The phones…. they won’t stop ringing…..

You’d think I worked at a business or something! Gads! Today has been phone hell. They ring, they ring some more and sometimes there are 3 calls at once! Plus we have been having issues with Vonage and a mix up with our service. They connected the device to the wrong account numbers. What a cluster f*ck. However, I think that Dan finally got things worked out. Here’s hoping!

Stefan called and I had to put him on hold three separate times in less than 5 minutes. Wow! Poor guy, he was just trying to tell me how life was going for him and Anabell, and he could barely get a word in edgewise. I kept having to interrupt him, put him on hold and answer the other phone. Twice it was my parents who arrived in town today.

Then there were the conversations. :> Geeze! Here we are a wireless internet service provider. A WISP. Better yet, we are providing free access to Aguilar government entities. So far, two of them don’t want it! What the hell? I sort of understand the fire department. They probably have some government based contract that they can’t get out of. However, the library is not.  They’ve gotten a grant with a company that is suppose to give them WiFi. It’s been promised service, but as far as I understand it, they aren’t actually connected yet. Instead, they are costing the town money for a satellite that has been their connection for a while. I talked to the city manager, and he wasn’t sure if they were connected and didn’t understand why they didn’t want free service. Sigh….

The rest of the phone calls were about service. When would it be turned on? (it is) How long will it be free? (until the end of the week) How much? What do I need? What’s a WISP? and When are you coming to our area? (as soon as possible) Oh, and the software company called me because Dan forgot to give them his cell phone number. Wheee….

My parents arrived amidst all the phone calls. They are here for the rest of the week to work on their house. Dan was a tad crabby, so I took Mom with me to go pick up the kids. I told her all about the shopping trips. I thought she was going to laugh herself silly. Especially over the ear piercing.

Now I get to have a quiet evening. The kids are home, work is mostly done and now all I need to do is return the DVD we forgot for the last 4 days and head to Safeway for some milk. Tomorrow looks like it will be just as busy, so I think I will head to bed early again.

A busy weekend

This weekend would have been busy no matter what as it was a household shopping weekend. However, we also needed to go do shopping for Morgan and her trip to DC which is next week. Wheeee!

Saturday. Dan, Morgan and I left around noon and headed to Colorado Springs. We had to take Little Red Truck, as Divot was still not 100% reliable. We still need to get some parts for it. We found the Mall without too much of a hassle, and took her all around the three levels before we let her go shopping. Yes, I am evil. We also took her to the loudest and most obnoxious store first. Morgan is just a tad conservative. So, it made it very easy to steer her towards the better stores. Much to Dan’s relief- He is so conservative as a daddy! teeheehee. I also took her by Victoria’s Secret and she squeaked, turned red and then furiously whispered in my ear about “why on earth did they just have ALL of that on display!!!” , meaning the bras and undies. Cracked me up that she was shocked that a lingerie store was so blatant with their wares. Dan just stood across the way when we went near the shop. He was trying very hard not to laugh.

We got shoes for her first. She wears a size 8! Found her two pairs of really nice shoes. Both of them the soft style that looks like a slip-on flat. Then we went to various shops for a blouse here or pants there. We got three pairs of pants and three shirts. She was so funny with the dressing rooms and having people wait on her because she’s never experienced it before. We discovered that except for her leg length, she is a Jr. 3 or a women’s 0-2 depending on the cut. Kids 14 or 16 where we could find things to fit. She is very long waisted, which makes even regular cut pants hip huggers. So, to avoid plumbers syndrome, we bought Jr. and Women’s clothing. We got everything on sale. Which helped, as we went to Dillards and paid full price on a swim suit. Dan blanched. He about died. Not because she wanted a bikini top and the long nearly knee length shorts bottoms, but because of the cost. I explained that they are expensive, especially once you are out of the little kid section of any store and not shopping at Walmart. I also explained that having paid sale price for everything else it was still a bargain. Most importantly though, she liked it. :> So, I spoiled her.

We had lunch in the food court and treated her to Greek food. She was in heaven. After we finished eating, we went to Hot Topic. She didn’t see anything she wanted that Dan would buy her, so we headed off to JCPenny’s for bras. Oh My Gods you would have laughed!!! By this time, she had gotten into the whole shopping mindset and was really enjoying herself. Last fall was the first time in ages that she got to go shopping for herself for clothing. That was when I took her and Matt to Kohl’s for their school clothing. So, when we started looking at bras, she was relaxed enough to actually play around. Especially when Dan joined in trying to find bras the right size. Best off, when we found some really loud ones, she grabbed a bigger one and handed it to Dan, saying, “look Daddy, this one is for you!” I laughed, she giggled and Dan blushed. It was so much fun!

After that, we went to Sam’s Club to do some of the household shopping. This was not our local one in Pueblo, but a bigger, posher one in Colorado Springs. It meant of course that we didn’t know where anything was. Morgan rode the front of the cart while Dan did his race car driver impression and I tried to put the stuff in the basket before they whizzed by me. Then we took a drive to try and find Vitamin Cottage. Missed it totally, so we headed to Pueblo.

On our way there, we passed a horrid accident. Three ambulances, one helicopter and four wrecked cars. :::::shudder::::: We got to Pueblo and did the Walmart shopping. Once again, Morgan on the cart with Dan pushing. We’d been teaching her German, and So she’d shout Links or Rechts! as she went down the aisles. It was a riot! When we were done, we grabbed Burger King and ate in the parking lot. Got home at about 11:30PM. They took the stuff in the house and then I headed over to 203 with the groceries.

Sunday, John and Beth were suppose to go shopping with Morgan. However, Beth had loads of school work to do, so I figured I’d just go up alone to do the shopping. Dan hurried through his work so that he could go with me shopping to pick up the stuff we missed. In fact, all three of us went. Huzzah!!!

First stop being Vitamin Cottage. If you could imagine two puppies let loose in a park full of scent, you’d have those two. I gave up trying to keep up with them and just deposited stuff in the basket as they’d pass me. They had wayyy too much fun.

Then I asked her what she wanted to go do. Target or the Mall. (much smaller than Citadel) She said she wanted to go to the Mall, and …drumroll…. get her ears pierced. Dan got all pale again, and I asked her if that was what she really wanted to do. She said yes. Dan looked at me, and nodded, and Morgan started bouncing up and down in her seat. So, we went to the Mall. Now, you have to understand that part of the reason Dan went so pale is that he had a precog on this. That he’d taken her to get her ears pierced and at the last moment she had gotten scared and wanted to back out. Being the good Daddy, he had said that if she would, he would… and that they both ended up with pierced ears. We went into the Mall, and right over to the shop that does piercings. I told her that all four of the boys had their ears done there. She smiled and picked out her earrings. Small stainless steel studs. She was a little nervous, but told her Dad that he didn’t have to get his ear pierced. Oh was he relieved!!! We discussed the fact that when he had the original precog moment, that he didn’t know me, and having me along changed things. She got her ears pierced without a problem and then picked out two headbands to keep the hair away from her ears. Morgan did have one request, and that was for us not to tell her mom that she’d gotten her ears pierced. She wants to wait and see how long it takes for Beth to notice. I was a little nervous about that, but we decided that we’d let her have her fun. She looks really cute. I asked her if there was anywhere else she wanted to go and she said, Hot Topic!

This time, she asked for a pair of socks with argyle skulls and crossbones and a pair of orange and black striped tights. I said yes and she went out the door happy. I did tease Dan about buying her a b&w hounds tooth kilt style mini-skirt. He laughed.

Target was our next stop. Household stuff and then a suitcase for Morgan, a belt and pj’s. Once again, Dan was holding his breath as she looked at all the saucy, cami topped sets. I let her look at everything and then reminded her that she needed “conservative” sleepwear. I steered her towards a nice pair of bottoms and a teeshirt style top. In black, which made her happy.

We went to Chili’s for dinner. Yummm! Full and happy, we headed home. We got home around 8, unloaded the truck and I took Morgan back over to 203. School in the morning and all that routine. blahhh….. I threw some laundry in and then headed back over to 520 to do a few things before I needed to head for bed. Finally got to bed around 1am.

Of course today started way too early, but at least I slept well. :> I even crawled back in bed for about 90 minutes. I was way too much of a sleepy head in spite of being up at 6am, doing a load of laundry, driving the kids to the Badito bus stop, coming home, doing another load of laundry, taking Daniel to school and then heading to the office. I plan on an early night tonight!

So much to do!

    And so little gets done some days! The last few weeks have been busy. Every time I turn around the phone is ringing or there is stuff to do and I don’t get it all done. Or, there is a burst of energy and it is all done and I sit on my arse. I could really go for some nice consistant something! The other thing is that if I have stuff to do at the office, I’m at the house, and visa versa. Aieeee-ya!

The other thing that is going on is that we finally have the billing system up at the Budget Host hotel. Huzzah!!! Aguilar goes live with billing later today. Right now everyone has been enjoying free internet. 3 terabytes so far. I have to write some documents today so that we can give out instructions and such for people. Wheee!  off to the salt mines!

Windy yet again!

I know it is suppose to be in like a Lion, out like a Lamb or visa versa for March, but… It was leonine weather at the start of the month and today too! In fact, the wind woke me up at around 4am.

Yesterday was a busy one. Tried to sleep in, but the phone kept ringing! Phonus Interupticus too! sigh…Oh well. 😛 Finally got up, bathed and cooked breakfast. Made cheesy scones. Yummm….

Finally got Dan moving and we headed to Aguilar town hall to finish up the wiring job there. Jimmer was in and we had some fine giggles. Got everything done except the meeting room cable and the final linkage to the T-1. Hopefully, that will be done today or tomorrow.

Dragged home late and cooked up lambchops and ratatoulli. It came out heavenly. While I cooked, Dan worked on the phone system. It is having hickups. sigh.. Even though it was late, we watched Man of the Year. Wonderful movie and it was worth staying up late to watch it. I am just glad that we have Spring Break this week and I didn’t have to get up and take the kids to school. Got to sleep in till 7am! Wheeee….

Today it is a semi-busy day at the office. Dan is working with the software vendor, Karen is repairing Pc’s and I’m answering phones and trying to gird up my courage to tackle makeing work forms. yawn…. I really don’t want to, but the alternative is going home and doing laundry. Hmm…. Maybe forms isn’t so bad….

Three days!

    Without long underwear that is! Yesterday it was nearly 75 in my office! What a treat from months of cold nasty weather. Granted, it is suppose to snow tonight, but I don’t care!

Tuesday, Dan and I went to Pueblo to do the shopping. The car had issues about 5  miles outside of Pueblo. We got it working again, but there is still an issue. Dan thinks it is the coil pack.  It took us a bit longer to get things done, but it still was a nice day. However, we got home around midnight and after I got groceries put away, that meant I didn’t get to bed until nearly 1am. Yawn!  There are days I really dislike the early alarm clocks. I am looking forward to Spring Break and a whole week of no 5:45am alarms.

Wednesday was really scattered. Lots of one step forward, slide back three moments. things at the NOC in Aguilar went wonky. A bird hit the window and destroyed it. Karen and Dan had to go to Pueblo to pick up plywood and other parts for the business. Dan had to program a new router and we had the T-1 down in Aguilar fired up. Oh, and Jill arrived with the kids on their way to the Grand Canyon to visit Mom and Dad.

Today has been a slow start. I got the kids up and out the door so that Dan could drive them to school. Meanwhile, I got a shower and dressed so that I could leave at 8am with Jill. We headed out to Trinidad so that they could catch the train. I have her car for a week while they are gone. So, now I’m at work, and don’t have a damned bit of interest in actually working today. I want to curl up with my book, read and blow my nose because my allergies have kicked in. Oh, and nap to catch up on all the sleep I’ve missed this week. Yawn!!!

Where did this week go?

    I’m not sure, but it went by fast! Monday after the kids learned that they had the day off, I started getting some work done around the office. Dan, Karen and Carlos went off to Colorado Springs and Pueblo. Around 5, I headed out to a set of back to back accountability meetings at the high school. Wheee….. sorta. I think I scared them with the laptop. :>

Tuesday, Carlos left for New Orleans and warmer weather. Dan and I had a client come by for some computer work who looked like Santa! Complete with belly, beard and white curls on his shoulders. Very sweet man. He left, and we started out the door when we got distracted by deer!

deer!

Earlier, they had been being stalked by the little orange tomcat that lives next door. He had been doing the “I’m a sabor tooth on my grandma’s side!”. They finally got tired of him and headbutted him off to one side. It was a riot.

Tuesday night, Dan and I went to Trinidad to do the Ostara shopping. We also got the kids some clothes as they both said that they were being squished by their undies, etc. It was a riot watching the little old ladies watch Dan and I shop for Little Morgan’s bras.

Wednesday, the Ostara Bunny came for the kids with candies. Wednesday afternoon, we went to go talk to the City about a contract for wireless connections in town. Whee… Plus, Logan got sick and his parents ended up taking him all the way to Colorado Springs to be told that he had some sort of infectin and a bottle of amoxicillan.

Thursday, we got bits and pieces done around the office. Daniel came by and worked on the yard, so it would be Oscar or Brandy proof. He fixed two gates and started on the third. Then we headed out to Gardner School for parent teacher conferences. Matt is doing alright, but not the best. He needs to apply himself to his work. Oh, and turn it in.  Morgan is doing very well, especially since she started applying herself better. She is very happy with herself and it shows in her work. Afterwards, we went to Andy’s for dinner. It was a small riot as Dan was being as big a cut-up as the kids. After we dropped the kids off, we were off to Carl Holzhauer’s to do some computer work. He is an older gentleman who has computer troubles as well as just wanting company. So, he really enjoys Dan’s company. We were out there for about 3 hours. I had a nice chat with his wife while Dan did the work. Even got invited out for dinner. :>  By the time I got home though, I had the headache from hell. I crawled into bed and slept till nearly 8am.

Today has been a series of small bursts of productivity. I was a bubble head this morning from the aftermath of the headache. We went out to Mike’s house to see if we could put a tower out there for Wireless service. We saw some good spots, but need to plot them on the maps. Then it was lunch and back to the office to work on the city proposal. Wheee…..

Tomorrow won’t be much better, as we have to go work on the NOC in Aguilar in the morning and wire Aguilar Town Hall in the afternoon.  Wheeeeeeee………… gads… When are we going to get a day off???

School carnivals, drives in the country and Snow….

Friday night was the Gardner school carnival. Morgan had spent the night with a girlfriend and so Dan and I picked up Matt and headed up to the school. Now imagine 75 of your closest friends, their families and all the siblings that ever graduated coming to a huge dinner and then playing games for 3 hours. Everyone knows each other, inspects the latest boy/girlfriend, new baby(ies), new tattoos, etc. They catch up on all the gossip, tell all the latest grandbaby/kid stories and pet/livestock stories. This is Gardner school carnival.

Dinner was pizza, salad and cheesecake. Dan was happy. I’m allergic to milk, so I didn’t eat. Then it was off to the gym and the games. Ball toss basket ball, airzooka blasts with teacher targets, basket ball shoots, face painting, car racing, darts, bean bag toss, and the pistol range shoot. We walked around, chatted with friends and watched Matt and Morgan do their thing. Then I gave the kids and Dan more tickets and went to chat with my friend Jolene. She was running the table sale. Lots of junk for a donation. Meanwhile, Dan went to the pistol shoot. He took his turn, then took over the booth while the teacher took a break. Fun bit was that he stood behind the smaller kids with another pistol and was hitting the targets when they couldn’t! What a riot! Then he went over to talk to Bruce, who is also the local sheriff and Jolene’s hubby. We finally headed home around 8pm.

I got about 8 miles down the road when the headlights from another car clipped me just wrong and zapped me. I get migraines almost instantly when this happens. Luckily, I could see enough to drive to a safe place to stop. The road is very narrow at that point. Dan drove home, and I went to bed. Awwwggghh…… Of course ten minutes after I got home, I tried to go to sleep. Not that anyone could keep quiet. Just what I needed with a headache that was light, scent and sound sensitive! I nearly threw up. So, while I went to bed by 9pm and didn’t get up till nearly 7:45am, I think I only really slept about 6 hours.

Got up Saturday morning and felt a bit better. Sort of wrapped in cotton wool. After I took Daniel out to Pauline’s so that he could house sit, I planned to take a nap. Reason being that in the afternoon, I was suppose to play friendly native guide to our business partner Carlos. Wheee…. However, the work on the Aguilar NOC took longer than we thought. Plus, the phone kept ringing! So, I got no nap and the drive got postponed until Sunday.

Sunday we got rolling about 11am. We drove up HWY 12 from La Veta to Trinidad. Then out to Hoehne, up to Gardner, Redwing and past up the Huerfano Valley. Then out to Wolf Springs Ranch. It was about a 200+ mile drive. I had fun, and Carlos got to see where we want to put in WISP service. After we got back, I picked up Daniel from Pauline’s, did a bit of laundry and then went to bed after watching HellBoy. Odd movie, but funny too.

Today, we woke to about 4 inches of snow. It was still snowing hard at school time and I decided that it was better to not drive in the snow. We probably would have been fine, but I decided to play safe. The kids aren’t going to keel over for missing one day of school. Dan, Karen and Carlos headed off to Colorado Springs and Pueblo for the day. They are going to the big gun store up in the Springs. I’d have gone too, but I have two meetings tonight and don’t want to miss them. If I had gone, there is no way I’d have been home in time. I’ll get to hear all of their adventures when they get back. Wheee……

Meanwhile, I’m catching up on paperwork, writing things for the meeting and taking it easy for a bit. Oh, and it is still snowing… Gads!

Sunshine!!!

    Wow it was wonderful! I actually went somewhere without 3 layers of clothing and a coat! I think it got up to about 60 today. Happy dance!

The day started out a bit hectic. After my car being “ill” for the last 10 days, Dan finally got it working enough for me to drive it. There are still some issues, but… I can drive. So, I took the kids to school, went to the office and promptly got sent to bed. I had a headache, and Dan recognized it. So, I got aspirin stuffed in me, and me stuffed in bed so that I could sleep it off. I managed 3 hours before the phones just kept waking me up. Ah well…

My parents got here yesterday to work on their house some more. John and I had lunch with them at the Huerfano Cafe. It’s a nice little hole in the wall greasy spoon. Decent food. After lunch, Mom and I went to the local healthfood store. I got some things I needed and Mom got Wasabi peas. :>  Then we headed to the office where I did a bit of paperwork and got my new phone all set up. I finally traded mine in as the battery wouldn’t hold a charge. This one is an i710. Very sleek.

We headed over to Mom’s house and I helped her put shelf paper in her cupboards. Then it was off to pick up the kids and take Mom to the bank. Right now, I’m catching up on all the bits I missed earlier and waiting on an ebay bid. Wheee…..

Wet stuff falling from the sky… again.

All together now, can you say “snow!”???? Well, it is doing it again. Snowing that is. I left 520 last night and it was warm. 45-50 degrees. I didn’t grab my snowboots, because with clear blue starlit skies, I didn’t think I’d need them. Silly me.

Instead, I woke up at 6:15am to see that it was white outside. White with about 6 inches of snow covering everything. Sheesh. I had to chase the two kids back downstairs to put warmer clothes on. Silly gits had nothing but teeshirts on under their coats. I have to admit though that our weather has been fickle.

Saturday, 75 degrees.
Sunday, 24 degrees. 6 inches of snow
Monday, 40’s.
Tuesday, Windy and 50’s.
Wednesday, 32 degrees so far and 9 inches of snow. It’s 1pm, and still snowing. It is a heavy powder snow.

Yesterday was also fun in that Dan lifted a battery wrong out of the back of the truck. He thought he was ok, until about 10 minutes later when he went to bend over and pick up a towel. <insert crackling noises, screams of pain and a whimpered “Jaye…. help!”> His whole back spasmed and it took us ten minutes to cross the living room so he could sit down.

When I got to 520 today, he was still in bed, and didn’t get up for another hour. Now of course, he is the invalid in the chair complete with hot water bottle and snacks. Oh, and he is playing with frequency harmonics. Uuuuhhhhh…….. Come to find out that I hear things much lower than the “average” human. 10 hertz. Hmmm…. guess dog whistles are out of the question eh?

Snow!

    Yesterday we finally got to have a bit of a day off. Main reason being that it started      snowing at 9am! Yes, while Saturday had been sunny and nearly 75 degrees, sunday turned into a snowy 25 degree day. We ended up with about 6 inches of snow, and today it is melting as fast as the sun can melt it.

It was really nice to sleep in! In fact, I didn’t get out of bed until nearly 10am! Wheeee!

Before the storm got too bad yesterday, Dan and I ran a few errands and then sat down with a movie while we ate. Beowulf. Fairly good. We also got Stardust, which we might watch tonight.

Yesterday was also Daniel’s 18th birthday. I got him to come over to the office and we ordered him a keyboard, mouse and a flash drive.

Today is one of those sort of messed up days. Since my car isn’t working right, I have someone else taking the kids to school. I don’t have a lot of work to do, nor do I have much desire to actually do anything. Sort of in a funk. Oh well…