Oh Where did the week go?

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Really! Where did it disappear to? And while we’re at it, where did April go? It’s the 5th of May for goodness sake! Typical May of course. Denver got 3 inches of snow on the 1st, and we had a cold day. No Beltaine nudity in this state! At least not outside! brrrrrrr!!

Life as usual has run over me, leaving it’s footprints across my back. Monday was my 30th wedding anniversary. Didn’t feel much like celebrating. Not exactly sure why, but it didn’t help that I had a Strategic planning meeting to go to. Not much choice to avoid it either. John has something going as well, so it ended up being one of those days when neither one of us saw much of the other.

The rest of the week seemed to scream by. Totally lost Tuesday. Wednesday Dan and I met with Gaye Davis and discussed grants and the USDA. Wednesday night was Family Math and literacy Night at Gardner School. We made hand puppets, did puzzles, and had lots of fun.  Work has been busy because we are getting more customers by the day. wheeeee! Of course that means more paperwork and such, but I knew it was coming. Thursday we had lunch with this insurance agent. He was just creepy. Friday I had lunch with Pauline. We caught up one what we both were doing. It has been way too long since I’ve seen her and she lives in town! gads… Friday Daniel also went to Canon City with some friends for the weekend. Saturday was spent trying to catch up on various bits and bobs.

By the time I got home most evenings, I was too tired to do much, but I did get some sewing done. I’ve been working on a fleece blanket for John. Bears of course. I’ve had the patchwork and fleece pinned for probably three months. This week, I finally had a chance to do some quilting work. I did sort of a freehand bit. Followed the stronger lines in the panel print and did some stitch-in-the-ditch around the edges. Hope to get the binding on it later. I also did some repair work on the autumn quilt that Dan has on his bed. Oscar chewed it last winter and it needed some major repairs. I have some fabric that matches what is in the quilt and have been doing freehand cut leaves to scatter across the quilt where there are holes. I probably have 10-15 more leaves to add to it before all the tears are covered. However, it is whole enough to use again. Last but not least, I’ve been knitting on my bed shawl and started playing with a wild yarn that’s all slubby and multi-coloured. I’m making a scarf out of it.

Sunday was our grocery trip to Pueblo. John and I headed up around noon. On the way up, we decided to go see a movie. No idea what was playing, but… we checked out the marquee. We decided on Ironman. Grabbed a quick bit of lunch at SouperSalad and then headed to the theater. Umteen gillion previews and then finally the movie. I have to admit that I was ready to be disappointed. Wrong! It was fantastic! Lots of computer geek stuff in it and I was having a wonderful time looking at it. Especially when I realized I really understood exactly what the programs were and where CGI fit in, etc. At one point the main character is being fitted into this robotic exoskeleton and I sat there thinking that that was the sexiest “robot” I had ever seen. Then I started giggling, because I had that realization of just how g33ky a statement that was. John turned to me and asked what on earth I was giggling about as it was not a funny part of the movie. I explained, and then he was giggling. Oh gods I’m turning into a 1st class geek! When I told Dan about this geek epiphany, I thought he was going to split his sides laughing.

After the movie we did the shopping in record time. Well,… until we got to Walmart. It went a little slower because John cruised through the CD’s and DVD’s. Then I went through the clothes. Found a pair of Mutts sleep pants and a Tink top. Found Dan 4 teeshirts and a pair of black cargo pants. John and I found him a cool tropical print shirt.

We headed home around 9pm. It had been a good day all in all. I did some laundry and actually hung it outside! Then off to bed.

Of course, the alarm went off way too early. I got up, showered and out the door with Matt and Morgan in record time. Got petrol, picked up Nadia, drove to Badito and dropped them off for the school bus. When I got back, Daniel was actually ready to go and met me outside. Good thing! After I dropped him off, I picked up my mom and we headed over to 520. Dan was trying to get a bath, and so we got the groceries in out of the truck while we waited for him. Then we went off to breakfast. After breakfast, Dan went off to Aguilar with the new antenna Dad picked up for us on Friday. Mom and I went to Safeway, Family Dollar and then I dropped her off.

Now it’s nearly 2pm, and I’ve managed to do my ‘morning commute’, write this journal entry and answer the phone. Tonight we have Mom coming over for dinner, a late meeting with the partners and then I’m crawling into bed before the damned alarm rings at 6am!

Come Saturday morning,

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And I’m finally relaxing after a busy week. Oh my this has been a non-stop run from Sunday to today, and it isn’t going to get any quieter for a while. (ever?)

Yesterday was my regular ‘run to Pueblo’ shopping trip. We go up about every two weeks to get all the groceries needed for our crazy extended family. This includes the Harpers-Dan/Beth/Matt/Morgan, my eldest son and family- Erin/Morgan/Logan and us-John/Daniel & me. Oh, and you can’t forget the 3 dogs and 6 cats. I learned a long time ago that it was cheaper to shop in Pueblo for the majority of the groceries. Safeway in town is good for emergency things, milk and meat. Otherwise, they are just too expensive to buy all the day to day stuff. Yes, even with the gas prices at $3.39 a gallon. On an average trip, I go to Vitamin Cottage, Sam’s Club, Target, PetCo/Petsmart, and Walmart. I’d prefer to shop at just Target and Vitamin Cottage, but can’t afford the cost. Even Safeway, King Soopers, or City Market in Pueblo are even more expensive. Therefore, I compromise. In the summer, I hit the farmers markets and have a small garden when possible. Our high desert climate and the droughts we’ve had over the last 10 years have made that difficult at times.

This trip included a run to JCPenny’s. Last time it was Little Morgan who needed special clothing. This time it was Daniel. He told me on Thursday evening that he was taking Angela to Prom. You could have knocked me over with a stick! He and Angela have been friends since about 3rd grade. Never really dating per say, but always friends. Dan said that he had a double breasted suit jacket that Daniel could borrow. It fit like it was made for him. Therefore, all we had to get were the trews, tie and shirt.

Daniel is very muscular, and so it took 5 different styles of trews to find a pair to fit that he liked. Granted, it would have helped if he wore them around his waist instead of his hips, but….. that’s just me being old fashioned I guess! Finally found a pair to fit. Black, front pleats and satin finished with cuffs. Size 34/29’s. If he’d worn them at the waist, they’d have been 32/30’s. Oh well. On to the shirt and tie. I think we looked through 20 different shirts and half a dozen styles. To go with that waist of his, he has broad shoulders. We finally found a double back pleated shirt in sateen finish that he liked. Maroon. Size 16.5/34. We could have gone for a 17 collar, but that would have been just too much shirt around the waist. The tie he picked out was black silk with diagonal stripes in satin and matte finish. I was trying not to think what this would cost. Luckily, it was all on sale, so instead of spending nearly $200, I got out of there for $94. phew!

After that little adventure, we did the regular grocery run and had lunch at the Panda Buffet. It had been a while since I’d been in there and it was a nice change. I get tired of fast food, and there are only 3 or 4 nice sit down restaurants to go to nearby that I like. Being diabetic has made me a tad picky.

We got home at 5:30pm, unloaded groceries at 203 and then 520. Daniel couldn’t wait any longer and tried on the clothes we’d bought. When he came out to have me tie the tie, I wasn’t sure that it was my Daniel! Oh my! Then he put on the jacket and “struck a pose”. WoW! GQ watch out! Even Daniel was impressed with how he looked. When Dan got back to the office an hour or so later, Daniel dressed up again. Dan was gob smacked. When we showed John, Morgan and Erin after that, John and Morgan were also impressed. Erin just looked at his brother and asked when they were going to get back to the show we’d interrupted! LOL…..

I have promised to get pictures at Prom. It’s next Saturday, and true to form in a small town, everyone who is even slightly related to some kid at prom shows up for the grand march. It cracked me up the first time I got an invitation to Prom when I was on the local school board. I didn’t know that the invitation was to attend the grand march. Totally confused me! We never did that in Littleton. My graduating class was bigger than the entire school district here. It is fun though to see the kids all dressed up. You can tell the girls who haven’t worn a dress since 8th grade graduation or their Quinceaños. They walk so awkwardly in dresses and heels. And the boys…. most of them haven’t worn a suit since they were about 3 or 4. They clean up so nicely!

Today was catch-up day. I’m trying to do all the paperwork I should have gotten done on Friday. Dan and Karen are installing parts for the Aguilar wifi system. They did a run to Denver yesterday for parts. Catch-up day for all of us. I even caught up on a bit of sleep. I got up late today, and yet was falling asleep over my keyboard. Not wanting to wake up with QWERTY on my forehead, I laid down for a nap. I ended up with Tosoto and Princess Butterbutt curled up behind my legs. They were warm and comfy, and not happy that I got up. Oh well. Once Karen and Dan get back, I’ll be off to 203. Wheee…… More laundry and housework. I think I need a vacation!

A busy weekend

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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!

Three days!

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    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!!!

Heat, glorious HEAT!

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    Ok, I know it is only about 53 degrees outside, but it feels like a heatwave. It is 65 in my office and that is without a heater! Even the snow is melting!

It is such a nice change. Albeit a short one no doubt. We will see. Yesterday was fairly nice too. After a late start, Dan and I headed to Pueblo to do the shopping. We had to stop at Sam’s Club first and get the tires rotated and balanced. Somewhere along the way I had thrown a tire weight.  It made for very wobbly driving at certain speeds.

After Sam’s, we had dinner at the Texas Roadhouse. Yummmm! Then it was off to Petco, Staples, Target and Walmart. We would have gone to Vitamin Cottage, but they closed earlier than I expected.  As it was, we didn’t get home until nearly midnight. Long day! I didn’t finish unloading groceries until nearly 1am.   Oscar whined outside the door the whole time, because “mama” was locked in! sigh…

Once we got done, I curled up in bed.  I had to get the dogs off of it and out of the room. Of course this morning Oscar had to help me get dressed. Checked the skirt, the tights and the shoes out to make sure “mama” was ok. It was a riot of dog noses and dog hugs.

Today I have tried to get some of the paperwork caught up, but my mind wasn’t on it. Much more entertained by Youtube videos and silly emails. Ah well…

Happy New Year!

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    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!

Sewage and ice and shopping oh my!

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What a day… (Saturday) The sewer blocked up again. So, Dan and I headed off to La Veta Tru Value to rent the sewage snake yet again. Gaggggggg! I guess I aught to be grateful that Dan knows how to work the damn thing and actually does it. Two hours later, the laundry room was clean and the sewer was draining properly.

Then we had to drive back to La Veta. The wind was blowing the snow all across the highway and it was slick! Everywhere it looked like water on the road was in fact ice! We stopped and got Dan something to eat as he was exhausted from working the snake. It took forever to go and come back.

Once we got back, we took turns showering and then I headed to Pueblo with John and Daniel. It’s our usual payday shopping trip. Granted, it was a little crowded with Daniel in the back. We did part of the shopping and then went to dinner at Taco Bell. After that we did the last of the shopping at Walmart. Daniel got Logan some little slippers and two shirts. They are really cute. We got home around midnight. Unpacked everything and tried to get it all put away. Sort of hard as there were dishes everywhere. They had forgotten to put dish soap on the list, so of course…. no one could do dishes. sigh… I remedied that this morning with a quick trip to Safeway. What a combo. Trashbags, dish soap and cat food. Wheee….

Today, it is still cold here, but compared to the last few days it is a heat wave. A whole 35 degrees! Snow is melting, pipes thawing and lots of drippy mess that will all turn to ice about fifteen minutes after sundown. Ah well…

So far today, I’ve done laundry, gone shopping, “gone to work” at 520, cleaned up a kitchen, done some dishes and edited two articles for the Huerfano Journal. Oh, and proof-read the website for Dan. Now to wrap a few gifts and do up a Yule Letter. Oh, and write Yule cards. Wheee……

Hit the ground running!

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    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!