free to remind me of this! To everyone returning to school this month, I hope you all have a wonderful, productive, and enriching school year! I just hope to survive.


Beets sauteed with sweet potatoes and caramelized onions...


Home-grown acorn squash from Kirsten's garden stuffed with beets, rice, onion, morning star sausage, zucchini, and peppers.


Apple-rhubarb crisp hot from the oven. (Thanks Steph for the crisp mix you left us in July!)

For Joy... (and everyone else too)

I just wanted you to see how we arranged our great pictures from our fab photo shoot when we came to visit in June! (They are 8x10's and 4x4 photos just above our couch) Thanks so much- we miss you all!

Bookmaking

I survived a six-week intensive bookbinding class this summer! I actually really loved it and I am proud of the books I made, it was just quite time consuming.
We made pamphlet stitch books, chain stitch hard cover pamphlets, long stitch, link stitch, accordion books, and finally we cased in books - like real books are! It was very exciting! I am begging Jeremy to build me a book cradle for Christmas and he seems up for the challenge. Some lucky person is receiving a book their birthday today. Who could it be?


Pamphlet books

accordion book
Top to bottom: Chain stitch on hard cover pamphlets, link stitches, and bottom two are long stitches. I learned to back my own cloth too.
Last but not least, case binding! Thanks to Home Ec for the great Fabric and RSVP for the great paper.

Hot day for moving...

Jeremy's parents bought a house and we helped them move today. It was 90 degrees out and a bit humid. Which seems pretty typical for August in Iowa (except for this year). I think this was the hottest day all summer!
Oh well, we got moved and everyone survived. I am tired and sore, laying on the couch is making me heal faster. I may have acquired few new bruises or battle scars as I will refer to them.
I thought a lot about all the times I have moved over the years and how long we have now been in our home. It has been 5 years since Jeremy and I moved into our house. Awwwh!
Out of all the years I moved, the one the really sticks in my head is when Jeremy and I moved into our first house in Iowa City. We rented this great big stucco house with no AC. We moved August 1st (of course). I called ahead and reserved a U-haul truck but when the day arrived and we got to the U-haul place, there was no truck. I called the Cedar Rapids U-haul office, and they said to come get a truck there, but when I arrived they had none. I still wonder today how U-haul stays in business? Today, when Jeremy's dad picked up his truck, they said he could only keep it a few hours because it was in demand. WE of course kept it all day. We drove by U-haul during our lunch break and there were over a hundred trucks there- no lie! What gives??
Anyways, back to the story, we ended using my friends little red truck and moving so slowly all day long in the 106 degree Iowa humidity. To cool ourselves we sprayed each other down with the freezing water from the garden hose. Good times...
Happy moving to all of you August movers! Good night.

A weekend with my cousins

We drove up to my parents lake house this weekend to meet up with three of my cousins and my aunt and uncle. We spent so much time just hanging out on the beach, watching all the kids play together and just catching up. It was truly a weekend filled with fishing, boating, swimming, campfires and smores, games, and lots of good food! (too much)
It is so hard to get this many people together and I am sure as the kids get older, it will become even harder. I loved telling my nieces about what we did as cousins when we were young and letting them hear the stories how we tortured our siblings and all the trouble we got into.
I enjoyed the story most told by my youngest cousin, (who is also an art teacher) that she would be placed in a blanket and then drug her around the house, knocking her into furniture and then having her identify what piece it was. HA!
Isn't family great!

Off to the Lake...

for one last weekend, before I settle down to plan for the upcoming school year. Hope everyone has a great weekend- xoxoxo

Jeremy's adventure

Oh, yeah....

Jeremy rode the Gyrospeare contraption and didn't get sick ( I totally would have) and then
he rode this crazy bike at the Discovery Center/Science Station place. It was wild to watch!
Happy Summer!!
PS- the weather is so crazy here, look at Jeremy in his long sleeve shirt and jeans in JULY!

A few funny pictures...

of Sophie and Marissa when we went to The Wisconsin Dells last weekend. The rest of the family was there too, but they weren't as cute!

Summer Music

So, I have been on the road a lot this summer. I have been teaching a bookmaking class at the Women's Prison in Mitchellville, IA, and was working on a play at the Iowa Juvenile home in Toledo, IA, along with a little summer revising on our grad program in Art Education at UNI. Because of all this driving, I have heard lots of great music. Here are four bands that I discovered and love and would like to share with you! Maybe you have already heard of them, remember I live in Iowa. Enjoy!

Metric , Grizzly Bear , The Thermals , and White Rabbits

what a weekend!

I think I am still recovering from our whirlwind of a weekend! Steph and Kyle arrived on Friday from Portland while I was in DeWitt attending an adoption party. It is official, my step-sister has two new kids and I have two new members in my family- welcome Makayla and Ayden!!
Friday night we hosted our first Karaoke party after purchasing the American Idol Karaoke game. Jeremy and I really cannot sing but we love a good competition and that's exactly what this game is all about. Singing for points and humiliating yourself along the way. We had 14 singers on Friday night. Two of them walked away as Karaoke Champions!

Here is a photo of the winners: Left Kris Miller (no relation) and right Megan Matthews (no relation to the other Megan Mathews)

So Saturday night we attended Roller derby in Cedar Rapids. We killed the Chicago Team we played. They couldn't even skate, let alone score... it was great to watch.There was even a small fist fight... Stephanie and discussed our dreams of being on the roller derby team that will never happen. She claims she is not fast enough on wheels. I know that is true for me but my real problem is my fear of knocking out more teeth! yikes!!! Check out Roller derby here... they play again in August if anyone is interested in going with us next time.

It gets even better on Sunday- I know you are thinking what can beat getting a new niece and nephew combined with karaoke and a chocolate fondue fountain (oh yeah, we had that at the party too) and roller derby.... where are we off to on Sunday at 9:30 am???


No, not the rodeo... but good guess! We went tubing on the Wapsi River all day with a cooler of beer, rum and cokes, Oreos and trail mix, and not enough sun screen (for my poor knees)
What a blast we had floating down the river, tipping each other over and maneuvering around trees and rocks occasionally. We ended the evening with pizza and Harry Potter to get geared up for the new one which I believe comes out tonight!!!!!!

Thanks Steph and Kyle for coming to visit and bringing your fabulous sister and brother-in-law along. LOL to you!!!

LACMA

When we were in California in June, we went to the
LA County Museum of Art
Outside the museum, was this fabulous installation of plastic containers.
If you are ever in LA, I recommend checking out this museum!

These light up at night and were amazing!

Workers were draping this cloth on the building as we entered.
Next to the museum is the La Brea Tar Pits another great place to visit!

Violet

We had a little celebration of Violet's great life on Friday with
specials doggie truffles and cookies

We put Violet to sleep on Friday afternoon. Our vet came over on his way home and we buried her in the back yard. I am very sad but relieved that she will no longer be suffering. I am going to look for some old pictures of her this week to share.
In 2001, Jeremy and I adopted her at the no-kill shelter in Washington, IA where I taught 4-6 art at Lincoln Upper Elementary School. She had been hit by a car and did not look good. Our heart went out to her immediately and we decided to adopt her rather than a puppy like we had originally intended. She lived with us for eight wonderful years before she developed bone cancer.

Good-Bye Brenda

I have spent the last month working with the director Brenda Currin who founded What Girls Know, a theater company for adolescent girls. We have been working together at the Iowa Juvenile Home In Toledo, IA. Wednesday we performed our play with the girls. It was such an amazing experience.
Brenda leaves tomorrow to go home to NYC! We will miss her. The pictures below are of the progressive dinner we held for her in Mount Vernon.

The Lovely Violet

Violet has been diagnosed with cancer and will not be with us much longer. She has had ten wonderful years on this planet, eight of those with us. Here she is enjoying the warm sunshine this week as I weeded the garden.

Guess who's famous?

My very own cousin Laurie- that's who!!
Check her out here, she's in this month's issue of Martha Stewart Wedding magazine.
Congratulations cuz!

marissa and sophie sleep over

My nieces came for a visit this weekend and we went for a hike in Palisades State Park which is about a mile from our house.

Sophie and Marissa enjoyed working in my studio in little sketch books I bought them. Here are a few of my favorite pages they made.



Sophie brought over a friend for Dottie but she did not seem thrilled by this.

what have I been up to for the last few months??

Here are a few snap shots from May and June... to tide you over as I sort through a year of events! Thank God for iPhoto!

Chalk the Walk.....
Kirsten and I created a chalk piece about the upcoming Mount Vernon Community Theater musical " A Funny Thing happened on the Way to the Forum".
Sophie came to help us!


Jason and I took a quick trip to NYC to celebrate our birthdays and the fact that I made it through this crazy year! We had way too much fun there.

We went to California to visit Jeremy's family, here is a sweet picture of our darling niece and nephew.



Joy ( my sister-in-law) is a photographer in California did a fabulous photo shoot of us.

Here is her link to see more of her fabulous photos! I will post more later on this week.

so it's been a while...

I know, there is really no excuse for a year long break from blogging. I guess switching careers and going back to school was harder on me then I anticipated.
Good news though, I am committed to blogging again. I have made a pact with my friend, and mentor Rachel to blog and require our students to blog and collect research on blogging. It will be great. But for now I will post a few catch up photos and enjoy summer!
LOL Wendy