Nothing much new today

3-31-11 good- morning brain
It's the last day of March.... isn't? March has seemed like a very long month to me, which I guess is OK, except that it seems I haven't see the sun much at all this month. All week now, since I've been in KC, it has been cloudy.

I suppose in some ways this dark, cool week has been good for me. It's allowed me to focus on work and also sleep a lot. I think I had a touch of some bug. Not really sick, but not feeling totally well either. My acupuncturist says it is the start of the "spring cleaning" our bodies go through.

So Greg and I haven't been doing anything too exciting this week to write about. We did manage to take a walk early evening last night, which felt good to get the body moving again. He also took me to one of his favorite BBQ restaurants in KC- my first time visit there. Just a small town type of restaurant over on Wornel Street, on the Missouri side..... and I admit that I really did love the food at this place: Smokestack BBQ

After work today, Molly might come over to the house and we will attempt to do some Yoga together. And then of course it is elimination night for American Idol. I did watch the performances last night and liked most of them. I'm not sure who will get kicked off this week.

A shout out to my friend Ann, who is having a stressful week. Her father has been in the hospital and she is doing her best to monitor his care with several visits per day. Being a nurse herself, she is on top of things, so her week has been very hectic  I'm sure. In contrast, I guess I shouldn't complain that my week has been uneventful.

Wednesday Guest Blog

3-30-11 point- counter point brain

Laws Are For The Few, But Affect The Many
How true this statement is. For the most part, laws are necessary, logical, specific, well intended and the cornerstone of human society. However, some laws are ridiculous, not founded on sound principles, illogical and just not right. Judy and I agree on many laws but disagree on the merits of a few, one being the recent Supreme Court ruling that allowed same sex marriage in Iowa. Truthfully, I was not clear if the ruling was to enforce a law, if it made a new law or was one of those cases that set a prescience of new law. More about the law at the end of the article.

A few weeks ago Judy was going to a rally at the Capitol and when I looked it up, all I could find was a rally to support the vote on the definition of marriage. I knew she was not at that rally but it got me thinking of the ongoing debate and of a show I just watched, Sister Wives, and I said “see this is why the definition of marriage is an important issue”.

Sister Wives is a reality show about a polygamy family (a man with four wives) on The Learning Channel. I’ve heard about polygamy, know that it is illegal in all states, even in Utah, but understand that it does exist. However, I’m sure these people keep to themselves versus putting in out there for everyone to see.

My curiosity got the best of me and I watched two hours of the show. Amazing, the degrading of a wife and the narcissistic life of a man, and a show made to look like the “Brady Bunch”. Short story long, the guy married his first wife 20 years ago = 1 child, then 17 years ago wife #2 = 6 more children, then 15 years ago wife #3 = 6 more children. The first series of the show, he’s courting wife #4 who has 3 children. I am sure this is how he sold the show (he’s an Ad salesman), openly courting wife #4. The odd part of this, the wives appear to be supportive of the man. They all live in the same house with separate sleeping areas (wife #4 lives down the block as there was no more room in the main house). They think this is normal, they know it’s against the law, but live openly and now in the public eye. I say karma will get them sooner or later for profiting off their lifestyle.

Back to laws, for most part, laws that affect the day to day lives of most citizens are created by the states, like the marriage law. Most states define marriage as “between one man and one woman”. Most have specific language that voids a marriage like - same sex, first cousins, niece to an aunt, nephew to an uncle, age of marriage and so on. I looked up the definition of Iowa’s Law, which was last passed in 1998. (I did not know that)

The state’s Defense of Marriage Act, passed in 1998 by a 40-9 margin in the Senate and an 89-10 margin in the House, defines marriage as being solely between a man and a woman.

Iowa Code: 595.2 GENDER -- AGE.

1. Only a marriage between a male and a female is valid.

http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Cool-ICE/default.asp?category=billinfo&service=IowaCode&input=595#595.1

So we have a law that defines what a marriage is, then a series of lawsuits that claim the law denies a person of the same sex to marry is unconstitutional, which the plaintiffs won and then affirmed by the Iowa Supreme Court. I’m not going to pretend I know what all went on, or what is next, all I know is that the judiciary branch of the government interprets the law in question, not make new law. With that said, the debate goes on and the Iowa Code still reads the same, defines marriage as being solely between a man and a woman.

Should there be a citizen vote or a vote by the State Legislature on marriage? I say yes, to either one. Otherwise, the slippery slope begins. What will be next, one man and three women or three women and one man or perhaps we get into the dog, cow, horse scenario?

While this may appear ridiculous, you can count on someone pushing the envelope and I wanted to make Judy chuckle :).

Chat Later

That Girl, Ann Marie




Counter Point: Judy talking now

Yes, I tease Ann about worrying about things that won’t happen; One being the "Slippery Slope” theory (if you allow Gay marriage, soon someone will want to marry their dog, horse or cow)…. and an oldie but goodie …. “ Trickle Down Economics”.


For me, marriage is a religious term and the churches can and should decide who they want to allow to marry. However, for the State or Federal Constitution, a law should not create inequality. That is when you get judges involve to test if a law in constitutional.

I feel the solution is that the state law needs to remove the word marriage altogether and refer only to civil unions. Gay marriage is not about the right to love whomever you choose, that will happen anyway law or no law…. But Gay “marriage” is about the access to equal rights under the civil laws of our Land, not the Law of God. Two separate issues as far as I’m concern…. Like the separation of church and state.


Thanks Ann for getting the discussion going.

Weekend report

3-28-11 dancing brain
Currently I am watching Dancing with the Stars as I quickly post this evening.
Greg kept me so busy over the weekend, I didn’t have time to think about blogging. I was hoping to find spring in KC, since the trees here are starting to bud out and the yellow forsythia began to bloom last week. However, this weekend winter came back with snow showers. I guess this was good in some respect, since I have been running on low energy for the last few weeks, the colder weather made for a prefect weekend of sleeping and movie viewing.

We saw two movies: the comedy called “Cedar Rapids” and a thriller call “The Adjustment Bureau. I enjoyed both of these. Other activities included Saturday dinner out with neighbors Kim and Terry to the Thai restaurant Molly turned us onto several weeks ago,called "Hot Basil". We also met Molly Saturday for lunch and we three explored a vintage market, not far from our house.

Molly spotted a funky brownish-green jacket in my size. I liked it a lot, but I did remember my blog statement about not needing anymore clothes for a while…. So this lead me to get Greg’s opinion. He said the jacket was not flattering on me, which was enough for me to set it back on the rack.

So rather than spend money on clothes, I was next drawn to a funky piece of furniture, which I felt would look really cool in our KC house. Greg liked it too, but we didn’t buy it Saturday. Instead I thought more about it overnight, and we decided to take a second look on Sunday afternoon. We then brought it home.

I really like the addition in our living room.

Since I am hanging with Greg this week, don’t expect my usual routine of posting on my blog. It will be sporadic. You can look forward to Ann having another guest blog this week though.

Working for the weekend

3-25-11 grateful brain
Whenever I start to think that the life I lead is too much of a whirlwind, I just have to spend some time with my best high school friend Jean Ann. On Thursday, Jean Ann was in town for a day, since her husband was attending a conference, and Jean Ann and I took the time to see each other over lunch.


Boy, lunch was nice…. I was showered and made myself presentable at least for one day this week. I should do lunch out at least one day per week I think, when I’m in Des Moines working alone. It’s good for my soul and I came back and worked harder and longer after having a nice mid-day break.

I can’t begin to tell you all of the activities Jean Ann has been up to, but Jean Ann is one of those who work hard, and play hard. Over the years I have noticed that I seem to have surrounded myself with people like Jean Ann. They are motivated and energetic…. And it rubs off on me a little bit.

If left to myself, I can tend to be a home-body, happy to just space out with my thoughts, my paints or a good book.

Jean Ann’s college age son Kalin also ate lunch with us. We dined at Djando in the Hotel Fort Des Moines.

Changing seasons

3-24-11 unstable brain

It’s March, which means change is in the air..... with unstable conditions affecting my mood. Monday morning I started out feeling crappy...... like I was getting a cold, or having an allergy attack. By Monday night I was better and Ann came over and we watched the new season of Dancing with the Starts. Ann devised score cards for us to use to rate the dancers. Our categories were Attitude, Dance-ability and Showmanship. The biggest surprised came toward the end of the show, when the Ralph- Karate Kid and Kristie Alley both did great. This season could turn out to be more interesting than I expected.

Tuesday night, during a planned birthday dinner for neighbor Sue, held at Carolyn’s house, the tornado sirens went off. Tornado's hit south west of Des Moines. I believe 10 tornados were spotted in Iowa that evening.

Our party moved to the basement. This was very strange to have this type of weather so early in the spring. Now on Friday, the forecast is possible snow in Des Moines. March in Iowa is so unpredictable!

After it was safe to come out of the basement, Steve headed to his keyboard and we serenaded Sue with a hardy song of "happy birthday". Sue recently joined Match dot com after much encouragement from her girlfriends. She has been divorced for over three years now, and is ready to put her self out on the dating scene again after 30 years or so. GOOD LUCK Sue! I thought dating was hard in my 20's, I'd hate to try it now in my 50's.... but if anyone can have fun with this, Sue CAN!

Wednesday Guest Blog

3-23-11 gratitude brain
My friend Ann came through for me again this week! Here is her next GUEST BLOG, where I believe Ann answers the question of why I spend so much time "at home".
Judy

Two-Lips Are Better Than One

Master gardener I am not, but I do like to speculate in the garden (haha to Greg). In the middle of a long winter, I rarely engage in projects. My life is work, work, work in preparation for my annual trip to Europe. However, this year I am staying home (more about Europe travel in a later write-up).

I love flowers, love to see them in the market, in the garden and in the greenhouse. In the winter months, I’ve been known to buy cut flowers from the flower shop to brighten up my week. In January, tulip plants were on sale for $5 (3 blooms per pot) at the local grocery store. And right next to the plants I saw a cart full of bulbs for sale, $1 for 6 bulbs. My fuzzy math led me to add up … 1 box could make 2 pots, 2 boxes would make 4 and before you know it, I bought 6 boxes and 6 pots ( I had the soil at home). My motto: go big or go home.

Growing tulips would get me through the winter and over my sadness of not going to Europe. I started the project on January 29th. and used every pot I had, planting 3 bulbs per pot and had 3 other containers that I planted 4-5 per container. After all the planting, I found one more box. I was so tempted to throw it out, then I heard Judy say (in my head) just plant it there or there. That’s what I did, I planted the bulbs in the same pot as my Christmas evergreen plant.

Over the next few weeks, I watered and watched the bulbs sprout. After two weeks, the bulbs were coming along nicely. Two more weeks, some were taller than others and some had not sprouted. By week six, two of the bulbs were flowering and they looked great. Now at week 7, I may be at a point that all I’ll see is green. There must be a trick in growing tulips. I gave them sun, water, fertilizer and a lot of love. My friend Joan tells me that tulips can be finicky.

I’ll watch the rest of the tulips grow and hope I’ll see a nice bloom or two before they fizzle. In the meantime, I’ve found myself a distraction for April, making a terrarium (thanks Jean) and checking for my crocus and daffodils out back. Can a girl have too many daffodils? For me the answer is YES. I will share more about my obsession with daffodils in a later post. I really live the statement, go big or go home.

Chat Later,


That Girl, Ann Marie

Weekend Report

3-22-11 worn out brain


Greg and I spent the weekend up in northern Iowa visiting my parents. It was my Mom’s 83rd birthday and I believe Mom has more energy than I, even with taking care of my Dad. My sister also arrived on Saturday to spend her spring break week with them.

Greg and I did a few chores around the house for my parents and otherwise I did a little shopping with Mom…. but the weekend focus revolved around a lot of the March Madness Basket Ball… tradition in my house is that Dad and Jan were the big sports fans, Mother has developed a passion over the years, and I still do not give much of a HOOT, unless an Iowa team is playing, then I’ll take notice. It’s funny at my lack of attention, considering I was a cheerleader in high school.

To entertain ourselves, Greg and I bought a laser pointer to play with the cat. Greg had him running in all directions on Saturday night…… the cat was too tired to play with his stuffed cat friend…. Here the cat was attacking his friend Friday night when we arrived.

Saturday evening was the usual dinner out with Bunny joining us. No one wanted their picture taken…. But I did it anyway.