Spades

Four conservative bidders. Super conservative, at that. We're only playing to 200, instead of the usual 500. After 7 hands we've barely broken 100. Pete said, "This is a game of attrition."

Camping

Campfire.

Rushing water. 

Crickets. 

S'mores.

Ladder ball. 

The freshest of mountain air. 

An occasional train rumbling and screeching through the canyon. 

Levi's laugh that begins with an asthmatic-sounding grunt. 

Lance's guffaws. 

Ashley's giggle. 

Sisters and brothers and friends around a campfire, under a clear sky with music and full bellies.

An afternoon of wading in the Colorado River behind us, a morning of hiking to Hanging Lake in front of us. 

This is the life. 

Uncle Max

I have had this post sitting in my editing box for more than 3 months.  I started out wanting to say how sad I was that the end was near, how much I was going to miss him.  But those words would not come out, no matter how hard I tried.  Since then, he has passed and I have thought about this post at least weekly.  I have come back to write it many times.  I save it every time without making any progress.  I don't know what to say.

In the last several years I've only seen him once or twice per year.  But knowing that my Uncle Max was in the world made my world better.  I miss him.

I miss his laugh.  He had this hysterical giggle that overtook him when he was telling a funny story.  His eyes almost disappeared into his face and he couldn't get the words out.  Watching him tell a funny story was almost funnier than the actual story.  Almost.  Almost, because he had a plethora of funny stories -- pranks he pulled on friends, pranks he pulled on family, pranks he pulled on teachers.  In these stories, his getting caught was usually the thing he found to be the funniest.

I miss seeing him with his horses.  He loved his horses so much.  I've not had many experiences with horses at all, but the ones I have had, Uncle Max was always there.  Horses will always be linked with Max in my mind.

I miss his concern.  When I got divorced, his thoughtfulness and sensitivity were so meaningful to me.  He related to so much of what I was going through.  It was really good to know that he was thinking of me and he was on my side.

One summer when I was about 12, Jennifer, Lance and I spent a week or so with Uncle Max and his family.  He worked nights and beds were in short supply with so many people in the house so I slept in his and my aunt's bed with my aunt while he was at work.  One morning he came home from work while I was still asleep and my aunt had gotten up to shower.  Max leaned over the bed, thinking I was my aunt, and tried to snuggle up with me.  When I turned over and he saw that it was me, we were both a little unnerved, to say the least.  But after that, it was one of the funniest things ever.

Uncle Max was always up for a good time.  A few years ago, after Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house, Jenn and Caleb and I left our children with Mom and Dad.  Then, anyone who was interested walked the few blocks from my parents' home down to the main street to have drinks and shoot pool.  There was quite a crowd -- Jenn and Caleb, Lance and his girlfriend at the time, Jonathan, Max and myself.  I believe Caleb's brother even joined us.  We had a great time.  At some point in the evening, Max tried to refresh my two-stepping skills, of which I have very little.  I have no idea how many times I stepped on his booted toes (Ah, yes, the cowboy boots -- a Max trademark.) but it didn't matter.  We had lots of good laughs at my expense.

My heart aches so much for my cousins, for Max's wife, for my mom, and for my grandparents.  I know that as much as I'm missing him, it cannot compare to what they are feeling in his absence.  There is just so much sadness in this.

A few times in the nearly 3 months since he has been gone, someone in my family has commented on or Liked pictures of Max in my albums on Facebook.  When I get the notification and click through to the photo, it takes my breath away for a few seconds.  It's so good to know that he is not and will not be forgotten, but that reminder that he is no longer with us hurts so much.  It's good to have so many great memories about such a great human being, but knowing that there will not be any new memories hurts so much.

I guess that's what I want to say.

Happy Anniversary of American Independence

If it weren't for the cloud of wildfire smoke enveloping us this would be a perfect day. Even still, it's a good day. A very good day, full of family, friends, grilled foods and various types of booze. I repeat: it's a good day.

Christmas

Alright.  I need to savor this feeling right here.  This feeling of being surrounded by family,  of drinking great wine and of eating delicious food.  There is laughter, genuine affection and a general feeling of comfort.

I can say whatever I want and everyone will either laugh hysterically or look at me with an expression of, "What the hell?" and then laugh hysterically anyway.  And they're laughing with me, even as they might be laughing at me.  This is exactly what I want to feel, all of the time.

But.  But.  But if I felt this way all of the time I wouldn't appreciate this feeling as much right now, would I?  Or would I?  There's this whole idea that you don't appreciate the good times without the bad times, the light without the dark, you know?  I have always wished I had the opportunity to prove that wrong.

I don't know that it's possible, though.  To prove that idea wrong.  I've always had the bad times to interrupt the good times.  Always.  That's probably life.  I doubt anyone has all good times, all the time.  I really doubt that.

However, the week from Christmas to New Year's Eve is the perfect time to enjoy that great feeling 24/7.  I'm flying to Utah to spend 4 days with Paul and his Utah family on Wednesday.  That's going to be 4 days of Utah partying.  And I only work one day this week.  I get paid for 5 days but I'm only working 4 days.  I'm having a great week.

I love this feeling, whether it lasts or not.  And it probably won't.  But I love it all the more because of that.

Thanksgiving Menu

I have no time off work for Thanksgiving except the actual day of Thanksgiving. This means I am not leaving Colorado.  I took the kids to meet the ex-husband today and now I am back home.  And by home, I mean Paul's house.  Paul's house with wine, cheese and This is Spinal Tap, which we just finished watching.  But that is neither here nor there.

What is both here and there is the Thanksgiving Menu.  It is as follows:

• Turkey, brined in a savory brine per Paul's request
• mashed potatoes, a la butter and cream cheese and heavy cream
• cranberry sauce
• the most delectable, buttery, flaky dinner rolls that you have ever had the pleasure of melting onto your tongue (at least, I think this is the recipe I use. I for sure have it saved on my phone. But my phone is charging on the other side of the room and I do not want to get up from this chair.)
• cranberry bars, a la Starbucks

That is the stuff that I am cooking.  I am having Paul and Cole to my place.  We have invited Jen and Scottie and Branden and Lance. We have also invited board games and music. We're gonna have a good time.

Paul is providing copious amounts of wine and a pumpkin pie. Lance is bringing canned cranberry sauce (his Thanksgiving staple) and some sort of salad, as yet to be determined.  Jen will cook:

• stuffing (which is totally To. Die. For.  And I'm not even a stuffing person. Unless Jen makes it.)
• green bean casserole
• gravy
• apple pie

I was going to attempt cherry pie but I attempted a cherry pie from cherries in my backyard a couple of weeks ago.  I bombed.  Completely bombed.  I think know that my cherries were canned too liquidy.  Unfortunately I am unsure how to remedy this.  And now I'm out of cherries except for the ones that have been designated for cherry-infused vodka.  Le sigh.

The point is that Thanksgiving will be a rockin', delicious time, as per usual.

Yay for Arkansas!

Yay for the people in Arkansas, anyway. At least some of the people. This is a good time. All the siblings, I repeat all, are here. That's no easy feat considering our circumstances and geography. We are having a blast.  So, until I can devote more time to a follow up post on this subject, I'll leave you with some word snapshots -- a toast to the matriarch in honor of her graduation; rounds of Boggle with iPhones at the ready for proving or disproving a word's legitimacy; a dozen chatting, laughing people crammed into the kitchen because that's where we always end up. And there's so much more to come!

Sent via Pony Express

Water Park Fun

I forgot about these videos from our day at the water park in Arkansas.  I give you -- The Toilet Bowl:

I'm in Arkansas

I'm in Arkansas with family.  It's nice, except for the humidity and the mosquitoes.  And in truth, that is a small price to pay for hanging out here in my parents' house with my brothers and sisters that I rarely get to see.

I have a pretty great family.  For the majority of my life so far, I've taken them for granted.  In the last few years, I've realized how good I have had it all my life.  The more people I meet who say things like, "You have my sympathy" or "Ugh, good luck" when I say I'm going to spend a week with my family, the more I realize that most people do not enjoy their families the way I enjoy mine.  It makes me sad for them and even happier for myself.

I picked up the kids from the ex-husband on Friday morning and we hit the road.  Seven-hundred-ten miles on I-40 is too many miles on I-40, or any road for that matter.  Ugh and double-ugh.  We did break up the monotony by stopping at Cadillac Ranch and painting a few cars.  I have photos of that but I will have to post them another time.  We were also chewed up and spit out by hordes of mosquitoes.  Poor Samuel got the worst of it and has been hopped up and/or strung out on Benadryl and Motrin ever since.

We spent Saturday with my Granny and her beau.  He's nice and he really seems to make her happy and seems to like us so it's all good.  I also met my brother's girlfriend of 3 years for the first time.  It's obvious they make each other happy.  That makes me happy.

Yesterday we spent the day hanging out around the house.  The kids divided their time among playing Mario Kart, jumping on the trampoline and 'babysitting' their various dolls.  I explored the attic (which is huge!) and found a box of stuff that I left when I moved out.  My favorite doll from childhood was in there, along with a jar of sand I collected from White Sands, New Mexico when I was 12.  There were some godawful clothes in there, too but we won't talk about that.

Today we went to Chuck E. Cheese for fun and games.  The kids procured cheap plastic crap that will most likely be lost before we leave but we had a good time and got some fun photos.  Lance is arriving here any minute for a week or so himself.

Tomorrow we will go to a water park near here for swimming, sliding and sun.  I'm excited.  It sounds similar to the one I take my kids to at home in Colorado, only a titch bigger.  We'll picnic and spend the whole day there.

On Wednesday my Paw Paw and his wife are coming over to visit.  I haven't seen them in at least a year and a half.  Also, some time during this week, some of us siblings are planning an epic game of Monopoly.  'Twill be much fun!

And on Thursday the kids and I will leave just after lunch time and drive to the western side of Oklahoma City.  We're planning to stay at a nice hotel, swim and then on Friday morning we'll tour a museum that looked interesting on the way over.  I'll drop the kiddos off with the ex-husband on Friday evening and head home myself on Saturday.

Night Out with the Fam

Some of the family, anyway.  I went out last Saturday night with Jenn, Caleb, Jonathan and Cassie (Caleb's sister).  (Caleb's mom offered to watch 5 children so Jennifer and I could hang out together, sans children.  Isn't she great?)  We met up with the steel guitarist (and his wife -- Travis and Courtney) from Caleb's band.

We took the Light Rail.  I rather enjoy the Light Rail, on occasion.  It makes me feel metropolitan.  I like that, on occasion.

Inside our car, announcing the coming station, Union Station.  Woot!

Inside Union Station.  This tunnel goes underground, beneath all the trains.  And not just little trains like the Light Rail.  There are Amtrak trains here, too.  Kind of freaky to think about all that steel above our heads.

Outside Union Station.

Walking to Wynkoop, where we met Travis and Courtney.  Wynkoop is a good place.  There is good food, good beer and pool.  They have a juke box and once Travis got his money into it, there was good music to listen to.  We ate, drank and played pool.  It was a good time.  I would put a picture of Wynkoop's menu here but the less-than-friendly waitress took the menu while I was trying to photograph it.  To be fair, I was taking the picture with my phone so I guess it kind of looked like I was just texting but she was still less-than-friendly.

So instead, here is a picture of the bison burger with extra sharp white cheddar from heaven.  I know it doesn't look like much but it was so delicious. So, so, so delicious.

And here is a picture of my beer.  Or ale, to be precise.  The Rail Yard Ale.  It was also delicious.

A weird pool table.  Caleb, Travis and Courtney played a couple of games here and then we moved to a couple of regular tables.  I'm bad enough at pool; I do not need any funky Ls messing with what little groove I can muster.

A regular table.  Jennifer, Cassie, Courtney and I played teams.  This was the game that would not end.

After we had exhausted our mad pool skillz, Travis declared that we should walk to Herb's.  He said there is always a live band and that it was kind of a dive, but still a great place to hang out.  So walk to Herb's we did.  On the way, we encountered some interesting sights.

Like these massive doors.  I wish I had a picture of someone next to them, to show them to scale but a) I didn't think to do that and b) even if I had, I don't know if anyone in our crew would like for me to post a picture of them on my public blog.  So you'll have to take my word for it.  These doors were in the side of a huge building.  They're at least 30 feet tall.  Insane.

This sign in the window of an empty office building.  It made me laugh so I took a picture of it.  I guess I shouldn't laugh.  I mean, I know I do spend most of my time thinking about ways to excite and elicit new business.  I just didn't know that other people did, too.

Dueling night clubs.  Two places across the street from each other, both playing music as loudly as possible, flashing lights and trying their best to attract people to jam themselves into line so they can wait around for an hour and then pay $7 for a beverage.  We make a point of never going to places like this.  Ugh.

And, finally.  Herb's.  Travis was right -- there was a live band and it was a dive.  But if going to dives means not waiting in line for an hour, I'm okay with that.  The band was pretty great.  Like really, really great.  They had a woman up on stage for a couple of songs and she had a phenomenal voice.  There was another woman playing saxophone who was pretty awesome, too.  By the time we got there it was almost 1:00 so we weren't there long before they had to shut down.  So we headed back to Union Station.

But not before I saw this.  It was taped to the women's bathroom door and I read it while waiting on Jennifer.  In case you can't tell, it's a copy of a diploma from the University of Colorado.  It was awarded to Christopher Ramos this 29th day of May, the year of our Lord 2010 for completion of medical school.  As I was pondering why it was taped to the bathroom door, a guy came by and said, "Who is that asshole anyway?  What kind of guy puts his diploma on a ladies' room door?"  I just looked at him and then he continued, rather cockily, "It's me.  That's mine." I said, "Um, wow.  Desperate?"  And then he walked away.  And I giggled a lot.

This is another shot of the dueling clubs at closing time.  Lots of cops, just to control traffic and drunk people.  Maybe I shouldn't say 'just'.  That's a pretty big job, given the couple of drunk people we crossed.  One dude ripped some leaves from a tree and offered them to me saying, "Want a pretty flower?"  His girlfriend was rather embarrassed.

A van in the parking lot across from Wynkoop.  I had to photograph it because it is advertising what I drank at Wynkoop.  Did I mention that it was delicious?
 

Half way back to Union Station Jennifer remembered that she'd left her credit card in the possession of the waitress at Herb's.  So we walked back for it but they were already locked up. Major bummer.  And then when we got back to Union Station we found out that we'd missed the last train.  (In Jenn's defense, we did not miss the train because of her credit card.  The last one had already departed when we went back for the card but we didn't know it then.)  The next one wouldn't be until 4:22.  Ugh.  One cab and $48 later we were back where we started and I, being the designated driver and having stopped drinking 4 hours prior, took us the rest of the way home.

All in all, a pretty memorable night.

Awesomeness

This week on my online home there was a thread titled "Things that are awesome" and it made me really happy.  People posted the good things that have happened to them this week or things that make them happy all the time or things that are, for lack of a better word, awesome.  I liked the idea.  So, without further explanation, things that are Awesome or Phenomenal or Tremendous or Excellent or whatever other superlative you'd like to tag them with:

1. my adorable kids
2. the fact that my kids are maturing and might, one day too soon, object to being called 'adorable'
3. Paul
4. my clean house
5. the organic, grass-fed, free range, used-to-be happy beef that's now in my freezer
6. movies
7. music
8. friends
9. family
10. game night
11. excellent food
12. decreasing The Number by 16 (Woo-hoo!)
13. feeling like I'm exactly where I belong
14. exploring school/becoming an RN options
15. me (Yeah, I said it.)

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.

Happy Coincidences

I forgot to write about this when it happened two weeks ago.  I was home from work and Paul had jury duty.  When he got out of the courthouse we met for lunch at Bombay Bowl.  As we got our food and found a place to sit, Paul said, "Hey!  There's Blake!"  Blake is one of our friends, whom we met because he works with Caleb.  I looked and not only was Blake there, but also three other friends.  We got tables near each other and chatted a bit while we ate.  And then Caleb showed up.  At that point it had been a couple of weeks since I'd seen Jennifer or Caleb so it was nice to catch up unexpectedly like that.

It makes me really happy when these kinds of things happen.  My sense of contentment and community are reinforced by running into people I like when I least expect it.

We Did It!

The move is finished.  It took most of yesterday and I am exhausted.  Everything hurts.  Today I am unpacking and organizing and settling in.  Yesterday was not fun but I like today.  It's fun to figure out where everything fits and when all of that is done, I get to put things on the walls and prettify the place.  Yay!

Also, a million thanks to everyone who helped.  I truly could not have done this without you -- no way, no how.  Thank you to Jennifer and Caleb, Kim and Blake (and your kick ass trailer!), Paul, Lance (who was too sick to work but not too sick to help me move furniture. :winkwink: ), Lisa and Megan and Lisa's brothers (I'm sorry, I don't remember your names. Please forgive me).  You guys make a girl grateful that she has such awesome family and friends.  Truly.

Coming soon to a blog post near you -- photos of the new place!  Fun!

I Had a Flashback (& Thank You)

Tonight Samuel wanted to tell me about a story his teacher read in class today.  He insisted on telling me every single detail, no matter how small and using voices and expressions like his teacher did.  It took forever.  It took the entire time we ate dinner.  Solomon and Miriam didn't get to talk at all.

While I was spacing out completely listening, I remembered a family dinner many years ago when Jennifer and I told Mom and Dad about a movie we had seen in school.  I think it was called The Million Dollar Duck or something like that and yes, it really was that lame. Anyway, Jennifer and I thought it was terrific and that our parents needed to know every. single. detail.  And we didn't miss any of them.  It took all of dinner and then some, with the two of us alternating parts, interrupting each other and being quite annoying I'm sure.  But Mom and Dad let us go on and on and on.  I don't know how they did it.  They don't even drink.

So anyway, I let Samuel continue because I remember Mom and Dad putting up with our yammering.  That was important to me.  I didn't notice so much then but every time I've thought of it since, I've marveled at my parents' patience in listening to that whole long, boring narrative and not acting the least bit put out or exasperated.  Thank you, Mom and Dad, for doing that.  And for all the other countless, selfless things you did for me as I was growing up.  I know I'll never remember them all or be able to thank you for them.  But thank you.

Happy New Year!

And Happy Birthday to this blog!  This is my third New Year's blog entry, even if it's a day late.  Wow, time really flies, huh?

We had a great New Year's Eve celebration.  Jennifer and Caleb hosted a game night that we pieced together with a lot of people that didn't know each other before now.  At one point in the night someone commented that I was the only person who really knew everyone at our party.  And it's true.  I invited work friends, new friends, an old friend from high school who was in the area and of course, there were siblings, significant others and children.  It was a great time.

We played a few games, ate a lot of food, had sangria, wine and some mixed drinks.  We toasted the New Year on the porch with noisemakers, confetti and champagne.  (I was not impressed by the champagne, to say the least.  In fact, I thought it tasted vaguely of vomit, if you're interested.)

Jenn, Caleb, Paul and I have decided to run a 10K in May.  I'm nervous.  I was running a lot during the summer but that has fallen by the wayside since school started and all that.  Paul and I went running yesterday, although I hate to call it running.  We ran a little and walked a lot.  It felt good to be moving, though.  I have a loooong way to go, literally and figuratively speaking.

That's really the only New Year's resolution I have -- to run the 10K.  I don't like making New Year's resolutions.  In my opinion, it's kind of like celebrating Valentine's Day.  Why do I need a special occasion to make changes in my life or turn over a new leaf or show someone I love them?  Shouldn't that be an ongoing thing?  If New Year's resolutions help someone do that, I won't begrudge them that.  More power to them.  But I generally don't want to do it.

I did resolve to correspond with my family better during 2009 and I did, sort of.  With the exception of losing some gift cards and sending birthday cards late as a result, I did keep up my correspondence much better than I did in 2008.  So making the resolution did help that.  Let's hope it helps the running effort.

So ... Happy New Year, all!

So Happy

It's Christmas.  Paul is here.  The tree is beautiful.  There is music.  We had hot and sweet chicken wings last night.  We also had wassail.  Yum.  That's what Christmas tastes like -- wassail.  We watched Christmas movies and laughed a lot.  We're going to exchange gifts in a little bit.

Right now I am making French Silk pie with a new pie crust that I'm really excited about.  We're going to Jenn and Caleb's in a couple of hours and we'll have appetizers that I made/am making and Christmas dinner that they're roasting, cooking and baking.   Jonathan and Lance will be there, too.  And then some friends will join us for the evening.

It's a good day.  Happy Christmas, everyone!

So ...

It's been a while.  I keep thinking of stuff I want to write here and then running out of time to write it.  When I do have the time to write, the stuff isn't as pressing and I decide not to do it.  Lame, huh?

We had Thanksgiving.  I didn't go to Arkansas.  I was kind of worried that it wouldn't feel like Thanksgiving without 40 people and 2 turkeys and 17 side dishes.  But we made do.  I had Paul and his son over.  Jonathan and Lance were here.  We also invited Paul's friend and her son because all their family is in Ohio and they couldn't travel there.  We had a really great day.  I made the turkey and it was fabulously delicious, if I do say so myself.

I drove to get the kids (again) last Sunday.  We saw a whole fleet of trucks from Midland.  It was cool.  The kids got all excited and I was a little nostalgic.  On that same trip, I saw two vehicles with license plate frames from car dealerships in Midland, too.

The Christmas tree is up.  We assembled it and strung the lights last night while watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Shrek the Halls on television.  We added ornaments this evening. 'Tis the season for hot chocolate, snow and debating Christmas/religion with Solomon.  Oh, boy.

Our office Christmas party is this Saturday evening.  I'm really looking forward to it.  It's just my second one but the last year was lots of fun and this year Paul is going with me.

Next weekend Jennifer and I are going out to dinner with girlfriends and to see a play.  We're excited.  The group of friends we're going with is so much fun.  They're witty, intelligent women and we all get along really well.

The weekend after that, I'll keep Jennifer and Caleb's boys while they go to Caleb's company party.  That will be fun.  I'm thinking that if it's not too cold, we might make up some hot chocolate and go walking around their neighborhood to look at Christmas lights.  I was just there tonight and there are lots of lights up already.

The day after that, I'll take the kids to meet Moises and they'll be gone for another 2 weeks.  I'll have Christmas here with Paul and Jennifer and Caleb and other assorted cool people.  And there'll be New Year's Eve and it will be 2010.  Man, time is flying!

So those are the plans for the rest of the month.  I'm looking forward to it all.  It's what the holidays should be: time with family and friends, food, fun and anticipation of the coming year.

Good News

My last post may have led you to believe that my life sucks, but it doesn't.  At least, not for the most part.  There are good things that have happened in the last month.

The weather has been phenomenal.  We had a fantastic snow storm.  And then it warmed up, the snow melted and we went about in short sleeved t-shirts with the air conditioning on full blast.  In case I haven't mentioned it lately, this is one of the reasons I love Colorado.

The kids had fall break and therefore, so did I.  They left for a couple of weeks and I got caught up on laundry, grocery shopping, house cleaning and all sorts of other fun stuff.

Another of my family moved to the area.  Yay!  Denver is getting better all the time.

Paul and I enjoy spending time together.  A few weeks ago he had surgery, came through it pretty well, and is recovering now.  Things are mostly back to normal.

The kids went to their first school skating party.  It was my own special little hell, but they really loved it.  I'm trying to figure out how to help them have more fun next time and how to get me out of it.

I met with all the kids' teachers this week to go over their progress during the first trimester.  It was all good news.  All three teachers said that my children are a bright spot in their classrooms.  All three kids are working hard, learning well and behaving themselves.

I am looking at some where else to live.  My lease will be up in February and we need 3 bedrooms.  This is a stressful, daunting, frustrating task.  I don't like moving, but it is kind of exciting.

Paul and I have seen some excellent movies.  Inglourious Basterds was fantastic.  Of course, it's by Quentin Tarantino so do with that information what you will.  The Invention of Lying was highly entertaining, but I warn you that not everyone would agree.  Think: questioning the existence of God and How Things Came to Be.  Most recently we saw The Men Who Stare at Goats.  If you have a problem with George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey and Ewan McGregor making you laugh your hiney off, you probably shouldn't see it.

So that's how things are here.  We are trudging along to the end of the year, the end of the school year and we are another year closer to the Empty Nest.

A Blank Screen & What's Happening

I'm sitting here on the sofa with my laptop. I'm listening to Norah Jones and just finished an iced coffee. The ceiling fan is on and I turned on the air conditioner as soon as I woke up.

My plans for the day include working out to Britney Spears and Eminem. After that, I'll go swimming for a bit and then lie by the pool, reading. At some point I have to go to the store and buy butter, heavy whipping cream and a new pastry cutter. I sliced up strawberries and set them up with sugar in the refrigerator yesterday. I will make shortcake and real whipped cream this evening, hence the shopping trip.

We went to Idaho Springs yesterday and took a walk through its little downtown area. 'We' are Jennifer, Caleb, Jonathan, Charissa, Elizabeth, Christopher, Noah, Adam and myself. Also, Abby, the new, very cute, very sweet dog. We took photos of flowers, an old train, artistic signs and each others' silly faces. We had lunch at Beau Jo's Pizza. It is delicious food.

I had dinner last night with a new friend. It's the third dinner we've had together. We shall see where this goes. It seems to be going somewhere good.

I'm flying to Albuquerque on Friday. I have reserved a hotel room near Old Town. I'll have the kids with me from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning. I am planning for us to walk to Old Town and see what is appealing. We will swim and play and catch up on some snuggling.

I turn 30 this week. I've been thinking about it a lot, but in sort of a vague, distracted way. I have no philosophical tidbits to put down here about this milestone. I'm not dreading it, I'm not expecting a big revelation and I don't feel a sense of urgency to accomplish major goals. It's another birthday. It just is.

Now my screen is no longer blank and you know what's happening here. And I feel a little better, having written something.