6 Down - 18 To Go..........

That's continuing education credits by the way - I've hardly made a dent in my 24 credit hours that I MUST have by my birthday in July in order to renew my insurance license!

Luckily, we have several companies around that offer FREE credits and I've signed up for 12 credit hours with a company in Co. Springs - and that's where I've already received 6 of my credits!! The pros of doing the classes through this company are: it's FREE, it's VERY interesting, and they serve the BEST break food AND lunch!! The cons - I have to take off 1/2 day of work which cuts into my vacation time AND I have to drive to Colorado Springs to take the classes!

So where am I going to get the rest of my credits? Online, of course!! Another company I called has set me up online to take the rest of my classes (they're also FREE) but I find that I would rather sit in a classroom and take the credits than take the courses online because THEN you have to take a test at the end to prove you've taken the course!! I can't imagine taking these 12 hours online but I really don't have a choice so guess I better get at them soon!! The things we do for our careers...............

Perhaps A Bit Too Early?????

I look forward to weekends when we're actually home with not a lot of plans - and I REALLY look forward to sleeping in just a little bit!! So why is it that Glenn gets up AFTER me every day during the week but on weekends he chooses to get up EARLY - like to the tune of 5:30???? Yes, I was just a little bit upset Saturday morning because when he got up, of course I woke up and COULD NOT get back to sleep...........

I decided to be ambitious that morning - Kylan was here the weekend before and after they left, I noticed he had drawn pictures on my bedroom windows - that's how bad the film was!! It was time to wash the windows!! So I gathered all the necessary supplies and started in - it was still early and quite cold out I noticed when I took the one window out and the breeze rolled in!!

Soon I was hanging out the window, cleaning the outside of the window - I scrubbed and scrubbed with my sponge but the more I scrubbed, this scum like substance kept getting worse - I just couldn't seem to get it off and it kept appearing, the more I wiped!!

I crawled back in and looked again at that darn window and then it dawned on me what the scummy type substance was - it was ice - I use very hot water and vinegar when I wash windows and it was still pretty cold outside and in the shade of course - so every time I would swipe the sponge across, the water was freezing behind it............LOL - that's what I get for trying to wash my windows TOO early in the season!!

HOORAY For Maintainers!!

Our gravel road has been hideous the past few months!! For anyone that has ever lived in the country, there's one word that describes it all - WASHBOARD!!

Even though we're less than a mile off the highway, that little stretch of road is a nightmare when the washboard is at its worst!! And believe me, it's been quite bad!! So when I pulled off the highway after work last night, a big smile crossed my face because I immediately knew that the maintainer had been out - the road was a real pleasure to drive on!!

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Fire season is ALREADY upon us - that's right, our snowiest month is always March and we haven't had a lick of moisture yet!! We're STILL waiting for that 1 to 2 foot of snow that has just not happened this winter, making the entire state of Colorado a tinder box!!

There have been several fires around (thankfully nothing in our county yet) and with the high winds every day, putting these out is a real challenge! The humidity stands at about 3% - yes, that's DRY, DRY, DRY!! So we would sure welcome some snow or rain at this point!

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I'm looking forward to the weekend - dinner out tonight, a baby shower tomorrow, and an afternoon of scrapbooking on Sunday - is it 5:00 yet????

Rayna and Jaime's Birthdays!

Better late than never I guess!! Rayna's birthday was March 2nd but it just didn't work out to be up in Denver then so we waited to celebrate when the Smith's came down for the weekend!
And since they came down on Jaime's birthday, we celebrated it too!! Happy Birthday to Jaime who turned 33 on Saturday!! That's sure making me feel old.............

Since the grocery store had the BEST strawberries we've had in a long time, I bought plenty and we celebrated Jaime's birthday and the arrival of spring (the next day) by drinking strawberry daiquiris - YUM!!! Her dinner request was Spicy Crab Linguine and it turned out awesome!!

We gave Rayna a Razor scooter for her birthday!! She was excited about it but even MORE excited when Papa took her over to the playpark where she had an actual parking lot to practice on and learned how to ride it!!


Rayna decided that holding up a backdrop would work better for Jaime's birthday picture - I beg to differ...........

Kylan and Rayna had given me a picture frame for Christmas that says at the top "My Nana" and it's still sitting empty because I wanted a picture of them with me - we FINALLY accomplished that this weekend - after many attempts of course!!

We spent the weekend playing Mexican Train, sitting in the hot tub (wind and all) with the kids so Kylan could "fish", watching a movie, and taking the kids to town to see "Rango" (not all that great!) while the guys went ice fishing!!

Kylan of course is too young to actually play games but he kept requesting for me to play Sorry with him - I tried to play by the rules but all Kylan really wanted to do was to draw the card and then proceed most of the way around the board, knocking each one of my markers off - so much for rules...........

It was a fun weekend with everyone and hopefully the next time they come down, the weather will even be nicer!!

Tea For Four!!

The day had FINALLY arrived!! I had bought one of those "Deal Of The Days" through our local newspaper that was for a tea down in Falcon, which is outside of Colorado Springs!! Since our "choir girls" is a group of five and the tea was for five, I thought it would be a perfect fit!!

Unfortunately, one of the ladies lives part-time in Az. and she wasn't available to go so it ended up just being the 4 of us but we had a fantastic time!! (We missed you Marilyn!!)

I had printed out the directions from Mapqwest as it was actually in a home out in the country and we did find it without much trouble!! It was just a regular house and from the outside, you could not IMAGINE what was in the inside!!

We walked into a huge living room that was completely set up for tea with 5 separate tables and uniquely decorated in Victorian style!! Everywhere you looked were beautiful teapots and teacups and old Victorian dolls - quite a place!!

Here is a picture of us which I'll call BEFORE!!

And here is the one I'll call AFTER!!

Yes, we dressed for the occasion!!! Mary Ellen (the owner of Mary Ellen's Tea House) takes you into her back bedroom and completely dresses you from head to toe!! She must have close to 100 dresses in a variety of sizes and she takes one of us at a time, pulls out a dress and helps you put it on- then adds gloves, a hat, a boa, a fan, and finally earrings and a necklace!! It was a riot back in the dressing room watching her dress each of us - and she herself is all decked out also!!

After all 5 tables have dressed, we sat down for the actual tea!! I took a picture of one of the tables before we sat down and each table had a different color scheme!

The tea was just lovely!! Hot and cold tea, delicious crossiants filled with a chicken, grapes, and apple salad, veggie tray with dip and orange, cranberry scones with whipped cream! During our tea, Mary Ellen told us lots of "tea" trivia and read us several "tea" stories!!

I never thought I looked good in hats before but I LOVED this one!! Suppose I can find one to buy??

Here's a picture of Clara and me at the tea table - we did have to take our gloves off to eat and since our boa's kept slipping off, they too went to the back of the chair!!

It was one DELIGHTFUL afternoon, made all the more special by being with great friends!! In fact, we all have decided that since we looked SO GOOD in our hats, that our next get-together is going to be a shopping trip to BUY some!!

Rockin' Away

When our local log furniture store switched hands last fall, this unique rocking chair showed up outside of their building!! It's right on the main drag of Woodland Park so I'm sure it gets LOTS of attention as the cars drive by!! I think it would look pretty cool on our front deck!!

A great photo shot - wonder if they allow you to sit on it and take pictures??

A Grandkids' Weekend!

Parker turned one month old this last weekend - and I got to help him celebrate!!

Jill, Aleah and Parker all headed down for the weekend and actually stayed 3 nights with us - and it was one of those great weekends where we did nothing spectacular at all - just stayed around the house most of the time!! I spent many hours holding little Parker and he's such a cuddle bug!!

Jill and I decided to take some month old pictures of him so I thought I would PRETEND to be Amanda (my niece who is an AWESOME photographer!!) and do a photo shoot - I had big plans on posting all the fantastic pictures that I took!! Well, it didn't QUITE happen that way!! When we decided to take the photos, the sun was streaming in our house everywhere and the whole lighting issue was a REAL problem!! We tried and tried to take pictures but just couldn't get the right light, the right angles, the right anything!!! Needless to say, we ended up with a few cute pictures which is all we needed anyway!! This one is my favorite I think - Parker was just so calm when I was taking the photos upstairs in our bedroom!!

Aleah was her usual helpful self all weekend - we had so much fun playing and playing, especially out on the front deck where it was so nice and sunny!!

She finally warmed up to Papa when he suggested they play with the balls - she LOVES balls!! And had a fun time sitting on the pool table, rolling balls into the pockets!

Saturday morning we took a trip to the playpark - Aleah loved the slide and had fun just running around - check out that blue, blue sky - the weather was awesome!!

Jill and I had fun just relaxing and catching up on a few things! We even got a few games of cribbage in!!

Hopefully Parker doesn't grow TOO fast before I get to see him again - seems like these babies just grow up too fast and there's not enough time to just sit and snuggle with them!!

HAPPY 26th ANNIVERSARY!

26 years ago today we said our vows at the Soldier Lutheran Church in Soldier, Iowa! I was a WHOLE lot thinner then - you had a head full of black hair - and we had 3 little girls to raise!

We've lived in 5 states since then - Iowa, Arizona, Texas, Ohio and now Colorado where we plan on retiring!

You've held numerous jobs since we married: farming, mechanic, sales rep for truck driving, director of a truck driving school, blackjack dealer, sales rep for heat detectors, sales rep for Sears, and now your own company, Mountain Aspen, with a fantastic granite business!

We've travelled far and wide the last 26 years - Alaska, Disneyworld, Jamaica, Canada, California, North Carolina, Montana, Las Vegas, and the Mexico towns of Puerto Vallarta, Yelapa, Tulum, Playa Del Carmen, Puerto Morales, Cabo, Loreto, La Paz, Kino Bay, Isla Mujures, Zihuatanejo and Cozumel - and yet some of my favorite times have been spent in our little camper, camping in the Colorado mountains and riding our ATV!

My one wish when we moved to Colorado 22 years ago was to live in a log house - and you've made that wish come true - more importantly, it's a home that was built by YOU and that's what makes it all the more special!

Our lives revolve around our children and grandchildren and neither of us would have it any other way - we both look forward to the years ahead, spoiling each and every one of them!

It's been 26 fantastic years spent with you - lots of laughter, lots of unknowns, and lots of just darn good fun!! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY GLENN - may the next 26 be just as great!!

Memory Loss At Its' Best!!

So last night I had a massage after work - it was wonderful as usual!! My regular routine is to talk to C for a while and then she leaves the room so I can undress and crawl under the covers of her heated table - yes, HEATED, it's awesome!!

But first I have to take off my jewelry - my watch, earrings, ring and necklace (if I'm wearing one that day) and put it in my purse!

Fast forward - I go out to the car to leave and reach in my purse to put on my watch - I dig and dig but can't seem to find it - no big deal - I arrive home and dig some more - I literally dump out my entire purse and my watch is NOT there!

I called C and asked her to look in the massage room for me - the electricity has gone out in Woodland Park (which I knew because Glenn had called and told me) so C grabs a flashlight and says it's not in the massage room so is looking outside on the ground for me! About that time, this brain flash interuppts my thoughts and I race upstairs - sure enough, it's true - I DID NOT EVEN WEAR MY WATCH TO WORK!! It's sitting there on the sink. Dumb - I feel REALLY dumb!! And it's hard to say where my other earring is too - it has YET to show up............

A Little of This, A Little of That..........

Happy Birthday to our first grandchild, Rayna who turns 9 years old today!! WOW - 9 years - where DID the time go???? We won't get to celebrate with her for a couple of weeks but we'll make sure her birthday is extra special when we do see her!

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I'm appalled at the gas prices - who isn't? And yes, I know I drive an SUV which sucks up the gas like crazy (it's $60.00 when I fill up the tank now!) but really..........summer is coming and we plan on doing a LOT of camping, ATV'ing and traveling..............high gas prices just do NOT work into that equation!!

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My tailbone is slowly getting better from my fall on the ice! I haven't been able to exercise the past couple of weeks of course so that is driving me crazy but I've decided I will ATTEMPT next week to get back in the swing of things - I may have to switch around my routine as I'm sure jumping rope will NOT be an option for a while but hopefully I can find something that will suffice!

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I finished the taxes last weekend - HOORAY!! That's always a good feeling and such a sense of accomplishment - let's hope our quarterly estimates were enough and a refund is in order - (yea, right...........)

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What's up with this weather??? We have had basically NO SNOW to speak of this winter - just a little here and a little there - which means we're DRY, VERY DRY!! March is typically our snowiest month with the upslope storms that bring us heavy, wet snow - so hey, March is here, bring ON THE SNOW!! I'm ready for a snow day!

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Just to make all of you readers jealous, I want you to know that my spring cleaning is ALMOST FINISHED! Yes, I do my cleaning in January and February and I'm running a little late this year but after this next weekend, the house WILL BE DONE except for the windows! Which once again means my evenings and weekends can be spent on much more challenging issues like watching TV and scrapbooking!

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I'm LOVING the daily Groupon, Living Social and our daily newspaper Gazette deal of the day coupons that come over my email every morning!! WHAT A DEAL some of these are!! My 2 major purchases (the "tea" for 5 of us friends and the night's stay at Cripple Creek with 3 meals included) will be used these next 2 months and next week we'll be using the restaurant coupon which was $50 worth of food and drink for a $25 fee, for our anniversary dinner!! I've already used the Amazon coupon which was pay $10 for a $20 purchase. This morning I purchased the Fandango movie deal - 2 movie tickets for $9,00!!! You just can't beat these deals and it's fun every morning to check my email to see what's there!!