before noon on a saturday

-3 loads of laundry
-fold clothes
-wash dishes
-cleaned bathroom cabinet
-list ebay item
-sign up for medical billing class
-watch cartoons
-walk downtown
-farmer's market
-bank deposit
-pick up library hold
-powerball ticket with spare change
-grab lunch

now i think i'll lounge for a bit. and later i'm supposed to give s a call; he said something about having dinner tonight. :)

fondly

yesterday i came home to a letter in the mail. it really made my day! last week i had written to s’s cute little g-ma in st paul asking for a recipe & she wrote back the sweetest note. just like my gran, she had never actually written the recipe down before. and besides sending me a recipe card for the pasta (plus a diagram on how to roll it out properly!), she also sent the recipe for her marinara sauce. i may not be a part of the family, but i'm so happy she was willing to share it. my gran had the best buns in the world; it was a running gag about my grandma’s buns. and we will never be able to replicate that recipe. before she passed away over a year ago, she had tried to write it down for me, but it was so much by feel more than anything else. and i've never been able to make yeast breads with any kind of consistency. maybe it’s time to try again.
it all just makes me miss my grandma j beyond belief. last night when i got home & read the letter, i burst into tears thinking about how we used to write & would chat about our baseball games (i'm inexplicably a cubs fan, while my gran followed the braves & mary ann loves her twins). mary ann wrote about how her twins were doing well this season & how she’s suffering from a little case of gout & she’ll be traveling to moorhead next week and worried about her garden while she’s going to be gone. it was such a grandma letter, almost verbatim what my grandma always wrote. it's not as though she could ever be a substitute for my grandmothers, but it makes me want to be a part of s’s family (even the crazy part & his not-crazy mother, who is sweet but makes me feel intimidated sometimes because of her protecting her baby boy). of course, this is all a pipe dream, but meh, that’s what dreams are, right?

yesterday before i got home, i had broken out the ol’ iPod nano & was shuffling through songs. one i hadn’t heard in ages, but always loved was bebo norman’s “i'm alright”. not sure why i had neglected it so long, but the lyrics always seem to fit.

i've got a little hope in my pocket, i want to share a bit with you
just be careful that you don't drop it, but don't worry if you do
'cause i got broken down inside me, and i might just need some help
but i will get by

and i've got demons in my history, got bone beneath my skin
but i've been taken by a mystery, yes, i've been taken in
and sometimes voices down inside me try to fight me for myself
i will get by

what have i got to live for
if there's nothing beating in my chest
what have i got to live for
when this world starts turning, it's burning me up
i'm alright

i used to think love was just a barter, second hand coincidence
what doesn't kill you just makes you harder, so i used my common sense
keeping cold to keep my distance, ‘til you took my pride away
now i will get by

i am not afraid, no, i am not afraid
and i will not go crazy here

i've got a little hope here in my pocket, i want to share a bit with you
so just be careful that you don't drop it, but don't worry if you do
'cause i got voices down inside me, and i might just need some help
i will get by

what have i got to live for
if there's nothing beating in my chest
what have i got to live for
when this world starts turning, burning me up
when my heart is hurting, i'm learning the rough
when this world starts turning, it's burning me up
i'm alright

flood pics 2

flood photos

that's s on the right & pfc(?) rubio guarding one of the buildings by burlington st bridge
burlington st headed east
the water on the east side of burlington st bridge
iowa avenue from the old capital balcony
close-up of iowa ave

cresting

from the iowa dot:

1107 AM CDT SUN JUN 15 2008

...FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE...

THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR
THE IOWA RIVER AT IOWA CITY.
* UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
* AT 10:00 AM SUNDAY THE STAGE WAS 31.5 FEET...AND STEADY.
* RECORD FLOODING IS OCCURRING.
* RECENT ACTIVITY...THE RIVER IS CRESTING NOW.
* FLOOD STAGE IS 22 FEET.
* FORECAST...REMAIN NEARLY STEADY THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON...THEN
BEGIN FALLING VERY SLOWLY.

yay! hopefully an early crest means the water will go down sooner. as of my departure for the wedding last sunday, we had roads flooded over in iowa city. when i got back into town on tuesday the river was getting higher & i'd barely made it over the bridge in waterloo. then cedar rapids practically washed away; they're on restricted water because they only have 20-25% capacity.
thursday i took some pics of the burlington st bridge that i cross to get to work on the west side of the river.

burlington st bridge from the north side

downstream, south of burlington bridge

by friday they were threatening to close the bridge, so i ditched work to get back across & spent the afternoon helping to sandbag the main uni library & other buildings. more sunburn. the bridge was still open. saturday i went back for more torture sandbagging. after 3+ hours my arms were giving out. oh, and not to forget a reporter interviewed me for usa today. i didn't end up making the cut, but i had been taking a water break, so no big deal. the mill brought free pizza for volunteers & then papa john's brought some more over too.
my apartment is in no imminent danger. we'd have to bring back the ark if water came near it, so i'm not particularly worried about that. national guard has been out working crazy hours since tuesday & they're not allowed to go home. they're bunking them at one of the high school's because the armory is also flooded. fun times.
hopefully, as indicated above, this is the turning point and the water will start to recede after tomorrow. lots of cleanup & that will take more time than you'd think, but so long as the injuries have been few and far between, it's pretty much material loss. it's devastating, but 'things' can be mostly replaced.
my thoughts & prayers go out to everyone in downtown cr who lost their homes & businesses and the losses that have happened in ic.

wedding burn

no, nobody got left at the altar yesterday. the title is just in reference to the fact that the two redheaded bridesmaids got a bit pink after spending the day taking pictures (scheduled from 10.45am to 3.45pm! before the 4.30 ceremony! with hair appt at 8am!). actually it didn't look so bad & the tops of my shoulders had a somewhat pink-ish tinge and the freckles were a-poppin' out in full force, but then as the evening progressed, my twin started getting pinker & pinker and we realized that i had a distinct line if my strapless dress slipped down a bit in front or back.
eventually we were standing up at the altar (i was in the first couple to go down the aisle & the last one to leave, meaning i had to stand up there the longest, argh!) my knees shook a little, but i was so proud of mandy & tom. i hope i can find a love like that. i mean, i thought i had.
after the ceremony, the bride's brother & the best man kidnapped the wedding party & we made a dash into town to one of the local bars for a quick drink. the bartender, surprised by a wedding on a monday, benevolently gave us all shots (scooby snacks! plus jager bomb for tom) and beers. 9 shots & 8 beers for $22.
back at the reception dinner we had some good eats-roast beast, salad, chicken cordon bleu, roasted potatoes and green beans. then the dancing started. luckily by then i'd had enough to drink so i joined in with the rest of the bridal party for the chicken dance followed by the hokey pokey.
it started to get much too hot & feverish as the evening progressed. after pouring buckets of rain & having the news from the twin cities here to document the flooding from saturday/sunday, the weather was perfect for the wedding and it turned out beautifully. i'm so happy for mandy & tom and honoured that they included me in their special day.
i love you guys.

don't get your hopes up

that statement seems so apropos for quite a few things right now. the whole situation with s (he came over for dinner at my place last night & we had dinner on thursday, friday & saturday-leftovers from friday. fri/sat were at his suggestion & he's started to initiate a friendly kiss, not just on the cheek. i don't want to hold out any hope for what that means; i'm just going to enjoy & not question it).
whew! that was a long parenthetical!
other things not to get too high of hopes: the wedding this weekend. not that i don't think it'll be a great event, but the only people i care about seeing that much are the bride & groom & my mom. no offense to everyone else, but it's a lot of stress to put on a brave face for people who are bound to ask me about my status. that's what wedding's are for, right? making people uncomfortable? i'm so eloping if it ever comes to it.
and speaking of my status, i guess i could just segue into my book when people ask me what i'm doing. then again, if i do that, they'll ask if i have a publisher. i know i do have a captive, age-appropriate audience (a coworker's 2 daughters) eager to read it, but the whole process of getting this (as yet untitled) book published is going to drag out, if it ever happens at all.
really, this isn't a moody post, even if the ending felt like it. i'm pretty content. things could always be better, but i'm fairly solid where i am right now.