Life in the Crazy Lane

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Or how I spent the rest of my week.

Wednesday we packed and headed to Colorado Springs for Dan’s conference. We stopped in Pueblo for a Bingo Burger. Yum!!!! We stayed at the Crown Plaza and while it is a rather posh hotel, it wasn’t as nice as some we’ve stayed in over the last month. Dan ran off to his meetings while I showered and then curled up in a chair with my book. Ah, heaven. After a bit, I went to Subway for dinner and Dan came back around 9pm.

Thursday we were up early and Dan headed off to his meetings. I packed up the room and then settled in a corner of the huge lobby near a fireplace and a power plug. I settled in with my newspaper and book. Around 9am, I went up to talk to a guy about a Youth Council that is a part of Workforce. Afterwards, I plugged in my computer and went to work reading emails and writing stories. Around 10am, the lights flickered and then went out. Hmmm…. the fire was lit, my laptop had a battery, and I was fine. I got to watch the hotel staff run around like headless chickens handing out glow sticks and trying to find out why the lights went out. Apparently an area of Colorado Springs had a power outage. I scared the hell out of a hotel staff member when she walked past me and didn’t notice me. She screamed. I smiled, and said I was okay. Later on, a staff person gave me a glow stick and a bottle of water. Power finally came on an hour later.

Dan finished his meeting around noon and we headed to Denver. Dan got himself added to more state boards functions. LOL… He should never volunteer… teeheehe…. Our hotel was once again not a good as some of the others, but a free dinner buffet and breakfast were bonuses. We ran some errands, saw MegaMind in 3-D which was a hoot, and then went to bed early.

Friday, we slept in, had a good breakfast and then ran a few more errands while waiting for our client’s computer to arrive. We found a really great restaurant called the Beruit Grill. Heavenly food! Our client’s computer finally arrived and we headed over to sent it up and get everything running on her system. We finished around 9pm and then drove home. It was a long day. We got home and in bed by 1am.

Saturday was spent running on inertial. We returned Dad’s truck, worked on La Plaza’s cash till and then did some shopping. The household cupboard was BARE! After that, I did laundry. Skunky clothes as well as everything from the trip made for a ton of laundry. We talked about Alpha Dog and LoboSavvy over dinner and then crashed early.

Today is suppose to be quiet. LOL… We shall see.

And the month rolls by… with a whiff of skunk

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Geeze! I keep waiting for life to slow down. Guess that won’t happen any time soon. Last week was busy with cooking more pies than I ever want to do again. At work I did 46 pecan tartlets,  4 pumpkin, 3 coconut cream, two pecan pies and one chocolate cake. Oh, and I helped with about 15 more pumpkin pies.

Plus, I had my baking to do on the day. We had roast pork with green chilies and garlic, stuffing, sweet potatoes with pecan crumble on top, brussles sprouts, green chile relish, and pecan pie for desert. Yum.

We also took care of my parents cat Elway, did two computer jobs -one of which involved a trip to Denver and back in a day- and all the normal everyday stuff.

I thought this week would be quiet. However, for a Monday, it was hell. Woke up sick. It snowed And…. At 6pm, Brandy went charging out the back door to defend Ian and Emma against…. a skunk. She got it full in the face at close range. Awwwwgh!!!! Two hours, hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and VO5 shampoo, lots of water and towels and she smells better. Granted, the house still stinks. Gaaaahhh!!!

Tomorrow I have a school board meeting to cover and then Wednesday thru Saturday we will be gone. What a week.

Morgan Shines

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Here is Morgan all dressed up in her pretty clothes. We got her a new outfit so that she could feel pretty when we went to the Fountain Valley Reception for new/prospective students. She looked so good.

 

This is Morgan being silly, and de-stressing.

 

Morgan and her Dad.

 

Morgan, Dan and Brandy. 🙂

We had a great evening with the Fountain Valley students, parents and admission clerk. Now to get Morgan into the school.

Prezzies!!!!

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Although my birthday was last week, my presents arrived a little later. Thursday night, a big box arrived. Dan gave me the box and smiled. Opening it, I found a really cool garden tool set with seat. 🙂 Of course it was snowing, but… I will use it as soon as I can. 🙂

Then we went off to Denver on Sunday. We got to see my friends Mari and David. I haven’t seen them in about 6 years. They had never met Dan either. We had a great visit. Our hotel was very nice too. The best bit of course is always the long soak in the tub! Monday morning, we headed for the Federal Center to get USGS maps for my Dad. He is teaching a map course. We stopped at Isis, but the guy who buys books wasn’t in. Oh well. We had a coffee at Starbucks and headed to our computer client. Our client had gotten her new printer and digital camera. The printer is one of those all in ones that does everything except wash the windows. 🙂 It is a really fantastic and we will be buying one for the business. The digital camera is very nice too.

Afterwards, we headed for Pueblo where we met with another client. Or, at least Dan did. I had an asthma attack, so I stayed in the warm car. It was snowing. Once he helped her find a computer, we went to Bingo Burger for dinner. Yum!!! Once again, I had the lamb burger.

The drive home was okay. Some light snow, a bit of ice, and not much else. Dan told me to go straight in, and that he’d unload the truck, because of the cold and my asthma. I walked in and what did I see? A box from Dell! My other prezzie had arrived. I am now the happy owner of a Dell Inspiron 1545. I opened it up and played with it for a bit. Windows 7 is okay, but I told Dan he could load Ubuntu 10.10 on it in the morning. He did. 🙂

This is my old laptop. The CF 50 Panasonic Toughbook. It did pretty well, but it had major graphics card issues.

 

Here is my new computer. 🙂 I’m very happy. I just about have everything set up the way I need it. Now to just find time to do some writing!

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

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I’m 51 today. 🙂

I slept in. Then I got a backrub. Dan brought me maple cookies and tea in bed. Yum! Once I got up and dressed, we ran a few errands and I picked up my birthday card from my parents when we fed their cat Elway. (yes, an orange tomcat…. Mom is a Broncos fan) After that we came home and Dan fixed the sidelights while I moved chives around in the garden.

Then, Dan went off to teach computer class and I enjoyed peace and quiet. I wrote on a story, cruised the internet and read my email. Oh, and enjoyed lots of birthday greetings on Facebook. Dan came home and instead of cooking dinner, we went to Pueblo. Bingo Burger!!! Oh yum. We borrowed Dad’s truck, so Dan, Morgan and I had dinner. Morgan now loves Bingo Burger. I had the lamb burger with Pueblo chilies and mushrooms with a side of sweet potato fries. Dan and Morgan had regular burgers. We were all very happy and very stuffed.

Afterwards, we waddled to Staples, got some office supplies and then went to Barnes and Nobel. Ah, books… My parents gave me $10 for my birthday, and I bought a book. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Looks very good. Then we drove home and returned the truck. I’m going to make my pecan pie tomorrow as I am just a tad sleepy. It has been a great day. 🙂

Anyone have an anchor?

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I swear that someone put speed in the water for the last two weeks of October. Last week was just crazy. Between work, school and other obligations, I felt like I was on a bullet train.

Wednesday, Spike got one of the cats. Didn’t know which one, as we couldn’t find it.

Thursday was suppose to be a day off. Ha! I went to KnitWits, my knitting group. We went to Pueblo on a field trip to visit Colorado Fiber Arts, a really cool yarn store. Then we had lunch at a place called Bingo Burger. I had a lamb burger and it was heavenly!!! Oh, and sweet potato fries with curry ketchup. Yummm… However, when we got home, Dan and I had to take the little gray kitten to the vet. Spike had ripped her lower lip off. Nothing to do for it, so we had her put to sleep. Dan also got a call from our one client in Denver. We wanted to borrow my parent’s truck. Not a problem except that Dad went to change the oil and couldn’t get the filter off. So after we put the cat to sleep, we went over to help Dad. Wheee…

Friday, we left right after I got done with work. Drove to Denver after a stop for lunch at Bingo Burger. More lamb burgers were consumed. Yumm!!! We arrived 10 minutes past when we said we’d be there. Not bad for city traffic. Four hours later we were done. Spent the night in a hotel and oh…. it was so nice to soak in a tub!!!

The next morning, we got candy at Target and then headed over to my sister Lori’s house. We visited for about an hour and I harvested 10 pounds of concord grapes. Yummm….. The smell was heavenly. Then we dropped books off at Isis and headed home. A stop in Pueblo for…. yeah, more lamb burgers. LOL… Only one down side of the day. We forgot to call my parents and tell them we were spending the night. They worried and were not happy with us, as should be expected. We apologized, and promised that next time we would call. Felt so stupid. Had to go do laundry as well.

Sunday was sort of a weird day. Tried to get things done. Handed out lots of Halloween candy, cooked down the grapes into syrup and worked on the computer.

Monday I went to work only to find out that my hours have been cut yet again. sigh…. It rained and slushed. Brrr!!! Then I had a ton of paperwork to process at the court house. And, Stefan’s house taxes are paid! Wheeee!!! By the time everything was done, all I really wanted to do was crawl in bed and sleep for a week. Instead, Morgan, Dan and I watched the Bounty Hunter. It was a riot.

Today was another run around like crazy day. Dan helped Dad unload and stack 2 cords of wood. Then we went and voted. After that, we did some errands around town. By the time we got home, about all I could do is make dinner. Tamale pie!!!! Lovely comfort food for a cool day. We ate dinner while watching Wolfman. It was a pretty good movie. Now we are watching the election results. The bad trio of amendments 60, 61 and proposition 101 did NOT pass. (phew!) The rest of the stuff is up in the air.

It’s 4am in the morning…

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And what is that noise???

We woke to hearing the front door open and then a thud and a crash. Dan went to go look, and we had a drunk on our living room floor. He’d walked right in and fell over my desk chair. (the crash noise). He was Really Drunk. Couldn’t get up off the floor type drunk. He passed out and Dan called the police to come pick him up.

This is where it got a bit funny. In a Keystone Kops kind of way. First off, they knew who it was. Knew him by name. Second, when they tried to handcuff him, he got belligerent. When he refused to obey, they hit him with pepper spray. Oh the hollering… Both the drunk and the cop… the cop got it right down the lungs. Dan gave him two big glasses of water. Then the drunk wouldn’t stand up, Of course, we have 8 very steep stairs up to the house, so they had to carry him down the stairs. Then he wouldn’t get in the police car. By this time, there were two police cars and two ambulances in front of our house at 4:30am! I of course am stuck in the bedroom because of the pepper spray all over the living room.  Dan is watching this circus from the front door. he was laughing and giggling. Especially when the cops lost his keys… They had gotten knocked out of his pocket in the struggle with the drunk. They finally got the guy in the car around 5am. We didn’t press charges, just told them to throw the drunk in the drunk tank for the night.

We aired the house and finally fell back asleep around 6am. Gads, what an odd ball adventure. Oh yeah…. it was a full moon last night too. Of course, it has been rather the week for oddball things. Two nights ago, a dog attacked Spike while he was asleep. So, we woke to a dogfight at 1am.  Dan and Ian went out and discovered that Spike was bitten, and no sign of the other dog. Spike is now recovering with us. Two big nasty gashes on his shoulders and lots of bite marks on his legs. Lots of stitches  No idea what the other dog came out like. Spike of course is doing a Big job of looking Pitiful. Good grief! So much for the awesome and fearful reputation of pit bulls. I think we should have named him Marshmallow or Buttercup. 🙂

Did anyone get the number of that bus?

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Yesterday was just blahhhhhhh….. Woke up in the middle of the night too hot, but didn’t think about it. It’s autumn, and some nights it is 40F and other nights it is 65F. Went to work and felt tired. Okay, crazy hours catching up with me. Ate breakfast, felt better. I went to work and did alright for about an hour. Then I realized that I felt hot even away from the stoves. Working in a kitchen is a real test some days. 12 burners, 2 grills, a deep fryer… need I say more? So, I stand up and realized I feel Wwwwwooooosy. Not good. Get a drink, take a break, I’m okay. I go back to making pies. 15 minutes later, wwwwwooooosy. Hm…. Feeling very hot, and I am NOT standing next to the stoves. Hmmm… Another glass of water and a break. No, I am not feeling better. By this time, it is 10:15am. I’ve been here for over 2 hours, and most of my work is done. Time to go home before I fall down. So, I tell my boss that I’m feeling ill, and call Dan. He says he will be right there. I go outside to meet him.

He was 15 minutes late because the phone rang. Brrrrrr…. Sunny but windy. Of course. I get home and stuff myself in bed. It is 10:45am. Next thing I know, it is 2:30pm. Look at the clock, fall back asleep. 5pm, I finally got up. Still feel a bit wrung out, but I am hungry and thirsty. Morgan is home, Dan is off at a job. We heat up some dinner and have coconut cream pie for dessert. Dan gets home around 8pm, and I curl up with my book. We went to bed before midnight, only to be woke up around 1am by a dog fight. Spike and another dog fought. Spike got a bit chewed, but he won. The other dog ran. Last thing I remember is Dan reminding me to call Daniel in the morning.

I woke up at 9am this morning. Yawn… It is cold and rainy today, but I actually feel a bit better. Still a little fuzzy around the edges, but better. I hope that Dan and Morgan don’t get whatever it was I had.

 

Yet another catch up post on life in ‘Burg!

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I have to admit that I am so tired of computer problems. Hard drive failure, mother board fritz, change operating system, do it again, swap computers with Morgan… Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am still having freezes, loss of data-three pages of a story- and other issues. Right now, I am working off of Dan’s computer yet again. pout. I really don’t need the extra stress in my life.

On another note, I have most of my possessions from the other house. John has been fairly decent about things. I think once he realized I was serious and what I wanted was not to cut everything down the middle, it has gone well. (knock on wood) I have a few books left to pick up and the three big items of furniture will stay there until they can replace them or I can pick them up. (a bed, dresser and coffee table) Otherwise, the rest is here with me. 🙂 I spent part of last week moving stuff when I wasn’t fighting my computer. Now I’m just trying to find a place to put all of it in this house.

Last week was busy in other ways. Last Saturday, Dan discovered that most of the supports under the front porch had fallen. So, we drove to Pueblo and bought the lumber we needed to shore up the porch. We also had to pull everything off of the front porch to lighten the load. It made the whole house look like it was under construction. Sunday was prop up the porch day. Dan and Ian worked most of the day. I stayed in the main part of the house and tried not to flinch when the jack dropped or I heard cussing coming from under the porch. We will be rebuilding the porch in the next year or two. Dan was really hurting by the time they finished as he worked the jack most of the time. Once they were done, I got to start putting my sewing room back together. We also worked on the front yard, by moving rocks, raking and digging until it looked less like a pile of weeds.

Monday…. the week started like we never had a weekend. Morgan had volleyball games, I worked and on Wednesday the Tannahill Weavers played at La Plaza. Dan and I did the lights. It was a great concert, and I think I have my hearing back by now. We were right under the speakers and in front of the bag pipe player. Oh that was loud. 😛 Then on Friday,we headed to Alamosa for a WorkForce meeting. William Beverly went with us and we had a good afternoon. Lots of conversation and a nice late lunch at Cavillo’s.Saturday I worked and then collapsed in the afternoon. 🙂 Sunday Dan and I both slept in for the first time in a few weeks.

The plans for the next two weeks are plumbing, oiling the floors, and cutting down the other tree in the front yard. It is dying and we could use the firewood. Once Dan gets paid for some of the jobs he’s done of late, we will be working on the cars and hopefully getting a new computer for me. Until then, I will work on his computer.