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