January 30, 2009

The phrase that's been running through my head today is, "I think my head is going to explode." It's very descriptive.

I started out today with a run and my strength training. Then Hannah came over for her 21 22 month pictures. It did not go well.

For some reason, whenever Hannah got near the backdrop she freaked out and started crying. I have no idea why.



Eventually I made enough monkey noises to distract her and I got a few decent ones. But I didn't get nearly the variety I usually do, she cried every time I tried to move her. But I didn't take it too personally, I have done at least 50 session where this didn't happen.



Ariel had a pretty boring day. She worked out with me, and took a walk outside with Grandpa when Hannah was here. Then we showered, picked up Adam and went to the grocery store. Friday at lunch is a good time to visit, there are lots of cheese samples. The kids liked almost everything, though I don't think they would try the stilton combo again. There was also roasted red pepper hummus, which Ariel did not like.

We came home and had lunch and our regularly scheduled bickering. They got it all out during lunch and they played together so well in the afternoon that I let them play too long. I was working on a silent auction gift certificate. Yes, you could bid on this at next weekend's JCC Reflections party. That is, if you are cool enough to be there. I'll be cool enough, with my date Ellen. Jeremy was pretty horrified at the idea of the party, I'm still not sure if it was Cocktail Attire or Room Full of Jews that got him.



I didn't put Ariel down until 2:30 and she was pretty wound up by then. But she did go to sleep pretty quickly.

January 29, 2009

Today was a pretty average Thursday. I did get up for my 6:30 swim workout. There is no part of the morning that is easy, from the time the alarm goes off. Even when I was driving I was thinking, "Holy Cow, I do not feel like doing this." But about 40 minutes into the workout, I was glad I was there. Even though my group now swims in the outdoor pool and the air temperature was about 22 degs this morning.

I got home and Ariel and I ate breakfast, then showered. Next, we went to Pet Smart to by crickets for Adam's class' cricket eating animals. I think that's some sort of lizard and maybe the frogs, but I'm not really sure. We also looked at the animals, Ariel like the birds and the turtles best.

Next we hopped next door to get new snowboard bindings. I'm 90% sure I'm finally getting my Craig's list deal that I found before Christmas. I've had a had time connecting with this girl, but it things go well tomorrow I'll be getting a $600 board for $175. I had to get new bindings because her board has women's smalls and I need women's large or - what I ended up getting - men's medium. Because yeah, normal people who are 5'3" don't were MENS size 8 snowboard boots. And if the deal doesn't happen, I can return the bindings.

We had one more stop at the grocery store to buy dinner before picking up Adam. We came home and had mac & cheese for lunch. Ariel went down for an early nap because she and Adam wouldn't stop fighting. Adam made her cry because he told her she couldn't have lunch. Why he would say that and why she would believe him, I don't know. Then they spent much of lunch yelling at each other, "Don't look at me!" Which is super fun since they sit on opposite sides of the table.

Ariel finally took a nap and I put a movie on for Adam, then I tried my new bike out on the rollers. Crissy asked for pictures, so here you go:




The main colors - dark blue, light blue and clear paint over carbon fiber:



A better look at the carbon fiber stripes. That's how the metal is, it's like fabric. And the feminine touch of cursive writing:



And my new speedplay pedals that I COULD NOT figure out. They are much different than my speedplay frogs and I bet it took me 15 minutes to get clipped in.



I also have new road bike shoes, which I think I need to exchange. When I was measured at the shop, my right foot is nearly a size bigger than my left. Could I get any freakier? My right toe was touching the end and I think that will become a problem with rides over an hour.

Becky showed up around 3:30 while Ariel was still napping.

January 28, 2009

First, a word about Alex's appointment yesterday at the Failure to Thrive clinic at Children's hospital. I wasn't sure if we would get any use out of it, but since we had to wait 3 months to get in I thought we should see what they had to say. One difficult part of it was they asked me on Thursday to keep a food diary. On Friday Alex had school and then the International Festival, Saturday was ski school and Sunday was his birthday party. It wasn't a very average time, and I didn't know what he was eating half the time anyway.

Alex's appointment was at 8:30 and I left at 7:20 thinking I allowed enough time for traffic for a normally 40 minute drive. Not so. Traffic was BAD. And my new GPS told me it was bad everywhere. I did try taking Sheridan to I-70 to avoid I-270, but I don't think it matter. At 8:20 I was at the I-70/I-25 junction not moving so I called the office and they okayed a late arrival. I think we actually checked in at 9:30. At that point I realized that I did indeed need to make plans for Ellen to pick up Adam from school, but my cell phone battery died because GPS really uses up the juice. And here's a mini-rant about modern technology. I don't memorize phone numbers anymore. I finally learned Jeremy's cell, after about 3 years. And it's a good thing I knew his number because I called him about Adam and told him he had to figure it out. And he did get a hold Ellen and that all worked out.

And Alex's appointment was better than I expected. The doctor thought that Alex was doing well, even though he weighed in at 38 lbs. He thought that Alex had a set back between 12-24 months that he never recovered from, but he's been following a good growth curve since age 2. He liked the supplements Alex is taking, especially the zinc. Apparently meat is a good source and only recently have there been studies showing how important it is. The doctor's only suggestion was that we have a more regular snack schedule, so Alex is to come home from school and eat before he disapears into his room to play with legos. I made follow-up appointments with both the failure to thrive clinic and endrocronolgy for the summer but I doubt anything will come of those. On one hand it's nice to know there's nothing wrong with Alex, but on the other it would be nice if he was of a more average size. Most kids his age are around 50 lbs and over 48" - they could ride all the rides at Lego Land.

And now onto today. I barely saw Ariel today. I took her to school, then had my first physical therapy session in two weeks. I'm doing pretty well, though my knees get very tired when I snowboard. I did my run on their treadmill, then picked up Adam from school. We had a fun lunch date at the credit union while me and Jeremy refinanced our house. We got a new loan at 4.875% (down from 6.25%), so that's pretty exciting.

After the meeting, Becky let me know that she would pick up Ariel, since Ariel had been a bit sick with a cold in the morning. So Adam and I hit the bike shop and I bought my new bike. I went with the Specialized, and also bought new pedals and shoes. Adam tried every trick in the book to get me to buy *him* a new bike too but I didn't give in. He liked riding around the store, even when he bumped into things and eventually fell down.

January 26, 2009

Crazy weekend recap: Friday night we went to Alex's school for the International Festival. It was much like last year, CRAZY. Only this year there was also a marimba band. Because it ran late and I-70 looked sketchy, we did not go up to Breckenridge that night. Instead we woke up at 5:00am and drove up in the morning. That did not make Jeremy happy. Luckily, there was awesome snow and I was excited because Burton had a demo tent and I was able to take out a very nice board for the whole day.

The boys had another good day at ski school. Alex did some real blues and a blue/black. I told the instructor it was his birthday so the kids sang to him and then threw snowballs.



And I guess Adam had a good day too. He's still ripping it up on the magic carpet, but I haven't seen him ski yet. We did actually try twice but we couldn't find him.



And after a full day of skiing, we drove home and got stuck in traffic. Jeremy *really* was not happy. I was fine, I slept a lot. So did Adam. We got home at 7:00, the drive took about 3 hours, including a spot before the tunnel where we just turned our engine off. I-70 is not our friend.

On Sunday, Alex had Sunday school and then his birthday party. Ellen did a huge favor and drove down to the museum and helped chaperone 7 boys. I did not research carefully and had planned the party on member appreciation day where tickets were BOGO. I have never seen it so busy, we could barely find parking. I didn't even know there was a parking garage until yesterday.

And all those cars were full of people and the museum was very busy. But we didn't loose any kids, not even for a second. We didn't have much time for the museum, but Alex got to see a few of his favorite dead animal exhibits.



That crazy double waddled casowary:



Next, we had cake and snacks in the food court. And yes, I was a huge sucker and made another Wall E cake.






And our last adventure was seeing the IMAX movie Africa: The Serengeti, which was much more graphic than I had expected. There are lions on the Serengeti, and they sure like to eat. They also like to mate, luckily in fairly tall grass. The kids seemed fine with it all though.

Happy Birthday, Alex!

And onto today.... I got Ariel to school and then had a super fun dentist appointment. After that, I did a run, of which I'm very proud - it was only 13 degs and snowing. It was a long/slow run and I walked a minute every 10 but it felt good. Durning one of those walks I took a nice picture of the creek but my dang camera phone didn't save it. After that I got Adam and we did a quick grocery store run, then we got Ariel.

Ariel had a good day, but her teacher said she was very snuggly. Not a bad thing, she just usually isn't. And she didn't seem to have touched most of her lunch. We lost her boots on the way out, which added 15 minutes of hunting to pick up. I swear, between her and Alex and Jeremy (who had lost his cell phone for the weekend) I feel like I live on the Island of Lost Things.

When we got home at 1:45, Ariel went down for a nap easily and slept all the way to pick up at 4:00.

January 23, 2009

I went running this morning, and it was actually promising for the first time in a while. I timed another 5k and came in at 32:30 (5.7 mph). Maybe I *can* actually improve. I came home and did 45 minutes of strength training on top of that, then Ariel and I showered.

And then, Lilianna came over for a playdate. Here's one of the more peaceable moments when they weren't fighting over any toys:





And of course, Aiden came too. He's 3 months old now:



The playdate lasted until it was time to get Adam. Then we went to the store and sampled a lot of cheese. Really good cheese. The kids wanted apples and cheese for lunch, but didn't eat much. Ariel went down for a nap around 1:00, woke up at 3:30.

And the house is more trashed today than it's been in a very long time.

January 22, 2009

If the president can have 10 inaugural balls, surely my 7 year old is entitled to a extra birthday party or two, right?

Alex's real birthday is not until Saturday, but with our busy social schedule this weekend we decided to have his family party tonight. This morning, I did my 6:30 swim workout* and then pretty much spent the entire day making a Wall E cake. I remember starting the cake at 9:00 and I was done with the clean up by 4:00. Oh sure, at times I ate a few meals, watched Ariel throw a tantrum over having a small accident and having to wear Adam's panties, picking up Adam from school... But yeah, for most of the day, it was Wall E and me.



And yes, at some point in the day I noticed the irony in making the cake and ordering out for pizza.

Alex was pleased enough with the cake:



Adam and Alex chose to sing, "Happy Birthday to Wall E..."



And the hit of the night, the new Power Miners lego kit:



As good as it gets:



Jeremy had the camera and thought it would be fun to take a picture of Ariel crying:



Hannah Banana was also here:



Adam was there too:



And of course Alex had to put the new lego set together RIGHT NOW. And so it's 7:55pm and he's still at it and I don't think we are going to read books.



All and all, a nice party. Alex's other gifts were Star Wars: A New Hope on DVD so we can take it in the car, and the Indiana Jones lego computer game so Jeremy will still play with Alex. They've had the Star Wars games for a year and Jeremy is D. O. N. E. with them.

Update: 8:05 and Alex is done. Unfortunately, Adam is done too, but in the over tired crying sort of way:

*And one annoyance about my swim this morning... Somehow I managed to jam my fingers on someone's head and I'm pretty sure it was her head in the wrong place. And it still hurts now to type. Wah.

January 21, 2009

There's really no such thing as a free lunch, or in this case, a free bike fit. At my bike fit yesterday, I confirmed what I have long suspected, my current bike is too big. And not in a fixable way, the top tube is too long, so my handle bars are too far away. I compensate by riding 2" in front of my hoods (where my fingers can't reach the brake quickly) or by riding in my hoods but having my back out of position. I've been talking about a new bike since last summer, but never seriously looked. So, now I'm beginning the search more seriously.

The two bikes I'm looking at right now are a Trek Madone 4.5 and a Specialized Ruby Elite, both of which have put a lot of research into women specific designs. I think that WSD was just starting the 10-12 years ago that I bought my current bike. And the good news is, bikes are a bit like computers apparently, as the technology progresses you get more for the same price. So for the same price that I got my aluminum Cannondale, I can now upgrade to carbon fiber. I just want to make sure that I nail the fit this time, and get the best gearing for the riding I do.

So today, after I took Ariel to school and did a quick grocery store run (at a different grocery store, how I hate that! They never have exactly the same brand/size/whatever!) I went to U Bikes with my bike gear and pedels and tried out a bunch of bikes (and as another aside, U Bikes is very trusting, they let me take the bikes out for 15 minutes without any collateral or ID. I asked if they needed anything, and he just asked if I was planning on stealing the bike). I rode the two above, and then for fun rode the Madone 4.7 which is a $1000 more for full Ultegra. And sure, it's nicer, but $1000 nicer? That's hard to quantify. Unless you throw in the new snowboard I've also been trying to get this year. So I left without buying anything. Tonight I need to go over with Jeremy all the gearing to see how that's changing from what I currently have (though all the bikes, including the compact double could do the 4th street hill that I used as my testing spot). I am still looking at the triple chain ring, but I don't think I'll have that massive granny gear that I currently do. So yeah, I might have a new bike soon, like a birthday present or something.

And back to Ariel, Ellen brought her home again today, which is very nice. I was passed out on the couch. I seem to have catch mom's cold and am not sleeping well this week. Ellen wanted me to blog that she gave Ariel a granola bar, which Ariel called an Orge Bar. I can kinda see that. Anyway, Ariel went down for a nap pretty soon after she got home and I didn't hear from her again until her pick up.

I'm on the interweb!

I didn't know this little video existed until Wednesday night. I'm the one in the white ball cap and white shirt:

January 15, 2009

Today's bonus blog subject: Composting



Yes, we are now a composting family, thanks to the People's Republic of Boulder. See, in our socialist little town, you don't get to choose your trash service. There's one main provider and they give you the choice of what size trash can you would like to pay for. Oh, I suppose you don't have to use the recycling or composting bins, but you are still paying for them. (And really, I suppose you don't have to have trash service at all, you could store it in your yard and haul it to the dump yourself quarterly.) Anyway, last December we finally got a composting bin. The City of Boulder had been debating the service for quite a while because they were worried about animals. Question: Is it that animals are too lazy to sort through the trash to get to the food? Beause that's where most of my compost that wasn't going down the disposal was going anyway.

Anyway, I am very glad for this new service. I've wanted to start composting for the last few years, but could never get past the getting a bin part (and I think there's more after that). And now we are all set. My goal (because you know how I like goals) is to have one paper grocery sack of trash a week. Where the composting is really going to matter is yard waste - we can do lawn clippings and leaves and small branch bundles too (no Dad, you may not drop off your lawn clippings at my house). And perhaps a subject for another day - how creepy is streamlined recycling - all paper and cans and plastic just mingling together?

And onto today's post. This morning I had my last fall swim workout and next week the winter plan starts. I'll probably still be swimming Thursday mornings for the next few months. I had a good workout today, I did a 1000 yd time trial. I haven't swam 1000 yds in a pool since before my last tri last summer, but today I was able to do it, and do it fast. My coach said my bike and swim are fine now, WORK ON THE RUN. Argh.

When I got home, Ariel and I ate breakfast (she does not care for Rice Crispies or toast) and then we took a shower. Ariel also got a little pedicure and french braids. After we were all prettied up, I went out to buy a bike seat. Last night was the Tri Babes Season Opener party and I won a bike fit in the raffle. I haven't had a bike fit since I bought the bike 10 years ago, so I was pretty excited. Also, it gave me an excuse to replace my old saddle, which has been held together with duct tape for 2 years.

Last night I asked Jeremy for help (ok, I asked him to buy me a saddle) and he told me to take care of it myself. So I went to Colorado Multi-Sport and bought the one they recommended. And was extremely surprised by the price tag of $140. I called Jeremy after the fact and asked how much one *should* spend and he said under $100 so I need to take it back. But it just goes to show Jeremy should have done it for me in the first place. Just like he needs to deal with all my computer tech issues. (PS - Jeremy is now on the computer and has found me many nice saddles for under $75. Takes a little spending to shock him into action).

Next, Ariel and I went to the bird store for more feed and Ariel charmed the employees with her, "Bright eyes and charming manner." Well, she was very well behaved. And then we didn't have quiet enough time to go home so we went to Starbucks instead. Ariel got a hot chocolate:



The gratuitous bandaid above the eye is for the Adam-induced cut below it. Adam is going to spend the next 14 years in his room if he can't learn to keep his hands to himself.

Then we picked up Adam and came home for lunch. Ariel did not eat much (belly full of milk???) Ariel went down for a nap around 1:00 and woke up around 3:00. I went in to get her but she told me she was waiting for Mommy. After another 15 minutes, she was ready to accept me. She joined Alex and Adam in listening to some Disney books on CD:



The books didn't hold her interest as long as the boys, but she was distracted enough to let me clean up the kitchen.

Pick up at 4:00.

January 14, 2009

Typical Wednesday morning around here. I got Ariel to preschool with no drama, then did a 5k run, the longest distance I've ran since November. I put some effort into it (my average heart rate was 164) and my time was 34:45 (that's 5.4 mph, Becky). Guess it's back to the beginning. My new mantra is, "At least I don't hurt. At least I don't hurt." Next I went to Sniagrab to buy more toe and hand warmers and check out kids' jackets. I decided that the smaller broken-zipper jackets weren't worth saving, they were not as warm. I got Adam a Columbia jacket for $40 and Alex a new pair of snowpants for $15. Sadly, the warmers were not on sale. Next, I went to the tailor for Alex's jacket. It will be $30 to repair. He told me that YYK zippers are usually decent (especially the $40 ones he showed me). I was happy to see that's what's on Adam's new jacket. At that point, there wasn't quite enough time to go home, so I stopped at Joann's to buy buttons for the sweater I just finished knitting, then the yarn store to get more yarn for my next project. THEN it was time to pick up Adam.

When Adam and I got home, I did my strength workout, then cleaned up the kitchen. At 1:30, Ellen came home with Ariel, then cooked dinner for a friend with a broken wrist and me (benefiting from the use of my kitchen). Thank you thank you, Ellen, it is very nice to not have to cook. And, well, having to get take-out. Ariel and Mae played for about 1/2 an hour before I put Ariel down for a nap. Ariel protested quite loudly that she didn't need a nap, but she fell asleep pretty quickly.

And then, we had another early pick up at 3:35.

January 13, 2009

I just typed the subject date and realized that today would have been my maternal grandfather's 100th birthday. I always remember his birthday because one year he asked me the trick question - when will be the next time my birthday will fall on Friday the 13th. I thought really long and hard about that before I remembered my birthday is on the 5th. So happy 100th birthday, Grandpa.

Anyway, I meant to open today's blog about a pondering about our global economy. So in this day and age, one can buy an Asian-made child's winter coat on sale for about $35. But when said coat's zipper breaks, one has to take it to an American company and have an American repair it. For about $25-$35. And when you look deeper, you realize this phenomenon is not limited to children's outerwear, but just about all our material goods. It's almost always easier and/or cheaper to replace _____ than to have it fixed. And since I now own 3 broken coats, I'm going to bite the bullet and get at least two fixed. As soon as I figure out where to do that at.

And speaking of material goods, I finally figured out how to get pictures off my new phone by emailing them to myself through the text messaging feature. Yeah, I thought that was a bit complicated myself. But the good news is, they aren't automatically resized and look much better. Here's one from last week, Ariel in the remodeled grocery store bathroom waiting for Adam to pee:



And today started out on a sour note when Ariel emptied her entire bladder on my dining room floor, which thankfully isn't carpeted. I heard something spilling, *then* Ariel piped up with, "I have to go to the bathroom." Seriously, WTH? And it's not like she started and caught herself and finished in the bathroom, it was the whole enchilada.

The rest of the day was not much more exciting. I spent the morning planning Alex's birthday party and making invites while Ariel amused herself with the damn Hello Kitty chapstick. I even caught her applying it on Abby, "Look Dee-Dee, she likes it!"

Ellen surprised us by picking us up for Adam's swim class in Longmont. Ariel did pretty well for having to sit through an hour of swim lessons, except for the part where she had another accident. *After* I asked her at least 3 times if she needed to go potty.

We got home in time to pick up Alex from school and then Ariel went down for a nap. And I made evil Nutter Butters. Mmmmm... Nutter Butters.

January 12, 2009

So I'll cross one thing off of my winter break list by mentioning that Jeremy and I went skiing the week before Christmas while Grammie had the boys. It was a *lovely* 5 days sans kids, and the skiing wasn't bad either. We did a day with Sarah and Devon at Breckenridge, another day there by ourselves, and then my first days ever at Beaver Creek and Vail (we upgraded our passes this year to all 5 mountains). The Vail day should have been awesome, as they got 13" of new snow. But it was too much for me. I floundered. I fell. I had a tantrum and sent Jeremy off by himself. I had trouble reading maps and ended up on way too many flat catwalks (which are bad for snowboarders because they don't have poles to push along with). But all in all, a bad day skiing has to be better than a good day at the office, right? And PS - you get no sympathy for complaining, "There's too much snow!"

We took the boys up for the first time this season on Saturday. We spent the first day at Keystone, as we are big procrastonators and missed the Breckenridge ski school cut off date. First, a few things about Keystone - it is mostly on North facing slopes in a canyon and therefore the sun does not hit the mountain until approximately noon. That means it it COLD. We did our normal pre-ski routine at the car and that does not work for kids. By the time we took the bus and walked to ski school, Adam was freezing and hysterical. I took him into the school building to warm up and then all was good.

The boys had a good day, ie we didn't have to pick them up early because they were Sick/Sad. Actually, I think they both had goods days. Alex somehow ended up on the magic carpet for a while (which makes no sense to me) and Adam is somewhat turning and stopping this year.

Jeremy and I were kinda wishing were we back at Breck - convienently pictured behind Jeremy here:



Keystone's really not that bad, there were just a lot of people there and we had to deal with the injustice of lift lines. And also, ski school is 6 hours long, which is too long for me and Jeremy. When we ski, we take a hot chocolate break and a smashed PB&J lunch break and otherwise we go. We don't stop on the runs, we get right back on the lift (hopefully). But I think we will learn to deal. You don't get much sympathy complaining, "I had to ski too long!"

On Sunday, we took the kids over to Breck for an hour or so. I put Jeremy in charge of Adam. There's no magic carpet there (that's not ski school only) so rather than walk Adam up a small hill a hundred times, Jeremy took him up the lift. It took 45 minutes, but Adam got down with only a few small meltdowns. I took Alex down 5 runs, including 3 through the baby half pipe and one through Riparoo's Enchanted Forest, which kills me. I am not good in trees. I think Alex did great, and still do not see why he was on a magic carpet.

Here's Jeremy and Adam on their epic quest:



And Alex:



And today was the exact opposite of skiing. I spent all day really busy and ended up with not much to show for it.

Ariel arrived about 30 minutes late due to a surprised snow storm. It must have started snowing very late in the night and it snowed very hard. Most streets weren't plowed or graveled. I dropped Ariel off at school (10 minutes late) then went to physical therapy. The knee taping wasn't a magical as I hoped but nothing really still hurts except going down stairs so it could be worse. After my appointment I ran on their treadmill for 20 excrutiating minutes and did my strength workout. By the time I left, it was time to pick up Adam. Adam and I went directly the the grocery store, then directly to pick up Ariel. Ariel was wearing her backup clothes, she had an accident while playing outside in her snow pants. We got home and had more lunch, Ariel had some mac & cheese and tomato soup. Then she went down for a nap.

I also did a lot of chores, like laundry. When Ariel walked into my room and saw my stripped bed, she asked, "Dee-Dee, did you pee in your bed?" When I said no, she said, "Oh. Did Adam pee in your bed?" I also got our enchilada chile in the crockpot. It's no more than sauteed onions plus a lot of things in cans, but it was nice to have dinner waiting for us when we got home from Alex's 5:15 swim class.

And PSS - we saw the fox again today, twice. Once in our back yard and once running down a different street in our neighborhood.

January 9, 2009

Ariel arrived today at her normal 7:10 and I said hello to her before I left for my jog. And that would be a nice segue into my physical therapy update. So, I pretty much quit running for two weeks after the mid-November Panicking Poultry debacle. Then I started running just 1 mile a few times a week, then upgraded to 2. Over vacation, I didn't run when we were skiing, but I did a few runs in San Diego. I ran twice this week and while I'm slow, nothing is hurting. And believe me, that's a pretty HUGE improvement. At physical therapy on Wednesday, my only complaint was that my knees are sore, especially walking down starts. My PT experimented with holding my kneecap while I bent it and it helped, so we are going to try taping at my next appointment. I'm excited, I think we might be on to something! I need to keep pain free so I can do those 2 triathlons this summer that I already plopped down money on.

After my run, Ariel helped me stretch and do exercises while simultaneously applying enough Hello Kitty chapstick for the entire population of Boulder. During our breakfast, we put some peanuts out for the blue jays and then a fox surprised us!





He looked pretty interested in those jays, but didn't catch a snack in our yard. This is the second time in the 7 years we've lived here that I've seen one in our yard.

Next, Ariel and I showered and went to Lilianna's house for a playdate. The playdate went well, Ariel was a gracious guest and Lilianna (who you remember is only 2 1/2) was a mostly gracious host. I had plenty of quiet time to chat with Rachel and knit.

We went directly to pick up Adam, then a quick grocery store run before coming home and eating - you guessed it - mac & cheese for lunch.

Ariel and Adam played a bit (a game involving more copious amounts of Hello Kitty chapstick, is it disturbing that Adam kept asking if he was "so pretty now, Mommy?") then Ariel went down for a nap around 1.

It was a good afternoon for birds, though I didn't see any new ones. I saw another Mountain Chickadee and a Downy (or possibly Hairy) Woodpecker. We also got a flock of American Goldfinches today. I like this picture, it's like the one on the left is saying, "Hey, I'm here buddy, don't sit on me!"



Alex got home late from school today. Again. It seems that at least once a week he misplaces his jacket. Actually, one was lost for about 6 weeks. Alex is priming himself for a life of loosing all sorts of things like keys and cell phones. Just like his Daddy.

January 8, 2009

I didn't have anything on the calendar today and therefore we did not do anything. And I mean anything, I could have cleaned a bathroom or done some laundry or something. I did do a lot of interneting and txting. Now that's productivity at it's best.

Ariel amused herself pretty well this morning. She's a baby birder for sure. And see that hair tie? It was in my Christmas cracker. Not my style, but perfect for a 3 year old.



At 10:45 I finally got dressed and we went to the park. It was in the 50s with a strong breeze instead of a gale force wind. I played around with my new phone camera and I must say I'm disappointed. It is 3.2 mega pixels but it has more delay than anything I've ever used. And it's a bear to get off the phone (yes Ellen and Crissy, I did read the manual but IT WAS NO HELP. I figured it out ALL ON MY OWN), and they way I did it resizes in a weird way. But here you go:



Ariel spent most of the time going down the curly slide and babbling to everyone about pirates:



So my little pocket cameras are not obsolete after all.

We picked up Adam at school, then came back to the park for another half hour. Then we came home and had some mac & cheese for lunch. The kids played some more, then Ariel went down for a nap at 1:40 and fell asleep sometime before 2:30.

And in random bird news, we got 2 new backyard birds this week. On Tuesday we got American Goldfinches at the goldfinch feeder I got at the beginning of fall that's never been eaten out of. I put it up right after the Lesser Goldfinches migrated and was about to take it down until summer.



And this afternoon we got some European Starlings. They are junk birds like Grackles or Pigeons, but we've not had them before:



And did you know that some Robins don't migrate? We have a flock of about 20 that likes to visit the bird bath. I have a new heated one that's closer to the house (not by design but rather by extension cord length. 8' is not as long as it sounds.) and that should make for some better pictures!



While Ariel napped, the boys and I played Candy Land and Alex won the first game, then showed his lack of sportsmanship by quitting when he had to go back to Plumby when he was in the lead. And still, he's whining about that's not how he usually plays.

Somewhere in Boulder there's a loose diamond...

Ok, so bare with me, this is a rambling story. I supposed the very beginning of it was 12 years ago, when Jeremy (and I, but that's another story) bought my engagement ring from Tom Shane. Yes, THAT Tom Shane with the insentient radio ads. When you buy jewelry from Tom, it comes with a lifetime warranty, as long as you have the piece inspected every 6 months. Well, anyone who knows me can guess I didn't get my ring inspected much. In fact, in the last 12 years, I probably brought it in less that 5 times. But here's where we go on another bunny trail...

You may remember that 2 years ago, my BFF Crissy moved to Maryland. That happened around Christmas-time and in our distressed emotional state, we decided to buy matching BFF (NOT lesbian!) rings. We did look at mall stores first but ended up at Shane Co again. Sadly, they only had the stones (our birth stones) for one ring at the time. Since Crissy was moving, she got the first ring and I was to get mine when they had the stones back in stock. I did check up again with them in January but they were still out of stock and I didn't do anything more. When I was at Crissy's house this summer, she had the idea to make the ring a traveling ring ala The Traveling Pants. So I got to take the ring home with me. And come Christmas time, I decided I didn't want to give it back so I went to Shane Co to buy the second ring (and, FYI, the price of gold has gone up 40% in the last two years, but I digress). And when I was there, I got my wedding ring inspected for the first time since Crissy bought her ring, which you will note was longer than 6 months ago. They signed off on the ring, but said at my next 6 month visit I should plan to have the prongs re-done.

And now, fast forwand to the day before winter break. I was writing Grannie Shirley a letter (like the dutiful grand-daughter that I am) and I looked down and my diamond was GONE. After I had it inspected just 10 days prior. I immediately drove to the Shane Co and they hooked me up with a new diamond. I felt like the biggest fraud, loosing my diamond only 10 days after it was inspected, but it was no problem getting it replaced. Maybe it helped that it's only 1/3 a carat and I was a first time offender. But anyway you look at it, Shane Co was AWESOME and I'd recommend them to anyone, annoying commericals and all.

And the moral of this story is, make sure you get your jewelry inspected every 6 months, I know I will.

Oh, and I'm sure your curious now, here's the infamous Crissy ring:

The Boulder Fire

Living in the arid west, we are used to wildfires, at least in the more open parts of the state. But Boulder is also vulnerable, as was proved yesterday. The front range has been dealing with Chinook winds since Christmas, and yesterday they were strong enough to blow over a few power lines that started grass fires (which makes my rage over my knocked over bird feeder and patio table seem petty). The Olde Stage Fire was about 5 miles from my house the way the crow flies, but we were never in any danger.

Last night I looked out and saw the moon ringed in smoke-induced rainbows. It reminded me of an oil spill.



The wind died down today and the fires should be contained by this afternoon. It smells like a campfire today. Here's the Rocky's coverage.

January 7, 2009

Well, Howdy Folks and I am back. About a bazillion things happened in the last 3 weeks and I'm not going to even try to get it all down in one post. I have a list of topics next to the computer and I'll stick one in every once in a while. I will say we had a fabulous trip to San Diego. Pictures are forthcoming, but I do have the tiny issue that my 200 gig hard drive is full and I need to do something about that before I put on another 500 pictures. So we'll save that post for another day.

Working from the most recent Item of Interest, I upgraded myself to the 21-century yesterday and got a fancy phone that comes with a 2 year plan and all. No more $10 pay-as-you-go Target phone for me, sistah. It's the Verizon Dare and it has GPS and web browsing. 'Cause when you are on vacation and spend way too long looking for Taco Bell and you know there's a solution, it's hard to resist.

See, I can check my email ALL DAY LONG. But apparently not when driving.



And that's your random tidbit of today. On to Ariel... She walked in this morning without missing a beat. And immediately told me she was going to school. When I did drop her off at school, we saw the first of the new kids crying. There's a batch of 6 coming into her class that weren't yet 2 1/2 in September. Ariel is now the big cheese, which is probably a good thing for here since she hangs around Alex and Adam so much. While she was at school I used my precious free time to go to physical therapy, then do a 2 mile run and most of my strength routine. I picked up Adam and we had lunch and then I took a shower. By then it was nearly one, but no matter, Ellen volunteered to pick up Ariel today. And it was a very nice favor not to have to spend 45 minutes to do that.

Ellen reported that Ariel had a good day and was Amy's helper. And luckily she didn't have an accident because I forgot to tell you, Becky, that she doesn't have a spare outfit at school anymore. And no, I didn't check the backpack.

Ellen and I chatted for a bit and when Ariel and Adam got too noisy around 2:30, I put Ice Age on. We recently acquired Ice Age, like, 4 days ago when we were driving back from CA and the boys were sick of watching Wall-E over and over. (And yes, we did bring other movies too).

Ariel had an early pick up at 3:30 and I suspect that she would have had a better evening if she had taken a nap today.