Two months later...

The last two months have gone by so fast (too fast!).

About a month ago we moved my dad into the memory care unit of an assisted living facility.  It was, I think, meant to be...

We were given two day's notice by the rehab facility that he was being released the day before Thanksgiving. Of course we weren't prepared for that, so made arrangements to move him into their skilled nursing section (how convenient for them).

Skilled nursing is what you think of when you think "nursing home" - hospital beds and old people sitting in wheelchairs in the hallway.

I couldn't stand it.

Then, the director of one of the assisted living facilities I'd visited when he was first taken to the hospital called the day after Thanksgiving.  I had liked the facility, but thought it was too big - all elevators and long hallways.  He'd never find his way back to his room.

But she suggested their memory care unit.  I'd driven by it.  It was smaller.

Well, I happened to be in town.  She had time to meet with me an hour later.  I called my brother and he was available too.

They had three rooms available and by the end of the day we'd put down a deposit and by that Monday he moved in.

I didn't know if he'd like it.  He always said he wanted to stay at home, with visiting nurses to take care of him.

But he actually likes it! (Maybe because they took the guys to Hooters last week.)

I don't really care why.  I'm just happy he's happy and being taken care of.

Work is still going well.  I like it. It's stressful and I am REALLY busy.  But the people are nice (for the most part!).

I've been doing a lot of work on the house.  I'm tired of living in a construction zone, so am focusing on getting rooms done livable. I'm still working on multiple rooms at once (currently the master bedroom and dining room), but there is a plan and a light at the end of the tunnel!

Part of that plan involves getting "new" furniture.  My furniture consists mostly of hand-me-downs and IKEA.

I love the hand-me-downs.

I hate the IKEA.

So, I got rid of it.  All of it.

Then, just last weekend, I finally moved back into the master bedroom (remember this? That was almost exactly a year ago!).

I moved in a dresser I got from a garage sale, and a chest of drawers I got from a thrift store in New York (Thomasville!).  I set my little tv on top and hooked up the Wii so I can watch Deadwood, and thought "This is horrible.".

I needed something I could set my big tv on to watch Deadwood (it is SO GOOD!).

I needed one of those low, wide dressers.

I needed something like this...

This is a photo of an Ethan Allen dresser that was being sold by a furniture store in Maryland.

Two days ago, I found a dresser exactly like this at Goodwill for $35.88 (for Ethan Allen!).  Similar dressers are currently listed on eBay from $595 (without the mirror) to $1,200.

Also in the plan is removing the old, ugly medicine cabinet in the bathroom...

again, not my photo. this time it's from Home Depot

with a mirror and light fixture.

And, since I'm putting the big tv on the dresser, I won't be needing the mirror, so...

Two birds, one $35.88 stone.

That same night I found found The Light Between Oceans, which is supposed to be really good, and at a different Goodwill near me (that has the BEST selection of books),  I've recently found The Girl on the Train and The Goldfinch, in hardback, for $1 each.

The Girl on the Train was really good. I'm 88 pages into The Goldfinch (only 683 to go!), but it's already really good too.

Finally, I've tried a few new recipes - some were just ok, some were really good...

This Balsamic Mushroom Pasta from Girl Gone Gourmet was incredible! It was so good, I've already made it twice.

I also liked this Pineapple Fried Rice from Damn Delicious.

And finally, I was at my brother's house on Christmas Eve, and someone claimed their homemade Ritz Cracker fake Girl Scout Peanut Butter Patties (one of my favorite Girl Scout Cookies!!) were even better than the real thing.

No way.

Way.

Good News / Bad? News / Bad News

The good news is, I'm almost a month into my new job and I love it!  Of course there is a learning curve, which is stressful and exhausting (I went to bed at 8:30 one night last week). But I feel happy at work (which makes me feel very, very lucky).

The bad? news...
The copy boy and I broke up again.  This time, I'm pretty sure it's for good.  I have no hard feelings towards him - we just want different things, and compromise is not an option.

He's an "all-or-nothing" kind of guy and I chose "nothing".

I'm not sure if this qualifies as bad news, though.

It might actually be considered good news... I'm looking forward to getting back to living the life I imagined - restoring my old house, reading good books, learning to cook and garden, and cook the stuff from my garden, knit, sew...

Basically, embrace my inner "little old lady".

The really bad news is...
My 84-year-old father is rapidly heading towards assisted living (best case) or a nursing home (worst case).

He fell again about a month ago, was admitted to the hospital then released into a rehab facility.  He was doing really well, and we were looking into assisted living options.  (He just can't be home alone anymore.)

Then, he started to regress.

He fell trying to get out of bed again and ended up back in the hospital, then back in the rehab facility.

While he was in the hospital last week he looked at me and said "getting old sucks".

He knows who he is, who we are, and who the president is.  He can rattle off his date of birth.  But, if you ask him what year it is, he always says 1951.

This would make him 21 years old.

(I would love to think I was 21 years old!)

I read this yesterday, posted by Dale Partridge, who publishes The Daily Positive. Here's an excerpt...
Culture tells us to spend an entire year saving for a week to escape our life. We call it vacation. Vacations are meant to be new, they are meant to be fun, but they are not meant to be better than your normal life. Life isn't about the 50 vacations you'll take while you're on this planet. It's about the 25,000 days between them. Stop creating a life that you need a vacation from.

If we're lucky enough to live to 84 (or beyond!), the day will come when we won't know what year it is.

Until then, go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Life the life you have imagined!

Live, Work, Play

Back in January, I accepted a position as the General Manager of an event center - planning weddings, corporate meetings, fundraisers, etc.

I did like certain aspects of the job...
Most brides were not even remotely bridezilla-y and with a mobile phone and an internet connection, I could work from anywhere, anytime.

But...
Because I didn't have a set schedule, I worked pretty much every day. This was my entirely my fault though - if the phone rang, I'd answer it.

The worst part, though, was I had very little help.  It's not easy in a town of 2,000 to find people interested in only working a few hours a week, especially when that work is physically demanding (moving tables and chairs) and requires a lot of very late nights.

So, I had to do a lot of it myself. As an example, one weekend I went in at 11am and left at 4:30 the following morning, came back in at 9am (yes, 4.5 hours later) and worked until 11pm. 32 hours in 2 days. This was not atypical.

So, when I received a call from the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce asking if I'd be interested in coming up to talk about a possible job opportunity I said "YES!".

I loved my previous job at the Chamber of Commerce in Bellevue, and I love Dubuque so this is perfect!

My primary responsibilities will be Marketing and Membership - helping promote our local businesses and make "Dubuque the best place to live, work, play and do business".

Mock Cable Watch Cap

During my recent trip to Yarn Soup in Dubuque, I picked up the pattern and yarn to make the Eco Cloud Mock Cable Watch Cap by Cascade Yarns.

The cap seems to be designed to sit back and be slouchy, which is cute...

Source: Cascade Yarn

but I'm a practical girl (and I live in Iowa) so...

This is perfect (long enough to cover my ears)!  

The best part is, I was able to make this in less than 4 hours, and they have a lot of fun colors, (this is "Raspberry") so I can make more!

I can't wait for winter!

Flea Market Chandelier

Old chandeliers can be found anywhere for almost nothing - garage sales, auctions, thrift stores...

I found this one at a flea market.

Originally $20, marked down to $8, I paid $5.

I was lucky - the woman was determined to sell it THAT DAY and I showed up late. 

Sometimes it pays to go late in the day. Yes, some of the "good" stuff will be gone. But good is in the eye of the beholder.

I'd been looking for an old chandelier since I'd started seeing things like this on Pinterest...

I quick trip to the spray paint aisle, and now I have this hanging on my front porch...

Rustoleum Regal Red

(The light sockets will eventually hold candles, but I haven't gotten that far yet.)

Tuesday is the new Saturday

Since I have to work almost every weekend, my "weekend" is sometimes a Tuesday afternoon.

Luckily, I have friends and family who don't work 9-5 Monday - Friday either!

This week, my friend & I drove up to Dubuque (the closest "big city", which is about 30 minutes away), and wandered through the cute shops on Main Street.

The first stop was Jitterz Coffee & Cafe.

I had the spicy black bean burger, and it was delicious!

The retro Coke bottles are fun too!

Just up the street is the very cute Cotton Cabin Quilt Shop.

VERY cute!

Right across the street is the River Lights Book Store.  (Just like City Lights in San Francisco!)

books for all the book clubs in town!

To Kill a Mockingbird (Harperperennial Modern Classics) is my all-time favorite book EVER, and I was very hesitant to mess with that, but I have to know, so...

The final stop (and the original reason for the whole trip, was Yarn Soup.

she went with the green

future project - boot topper thingys

future project - slouchy hat that I will wear
pulled down over my ears because that's how I like it

Since today is the real Saturday, I'm off to work...

South Dakota - July 2015

The town where I live has a huge festival every year for the 4th of July.  When I was the Director of the Chamber of Commerce, I always had to work that day (ALL day).

In my new position as General Manager of a local event centre, I intentionally did not book anything on that day (for a variety of reasons).

Long story short, I went to South Dakota last week.

Rapid City is a 12 hour drive from eastern Iowa.

You have to, right?

waiting, not very patiently

He's always had a motorcycle, but this year, he got a Harley, so...

mandatory

Sturgis was surprising.  We did NOT go during the rally, so it was just a very normal small town.

It also has places like these, which we were happy to see, without experiencing the craziness of the rally.

Buffalo Chip

Full Throttle Saloon

delicious!

Emmett

Just next to Sturgis is Deadwood.  I'm absolutely addicted to the HBO show (SO good!).

downtown Deadwood

Mt. Moriah Cemetery

I love cemeteries (I know that's weird), and Wild Bill Hickok, Seth Bullock and Calamity Jane are all buried here.

Calamity Jane fascinates me

Afterwards, we rode through the Black Hills National Forest, stopping at Cheyenne Crossing for an Indian Taco (it was just ok, but apparently is the thing to do), into Spearfish Canyon.

Roughlock Falls

Just off the Spearfish Scenic Byway is the trail to Devil's Bathtub.

The trail is challenging, and requires crossing the stream several times - by balancing across a fallen tree, leaping from rock to rock (or wading through when you just don't care anymore) and sometimes by shimmying across a rock face by your fingernails.

Honestly, I wanted to quit several times.  It was scary!  How cool could it be?

pretty cool

very cool

At the end of every day, we would ask each other what had been the best part.  For both of us (even me!), this was the best part of the whole trip.  It was challenging and humbling and ultimately so rewarding.

The next morning, we went to downtown Rapid City, had a delicious breakfast at Tally's Silver Spoon (consistently ranked as the best breakfast in town) and walked through Art Alley.

The quote reads "It is better to be high-spirited even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent."  

(I love that!)

We then headed to Custer State Park...

Sylvan Lake

view from the famous Needles Highway

out to see the Crazy Horse Memorial,

they have a long way to go

then took the gorgeous Iron Mountain Road...

right after we saw this guy we saw a whole herd,
but they're mean & scary so we didn't stop

to Mount Rushmore.

Some friends of mine were talking one day about the lighting ceremony at dusk, so that's when we went and the only word I can use to describe it is "emotional".

The next day we were ready to get off the motorcycle (300 miles in 2 days was enough for both of us), so we got in the truck and drove out to Wyoming...

to see the Devil's Tower.  

(Having seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind as a child, I couldn't help but find this creepy.)

We ended the night in the small town of Lead, known for having one of the best fireworks shows in the country.

The next day was the long drive home.  

On the way, we drove through the Badlands.  This was supposed to be a 1-hour drive along the scenic byway, but we ended up getting out several times for a better look.  

this place is very interesting

Luckily, neither of us had to work on Monday, because we'd spent so much time in the Badlands we had to stop for the night at midnight with almost 4 hours to go.

But, like everything through the whole trip, it was worth it.