My WordPress Blog
I’ve begun to unpack the boxes and boxes of books. Granted, I can’t find one box and that is making me twitchy. (Pratchett where are you?) We will be acquiring better bookcases, but what we have is a start. I have two closets full of books to sort through as well. Meanwhile, the library and Friends of the Library will be receiving all of the unwanted books.
For the last few days, I have been helping Dan clean the furnace room. It’s taken longer because there was so much stored in there that belongs to my sons. We finally dragged it all out and began to pressure wash and bleach it.
Today we finished up bleaching and pressure washing the laundry room, hall, furnace room and the stairwell. I sorted through books too. It was very hard to throw some of the damaged ones away. I hope I can find replacements. I also took about 15 to the library for the FOL. (Friends of the Library)
Tomorrow, we finish! Well, at least the cleaning part. We still have a mountain of trash to get rid of, and lots of painting and repair work. However, we are getting there!
We had a surprise too when we got home. My Auntie Janie sent us a set of teacups and saucers to go with the teapot! I can’t wait to have a cuppa on the balcony!
Today is the second one with very high winds. Yesterday saw all the loose dirt for at least an area the size of the county head East to Kansas. Right now the gusts are from 35 to 45 mph. Geeze!!! At this rate, we might even get some snow.
Granted, we were up in Denver on Sunday and the wind was blowing up there. My sister even asked for us to take the wind home!
Sigh… we did.
The weekend was busy. Thursday morning we left early and headed up for Denver so that Dan could go to a Workforce meeting. A Colorado Workforce Development Council -CWDC meeting. It was downtown Denver, and once we parked, we saw my sister who works for the Colorado department of Labor and Employment. She had watched the truck go by as we tried to park. LOL! Then we met up with a friend and visited for a bit. Dan went to the meeting and I headed back to our hotel. Well, sorta back.
My sister had mentioned a quilting store… Creative Needle, and that it was near the Joann’s that I knew on Ridge Road. So, I detoured. 🙂 First Joann’s, where I found two patterns for dresses. Wheeee!!! Then on to the Creative Needle. OMG! All sorts of goodies in that shop including the fact that they are the only Elna service dealers in Colorado. I must have spent an hour in there. Then, off to a bookstore I spied on the way in. Heaven!!!!! Tons of used books. I was lost on where to start there were so many choices. I found a new to me Charles De Lint and the last three Jane Austen’s I needed to find. Plus I found a book for Dan. He’s been talking to Fr. Martin, and has been wanting to find a catechism book so that they were on common ground for some of their discussions. I found one! Happy-happy-joy-joy!!!
After finally pulling myself out of the bookstore, I headed to the movie theater. I found what time The King’s Speech was playing and realized I had time before it started. So, I went to Red Robin for dinner. I had fish and chips and apple pie for dessert. Then, back across the parking lot to the movies. The King’s Speech was fantastic. I understand that it wouldn’t be everyone’s choice, but I enjoyed it.
After the movie, I headed back to the hotel. I had a nice long soak in the tub and did some writing. It was really nice to relax. Dan finished up with all of his stuff including a dinner and ‘meet and greet’ around 9pm. Of course, that all that relaxing came to a screeching halt at 5am! Up, through the shower and out the door to be in Denver at the CWDC Youth Council meeting by 7am! Awwwgh!!!! Worse yet, it had snowed during the night!!!
We made it to the meeting in spite of the fact that Dan got turned around when he went to get a coffee at Starbucks! LOL. I laughed so hard at that. Mr, Mountain man gets lost in the big city!!!! Oh well. Breakfast was buffet style. Glad there was some fruit stuff, because all the eggs had cheese on them. sigh… I went to the State Youth Council meeting and Dan went to his Workforce Investment Board meeting.
Best part about my meeting was that my friend from high school was one of the co-chairs!!! Yeah Dani!!! The meeting was interesting and I met a lot of people. After lunch, I joined Dan and we heard the Lt. Governor talk. While I know he was towing the party line, there were some questions concerning the budget I would have liked to have heard a real answer on instead of dross. Our state is so polarized when it comes to Rural vs Urban, and a one size fits all kind of budget is not going to work well. Other people in the room felt the same way from the questions being asked.
We finished around 2pm and headed back to the hotel. We took a nap, grabbed dinner and then headed to Mari and David’s. We visited while Dan fixed Mari’s laptop and troubleshot another. It was a good visit, but we got home late. Showered and dropped into bed.
Saturday morning, we got up, showered, packed and were out of the hotel by 10am. Why? Because we had another computer client to visit!!! 🙂 It was really nice to have the work after the dry spell we’ve been having. That job finished around 3pm and then we went to visit my sister. After Lori’s, we went to Red Robin again and then to the movies. 🙂 We saw Rango. It was a riot!
By the time the movie was over, we headed home and arrived around 11pm. I think I face plowed the pillow! We slept Late on Sunday, and then unpacked, played with Brandy to make up for leaving her alone for three days, and straightened up the house.
Monday was busy with Morgan back to school and us back into the daily routine. Best part though was the mail. Morgan got her SSAT scores!!! We were over the moon, and she was upset that she hadn’t done better!!! Gads! Her overall scores were 2166 correct, or 89% She missed 63 points. Nationally, her percentiles for the test were Verbal, 95%, Math, 98% and Reading 97%!!!! When we finally got her to understand that only 3 to 4% of the 8th graders in the nation were better than she was, she finally mellowed out. Our next big hurdle will be hearing from Fountain Valley School and if she has been accepted. (Lots of good thoughts people!!!!!)
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. 🙂
Yesterday, we left at the crack of dawn for Denver. Dan had a meeting of the Colorado Workforce Development Council. So, we dropped Morgan off and headed up I-25. We had breakfast in Monument at the Village Inn. Not bad food, and we were rather hungry. We got to Denver by 10am, which was a good thing. Why? Because we got LOST. Or to be more exact, we couldn’t find the hotel where the meeting was being held. We finally found it at last. It is one of those dark glass buildings where the name is embossed on it in letters only slightly lighter than the smoked glass of the rest of the building. We found parking for $8 and then walked back to the hotel. Dan went to the meeting and I headed to the 16th Street Mall.
I walked around in various shops and finally made it to the Tattered Cover. I got Dan a copy of Common Sense and us a copy of Terry Pratchett’s latest book, Unseen Academicals. Then I had lunch at the Noodles shop just up from Tattered Cover. Then I went to Barnes and Noble and walked around another bunch of shops. Dan got done with his meeting around 2:30pm and we headed home.
We went shopping at Vitamin Cottage and King Soopers in Pueblo for things we needed for the house and got home around 10pm. We were both so tired, that once we got the groceries put away, we straight to bed. Yawn…
Today it was back to work as usual. I had to wash our bedding as one of the feral cats peed on it. Yuck. Of course that made for a wheezy day for me. Tomorrow is house cleaning day and a volley ball game for Morgan. 🙂 Hopefully, they will do better than they did against La Veta.
Gads…. Wednesday already! Four more days of spring break, and then back to school. The weather is still nice and warm too! Argh…. I am really not into the headspace for Fundamentals of Management. Yes, there probably is something new that they can teach me, but in all honesty, I’m 50. I’ve had a spouse and children…. run my own business and have been the business manager for LoboSavvy for 6 years. So, it will be a challenge not to blow off the teacher. Or heckle. Most of them are use to dealing with 20 somethings or kids just out of high school. They are not use to dealing with older students. Oh well.
Meanwhile, I am trying to do some sewing. I did a duvet cover yesterday. Yellow flowers and a boarder print. I’ve had the fabric for years, and never used it. I need to put some snaps on the opening and that is about it. Then there is the mending pile to attack. Oh, and curtains to make to match the fabric in the bedroom. Big problem is that what I feel like doing is taking a walk, or…. jumping someone’s bones. LOL. 🙂 Maybe I’ll just curl up with a good book… I have this one from my mom to read. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
On Tuesday RBT went live in Aguilar!
Dan and Karen finally got all the bugs worked out of the MicroTik and the rest of the system. Karen then tested the logins and they flipped the switches. boom! Aguilar was live with wireless Internet communications.
I no sooner got the call that we were live than we had the first few customers log on. Wheeeee!!!! This was really good as we had less than 24 hours at that point to pay on the T-1 bill. Luckily we made enough. Now to just keep that cash flow going.
Sadly, we had to take the MicroTik out of the Budget Host because it and the Engenius radios are not talking nicely. The Engenius products don’t like heat or cold in extremes. This means that we have had 4 of them fry in less than 3 months. Not a happy thing. So, BH is up and running free wireless at the moment. :< Not great for the pocketbook. However, we hope to have that fixed in the next month.
Meanwhile, we are working on paperwork. Forms, letters, billing and all sorts of other bits. Wheee….. NOT. My office is a mess. I also need to make up a new ad for the Huerfano Journal as well as a “letterhead” or logo for the business. Our business cards are rather generic, and I want to do something with lightning bolts or radio waves and mimic the local scenery with it. Dan wanted a skull with crossed lightning bolts under it and antennas for ears. Karen said no. Bad enough that our favourite song at the moment is The Last Saskatchewan Pirates by the Arrogant Worms.
Dan wants it to play when people bring up our website or for our hold music on the phone. Karen just twitches as she gets the song stuck in her head. teeheehee….
Yesterday was busy in that between taking all sorts of calls, I made posole and then Dan, Morgan and I headed to Gardner School for Poetry Night by the 5th & 6th graders. They do this sort of Beatnik coffee house thing. It’s always fun. Last night in the middle of one of the girls reciting her poem, a spider descended from the ceiling. The table of girls to the left saw it and started to squirm. Dan went to the rescue and removed a wolf spider about the size of a nickel. Dan was acclaimed a hero. I’m not sure who flinched more, the girls, or Julia, the principal. Afterwards, we drove home and after checking to see if Aguilar was still up, we went to bed early. Wheeeee!
Today started out with me taking the kids to school and Dan checking to see if Aguilar was still running. Gads! You’d think it was a newborn baby he had to check to see if it was still breathing. OK, well it is sort of a new baby. :> We had our first customer who forgot how to log on and another inquiry about equipment. We are going to have to keep and inventory of routers and cables as well as switches and the rest of the computer bits. Thank goodness for lots of shelves.
Karen and Dan are also out looking at a tower site. It might be for sale cheap enough to snatch up. If so, it would be a real feather in our cap. Tonight we also have to work on documenting all of the fun stuff…. like how we did it. sigh… Oh, and I get to start a new book. Deploying License-Free Wireless Wide-Area Networks.
I’d much rather read Widdershins By De Lint, but that will just have to wait a bit. Professional reading comes first. I’ll take it with me when I go to pick up the kids at Badito. After we come home, I’m going to warm up the posole from last night. John and Beth are due home really late from their Library conference in Pueblo. Good thing the kids don’t mind eating in a half finished kitchen.
Well, I’m off! Yeah, and more than just my rocker!
   Oh my gods it was windy yesterday. Woke up to hear the howling of the wind trying to push the glass on the windows too hard and all the air coming through any crack it could find. While at 520, Dan and I heard a loud *pop* and when we looked out, there was a huge branch from the dead tree in the front yard laying on the ground. We also got an email from Brian. Part of the Huerfano Journal’s building had fallen victim to the wind. It made the front page of the Pueblo Chieftain! http://www.chieftain.com/metro/1199666657/1
Sitting in my office, I kept hearing things creak and wondered if we would loose bits of the front porch. It really needs work, and has the worst section of roof. We were lucky to only have tree branches down.
We also went to see the Golden Compass last night. Brian gave Dan two free tickets and so all of us went. (Dan, John, Beth, Matt, Morgan and I) The movie was very good. Enough so that I think I will re-read the books in a month or so. I have just a few to read at the moment.
After the movie, I did some laundry (yawn….) and then curled up with my book. I am nearly finished with it, so leapt at the chance to take Beth to La Veta this afternoon. She had to go do something at the art gallery there and I read my book. I think I have about 3 chapters to go. I’ll finish it tonight. Laume and other friends have been keeping lists of books they have read and I think I may do that this year. I think that there is some sort of widget to put it on here. Must go digging.
   Wow! Every time I thought I’d have ten minutes to sit and write a post, it disappeared. Now it’s a whole new year! (ok, you can stop groaning now.)
As it is, On Sunday John and I were suppose to go to Pueblo to do the shopping. However, while I was finally over my headache from the snow glare, John was feeling poorly. His back was really giving him pain. So, I grabbed Little Morgan and Dan to go do the shopping. We drove to Pueblo and hit the main stores. Vitamin Cottage, Sam’s Club, Petsmart, Target and Walmart. We also took a side trip to Barnes and Noble. Dan got a magazine on woodworking, I got the latest Patricia Briggs novel and Morgan got two books on French. She is learning it in school and we wanted to give her a bit of help. We went to Chili’s for dinner. It was so funny as Morgan was looking through the appetizer menu and didn’t realize that there was a whole dinner menu behind that! Oh the glutenous glee when she found out. She opted for a huge burger while Dan had a steak and I had ribs. Yummm!
We got home around 10:30pm and by the time we unloaded all of the groceries, I was exhausted. John was still in a lot of pain, so we went straight to bed. Even slept in the next morning.
I got a roast out to thaw on Monday for New Year’s dinner and made up a bit of soy sour cream dip so that I could have something while the rest had ranch dip and caviar. It tasted pretty good. I have found a pesto that doesn’t have cheese in it and I used that as a flavour. We all relaxed and sorted out movies while watching TV. We finally started a film, and then the next thing we knew it was midnight. Kisses all round and sips of scotch. Then John popped out the back door and came round the front to First Foot the house. It’s a custom we picked up in England. You send a tall dark and handsome man to go to the front door and be the First Foot across the threshold. They traditionally bring gifts and say a little statement as they come in. “I bring food for the house, food for the soul, fuel for the house and money for the household.” The food is often some sort of cake or bread. The food for the soul is whiskey, and fuel for the house being coal or wood. The last item is usually coinage.
We slept in and the next morning we all worked on cleaning house. John tackled various flat surfaces that had gotten piled high with his stuff. I cleaned part of my room, the living room, took down all of the holiday decorations, put the Winter altars up, supervised the kitchen and breakfast nook cleaning and did laundry. Oh, and I put the roast in the oven for dinner.
Dan was feeling rather off because his knee was giving him grief, so I took dinner over to him after we had eaten. Of course, I first footed the house! A bit of a laugh as I am short, gray and female, but…. it worked.
Today I cleaned up the office and tried to keep Dan in bed. (ha!) He’s feeling ill. I also thawed the pipes which have been frozen for the last four days. After we got water flowing, I filled in the ditch and covered the pipes better than they had been. Our restoration on the office is at a standstill due to the weather. So,… the pipes were uncovered and froze. We will see if they stayed thawed in the morning. Meanwhile, my hands feel like hamburger from moving all of that dirt. It has taken me forever to type this!
Ciao!