Birthday Round Up

I had a particularly great birthday week.

It Started with a First Friday where I met some local business people, made connections and networked like an adult.

I spent the weekend in Kearney, Nebraska going junking, and helping my aunt with a little bit of xmas decorating.

The week rolled out Birthday shopping with my mother, where I scored some fab MAC lipstick [Rebel- a purplish berry color that seems a bit like the bad ass version of the color Scully wore a lot.] and a scooter ornament. A trip to the zoo and frozen yogurt with my husband, a 6 coarse dinner party and ended with Dim sum at Star Kitchen on Sunday.
It was quite fabulous.


I am working away on projects and carving out some time this weekend to do some xmas decorating of my own.

Deaf/ HOH?

I recently stumbled across something I have been looking for for a long time. A forum aimed at people who are Deaf or HOH.

There are other of course. But often they focus on only hearing aids, or only parents with small children.

But this one could be really great. If people start posting.

How could it be that there are not other people looking for the social outlet of talking to, sharing frustrations with and encouragement that could be found in a community like this?

The forum is http://www.outerdialog.com/ . There is also a Wednesday night chat offered a la 1999, as a large room of people responding randomly to several different conversations.

In theory, there is a topic of discussion each week. Sometimes we get near that topic, but mostly its like a book club. We're there for everything but the book. And thats fine. It appears that most people who show up are looking for something like I am- a social group that understands the everyday frustrations with hearing- or lack there of.

So pass the word. I need this. And probably a lot of other people do too.

cabin

We had a lovely trip.
the aspens are starting to change in the high country, the nights are cool and the days are sunny and breezy.

I believe we have started a new tradition. Campfire Curry. No one is skilled enough to actually cook it over the fire, but it was a perfect, round the fire dinner.

Apparently it is also hunting season, as shots were heard while hiking.

i don't have any really great stories, but we had a good time, the weather was beautiful and that is all i can ask for.

Oregon Trail: The Musical- update

we mentioned this a couple weeks ago, and had some enthusiasm. we are aware that someone has it on youtube already, but we think we can do better.
beyond some enthusiasm, nothing much has happened on the project. unless Tim is secretly writing songs when I'm not around so he doesn't have to hear my helpful lyrics.
i have pretty much been forbidden to write lyrics.
So that is where it stands. i would really like to see this project actually happen. it could be fun and creative. and we had a blast helping Adam make is Dr. Horrible Henchman application.

ouch, my kidney

well, really Her kidney.


a friend of a friend who we have met on numerous occasions took a spill while out mountain biking Wednesday. She hurt Her kidney and had internal bleeding. She hopes to be out of the hospital soon, but doesn't have health insurance and cant return to work for a while. Below is the official write up from the Colorado Mountain Bike Association.

Help Nancy Kelly!

Nancy Kelly, Founder of the Dirt Divas and COMBA Board of Directors member, sustained an injury to her kidney while leading a Dirt Diva's ride at Lair o'the Bear on Wednesday July 22nd. She is currently in Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge while doctors monitor internal bleeding that resulted from the trauma. Luckily, Nancy's condition is improving rapidly and she hopes to be back home soon. Please send her your love and healing thoughts.

Nancy is a cornerstone of the local riding community. Through her work with the Dirt Diva's, COMBA, and local shops, she has introduced hundreds of women to the sport of mountain biking. Unfortunately, helping your community does not always come with large financial rewards -- or even health insurance. Nancy's stay in the hospital will hopefully be short, but she has already amassed a large amount of medical expenses for testing and hospital stay.

Join us in coming together as a community to help one of our own. While Nancy is resting and healing her body, we can help her heal the financial wound by contributing using the secure button below. Thank you!

If you prefer you may send checks to help Nancy with her medical expenses to:

ATTN: Nancy Kelly Medical Fund
COMBA
PO Box 280415
Lakewood, CO 80228-0415

CAMPING 2010

Camping was successful. we managed to only have adventures that we wanted to have.

i only took 1 picture. mainly i decided that the multitude of photos i took last year were good enough.
we ended up with 8 people the first night and 6 the second.
the campground was packed, but we were able to get a section on the far end, that worked out rather nicely.
Tim went on a 16 mile hike with our 2 friends in the army to find a waterfall. Boog was also sick so he and i did a more leisurely 3 mile version on the hike.
the weather was beautiful and the company grand.

cant wait for our next trip.

it wouldent be a blog post if it wasnt about the weekend.

i can barely sit up on my own this morning. sooo tired.

got something like 140 plants planted this weekend- and i didn't even weed the back garden or get seeds in. or mow the lawn.

i did get the car washed, waxed and cleaned out.
we did help tim's dad w/ mulch
watched some fun movies [leagaly blond, Sherlock holmes, princes diaries & julie/julia
went out for drinks with friends
went to a high school graduation. [congrats to the grads this yr.: michelle, molly, medora, cecil and amy.]
and some how didn't sleep nearly enough.

also, i don't blog about the week much because i am afraid that it would end up an endless tirade about my job. my job is alright. it could certainly be worse. it could be better. but its easy to start bitching and never stop. people are nuts [in a bad way], and i try to not let it completely dominate my life.

a non weekend update.

recently, it seems, i only update with a run down of the weekend. mostly, i think this is related to the fact that our week is fairly scheduled.
most of the time things are good.
Tuesdays are game night and banjo lessons.
Wednesdays are kickball
and Monday and Thursdays are figuring out groceries or what ever.

in kickball this week, it was theme night. we went as ninja turtles and lost to the care bares. clearly the Care Bear Stare really does trump all.

Tuesday we hosted D&D and had mac n' cheese.

we also started watching season 1 of Mad Men. apparently Angel's son is just an asshole- or at least no one will cast him as anything else.

tomorrow i am headed to the high school graduation of a childhood friend. she's headed to CU at Co. Springs in the fall.

now, hopefully the meeting that was supposed to happen in my office an hour ago, will happen soon, so i can go home.

a weekend not full of bad movies

we only watched 2 movies this weekend. and only one of them fell into the "bad" category.

Friday:
kokoro
shopping
Iron Man 2 w/ Wolvie [who was sad and without power at home.]
- the movie was enjoyable, but since i don't remember a thing about the previous one, I'm not really comparing.

Saturday:
6:30 am, depart for Ft. Fun
8am graduation at Moby
11am Lunch at Chili's
1pm Graduation party [different friend]
3pm head for home
4pm nap
4:30 head for babysitting and birthday dinner
5:02 toes licked by dog
6pm consume cake that resembled a bleeding cat head
7pm Movie time.
- we watched Sherlock "low budget,not to be confused w/ the blockbuster hit" Holmes. that featured a dinosaur and a dragon. this fine piec of film making was brought to us by the same people who did Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus."
11pm. bed.

Sunday:
sleep.
plant shopping
running errands
gardening
sunburn
more gardening
dinner
bonfire.

weekend complete.

weekend report

Friday:
we decided to give our latest technological advancement a more through testing. For his birthday, Tim received a package surround sound/receiver/blue ray player. Being that friday was gloriously gloomy, it twas the perfect night for movies. the receiver also has an internet connection, so we can stream movies direct from blockbuster or netflix.
What we learned:
netflix is cheaper.
Not all movies can be downloaded.
movies downloaded do not currently have captioning available- but they are working on that.
the reason for our nice TV set up is because going to the movies is no longer enjoyable. i love to go, but the experience is always bad- for both of us. so now we get movies from the library, and it looks like the $9.99 netflix will be added to our entertainment budget.

Saturday:
Most of our day was spent with Katie. after a very long while spent in the Target photo album section, we had not quite free Chipotle, took a nap and did puzzles.
then we headed to a birthday party that was quite wonderfully designed around games and a taco bar. [boccie, apples to apples, hink pink and blockus [sp?]]

Sunday:
Despite quite a few drinks on saturday night, i felt remarkably well. cleaned house [damn shedding cats], went to Lowes, Tim re-arranged and wired up the surround sound, so that the cats will be less likely to eat the wires, i went to a roller derby scrimmage, got the record player up and working [yea!!!!!!!!1111111omgOne].

pretty good weekend, all in all.
this week starts off good with Tim back on his previous work schedule of 7 - 4, which means: more walks, more writing time, easier dinner coordinating and so forth.

peeps

tonight is the Peep roasting party.

i showed Tim a picture of BBQ-ed peeps.
Tim told some people about the idea.
people started hounding us to host a peep party.

tonight. 7pm. our place.
12 boxes of peeps
20 people
and 4 Christmas trees to burn.

hope the cops don't come.

crazy weekend

Went kind of like this: bought movies at a closing Blockbuster, dinner- only 1 glass of wine, did some house work, bought a fancy new hair dryer, got stuff to fix the chair, helped with a move, watched Katie, got new phones, went to an Absinthe party, cleaned, went to a movie watching party, got lost leaving Evergreen and then it was Monday.

Pretty excited about the new phones. i didnt get the one i have been lusting after, but I got one that i like, making a compromise of plan price. I think it will be fine. the new phones, in general, do so much more than my phone from 5 years ago. [that until last weekend worked perfect, but then the camera function stopped working.] Tim got a military grade phone that does cool science nerd stuff like, telling you the moon phase and what the temperature is right where you are standing. it's supposed to be indestructible- at least as far as phones go. So now we are on a Family Plan, together and i we can text more and i can access e-mail. WOOO.

The Absinthe party was fun, though i was a bit exhausted after the 3 hr phone buying ordeal. We went to a friends house- the same friend who turned us on to Absinthe originally- for a tasting and general merryment. Turnes out we brought the only bottle containing Wormwood, and quite a large dent was put in it.

Due to the Blockebuster near us closing, we are now the proud owners of Ninja Turtles II & III, Flight of the Concords Season 2, Milo and Otis and Notting Hill.

Yesterday we watched: Soylent Green, Akima [? or something like that] and Children of Men.

Spring and things

OMG OMG!! SPRING IS COMING!
Spring is my second favorite only to Fall.

I find spring to be terribly romantic. Everything is new and beautiful and green. I love watching new little plants push up out of the ground.
Its been 10 years since I was in London in the spring, and I desperately wish to go back and share my favorite city with Tim.
It's been 3 years since Tim and I went to Chengdu, China. Where I decided I was absolutely head over heals in love, and would have married him then and there on top of a mountain. Incidentally we have a forever lock on a chain along the path to the top of a Taoist mountain, with our initials engraved and the date.

Valentines Day is coming up. I have to say, I enjoy this holiday. For me it marks the start of spring. I also think of it a bit like Thanksgiving. I like to think of all the things and all the people I love and why.
I know almost everyone dislikes this holiday, saying "It's only for a select few" or "I don't need to be told to be romantic one day of the year."* Maybe not, but I think it is fun to have that day dedicated to Love. No one is saying you cant do romantic things the rest of the year.
Do most people expect too much out of Valentines Day? Yes probably. I know deep down that I don't need or want the diamond tennis bracelet, but good god in the days surrounding this holiday i sure as hell do.
Have fun, think of all the people and things you love and cherish and don't take it all so seriously.


* I know some girls who were talking about their Valentines plans over a month ago. When i commented that they seemed excited about it [they both have boyfriends this year], they replied in unison what a shitty holiday it was and so forth. Excuse me, I'm not the one that has plans, knows the days of the week, or what my work schedule for that weekend is before the New Year.

whear the decade went

i admit, my spelling has not improved. but here is a run down of things that happened in the last 10 years.

2000: i got my drivers licensed 3 weeks before y2k. went to London. LOVED IT.
2001: met my now husband and had my first "real relationship"- not w/ my husband. totaled first car.
2002: graduated from high school, started college. watched that relationship fall apart.
2003: started dating a really good guy. hated college.
2004: hated college and roommate. went to classic toga party.
2005: put together 15 piece fashion show group in school.
2006: internship, and hiring at RMCC. graduated college. broke up with boyfriend. got a motorcycle licensed and Vespa GT2000. started dating again. [i really never intended to move between relationships as fast as i did.] Tim got Ozzy
2007: Went to china w/ BF and friend. got engaged. went to Spain w/ friend for a week. totaled second car. got married. went to NYC for new years eve. Took over care of Falkor
2008: bought a house. went to new york for a wedding. I got Kabuki and Prof. Cheeto
2009: started playing roller derby. Finally moved up at work to be Designer of the children's line. quit roller derby. Lost Ozzy. Went to Pittsburgh. went to Seattle. went to Las Vegas.

we entered 2010 w/ a party and a lazy day watching movies. Bring on the new year!

a pertty darn good month so far.

I've been in a bitchy mood lately. I'm blaming it on hormones.
But really it has been a pretty great month.

I went to my department holiday lunch at the Chop House.
We saw a bunch of family in Seattle over Thanksgiving.
I went to "birthday breakfast" with December birthdays at work.
We went to Vegas [for work] for my birthday [kind of].
We had a great dinner out at Olivea with my parents.
I got a new purse, a new camera, a light up lawn flamingo and a steam mop.
we went to Tim's company holiday party and play a few terrible rounds of pool and came home w/ some chocolate.
We washed our cats.
We bought a Christmas tree.
I had a great weekend at home with the Mr.
I had a department lunch w/ one of our main contractors.
I got 6 Omaha steaks from the same contractor- these will be Christmas Eve dinner for/with our parents.
I had my company holiday party- a catered lunch and raffle prize drawing.
We had dinner a couple different times w/ various friends- which included saying good bye to some friends moving to Taiwan.
In Theory i now have a record player.
i bought a giant red bow to go on a Christmas gift.
i am excited to have some fun Christmas surprises up my sleeve.

Next up:
we have a party w/ friends from out of town on Wednesday.
Thursday I'm watching White Christmas w/ my mom and mom in law.
we are having dinner w/ our parents.
we are having Christmas morning w/ my folks, and Christmas afternoon w/ Tim's- maybe a movie?
Tim's sister is visiting, and she has planned a fun Christmas dinner for the day after.
We are going to the Khan exhibit at the History museum.
We are hosting a big ol' New Years Eve bash.

woooooooooo!

I am and we are truly blessed. I am so glad we can spend this time w/ our family and friends.

I love you. xoxxo

i'm deaf, not blind

just because i don't hear the conversation, doesn't mean i don't know whats going on.
I'm sorry, but there is a thing as being too polite. it involves never having an opinion and being afraid of your opinion. it often leads to lack of personality and wishy washyness.
i cant stand this. its fine if you truly don't care what movie we see or where we go to lunch, but then i don't want to hear later that you had already seen it, or wish we had eaten somewhere else.
i swear, some times i feel like i am in middle school again. everyone's in a clique, and I'm not in any of them. we are all friendly to one another- more or less, but i am never actually part of the group. always just 3 steps to the left.

it continues to surprise me how much people avoid reviling anything about them selves. they are afraid to have a favorite food or talk about what they did over the weekend. .. and no one ever wants to take the time to really talk, about anything.

i find that i am often too girly, or not girly enough.

and i know its stupid. and i know it really doesn't matter. but it all drives me nuts just the same.

weekend review

had a really good weekend with Tim. It was good to be home.

Friday night we went to his company Christmas party, where everyone drank too much, the billiards were free and we got chocolate out of the white elephant exchange.

Saturday we cleaned and ran errands. the house hadn't been thoroughly cleaned since before we left for Seattle and the cats did their best to shed as much as possible. We finished our Christmas shopping- the mall was busy but not crazy and i bought my self a steam mop for my birthday. WOO.

Sunday I moped. [it was wonderful] and then we went tree shopping. Watched Muppet Christmas Carol started baking pumpkin, washed the cats and went to a friends house for Hot Pot dinner.

it may not sound like much, but it was a really great weekend at home with the Mr.

list

i keep meaning to blog but i don't have any thing terribly interesting to say.

we bought a new couch. the first in furniture purchases as adults. and its new.
we found a cat at pets mart that i really really want to adopt, but we wont.
we bout a new tooth brush.
we got a nasty computer virus that has resulted in the recent install of windows 7.
we went to a birthday dinner that was a continuation of attempting but rarely meeting new people while reconnection w/ people we know and didn't know other friends also know.
we went to the zoo for the busiest free day EVER.
we found out there are more car repairs to be had in the somewhat distant future.
i am starting to feel crappy again and wish we could get to the root of these chronic sinus infections.
we will be watching RMRG in their first nationals tournament. [they play Huston today at 3:15 Mountain Standard Time- see them live on DNN.COM]
we get to see our friend Mary from Pittsburgh who is in town for a programmers convention of something- which will result in tacos and the ChildsPlay fundraiser.
we are headed to Seattle for thanksgiving week- and are super excited about it.
we are then headed to Las Vegas for work and my birthday. and I am super excited about it.
we need to clean up the Halloween stuff and get the jack-o-lanterns off the front porch.
i found boots and a scarf at old navy yesterday that i love... also a shirt at gap....
i admit i love black and red buffalo check
i am excited about the holidays. i do really love them.
if it snows this weekend i am watching White Christmas.
i need to take movies back to the library.
i road my scooter yesterday. i did not ride nearly enough this year. i am sad about that.
i found a bunch of holes in my sweater this morning after i got to work.
prof. cheeto cat put holes in my new shirt last night.
our friend had a WarHammer cake for his birthday. it rocked.
i really hope that metallic printing cost the same as the regular colors.
thank god for surf shops and brands. makes it easier to work on Summer.
i need to tell Christine that i will buy a top hat from her.
i wonder if i should take my galoshes to Seattle. I've never seen it rain there- always sunny and dry.
i wonder what i should have for lunch.... mmmmmmmm lunch....

pittsburgh take 2.

ok, i tried to post this a few days ago and Firefox kept crashing. so i will try again.

Pittsburgh! Most of it was closed for the G20, so we saw an awful lot of nice military personnel and blocked off exit ramps. thank god for GPS.
some how i only took one photos, and it was our detour to Ohio, because we didn't have money for the toll roads.

we went to the andy warhol museum- which was awesome! very well put together.
we also went to the art museum/ natural history museum. where we saw the largets remaining collection of plaster molds from ancient churches and roman busts and so forth [circa 1900]. and a wonderful exhibit on palm springs architecture from the 60s.

the wedding was a blast. tim and i actually danced. i think it helped that we were sure that we weren't any worse than the bride.

in other news my mom made me a new hat. its funny. i like it.

yes, she can knit. the colors are wonky because she was trying to make it gradient, and it didn't go so well. oh well, i like it.

i had 3 other things to blog about, but i waited too long and now i don't remember.

moan

some days you cant win. and some days those days get to you more than others. i hate when those days get to me. my head says "wtf does it matter? its fine. no worries." but my heart is sure we are do for some angsty self pity of some kind.

i have also realized that i am sad i spend little time in coffee shops anymore. i love hanging out at the coffee shop after school/work and chatting or reading or planning. its like what we do at home, only in a public place. the theory here is that people i don't often see could choose to join us to chat. some people are easier to lose track of than others.

i miss riding around in the car with friends. radio, going somewhere. or no where. just hanging out. why do Tim and i have to plan EVERYTHING.