I don’t know if I posted Doug’s song before — embedded it, I mean, but here it is. (I’ve moved it to a page because it plays automatically. I hate that! Click on the link and you can see the video there.)
Here’s his photo (that is part of a full page ad in American Salon magazine) and an interview on the Redken site.
In 1997 my friend and colleague, Joan, whose mother went to college in Illinois and who knew I was from Illinois, wondered if I’d be interested in going to an unofficial Inaugural Ball which was being hosted by some Illinois organization. I said yes, and asked my mom and aunt if they’d like to go too. They did and flew out from Illinois a few days before the event.
There were seven of us all together — Joan and her mom, our friend Carolyn and her daughter Sarah and my mom, my aunt Ginny and me. The actual ball was not exactly wonderful — boring actually — but getting ready for it was a lot of fun. And afterward we could say that we’d been to an Inaugural Ball.
A lot has happened in the twelve years since that ball — both with our country and in the personal lives of the seven women who attended. In fact a variety of books (war, romance, medical, to name a few genres) could be written about all the events that transpired since 1997.
This year I didn’t have a posse of friends with whom to attend a ball. If someone had suggested it, perhaps I might have done so, but it didn’t happen so Dean and I decided to hold our own Inaugural Ball.
Dean invited a few friends from work, some neighbors and friends we’ve made through our children and I invited a couple of people I knew through the Internet (the ones Dean refers to as my imaginary friends).
Our invitation was based on one I found online.
We chose a Chicago style menu of Italian Beef, Chicago style Hot Dogs, Jello salad, & potato salad with mustard. We also had Old Style beer on hand (plus some from Wisconsin).
Dean gathered dance music for the “ballroom”. (but no one danced — it seems the music stopped after a while and we forgot to start it up again)
The party was a lot of fun — it was great having folks from various parts of our lives in the same place at the same time (sort of like Facebook). I wish I could have talked to more people in depth, but I was pretty busy bringing out the different courses.
I think I got to talk to everyone, at least for a few minutes. Dean and I decided, however, to not have two parties* so close to each other again. Maybe one in the winter and one in the spring or autumn.
Despite his busy schedule, President-elect Obama stopped by for some Chicago food and posed with the guests.
*we host a Christmas / Holiday party for folks from Dean’s office each December.
So a month or so before Christmas I called my mom and told her that if she wondered what to get us for Christmas, she could get us a steam cleaner for our carpets. We only have two rooms with wall-to-wall carpeting, but they are both light colored and get things spilled on them a lot. Mom said that she had a steam cleaner that she never used and now that she had mostly hardwood floors had no need for it. We were welcome to take it.
Dean loves the steam cleaner. He uses it every opportunity he can. It also washes floors so I’m often awakened to the sound of the steam cleaner. He steam cleaned the basement carpeting a few days after we got the cleaner. He washed the kitchen floor the day we got the cleaner. This morning he steam cleaned THE CONCRETE FLOOR IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM.
If you have something that needs to be steam cleaned, please call him. He’s a man obssessed. I fully expect him to steam clean the sidewalks in the neighborhood soon.
Clutch Cargo Lips 