Happy 9th birthday, Mar!

Taking a break

I've been updating this blog most week days for a good long while. Right now I need to take a break and focus my attentions elsewhere.

I'm sure I'll be back to writing the idiotic crap that I so enjoy writing before you even miss me.

Markel Farkel Friday

Rain, rain ...

It's been raining a lot this summer. And I am loving it.

Yeah, we haven't been going to the pool much and I have a new swimsuit that I actually like this year (despite the fact that I'm verging on the saggy-boob-sock look), but I don't care.

We've been sitting outside every evening after work and many evenings we have a fire in our firepit, often roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores. Although yesterday, Bill and Davy burned all the rose bush trimmings and it smelled not at all like roses.

It makes us look like a nice, normal family (unless you listen to our conversations, then you know that we are far from a nice, normal family).

On top of all that, our yard has never looked better. Our flowers are all blooming happily and heartily. I guess all those years of planting, thinning, adding, moving and weeding have finally paid off ... big time.

And the best part is that we've done almost nothing to this year other than a little weeding (there's lots more weeding to be done, but the flowers are so happy and full that I'm happy leaving well enough alone).

Movies, movies, movies

For the last nine years, we didn't go to the movies very much. I didn't like forking over an arm and a kidney to see a kids movie and I sure as hell wasn't going to pay a sitter so I could go sit in the dark and watch a movie when I could be at the bar.

But now that Mar is getting older, there are more movies that all three of us want to see. So we splurge now and then.

Over the last weekend, we splurged twice.

Oh we live on the edge people.

It's a good thing both Bill and I enjoyed both movies, because Mar is still stuck in 1984. Click over here to read about our double trip to the movies and what Margaret's favorite movie is right now.

Giant Pencil update

You may remember (and if you do, I'm so very sorry) back last November, I introduced y'all to the Giant Pencil.

For those that don't (and I'm assuming it's all of you), while in Washington, D.C. in October, my mom bought me a giant pencil from the National Archives to replace my Wee Pencil (why yes, I do have issues. I can't believe you've waited this long to ask). I've been using this pencil every day at work to ... uh, do work and to do the daily crossword puzzle (speaking of crossword puzzles, "deke" is a stupid word).

The Giant Pencil started out 16" long.

Look at it now:

It's now down around 8". It hardly even looks like a freakish long pencil anymore. But I know it once was. And someday it'll be a wee pencil ... unless something bad happens.

I've already had to perform some minor surgery on the Giant Pencil because the eraser snapped off one day.

Just so you know, I can't use a pencil that is missing it's eraser. Really (I know, my issues run deep), I have to keep a separate eraser on my desk so I can erase without having to use the eraser on my pencil.

So, Giant Pencil lost its eraser and I started to panic. Then I found a long pin and stuck it though the top of the eraser down into the wood to secure it. Phew! Disaster averted.

Anyway, now, more than seven months into my usage of the Giant Pencil, it's down to almost half its size. Giant Pencil is now more of a regular pencil ... with a giant pin stuck in its eraser.

I think I need more hobbies.

Markel Farkel Friday

Rivetergirl conundrum: What would you do?

So do you remember me writing abut how we were ripped off in January? Some asshat dude or dudes had some sort of passkey that allowed them to easily open the doors of any GM vehicles and plunder our goodies.

Remember that story? No? Well, these asshats took our DVD player with my mom's new Mama Mia! DVD inside and our Garmin Nuvi navigator.

We talked to the cops and 16 other GM vehicles broken into that same night from the same general location. And we talked to the insurance agent (we ultimately decided against submitting a claim — we've since replaced the navigator [and then promptly broke the new one ... doh] and my mom lent us her portable DVD player). And nothing ever came of it ... until today.

We received a letter from the Lakewood Police Department saying they had caught the jokers who had been traveling around the state gleaning all the goodies out of people's GM cars.

They caught the guys and they had a shitpotful of stolen goods with them.

So, here's the conundrum: The only way to claim our stolen property is make an appointment for either Friday July 10 or Monday July 13, then drive four hours over the Continental Divide and look through all the crap these jerkwads stole in hopes that our sad little DVD player and navigator are there.

We've got my mom's DVD player (which is way better than that jacked up old one we had). But I'd really like to have my navigator back.

Is it worth the time and money? What would you do?

Stupid economy

For the last couple of weeks, we've been painting, cleaning and generally fixing up our house. And last Thursday it had never looked better — which was good because that was the day the house was appraised.

We decided to take advantage of the low interest rates by refinancing our mortgage and taking out enough cash to get our bathroom remodeled and splurge on a much-needed hot tub.

Wha? Hot tub manufacturers and dealers need to be bailed out, too.

We increased the size of our back patio, making room for hot tub and imagined soaking away our aches and pains.

So we were more than a little bummed (understatement) when the appraisal didn't even come close to the amount the house appraised for several years ago. We've done several upgrades to the house since the last appraisal, most notably we finally landscaped the backyard.

Yeah, I know, lots of people's houses are losing value all over the country and we are lucky to both have jobs. So I shouldn't whine about the reduced value of our house, especially since it's still worth quite a bit more than we owe.

But dang, we've been working our bums off on this house for years now and it sucks that the bad economy and falling house prices means we can't have a hot tub.

I know, I know, we're lucky, blah, blah, blah. But sometimes after a day of working two jobs, keeping a house and raising a kid, it's nice to reward oneself with an extravagance like a hot tub. It's not like I want a new car or trip to Europe.

Oh well, easy come, easy go. I guess we'll have to continue making our regular trips to the hot springs. Yeah, our life is tough.

The sisters came a-visitin'

Three of my grandmother's six children stopped in for an overnight visit. My mom, my Aunt Pat (aka the rainmaker) and my Aunt Nancy.

They are numbers 1 through 3. It goes: Nancy, Shirley (my mom), Patricia (aka Aunt Pat the rainmaker), Cynthia, David, Sandra. It's nice of them to travel in order by age.

The bummery thing about them heading back over to Denver today is that number 6, my Aunt Sandra, is visiting Denver from Minnesota. And number 5, my Uncle David, will be coming up from Pueblo with his kids to visit.

Because number 4, Aunt Cynthia, lives there, too, all my mom's siblings will be there. Oh and my gramma, too. She lives with Cynthia.

I want to be there, too. As I've stated before, my family's fun and I hate missing out on an event when all the sibs are together. These people are hilarious by themselves, just wait until they all get together ... woo boy.

But at least we got to hang out with numbers 1 through 3 last night. Margaret even got to sleep in Aunt Pat's RV with them last night.

Yeah, all three of them (even my mother who has her own bed inside my house) and my kid slept in my driveway. Bill and I opted to sleep in our bed ... because we're wacky like that.

Before bed, however, we went out to eat and had a great meal along with some beer. Bill ordered all the sisters his favorite Kannah Creek beer and then ordered another pitcher. I'm not sure why he was so insistent on forcing alcohol on my mom and her sisters, but that's how he rolls.

My mom tried to pass on the beer claming that she didn't do drugs and drink beer (in reference to the meds she's taking for her spasm-y back), but they twisted her arm (OK, it was more like, "but I thought you said you wanted a beer") and she succumbed. Because that's how she rolls.

And then, as quickly as they arrived, numbers 1 through 3 were on their way out of the Grand Valley and onward to the Front Range.

Hiking to Hanging Lake birthday style

I wrote back in March about hiking to the top of Mount Garfield for Scott's birthday. Well this weekend we hiked to Hanging Lake near Glenwood Springs (notice the "near Glenwood Springs" part — hiking followed by soaking is the most glorious combination I can think of).



See how smug I look here. I'm all, "Wha'? Like that was hard?" (Um, it wasn't easy, chick, remember the panting and soaring pulse rate?)

Bill, Mar and I hiked this two years ago with my brother and his family on Mother's Day and I was happy that this time I didn't quite need the defibrillator paddles at the top.

It is truly a gorgeous hike and well worth the time and effort up the rocky, steep trail:

Check out Bill giving me his "come hither" stare to encourage me to keep hiking and quit complaining.

He's so cute, I can hardly remember the steep, nasty trail.
And before I knew it, we were standing in front of Hanging Lake:


It is a truly a sight to behold. The water is so clear and blue and green. Just lovely.

Plus there were friendly chipmonks that didn't seem to have the plague, which is a good thing because the kids got a big kick out of feeding these greedy critters:

After the hike, we headed to our campground to set up our camp: tents had to be pitched, chairs unfolded and beers drank:
There was also a little wildlife in our camp that need to be inspected. A nest was perched on the ledge of the woman's bathroom window:
But the nest was too high off the ground for us to see what was inside. So Laurena did what any good mom would do, she made her only son act of stepstool:
Wha? Notice she took off her flip flops first. Gah!

Then she snapped this picture of the lovely blue egg resting inside:
The rest of the trip included a long soak in the hot springs, a delicious dinner of Bill's chili along with hot dogs and all the fixin's and a long sit next.

I asked Bill what we were laughing about all night long and he said that it was best to not remember that way we can laugh about it again next time we have a fire.

Sunday, saw us having Bill's version of the Egg McMuffin and then a slow roll up of the camp in between rain showers.

It was a great weekend away and a fabulous way to celebrate getting older.

Markel Farkel Friday

Chuck Norris doesn't get blisters

Chuck Norris gets stigmata.

Happy Anniversary to two of my most favorite couples. Scott (aka Boom Boom aka Chuck Norris) and Laurena are celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary. And Mark (aka Markel Farkel of Markel Farkel Friday) and Kristen are celebrating their ... uh, some number less than 10 ... hey don't judge me, I remembered their anniversary, isn't that enough?

Edited to add: According to Markel Farkel, he and Kristen have been married for 4 years, but together for 15! 15 is the magic number this year!

Anatomy of a delicious birthday

Pictures and pictures and pictures, oh my!

Because I'm too tired to type words, I'm throwing down more pictures from Sean's grad party, plus a picture of Cy on the custom, BSA bobber he built himself (just because having cute guys on motorcycles is always a good thing).

Party 'til the cops come

We had a graduation party for Sean on Saturday. It rained, but that didn't spoil our fun. The cops came and while that did mean an end to the band playing, it still didn't spoil our fun. Basically, we'll have fun regardless of our situation. But we are kinda professional fun-havers.






Click over here to read more about the party, the cops and meeting this little guy: