A blustery day

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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!!!!!)

What a start to the week.

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Sunday we went up to Colorado Springs. We spent the night up there because Morgan had SSAT testing at Fountain Valley. We got there on time and she took the test. The proctor said that they had never had a student so happy when they came in to take the test. She finished the test in record time. Interesting in that she didn’t know that it is the kind of test you aren’t expected to finish. It tests the limit of your knowledge at that level. Now we await the test results.

When we got home on Monday, we were watching a movie when the house began to smell. Skunk!! Two of them having sex under the house. Awwgh!!!! the smell!!!! gag… Have I mentioned how much I detest skunks? It was snowing, so we couldn’t even open the doors to air out the house. ugh. Did not sleep well.

Yesterday was a school board meeting that outlined just how bad things could be. Not pretty. Once again, I didn’t sleep well. On top of the school board getting my dander up, I upset a friend accidentally. So, I tossed and turned during the night trying to figure out how to fix things.

A good thing though is that I am making pizza for dinner.

Our Girl Strikes Again!

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On Wednesday, we went up to Gardner for the Open House. This was for the science fair as well as the Voices of the Past presentation. Morgan got a 1st prize for her science fair project. She made an electricity generator. Water falling through a copper loop to generate spark, in the style of a Kelvin water dropper. She and Dan built it.

Then the Voices of the Past presentation. This is an oral history project that has been going on in Huerfano county since 1993. Students interview people who have lived in the county for at least 20 years and write a story up based on the interview. As the representative of the Huerfano World Journal, I got to hand out the prizes. 🙂 Better yet, Morgan won first prize!

This weekend, Morgan gets to go to La Junta for the regional Science Fair. We drop her off in a few hours and then we are heading to Pueblo for a bit of shopping. 🙂

The slide show has pictures of Morgan’s science fair board, Morgan and Douglas, the man she interviewed, all the winners, and Liz Schneider, the 7th & 8th grade teacher.

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Fountain Valley School

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Sunday we went up to Colorado Springs. This was so we could be at the Winter visiting day for Fountain Valley School. This is a private college prep high school that we’ve been looking at for Morgan.

The hotel was um… a joke. Yes, it was cheap, but we’ve stayed in nicer hotels for about the same amount and had much better service and rooms. Oh well. We got up early and headed for FVS. We were WAY early, so we grabbed a second bit of breakfast at Burger King, because the breakfast at the hotel was….um….horrid.

We arrived on time and guess what…. Third Breakfastses!!! It would have made a hobbit proud! LOL! We had a lovely tour of the campus, visited with teachers, student and parents. Lunch was fantastic, and we were assured that Morgan would Not Starve if she attended FVS. We had an interview with one of the admission assistants and that went well. After that was over, we visited the stables that we had missed earlier due to a bit of rain. Yes, rain in January. Better yet, rain in sunshine in January!

After the visit, we headed home with a stop in Pueblo to find Dan some dress clothes for his upcoming trip to Washington DC. He really wanted a suit and an extra pair of trews, but we ended up buying a sports coat, two pairs of trews, a shirt, a belt and a wool overcoat. It took forever! Morgan got bored with waiting, so we let her roam JCPenny’s, which is where we were. She found a sweater and we got it for her. Biggest issue we had was finding the size that fit Dan. Normally he wears 34/30 jeans. However, when it comes to suit pants, he wears a 38/29. Just weird. Snakes on shoes weird! I don’t understand their sizing. Oh well. We got the stuff purchased. We also all remember just how much we hate shopping!

Afterwards, we went to Bingo Burger for dinner. Yum!!!! It was a good ending to a long day. Especially as I had an asthma attack in the Mall due to some perfumes in Bath & Body… which we just walked by! uggghhh…  When we got home, Dan took the truck back while I crawled in bed with a hot water bottle. Between the asthma, the long day and the inhaler, I was out in moments!

Of course, waking up today was a real effort. I was so tired. I was bribed out of bed with a cup of tea and then later Dan took me to lunch at George’s. Yumm….

The rest of this week will be busy with clients and working on our business plan. wheeee….. On Friday, we have to go to Trinidad on business. I am really looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday!

BRRR! Can we say cold?

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This week has been frigid!  30+ degrees colder than normal. We got 6 inches of snow on Sunday and not a lot of it has melted, because it has been so cold. -10 Monday night. 4 last night and right now at nearly 2pm, it is just barely 35 outside. BRRRR!!!!! Only good thing is that my parents bought us half a cord of wood. Otherwise, I’d be in bed!

Last week was hectic. We took a trip to Trinidad and visited with Economic Development and the local Chamber of Commerce. Depending on how a meeting goes tomorrow, we may be changing our business plans for 2011. Exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time.

This week isn’t much slower paced either. Lots of work stuff, and Dan had to go to Denver for some Workforce stuff. He will be home tonight. Oh, and to top it off, Ian’s truck hates me. It died on my half way to the school board meeting last night. I left it there, as I couldn’t get it started.  I had to walk home from the meeting. BRRRRR!!!  Dan gets to deal with it when he comes home. Not exactly what I would have wanted, but… oh well.

As I said, we have a meeting in Trinidad tomorrow, Dan has two computer jobs and on Monday we take Morgan up to Fountain Valley School for an introduction day. It should be interesting. There is some other stuff next week too, but I have to get it all down on the calendar. I just hope it warms up soon.

Dads and Daughters

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Yesterday, Dan and I went with my Mom and Dad to Colorado Springs. Dad went to Memorial Hospital for a bladder biopsy. He was nervous and I don’t blame him. He had bladder cancer and this was a checkup to make sure that everything was still gone. One he was all ready, Dan, Mom and I went to get some lunch. Funny bit is that Mom had two older men with white beards hit on her. One even had a Santa Hat on and asked her if she’d been good. Of course, she said. LOL.

Dad got the biopsy done and then we headed home. We stopped at Bingo Burger for dinner. We enjoyed it, but Dad had trouble tasting food, so he and Mom will probably go another time to see if he likes it. Dad was also a bit loopy on the pain meds, but it was okay. We got home around 8pm.

Today was busy. Dan and I went to the County Commissioner’s meeting and Dan introduced himself as the South Central Workforce Chair and gave them an update on what has been going on in Workforce. After that, we got a few things done including a little bit of rearranging in the living room/office area. Then around 5pm, we headed for Gardner. Tonight was their Holiday program. Since there were so many kids/families of different religions, they chose a non-Christmas theme. Instead they celebrated Mexican culture. Lots of kids singing songs in English and Spanish as well as a small play about a fiesta. Morgan was the Iguana who organized everything. It was a riot, especially when she turned and hit her head and then fell over the screen that the stage hands moved too close to her. It looked like part of the play, while it really was a accident. However, she laughed and made it look like it was planned. She has a bump on her head, and that is about it. The whole program was wonderful. Afterwards, we all had cookies and treats that the families brought. John and Beth came up with Logan, so I got to see my grandson. 🙂 He is so like his dad.

We got home around 9pm, and Morgan is now doing homework for finals and Dan is doing classwork too. I’m catching up on my blog and then bedtime. Yawn!!!

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.

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. 🙂