I went home last week, and I'm still recovering. Busy Busy! I got home on Thursday, chatted with Dad (he's off for a month while he does his head treatment. He's already getting bored, and his head hurts, poor guy!), got some food and went over to Mom's store and chatted with her, then went to Dr. Bob's because my shoulder was out of whack and I needed him to whack it back into place. He beat me up pretty good. My muscles around my shoulder blade hurt for two days. And he didn't help my shoulder. But that's OK, I never really know if he's going to help or hurt me, and his hurting isn't too bad, so it's worth the risk.
Friday my sister and I went to Coralville to go shopping. She was on a Victoria's Secret mission, and I was on a suit mission. It was a quick trip, because there aren't many suit options for plus size ladies, especially those that are short and don't wear dresses. I found one, but when I tried it on for Mom at home, she didn't like it. But I also found a jacket on clearance at Lane Bryant that she thought looked really good, and I can pair it with some pants I already have, so that was cool. I took back the other suit.
Then Friday night Carol cooked dinner for us (me, my mom, Bryan, and Gracie). Lasagna, and it was real good. Real rich, I couldn't eat much of it. But it was real good. We got to play with Gracie, and she demonstrated her favorite tricks for her Aunt Bobbie: Running as fast as she can into the kitchen and up near the hot oven and taking off her diaper. Then I had to set up my Ticketmaster account and show Carol how to buy tickets for the NKOTB concert for me. By the time I got home I was real tired.
Then Saturday Mom and I hitched a ride with the Brockmans to my cousin Sue's wedding in Springfield, IL. Three hours there, three hours back. The ride there was fun. We took the Mapquest way and had two lane roads the whole time. We stopped in this one town, and Kim and Bob started sniping at each other about where to stop, so I settled the matter and said, "Let's go to that Walmart there, it'll have everything we need." So wrong. As it turns out, this was the last Walmart on earth that hasn't expanded. It was very scary. The people in it were scary. The bathrooms all the way in the back of the store were scary. The way to get out of the store was scary. Scary. And Bob couldn't get his coffee. So we stopped again just down the way. When we finally got to Springfield, Kim and Bob went at it again over the directions and what we were going to do first. We needed to eat, but we also wanted to find the church. We ended up driving in circles for a good 20 minutes before we finally said screw it, let's just go to that McDonald's we've driven past 800 times. Scary. The bathrooms were scary, the people were scary, the parking lot was scary. But we survived. Our next mission was to find the church. We did actually make it there on time with little stress. I ended up in a spot where I was surrounded by tall people, so I didn't get many pictures of the ceremony. My cousin Stacey was the Maid of Honor and my cousin Scott was a groomsman. They looked nice. Sue was beautiful, she had a very simple yet elegant dress that looked amazing on her. The ceremony was nice, a few tears were shed, and then they were married!
So let me tell you now about the irony of the day. I had kicked around the idea of catching a migraine to get out of going to the wedding. Not that I didn't want to go to the wedding itself, I just didn't want to travel there. My guilt got the better of me and I decided to not be terrible. So of course I woke up that morning with a migraine. Not a big one, but just enough of one to really hurt. It got better after I ate, but by the time the ceremony was over, it was back. We had a couple of hours between the ceremony and the reception, so Uncle Mike told us we could crash in his hotel room if we wanted. So we went. We all got into a fight in the parking lot of the hotel about where we should park. By accident we managed to park directly in front of the room. So we went in. Katie and Emily watched TV and pushed and pulled at each other in the bedroom area, and the rest of us hung out in the living area. It was a suite, I guess. My head hurt, but I couldn't complain about it because Bob would come at me and make it worse. So we all chatted, and I vegged. Bob insisted on eating peanuts that he found on the desk, and Kim nagged at him and the girls to stop eating them. Until Uncle Mike came back and told us to eat up all the peanuts, that's what they were there for. That was kind of the drama of the day for us.
We left for the reception following Mike's directions. I remembered them, no one else did. Then it was acknowledged that really I should navigate, since I've done a bit of traveling in my day. Yes, I can get good and lost, but really, I can follow directions real well. We found the reception with no trouble. The hall was very nice, simple decorations. The table settings were jars with flowers, and pictures of Will and Sue as they were growing up. The tables were numbered, and the pictures on the table corresponded to that age they were (table one had pictures of them as one-year olds, etc.) Very fun! Mom and I were seated with Uncle Jerry, Aunt Cheryl, Cousin Andy and his girlfriend, and Cousin Monte. And Sue's uncle and cousins from her mom's side. It was good to get to chat with them. Andy is a news correspondent for the CBS affiliate in Des Moines. He looks like he should be on TV, actually. I haven't seen him in a while. Monte has lost a ton of weight since I last saw him. Uncle Butch came over to the table and irritated us, and I think he kind of creeped Andy's girlfriend out. He's very loud and obnoxious, and Aunt Sylvia is in India for a month, so he didn't have anyone reigning him in. The food was good. I'm always a little nervous when chicken is on the menu, because I had chicken at a conference once that was still raw in the middle. But this chicken was well cooked and tasted good. Some of my potatoes were on the raw side, but I can handle that.
All the traditional cutting of cake, dancing and throwing stuff went well. My cousin Katie caught the bouquet. She also caught the bouquet at Carol's wedding. I think she's 12. Doesn't bode well for me finding a husband anytime soon...
Uncle Jerry, Scott, Monte and Andy were on a mission to see who could drink the most. I'm not sure about Monte and Andy, but I know Scott was a little sloshy. He kept harping on my mom and i to go out on the dance floor. The girls later said that Jerry was out on the dance floor booty bumping people. I don't know how the night turned out for them, but I'm quite sure they had fun. My mom and I weren't really feeling up to staying in with the strobe lights and music, so we went outside and waited for the Brockmans to come out. We waited a while. We finally got to leave around 9 PM. Mike told us a better way to get home, which made the drive easier for Bob. It wasn't any shorter, but it was easier. The girls had a DVD player, but they didn't have headphones for it. It didn't bug me too much on the way there, but on the way home I wanted to take the damn thing and throw it out the window. But it kept them from picking at each other, so I guess it was a good thing. We were very tired when we got home.
Sunday came and we hit the ground running getting ready for Gracie's first birthday party. I left for Carol's at about 10. And I had this great idea that I didn't need my purse so I'd lock it in the trunk. And just as I shut the trunk and the door locks engaged I realized my keys were still in my purse. Sadness. I went in and told Carol, and then went up to help her give Gracie a bath. Well, ok, I didn't really help, I just talked to Gracie while she waited for the bath water to run. Bryan came home with his dad and Branden from getting more food for the cookout, and I asked him if he knew how to pick locks. He didn't, but he knew people who did, so he tried calling them but they weren't home. His dad suggested I call the police. I had called my Dad while Gracie was in the bath and he didn't have spare keys, and then my mom called back telling me Dad was calling a friend of his who could do it. OK, I was kind of done talking about it at that point, we had a party to get ready for! Mom came over and took over baby duties. Which meant she took her outside to charm us all while we worked. We started setting out the food tables and the tables and chairs in the back yard. Then Dad randomly showed up (he wasn't coming because he can't be out in the sun) with a coat hanger and started working on my car. He couldn't get it open, so he left. It was about that point when Carol realized she forgot balloons and sent me to Hy-Vee in her car to pick out some balloons. So I picked out balloons and waited for them. It seemed to take forever. Then on my way out I ran into Rick and Linda Larkin, who had to give me an Evie update! She is now to be addressed as Princess Evie Cinderella. I love it!
When I got back Mom and Bryan's dad were sitting in the garage and told me that Bryan had called a locksmith for my car and it was going to cost me $40. That wasn't bad. The locksmith came and opened the door in 30 seconds. I made sure to take my keys out of my purse before I shut the trunk again. The sad thing is my Dad later told me that his friend had gotten the message and was on his way over to take care of the lock at no charge, but since they had already called the locksmith Dad called him off. Stupid Bryan, I sure didn't ask him to call that locksmith! I was going to wait until after the party to take care of it. But he was nice to help out.
Next I was in charge of decorations. My sister was mad because Bryan had set up a TV outside on the table so they could watch the NASCAR race, so she didn't want to be out there. But when I got out there they had moved the TV to the far end of the yard, not on the main table. So when she did come out she felt better about it. We got everything set up, the grill arrived and was parked in the back of the yard, and the Wagners started coming in. They went straight for the TV area :) So when everyone else got there, the whole party congregated around the back part of the yard. However, it wasn't all about the TV. There was more shade back there, and it was a little warm. Dad was able to come for just a little while, which was nice. Grandma D, Mildred and Dianne and Bruce were able to come, and the Brockmans came too. Some of Carol's friends came too. There was a great crowd for Gracie to play with!
Finally it was time for the cake. Gracie had her own little cake to eat. She liked it a lot! Check her out:
Yeah, face, hands, and a bit of hair covered. Not long after this picture was taken she tried to pick up the whole cake, so it fell off the plate and onto her dress before landing on the ground. Good thing we were outside! Carol cleaned her off real good, and then we started opening presents. She got a pretty good haul! She'll be playing forever. Then we cleaned up and went home. Mom and I were home for about a minute, because we wanted to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house to show them pictures from the wedding and the party. They loved it. They are doing OK, although Grandma looks more tired to me. But it made them very happy to see the pictures, I'm sure they're still talking about it.
Then Mom and I came home and Carol and Gracie were right behind. Gracie spent the night with us because Carol had to leave super early the next day for a meeting in Iowa City. So Mom and I chased around the little ball of energy all night. We finally forced her to lay down in Mom's lap and she rocked her until she went to sleep. Goodness. Then Carol called first thing in the morning to check on her, which woke her up. But she was going to have to get up soon anyway, because Mom had to take her to the Dr. for her 1 year checkup. So poor Mom had to take the baby to be tortured, so I cleaned up the high chair and did a little laundry for her. Mom came home and reported that the shots hurt real bad, and that she's small, but not too small. She probably doesn't have Lyme's disease from a tick bite she got, and she's doing well in the developmental learning stuff. Yay!
Then I left and came back here. While I had been doing laundry I drank a can of Mt. Dew to stave off that damn migraine that kept creeping back. Then on the road I drank two bottles of pop and ate two candy bars. Don't ask me why. I think I lost my mind. But yesterday I discovered what happens when I gorge on stuff that contains mainly corn syrup. I was super sick. My stomach was in knots, my head hurt, and my skin hurt. My fibro was flaring so bad that not only did my muscles hurt, my actual skin hurt. I touched my hair and it made my scalp hurt. I took off my glasses and the backs of my ears hurt. It was awful. I will never ever do that again. Ever.
And that is my life to this point. No, I don't have a job. I have some prospects coming up though. So you'll hear stories. Hopefully stories that will end with a job offer. I don't really know what I'm doing wrong on these campus interviews. I talked to my boss about it today, and he is perplexed as well. When these places are doing reference checks they tell him I had a great phone interview. So how am I different in person? This being student affairs, I can be fairly confident it's not because I'm too short or fat, but that is always a possibility. I think it's more likely that there are a lot of people out there with just a bit more experience in supervision than I do. But now we are all in desperation mode, so I'm sure something comes up. And we still haven't filled the second hall director spot, so heck, maybe I'll end up here after all. Sigh. But everything happens for a reason, I'll just ride it out until I land somewhere....
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