Good Luck!

A customer at work came in to pick up her wedding programs today. I had designed her wedding invitations earlier in the year so we had been talking/emailing back and forth since January. Her wedding is this weekend so when she was on her way out the door I made the now-known etiquette blunder of wishing her good luck. Two coworkers immediately brought this mistake to my attention. Apparently, wishing a bride good luck is often seen as a sarcastic wish. It’s much better to say “best wishes” instead. So I started thinking about it and have to admit I’ve said “good luck” with a tone of sarcasm to people other than brides more than once. I’ve also said “congratulations,” “good job,” “thank you” and a long list of other phrases sarcastically. Apparently I tend to be a very sarcastic person. Who’s to say any or all of these phrases should no longer be said when sending someone well wishes?

This also got me thinking of other rules of etiquette people seem to have forgotten: holding the door open, being punctual, NOT driving through the “do not enter” entrance at the school’s parking lot, or parking in the crosswalk. Not to mention all of the new etiquette rules for Facebook, Twitter, texting, cell phones and emailing. While it seems some rules of etiquette have fallen by the wayside we’ve also picked up a few more for our changing society. Obviously I am no etiquette expert. It’s hard enough to get my daughter to remember to say “please” and “thank you” (rules of etiquette I don’t foresee ever going away). I believe you can take anything that anyone says to you as sarcasm if you want, or you can hope that people simply mean what they say and say what they mean. In the end, just try to be nice.

Stepping down from my soap box now…

Do I want what?

We went to our first Cedar Rapids Kernels game last night. It was Penn Elementary night at the ballpark and tickets were only $7 each so we figured we’d give it a shot! After a few innings, Mike & Audrey went to get something to eat. I didn’t tell them what I wanted so I was just sitting back and waiting for my surprise. A few minutes after they left, Mike called and asked (what I thought) “Do you want cheese curds?” Being the Wisconsin girl that I am, I asked “Are they the right kind (meaning beer battered and not breaded)? Do they look good?” Mike said they did so I spent the next few minutes anxiously awaiting the arrival of my cheesy, deep-fried nuggets. After what seemed an eternity I was handed a pretzel with cheese sauce and the statement, “I got you a t-shirt. I hope it’s okay.” T-SHIRT?!?!?!?!? I thought you said CHEESE CURDS!!!!!

A Bed for Some Bedding

Believe it or not, Audrey has a friend who’s ALMOST as crazy about American Girl stuff as she is. She also has a dad who can build stuff instead of shelling out $225 for it. Example: McKenna’s loft bed from American Girl. Her friend’s dad decided to tackle the project of making the bed himself and his wonderful wife volunteered him to make one for Audrey, too. If he’s making one, he may as well make two, right? They even took the American Girl catalog to the hardware store to get the right shade of purple to paint it! There was a catch, though. I was going to be the one making the bedding for the two beds. Not a bad deal at all! I took Audrey and her friend to the quilt shop last weekend to pick out fabric for their doll’s bedding. McKenna’s bed was delivered to our house last night. After a quick trip to Jo-Ann’s to get foam for the mattress & Mod Podge for the decorations, the bed is almost complete! We still have to do a ribbon board for by the desk underneath and Audrey has requested some shelving but I think it looks pretty good so far! Audrey even had a little chair that’s the perfect height for the desk. The cat really likes it, too, because we just found her laying on it.

Dinner and a Show!

Last night we took Audrey to see Alice in Wonderland at Theatre Cedar Rapids. Before the show we had Cinco de Mayo dinner at Gringo’s, half a block away from the theatre. It was our first time taking Audrey to a play. Her grandma had taken her to see Wizard of Oz at the Englert Theatre a few years ago, though, so she was no newbie to the stage!

Before the show started the actor who played the Doormouse introduced himself to us and told us this version of Alice in Wonderland was going to be nothing like the Disney version we’ve seen! At the beginning of the play the stage was pretty bare: 2 tables, a portable wardrobe and a few chairs with the actors in their street clothes. We were encouraged to use our imaginations. As the performance continued, the stage props & costumes developed and it looked more like the Alice in Wonderland we were familiar with. I don’t remember the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland but in this one, Alice doesn’t think she has an imagination and thinks all stories have to have plot and major content. On her journey through Wonderland she realizes she DOES have an imagination and things can happen just for fun!I  asked Audrey what her favorite part of the play was and, of course, she said she didn’t know but I think my favorites were the Mad Hatter and March Hare. The play is there through the middle of March so you’ll just have to go and see it for yourself!

Disney’s Camp Rock is listed in Theatre CR’s 2012-13 season and Audrey’s already clearing her calendar to go see it!

Chicken Soft Paco

We (not me) designed a logo & created signs & menu boards for a new taco cart opening in the pedestrian mall in downtown Iowa City. The name of the cart is “Paco’s Tacos.” When I first heard this I didn’t really believe it was true! When I met Mike he had a dog named “Paco.” It’s a given that all dog owners have nicknames for their dogs. Two of Paco’s nicknames were “Paco Taco. ” and “Chicken Soft Paco.” His name is now living on in a taco cart in Iowa City!

Paco's Tacos: The sign & the dog.

If We Could Talk to the Animals

…we’d take them all home!

Last weekend my fearless Girl Scout Troop co-leader, Tina, and I took 8 girls to the Iowa City Animal Shelter. The girls took a vote on who in the community they’d like to help and the IC Animal Shelter won by a majority vote of 8 to 1. The girls got what was supposed to be 30 minutes but turned into an hour-long lesson on what the shelter does. They learned about  what kinds of animals the shelter will take (and that they even had a pig once!), what happens when an animal is brought to the shelter, how many employees & volunteers work there, and how old they’ll have to be before they can volunteer there. To mine & Tina’s relief, you now have to be 18 before you can volunteer there UNLESS one of your parents has completed the cat volunteer training in which can you can be accompanied by that adult. Sadly, neither Tina or I is trained in this capacity. Besides…being in that stinky cat room as a volunteer for any amount of time longer than 5 minutes is WAAAY too much for me.

The girls in the troop also brought a donation of old blankets, towels, sheets & newspapers for the animals at the shelter. Below is a (blurry) picture of our fearless shelter tour guide and Jimmy Stewart, our spokes-cat for the afternoon. Jimmy Stewart loved being around all the girls, much to my surprise, and wouldn’t stop climbing on them and trying to get more and more pets!

Behind the Scenes…Almost

Last winter my church sent out a survey asking people what they’d like to be more involved in with the church and if they had any special talents that they could share. Being the dedicated church-attendee that I am, I chose options to try to volunteer without eating up too much of my “free time.” I checked mostly “behind the scenes” stuff and got the call shortly after about assisting with the decorating of the front area of the church with the Worship Team. With Lent fast approaching I met with 2 women from the Team and was asked for an idea for banners to hang on the stage that said different passages from the 6 weekly sermons during Lent and 1 for Easter Sunday. Sometime during that lunch meeting I agreed to creating these banners!

A few days later I received enough felt for six 19″ x 7.5′ banners. I printed out some images at work (thank you, Nick) for the top part of the banner and, every week, paint the different sayings on the bottom 6′ of felt. I use acrylic paint on black felt so I need to do at least two coats depending on how the paint sticks to the felt and also the color of paint I’ve chosen. It takes me about 3 nights to do one banner and am working on the 2nd to last one this week. I mostly paint at night when Audrey & Mike are watch TV. I sit in my craft area at my portable table while attempting to listen to every song on my iPod.

Everyone at church loves the banners so much they’re thinking of keeping them up permanently. I was even thanked in the church newsletter & even during the Sunday sermon. So much for being behind the scenes…what will I do with all my free time when Easter’s over and the banners are done?

Our American Girl

Arrived at Bloomington, MN and the Mall of America yesterday for our big Spring Break trip that I’ve decided to call “Shop Hard: Because You Can’t Take It With You.” Audrey bought the American Girl doll of the year, McKenna, with her own hard earned money and Mike and I ended up spending lots more of OUR hard earned money on her, too. 

We also dined at the American Girl Bistro for lunch today which was surprisingly good! We each got an appetizer and lunch entree for $15. My choices were pitas with spinach-artichoke dip for a starter and roasted beet and goat cheese salad for my entree. Audrey went with mini pretzel bites and spaghetti with meatballs. McKenna even had a little booster chair to sit in so she could join us during our meal and got a little teacup at her place.

We’re back at the hotel right now with sore feet & legs and no energy! We’ll probably head back to the Mall again tomorrow but check out the Sea Life Aquarium instead of submersing ourselves in the American Girl world again…one can only hope!

Part-Time Dishwasher

That’s the title I put on the business card of a restaurant owner once: Part-Time Dishwasher. He thought it was funny but his wife…not so much. At our house we have an appliance instead of a part-time employee to wash most of our dishes. UNLOADING the dishes from the dishwasher, however, is another story. The other night I asked ”Can someone please unload the dishwasher for me” while I was cooking dinner. Then I thought to myself: “Those aren’t all MY dishes and it certainly isn’t just MY dishwasher. Why do I even have to ask?” No one heard my request and instead of repeating myself at a higher volume, I just emptied the dishwasher while cooking dinner.

The next day at work I asked my co-worker why I felt I had to ask the dishwasher be emptied for me and at what point exactly did I assume responsibility for this appliance? Apparently she suffers from the same dilemma. I guess the answer will never be known. And why don’t I look as glamourous as the woman in the picture above while unloading the dishes?

What Time Is It?

For Christmas Mike got me a very nice necklace from the Iowa Artisans Gallery in downtown Iowa City. It was ”chunky” with light pink stones. The ever-so-practical girl in me, however, had a really hard time accepting it. Mike, being the understanding and ever-dutiful husband he is, went downtown to return it but came back with store-credit instead. Yesterday he took me back to the store so I could pick something out. This little doggy clock from Boss Brown Clocks made out of found kitchen items is what I decided on. It’s perfect in our kitchen and I love the whimsical look of it. I’ve been trying to “phase out” all of the chicken stuff in my kitchen and here’s the perfect start!