Yesterday Glenn and I were invited to a dinner/meeting at Mimi's Restaurant in Colorado Springs by our financial planner, Doug. We've known Doug for years now and he takes care of our "little nest egg" (let me emphasize the word LITTLE) for our retirement! We meet him about once every year to go over things and he thought we would enjoy the speaker at this meeting since it was for retired people and people THINKING about retiring!
I'm always game to go to things like this - after all, any new information we can gather about retirement is a good thing! And Doug was right - the speaker was great and I jotted down all kinds of things I didn't know!
But two things in particular stood out - 1) Nursing homes - the cost - WOW - I had NO IDEA of the current price of being in a nursing home - and our spread sheet showed, along with the cost of inflation, what a month in a nursing home would cost in the next 10, 20 and 30 years!! It was downright scary! But what really shook me up, is that if you do NOT have private insurance to cover it, and you would want to go on Medicaid for the spouse that is in the nursing home, you would have to get your assets down to a bare minimum (which I understand) BUT, and this is a big BUT, the spouse left living in the house is ONLY allowed to keep a total of $109,650.00 to survive on the rest of her or his life!! THAT'S THE SCARY PART!
2) Do you have any idea what a trillion dollars are??? I was listening so intently at this point that I forgot to write down the national debt but Glenn thinks it was about $12 trillion or something like that but I DO remember that we are adding $1.4 trillion dollars per year to it - doesn't surprise me in the least! But the speaker asked if we could visulaize the trillion dollars and here's the example he gave us - if he would give me a $1 bill per second, how long would it take him to give me a trillion dollars???? Are you ready??? 32,000 YEARS!! Now that is hard to imagine!!
After hearing about all those things we SHOULD be thinking about at this point in our life, we were served a great meal! It was well worth the trip down the pass and yes, we're meeting with Doug next week to go over things ONCE AGAIN!! You can never do TOO much planning!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
FINALLY - A Weekend Off for Glenn!!
Glenn has been working non-stop since we got back from vacation on Feb. 16th - every day - every weekend - he was CERTAINLY due for a weekend off and finally got caught up enough on the granite that he could actually take Saturday and Sunday off - well, sort of........
Friday late afternoon a snowstorm hit ONCE AGAIN - we're getting used to this by now though!! When Glenn arrived home about 8:00, he reached in his pocket and set 2 packs of room keys on the island and asked if I wanted to go stay in a nice hotel for a night?? I didn't have to think about that for too long!! One of his contacts needed him to buff out a few marble squares in a couple of the bathrooms at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Co. Springs so gave him the keys and told him he could do them anytime in the next 3 days!
We called our friends, Martin and Joleen, and asked them to join us since they were to come over for dinner anyway on Sat. night!
Sat. morning though, we had water/sewer problems AGAIN!!! I'll sure be glad when this ground thaws so we can get to the root of this problem - so Glenn DID have to work Sat. morning to get that taken care of - but I scooped the decks and the cement so at least he didn't have to do that!
We met Jo and Martin at 2:00 and headed down the pass to the resort - it's a beautiful place as most of the rooms face the mountain and they have neat balconies where you can sit and look at the beautiful scenary! Of course, it's not all that pretty this time of year but who cares?
I made a layered taco dip to bring along with an ice chest with beer and wine coolers so we enjoyed just hanging out in the room, eating and drinking! Jo and I walked around the resort some and it certainly is a large, beautiful place! We headed to the Texas Roadhouse for a great meal and got dessert to go!
After returning to the resort, we donned our swimsuits and white robes (courtesy of the hotel) and headed to the hot tub, only to find it was jam packed - oh well - back to our rooms to make coffee and eat our dessert - a fun, fun evening!
Breakfast was at Village Inn the next morning and while Jo and Martin left to go home, we headed back to the resort so Glenn could buff out those floors - I walked down to the gift shop to get a mocha coffee (it was very good) and sat on the balcony and read! It didn't take him very long at all to finish up and we're hoping he gets to do another 40 rooms after they look at his work - maybe a few more nights at this place? We'll take that!!
Friday late afternoon a snowstorm hit ONCE AGAIN - we're getting used to this by now though!! When Glenn arrived home about 8:00, he reached in his pocket and set 2 packs of room keys on the island and asked if I wanted to go stay in a nice hotel for a night?? I didn't have to think about that for too long!! One of his contacts needed him to buff out a few marble squares in a couple of the bathrooms at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Co. Springs so gave him the keys and told him he could do them anytime in the next 3 days!
We called our friends, Martin and Joleen, and asked them to join us since they were to come over for dinner anyway on Sat. night!
Sat. morning though, we had water/sewer problems AGAIN!!! I'll sure be glad when this ground thaws so we can get to the root of this problem - so Glenn DID have to work Sat. morning to get that taken care of - but I scooped the decks and the cement so at least he didn't have to do that!
We met Jo and Martin at 2:00 and headed down the pass to the resort - it's a beautiful place as most of the rooms face the mountain and they have neat balconies where you can sit and look at the beautiful scenary! Of course, it's not all that pretty this time of year but who cares?
I made a layered taco dip to bring along with an ice chest with beer and wine coolers so we enjoyed just hanging out in the room, eating and drinking! Jo and I walked around the resort some and it certainly is a large, beautiful place! We headed to the Texas Roadhouse for a great meal and got dessert to go!
After returning to the resort, we donned our swimsuits and white robes (courtesy of the hotel) and headed to the hot tub, only to find it was jam packed - oh well - back to our rooms to make coffee and eat our dessert - a fun, fun evening!Breakfast was at Village Inn the next morning and while Jo and Martin left to go home, we headed back to the resort so Glenn could buff out those floors - I walked down to the gift shop to get a mocha coffee (it was very good) and sat on the balcony and read! It didn't take him very long at all to finish up and we're hoping he gets to do another 40 rooms after they look at his work - maybe a few more nights at this place? We'll take that!!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Fun Things To Do On A Snow Day!!
1) Sleep in
2) Have your husband cook you breakfast
3) Watch it snow and snow and snow
4) Scrapbook
5) Call your friend (who is working) and rub it in that you're home
6) Put dinner in the crockpot (see below)
7) Make yourself an awesome cup of special coffee
8) Make a peach crisp (see below)
9) Scrapbook
10) Get some fresh air by scooping the decks
11) Scrapbook
12) Have a massage pre-booked on that night and make sure the roads are clear so she can get up the driveway!
Did you gather the fact that I enjoyed my day off???? I did - it was wonderful!!
And I also have TWO recipes to share with you!! Both are new and were great!!
Cranberry Chicken
Chicken pieces (I used 4 breasts and 4 thighs)
1 can of cranberry sauce (whole cranberries)
1 16 oz catalina dressing
1 package dry onion soup mix
Mix all together in a crockpot and cook 4 to 6 hours!
I LOVE doing crockpot recipes but the problem is that most of the recipes only need to cook 6 hours or so - I'm gone for 9 1/2 hours each day- just doesn't work!! So I enjoy doing crockpot recipes on the weekend!! The above recipe is a variation of another recipe I have but this one is SUPER good and the sauce it cooks in is just downright yummy - I put it on baked potatos!
Easy Peach Crisp
2 cans (15 1/4 oz. each) sliced peaches, drained
1/3 cup flour
1/3 packed brown sugar
1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted
Place the drained fruit in a 1 qt. shallow baking dish
Combine the flour, sugar, oats and cinnamon. Mix in the butter till crumbly and sprinkle over the fruit
Bake at 375 degrees or until golden brown - serve warm with ice cream!
This recipe was SUPER easy and I enjoyed the fact that I had all the ingredients on hand - it's simple and fast to make! Is it as good as using fresh peaches? Of course not! But it works during the winter when fresh peaches are not available!!
Take a guess what's rolling in AGAIN tomorrow night??? Must be March in the mountains!!
2) Have your husband cook you breakfast
3) Watch it snow and snow and snow
4) Scrapbook
5) Call your friend (who is working) and rub it in that you're home
6) Put dinner in the crockpot (see below)
7) Make yourself an awesome cup of special coffee
8) Make a peach crisp (see below)
9) Scrapbook
10) Get some fresh air by scooping the decks
11) Scrapbook
12) Have a massage pre-booked on that night and make sure the roads are clear so she can get up the driveway!
Did you gather the fact that I enjoyed my day off???? I did - it was wonderful!!
And I also have TWO recipes to share with you!! Both are new and were great!!
Cranberry Chicken
Chicken pieces (I used 4 breasts and 4 thighs)
1 can of cranberry sauce (whole cranberries)
1 16 oz catalina dressing
1 package dry onion soup mix
Mix all together in a crockpot and cook 4 to 6 hours!
I LOVE doing crockpot recipes but the problem is that most of the recipes only need to cook 6 hours or so - I'm gone for 9 1/2 hours each day- just doesn't work!! So I enjoy doing crockpot recipes on the weekend!! The above recipe is a variation of another recipe I have but this one is SUPER good and the sauce it cooks in is just downright yummy - I put it on baked potatos!
Easy Peach Crisp
2 cans (15 1/4 oz. each) sliced peaches, drained
1/3 cup flour
1/3 packed brown sugar
1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted
Place the drained fruit in a 1 qt. shallow baking dish
Combine the flour, sugar, oats and cinnamon. Mix in the butter till crumbly and sprinkle over the fruit
Bake at 375 degrees or until golden brown - serve warm with ice cream!
This recipe was SUPER easy and I enjoyed the fact that I had all the ingredients on hand - it's simple and fast to make! Is it as good as using fresh peaches? Of course not! But it works during the winter when fresh peaches are not available!!
Take a guess what's rolling in AGAIN tomorrow night??? Must be March in the mountains!!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
ANOTHER Snow Day????
Absolutely!! Gosh, after having a 3 day weekend, work 2 days and now ANOTHER snow day?? I can't complain at all.........
The spring storm hit about 7:00 pm last night and again, we had wind along with the snow! We're figuring there's about 10" on the ground and Woodland Park received a foot! I'll head outside after lunch and scoop the decks once again!
I took this pic through my loft bedroom window - so it's not great as it's still snowing out - our neighbor's son came over to plow the driveway so Glenn didn't even have to start up the jeep!
Let's see now - what should I do first? Start scrapbooking right away or fix myself a big mug of special coffee and THEN start scrapbooking?? Such a dilemna on your day off........
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Coffee and a FREE Pastry!
My boss is a Starbucks fan - me, not at all!! So he is signed up online for specials, coupons and whatever else they email him about!
Yesterday he brought over a sheet of paper and on it was a coupon for a FREE pastry at Starbucks with your purchase of a cup of coffee - before 10:30am! HMMMMM - that was a tough one for me as the pastry sounded fantastic but the coffee - that's another story!
For some reason, I just don't like Starbucks coffee - I have tried it several times but it just never meets my expectations so I just don't go there! In fact, (as Jessi, Jaime and Jill will all attest to) if we're looking for a coffee place and there is a Starbucks, I will suggest that we don't even GET coffee in lieu of getting it at Starbucks - now that's pretty bad!
But at 7:45 this morning, I parked at Starbucks and made my way in to try their coffee ONE MORE TIME and to get my free pastry! The place was packed - it usually is! As I looked at the menu, I decided that maybe my problem is this: I ALWAYS order my signature drink, mocha with a shot of caramel, skinny, whip cream! And maybe if I ordered something different, I wouldn't be able to compare it with my usual drink I get at Caribou and Kilday's - well, I kind of did that - I ordered a caramel mochiata (I know that is spelled wrong) which IS different but yet it's kind of the same - I really should have tried something quite different so that was my mistake!
How did it taste? The first drink out of the cup I almost gagged - sorry, Starbucks fans - but then I realized they had NOT stirred it and after doing that, it was passable! (And no, I didn't have to pay for the coffee either because a friend had given me a Starbucks card with $25 worth of whatever I choose).
On the bright side - I picked out a fantastic looking blueberry sugared muffin that looks AWESOME and break time can't come soon enough!! Hooray for FREE coupons! And Hooray for the simple fact that I can choose to NOT drink Starbucks coffee, but the coffee of my choice!
Yesterday he brought over a sheet of paper and on it was a coupon for a FREE pastry at Starbucks with your purchase of a cup of coffee - before 10:30am! HMMMMM - that was a tough one for me as the pastry sounded fantastic but the coffee - that's another story!
For some reason, I just don't like Starbucks coffee - I have tried it several times but it just never meets my expectations so I just don't go there! In fact, (as Jessi, Jaime and Jill will all attest to) if we're looking for a coffee place and there is a Starbucks, I will suggest that we don't even GET coffee in lieu of getting it at Starbucks - now that's pretty bad!
But at 7:45 this morning, I parked at Starbucks and made my way in to try their coffee ONE MORE TIME and to get my free pastry! The place was packed - it usually is! As I looked at the menu, I decided that maybe my problem is this: I ALWAYS order my signature drink, mocha with a shot of caramel, skinny, whip cream! And maybe if I ordered something different, I wouldn't be able to compare it with my usual drink I get at Caribou and Kilday's - well, I kind of did that - I ordered a caramel mochiata (I know that is spelled wrong) which IS different but yet it's kind of the same - I really should have tried something quite different so that was my mistake!
How did it taste? The first drink out of the cup I almost gagged - sorry, Starbucks fans - but then I realized they had NOT stirred it and after doing that, it was passable! (And no, I didn't have to pay for the coffee either because a friend had given me a Starbucks card with $25 worth of whatever I choose).
On the bright side - I picked out a fantastic looking blueberry sugared muffin that looks AWESOME and break time can't come soon enough!! Hooray for FREE coupons! And Hooray for the simple fact that I can choose to NOT drink Starbucks coffee, but the coffee of my choice!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
SNOW DAY!!
My first snow day of the year!! HOORAY!! (Technically not a REAL, GENUINE one as I got up on schedule, exercised, showered, dressed and went to work in the blizzard, knowing I wouldn't be staying long but after calling my boss, he said to GET HOME NOW!! - I did)
My plans for the day - SCRAPBOOK!!! All day long!! And that has put a BIG SMILE on my face!! I'll update the snow totals later...............
My plans for the day - SCRAPBOOK!!! All day long!! And that has put a BIG SMILE on my face!! I'll update the snow totals later...............
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
An Early Morning Visitor!!
I usually peek out the deck door while I'm exercising in the morning to see what the temperature is and to my surprise, this guy was just calmly sitting there, licking away at my bird feeder!
I took a picture through the window which of course didn't turn out at all so then opened the door and he just calmly jumped down and walked away! Probably to get his family and return to FINISH OFF what he left!!
AND yes, you're looking at the right temperature - it's 6:00am and STILL pretty cold in the mountains!!
I took a picture through the window which of course didn't turn out at all so then opened the door and he just calmly jumped down and walked away! Probably to get his family and return to FINISH OFF what he left!! 
AND yes, you're looking at the right temperature - it's 6:00am and STILL pretty cold in the mountains!!Monday, March 15, 2010
Birthdays - Late and Early
I left Ft. Collins about 12:30, prepared for a nice hour and a half drive to Denver - WRONG - this time it wasn't the traffic, it was the weather!! Rain/snow/sleet - whatever you want to call it - it was coming down and made visibility not only poor, but that darn stuff that they put on the interstates gets on your windshield and it's just like grease!! I think I went through a gallon of windshield wiper fluid during the drive!!
Nevertheless, I DID make it to Denver!! My first stop was at Jessi's to get an adjustment - I've been dealing with neck/shoulder/back problems for a couple of weeks now and couldn't wait to have her make me feel better - she always does...........
Then it was over to Jaime's to play with her kids for a while - Jessi's family eventually came over and we celebrated an early birthday for Jaime (March 19th) and a late birthday for Rayna (March 2nd).
I was excited to give Rayna her gift from Glenn and I - a child size REAL guitar!! I'm hoping she'll allow me to give her lessons so she can learn to play - she knows some of her notes from me giving her a few piano lessons but that didn't seem to excite her too much so hopefully the
guitar will be something really fun for her!
After a great dinner of chicken enchiladas, we ate YUMMY fruit pizza, complements of Jessi, to celebrate the birthdays!
Glenn had called about 4:45 telling me it had been snowing all day so I promptly left at 5:30 - the drive again wasn't great due to snow, snow, snow!! By the time I got around an hour from home, the highway was snow packed and icy and I came home to about 6 inches of wet snow - barely making it up the driveway!! I'll be glad when spring gets here so I don't have to worry about driving in poor weather conditions!
Nevertheless, I DID make it to Denver!! My first stop was at Jessi's to get an adjustment - I've been dealing with neck/shoulder/back problems for a couple of weeks now and couldn't wait to have her make me feel better - she always does...........
Then it was over to Jaime's to play with her kids for a while - Jessi's family eventually came over and we celebrated an early birthday for Jaime (March 19th) and a late birthday for Rayna (March 2nd).
I was excited to give Rayna her gift from Glenn and I - a child size REAL guitar!! I'm hoping she'll allow me to give her lessons so she can learn to play - she knows some of her notes from me giving her a few piano lessons but that didn't seem to excite her too much so hopefully theguitar will be something really fun for her!
After a great dinner of chicken enchiladas, we ate YUMMY fruit pizza, complements of Jessi, to celebrate the birthdays!
Glenn had called about 4:45 telling me it had been snowing all day so I promptly left at 5:30 - the drive again wasn't great due to snow, snow, snow!! By the time I got around an hour from home, the highway was snow packed and icy and I came home to about 6 inches of wet snow - barely making it up the driveway!! I'll be glad when spring gets here so I don't have to worry about driving in poor weather conditions!
She Was Worth The Drive!
Even though the drive was horrible getting to Ft. Collins (see previous blog), seeing Aleah made it all worth while!! I don't get to see her as much as I do the other grandkids so I always look forward to my weekends in Ft Collins!
Aleah is now 8 months old, sitting up on her own, laughing and smiling! She's a good baby and except for one evening at bedtime, I rarely heard her cry!! Jill had to work Saturday morning so I had the pleasure of babysitting Aleah and we had a great time together!
After Jill got back home, we took the 2 dogs and Aleah for a LONG walk to a park - Aleah loved swinging in the swing and the weather was gorgeous!
Jill and I had to slip out while Aleah was sleeping (Robby was there of course) to get a mango smoothie from Panera Bread - yum - they're still as wonderful as ever! I also picked up a small refrigerator for Glenn's new shop that Robby had located on Craigs List!
We watched a really bad movie on Friday night but did enjoy Saturday night's movie which was "The Time Traveler's Wife" - and of course we all lost our hour of sleep! 
Sunday morning, we sat down at the computer and I showed Jill pics of our cruise ship and some of the different excursions we were taking. After looking at the dining options, Jill decided we just had to dress up a couple nights - and she insisted that I try on her prom dresses and bridesmaid dresses to see if any of those would work! So upstairs we went and I tried on dress after dress - I felt like a teenager again, trying on prom dresses!! Luckily, Jill and I are the same height and basically about the same size so the dresses fit pretty good - and she even had shoes to match the silver and purple dresses! And the verdict?? I brought the silver, purple and blue dresses home and I'll go from there (and of course the shoes to match!!)
Aleah is now 8 months old, sitting up on her own, laughing and smiling! She's a good baby and except for one evening at bedtime, I rarely heard her cry!! Jill had to work Saturday morning so I had the pleasure of babysitting Aleah and we had a great time together!
After Jill got back home, we took the 2 dogs and Aleah for a LONG walk to a park - Aleah loved swinging in the swing and the weather was gorgeous!
Jill and I had to slip out while Aleah was sleeping (Robby was there of course) to get a mango smoothie from Panera Bread - yum - they're still as wonderful as ever! I also picked up a small refrigerator for Glenn's new shop that Robby had located on Craigs List!
We watched a really bad movie on Friday night but did enjoy Saturday night's movie which was "The Time Traveler's Wife" - and of course we all lost our hour of sleep!
Sunday morning, we sat down at the computer and I showed Jill pics of our cruise ship and some of the different excursions we were taking. After looking at the dining options, Jill decided we just had to dress up a couple nights - and she insisted that I try on her prom dresses and bridesmaid dresses to see if any of those would work! So upstairs we went and I tried on dress after dress - I felt like a teenager again, trying on prom dresses!! Luckily, Jill and I are the same height and basically about the same size so the dresses fit pretty good - and she even had shoes to match the silver and purple dresses! And the verdict?? I brought the silver, purple and blue dresses home and I'll go from there (and of course the shoes to match!!)It was a fun weekend and since Easter is not far off, I left knowing I would get to see Aleah again soon! Thanks for a great weekend Jill!
Traffic!!!!!!!!
Living in a somewhat small town and in the mountains, doesn't make for a lot of traffic - unless it's aspen viewing season!!
Friday I left work early, hoping to miss some of the traffic in Colorado Springs and Denver on my way to Ft. Collins - ugh, that didn't happen! I hit traffic right outside of the Springs - stop and go traffic until I got to the next town.
Then it was easy sailing until I got into Denver - by this time it was 4:45 and I was expecting SOME traffic - but what I drove in was absolutely ridiculous!! How people drive on a daily basis in that kind of traffic, I'll never know! Stop and go - stop and go - stop and go - that's all I did for the next hour and a half! My normal 3 hour trip to Ft. Collins took 4 hours to get there!
I guess if you grow up in a city and are used to traffic like that, you just take it with a grain of salt and plan your day accordingly - but when you've grown up in a super small town where the only traffic jam is 2 or 3 cars behind a tractor, then driving on a 4 lane interstate with bumper to bumper cars is a little bit intimidating - and time consuming - and nerve wracking!
I'm glad I STILL live in a smaller town where traffic isn't an issue - and I've made a HUGE mental note to myself to NEVER drive through Denver again during rush hour!
Friday I left work early, hoping to miss some of the traffic in Colorado Springs and Denver on my way to Ft. Collins - ugh, that didn't happen! I hit traffic right outside of the Springs - stop and go traffic until I got to the next town.
Then it was easy sailing until I got into Denver - by this time it was 4:45 and I was expecting SOME traffic - but what I drove in was absolutely ridiculous!! How people drive on a daily basis in that kind of traffic, I'll never know! Stop and go - stop and go - stop and go - that's all I did for the next hour and a half! My normal 3 hour trip to Ft. Collins took 4 hours to get there!
I guess if you grow up in a city and are used to traffic like that, you just take it with a grain of salt and plan your day accordingly - but when you've grown up in a super small town where the only traffic jam is 2 or 3 cars behind a tractor, then driving on a 4 lane interstate with bumper to bumper cars is a little bit intimidating - and time consuming - and nerve wracking!
I'm glad I STILL live in a smaller town where traffic isn't an issue - and I've made a HUGE mental note to myself to NEVER drive through Denver again during rush hour!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Romantic and Wonderful!!
The day started out with 25 red roses being delivered to my office! It's always so much fun to receive flowers at work - everybody that walks in asks about them of course and I was excited to tell them all that it was my 25th wedding anniversary! The smell was GLORIOUS!
After work we headed to Manitou Springs and ate at the Mona Lisa Fondue restaurant! It was our first time there and what a truly romantic place it was! The 4 course "fondue for 2" was not only fun to do, but also tasted great!! My favorite part of the meal of course was the dark chocolate - we dipped apples, strawberries, mandarin oranges, cheesecake, angel food cake, brownies, bananas - oh my, it was out of this world!
After work we headed to Manitou Springs and ate at the Mona Lisa Fondue restaurant! It was our first time there and what a truly romantic place it was! The 4 course "fondue for 2" was not only fun to do, but also tasted great!! My favorite part of the meal of course was the dark chocolate - we dipped apples, strawberries, mandarin oranges, cheesecake, angel food cake, brownies, bananas - oh my, it was out of this world!
On the way home we listened to "our" song - "There's No Way" by Alabama!
And then we pulled out the photo album of our wedding pictures..........and laughed a whole lot!
What a great 25th we enjoyed together!! May there be many more to celebrate........
25 and Counting..........
Today is our 25th wedding anniversary! WOW - 25 years! What a milestone!
We're celebrating after work by going to the "Mona Lisa Fondue" restaurant in Manitou Springs for dinner - but our gift to each other won't happen until May - a 7 night Alaskan Cruise.
The girls and their families gave us gift cards for a trip or two to the movies and dinner at Carrabba's - we'll get to celebrate again!! And my siblings and their spouses sent us a beautiful silver engraved frame with a picture of the two of us in it -it looks wonderful sitting by the fireplace!
After dinner tonight, we plan on going home and looking at our wedding pictures - that should give us a laugh or two I'm sure!
March 9th, 1985 - did we have any idea what would be in store for us the next 25 years?
March 9th, 2035 - think we'll make it to our 50th?
Happy 25th Glenn! We've got many more memories to make together!
We're celebrating after work by going to the "Mona Lisa Fondue" restaurant in Manitou Springs for dinner - but our gift to each other won't happen until May - a 7 night Alaskan Cruise.
The girls and their families gave us gift cards for a trip or two to the movies and dinner at Carrabba's - we'll get to celebrate again!! And my siblings and their spouses sent us a beautiful silver engraved frame with a picture of the two of us in it -it looks wonderful sitting by the fireplace!
After dinner tonight, we plan on going home and looking at our wedding pictures - that should give us a laugh or two I'm sure!
March 9th, 1985 - did we have any idea what would be in store for us the next 25 years?
March 9th, 2035 - think we'll make it to our 50th?
Happy 25th Glenn! We've got many more memories to make together!
Monday, March 8, 2010
I Knew It Was Going To Snow........
because my car was washed inside and out on Saturday! Ever since our full service car wash closed down over a year ago, I've had to wash the car myself when it would get so bad that I couldn't get groceries in and out without getting dirty!
Saturday was my "shopping" day in Colorado Springs and first on the list was to get the car done - I was SO excited to crawl in that nice clean car with the vanilla smell - it's the simple pleasures in life that make me happy!
I actually got to drive the car to Denver that day too - unplanned of course - I woke up with such a stiff neck and shoulder that I could hardly move - IBProfren and an ice pack helped the pain somewhat but I didn't feel like hurting all weekend and since I was already planning on going to Colorado Springs, hey what's another hour up to Denver to have my own personal chiropractor adjust me!
Seeing the grandkids is always a bonus too AND Jaime had a 30% coupon for Kohl's and since I had a huge list, we shopped! The items: Glenn - 1 sports jacket, 2 pairs of dress pants, 3 long-sleeved shirts, 1 turtleneck, 1 pair of comfy pants, 1 spring fleece jacket, 1 pair of gloves - Becky - 1 fleece lined spring jacket, 1 zip-up top/jacket and 1 sweater - add in 3 new kitchen rugs (they're SO cute and look SO nice in my kitchen) and the final price: are you ready??? $190.00!! I LOVE YOU KOHL'S!!!
So getting back to my original post on my car, I DID get to enjoy driving the clean car on Saturday - Sunday I never left the house as was still pretty sore - which brings us to today, Monday, and of course it snowed last night - and of course it's snowing now - and of course the forecast is for snow every day this week, sigh...........the clean car was nice at least for a day!
Saturday was my "shopping" day in Colorado Springs and first on the list was to get the car done - I was SO excited to crawl in that nice clean car with the vanilla smell - it's the simple pleasures in life that make me happy!
I actually got to drive the car to Denver that day too - unplanned of course - I woke up with such a stiff neck and shoulder that I could hardly move - IBProfren and an ice pack helped the pain somewhat but I didn't feel like hurting all weekend and since I was already planning on going to Colorado Springs, hey what's another hour up to Denver to have my own personal chiropractor adjust me!
Seeing the grandkids is always a bonus too AND Jaime had a 30% coupon for Kohl's and since I had a huge list, we shopped! The items: Glenn - 1 sports jacket, 2 pairs of dress pants, 3 long-sleeved shirts, 1 turtleneck, 1 pair of comfy pants, 1 spring fleece jacket, 1 pair of gloves - Becky - 1 fleece lined spring jacket, 1 zip-up top/jacket and 1 sweater - add in 3 new kitchen rugs (they're SO cute and look SO nice in my kitchen) and the final price: are you ready??? $190.00!! I LOVE YOU KOHL'S!!!
So getting back to my original post on my car, I DID get to enjoy driving the clean car on Saturday - Sunday I never left the house as was still pretty sore - which brings us to today, Monday, and of course it snowed last night - and of course it's snowing now - and of course the forecast is for snow every day this week, sigh...........the clean car was nice at least for a day!
Friday, March 5, 2010
Of Course, No Camera In Hand
Monday evening when I came home from work, I noticed there was a dead deer lying by the gate, straight across from the gravel road we turn onto to get to our house. Of course Glenn's first question when I told him was "It wasn't one of the little ones, was it?" No - it wasn't - it was a larger doe. I'm sure he was afraid it might have been Freckles or Speckles - the twins who were born on our property.
I knew for SURE it wasn't one of them when they came around yesterday with their mom - looking for some food I'm sure but our bag was empty............
Anyway, as I was driving home yesterday, I noticed the county men were out fixing a guard rail which had been smashed during an accident about a week ago - so I made it a point to see if they had picked up the dead deer when I rounded the corner - they hadn't.
But to my surprise, you'll never guess what was chewing on that dead deer - a bobcat - a beautiful, gray-white bobcat!! I have only seen one other one since we moved to Colorado, 21 years ago.
I could hardly believe my eyes - but of course I had to turn onto our gravel road since I was in the middle of the highway - I stopped and looked back and he didn't seem scared at all - just continued to bite and tear into that deer. Alas, no camera in the car of course - I considered racing home and grabbing it but figured the bobcat would be gone anyway by the time I got back.
Of course it wasn't there this morning when I left for work and chances are I'll never see it again - but what an awesome sight - not that I wanted the deer to be dead of course but since it was, nature was taking its' course!
I knew for SURE it wasn't one of them when they came around yesterday with their mom - looking for some food I'm sure but our bag was empty............
Anyway, as I was driving home yesterday, I noticed the county men were out fixing a guard rail which had been smashed during an accident about a week ago - so I made it a point to see if they had picked up the dead deer when I rounded the corner - they hadn't.
But to my surprise, you'll never guess what was chewing on that dead deer - a bobcat - a beautiful, gray-white bobcat!! I have only seen one other one since we moved to Colorado, 21 years ago.
I could hardly believe my eyes - but of course I had to turn onto our gravel road since I was in the middle of the highway - I stopped and looked back and he didn't seem scared at all - just continued to bite and tear into that deer. Alas, no camera in the car of course - I considered racing home and grabbing it but figured the bobcat would be gone anyway by the time I got back.
Of course it wasn't there this morning when I left for work and chances are I'll never see it again - but what an awesome sight - not that I wanted the deer to be dead of course but since it was, nature was taking its' course!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Updates
Has this week been a little better?? Absolutely - here's the latest:
1) My cough is almost gone - almost - and I'm feeling much better!
2) The water pipes are still frozen - after attempting to unthaw them for well over a week, Glenn has given up, hooked up the hose so we have water in the house (just not great water pressure) and will just wait for them to unthaw this spring. Guess we'll have one big project this summer digging up those darn things and burying them deeper!
3) Glenn has moved into his new shop in Woodland Park - it will be awhile before everything from the house gets taken in (1/2 of it is frozen into the ground it seems) but it will eventually all get there! He's extremely happy in his new place and we're hoping business will get better and better!
4) My "deep cleaning" projects are going great - this weekend I'll finish up the kitchen and the main level of the house will be done!! I'm already excited about all the extra "free" time I'll have this summer!
Compared to all the drama last week, this week has been a breeze! I like that................
1) My cough is almost gone - almost - and I'm feeling much better!
2) The water pipes are still frozen - after attempting to unthaw them for well over a week, Glenn has given up, hooked up the hose so we have water in the house (just not great water pressure) and will just wait for them to unthaw this spring. Guess we'll have one big project this summer digging up those darn things and burying them deeper!
3) Glenn has moved into his new shop in Woodland Park - it will be awhile before everything from the house gets taken in (1/2 of it is frozen into the ground it seems) but it will eventually all get there! He's extremely happy in his new place and we're hoping business will get better and better!
4) My "deep cleaning" projects are going great - this weekend I'll finish up the kitchen and the main level of the house will be done!! I'm already excited about all the extra "free" time I'll have this summer!
Compared to all the drama last week, this week has been a breeze! I like that................
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