An acquired taste

One of the places we always visit with out-of-town guests is Chocolaterie Stam in Des Moines. They boast two world-wide locations: Amsterdam and Des Moines. Some might think DSM is an odd choice, but there were many Dutch settlements around here. OK, this is not a history lesson. I love this chocolate store. Back in Canada, one could compare it to Bernard Callebaut. A little pricey, but if you're going to indulge in a little chocolate, have the good stuff. They also sell salted, double salted, and triple salted black licorice. If you are saying to yourselves, "yuck!", you likely did not have a father who went to school in Holland. Growing up, my dad would take us to Heritage Park what seemed like every weekend in the summer. There's an old-fashioned candy shop, and my dad always got the "dubbel zout" variety. It remains one of my favourite treats today. Just about the only two people I'd have to worry about taking my licorice today would be my brother James and my dad. Since we're in Iowa, I don't even have to hide it! Dad, you know some is coming your way when Paul and Margaret go back to Calgary this week. Yummmm!

Randomness

In this post (a to-do/to-write to remind myself!):

MyItThings, Canadian chocolate, early morning visitor, early leaving husband.

OK.

So I now have yet another website to distract me from academia. I'd received an interesting email this weekend, from someone who said they regularly read my blog (news to me! I figure I had four or five friends reading regularly...), and she wanted to invite me to become a writer for the online magazine, MyItThings.com. At first, I felt flattered. Then I checked out the website, and I realized the invite probably wasn't really based on personal interest. Hey, websites need traffic if they're going to survive. So now I'm traffic. :) The way it works (if you're not interested in clicking on the above link and checking it out for yourself) is that the readers are the writers of the magazine. Anyone posts something in their own little "writer's lounge", and every day the editors pick the top blurbs to publish on the website. You're published anyway (like a blog), but the main traffic I'm sure is from this daily compilation. It sounded interesting. It's kind of like People magazine online. You comment on Entertainment, Fashion, Technology, Body and House. What? No oboe? I guess I'll be sticking to this blog. Here's where they get you though. I posted a blurb (pretty randomly) about body lotion, then people vote on your column. I've already checked back several times to see if more people have voted, and after midnight, when the daily publication is made, it would be neat to see mine selected. Ah yes, a new kind of addiction. This is also why I keep checking in with MySpace. I don't blog there, but I just love the "so-and-so wants to be your friend!" messages. I feel liked. Also strangely powerful...I also like denying a person my "friendship"...evil?? Anyway, if you're interested in my favourite body lotions, you can click on the link to the right of this, under "It's All About Me"--MyItThings. Or just click here.

Moving on...

I'm also addicted to Canadian chocolate bars. Not in the "I must have one a day" or "week" or even "month" sort of way. I do, however, feel comforted at having a stash (I won't say where for fear of looting--eck-ghem, Dave) for emergency chocolate cravings. Yes, Canadian chocolate bars are that much better than American. Sorry, folks. Even bars of the same name are different south of the border. Kit Kats just taste better up north. My personal favourites (I need in my stash): Crunchie, Aero, Cadbury Dairy Milk (oh my yum.....), and Laura Secord's French Mint (double oh my yum....). The reason why I'm writing this is that today I had my last bar. It was a Crunchie, and I thought I'd have half this afternoon and half this evening. The next thing I know, it has melted in my mouth--all of it. Again, I stress that I don't eat much junk food! This is one of two bars that made the trip back from Calgary with me at Christmas. Dave finished his within a week. I was like this with Halloween candy when I was little. I had it perfectly timed to finish up last year's batch just as I was putting the finishing touches on my costume for trick-or-treating that night. What does all that mean to you? If you love me, you will send me chocolate.

OK, I'm glad I wrote that reminder list at the top!

Dave had to be at Simpson College this morning for 6:00am...yes, that's right. Crazy! The jazz band and wind ensemble are on tour this week, visiting glamourous places like Omaha and Kansas City (actually, I want to go there). They had their first concert this morning at 8am! An hour away from here. (!) I was still asleep. I had been awakened (awoken?) by an early morning visitor though. At 6:45am, my doorbell rang! What the heck?! It was followed by a light knock. I stayed snug in my bed. If it were an emergency from a neighbour, I'm sure they'd call or ring the bell again. (That's what I'm telling myself now, because I feel slightly guilty for staying in bed.) I wonder who it was? Perhaps my five-year-old student who lives next door? Wanting to say hi? There was nothing on my door or my porch, so it wasn't a delivery. Who knows?

So I'm alone this week. Dave gets back on Friday (he doesn't even know what time), the same day that both his parents arrive for a visit. Yeah! Depending on the various arrival times, I may have to go to the airport twice and Simpson College once. I always look forward to Paul and Margaret's visits though. They always bring a calming presence with them. (And perhaps this time...Canadian chocolate?)

Oh, one more thing! My terrible decision arrived yesterday! That would be the Entertainment coupon book I ordered in my attempt to get a free ipod. The good news is that there are lots of coupons I'll actually be able to use! There are 2 for 1 tickets to the Des Moines Metro Opera, 2 for 1 entrees to several of the restaurants we frequent (including one in Indianola!) and several discounts to places I'd been meaning to try out. We'll probably use a bunch with Paul and Margaret next week. So there ya go. Terrible spur-of-the-moment decisions do pay off sometimes (except that I'm still getting about 20 junk emails a day), and I'll even save some money! Now who's an idiot? ...don't answer that.

Teaching in 30 minutes. I'd better get some fresh air before then! Did you last to the end of this blog? Good for you!

When there's no time to blog, Whoosh!

I had a pretty stressful day today. I'm mid-hoop (as in "jumping through hoops"), spending four hours yesterday and five hours today working on paperwork for my degree...I started this paperwork before Christmas. It's a long story. Anyway, I finally finished the paperwork, and now I'm waiting on some signatures before I get to turn in the paperwork...then I'll have to wait for this committee's approval (I'm told about 3 weeks) before even beginning the interviews I'll be giving for my lecture-document. Phew! It's a long process. I don't mind the hoops so much, but some of them are larger than others. This one isn't hard, it's just very time consuming.

I thought this would be the perfect time for my new bath gel. Let me explain. One of my favourite stores to visit when we go back to Canada is Lush, which sells hand-made soaps, lotions, bath bombs, hair products, and other natural cosmetics. There are some locations in the US, but I got to know Lush very well through its Banff store. If you've never been, you're missing out. They sell soaps in big deli-like slabs, chiseling off blocks and printing out price labels to scan.

One shower gel I just bought has a great name: "Whoosh" Its label is priceless, and quite fitting for a day like today. It reads,

Whoosh Jelly: for use when you are falling behind and can not quite pull it together.

Read its full product description here. Perfect! It's the kind of thing you read and say to yourself, if that works, sign me up. It smells great, too! The whole bathroom is filled with a clean, citrusy floral scent. (I can, however, pull it all together!)