Facebook Fetish and other Pursuits

I am loving Facebook! I've reconnected with some old college friends and am keeping in better touch with other friends.

Had a great weekend. On Friday we went to the newcomers dinner and service at our Temple and on Sunday was the first day of religious school with a bar-b-que afterward. I'm really feeling such a part of that community, much more than I did at our Temple back in Chicago. I don't want to imply that the people were less friendly or the temple wasn't as nice...I think that it is just because there are fewer Jewish people here and so the Temple is much more a central to everyone's social lives.

On Saturday we explored Nebraska by going south of Omaha. Our first stop was historic downtown Plattsmouth at the confluence of the Missouri and Platte rivers. And lucky us, it was Kass Kounty King Korn Karnival. It was like when we stumbled on to The Mustard Day Festival in Mt. Horeb, WI.

A lot of the buildings were really cool looking. If I were a film maker I would totally set a movie there.

Then we continued south to Nebraska City, NE home of Arbor Day. We went to Arbor Day Farm to go Apple Picking, but they have tons more than just that and not the usual overpriced inflatable junk either. They have a great nature walk and you get to bring home a baby tree.

We picked about 10lbs of apples. They are Jonathan apples and really tart. I made some applesauce yesterday. I'm going to buy some sweeter apples to mix with them and make a pie.

On our way home from our adventure we went to Pudgie's Pizzeria for authentic Chicago style pizza. It was like being home. (Chicago home that is). We even met Pudgie, aka Phil who despite being a White Sox fan was really nice. He had a fantastic Chicago accent. His wife also makes a killer cheesecake.

Anxiety Love

Today I played in my new league for the first time. Even though it was just a beginner 2.5/3.0 league I was really nervous because I hadn't played all summer. Last night I dreamt that I couldn't find the kids' school and that I was going to be late for tennis, then there were already 4 people and the two sets of partners were wearing identical tennis outfits. Then there were all of these people playing and I was just terrible. Actually, I won today!

The beginner league here is much different. There is no coach (I miss Dorothy). They just send you out with three other women and you play 3 sets playing with a different partner for each set. It was really fun, they also have a tennis-fit class (cardio tennis they call it here) that I might sign up for in November.

I'm also doing a yoga class. It is really small just 5 or 6 people, so there is a lot of individual attention, which I totally need. I think that I've never really done a downward dog the right way. The class is all older women (I think in their 50's) plus me and one husband. They are super nice and make me feel really young!

Tomorrow is curriculum night at the school and on Friday is the volunteer meeting for classroom help. It seems much more egalitarian here in terms of the PTA, etc. Every parent is automatically a member of the PTA, the meetings are in the evening, and the classroom help sheet comes from the teachers rather than from the PTA picking a room parent. Also this year the PTA has decided to forgo the big fundraising drive and tell everyone that they need 14K dollars and to donate what they can.

Tomorrow I'm meeting a woman from my temple for coffee.

I feel like I'm really starting my life here.

I Just Know McCain is Going to Win

Between a conversation I overhead yesterday about this guy excitedly telling this other guy about this mysterious spot where gravity doesn't work the way it's supposed to and the ad on television showing a mom concerned about high fructose corn syrup was just plain dumb I just know it's going to happen. People don't care about facts, they just want to feel good.:

Here is an article explaining how the chemical composition of HFCS differs from sugar. I'm afraid to break it down, but what I would say if I were the mom on the commercial is that HFCS has a greater percentage of fructose (55%) than glucose (45%) compared to sugar which is 50/50. Fructose is metabolized in the liver and which leads to insulan resistence (read diabetes) and an increase in triglycerides (read heart disease). I guess we haven't seen an increase in those things since the 1970's when HFCS was put in our diet as a cheaper alterntative to sugar. By the way, love your top!

Although, I wouldn't have been involved in the conversation in the first place. I hate the way the ad portrays people concerned with what their children eat as rude enough to say something like, "I guess you don't care what your kids eat." It is indicative of the combative nature of our society.

I Need a Palindectomy

I'm totally distraught over last night's Palin speech. I had to turn her off mid-hockey mom and turn on Project Runway instead. I can't even listen to my beloved NPR this morning without hearing her voice! Of course there is no one to talk to here since all the Nebraskans are in love with her.

I feel like I know her from my own PTA, she's the one who is super hyper and involved and who everyone secretly hates even as they're asking for her mooseball recipe. Of course, now I feel guilty because after all she is a woman, and I feel like I'm totally playing in to the whole mommy war thing...

Hypocrisy

Why is the right wing media praising Ms. Palin for having a pregnant teen-age daughter as something that we can all relate to...and kids will be kids...when they had a field day when Jamie Lynn Spears announced her pregnancy.  

Also, I'm sick and tired of the media focusing on her motherhood issues, when there are real reasons that we as women and people should not vote to put Ms. Palin a 72 year old heartbeat away from the presidency.  

She has a terrible record on environmental issues.  

Mining

Polar Bears

Whales

Wolves and Bears

ANWR

She is also opposed to abortion except if a mother's life is in danger, she is against stem cell research, she wants creationism in the schools and she is for an amendment to ban benefits to same sex partners.  

The only positive is hearing these right wing pundits say that her having kids shouldn't preclude her from running for office (I can't help but wonder how their tune would change if Ms. Palin were a democrat though).

Having Palin as VP scares me.  If something were to happen to McCain I would not feel comfortable with her as president.  I think it might even make me miss Bush.  (shudder)

Back from Hiatus

In the past month I've come to the acceptance stage. As symbolic of not feeling imprisoned in Omaha, I've decided to stop numbering the days and to give my posts proper titles.

Labor Day Weekend was full of ups and downs.

On the down side Zach (who is just fine now) had a really bad headache with vomiting and a fever. We took him to the emergency room (which I wasn't happy about I think the doctor on call at our practice should have seen us at his office). We were there for 4 hours until 1:30 in the morning. Five minutes of which was actually with a doctor. Apparently, Zach just had some sort of virus, which Piper seems to have picked up today, so she didn't go to school.

On the up side, we went to a potluck Shabbat dinner at the home of a family from our Temple. I had a great time. Everyone there was really interesting, and very liberal. It was so nice to be able to speak freely about politics.

We also found a halfway decent Chinese restaurant just a mile away from us. It wasn't anywhere near as good as a good SF Chinese place, and I think it was not quite as good as Szechuan North in Northbrook, but for here...I'll take it.

School is going well for the kids. I'm happy with our decision not to put them in Jewish Day School, but today I found out that they have to skip recess if they forget their homework. It seems a bit harsh to me...But, I guess it is good to teach them to be responsible to remember their own homework.

I miss my tennis group. I start a league next Monday and I'm super nervous because I haven't played all summer except for once with Barry and he kicked my butt.

I also miss my book club. I read that Darin Strauss book, More than it Hurts You, and it was amazing. A perfect book club book because it has real discussion potential.

Not reading anything now. I have a huge stack of Harper's and some NYT Magazine to go through.

Miss you all!

Kelly

Day 99

Sexy 19 year old soccer coach called me, "Mum". ouch.

Must. Have. This. Shirt. Saw it in North Shore Magazine which I'm still getting. I'm not sure whether it makes me feel better or worse to read it.

--Kelly

Day 92

So much has been going on. We've had our first non-relative visitors. Three in a week. Right now we have a Welsh soccer coach staying with us. Zach is doing a British Soccer camp and we volunteered to have one of the coaches stay with us for the week. So far it is working out well. The kids love him, but he has to coach from 8:30am-8:30pm. They are all over him though when he is here.

Last weekend Barry and I and a friend of his from work went to an art gallery opening. Very cool. Check out this blog about it. In the top picture we bought the fuzzy yellow framed piece. It's by an artist named Chris Lawson who went to Haiti and worked with some students at an art center there. He showed them the beauty in found objects and how they could be manipulated to tell stories with themes of Christianity, Voodoo, and Imperialism. Two local artists Orenda and Todd Fink did an audio installation of found sounds of Haiti. It was really nice, I felt like it was my first crack in to the Omaha art scene and I met the woman who started Filmstreams , Omaha's first independent theater, that I read about in the NY Times prior to moving here.

Since I last posted we also took the kids to the Jonas brothers concert. The kids had a great time, but with a 7pm opening act, they couldn't last to the end. Which was fine by me. I think the overly long and downbeat song about the youngest Jonas brother's diabetes might have been what did them in. I feel terrible about the diabetes and all, especially knowing people who suffer from it, but 30 minutes including a video montage was just a little much. I'm sure no one want to bag on it and seem like an uncaring jerk (00ps!), but really someone should say something.

--Kelly

Day 83 - PS

I just had my first real grease fire in a frying pan. I was amazingly calm and didn't do any of the things they show you not to do. I'm kind of picturing in my my mind a sort of cartoon like instructions like the airplanes have for in case of a crash. I just turned off the fire and put a lid over the pan and it went out.

I was cooking Buffalo Bleu Cheese Chicken Sausages from Whole Foods. They weren't very good.

Day 83

Omaha as a paradise for artists? That's what I read today in the Omaha World-Herald. Apparently The Artist's Magazine has said that Omaha (along with Bucks County, PA(!), Taos, NM, and Jerome, AZ) has a real appreciation for the arts and artists. Could Omaha be the next Austin/Seattle/Athens? Could Omaha someday inspire another small city to be the next Omaha?

In other news, our pool has become the local hangout for frogs. Each morning we rescue several (live and dead) frogs from the chlorine pond. According to the previous owner, the next critter we have to look forward to our moles. Lovely.

Feeling Green,

Kelly

Day 79

Had a really good weekend. Omaha sponsored a free concert in Memorial Park. Feist was the headliner. She was also my least favorite, she kept expecting the crowd to do stuff. Sing along, whistle like a bird, pat your head and rub your tummy while hopping down on one foot! Plus, the kids just wanted to hear 1234, and by 10pm they were done, so we left (she didn't play that song until 10:45). Her music is ok, but a little mellow for my mood that night. I was energized by the first act of the night, The Good Life. When the lead singer exhorted the crowd to show the older generation that young people will vote and to have the most Democratic votes in Nebraskan history, it sealed the deal.

The crowd was mostly young with various archetypes of outdoor concerts - the hacky sack guys, the devil stick person (this time in the guise of Chloë Sevigny), and a gaggle of self absorbed adolescent girls. Missing was the smell of pot (or even very much patchouli.)

On Sunday we went to Dixie Quicks for breakfast. It far surpassed my expectations. Upon entering it kind of reminded me of The Lucky Platter in Evanston. When told it would be 15 minutes for a table we were invited to wait in the gallery. The restaurant has a contemporary art gallery attached! The food wasn't bad either.

Maybe Omaha isn't too bad...

Except for that night when the kid's listed their litany of complaints against their elementary school. Some of them were minor, but it kind of reinforced my questions about how good the school was. I guess I didn't appreciate Romona enough when I was there. For instance, in Piper's Spanish class (which all grades get only twice a week) they watched a Dora the Explorer video. The school just doesn't seem very progressive.

So now I've started thinking about private school. Their is a Jewish day school here called Friedel Jewish Academy. It is very small only 50 or students in K-6, but they have a good emphasis on art and music (two complaints against the school from the kids and when I toured the facilities were a little underwhelming). I think we could get in for this year, and bonus of no Sunday school.

or, we could wait out a year and do and open enrollment for next year at a different district that I liked better, but I'm nervous about waiting a year and 3rd and 1st grade seem like such watershed years. And we did only give the school 3 weeks.

I've been reduced to reading Have You No Shame? by Rachel Shukert, a memoir about growing up Jewish in Omaha (perfect huh?), for clues about Friedel. (She went there). On the negative side, she says that school population is split among, "...children of harried yuppies" wanting an all-day Kindergarten, the ultra religious, and the borderline autistic. We fall in none of those categories. (Ms. Shukert didn't mention which group she fell in to, so maybe there are some others?) On the plus side she says, "It felt more like a large odd family than a school...the experience was a extraordinarily kind one, free from bullies and cruel, rough play, remarkably lacking in cliques and cattiness."

Undecided,

Kelly

Person Rachel Shukert

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Day 76

OK, I am so embarrassed by the 3:10 to Yumma crack since seeing that Darian Strauss left a comment on the blog. I wonder if it was really him, or if he has an intern looking through google and technocrati and leaving comments. Hmmm.

It worked though, I bought his book today. I went to the Elkhorn Library yesterday to see if that had it, of course they didn't. Nor did they have:

OBD: Obsessive Branding Disorder: The Illusion of Business and the Business of Illusion by Lucas Conley

My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor

The Film Club: A Memoir by David Gilmour

Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hami

or about 10 other books that were on my list. Luckily Elkhorn is now part of Omaha, so I was able to request books from the other Omaha libraries and have them sent to the Elkhorn branch. The only book on my list that they had was What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman. I started it last night, and so far so good.

We're going to see a free Feist concert tonight. I hope it doesn't rain! Right now, it is sunny and nicely cool. There was a storm last night that kind of broke the heat. So, I made matzo ball soup today. Yummy. No good deli here. I miss Max and Benny's!

Wishing I were chopped liver,

Kelly

Would the Real Day 74 Please Stand Up

I finished Lonesome Dove. It was really really good, much better than I thought it was going to be. Now I feel in the Western mode. I want to read the sequel and to see 3:10 to Yuma (especially since I LOVE Christian Bale, more like 3:10 to Yumma! - that was so adolescent I know.)

The 900+ pages went by really quickly. Now I need a new book to read, I was going to read Brothers Karamazov or The Idiot, but I think I might need something shorter. I saw two good books reviewed in The NYT a couple of weeks ago. Apples and Oranges by Marie Brenner; a memoir about sibling relationships and More than it Hurts You by Darin Strauss - a novel about child abuse (sounds uplifting, no?). In the meantime, I've renewed my Harpers subscription and I've been getting depressed reading that. Two really good articles. One called Democracy and Deference by Mark Slouka, and another called Our Phony Economy by Jonathan Rowe. Really interesting. I'd like to have a Harpers Magazine Club.

That would be fun.

Day 74 or thereabouts

I miss my friends.

I want to see the movie American Teen. I don't want to force Barry to watch it, I want to watch it with someone who wants to watch it as much as I do. Will I ever find someone in Omaha? I need to find someone who hates here as much as I do. The more I hear from people about how nice it is here, the more that I hate it. I think that's part of what made me dislike Santa Barbara so much. People there are so in love in with Santa Barbara that they can't imagine anyone not loving it. Then I found (or to give credit where credit is due - Barry found) Melanie.

Wilmette was easy. Sure a lot of people there are in love with The North Shore, but there are plenty of naysayers so it was easy to have a nice balanced love/hate relationship with it. Barry bought me a sign that said "Wilmette Home Sweet Home" I would change its prominence in the house according to my feelings on any particular day. Sort of like my Omahameter. (Wilmeter?)

Everyone in San Francisco loved San Francisco, including me. Otherwise why else would you pay $750/square foot to share a garage and laundry with your upstairs neighbor?

Grandma made it back to Mississippi. She'll be back for Thanksgiving (dare I ask her to stay a month for Christmas?) She loves it here, though I guess compared to Gulfport, I'm not surprised. I think she likes it because it is way nicer than Gulfport, MS (what isn't?), but is less threatening than San Francisco and not as snobby or big (in a beautiful way that I totally miss) than Chicago.

It will be interesting (for me at least) to see how I feel about the whole thing on Day 374.

Day 72

Grandma is kicking everyone's butt at Wii Bowling.

Day 71 (or so)

Somebody stole my Obama bumper sticker.

It might have been at the uber-Republican 4th of July Parade that we went to in Ralston. (Small town just south of Omaha.) Of course, the republican candidate for senate had plenty of supporters out trying to replace my bumper sticker with a "Johanns" sticker for my kids. "Just say no thank you." It was certainly a long way from the Evanston Parade.

Omaha does love fireworks though. There were more firework displays over the weekend than I've ever seen anywhere. On the 3rd, we could see them to the west from our deck. On the 4th we could see two other displays besides the one we were actually watching. And on the drive home there were fireworks all over the horizon.

By Sunday, the fireworks had stopped, so we went to the firecracker of a store - Nebraska Furniture Mart. Enormous would be an understatement. Though it didn't quite have the bells and whistles of Abt (no big bubble maker or free cookies).

Grandma is finishing up her visit here and will be leaving on Wednesday. She still seems interested in moving here and is planning on coming again for Thanksgiving to give the cold weather a try.

No cold weather today, 94 degrees. Now I have two reasons to sweat.

Smelling like Teen Spirit,

Kelly

Day 61

Grandma got in okay. Ironically she had her first non-stop flight from Mississippi to O'Hare. Instead of me being there to get her, she had to wait for 5 hours because of the bad weather in Chicago.

Having a good visit with her. She loves Omaha and is thinking about moving here. I hope she does, I worry so much about her in Mississippi. She moved there to be by my mom after her husband died, but then my mom died (almost 8 years ago) and so now she is there by herself. She just turned 80 and is in great shape, but still...She's talking about moving in to one of those retirement homes.

Before we moved to Omaha I was hoping that we would move to Portland, where my brother is because I thought maybe she would move there. It would be ironic if she moved here instead. The only thing that worries me is that I don't necessarily want to live here long term. So that becomes a consideration too, but that I guess is just nebulous future stuff that you can't really plan on. It would be silly if she didn't move here for that reason, because for all I know we could end up for the next 10 years (eep!)

Tomorrow is the Omaha Art Festival. I'm trying to take Barry's advice for the key to enjoying Omaha- ratcheting those expectations way down and then down a little more.

Speaking of art, my newest project is my Holga camera. I'm just shooting my first reel of film, but it is so fun to have an actual camera with the clicking and the manual winding. I can't wait to get the film developed. That's part of the fun too. Waiting.

Maybe I'll even see if I can learn how to develop myself. I could have my brother teach me when he comes (hint hint Macko!)

click!

Kelly

Day 59

My grandma is coming for a visit, so the posts may be sparse for the next couple of weeks.

Day 56

Last night I dreamt that I destroyed Omaha and told all the people to move to Kansas City.

We went to the Gay Pride Parade on Saturday. The city didn't even bother having cars cleared from the sides of the road. On the other hand, it was a pretty short parade. There were only 2 companies that had a presence and no politicians. A far cry from Chicago's parade, let alone San Francisco. The worst part was the lack of energy from the crowd. Some of the participants tried to liven things up like the "princess" who tried to teach us the proper crowd waving technique, "Elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, touch the pearls and blow a kiss."

In other news: I got a new bike! It is so sweet. I just need a big wicker basket for it and I'll be all set.

Day 53

Fried Pickles.

I keep seeing them on the menu and advertised. I'd never heard of them before. I googled it and Wikipedia said that they were primarily southern. Ohmatucky? They are tasty though. Of course, anything deep fried is pretty tasty. Deep fried Twinkies...yum. Now that I don't have the Romona Nutrition Committee and I can admit my secret county fair vice.

A Mystery

Since we've moved here, we've got several (to the tune of at least 5-7 a week) wrong number calls for Philip Bloomburg. I sent a complaining email to Qwest assuming that they gave us a phone number that had been recently disconnected, but they said our number had been inactive for over 2 years. I asked one of the wrong number callers how long he had the number, and he said that it was from a recently completed survey. WTF!!! This guy is just going around giving out our phone number! Then, Barry went to get his hair cut, gave the receptionist our phone number and she said, "Welcome back Mr. Bloomburg."!!!!!! And she gave Barry his address, which is only a few blocks from us. We haven't had the cahones to knock on the door yet, but we're thinking about it. We also are curious if that is really Philip Bloomburg or some person that is getting a lot of email for P.B.

da da dum...

Kelly

Day 47

Now I know why the other places I went to got such rave reviews.

We've been exploring the corn and soy bean field to the west of us and saw Farmer Brown's Steakhouse out in the middle of nowhere. It was packed with people, so we thought we'd try it out. It got great reviews, to which all I can say is WTF! How can you mess up steak?

I should have known I was in trouble when the waitress couldn't answer whether the green beans were fresh or frozen, "Um, I think that they might have been frozen." If only I were so lucky - the coldest these beans ever got was the day they were packed at Del Monte. I think the baby next to me had Gerber vegetables with more texture and flavor than these had.

The steak was a gristly slab of meat thrown on a tan plate without even a piece of parsley to liven it up. The grey tinge suggested boiling, but that couldn't be.

The kids had pasta with their steak which tasted like it was covered with ketchup. Seriously, even Barry wouldn't eat it.

Praying I don't puke tonight,

Kelly

Day 45

Omaha Theorem 1: The amount of time spent talking about tornado warnings is inversely proportional to the percentage of one's life spent in Nebraska.

Day 44

Another day, another tornado. Luckily the tornado didn't come near us, though the sirens were going off and at one point they mentioned Elkhorn by name and said to get under cover. The kids, cats, dog, and I sat in the basement bathroom (the safe room) for about 30 minutes.

Unfortunately, our windows weren't as lucky as the rest of the house. Water was streaming in the west facing windows and our TV and equipment got wet! Haven't been brave enough to turn everything on yet to see if it still works. The carpet is also soaked.

Luckily, I had work guys coming to continue working on our Mother's Day Basement fiasco and they said they could take a look. Everyone else is backed up for 3 weeks because of all the storms.

The important thing is that we are all safe. Especially when I heard about the boy scout camp in Iowa.

Perspectively Perfect,

Kelly

Day 43

I'm listening to the soundtrack from Darjeeling Limited. I totally want Wes Anderson to design my life.

Nothing much going on in the Big O today, just waiting for more thunderstorms to blow through.

Heard an interesting story on NPR today about Scott Shannon who talks about the over-medication of kids for mental disorders. In particular the part about poor nutrition causing some of the symptoms that can mimic ADHD. It brought to mind the Appleton, WI school that saw a huge turn around in behavior when they changed lunches from processed to fresh and healthy and also introduced healthy breakfasts. Could this crazy idea become mainstream?

bored,

Kelly

Day 40-something

That's good that I'm losing track of the days.

Had a good weekend. We went to the Bemis Center and saw some cool art. Found some really funky antique stores. One had the exact toy chest that I had as a kid. It was plastic with circus animals on it. It sounds so cliched, but it was really a lot smaller than I remember. Went out for dinner, at M's Pub. Cool atmosphere, but the food was just ok. The highlight was the escargot which was the typical combo of garlic and butter (proving that those two ingredients make anything taste good), but with the added twist of being covered with melted Havarti cheese. Yum! The problem with the food was that everything is just really heavy handed without any sort of delicacy in preparation, presentation, or flavor. Seems to be typical here.

I had a strawberry-infused vodka mixed with lemonade, but it tasted kind of flat. Like the vodka had been sitting unopened in a refrigerator.

Two AM Sunday morning the tornado sirens went off. Gathered all into the basement. Wasn't sure if we were supposed to go into the "safe room" which is a bathroom without windows in the deepest part of the basement. The tornado touched down about 10 miles from us. A little too close for comfort.

Omaha term of the day:
Pancake Feed - A way to kick off a street fair or festival. Usually all-you-can eat pancakes for a set price. Eg: Elkhorn Days will begin with a Pancake Feed at the Heartland Cafe.

Day 39 - more

Overheard:

"My cab driver was higher than JC on Sunday morning."

Day 39

I was going to do a very flip post about the minor league game that we went to last night, but we actually had a really good time. My Omahameter(tm) is reading higher these days.


The parking was free at the game, we had awesome seats 7 rows from the field right behind first base that are only $10 a piece. The food was cheap, as a matter of fact an insurance company was giving away free soda, water, dogs, brats and chips! The Omaha Royals were playing the Iowa Cubs in a double header and the Cubs (who we rooted for, of course) won both games by a a landslide. And there were fireworks after the game. Can't beat that for less than $60.


Also, I've been hooked into some good press about Omaha. Like this article in American Airlines Magazine sent to me by Jenny. And this story on NPR sent to me by Mack.


It's funny; before we moved to Omaha, I would seek out stories like these and really try to focus on the positives of Omaha and leaving Chicago. Since we've been here, I feel like I've been doing exactly the opposite.


The term "wallowing in self pity" really is appropriate. I was getting in to a funk and enjoying my misery in Omaha. Savoring the negatives of Omaha while ignoring anything good.


That being said, I probably did come here with rose colored glasses and when they broke I think I had a rose colored shard in my eye. But, I've pulled it out and I'm going to give Omaha another chance without the over-hyped expectations that it is secretly Portland and without the bitter hatred that Omaha is not-so-secretly hell.

Willing and Wiser,

Kelly

Day 38

Yesterday I saw a billboard with a butterfly with a slogan like, "Taking Flight" or something. Could it be? Neimans coming to Omaha?

Nope, just the new butterfly pavilion at the zoo.

Sighing in Omaha,

Kelly

Day 37

So Barry keeps telling me that I should treat living in Omaha like an adventure. Pretend like I'm living in another country! Get to know the locals and their customs!

OK, I've done that, I've been meeting people, it's all very nice. What I need now is to find someone that speaks my language. I need to find an expat club of coastal people. I want to speak the language of NPR, and The New York Times, and to celebrate Barack's victory and speculate who he'll pick as his VP. I want to talk about Michael Pollan and biodynamic farming.

By the way, just remember that you read about biodynamic farming here first. My prediction is that it is going to replace organic as the new standard. As the Wal-Marts and Super Targets of the world move into the world of organics and the "organic" label is going on all of the processed foods the original aim of the organic movement is being diluted. I.e. supporting small, sustainable farms and moving away from a monoculture of corn. I think that term Biodymanic is going to be used to separate food grown in this way from merely being chemical-free.

On the other hand, it is a good thing that organic is going mainstream and becoming more affordable. And the more produce that is grown organically the better for our environment, but that doesn't mean we can't strive to do better.

Linguistically Lost,

Kelly

Day 35

Piper's birthday party went well. So different having a party for girls vs. boys. Ordered way too much pizza.

Piper got in trouble at school (a couple of weeks ago) for saying, "Oh my god." Not sure if she never said it at Romona or if she did and didn't get in to trouble. She had to sit out for 5 minutes. She was genuienly shocked. I think it was the first time she ever got in to trouble at school. I told the kids not to say, "god" at school anymore, explaining that people might be offeneded.

They know they're not allowed to say the other 4 letter words, but I guess I never told them about that. I did tell them not to say something "sucked" which is another one of those border things.

It's hard to explain to them why certain words are bad. And they asked what the F word meant. It depends on the context I told them. Not really.


I guess that f**k and s**t should conjure images of what they actually are and they do still seem a little shocking. I think that people my age have heard them so much that the meaning has sort of been lost and they've just become these emphatic words.

Damn and hell seem more to depend on a religous context as do using god or JC as a curse. I would never in a million years think of using another religous figure as a curse, but because I was raised Christian (sort of) it doesn't seem bad to me. Also my Grandmother used to say it!

Zach said he wished that all bad words would be against the law and that if he were president that is what he would do. Ooh, I just thought that I have to have him keep his political thoughts to himself at school now that we are no longer in a blue state. All I need is for him to get expelled from school for saying that Bush is the worst president because he lies.

Kids are requesting breakfast.

Eggy in Omaha,

Kelly

Day 33

I just read the article about Emily Gould that was in last Sunday's New York Times. She talks about how she over shared her life on her blog and it made me think about my reasons for blogging at all.

When I started my other blog we tried to get hits (I'm not trying to speak like royalty, the original blog was done with a good friend). This blog, I've been trying to keep more private, but it is always tempting to make it more public. Why?

Part of it is validation. It is a thrill to have an unknown person comment on my blog. That my writing has moved someone to action. However small it might be.

The blogging started as a way to get someone to notice and/or promote our book. And it has turned into a nice way to keep in the habit of writing. Not that I do a great job. I don't proofread as much as I should as Barry delights in pointing out my dangling participles and egregious misuse of commas. But I do try to organize my thoughts (a little) and come up with (slightly) clever turn of phrase.

Even with wanting to write fiction, I always seem to come back to writing something that is slightly autobiographical. Maybe it is some sort of egomania. It makes me think of Jason Schwartzman's character in The Darjeeling Limited.

I just saw Darjeeling Limited last night. I love when two things like movies or books or articles dovetail like that into this free association thought process. Ideas bouncing off of each other like molecules and forming new compound thoughts.

Ok, this blog is going into weird territory that normally gets reserved for my other blog or my personal diary, but in the spirit of Emily Gould I'm going to post it anyway.

Here I go, pushing the button.;.now

Day 32

Waited 40 minutes for Cheeseburger in Paradise.

Fried Pickles.

Need I say more?

Day 31

Everything is still in black and white, so I guess we survived the tornado producing storm.

Breezily Yours,

Kelly

Day 30

Well I had been feeling pretty good about life in Omaha. I found the secret was to ratchet down my expectations way low and then knock it down a little more for good measure. But (always a but) nothing like finding a dead animal (another dead bird on the stairs to our deck) and the pool (pump not working) to bring me back down.

I had dreams last night of being stuck on some Lost type place with snow. I woke up to discover that my blankets had fallen off and I was still in Omaha.

My cooking frequency and quality has an inverse proportion to the quality and variety of take-out places surrounding us. Let's just say that last night I made the best Chinese food that I've had since leaving San Francisco.

Piper's cavity filling went really well. She said she didn't even know when he used the needle. And the dentist was super nice and called last night to make sure she was doing okay.

Piper's birthday party is Saturday, so I might be busy tomorrow, but I'll be sure to post the results.

(I always feel like I need a good sign off, I'll try out a few and see what stays)

Cloudy in Omaha,

Kelly

Day 26

We ended up not going out for Indian last night. We thought we might hook up after dinner with this guy Barry works with and his wife. Their kids were sick and they wanted not to go all the way "downtown". So we went to this restaurant called Mark's Bistro recommended by the waiter from the Sushi place. Coincidentally that is where Barry's friend and his wife ended up eating.

Mini-Review of Mark's Bistro
Not in a Strip Mall = 10
Atmosphere - 10 (had a beautiful outdoor patio that reminded us of Bistro Aix in SF)
Service - 5 - extremely slow and not in a good "I don't want to rush you" way, in a I ordered a glass of wine that took 10 minutes to show up way. They were not busy
Food - 6 - Nothing special. It was ok. Barry had Local grass fed lamb so they get points there. I tasted it and it was good, but not die for good. I liked his cumin sweet potatoes that it was served with, though it seemed the wrong season for sweet potatoes and also the pomegranate sauce. I had almond encrusted tilapia. The almond encrusting was a bit thick and seemed more like breading obscuring the flavor of the fish. The mango salsa on top made the breading soggy and it wasn't as tasty as I would have liked.

So over all it gets a 6.2 though grading on the curve for Omaha we give it an 8!

I really liked the area Dundee where the restaurant is. We looked at three houses there and it made me second guess my decision not to live in a cooler area where we could walk to a cute little street. I had to go over my thought process again as to why I chose not to live there. 1. The school district is not very good and I didn't get a good vibe from when I visited the elementary school. 2. The lots were tiny and for the money the rooms were kind of cramped especially the kitchen 3. There were some kind of sketchy looking areas around it. So the positives a really pretty neighborhood and a little street with restaurants (that was smaller even than Central Street in Evanston) didn't really offset the negatives enough. Plus, we can always drive there to eat/hang out etc.

Ended up not hooking up with Barry's friend. We tried one bar where there was supposed to be live music at 9, but at 9:15 he wasn't even there or setting up or anything and the bar had a weird vibe to it and was really smokey. They are trying to get rid of smoking here also and some bars have already complied like the trendy English pub theme place called Parliament Pub. It was fun to see the night life of "trendy West Omaha". Kind of like North Shore lite.

We were home by 10, but it was a really fun evening and so nice to have a great date night with Barry.

Day 25

Yesterday was a much better day. It was Piper's birthday and the first day of summer vacation so maybe I was getting vicarious good vibes from the kids. It was really nice not to have to rush through the morning. Their school day starts about 30 minutes earlier than it did at Romona.

I felt motivated to unpack some more boxes and do some organization. I had been feeling like if I weren't unpacked then we weren't really living here. I believe it is called denial, f0ur more stages and I'm home free.

We went back to Thunder Ally (see previous post). It could have turned out terrible especially when I saw the four (yes four) school buses in the parking lot. It was really crowded, but we played in the arcade and then had lunch (free chocolate cake for Piper's B-day) and then were able to have the Go-Kart track to ourselves.

Piper wanted sushi for her birthday dinner so we went to a place recommended by my neighbor called Sushi Japan. It has those Yakiniku tables where you cook your own meat. It was excellent fish, with a fantastic Vodka/Sake martini garnished with cucumber (like a spa in a glass). I was really impressed with it. I liked it better than Akai Hana. Tonight Barry and I are going to try an Indian restaurant. It got mixed reviews, but it is hard to tell if people who didn't like it, was because they know good Indian food or because they don't and wanted something more Westernized.

In any case I'm looking forward to finding out.

Day 23

The day started out gray and depressing matching my mood or perhaps vice versa.

It was the last day of school and I felt so disconnected from the community here. It made me miss Romona School and all of our friends there. I think Zach felt it too. He said how much everything was making him think of his friends and Chicago. I really feel like I need to snap out of my funk so that I don't infect the kids with my "I hate Omaha" negativity.

I was the mom with the scarlet C on her chest. It's Piper's first cavity and it turns out she might need a root canal! The dentist was quite nice about it. Even the hygienist was nice and I always feel like they are like the Gestapo of dental care. Piper was devastated last night when I told her it was probably a cavity that was bothering her. She did really well today, next week is when she has the work done.

After dinner today (made my own Thai food thank you very much) we discovered Thunder Alley . Imagine Pinstripes minus the bocce and fanciness add an indoor go-kart track and a Chuck-E-Cheeze like arcade and you've got Thunder Alley. Not sure if it cheered me or made me more depressed.

A bright spot; we found a babysitter!

Yeay!

Day 22

Last night I went out with one of the mom's from Zach's class. (I will call her G) Her husband works at the same company as Barry, so when I found out that her son was in Zach's class I called her up and asked her out. (i.e. for her son to come over for a playdate) The first playdate went well she reciprocated and last night was our first Mommy Date.

We went to an upscale Mexican place and split some surprisingly good fish tacos and had a little wine. Then she invited me back to her place for some more wine. So, it seems to have gone well (plus she called me this am to check in).

G has lived in Omaha for 5 years and is originally from CA and has moved a lot, so we have a lot in common - especially since a lot of the other people here are born and bred Nebraskans. But there is no tennis or book club. :-(

G also invited another Omaha transplant (14 years here). I'm not quite so sure how that one went. I don't think that we quite clicked, but it is hard to say why.

Today Barry encountered something new in Omaha - no not a democrat - traffic!

Have a playdate now scheduled for Piper for next week (school is out already!) I was unsure if the mom wanted it to be a whole family playdate or not (she has a daughter in Zach's class too). So we left it at playing it by ear.

I feel awkward with whether I should stay at playdates now. I would love to get to know some more people and plus feel comfortable that everything is ok at the house. I think it will be ok to stay for a little on the playdate next week since it is an after lunch.

OK, I have to go take cupcakes to Piper's class for her birthday. I was thinking about bringing fruit kabobs, but I think I'll save that little quirk of mine for another time and let the kids get more secure in their classes.

Day 21

Well, $1000 dollars later and I think we have the plumbing issue taken care of. The plumber is coming back today to powerwash the pipe, and I hope that will be the end of it.

We went to downtown Elkhorn (see previous post) to check out the BBQ place for dinner last night. It was pretty good. Not as good as Womack's in Tahoe, but better than Hecky's in Evanston. And best of all, it wasn't in a strip mall.

I went to the Old Market district in Omaha today to get my hair cut. I thought that I'd go early and check out this cute French looking place that has walls lined with wine bottles and ladies sitting with their toy dogs on those rattan chairs. I had a vision of sitting there with my book (still reading Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid - it is wonderful and I highly recommend it) and sipping on a perfectly made cappuccino and a flaky almond croissant. I guess the open at 9 sign was merely a serving suggestion. Sigh...not even a safe bet Starbucks in Old Market so I went to this other cafe, Delice. Barry, the kids, and I went there last Saturday. It is okay there, but no yogurt to go with their homemade granola and muesli.

Old Market looks cute with brick streets and some cool looking restaurants, but there aren't enough retail shops there yet. I'll give it some more chances though (not like I have a lot of other choices).

The haircut place was cool looking inside with a lot of whitewashed brick and stained glass windows and arches. My haircut is a little too spiky and anime. I miss Melanie (the gal who did my hair back in Chicago, not that I don't miss you too Mel from SB). I will probably keep looking. I'd been with Melanie for 4 years with just one indiscretion, but I was on vacation and it didn't mean anything. No sense jumping in too quickly.

I can't get home delivery of the New York Times here, so I decided to go for the mail option of the Sunday paper. I wasn't expecting to get the paper until Wednesday or Thursday, but it came yesterday. I'll actually end up reading more of it since I don't get the daily anymore. I'll try to look at the upside of not getting it everyday as saving trees.

I'm going to play a game of Wii tennis. It is quite addictive. We got the kids the Wii as a moving present. The Wii tennis is keeping me on tennis mode until I join a new tennis league in the fall.

Day 20

I finally got my computer set up, so I can start my Omaha blog. I've been using my laptop with wireless (the best invention ever) connection, but I couldn't set up a blog on it because of cookies or java or some other food sounding problem.

Days 1-20 have found my emotions vacillating wildly between thinking that this is the worst mistake we've ever made to thinking maybe it's not exactly terrible.

The first week was ok, I was on an unpacking high. Week two, I was getting a little depressed with tons of boxes and dealing with workers and not feeling like I could get a minute to myself and only leaving the house to pick up the kids from school or get groceries (at the Super Target).

But...Mother's Day is Sunday, surely that will find me some relief. Only if you spell relief S-E-W-E-R. Our main line was clogged and we had yucky water backing up in the drains in the basement. So Mother's Day was quite a shitty day.

Other little gems to brighten up the experience have been a dead squirrel in the pool, dead birds by the window (we closed the blinds, hopefully that will help), the dog dribbling pee all over the basement (white carpet) because we don't have a fenced-in yard and we forgot to walk her, and today a redeux of the sewer in the basement trick.

On the bright side I can't clean the bathrooms like I planned and so I'm finally starting this blog.

All hasn't been bad - the neighbors are very nice and have brought us various treats like brownies, popcorn, and homemade Irish Soda Bread. People seem very friendly, though everyone has lived here forever and the other mom's have been nice, but no one has really gone out of their way to invite us anywhere. I guess I got kind of guilty of that myself in Wilmette after I had been there for a while and I could have been more welcoming to new people. But, I'm sure that I will find my niche and I'd rather wait to see how things go rather than jumping in to a new relationship right away. Finding friends is so much like dating, but without the free dinners.

The sunsets here are incredible. It is one of the happiest parts of the day if I can get the kids to bed before 8:30 and watch the sun set.

On the food front, we haven't really found anywhere to eat that I can say is really good. We've tried two Thai places (out of about a total of 6) and one was terrible and the other was mediocre. Tried one Chinese place that was inedible. So I've bought a Chinese cookbook (which I've already started having some success at making) and a Thai cookbook (which I had just started getting in to). There is also an Asian market, but I haven't made it out to there yet, it is kind of a long drive, about 20 minutes.

There are a lot of strip malls here, so we've been trying to look for other things. We've been going to the Farmer's Market in the Old Market district of downtown and on Sunday we went to downtown Elkhorn (the name of the town that we live. It is on the far west of Omaha and was forcibly annexed by Omaha last year). Downtown Elkhorn is one street with a lunch/breakfast place that was ok. We had the breakfast buffet, the eggs were cold and the bacon burned, but I'll give them another shot ordering from the menu next time. There is also an Italian restaurant, a BBQ place, a pub, and a Scandinavian gift shop. Also on Sunday we went to a wildlife preserve that you mostly drive through with elk, deer, Sandhill cranes, and buffalo and also a nature trail with wolves and bears (the wolves and bears are fenced off) and were really cool to see.

Our yard is almost like it's own nature preserve with wild turkeys in yard every morning and tons of other birds too.

Sunday was a much better day so I hope to have more of those.

The kids are getting along quite well and seem happy especially with the pool. The water is only 65 degrees but they've been going in anyway. Barry also is doing well and likes his job.

We all miss Chicago and I still miss California.

-oh one other good find is a really good beer brewed in Lincoln called Luna Sea. Love everything about it.

Miss you all!

Kelly