Playing Catch Up

The kids have been gone for almost two weeks so I've had a lot of free time.  That free time has been spent with Paul and other cool people, working and doing fun stuff.  I haven't had a lot of time for writing.  I miss it so I thought I'd get back into the groove with a brief summary of what I've been up to.

Paul and I didn't make it to the Western Slope for the spring wine festival.  A big snow storm moved over the mountains and we decided it was too risky to drive I-70, especially when it's already been shut down to one lane by a rock slide.  Fortunately, the B&B owners let us reschedule our weekend to July 4th if we added another night to our stay.  There's another wine and blues festival that weekend so that will be fun.

Since we were in town that weekend we instead got to go out with Jenn, Caleb, some of Caleb's family and some friends.  We ate at Jonesy's Eatbar and then went next door to hear Reckless Red.  It was a fun night.  That weekend we also went to see a couple of movies: Alice in Wonderland and Crazy Heart.  Alice in Wonderland was predictably good if you like the combo of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp.  And I do.  Crazy Heart was really, really good.  Jeff Bridges truly deserved his Oscar this year.  Fabulous movie.

On Tuesday night that week Paul had free vouchers for Comedy Works.  It was new talent night so the comics were hit or miss.  There were half a dozen that we really enjoyed.  Afterward we spent some time walking around downtown and people watching.  We discovered that there's actually not much going on after 10 pm on a Tuesday night.  Ha!

Last weekend we spent Sunday with friends of a friend from my office.  They play Egg Wars for Easter.  I picked weak eggs and lost badly.  But there was tons of delicious food and good conversation.  I like this making new friends thing.

Last night I had dinner with some work friends and then met Jenn, Caleb and friends downtown for Spoon.  Needless to say, we had a great time.  We always do.  More about that later.

This Friday night I'm hosting ladies' game night at my place.  I don't know how much game playing we'll get done, but there will be delicious food, some drinks and laughter.  It's going to be great.

I'm making some more progress on settling into the new place.  I have some artwork up on the wall above my bed.  I also have some new artwork up in the dining room and living room.  And I'm working on an idea for the hallway.  I'll post some more pictures when I'm all finished.  I'm making Samuel a duvet for his bed, too.  I've made bedding for the other two kids in the past but he was so little then that he couldn't really voice an opinion.  The poor kid has been using Miriam's hand-me-down, flowered, pink-and-purple comforter for quite some time.  He says he wants his cover to be half yellow and half orange and he's going to get exactly that.

I've talked to the kids several times.  They're having a blast and being spoiled at least 1/2 rotten in ABQ.  They come back this coming Sunday and I'm really excited to hug them and squeeze them again.  They're such great kids and I miss them.

Samuel turned 7 last week.  For some reason, his 7th birthday is difficult for me to wrap my head around.  He just seems so grown up now.  For so long, he's been  The Baby.  And I suppose in some ways, he always will be; he is the youngest, after all.  But 7 years old is so much not a baby.  I'm not sad about him getting older -- I'm not That Mom.  It's just weird to think about my youngest being so big.  Samuel does tell me that he'll always be my baby, though.  If I could insert a pink, puffy heart here, I would.

So I don't know about this being brief but it's a summary, at least.  It's good to be back.