Father and daughter

Proving once again ...

why we probably won't be winning parent of the year once again.

Click here.

Saturday night

Bill's band played its last show until some time next year Saturday night. They played well and the crowd was loving themselves some Wrong Impressions.

I worked the door for them and tried not to be annoyed by the drunk people. It was going pretty good until Bill traded MY Jaegermiester t-shirt that he was wearing to some guy for his tye-dye ... needless to say, he got it back. And all was better in rivetergirl land.

Our friends' band, the Dailies, opened and did a kick-ass job.

News of the hugeness variety

I've written before about my love for the Supersuckers and all things Eddie Spaghetti. I'm sure I've mentioned that Laurena and I drove to Salt Lake City to see Eddie and I had him sign my acoustic guitar:

See the signature down there at the bottom? Yep, that's Eddie's. On the same trip, La and I wrote a song about the aforementioned Eddie. It's called Spot the Bunny (a name that has no correlation to the song whatsoever and is only named so because Laurena is mean). You can listen to it here.

Then while driving back from Salt Lake City after seeing the Supersuckers with Social Distortion last summer, Laurena and I wrote a song about my obsession with the band called Creepy Girl. Yep, that's me, Creepy Girl.

I'm excited to announce that I will have even more fuel for my Creepy Girl obsession with the Supersuckers, in that my band, Riveter, will be opening for them here in Grand Junction on August 24.

Yes, you read that correctly, we're opening for the Supersuckers at the Mesa Theater next month.

After that show, I could (but won't ... we're opening for the Gore Gore Girls in September) hang up my guitar for good without any regrets. Opening for my favorite band is a dream come true.

One year later

A couple of years ago, we took the kids to Disneyland. Both kids were very excited about this as were Bill and I. But once we got to the park, Margaret had second thoughts about riding most every ride.

So we did like all good parents and forced Margaret on to rides ... sometimes literally crying (at one point as we were wrenching her onto a ride, the ride operator looked very worried, I assured the guy, "Despite all the crying, she's really enjoying the whole Disneyland experience." She found that she actually enjoyed many of the rides — some not (after getting off the Matterhorn she thrust her arms to her sides and cried, "Why. Do. They. Scare. Children."). But at least she rode the rides and doesn't talk about having any regrets about going on the rides (even the ones she didn't like) and hopes we'll go back soon.

So last year at the Mesa County Fair, she said she wanted to take in some of the carnival rides. At first she insisted she wanted to ride the ferris wheel, but as soon as we approached the ride, she changed her mind. I told her she could go now or she'd have to wait until next year.

She opted for next year. So fast forward to this year's Mesa County Fair.

Last night as we drove out to the fairgrounds, she insisted this was the year that she was going to ride the ferris wheel. We bought our tickets and walked on over. Mar immediately started in with the , "Yeah, I'm gonna wait until next year."

We pulled a Disneyland maneuver and forced her on the ride.

Guess what?
She loved it.

So much so that she went on more rides all. by. her. self.


She had a really good time taking in all the animal exhibits, eating her giant snowcone and watching the trained dogs catch Frisbees. All in all, the fair gets a big thumbs up.

Too far away

While driving to the mall last night, I was trying to call my parents (yeah, I know, I should neither be talking on my cell phone while driving nor going to the mall, but that seemed less dangerous than sitting home watching cable TV all night), but I kept getting a message from my cell phone provider that they were having some sort of network problem.

Mar: What's wrong with your cell phone?

Me: I dunno, some sort of network problems.

Mar: Maybe Gramma and Grampa are too far away.

Me: Yes, they are too far away.

Mar: Too far away from my heart.

Me: Yeah, exactly.

Mar: And too far away for me to eat their goodies.

She's so her mother's daughter.

My favorite new band

Warning: Not really appropriate for work or for viewing around people who don't like seeing blurred out man junk.

Camping, camping, camping pictures

We went camping on Grand Mesa over the weekend. I'm posting a bunch of pictures here, but you can read about it over here.
Our camp. Camping goodness.

Poles.

Camping with teenagers is great in that they provide an almost endless reservoir of labor — assuming they have ample motivation ... in this case, if they found, chopped and stacked firewood, they got to ride Rob's ATV. And this isn't even our teen (ours sleeps all the time), this is the one we borrowed. He turned out to be a much harder worker than our sleepyhead and willing to be the scapegoat for all our blunders over the weekend. "Ronnie!" was the cry when anything went wrong.

Mar — in a typical Mar pose.

Tracee kickin' it in their tent.

The wildflowers are in bloom and blanket much of the top of the mesa.

Bill and Mar on our guided horseback ride.

Mar on her mare, Skeeter. She really got the hang of riding that horse.

Bill on Bud. They got along famously.

Little Dixie. She rode well enough, but I could tell that if she had her druthers, she'd just as soon kick me as give me a ride.

Must. Watch. Cake. Show.

Ever since getting expanded cable, I've found so many shows about so many interesting things.

Now, my current TV show crush is Ace of Cakes — yep, it's a reality show but this one is about a bakery and not just any bakery but this bakery (Charm City Cakes).

These are not your ordinary birthday cakes:

Learning something new

I would love to take a class on how to use Adobe Photoshop. Instead I learn this bohemoth of a program by trial and error, by scouring their Help program and by asking Mr. Google to show me how to do stuff.

Most recently, I discovered that you can load any sort of brushes. I'd heard people talk about brushes, but I didn't understand their useage until recently. So coupled with my ability to download copious amounts of free fonts, I have been working on some graphic work for my band.

Obviously still have a lot to learn, but it's so addicting.

Lunch with Lakshmi

Bill calls me at work: Where do you want to go for lunch?

Me: Um, we should probably just go home.

Bill: Why? Because I just dropped a bunch of cash getting stuff we need for camping?

Me: Exactly.

Bill: As I see it, we've already spent a bunch of money today what 15 bucks more on lunch?

Me: It's that logic that made me concede to marry you in the first place.

— Later at the downtown lunch place we frequent —

Bill to bagel shop gal who knows us (fortunately): I'm not Bill today. Today I'm Lakshmi.

Bagel shop gal: OK, so I'll put Lakshmi down on your ticket to be called out when your food is ready.

Bill: Yep, I'm Lakshmi.

Me: *rolling eyes* Tell them that L-A-K-S-H-M-I is pronounced Bill.

When our food is ready, the worried looking bagel shop girl calls out: Lakshmi?

*crickets*

Me: Bill, they called you.

Bill: Huh? What? Oh yeah, I'm Lakshmi today.

Me: double eye roll

Bill: I got the food, you get my latte.

When I try to take my sandwich, Bill says loudly: I got the food, you take the latte.

Me: I hate Lakshmi. He yells.

Bill at the table: Here try this ravioletti.

Me: I don't wanna.

Bill forcing ravioletti into my face: TRY IT.

Me: I hate Lakshmi. He yells and forces his tiny pastas on me.

Bill: Lakshmi doesn't want you to eat his tiny pastas, because they are too good to share.

Me: Good because I'm eating my sandwich which you can't have because it's too good to share.

Bill: Lakshmi thinks you need to adjust your reality.

Me: Lakshmi's lunch companion thinks that it's lucky she isn't married to Lakshmi, because Lakshmi would have permanent sofa marks on his face from sleeping on the sofa.

Bill: Lakshmi's gotta go.

Me: Indeed.

The End

Not wasting her youth

The healing powers of a hot pink feather boa.

You know you want to ...

walk it out!

At least

In the break room at work, we have some vending machines. One of them is the kind with the revolving shelves that hold sandwiches, fruit, drinks and some goodies including chocolate, chocolate-chip muffins (which I quit eating about a year ago).

This morning I stood, bleary eyed trying to get my perfectly good dollar bill into the change machine so I could put some food on top of the bazillion of milligrams of ibuprofen and MaxAlt migraine pill I took to fend off the evil migraine that made a nest in my brain last night.

I wasn't sure what I wanted, so I pushed the button to turn the shelves and instead of advancing one section forward it just started spinning through them all.

It stopped on a chocolate, chocolate-chip muffin.

I took that as a sign and bought and ate it and it was good

Chocolate, chocolate-chip muffins totally make me feel better.

Oh and click over here to find out what happened with our trailer, because I'm sure you're all just dying to know.

I heart TV!

Ode to Cable TV

TV how I love thee
With so many channels
I never have a chance to pee
With a click, click, click
I've turned into a nitwit
How did I ever live without cable TV

Read more about the awesomeness that is cable TV over here.

Spoiled

This has been a really fun summer so far and we still have more than a month to go ... hurray!

Despite the fact that I leave for work most mornings with Bill and Mar still snuggled in bed, I come home for lunch most days to a yummy home-cooked meal and yet another one for dinner after work.

It's awesomey goodness.

I so wish I could earn enough that Bill could stay home all the time. But I'm lucky enough to get the full-service treatment three months a year, so I won't complain.

Now don't get me wrong, I still have my fair share to do around the house. Last night around 9, I mopped all our hardwood floors while Bill watched a documentary on the Hells Angels on the History Channel. (Dude, Sonny Barger has a tracheotomy — now that's hardcore.)

And I still do the laundry ... but that's because of my own anal tendencies and I can't stand to have the towels folded any way but the way my mama showed me.

But I also get to be all, "But I had to wooorrrrrk all day" and get whatever I want (not that I don't normally get what I want, but at least I have a compelling reason during the summer.

It's also great that Margaret gets to spend so much time at home with her dad. They go to the library and the pool, they take care of the house and play with rocket balloons in the front yard.

It eases my guilt somewhat about being a working mom.

Yep, I'm lucky to be one spoiled mama.

For sale

Most of my summer vacations growing up involved camping. We camped a lot and it was awesome.

When Mar was about two, we took her camping for the first time. She loved being out in the woods, throwing rocks in the creek and tromping around Mother Nature's playground. But she never really slept well in the tent.

Then we started using Bill's dad's camp trailer and our whole camping experience changed. With our own bathroom and comfortable beds, our camp experience was transformed.

Originally, I was against the camp trailer. It is really camping if you have all the comforts of home. But it's so much easier with a camp trailer.

A couple of years ago, we bought our own camp trailer. We loaded it up with all the cooking and camping accoutrement's that anyone could want and we camped. It was awesome.

We have had a great time camping with our trailer. Mar would go to sleep easily with dog tucked in the bottom of her sleeping bag* and we felt comfortable sitting with the adults enjoying silly banter around the campfire.

Our two favorite games are "which is better" and "melt the bottle."

I described, in great detail, the "melt the bottle" activity last year. It's really fun, especially if you have a good stick for the poking.

"Which is better" is a game that has no point or purpose, so it's perfect for us. One person says two similar things, like oranges or bananas and everyone says which is better.

I told you that it was pointless, but we always play it and enjoy it for reasons that are still unknown to us.

The only problem with our camping excursions is that we're limited as to where we can camp by the size of our trailer. Our SUV is just barely big enough to pull it so we never go very far. Coupled by the fact that we don't like to camp in designated camp areas, but unincorporated areas, we are ham stringed by our lovely little trailer.

So we decided to sell and try to find a smaller pop up trailer that we can take further distances and get into smaller spaces.

We're sad because we've had so much fun in our trailer, but it's the right thing to do.


*The dog loves camping, but she hates the cold and she hates campfires, so when Mar goes to sleep, Quincy goes too. And she's happy as a clam nestled into the bottom of Mar's sleeping. Yeah, I have no idea how she breathes, but she does.

Peachy keen

I wrote about my love for peaches over here.

Then we had dinner with our great friends, Markel and Special K, Friday night.

I love eating with these guys because they know food, how to make food and generally the joy that is all things food.

We were assigned an appetizer dish. Not wanting to be the weak link, Bill searched around his cookbooks and found a recipe that he thought sounded good.

He took a fresh loaf of ciabatta from our local bakery and sliced it long wise and covered it with pungent Gorgonzola cheese. He broiled the bread until the cheese started to bubbled. Then he quickly removed the bread and covered it with sliced peaches and topped the whole thing with tons of honey.

Um, yeah, delicious. Between the four of us (Mar had a couple bites), we ate almost the whole loaf with me having more than my share.

Awesome.

We've fixed it again a couple days later with apricots from our tree and bananas as well. Good, but the juicy peaches are the best.

Luckily for us, Bill's appetizer was just the beginning of our dining experience. Markel and K made a delicious skewered chicken seasoned with all kinds of yummy things that I obviously know nothing about because I'm an eater, not a fixer. The chicken was served with stir fried green onions which were too tempting thereby Bill and I were lead to eat a couple raw with salt ... and not just any salt, but their "good" salt. Mmm salty. Markel also kicked down with sweet-assed couscous with toasted nuts.

All in all, it was an awesome meal and a wonderful dining experience.

I love good food and good food made by our good friends is the best.

Yum!

Show recap

Since my band doesn't have any shows for a while, I have to live vicariously through Bill as he gets to play show after show.

Saturday night Bill's band played with bunch of other bands as a benefit for a local kid with a serious illness.

The event garners a good crowd and despite being annoyed with the fact that the show started late, I had a good time.

And by "good time," I mean, I had two drinks which made me feel like I had had eight. I almost had a third but I dropped it on the ground. Then I proceeded to say a bunch of stupid stuff.

Like I said, it was a good time.

Someone should smack me away from the bar. I was a much better (if not crankier) person when I wasn't having a drink or two. Because now, I'm just stupid.

But I got some good pictures of the band, so at least I'm not completely worthless.

More on not sleeping

We're actually getting used to three to a bed. Read about it over here.

Bill's got a show coming up

And I made him a poster:

Hot time, summer in the city

It might be 100 degrees again today, but at least we have peaches.

Fire ban, schmire ban

A ban on fireworks in Mesa County did not prevent people in my neighborhood from setting off sundry incendiary items for at least an hour after the city's annual fireworks display last night.

Annoying, but that's how things roll on the Fourth of July.

As I mentioned over here and here Margaret was in day camp all day, so Bill and I instituted a new type of holiday: Panty Day.

While Margaret was out making us food, we sat around in our undies and watched almost the entire third season of Deadwood on DVD.

It's been too hot outside — and inside (hello, central air conditioning, please come live at our house) — to do anything but try not to be hot, so that's what we did.

Watching hours and hours of one show seems to be a trend for Bill and I. Tuesday evening before we headed out to open-mic night at a local brew pub, we watched about five hours of Miami Ink. Solely because it's too hot to blink, let alone move myself.

Plus watching people talk about and get tattoos is vastly interesting to me.

I've been contemplating getting some more work done for a while.

I really like what I have right now, but I think it's time to get the rest of my back done.

Thank you, cable TV, for instilling such good ideas into my impressionable pea brain.

Thank goodness

Thank goodness for holidays that fall in the middle of the week. It's like I have two two-day weeks instead of one five-day week.

Sweet.

Thank goodness for the family that lives behind us. The mom and daughter run a day camp out of their house. Margaret is attending this week. Yesterday she learned about the states. She studied Texas. She can tell you the capital and all their dominant exports.

And the best part is that she has camp tomorrow ... on my vacation day off. And you know what they are going to be doing?

The kids are going to plan, make and serve dinner to us parents.

Dinner, the kids are making dinner away from my house on my day off for me to eat.

I, on the other hand, will be sitting around in my drawers all day watching cable TV and having a contest with myself to see how long I can remain motionless.

Thanks goodness for the Fourth of July.

Los Bandos at the Q

To celebrate Kelley's birthday, we headed down to our favorite watering hole, the Quincy Bar, to see my new favorite band, Los Bandoleros.

These four guys put on the most frenzied show. And in my book frenzied = awesome.

Their whole set was rife with mayhem and rock 'n' roll goodness.

I can't remember when I had so much fun at a show!



Oh and happy birthday to Kelley! We're huge in Canada!