on the road again

I had a v action-packed final day in ye olde Iowa. My friends and I spent the morning doing v small town things involving tractors and excavators thanks to [censored]'s tutelage. Then, I furiously packed, watered plants, etc - originally I was just going to drop my friends at the airport, but now I have to go to San Francisco from Monday to Friday. So I had to pack up alongside them.

We made it out of the house by three, and we took a detour to Lineville so they could cross Missouri off their bucket lists (and see a couple of murals). Then we drove to Des Moines, where we checked into the Hotel Fort Des Moines, which is still lovely. We had dinner at Fong's, which was a little ridiculous, mostly because the server dropped one pizza into the second pizza, which startled everyone. 

Then we had a final drink at the hotel bar, said our farewells to Jen and Jane (who are down the hall), and Joann and I chatted a bit while getting ready for bed (and while I painted my nails). But now I desperately need to get a few hours of sleep before my flight - goodnight!

electric love

I had another excellent day in ye olde Iowa. I started by doing a bit of work stuff that I couldn't avoid, and then my friendship renewal crew and I got a VIP tour of the round barn from my mom. I've done the tour several times, but it's always fun, and my friends enjoyed it. 

Then we picked up Casey's pizza and introduced my friends to the concept of taco pizza. I got some cheesy potatoes started in the crockpot, and then we went to the museum. I gave them a speed run tour since the weather looked dicey, and also continued to reinforce that I know everyone (even though I don't) because I knew the couple who werebg î a  volunteering.

After, we drove around my town for a bit and saw all five murals. We got back just in time for a storm - I dropped off my friends picked up [censored], did a quick swing to make sure my dad was still okay at his shop, and then came home to prep dinner. My parents came in to join us and we had a marvelous time.

I wish to tell you many other things, but now I need to sleep - goodnight!

don't hesitate to maybe overcompensate

I had a very lovely day despite a lot of rain in the morning and a lot of possible tornadoes in the evening. I dragged the friendship renewal crew into town to grab a donated check for the library (long story), and then we looked at the farm aid mural, drove through millerton to look at the tattoo mural, and proceeded on to- -  Pella. It's a v Dutch town that throws a big tulip festival every year, and while we're a week too early for the festival, that's probably a good thing because there might not be any tulips left by next weekend. 

When we got to Pella it was raining, so we immediately had lunch - the bison poutine was outstanding and my corn chowder was great. The rain stopped during lunch, so we walked along the canal (and had a hilarious encounter with some cold-looking gen Zers), and then we explored all the tulips in the town square. They really made all of us want to plant tulips, which was probably the point. We also walked by the mill, walked to the sunken gardens, did some shopping, etc.

We stood in line at the famous bakery for quite awhile, which was #worthit, and I also introduced myself to a friend of my dad's who runs a butcher shop. Thus fully sated with all things Dutch, we drove home and took a bit of a break before having dinner in Garden Grove.

Dinner was a delight and v tasty, and we heard some excellent [censored] stories and saw some possible meth heads while leaving, which I think added to the Iowa experience. Then we spent the evening glued to the weather reports - there were a lot of tornadoes around, but none that endangered us, so hopefully the damage elsewhere isn't too bad.

And now I desperately need to sleep - goodnight!

you can beat the heat if you beat the charges too

I'm blogging from my basement, which has never happened before - but I'm testing out sleeping down here in case I ever want to put a guest here, and so far so good. More to the point, I have three delightful houseguests this weekend, and by putting myself down here, everyone gets their own space (although one space is an air mattress in my office).

So today was a blur of getting ready - I had to work for far longer than I wanted to, and then I scrambled to finish cleaning, doing laundry, showering, etc. But I left just in time to pick up Jen, Jane, and Joann from the airport - we're having a friendship renewal weekend extravaganza, and we're v unusually doing it in Iowa.

We kicked things off in style by having dinner at Johnny's (where I always used to go on airport runs). Then we grabbed some groceries in Indianola and headed home. Unfortunately the weather looks like it's going to oscillate between garbage and actual danger most of the weekend, so we'll see what we do. But so far so good - we got home, settled in, and then had a v leisurely bottle of champagne while chatting with [censored] (who v graciously shared his name with the friendship renewal crew).

Now, though, I desperately need to sleep so we can pursue all sorts of fun tomorrow - goodnight!

down bad

I was v productive today - still not enough, but better than usual. I worked at this new day job all day - and by the way, I made official and permanent this week, which is exciting. I took a "break" around five to vacuum downstairs, and then I did a bit more work until I had to leave for a meeting of my secret society. 

I walked in the door the moment we were supposed to start, which is how it usually happens. I wanted to skip tonight because I have so much to do, but I'm glad I didn't - over snacks afterwards, someone told a story so hilarious that it was worth the price of my annual dues.

Thus entertained and energized, I came home, said hi to [censored], did a wee bit more work, and cleaned my kitchen. This included wiping down the pendants, stove, fridge, etc in addition to the usual countertop cleaning. It really doesn't take that long, and yet I always find it all to be daunting - maybe I'll remember this next time, or maybe I'll procrastinate on such tasks for another couple of months. 

But now I need to sleep - I have a million things to do tomorrow and not nearly enough time. Goodnight!

if my eyes were closed, i could follow where you go

Despite going to bed super late last night, I didn't struggle today - probably because I slept until 9:30 to make up for it. There are serious advantages for night owls to work in a time zone that is two hours ahead of most other people, and I took full advantage today.

Still, I did do a lot of slogging - but I took a long break around dinner to take a walk, do some laundry, bake a potato, etc. I had to do more work tonight, but it should make tomorrow easier, so it was a tradeoff I'm willing to make. But now it's time for bed - goodnight!

somebody told me to believe in better times

Mondays are going to be very Mondayish for the foreseeable future - it seems to be the most meeting-heavy day for my new gig, and I was in meetings from 10:30 - 3:30 without a break. And I'm in a meeting now (from 11pm - 1am, theoretically) in preparation for an event next week.

But it wasn't all terrible - the meetings are pretty interesting, and the people are great, which is a real upside compared to some previous experiences I won't name. And I took a nap this evening and did some tings around the house. Unfortunately, though, I have no other interesting tidbits to share - and as soon as this meeting is over, I'm going to bed. Goodnight!

would you believe me now if i told you i got caught up in a wave?

I have nothing to report - I did house stuff basically all day. I did write for just a little bit this morning, but otherwise cleaning was more important than anything else. After a day of effort, my bedroom, office, and dining room are fully clean, the guest room has fresh sheets, my living room is dusted, and my garage is somewhat tidied up. [Censored] also went above and beyond with various tasks, and so this feels like a v. worthwhile spring cleaning sprint even if I didn't have guests coming later this week.

So, while today felt v. productive, it's v. uninteresting from a blog standpoint - and that means it's time for bed. Goodnight!

if the line ends out on the road there's a story meant to be told

There's lots to do, as we like to say around here, but I think I'm going to go to bed. I wasn't as in it to win it as I wanted to be this morning, but I did get around and drop of some returns at the post office before grabbing some groceries. I spent the day doing a variety of household tasks - I'm in the midst of a major cleanup before my friendship renewal crew arrives next weekend. Some of the tasks involved [censored], as they often do. I took all the books and stuff off my office bookshelves so that [censored] could anchor them to the wall - they have never threatened to tip, but I intend to have someone sleep on an air mattress in my office, and I would feel quite horrible if they were crushed by all my books. [Censored] also put up the towel bars / robe hook that we'd been meaning to put in the main floor bathroom for a year, so this was quite an improvement.

Beyond that, I also did quite a bit of reorganizing in my bedroom and office, finally finished unpacking from my trip, etc. At some point, it was time for supper, so [censored] and I picked up Casey's pizza and took it out to our parents' house, where we had a lovely time hanging out for awhile. And then I spent the rest of the night putting all my books back on my bookshelves, tidying up my desk, etc.

And now, it's time for bed - tomorrow is all the vacuuming, dusting, and making of beds, so wish me luck. Goodnight!

i need to forget, so take me to florida

I had a lovely day, all in all. I woke up feeling a little sick to my stomach, but I rebounded and got on with my work day. I'm still figuring out the rhythms of this work-from-home situation - you would think that I would be a pro at it after the pandemic, but the rhythms of this job are pretty different (i.e. many fewer meetings), and I'm also still getting up to speed.

But I slogged most of the day, with a pleasant surprise call from Ritu in the middle of it. So we chatted until I was too hungry to keep talking, and then I ate some leftover chicken taco meat and slogged the rest of the day. I also had an impromptu meeting with Adit (some people call him the cat, but clearly no one at work does) - it's v. nice to have a built-in friend at work from the get-go when I'm trying to figure things out.

Eventually, the work day came to an end, and I repeated yesterday's post-work excursion in reverse - I drove [censored] to [censored], where I dropped him off to pick up his truck. Before we left the town where it was serviced, we grabbed dinner at Toot-Toot - we'd driven by it yesterday and I didn't intend to eat there, but I looked it up after and it shockingly had 4.5 stars on Google. It's a buffet-style place and the buffet tonight was $18.99, but they had prime rib, ham, burnt ends, fried catfish, several kinds of fried shrimp, steak, and a whole bunch of other stuff. It was all pretty tasty considering the spread, and it was worth glutening myself at the time.

However, now I have a bit of a headache, which means I can't keep doing anything work or house related, which means I need to go to bed. Goodnight!

a staircase up to nothingness inside your dna

I had a decent day despite the gloominess outside - I slogged all morning, and then I ran into town for a meeting of the mural festival group. We had a bit of business to discuss, which was duly handled. Then I came home and slogged the rest of the day. I wrapped up around 5:30 and then drove an hour to [censored] to pick up [censored], who had to leave his truck for servicing. Since we were already out and about, we stopped for dinner at La Bota II (now, technically, La Bota I), which was quite tasty.

When I got home I should have gone to bed, but I instead procrastinated on bedtime until now. But better late than never, I guess - goodnight!

you beat my heart from miles away

I had a lovely day, all in all - I got a bunch of work done, ate the last mediocre leftover salad for lunch (it was not mediocre five days ago, but it was not the best today), did some more work, and took a walk around town. I did a bit more work when I got home, and then I sat on my balcony and listened to the birds and journaled until dark. It's going to be too cold for balcony time the rest of the week, so I'm glad i got some quality time in tonight - even if it meant eating dinner at eight, which is far too late.

By the time I was done eating, [censored] was home, and so we talked for a bit. And now I need to wind down and go to bed - goodnight!

these drinks are breaking up old routines

It was v. hot in my house when I woke up this morning - so it's a good thing that my HVACers showed up to finish hooking up my A/C. When they did my massive HVAC project last fall, they weren't able to put the refrigerant (some would call it coolant, but they would apparently be wrong) into the A/C lines and pressure test it all due to the low temps outside. Luckily they came back today - just in time for me to probably get a tornado tomorrow, and certainly not need a/c for another week or so.

Otherwise, my day was good. If I keep this job, I'm dooming myself to rough Mondays, since I have mandatory meetings straight from 10:30-2:30 with no breaks - but that's not the worst thing in the world. After all, in my last tech job I had seven or eight hours of meetings a day, and so far that has never happened here. I got up this morning in time to take a leisurely shower, drink some cold brew, and do some work before my first meeting, and then I slogged through the rest of the day.

Eventually, it was time to quit, and so I helped [censored] run an errand and also took my ten pounds of ham balls out to my parents' house so that I could use their freezer for them. Then I came home, said farewell to [censored], sat on my balcony to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and my freshly-cleaned adirondack chairs, and made a million lists of things to do. I took a break from the outdoor world to eat some chicken taco meat on top of brown rice - the taco meat was a slow cooker special that I threw together today, and it's so good that I could eat it all the time (and probably will if I have less time to cook). I then sat on my balcony and wrote in the dark, which was pretty lovely - the weather is going to turn tomorrow, so I'm pretending it's summer while I can.

And now, I need to sleep - goodnight!

earned all this money, but they never take the country out me

I somehow did way more than I wanted today and also way less than I intended to, so I'm not sure how to chalk that up in terms of progress. I spent the morning cleaning my balcony - with friends coming into town and the weather heating up, I decided it was time to make my balcony furniture more inviting. So I used my leaf blower to blow dirt off my couch and balcony, scrubbed the adirondack chairs, and scrubbed the railings and any other area that had bird poop on it. It's impossible to get a balcony fully clean, and it's pretty clear that I either need to repaint or do something different at some point soonish, but it's all much nicer than it was. I even lazed outside on my couch after dark tonight and it was pretty much perfect.

After cleaning the balcony, I did a few tings, took a shower, and then made ham balls. This was a multi-hour saga, partially because I had to find supplies (meat grinder, extra baking dishes, etc.) that were scattered throughout my house. I made three batches, which sounds more impressive if I tell you it's ten pounds. And I cooked them all, but by the time I was done, it was too late to take them out to my parents' freezer (since I don't have room in mine), so that will be a tomorrow errand.

By the time I was done with all that, I was pretty wiped out. [Censored] and I ate leftover salmon for dinner, and then I met [censored] at [censored] so I could give him a ride home. I then spent the rest of the evening cleaning up the kitchen, doing some online tasks, etc. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

what if i'm far from home? oh [censored], i will hear you call

I had quite a productive day today - it's amazing what happens if I manage to stay off my phone in the morning. Not that I entirely stayed off the phone - I had an hour-long chat with my friend Sherry, a writer whom I haven't seen since before the pandemic. But I talked to her via my headphones while I cleaned my fridge, which was a good way to multitask. Since I was on a roll with the kitchen fridge, I also cleaned the garage fridge and did some sorting / discarding in my pantry.

Eventually, I ate a salad, showered, and drove to the next town over to grab some groceries. I didn't need to do a thorough restocking, but there were some tings I needed sooner rather than later - and because I was going, I (selfishly) offered to pick up bratwurst for my dad to grill for supper. This was a good move on my part, since bratwurst are always excellent and my mom made her famous baked beans to go with them.

Between getting groceries and eating supper, I took care of a few more tasks and then drove [censored] out to our parents' house. It was gorgeously warm today, although it was too windy to really enjoy it, and the farmers are getting going with their spring planting. It seems a little early based on the calendar, but my body is ready for summer.

Eventually, we came home, and I mostly procrastinated rather than doing anything else (although I did make some lists). And now I'm going to go to bed so that I can get cracking tomorrow - goodnight!

against the grain of dystopic claims

It's 11:36pm, which is later than I planned to go to bed but an hour earlier than I've gone to bed any night this week - so if I can force myself into bed as soon as I post this, I'm calling it a win.

Today was pretty decent - I did a bunch of work, made a bunch of mason jar cobb salads to get through the next few days, and did a bunch more work. Some of that work was done while sitting on my balcony. It was a little too cool since the wind was gusty, but I threw a blanket on my lap and gritted my way through the wind because I was in desperate need of some sun.

Eventually, I was done, and I spent the evening taking care of minor household tasks and doing a bunch of journaling and trying to stay off my phone. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

now we on a mission, tried to turn me to the opposition

I worked today, which is the current par for the course. But I did sneak into town for a couple of things from the grocery store, which I put to good use tonight - I made salmon for dinner, and I also cooked some chicken breasts and bacon so that I can make salads for lunch tomorrow. And I did two loads of laundry, put away some tings from my trip, talked to [censored], etc., so all in all it was a pretty productive day.

It was also Aunt Becky's birthday today - happy birthday, Aunt B! And now I need to go to bed - goodnight!

heard the whistle blow from the wabash

I have nothing to report today - I got up, did a bunch of work, ate some lunch while participating in a long meeting, and did more work. When I was done for the day, I took a walk since it was so nice out, and then I sat on my balcony and journaled for a bit. And then I made a tofu stir-fry since [censored] isn't here and I can eat such abominations when I'm here by myself.

After I ate, I did a handful of minor tasks - but now it's time for bed. Goodnight!

i cooked the books and threw my combinations

I'm feeling astonishingly better, and I hope I'm not jinxing myself by saying so. I was quite productive today as a result - I didn't get up all that early, but I also worked until eight p.m. to make up for it...which is much more my style anyway, so that's fine with me.

I also took a break in the middle of the day to eat lunch and look at the eclipse with [censored] - we had about 85% coverage here, but it was a clear sky and very obvious that the light was dimmer even if we didn't get the full effect. And my mom stopped by for awhile, so it's not like my slogging was relentless. 

When I was finally done, I scrounged some leftover chicken and wild rice soup from the freezer, which needed eaten and also hit the spot for my residual covid. Then, I read for awhile - I started THE TERRAFORMERS, and I'm not totally sure about it yet, but I think it's interesting. And now I need to sleep and hopefully get a little closer to this time zone - goodnight!

i whisper secrets in the backbeat

I had a pretty good first full day back in my house - I'm still somewhat congested from the 'rona, but otherwise I'm mostly better. I did sleep late due to the illness + the time change, and then I spent some quality time this morning / early afternoon writing (after much too long not writing). Then I took a shower before settling in to watch the Iowa/South Carolina game.

Sadly, of course, Iowa lost - they were smoking in the first quarter, but South Carolina's depth (and Kamila Cardoso's height) was unstoppable. I'm happy for South Carolina since I like their coach and it's amazing what they were able to do with a bunch of freshmen, but it's too bad for Iowa. But I've also never been an Iowa fan, so I can return to not being an Iowa fan now that the season is over.

After the game, I took care of a variety of tasks (laundry, mail, bill paying, shopping the Sephora semi-annual sale) and then made dinner. [Censored] definitely deserved burrito bowls after being such a helpful buddy while I was gone, so I made burrito bowls - and I'm happy to report that I didn't forget how to make them. Then, [censored] and I dealt with an annoying bookkeeping task. And then, I came upstairs and spent the last couple of hours doing stuff for this new day job - I don't think that will be a regular need, but since I barely did anything last week due to covid, I wanted to kick the week off right.

And now, I need to sleep - goodnight!

i can always change my name if that's what you mean

I'm glad I stayed in Des Moines last night, even though I didn't get much done today as a result - even though I'm feeling better, I should probably take it a little easy the next few days. I slept until after nine, and then I showered, threw my stuff in the car, and grabbed one last cold brew at Starbucks before leaving cities behind and heading into the wilderness.

But before I fully got into the wilderness, I stopped for groceries and gas. I finally got home after 2pm, where I was greeted by [censored], who had made many improvements to the house while I was gone. Since I made zero improvements to the house while I was gone (other than ordering a piece of furniture that showed up today), [censored] has thoroughly upstaged me. [censored] also showed me around some of his various holdings, which always makes for a fun and unusual tour.

At some point, I desperately needed a nap, which I took. Then, [censored] and I went to dinner with our parents - we went to our usual prime rib place, which was tasty. And now, I need to start unwinding and go to bed - I'm not totally tired yet, but I need to start adjusting to the timezone, and tonight would be a good time to make the first attempt. Goodnight!

this ain't texas

I'm in Des Moines after a v uneventful day of travel. I got up today in time for an 8:30 meeting, and I worked most of the morning before ordering some Thai for lunch. Then I said farewell to the hotel where I've stayed for the past two weeks - the staff is all super nice, but I'm looking forward to not seeing them for awhile. 

Then I went to the airport, did some work while waiting there, and flew to Denver. I watched as much of the Iowa/UConn game as I could on my phone - Google has its issues, but I will say that YouTube TV is awesome for being able to watch live TV in situations like this. I had to shut off my phone early in the fourth quarter. But I heard someone scream somewhere on the plane later, and I guessed from the scream (+ the continuation of cabin pressure, which eliminated a door plug failure) that Iowa won.

When I landed, I retrieved my bags and almost drove home... But I decided I was too tired, and that I should be prudent given my recent COVID battle. I actually felt pretty good today, but sleep is probably still important (although I should have gone to bed as soon as I fit to my hotel instead of spending an hour catching up on the news). Goodnight!

possess too much persona

I'm feeling much better than I was earlier in the week - still not 100%, and I still need naps, but I think I'll be able to get on a plane tomorrow, which is all I want to do.

I credit the improvement to sleeping for about ten hours last night, and while that's a feat that I won't be able to repeat tonight due to my schedule, I'm hoping for nine. When I woke up today, I did a couple of hours of meetings, followed by several hours of work. I was starving all day in response to the fact that I barely ate this week, so I got a sandwich delivered from Ike's for lunch (on excellent gluten free bread) and had steak at the hotel for dinner. And I took my aforementioned naps + packed almost everything, so I'll be ready to go at some point tomorrow.

After dinner, I was going to do a bit of work and go to bed - but Chandlord stopped by briefly, so we sat in the lobby and chatted about all the things we could have done if I hadn't gotten sick and missed out on every social activity for many days. But bedtime commences now - goodnight!

we are the people we've been waiting for

I threw in the towel today and surrendered completely to covid in an attempt to speed through the next phase of recovery. While I'm definitely better than I was this weekend, I woke up still feeling a lot of dizziness / headache / general brain fatigue, and it felt like the only way to get over that was to lie flat on my back and not look at a screen.

Since my whole job (life) is basically sitting upright and looking at a screen, avoiding those things is quite difficult. But my boss was pretty supportive of the notion, and so other than one meeting (with Adit, who I didn't need to put on a show for and therefore didn't feel like a meeting), I mostly stayed in bed. And I would say this was the right call - my cough is close to gone, and while my head still isn't quite right, it's way better than it was this morning.

However, this was a supremely boring way to spend the day, and it has given me nothing else to tell you. So I'm going to start unwinding and aiming for bed (even though I slept a couple of times today and it's only 8:40pm), and hopefully by morning I'll be closer to normal. Goodnight!

I keep on falling in and out of love with you

I feel better today than I did yesterday... But I also walked a block and a half to pick up lunch and then needed to take a two hour nap, so what do I know. I did do a bunch of work today, though, and I ate more lunch than I have been, so I think things trending okay.

That said, I'm going to take it as easy as possible the next couple of days so that I can fly home Friday without dying. We'll see how that goes - goodnight!

you're a movie to me, the way you move around me

I'm still sick, but I am slightly improved over yesterday. I'm not feeling quite as feverish/chilled, but my throat is still sore and my cough is an abomination. However, I took delivery of two boxes of Puffs kleenexes, 80 cough drops, four covid tests, and some granola bars, so I think have the supplies necessary to get me through the next couple of days.

I did get up in time to work today, but I worked from the hotel and I'm delighted that everyone seems to default to camera off since that gave my an excuse to hide my ravaged face. I also took it easy and took a nap in the afternoon, which was v. necessary. I also relaxed while watching the Iowa / LSU women's basketball game, which was outstanding. And then I did a bit of work while eating all of the dinner I could force myself to eat (which was not much) - my appetite is not great, and I can't tell if my sense of taste has been affected or if I'm just not in the mood for anything that I can get here since I've already been here way too long.

But that's a problem for Future Sara - right now, I'm going to log off and go to bed since it seems likely that I'll be up throughout the night anyway and should therefore kick off the sleeping party early. Goodnight!