Wish you were here!

Having a great time. I am still in Iowa and just have to share my "stuff" so far. Trip so far:

Saw a sign on a rural building, "Chop Shop, Custom Butchering."

Knew I was close to Ia. when I started noticing folks doing the little "wave." That's where you just lift your hand or a few fingers from the steering wheel to acknowledge the oncoming driver. Its an Iowa thing.

Was able to find the old "home place", well the place I lived for about 4 years at one time growing up. Haven't been past there for many years. Only thing left to recognize is a huge pine tree in the front yard and the old barn, oh and the 2 ponds. Amish have bought it now and there is a huge white house on both sides of the road. I stalked them a little and took a few pictures from up the road.

Met up with my sister in law yesterday and we took a little trip up thru farm country to a town named Kalona so I could get some cheese curds to take home. It is a huge cheese factory, and if you have never had fresh cheese curds, I just can't explain them to you. But they are the fresh product in the production of cheeses, and the squeek on your teeth. Wonderful.

I am getting the knack of weaving. Love it. The biggest job was to learn how to string up the loom. But I have the best teacher and if I make a mistake, I am sure its because we are yakking too much. Don't get to bed till almost midnight. Weather has been great, cool, but mostly sunny. Have taken alot of pictures around this little town. I will put some links up later to direct you to this little county that boasts either one or no stop light in the county. Look up Villages of Van Buren County and you can find it. I am in Bentonsport. Now that's all the info I can give out to protect the innocent, ya know? I will post pictures when I get back to my computer

Oh, the boss is getting up, so I have to get out of here and get busy, {she is a slave driver} but don't tell her I said so.

Thought for the day: If you have a price to pay, the sooner you pay it, the less it costs you. (those words of wisdom, fresh from the mouth of the "boss" as she came out of the bedroom!

PS Hi to my sis in Mo. that reads my blog. And to her and to my friend Jan, send me an e-mail and I will pick it up from here and can send a reply. I didn't bring any e-mail addresses with me.

Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again!

Actually I am driving. Headed out Sat on some alone time for 8 or 9 days! Well sort of alone. Headed to Ia. to spend time visiting old friends and some family, too. But mostly to stay with my "girlhood" friend and learn how to loom rugs. Yea, thats right, never know when that skill may come in handy. Been wanting to do this for years when I was up there last spring I found that she has a table top size loom and I told her that was just the right size for me, to hold onto it and I would be up. Promise to bring back some pictures. There is a long story here so maybe someday I will write it.

Just finished a very good book. If you want a really good read, pick up The Other Boleyn Girl! By Phillippa Gregory. Learn a little history too, The setting is in the 1500's. Women we have come along way, let me tell you. I know there is a movie, is it here yet? I never know when I see one advertised if its here or coming soon, as I rarely go to movies. I did see a movie for TV coming in April that is from the book I read last month, so hope I remember to watch it or tape it. The Memory Keepers Daughter. It was a good book so I look forward to seeing what they did to make it a movie.

Well got lists to make and them I am hitting the road. Now do I want peace and quiet or CD's to listen to, hmmmmmmmmmm?

Thought for the day: Whatever we Think about, Thank about, We bring about!

I love "Bare" jokes!

Gotcha! But I really do love bear jokes. These are my favorites. Another favorite is the campers in a tent, and a bear is reaching under the edge feeling around with his paw, and the Lady says,"George, cut that out." Well there is my humor for this Friday foggy day.


Thought for the day: Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says "Dam!"

I Am Getting All Techy!!

My horoscope for today. Pretty cool!

Your creativity will really be luminous today, and your mind will be drawn to light. If you can, get up extra early and watch the sunrise. You will see the world in a way you never saw it before, and who knows? You might realize that you are a morning person after all!

I just updated my Yahoo page and have all this personal stuff on it now for my home page, like local tv listings for the day, movies at local theaters, weather, and even Garfield. Now I am trying to figure out how to transfer all my favorites over so that they are not just stored on my computer. I live in a fear that the computer will crash around my ears one day and all the neat sites and files I save will go with it. My computer Geek tells me I should be storing everything off site. So maybe I will get that figured out one of these days. Baby steps!!

Got my new little mp3 player set up yesterday and loaded most of my music that I had stored on My Music onto it. Worked real well. Amazing to have something so tiny hold so much info, plus its an FM radio, can download audio books to listen to. I know I am way behind alot of folks here but hey, I am traveling at my own pace and it feels good.

On the Up side,weather is awesome, sun shining, clear, and going to be up in the 70's today. On the down side, gas is too high! Yikes over 3$ and going up everyday. Guess we all need to really think before we get behind the wheel!!

Thought for the day: Once you get people laughing, they're listening and you can tell them almost anything". :)

Amor fati (Love what is)

I swiped that from a book that I just finished and feel the need to put my thoughts down about it. The title is: Drinking the Rain, by Alix Kates Shulman. Printed in 1995, it covers 10 years of her life from age 50 to 60. In her younger years she was very active in teaching, writing, and marching for women's rights. At age 50 she feels the need to have some solitude to really learn more about herself, so she goes to spend the summer totally alone in a cabin at the end of an island off Maine. She ends up pretty much living off the land, and learns all the bounty that the sea and island has to offer. She returns year after year. She opens her eyes to see the beauty in living so simple and close to the earth and it changes her and how she views everything.

I reallly enjoyed the book and found it really not so mysterious why I chose it to read. Actually I have a stack of books that I plan to read and this one was pulled out randomly and when I started it was amazing how it tied in with what I have been thinking and feeling myself. It seems everywhere I turn I see these "signs" that are directing me. I have been reading Depok Chopra for some time and just finished one of his books and am anxious to get his new one, and am now reading Ekart Tolle's book, The New Earth. Some will scoff at this as nonsense but one of the statements in the beginning of the book, if you are not already becoming "awake" just put the book down and don't waste you time or money. You have to be ready to be awakened and truly See. And I think that is what this book Drinking the Rain was about. And the Amor fati, was a quote from the book.

So I stop with that thought "Love what is" Couldn't that just change your whole perspective on life. And as Ekart says, "Accept what is< then action can follow"

Thought for the day: "Happiness is not something ready made...It comes from your own actions."---Dalai Lama

Zumba! Me???

Oh, I can't believe I got talked into this! A friend came by yesterday and asked if I wanted to go to an exercise class that one of the Joplin hospitals is sponsoring 2 nites a week. Another friend was going with her and they are both a few years older than me, so I thought "What the heck, I will give it a try." Well if you don't know what Zumba is, look it up in google!! Its a little Merengue, Salsa, and Samba. Oh, my!

But what a HOT instructor. 6 pack abs, tanned. A mother of a 12 year old! She was amazing. If I can make my butt move 1/10th of the action she has going I will be thrilled. I was really pooped about 10 min. from the end, so was basically down to just stepping in place by that time, boy what a slug. And here I am so proud of the fact that I have hardly missed a day on my tread mill since Jan 1. Maybe I should put down my book and increase my speed a little!

So a little IBU and I will give it another try tomorrow nite. Wish we had more than one day to recup..

Thought for the day: If swimming is so good for your figure, how do you explain whales?

You know someone is getting old when you see cars zipping by your intersection at 30 miles an hr. and you hear, "Damn, they sure drive fast thru here!"

Well that is what I have heard, not that I think its true, yet.

Doing OK, dropped off papers to have taxes done. Had a tooth filling replaced. Hated to have it done when nothing hurt. But it was loose on the edge last cleaning and again this time, so I gave in and had it redone. They use a nice white filling now. Sort of wish I had asked to have the other fillings replaced in that area while I was numb. Wonder if he would have done that?

Got a taste of spring again, Sat. and Sun. Up in the 70's, then a blast in the bloomers with a cold rain and down in the 20's and 30's again Mon. But we are lucky as the bad weather went south and north of us.

Had to replace my printer, so got a new HP Photosmart all-in-one. Wow. What a deal. For 88$ plus tax, I got a neat little machine that scans, copies, prints. Plus has ports to plug dig. camera card in and view pictures on a little screen and print photos. Big bonus, the ink refills are about half the cost of my old machine. What a deal. Sort of makes me glad the old one bid the dust.

Been reading Echart Tolle's book "The New Earth" Me and about a million other people. Going to log onto Oprah's site and view the big webcast that they did last nite.

Did I mention I am planning a week long get away for later in the mo. or the first of April? Going to Iowa to visit a friend and learn to loom rugs. She has a small table top loom she is selling me and has promised if I come up she will teach me how to use it. Sounds like fun, besides I can get my Iowa FIX. Visit some old friends and maybe even find some really alone time.

Thought for the day: A man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them......Mark Twain