The Clutter

I'm so over the clutter in my house.  This is my kitchen table and it looks like this pretty much every day. 
I have purchased separate bins for the 4 of us. 
Didn't work.
I have threatened, and threatened.
Didn't work.
I have labeled places for us to put our stuff.
Didn't work.
Obviously, nothing works. 
I have literally tried everything. 
Nothing works. 
I'm over it.  And I really don't know how to clean up the clutter. 
I have been over to some of my friends' homes and they have no clutter.  I  didn't believe it so I decided to "drop" by unannounced and still, no clutter.  How do these super Mom's do it? 
I need help with my clutter. 
Believe me,
NOTHING WORKS!!!!!!!

My 2011 Christmas Letter

This just went out to family and friends. 
A little late but it went out. 

Raising teenagers is like nailing Jell-O to a tree. 

Wrinkles don’t hurt. 

Laughing is good exercise.  It’s like jogging on the inside. 

Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy. 

 I found these quotes on an old Christmas letter from my Mom so I copied them.  Good stuff!

I hope you had a great year.  Here is a recap on the Bussy’s year of 2011.

January- Hannah turned 12.
February- The Friswold’s, our cousins, came for a ski visit.
March- Nothing.
April- Drove to Las Vegas for 3 days to get out of the snow. We stayed downtown 2 nights and the Mandalay Bay one night.  Bye, Bye American Pie is now our family song.
May- Heather celebrated her birthday in Scottsdale with 3 friends.   The weather was perfect.   Jack and Heather celebrated 21 years of blissful marriage.
June- Jordan turned 15.   Nana came for a visit to Fruita.  Always fun. 
July- Nothing.
August- Jack turned 51.  Jordan started High School.  Hannah started 7^th grade.
September- Nothing.
October- Nothing.
November- Heather went to MN for a week with a weekend trip to Madison to see the Brolin’s. 
December-Holiday Madness.

There you have it. 

I hope you don’t mind the recycled paper.  

Have a Wonderful 2012!

Damn Kids

Bringing in the new year this year was pretty painless.  That was until my daughters showed me the pictures they took of me when I fell asleep on the couch one night this week at around 8pm.  I rarely fall asleep that early because I am such a night owl but that night I wasn't working and I had put in a very full two weeks over the holidays and I guess I was tired. 
I had a glass of wine in my hand and my eyes closed and for some reason they thought it would be funny to start snapping pictures of me while I was laying there sleeping.  No, I wasn't "passed out" like you are thinking, because I had wine in my hand.  It was my first glass. 
I had my glasses on, my hair was unwashed, I had about 8 chins because of the position I was in (OK, it's really because I am 10 lbs overweight) and it was just down right bad. 
The girls were cracking up big time and Hannah started poking me with her finger like I was some dead animal on the side of the road.  I woke up and wiped the drool from my face and blinked my eyes because I really didn't know what was going on.  I, after all, was the innocent one in this scenario and they were laughing at me and I didn't know why. 
Hannah started laughing really hard and kept snapping and by the time I got up and grabbed that camera she had taken around 5 pictures.  I did manage to delete all but one. 
Are you ready for this?   It's bad. 
Reality is now sinking in and it's time for a makeover. 


Here you have it

DAMN KIDS!!!!

"Go Out and PLAY!"

My kids are ready to go back to school.  They are getting anxious and bored being home and trying to find things to do.  Having no neighbors to harass it's always tricky to get them to get off the couch and stop playing wii and get outside.  When they were little they had no problem getting on their play clothes and going out and just playing. 
Now that they are older
1.  They don't "play"
2.  Don't even call it "play" because they will roll their eyes and act like that was the biggest insult you have ever given them.
3.  They don't want to put on "play" clothes.  For some reason, even though nobody will see them in our yard, looking good is priority.
4.  If I tell them to go out and "play" they yell at me and tell me to stop treating them like babies. 
5.  Right now, for instance, Jordan is straightening her hair so she can go outside to sled.
6.  I know longer am the cool Mom. 

I did get them to go outside eventually.  Jordan smelled real pretty too after she put on some perfume. 
She will be the best smelling sledder in our yard. 

Day Off

Day off!!

This season kicked my sorry arse but in a good way.  All in all, it was great to be working and making money and the tourists weren't too cranky or weird which we often see during this time.  I did, however, miss my family in a bad way and thought about everyone at my aunt's house.  This time last year my Dad was in the hospital recovering from dying and being brought back to life and we were all there, at my Dad's house, celebrating Christmas, making visits to the hospital, having some fun watching our kids together.  There is nothing like cousins.  I love my cousins.  And my kids love their cousins too.  It's a super special relationship. 

I am enjoying my coffee, looking out at the day.  It's windy but warm and we still have no snow but I'm taking Jordan and going skiing.  Later we are having dinner with one of my most favorite families in the world.  I'm liking this day knowing I don't have to go to work and I get one day of reprieve. 
Tomorrow I start all over with a busy week at work until Sunday when I get to recoup again. 
Head down, game face on, work mode, but today I'm off and I am getting out and enjoying it.

Have a great day where ever you live.

Merry Christmas Eve

Twas the night before Christmas
 and the restaurant was busy
with tourists aplenty
 eating and drinking until they were dizzy.
Most had a good time
 in the past there are cranks
but tonight was a good crowd
 and for that I say thanks. 
The tips were all good
 which is always a plus
At the end of the night
 there was no need to fuss.
Tomorrow we wake
 do it all over again
I'd rather be with my family
 but working this holiday wasn't that bad in the end. 

Merry Christmas. 

Mother/Daughter Time

My daughter, Hannah, rallied me pretty hard this morning to get up out of bed and go skiing.  Since we don't have any snow it's hard to get motivated to go ski.  But we went and had a blast. 

We got on the lift at 10:30 and it was sunny and warm.  We got off the lift, skied off the back side towards North Peak and rode up the lift for some more sun and smiles.  We were both so content and happy to be outside. 

After a few runs we called it a day and headed home.  At the end of our last run we were behind a snowboarder going way to fast.  He was not slowing down when he got to the slow fence and tried jockeying his way through the fence past a Father and his probably 5 year old daughter.  He ran right into the little girl right in front of us.  Luckily she was not hurt and the Dad was stunned that that just happened.  There were two ski patrols standing there watching and they went up to the kid and just said, "Buddy, your day is over!!"  They took his pass and kicked him off the mountain.  Hannah and I saw the whole thing and we were just shocked to see this idiot try to ride his way through the fence at a high speed.   Nice to see someone get busted for being a doink and not thinking about the people around him. 
    The coolest thing about today is that my 12, almost 13 year old, likes skiing with me still and we laugh and have a great time together.   This will change, I'm sure, but I sure did relish in the moment today.  We have a blast together and she makes me smile. 

I could barely keep up.  I had to turn it up a notch watching her ski fast down the mountain. 
Damn.

My 2004 Christmas Letter

This was my first Christmas letter ever.  I had just received a Christmas letter from a friend of mine who I never keep in touch with any more.  She gushed and gushed and her kids are clearly the most perfect kids in the world.  I was extremely annoyed with her letter and sat down on my computer and wrote this in about 5 minutes.   It's all true and I felt much better.   Needless to say, my Mother, who had a great sense of humor, was NOT amused by this letter for some reason. 

Here it is.
 

As this year comes to an end I hope it has been as crazy and hectic as ours. 

I’ll update you on our two beautiful children, Jordan and Hannah.

     Jordan is our oldest.  She is now 8 and continues to amaze us with the fits she throws and is a true handful.  She is a typical 8 year old and we can never turn our heads for a minute.  She has had her 2^nd offence at our local grocery store.  By that I mean we are now in the stealing from the checkout line phase.  The first time was embarrassing, and the second time was just down right humiliating.  They told us that if it happens again they would call the police.  Hopefully that scared her enough to get her to stop.  Jordan also continues to struggle at school.  We should have held her back as advised but she was such a good student in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade.  Now that she is in 3^rd grade she is struggling at math and reading but loves and does well at everything else.  We are doing many math facts during our winter break.  Too bad for her.  Jordan is a great athlete.  We are so proud of her swimming and she is a fish in water.  We keep her up on her swimming lessons and she especially likes Mondays with the after school day camp program.  There’s really no instruction going on and the kids just go wild at that pool.  She loves it.  We are not skiing yet because we have been just too busy but we have the girls signed up for the Arapahoe Basin Ski Club which starts in January.  Most of our friends’ kids are already on double black diamonds.  But not our girls. They still prefer the green runs and their favorite run is called Toilet Bowl.  Sweet, huh?

     Hannah is 5 and is in full time kindergarten and loves every minute of it.  She really doesn’t excel at anything but she is a very happy-go-lucky kid.  She has a lot of friends and seems to be well liked.  She is the pickiest eater on earth and I’m not sure how she survives on just noodles and plain bread.  Hopefully some day we can get a vegetable or fruit into her little system. Jordan and Hannah are best friends and they fight like sisters do.  I’m sure you all know that it can get pretty violent at times.  But sisters will be sisters.  Hannah has also discovered swear words which can be very embarrassing at times.  Kids these days.

     Our newest addition to our family is our dog, Teller.  He’s named after the mountain right behind our house and our other dog Buck is buried up there.  We adopted him from the pound last January so he isn’t quite one year yet but is well on his way to weighing over 100 lbs.  Who would’ve thunk?  He gets into everything from the garbage to any food left on the counter.  We really need to watch him at all times too.  He just gobbled up an entire plate of fresh homemade cinnamon rolls that were even wrapped.  He’s also discovered that the couch is much more comfortable than the floor.  Dog hair is all over our furniture now.  We try to get him down but he sleeps there during the night when we are all sound asleep.  He is a very smart dog!

Jack and Heather are still pretty much the same.  We have arguments like normal people but we now argue much more constructively and that helps.  Thanks Dr. Phil.  Heather broke her collar bone over her 40^th birthday and that really took a toll on the checkbook.  But after her surgery in June she is fully recovered.  Heather also went back to work in August.  She works in a Dental office at the front desk and loves it.  Jack is still a builder and he is one skillful builder.  He mostly builds custom homes and it keeps him busy.  Even though we struggle financially we still manage to put a smile on our face and enjoy life to the fullest.

We are very blessed and we feel so very fortunate to have a pretty normal family. 

We hope this letter finds you better off than us.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Love,

Us

My 2009 Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas.  We hope this letter finds you all struggling just as hard as the B Family is.  It gives us great joy to know that other families have a tough go of it too.

Heather

Heather is focused on not having a nervous breakdown.   She is having a great time in life and the kids continue to be such a challenge but it’s good for her to have that.  She has always liked a challenge and this is perfect for her.   We did have quite the pregnancy scare earlier on in the year and thank goodness it was just that, a SCARE. We just know that if we were pregnant we would have had another girl.  That would have been just par for our course.   We were ecstatic to know she is just going through menopause.   God works in mysterious ways. 

Jack

Jack is doing wonderful. He was just voted number one dad by our two daughters and was so proud for being recognized in this family. He’s working very hard to be number one husband but has a long way to go.   His job is still in the construction world and he has taken it upon himself to venture off on his own a bit and now he has so much more time to ski.  He is skiing as much as he can in the winter and in the summer he rides his mountain bike as much as he can.  Jack did travel to Costa Rica because we did purchase property down there.  He spent 2 weeks in Costa Rica and unfortunately it rained and rained and the beach was polluted with raw sewage.  We are hoping we didn’t make a mistake by buying property where we did.  We’ll see. 

Jordan

 Jordan continues to keep us on our toes.  She is now in the swearing phase of her life and is experimenting at home when she throws her fits.  She loves to just let those bad words fly and see our reaction.  After all she is a teenager now (13).   She is now homeschooled and is determined to send her mother to an institute of some sort.  Jordan continues to make us proud though.   She excels at computer games, and hand held yahtzee.  Jordan is our thespian   She was cast in the Christmas Carol play and has 2 lines.   She loves every minute of it.  She is not the athlete of the family and hates winter but theatre has filled that void. 

Hannah

Hannah loves swimming and has been on our local swim team for 3 years now.  She competes in swim meets all over Colorado.  The last meet she swam she only got disqualified once.  Hannah enjoys skiing and now wants to do gymnastics.  Too bad we don’t have the money for the gymnastics but she’ll get over it.  She’s been there done that with us before.  Hannah is also the comedian of our family.  She continues to impress us during our fights and she’ll just break out with a dance or a joke just to get us all to stop.   Hannah is our happy go lucky child and is really just very average. 

Teller,

  Even though our girls are definitely not gifted or talented, our beast of a dog is!  He is soooo smart.  He eats us out of house and home daily and has figured out that he can get food from our garbage as soon as we fall asleep.  He’s even figured out how to open the cupboard where we keep the garbage!  We are still very proud of him.  He’s as big as a horse, being part Great Dane, which Heather didn’t know when she adopted him 5 years ago.  She thought she was bringing home a small lab mix.  Surprise!!!    Teller is an incredible watch dog for our family.  Anytime someone comes to the house he barks and growls and scares the youknowwhat out of whomever it is.  It is a great comfort to us to know that he might attack at any given moment.  FYI, call us before you come for a visit.  Teller brings us great comfort and joy. We are truly blessed to have him. 

Buster is the newest addition to our family.  He is our cat and loves to pounce on the kids.  He also scares the living daylights out of us and he is just scratching up the furniture something fierce.  Too bad we bought a new couch before we got him.  It’s trashed.  We love him and although our house smells like cat pee we are now a complete family.

We hope this letter finds you all healthy and happy.  We are still working on it. 

Happy Holidays,

The B's

WARNING! Bragging Rights

WARNING!!
I have to brag for a bit. So if parents who brag about their kids make you gag, don't read on. 
I have good kids.  Both, completely different from one another but both equally good in their own way. 

Jordan has been swimming and loving the team and the team has taken her in like she has been a friend for life.  No judgement, no drama, no attitudes.  Just good kids having a great time as a team of swimmers.  As many issues as Jordan has not one of those girls seem to care and they include her in everything.  Her endorphins have kicked in and she is happier.  She swims 5 days a week.  We get up twice a week because she has to be at the pool by six.  That means we have to leave our house at 5:15 am and it's tough.  She swims 2 meets a week and the drive is a long one to Denver from here.  Tuesday I drove down to Denver to see the meet and I watched her swim the 50 fly.  It was awesome and she swam it well.  Her stroke was beautiful.  It was worth the drive.  She hasn't complained once about swimming.  I love that sport. 

Hannah has been busting her butt in school.  Last month she got off of her IEP which made her a special ed student.  I have said this before and I'll say it again.  GET RID OF STANDARDIZED TESTING!!  She scores low on those tests but is an excellent student.  Needless to say, she was ecstatic when she felt like she was not a "dumb" kid or a "sped".  Well, she was placed in a lower level reading and math class and was just bummed about it.  For a couple of weeks she has been asking me to set up an appointment with her teachers to discuss this.  Her thought process, with good reason, is that why did she work so hard in school to get off her IEP and now she's not seeing any benefits from it?  She kept thinking "why am I still in the sped classes?  Good point.  She called me at work and asked me if I had emailed school.  I'm telling you she is on it.  I asked her which teachers needed to be addressed and she told me.  Then she said, "Mom, before you set up an appointment let me tell you when I'm free".  Ha Ha. She's so organized but that's one thing I do know.  When she is free.  She cracks me up.  Anyway, I email and they explain why she is in the classes she's in, because of the standardized tests, and after they thought about her situation they moved her to a higher level class and the morning she was so upset, with these huge Cindy-Loo-Who tears streaming down her cheeks, she came home that same day a different kid with way more confidence knowing that she would be challenged. 
The cool thing about this is that she totally advocated for herself and made that change.  She works hard and it shows.  The teachers love her.  Especially her ski coaches.  One has told me that they have never seen a kid so excited all the time when she is on the mountain.  And it is contagious.  She loves every bit of winter and the cold.  Crazy. 

I've shed a lot of tears over the past 2 months because parenting has really given me a run for my money.  It's the hardest thing I have ever encountered.  This week has been a good one for my parenting confidence.

We Are Family

Lately, we haven't been watching TV.  I mean, we watch TV but it's not going on first thing in the morning on Saturday or Sunday and I'm not having to yell, "turn the TV off!" 

The girls, for some reason, have been waking up and doing other stuff.  Arts and crafts, violin, cards, just piddling around.  It's been wonderful.  This morning I did, however, wake up to them playing ping pong on the wii.  I laid in bed listening to the funny comments and banter between them.  When I got up I got my coffee and watched them.  Jack came in after working on his skis all morning and we all decided to go for a walk up Deer Creek. 

We got on our winter clothes and headed out the door.  The girls had sleds, Jack had his snow skate, teller had a stick and I had the camera.  We walked up the first hill and stashed the sleds in the woods because we wanted to hike up further to see what Jack has named 'Little Alaska.'  

Little Alaska is an area in Deer Creek we ski in the winter.  There is a wall of chutes and cornices that he felt needed that name.  It's super cool to ski and we ski up there often with the snowmobiles towing us up there. 

We hiked up to the culvert and got a good look at Little Alaska and even though there is snow up there it's still not enough to ski.  Safely that is.  Our walk was fun with just the 4 of us plus Teller.  We sang, laughed, threw snow, talked and told stories and most importantly, we enjoyed each other and had a great time.  I took a couple of pictures but never enough.  We decided not to take our Christmas picture because Buster, our cat, wasn't with the family and that wouldn't be nice to him. 

We walked back down to where we had stashed the sleds and sledded down the most fun part of the hill to the parking lot.  I always love looking at my house from Deer Creek.  I still can't believe I live in such beautiful mountains. 

Thanksgiving

I never really think about all of the things I'm thankful for.  I take it all too for granted like many of us do but this year I really focused on what I am thankful for and here are some of the things.

• My husband, Jack.  He is a great guy and puts up with me. 
• Of course, my kids.  Good, bad, ugly.  It's all part of it and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
• My health.  Even though I haven't been feeling up to par for a few weeks it's nothing serious and I have only broken one bone, my clavicle, in 48 years and most of those years I've lived a very active life. 
• My friends.  I love my friends.  I have picked good people to be around.
• My job.  I am happy to have a job with great benefits.
• My house.  I love my little cabin in the woods.
• My pets.   They keep me laughing and I love the fact that I can spoon with my dog, Teller. 
• My sense of humor.  I love to laugh and I laugh often.
• My entire family who are spread out all over the U.S. 
• My car.  I love my car and after driving home in a huge wind/snowstorm last night it sure handles well on snowy roads.  I came upon a large tree that had blown over right onto the road and had to veer quickly around it.  I almost slammed into it.  My car is awesome. 

So many things to be thankful for but these are just a few.  I am thankful for the wonderful life I was given and I am having a great time living it. 

I did boycott Black Friday though and I am thankful for that.  Now, I can take a breather and soon we will focus on Christmas.

My People

     Last night I went bowling for our employee party.  It's pretty amazing the camaraderie we all have with one another. 
I think this was thrown together kind of last minute so an email went out last week inviting us all to the bowling alley for a get together.  Usually when something like that is last minute a handful of people may show up.  Not with our motley crew.  Everyone was there.  Front of the house, back of the house, management too. 
We walked in and the bowling alley was empty with the exception of a couple of people wrapping up a game.  We gathered around a table waiting for everyone to show and within 15 minutes 25 or so of us were high fiving, fist bumping, hugging, shaking hands.  It was as if we all hadn't seen each other in years.  It's been 5 weeks.  The energy was good and we were all feeling warm and fuzzy being with our 'kind' again.  We're like a special tribe, us restaurant folk.  We have our own language, and no one is easily offended.
 
     After our warm welcomes and feeling the love we got shoes, pitchers of beer, cocktails, food and balls.  We broke up into teams and started bowling.  The jokes were flying, everyone was aware of the other lanes and how others were bowling, wise cracks were being thrown out and there was laughter all around.  We were all mingling and having a ball. 
Before last night I was so not ready to go back to work.  Now, I am. 

     I am grateful to work in such a positive environment, which is kind of an oxymoron.  Restaurant business, positive environment?
  
Yes, it is possible.  We're living proof.

Hannah Hit the Slopes

Well, my daughter, Hannah, beat me again.  She got out skiing before I did.  She got new skis, boots and poles and got her pass, which I still don't have for this season.  She's on it.  And, she is one motivated individual to ski.  I love her passion and her great attitude and it's contagious.  I'm going to get may pass tomorrow and hopefully hit the slope.  There may be more than one open that I'll ski but early season is pretty limited. 
The weather has been nice with the occasional snow shower but nothing as of late has come our way.  I'm crossing my fingers in hopes we'll have another season like we did last year.   That was crazy good. 
In the mean time we'll be thankful for the snow we do have and after a 5 week break from work I go back on Tuesday.  I'm a little mixed about starting up my job because I really don't feel ready to go balls to the wall yet.  But, we need the money and it is sure to be a profitable one given the reservations we already have for Thanksgiving.  I am grateful that I even get a break.  I can't imagine doing what I do year round, 5 days a week with no substantial break.  So, thank you.

5 a.m.... Against the Law.

There ought to be a law that states waking up before 7am is illegal.  I know all of you morning weirdos out there think that I'm crazy but if you could see me before 7am you'd vote yes.  This morning I had to wake up at 5:00 so I could get Jordan to swim practice by 6.  Of course, she couldn't wake up so I was stressing about it and we got into a little fight and by the time we drove out of the driveway at 5:30 this morning I knew we'd be late.  Too bad so sad, coach.
 I forgot my purse and didn't even have the decency to put on a bra.  Luckily for the cop who may have had to pull me over for speeding but didn't, I was wearing a huge winter coat that went down to the floor, practically.  I did get my coffee to go though so I wasn't going to cry. 
I got in the car and started driving down the icy, windy mountain road and J was telling me to hurry up.  The road was terrible and I made a mental note to call the road people to have them come up with some sand or I would be in the ditch.  Every corrner I came around I kept thinking this is it.  I'm going to spin out.  I wasn't that stupid.  I was taking it easy much to Jordan's dismay.  She had the stereo cranked up loudly to Glee's CD, I think number 6 or something.  We listen to it over and over and over and over and over and over and over, oh sorry.  I made a mental note to lose that CD for awhile. 
We got to school at 6 exactly and I drove to the wrong door because I'm new at this morning practice thing.  We drove around to the pool door, which naturally, that is where the girls would enter.  Sometime this summer they built a huge curb where there wasn't one and we drove up that curb and J kept saying, "you can't drive over that!".. "MOM, you can't drive over that!!!" 
Watch me.  We were late and by gawd I was pissed off at the new curb.  Jordan made it to swim and I drove home in peace and quiet and took a nap.  I had to get some more shut eye before I went to my 11:00 new windshield appointment and then to Jordan's 3:00 Dentist appointment to have 3 teeth pulled.  It just never ends.  After explaining to the Dentist that Jordan has huge anxiety and I could predict what would happen when we got home I asked her if she could prescribe something to get Jordan to sleep tonight because I knew the outcome of our teeth pulling day.  She and I both decided that vicodin would be to much and Valium stays in the system too long and all in all I really didn't want Jordan on a narcotic with her other meds so I drove to Vitamin Cottage and got some Valerian root and called it good.  It worked and J is resting and after about a half hour of OMG I got her settled down and happy.  Ice cream and Valerian.  It's a good combo. 
So, tomorrow we wake up for one more appointment for a school sport physical and we should be done for a while.
But, I'm happy to say that I no longer have a crack in my windshield from the top to the bottom straight in my view and I have  brand new windshield wipers and he vacuumed out my car for me.  It was exceptionally good customer service which one doesn't see much of any more. 
I may have to pop a couple of natural sleeping pills and call it a night too.

My First Grey Hair

I've thought about ending my blog.  It seems kind of redundant to me at times to keep writing the same ole, same ole.  I think I was trying to hard to come up with "material" that would be interesting.  Well, to tell you the truth this writing stuff is like therapy to me and I am pleased to announce to myself, and whom ever else reads this stuff, that I am not ending my blog.  I know my Dad, for one, will be happy about that.  So read on and some of this will get pretty juicy. 

I feel like I've lived 10 years in the past one month.  I ended my job on October 17th for 5 weeks because that's what the restaurant does.  It shuts down to regroup for the next season.  Winter.  Which equals snow, skiing/riding, tourists, holidays, busy.  I don't know how I can get any busier.  During our break I scheduled every appointment known to Mom.  Dentist, doctors, ortho, therapist, you  name it we've been.  And that is not to mention the extra curricular activities that are involved in this schedule. 
Oh, and did I mention I threw in a trip to MN in there too?  With a side trip to Madison?  Here's how my break has been so far. 
Like I said, on October 17th I worked the last night of the restaurant being opened until Thanksgiving.  A little cleaning and putting away stuff and we were good to go.  That week I had a crown on a tooth and my annual check up.  We drove to Denver and spent the night with my cousins on Friday night and drove home on Saturday so I could work a fancy, schmancy wine function for Keystone.  It was not worth it but I had fun and was out of there by 10.  Sunday was my rest day which consisted of watching the Vikings get beat by the Packers.  End of week one of my break.  Week two consisted of more appointments, violin practice, meetings at school and getting ready for Halloween which is always a huge thing.   Halloween came and went and now I'm starting my 3rd week of break so I get on a plane and head for MN, by myself, no kids.  MN was another whirlwind of packing it all in, seeing friends, not seeing friends, you bastards, and then we threw in a quick trip to Madison for the weekend to see my older brother and his family which was definitely the highlight of my trip.  I love that family because they are perfect in every way, the bastards.  Back in the car for the 5 hour drive to Mpls and I'm all energetic and pumped up and rejuvenated and motivated to change my family to be just like my brothers' family.  I've got a great plan and I am prepared.  MN gave me another day to do stuff and off to my mountain home by Tuesday.  I'm now in my 4th week of break and I feel as if I need a vacation.  I get home on Tuesday night and Jordan has to let me know how pissed off she is at me for abandoning her for a week and goes into a rage like no other.  She is throwing things and cussing and smashes a lamp with glass all over and finally breaks down into an exhausted sleep and I am now realizing that my plan to be like my brothers' family is just not going to happen.  Time for more appointments the following day,  the biggie being an ortho appointment only to be told that Jordan needs braces to the tune of 3 years and $5100.  Yippy skippy,  So I'm trying to figure out how to tell Jack this because he is going to have a cow.  Jordan is now wearing a retainer which is giving her a huge headache and she can't stop playing with it, hence a new thing to fight about.  Friday comes too quickly and I'm off again for an overnight to Jordan's speech and debate tournament in downtown Denver.  18 kids, the coach and me.  Now, I'm new at the speech and debate thing and it's actually pretty amazing to see.  It's a whole new academic world, one that I'm not so sure we belong in.  I was thrown to the wolves and was made a judge and we spent 20 hours at a school for this incredible tournament.   Jordan was a complete train wreck and I was walking around like I was lost in a corn maze, which is how I felt.  But to say the least we survived and I had fun.  The drive home was stressful as there was a huge storm in the mountains which we knew we were driving straight into, Jordan had the biggest meltdown in the car with other school passengers present and had to witness what one of her meltdowns looks like.  She ended up getting herself so worked up that by the time we got up to the tunnel it was a blizzard outside, she got sicker than a dog and  vomited her entire weekend out of her system into the Tokyo Joe's bag I thankfully had.  Now, I have the white knuckle drive down from the tunnel, windows down,  in a blizzard, with 2 highchool girls in the back seat wondering WTF, and a bag full of vomit,  with Jordan still dry heaving in the bag.  We were all exhausted.  We get to the school with a side trip to the gas station so J can clean up a bit, and I said goodbye and sorry to the two girls who had the misfortune of having to ride home with us but in return we got a new passenger because I told his parents I would drive him home.  Well, we get to his neighborhood and Jordan has to barf again but we have no bag so I stopped in the middle of the road in the middle of the blizzard and she had to heave out the door.  Poor guy in the back was horrified.   I gave him a look and told him he is a true friend.  We get home finally at 11 or so and I can't wait to curl up with my cat and my blanket in my comfy clothes and veg in front of the TV with a glass of wine.  I do and BOOM!!.  Power outage.  No problem, I'll just go to bed. 
We woke up the next day with no power, a freezing house and no water.  No problem, these things get fixed within a matter of a few hours.  Not today.  5pm came and it is now getting pretty dark.  I get candles and light them and we wait.  And wait.  Jack finally takes the girls to dinner down the hill and half the town of Montezuma is there too.  I opted not to go because I had now come down with the nasty cold my Dad gave to me in MN.  They got home and had full bellies and Jordan was worried about her hair the next morning if we didn't have power.  She still hadn't washed it and had barfed a little in it but washed it out at the gas station.  I told her we'll deal with it the next morning if we still don't have power.  Well, the next morning came and we were still without power.  Hannah was raring to go and I gave J the option.  She opted not to get out of her warm bed only to face a freezing house.  I don't blame her nor did I make her get up.  She had a huge weekend and was not in a good place.  She did get up at 7 though and realized that staying home in a cold house with no power or water was not going to be fun so I drove her to school at 8 and they let her have an excused absence.  We did get our power back, finally that afternoon as I was packing an overnight bag to stay elsewhere.
I had invited some friends over about 2 months ago for the Monday night football game, Vikings/Packers.  I bought football food and cleaned the house, took a vacuum to the floor which hadn't been done in about a month.  I called my friends to let them know that unbeknownst to me Jordan started swim team this night and I'd be home at 7:30 so start without me.  I get a call from my daughter and she tell me, "Mom, we have a slight problem.   Kurtis and Tracy aren't coming up anymore."  I ask why, concerned and she tells me it's because we don't get the channel that the football game is on.  I ask how is that possible and she tells me Monday night football is on ESPN, which we DO NOT GET!!  Can you say embarrassing.  So we politely invite ourselves up to their house and watch a huge ass kicking done by the Packers.  But, we ate our football food and had fun. 
Now I'm in my 5th week of break and tonight we are driving down to Denver to see The Lion King at The Buell Theatre and it's snowing.  It's going to be a late night and I'm sick.  I'm going anyway.  I'll bring my NyQuil and my cough drops and a good attitude, dammit.  I'll finish my break with another trip to Denver to see my hormone doctor followed by a dentist appointment for Jordan rounding that up with a physical check up for Jordan on Saturday.  I'll go back to work on Tuesday not rested and cranky. 
This story brings me to the title of my post.  While we were down in Denver I was getting ready for bed after a huge long day at the speech and debate tournament.  I was in my motel bathroom and the lighting was fluorescent lighting on my head and I see it.  A huge, protruding grey hair sticking straight out of the top of my head.  It was like it was calling for me to see it and I did.  I pulled that sucker out of my head and inspected it like I have inspected nothing else in my life.  I almost cried.  But I didn't, I laughed.  I threw the grey hair in the toilet like it was a dead gold fish and flushed the toilet. 
I guess I need to make an appointment to see my hair stylist.  I'll do that tomorrow.

Winter is Here

Winter is here to stay, I think.  It's snowing today and we received our first real snowfall a few days ago.  It never melted to that is a good indication that winter is here to stay. 
I didn't think we had much of a fall but last year we were spoiled and the weather was beautiful and lasted a good long time.  Luckily for me though I got all of my flowers cut back, lawn furniture put away, seeds spread, I'm ready to have it snow without stressing about getting it all done. 
We are cozy warm with our fires going and heaters turned on.  I'm a little excited about the upcoming ski season.  It helps to want to ski rather than feel like you have to ski.  I haven't been exercising this past month so the sluggish feeling will be nice not to feel.  At least when the ski areas open I'll be able to get some turns in and feel like I am getting some exercise.  It's a vicious cycle I get myself into with the exercise thing.  I wish I was one of those super motivated people who could wake up at 6 a.m. and get out and run 5 miles, in any type of weather.  Not gonna happen. 
I get to go to MN while I am on my 5 week break from work.  I can't wait to take that break and I will see my Dad and brothers for a bit.  It's a much needed break and thanks to my husband for giving me a hall pass for a bit to do that.  The only downfall is that it'll be November and I've never liked November in MN.  I'll get over it though.  It's great to be home where I grew up either way.  I'm very sentimental that way. 
Stay warm if you are in a cold area and Costa Rica is still on our minds constantly.  We will get back. 

My Horoscope Today

You may not be comfortable if you're put in a position where you have to defend your position today. You might even try to sidestep an important issue by avoiding a direct confrontation. However, conflict becomes more likely if you don't face the differences head-on. Fortunately, everyone will feel more relieved after everything is out in the open.

This is my horoscope for today. 
Funny that I had to confront a very difficult situation today with a friend.  It wasn't funny at all.  It downright sucked. 

We have a great friend who happens to rent from us.  We had to ask him to move on tonight.  Meaning, find another place to live.  The reasons are many but mostly when someone is self destructing and is doing so in a manner that is dangerous and unhealthy it's time to not enable the situation anymore and remove myself and my family from the situation.  Which is what we did.  Not fun.  We've had tremendous support from many of our mutual friends and I couldn't be more thankful. 
This was a difficult week for dealing with difficult topics. 
Substance abuse is serious folks and if you are in it or are enabling it I feel your pain.  I cannot be a part of someone dying a slow death. 
Heavy, heavy sigh. 

High School Drama Already

Life with kids doesn't get easier.  It just shifts.  I have a feeling we are in for a rude awakening this winter with our new activities.  However the key word here is activities which has the word active in it. 
I officially have a kid in high school now and this is a very interesting time.  I remember back when I started high school and it changed my life.  I went from a naive, innocent, marching band geek to a, I quit everything, tried many things, and got a bad boy boyfriend girl.  Needless to say my parents were not happy with me as I was plowing my way into a life of sex, drugs and rock and roll.   It was all about how much fun I could have and let me tell you, I had fun.  My daughter will have fun too but not in the same way.  Over my dead body. 
My 15 year old daughter is a lot like me.  She likes to do just the littlest amount of work to squeak by.  She doesn't want to be involved.   At first it sounds great but when it really comes down to it she doesn't want to join.  This is where we are right now. 
When we registered her for high school she signed up for speech and debate, the swim team and theatre in the spring.  Well, she is now in speech and debate and wants to quit, has already told me there is no way in H. E. double hockey sticks she is going to swim and she'll think about auditioning for the play.  Well, little does she know that she will not be going through high school like I did.  Uninvolved.  I'm standing firm and so far so good with speech and debate.  She realizes it'll be a lot of work and that is a 4 letter word she hates.  There aren't many.  But I really thing S&D can change her life and make her a more confident person and once she realizes she's good at it, which I am confident with all of her drama she will be, she will enjoy, no, love it.  It is going to take a lot of money and some travel which could pose a problem but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  I may add a paypal button to my blog.  Kidding.  I've seen those though and wonder how on earth. 
Swim team she doesn't want to do because of her hair.  Her hair is an issue for her as it is with so many high school girls.  She has some practices in the morning and other than the fact that we'll have to be over at the pool before school even starts she's concerned about how she's going to get ready for school after practice.  I'm concerned with how the heck we'll even get out of bed that early.  But, I'm sticking to my guns there too.  I've paid the fees and she'll swim and like it.  Hopefully. 
Theatre isn't for a few months and she will be trying out for the play.  It's what she does and that is her passion. 
The anxiety attacks are killing me though.  How does one deal with this type of anxiety.  Let her quit?  I don't think so. 
She'll thank me in her senior year when she doesn't get voted biggest partier of her class. 

More John Flanagan

Flanagan never followed the rules, except with me.  Why?  I'm not sure but I'm glad I could keep him somewhat in line.  I'm proud of that. 
There is a formal service for him October 1st at, where else?  Arapahoe Basin.  Which is ironic because he was actually banned from the ski area for breaking the rules one too many times.  But, it is truly a spiritual place for many of us and we all started our ski bumming careers up there. 
By John abiding by the rules with me this is another story. 
I don't don't know if this falls under the rule breaking category but it's a good example of how he respected me.  Why?  I really don't know. 
John, as I've written before, was our best man in our wedding.  We were leaving our house for 3 weeks for our honeymoon and asked John if he'd stay at the house.  He agreed and we were all happy.  Jack and I drove down the driveway and left John in charge.  Naturally, he threw a party.  All of our friends showed up and partied on the deck.  We had just moved into the house so we really didn't have a yard or fire pit or much.  But we had a great big deck with views to match.  Everyone brought something to grill because that's what you do.  Someone asked John to light the grill and John went into serious mode.  If you've seen serious mode in John you knew he meant business.  He said no one could use the grill because it was brand new and it would be just wrong to use it before Jack and Hef did.  I'm sure everyone just looked at him and just busted a gut laughing thinking "what the hell?" 
Well, he was serious.  He wouldn't let anyone touch the "virgin" grill and I'm not sure how they cooked but that was just John.  Go figure. 

Sometimes I would see John on the top of Pali and it would be dumping and his mustache was caked with snow and ice.  I would get off the chair and he'd give me a big hug and say "c'mon Hef.  I'm gonna show you some of the best powder out here."  I'd follow and when we'd get to the ski area boundary he'd duck under the rope.  I would put on the breaks and say "John, I'm not going to do it."  He'd try to coerce me into ducking under that rope to ski the steep gullies and I wouldn't budge.  He would come back and we'd ski down, get on the lift and hike up out of the gate.  After all, that's the rules.  He would always follow the rules with me.  I loved him for that and the Arapahoe Basin Ski Patrol would not believe their eyes.  He was capable. 

I loved that for some reason I could get him to follow the rules.  He has always been such a gentleman around me which I know some never saw that side of him. 
Flanagan was a good person and a true friend.  I hope I get a chance to tell some of these stories at his service on October 1st.