Mondays, elk legs and organization

    Here it is Monday afternoon and while in one way I don’t think I’ve gotten much done, when I look at my list of things to do, I’ve managed plenty.

Saturday, after sleeping in late, I got to work on stuff over at the office. In the end, Dan and I realized that we needed to head to Pueblo. So, off we went. Six hours later, we had a desk for Karen, three new chairs, two book cases, and some other bits and bobs.

Sunday morning, I was up and moving by 8:30am… yawn! We had furniture to build for the office. My cabinet for my office was first. Not to difficult, but we think that directions were getting scrambled in translation. Engrish! sigh….. Then the desk. Not too difficult, but still time consuming. After that we stopped for a bit of food and then tackled the bookshelves. First one was slow. Second one was fast, but Dan put two shelves in backwards. So, I colored the raw edges with sharpie. :> We also moved furniture around and put an old bookcase in his room when we moved one of the new ones into his office area. We got the big metal shelf into the back porch and now have the beginnings of organized tools, components, etc. Huzzah!!! We also got the glass into the window frames. It isn’t caulked yet, but there is quarter round in place to hold the glass. We will do the pretty bits later when it is just a tad warmer!

This  morning, I started the school run again. We have a month left before the holidays. I drove out to Badito with a glorious sunrise in the rear view mirror. Drove home and then picked up Daniel to take him to school. On the way there, there was something in the road. I wasn’t sure what it was. It looked like a very weird piece of wood. Drove by it slowly on the way home and realized it was the lower leg of an elk! Complete with hoof! Found out later that one of the high school guys went hunting and  as a joke stuck bits of the rotting left overs all over the high school campus. sigh!

Today of course since we built all of those lovely bits of furniture, I have to organize things. My desk looks like a tornado hit it. However, I have more shelf and cupboard space than I did last week! Now to get some stuff done before it is time to pick up the wee trolls.

Parade of Lights and more Snow!

Oh gods! Woke up this morning at around 6am to discover it was snowing! Cold too! So, I crawled back into bed for a few hours. My shoulder was hurting too, so I relished a bit of a sleep in.

Snow! Brrrr!!!!

Once I did get up, there was a bunch of stuff to do. Lunch of course was left over pizza. :> I went off to do some shopping. One stop was at Edla’s Yarns. It’s our local yarn shop. Got some lovely wool and needles to make a hat. Yellow, orange and red wool. Yummm! Then I went off to the Family Dollar to buy wrapping paper, ribbons and a hat for the bucket truck. Reason being that tonight was the Parade of Lights, and we were dressing up the bucket truck to put in the parade. Little Morgan gave us a hand. I did the paper on the sides while Dan worked on the electrics. Granted, they were giving him fits. The inverter didn’t want to put out the power we needed. sigh…. So, we ran the penguin and not the lights. After we got the truck ready, we went to Carl’s for a bit of dinner and then went to line up for the parade.

Dan and the bucket truck

We must have sat in line for 90 minutes. It was cold! It snowed, and we waited while everyone got in line. Little Morgan and I sat in the back of the bucket truck on cushions and under a quilt with a huge box of candy next to us. The parade finally got underway, and we were tossing handfuls out to people standing by the road. One of the best shots we managed was a guy who complained that Dan was too cheap to buy candy, and we hit him with a double handful right after he shut his mouth! Oh, and we nailed the cops standing at the crossroads with candy too. teeheehee……

Linux the penguin

After the parade, we stopped by the Huerfano Journal for their open house. Chatted with Gretchen and her dad, Sig. I’m going to write a cooking article for the paper too. My great-grandma made this cake called a depression cake which was a chocolate cake made with mayonnaise instead of eggs and oil. That’s what I’m going to put in the paper. Plus, Dan is doing weekly Tech articles. I might even do one from the “ladies” point of view.

In a bit, we are going to watch a movie and then head to bed. I am looking forward to sleeping in!

Brrrr!!!!

    Oh gods is it cold! It’s about 28 degrees and trying very hard to snow.  We tried to get some winterizing done yesterday at 520 Penn, but… Dan and I ended up running to Pueblo instead. Got some of the stuff, but not enough. Came home tired enough to want to head straight to bed, but I needed to do catch up on laundry. Yerch… At least I got some of my story edited. I’m working on Sheeple at the moment.

Today, we woke up with the cold front breathing down our necks. This means we didn’t get to put the window glass in the kitchen, but have to deal with the leaky windows. brrrr! We also took a look at the heater in the kitchen. Dan almost electrocuted himself trying to disconnect it, as it was a wonky wiring job on a 220 line. Aieee!!! It means that we will be totally re-wiring the house instead of just sections of it. sigh….. glum….. sigh… I really was hoping to not have to redo the entire kitchen that way.

We also went down and got our copies of the Huerfano Journal! Huzzah!!! Very happy! Brian and Gretchen were glad to have the first one under their belts.

Tomorrow is turkey day. We are having home made pizza. I really don’t like turkey, so I tend to find alternative dinners for Tday and Yule.

Hit the ground running!

    On Saturday, we were up and off to see Brian and Gretchen before the teacups had cooled. We got more info on the website and talked about being the support they need. We did some running around and then came back to do some more coding on the website.

Around 7pm, we stopped long enough to watch a movie. We were just a little burned out.  We watched Next with Nicholas Cage. Very good! It promted a long discussion about premonitions and all of that sort of thing.

Sunday, I slept in! For a bit at least. No sooner got up and Dan hollered that we needed to run to Aguilar. We had this guy’s car part in my trunk, and needed to return it. So, we did. After that,  we grabbed a bite to eat and then I dropped Dan at the office. Then it was off to Pueblo with John. Shopping day!

We got the first bits done rather quickly. Vitamin Cottage, Target, PetsMart, Sam’s Club.  I got a few new shirts at Target and a couple for Beth as well. John even got a shirt that wasn’t black or gray! I got a Nickelback CD and the “A Christmas Story” DVD. Then we went to dinner at Chile’s. I have one of those rewards cards,  and ended up getting my dinner for free! Then we went to Walmart. I had only meant to grab a few things and then head home… Silly me.  This ended up being one of those oohhh pretty shiny! trips. We ended up with the original Transformers movie in DVD, the latest Annie Lennox CD, fabric, slippers and snow boots for me, slippers for Targ, and the usual pile of groceries.  We ended up getting home around 10:45pm. By the time we got all the bits put away and a semblance of order going, it was midnight. I fell asleep at 1am.

Today of course has been no different. I figured I’d have time for paperwork, maybe some playtime with a story or two and maybe a trip to the post office. As it is, I am just taking a break from ripping up the kitchen floor. What a mess! Grandpa  extended the kitchen by building over the old patio cement. He leveled the floor with mortar and sand and then put tar paper down before he tiled! Well, it has since rotted, mildewed and molded. We tore up most of that section and then Dan shoveled it out into the trash can. What a mess. It a bit, he will cut off the bottom section of the wall and we will make what repairs we need.

I think I’ll run away to Edla’s!

Forgot to mention!

My mom and dad were here for three days. They bought a house which they are fixing up for when they move home from the Grand Canyon. So, I spent time taking mom shopping in Colorado Springs, visiting with them and enjoying their company!

Hot pockets, knitting blogs and code monkeys

It’s been a long and busy day. Normally on a Friday, I get to sleep in just a little. No bus run to Badito. (16 miles one way) Our school district operates on a four day week. (m-th) However, the local school district moved the calendar around so that everyone could have a whole week off for Thanksgiving. Part of that adjustment meant that the kids went to school today.

So, Morgan and Matt got up at the usual 5:45am and started getting ready for school. They did a One Room School House event which is usually held the last day before T-day. Gardner school does this every year to commemorate the old fashioned schools. It is a really neat event with people dressing up in old fashioned clothes and the kids learning modern lessons in old fashioned style. I got to call Daniel off of school, because on Fridays since there normally isn’t school, he works a double shift at Alys’ Fireside Cafe. At one time or another, everyone in the family has worked there.

After I got back from Badito, I laid down for a few minutes to relax. (ahahaha!) 8am rolled around and Dan was up to code the website that he has promised to Brian and Gretchen Orr. They are the owners of the Huerfano Journal, the newspaper that is starting up in about a week. http://huerfanojournal.com/ This meant that my free time was up, and I needed to get going in the office at 520 Penn. Dan mumbled something akin to thanks when hot tea appeared under his nose and actually stopped typing long enough to eat some scrambled eggs. Then it was back to coding. He wouldn’t be doing this website, except that G&B hired this French computer firm that promised them the moon and sort of handed them a slice of green cheese. The website should have been up over two weeks earlier and we happened to walk in with an article for Brian about the time he was pulling out his hair. So, Dan promised that we (Raton Basin Technologies) could put up a placeholder website for him. (see Dan. See Dan promise. See Dan write code till 2am.)

So, while Dan wrote code, I got a few chores done in my office. It is a mess.

My office, part 1

My office, part 2

I got some of it tidy, but there are still spots where I probably aught to use a bulldozer. I have a speaker system to add to my desk as well. :>

Then we went down to the Huerfano Journal to talk to B&G about the website and some options. We also gave the software to build the site to John Viel, who hosts their site. It was a good meeting, and afterwards we grabbed lunch. Dan went back to coding, and I decided to play with Ravelry and take photos of my projects and yarn. I played with Flickr too! I got that done in time to go pick up the kids at Badito.

I dropped the kids off at the house, threw laundry into the washer and then grabbed a few things and headed to the library. John’s hardhat had arrived and I wanted to give it to him. Oh was he surprised! It fits too! The one the construction company gave to him looked like an apple sitting on top of a watermelon. The library is turning the old high school into the new library. http://www.spld.org/hchs.htm I found a new book to read and then after kisses and hugs, headed out the door.

Ten seconds down the road, I stopped at Erin and Morgan’s house. I had candy for them. English candy! Erin was in heaven, and little Logan loved his chocolate buttons.

Then it was off to Safeway. I grabbed milk, Dr. Pepper, iced tea and hot pockets. Must feed the code monkey! I dropped the milk off at the house and headed back to the office. Dan was so funny too, when he realized that I had brought him caffeine and hot pockets! He grabbed a soda and went back to coding. The website is looking beautiful.

Now it is my turn to relax. Playing on the web, eating hot pockets and looking forward to finishing up a sock! (Yule prezzie!)

Achievement!!!!

Gads, you’d think I’d done something grand… like won a prize or been awarded an Oscar. No, I just finally got some sewing done! I’ve had some stuff in the mending/finish pile for months. Specifically, two of John’s waistcoats. I either have no time to start or just can’t think on how to work on them or anything else. Then there was the horridness of not having a clear space to work. I finally got my sewing area which everyone calls Area 51 clean. They call it that because it is full of UFO’s… (Un Finished Objects)

 Area 51

Area 51 part 2

So, I had no excuse not to sew… urk..

Last night when I got home, I threw dinner together, tossed laundry in the washer and dryer and then after we ate, I went down to Area 51. First off, I got a corset cut out for Morgan (my D-I-L). Did some more laundry and then finished the repairs on John’s tan and green waistcoat. Shuffled more laundry and started working on his black and red waistcoat. It’s only been awaiting buttons for 3 years. However, I decided it needed finished. Tonight I will finish up the button loops. Biggest thing that has stopped me of course was the fact that it is reversible.

My parents arrived today as well, to make things just that much more complicated. They came to do more work on the house. Tomorrow, Mom and I are headed to Pueblo to buy material for curtains. Wheee…. More Sewing!

Literary Ramble

I have been editing various stories I have worked on over the last 5-6 years. Some of them are very vanilla, and “family” acceptable reading. Others delve into those shades of adult reading and items best left to places like Literotica.

What I find interesting is how things have changed. I’ve gotten much better at dialog. Especially the punctuation. Oh gods was it messed up before… I’ve also gotten more comfortable describing realities. I can even write a sex scene that the FCC wouldn’t get too overheated about and still have it make sense. (woohoo!) Not that I really care to, but it is a necessary skill at times.

Hardest part I find though with my writings are the jumps in genre and the cases of “how the hell do I finish this!” The one story I did finish, got comments of “Good!”, “I like it”, and “When are you writing more of it?” sigh…. In fact the single biggest comment was that it was too short. The skips in genre are frustrating in their own way. My mind gets set on a path and then all of a sudden my brain says, “Look at the Kitty!” and off I go on another story that just has to be written on right then and there. Fickle muse! I have tried to “be good” and stick to the story I am on, but often I find myself stuck until I go back and finish the bit my brain has cooked up. It’s like trying to get a song out of your head that has gotten stuck there. You either have to sing the whole damned song, or totally distract yourself. I’m obviously not so good at it, because I have five incomplete stories and a bunch of ‘finished’ stories that are really chapters of a book I’ve yet to write all the bits connecting it together.

I keep promising myself I’ll get my writing organized. (all of you who know me can stop laughing any time now) I guess that will have to go into that same category of dreams about organizing my house, sewing, crafts and life in general.

I even tried using a notebook where I could write down all the tantalizing bits that generate stories in my head. However, that didn’t work very well. It just sort of coagulated the stories more firmly in my head instead of making it possible for me to ignore things until I finished something. Also, lots of what inspires me are visual clues. Pictures, phrases I read or things I see on my daily travels.

dan.jpg

This picture of Dan on a rock inspired a work that is now 150+ pages. And, from what is in my head, it is only about 1/4th of the way written. Another story was inspired by a dream. Others are products of dares and creative competition. All in all, it is a rather random way to be inspired, but it works. Now if I could only get things finished.

Time to go type!

A warm Sunday

Sitting here in my office, I am basking in the warmth of the sun coming through the window. Hard to believe it is November and we are still having days up in the 70’s. It’s warm enough to make me sleepy in fact. Not the best as I have plenty to do today.

After I got this blog set up yesterday, I decided I aught to learn a bit about widgets and CSS. So, I found a tutor on CSS online. Granted, there was a lot of cut and paste technology… (ahem), but I actually understood what I was doing! Can’t promise that I could do so off the top of my head this morning, but…… I have the pages saved and know I can go back to them. Huzzah!!! This is a good thing as Dan has been programing all night long to set up a website place holder for my cousin’s newspaper. They contracted with some French programmers and got bloody sod all for the money they have put out so far. Granted, that doesn’t mean that they won’t get their act together, but they have yet to show anything. sigh….. Getting back to Dan’s effort… Which was beautiful and to my cousin by 10pm last night. :> I at least understand a bit more of what he is doing now. Hell, I even dreamed of programming last night! Darned if I didn’t wake up before it booted! Oh well…

My parents are coming to town on Tuesday. Mom and I will be heading to Pueblo to get fabric for curtains. They are trying to get their house ready for Dad to retire. Matt, Jimmor and Bill worked on the house yesterday. Morgan helped Matt mow the lawn and get it all tidy as well.

I’m going to edit one of my stories today as well as get caught up on some house work. What I’d really like to do is get some stuff done around the office. However, that will just have to wait. Oh well…