Five for Friday, Edition #29

I keep a list of blog topics on my phone so when ideas pop in my head, usually when I'm walking our dog, I write them down. And right now the list is sort of out of control because I keep writing about books instead of life things. Let's not talk about my coping mechanisms right now, okay? So here are the five I'm tackling today. 

1) Rosemary Kennedy - I always knew that Rosemary Kennedy was given a lobotomy and then shipped off somewhere so that the Kennedy family never had to acknowledge her. But I was scrolling reddit like normal and I saw a headline that said she had been a resident at St. Coletta's in Jefferson, Wisconsin. YOU GUYS. That is the next town over from me. Jefferson is the town with the boring German Days parade. North to south it's Jefferson, my town, and then the town where I work. (Please don't come at me with geography, locals.) And I checked Wikipedia and learned the further detail that Rosemary Kennedy died in the hospital in my town. 

I guess I'm just sort of surprised I'd never heard this fact before. Do you have any local lore from your town?

2) It's the best television time of the year! Taskmaster and the Great British Bake-Off have new seasons! I'm not going to sugarcoat it, though, I think both shows are having sort of lackluster seasons. Hopefully they turn around!

3) My SIL has a podcast - I don't brag about my sisters-in-law very much, but they are all really accomplished women. They're smart, they're hard-working, they're amazing mothers and wives, and they are all, to a one, hilarious. So when my sister-in-law Katie (this is my husband's youngest sister) that she was going to do a podcast, I was all in. She's an internist at the University of Iowa Hospitals and she's the one I go to with all my medical questions. She and her friend Katie, a fellow doctor, have a new podcast (video episodes are also available on YouTube) called Heroic Herstories: Women in  Medicine with the Katies. 

Katie and Katie interview women doctors in Iowa. In the first episode they interviewed a woman whose career was up and down and all over the place and since I teach our Careers class, I was interested in how she talked about the curveballs in her career. She discussed how her career progress wasn't linear and how she sometimes got unexpected opportunities and even though that's not how she had envisioned her career, every step taught her important lessons and skills. I thought it was such an important lesson!

In the second episode, they interviewed an epidemiologist who was a young doctor during the beginning of the AIDS epidemic and a well-established doctor during the COVID crisis. I thought it was super interesting to hear her compare the two. 

Even if you're not in the medical business, I think these are very interesting and important conversations! (I'm not just saying that because my SIL is there, I promise. I am obviously biased, but I also wouldn't even bring it up on my blog if I didn't think it was worth listening to.)

4) I think I have the sort of face that makes me people just start talking to me. Let's talk about three times in recent weeks I've found myself in conversations with people in public that I didn't start. 

A) I walk up to the almond flour because I need to make cookies. I have never purchased almond flour before, so I'm looking to see which brands are gluten free and then I'm comparing the unit prices. Another lady comes up and starts talking about how the almond flours have different numbers of carbs and how is this possible. I shrug, but then she starts talking about other nutritional factors (calories, types of almonds) and before I know it, this lady and I are DEEP in the weeds about almond flour. Dr. BB had been in a different aisle and he shows up and rolls his eyes. 

B) I was browsing some thrift shops with TJC when she was in town. I wander over to the rack of dresses (of course I do) minding my own business and the wedding dresses are the next rack over. Out of NOWHERE, this lady says to me, "do you think this is a wedding dress?" clearly pointing at a table runner. I shrug, but she keeps talking to me. "I'd thrift everything if I got married again. Ha ha! I just wouldn't get married. Ha ha! Just kidding! I love my husband!" Hey, lady, I'm just trying to see if any of these dresses would be appropriate for me to wear. 

C) TJC and I are eating lunch at a local hotspot. Some ladies sit down next to us. One of them makes eye contact with me. "Hey, what's good here?" We proceed to have a discussion about how it's the best place in town and everything except the Irish Bread Pudding, which is repulsive and dry. 

I don't know. I don't mind, really. I used to think I had resting bitch face, but I think I truly have friendly face. 

5) We took the plunge and test drove some cars last weekend. We are not wowed by any of them. But I guess I don't have strong preferences about cars unless we get one with the tail lights that look like penises. 

Here's something you probably don't know about me if you haven't been in a car with me at night. I have STRONG FEELINGS about tail lights. I hate the ones that go all the way across the car. HATE THEM. It's only a pseudo-rational reason. It makes it really hard to see if a turn signal is on. Also, they're ugly.  I have had this discussion with my husband eight thousand times and he's over hearing about it, so now I'm here telling you. There are lots of acceptable tail light arrangements, so why are there dicks and bars? I have questions!

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Okay, take it away. What's your local lore? Do strangers talk to you? Do you have feelings about oddly specific parts of car design? 

September Week Three Photo Roundup

Monday, September 15
My friend is in town visiting and we had fun going to a bunch of small Wisconsin towns going to bakeries, bookstores, and thrift shops. I don't usually go into bookstores, so it was fun to wander around!

Tuesday, September 16

We met up with Sarah for brunch in Madison and then, on her advice, went to the State Capitol where we climbed all the stairs to get to the observation level where you can walk around the whole building several floors up. It was fun, but terrifying. Then we walked up and down State Street and I finished our exciting agenda with a trip to Costco. 

Wednesday, September 17

Lunch at a local spot. I'm a bit creeped out by the empty birdcages. That's all. 

Thursday, September 18

I was doing a fun photo shoot with Hannah when a woman walked by. I nodded and kept my arms around Hannah. 

"Can I pet her?"

"Oh, sorry, she's not nice to strangers." 

The lady kept coming at us. I tensed. Hannah growled. The lady put her hand out. Hannah barked. "Please, she's just uncomfortable around new people." 

"I like dogs."

"I'm sorry, she's..." Hannah is squirming in my arms. I'm holding her tight. Hannah's growling and her hackles are up. 

The lady shook her head and walked away.

I warned her. I told her Hannah wasn't nice and if she'd listened and just kept walking, Hannah would have ignored her. Is this my fault? Should I do something different? 

I don't know. I beat myself up about having a reactive dog. But she's so sweet to us and she's so happy with her little pack. She doesn't need other people and we live in a small enough town that I can avoid having her interact with others. I feel like I am at fault whenever people have these interactions with us.

We live by a pre-school and the little kids frequently ask me if they can pet her and I say "thank you for asking, but she's not nice to children" and they have ALWAYS backed off. It's always the adults I worry about. 

My precious Hannah. 

Friday, September 19

My friend and colleague has had some bad medical news. She's optimistic and cheery and filled with hope. After lunch today I had to leave my office because I just couldn't focus anymore so I stopped by her office and asked if she wanted to go for a walk. We walked the perimeter of the campus and stopped by a little flower garden. She's going to be okay. She has to be okay. I am very much on edge about this right now.

My Googling leads me to believe this is Early Amethyst Japanese Beautyberry. 

Saturday, September 20

Just me and my best kitty. If you want to know, that tail is simply the most luxurious thing in the whole house. 

Sunday, September 21

It was Hannah's worst day - bath day! She was mortified and embarrassed and grumpy. Now the whole house smells like wet dog, but for the next day or two you won't have grime on your hands after you touch her, so that's a win for the humans.

Bonus photo for extra pathos.

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You have until Wednesday to cast your vote for the CBBC book. Here's the link to the Google form if you haven't already voted. Things do look like they've settled into a winner, but it can go in any direction with a few votes from any side. 

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When were you last in a bookstore? Climbed a really tall building? 

September Week Two Photo Roundup

My thirty day goal for September is to take a photo every day. I'm going to just do a quick photo roundup each week to keep myself accountable.

Monday, September 8
I wish I could explain to all of you just how much time Zelda spends on my lap. If I am sitting down, there is a very high likelihood that the cat is near me. Unfortunately, the two of us huddled up on the couch is super hard to get photo evidence of, so I did my best here with the two of us while I was attempting to eat dinner. 

Tuesday, September 9
It is official. Hannah's days of getting all three walks in the sunlight is down to one walk in the sunlight. Poor baby. Soon it will be zero. This is our morning walk.

Wednesday, September 10
My friend's mom sent me a recipe for ricciarelli, a type of Italian cookie, that is naturally gluten free. I went ahead and made it. It was fiddly as fuck (notice that it was very late at night by the time I finished) and the results aren't perfect - I didn't use enough powdered sugar and I didn't let them dry enough, so they didn't crack as much as they should have, but in my defense it was closing in on eleven o'clock on a work night). ANYWAY. They are delicious. 

Thursday, September 11

Someone took off work early to get her hair cut.

Hairstylist: What are we doing today?
Me: Cut it off. To my chin.
Hairstylist: No.
Me: Yes.
Hairstylist: Let's do shoulder length and if you want it shorter, we'll do that next time.
Me: Fine. Also, I want bangs. Sideswept bangs.
Hairstylist (squinting at me): Are you okay?
Me: Yes. I just want a change.
Hairstylist (stares at me suspiciously): How about we just do some long layers in the front and then if you want it to be more dramatic, we'll do that next time.
Me: Hmph. 

From my hairstylist's Instagram page. 

Friday, September 12
The trees are changing. I am grumpy about this. 

Saturday, September 13
I have a friend in town and I took her to a food truck festival that was happening in Nowhere. We got egg rolls and loaded fries and bubble tea and I got this cinnamon pretzel for dessert. Look, it's not at all pretzel shape, but it was perfectly baked and delicious.

Sunday, September 14
My friend is still in town and we went to a parade in a nearby town for their German festival. It was pretty lame, to be completely honest, but at least we went, right?

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If you are interested in voting for our next book for Cool Bloggers Book Club, don't forget to vote if you haven't already done so! The Google form is ready for you. The vote is tight, so your vote could make all the difference. 

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Did you do anything fun this weekend? See any parades? Eat from a food truck?

September Week One Photo Roundup

My thirty day goal for September is to take a photo every day. I'm going to just do a quick photo roundup each week to keep myself accountable.

Monday, September 1 - Labor Day! 

The kids were playing pool as I was packing up. I made them all pose for me and they were good sports about it. (If anyone wants a blast from the past, here is a photo of O - the tall kid in the yellow Hawkeyes shirt below - as a preemie.)

Tuesday, September 2 

First day of class for the semester. Because Dr. BB is teaching super early, we're getting up even earlier than before. I am going to have to do something about my lack of SAD lamp time, but that's a problem for another week. It was super foggy and creepy on my (early) morning walk with Hannah.

Wednesday, September 3

Pile of lanyards on my boss's desk. We're supposed to wear these lanyards that say "ASK ME" on them and she was going to pass them out to faculty. I don't know why, but this made all of us laugh when we walked into her office. (Also, I have had "Ask Me" by Amy Grant in my head for days now. If you don't know that song, maybe don't listen. It's sad.)

Thursday, September 4

Pile of stuff for yoga in the student union at lunchtime. Raise your hand if you can spot the lanyard from yesterday's photo!

Friday, September 5

What a crazy day at work. I had a zillion student appointments and reached out to a couple dozen more of the students I am tracking for one reason or another (generally if you end up on my caseload, I try to follow you for a few semesters and then I think I should just keep tracking until graduation, you know?). Meanwhile, it was a gorgeous day in Wisconsin - perhaps a tad bit chilly for me and you'll notice I'm wearing a scarf, but I'm keeping this positive - and Hannah was READY for her walk. 

Saturday, September 6

I have no idea what this sign means, but I immediately thought to myself that the Thirteenth Amendment made this shit illegal. 

Sunday, September 7

Bike with Dr. BB! I swore we'd do more bike rides this fall and I'm honestly going to try for one or two a week. He was a good sport to stop and take a photo with me. 

If you are new around here, this is one of my town's sculptures of the main dairy cows here in Wisconsin. This is the red and white. 

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Did you have any fun adventures this weekend? See any cows, real or sculptural?

Small Town Saturday Night*

It was a big day here in Next to Nowhere, Wisconsin on Saturday. 

First up, I'd like to say that it was Flag Day. For complicated reasons, I did not attend any No Kings protests, but I was there in spirit. And we are bound and determined in our household to reclaim the flag for the good guys. 

Then! I was off to the Farmer's Market. For a variety of reasons, I have not yet been to the Market since it has been outdoors this season. I rectified it by buying snap peas, honey, and delicious gluten-filled rolls.

Then, because I am the person I am, I took a selfie with a person in a cow costume. I'd also like to say that the person in the cow costume must have been SWELTERING because it was not a cool day.

We'll get to the reason for the cow in a second.

Up next, I saw there was a book sale at the library across the street. Unfortunately, I had spent every one of my $55 in cash at the Market, so I didn't stop by.

Then I took my Market goods back home and picked up Dr. BB to head to the museum because it was Dairy Day at the Mooseum again! There were cows, root beer floats, and children doing races on mini-ATVs? I'm not really sure what that last part was about. The cow at the Market was promoting this event.

I went home to clean the litter box and bathe the dog and then I collapsed on the couch reading a very good book while I dreamed about staying home for the rest of the day.

But after dinner Dr. BB and I headed over to the community center to go to their Cheese Louise event that was all about cheese? I don't know. There was a new art exhibit opening featuring paintings of cows and I desperately want one that has a price tag of $3800, so I think you know I'm not getting it. You can see some of the art in the below photo, although not my beloved $3800 one.  ANYWAY, there was a chef doing a cooking demo, so we watched that.

Then I went to water the plants for a friend who is out of town and then I went home and collapsed into bed. I mean, what a day in Small Town America.

*This is a reference to a beloved song by Hal Ketchum that has the immortal line "Lucy, you know the world must be flat/Cuz when people leave town, they never come back." 

Sunday we did laundry and I only left the house to walk the dog and have her do things like this when SHE JUST GOT A BATH YESTERDAY.

Those of you who want to know what Zelda's up to, I don't want to disappoint you. Let me just tell you, it's too hot for my precious girl. (The reason there aren't more Zelda photos on this blog is because she basically just does this all the time.)

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And that's that. What fun summertime event did you do this weekend?

Things People Have Messaged Me

From Bestest Friend

I promptly sent her all the pig emojis on my phone.

From Dr. BB who was at graduation

From my neighbor who saw me "walking" Hannah

It has taken a turn for cold here and you'll note I'm wearing pants and a sweatshirt, but I'm still rockin' sandals. You cannot make me wear socks again until October. It was forty freedom degrees (4.4 Celsius for people who use such things) this morning and I had on a coat, hat, AND gloves. Still sandals. 

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What's the last image you got in your text messages?

A Day in the Life, 5/14/2025

Do you want to know about my day in excruciating detail? Here it is! If you don't want to know my day the tl;dr is that I walked the dog and worked. 

5:30am - Woke up. I finished The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer while hanging out under my SAD lamp. I'm wearing my BGSU sweatpants. I think I mostly like this book, but I'm going to be honest and say that there are some disturbing aspects of it. It's also a bit confusing about who the audience is - it reads very YA to me, but it's shelved under adult fiction. I'll write a longer review later, but the gist is that I liked this book okay, but didn't love it and I have some concerns about some of the messaging. 

6:00am - Go downstairs to take off Hannah's cone (she has a spot that's healing and we don't want her to mess with it overnight) and brush the cat. 

6:05am - Take Hannah out for her morning walk. It's creepy foggy this morning. I literally just wore my sweats and sandals to walk the dog. No "real shoes" or outerwear needed. Woot!

6:40 - I feed Hannah, tell Zelda what a pretty girl she is, get my breakfast ready, and then eat. This is my usual breakfast of yogurt and granola, some fruit that is cantaloupe and the first nectarine of the season (!), some cranberry juice, and some tea.  

7:10am - Upstairs to brush my teeth, get dressed, and put on makeup.

Yes, we each have a clock and a box of tissues on our side of the bed. 

For makeup these days, I have a real mix of drugstore and fancy brands. This is a lot about makeup, so if you don't care, just skip to the next photo.

I start with elf tone adjusting primer as a face primer. I super recommend this if you have red undertones. It's perfect. I also use elf lock it down eyelid primer. It has a bit of a smell that I don't care for, but it works really well and I only smell it for like five seconds, so for the price, you can't do better.

For my eyes, I have a Half-Baked Naked palette from Urban Decay. Honestly, this palette is not ideal for my skin tone. I thought I would try something new and stray from my Naked2 Basics Neutral palette. Lesson learned. No one here cares, but I am eying the new Naked Eyeshadow Sticks from Urban Decay because I think they might be easier to blend. I'd like to get to Sephora or Ulta to try them out. I use Maybelline Great Lash as mascara and love it.

I'm using Real Flawless from Laura Mercier for my foundation. It's a replacement for a different LM foundation that has been discontinued. It's pretty good and it feels nice, but I wish it had a bit more coverage. 

I'm currently using some Cover Girl blush and it's FINE. It's maaaaybe a tad too dark for me. I literally used every bit of a Tarte sample of paaarty and then Sarah told me about the Tarte 7 for $77 sale, but I dithered too long and the sale is over and I had to just go buy some blush at the drug store. If anyone has spare paaarty that they don't like or need, GIVE IT TO ME. 

7:40am - Pack up for work and then head out.

"Please don't leave me."

Lunch is some guacamole, tuna, and a green bean salad. I have pretzels at work to eat with the guac. My salad has green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, kalamata olives, and goat cheese. The dressing is a mix of olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and salt and pepper. I made enough of the salad last night to last through the rest of the work week, so I can just grab and go in the mornings. 

On the way out of the driveway, my neighbors were walking their dogs and they didn't notice me coming down the driveway as they watched to see what another dog was doing so that they could get their dogs by without their dogs barking.  They were standing right in the middle of our driveway. As soon as their dogs saw me in the car, though, they started barking at me. I had a short conversation with them and headed on my way. 

7:45am - Drove to work. I was listening to the above pictured Garth Brooks album. I listened to "In Lonesome Dove" twice, "Rodeo" once, and pulled into my parking spot just as "What She's Doing Now" finished. It's still foggy, so it was sort of a creepy drive. 

8:01am - Unpacked all my gear. Checked email, set up appointments, tried to get ready for some appointments later on in the day. We also debriefed about a training we all went to yesterday. THEN!!

9:00am - DUDES!! The police K9 came to visit my boss. I asked first, but I pet her. She's a German shepherd who is nine and is dog reactive. What a girl. I liked hearing that a dog reactive dog can still be a working dog. 

9:20am - I uploaded these photos and started the bare skeleton of this post. Took far too much time trying to get a photo of myself in my office. I cut off my feet in the photo. Oh, well. 

9:30am - Worked. Here's what I did:

Talked with my boss about a new hire in our college

Sent out a series of emails about one of my students and some work they had completed

Completed a change of status form for next semester because I'm teaching an overload 

Made a phone call to a student

Sent an email to a chair about a tricky advising situation

Sent an email to a student panicking about if they met graduation requirements

Contemplated grading, but decided I didn't want to

10:45am - Met with students, primarily calming them down about end of the semester meltdowns/low GPAs/possible academic dismissal/major changes.

11:45am - Debriefed with my boss about my student meetings. She laughed at how casually I say things like "oh, so you failed that class?" without skipping a beat. Wrote up meeting notes.

12:06pm - Lunch outside! People kept coming by to chat. Good times.

12:35pm - Talked with our janitor. He's starting a landscaping business with his brother, so he was telling me all the details.

12:45pm - Virtual stretch class. My local healthcare group does stretch classes two or three times a week. It's free! It's fun! It's a reason to block fifteen minutes off your calendar to devote to self-care. We talked a lot about snacks today.

1:00pm - More work. Here's what I did:

There's a new software rolling out that is going to change a lot about how we advise and register students. The rollout has been dodgy. Somehow I have been given "expert" status on this software that only sort of works and have to do a training of our summer advisors on it for freshman orientation. That training is next week. I worked on the presentation and diving deeper into the software. 

2:10pm - Co-worker comes into the office to talk about an articulation agreement. 

2:40pm - Back to the PowerPoint. 

3:18pm - Bestest Friend butt dials me. I don't actually know what happened, but I answered and said hello twice and then she hung up on me. 

3:40pm - Brief freakout with my boss because the software isn't working. I need a snack.

4:19pm - Time to get out of here.

I listened to Garth again on the way home. "Burning Bridges," "Which One of Them," "Papa Loved Mama," "Cold Shoulder," and "We Bury the Hatchet." "In Lonesome Dove" is up next for when I get into the car again. I have thoughts on this album. I think "We Bury the Hatchet" --> "Cold Shoulder" --> "Burning Bridges" --> "Papa Loved Mama" is a better sequence for the STORY of Ropin' the Wind. I keep saying that I'm going to write a huge post rating the Garth Brooks albums, but now I'm just giving away all my thoughts about it here. 

Small town life alert: I have an acquaintance whose father just died. I knew the funeral was today, so I was a bit shocked when I saw her walking her mother's dog as I was driving home. I stopped my car (in the middle of the street, as you do in a small town) and talked to her about how she was doing. I will have to text her in the next week or so to set up a time to have coffee.

4:40pm - Hannah and I are out for our afternoon walk. It is a glorious day.

5:30pm - Doing some yoga. This video was too advanced for me, so I mostly just listened to the nature sounds in the background and did my own thing which included a million shoulder stretches and some ab work.  

6:14pm - I changed back into my regular clothes and started making popcorn. We're doing reheated frittata for dinner tonight and the popcorn is just a fun little add on. 

This is my Whirley Pop. I love it. 

6:58pm - I started walking to the library. Seriously, this is such a gorgeous day.

7:05pm - Got my books! I know that I have bragged about our public library before, but it truly is a lovely space.

7:12pm - I'm home with my books. Here are the ones I borrowed.

I then proceeded to lay on the couch listening to the newest episode of Sarah's Bookshelves Live in a vain attempt to get the cat to come cuddle. She was not interested in cuddles, so I got up.

7:30pm - I wandered over to the table and opened up my laptop to start working on this post. I also have to buy my husband a birthday present and figure out an ebook that I can download on my Kindle because I finished The Wishing Game this morning and have no book to read on my Kindle! I also should probably work on my book review post for The Wishing Game, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to run out of time before I get to that, but a girl can dream. 

8:11pm - Gift purchased (a boring shirt he asked for) and two books put on my Kindle - The Beekeeper of Aleppo and What You Are Looking For Is in the Library. I also snagged an audiobook - The New Moon's Arms. Starting my review for The Wishing Game now. 

8:31pm - Collect the trash and take it out. Then I take Hannah for a walk. It's PERFECT WEATHER, but she's not into it, so after twenty minutes, we're done. 

The sunset!

9:10pm - I start taking my evening medications and brushing my teeth. While I'm upstairs, I grab a pet sympathy card for a co-worker who had to put her dog down today (Jack was an adorable guy) and a condolence card to write to the acquaintance who I spoke to when I was driving home today out of the card box. I'll write them tomorrow, but I put them on the table downstairs so I won't forget. 

9:20pm - Into the shower. I'm listening to the newest episode of 60 Songs That Explain the '90s: The 2000s with my guy Rob Harvilla. In the twenty or so minutes I listened, I audible laughed several times and was nearly in tears at one point. The episode is covering Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" and one of the things that made me laugh was Rob's utter disdain at the lack of an Oxford comma in the title. One of the things that nearly made me cry was Rob having to describe what the phrase "let's roll" means in the context of September 11, 2001. I know that Rob's schtick is not for everybody, but it really is for me. 

9:40pm - Back to my laptop to finish this post. I need to fill out my habit tracker still (133 minutes outside today), do a couple minutes of training with Hannah, put her cone on, turn on the dishwasher and then I'll go upstairs to read for a few minutes. Whatever book downloads on my Kindle first is the one I will start. Hopefully lights will be out by 10:15pm.

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What did you have for dinner last night? When's the last time you went to the library?