Pardon Our Dust

Sarahkay.squarespace.com down for renovations! Thank you Julie for checking out my other site--sorry it wasn't there when you went searching.
I'm in the process of writing, looking for new ways to get material out, new ways to market myself and stay motivated so I'm trying to do some house cleaning.

I've noticed that when I'm getting new stuff written I seem to let my blog slide. Thanks to everyone whose being patient. I love having a place to explore new ideas and communicate with others, but there's only so much to go around. At least for now.

Any ideas of how to keep creativity flowing, or make more time in a day to spend on passions would be much appreciated.

At the Intersection of Past, Present, and Almost Unbelievable

Grant Wood "Stone City" 1930
Stone City is not far from my home and still greatly resembles this famous painting.

You know you live in the Midwest when:
True story I saw all three of these yesterday around Cedar Rapids:
(pop. close to 200,000 metro area I might add)

1.) I pulled up behind a red Corvette and a UPS truck at the intersection of 1st Ave. and 5th St. Right in the heart of downtown, while I waited for the light to turn green, the driver of the Corvette casually climbed out of his vehicle, WITH PACKAGE IN HAND, and sauntered over to the driver side of the UPS truck. I was so stunned I sat there stuttering to my mother, riding next to me. Like all good Midwesterners no one honked nor cursed as the line, behind me began to grow. Our mothers raised us right I guess, we simply mutter under our breath where no one can hear us. Hello, it’s called manners!

2.) Later in the day, while I drove on the far west side of town, I did a double take as the Peppy’s Ice Cream truck casually pulled out in front of me with its catchy Ragtime jingle that weaves its way into homes enticing children of all ages into the street for a tasty summer snack. I would have expected to see a bored, multi-pierced college student sitting at the wheel, frowning at the glare of sunshine. Instead, Mrs. Clause herself could have been steering that magical musical machine, such was the adorable, white-haired women who sat at the helm. Perhaps I’m too jaded and that’s why I was shocked to see a cute little lady, doing the sweetest job on earth.

3.) Cedar Rapids and the surrounding area have an admittedly split personality. Day to day, one never knows if you’ll encounter a metropolitan hub or a quaint little village? Yesterday, as the sun sank behind the bustling cityscape. I pulled into a busy intersection between Cedar Rapids and the growing bedroom community of Marion just in time to see something I never would have believed if I had been there. I even rubbed my eyes. On one side of the four corners that mark the bridge between the two towns is a little hobby farm that faithfully raises cows right-up by the road every summer for as far back as I can remember. Backache Acres, is the name of the little plot of land surrounded by city, and though it may seem odd to most of you it’s one of those contradictions that make Iowa. . .well perfect.

I would never have given any more thought to this little piece of Iowa, except when I noticed a car stop in the intersection, and roll down its window, while the driver hollered something in the direction of the lazy field. Odd as it was, it didn’t stun me until I saw a cow respond! With my own eyes I saw a big, dusty, friendly, brown cow running towards the fence! (Cows never run, especially not towards people!) She lumbered, right up to the fence looking expectantly at the driver waiting for the green light.
Personally, I have no idea what the conversation between cow and driver entailed. Even though I claim Iowa as my home, it boggles my mind what one would say to a cow? Lest of all to make a cow come running, even a cow born and bred in the city

This explains SO much?

Why We Should Be Grateful for Gen Y
by Penelope Trunk

What's the point of baby boomers complaining about Generation Y at work? First of all, it's a cliché, because people over 40 have been complaining about "young people" since forever.
Even worse, it's a losing battle. Generation Y is huge. It's one thing for boomers to verbally squash Generation X -- that was no problem. Gen X is tiny and the baby boom was huge.
But in Generation Y, baby boomers have met their match. And in the demographic catfight of the century, Gen X aligns itself with Gen Y over baby boomers, which means that the workplace gripes boomers have about young people are going to be moot in a matter of years.
Generation Which?
So maybe the over-40 crowd should spend less time talking about trying to "bridge the generation gap" -- which is really a euphemism for "get Gen Y to be more like us" -- and more time celebrating the great things that Generation Y brings to the workplace. Gen Y isn't going anywhere, and it's not like they're about to conform to baby boomer demands.
But before you continue reading, understand that the world doesn't actually adhere to demographer datelines: The generation you fit into is more a function of the choices you make than the year you were born. So if you want to know where you truly fit along generational lines, take this test.
And if you want to know why baby boomers should ease up on Generation Y, consider the ways that these youngest workers are making life better for everyone:

1. They won't do work that's meaningless.
These kids grew up with parents scheduling every minute of their day. They were told TV is bad and reading is good, and are more educated than any generation in history. They just spent 18 years learning to be productive with their time, so they're not going to settle for any photocopying/coffee stirring job.
But that's good, because we all want meaning in our jobs, and we all want to understand how we're contributing to the world at large. Why should anyone have to wait until retirement age to start demanding that?
These days, the workplace can be restructured so that we all do a little coffee stirring in exchange for each of us getting to do some meaningful work. And if work can be in some way meaningful for all of us, then the workplace in general will be a better place to spend our time.

2. They won't play the face-time game.
We've known forever that it isn't necessary to be in the office from 9 to 5 every day to get work done. But many of us have missed family events only to sit at a desk all day getting pretty much nothing done because of the stress of missing a family event. And there didn't used to be any option -- if you wanted a successful career, you made sure co-workers saw that you were putting in the hours.
Generation Y wants to be judged by the work they do, not the hours they put in. And what could be more fair than this? In fact, a good portion of the workforce has been requesting flextime for decades, but the requests have gone unheeded.
We have Gen Y to thank for forcing the switch, because if Gen Yers can't leave the building whenever they want, they'll walk out the door and never come back. Face the truth: Boomers weren't willing to go that far, but they sure are benefiting from it. Now they have more opportunities for flextime, too.

3. They're great team players.
If you've climbed a corporate ladder your whole career, then it's probably inconceivable to you that Gen Y doesn't care about your title. But it's true -- they don't do rank. Chances are they saw their parents get laid off in the '80s, so they know how ephemeral that special rung you stand on is and they don't want to waste time trying to get there.
Generation Y played on soccer teams where everyone participated and everyone was a winner, and they conducted playground politics like diplomats because their parents taught them that there's no hierarchy and bullies are to be taken down by everyone. And Gen Yers take these values to work -- they expect to be a part of a team. Gen Y believes that no matter how much experience an individual has, everyone plays and everyone wins.
Maybe it's annoying to you that you don't get to be team captain, or worse, the bully on the playground. But you've read the Harvard Business Review's decades of research on how essential workplace teams are and how older people have little idea how to be good team players, so relax: Gen Y is doing the teamwork for you. In fact, there's no way to work with Gen Yers except on a team. They go to the prom as a team, so they're certainly going to go to product reviews as a team.
That makes us all lucky. We don't need any McKinsey person coming to our company for $10 million a minute telling us how to promote teamwork. We can just follow Generation Y.

4. They have no patience for jerks.
Generation Y changes jobs every two years, typically because the work isn't a good fit, or the learning curve isn't steep enough, or they don't like their co-workers. And Gen Yers will disengage from a jerk before trying to get along with him or her, according to a report by Stan Smith, national director of Next Generation Initiatives at consulting firm Deloitte. They have no desire to bother with somebody they don't like.
This is really how we all should function. After all, according to research by Stanford professor Bob Sutton, the cost of putting up with a jerk in a company is about $160,000. Moreover, Harvard researcher Tiziana Casciaro found that people hate working with high-performing jerks so much that they would rather work with someone incompetent who's nice.
Nobody likes having to deal with jerks, but we've always believed it was asking too much to have a workplace full of decent people. Generation Y sets a new standard for this, and companies are having to dump jerks quickly or risk losing their ability to recruit and retain Gen Yers.
Don't Fight the Future
So let's get off our high horses and stop evaluating whether or not we like working with Generation Y. Its members have incredible leverage in the workplace right now, and they're not going anywhere.
It's time to admit that the workplace is changing and that we're lucky to have a group as optimistic and self-confident as Generation Y leading the way.

A girl can dream can't she. . .

Snuggled in between Nice and Monaco is a little village named Enze, and it's without a doubt my happy place. Recently, my husband mentioned that he would love to go back to France, since both of us were there when we were kids. It was one of the most wonderful things I've heard him say! Enter-Nate & S.K.'s dream getaway! At the moment it's still a dream and so I have no limits! It's been great to research a little bit of our past and maybe some of our future. Although, it does make it a little harder to come back to Iowa. Oh well, everything has a price!

top ten ideas for the do it yourself realtor

10.) Hit the laundromat circuit with flyer's



9.) Place homes for sale on the windshields of all cars at every divorce lawyer in town.



8.) Hire the local cheerleading squad to host a car wash in your driveway during your open house. Make sure at least six of them are on each corner holding your sign.



7.) Put your home-ad on coasters and leave them liberally at your favorite eatery.



6.) Place home-ad surreptitiously in every Get Rich with Real Estate book at your local book store.


5.) Put all the extra junk you have in your garage, out in the drive way like a yard sale in hopes of attracting people to your open house. When they ask how much an item is tell them $138,500 even if they don't buy the house you've at least paid back your mortgage.

4.) Call every friend you know who doesn't own a home and "spontaneously" invite them over for dinner.

3.) Hire the local marching band to march around your town home 7 times--if it doesn't get the house sold it may at least get it to come crashing to the ground. Either way we're good.

2.) Buy a St. Joseph statue and bury it upside down in your yard. I have no idea why this is supposed to work--but our neighbors swear by it. We're wondering if it would work if we just have Nate's brother Joseph come over during our open house?

1.) The best way to sell your house--when hiring out of town employee's Nate will write the purchase of our home into their contract!!!

Got any ideas--let me know the crazier the better!

This time last year. . .

Some things change--like Sophia has long outgrown her adorable car seat. (The expensive one that has a matching stroller!)
Time after time, women would go out of their way to inform me that sleeping baby in car-seat was the essence of having it easy! Never stopping to help me carry babyseat, produce, diaper bag etc. . and haul them into my two-door sexy car. I'm sure they just laughted knowingly as they rolled six kids into the mini-van with a simple sweep of the arm. It hasn't been so long ago that I forget how hard it was to get showered and out of the house between nursing, naps, and diaper changes.
Personally, I love that Sophia can be my sidekick, chattering at me in the cart and flirting with strangers. As long as I have Oragel, Pacifier, or some type of snack in my purse we're footloose and fancy free!

Fourth of July 2006-Can you guess what Nate's favorite color is? Oh and would someone explain to me the whole guys wearing rubber bands thing? But I love this picture b/c we look like such a sweet family. Baby and husband all cute and coordinating and mom hiding her-post baby weight frame behind a camera. (It is hard to see how far you've come when you only had pictures of your head for the last year!)

Miss Susan's tribute to summer and all things wholesome. I'm so thankful for traditions. Many of us thought that we'd had our last Wilke 4th of July party b/c of her failing health. I'm thrilled to say we're looking forward to a record crowd this afternoon, God be praised! And many more 4th of July's to come! Outside my mother, she is one of the most incredible and influential women in my life. Words cannot express how much I'm looking forward to this afternoon!

Can you believe this was my baby one year ago??? This was also the limit to her athletic ability! What a difference a year makes!
Some things will never change, however, Nate can still be found fast asleep on the floor while Sophia buzzes happily around him. It's a huge gift to me, since once I'm up--I'm awake for the day. Not Nate, his parental supervision is in spirit and body (only for a couple hours early in the morning.) Rule of thumb: if it's a loud enough noise to wake him up, then she's in some sort of trouble. It's worked thus far and we're all very appreciative of the arrangement. (Except maybe my Tupperware drawer)

LOTZ MORE PICS OF THE HOUSE!

Special thanks to all the people who helped us get our place looking realtor snazzy! You know you've got great friends when they will clean your bathrooms and cupboards for you! We couldn't have done it without you all! And to everyone who's having us over now so that it can stay looking this good. I'm a refugee from my own home!

Check us out:

http://www.fsbolocal.com/viewPropertyAd.htm?id=10820

It's official-I'm a groupie!

When an upandcoming Xian band wins a Dove award then they should definately be on my radar screen. But when the same band happens to have a Cedar Rapids boy--and a very close friend of the family as their bass player! Well that should be enough right! Expect that they're also REALLY good!
Got to see them in concert last night and was blown-away!
(Sidenote: Iowa audiences can suck the energy out of any great preformance--ask Chris Rice and Thor Ramsey who opened for Stellar Kart--we're a tough crowd!) Not these guys! Wow everyone that wasn't leaving b/c it was a "little too rocky" (a great compliment in my book!) Was bouncing for Jesus and ready to stage dive! Ask my mom--she got her bra signed! Well not quite but she got very swept up in the night!

StellarKart

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Just Kidding!
New pictures coming soon: http://www.fsbolocal.com/viewPropertyAd.htm?id=10820

WANTED: SOMEONE TO LOVE OUR HOME AS MUCH AS WE DO!

Nate and I offically placed our home on the market--in hopes of a quick sale so that our family can move into the home we've placed an offer on!

This adorable home has been such a gift for our growing family. Nate moved in two-weeks before we were married in 2005 with only a sleeping bag and a dorm fridge. Since then we've turned the partially finished basement into living quarters for his family when their in town, the spare bedroom became a nursery and my book was written in the office.

Its gone from being a condo to a home--a place of memories and family. Nate and I will miss all the friends we made here and the low maintence yard work. This year was the first year I ever gardened but I loved only focusing on the flowers and never having to mow or water (oh yeah built-in sprinklers!) We will also miss the ample room we had to adjust to cohabitating with a member of the opposite sex. This is the perfect starter-home for anyone looking to get a foothold in life. A diverse neighborhood, and great neighbors make it a very special place in our hearts.

Check it out at http://www.fsbolocal.com/viewPropertyAd.htm?id=10820

This Is Only A Test

Recent summer storms have brought in plenty of excitement and reminded me of a late night road trip I took a few years ago through a part of Illinois that I'd never been to before. As the sky got dark, green and ominous looking I got a little nervous and flipped on the radio. The announcer quickly confirmed my worst fears when I heard. "A Tornado warning has been issued for Weston, Parker, Lincoln, Benton, and Hines counties. Seek shelter immediately." It was at that moment that I realized, I had NO IDEA WHAT COUNTY I WAS IN! You never see counties on maps or even road signs, (well even if you do I didn't see it that night.) Whose idea is it to scare miserable travelers out of their minds? I had two choices, keep driving looking for a funnel cloud around every bend. Or I could hide in a ditch when a twister was three counties away.

Obviously I'm here, so I didn't run into Glinda, Toto, or any of the Lollipop Guild. But still, I have to say it seems like someone could come up with a smarter way to warn unsuspecting travelers.

Even nice guys won't take a fish off your hook six times

Yes, six times, what can I say, beginer's luck. But unfortunately I seemed to be the only one getting lucky today and even though I was with my dad, my brother and my husband. Three men who really love me--they lost their patience with my squimish side after the fourth fish. Sophia was the real brave one, she got to touch her first fish and she didn't scream as much as Mommy did when she finally had to do her own dirty work. We were only catching them for sport, it was all catch and release. Luckily, one of my fish released itself, and the other two well, I didn't have much choice did I. Never tease men about pool or fishing, life lesson #4.

Sunday at Crossroads Community Church. One of the perks of having church at Warehouse Auto in Swisher is a fully stocked lake on the premises. This was the first Sunday we actually planned make the most of it and when we went to purchase fishing licenses, we found out that this was Free Fishing Weekend in Iowa. I know Christ was a fisherman, I guess it's still a hobby he reccomends

Sophia's Garden

This must be a hint that Mom's been gardening alot, when Sophia plants herself like a flowerpot. Earlier I caught her watering the stairs INSIDE! She was quick to point out that she was using her sippy cup like I use a watering can. Watering her feet on each step of my carpeted stairs.

I guess I can take a hint--ohkay sweetheart you win. Let's go to the park. I don't think my house can take much more indoor gardening.

What difference an afternoon makes!

Problem: How to redo a room when you have a seventies green kitchen and pink walls? (No comment on the previous owners state of mind when they decided to paint the living room pink.)

Solution: New curtains, new cover on old chairs, a coat of paint on the bottom half of the table. Spray paint a lamp black and use left-over polka-dot material to redo lamp shade. Hang up a picture and an old guitar, fill the shelves with games the couple love and you have a room thats as fun and free as Dave & Tayelor.

Tayelor & Dave Jarret recently moved into to a cozy apartment on the top-level or a 50's style cape-cod. On Monday, Tayelor invited Sophia and I over for lunch-a few hours later and Voila! All it took was new coat of paint, some left-over material from the scrap table at a local store and we had a whole new room that fit our friends inspite of the bizare color choice. The best-part was that it only cost us $16.oo and Tayelor and I learned how to upholster those great kitchen chairs! Nothing makes me happier than getting to shop, get a great deal, decorate, use my tools, and even break out Grandma's sewing machine all in the same day with friends. It's also really cool to be able to use my freakish-obsessive creativity for something that will really benefit such great people!

Mommy Milestone!

Attention Attention!

The day has finally arrived! Pre-baby pants didn't just hang in the back of the closet they actually made it out into public!

I've been able to zip them up for a while now but it was only for me--since I didn't want to look like Hoochie Mama--instead of Skinny Mama!

But thanks to my Mother's Day gift (an IPOD Nano to listen to my speeches) going the extra-mile is a lot more fun! It's also encouraging to see other mommies out there with the jogging-stroller/IPOD combo!

Sophia lately has mimicked EVERYTHING I do in her pressence and it's made me highly aware that I want to be teaching her good habits--a lifestyle that will serve her well. So we're a team now--she's my navigator, my mascot, and my cheerleader!

Vacation Hike in Ha Ha Tonka State Park. New found die-hard attitude coming from prayer. With His help I never want my size or how I look in something to keep me from any part of life!