Today is a Special Day for Two Reasons

HeartsFirst…

Today my parents, Bill and Norma, are celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary!  Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad. 

"Happy marrriages begin when we marry the one we love, and they blossom when we love the one we married." — Sam Levinson

Thank you for showing us, all of us – myself, Dave, Karen, our spouses Steve and Karen J., and especially grandkids Tara, Ross, Michael, Kyle, Christian and Amy – and extended family and friends, that love can truly blossom in this day and age.

The second reason today is a special day is that it’s my husband’s birthday.  Happy Birthday, hon. Happy_birthday_3

You and I may never see our 50th wedding anniversary as we still have 40 years to go.  But I’ll die tryin’!

Love to all the special people in my life,

Connie

Meme the Time Away

ohdave.  Sigh. 

*It seems your friends westender, laffy and kirsten don’t have much patience with you.  ohdave, I’m sorry.  Perhaps they think they have more important things to do than respond to the meme you forwarded.  Perhaps they don’t but they just wanted us all to think they do, so they moaned and complained and pretended to resent the whole exercise.  Why? 

**Well dave, I have nothing more important to do. (One could assume you don’t either, or at least you didn’t, since you responded to the meme yourself.) In fact, I’ve been just sitting here wondering what to do with myself, as I so often do.  Then I remembered that you had recently tagged me and I had yet to respond.  Flushed with excitement and a sense of honor (ohdave tagged ME!), I reached for the nearest book….

(*you guys know I’m just kidding, right?)
(**you guys do know I’m just kidding, right?)

Continue reading “Meme the Time Away”

Clean Water for the Children, Please.

We have a couple of friends, Andrea and Zac, and we’d love to tell you
what they’re up to.  OK, as of our last count we have more than a
couple of friends, but for now we’re focusing on these two.

Zac and Andrea
are currently training to run the 2008 Los Angeles Marathon scheduled
for March 2.  And if that is not ambitious enough, they’re doing it to
raise funds for Global Water in honor of Andrea’s father, who passed away last summer.

"Andrea’s father, Pasquale Scarpino, a microbiologist and university
professor who dedicated his work to water disinfection and
clarification projects around the world, died this summer. So we’ve
decided to dedicate our marathon bid to him by raising money for an
organization called Global Water"

We – Steve and I, although Steve doesn’t know it yet – have just done
our part and written a check, check #1004, made out to "Global Water
Water Supply Fund" and as soon as the blizzard outside our door clears,
at least enough for us to find our way to the mailbox, we’re going to
mail it to them.  Yes we are.  If Andrea and Zac are going to run 26
miles for this cause, the least we can do is walk to the mailbox.  In
our snowshoes. 

I know, I’ll ask Steve to do it.  Hey, I wrote the
check!

And because we believe in Andrea and Zac as much as we believe in clean
drinking water for children around the world, we’re writing to you.  Do
you believe in clean drinking water for children?  Then, no doubt, you
will want to help too. 

"Depending on how much money we raise, Global Water will
choose a Guatemalan school to fund, and send us pictures of the
facilities that we help to build. We will not only be helping students
gain access to clean and hygienic water, but will also be helping to
ensure their continued educations. A full 80% of the diseases that kill
children worldwide are caused by drinking contaminated water, and
children sick with water-borne diseases aren’t able to stay in school
as long as children with access to clean water." 

You do believe in clean drinking water for children, don’t you?  And your check number is….?

~ Connie

P.S.  If you knew Andrea and Zac, you’d believe in them too.  You can contact them through their link above.  We hope you do.  With your check number, of course.

"Hi. I'm Elizabeth Edwards"

Steve and I had just received a tip that John Edwards was appearing in
a local restaurant around the corner from where we happened to be (in
downtown Iowa City).  Winding our way down the hallway to the back room
where the crowd was, a woman stepped out of the restroom.  We almost
bumped into each other.

Just as I was processing the thought Elizabeth…? she said "Hi.  I’m Elizabeth Edwards…" She then stuck her hand out to shake mine. 

Yes, so I noticed!" I replied…

We caught the tail-end of John’s speech and as he made his way through the room to leave, I shook his hand for the second time in two weeks.  He smiled and thanked Steve and I when we wished him good luck this evening.

What were we doing in downtown Iowa City early this morning you ask?  Why we had just attended a Chris Dodd pre-caucus coffee hour.  There we met and had a brief conversation with his wife, Jackie.  We had met Chris a couple of weeks ago…

Quite the morning I’d say. 

Now I’m not sayin’ who has my vote.  But I will say it’s fun to experience for the first time what all this Iowa Caucus hoopla is all about.  Any way you look at it, this is history in the making and as Chris Dodd said this morning, no where but in Iowa do people have the opportunity to really get to know the candidates – and on a first name basis at that. 

Elizabeth, Jackie – it was a pleasure to meet you both this morning.  You too, John and Chris.

~ Connie

A Must for All You Moms Out There. Dads, you'll like it too.

To all you Moms out there reading this, let’s thank my sister for sending me this GEM.  Tell me you can’t relate!  Although I will say that I first heard the line and if all your friends jumped off a bridge from my father, not my mother…

I had never heard of Anita Renfroe before now.  Am I the only one? 

~ Connie

Dodging Snowflakes

We’re in!

The moving truck was loaded up on Tuesday and left Worthington, OH for Iowa City by 2:00 p.m.  That night Columbus experienced the first snow storm of the season.  Maggie, Roscoe and I left town, our van loaded down with "essentials", on Wednesday morning during the peak of the storm.  Thankfully an hour west and the roads were clear…

Thursday morning the truck arrived at our new home.  By 3:00 the guys were finished unloading our possessions, just as snowflakes started falling again.  It was the start of "my" first Iowa blizzard. 

I’m ready for a long winter’s nap.

~ Connie

Dear Friends,

Thank you to those of you who left lovely comments on my last post, "How Love Works".  Blue Girl, I removed the "Ho".  Thanks for the heads up.  I have no idea how I did that…

Home Sweet Home. Probably.

It’s looking like this is the one – the place to call our own! House_2

Personally, I’m not wild about the big garage door up front, but life is about compromise isn’t it?   I think this house is a fine compromise.  (I’m a renovated farmhouse kind of gal at heart, complete with horse barn…)

I appreciated the comments people made on this earlier post about walking into a house and feeling the "ahh, this is the one" factor.  I felt it here.  Steve needed a little convincing, but not much.  Unfortunately the house faces south, but most of the living space is on the north side.  We’re going to install a couple of extra windows in back to brighten it up just a bit.  That and a lighter color paint than what’s in there now and it will be perfect! (Except for the fact that it’s not a farmhouse with a horse barn out back.)

~ Connie

Visual description: gray vinyl sided 2-story house, with some brick detailing. White, rather prominent 2-car garage door on right.  Don’t know what kind of build an architect would call it.  Anyone know?  It’s all of 5-years old…

Lucky

We’re lucky to be living in Worthington, OH.  Or should I say, we’re lucky to be selling a house in Worthington, OH.  After one month on the market and believe it or not, two showings, we’re in contract.

Our realtor was very optimistic.  "Houses are still selling in Worthington" he said.  He was right.  We happen to be in the right place at the wrong time. 

My heart goes out to all those people who have their own plans stalled by a lousy real estate market.  Monica Moshenko, host of Disability News & Views Radio Show, and her son Alex are trying to sell their house in upstate New York.  They have ambitious travel plans to tour the US in an RV as they take "the pulse of America and the largest minority in America — people with disabilities."  They are ready to go but won’t until the house sells. 

Roadtourad_4

Monica, Alex: Steve and I hope things fall into place for you soon. 

And that goes for the rest of America on the move.  Or hoping to be soon…

As for me, it looks like I’m Iowa bound as of December 5th.  My husband is waiting patiently for me there.  Soon, honey, soon.

~ Connie