Author: heather

Health & Fitness

Chocolate brownies and milk

heather

Wow, another weekend has come and gone.  It was a great, relaxing weekend  at least.  Today I finally ran again.  I’ve been averaging once a week – not good, but better than nothing.  I actually ran for 2 miles today, which is double what I ran last Saturday.  I think Tim and I are going to do the Quad City Marathon 5k on 9/26, so I need to start logging some more miles.  I should run 3.1 miles at least once before the big day.

Hopefully work won’t be too crazy over the next couple of weeks, so I can get home at a decent hour and run after work.  I suppose I could run on the treadmill in the morning, but that is just so B O R I N G.  Ugh.

I rewarded myself for running today by indulging in a brownie and big glass of milk after supper.  I must say, I make some delicious brownies.  Tim agrees.

Uncategorized

Consumer -> Producer

heather

Timmsy Tee and I did a little shopping today.  In the paper a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the Waste Commission of Scott County, in conjunction with the Rock Island County Waste Management Agency, was hosting a Compost Bin and Rain Barrel Sale today.  Tim and I have long flirted with the idea of getting a compost bin, but they are wicked expensive (usually at least $100).  The Waste Commission was selling the compost bins for $40, so we headed down to the sale this morning.  It was a beautiful, sunny, warm, breezy day, and the line reflected the pretty day and all the pseudo-hippies’ desire for a good deal.  We waited in line for 30 – 45 minutes, listening to the incessant chatter of the day-care mom next to us, and the occasional wise words from the straw-hatted back-yard prairie planter in line in front of her.  It was an interesting 45 minutes.  It was actually really encouraging to see so many people who were willing to wait in line for an environmental tool.

The bin barely fit in our car, but we were able to squeeze it in.  We have all the pieces put together, but we haven’t screwed it into the ground yet.  I’m looking forward to no longer feeling guilty whilst throwing away coffee grounds, tea bags, and vegetable peels.  Hopefully within several months, we’ll have some nice, healthy compost to mix in with our clay yard.

After getting the bin situated, Tim went to the gym, and I went for a jog – the first jog in at least 2 weeks.  I ran a mile without stopping, and then walked about a mile, just enjoying the sound of the creek and the locusts and the wind in the late summer, crispy leaves.

For lunch, we headed out to Bent River.  We spent an hour or so lounging in the back patio, eating 99 cent tacos, fries with jalapeno ketchup, and drinking the Bent River Pale Ale – delicious.

Inspired by the free spirit pervading Bent River, at our next stop, Evergreen Art Works, I bought a few things I’ve been wanting for watercolor painting – a paint mixing tray, note cards made of 140 lb watercolor paper, and a 24″ x 32″ “Incredible Art Board.”  The teacher at the last Figge class had one of these boards.  You can stretch and staple watercolor paper to it, and it won’t bend or warp.  She had also taped wax paper to one side of the board, so she could mix her paint right next to her painting.  You can also flip over the board, and use the other side (of course, before flipping it, you’ll want to make sure your paint won’t run).  It was kind of pricey (around $33), but I think I’ll really like it.  No matter what kind of tape I use, I cannot get my paper to lie flat after I wet it.  The paint settles in the valleys and frustrates me.

I’m really looking forward to working with the watercolor cards too.  As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I hate and am no good at painting backgrounds.  The smaller the piece of paper, the less background!  I’m getting several pictures printed at Walgreens, so that I have a variety of subjects to choose from – everything from flowers (might as well give it another shot) to bridges (architectural, straight lines are much more predictable than petals).  Here are a few samples of what I’m planning on trying next:

I'll just paint the Luce - not the background.

So, with all this consuming we’ve been doing today, we better start producing – producing compost and artwork.  Good thing tomorrow is Sunday.

Health & Fitness

Yesterday, All My Troubles Seemed So Far Away

heather

That’s because it was Sunday, and I didn’t have to work!  Instead, Tim and I hooked up the bikes and drove out to Rapid City, IL and hit the Illinois side of the bike bath.  We braved a ferocious southern wind and biked up to Cordova and back.  It was a great bike ride.  We were wiped afterwards, but it was super fun.  Some day maybe we can ride all the way to Savannah and back…

We capped off the evening with supper (philly cheese steak and buffalo blue cheese brats) and pool with some good friends.  The only downfall to the Sunday was that it went by way too fast.  I didn’t get laundry done or grocery shopping done or anything.

Health & Fitness, Uncategorized

Exploration on Two Wheels

heather

On Saturday Tim and I braved the 90 degree weather and went for a monster bike ride.  We took Grand to Kirkwood, Kirkwood to Iowa, and then Iowa to downtown.  We crossed the Mississippi using the Government bridge.  That is one unsettling bridge to bike over, what with the the platform of the bridge being a GRATE and all!  You can look down and see the river flowing beneath your feet.  From there we hit the bike bath and rode east all the way to I-74.  On the way, we saw things we’ve never seen before, even though I’ve lived here for over a decade, and Tim has lived here is whole life.

We discovered Sylvan Island.  It’s this island park between Moline and the Arsenal.  It’s laced with gravel bike-paths and the ruins of a steel mill.  I found this great article on the history of the island and the people who convinced the City to turn it into a park.  Road bikes are not the best bikes to use on those paths, however, so we didn’t ride around much.  We want to go back and hike and take the camera, however.

We also discovered that along the bike path in Moline, there are more industrial ruins – perhaps of John Deere facilities?  It looked as if there were walking paths and signage around the ruins, so we need to go back there with the camera too.

Once we hit the 74 bridge, we turned around and headed back to Rock Island.  We biked through the new Schweibert Park (where the gross casino used to be).  It’s a beautiful park now, and it was packed!

From there we biked downtown and onto the Centennial Bridge.  That bridge is even scarier to bike over than the Government Bridge, as the path is partially blocked at intervals by the beams holding up the arch.  We took it slow, though, and didn’t end up scraping any hands off on the beams.

We biked across downtown Davenport, and then headed up Main Street.  That hill is a KILLER, especially after you have already biked 20 miles in 90 degree heat.  Tim, of course, totally out paced me on the ride up the hill.  As I was slowly cranking my way up the hill, I ran across some people directing traffic (must have been some event at Palmer).  One of the guys was kind enough to give me a push, and, man, it made all the difference.  It gave me a great boost, both physically and mentally.  I love nice people.

Tim and I recuperated for a bit at the top of  hill, drank the rest of the water in our water bottles (which, even though our bottles are insulated was nice and lukewarm), and then headed home through VanderVeer.

By the time we got home, we were drenched with sweat and completely wiped out.  But, it was super fun.  I am so excited that I can see progress.  I am getting stronger and can bike longer and harder.  I’ve been wary of changing my left gear ever since I got my bike. The first time I tried to do it, the chain fell off.  But, since I’m getting stronger, I’ve felt the need to use the hardest gear on the left, and I’ve finally have figured out how to change it without jacking up the chain.  I just have to make sure that I’m in the correct gear on the right side first.  If I’m in the correct gear, the bike shifts seamlessly, amazingly well.

Our plan today is to get the bike rack hooked up to our new hitch, so we can drive over I-80 and catch the bike path there on the Illinois side.  Tim tried to hook the rack up yesterday, but we discovered we received a bum bolt.  It’s threads are off, so when Tim tried to tighten it on the bolt, it became fused to the bolt.  Tim and I together had to muscle it off, amidst a bunch of cussing and hand cramping.  Hopefully we can find a nut at Home Depot that will work until we can get a replacement nut from Swagman.

Hope you are enjoying this beautiful day!

Uncategorized

Watercolor Class #2

heather

I took my second watercolor class on Saturday. It was again offered by the Figge, but this class was held at the Stone Building at VanderVeer park.  We met in the hot, old building for about an hour while the teacher (a former art teacher at Pleasant Valley) demonstrated various techniques (how to use salt, Frisket, saran wrap, etc.) to produce different effects.  Then she walked us through her hand-outs, which contained several tips on color combinations and composition.  Many of the tips came from “Painting Flowers in Watercolor” by Karen Simmons, a book the teacher highly recommends.  After the introduction, we gathered up our gear, braved crossing Central Park, and settled in for some plein air painting.

The class instructions did not tell us we would be painting outside, so I wasn’t very prepared, meaning I didn’t slather myself with sunscreen.  I tried to pick a shady spot, but the damn sun moved, and I ended up getting pretty burned on my shoulders.  Despite the sun, though, the first hour/hour and half working out there was super relaxing.  The flowers I really wanted to try painting (nice, symmetrical, small orange daisies) were in the full sun, so I settled on some slightly more complicated flowers (from the Gerbera family, I think?).  They were a almost flourescent shade of fucshia, especially around the edges.

I settled in on the detailed work, painting the inner parts of the flower in tiny detail, outlining the leaves and pulling the color down the petals.  I used the end of a paint brush to “bruise” the paper where the vein ran down the petal.  The effect was very subtle, but interesting. I can’t find any good light this morning, so I apologize for the shadows on the pictures.

While working on the flowers, the time flew by.  The teacher came over periodically and gave me some tips on color (needed to add more purple to get the color truer).  Some park visitors wandered by and said the painting looked good, which made me happy.

Then, I had to start on the background.

I HATE doing backgrounds.

Backgrounds suck and ruin all of my artwork.

I need to start blowing up my subject matter, so that it takes up all of the paper space.

I was fairly happy with the flowers; at least, I enjoyed working on them.  But, once I started on the leaves, I quickly got frustrated.  First, I used the wrong color and made the leaves too dark and dead.  Then I was at a loss about how to fill in all the white space, so I just started adding random leaves in everywhere.  And, I added a nice, washed-out sky.

So, the painting is definitely not hang-up worthy.  But, it was a good learning experience.  I learned that painting outside sucks. You get sunburned, you can’t easily get fresh water, your subject material has the gall to move with the wind, your eye can’t capture the changing colors as the sun passes over, etc.  I am definitely more of a paint by photo kind of gal.

The five other students in the class produced some nice work.  One especially chatty student (a retired woman who just recently started painting), painted a very Salvador Dali-ish canna leaf.  It was swirly and crazy and super cool.  Maybe that’s the key to producing something beautiful – you need to “interpret” it and not try to make a carbon copy of it.

It was a good class, and I’m glad I took it.  I don’t see myself doing a lot of paintings of flowers/plants (I enjoy painting houses much more), but  it’s nice to spend 3 hours with a random group of people who are content to sit outside and try to create a thing of beauty while getting to know each other.

Uncategorized

6 O’Clock on Sunday Evening

heather

I have a cold.  It is so unfair to be sick on the weekend.  Tim got sick with a cold on Thursday and was just coming clean when it smote me today.  No bike riding or jogging for Heather today.  No much of anything for Heather today, except for nose blowing.  I swear I’ve used a whole box of tissues.

Truth be told, I did get some stuff done today – laundry, dishes, breakfast, Target shopping, etc.  I also pulled out 3 tomato plants and chucked them into the yard waste bin.  They are still producing tomatoes, but the tomatoes are gross.  They have soft spots and black spots, and they just end up rotting on the vine.  So I chucked them.  The back yard is a little better looking now.

Besides today though, it’s been a pretty great weekend. Tim and I made it to the gym yesterday.  It was the first day back for me since last Wednesday!  My morning workouts are getting harder to do.  I need to steel myself, is all.  Tim and I are thinking of starting a Facebook page for us and our health-minded friends to encourage each other to work out.  It’s so much easier, or at least it sucks less, to work out when one has friends to which to be accountable.  I did arm weights and elliptical, and my arms are literally killing me today.  I don’t know if I’ll make.  I love you all, and it’s been a fun ride.

We also had Mom and Dad over this weekend.  They arrived in time for macho nachos last night, after which we played euchre and watched The Ugly Truth. TUT is not a good movie, per say.  But, Mom and I were looking for a light-hearted, funny movie, and it fit the bill perfectly.  It’s a little raunchy, but there are some good, tender moments in it – like when Gerard Butler is all falling for Kathryn Heigel, and she’s oblivious to it until the elevator scene.  Tim and I were discussing Inception today, specifically the point where Joseph Gorden-Levitt steals a kiss from Ellen Page under false pretenses.  We agreed that those simple, clean, restrained moments are more romantic than full-on knocking boots (ala the last scene of TUT).

Anyway, it was great to see Mom and Dad again.  I asked Dad in June if he could build me a tall table/desk, so that I can use my computer whilst standing up.  The desk will also serve as a stand-up drawing table.  I was just looking for a simple, tall table, but Dad found a beautiful pattern for a drawing table with an adjustable table top.  It’s full of whimsy and will be an heirloom of our household when it’s completed.  I can’t wait.

I am taking another watercolor class held by the Figge on Saturday.  I am looking forward to getting some instruction again.  I enjoy drawing and painting, yet it’s oddly hard for me to do it unless I have to for a class.  I’m starting to get suspicious that I’m just lazy.  I hope that’s not true.  It’s definitely something I need to work on – producing instead of consuming.  Consuming is just so much easier.  And, we all have our addictions.  Tim and I went to the Active Endeavors Tent Sale yesterday, and I almost bought another travel  bag, even though I already have 2 perfectly servicable, attractive travel bags.  I just really, really, really, love bags and purses.  I don’t know why.  I just do.  I like to buy them and use them, and look at them – more than I like to sit at my desk and draw or paint.  It’s easier, but less fulfilling, which is the way of life, I guess.

I got some reading done with weekend too.  I am almost done with Lord of the Rings, which I am reading for the fourth time. I had forgotten how bastardized the movies are.  They portray so many characters inexactly.  Frodo, Faramir, Gimli – they are all mockeries of their book-selves.  I do really enjoy the movies, and I understand why they felt the need to alter things (to reach a wider audience), but it’s a true shame that they took so much honor away from these noble characters, especially Frodo and Faramir.  They are no noble and wise in the books.  Anyway, the books are making me somewhat pensive and reflective – making me wonder what good I am doing in this world, how I am fighting the darkness.

But, this post has gone on long enough.  It’s time for supper and Tim and Lucent.  Take care and have a wonderful week.

Yours truly,

HloDeCello

Product Reviews

Best pajama shorts ever

heather

I’m conflicted about Old Navy.  I never used to shop there when I was in high school.  The store was too loud, too busy, and too colorful.  I preferred the laid-back blue and gray tones of the Gap.  But, over the past few years I’ve wandered in and found some things I like.  I like their lounge pants, for one.  But,  you have to be careful to not dry them; otherwise, they will shrink at least 2 inches with each drying.  That’s the complaint I have with most of their clothes – they are inexpensive for a reason – they’re cheap.  No matter how awesomely they fit when you first put them on, if you dry them, they morph into a boxy, short, bastard version of their original selves.

So, I shop there with caution.  But I found some shorts I liked there last summer, so I went back last month to get some more.  I discovered 2 gems.

1.  I have a hard time finding pajama bottoms that I really like.  Is it just me, or do other people have issues with PJ bottoms that ride up while they sleep?  Maybe I am a really active sleeper.  I roll over a lot or scooch up and down the bed.  I don’t know.  I just know that the wrong pair of shorts can give you a mean wedgie.  You cannot get a good night’s sleep with a wedgie.  So, I thought I would try out the Women’s Jersey Lounge Shorts – for $5 if they didn’t work out, no harm no foul.

But, work out they did!  They are awesome.  They are the perfect length, super comfortable and very cute.  At least Tim always tells me I look cute when I wear them.  I liked them so much that I bought too more pairs.  Best…PJ…shorts…ever.

2. I also love these Mid-rise Zip Pocket Shorts.  The hem around the bottoms pulls in the legs of the shorts so they don’t flair out and make one’s hips look even bigger.  They are a great length – not mom-long and not hoochie-short.  They also have nice, deep pockets that will fit a cell phone.  I went back to buy them in additional colors, but of course they now only have sizes 0, 4, and 16.  Online they are out of size 10s in every color but white.  I am not a person who wears white below the waistline.  That is my other HUGE pet peeve with Old Navy.  They are always out of my size. Whatever I look at there are racks of miniature sizes and huge sizes and nothing for the plethora of us girls who are an average size.  Super annoying.  Hopefully Old Navy will bring these back next summer, so I can get some more then.

Uncategorized

Junlygamation

heather

Herein lies an amalgamated synopsis of our busy June & July 2010.

In early June Tim and I, all dressed to the nines:

went to a wedding in Muscatine, and then stopped in downtown Davenport on our way home.  Of course we hit up our favorite tasting lounge first.  On our way there, we saw this amazing sky over downtown Davenport:

The beautiful sky lasted long enough for us to get a beer and then walk to the Skybridge.  By the time we hit the sky bridge, the sky was taking on a more ominous quality:

We hung out on the bridge until we felt the wind hit it.  The bridge started to sway underneath us, so we got the heck out of there.  We exited the bridge into a full-on rain storm.  We ended up having to sprint from the Radisson to our car, parked by Great River. Running in heeled sandals is not fun a’tall.

Since we were all dressed up, Tim tried to get some good pictures of us.  I have a disorder wherein I cannot keep my eyes open while getting my picture taken.  So we have a vast collection of pictures that look like this:

When I consciously try to keep my eyes open, I look as if I’m crazy.  Click on the picture below – it will enlarge, and you’ll be able to see what I mean:

Poor Tim.

Now, I’m fast forwarding a few weeks.  When Nate and Rachel were back, we drove up to Monticello, intending to canoe.  We got rained out both Saturday and Sunday.  So on Sunday we went to the Grant Wood Art Festival instead.

Attending The Grant Wood Art Festival is somewhat of a tradition in our family.  We used to always go on Sunday after meeting.  Actually, at one point the festival was on both Saturday and Sunday.  That was so long ago that I was in the face painting stage/kid tent stage.  I think I made a paper plate doll head with yarn hair and everything.  Back in those days, the festival was super awesome.  The first awesome thing about it was that, as an elementary student at Strawberry Hill, we had the chance to draw a picture that would be used on the buttons used to gain entry to the festival.  That was always super exciting.  I don’t think my drawing ever got chosen, but that was just due to the poor taste of the judges, I am sure.

The second thing that made the Festival awesome was that you could take a bus tour around Stone City, which is this super neat little town northeast of Anamosa, Iowa where Grant Wood started an art colony.  Several years ago, the bus would take you ALL over town, even to the burned out Green mansion.  You could get out of the bus and walk around the ruins of the limestone mansion.  It was such a cool thing to see.  One never sees stone ruins in the Midwest.  Eventually, however, they stopped letting you get out of the bus – you would just drive by the ruins, craning your neck to see as much as you could.  Then they stopped taking you past the ruins all together.  I think the ruins have actually been torn down now, which is so sad.  It was  just a portend of things to come, however.  After decades of having the festival in Stone City, the festival had to get moved to downtown Anamosa because the new owners of the 3 story barn that was the heart of the festival no longer wanted the festival on the grounds.

A Grant Wood Art Festival not in Stone City is just wrong.  The organizers did their best to make the event engaging and interesting, but attending a “festival” in a community center cannot measure up to one held in the magic of Stone City.

Plus, it was raining.  Buckets.

Hopefully some day the new owners of the barn will have a change of heart, and the festival can move back to its homeland. In the meantime, we’ll have to comfort ourselves with this:

It is easy to see why Grant Wood chose Eastern Iowa to found a colony.  It’s super serene and beautiful.  This photo was taken in my parents’ front yard.  Every time I visit their house in Monticello, I feel as if I’m in the Shire.  I’m re-reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy right now, and I’m afraid that what was true for the Shire in the book is also true of Iowa – there is no safe place from the long arm of Sauron anymore, not even in our beautiful heartland.  But, I digress.

Here is another picture of serenity to get your thoughts off the somewhat imminent (probably) destruction of our peaceful lives by greedy, evil leaders (aka Sauron).

We finally did get our canoe trip in.  Benny came back the last week of the month, and I took Friday off, and we hit the Maquoketa river.  It was a perfect day, and we had an awesome time.  I’m glad we got the trip in when we did, because with the dam breaking at Delhi, who knows when the river will be safe for canoers again.


My garden is producing fruit.  I’m pretty amazed that it is, because most of the plants look like something growing in the Dead Marshes.  I don’t know if they are getting too much sun, not enough sun, too much water, not enough water, not enough soil, or what.  They are mystifying me.  But, we’ve gotten some good peppers and small tomatoes from them, so I count the bucket garden a success.

Lastly, but not leastly, I’ve started a new blanket. This one is for the Benny Boo.  He wanted it long enough so that he can tuck the blanket under his feet.  Consequently it is NINE FEET long.  It is going to take buckets of hours to get it done, but it will be a thing of beauty and function in the end.  I know Benny will use the heck out of it.  The blanket is going to be a mix of Peruvian Print and Heather Grey.  I haven’t done any rows with Heather Grey yet; I’m too enamored with the Peruvian to switch colors.  I love variegated yarns – they are a joy to crochet with.  They keep it interesting, too, because you never know which two colors will meet up.

That is a random bunch of stuff, but there’s been a lot to write about lately.  I need to start posting more often and more succintly.  Some day…

Uncategorized

Veronica Mars and What Not

heather

What not.  It’s an interesting phrase.  I have a friend who appends it to the end of almost every sentence – “So, I got into a car accident on Saturday and severed my foot below the ankle and what not…”  Ever since I noticed this foible, I’ve become more sensitive to the usage of the phrase.  I hear it everywhere now.  What not.  What does that even mean?!

Well, thank goodness for the internets.  I just looked it up and discovered it’s actually spelled “whatnot.”  So, I guess it’s a word and not a phrase.  The origins, as explained here, are not that illuminating:

Word Origin & History
whatnot

1540, “anything,” from what + not. As the name of a furniture item, first attested 1808, so named for the objects it is meant to hold.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

I am so glad that the Online Etymology Dictionary relieved me of my ignorance of the origin of the word “what not” by telling me that it came from “what” plus “not.”

Anyway, back to Veronica Mars and whatnot.  Tim and I recently discovered the first season of Veronica Mars on Netflix Streaming.  We are only 6 episodes in, but so far I really, really like it.  It’s freeing me from my Bones kick, which is good because the show was starting to annoy me, but I was so used to watching it that I couldn’t stop.  Plus Emily Deschanel is so interestingly pretty.  She’s hard not to watch.  Look at her!

Man, am I ever tangential tonight.  Back to Veronica Mars.  It’s a good show.  I can’t wait to find out what really happened to Lilly Kane (the estimable Amanda Seyfried, who won my heart in Mean Girls).  Maybe some night when Tim is not home,  I will skip to the end and watch the last episode of season 2.  Or I’ll read the plot synopsis on the internets.  Mu ha ha ha.  You can’t stop me, Teem!!!

Cooking/Recipes

Weird Food

heather

As I mentioned, Tim and I recently had a house-full of guests.  As a result, we had a medley of unusual food loitering about the place.  Tim and I often take the easy road and pick something up for supper, but last night we decided to be resourceful, and we actually ate food that already existed in our kitchen!  It was weird but delicious mix of:

1.  A microwaved sweet potato.  I did the old grocery bag trick, and the potato cooked up perfectly in about 12 minutes.  It was a huge potato, BTW.  I added butter and salt and pepper, and it was delicious.

2.  We had 2 leftover jalapeno and cheddar hot dogs, so Tim sliced them up, fried them in a skillet and added them to a can of Pork and Beans that mysteriously appeared in our cupboard.  It was right next to a package of ramen that was tucked away deep in the cupboard.  The interesting thing was, that someone had only used HALF of the ramen packet.  Yes, half of an 18 cent package of ramen.  That person then sort of folded over the open end of the ramen, tucked the 1/2 used packet seasoning back into the package, and then stashed it in the back of the cupboard, never to be seen again.  I’m pretty sure the culprit was the Teentz, but I can’t say for certain.

3.  Cheese!  The Beentz is a huge cheese freak, so we had 3 different kinds of cheeses opened and half-eaten – colby jack, swiss, and a mysterious soft, white cheese I couldn’t quite identify.

4.  Our bucket garden is starting to produce, so Tim cut up some tomatoes and peppers.  He added the peppers to the pork and beans and hot dog stew – tried to health it up a bit.  We ate the tomatoes straight-up.

5.  Tim polished off his supper with some Rold Gold sourdough pretzels.  I was already full by that time, however.

It was a weird, albeit delicious, supper.  We felt very proud of ourselves for using our groceries, too.  We are so grown up.

Tonight Tim is making pasta.  He added some garden-fresh peppers to the sauce, as well as some black olives, and he is grilling MorningStar patties.  We are going to cut them up and add them to the pasta.  I’m sure it’s going to be awesome.