Iowa State Capitol

I'm kind of a goober in that I like to visit a state capitol building if I'm in the city so here is the Iowa State Capitol.  My guide book said it was "bling heavy".  Pretty true...the dome is gold.

Not the greatest picture but a really pretty building.

Here is the dome from inside.  I know it's upside down but the flag must be right side up from the top.  I had another picture from the other side but it was still not right.

These are the legislator's mailboxes.  Just thought it was a cool picture.





This is the law library.  Way cool staircases.

These are the dolls displayed that show a replica of inauguration gowns of the fiirst ladies.  The dolls all look alike and they are pretty ugly, as are some of the dresses.  The biggest problem in this picture is me in the middle in the mirror taking the picture.  I could not figure out how to get me out.

Freedom Rock

Iowa artist Ray "Bubba" Sorensen found a large rock at the entrance to an old rock quarry in rural Iowa that was normally covered with graffiti and decided to use it as a canvas to honor our military heroes.  Every year since, starting on memorial day, he paints the rock over.  These are the pictures when I was there

The writing is a poem from Eleanor Roosevelt from WW II:

Dear Lord,

Lest I continue My complacent way,
Help me to remember that somewhere,Somehow out there
A man died for me today.  As long as there be war,                                                      I then must ask and answer  Am I worth dying for?

The 2nd picture shows a Muslim American soldier in prayer and his headstone.

Side 3 shows an Iowa hero named Glenn McDole who survived this:

During World War II, in order to prevent the rescue of prisoners of war by the advancing allies, on 14 December 1944, the Japanese herded the remaining 150 prisoners of war at Puerto Princesa into three covered trenches which were then set on fire using barrels of gasoline. Prisoners who tried to escape the flames were shot down. Others attempted to escape by climbing over a cliff that ran along one side of the trenches, but were later hunted down and killed. Only 11 men escaped the slaughter and between 133 and 141 were killed

It also honors a veteran of the Vietnam war.  I regret that I don't know what it says above him

The last side honors a female soldier.

Amazing.

The images on the rock are the sole property of Ray Sorensen.  He has
a website www.thefreedomrock.com.

Editing in public

I was at lunch the other day at a family restaurant in Des Moines with my 68 year old uncle and his wife and these students came in.  There were 4 girls and 2 boys and they were seated right next to us, even though there were plenty of tables.  During the time we shared restaurant space, we also got the opportunity to hear the apparent story of a small part of their lives.   We got to hear drunk stories, barf stories,  sex stories.  They actually used the term 'finger screwed'.   Lucky for that small edit I guess.   They were also talking about being Tri-Delt seniors so I guess they were at least old enough to drink.

Do they seriously not know how classless they are having the conversation, much less in public where people with class have to hear it?  Was it that important to share these details with total strangers?

On the other side of the coin, our waiter was their age.  He looked like a kid who has had to work his way through school, start to finish.  Probably no frat parties or 7 day drunks in Puerta Vallerta for him.  He probably doesn't have a Beamer in the parking lot of the family restaurant. But I'd hire him any day if I had a job to offer him.   The brats of table one?   Nah...not even if I had a family restaurant,

Texas Rangers

A much cooler logo.

Loving this team.  The excitement is amazing.  They are playing with the enthusiasm of little leaguers.  Kick butt Rangers!!

Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox logo?  Red socks.

The Value of a Dollar

I stole this topic from another blogger because I thought it was fun.   Basically, with the economy in the tanker, there is not a lot that you can get for $1 but there are some things.  I also stole #1 from the blogger because it was clever,  It's the only one I took.

1.  Two Tickets to Paradise.   The song that is.  ITunes, 99 cents.

2.  2 really good hot dogs from Stripes.  Big fat ones, all of the fixin's

3.  Large Diet Coke at Sonic during happy hour.

4.  Hot Chocolate at the Ballpark in Arlington

5. Hershey Bar with almonds.

6.  Today, a cantaloupe from United, 97 cents

7,.  10 photo prints from Walgreens.

8.   A lotto ticket   You could be the next millionaire !!

9.  5 text message a la carte

Eat Pray Love ***Spoilers***

I went to the first movie I've been to today to see a movie that I was realy looking forward to called 'Eat, Pray, Love' with Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem.   It's about a New York writer who leaves her husband and decides to take a year and 'find herself'.   She first heads to Italy for the Eat part.  She loses her carb guilt & took her body from a size 2 to a size 4.  She meets local friends and shares meals with them and heck, I don't know what she learned there.

Next stop, India.  This would be the pray part.  Before she left NY she had a young boyfriend who introduced her to an Indian spiritual leader and her HQ is in India.  She checks into a compound kind of thing and chants and meditates and befriends Nate Sr from 'Six Feet Under'.    She apparently learns to forgive herself for not being a good wife or something...again, not sure.  I do find it especially annoying that she is looking for spiritual enlightenment in a culture that sees women as property.

Third stop is Bali.  This is the love part.  She's just hanging out with a wise medicine man who iosss supposed to finish the lessons.  She also meets Javier Bardem, a sensitive, divorced father and ends up falling for him,  I possibly would have too.

I've been thinking about it most of the day and I'm not sure I liked it.  I find it amusing...ok, annoying, that this NY woman who has a man who loves her, money, a job as a travel writer that has allowed her 29 stamps on her passport and yet she cannot find happiness.  She turns away from people who care about her.  She mopes throughout most of the movie.  Til the end as a matter of fact.  I did not see any spiritual enlightenment or frankly anything that would cause any.  Christianity is my thing so I don't understand turning to anything else.  I do find it hard to believe anyone finding the spirituality they are looking for in a place where people are starving outside the gate.

The woman is a whiner.

The movie was way too long.

** out of ***** for the scenery and Javier Bardem only.

Jumping the Shark Andy Griffith Show

There is a website called 'Jumping the Shark'  that used to be independent and had snarky comments by mods and posters and it involved when a TV show was no longer worth watching and the reasons for it.  The title came from an episode of 'Happy Days' where Fonzie jumped over a shark on a waverunner wearing his motorcycle jacket.  It was the final moment where society (whatever that is) decided 'Happy Days' was well past it's prime.     The old site had categories set up in small polls so you could choose the reason for your opinion and then a place to put comments.    The site now is apparently owned by TV Guide (sellouts!!!!) and has some categories but no place to make comments.   So I decided to randomly pick a show and then give my snarky opinion.

My first victim?  'Andy Griffith Show'.   TVLand is advertising that it's Andy's 50th year anniversary.   It was hokey from the beginning.  Some of the home spun wisdom was a little southern and it was a man's world no doubt.  Andy's girlfriends throughout the show were airheads with no common sense who would have been quitting their jobs at Andy's insistence if they'd ever gotten him to the alter.  Even if they starved, Andy would not have let them work.  Ellie was a pharmacist, Peggy the nurse (Tatum and Griffin O'Neals mom was the actress, Joanna Moore.  I don't remember her from anywhere else.  She started all of their problems by being a drug addict and neglectful mom) and Helen the schoolteacher.  All proved to be overly reactive females who assumed Andy was cheating on them.  The only person I gave credit to was Thelma Lou, Barney's girlfriend who did not appear to have a job but who I believe probably put up with less crap from Barney.
Soooooooo...

Andy Griffith jumping the shark:

1.  When Barney left.   Don Knotts was funny and could not be replaced.  Warren?  Puleeze!!

2.  Losing Ellie--my favorite of the girlfriends.  She just disappeared without a mention (that I remember).  I hope she met a nice doctor

3.  Emmett replacing Floyd.   The actor who played Floyd died but Emmett was not necessary.

4.  Howard Sprague.  Oy

5.  Opie grew up.   He was cute as a little kid.  Annoying as a teenager.

6.  Black & white changes to color.  They should have quit before then

7.  Goober replaces Gomer.  

8. Aunt Bea.  Where do I start?   She was charming with her broken rose and her birthday bed jacket.  But then she was winning game shows, hosting cooking shows and flying for goodness sake.   I did not mind 1 scene a show carrying fried chicken from the kitchen but focusing on her was unbearable.  I've read several times that before she died she would have nothing to do with the cast and even disliked Andy Griffith from day one.   Annoying, annoying woman.

I've seen most of them as you can see but when the reruns are in color, I turn them off til they revert back.

Cathy and another separated at birth

Cathy Guisewhite has announced that on October 3, she will stop drawing her comic strip 'Cathy'.   It also says she's been around for 34 years.   I'm getting old, no doubt.  I can admit I have not read the strip in years because I get my news from the net but I know that she started out as a insecure single with boyfriend, work, mom & weight problems and I do know that she's gotten married to her Irving.  The comments on CNN say it's time and it probably has run it's course.   But I enjoyed it while I read it.   Best of luck writer Cathy.

Now to the separate at birth:               Irving & David

Cathy & Irving

  

Liza Minnelli's ex David Gest

The First Senior Moment

Courtesy of my cousin Glynneth

First senior moment

I'm a prime number!!

I'm 53 today.  I think I've mentioned before that I am now older than my sisters ever were.  I really do think age is just a number and I don't see 53 being much different than 52 but we will see what the year holds, huh?

I guess that on my birthday I tend to reflect even more than on New Years.  This past year has been eventful.

My first full year without Mom & Daddy being here.

Made great strides at Christmas, dinner with Sarjim's family and Christmas night w/Kim's family.  I have a hard time with strangers and I came through with flying colors.

Reconnecting with cousins and Uncles and Aunts, in person and on Facebook.

Retirement, dividing my income by 5, now the proud owner of my paid off house and car.

Great trip to Dallas, saw Cliff Lee pitch and Greenman, all in one trip.

Plans now for Iowa & Dallas, for sure for the game at the Cotton Bowl and maybe more before then.

Figuring out if or when I want to go back to work.

Eternally working on weight issues.  Connecting with veggies, trying to eat better.   An ongoing fight, one day at a time.

Seriously not bored yet...and I think it will come...but cannot figure out how I got everything done before.

Missing Mom and Daddy tremendously but finally convincing myself that I did my best for them.   I feel them looking down on me everyday, telling me to go for it...whatever it is.  No limits.   Find the adventure. Open my heart.

Above is Bill Watterson's final Calvin & Hobbes.   I feel like this now.

This Blog

I've been thinking about why I like doing this so much even though no one reads it.

I was thinking one day about my sister Jo and how in 1965 or 1966 she bought a white Ford Mustang.  We lived on Juniper street in Bagdad and she'd already graduated (1965) and was living in Prescott and it was before Steve (1967) and I was trying to figure out if it was a first year Mustang (1964 per the internet).  I thought I'd ask someone but there was no one to ask.  Mom, Daddy, Cathy & Jo are gone.  Our cousins lived in Texas.  No one would know!!

I this these ramblings prove I existed.  And maybe someday it will answer some questions.

Random friend followup

Ok, the guy was creeping me out...he kept IM'ing me on FB and all he kept wanting was for me to email him at his private email address.   Plus his pictures are creepy too...Not obscene but not normal.   I like the remove as friend button.  A lot.

I'm becoming one of those people....Baby pics everywhere.

He'll be beating them off with a stick

I am so in love.

Grayson   August 8, 2010

Pictures of the boys!!

Kaden...gymnast or airplane?

Grayson has a lot on his mind

This way?

Or this way?

Random friend requests

I received a message on Facebook today from someone I don't know that says this:

How are you doing.. i was searching for friends to make on here and i saw your pics.. you look good and i do hope that we can be friends.. hope you will oblige to that.. have a sweet day.


He then went on to provide his email address.   I checked his profile to see if we had mutual friends (for farming purposes) and nada.   It appears that he is fairly new to FB and all of his friends are little heavy girls like me.  So here is my question:


Do I trust a guy who out of the blue picks me out of a crowd?


Something to ponder.

Separated at birth, part 2

And while we're at it, how about these 2                        
                                                          

Deborah Walley

Anna Trubenskaya fro Dancing WIth the Stars

Separated at birth?

Ladmo

Jason Troisi

If you grew up in Arizona, You Know Who Wallace and Ladmo Are! If you didn't, I can't Explain it all to you! Wallace and Ladmo were on the air for 36 straight years on KPHO TV5,the longest running live daily children's show ever!   When I was a little girl, every day about 3 the show would come on.  They did skits and games and jokes and played cartoons in the middle.    You could also send in for a Ladmo bag, which was a brown lunch sack full of goodies and believe me it was coveted.  I don't think I ever got one.  I do remember them coming to Bagdad and we saw their show at the school gym.  In the picture is Wallace, the cool, older dad like figure, our beloved Ladmo who normally wore a t shirt with a big tie painted on it and the evil Gerald who was the owner's nephew and did all he could to get Ladmo in trouble.  Luckily the next day, Wallace found out the truth and Gerald was the one in trouble.  


The other guy is a sad, sad fashion designer with an attitude named Jason Troisi  who only lasted 2 shows on Project Runway.     Not sure he could so but he had could mostly pin a dress together.


Does anyone else see a resemblance?

Traffic Circles

Several years ago we had this interchange thingy called the traffic circle.   I'm sure there was a good reason for it at one time but as traffic increased and with the stupidity of drivers, it later became the circle from hell.  The idea was to get on and off (and for everyone to let you get on and off) easily and without traffic lights.  It had  feeder streets that let you on and the idea was to get off somewhere around the circle and head a different direction.  Chaos is what it was.  Finally it was replaced before the death toll went too high.

The reason I bring this up is that I like to surf blogs and the top of mine normally has a 'Next Blog' button that will take you to someone else's Blogspot blog and you can read for years.  The problem is that with the next blog you can sometimes get in a traffic circle--the same blogs going in circles or with the same themes which you are really not interested in and you have to go back to the beginning of the traffic circle so you can see if you can ever actually make it in a different direction.  My blog is not the most interesting by any stretch but I am diverse enough not to fit into a circle.   Some of the circles:

Invitro couples.   Thousands of them out there
People with thousands of pictures of babies
People with thousands of pictures of plants
People with a 'picture a day' theme.  Trust me...it's been done.
Chinese booty call blogs  (the only people who comment on my blog!!)
Cooks
Painters & other artists of all kinds
Movie reviewers
Blogs not in English (Blogspot has lumped them all together, it does not appear they are all speaking the same language)

Occasionally I stumble across something I like but they tend to be off the beaten path.   They are in my blogs followed section.  Check them out.

Cool thing to ponder

The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything they have. Life is not all about you and what you want -– true happiness comes when we care about others more than ourselves. Remember: Live simply. Love generously. Care Deeply. Speak Kindly. Leave The Rest To God.

I stole this...I liked it~~

Eggplant Parmesan

I have been on a mini quest to try to use veggies that I don't normally eat and expand my veggie horizon.  Today I made Eggplant Parmesan.  The recipe was really simple and really good:

1 small eggplant, peeled and cut into slices

2 T olive oil

1 clove of garlic (something I've never bought and did not have.  I used 1 tsp of garlic powder)

 

I mixed the oil & garlic and then used my handy dandy new Williams Sonoma baster and basted onto each side of the eggplant and put on a greased cookie sheet in 450 degree oven for 20 minutes.   Then I turned them over and cooked for 5 minutes more.    I had 8 slices

Then I lowered temperature in oven to 350 degrees & put 4 slices into a greased baking dish.  Then i put just a little parmesan  on the eggplant & topped with a slice of fresh tomato.   I added a little salt & pepper, some more parmesan and then another slice of eggplant, then a little mozzarella.   I covered and cooked for 20 minutes, then uncovered and cooked another 5 minutes.   It was yummy.

Next time--and there definitely be one--I need to slice my tomatoes a little more evenly and maybe meet up with real garlic.   And I think maybe a piece of prosciutto might add a little pop.  

Next stop?   Spaghetti squash

Kim Cattral

I watched a movie tonight called 'Ghost Writer' with Ewan MacGregor & Pierce Brosnan.  Kim Cattral played PB's assistant and had an English accent.  Am I the only person who has trouble taking her seriously after  seeing her as  'Lassie' in 'Porky's' & Samantha in 'Sex & the City' ?      Intelligent and British?   Does not work for me.

It was a pretty good movie although I had a little trouble following because a lot included reading typed words on a page and on the back of a photo.   But I really liked how the story folded out.   And thankfully, Pierce Brosnan was not singing.

God Bless America

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.