Barefoot Adventures

Rothbury in frames

2009-07-30T13:28:00.007-07:00

small disclaimer.. I am not the biggest "Dead" fan (although i love the Grateful Dead) but i was only allowed to shoot them, so i took my chance.. (I apologize for the many Dead photos)

Lebo painting at The Dead
Crowd at the Dead from the front
Bus
Water line
Retreat in the woods
food vendors
WILLIE
WILLIE
And Dillon wuldn't let you shoot him unless you were 5 feet from the front row.. WTF??? I mean we all know you are ugly, but that just solidifies that you are ugly in more than one way.... so i took this just cause i could.

summer travels

2009-07-21T21:17:00.003-07:00

So it has been a long month of moving. Lots of lifting and packing, lifting and unpacking. I tend to forget how much i hate lifting and packing, lifting and unpacking between moves, but i have to say that change is good...

The day we moved into Indianapolis, we saw Phish. it was a great show, but weird. I have never heard of a venue telling over half of the attendees to leave the venue, go to their cars and wait an hour for a huge storm to pass. They sent the keyboard player out to tell everyone to leave the venue, if they were not seated under the Pavilion. We were lucky to have tickets under the pavilion, so we stuck it out inside and dry, but when we got home, we had a few large items outside including a couch and a number of shelving units that were soaked. We had a LARGE tree branch from the neighbors tree across our entire driveway. CRAZY!!! what a welcome.

We then went up to the music festival in Michigan, Rothbury. It is a great place with a great vibe and had a line up worth driving a few hours for.. I would have been a little happier with last years line up, but beggars can't be choosers, right? It is a four day festival and one of my favorite bands were getting back together after a few years off, to play this one (well not really, but for the most part) show. String Cheese Incident always throws a party, and this time was no different.

There were hoopers, big bouncy balls, LARGE bouncy balls and aerial dancers... it was great....
not to mention Willie Nelson played!!! Oh yeah, the Dead were there and that was one of the biggest disappointments i have seen since 2007. they sounded bad, Warren Hains does NOT fit in that band, no matter what you think of his playing, and i like it! and Bobby just looks BAD! someone needs a haircut and a good shave.
But that's just me. there were a lot of people, that i can only assume doesn't see a lot of new music and wanted to hear the songs, no matter how they sounded... But to be honest, i think the 40,000 + people would have had the same if not better experience if they had Dark Star Orchestra for the headliner... (look them up if you don't get it, you will)
We drove straight back after Bob Dillon started and got home about 3AM. it is always good to be in your own bed, even after sleeping in your own blow up bed in your tent.
The next weekend we headed down to Louisville for the Forecastle festival. What a great experience. Widespread panic was headlining and it was awesome. I had never been to Louisville and as a whiskey drinker, how could i not have a good time.. Every drink was a whiskey drink. I got some great video that i am still working on, but will post it. But they sounded great, the festival was run great and right on the river, great shade trees in the park and everyone was so nice!!!!
we stayed for both shows but left right after the second show to head home, again the dogs need us and it's great to sleep in your own bed.... and after all this time, I haven't had a lot of time in my own bed.
I tried to get some stuff done before we had to leave three days later for my family reunion in VA. The family reunion was amazing and we had a great time picking crabs, throwing cousin in the pool, cannon ball contest and of course EATING and DRINKING with family around the pool! nothing is better. my family rocks..
but with all that, i am still feeling like we have been on the road. Driving away from Va the other day, i was thinking of the house in Denver everytime i said home.. i still don't feel at home, but now that the traveling is over, it's time to make this house a home...

The count down is on...

2009-05-20T09:36:00.002-07:00

We are moving!!! place has been found, 30 notice has been given to our current landlords and my two week work notice was accepted yesterday.. this is happening.. Crazy. But moving is fun, hard, exciting, exhausting and all at the same time..

So there is much to see and do before we go. SO, as the famous "What About Eve" Quote, "Hang on, It's going to be a bumpy night"...

I had the "oh my god, what did i just do" feeling at the pit of my stomach when i walked out of my manager's office, but it felt better to say when i told the HR woman. I think with each passing day it will be easier and easier. But in the mean time, I will be sitting here for the next two weeks and plugging along.

Time for lunch. I will update more at snack time..

Airplane

2009-05-14T10:19:00.001-07:00

Airplane

Sittin' around, waiting for an airplane
Don't know how to fly, but that's okay
Got me a pilot, she's going my way
If she's got wings, if she's got wings

Sittin' around, waiting for the mailman
I don't how he could be so slow
My good friend said you wrote me a letter
Must have been a year ago

Well, I've got a feeling
That I should be leaving out

Sittin' around, watching the rainfall
I don't know how it could rain so long
They say the ocean, she is a woman
Who waits for her man to come home

Well, I've got a feeling
That I should be leaving out

Well, I've got a feeling
That I should be leaving out
Well, I've got a feeling
That I should be leaving out
Well, I've got a feeling
That I should be leaving out
Well, I've got a feeling
That I should be leaving

Sittin' around, waiting for an airplane
Don't know how to fly, but that's okay
I got me a pilot, she's going my way
If she's got wings, if she's got wings
If she's got wings, if she's got wings
If she's got wings, if she's got wings

Snack Time

2009-05-13T13:27:00.000-07:00

Big day in Denver

2009-05-13T13:12:00.002-07:00

Tonight is game 5 of this round of playoff games. we are playing the Mavericks.. Since there is not much love lost between these two teams, tonight is promising to be a doozey.. Even if you don't really care for basketball, these games have been so exciting and full of last minute changes.. I will be watching for sure.

Just a heads up that i will not be posting for the next few days. the regular posts and snack updates will resume on Tuesday.... and i might even have some news, but you will have to check back on Tuesday to see what is going down..

sorry for such a short post today.. but i gotta get things moving.
Here are your reasons to celebrate today:

Today is National Open An Umbrella Indoors Day, a day to open an umbrella indoors and see if anything bad happens, sponsored by Thomas Knibb of Walkersville, Maryland.

Today si National Nightshift Workers Day.

Today is National Receptionists Day.

Today is Root Canal Appreciation Day

Today is Good Samaritan Involvement Day, a time to be unselfish and get involved to help others.

Today is Uncle Sam Day. On March 13, 1852, the New York Lantern first featured the Uncle Sam character. Uncle Sam came to be a symbol of American patriotism. The nickname of Uncle

Today is Earmuffs Day. Chester Greenwood of Maine patented earmuffs on this date in 1887.

Today is Commonwealth Day in the United Kingdom.

1975: Singers George Jones and Tammy Wynette were divorced after a stormy 6-year marriage.

1982: John Jaszowski of Milwaukee hit 12 consecutive strikes to become the youngest bowler ever to roll a perfect game. John was 11 years old.

1983: The Larry King Live show premiered on CNN.

1987: Bryan Adams' "Heat of the Night" became the first commercially released cassette single in the U.S.

1988: Gallaudet University, a liberal arts college for the hearing-impaired since 1864 in Washington, D.C., chose I. King Jordan to become the school's first deaf president.

1990: A blind man robbed a bank in Vallejo, California, then asked the teller to guide him out of the building. She refused, and he was still trying to find his way out when police arrived.

1991: Romanian peasant Calin Florea dug up his prize German-made Lanz tractor, which he had buried in his garden 35 years earlier to prevent a communist co-op from confiscating it. He cleaned the engine and it cranked right up.

1996: The Nigerian news agency reported that a woman waiting in line three hours for gasoline gave birth to a baby girl. Others in line at the service station nicknamed the baby "Fuel Crisis."

1997: A lock of British naval hero Lord Nelson's hair sold at auction for $8,096.

2002: President Bush declared Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was a menace and had to be dealt with, and Osama bin Laden had been reduced to a marginal figure in the war on terrorism.

2002: On Fox's "Celebrity Boxing." Tonya Harding beat Paula Jones, Danny Banaduce whipped Barry Williams and Todd Bridges defeated Vanilla Ice.

2006: U.S. Customs agents in California found 250 bogus billion dollar bills while investigating a man charged with currency smuggling. The investigation led agents to a West Hollywood apartment where they found the stash of yellowing and wrinkled one billion dollar bills with an issue date of 1934 and bearing a picture of President Grover Cleveland.

Snack Time

2009-05-12T13:23:00.001-07:00

Everything is coming to an end

2009-05-12T07:58:00.002-07:00

Joan Rivers is the newest Celebrity Apprentice, The brother and sister team won the Amazing Race, (I was rooting for Margie and Luke!!) and In days we will know the fate of Coach and Taj and the others stuck on the survivor island.. very exciting..
I am looking forward to a few weeks of no TV that i feel i have to watch. All these shows start at once and end at once, that sometimes i feel hostage to the DVR night after night.
If you are a long time reader, than you know i am an avid baseball fan. Well this time of year there are a ton of games to watch, not to mention that your beloved Nuggets have made it into the finals for the NBA, and right now, being a Denver resident and an employee for Marc Cuban, i feel i have to watch his team get their asses handed to them.. Game five in the mile high!!! Lets see Cuban try to talk shit on our turf. Something tells me he wouldn't make it back to his private jet on one piece.
So, talking about the Nuggets. I do think it is funny how inked up all our players are. I mean putting them even next to the Dallas team, too funny.. I guess we might have better artists out here.. think that's it???

well it seems that spring has sprung in the mountain states.. It has been beautiful the last few days out here. WE are going to be flying back east for a few days, just in time to see some rain. perfect.

I missed snack yesterday. but i heard it was something like chili Fritos and Doritos etc... sounds pretty nasty to me.. I was plugging away, and when i looked up at the clock it was already 2:30. sorry if you are keeping score..
Well here are the things to tip a glass to for this fine Tuesday.

Tasmanian Devil Week begins today. More Tasmanian devils are born this week than any other week of the year.(not that you need to know this, but my dad always called me the Tasmanian Devil growing up, so i am taking this day as a celebration of me, thanks dad!!!....)

Today is National Nutty Fudge Day. (ohhhh, i hope there is a no-nut fudge day coming up soon)

Today is National Nonsense Day. (and i mean it)

Today is National Windmill Day. (It's big in Europe)

Today is Odometer Day. William Clayton invented the odometer on this date in 1847 as he crossed the U.S. plains in a covered wagon. (Dang it, mine has not worked in about three months, can i still celebrate it????)

1978: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced it would alternate using men’s and women’s names for hurricanes. Previously, only women’s names had been used, and some complained it wasn’t fair that women got all the attention for causing damage and destruction.

1985: With 13 top ten pop hits, Lionel Richie received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from his alma mater, Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

1989: Joe Valdez Caballero died at age 81. He invented the hard taco shell. (my personal hero)

1992: Thirty men and two women from nine nations reached the summit of Mount Everest, the most climbers to reach the peak in one day.

2003: Fifty-nine Democratic lawmakers brought the Texas House to a standstill by going into hiding in a dispute over a Republican congressional redistricting plan.

2003: Ten cows survived after falling down a 50-foot cliff in San Francisco. Witnesses saw the herd sliding over the cliff. Two cows had to be put down, but a vet said the others were not hurt.

have a great tuesday!!!

Snack Time

2009-05-08T13:01:00.002-07:00

Have no idea about these, they say there is a liquid center.. Kinda sounds nasty to me, so i will take them home and have my boyfriend try them first..
my personal guinna pig :)

I bet you thought I gave up again…

2009-05-08T08:36:00.000-07:00

But you are wrong. I just had some personal business to attend to yesterday and didn’t get any time to even look at my blog. But I am back to the grind today and all I can say is that I very much need a weekend and some rest.

So, who went to orpah’s site this week and got a chicken coupon? Yup, me too. But I heard today that they may not be honoring the coupons right now. The Oprah website says that they are no longer giving the coupons out, but then there is a entry right under that one that says the restaurant will supply you with the paperwork to get a rain check for a meal. This is NUTS. What did they expect was going to happen when they announced they would give coupons for free food, in this economy, on the highest rated talk show catering to women??? We all love something for free… Who doesn’t? I want my chicken.

So speaking of free stuff, Mars corp tried to give free candy bars away starting at &am mountain time today. We set our alarm and got up in time to pee and turn on the computer only to see that the whole site had crashed.. again. Giving away free things during this economy will crash your site.. what are you thinking??? Right now, at 10:30am I am still getting major issues with the site.. so much for a free lunch and candy bar.

And of course I can’t let this gem of a news topic go by without a small acknowledgment.. MANNY TAKING FEMALE HORMONES??? WTF??? I know he’s a bitch, but I didn’t know he was taking pills to be that way. What a cheat. Personally I think if I got caught cheating at my job, whatever that is, I would be fired on the spot.. why not baseball players? I don’t think 50 games is enough (although I am glad the Rockies get to play the Dodgers in a few weeks without Manny) I think he should be kicked out all together and no chance of going with another team in a year.. Let him become a truck driver or something.

If you need something to celebrate today, here’s your list.

Today is No Socks Day. Tom and Ruth Roy of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, urge everyone to conserve laundry energy by not wearing socks

Today is Military Spouse Appreciation Day.

Today is World Red Cross Day.

Today is National Coconut Cream Pie Day.

Today is V-E Day, marking Germany's surrender in World War II. It's also Remembrance Day, a time to honor the memories of those who died in World War II, sponsored by the UN.

Today is Liberation Day in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and Victory Day in France.

And the major events that have happened on this day since my time on earth began.

1977: County Commissioners in Parker County voted Buck Naked, Texas, out of existence. They decided that Buck Naked’s road signs caused too many misunderstandings. Residents had chosen the name as a joke.

1982: Veteran record producer Neil Bogart died of cancer at age 39. He had launched the careers of Kiss, Donna Summer, and Joan Jett.

1984: As "Happy Days" wound down its final season on ABC-TV, Joanie and Chachi got married and Fonzie filed papers to adopt a son. With Ron Howard and Anson Williams already gone, the series starred Henry Winkler, Tom Bosley, Marion Ross, Erin Moran, and Scott Baio.

1989: A 23-year-old University of Kansas student died from injuries suffered when a soft drink machine fell on him. He had rocked the machine after it took his money but didn’t release a drink. He was the 9th American killed by overturned vending machines in a 3-year period.

1990: The U.S. issued patent #4,922,921 for the Self Breath Tester, a plastic mask that allows you to smell your own exhaled breath.

1992: Fresh Prince Will Smith and songwriter Sheree Zampino were married.

1999: Tesco, Britain’s largest supermarket chain, began testing its lemon meringue pies, fruit tarts, and egg custards to make sure they were safe to throw at people. A new pie-flinging craze prompted the chain’s concern.

2001: A bungling armed raider threatened a bank teller with a pistol in Bordeaux, France, and demanded $13,700. When the teller said he didn't have nearly that much, the bandit lowered his demand to $6,800. When the clerk again refused, the robber asked to withdraw a small amount of cash from his own account. The asked for his identity card. Police captured the suspect at his home.

NOt the right day to celebrate National Grump Out Day.

2009-05-06T11:04:00.003-07:00

Since this blog went a little dormant over the winter, I feel that it will take me some time to get back in the swing of writing, but as a great film teacher told me, to be a writer you have to write..

Yesterday was the (more American) Mexican Holiday Cinco De Mayo... Last year my boyfriend told me about a co-worker of his that said she could never remember when this holiday fell and then asked if someone knew the date of the holiday that year.. I about rolled on the floor laughing at this thought.
I had my own experience yesterday. I am sitting in my office, quiet as a church mouse, basically so no one takes the time to see that i am playing scrabble instead of working. So as i was trying to figure out a good, big points work that could include a J,Q,R,F,K,O,X I overheard one of my co-workers asking another co-worker if it was Cinco De MAAAyo (pronounced like the white sandwich spread) and that she could never remember when it was in the month...
Are you serious.. There are a few times in the past weeks that i have been in my new location at work that i have had to seriously bite my tongue to not turn to her with the sideways confused dog look and say "WHAAAA"????
So that was fun....
The Denver Nuggets have been handing the Mavericks an ass whoopin both games so far.. tonight will be game three. gunna watch??
and my beloved Rockies are not looking so hot again this season.. First i have to say that Bob Abadaca better be putting his resume up for little league pictching coach available. because if he stays with the Rockies, we are going to continue to suck and lose clinch games.. Like the friggen Padres?? We can't beat the Padres. give me a break. I personally think that Abadaca takes good, promising pitchers and ruins them. don't believe me, where is Frances? What happened to Cookie this season and God forbid we need another whole season watching Jimmez lose games for us or De La Rosa lose his cool in the middle of the 4th inning.. you can't pitch a 7 inning game if you lose it in the 4th.. (which i mind you, he didn't finish, we had to clean out our bullpen for that one)
Yesterday's game went 10 innnings so that shows that someone was feilding and pitching well.. but i still think we can do better.. Where is the baseball equivilant to Chancy Bullups??? we really need that guy!

Here are things to lift your glass to this evening..

Today is The Great American Grump Out, a day to go 24 hours without being grumpy, crabby or rude. Can you do it? (no and would never give myself such a lofty goal)

Today is No Diet Day, a day to stop dieting and stop dangerous weight-loss attempts, sponsored by the Healthy Weight Network (LOVE THIS IDEA!!! ICE CREAM HERE I COME!)

Today is National Scrapbook Day (http://www.whitneyshandwork.blogspot.com/- best scrapbooker I know, and she is OH, SO CRAFTY TOO- check out some of her other works)

Today is National Crepe Suzette Day (mmmmmmmm)

Today is No Homework Day, a day for teachers not to assign homework (wonder how many actually celebrate this one?)

And these things have happened on this day since I have walked the earth..

1973: In Boston, Paul Simon began his first tour without Art Garfunkel.

1990: Dominic Cuzzacrea ran the 26.2-mile Buffalo, New York, marathon in 3 hours and 6 minutes while flipping a pancake.

1994: The flight crew of an Aeroflot jetliner with no hydraulic fluid landed their 55 passengers safely in Arkhangelsk, Russia, by pouring all the lemonade on board into the jet’s hydraulic system.

1997: A swarm of killer bees attacked a horse-drawn cart, killing the horse and seriously injuring the three passengers near Szentes, Hungary. It took firefighters wearing protective gear two hours to disperse the swarm with fire hoses to rescue the two adults and one child.

2002: Legendary songwriter Otis Blackwell died of a heart attack in Nashville at age 70. His biggest songs were "Great Balls of Fire" and "Don't Be Cruel."

2003: A speedy bandit blazed through Dallas during the morning rush hour, robbing nine businesses in two hours. The bandit, armed with a gun, drove a Cadillac and robbed a business every 13 minutes. Police said three of the businesses were doughnut shops. No one was injured in the robberies.

2005: Augusta, Georgia, unveiled a life-size bronze statue of singer James Brown, heralding his musical achievements.

Snack Time

2009-05-05T13:20:00.002-07:00

fruit pops... no thanks...

snack time

2009-05-05T10:51:00.001-07:00

I don't know what came over my yesterday, but i found the pick for snack entry, but i guess i never posted it.. so yesterday it was grandma cookies, i had the chocolate chip.

wildflower week starts

2009-05-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

So this weekend was spent mostly in the car, driving all over this city. We went from top to bottom and end to end, but we got all the Marquee Magazines delivered in Denver. That is a chore, but we got it done.
I would say about a third of the way into the delivery route my boyfriend and I realize that we didn’t set the DVR to record the Derby this weekend.. We decided it was ok and kept listening to the baseball game on the radio. There is a favorite pizza place that we deliver too, so when we got close I decided it was time for a break and some lunch. We got in, ordered our slices and fixed the drinks. We sat at a table facing a TV and started staring at it. I think it was about 3.5 seconds before we realized we were staring at the last turn as the ponies were facing the finish line.. and right then Mine that Bird took his shot and ran away with the glory. It was perfect timing (coupled with perfect pizza). So that was fun.

I would also like to remind everyone to please wash your hands, a lot!!! I have been washing them like crazy too.. don’t want to get sick.

Look out for snack time update at or around 2pm daily…

Here are your things to be grateful for today…

National Wildflower Week begins today

Today is International Respect for Chickens Day, a day to stick up for chickens

Today is Compliment Someone's Smile Day, a day to express appreciation to happy people for helping the rest of us feel better

Today is Independence Day in Rhode Island

Today is Youth Day in China
Today is Melanoma Monday, also known as National Skin Self Examination Day

1975: Moe Howard, the last of the original Three Stooges, died of cancer at age 78. His real name was Moses Horwitz. Moe, with his brothers Curly and Shemp, created the Three Stooges as a vaudeville act. They made 190 short movies.

1976: "Waltzing Mathilda' was adopted as Australia's national anthem. It was replaced in 1986 with "Australia Fair."

1987: Playtex became the first manufacturer to air TV ads featuring live models wearing bras.

1994: After Ernie Banks paraded a goat around Wrigley Field for good luck, the Chicago Cubs beat Cincinnati to end a 12-game home losing streak.

1997: Seven Bob Mosers and their wives attended the first meeting of the Robert Moser Society in Columbia, Missouri. The group listed 43 Bob Mosers as members, and hoped to eventually enlist the other 199 known Bob Mosers.

1997: A wildly quacking duck, jumping around in circles in the middle of the street, stopped a police car in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. Then, the mama mallard led the officers to a nearby storm drain where her nine baby ducks were trapped. The officers rescued the babies, and proclaimed the mama one dexterous duck.

2001: Actress Bonnie Lee Bakley was fatally shot while sitting in a car waiting for her actor husband Robert Blake. In April 2002, Blake was charged with the murder, but a jury acquitted him in 2005.

2001:A South African grandmother caught driving at 106 miles per hour near Capetown told officers she was late for church. The 71-year-old woman was fined the equivalent of $110.

2003: Idaho Gem was born at the University of Idaho The baby mule was the first clone of a hybrid animal.

Snack Time

2009-04-30T13:02:00.002-07:00

Super Dopper Yummy!!!!

Well, well, well, i am back

2009-04-30T10:57:00.002-07:00

I know i have said that before, but i really am back to giving this blog my attention..
I took a break, decided i missed this and that i wanted to come back to my little piece of heaven in a blog.. so welcome first time visitors and long time readers (meaning my immediate family)
Life has changed a little since i have last posted but i will get to all of that in due time.
For right now, i just wanted to say a little hello and get the fingers typing.. more to come, don't you fret...

trip east

2008-09-12T13:28:00.001-07:00

it was a shock to the system landing back in denver the other night and the temps were in the low 60's. And it seems they have not increases since i stepped foot off the plane. It should be back in the 70 by tomorrow. Thank goodness. Even though i love fall, i am not really ready for it yet.

My trip home was great. We had a nice visit to Wilmington and can foresee more visits in the near future. When we got there it was the day before Hanna was to make landfall on the coast of NC. The surf was up, but the skies were clear except the wisps of pink ribbons in the sunset. It was beautiful. We walked on the beach and collected some shells and watched the sun go down. After dinner we went downtown and walked around a bit. The city center is quant and we really enjoyed it. We strolled and when it started drizzling, indicating the storm was approaching, we headed back to the hotel room. We had picked up a few newspapers from the area and sprawled them out on the bed, fired up the laptop and did some area searching. While the weather channel droaned on in the background we looked at house rental prices and crime stats in the areas we thought we could afford. We made a plan for the next day and hit the sac.

We awoke to cloudy skies and the voices of Jim Cantore and Adam Berg telling the tales of the waves and wind. Nothing too much at this point. we decide to get showered and checked out and then drove straight to the beach. We found where Adam Berg and the other sever weather people were broadcasting from and went for a gander. The surf was getting a bit heavier and the winds were starting to pick up. After watching some live shots we drove down to the north end to watch some waves. when we got up there, we saw two guys getting their parasurfing things ready for the wind. One guy took off so fast into the water and my Boyfriend and I decided we had just found the frist water sport we wanted to take up.

After a while we headed back to the car and got out the maps. We had narrowed the regions down that we wanted to investigate and headed off the island. We drove around the two main spots and were able to find a few homes for sale as well as a few for rent. We think our chances are good for finding something that will suit our needs at least for the first year back east.

Then we headed back downtown to cross the bridge and see the Navy ship that is docked in Wilmongton. At this point the rains started getting heavier and heavier. There were times that we had to pull over and wait a few minutes before proceeding down to road. Although there was a storm a brewing, we were able to see the ship and get a feel for downtown in the day.

We wanted just a few more minites at the beach so we headed back across the bridge for lunch. Well a late lunch seeing it was about 4pm. It was the best decision we made and had a great meal. We watched it get darker and greyer and when the winds really started picking up we headed north.

The rest of the week was a typical visit with the parents. Playing with the neices adn nephews, helping with homework, going out to eat, heading to the river house, getting pulled on a tube at 40 miles an hour and slowing to a snales pace of only 40MPH (oh the water) in the curves... getting some sun and eating some blue crabs.

My best friend from High School (well Middle school too) was able to meet me for dinner one night and that was GREAT!!! We chatted and chatted the night away. It is so good to reconnect with friends from days past. It reminds you who you were and where you are now. I am so very grateful for her and her friendship. Life really can rock sometimes.

Well that's about it. I have been crazy reading the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer lately. I have ready the frist two books in less than two weeks and am ready for the third but not sure if i want to pay hard back proces. They are not in soft back yet and as fast as i am reading them, i can read the adult novel she just released called the Host. Very cool. It's about aliens that take over the human and the human doesn't even reallyknow it.. CRAZY!!! So, that might be my payday purchase. It's a huge book, but i would love to read it.

Thats all for now. have a great afternoon. and weekend if i don't get back to update this before next week. We are hitting the Monalith Festival at Red Rocks this weekend so i don't know how much updating i will be doing. I will post some pics of the trip when i get a chance.

DNC day 4 in pictures.

2008-09-01T09:56:00.001-07:00

Here are some photos from Barack's speech on Thursday. More to come..

Day 2 at the DNC revisisted in pictures

2008-08-30T12:19:00.033-07:00

Exterior of Pepsi center

T

This above pic is of a restaurant that CNN took over, in the secure area of the Pepsi Center and painted the exterior and hung this HUGE neon sign.
This is a rendition of the LOVE art, into HOPE art( and the Co. flag)

Wide shot of interior of Pepsi center for The DNC. All the areas around the stage has the seats removed and desk tops put in. All the ad banners were covered with news organization logos or DNC logos. The rialing you can see at the bottom is the railing that was right in front of me in the writing press stand. So, that is a literal picture of my distance to the stage.

Close up of the stage

Pages called whips were dressed in bright green smocks and their job is to hand out the signs on cue and get the individual states excited. Normally, when you have one candidate heading to the nomination, there will be one set of whips, but for this DNC, there was no decision of whether Hillary would release her delegates at this point in the DNC, so, there were two sets of whips; some for Hillary and some for Barack, not that you could tell them apart. So this night, the Hillary Whips had a petition type thing they were getting the Hillary supporters to sign saying they would lay off the Barack supporters and not cause issue when Hillary spoke.. This actually was an historical event in it's self because the Hillary whips were doing kind of the opposite of their jobs..But in the end, all the signs got out in time to hold up when the speaker would say the words on the sign. Very organized, like they had done this before... :) like a 100 times..

If you are still looking for a woman to support, this is the next hot woman to watch. Kathleen Sebelius from Kansas.. She is amazing!!!! watch for her name in 4 years(or 8 if we are lucky)

People dress up here too, like a concert, but with no band. Uncle sam dancing in the aisle.
CNN live shot..(above)

Gov. Mark Warner from VA spoke.. had to get the home town rep in.

So, all of a sudden and then for what seemed an hour. Photogs were focused into the space directly under me.. and then lots of people started taking pictures, again for what seemed like 45 minutes to an hour. I got home after the event and watched the coverage on TV and Bill Clinton, Joe Biden and Michelle Obama were sitting under me.. hence all the pics taken and the Secret Service based right below me......

signs being passed.. I like the hand shots..

signs being held

Hillary signs and Chelsea introducing her mom.

Hillary!!!!
Lady sittng behind me, too lit up not to take the picture...
ABC anchors watching

2008-08-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

So, that was a whirl wind, i think mostly because it was completely unexpected. On Monday night after Michelle's speech, i was informed that i had credentials for the rest of the week. So Tuesday we went to the Convention and MAN, that is a production. Everyone so excited and everyone so proud to be there and represent their voice and thoughts not to mention their states and counties.
It is a really neat event. But during the evening's program i got to see the Gov. of Montana speak and then Hillary. She did a great job and, I think, successfully persuaded her supporters to support Obama. I have a ton of photos and will be posting them as soon as i get home this afternoon.

After the DNC ended we headed over to the Buel theater to see e-town, the radio show, that featured one of the members of Rage Against the Machine, who has a solo album, but it isn't that good, but he was on the bill, the Ani Defranco was on, and she was good. again, a singer song writer, so by this time, at 10:30 or so, i was getting really tired and kind of bored..
Then they interviewed Edward Kennedy. I think he has a lot of great things to say involving the environment and things, but he voice seems so strained that it is hard to understand, and where we were for photogs/press, it wasn't totally clear to hear.. so that made it harder to keep my eyes open, but i was determined to get some shots of David Crosby, so i stayed.. and they (Grahm Nash and David Crosby) came out and sang about three tunes, and then were interviewed. Then the sang "Teach your children" that brought a tear to the eye.. and then they were done. To be honest, i was about to fall over sleeping standing up, so we left before James Taylor came on, but it was already almost midnight, we had been at the DNC since 2 that afternoon.. so it was time to go home.

Wednesday morning Rage Against the Machine put on a free concert, held by the Iraq Veterans against the War. The venue opened at 9 and you had to claim your ticket and get inside before noon.. so we busted ass over there and got in with no issue. It was a great show.. The Coup and the Denver based band the Flobots were also on the bill.. Rage got the crowd fired up and the kids were loving it, even at 2 in the afternoon.. strange coming out of a show in the daylight, but it was great. By this time, Jeff and i were about to fall over.
We just went home and fell asleep on the sofa for three hours. By the time we woke up it was too late to get downtown, so we stayed home and watched Biden speech on TV. We both really kicked ourselves when Obama came out to wave and say a little something.. But we knew we were going to see history the next day so we tried not to let it bother us that we were missing it..

Yesterday was a life long memory.. I got to witness the first non-white hopeful for the most powerful position in the nation.. and that is VERY EXCITING!!! It was electric in the stadium.. I have a ton of pictures from yesterday as well as the whole DNC... and some video i am trying to get up too. Stay tuned. I will have more on yesterdays event and pictures too..

YES WE CAN!!!!

Oh my god I am so tired

2008-08-26T11:19:00.003-07:00

So i don't know how the delegates do it. I have been going downtown and getting in the mix for the last two nights and w0w!! this takes some stamina. And I am not even drinking right now and you know those delegates are...
So, lets see, Sunday we went to the Civic center park and saw the start of a war march, or anti war march, something.. that was cool got some good video that i have not had time to put up yet.. and then we went to Union Station, the train station, and there they were having a Funk the war dancy party.. not very organized, but cute idea. Then we ate some lunch and headed back to the car that was, by this time, miles away. It doesn't sound like much, but i can tell you it was 6 hours and miles and miles of walking..
Then last night I had the opportunity to help out at the official merch booth in the convention center. Not the Pepsi center... but it was ok. there are a lot of great t-shirts.. and then i came home to see Teddy Kennedy and Michelle Obama speak on TV.
Tonight we are heading down to the Pepsi Center.. i got an extra press pass and am going to be able to get in to the convention. HOW EXCITING!!! There a lot of people that don't get to get in the party, and i do!!! i will be bringing my camera tonight and will get the pics up as soon as i can..
This working stuff is really getting in the way of playing...
OH, so when i say that i get to see the speakers, i don't mean just tonight, i mean ALL the speakers.. INCLUDING OBAMA!!! that's right.. I can't believe the luck i have some times...
More later... i gotta get some tapes logged before hitting the DNC tonight..

Call me with your size

2008-08-18T13:56:00.002-07:00

So, it's that time in town.. no not powder season (for the ski and boarding bums) and not tourist season, although i do hear a bunch of people are coming to town. and it's not football season yet, and well let's be honest, it's going to be an early baseball season ending this year. so that's not what I am talking about either..
But i saw it today.. the little square tents set up at local gas stations and mexican restaurant that are usually selling football jerseys or oriental rugs or mardi gras beads are up and selling Barak Obama gear. That's right. get your t-shirt, towel, mug or festive hat right here on any given street corner..
Now i know all my family will be obviously upset if i don't get each of them something from the DNC. I know my brother in law would proudly wear an Obama hat while working in Richmond VA,(the most Democratic state i can think of) and I KNOW my step dad is already hammering the website to make donations so i have to get him a full on OBAMA t-shirt to wear to the gym. Don't fret dear family, you have not been forgotten. It's going to be a great christmas this year.. just you all wait!!!!

still missing mikey

2008-08-12T07:56:00.002-07:00

So My favorite band, Widespread panic had a very low day 6 years ago Aug. 10th... It still is hard for me to talk about as it is with most fans of the band. I read this and figured i couldn't have said it better myself.. really. So i wanted to post it here to allow you all, those ones closet to me, an insight to panic culture by someone who knows how to write it better than i ever could.
This is an account of the last time i saw Mikey on stage and almost exactly what I saw and how i experienced it... no kidding. whether it was the same day or one of the nights before, i don't know, but I too, got a glimpse of Mikey down the secret stairs heading to the bathroom...
This brings tears to my eyes and really wanted to share it with you all.
Have a great Tuesday. and Happy Olympics!!!

Remembering Guitarist Michael Houser

By Mike Campbell, Boston.com Staff, 08/16/2002

"They tell me it takes sorrow, boy, to help you feel the joy."

- 'Pleas' Widespread Panic

A Rock & Roll guitarist died Saturday. It wasn't from a heroin overdose. He didn't drink himself to death. The motorcycle didn't get out of control. He most certainly didn't end his own life. No, it was cancer - that malignant beast that doesn't discriminate between normal folks and Rock Stars. He was 40 years old. His name was Michael Houser. Or "Panic." Or "Mikey."

Houser was a co-founder and the lead guitarist for Widespread Panic, a group of six musicians, including singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Todd Nance, percussionist Domingo Ortiz and keyboardist John Hermann. During an 18-year stint that started in the small clubs of Athens, Georgia, Widespread Panic released 10 albums and toured relentlessly, bringing their unique blend of music to a diehard legion of fans.

Houser died of pancreatic cancer in his hometown of Athens, Georgia on Saturday, August 10th surrounded by his family and friends. He leaves his wife, Barbette, son, Waker and daughter, Eva. He also leaves his five band members, and thanks to his gift of making incredible music, he leaves tens of thousands of Panic fans.

Depending upon which music critics you read, Widespread Panic is a Rock & Roll band, a Jam Band, a Grateful Dead wanna-be band, or perhaps a bluesy-bluegrass band. It doesn't really matter however, because Widespread Panic is beyond classification. They're musicians. They play for themselves and their fans, not for the critics or the record companies, and certainly not for classification. They link songs with extra long jams, write lyrics with poetic meaning and play covers from a choice group of writers and musicians that they respect. Their music meanders in and out of light and dark the way we all do, experiencing good days and bad days, light days and dark days. For Widespread Panic and their legion of fans, Saturday was a dark day - the darkest day.

Six or seven months ago, the rumors started. "Did you hear about Mikey?" "They say he's got cancer. It doesn't look good." Then the band cancelled a tour of Europe. Hushed murmurs prevailed, but the train kept rolling, and the band and its fans traveled in April from North Carolina to Georgia to one of their favorite venues - The Oak Mountain Amphitheater in Pelham, Alabama.

I had a group of friends that drove straight from Colorado for those three nights in Alabama. I got a call immediately after the last set of the last night. "He looks good," they told me. "He played as hard as he could. They covered 'Don't be Denied' (a song by Neil Young). JB sang it directly to Mikey. Unbelievable. People were crying"

The caravan of goodwill and good tunes moved out of Alabama and on to Tennessee, then over to Texas and up to Colorado. Each summer, the band plays three shows at Red Rocks, an outdoor amphitheater built into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, about 15 miles west of Denver. Upon first seeing Red Rocks, you know God must be a true fan of music to have created something so beautiful. Some call it the 8th wonder of the world.

My girlfriend and I flew into Denver the morning of Friday, June 28th and met our friends at the airport. Within two hours we reunited with another group of friends who had flown in from San Francisco. Widespread Panic, and Mikey in particular, gave three full nights of powerful music to the more than 10,000 fans that flock to the venue each year like pilgrims to their Mecca.

It was obvious that we were a part of something special that weekend. Mikey played with everything he could give, but you could tell his health was declining. He was pale. He was too skinny. He was slow leaving the stage between sets and stopped to rest against a speaker during the short 20-yard walk. But no one spoke a word. What could you say?

Three days later, on July 2nd in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Mikey played his last show with the band. George McConnell - a guitarist and friend of the band started filling in - and helped Widespread continue their fall tour. Two weeks later Mike released a statement, clearing the rumors and letting it be known that he had terminal cancer and everything that could be done, had been done.

My only regret as a fan of Widespread Panic is that I didn't find out about them sooner. I've only been going to shows for three years - a 'newbie' compared to most fans - but everything about them is what I believe music should be. It's about fans who reunite in the parking lot with hugs and laughs; extra tickets sold at face value because asking for more money than you paid would be, simply put, bad karma; the free and unrestricted use of recording devices to capture live shows; the experimentation of sounds and styles; the addition of musical guests on stage and the open flattery shown by covering other musician's songs.

Every Panic fan has their own memory, their own vision, of Michael Houser - Perhaps it's his long, curly, black hair; a particular riff or solo; lyrics to a favorite song; his unique style of sitting on stage, avoiding the gaze of his fans, while he played; or maybe it's a combination of all of these things. For me, it's a hot Sunday afternoon at Red Rocks.

We entered the amphitheater early for the third and final show. A couple hours beforehand, I went to use the men's room and get a couple ice-cold beers. To the right of the stage, down a little-known and little-used metal staircase there's a set of restrooms that never have a line. On my way back, while climbing those stairs, I saw a lanky guy get out of a van. He wore black jeans and a gray t-shirt. He walked slowly, languidly, deliberately through the Colorado heat towards a stage door. His long, black, curly hair hid his face.

"Whaddya say, Mikey?" I yelled to him.

He looked up at me, the white sun shining against his too-gaunt, too-pale face, and smiled a wide, tooth-filled grin. I'll never forget that smile.

Thanks Mikey. Thanks for loving your family, your friends, and most of all, for loving what you did.

Monday again

2008-08-11T10:21:00.002-07:00

so, first i want to say that i am sorry for not writing very often these past two weeks. Nothing has really happened to keep you abreast of and I just haven't wanted to type if i wasn't getting paid for it.
But here we are, another few weeks gone, and by the time i know it, the summer will have done passed me by... I am still trying to get my base tan and it is the middle of August. I guess i need to put some more work into it.

It has been really nice and rainy the past few days which puts a damper on wanting to go swimming.. but i have been Reacquainting myself with my quilting stuff... It's almost time for quilting season again.. seems like something to do next to the fire place. Maybe that's why i haven't sewn in a while.

Did some shopping yesterday. it felt good to get some new clothes. I have been wearing the same stuff going on two years now. I just don't have the extra cash it takes to buy new clothes. so i just don't most of the time. But i have found that i am out of things to wear. I had a dress strap break and a skirt get a bad stain on it and all of a sudden i was out of stuff, except my jeans, to wear, so i got a new pair of capris that i can wear to work and a new warm up suit that was on major sale for the winter.. I need some new walking shoes but those are going to have to wait...

That's about it.. just gearing up for the DNC here in Denver in the next few weeks and then a quick trip to the beach and to see my folks :)

Have a great monday and check back.. i am geting more in the mood to write..

big weekend

2008-07-28T07:58:00.002-07:00

so this one was a doozy.... (gosh i miss fraggle rock. sorry but just saying doozy reminded me of the dozers which were the little builder guys that were always building. but i digress)
So, this weekend, yeah.. it was a hot one, and jeff had a tone of stuff to do, so I went along.. Saturday we get up and read the paper and make a plan, which we pretty much stuck to, to a degree.
First on Saturday we went to the Arapahoe County Fair.. and that means, fair rides, cotton candy, far animals and everything. We got there and the first thing on the list was dock dogs. When i asked jeff about it, when we were talking at home, he said that you had to register your dog before the fair and that Watson was not able to compete (dock dogs is where the dog jumps off the end of a dock to get a ball or whatever, and they record the dogs jumping distance.. well gyzoa is the dog that can jump off a dock, she used to have people stop and watch her when we lived in Michigan on the water. but she eats other dogs, so she wouldn't get the chance to jump, but watson is nice to other dogs, and he knows how to go off a pier, so i was sad when they said any one coulr enter when we got there.. There was a $3,000 prize for the dog that jumped the farthest, but i know watson's bad hips would not let him jump so much. but that's ok, they had a award for the smalled jump to.. watson surely could have done that.. but oh well. so we saw some dock dogs, saw some mutton busting. still don't understand what parents are thinking when every kid comes out crying, but anyway.. then we walked around for jeff to take some photos. He wanted to go on the farris wheel to get some aerial shots so of course i had to go with him. At the time, i thought i would be ok.. yeah... no. not a fan of rides anymore, that scared the shit out of me, and i was tense the rest of the day... but, then we went and saw some cows, chicken, a huge turkey that was pissed off and some model trains.
After that we checked out a hypnotist. that was really cool, almost my favorite part.
he had a group of people thinking they were in a Marioachi band, too funny..
then the best part of the day... FUNNEL CAKE!!! we found some AC in the hospitality room (perk of coming with the media and a sponcer company) and ate most of the funnel cake. By this time it was almost 3 and we headed home, to the HOT house. We were there for about an hour and then headed back out into the 90+ degree heat to the Greenwood village days. This was a small town fair in the town the Jeff's newspaper covers. so he had to go take pictures of the mayor and council at the fair and stuff. So I tagged a long. It was really done well for the community. The theme was "Blast off" and they had the place decorated with alien and marsian cut outs and planets and stuff. It was all free and so many things for the kids to do. there were canvases for painting, cut outs of alien heads and planets for kids to paint. they had a hand casting tent, i think i saw that over 700 kids and adults got their hands casted.. lots of crafts for the kids. Chick-fil-a was giving away meals, and they had ben and jerry ice cream too. all free.. Snow cones, and rides too, all free. when the sun went down they started giving out cotton candy and then there were going to be fire works. By this time, we were both so pooped we for-went the fire works and headed home.
Sunday we got up early, showered and started driving up. we didn't want to sit at home with it being so hot again, and the ac still down, that we went up top to see a friend and go for a hike. It was only about 4 miles round trip, but it was UP and i had some trouble breathing. it had been so long since jeff and I had done something like that that i think we were out of shape for it. But i forget i have asthma until i try to do something like that with out my inhaler.. not a great idea. needless to say i stopped a lot on the way up. but it was nice when we got there. it was full of mosquitoes though, so we didn't stay all that long at the lakes.. Watson went swimming and was really happy about that.. he did great on the hike. better than i did. that's for sure. But it reminded me that i have to get back into doing something physical. I am getting lazy and feeling pudgy again.. not good.. so i am wearing my pedometer today to see how i am doing. not too good so far, i can tell you that.

When i get home this afternoon and waiting for the AC guy to come, i will upload all my photos from this weekend and share.. jeff has some good ones of me. I will get them too and show you.. one i am standing on an ice field that is melted though, so it is basically a snow bridge.. anyway, i'll show you.

What's in my name????

2008-07-25T07:57:00.001-07:00

What Jennifer Means

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you.

You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries.

You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice.

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.

You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.

At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people.

You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts.

You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing.

You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long.

You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.

You are loving, compassionate, and ruled by your feelings.

You are able to be a foundation for other people... but you still know how to have fun.

Sometimes your emotions weigh you down, but you generally feel free from them.

You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something.

You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense.

You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

That was a long weekend...

2008-07-21T08:05:00.003-07:00

Hey all, so sorry if i have not called or emailed back, but i have been totally busy that last four days. Thursday we went to WEEN. It was good. You know, every time i see them, and it has been a few now, going into the show i am always skeptical. I mean they play silly two to three minute songs that range from the absurd to the very prolific and thought provoking, even if it is for those two minutes. So we went. They played the handful of songs that i wanted to hear, Spinal meningitis, Bananas and Blow, Roses are Free (which Phish covers a lot, well when they were still a band, and it's my friend Josh's favorite song, too bad he picked that time to hit the bar and bathroom, but i think he said he heard it in the drink line) so, all in all it was successful. I also learned an important lesson. One that will probably still take a while to sink in, but it I can say that i really am starting to learn it. You really can't have any expectations for other people. at all, ever. Once you start to put your expectations on situations and people, you begin your downward spiral towards disappointment every time. It is natural to want to pre-envision how something is going to go or how someone is going to act, especially if you have not seen them in a while, but it will ultimately lead to your own downfall.
So, i haven't heard from a friend in a while. We learned that we would be going to the same show, WEEN, Thursday night. we have been friends for years, well I met her the same time Jeff and I started dating, so like for seven years, I have known her. She is also a friend on my myspace page and she answered a survey, which people do all the time. Well one of the questions was are you married, engaged etc.. so since she had her wedding in Hawaii last year, i expected to see the yes answer and as expectations do, i was shocked to see a "no" answer. So i emailed her and said, "Wow, what happened there??? I guess i haven't seen you in a while, want to grab a drink and chat. She wrote back, yeah and we made plans.. Well of course she was 30 minutes late... but whatever, traffic can be a bitch. She gets there and sits down, talks to me for about 2 minutes, see another friend walk past and got up to say hi... no biggie because we were talking, i figured she would come back and sit down.. well she didn't and the she just stood in front of me deliberately NOT sitting back in her empty chair next to me.. so i got up and asked a few questions about some mutual friends that i don't see anymore from up top. She gave one word answers and then just blatantly walked away..
So, what confuses me is that (1) ok, maybe she didn't want to talk about her divorce, short marriage, etc,, fine, we were friends before she met her ex and i thought we had more to talk about than a failed marriage. at least I thought.. and (2) if she didn't want to talk to me, why even show up and why even say she was excited to see and hang out with me, but then have the chance and not talk to me??? Oh well, i cried about it when we got home, and i have since realized that she is one a one way path, and i am not going in her direction. oh well, things happen, and i shouldn't beat myself up over someone else's decisions. My mistake was having expectations that she wanted to be my friend. so therefore i expected her to act like a friend, and that totally is not the case.. move on, right..
So, that was Thursday. Friday, i stayed home.. As the weekend would prove, i am just feeling in a rut and not very productive with my life, so i think i need to bring a jolt to the system. Just not sure what that is either.. so woke up in a funk, and just needed some quiet time. Jeff had to go to work, but was able to come home early enough to go to lunch. Which we did. Got some falafel plates and some hummus.. so good. A friend called and said he had extra baseball tickets if we wanted them, but we decided to decline to stay home and rest. It was going to be a big, long, hot weekend.. and that it was..
Saturday & Sunday we went to the Mile High Music Festival. It was the first in Denver of this size and caliber. We started Saturday with a good dose of sunblock and headed out into the temps.. I think i am going to write a bigger review later, but the gist was it was too hot, and big for me and I think I am over the HUGE festival scene... right as it is taking over the country. But a lot of people had a great time, and a lot of people sweated their butts off to see some good bands and some mediocre bands. But all in all, i have learned maybe a few more things that are valuable to my growing as a person. (1) It's big and hot, i probably am going to be crowded and hot. (2) If i am not shooting and jeff is, i spend a lot of time by myself, most of the time it's ok, but after the fifth or so time, i get testy, waiting by myself. (3) Eat before i go because there is never enough time to wait in a line to get food and jennifer doesn't like to be hungry, and therefore gets testy.

Anywhoo, back at work. still feeling lame and that i need a jolt. Not sure what it is, but i just feel like i am not doing what i am supposed to be doing and not sure what it is that I should be doing. All i know is that it is in televison or film and i am not getting there right now.

I love my doc that i have been working on, and I think it is a good idea, I just have trouble getting the idea to the screen. Not that that isn't a HUGE undertaking and one would expect it to be hard, but well the whole project is turning out to be difficult. When I entered into it, it was just me and my camera. Now i have all this footage and not one idea how to get it translated. I get really frustrated and feel overwhelmed when i turn on my computer and open Final Cut. It's there, i am just stuck.. it's frustrating to be frustrated with yourself.

Which leads me to another lesson that i am learning. When you are over-all frustrated with something you can't control, it tends to come out in very stupid and very immature ways. When I notice I am starting to act that way, about things that don't get to me normally. I really have to stop and listen to what's going on inside. I learned that I can get to the bottom of things by asking why over and over...
example. I feel tired. why? because i didn't get enough sleep, why? because i was tossing all night, why? because i couldn't stop thinking about "blank"... why? etc... It just sucks because it also takes being VERY honest with yourself, and most of the time, that really sucks. but you grow...
Ok, enough of my life lessons i am learning that stemmed from this weekend.. Oh but there is one more thing... people don't like to learn from your experiences, most of the time.. And like my vison quest leader said, Don't always give your pearls away freely, most will just take them absent minded and toss them aside. I guess just by typing this blog, I have broken that lesson i should have learned but have tossed it aside...
everyday is for learning and trying again.. here's to do-overs.

Weekend is a coming....

2008-07-17T13:56:00.002-07:00

hey all, so this weekend is going to be a full one. First tonight we start with seeing WEEN.. they are a great, silly, loud band and they played last night too, but we don't have the desire to see multiple nights of them as we do other bands.. so we are just going tonight.
Then this weekend is the Mile High Music festival in Denver.. The line up is just ok, and not really a lot i want or really need to see, but jeff got me a press pass, so i will go and shoot a bit... That's about it.
used the pool again last night. It just goes so well with a Michigan beer, so who can blame me....
hope everyone has a pleasant weekend and i will give you more of a blog post next week...

Ok now litterally back to one

2008-07-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

and try, try again..
will keep posted of course..

Back to one...

2008-07-14T08:00:00.001-07:00

Well it is Monday and we are still waiting. Everything seems normal, like waking up with cramps but then nothing materializes.. so we are going to wait until this weekend and if I still haven't gotten my period, i am going to the doc..
But i took a pee stick test this morning and it was negative..
And today is day 32...
we'll see, but please keep praying..
(oh and one question, when was Poppop's birthday? think he might be giving me a present???)

Heeeeeyyy

2008-07-09T08:20:00.002-07:00

So, here I sit at work and i am so tired.. and excited all at the same time, because jeff gets home today. I expect him a little later this evening.
So, i have my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
And i have to say that i don't really like my sister having the summers away from her computer. I have sat here all week, just waiting for someone to talk to me, but i know that the pool and the new river place, mixed with kid activities this summer, so i can wait it out.. But i am sad, and lonely.

nothing to report really, just waiting for mother nature to tell us what's up. and probably try again next month, but we will keep plugging along.

So, BIG BROTHER Starts this sunday.. so get ready. and don't tell me anything about anything that has been on television all week because these shows have been taped for viewing when jeff returns. so nothing about hells kitchen or anything..

That's about it.. don't forget to check my other blog, and i will get the ads off this one..
Oh and I dumped my mountain trip pictures onto my computer yesterday so i will post them for you to see what watson and I did this past weekend.

Been a long time gone...

2008-07-08T07:51:00.003-07:00

Hey guys,
well thought i would update you on the trip.
The three shows here in denver were great. Me as well as two of my friends have been chasing certain songs for years.. For my friend Cal it was a song Radio Child. and for my friend Ben it was the song No sugar tonight in my coffee/New Mother Nature.. (yeah, you know it and Panic covers it just fine) and mine is a tune Big Woolly Mammoth.
OK, so little background, to chase a song means that you have seen ump-teen shows and for whatever reason have not seen that song played.. They may have stopped playing it, they may only play it once a tour, so you have to pick your show randomly etc.. It isn't that these are our favorite songs, for me, not by any means, but it has just been about 5-6 YEARS since i have seen Big wooly played live... so anyway...
So the first night, Cal got his Radio Child... We were all so psyched for him.. It was about time. I think he had been waiting about 5-6 years too for that one..
Then the next night the set list was good, and we went through the whole show with nothing really special, but then second song encore, Ben gets his No sugar tonight in my coffee/New Mother Nature.. That was awesome.. plus the song is so much fun..
Then the third day, (the show was in the afternoon, where as the fri and Sat shows are at night) so, on our way to the venue (red rocks, remember that place mom? we went there when you came to visit) but anyway on the way i see a big woolly sticker.. nothing special, just a sticker on a car heading to the show. Then we get in the venue and my friend has a big Woolly Mammoth necklace that he was wearing. Then i knew something was up with i saw the guy sitting directly in front of us and he had on a big wollyy t-shirt.. CRAZY. signs were all pointing to that day for me..
And the Band delivered.. I think it was like fourth song, first set, i hear the drums that start the song and turn immediately to Jeff who starts just smiling for me.. then i turn back to Cal and Ben who are freaking out for me and pointing to me saying, it's all you girl...What fun...
So we all came away from the weekend in Denver totally satisfied.. But that wasn't all for me and jeff. So, monday i stayed home from work and got the house cleaned and some of my clothes washed and packed. We had a friend come over monday night who would stay for the time were gone and take care of the dogs. The next morning we got up really early and hit the road. Kansas City is about 10 hours, and we had a show to go to that night, so we got up really early and started driving. only a few stops, one to get gas one to get some lunch and one to tinkle, and we were in KC and got to the room.
Everything was good. The first night the show was GREAT!! I mean stacked with songs that i love and songs that they have not played in a while etc.. so the set lists were amazing. and after spending three days in the sun and stairs hell that is Red Rocks (think 9,000 instantly sold out seats, with them all being General Admission, so everyone wants to be down front- read: battle to get a spot..)
so to be in an indoor beautiful theater with only 2700 people was great.
Day two we wake up and it is POURING. I mean being in Colorado for the last 9 years (I know, i can't believe it either) i have not seen rain like this in a long time.. so anyway. it passed about noon and we went to the art museum in KC. who knew they had a great one, that was also FREE.. so why not.. we saw a Monet and a Manet. (tippy, tippy day, day- if you watch Seinfeld)
So anyway, we went there and got some culture in. OK, so the coolest thing ever is that there is an artist that did an instillation at the museum that is four shuttlecocks... that's right the badminton birdie... good for you!!!! And they are about 15 feet tall, one is standing on what would be the rubber part, another one is standing on thee of the five feathers so you can stand under it.. (yeah, i did and got my picture taken). They were so cool!!!
by the time we got back to our room, it was getting cloudy again and we were starving. we got some chinese take out and by the time we were done eating it was pouting again..
We had to drive to the show that night because it was soooo raining.. well the highlight of the second night in KC was the friggen ROOF CAVED IN. and i wish that was an exaderation, but seriously, over the band on stage, they start getting poured on cats and friggen dogs coming down they, of course stopped the set, while we waited for people to fix the roof. it took about 40 minutes and the band was back on stage and played the whole night still. nothing shortened for the problems.. it was good for me, but bad for Jeff. As the night before we were back in our room at like 10:45. the curfew was 10:30 at the theater... so Jeff had planned to leave the hotel and start driving toward MI (to another panic show and a huge music festival) that night.. well we didn't get out of the theater until like 12:30, so that put him way behind schedule.
Thursday I got a flight out to denver for less than renting a car, so i took the flight and came home.
I have much needed some quiet time and that's exactly what i got this weekend. On Saturday i drove up Guennella Pass and then down and then back up Mount Evans and then back home.. it was a long day, but it's nice to get up top and breathe some mountain air.. getting to 14,000 feet is therapeutic.
Sunday I didn't do much, but floated in my pool, and did some laundry..
needless to say, I feel much better after a week off, and am ready to enter my life again...

Getting to be that time again.

2008-06-24T08:24:00.002-07:00

Get your fingers warmed up and start a-crossin' and get your knees prepared for some serious praying... we need all the help we can get.:)

But seriously. i feel a lot more relaxed than last month and that's a big change.. I mean by this time last month, i was a wreck, had three pimples and about 8 pounds more.. weird what a few weeks can do, maybe it was the pool... I don't know, but i feel a ton better.. And i am very excited for the weekend so maybe that is the difference.

But this weekend is nothing but PANIC all the time. We were talking to a friend the other day at the party we went to on Friday and she was saying that her youngest (3 months old) was born to Panic and we were saying that maybe we can conceive to Panic.. we'll see...

After mowing both the front and back yards yesterday i promptly fell in the pool, clothes and all, and laid on my float for about 20 minutes.. I MISSED FLOATING!!!! so exciting.

I am trying to figure out what i want to do while jeff is in Michigan next weekend.. I am thinking of climbing to the top of a 14er... i am thinking Mount Evans because it is close, but it might be crowded, so i might want to drive a little farther and go to another 14er a little less crowded..

(14er= slang for a mountain that is over 14,000 feet)

That's about it... check out my new public blog Barefooting in the 303...
http://barefootstuff.blogspot.com/

The Weekend Update...

2008-06-23T09:34:00.002-07:00

With your friend Garry Gnue..
So this weekend was great.. I say that because as you mostly remember, i was pretty stressed out last month and to be honest, I stopped dreaming.. Isn't that strange.. but i was having trouble sleeping and so I had tried some sleep agents to help me stay in bed all night and not be a grumpy mess the next day (but always seemed to be grumpy anyway. But they tend to put you asleep but not really a restful sleep. So anyway, it took me a few nights to get used to sleeping without the aid, and now i am getting better, more restful sleep and actually wake up feeling more refreshed than when I took a sleep aid.. But i have been dreaming again, with means, I think, that my brain can file everything it needs to file to make the next day less stressful and so on, until you can have some relaxing time and no stress. Well I am sleeping and dreaming and everything.. and in return feeling much better...
So, Friday night we went to a friend's place to get plans for panic this weekend set in stone and know that everyone has their time and places to be.. very good.. and catch up with all these folks that popped out kids over the last 12 months.. crazy how many little children were at this party... I guess we will be the next to add.. Seems everyone has one at least and some are already working on number two.. Yeah, sticking with the one kid plan for now..
So, that was scary. seeing all these people that have gone into baby-land and have yet to return.. scary.. hope i can be different, but i am sure i wont be.. And even being with these people who we would consider friends, we still feel good about moving away and not feeling that we would be missing much.. I mean, I think we would still try to come back for Panic every so often, so we would see these people about as much as we do now, just have more interesting things to talk about besides, yeah, still working and living in the same place, doing mostly nothing, and still not calling these people, so what are we loosing??
Anyway, then was came home. Saturday we hung out and chilled for most of the day.. And jeff has been stressed at work lately, so it was good for both of us to not do much and decompress. WE did some running around and getting some errands done, then back home.. I spread out my new pool and started getting it together, but I didn't get the chemicals i needed so we had to wait for Sunday to put the whole thing together.. So Saturday, we watched some TV, had an early dinner and some Saturday Night Live (BARFFF) and to bed we go...
Then Sunday I awoke and checked my pool everything still looked good, so we proceeded with filling it and getting the pump on and connected.. So, I have to say that every step of this process, I have had my doubts. I mean i got the thing because it was on deep sale.. It was on sale for $49.99, then with a $20.00 rebate (that is in the mail as we speak- I would guess with my stimulus check) so, that made it easier to buy. But then i was skeptical about the chemicals when Whitney told me i would have to add them.. But i got those and they seem easy enough.. Then Jeff plugged in the filter when the pool wasn't full yet and it was SOOOO LOUD, that i was afraid after we got it up and running that we wouldn't want to use the filter because it was so loud. But we plugged it in when it was full and the thing is almost silent. So i was relieved about that too.. Then it was really cold, but this morning, it seemed a lot better.. So, slowly but surely i am getting into the pool thing.. It will be very refreshing this afternoon when i am through mowing the lawn.
Oh then yesterday afternoon, I went to wallgreens and saw a "deluxe lounge" float that was on sale. I got that, then on the way home i saw that the float itself has a $5.00 rebate also.. So, the raft was $9.00 and now a $5.00r rebate, that deluxe lounger is the deal of the century, as jeff put it!!!
So, with sleeping well, dreaming again and knowing that i have a cool summertime hangout, I am psyched.. Now i just need to get a TV stand (summer baseball watching) and a cooler for my beer and I am set!!! Now you know that if i don't answer the phone, it's because I am in the pool and can not be disturbed..
Oh, and don't worry, I will have jeff take some photos for you..

It's FRIDAY!!!!!

2008-06-20T07:59:00.002-07:00

Don't you all love how i keep you on track to the days of the week.. I mean it's the least i can do for the elder population of my readers (and you know who you are... yup you!)
Anyway... i am really glad that the weekend is here. to be honest, the week wasn't as long as it could have been, but i still want a weekend. And tonight, we have a backyard party to go to, and that's always fun. Some friends that we see music with are having a get together to celebrate Summer (Which states promptly at 6:00pm tonight... well both the party and summer start at 6, but i was talking about the summer part.)

I even broke out of of my dresses today in celebration of summer.

SO, i have decided not to go to Michigan.. And you all are looking to each other saying, Michigan? why in the world was she going back to Michigan.. Well let me tell you, for music of course.. so, we are seeing five nights of panic coming up next weekend, (well friday- sunday and then tuesday and wednesday) then the band is playing a music festival in Michigan, which of course happens to be run by the management company that managed String Cheese. So they are local. Anyway. Jeff got a free pass and a photo pass for the festival so i was thinking about just hitching a ride with him and hitting the festival too.. If they would give me a ticket too.. but it seems they wont give an extra out, so i am going to stay home, (well come back to Denver after Kansas City shows) I think i am going to rent a car in KC and drive it back to the airport where i will park my car before going out of town.. Then jeff will head to Michigan and then down to his folks house for a day and to pick up some stuff, then head back home..
Well all of this means that i am going to be here and with a day off on independence day..After 10 hours of driving on Thursday back from KC, i am not sure i will be up for spending more on (who's a moron..sorry) anyway, don't want to pay for more gas, so i might just set up my new pool... grab some beers (if i can at that time) and relax with the dogs.. or just sleep on the sofa for three days straight..
So, just to keep you all in the loop, so to speak, i would start crossing things and opening that line of communication to the big cheese in the sky around this time next week... (maybe a few days earlier..)
That's about it, have a wonderful weekend and if things work out as planned, you are NOT going to want to miss the photos and hopefully some video i will be posting... believe me..!!!!

What else can i eat today???

2008-06-18T07:54:00.002-07:00

OK, so i have not been able to update my blog because my hands have been very busy eating today to get anything done.. and that includes work, but who's counting anyway..
Well let me tell you the run down so far (and it's only 2:12 Mountain time as i write this)
So, i wake up this morning and am very excited to take left overs from Olive Garden last night. (so if you are keeping score and want to add last night's dinner, i had two heaping helpings of salad, two bread sticks and linguine with marinara sauce)
So, as i am getting my leftovers out, i see that i still have mexican leftovers and that needs to be eaten first.. So i put the noodles back, grab the mexican and of course the cherries are in the way, so as i am pulling them out of the way, a few drop in my hand and you have to eat those.. so i go about my morning routine.. driving to work.. i want a biscuit.. yup, want one, going to get one.. as i am waiting in the drive through, i convince myself i want a southern style chicken biscuit AND a plain biscuit.. (ok and a medium coke, but we are talking about food here, not my drinks). I get to work eat the chicken biscuit. drink the coke. Since i graze when i eat, i didn't finish that until about 10:30. by 11:30 it's time for my walk and then back to work. Everyone heats up their lunch in my little office area and it gets the belly growling again.. So, i heat up my left over mexican stuff (with tortilla chips- and more tortilla chips) Again, grazing, so i finish my lunch about 1:45.. just in time to hear someone in the hall say that there are ICE CREAM SANDWICHES FOR SNACK!!!! Not passing up ICE CREAM SANDWICH DAY!!
so, not at 2:12, i am stuffed and feel like i need a wheelbarrow to get me out to the car at quittin' time..

monday musings

2008-06-16T09:50:00.002-07:00

Well back to square one, but that's ok.. try, try again, will be our motto for right now. and hopefully not for long...
This weekend was really low key. Friday we did absolutely nothing and both loved it.. WE didn't have dinner until like 9:00 and we didn't go to bed until late and just hung around. I think after all the stress at the end of the week last week, we needed to just do nothing. Saturday morning greeted us with some sun and things Jeff had to go shoot. We went to this bike race and ended up driving a ways around the course and getting some shots for him. We had to go back to the start/finish area, and that's when i lost it. I was tired, emotional, and hungry and didn't want, well actually couldn't be there any longer.. When we got home, i went to the sofa and didn't get off of it until it was dinner time again.
Like i said, just needed some down time.
I am feeling better and am finding my energy again.
So, i finished my Sims game. I got my friends, i whoo-hooed with three different sims and I opened all the secret locations. There is nothing left for me to do. My friend Josh was making fun of me for playing this game and said that if i had to do something why have I not played Grand Theft auto. So last night i started my GTA game. I had to intimidate a few witnesses and have found that hitting cars with hammers is a little more satisfying than making a group meal or making people get in the hot tub to be my friend. I will keep you posted on my new progress.
Time for my daily walk and fresh air...

plugging right along.

2008-06-12T08:17:00.002-07:00

well I tell you, i can use a weekend. but when have i not said that??? I have been dragging butt this week and just want that one day you don't have to get out of bed until the dogs are dying to go outside. That's what i am waiting for.

Still no "news" on this end.. just waiting. but I am getting used to the waiting game.
Will repost when there is more to know..
Oh, so a SIMs update for you. I got my ten friends. It wasn't easy and the last two, i literally trapped them in the hot tub so they couldn't get out until we were friends. Needless to say when i did let them out, both had to pee so bad they limped to the bathroom... So, i went to work the next day to get my promotion for having 10 friends and all my skills up to par and then the unthinkable happened. It wasn't the ending goal. I mean NOW, I need to make 12 friends. are you friggen kidding me?? I left that house and went to the Alien crash sight. The female alien have some platinum goals to accomplish and then it will open a new location for me. These aren't that hard.. but the guy on the Yacht, the one that i need to get his goals accomplished too, well, he needs to whoo-hoo with three girls.. To be honest, it takes a lot of effort to whoo-hoo a girl, like you actually have to talk to them and butter them up for them to take their clothes off.. WHO KNEW??? Why can't i have some easy chicks on this game.. OH and my girl, gretta, my character, well she had to make out with a guy at one point, so i made her and this (Casanova) guy make out and now she wants to marry him and when she is in the room, and i am controlling the guy and he is hitting on another chick, to woo her to whoo-hoo, Gretta gets all upset and in her thinking cloud she get a heart shaped smiley face but it has devil horns.. I mean what is wrong with chicks?? Can't i just make out with other girls without this one getting mad?? so, you can see where it would be hard to whoo-hoo with three different girls.. Plus, they seem to push you away if they see the other girl around.. Geesh.. and I though this game was based on reality..
:)

Shows what i know...

2008-06-11T07:33:00.003-07:00

So the "day early" pee stick was negative.. So we shall try, try again...you can rest the crossed parts of your body for a while...
Thanks anyway.
will post more later.

Fun with Graphs

2008-06-10T08:22:00.001-07:00

more graph humor and song chart memes

Typing tuesday.

2008-06-10T08:04:00.002-07:00

that's today, because that is all i will be doing today.. Typing and listening and listening and typing. I turned in my WWII memorial story tapes and have moved on to the next one down the line. I Was really wanting some puppies and rainbows, but to no avail. I don't know why no real new reporter does stories on puppies and rainbows, but they don't seem to.
SO, i pick up the next story and of course it is more Iraq stuff.. But this time, at least these kids survived. They might not have all their limbs, but they are alive.

It is going to get in the 90's today... I know the east has been suffering a lot, and so has Indiana. So we watch the news and thank god that we are in Colorado right now.. Don't want to be flooded or in 100 degree weather. There is a larger pool that i want to get to upgrade from the baby pool i have been sitting in for two years. The one i have been eyeing is on sale at Rite aid AND at Wallgreens. It is $49.99 at Rite aid and $59.99 at wallgreens except you get a $20 rebate.. I am thinking about just doing the $49. and being done with it. But this one is about 2 feet high, and likst 10 feet across so we can actually float if we wanted, or we could just put a chair in it and be able to sit too.. and it has it's own filter and doesn't need sand, apparently.. not that i would have thought about sand. And it will fit on our porch and not hang over and kill any grass.. very important..

WE should know some news to share with family really soon. I will let you know.. But if you can try to keep it under your hat until we can get to a doctor and get the real blood test and all.. But like mom said and whitney has said.. I knew it from day one.. and i am pretty positive i am right..
we will see. I think i will take an early pee stick test tomorrow morning. Jeff and I are both jumping at the bit....

Oh and speaking of jumping at the bit. can you believe the Bellmont?? I swear they could all make more money with the wild card horse than knowing that Big Brown would win. He was only going for 5-7 odds.. and the winner was something like 1-60, so I think the fix was in.. I smell it a mile away.. Vegas, the track and the two horses camps were probably the only ones in on it, but it worked and I bet everyone made out like bandits (except all the poor people at the track waiting to see a triple crown- suckers)

And I have officially gone nuts. I actually paid $4.00 a gallon for a tank of gas yesterday. To be honest, I gave myself the tipping point of $40 to fill the tank. Yesterday it was only $34.00, but I think i need to rethink my driving habits and do what i can to reduce the carbon emissions, even if it is by force.. It's the right thing to do. So, i may be taking the bus a few days a week.. gotta check the schedule and times.

Have a wonderful Tuesday..
Oh and I didn't forget about the photos, i just didn't get around to it last night. But i did get them on the computer, so that's the first step. :)

Weekend whereabouts

2008-06-09T07:45:00.003-07:00

So, it was a full weekend for us, which as you know, can be unusual these days.
Saturday we tried to get Madonna tickets but had no luck, so we loaded up the car with Zalea and Watson and headed to our friend's place up top. We wanted to go one a hike to check out the rivers running big. So we get to the trail head and quickly realize that Zalea can't really do much.. Her hips were a lot worse off than either of us knew.. She wasn't 100 yards into the hike before she had to start sitting and resting in snow banks and cold river water.. Poor girlie.. so we went a little ways to some small waterfalls and rested there.. needless to say we didn't get much of a walk in. We are going to go back in a few weeks when the flowers are all in bloom, and probably with only Watson.. the young whipper snapper at 9 years old.

So, that was kind of a bust. we ended skipping the baseball game too and just went to see the band saturday night. they were ok, Just over the line from noise, but you can tell they have some potential.. just need to grow and develop as a band some more..
So....Sunday mid-morning, early afternoon we went to an "Art in the Square" but it was actually called something like Arte de la Pizza.. (well it was in Italian, i did the best i could.. and i love pizza) anyway, it was chalk drawings on the street. some were really great and others. not so much.. I will ost some photos I took when i get home from work today. We had a huge lunch and came home for a bit. Than ran some errands and watched some tv...
Oh and then there was one more thing.. and i can't even tell you how excited i was.. Jeff came to me the other day and asked if i would go with him to an event sunday night. I usually know what is coming and the events tend to be ok.. Some better than others. But he said that i would love this one and handed me a flyer.. The first thing i noticed is that i says Ice Cream Social and outdoor movie.. well that sounds like fun, and most of the time means free popcorn too, seeing that i have to stay away from the ice cream.. Then i get to the movie title and about scream it out.. THE GOONIES... That's right.. on a big screen and everything.. So when the time comes last night to go, i got up and ready in no time... we were there for about an hour, jeff got the shots he needs and we are just waiting for the movie. I really don't need to see it, but i wanted to see the first few minutes on a big screen.. So we wait and wait and wait.. then they say that they are afraid it was getting too late and they would just start the movie but you wouldn't be able to see anything on the screen for the FIRST 15 MINUTES... i was so disappointed.. we just left as you could hear the audio and no picture.. :( how sad...

Garden is growing, I mowed the lawn yesterday.. I call it "Lawn Mowed Two Ways" because this time i did one half up and down stripes and the other half cross-ways stripes.. and we have been watching a lot of cooking shows, so lawn mowed two ways seems very appropriate.

So, that's about it.. We will know, hopefully, around thursday, if there is anything to celebrate.. or if we are going to try, try again... so keep praying, keep all fingers and toes crossed and talk with anyone you know in heaven that might have some pull....
Jeff is going out of town the end part of the next "perfect timing" phase, so if we did it right the first time, that would be ideal...
OK.. Have a great monday.. check back this evening for some photos from the weekend.
can't wait to hear about all the pool parties that went down back east this past weekend..
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAROLINE!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICHOLAS!!!!

Gotta let me know you were here...

2008-06-05T13:00:00.002-07:00

So, now that this is a private blog, there is no and I mean NO REASON why you all can't comment on my posts.. Something like "you are so cleaver" or "it makes my day to read a new post from you, the best blogger out there" or something to that affect.. I mean it won't kill you will it?

Alright, since you asked i will let you know what is going on with my Sims Family. So, I now have to help this older man get a promotion in the political career he is in. What that means is you have to have the specific qualities up like this one needs at least 8 points in logic (you can play chess or stargaze through a telescope to get logic points) then you need like 7 creativity,( so you can paint, play piano or guitar and things like that to get creativity points) and I think he needs like 8 charisma points. And the only way to get that up is practicing talking in a mirror. Well i got all those covered and some even higher than what is required, but the tricky part is getting his friendship numbers up. Each other Sim you can socialize with and gain social points with them. the higher the points the closer friends you are.. and My older man, needs 10 friends to advance in his career.. So that means calling people, asking them to come over and hitting them up for friendship.. basically I have found that if you invite someone over, they come within 10 seconds. I don't know what the transportation is like in Sims land, but it is fast... When they get there, you have to greet them or they will just go away. so you greet them, then they immediately go to the bathroom... I don't know why they couldn't have waiting an extra 30 seconds to pee and poo at their own homes, but they don't and they go directly to the restroom.. So, if you don't keep an eye on the guest, they will disappear where ever there is a computer and start playing their own sims game and then you can't get them to do anything.. who knew...
But i have a 6 man hot tub that i invite them to chill in with me and chat them up a bit. You can easily get about 10 friendship points from just that.. You need 40 for them to be your friend and more to be good friends. But as i found out the hard way, once you choose to take the relationship in any direction, the other sim will stay in that route.. ok like for example, i was chatting up another dude, and accidentally pressed the Kiss action instead of tell joke or compliment. Well the other sim was into it and kissed me back. Now he comes over all the time, with out being invited and when he sees me, he gets this heart shaped smiley face in his thinking cloud.. very weird...
So, that is what i am doing...Oh, so say you get a person to about 40, maybe 41, 42 and they leave, mostly becuase they are hungry, (so to make them stay longer you have to offer them food as soon as they get out of the bathroom when they first arrive.. but anyway. the next morning, if you don't call them, they will go down a point or two, and they are no longer considered a friend...
So I already have 5 perminat friends that i live with, and have to make 5 more, but it is soooo hard ot make and keep friends. Must be why i don't have any and have to play sims to live through their lives.. pretty sad... but no, i am not quitting the game until i get to complete it.. and I think this is the last guy that has manditory goals to accomplish, then there are a bunch of secondary goals...
I thought you needed to know all this, yes...

Yellow stairsteps and things

2008-06-04T19:24:00.007-07:00

There is this big yellow art-thing, in south denver and we see it when ever we go anywhere north on the interstate. So finally this time when we were delivering the music magazines, we stopped and took some pictures. This is one of my favorite public art things in denver...

and here is my hanging basket....

And while i was at it, i snapped this one of my baby avocado...he's the little thing sticking out of the dirt.
I think he is going to be happy in his new home.

sorry for the delay

2008-06-02T09:19:00.005-07:00

Well, I have to say that i am sorry for the delay in postings. I have been a little distracted lately and haven't really had anything to say.
Now, we are in the waiting game and next Thursday is the telling day. We both are not sure it really "took" and are going to keep trying, but I don't know why. But we both feel that way. And with every hunger growl and digestion gurgle, i am wondering what is going on in there. I wish there was a "next day" or a "five days later" pregnancy test you can take. I know that waiting the next two weeks essentially, is going to be really hard. But we picked up the pregnancy test this weekend and time will tell. Jeff actually purchased it, and i told him that i thought he did that just to show off to the clerk that he was getting laid.. funny..

So, this weekend, to shift things up a bit, we changed around some of the rooms in the house. We moved my bed (guest bed) out of the larger room and switched it with jeff's office.. putting all our computers together in one room. It makes so much more space in that room, it's unreal. We added a television and we have been really enjoying more time spent back there getting some things done that we haven't because we don't want to hang back there alone. I think it is going to work great. And we have room in the smaller one (with the bed set up) for a crib and rocking chair.

So, that is fun. We really want to change up our living room, but we can't figure out how to rearrange the furniture and make it work, comfortably. So, for now, it is staying the way it is. Although we are both thinking of ways to make it work.

The garden is going nicely, the peas, carrots, lettuce and spinach are really doing great, the large tomatoes are needing some love and I think my strawberries are going to make it also. We have some zucchini and cucumbers going crazy in the smaller garden and some cherry tomatoes in containers that are going nuts too...

I also broke down, after trying to grow two hanging baskets with flowers and purchased one yesterday. it is full of purple flowers and i hope i don't kill it.
OH and about 6 months ago, I ate an avocado, cleaned the seed, stuck some tooth picks in it and put it in some water.. Now the stem is about 6 inches above the seed and so we planted it. I hope it grows into a nice tree... I have never grown a tree before, but I started this weekend.. very exciting.

That's about it.. Nothing to report. Now, that i have some work space and a clan desk, i will post some photos of the new room configuration so you can see..
have a great Monday... and keep thinking happy baby thoughts for us..
:)

day 5

2008-05-21T07:58:00.004-07:00

so this is it, and that's all i am going to say... just don't call after 6 on weekdays and anytime during the weekend....... for the next three weeks, (hey we want to make sure we cover all bases- get it... home run, sixth grade humor gets them every the time)

ok, that's all i am saying about that... because, well it's just weird to talk about with your mom and dad.. so, end of that discussion until there is a little + or :) on the pee stick. not sure which kind we got.

on to better topics, Gyoza is doing great and OH MY GOD her breath will not stop a truck anymore. Her teeth look great and they are going to stay that way. Her heal has a ton of stitches that will come out in about two weeks. We put a bandage around it last night, but she doesn't seem to want to mess with it much. But it looks good where the lump is no more. like a regular ankle again.

We should be getting some results back from the lab to see exactly what it was, but for now we are celebrating that it is gone. She is on the same kind of pain meds that Watson is on, so they are laying around the house, all drugged up, together today. I am going to take a drive home at lunch and see how they are doing, but i am expecting them to be just fine.

Now, i need to make a confession. I have been trying to get by without anyone really knowing the extent of this, but i just can't hide it anymore. I have an addiction. At this time, i don't really want help, and i know that is the first step. So, cancel any plans of an intervention, because i am not interested in getting help. So, here it goes.
I am addicted to the Sims game. I got the game about a week ago now and i can't get it out of my head. I am dreaming about the game, i am thinking about the game all the time.
At first, I was just smitten with it. Played for about 30 minutes and didn't get too far in. The next day i thought i would just try one more time, just to see what happens, well i got hooked. They are right, you can get addicted the first time you try it.
And at first i was able to not really worry about it much, but now i find that i will turn on the game machine even before feeding my own dogs. Two nights ago, i left Watson outside for over 4 hours because i forgot about it, playing my game.
I am sorry to all those that care about me and i will try to get better, but maybe not right now, I have to get one woman to go to work regularly, i have a guy that needs to make whoo-hoo with another sim and then that's not to mention the guy that needs to make his girlfriend come back to life and serve him a meal, gain creativity and mechanical life points and then i can get a better job so i can afford the group screaming bonfire that makes everyone happy. so, you can see i can not leave these people without the guidance. very important.
But in the game you have to prioritize what you need to do and when, so i am finding that when Jeff finally gets my attention and forces me to turn to game off (just because i will sit and play all night - i have even forgotten to eat sometimes) that I start listing what i need to do, like ok, i need to pee, eat, change clothes and go to bed... like i am a game character. and yes, i am even calling it whoo-hoo at home too..

(the picture is the surf wave pool i have at one of my houses, pretty cool huh?)

the girlie is doing well

2008-05-20T13:07:00.001-07:00

I just called the vet and she is doing well and just waking up now.. I can get her in a couple of hours.
after a long walk at lunch, watson is now asleep under my desk and snoring.. very funny to hear, but he is a good dog.
I can get gyoza a little later this afternoon. she will be groggy and have a lampshade on because the vet told me that she chewed through her catheter tube before surgery. She is a chewy dog, that's for sure.
and she said that the teeth cleaning went really well. She is sending the mass to the lab to be diagnosed.
that's the latest.. thanks for all your thoughts for my girlie..
:)

fun with graphs

2008-05-20T10:02:00.001-07:00

more song chart memes

dog day at work.

2008-05-20T07:53:00.002-07:00

so, i have watson with me today because gyoza is at the vet having her lump on her ankle taken off.. and her teeth cleaned.. (yippie) but some teeth may need to come out, so we will see how that goes when i pick her up later this afternoon.
I am glad that watson is comfortable and is just chillin at my feet...
what a good boy he is.

I will post some pic of the girlie when she gets home this evening. I am sure she will be wearing her lampshade (we call it her princess crown when she is around) and i am sure it will be funny looking. last time she was very embarrassed to be seen with it on, so she always got a funny look on her face when she had to wear it. But she wont be able to lick her wound, so i am sure she will have one. maybe we'll bedazzle it. :)

more updates as the day goes on. I am just a worried mom. :)