We went to my Grandpa in Arcadia on Christmas Day. I drove. It was time to go home so Brian, being a sweetheart, went to start my car so it would be warm when we got in. He comes back in, and said.... "Umm Jenny, your doors are locked and the car is started."
The spare keys (which I had just gotten last year) were in Des Moines. So my brother and uncles rushed outside with a clothshanger and amazingly enough, Chad was able to stick the wire through the side of the window and roll the window down in less than 2 minutes. Guess if needed it would be pretty damn easy to break into the Riv.
The story ended well... granted, we could have called a locksmith but I would have felt guilty. It was Christmas! Brian still swears that my car malfunctioned and locked on their own (I've never had a prob with this before though). LOL.
I always said the only way my neighbors were going to move is if one of them died. And the only reason I said that is because I've never seen anyone with so much junky stuff. Shit. Crap...whatever you want to call it!!!!!
So last Tuesday the neighbor did die - the old guy who liked to ride his old person scooter around his one car garage stall and hang up Christmas lights in July. I kinda wondered if something hadn't happened to him because the house was empty last week and they never leave. She came back several times with her family but I never saw him. On Sunday I checked the obits and I was right.... http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/dclassifieds?Dato=20081221&Kategori=OBITUARIES01&Class=30&Type=CAT1320&Lopenr=81100696&Selected=2
The freaky part is it says he died at home. How did he die at home? Hopefully I'll get to ask my landlords soon to put my mind at ease. Maybe it makes me a cold hearted but I have hope that the widower will move. And seriously, I will lodge a complaint with my landlord if he lets her live there alone. She is not all there and she will probably burn the house down if left there alone.
But, so I don't sound cold hearted (my brother already said I did because all I was worried about was whether she would be moving or not), it is too bad it happened right before Christmas becasue as we all know it was their favorite holiday and they celebrated it yearround! But luckily, the widower does have kids here in town who will be around for her.
Somehow I never manage to get normal neighbors and throughout the last year many of my friends and family have heard me bitch about the neighbor's strangeness (and their piece of shit car that neither of them have a license for but drive anyway).
On Friday I went to take a bag of trash out to my garbage can. There wasn't much in there - an old binder of Beacon auction stuff and a small plastic sack. And for some reason when I opened the can to throw the bag away, I noticed the papers in the binder were strewn all over the can and the binder was gone.
The trash can was next to the house so granted anyone could of have walked up to the house to go through my garbage...I do live east of 63rd Street you know. But I am almost positive it was my neighbors. *sigh* I can now add dumpster diving to their list of freakiness.
Maybe I should ask for a karoke machine for Christmas because by the end of the night last night, karoke was a huge hit! I'll never think of 'Love Shack' without thinking of Mikael and Brandon. And of course, the backup singers were amazing! (see pic below). I am so glad they did ''Love Shack or I am sure Julie would have drug me up on the stage.(I mean she did get me to dance to 'Friends in Low Places' at some point last night/this morning!!!) I don't Karoke...and last time I did was 11 years ago. I was underage and drunk!!! And I sang Happy Birthday!
The best "performance" of the night though was Will and Chris. If you were there, you know I need not say more. They had style, they had grace...they better not give up their day jobs for a chance at the next big thing. I seriously can't remember the song they sang but it was an awesome choice. And they had the moves to go with it.Kinda. Props to them for having fun with it - it was the hit of the night!
I did promise Will I would sing "It must have been love" with him the next time we do karoke. I am not sure he remembers me promising it... and I really hope he forgets.
But if I did do karoke...here are some of the songs I like would be fun:
1. Ice, Ice Baby
2. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
3. Paradise by the Dashboard Light
4. I Touch Myself
5. I Love Rock and Roll
6. Once Bitten, Twice Shy
7. All Summer Long
I have to say though...it was a good birthday. well, birthday week I mean. I am glad we went bowling and surprisingly enough the karoke was a lot of fun...even for those who didn't sing. Every year its getting harder and harder to decide on what to do! I mean, I had to top the roller skating from '07. But a big thank you to everyone who came out and helped me celebrate. I love ya all!
It sucks when your birthday falls on a Monday - the Monday after Thanksgiving none the less. The big party is planned for Saturday night (I know, I know...I need to get definite details out to everyone yet) but last night I wanted to do something fun for the big 3-0.
I invited a few friends over for wine and then we all headed over to Chicago Speakeasy (CS) for dinner. CS is my favorite place to eat and I've spent several birthdays there. We had good wine and good conversation. Luckily they were all older than me so I didn't have to feel old :-)
At work, they brought me in a birthday cake. It had three candles (we were worried by puttin in thirty we'd set off the fire alarm and then would have to explain to the Ankeny Fire Dept. that it was b-day candles that set off the alarm!) My parents called me (as usually) but my little brother texted me, along with a few others, a happy birthday and Dawn called to wish me a happy birthday as well. I have to laugh though - the only birthday card I received in the mail was one from my state farm agent!
Anyways, I brought my camera along to take a few pics from the evening and here is what I got.....
Our bottle of wine.....
What was left of my strawberry sundae and the candle Julie just had to re-light so I could blow it out again. I think she just wanted to play with fire!
this is the mess Julie makes when you let her discuss the different types of sweetners (yeah, that's what happens when you get old...nothing better to talk about then Splenda, sugar, Sweet 'n Low etc)
I was able to go back to my parent's house on Tuesday night and just got back this afternoon. It was an awesome weekend - full of family, food and R&R. On Wednesday, I helped my mom clean and we did do a little cooking. Thursday we got up super early to go up to Grandpa's. My aunt, uncle and cousins were back from Colorado and I got to catch up with my cousin's wife, who is one of my favorite family members. We snuck out after lunch and went into Carroll to shop at two of the three stores open - Hy-Vee and Kmart. That afternoon we played Scene It - my favorite game.
Friday mom and I baked some more. She made me a birthday cake and actually bought 30 candles! That evening my family - including the relatives from CO - came over for a birthday dinner. After dinner my brothers, cousin and cousin's kids went into Manning for their annual winter celebration. The kids saw Santa Claus and we wondered around town.
Saturday night the whole family went to the movie "Four Christmases". It was a very cute movie! I am a huge fan of Reese Witherspoon.
This morning we woke up to snow. The first snowfall is always so pretty and innocient looking. But once is enough. After today, I'll be sick of the snow.
I didn't leave the house yesterday except once, to run to Hy-Vee and laundry detergent (yeah, hadn't done laundry in weeks!!!) My day of nothingness was awesome. I slept, I read, watched some movies, cleaned...basically puttered around the house in a nice, relaxing and slow day. I soo needed it. I haven't liked my life lately. It's been too busy. Too busy that I don't enjoy it. What fun is it if you aren't having fun? I can't tell you the last time I had a day or even an evening to myself - unless I was sick. I had been waiting for this day forever. Seriously, the last time I had a quite night at home with nothing to do was probably back in September or early October. Yeah, that long!!!
I talked to mom yesterday and she couldn't believe I wasn't going out last night. I didn't want to go out. I wanted to be alone. in my pjs. on the couch. And that is what I did.
I woke up this morning as a better person for it. I got up at a reasonable time, went and did some errands. I'm going to the Drake game today and I'm looking forward to it.
This weekend I had the pleasure to see one of my best friend's get married. And I even had the greater joy of sharing that day with them as a bridesmaid. The ceremony was beautiful and I couldn't be happier for the two. I remember the night Dawn called to tell me. I was in Panora for work and she left a msg saying to call her. I just knew she was going to tell me that she was getting married. It's hard to believe that was back in July and here it is days after the wedding. Dawn wore her grandmother's wedding dress - how special is that!?
It was a fun packed but exhausting weekend. I am still trying to recover. I just realized looking through my pics that I didn't take a pic of me and Dawn together... I know she has one on her camera and the photog got one... but usually I am the one running around crazy with the camera. Guess I was too busy doing too much else.
It was great to spend time with Dawn, her family, my mom and I also had the chance to meet three of Dawn's friendsthat she went to East Timor with. I found it heartening that Aga made the trip from England and Janine came from Boston. I am so happy for Dawn and Brad and wish them many more years of happiness.
I did post a few pics that I did take below!
Me walking out of the church after the wedding
Brad and Dawn with Gabe - isn't he such a cutie???!!!!!!
Me with Dawn, Molly and Brenda - MHS Class of '97!!!!!
my mom and I
My Quiz Bowl for the Beacon was held last Friday and was very successful! We had 35 teams, which we were happy with! I woke up sick on Saturday but least it wasn't before the event. I only screwed up one questions and had two typos :-) spelling was never my strong suite.
I am so glad its over. I was soo stressed out prior and its a relief to be back to normal and have all the boxes out of my house! I have told the board many times now I am not going to be in charge for the February QB. But sometimes I don't think they listen. I realized when I wasn't having any fun anymore (like this time) that I need a break. It is almost bittersweet though... I have put so much hard work and dedication over the last year into this fundraiser that its hard to let go. I don't want however takes over to go downhill with my 'pet project'. But I just can't do it anymore - with everything that happened in Aug/Sept I need a break.
Some of the Beacon residents took pics (Ok, they took a ton of pics) and I've posted a few. Unfortunately none where of my family...who did not do so well this time!
I was voter # 698 last night. Yeah! This is the first time the person I voted for actually got elected. I will miss making fun of Palin though...so I hope she stays somewhat in the spotlight. haha.
I joined my friends last night for a party down at the Blazing Saddles. It was fun...I feel like I havent' seen everyone in a long time. I had no doubt Obama was going to win. I'm glad he won. Granted, I didn't caucus for him and my first choice would still be Edwards, but that's the way it is! It's awesome that blue is taking over the hill. Yeah!
Jerre and I started talking about taking a vacation to DC around January 20th. Would that not be a once in a lifetime experience? We're trying to get a few others go...so we will see if it works out. We had talked about this trip this summer but with me losing my job we put it on the backburner...now its burning bright again, and after Obama's staggering win last night, we may get a few more to join the bandwagon! I've always wanted to go to DC and I think going for January 20th would be a once in a lifetime experience so I hope it works out!
