Childhood Memories: Barbies

For most women in the world ( and I use the term most in a loosest sense possible), Barbies were a staple of our childhood. I was no exception to this thought. I spent many hours in my bedroom, living room, or basement playing Barbies throughout my childhood. By the time I was really into playing with Barbies, my sister was past that stage, so not only did I get to use my own Barbies, but I got to use hers as well. I had my own Barbies, including an Ice Skate Barbie, Hollywood Barbie, Yo Yo Skipper, a Barbie  that came with her own Cat, Teresa, Midge, Baby Kelly, and "Gymnastics" Whitney. My sister had much of the same, but some of her special ones including a 1996 Olympics Barbie and a bowling Barbie. Each one had a special place in my "Barbie family" (Hollywood Barbie was the Mom, Ice Skate Barbie and Teresa were the high school sisters, Skipper was in middle school, and Whitney and Kelly were the little ones. Midge was their best friend that basically spent most of the time at their house anyway, so I'm not sure why I just didn't include her as a family member). I also had a mom that sewed, so we had containers full of Barbie clothes.  We also had our fair share of Barbie furniture. I had a Barbie dreamhouse that I got for my birthday in Kindergarten, and we also had several other pieces of furniture, like a bed, dresser, vanity, and a TV Stand. We also had a Barbie "apartment" that came from my cousin. We were also the owners of a Barbie Bank and two barbie Groceries stores. Rachel had a pink 2 seater Barbie convertible while I had a 5 seater blue convertible. We also each had the Barbie pony complete with all the accessories. Well, as you can imagine, I went to TOWN as a five year old with all these Barbie things at my fingertips. I set up a Barbie Megatown. In their "home" town, I had my dream house, along with one grocery store, Whitney's gymnastic studio, the vanity(beauty salon),  and the bank. Two of the high school sisters would drive to the stack of books that served as the high school in the pink convertible. The Mom would drop the others ones off then go to work at her business (she was a lawyer). The other side of my basement was the "vacation" area, with the apartment that served as a condo, the horses and Rachel's bowling alley for recreation, and a grocery store, because you had to eat! The other random furniture was set up near the Dreamhouse for Midge, who was constantly visiting. I would spend 3 hours in my basement playing with my barbies, and I had a blast. It's so much fun to look back on those memories and still be able to remember the specifics about them. I also find it interesting that I was kind of sexist in the fact that I NEVER played with the Ken dolls....

Music Suggestions- Oldies

If you are like me, you are constantly looking for new music to listen to. Most of you probably listen or have listened to these sometime in the past, but this is my oldies playlist, I recommend them all. If you don't recognize a single song or artist on this list, you obviously listen to crap, and should download every song on this list immediately!

ABBA
Gimme Gimme Gimme
I Have a Dream
Mamma Mia
Money Money Money
Voulez Vouz
Waterloo
Ring Ring
Chiquitita
Dancing Queen
Fernando

Little Willy- The Sweet
Wig Wam Bam- The Sweet
Stayin' Alive- Bee Gees
Julie do you love me?- Bobby Sherman
Baby I'm-A Want you- Bread
If- Bread
I Think I love you- David Cassidy
Ghost Riders in the Sky- Johnny Cash
Indian Reservation- Paul Revere and the Raiders
Molly Malone- The Dubliners
Lord of the Dance- The Dubliners
One Tin Soldier- The Original Caste
I Think We're alone now- Tiffany

Tommy James and the Shondells
Crystal Blue Persuasion
Mony Mony
Crimson and Clover

Barry Manilow
Weekend in New England
Mandy
Copacabana
I Write the Songs
American Bandstand

Bye Bye Birdie
Kids
One Last Kiss
Spanish Rose
The Telephone Hour
We Love you Conrad
What did I ever see in Him
A lot of livin' to do
An English teacher
Baby talk to me
Honestly Sincere
How Lovely to be a Woman

John Denver
Rocky Mountain High
Rocky Top Tennessee
Thank God I'm a Country boy
Annie's Song
Grandma's Feather Bed
Leaving on a Jet Plane

Michael Jackson/The Jackson Five
Beat It
Billie Jean
Thriller
Pretty Young Thing
Man in the Mirror
They don't care about Us
I'll be There
ABC
Rockin' Robin
Scream
Black or White
The Way you make me Feel
We are the World
Bad
Smooth Criminal

Pat Benatar
Hit me with your best shot
Hell is for Children
Heartbreaker
Love is a battlefield

Total Eclipse of the Heart- Bonnie Tyler
Build me up Buttercup- The Temptations

Queen
Another Bites the Dust
Bohemian Rhapsody
We Will Rock You
We are the Champions
Under Pressure (with David Bowie)

The Beach Boys
Barbara Ann
Little Surfer Girl
Good Vibrations
I Get Around
Kokomo
Help me Rhonda

My Boyfriend's back- The Dixie Cups
Love Potion Number 9- The Drifters

The Monkees
Daydream Believer
I'm a Believer
Last Train to Clarksville

Joy to the World- Three Dog Night
Play that Funky Music White Boy- Wild Cherry
Stand by your Man- Tammy Wynette

Lesley Gore
It's my Party
Judy's Turn to Cry
Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows

Alabama
Fiddle in the Band
Louisiana Saturday Night
Mountain Music
Song of the South

Jolene- Dolly Parton
Coat of Many Colors- Dolly Parton
Islands in the Stream- Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers

Earth, Wind, and Fire
Fantasy
In the Stone
September

I Will Survive- Gloria Gaynor
Bad Bad Leroy Brown- Jim Croce
The Ballad of Jed Clampett- Flatt and Scruggs
Going to the Chapel of Love- The Shirelles
Seasons in the Sun- Terry Jacks

Simon and Garfunkel
Cecilia
Mrs. Robinson
Scarborough Fair

Cats in the Cradle- Harry Chapin
Gyspies, Tramps, and Thieves- Cher
I Got you Babe- Sonny and Cher
Sex and Candy- Marcy Playground
Barbie Girl- Aqua
Ice Ice Baby- Vanilla Ice

Middle School Memories

As I am spending this day at home sick with a virus, I was surfing on Twitter. One of the topics I found was "#middleschoolmemories" It gave me an idea, so, without further ado, my memories of my 4 years at Storm Lake Middle School

*We called it studyBACK instead of studyHALL
*Guidance class with Mr. Larson and Mrs. Mangold
*Taking Home Ec, and always getting mad when you had to do sewing, finance, or laundry units, because you didn't get to eat anything
*In 6th grade, anytime Mrs. Miller accidentally called you by your sibling's name, you got a Jolly Rancher
*The fifth grade AR party at Mrs. Steenblock's house
*8th grade Science with Mr. Petersen; he almost lit his hand on fire with a bunson burner, and Laurena Wells screamed SO loud
*7th grade lunch was the best, because we got seconds (the only downside was that we didn't get to eat until quarter til one)
*Mr. McCabe's homeroom in 7th grade; Laurena and I would steal his keys, rate his outfits, and hook all his paperclips together into one big long chain
*8th grade Jazz Band "What happens on the jazz band bus STAYS on the jazz band bus"
*SLMS High School Musical 2007
*Fun bucks in fifth grade
*Fun Fridays in fifth grade
*The awesome green bowties and cumberbunds for 7th/8th band and choir
*Always knowing when Mrs. Jones was walking down the hall because all you could hear was "clack, clack, clack, clack"
*Learning how to juggle in PE on early dismissal days
*Getting excited about picking locker partners for the next year
*Mrs. Patten ranting about Nazis during 7th grade art
*Making oobleck in 7th grade science with Mrs. Hixon
*5th grade Wax Museum
*Getting out of school early because the squirrel fried himself in the transformer box
*Hearing Mr. Ryherd say "Crispy. Toes" Every time we were having CRISPITOS for lunch
*Finally having a salad bar
*Watching West Side Story in 7th grade music
*Going to the elementary school to play our band instruments for the fourth graders
*Middle school dances, they were actually FUN
*The DJ's hot son that was at the 8th grade Valentine's day dance
*Taking compatibility tests before the Valentine's day dance, and  then getting SO upset because your crushes' name was not on there
*Smacking your shins almost everyday on the tables in the commons

So there you have it. Some of my middle school memories. Stay tuned for "Elementary School Memories", "High School Memories", and "Girl Scout Memories"

2011: The year in review

It is so hard to believe that 2011 has already up and gone. It is January 2nd, 2012, and I decided to do a review of my 2011 for all my blog readers. 2011 brought many smiles, laughs, and, unfortunately many tears. I lost my Uncle Dan Steinkamp to cancer after many hard years of fighting, and a former classmate Alex Hermstad also passed away after a long medical fight. I think about Uncle Dan and Alex everyday; I have a picture of my Uncle Dan and Aunt Marilyn on my desk, and I have my "Alex's Army" bracelet in my top desk drawer. Whenever I had a bad day last year, I just looked at those things and knew that Alex and my Uncle Dan were watching over me, and I know that they will continue to watch over me.

Although I had my share of sadness, there were also many happy moments. I made All State for the 2nd year in the row, and had the prestigious honor of sitting 4th chair in the Iowa All State orchestra. I also made University of Iowa honor band last year, and sat 2nd chair with some pretty stiff competition. I was also accepted to Buena Vista University here in Storm Lake, and received one of the top three academic scholarship awards. I ultimately decided that my mom was right after all these years that music would become my career (A small sidebar: My mom always said that music would somehow end up being my career, and I always called her bluff, because I was going to be an English teacher. Well, I enjoyed a nice helping of crow after I decided that I wanted to major in instrumental music education; but I digress...). I survived my first semester of my senior year in high school; got A's on all my finals, and didn't go crazy. Looking back, I finally realize that music is essentially my life, and I honestly wouldn't want to have it any other way. 

Perhaps one of the most exciting things that happened in 2011 was  that my Aunt Fran and Uncle Bern moved back to Storm Lake. It's kind of a crazy story. We were in Cherokee visiting my Grandma Helen at the nursing home, and my Uncle Bern got a call from a 712 area code. After he took the call, him and my aunt had to leave all of a sudden. We just assumed that they wanted to get home since they lived in State Center at the time. The next night, the phone rings about 7:30. My dad starts screaming "Oh my God" and "No way." My mom, sister, and I ran to the living room, thinking that something bad had happened, and he goes "Fran and Bern are moving back to Storm Lake." I was really shocked at first, but my parents weren't. My Aunt and Uncle lived here before I was born, and Bernie Pro always said he would retire on Storm Lake, and they did. It's been really awesome having relatives in town. None of my relatives had ever really got to see me perform before, so it was really cool that they were able to come to one of my concerts and to a basketball game to see the pep band play. I've also gotten to spend a lot more time with my other relatives at their house. We spent Thanksgiving and Christmas there, and it was the first time that I can remember being away from home on a holiday. I was a little apprehensive at first because it wasn't "our traditions" but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

So many things are going  to happen in 2012; mainly my last semester of high school and my first semester of college. Lord knows I'm apprehensive about the 2nd one, but I'm confident that I will be able to get through it just like I got  through the year 2011.

New Year's Resolution Update #7

September 6, 2011- 101 books read, 199 books to go (I can honestly say that I do not think I will read that many by January 1, 2012; sorry to disappoint blog readers!!)

Breaking Dawn- Stephenie Meyer
The Forbidden (The Courtship of Nellie Fisher, Book 2)- Beverly Lewis
Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature- Robin Brande
Fat Cat- Robin Brande
Am I Right or Am I Right?- Barry Jonsberg
1001 Cranes- Naomi Hirahara
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West- Gregory Maguire
Alice in Zombieland - Lewis Carroll and Nikolas Cook
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz- L. Frank Baum
The Complete Adventures of Alice in Wonderland- Lewis Carroll
Patiently Alice- Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Alice on her Way- Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Alice in the Know- Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Almost Alice- Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Intensely Alice- Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Alice in Charge- Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Incredibly Alice- Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Glass Houses (Morganville Vampires, Book 1)- Rachel Caine
The Dead Girls' Dance (Morganville Vampires, Book 2)- Rachel Caine
Arousing Love- M.H. Strom

New Year's Resolution Update #6

July 31, 2011 - 81 books read, 219 to go

The Parting [The Courtship of Nellie Fisher, book 1] - Beverly Lewis
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone- JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets- JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban- JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire- JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix- JK Rowling
Throwaway- Heather Huffman
Suddenly a Spy- Heather Huffman
Jailbird- Heather Huffman
Ties that Bind- Heather Huffman
The Phantom of the Opera- Gaston Leroux
The Vampire Diaries: The Return-Shadow Souls- LJ Smith

A Community I love

A lot of people have tons of complaints about Storm Lake. "There's nothing fun to do here." "There's no cool places to hang." I beg to differ my friends. I am here to offer you 10 reasons why Storm Lake, IA is a community that I truly love (to be quite honest, it's the only community I have lived in, but I digress)

1. Pages Bakery - If you are in Storm Lake, and you want donuts, don't even think about Casey's or Hy-Vee. Pages is the best hands down. It is a family owned business that has been in Storm Lake for a very long time, and it's as good as it's ever been (so I'm told). I recommend the donut holes, bird-eye's, or chocolate yum-yums.

2. Honey Kissed Pizza- The number 2 tourist spot in Storm Lake, this is the best pizza I've ever eaten. The secret is the HONEY on the crust (hence the name Honey Kissed Pizza). They have tons of specialty pizzas, and the decor in the restaurant is completely awesome!

3. The Star Spangled Spectacular- This hometown tradition is one of my very favorite things about Storm Lake. Everything about the Star Spangled Spectacular is awesome: the parade, the food, and the bands/booths. I have only missed 1 Star Spangled Spectacular in my entire life, and I cannot imagine NOT being in Storm Lake for the 4th of July.

4. The Storm Lake High School Music Department- If you go to any school in NW Iowa and mention the Storm Lake High School Music Department, chances are they will get a small look of fear in their eyes. Our Music Department has been a staple in our town for awhile, and that's mostly thanks to Jeff Tollefson, our former vocal director and now HS Vice principal. Tollefson was a no-nonsense kind of guy, and because of that, our choir got 2nd in a national competition in Florida. Our band got 1st place, because Senor Heeren is the same no-nonsense kind of guy, and we have a great orchestra. Our department is lucky to have such community support.

5. Boz Wellz- I've mentioned a lot of food in this blog, but let's face it : we love to eat. This is another hometown restaurant with amazing food. They always have good soup, the cheesballs and onion rings are to die for, and the club sandwich is amazing. And don't even get me started on the Gooey Butter Cake!

6. Santa's Castle- My family always goes to Santa's Castle every year, and I have had the opportunity to work there through the HS Key Club. It's not as exciting as it was when I was younger, but I love seeing the little kids there and they're reactions. The goats are my favorite exhibit.

7. Our diverse community- Many people would see our diverse community as a bad thing, but the people in Storm Lake embrace it and make the best of it. Getting to learn about all these different cultures is awesome. Tasting the food, seeing traditional dances, and all of those things truly make us lucky to live in Storm Lake.

8. The Skating Rink- Sure, this place is the same as it was in the 1960's, but you can't tell me you never went skating there in middle school. My friends and I still love to go skating when we are able, but I've only been there a couple of times since I broke my tailbone skating during Adventure Club freshman year..

9. King's Pointe- I don't think this waterpark is as awesome as some of the little kids, but it's nice to have. However, it is ridiculously over-priced and not nearly as AWESOME as the Marshalltown Aquatic Center. Just sayin'..

And, finally, wait for it. Drumroll please.... *BZZZZZZZ*

10. Grand Central Coffee Station- I've never actually tried the coffee because coffee disgusts me, but the steamers, smoothies, tea, and muffins are really good.

There you have it folks. Although our town is sometimes smelly, the lake is pretty gross, and we're surrounded by cornfields, Storm Lake is truly a community I love.