Kimberly Olson: Journey to Peace Singing Siblings of SISTER Tour the PAW Family & Pet Issue! Children's Museum of Southern Minnesota
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KIMBERLY OLSON: Journey to Peace Singing Siblings of SISTER Tour the PAW FAMILY & Pet issue! Children's Museum of Southern Minnesota FREE! RiveRvalleywoman.com may 2015 • volume 2 • issue 12 2015 Ford Fusion SE Sync & Sound Package $189 Not all buyers will qualify for Ford Credit Red Carpet Lease. Payments may vary; dealers determine prices. Cash due at For 24 Months signing after $1,500 RCL cash. Security deposit waived; excludes taxes, title and license fees. For all offers, take new retail delivery from dealer stock by 6/1/15. See dealer for qualifications and complete details. $2,600 Due at lease signing Back in our Brand New Showroom! When You’re Happy, We’re Happy MADISON AVENUE WAY 22 H MANKATO FORD www.mankatoford.com HIG 507.387.3454 020006 22 12 22 19 contents • Publisher { 2015 } New Century Press { may Chief Operating Officer 6 Jim Hensley General Manager Lisa Miller Please direct all editorial inquiries GO and suggestions to: A Day at the Museum .......................................................... 22 Managing Editor Eileen Madsen Fun, Festivals and Frolics ....................................................... 24 [email protected] Taste of the Valley ............................................................. 26 Strut Your Stuff Fashion Pages.................................................. 34 Sales Manager Natasha Weis Lucky Dogs go to The PAW ..................................................... 40 507-227-2545 Treasures...................................................................... 58 [email protected] Redwood Falls Area - Take it in!................................................. 62 Sales Team Judy Beetch Erin Fritz BE Alika Faythe Hartmann Money Talks: Protecting Your Family's Dreams .................................. 42 Ruth Klossner Money Talks: Suze Orman: Four Signs You Should Rent Not Buy ................. 44 Tami Leuthold Janelle Magelee Money Talks: Saving Money at Home While You're On Vacation .................. 45 Be Well: Set Yourself Up For Success ............................................ 52 Designer Amy Leuthold Be Well: Healthy Eating Even When You're in a Hurry ............................ 54 Be Well: Don't Let Sniffles & Sneezes Take Control of Your Life ................... 56 Cover Photographer Alika Faythe Hartmann Despres Photography DO Things That Go Bloom!......................................................... 12 River Valley Woman New Ulm & Mankato, MN Garden Gal: May: A Month for Gardeners ....................................... 18 507.354.6158 Spaces ........................................................................ 46 Tidy Tightwad Tips: Spring Cleaning............................................ 57 For advertising and editorial contact information and a list of newsstand locations visit coNNect rivervalleywoman.com Lather, Rinse, Repeat - Editor’s Column ...........................................4 River Valley Woman is published monthly and Kimberly Olson: Life Journey .....................................................6 distributed free in the Minnesota River Valley area. Sister: Singing, Siblings, Support, Success ...................................... 20 The content used in this magazine is copyright 2015 River Valley Woman and may Tjode Mickelson: Home is where Life Takes You ................................. 29 not be reprinted in part or in whole without Dr. Ann Vogel.................................................................. 30 written consent by the publisher. All articles and editorial material represent the opinions Feeling the Love Pet Pages..................................................... 37 of the respective authors. Julie Soost, Animal Chiropractor ............................................... 38 The publisher reserves the right to edit, reject, or Connections Business Cards ................................................... 68 position any advertising. In the event of any error, River Valley Woman will rerun the incorrect part of the ad or cancel charges on the incorrect portion. RIVER VALLEY womaN | may • 2015 3 Lather, Rinse, Repeat Who's grandchildren?” I sputter to myself. No, I gently say to the poor visually-impaired dear, I am an aunt. Ok great aunt...yea, yea, great-great aunt, but who’s counting. The clinic scale Happy Mother’s Day! is, that’s who. Apparently the congestion in my lungs and sinuses have added 15 extra pounds. Otherwise they are in dire need of some accurate equipment. Don’t they realize I Although by the time you read this it may have my teenaged underweight mental image to maintain? I’m tellin’ my mom on them. be past. Or is it? I’m thinking Mother’s Day is pretty much a year ‘round thing. Whether your On that tantrum-ish note, whether you are a grandmother, mom, aunt, sister, or just not mom is still among the living or with the dearly quite the skinny kid you used to be, I know you’ll enjoy our second annual Family Issue. departed, isn’t she always kinda there? Mine Our cover feature tells a story that probably most of us cannot relate to, at least culturally is, even when she isn’t. She advises me when and geographically speaking, and that is what makes it all the more interesting. Kimberly I’m down (have some hot chocolate that will Olson’s life journey took her from the Midwest to the Middle East and back again. Read help), gives me fashion tips (don’t wear so much how her harrowing experience helped her grow and keep her family safe. black, and have some hot chocolate that will help put color in your cheeks), and she looks back at The singing sibling Sister performance group, celebrates family and life with humor and me in my own reflection when I’m putting on song. While I have not seen them perform yet, I have to say I am jealous. My sister who make-up (this brown eye shadow reminds me is closest in age to me, and I, grew up singing and playing piano. We would do Smothers of hot chocolate...will a little more help?) Brothers performances in the back yard, or change the words to popular songs (pre-Weird Al Yankovich) and record them on our tape recorder. We still do this today when we get I don’t have kids so hence, have pretty much together. But what fun to do it for a living. been able to act like one all these years. Free from parental responsibilities such as having And what’s a family without pets? There is nothing like having a pet to turn you into a to make a last-minute pan of bars—that blithering fool. “Who’s the most darling kitty in the world? YOU are, yes you ARE!...THERE’s quintessential treat that appears in some our happy boy, THERE’s our good boy!” Our critters can live large when they spend some frosted or be-nutted form at fund-raising time at the PAW in Mankato. Our spotlight inside will take you on a tour. Thank you to events across the state. We also have not had those who submitted pet photos, also featured this month, for our prize drawing. Unlike to pay for braces, or get stuck in the shoe people sometimes, we will give a pet everything and can forgive them anything. Even aisle with a breath-holding pre-schooler as using your flowerbed as a litter box. we attempt to explain that lighted Disney Perhaps Master Gardener Lisa Pelzel wouldn’t be quite so forgiving however. Her blooms character tennies are a fashion faux pas and will wow you right into summer. She shares valuable when, where, and how tips to get that she will thank us later. Nope, my husband you growing. and I have been able to focus on other life ventures with freedom-filled vigor. Gardening is a passion of mine. However you’d never know it by looking at my flower beds. I like to plan and dream, look at magazines and imagine what I could do. If I had any Until a recent doctor’s visit shattered my gardening skills, that is. Just because it’s a passion doesn’t mean I am any good at it. youthful delusions. The nurse, making innocent conversation, asked me about So I stand pondering my weed patch, watching our cat remodel his bathroom, and sip hot grandchildren. “What the...? Why do you ask? chocolate. I figure it can only help, and who am I to not listen to my mother? “Thank You” to all my Wonderful Clients! I Appreciate Your Business! Dynamic Agents Celebrating Over 10 Years Selling Real Estate C hristine Gerber 507-382-0958 Cell Phone Email: [email protected] Website: www.ChristineGsellshomes.com 020854 4 RIVER VALLEY womaN | may • 2015 “I fEEL listened to.” “I know the solutions we come up with will fit our family and help us thrive.” —SARAH SCHWEIM The Schweim family likes to stay active—biking, hiking, swimming, camping and roasting marshmallows over a fire in the backyard. Helping keep everyone healthy is a job their Mankato Clinic family physician, Dr. Richard Peller, takes seriously. He delivered all four Schweim children and he’s seen Oliver through a scary recovery process after he was run over by a pickup truck. Sarah wouldn’t trust any place else to keep them all healthy. � mankatoclinic.com 016541 FLIGHT FROM JORDAN ONLY PART OF OLSON’S life journey By Ruth Klossner Photos by Alika Faythe Hartmann, Despres Photography t’s been more than 20 years since Kimberly (Hage) Olson fled the Kimberly and Ibrahim dated for a while and broke up. When he country of Jordan with her three small children, but the details of pursued her, Kimberly admits to “almost feeling flattered.” those harrowing days are as vivid now as they were then. A native She further described her feelings, “I should have talked to my mom, of this area, Olson returned to the River Valley to rebuild her life but I was living on my own. He was so persistent, I couldn’t think of Iwith her young family. reasons to say no. He didn’t seem much different than others I had The years spent living half a world away were difficult, but Olson dated, except he was a bit classier. I didn’t know anything about what considers them just one part of her incredible life’s journey—a Islam meant…to Ibrahim, it was wonderful. When I discovered I was journey that brought her to peace as a wife and mother.