Common ground

So below is a funny youtube video that I saw on my dear friend Lizzie's blog. I showed it to Gabby one day. She thought it was kind of funny. Apparently she watched it more and now she loves it. She shared it with a friend who shared it with a friend and now it is 'all over the school'. She and I quote it constantly and it is right now our common ground.

The numbers are staggering

***WARNING*** this posting is morbid and will make you depressed. Keep reading at your own risk.


So I have been really been in shock by the enormous numbers of dead coming out of Myanmar and China due to their recent natural disasters. I have been trying to wrap my head around these numbers and somehow try to figure out why 'no one' (I use that term lightly) seems to care and why it has all but vanished from our news. I have become more aware that perhaps in America we are told what to care about by what makes headline news but maybe it is the other way around. Maybe the news agencies only put things on the news that they think we care about. And I know that the government in Myanmar has been closed off and not really eager for Anderson Cooper with his perfect hair and khaki vest to be walking through their devestation. I have been thinking about the vast numbers of lost and wanted to compare to historical events in my life and those I have been taught to see how they measure up. And I have also been thinking about how as Americans (broad generalization) we seem to be more indignent about lives lost in vain (aka an unpopular war) rather than a life lost fighting an agreed upon evil (aka a "popular" war).


disclaimer- one life is too much to lose and I am in NO way saying just because the numbers aren't large then we shouldn't mourn or realize how sad it is to lose a loved one.


**my data comes from a quick internet search and I am sure some numbers are still up for debate**


1. worldwide spanish influenza of 1918-1919 - 20-40 million
2. the holocaust- 6 million
3. the civil war - 618,000
4. US deaths from spanish influenza 1918-1919 - 555,000
5. US deaths in WWII - 292,000
6. 2004 Tsuamni - 225,000
7. US deaths in WWI- 126,000
8. Myanmar Cyclone 2008 - 77,738 (said to be conservative by UN)
9. Central Chinese earthquake 2008 - 68,858 with 18,618 missing
10. US deaths in Vietnam War-58,169
11. Child deaths from hunger and treatable diseases EVERY DAY- 30,000
12. US deaths in Iraq- 4084
13. 9/11 - 2948
14. Allied deaths on D day, 6/6/44 - 2500 on beach
15. Hurricane Katrina- 1836
16. US deaths in Afganistan- 510
17. F5 Tornado in Iowa last week (worst in 40 years) - 7

"oh jesus let us change the world with your peace

oh jesus let us bring the nations to your feet

let us walk alongside you as you bring the world around us to life" FPG

Facebook in Real Life

My bosom friend, Ali, showed me this video tonight and for those of you out there who facebook (as if facebook is a verb) will laugh out loud. Enjoy!

My lips are numb

Bill was in charge at the grocery store last night to get the produce on the list for my shrimp ceviche. I needed either a serrano or jalapeno pepper. He comes back with this little dinky pepper which I was afraid was going to fall out the bottom of the cart because Bill never puts produce in those environmentally evil bags. "You're sure this is it?" I ask. "Yes, that's it" he answered exasperatedly (he believes he knows all things culinary).

So I am just about to marinate my shrimp already marinating in half a citrus orchard in a concontion of tomato, onion, cilantro and this pepper. I dice everything up. I get to the pepper. It looks stupid. It only cost $0.03. I am totally thinking Bill is wrong and ruined my recipe. I chop it like he told me to. It smells like a green pepper. I keep the seeds separate like he told me to. I get ready to put it in the big bowl. This is not the right pepper, I keep telling myself. I take the bittiest babiest smallest tiniest little piece and touch my mouth. Now my lips are numb. Dang! that was hot. I hate it when he's right.

Nothing to blog about

I feel as if I am neglecting my blog, but I have nothing to blog about of any real importance. I can't blog about work because of all that patient privacy stuff and most of my stories are just gross and only I find entertaining. I blog too much about the self inflicted suffering called running but I did have a great run today, 62 degrees, light breeze and I ran my second fastest 4 miles ever. I can't blog on this public blog about how I really feel about some people in my life, but feel free to call me and I'll give you an earful :-) Here is a list in no particular order of all that I can think of is new with me.

1. I started eating hard boiled eggs at lunch which I never have done in the past. I always thought the yoke was too dry but turns out, they are pretty tasty. I makes me think of my college friend, John Cilek, who I think made me watch Cool Hand Luke everytime I pop a hard boiled egg into my mouth. No one can eat 50 eggs.
2. Our house is a pigsty. Two weekends in the row with the kids will do that to the clutter situation.
3. We go to Mexico in one week. We are not packed at all but I feel more ready for this trip than any in the past but I'm sure my full on panic mode will start soon. One of our team members got her passport with a typo on it saying she was born in 1930 and not 1980. Not enough time to fix it, according to the passport office. So I guess that is just another thing God wants me to give him control of. Me, my faith and customs are an odd trio that keeps getting refined in the fire. Bill just says, 'If Jesus wants us to run clinics in Mexico He'll get us and our luggage all through customs. No biggie'. Bill has such a great 'simple' faith that I can't help but love him and try to explain it is just more complicated than that. Turns out it isn't and Jesus hasn't let me down yet!
4. I am trying to make shrimp ceviche. I have three pounds of shrimp marinating in an entire citric bath of lemon, lime and orange juice in the fridge. I wonder if it will turn out at all edible.
5. I had sushi for the first time last week. The blackened tuna roll and the Mantanto roll at Oyama in Iowa City changed my culinary life forever. We had a fantastic birthday dinner for our friend, Shonna, complete with Sake Bombs surrounding my 8 of our closest friends. Bill and I just had to sit back and realize what a blessed life we do truly live with so many wonderful friends and to live in such a wonderful place with such wonderful sushi.
6. We saw Indiana Jones this weekend which was good but I'm not a big fan of anyone, communist or not, getting eaten by larger than life nasty red ants. No offense to anyone over 60 but Harrison Ford still can get it done.
7. Gabby and I saw Made of Honor on Memorial Day and I shouldn't but I have a lust issue with Patrick Dempsey (so does half of the free world). Shocking I know but I find him dreamy.
8. I am not getting enough sleep.
9. It is almost hot enough for Bill to be sick of hearing me say I'm hot and finally put in the window air conditioning units. Yippee. Can't wait.
10. I have started watching the weather channel all the time like my mother.

Gosh I bore myself. If nothing else newsworthy or otherwise doesn't happen until we leave for Mexico, I'll blog from down there and hopefully be able to add pictures from our days of work.

And she's back in the game

After a glorious hour off, I'm back in it; hair still tight in its own knot and the three baskets of laundry being tackled as I type and being put away.

My breaking point

I reached it. Here is what it took; working 5 out of the last 6 days at 7 am. waking up 6 out of the last 7 days before 7 am. I am totally exhausted. I cannot do one more thing. I have a million more things to do. So I am taking the next hour off.

p.s. forgive my whining because my life is no busier than yours but can you tie your hair in a knot and have it actually stay because it just that long, dry and overdue for a trim?

In honor of my mother

I know I blog about running a lot which seems to be the only I do lately besides work and clean the kitchen so here is another running blog. This past Saturday Bill and I trekked southeast of here to Ottumwa to run in the Race for the Cure. We had to get up at 6:15 am (ouch) for our journey. It was a special race for me as my mother is a breast cancer survivor. I ran in celebration of my mother. They were giving out these cool scarfs which celebrate breast cancer suvivors and I raced with her name on my back. The picture of it didn't turn out well. As I always think about suffering while I am running and suffering, it was a special time for me to think of my mother and all she went through. I as very removed from my mom's fight with cancer because I was 1000 miles away at college for most of it. I ran to worship music in my Ipod and had some good time praying in thanksgiving for my mother's bravery and her health now. It was a great flat fast course and I crushed my personal record by almost a minute and I did that all in celebration of my brave mother. ILY

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Two Titles: It is very Iowa City of me and I am my father's child

Today I went to the afternoon farmer's market for the first time this season. In our quest to eat more locally, Bill and I have decided to try to buy all our produce from the market this summer. His only instructions were to buy something he could steam. So armed with my reusable Wegman's grocery bag (how very green of me) here's what I came back with...
1. two fistfuls of locally grown asparagus
2. one cilantro plant because we buy so much at the grocery store, I have decided to try to grow it. (p.s. i googled cilantro growing when i got home and realized it is considered the hardest herb to grow and i am sure the zillion bunnies who live in our yard will eat the entire plant within my first day of having it outside but at least i tried)
3. two crab rangoons from the vendor on the north side of the market
4. a head of some type of green which is a lettuce i'm almost sure of it (p.s. everyone at the farmer's market is really smart about plants and my friend, Ali, couldn't come so i didn't want to ask any questions such as 'how do you grow cilantro?' or 'is that lettuce?' that i just bought it. i mean, i have the reusable grocery bag in my hand so i look the part, i didn't want to open my mouth and erase all doubt)
5. two fried spring rolls from the vendor on the south side of the market

what makes me today more of my father's child than yesterday is that my dad likes to eat his way through places. i.e. when i was a child and we went to the farmer's market, he stopped at like every vendor who had something ready to eat which drove my mom kind of crazy because that meant we moved very slowly through the aisles. as a former owner and main baker of a family bakery in the late 70s, my dad is very fond of pastries. we ate our way through France several times stopping at every pastry shop we saw just in case this one was different than that last four we just bought and ate stuff from. i fondly remembered that today as i got crab rangoons from the guy on one end and then the spring rolls on the other end. it would have been made complete if i stopped at the amish table to buy a bag of cookies or pastries half way through the market between my fried asian treats. but today i weighed in at weight watchers so i fought the temptation.

i got home and Nile astutely asked me if my friend asian treats were considered eating locally. "probably not," i mumbled with a mouth of spring roll, "but they sure are good. i love the farmer's market"

Unexpected Blessing

ok i have an awkward relationship with mother's day as a step mom. the first year after i become a step mom, bill said to me expressing just how puzzled we both felt about it, "i didn't get you anything for mother's day because you are really not a mom". slightly hurtful, but blazingly true nonetheless. i am not a mom. the next year i got a card Nile made in school with the explanation, "i was the only kid who got to make two which means i got to use the puffy paint longer than anyone else. i love puffy paint". fair enough, not the sentiment i was going for but hey if having me around means more puffy paint time, then bring it on. i always feel weird at church when they honor moms and usually sneak out to the bathroom so i can 'casually' miss it.

a few sundays ago I had a great prayer time with a friend about how i was feeling being a step mom. resentful. a failure. she prayed for me, encouraged me and blessed me. i have felt more free in my role (whatever that truly is) in the last few weeks. this weekend i was in NYC visiting my brother's family and my folks. i took an earlier flight home, called Bill to surprise him that i was only 20 minutes away on the highway. he didn't sound overly excited for my early arrival and said, "use the front door." "why?" i asked. "because i said so" he responded. so dutifully i drove in the driveway and came in the front door. this is what i saw.... an unexpected blessing.

that pink sign says 'Thank you'

that is Nile's handwriting. "it was nile's idea" bill shouts from the living room as I walk in to this scene. nile had decorated the house to celebrate mother's day early as they will be with their mom next week. "i made you card", Nile said, "it is on the table". i almost started to cry. i was speechless.

here are the cards they made. Gabby was just finishing hers as i walked in; she used a shell we got from the beach in florida to make a butterfly on my card.

here is the insides of Nile's along with a $10 gift card to Starbucks.


Gabby's inside says 'thanks for all you do for us!'

Nile had also set the table, I got to have the "You are special today" red plate and Bill made dinner. it was certaintly a homecoming to remember. i was sad leaving my folks today, we had another crying scene at the security line like we always do, i have that fleeting thought that i wish i was closer to home but then i walked into the door of my house and realized i was home. and i love my family.

p.s. after we took the kids home, i asked Bill about how much prompting was behind it all. he said on Friday when he picked them up, he said this "i am only going to say this once and you don't have to feel any pressure, but it would be nice if you made Katie a card for mother's day but you can decide if you want to" he reports he didn't remind them again or say anything else about it.

This just happened

Ok so I know we don't live in a metropolis and i'm glad we don't have lots of burglaries and murders and car jacking etc but seriously did this just happen on our 10 o'clock news....

1. the top story was about the potholes on a state highway that are going to get attention now that the Governor drove on that road today. good thing for us because apparently only pissing off the Governor who doesn't even own the car he is driven around is matters when it comes to road repairs

2. the second story went like this...
anchor 1: an 80 year old couple in Jones County welcomed 5 kids today... kid goats that is.
anchor 2: chuckle chuckle
anchor 1: so and so old farm couple in whatever county had 5 kid goats today. "i couldn't believe it; I had to count them twice" said old man farmer
anchor 2: chuckle chuckle
anchor 1: so and so old farm couple is helping Matilda, their goat, feed the kids with a baby bottle (cute shots of kids goats drinking from a baby bottle) and proud dad goat wanted to let everyone know that no fertility treatments we used. it was all natural
anchor 2: chuckle chuckle
anchor 1: until they think of names they are calling them kid 1, kid 2, kid 3, kid 4, kid 5
anchor 2: oh anchor 1, chuckle chuckle, what a heartwarming story. we'll be right back.
break to commercial

how do they even do their job seriously? you can't make this stuff up!