Some favorite sites of Des Moines

On the train at Blank Park Zoo.

Hessen Haus: Home of Das Boot and plenty of pleasant/fuzzy memories


The State Capitol was so gorgeous and always free to tour.

I had an awesome view from my window in the maternity wing.

The Heritage Carousel is a hand painted, hidden gem at a local park.

This is where I developed my distaste towards carousels. lol


The Simon Estes Riverfront Amphitheater is awesome! It's a multifunctional site for weddings, concerts, plays, etc... It has a great background of the Des Moines River.

My son was such a wuss with bodies of water, but loved spray parks. The one in Ankeny, IA was so much fun for for like $2.

Principal Park is home to the Iowa Cubs, a minor league baseball team. My local mom's group was invited for a photo shoot, so were able to let the kids run wild on the cushiest grass I've ever experienced. Of course, the hubby tagged along for the fun.

How much do we looove Raccoon River Park in West Des Moines, IA!!! It has a huge playground, spray park, dog park, walking trail and lake! The Bear loved this park the best. It was definitely a place we always wandered back to when we didn't know what to do with our day.

Saturday

J-cakes finally had a Saturday off so I decided it was time we headed to Nashville's zoo. We still have a current pass to Des Moines' zoo and it gets us into the Nashville zoo for free. Score! Besides, it was "Ice Day" which meant free ice cream, bounce houses, music and other things.

Ugh, we left at 10am and it was pretty humid. Definitely a shorts day even though my legs are albino white. (They never ever tan. Only the top half of my body tans.) Of course it was our duty as doting parents to lead our son the free ice cream.

After eating a little scoop, the Bear spotted the carousel. I gladly refused this ride. We once did a local photo shoot on a carousel and it was hell going round and round. J-cakes totally took over this one for me as I made the Bear request his dad. lol

By this time we had been to the zoo for nearly an hour and seen zero animals! So we began our trek and gawd was it crowded. I'm so use to doing things like this during the week, that I forget what it's like to face regular crowds. Like, oh yeah, everyone else has been working all week and they want to go out on Saturday too.

I'm not sure what I think of this zoo.It's on such a large plot of land. You did sooo much walking to get to a couple of animals. It was really nice and well kept, but the walking was hard. Nashville is very hilly, so we were constantly going uphill. Poor little Bear was trudging as hard as he could.We brought his little stroller, but he just had to be independent and walk,you know? He was definitely rewarded with sights of butt scratching monkeys, elephants and giraffes. This tickles the hell out of him since he calls all the animals by the names from Madagascar. Zebras are Martys and giraffes are Melmans.

The one part of the zoo J-cakes and I can't agree on is the bug/snake area. J-cakes is a wuss about the creepy crawlies. I'm a wuss too in real life, but I totally love the creepy crawly buildings at zoos. Where else can you see these things up close and personal? And the Bear was pumped about snakes! He always tries to scare me with a rubber snake, or he'll shriek when we're sharing a blanket,"Ah! A snake!" Friggin precious. He loooved the snakes and they had huge tanks of fish for him to bang on the glass saying "Hewo!" Nice.

Finally, the Bear was just completely wiped. We were wiped. It was butt sweat hot by this time and we called it a day. We totally missed a bunch more "Ice Day" stuff, but whatever.

Consignment Rot

Boo to the consignment sale today! Their advertising is just so influential on my state of mind. I get so geared up to snatch stuff in a hurry and push families aside for deals.

But these things...These things suuuucked. People tagged their items "Gap", "Talbots", "Guess",etc... Yeah, priced at $7 or more and the kids clothes were to pieces. Ripped cuffs and faded out. I'd pay less at a Goodwill for this stuff. I could go to a nicer consignment store and pay the same price for nice things. A lot of the shoes were so old the plastic on the bottom was yellow. I'm such a priss, but not really.

But you know what? People were buying shit up like nobody's business. Women were sliding laundry hampers at their feet filled with items filled to the brim. I felt ill and left. The hunger for undervalued items on sales makes me feel gross. Priss.

Although J-cakes is now making money, I'm trying to be conservative with our spending. I figured the Bear's clothes and toys would prolly be a good place to start saving. We save with groceries and we don't go out really. Mostly because we're still adjusting to Nashville and we don't have friends...haha. "Don't make friends, and you'll save tons of cash!" We're a success story!

We'll attempt another consignment sale next weekend. I'm determined to get him some clothes. I like the idea of used clothing since kids outgrow things so quickly. But the prices totally have to be reasonable. Don't expect me to buy torn up, stained sweatpants for $8. Get over it!

Grandparental peril

Just got off the phone with my mom. It was so sad to hear the panic. I think she and my step dad have really allowed the economic meltdown into their personal life. They both filed for retirement last year; she because her job got phased out and he was so eager to be done with the school system. So they've spent the last year getting by and struggling with a budget. It's not like they lived lavishly, but it's been difficult. He's now going back to work and she's still searching out a permanent job. I think my mom is the most stressed out since she does all the bills.

But she's called me and it seems like they've gotten to a wall of complete miscommunication. And now she says she has to prepare herself for the worst, insinuating my step dad might leave her because his behavior has changed and he made some separate bank account.

As much as I want to jump on board and defend her, I think she's been festering in paranoia for the last few months. You know how you get so stressed out, everything seems to be out to get you? Yup.

So I laid out the cliche advice of them needing to talk. Seriously, just talk. And don't half ass your talk, like really really talk. Don't leave any room for assumptions. Tell the brutal truth and embrace the tongue lashing. J-cakes and I lay it all out there and the relationship thrives. How could I possibly be a partner in a relationship if I don't speak. Of course there are times when we totally clam up and we go to bed angry, but we talk in the end. Your spouse should be your best friend.

So I feel bad for my mom. She thanked me for the advice, but c'mon...Is she really gonna do it? Who knows? Since when do older women take your advice on relationships? puhleeze.

Undie Time

Phone rang. I immediately thought,"I hope it's not the neighbors telling us to put our pants on."

Seriously, I love walking around in underwear. I don't mean bra and panties, just pantless. I could wear a huge wool sweater on top, but I love to just wear underwear below the belt. I always walked around like that when I was younger and living by myself. Then I got pregnant, and moved into a condo. Pretty sure our neighbors didn't want to see a pantless preggo walking around on the first floor condo. So I've been grudgingly wearing pants for about 3 years now.

We've moved to Nashville, and the pants came off once we stepped into our new home! Woohoo! Did I mention I keep the windows open? I figure if I can't see into my neighbor's windows because of the sun's glare, then mine must look the same way. Off with the pants!

So my son and I walk around pantless as much as possible. Not sure what age becomes inappropriate for him to see his mommy in undies, but who give a fudge right now. I have some much needed undie time to make up.