Category: Misc

Well despite my consciously trying to keep life as simple as possible, it seems to fill up no matter what I do. This blog and my photography have been the casualties lately and while I regret this and would like to fix this, these things will always come behind quality time with friends and family and often behind my job and my mental well being.

The kids are doing well. They are probably the single biggest reason I have found so little time to blog lately. We’ve been busy most every evening with homework, music practice and just having time to ride bikes and go to the park. We are coming up on their spring recitals, so there is a very concerted effort (see what I did there?) to get everyone poised and practiced and ready to go. It’s hard to believe that a month from now we’ll be about done with school. It’s crazy!

We are also in the throes of planning Ben’s birthday. After much debating and negotiating, Ben decided he wanted a bigger party at home. We will be supplying the kids with squirt guns (also their party favors) and letting them go crazy in the back yard. There will also be cake. Apparently, whatever Costco wants to draw on the cake is also no longer good enough. He wants a Minecraft cake. We’ll see how inventive Mommy is feeling in a couple of weeks. Ahem.

Matt and I have also been busy doing many little projects around the house. Or some not so little. We hired our favorite contractor/handyman to frame and drywall in Matt’s shop in the basement and then we have been finishing that off, adding electrical to it.

We’ve also worked quite a bit on our outside living area. We added fairy lights ….

… and mounts for our projector and speakers …

… and a curtain to block the blinding sun that comes our way from the west every evening. And a fair few more things. We’ve got just as big a list to tackle when the shop’s done too.

And then there’s work. Work is a huge time suck and I have to actively work to set boundaries. There are weeks when little can be done but just getting it done and this sometimes means bringing work home with me to do after the piano is practiced, the bedtime stories are read and the kids are in bed. Fortunately, this is an exception, not the rule.

There are times that are frustrating. When I work my tail off and get literally nothing for it. Usually this is due to factors beyond my control and it is maddening to not be able to overcome those. But overall, we have been winning lots of work and as that is the main function of my department, it is great to see us doing our job well. I do love to win.

So that is life right now. A blur of family, work, friends and piano practice. It’s wonderful and I know how lucky I am.

 

We had a lovely Christmas followed by an even lovelier vacation. The photos of that time are still trapped on the “big camera” and I’ll get them off at some point and maybe even share them. But post Christmas was a lot more eventful.

We did a lot of hanging at home in the few days that followed Christmas. Video game playing. Popcorn eating. Chilling. Relaxing. It was awesome. The boys built a bunch of Lego. Tabby and I danced for hours. We each pretended to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and beat up bad guys. We all seem much more inclined to hang in the new house. I think because it functions better than the old one did. The space is better for doing what we want to do. I think that’s  a good thing.

We also got a few things accomplished around the house. We hung up these cute little prints we got the kids for Christmas in their bathroom. They serve to mark each kid’s brand new towel hook (so useful for keeping wet towels off the floor!).

We also went to IKEA and got a few other things handled around the house – like a new desk chair for the office and some shelves for the playroom and a media cabinet (locker style) for the work out room.

We were lucky enough to be able to take in a Broncos game (they won!) and afterward we took the kids to Stubens, home of

ginormous poutine!! Yowsa.

We hosted a huge (28) crowd for New Years and then left the house in shambles, heading up to Vail for a real break.

Matt and the kids did a lot of skiing, but I was laid up with the dumbest of all injuries, a bone bruise on my shin that I acquired falling UP the stairs. Seriously. It didn’t hurt a bit unless I tried to cram my foot into a ski boot and then the worst pain imaginable. So I didn’t ski much.

But I did a lot of other things, including playing games on my computer and some little photo projects I’d been wanting to accomplish. Since I couldn’t ski, I exercised by doing Just Dance and maybe I’m getting better at it. Ha.

It was lovely to be with my family and friends, doing quite a lot and simultaneously nothing at all. I really need to do more of it.

Obviously, I am a terrible blogger these days. but I really make no apologies for that because we’re just too darn busy enjoying … or at least getting through … life most days for me to think about blogging. But our little world is humming along and I don’t want to miss writing down the good stuff and even a bit of the not so good stuff.

Well the kids are doing well. We got Ben’s sinus infection cleared up and it’s like he’s a new kid at school. He’s been bringing home mostly 3s (the max) on his daily reports and I’ve seen such an improvement in his reading and coloring and writing. So so proud of him.

And as shown in the first photo, he has successfully earned his next karate belt. This is so huge for him. He has had the skills since summer (since before Tabby even started back at karate) but couldn’t focus well enough in group class to move up. But his sensei has seen real improvement in him and he was allowed to test the first weekend in December and he got it!

Tabby is doing amazing as well. I cannot believe the stuff she is able to read, ALL ON HER OWN. And all she wanted for Christmas was BOOKS. So she’s probably getting quite a few of those. This is actually a photo from last night. I was working on a little Christmas project and she wanted to come in and sew. She was sewing tediously by hand (which I am TERRIBLE at) and so I showed her how to use the machine. She picked it up in no time flat. She’s also hitting piano and karate hard and having a really good year.

She gets frustrated sometimes that she’s “good all the time” (she’s not) and doesn’t get the same rewards for her continuously good behavior that Ben gets when he masters himself and does well. So we have been explaining to her that she does get rewards in the form of special privileges (staying up 15 minutes late to read, getting to use my sewing machine, etc.) and that we want to reward them for their hard work. Behaving and being on task is hard work for Ben and practicing piano is hard work for her, so she is rewarded for that. But man, she wants her money’s worth! which I really appreciate, actually.

Matt and I have been lucky enough to have a couple of date nights. One (above)  was at my company party and the other was back down town to look for a new engagement ring for me since I lost mine this summer while we were camping and we finally claimed the insurance on it. Oy. We never really got to actually look at rings thanks to some timing issues, but we got to hang out and have fun and that is just as nice.

We’ve been crazy busy at work, with everyone wanting last minute THINGS before the new year. Lots of budgets and reports and proposals. It’s a bit draining, but I like being busy and feeling like I’ve really earned my paycheck.

Plus, for the first time in A WHILE, I’m feeling pretty good (knock on wood). No sore throat, sniffles, headache, earache or anything else. I’ve been hyper careful about my sleep and after chatting with my doc last week, I’m finally getting out today to pick up some probiotics for myself and the whole household to work on getting some “good” bacteria back in our tummies. And fingers crossed … we can stay this way for a while. I want to really enjoy my time off after Christmas!!!

Matt’s dad and stepmom got in last night and now we get to have a great pre-Christmas weekend with them, enjoying some wonderful Christmas festivities and their excellent company. The kids are crazy excited.

 

 

 

 

It has been a glorious fall here. No wind. Not much rain. No snow. The leaves have stayed on the trees and we’ve had nice mild weather most days and even quite warm on others. I know it won’t last, but I’m enjoying it while it does.

We’ve been spending a lot of time outside while we can. We are in the second week of C25K with the kids and that’s actually gone better than expected. There is some grumbling from Ben at the start, but he usually falls in line pretty quickly. I have the app on my phone and we run and walk according to its directions and everyone is (more or less happy). The big problem has been fitting in the three weekly runs with everything else we’ve got going on!

We’ve also been pulling out the bikes a lot. Ben is much more enthusiastic about riding bikes than running (despite loving to run when he is in charge) and his little legs have to pedal more revolutions than anyone else’s yet he keeps up really well. Tabby has learned to use the gearing on her bike and Ben is wildly jealous of this and desperately wants his own big-boy bike for Christmas (along with half the contents of the Target toy and electronic departments). This weekend, we made it 7 miles!! That’s not bad for most adults, but for little guys, especially those with no gears, it’s incredible! He had a 4 hour nap that afternoon as well …

Work has been a giant blur for both of us. Matt is on a big deadline and I have had my usual many little, medium and big deadlines. But it’s somewhat nice to be busy. Job security and all. We attended my trade associations’ annual awards banquet where we were honored with three awards, including a marketing award. It was at the Four Seasons and very fun with a James Bond theme and a casino night.

The homework has kicked up another notch, adding book reports into the mix. Tabby has (appropriately) graduated out of picture books and now read a chapter book every other week and then fills out 4 pages worth of forms on its contents and characters. I personally wish she could read just for the fun of it, but I’m sure there’s some standard somewhere that wouldn’t be adhered to. Mostly, I really enjoy hanging with my girl and doing homework, but it really cuts into our family time and my personal free time.

Speaking of free time, we’ve been watching a lot of movies and football in our spare time. Seems like cozy fall evenings and afternoons are perfect for it. And it’s been great fun to share some of the old classics with the kids (Mighty Ducks! Ghostbusters!). While we watch, I’ve been working on teaching myself to crochet. My favorite potholders are some my grandma made us (like those above) and I found the pattern online and learned how to do it from some You Tube videos – not too bad. The only problem is, my potholder came out smaller than what I anticipated. I’m going to get Grandma’s opinion when she comes over next time. Maybe I just need a bigger hook?

The other thing I’ve been spending a bunch of my time on is working out. Not every day, but I make it over to our little home gym most days to at least run. This week Matt’s installing my new pull-up bar, so I can have some high-flying fun as well. I also have some still rings on order. Love this stuff!  I hope to be able to do a good tour of that room soon. It’s really shaping up nicely.

And in the kitchen, I’ve been going great guns. We’ve really been focusing on eating at home, both for health and savings. We’ve been making tons of old family favorites and a good few new recipes thrown in (I’ve posted most but not all of those here). The mandate of having a single breakfast item for the kids has gone really well, so most every Sunday evening, I am to be found in the kitchen, prepping some sort of breakfast goodie for them. Oatmeal is the go-to because I almost always have the ingredients available: milk, fruit, oats. This week I made a bunch of breakfast sandwiches, cooking the eggs in a whoopie pie pan I picked up on Amazon for $7.

And speaking of this weekend, it was a pretty smashing one. We had a quiet Halloween at home this year, carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating. We didn’t get too many visitors (our section of the ‘hood isn’t too built up yet) … and the kids visited maybe 20 houses and had their buckets filled by homeowners eager to get the sugary stuff gone.

We had a black kitty and a jedi knight, two of my favorite costumes so far … mostly because they suit them so well. They were also warm! It wasn’t freezing here like last year, but there was definitely a nip in the air.

We also attended the wedding of a family friend (who I used to babysit for!!). It was a wonderful celebration of their love and I’m so glad to see them so happy and ready to start off on their new life together. We all had a great time at the wedding, but particularly the kids who really lived it up. Tabby ate tons of crab and loved the mashed potato bar. Ben was a dancing fool, dragging me onto the dance floor to strut his moves. It was a real treat to just be silly and have so much fun with them.

And just like that it’s November and we’re heading into the holiday season!

Life has been getting in the way of my posting on here. I can’t really make any apologies for that. It’s been a fun and (as usual) crazy couple of weeks.

Last week we had a particularly stressful rush to finish and  drop off a proposal on Wednesday morning. After the eagle had landed, I coaxed my reportee into going to brunch with me so we could do his (very late) yearly review. It was great timing and we had a lovely brunch at Snooze, one of my favorite breakfast restaurants, in their new location – the newly renovated Union Station. The renovation was well done and they decided that only local restaurants could set up shop there, so we have some wonderful Denver restaurants there and it’s a great vibe.

It’s been great cooking lately. Fall/winter food is my favorite. Lots of comfort food and soups and pastas. We’ve made meatloaf cups (with baked sweet potatoes), some yummy skillet lasagna, and a really great peach salsa chicken in the crockpot. And of course soup! Broccoli cheese, lentil and chicken gumbo. I still want to recreate an awesome frozen meal (!!) I had – Evol’s Chipotle Chicken Mac ‘n’ Cheese. Maybe next weekend.

We’ve been going on some lovely walks in the ‘hood. We figure we better get it in while we can. Already, it gets dark pretty early making it hard for us to get out in the evenings. Snapped this shot at the top of a hill in our ‘hood – wish it was a bit less street, but the sky was gorgeous and I’m glad I captured that. there’s also a big moon hanging over the lake, though it’s a bit hard to see in this view.

I almost hate to write it, lest I jinx it, but … in semi-related news, I’ve been running more. I finally gave up trying to work out early in the morning like I did for years. It just hasn’t been working since I frequently need to get myself to work very early these days and just getting presentable is enough for me. So Matt and I have been regularly using our workout room in the evenings and it’s been great. I actually spent 70 minutes on the treadmill last night. No idea how long since that’s happened!

School and activities are in full full swing. Tabby has homework every night and Ben is getting it on a weekly basis. We are fortunate to not have “crazy” level homework. Tabby gets a math worksheet every night and a spelling-related task  and Ben has a poetry folder with activities and sometimes some math every week. Tabby also has a take-home book, which at her reading level are pretty long and she rarely completes in a single night.

We have condensed karate into a single night where they both have a private lesson (though not together) for 30 minutes followed by the 60 minute group class. They would progress faster, I’m sure, if we’d take the time to get over there for another group class each week, but I can only take so much and so can they. Even with our limited karate time, Tabby is testing for her orange belt next weekend. We were hoping Ben could test a while back, but he still hasn’t reached the level of attentiveness his senseis are hoping for and he’s stuck at yellow belt ’til he can get that resolved. It doesn’t seem to bother him and they say he is making progress.

In our down time at home, we’re doing a lot of reading together. We’ve finished off three Little House books and are in the midst of the fourth (On the Banks of the Plum Creek). Out on the deck by the fireplace is a great spot for reading these books and both kids are enjoying them. I’m planning on reading some more classics to them after this – A Girl of the Limberlost, Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows. Eventually I want to read The Hobbit and of course, Harry Potter. Cuddled up on the couch with them is one of the best parts of my day.

It was a fairly relaxed weekend by our standards. The kids had their fun-run and carnival on Friday (here they are in a giant hamster ball). Ben apparently ran at warp speed and was at the front of the kindergarten pack.

I had to work later than normal (for Friday) since we had an interview team going in first thing on Monday morning. But I was able to join Matt and the kids for the second hour of the carnival. The first year we stayed all night, but this year (as with last year) it was really crowded and we didn’t stay long. Our school has grown and it’s a bit sad, but it’s still a wonderful school and our kids are luck to be there.

After the carnival we met up at our friends’ house for pizza and game night with a few other couples. The kids ran off to play and we were left in relative peace to chill and drink wine and be goofy. They’re all great people and we loved hanging with everyone.

This was Tabby’s adorable Saturday morning project for her beloved teacher.

Saturday we more or less promised the kids a stay-at-home day, but there were a few things we had to accomplish. We had a great workout in the morning and even Ben came up to join us and “run” on the treadmill. This charming fellow got out at some point along the line and tracked in the motherlode of muddy pawprints. I cannot wait for grass!!!!

Anyhow, we had to go out to grab a bit of food and a card but then we cranked the music while we worked on organizing the garage. We got a few things done, but barely scratched the surface before we had to leave and drop the kids at my dad’s house. He had a date planned with them including a movie.

While they were there, we went to Best Buy to pick up a replacement TV (our original one was defective) and then to West Elm to pick up new bar stools (more on that later). The evening’s activity was a wedding shower for a family friend and his lovely bride. It was a nice gathering.

Sunday we made it our priority to get stuff done before the kids came home. A little grocery shopping, a run to Good Will and that sort of thing. Then Matt and Ben met up with my uncle and aunt in the afternoon so they could all go to the Broncos game – Ben’s first. The previous weekend we’d watched them play and Ben was rather taken. He talked all week about the game, asking if the Broncos were playing that night and could we watch football?

So when my uncle had tickets, I knew who needed to go. We bought him his own jersey and after his disappointment that his carnival hair had worn off, we stopped at the Halloween store to get some blue and orange hair paint. That is one happy boy. He loved the game and when I asked him what his favorite part was, he didn’t cite the ice cream sundae he got in the 4th quarter, he immediately said, “Watching them play!!” I hope my papa (the original Broncos fan) is smiling down from above on his great grandson.

Anyhow, he apparently did very well at the game, happily watching all the action. Meanwhile, Tabby and I hung at my Dad’s house. Tabby played nicely and I did some work and we helped my dad cook. That evening he hosted all of us plus my sister and aunt and uncle for a very lovely dinner.

This weekend of course also marked the anniversary of my mom’s passing and the worst couple of days of my life. I definitely felt the sting more acutely a couple of times, but overall, I was OK. I had wonderful thoughts and messages from many loved ones and of course, that helps immensely. She is still held dear by many.

 

It has been one crazy week!

A perfect storm of proposals and the departure of my coworker on his vacation led to me putting in a ton of hours last week. I was in early every day and left late most of them.

Thursday was the exception, when Tabby had her class presentation on their Standley Lake Habitat research papers and her Barnyard Mooosical. We got to gather the family together to have dinner and cheer on our little naturalist/singer.

But we have definitely made hay during the weekend! Friday I had Bunco and Matt and the kids met up with another Dad and his kids. Saturday I got a nice run in while the kids have karate. Then we ran errands before meeting up with adult friends for a night out. We went to Punchbowl Social, a hipster hang out home to great food, a great bar and fun activities, including bowling. It lives up to its name with a bunch of tasty cocktails served family style in punch bowls, complete with cut crystal cups. Sunday was all about being outside. Matt and I did loops around the playground while the kids played and in the evening, we walked down to our dinner destination in Golden with my dad and sister.

All the while, we’ve had some truly crazy weather. Observe the “lake” in our back patio.

And this is our oft-used walking trail near Clear Creek. Observe (upon enlargement) how the sidewalk and slide are now a rather wet proposition than before. And this is the minor stuff. We’ve had hail for three days straight and tornadoes! They have been minor and not much damage has been done, but yikes!!

All the while, I’ve been listening to a new book called Overwhelmed which tackles the culture of crazy work and not much life balance in our culture. It’s been a great backdrop to my madness. Happily it’s underscored my better-than-average life balance as well and given me some good ideas.

Originally, I’d decided not to leave for camping this week until Friday after work,  feeling guilty for being gone again. But today I’m back in the office. I’ve just put in about 5 hours (plus 2 last night) and am ready to head for home. This, coupled with my crazy week last week and upcoming crazy week this week, has led me to the decision that I’m having my Memorial Day on Friday. We’ll be leaving on Friday morning whenever the heck we feel like it.

I’ve seriously considered bagging the whole blog a couple of times … as  you might guess when I haven’t had time to post in two weeks. Gah. It’s not anti blog, it’s just so full of EVERYTHING ELSE. And while we’re always going to be busy, I can see a time, a couple of months from now, when we aren’t spending two hours of each week day transporting the kids to and from school, when I will have time for this again. I don’t want to let it go. There’s too much good.

Continue reading “The Life o’ Jess”

It was  good, kinda fun, “normal” weekend. I say normal to mean what most people think of as a normal weekend. Leaving town to go skiing or camping is plenty normal for us.

My sister hosted Bunco Friday night. Only four (of 12!!) of us showed up. I had some righteous indignation over flakiness and then let it go. The kids were home with Matt, having McDonald’s and playing with their friends who (now) live across the street.

Saturday, Matt took the kids to karate and Kelly and I went to my Dad’s house to go through more of Mom’s things. More clothes, bags, scarves, jewelry, toiletries, and on and on. It was probably a little easier than last time, but still hard. Matt had dropped off the kids to me after karate so he could go do a little work on the old house and when we were done, we tried to go to the new Trader Joes, but the ridiculous wait times (25 min just to check out!!) combined with a meltdown, sent us to alternative groceries.

We spent the balance of Saturday at home just chilling. I finished my book and we did some picking up. We were probably in bed by 10:30.

Sunday morning, Matt left for a massage and some more work on the house and I went out to my funky little workout room to run. I left the kids inside to finish their breakfast and clean their room. They did very well, aside from Tabby wanting to take over.

After Matt got back, we met up with some friends for lunch at our favorite fish & chips place and a trip to the museum. It was nice to have the kids out and about and engaged. A really great day.

Post museum, we zipped by our site to check out our newly formed walls. They look great and we’re really getting a sense of our house on the lot. The kids were really into it, despite Tabby’s expression in this photo (she refused to wear a jacket and was therefore cold). Then we had a lovely Sunday dinner with Papa and Gaga and then home for bed.

Tabby unfortunately woke up in the middle of the night feeling pukey. So she is not at school today, but rather, is hanging at home with Daddy. Poor kiddo.

So I got an awful lot of the things on my to-do list checked off. We had some fun. We tried something new – though it wasn’t the ambitious Beef Wellingtons – just a variation on a Costco staple (pulled smoked pork) with a slide of apple slaw. I finished my book. I got my “long run” done. We checked out the house. We got ahead of the cooking. Now it’s just a short week ’til we head up the mountain to celebrate Tabby turning 7.