We went to Mike's Christmas party last night and had such a fantastic time. There was wine, food and dancing... and I tried Dom Perignon for the first time. And then, drunk as I could be really, Mike got to drive me home in a white out. There hasn't been much snow lately and I was beginning to wonder if we'd have a white Christmas... I needn't have worried. It seems that the weather decided last night would be a great time to blanket the landscape in white. But, thankfully, we got home from Glenwood in one piece and now I'm just wondering what I'm going to have for breakfast.

Some of you might recall me posting a while back about the peeping tom that has been terrorizing our neighborhood this last year or so. There is the small possibility that I didn't post about it... but it's unlikely. There were funny stories. But, in a not funny story, a few nights ago Mike and I are making dinner and we hear a mad banging on our front door. The dog was flipping out, I was a little freaked... Mike cautiously opened the door. Guess who was there.... Our neighbor. Poor Leeta. She was at her house alone, next door, while her husband was in Denver. She thought she heard something on the roof so she closed up the blinds, locked her doors, and took her dog upstairs with her. Exactly what I'd have done. So, she goes in the bathroom to pee... looks up and THERE'S THE PEEPER. How absolutely insane is that? She's shaking and spastic on the phone with the police. So, we calm her down, get her to call her husband... and then the police get there. With dogs. While they have the dogs in the back getting the guy's scent, they also have patrol cars driving around. One of them stops a guy who happened to be on their "short list" of suspects. While they're standing there talking to the guy the dog runs up. It had tracked him to where he stood with the police. Oops, right? Heh. Anyway, he went in voluntarily for questioning and then eventually confessed. They didn't arrest him yet... they're matching his DNA with some DNA evidence they found behind our place. And it's not the DNA evidence you're thinking of... they actually found FECES back there, people. Needless to say, Mike and I are relieved. We can open up that back window in the summer again without fear of some crazy guy peering in our windows.

I made arroz con leche. Which is, essentially, rice pudding. It's yummy.

I am so proud, so elated, so moved and so incredibly hopeful. I keep blinking back my tears of joy.

I love it when the time changes back to normal. Really, wtf is with Daylight Savings anyway? It's crap.

I've been very busy doing lots of nothing that seems to keep me from really blogging... which I suppose is just life. Ken and Amy (I'd have linked them both but they've been horrible bloggers for a month or so) came out to visit and it was a lot of fun to see them. We got to hang out up in Breckenridge for a day... chatting, eating and shopping. You know, hanging out with friends stuff. Amy didn't acclimate well to the altitude and had a sincerely difficult time breathing if she walked more than a few steps, coupled with headaches. It doesn't make a vacation very fun, let me tell you. I think too many people underestimate the power of thinner air. When we first moved here I felt SO totally out of shape because one flight of stairs would about kill me. Seriously, wheezing, coughing, sputtering near death experiences on the stairs. Ridiculous. It's better now, and I'm in better shape, but I sympathize with those that suffer in the high country.

Aside from that we've been busy planning stuff. Holidays are coming up. Visiting Mike's family in Utah in a couple of weeks. Seeing my parents here next weekend. Mike went out and voted already and I'm voting on Tuesday. You know, just doing stuff.

I'm really tired but my plan is to blog at some point this week.

Updates to blog:
- Archive is updated
- Barton is gone... he shut down his blog (sadly)
- CNN Political Ticker up there on top

I really like chai tea. And soup.

Thanks, Jenny!

Click play... you know you want to.

My son, Zach, just turned 15. Do you know what that means? I had my second baby 15 years ago. Isn't that crazy?

It's been really perfect here lately. I can't complain. Cold in the morning. Warm afternoons... occasional rain, the kind that's soft, like snow... and it spawns these amazing rainbows! So beautiful. The leaves are yellow and orange and the air is crisp. And the colors extend beyond the brightness of the leaves. The too-blue sky peeking through the layers of hazy rain clouds that, spanning every shade of gray I've ever seen, have settled into the dark red of the canyons. It's really amazing and I wish photos did the scene justice. I'm not talented enough to capture it, though, so I don't try. It's supposed to snow this weekend. I love the energy that this time of year brings. The lazy days of summer coming to a slow end.

My husband makes me happy. I want to say he's perfect... but he's not. He's just perfect for me. All of the words I think of to describe how much I appreciate him, how utterly remarkable he is, seem so trite and unworthy of the emotions I feel when he is near me. I really do fall in love every time I look at him. I'm so unbelievably lucky.

So hey... Christmas is coming!

I am sick. I am hungry. I am sleepy. Maybe I'll go home early.

Reject Sarah Palin? I think I might, actually.

Eve Ensler, the American playwright, performer, feminist, and activist best known for “The Vagina Monologues”, wrote the following about Sarah Palin:

I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks.

I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it’s their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.

I don’t like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical.

The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists. But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story — connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity. Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves.

She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God’s plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin’s view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, “It was a task from God.”

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist’s baby or not. She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference.

This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth. Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God’s name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack.

It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing.

It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don’t move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, “Drill Drill Drill.” I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.
Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?

I am having a very. very. bad. day.

Last night we were running late for dinner because of the fiasco that was/is activating Mike's iPhone. Stupidness. Ian comes in while I'm on the phone and mouths the words "There's a chihuahua in the garage" while he motioned frenetically to the lower level of the house. Now, mind you, I didn't realize this is what he was saying or the word "okay" would never have passed my lips. Anyway, I find out about the chihuahua after the phone call. The tiny excuse for a dog was missing a toenail AND limping due to some gimpy back leg issues. Me = sympathetic. So, you know, we feed it. Feeding turns into getting him a bed. Getting him a bed turns into him using Pagan's crate while we go to dinner, the cooking of which was out of the questions at this point. We had a small adorable dog to care for. We couldn't cook.

So, two hours later...

We get home and the dog and my dog start to play. We consider for a moment that adopting a kitten probably wasn't a good choice for our dog. Oh well. I like my kitten. Anyway, chihuahua starts to get a little friendly with Pagan. Like, way too friendly. You know, in his FACE. What the hell is with the chihuahuas? I mean, really. This happened when Megan brought that little black and white one home a while back. Do you remember? You can read about it here. It was decided that the chihuahua had to go first thing in the morning. Well, Mike works 45 minutes away while I am a measly 5 minute drive... so guess who got to take the dog to work this morning? That'd be me.

On my way, with Ian and the dog, to pick up my niece and nephew this morning for school I noticed the car tugging to the left. I think "crap, I need air in the tire. why do I need air in the tire? oh, crap." I get to Tara's place and honk for the kids while I simultaneously stick my head out of the door and gaze with a sense of foreboding at my noticeably low tire. I think to myself "can I get the kids to school? I think so... yeah, sure."

So off we go.

I'm on the phone with my sisters (Tara and Megan), both of whom work down the street from me at Costco, trying to arrange a way to get my car to Costco to have the tire patched. I hang up the phone and hear the noise no one with a low tire wants to hear...

thud, thud, thud

Now I say "crap" out loud and pull abruptly into the parking lot at the park, halfway between my house and the school. The kids are like "what?" and me? I stare at them for a moment and then I sigh and say "okay, guys... you're gonna hafta huff it. Out of the car! Hurry up, love you and all that... but you gotta get going" Remarkably, they were all rather good natured about it. Not one moan from any of them. Next I call AAA. I love AAA. AAA says it's going to be 45 minutes. The love affair is over. But whatever, they would be there momentarily to fix/change my tire. I make all of the necessary "I'm going to be late I'm stranded in the park with a flat" calls and then I wait.

While waiting I realize the sweet little dog must need to go to the bathroom... and I don't want him going in my car. So, I opened the door. You know, I never realized that a chihuahua could run so fast with a gimpy back leg. Seriously. They're quick little buggers. Off he went after a freaking CYCLIST. See me mortified. I'm a big leash person. My dog is an escape artist. I really did know better. Anyway, got the dog back, got to work on my spare and called animal control. They came, took the cute (evil Satan dog) puppy away to its owner, who had called looking for it this morning.

Then, around 10, I take the car to Costco and see about patching my tire. Um, no... it's shredded inside. WTF, I say... how? Dunno, it just is. *sigh* Guess what? I have an all wheel drive car. Do you know what that means? That means my car, that is not even a year old, needs FOUR new tires. You can't just replace one or two at a time on an all wheel drive car. So, I said farewell to about $500 today.

But, on the bright side (because there has to be one, right?) I get new tires before winter. YAY NEW TIRES. Did you feel the sarcasm oozing from those words? Huh? Did you?

Does anyone else have the uncanny ability to make people appear moments after they had entered your thoughts? I wish I could make it happen with people I actually wanted to see.

I'm sitting here harassing my husband via text message. I realize that this is an unhealthy and relatively annoying thing to do. It's my passive aggressive way of telling him I'm highly unhappy that he's at a convention in Denver. I also realize that he has to be there. I mean, it's his job. I understand this. It does not, however, make me any happier.

But I'm still nice. I bought him an iPhone. You know, because he's awesome.

Jerk.

So... definitely not kittahs.

Last night, we booked our Disneyland vacation for next summer. It's almost like we love the punishment of it all. Are you ready for this? Nine nights in the hotel. Eight days in the park. Two character meals. I might add another one. We like those.

We decided that four days in the park was great but there was so much we really didn't do... and we didn't like having to be in the park the same day we were checking out. Not so fun. So this time we're staying an extra night... maybe having a late breakfast, taking it easy. After all, we're gonna be tired. Eight days in the park so we can relax, see the shows and all of the parades. You know, take all of it in and still not feel in a rush to do everything.
Plus, the additional two days (edit: we went 4 last time and planned 6 this time but ended up booking 8) in the park was only $25 for all of us. How could I pass that up?

I am so over this layout. A butterfly? Really?? Something new coming soon.

Mebbe kittahs. Mebbe not. We'll see.

You know, I'm really tired. I woke up this morning feeling really done... like, "holy crap, i need 15 more hours of sleep" done. It's nearly 10pm now and I'm feeling the same way I did this morning. The funny thing is that I don't really like going to bed. I don't feel like I get my down time with Mike. I curled up next to him watching tv last night and promptly fell into a sleep so deep even my snoring didn't wake me. Mike saying "honey, we're going to bed now" did... but only because he tried to get up at the same time. This weekend isn't going to help things, either. I'm excited about Yellowstone and all... but the combination of the 9 hour drive to Cody, the BBQ with the grandparents, the shopping and then the 1 1/2 hour drive up to the cabin on Saturday isn't sending "wow" signals to my brain. On Sunday we're probably going to hit part of the park, which Michael has never seen, and then go horse-back riding that afternoon. That evening we'll probably do a birthday dinner for Mallory and Ian and then hit the hay early from the sheer exhaustion that will over come us all. I hope. I hope a lot. Monday we'll be in the park all day... Maybe we'll spot some wildlife (the boys saw a wolf last time, which is a rare sight even in Yellowstone) and take in some of the geothermal attractions. I think Yellowstone is where I fell in love with the Rockies... I hope Mike loves it as much as I do. And I'm really excited to see my grandparents' cabin. The one I went to as a teenager burned down in the big fire and this is the one they built to take its place. The thing sleeps 16 or something crazy like that. Then it's back home on Tuesday. We're going to leave super early to catch some of the meteor shower that morning. I'm taking Wednesday off just for good measure. And sleep. And laundry. And more sleep. I'm going to nap a lot on Wednesday.

We went to the fair tonight. It was the 69th annual Eagle County Fair and Rodeo, to be exact. We go every year but this was the first time they had the Zipper there. We were so super excited because the zipper is the BEST carnival ride ever. Really... ever. Did we go on? No. All excited and we didn't even go on it. Silly. We did, however, go check out the animal exhibits.... which was semi-entertaining. We watched a cow eat one of its ribbons. Because it looked like a good snack... or, you know, because it's a cow. And, I made friends with a goat. I like goats. We ate bad food and waited for the kids to run out of tickets and we were thrilled to be home before ten. How old are we again?

In other news, Michael came home with a free computer the other day. One of his clients (one that answered the door in her robe mind you) was having a new system installed and when Mike asked her what she wanted to have done with the old one she gave it to him. Awesome, right? Well, yes. Except then we bought a desk. And a chair. And a wireless adapter. And a keyboard/mouse set. And speakers. And we (Mike) rearranged furniture. So our "free" computer cost us quite the little bit of money... and some (of Mike's) backbreaking labor. Still, we have a great semi-new and very adequate system for the boys now. Sweet.

Okay, so, take a deep breath because here we go.

We left Colorado for Disneyland with some short pit-stops in Utah (for sleep) and Vegas (for a haircut and lunch) along the way. Once at Disney we checked into the hotel, went down to the Downtown Disney area and found the Jazz Kitchen... you realize why this had to happen, right? No? Well, my mother-in-law lived in New Orleans when she was younger and I got to hear her go on and on about (what else?) beignets. Off to the Jazz Kitchen to find beignets... beignets are, f'real, the best donuts ever. they're little puffs of fried dough doused in powdered sugar. In New Orleans you eat them with cane syrup... in Disney you eat them with maple syrup. Anyway, it had been a lot of driving so we ate and then went back to the room ready to begin our Disney adventure.

We were not disappointed. We met up with our friends early on and headed into the park. By "early" I mean that I was still on Colorado time and woke up at like 6 or something heinous. Too early for words. Our friends got there around 8. Off a-skipping into the park we went. Really, the first day, fun but now awesome. I mean, there was talking and catching up and then there was discussion about what we were going to do. It just got to be a lot... It felt like we ended up going on only a few rides the whole day. Well, we learned from this. The rest of the trip was better because we kind of did whatever we wanted and didn't "talk" so much about it with the rest of the party. We went on rides, ate surprisingly good food, manipulated young children onto scary rides.... you know, family stuff.

So, the downsides of the trip: Bickering, torn contact, reading glasses, food poisoning, long drive and some mild sunburn.

Great things about the trip: Everything PLUS dinner with Shamu.

I can't say thank you enough to all of our friends that worked around our busy schedule to see us. We appreciated it so much. Especially the ones we had to cancel and reschedule on. I know, we're awful... thanks, though, for putting up with us.

There is, obviously, more going on these days. We're about to leave for Yellowstone here in a couple of weeks. Planning another trip to Disney with fewer people and more time next year... and we're working a lot. And it's hectic. So, we'll see where it all takes us. Let's start tomorrow, though, k?

it's too late to post tonight but i am acutely aware that i owe my (three or four) readers some details on my disney adventure and subsequent time with shamu. i am a bad blogger. this explains, of course, why i have only three or four readers.

i am tired (and i need a cookie!) and i am going to bed.

you know when you're really stressed out but you don't really know it because you feel fine but really you're being an insane biotch? that's me this last week. i'm almost waiting for this all to end just so i can be a normal functioning adult again. i feel like i'm sabotaging my relationship and the relationships around me... it's just not healthy. and not me.


*sighs* so, we leave tomorrow. thank god.

Help me raise money for the MDA!

Bail me out!!

I love my dog. And my kids for thinking to send this picture to me this morning.

I have been so tired lately... and my appetite is waning. I don't think it's the excitement of the trip. I wonder if it's just stress. Because, even though I am very excited, I've also been looking forward to this for such a long while that I'm trying to make sure it's perfect and stress free... probably at the cost of too much stress in the week leading up to the trip itself. I am really tired. I could nod off during work if I let myself. I think today I might even go home at lunch for a short nap. Since it's only 5 minutes away it's really a feasible solution.

So, the trip. Just 12 more days and we'll be driving through the night on our way to the Happiest Place on Earth. I think if I weren't so bloody exhausted I'd be hopping in my seat right now.

Did I mention I went down another pant size a bit ago? We went shopping for jeans and I tried on my size and was SO excited that they were too big! So now I'm a new size. No, I won't tell you what it is. Bianca cursed me when I told her... so I had to say "well, maybe they just make their pants bigger now" hehehehehe. My ass = smaller than it was last month! Now, if only I could ditch the fat hanging onto the back of my arms. What the hell is that about anyway, people? Arm fat is a cruel joke.

I just ate a full size candy bar for the first time since I moved here. I feel sick. That'll show me, eh?

So, two more weeks. I'd be excited right now if I didn't feel slightly dizzy and off center.


This weekend was really productive. I finished packing with the exception of a few small items we'll need out until the end. I started to run a little... figured my body is used to all of the walking by now and it's keeping me from shedding any more weight. Well, that and the Moe's I ate for lunch on Friday. So, running sucks. I dislike it. I'm hoping that as I become more fit I'll like it more... but thinking back to being skinny, I don't think I liked it then, either. I ran when I was pissed off or really unhappy. And it was more a run into space... just because there wasn't any outlet for my rage. Just to feel the wind on my face while I was hot with fury. But running just for the sake of fitness? Not so much.

All of my Disney stuff arrived today.

Q- Can Kyria be more excited?
A- NO! No, Kyria can't!!


21 more days to Disneyland.

I hate Sprint/Nextel. Seriously. I don't use them... I use ATT. But I have to deal with them at work on a constant basis for ordering and such for the guys... and I can tell you that is is a new nightmare. Every. Single. Time. Really.

I don't feel well today. I think maybe I'm a little dehydrated. Aside from my recent nausea, it's been a great day. We went down to Glenwood Springs to do some shopping in one of the great little stores they have out there... and found a floppy hat and matching sunglasses for Ian and some sunglasses for Zach. It's all for the trip and will be packed away before the night is over. On the way home we stopped off at Grizzly Creek and took the bike path, closed still because of high water (we've been on flood watch below Gypsum), out a-ways. Just walked out there to check out the river, which is so full it was splashing against the rocks along the bank and getting us wet on occasion. The river is incredibly swollen and the rapids are so large they're actually scary. Really, really scary. Like, taller than me when I stood next to the river on a bridge. Not that I'm tall but, still.

So, on Tuesday we're at the four week mark for Disneyland. I'm less crazy but more excited. We went ahead and booked a picnic lunch with VIP seating for the Believe show at Sea World and then the Rockin' Backstage with Shamu for dinner later that night. Exciting stuff.

Oh, and by the way, I'm so seeing David to get my hair cut before we head out to California. HAHAHAHA! Like I could pass up the opportunity.

5 weeks to Disneyland!

Did I tell everyone that I got a Mother's Day card all the way from Japan? Well, I did. He never reads my site but THANK YOU DAVID!

So, anyhoo... I'm almost at the 5 week mark on my Disney countdown. So excited. Started getting some stuff together for myself... ordered my crazy good for you sunscreen. Have you read about the sunscreen lately?

Here... something to do. SUNSCREEN STUFF

I opted to go with Blue Lizard.

Also, I bought hats. Two of them. Both floppy. I <3 Hats.

The only thing standing between me and a size 10 is Moe's BBQ. Stupid, delicious Moe's.

They hail from Alabama and you can taste it in every slow smoked bite of goodness. That pan baked corn bread with jalapeño in it... The homemade slaw... The banana pudding with NILLA WAFERS... but for me, seriously, it's the sweet potato casserole and the jambalaya. WTF were they thinking bringing food like that to the mountains? Oh, you evil makers of the good southern food.

Last night Michael had to work late so I enlisted the kids to keep me company on my walk. So, off we went into the green landscape that is my home. Well, green to me. Prolly not so much to someone from Ireland or something. We were walking along, Ian with Pagan, Zach casually bouncing a ball as he walked and Matt just kind of talking. He talks a lot these days. You'd never know he used to be a quiet child. It was really great and only got better when we saw THIS:



I'm like, "Oh my God! Look at that BIRD! What is it!?!?"
Zach, with knowledge that bewildered me, pipes up "Mom, that's a blue heron"

Me: *dumbfounded* "well, holy crap... a blue heron... how COOL!"

And then it started to rain. We walked home in the rain. My dog looked a little worse for the water. Me? I felt great.

I am so happy.

How crazy am I? I now have the boys completely packed for the Disney trip... you know, the one we're taking in two months.

Yes, I know I'm a nut-case.


For those of you that don't know: I'm madly in love. Still.

Didn't make calls. Mike had a migraine when he got home so I ended up just quietly reformatting the blog instead. *sighs* Calls next weekend.

I love Disneyland. And porn. Not at the same time, though.

I've been so busy planning my trip to Disneyland with the kids this summer. Balancing out everything we want to do with the time we have is challenging... and there's only so much planning we can do. We know we're going to have dinner in Goofy's kitchen on the third and at the Blue Bayou on the fifth... and breakfast with Chip n Dale on the 6th. Sandwiches for dinner on the 4th so that we can find a comfortable spot to watch the fireworks... you know? Stuff like that. I have the directions all on a word document saved on the computer. I'm beginning to get the stuff we need put together (toiletries and such for the trip) and deciding how we're going to pack. I changed the hotel reservations for San Diego around because I heard some not great stuff about the W Hotel there (which made me really sad but I want to have a great trip and not regret the money I'm spending). I think I need to put together a binder/check-list system. This is the first major vacation we've taken in as long as I can remember and I'm a planner. I never realized what a planner I was until now. Anyway, we'll be in Vegas for lunch on the 2nd and for dinner on the 8th, and breakfast on the 9th. I'm seriously considering staying another day in Vegas just to see everyone. I dunno. We'll see how it goes.

Work has been really great... yes, still. I enjoy it tremendously and getting paid weekly is so weird and awesome. I always have money! I haven't always had money like, ever. The owners are fantastic people, the managers are fun and casual. It's really pretty awesome.

Mike has some stuff going on at work, too, but I can't post about it.

Nothing else is really going on. I'm still in my pajamas at 4:30 in the afternoon on a Sunday (the first time in a long time I've had the opportunity) and Mike only just recently got dressed. It's been a pretty lazy day and I have some phone calls to make.

Oh, and weirdness... I've been dreaming a lot lately. I don't usually remember my dreams but recently they've been very vivid and have made me a little nostalgic. A couple of weeks ago I dreamed of Terry. He was in slacks and a dress shirt and he looked so healthy and just good. I miss him. And then I dreamed of Traub and being at Clientlogic and we were all heading over to PT's for a Friday thing. I think I miss Vegas... well, the people in Vegas. And more the people they were back when than the people I feel like I barely know now. Isn't that crazy?

I think I forgot that I had a blog. *laughs*

I have been so very busy. I work, really work, all day, come home, make dinner, do laundry or whatever. Been trying to walk three miles a day... and generally make two on a regular basis... then I veg out for a couple of hours and wish to god that 11 didn't roll around so early. Yeah, 11pm. It seems to just sneak up on me.

I'm exhausted. And I have to go to the store because I forget to get something I need for dinner.

Off I go again. *yawn*

Jenny had a baby. I probably should have posted this a while ago but I really feel like I don't have time to do much of anything these days. Work is busy... can you imagine? Really busy. And life is almost as bad (or good, depending on how you look at it)
Anyway, baby is beautiful and HYOOG. Bigger than Ian was by a 3 ounces... and longer by a couple of inches. And Ian was ginormous. And my Jennybot was so brave and seriously did way better than i really thought she was going to. Not that I didn't have faith in her... I just know how sensitive she is to any pain in her "region" and having a baby is the epitome of "pain in the region" *grins* But she was so great. I almost cried I was so happy and excited!

The new job is fabulous. Everyone is really nice and I feel like I've been working there for months instead of days. It's comfortable and relaxed and I sincerely enjoy it.

Today is the last ride day for SOS. They'll be able to go up more on their passes the rest of the season and then they have the University graduation in April, when the mountain closes. Aside from that, Matt is in track, working lights for the school play and studying for his dual enrollment testing. Zach is wishing there was more basketball going on... and Ian is busy planning his next birthday and looking forward to swimming lessons this summer. It's... hectic.

I miss my friends.

How cool is it when I can watch one of my best friends have a baby from 625 miles away? I love the internet.

I love her, too. :)

There's been so much going on I barely know where to start. I lost my job with Pru. I don't really know the real why of it except that they were "reducing" the position and taking the office manager role to a part time position... but whatever. They were nice and paid me out for two weeks... which was perfect. I ended up with a new job after a week and a day. Awesome. So, my new job is great. I'm learning a lot and I'm busier than I have been in all of my time at Pru. It's nice. Really really nice. The people are great and relaxed. I get to wear jeans to work everyday for the first time in like 9 years or something. And I make about the same pay. What can I complain about? Nothing. It's great.


Disney is paid for. Working on getting some stuff done with the van now. Upkeep on an old car is a pain... but still, while I have the payment on the Subaru, I have to keep the van going until we can get a new one. So, yeah. Expensive but less expensive than a new car.

Jenny is due to have her baby ANY DAY NOW. It's crazy. I have stuff for her in my closet and I've been too busy to ship it. I'll have to put that on my list for this Saturday.

My landlord just told me he's selling the place. So, I can buy it... or move. We'll see how it goes. *sighs* I hate the moving crap... but I'm not sure I want to own a place yet. I know, I know. Still, I like the portability of renting. Being able to just leave if I want to.

My kids are great. Mike is great. My job is great. Life is good right now. I'm still way too busy for words but that doesn't seem really new.

Spring is coming. Warmer days, less snow and the stupidness that is daylight savings time. I hate it... but now it'll be light enough when I get home to go a-walkin'. Sweet.

Yesterday was 5 years since the day we said our vows. This fall will be 10 years together. I've never been so happy and it gets better every day. I'd do it all again, over and over.

You know what's really great? Knowing it's the same for him.

We have been getting a lot of snow. So much, in fact, that the die-hard skiers I know are saying "wow... we're getting a lot of snow"



Yeah.



So, yesterday on the way home, in an odd moment of no-snow I caught this:

These photos don't begin to capture how beautiful this moment was. I was driving out of Wolcott, toward Eagle and there was a snow cloud hovering on the hillside, but it was very thin, whispy... and on the other side of the hill there wasn't any snow, the sky was clear. Since the days are getting longer we're getting our gorgeous sunsets back and the light hit this cloud just perfectly. It looked like spun golden silk floating in the sky. It literally made me gasp when I came around the corner.

Today, though? More snow. And I mean LOTS OF IT. Yikes.

DISNEYLAND!

I booked our trip! SO. EXCITED. Seriously, we've been trying to get this done for YEARS and stuff always comes up... so, we're crossing our fingers.

4 nights in the hotel
4 days in the park
2 nights in San Diego
1 day at Sea World
1 day being lazy
Then HOME!

July is so gonna rock my world. *beams*


Just as an aside: typing in a wrist brace is... challenging.

So.... what's been going on? Yeah? Nothing too much here, either. It's been cold. Really, really freaking cold. Ian has had the flu AND strep throat for a week now. He's on antibiotics for the strep but just time will take care of the flu.
I went to the doctor last week... I have tendinitis. It hurts, by the way. And it's NOT carpal tunnel syndrome, thank you. Stop telling me it's carpal tunnel. I knew it wasn't before I ever went to the doctor but "people" (you know who you are) just kept pushing... my god. Do you know how annoying it is when people do that??? Really. Annoying. Yes, I understand it's in my wrist... but did you not hear me the last 15 times I said that no, those weren't my symptoms? *rolls eyes*

Okay, so what else is new... Jenny is due to have a baby in like 6 weeks. Crazy. Jenny is going to be a mom. It weirds me out. In a good way. Like, holy shit... Jenny. Other than that, nothing much. I want/plan to come out to Vegas in February. Probably over President's day weekend. I'm not 100% sure I can, though, because of Matt's driving school stuff. *sighs* Working on it. I'm planning a trip to Disneyland this summer. Been planning it a while, actually. That one is a for sure kind of thing. I just need to figure out where I"m going to stay for the San Diego piece of the trip. So, yeah, it feels like my life is in planning stage right now. Or, if not my life, then my year.

I had tomato soup for lunch. Just sharing.

David made it home okay. We took him into Denver yesterday morning, after they opened the pass on Monday late afternoon. The ice and snowpack on the road was heinous. But, into Denver we went... then we spent HOURS at the mall. I have new panties. More information than you need, I realize... but one pair has lady bugs on them.

I'm sorry. I had to.

I miss my friends. I'm planning a trip out in February or March. I'm hoping to either a: see Jenny's baby or b: go to Jenny's shower. We'll see how it goes.