Strawberry shortcake!

I got home from school today and was watering my plants on the deck when I noticed some lovely red berries peaking out from the strawberry patch in the backyard. This is the second year I've had the strawberries, and they are doing pretty well this summer! I picked a cereal bowl full of strawberries today, so I decided to make some little Bisquick shortcakes to go with them. Yummy! There is just no comparison to fresh-picked strawberries - the store-bought ones aren't nearly as sweet... and the ones I grow are free. :)
Anyway, I have three tests left and a project to turn in before I am done with school for the year. Can't wait to be done!

Da... Da Da Duh Dump!!!

Silly title, I know. :) I went to the dump today because I cleaned out the garage. Hurray for me! :) It's probably my least favorite area to clean out, but it was the area in most need so I pulled everything thing out (and I mean EVERYTHING!) of the garage and swept and knocked down cobwebs. Gross. Aaron built some shelves in the garage awhile ago but we never got things organized on them - now I've have all of my "categories" organized, like painting things on the same shelves, gardening things on another, sewing stuff, etc. If nothing else, we should be able to find things easier and save money because we won't give up and go to Wal-mart and buy a replacement!
Anyway, every time I go to the dump I feel guilty because I feel like it's our easy way out of dealing with the crap we accumulate over time. I think that we should all have to take our garbage to the dump because it would remind us of how wasteful we really are! All of the plastic we throw away just sits out there in the landfill, poisoning the earth. Not a pretty thing to think about. It makes me want to buy less and use less because the trash doesn't just go Poof! and disappear when I put it out on the curb on Sunday night. It gets added to the pile of trash and just sits there, conveniently out of town so we don't have to smell it! Aaron and I have bought the reusable bags to take with us when we grocery shop - we still have the plastic bags at home from previous shopping trips but I use those as poop bags for the dogs. Once those run out, I think I may bite the bullet and buy the biodegradable poop bags!
Well, hope you all are doing well! I have Saturday and Sunday left to get stuff done before my last week of classes hits me!

No school this week...

So the dental school higher-ups have decided that we will not start back to school this week, but will start back to school on Monday. I'm really interested to see how this all pans out next week! At this point I'm prepared to make up a week at the end of school, but the e-mail I got made it seem like they might try to cut things back a little. I'm not crossing my fingers. :)
I reorganized the two closets in the living room today, and I put up two shelves in the closet under the stairs. Now all of our board games and cards are all tidy up on the shelves. :) I guess I have the rest of the week to work on the rest of our closets!
Hope you all are doing well!

quick update

I went to the Marriott this morning for breakfast - the water is going down enough that you don't have to walk through water to get to it! Hurray! :) Hopefully the water will continue to go down fairly quickly so people can get back into their homes soon and see what kind of damage has been done.

The river has crested.

Good news for the Iowa City/Coralville area - the Iowa River has crested. The Marriott has not flooded inside, however Aaron has had to walk through a foot of water to get in to work since there is no parking inside of the water. Apparently the Marriott is going to become the FEMA headquarters and some secret service people will be staying there - I'm not sure how bright of an idea that is when the Marriott is completely surrounded by water and there's nowhere to park where you don't have to walk through nasty flood water... but whatever. I can't complain because my husband is still working!
I got an e-mail today from the high-ups at the dental school saying that we may actually go back to school on Thursday. Sounds great to me! I would love to get two days of school in this week - it means we have less school to make up in July! It's going to be pretty stressful these next few weeks because we have a lot of projects to complete and final exams.
Today was Aaron's day off of work and it was nice to have the day off with him! We got to sleep in, I made pancakes for breakfast, we lounged around for a little while, then had lunch with Aaron's mom, tried to get to the casino (turns out you can't get there from Lone Tree! :) ), went to the casino (I didn't win... per usual :) ), had dinner at Sam's pizza, saw some friends, got some ice cream, and now we're home! Definitely made the most of the day!
Tomorrow - I want to go through some of the closets in my house. I think that there will be clothing drives and such for flood victims, so hopefully I can pull out some things that other people will be able to use. The older I get, the less of a pack-rat I have become. I used to save everything in high school - I have several boxes at my parents house full of "stuff" that was important to me. Now, I feel like if it's in a box and I don't use it, it can't be that important to me! I mean, I'm still sentimental about photo albums and such, and I will always keep some stuff like that around because it's always fun to look back at where I've been. But I think I'm starting to realize that more stuff is not always better!
Well, hope you are all safe and dry!

Sandbagging

These pictures are of the Marriott and the shops and townhouses across the street- Aaron still had to go into work this morning, but he wasn't cooking! Yesterday and today he was sandbagging for work - poor boy is very sore! Today I joined him in sandbagging, though I was only there for about 5 hours. It really felt good to be sandbagging because I've felt like I haven't been able to help out in any way with all of the devastation going on. I think all of this flooding is emotionally straining - there are so many uncertainties, even without our house being damaged by it. Aaron's work is very nearly flooded - tonight we stopped by and you have to drive through six inches of water to get in the hotel. We are definitely concerned about his working there in the near future - if the Marriott floods, will it be shut down for weeks or months in the clean-up process? Even if it doesn't flood, there is going to be a huge amount of clean-up necessary just to clean up all of the sandbags that have been laid down! It's concerning that all of the employees at the Marriott could be out of work for awhile. Really, there are going to be tons of people out of work in eastern Iowa - it's hard to wrap my mind around it.
On a different note, I missed my 5 year high school reunion tonight. Not a huge hardship, but I'm definitely disappointed to not be able to make it back up to Waterloo and see some of my classmates. There are no roads I could take to get to Waterloo without having to at least double the trip time, and that's just not practical or safe. I'm kind of on house arrest for the next week as I can't leave the area and I don't have to go to school! :)
Well, that's about all for now. I need to put Aaron to bed as he has to be at work tomorrow at 5am. Business as usual.

Flooding update

This is a picture of the street where my classmate lives. She is very fortunate in that she up the hill about 15 feet higher than the water. We are hoping we don't get anymore water, although we will probably get atleast another 3 feet by Tuesday.
The University of Iowa has canceled classes for next week, so it's a blessing and a curse for us dental students. We would have only had two weeks left of school - now we will have atleast a week off and then probably have to finish up the two weeks after that.
Anyway, we are safe and dry right now. The power is still on and we still have water -life is good!

Flooding!

Aaron and I are very fortunate to live in an area of Iowa City that has not been affected by the flooding. However, we have been affected by the many different road closures, and it is up in the air whether Aaron will be able to go to work at the Marriott in the morning or not. It is very possible that by the morning the Marriott could be flooded! Even if it doesn't flood, the roads to get there may be closed. One of my classmates is staying with us tonight - she lives in Coralville near an area that is being evacuated. She doesn't think that her apartment will flood, but she may not be able to get there because of all the roads that will be closed. Another one of my classmates called and said that their power is out - I am hoping we don't have to deal with that but we'll see what happens! The water is supposed to continue to rise in Iowa City until sometime next week.
Another classmate of mine lives in Cedar Rapids and she was evacuated on Tuesday. She said that the water has risen above her basement and into the first floor of her house. She and her husband just bought the house a few months ago! So sad!
Anyway, I think the University should cancel classes just because it is going to be so difficult tomorrow for many people to get to class. I will be trying to take the bus in - hopefully it will still be running!
Hope you are all safe!

...

Life has been pretty busy lately, although you could argue that life is always busy! Tuesday was Aaron's and my second anniversary - we ended up both working at the restaurant. How romantic! :) Just kidding. :) There's not a whole lot to do on a Tuesday night for an anniversary, and we aren't very sentimental, so we are going to Des Moines this weekend. Lucky for us, Aaron gets really good discounts on Marriott hotels now that he is working there full time, so we got a good deal on a hotel near the Jordan Creek mall. We just want a chance to relax a little bit! Friday night we are going back to Cedar Falls for our friends' wedding - should be a good time! Yay for being married! :)
Anyhoo, I had a bit of a scare this morning. I was eating breakfast when I heard Reuben upstairs rolling around on some of the dirty clothes in a duffle bag (he loves laundry, crazy dog ;) ). I didn't think much of it - he likes to get them just right so he can nap on them. Well, I heard him come down the stairs and I heard the duffle bag coming down the stairs with him. I got up to see this because I thought maybe he was dragging it down with his mouth. Turns out he had put his head through one of the duffle bag straps, rolled around a little, and wound up the bag so that the strap was tight around his neck and tangled with his collar!!! So my poor little puppy was on the verge of strangling himself with the duffle bag strap! I managed to get him untangled very quickly, and he was just fine. But it makes me glad he decided to come downstairs and find mommy!
Well, I think my laundry is ready to come out of the dryer, so good night to you all!