Turkey Day and Parades

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. Dan was sick. He never really got over his cold, and it zapped him again.  He stayed in bed while the rest of us cooked dinner. I did the ham, one kind of bread rolls and cheese sticks. I made green chile relish and pecan pie the day before. It smelled so good that I was ready to the the pie right then and there.

Work went fairly fast. Monday was a little hectic. Tuesday was Oh-My-Gods!!! hectic. Dan and I did ads for the newspapers in about 3 hours. Hectic because most of the papers were “going to press” by noon or 2pm.  We got ads in the Trinidad Chronicle, Huerfano County World, Huerfano Journal, and the Pueblo Chieftain. We missed the Signature. (argh….) Once we got the ads done, I had to get the ballots for the Chamber election done. What an ordeal! Very labor intensive. Even with Dan’s help, it took about 5 hours.

Wednesday, I mailed the ballots and had a fairly busy day at work with compiling a list of businesses not on the Chamber roster. Dan worked on the brochure and my Dad found a big mistake! They’d dropped the Chamber # off the map!!! Oh gods!

Now back to turkey day… Beth did turkey, roasted brussel sprouts, baked pumpkin, cous-cous, stuffing, pumpkin cheese cake, a pumpkin pound cake, fig cake, green beans, two types of taquitos and gravy. The kids helped her a lot as did John. We ate dinner around 5pm which was fine by me. I ate more than I should have, but then again, it was Thanksgiving.

It snowed too. brrrrrr!

Today was cold, and while the snow melted fairly quickly, I think we are going to get more. It is very cold and the clouds are rolling in again. Work was slow. No one came in at all. I kept busy, and then picked Dan up. He is feeling better, but not totally over his cold. He promised Brian Orr that he’d take pictures of the parade.

The Parade of Lights starts in about an hour. Bill Downey still hasn’t come down to show me what to set up for the treats. Fun…..

Best find the keys to the lock on the one door too.

More later!

Roadrunners, birthday parties and phones

Right after I promised to try and write more often, we lost the DSL at the house. Our phone service has been screwed up since we got it. Dan tried to get it fixed. I tried. Finally in utter frustration, I called and canceled everything except the basic phone. Out of the 5-6 people who “tried to help” with our bill, only one did any good. Even he admitted that our bill was a “cluster f**k”.

I’ve been trying to keep up with email, and stuff online at work. Except for the journal. Just not enough time. I’ve gotten lots of chamber stuff done, but not much else. Dan is working on this brochure and map which has been interesting. It means that he has gotten very involved with the chamber too.

Last week, it was so warm! Nearly 75. In November!!! We went for a little drive and while Dan and Matt took a bit of a walk, I sat in the car and knitted. It was so lovely to just relax with the windows open. When we first pulled up, we saw a roadrunner sitting on the fence. That was really cool. I heard something and looked around. Nothing. Heard a noise again. Nothing. This happened 3-4 times. I was working on a green wool shawl, and was knitting away when the roadrunner jumped up into the window of the car and freaked when he realized that my green yarn was NOT a bug! I freaked too! He skittered off the car and across the bit of road to look at me like “how dare I scare him!”. Then he walked around the car a few times and hopped back up on the fence to watch me.

It wsa really very funny, when I had a chance to think about it. Dan and Matt thought it was a riot too.

I am finally feeling better too. I’ve been ill with some sort of upper respiratory infection for the last three days. I went to work, but Dan did the whole watch dog thing and kept checking on me. Granted, I work 4 hour days so it wasn’t too bad, but… it would have been nice to just stay in bed.

Yesterday we decorated the Chamber offices for the Parade of Lights festival. We have Santa here at the office after the parade. It looks really pretty and if we can get some pictures, I’ll post them.

Banks, Birthdays and by-laws

I really need to post more often. Apologies in advance for the tome!

After the joy of the elections, I got buried in work. Curtains for my parents house…. yes, I’m still working on them. Plus drivng Morgan to school most of last week ate up gobs of time.

Can’t forget either that I flubbed a date. I thought I had until November 12th to get the house taxes paid before they went up for auction. No, it was November 5th. Why did I discover this in the nick of time? (the 1st?) Because the Bank sent me a letter telling me that since I had obviously forgotten to pay my taxes, that they would pay them for me and add the amount to my loan! Talk about PANIC!!! I pulled together enough to pay off 520’s taxes and part of 203’s. The gal at the Treasurer’s office said I could pay off the rest in the next 5-6 weeks. PHEW! Talk about relief. I called the bank and told them thank you, but I didn’t need the bail out. Of course the next day, the Treasurer’s office calls to tell me that the bank sent a check over for the remaining amount, and did I want them to accept the check or stick to the payment plan we’d worked out the day before. Once I got over the shock of it all, I told them to send the check back. I called the bank and told them I was sending the check back, and they still tried to get me to accept it and the extra on our loan! nooooooooooo!!! However, we got it all straightened out. Added a few white hairs, but got it straight.

Samhain, the cross quarter day was on the 6th, which meant time to put up my ancestors altar and spending some time remembering all who had passed.

Then there was work. Getting out renewal notices, clearing up the details for the meeting on this Thursday, working on the website, and redoing the by-laws. Someone in their infinite wisdom typed them in ALL CAPS! Have you ever tried to read legalese compounded by ALL CAPS??? It’s bloody painful! Worse, it was extreme legalese! Poorly edited, poorly ammended and hadn’t been updated in over 8 years. ::::::shudder:::::: Oh, and did I mention that they were in ALL CAPS?

I kept putting them off, because the idea of trying to sort out that mess was daunting.

So, instead, I had a birthday. I am now 7squared. I got cards from my mom and dad and my sister. John and Beth gave me the graphic novel Guilty Pleasures by LKH. I liked the book, and will see how the GN goes. I got kisses and phone calls too.

Last thing I did was write the Locavore article for the Huerfano Journal and slogged through the by-laws. Uggghhhhh!!!! Finally finished at 10:30pm.

Yesterday was hell. Woke up umpteen times in the night and was dozing between alarms when I hear the sound of an aerosol being used in the bathroom. Being an asthmatic, aerosols are tops on the verboten list. The only one allowed is Spray & Wash, and it is used sparingly. Usually when I am not around. The only one up at that time was Morgan. She had bought hair spray a month or so ago, and had been told not to use it when I was in the house or going to be around her. Better yet, throw it away and get a pump spray hair spray. Even better, don’t use the stuff, cause you’re only 12! She promised not to use it around me.

Now, I won’t say she forgot. I figure she didn’t take it seriously. I figure she thought she could get away with it. Teens know everything don’t they? sigh….

Less than 3 minutes after I heard the noise, I felt the first tickle in my throat. Determined not to have an attack, I put my head under the covers. Willed myself not to cough, because she couldn’t be that stupid and use hairspray on an ice cold morning less than 5ft. from my bedroom door!

Didn’t work. Bad attack. Really bad. John grabbed my inhaler for me and I used it twice to start to calm things down. Meanwhile, he closed the bathroom door and opened the window to air out the house. (remember it is about 25 outside!!!) I coughed/wheezed and whooped loud enough to wake up Daniel. He’d worked graveyard shift and was really tired. Used the inhaler again and finally got things under a bit of control. Sounded like a wheezy bellows. Of course, the lingering hairspray and the cold air from outside were not helping. Of course, a hot shower would have helped, but that was the frozen sprayed zone… I lasted 25 minutes before I said to hell with it. Closed the window and showered. Ah…… hot steamy air… Things relaxed a bit, but there was no way for me to stay at the house. So, I left early. Ended up at 520 at 8am. Dan gave me that whatthehellhappened? look. I explained, and talked my way out of being put to bed. My chest was still so tight that laying down would have been bad.

I went into work early. Thank goodness it was a quiet day. I had one lost soul looking for Cost-tilli-a county. He got a traffic ticket and had to go to court in San Luis. I lent him the phone and had him call the courts. It was a cold snowy sort of day and I knew he wouldn’t make it over La Veta pass in time.

After he left, I printed out the agendas and by-laws for the meeting and then delivered them to the board members. Got home just in time for Dan to turn me around and head off to Pueblo to do a print run on the flier we are doing for the chamber. I had planned to got to bed, but he said since no one else was home, that I wasn’t staying by myself. Considering how I felt, I agreed.

We got the prints, grabbed some cd labels and then a quick bit of dinner. We were home by about 9pm and I got stuffed straight in bed.

Today I feel better, but still have this feeling that I got hit by the #9 bus. I worked on a bunch of fast public service announcements for Chris at KSPK and Gretchen at the Journal. I also edited copy for Dan. We finished up the brochure before dinner.

Erin dropped by for a few minutes and then Dan headed off to bed early. He has to be up at 3am to take Beth to Pueblo. At least my car can make it that far most days. She is catching the bus to Denver and an interview for her MLS degree.

Gads!

Election Day

This has been an interesting election season. Lots of stupid stuff, tons of really heartbreaking moments. Living in Colorado, it has been interesting. There has been a heavy dose of candidate attention especially from the Obama campaign. The picture in the Sunday edition of the Pueblo Chieftain was amazing.

CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/JOHN JAQUES -- Sen. Barack Obama addresses the crowd lining Pueblo's Union Avenue on Saturday.
CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/JOHN JAQUES -- Sen. Barack Obama addresses the crowd lining Pueblo

For me, this election was about the local issues as much as the Presidential election. Growing up with Martin Luther King, and in adulthood, Nelson Mandela, I have never been one to let the colour of someone’s skin be an issue. It’s the issues the candidates stand for that are important. I voted for Obama, because I feel he holds a clearer view of what this country needs in the next four years. Something that was made more clear to me as I spoke to Daniel this morning.

I was awoken at 8:45am by Daniel who was on his way to vote for the very first time. He was worried about choices. Obama, McCain, or no one. Should he vote, should he just vote for local issues. As he walked to the poles, we talked. I told him where I stood on local issues. What I was voting for, and who I was voting for. To me, party lines don’t mean much. It is the person who is important.

When he got nearer the poles, he said he understood which issues that hadn’t gotten national coverage were important. He was also still uncertain about who to vote for for President. He’d heard a lot of stuff from friends. Some of it good, some of it bad. Trying to explain dirty campaign tricks over a cell phone is difficult. Daniel is so “in the moment” that he doesn’t see the long view whereby people want to subvert the mind of the voter via misleading adverts and interviews. So, this made it difficult for him to understand what was truth and what was lies. I did my best to clarify some misconceptions.  I told him that in the end, it is his choice. We ended the call and I called the high school to let him know that Daniel would be late because he was voting. Gee…. the secretary was fine with that!

About 30 minutes later, he called back. He’d voted for Obama. Not because I wanted him to, or that his grandma who urged him to register to vote wanted him to, but because when he thought about it, Obama was the right man. Obama and his campaign had made enough of an impact on an 18yo who normally thinks no farther than the next day. Gives me hope for a lot of things.

Now of course, we are watching the election information roll in. It’s 9:15pm, and Obama has 306 electoral college votes. What a moment in history.

Have you seen a week floating around here?

I’m missing one. I know that one went on, as it is over seven days since I last posted, but… where did the time go? Gads. Somewhere along the lines, I have:

  • Sent Matt to join El Fandango-a dance class/troupe/cultural thingy run by my cousin Gretchen
  • Been to parent teacher conferences with Morgan
  • Gone to work for at least 4 hours a day, M-F.
  • Totally rearranged the Workforce office and my storage area at work
  • Dealt with volunteers/board members/tourists
  • printed, collated, folded, stuffed, labeled and mailed 80+ renewal packets for the chamber
  • Gone to Pueblo for car parts for Divot
  • Cleaned out the guest house for a workspace
  • went through 2 years of microfilm searching for stories
  • seen my parents
  • sewn curtains, Yule prezzies and knitted
  • and did the whole Halloween thing last night.

Yesterday was fun. I dressed up for work. Or should that be dressed normally…??? Long black velvet dress, B&W striped socks, black shoes, pointy witch hat, pentacle and my hair going any way it wanted. I even had candy at the chamber to hand out.

After work, I had lots of errands to run. I didn’t bother to change, so I went to the bank, post office, San Isabel Electrics, Edla’s and Mountain Harmony (the local health food shop) in costume.

After I got home, I took off the hat and added my reading glasses as I was working on the computer. big surprise! We had treats waiting for the trick or treaters. Not too many at first, and then there was a rush around 7:30pm that went on for at least an hour. One little girl, probably about 3 came up to the door all dressed as a witch. I answered the door, and said Happy Halloween. She looked up… and then looked me up and down really well. Then looked at her own costume and then back at me. I smiled at her, gave her the candy and said bye! She was still giving me “the look”, with her eyes wide. Her mom, who has noticed none of this says “lets go” and starts to move the little girl down the stairs. The little girl is still giving me “the look” that says “she’s a real witch” the whole time. Steps down a step, looks back, steps, looks back all the way down the stairs. Mom still hasn’t noticed, and is nudging her down the stairs. I wave, close the door and start giggling. Dan asked me what I was giggling about and I explained. Dan started lauging and said, “No, she wasn’t expecting Aunt Jet to hand out candy.” I laughed. It’s true.

Today has been very warm. I think it was nearly 70! I ran around in a teeshirt and jeans most of the day. Beautiful Indian Summer weather.

I’d love to sleep in tomorrow, but I hope that we will be going to Pueblo for some grocery shopping. John is suppose to borrow Erin’s car as mine are still out of commission. sigh…