kablpomo – Page 11 – Life in the Cheese Drawer

a tour back

November 19, 2016 kate Comments 0 Comment

today i went to spicer to help out liz’s in-laws clean out their house (personal details not to follow – just know that the time has come to clear out a house).
i drove down a county road from avon to richmond that i’d never been on before that was lovely, except for the snowy roads bumps that made me slow down from time to time. in richmond, i hooked up on good ol’ highway 23.
oh, 23. for 15 years i traveled you back and forth from the st. cloud area to new london. good times. it’s changed, especially the section that no longer goes through paynesville, but that’s really another story for another time.
what surprised me this time was rounding that dratted corner right before new london and seeing the water tower come into view. my gut wrenched up. what on earth – it’s been 23 years since i first got puke-worthy nervous over seeing that water tower show up around the bend.
after my mom took her job in willmar, we lived in st. cloud with my grandparents for a bit, and every morning we drove from st cloud to new london to drop me off at high school and then my mom to willmar for work. those first couple months just wreaked havoc on my nerves as i had to navigate a new high school after 9 years of being with the same people in school. so, with good reason that the water tower brought on a bout of nervous butterflies.
but it waned, as it had to, since i drove into new london quite a bit from the east. this time, however, it was a surprised nervous flutter that quelled almost as soon as it started. but it was there.
i’m not sure how many more times i’ll be heading that way, but i hope the nervous nellies take a hike.

thanksgiving foods

November 18, 2016 kate Comments 0 Comment

thanksgiving is coming up so quickly! of course there’s going to be a nice, organic, free-range turkey in the oven, and i’m going to make pies, pumpkin and raspberry rhubarb i believe.
so this weekend i have to go shopping for such foods, and it’ll be interesting if i get out of the driveway. my drive home took me almost twice as long as it normally does due to the snow today. OMG. i can’t believe they didn’t close the campus. the roads were icy and snow was blowing over them from the 50-mph winds howling out of the north.
the worst part of the drive, and i was expecting it, was my road – parkwood circle. i hadn’t expected them to plow it already, but there was so much snow on the ground that it was right at the bottom of my car body as i was driving through the ruts in the road. then there was the hill. i was worried i was going to have to have nate come attach a rope to my car and pull me up the hill, but after 5mph and crossing my fingers, i made it up. my driveway was the easy part! i just glided right down and into the garage.
i’m supposed to go to spicer tomorrow, but we’ll see if we’ll get the driveway cleared out in time. i’m also supposed to hang my xmas lights this weekend, but not sure if that’ll happen (should’ve done it last month).
that totally diverged from thanksgiving foods. here’s what i think i’m making:

turkey
stuffing
cranberry stuff (hot or cold – not sure yet
squash galette
sweet potato stuff
potatoes/gravy
beans or mushrooms or something. glazed carrots??
pie, pie, and pie
eggnog!

i feel like i’m missing something…

SNOW

November 17, 2016 kate Comments 0 Comment

SNOW’S A’COMIN’!
BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES
BUY YOUR MILK, BREAD, AND EGGS
GET READY IT’S GONNA BE A DOOZY

a chance to go beyond the safety pin!

November 16, 2016 kate Comments 0 Comment

here’s something i just wrote on my facebook wall for tomorrow’s give to the max day here in MN:
hi friends! tomorrow’s give to the max day, and i’m at a conference tomorrow so i’m going to post about this now in case i can’t get to it. now is a great time to throw some weight behind that safety pin! donate to organizations that support and help the vulnerable and disadvantaged populations, since 1) they always need it and 2) funding cuts are most likely on the way. for instance, you can donate to my mom’s org, PossAbilities, that helps people with disabilities. or your area food shelf, women’s shelter, or united way are always great places to give. i give to the land stewardship project every year to promote land conservation because the environment is my #1 priority (really, without a habitable earth to live on, nothing else much matters). and at the risk of of inciting a large debate that i will try to ignore, giving to planned parenthood is a great idea; they help low-income women and men with their reproductive health and STD tests, do cancer screenings, and provide low-cost birth control. what are you waiting for? if you’ve been low income at some point in your life, and i definitely have, then you know the importance of these programs. let’s make a difference!
i donated to my mom’s org, to the landstewardship project, and i set up monthly donations to planned parenthood.
i’ve been poor! not just as a kid when my parents were down and out, but as a new college grad making $7 and hour and scraping by. for about five years before i got health insurance like a grownup at a real employer that offered health insurance, i went to planned parenthood for my yearly checkups and for birth control (for my monogamous, responsible relationship! and even if it wasn’t, NBD!). i paid on a sliding scale, which was much cheaper than if i’d had to pay at a clinic and pharmacy with no insurance. this is a real service to women who can’t afford to go to a family practitioner once a year or get birth control at the obscene amounts the companies charged. before obamacare made BC covered, i paid $400 out of pocket AFTER INSURANCE for my mirena. i was paying about $30/month for a pack of BC pills in the early 2000s, and that was a CHEAP pack. i had my mirena replaced a few months ago, and there was absolutely no cost to me. and if that part of obamacare is repealed (god forbid), we’re going to have to pony up the dollars again.
let me tell you my planned parenthood story. i was going in for my yearly exam, and i encountered a single older gentleman in front of the door praying the rosary. this is not uncommon in st cloud, where they don’t even perform abortions (only one in the state is in st. paul). it was raining, so i hurried in, had my exam, and was ready to go out and chat with this guy. i planned on thanking him for praying for a good result from my yearly exam, making sure i flashed my wedding ring in the process. unfortunately, he was gone by the time i left, but i was ready to talk to this guy, to maybe plant a seed of thought that perhaps women who used planned parenthood aren’t all there to have their daily abortions, that maybe it does provide some services beyond that.
so, that’s my story, and here’s my plug for donating during give to the max day. it’s a feel good day when you can go on one site to find an organization worth giving to, something you feel really passionate about. there’s even a place you can donate where all the money goes to help CATS!! and it’s one GREAT way to show your support for the people who are going to need your help during the next four years. beyond the safety pin!!

https://www.givemn.org/

title

November 15, 2016 kate Comments 0 Comment

where is november going?? it’s thanksgiving next week already! i’ve got a conference thursday and friday, then this weekend i have to put up my christmas lights 😮
i’m enamored with finding dory at the moment, so my shorty mcshorty blog post will have to do for now 🙂 maybe i’ll have something interesting to blog about tomorrow.

kablpomo continued…

November 13, 2016 kate Comments 0 Comment

after this week-long break, now i’m feeling i’ve got to keep up my blog game. but today i was so tired all day long. i slept 10 hours last night and took an hour nap today. i’ll probably pass out here in the next half hour and get another 8.5 hours tonight. traveling wears a person out!
and back to real life and what to do, what to do. after the election, i feel fired up to do something, somewhere, somehow. sure, i can wear a safety pin, but i feel like that’s a very small thing a person can do. i might start volunteering at planned parenthood. i thought about doing something at a women’s shelter, but i feel like i’m more passionate about PP. so i’ve looked into and we’ll see what happens (another option is the local pet shelter, but i doubt DT will go after our pets).
i’ve uploaded all my trip photos to FB, which you can see here:
https://www.facebook.com/katewallace1979/media_set?set=a.10102074575546331.1073741844.56002659&type=3&pnref=story
https://www.facebook.com/katewallace1979/media_set?set=a.10102074558560371.1073741843.56002659&type=3
https://www.facebook.com/katewallace1979/media_set?set=a.10102074628495221.1073741845.56002659&type=3&uploaded=233

day 5: …

November 11, 2016 kate Comments 0 Comment

today was our last full day in california. 🙁
we had no plans to do anything today, and i know jane at least made good on that. didn’t do much for the first hour i was awake, and then sat by the pool for a little bit before coming in and convincing jane to take a walk with me down ventura blvd. not a lot going on there except for some bright sun. i think if we were down a little farther on the strip, we would’ve seen a lot more stuff happening, like chandelier stores and adult bookshops.
came back and had lunch at the hotel restaurant and i went back to sitting by the pool while jane wrote in the room (she was trying to avoid the heat). i came back to the room and on my way across the pool deck, i slipped on the tile and biffed in in front of all the pool patrons. thanks, kim*.
after checking out my bruised hip, i decided to go for a short run on the treadmill (finally! all week i didn’t run, so it was time). i hate seeing my distance on the treadmill counter because i’m so annoyed at how slowly i’m going, but i got two miles in and quit because there was NO FAN to cool me off.
made it across the pool deck unscathed this time and took a shower before heading out to try the tortas mexico restaurant on ventura. mm mmm!! delish! i had two tacos with homemade tortillas and jane had a giant burrito the size of her head! i was also able to get some horchata and pineapple juice – yummy yummy! jane said she’d have to eat here if she lived here, and i said “she died like she lived; eating a burrito.” now it’s a thing.

got back to the room and packed up all our junk – OMG. what an ordeal. i was worried i wouldn’t get all my junk in my trunk, but i made it, after moving things around 20 times. then i forgot to pull out socks for tomorrow. hauled the suitcase back up and open. then i forgot to pull out a sleeping shirt. hauled the suitcase back up and open. then jane said “she died like she lived; packing her suitcase.” ugh, ain’t that the truth. was looking for my flipflops and realized they’re packed! good grief.
now we’re hanging out in our hotel room waiting for the pool area to clear out so we can spend some time in the hot tub before we have to leave. tomorrow we fly out at 1pm back to 40-degree weather**.
*kim was the travel agent for the travel voucher jane won who was supposed to help us figure everything out. turns out she was NOT helpful and NOT a good travel agent. seriously – leave for a conference for two weeks and don’t check your email AT ALL, especially the week before you leave? and then tell us the hotel is booked because she didn’t check her email? (also, the car rental prices she got us were about $100 more than what i found, and that was limited to 150 miles a day – HA. #thankskim).
**not sure how i’ll cope. i was sitting by the pool today and it got chilly so i decided to come back to the room. checked the temperature and it was 81º. -_-

day 3: the OCEAN

November 9, 2016 kate Comments 1 comment

it’s so BRIGHT here. all the time! it’s pretty weird.
today after facing some ugly truths, jane and i hopped in the convertible and headed as far west as we could. after driving on narrow lanes once again (seriously – not sure what’s up with the narrow traffic lanes around here [but dang if these peeps don’t keep a great amount of following distance! love it]), we finally came around a bend and saw the pacific! that’s a big piece of water.
after hanging out on hwy 101 for a bit, we were able to get off onto the pacific coast highway (hwy 1). we immediately found a pull off and went to the beach to dip our toes in the chilly water and pick up some rocks and shells. jane didn’t roll her pants up high enough and got wet pants at least three times.
then we took off northward on the PCH/101, landing in santa barbara, where we parked the car and took a stroll on the beach (where we saw a creepy, really tanned old dude in a speedo who should’ve taken a dip in the cold ocean), then walked out to stern’s wharf.
at that point, it suddenly got super hot. jane was using the ladies and i stood in the shade, where i sweated from just being. i also awkwardly chatted with a guy in steampunk gear who had his cat on a leash (the cat was cool).
after saying goodbye to the cat, we had drinks and lunch at a restaurant (moby dick’s) out on the wharf, overlooking a harbor and the palm trees of santa barbara. i’d definitely recommend SB if you want to just hang out in a smaller town with a beach and typical tropical atmosphere. lots of palm trees, giant beach, constant sun.
then we left and drove back down 101, hooking up with hwy 1 again via a weird, roundabout, interstate farmland area (seriously, weird farming stuff here). we drove through malibu and saw a ton of fancypants houses that we wouldn’t be able to pay taxes on, let alone buy. i think i saw ellen degeneres’ house! j/k i don’t know if i did, but i’m sure i saw the house of someone famous!
then we went to santa monica pier, where we had surprisingly easy and CHEAP access to parking (seriously, $6 for parking; i thought it was going to be $20). headed out on the pier and looked at a bunch of tacky stuff, picked up a couple souvenirs, then watched the sunset off the pier, along with every other person on the pier at the time. got some great pics, though!
we got back to the hotel by backtracking a bit because the timing was pretty horrible due to rush hour. we drove through topanga canyon and were surprised at the end of it by a GREAT overlook of LA at night. after half an hour of windy, 20-mph driving, it was worth it. it’d be fun to see that during the day too.
instead of taking the freeway to our hotel, we decided to drive ventura boulevard for 11 miles to our hotel. it was CONSTANT COMMERCE. just weird. saw a lot of porn shops (one with a giant, stuffed penis for sale in the window), psychics, sushi shops, then walgreens, target, pier one, then fancy restaurants, organic pet food stores, yoga studios, then a mcdonald’s, trader joe’s, michael’s craft store, then a store dedicated entirely lightbulbs, chandelier stores, etc. etc. and all the time, traffic was tight with the narrow lanes. i’m not sure how a person is supposed to turn left onto the road.
we got through ventura, then jane made her only navigational mistake of the day. we were turning right into the hotel, and it was coming up, and i said, “it’s coming up. there it is. here it is. turn here. right here. there it is. there it goes.”
then we had to drive around on some side streets, but jane made it.

awesome (almost) day 1 of fun

November 7, 2016 kate Comments 0 Comment

DAY 1: universal studios and WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER.
after 9 hours of sleep, i woke up at 6 a.m. bright eyed and bushy tailed. after lolling about in bed for half an hour, jane and i leisurely got ready to leave at 8:30 for universal (the park opened at 9).
let me tell you, if you want to be in the happiest place on earth and not deal with screaming 6 year olds all day, universal is the place to be (so sayeth jane). there were kids, yes, but there were a LOT of adults there. we were sipping our butterbeer, and a woman in her 50s ran over to do this interactive thing. teenagers, 20-somethings, 30- 40- 50- : everyone was super excited to be there. as for jane and me, we could’ve lived in hogsmeade!

our first stop was for butterbeer, which was DELICIOUS. had to get the commemorative mug while we were there (i asked how much it was, then shook my head and said who cares how much it is? i’ll still get it! [it was $11 w/butterbeer]).

we took a look through dervish and banges, the owlery, honeydukes, filch’s emporium, zonko’s, etc. etc! didn’t get fitted for a wand, but stopped at ollivander’s and got a wand! hermione’s my spirit animal, and her wand has leaves on it, so i got hers.

lots of HP gear for sale in HP world, and we wanted one of everything. fyi, you can get gryffindor’s sword for $200, displayed on a fancy wooden plaque. there was also a set of bookends that i kind of wanted but couldn’t justify spending $100 on.
after a once through, we took a walk through the lower lot, which included the jurassic park ride. ended up taking three VERY LONG escalators, along with a pitstop for a scenic overlook along the way.

jane was super excited for jurassic park.

we went to the three broomsticks for lunch! i had fish n chips and jane had bangers and mash, and we shared a pumpkin fizz (which tasted deliciously like fall and almost christmas and sitting in a pile of leaves) and a chocolate trifle (it was good except for the chocolate block on the top).

then another run through HP before heading to the rest of the park to check it out.

then i made the vital mistake of the day. i decided to risk going on a ride sans dramamine. NOT GOOD. except, the lead up was good. we got to see the inside of hogwarts!

then we went on the ride, which gave me serious motion sickness. about halfway through i thought, “i have made a terrible mistake,” and i focused on breathing. i didn’t have my eyes open at all during that ride. got off and was about ready to start dry heaving in the little witches’ room.
so, jane and i spent the next hour and a half sitting at a table at the hog’s head, jane drinking a beer and me wondering what i did to deserve this horrible feeling. thank goodness it was one of the last things we did.
we finished up some shopping we had to do in HP world, then we caught the 5:15 trolley to the hotel. i was totally impressed at how much time we spent there! even though two hours of it was spent with me looking green (and feeling like a dementer’s kiss).

definitely want to come back! would even consider braving florida to see daigon alley!