What makes a home?

I've been pondering this question for about a week. We have been living in our new home for just over a year and for both Lynn and I, the place still does not feel like home. My thinking is that it is mostly because the place it about twice the size as the last one. We have had quite a few unexpected issues and more than a few projects that we did not plan on doing.

I spent most of last week ripping out most of the plants in the flower bed off the porch. Why? Simply because it was overgrown, had too many green plants and it was not filled with flowers. It was not our style. Every time that I saw the flower bed, I was reminded that I wouldn't have planted anything that was in the flower bed except for the aspens. It bugged me so much that nearly everything is gone.

It is not a homey home. I think for my part, it feels that way because there are too many rooms. In the old house, we lived in the living room and on the patio. The home was open and this one is not as open. There was no finished basement, no separate dining room, no library and no extra rooms to hang out in at the last home.

The funny thing is now that we have this big house, I sort of miss the old one. It was less maintenance, a smaller mortgage and easier to live with. In this home, I find myself constantly thinking that I should be cleaning. Having so many bathrooms is driving me crazy. Smaller in many ways seems better now that we are living larger.

Yeah, I know. I could hire a maid. But, that doesn't work for me. I was one of those people that cleaned up the night before the maid came over at the old home. I removed sentimental things from our shelves worrying that something could get broke. It was stressful and the cleaning never justified the price. The house was not much cleaner than when I cleaned, so I dropped the service.

I live with a messier home. I've been dropping hints to the guys to help out more and do better. I even threatened to go on strike and stop cleaning, doing laundry, etc. The funny thing is that I could not live like that. I doubt that they would even notice the difference. What bugs me the most is that someone is constantly peeing on the toilet seat downstairs. I yell and complain and yet, I am the one that ends up cleaning it up. Harley can't do simple daily chores without me nagging him about whether he completed them. I'm sure that if a reward was up for grabs, he would have no problem remembering.

What I have discovered the most is that I love my front porch. Most of the time, it is quite and peaceful. I can sit, read, do nothing and/or just hang out listening to the birds. I have found myself in the past week literally doing much of nothing and have been hanging out on the porch often. The funny thing is that the Cotton, our dog is just as anxious to go out as me, but she won't sit still enough. She can't get into the yard and has such little room to roam, yet she is included and that seems to be enough for her.

Landscaping Project...Back Yard Redo

Before pictures of our back yard.

Before pictures of our back yard.

After pictures of our landscaping project.

After pictures of our landscaping project.


After pictures of our landscaping project.

Gorgeous day here, sunny and warm. No wind or threat of storms as of yet. Which is saying something as it has rained/stormed like 8-9 days in a row until yesterday. We had dark clouds over our house most of last night. Nice enough for Harley and I to sit on the deck, but not nice enough to sit in the Hot Tub. We have been using the Hot Tub for several weeks and had started to take for granted sitting in it almost daily.

Harley is still a bit freaked out about weather despite his not being home when we had a tornado in our area a few weeks back. It did not help that it went right by a friend's house and was a tad too close to our house. I forwarded tornado pictures to Lynn while the two of them were visiting family in Michigan. He promptly showed Harley the pictures and it sent the kid over the edge. Any suggestion of bad weather since his return home, he was sitting right next to his mother with constant chatter and concern about our house and our safety.

We had our back yard completely redone a few weeks ago. The job was supposed to take 3 days. It ended up taking nearly a week and a half. I'm not as patient as I thought I was and wanted to strangle our contractors before they finished. Cleanup and lack of information about drove me nuts. Not to mention that I had a crazy dog that refused to do her business in the front yard and could not understand why she could not go per usual in the back yard.

Happy with the finished project and will be happier once things start to fill in and grow out. Like most things we have had issues. Extra sprinkler heads, things not working and missing back ordered parts for the gas fire pit. We haven't even fired that baby up yet. Our fire pit glass is sitting inside just waiting for the finished parts to arrive. Harley is already dreaming of roasting marsh mellows on a regular basis in the back yard.

Japanese design, low maintenance. The hard part about this house is going to be the lack of trees. Since we have city and mountain views, we are going to limit trees to keep our views and deal with less privacy. The mandated split rail fence per our homeowner's association has taken much getting used too. I miss my 6 foot privacy fence and screening out the neighbors better.

Not this year Hockeytown

I love hockey, but I haven't been following it much over the past year or two. Doesn't help that my team, the Colorado Avalanche haven't been in top form. I watched games here and there. Last Saturday's game was miserable and I questioned why I didn't find something better to do since I was rooting for the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings wiped the floor with them.

Being from Johnstown, PA., and living in Colorado, there is no way that I could ever root for Detroit despite marrying into a family from Michigan. Not that my hubby cares either way. He is so not into sports much at all.

Tonight, was a different story. The Penguins were fast, aggressive and Detroit looked tired and out of sorts for most of the game. What a game. The youngsters did what the media thought they could not do--win in Detroit and take game 7. There is nothing like game 7s in sports, both teams can win and winner takes all.

At times like these, the media looks stupid. Winner takes all and it is one game and at this level, either team can win. Just stupid reporting. What a year for the city of Pittsburgh. They win the Super Bowl and the Stanley Cup.

The ironic thing is that this picture was forwarded from one of my sisters this morning and even I thought it was funny. I think it's even funnier now that the Penguins won.

Lesson needed

Harley lost a school textbook in his dropped Spanish Class from earlier this year. The replacement cost is $65.00. I assumed the book would be found somewhere in the building and returned. This has not happened. I am more than a bit steamed at Harley and the school.

I found out the book was still lost when I noticed a balance online a few days ago when checking his grades and assignments. This morning, I received an automatic email telling me the balance is due. No personal touches at this school. I guess a phone call would be asking too much with him being in middle school.

I've been scouring the internet trying to find a more reasonable replacement. Used books are everywhere, but time is pressing and I need to see the dang thing in person to ensure it would be acceptable and not all scribbled or missing pages. I will give up after I check my local used bookstore in my neighborhood.

I do not feel it is worth my time as I doubt that I could find an appropriate replacement by the last day of school.

I will double-check his locker after school and pay the damn bill.

All that remains is to think of a way to make this painful for him so that he learns a lesson and never looses something like this again. Simply taking the money from his bank account would be too easy, as there is no lesson or pain involved as Harley has no idea how much money he has in his savings account or his college fund.

Men aren't like women

Lynn, my hubby lives a hectic life. Work is very busy and somewhat crazy regularly. He's walking daily, and running and biking a few times a week. He took over cooking all of our meals as he needs to know what's in everything since he's counting calories.

All of us are walking, hiking and eating better. The hubby took on all the planning and making of our meals. I cook now when he's out of town. In this area, he is very organized.

Just don't ask him where his cell phone is, keys, wallet or his sunglasses on a regular basis. On certain days, I'm astonished that he made it out the door. He routinely has taken my cell vs. his, forgotten his wallet and other important things. Granted, we both have Iphones now. This one is now easier to do.

I received an e-mail this morning telling me that he took my advice. He took his sunglasses to work to walk with. He walks daily at lunch and I'm trying to get him to cover up and avoid sunburns. Problem was that he grabbed the wrong pair. Instead of grabbing his expensive, prescription sunglasses--he has our son's Pokeman sunglasses. He let me know just in case I was looking for them later for Harley as on most days after school, we walk too.

I laughed. I just don't where to begin. He was never like this when when were dating. I don't know what happens to men after they marry. Suddenly, they are forgetful and can't seem to remember where things go and race out the door forgetting things they need.

Craving meat

I had gum surgery on Tuesday afternoon. I was told that I couldn't talk or laugh following my surgery for the rest of the day. That was terrible as I spend most of my days alone, so talking after my guys get home is a given. I resorted to scribbling notes during dinner. I think Lynn somewhat enjoyed my silence and not having to talk all evening.

I spent my evening icing my face every 20 minutes. I gave up at 9:00 pm and stayed up late watching the Denver Nuggets game and hoping that I'd be able to sleep. Surprisingly, sleeping is easy despite my not being allowed to wear my retainers. With everything going on in my mouth, I was worried that I was going to grind in my sleep or pop myself in the mouth breaking open my stitches.

Other than constantly thinking and wishing for real food, I've been fine. Pain was minimal after the first day. How I will feel once I start eating solid foods again is another story.

I'm existing on applesauce, oatmeal, ice cream and soup. Harley and I raided the M&Ms yesterday after he walked home from school. Eating some chocolate was nice. Sleeping seems the easiest out, as least while I'm sleeping I'm not hounded by my thoughts of wanting a burger or something more filling than chicken noodle soup.

Tomorrow, I'm throwing caution to the wind and getting some real food. Pain or no pain, I need something filling to eat.

Nothing

I got nothing. It seems like such a chore to post something and it has been this way for some time. It doesn't seem all that important to me.

My life resolves around walking, volunteering, working, keeping the house together and family life. I do not seem to have the time nor the energy for posting.

My posts will be few and far between, if I keep this going at all.

What finally clicked for me was noticing how often that I used to post from year to year. I used to have much to say and lately, I do not.

More snow for Denver?

We are under blizzard conditions. Expecting a whopper tonight and tomorrow. Last I heard, we were expecting a foot of snow.

If we were in the mountains or on the east coast, I'd gladly say bring it on. Not so here in the Denver Metro Area. Just a few inches of snow can cripple the city. More than that, I literally stay home as it is never worth going out for, as accidents are everywhere, plows are rarely seen and the roads quickly get awful.

They aren't into keeping ahead of storms here and once they hit, they don't quickly catch up. It is quite frustrating and even more annoying to see your city on the national news like your city received freaking several feet of snow, when in fact, we usually get so little and yet--here is our city displayed crippled for usually a few inches of snow for the whole world to see.

In Syracuse, New York storms rarely put a dent into your day, your commute or anything. You just went about your business like normal because the roads were constantly treated and rarely was there a problem getting around. We lived in Syracuse for four years before moving here.

One of the great things about Syracuse was how they responded to storms. Don't get me wrong, we liked Syracuse, but the high taxes and very long winters had us looking early on for a better place to live.

Most of the time, I feel we got the better end of the stick moving here. That is, until it snows. Tonight, I am hoping for no snow as I want to get out and about this weekend outside walking and hiking. A blizzard would toss out such plans.

Life is good for our family

Life is really good right now. Walking and eating better has made a big improvement in our lives. Lynn has been cooking new recipes for us on a weekly basis and I love the change. We are trimming down and toning up. I hit a 10 pound weight loss this morning and was thrilled. So thrilled that I might go try on bikini's this week. I never wear bikini's. I can't even remember the last time that I wore one and Lynn has never seen me in one ever.

The Bowflex arrived last week and is still in many boxes in our basement waiting to be unpacked and put together. Time for such things remains slim as we are side-tracked with walking, eating and watching movies. This is the mainstay of our weekends, relaxing and family time is the priority. Lynn is hoping this will be something that he can get Harley interested in and something that they will do together.

We haven't skied this season and I doubt that we will. Our priority hasn't been skiing and Harley isn't too keen on the idea, so we haven't gone. It doesn't help that even though he can ski, he's quite apprehensive about it.

The Natasha Richardson ski accident and unfortunate death this week did not help as Harley had lots of questions. My telling him that it was a freak and rare accident did not ease his mind. I feel for her family as this was such a shocking and sudden death. It reminds us all that life is precious and sometimes, cut very short. It matters not whether we are poor, middle class or rich--we all feel the same pain in death and loosing our loved one's is hard. My hope is that the press leaves them alone to grieve and gives them time to cope with their loss.

Harley has always worn a helmet and will continue to do so as his disability dictates protecting his head with sports. Given his nervousness, I will buy a helmet for myself to ski with. I feel a helmet is your only chance if someone massively runs you over or lands on you. It makes sense, when I bike I always wear a helmet and I feel I should take the same care when skiing.

We'll be in Scottsdale, Arizona for a few days over Spring Break at a Spa. The pool was the big draw for Harley. The weather and the opportunity for Lynn and I too relax was the key for us. If we have time, we hope to get a massage.

The weather here lately has been simply gorgeous for the most part. Sunny and unusually warm.

Fitness for February

I had a very busy month. I was sick from a nasty cold for just over a week that put a kink on my walking and just about everything else. I didn't walk, do laundry or much or anything for just over a week. I napped every afternoon and felt like someone had run me over.   I had no energy, felt terrible and I'm so grateful that is over.

Despite that, I still managed to walk 51.5 miles in February. I worked a few days and only managed two Yoga classes this month. I came to the conclusion that walking can do much for me, but long-term, I feel that I need to run on occasion, weight lift regularly or keep changing up my routines. Otherwise, I feel I won't be as fit and trim as I'm aiming for.

I'm convinced that unless I walk 3-4 times a day, walking alone just isn't going to be enough to give me the results that I'm looking for. I could be wrong. Time will tell. I've dropped 9 pounds to date.

Harley and Lynn are doing much better in the weight loss department. Lynn's at 20 and counting. Harley has lost I believe 10 pounds. Lynn's trying out new recipes more and we're eating better. Though, I'm not so sure that Harley would agree. He's not much for trying foods that he doesn't recognize and he continues to want only our staples on the table.

For the most part, I quit counting calories. I found it frustrating to see the percentages every day of how much fat, protein and carbs that I was eating on a daily basis. When you eat at home, it is fairly simple to track and control. But, eating out is always hit and miss in deciding what is safe on the menu that isn't going to kill your workout of the day. I'm learning, but I realized that my being a slave to what I eat is going to drive me crazy and it just didn't work well for me.

The weather last week set records and was gorgeous.  Mostly low 70s. I walked more than a few days in sweats and t-shirts.   Today is cold and we may get snow.   I'm hoping that we don't as I want to go on a long hike tomorrow and freezing isn't part of the plan.   That is how I got sick last month, walking in the cold.

  

Walking

Walking is taking over my life and I like the change of pace. Walking forces me to get off my behind and out of the house. It has shaken up my routines and to date, I've lost 5 pounds. I am discovering that I like walking much more than I thought I would.

Last week, I walked 24.25 miles. Most of the time, I walk twice a day. I walk either in the morning or early afternoon. Harley and I walk together after school. My long walk is earlier in the day and my walk with him is a bonus walk. Brisk walking.

The nicest thing out of this is that Harley doesn't always want to walk. I occasionally get some private time with the hubby while we are walking and sometimes, a meal together to boot. We go on longer hikes every weekend when time and weather permit. Our goal for 2009 is to visit every Colorado State Park. We've hit 3, so far.

Counting calories, weighing food and estimating what I just consumed at restaurants remains a big pain. The only plus is that many restaurants have nutritional information of their menus online. This makes for quicker data inputting.

The only drawback to all of this is that I am no longer in the dark about what I consume. This is good, bad and frustrating. What surprises me everyday is the fat percentages of what my family eats on a routine basis. Short of eating everything with nothing on it and no flavor, I don't know how to easily cut loads of fat. We are routinely avoiding some of our favorites places to avoid an overload on our daily calorie count. Our favorite Mexican restaurant hasn't seen us in awhile.

Salad dressing continues to astonish me. This routinely kills an otherwise good lunch out at restaurants.

Harley, who despised walking early on and routinely tries to avoid walking at all has already lost 8 pounds. Where the weight went from, I have no idea. I haven't noticed a difference in either Harley or the hubby despite the weight that they both have dropped. Lynn is the bomb, he has lost 18 pounds to date.

I came to the conclusion that I cannot walk, Cotton (our dog) longer than 15 minutes. Every time I take her for a twenty minute walk, she has leg problems for days. She is predisposed to leg issues (genetic) and had one of her legs operated on as a puppy. I'm beginning to think that she needs to be on joint medication and walking is never going to be a big part of her life. I should take her back to the vet, but that would means mounds of x-rays and testing that he won't feel are needed given that she's currently not limping or suffering. This means very little to no walking which stinks as she loves to walk.

Sweet, but so ugly

The Pittsburgh Steelers did it and made history. They won their sixth Super Bowl, but I was practically standing on my head watching how they played the final few minutes of the game. The Arizona Cardinals nearly pulled off a massive upset and have much to be proud of, but I doubt that matters to them at the moment. Losing is never easy especially when your so close to having it all.

Instead, Steeler Nation celebrates a sixth Super Bowl.

1974 (IX), 1975 (X), 1978 (XIII), 1979 (XIV), 2005 (XL), 2008 (XLIII)

Counting calories stinks

I have been walking a great deal and going to my Yoga Class once a week. I've refrained from lifting much since I bruised my tailbone. Decided it was better to ease back into things since I wasn't 100% when I resumed working out.

A few days ago, I decided to try and input everything that I ate into a software program that my hubby faithfully uses. Let me tell you, this is a big pain in the ass. If what you ate or drank is not in the program, you can go on a search and find mission and sometimes, you just have to pick whatever is the closest item to what you had as this can be time-consuming. The worst part is trying to remember and recreate what you ate a day or two later. Do I remember? No, not really. Given up on that part. If I don't input what I ate that day, I don't even bother. Inputting a meal or two does not really help. You need all 3 meals to show just where your calories are going and to what end. It graphs calories, fat, fiber and everything. Very black and white.

What I discovered is that I do not eat as many vegetables as I thought I did. Salads are often worse than eating a Cheeseburger and making a better choice while your in a restaurant is a very hairy thing.

My White Chocolate Mocha Coffee is mostly a thing of the past. I about has a meltdown this week when I discovered how many calories were involved in those drinks and worse, how much fat. Drinking lots of water and trying to drink and (somewhat enjoy) tea more often.

Yesterday, I was feeling pretty good. I ran on the treadmill not once, but twice and walked around the neighborhood with Harley. This afternoon, I walked around the neighborhood solo and my legs were sore.

I need to monitor my diet better and plan better just to make this easier on myself. I now realize why Lynn weighs his food and is so precise about counting calories. It appears obvious that my downfall is lunch. If I'm on the go, I grab something. Often, I thought I was making a good choice, but the software showed me how wrong I was.

Am I enjoying this part of the process? Not in the least. Will I learn, you betcha.

This is important because I realize that I have been taking my health and my waistline for granted. By working out when my guys were at work and school--I was not setting a good example. Harley rarely saw his mother working out. Now, he does. Does he care? Probably not. Lynn and I are making the effort and working on bringing Harley on board.

The plus is that walking with Harley is dedicated talking time. At first, I found it annoying as he talks non-stop. I am getting used to it and allowing him to talk about whatever is in his head at the moment. The funny thing is that if I were to ask him about certain things at home, he forgets. On walks, he just runs on about everything involved in his day and it passes the time easier. Otherwise, he would constantly be asking me just how far we were walking.

My new favorite thing is instant oatmeal. 160 calories. I will probably be sick of it within a few weeks, but for now it has become my standby for breakfast. Replacing yogurt which I routinely get sick of.

Walking is the easiest thing to do and I feel will become the staple of my workouts. All I need is sneakers and layers. It has been lovely getting to know my neighborhood better and being out in fresh air. I realize just how little I am outside during certain times of the year before walking.

Thinking my new motto should be, get and keep moving.

Economy

Never have I been so concerned about the economy. It is spiraling in a way that I've never seen before. Companies are laying people off in masses, freezing and/or forcing salary cuts like I never noticed before. Despite the fact that I know for certain that we are good financially even if Lynn were to loose his job, I worry.

I added a Time Magazine link titled Housing Prices Keep Dropping. And They're Not Done Yet the link can be found by clicking on my blog title Economy. The news continues to be horrible.

You realize just how much people have to loose and how concerned far too many are about this time of great uncertainty. Far too many have so little to fall back on and loosing everything can come quickly.

I keep an eye on our portfolio and watch our 401Ks like never before. Though, I quit watching last week as it just adds to my stress despite time being on our side.

Cutbacks are everywhere and the pain seems far from over. Many people are cutting back and the ripple effect is hitting far too many companies.

Your home might be worth half of what it was. That is fine as long as you don't need to move, sell or need it appraised. Time is not always on everyone's side. Retirees have the most to loose and time is against them from regaining their losses.

It occurred to me a few days ago that we should be using this trying and uncertain time to teach our boy some financial lessons. The recommended six month cushion seems useless in times like these as I feel a two year cushion might not save everyone who finds themselves laid off now.

I don't want to scare our son, but I feel it is important that we teach him to manage during the high and low times as you can never predict what the economy is going to do and how long you might have to survive should you loose your job.

Living below your means and being frugal is suddenly popular. It all makes good financial sense. Painful lessons will be learned and perhaps our country will learn to save more as a result. Not a bad thing, but these are frightening times for too many.

Like everyone else, I have grave concerns about all this government bailout money to companies that screwed up. They made bad decisions and their management teams are still in charge, but now they have our money. Our national debt is beyond f------ unreal and I fear that this is just the beginning.

What to do? I have no clue. Will all this money make things better, I doubt it, but I feel they had to do something to try and turn the tide. Time will tell whether it made any difference and whether these companies were worth such a leap.

Responsibility

I went off this weekend. Tired of talking to my boy about things that he should have learned were important by now to avoid drama in our home.

Clean your sink, your room, take a shower, brush your teeth, whatever. He is 13. I have been working hard to make him responsible and independent. Neither are working out that well. I've threatened to make him walk to and from school everyday regardless of the weather and/or whether I am available to carpool him or not.

Why? Because he is slow in the mornings and is rarely ready despite my pressuring him by the time we need to leave to get him dropped off with room to spare. He gets up in plenty of time and I'm supervising him, but still it is a constant battle to get him out the door.

The big one is that I'm debating locking up his game room until he straightens out. The problem is that the only time he gets to play with any regularity is on the weekends as most nights involve gobs of homework and studying.

Tonight is a rare exception. He has a quiz tomorrow, but has aced the test quiz several times already. I relented and gave him an hour of game time simply to give myself some space before I cooked dinner. Otherwise, he would be underfoot bugging me non-stop about dinner and questions about what privileges he has.

I think the biggest problem is that our childhoods could not be more different from his. I grew up with a young, widowed mother who had 4 girls. Life was never easy and responsibilities were a given. I feel it made me more responsible and I had a better head on my shoulders as a result and learning what work was came early.

Harley does not understand work, money or responsibility in any shape or form despite our efforts to teach him otherwise. He thinks that things just happen and it scares the hell out of me. He thinks $100.00 makes someone rich despite in-depth conversations explaining otherwise.

Lynn and I both grew up in homes where there wasn't a great deal of money. Eating out was a rare treat. Harley finds it astonishing that neither of us grew up in homes with video games. Harley does not understand any of this. He thinks that everyone should have had video games. We are a comfortable family of 3. We eat out often and don't really want for anything. At times, I feel this has been a bad thing as Harley is not learning the same lessons that we learned.

Granted, it is not Harley's fault that his family lives a more comfortable life, but it makes me wonder what he will have learned by the time that he is an adult. Lynn had to struggle and worked his way through college often existing on macaroni and cheese and cheap beer. I feel his struggles greatly contributed to the man that he is today and pushed him. I wonder where will our son get his inspiration from and what we will have to do to teach him some of these lessons.

Given the economic upheaval, we have been more talkative about the economy and the job market explaining that thousands have lost their homes and layoffs are happening more and more everyday. He is just clueless.

Another ass posting...mind your tailbone

Harley finishes sledding for the day
Harley and I tried out the expensive inner tube on January 6th. Being the good Mom, I decided to take a spin first to test it out (luckily) from only halfway down the hill. The inner tube tore down the hill and I promptly smacked my tailbone hard on the first run at the bottom of our hill. It was quite a jolt. I send Harley down and he does the same thing. We quickly wise up and lift our asses before we hit the bottom for the rest of the hour while sledding.

I come inside after our outing and my tailbone is still quite sore. Lynn goes to walk and I go with him. Not the smartest thing to do with a sore tailbone. That evening and the entire next day, I'm gingerly getting around. Sitting is a problem and bending is an even bigger problem. I think what the hell did I do and who knew that your tailbone was so sensitive?

It was a long week and one that I never want to repeat. By Friday, I was still sore. I don't feel any smarter. I am still pissed that I cost myself nearly a full week of working out and a great deal of discomfort. By Friday afternoon, I was finally back to my walks around my neighborhood and working out again.

Lesson learned: Mind your tailbone and don't hit your ass sledding. How do I feel, just stupid. If your interested in one of these, here is a link. Sonic Snow Tube from L.L. Bean

Simply Historic

My day will be happily spent watching the swearing in of Barack Obama's today as the 44th President of the United States. I seriously considered keeping Harley home today to watch. I pondered it for awhile and I realized that there was no way that I was going to get him to sit with me all day and watch. There are too many other things that he'd rather be doing. So, off to school he goes. He told me that his Social Studies teacher will cover the inauguration in class today. Hopefully, he will pick up a thing or two before he comes home.

Despite the mounting problems that our country faces and the uncertain economy and financial crisis, I feel hopeful that the tide is changing. Our country has faced and tackled major problems before and I feel we will do this again. I am going to enjoy today.

My feelings for President Bush haven't changed, but today isn't about him.

I feel Obama's win was all about turning the page and moving in another direction. It all starts today.

2008 movie list

Below is a list of 58 movies that we watched in 2008 via Netflix. Watching movies at home has become one of our favorite things to do. Had we not moved last year, we likely would have added another 20-40 movies to this list.

I cheated and stole the hubby's ratings from our Netflix list. The wife is too lazy to take the time to rate movies.

I find it ironic that when the Lynn wanted to join Netflix, I told him I thought it was a bad idea. I thought that we'd never watch enough movies. It has been fabulous and I love the convenience of it all. I do nothing, Lynn is always putting movies in to the Queue. Most of the time, we watch good movies. Even the occasional duck that I wouldn't have chose has been usually been thought provoking and interesting enough to leave me scratching my head and pondering what I just watched.

Rarely do we watch a dog of a movie. Highlander: The Source was the exception to that rule. We complained throughout the whole movie at just how awful it was. The most surprising movie of the year for me was Outsourced. I was prepared to hate it and I loved it.

The biggest find this year was Lynn's discovery of Hayao Miyazaki, a director of animated films. His movies are magical, extremely creative and we love them.

Hayao Miyazaki Link

My personal favorites from the year are red.

1) 10,000 B.C. ***
2) 2 Days in Paris ***
3) 300 ****
4) A Streetcar Named Desire ***
5) Aeon Flux ***
6) Atonement ****
7) Black Book ****
8) Casablanca ****
9) Castle in the Sky *****
10) Chasing Amy ***
11) Chocolat ****
12) East of Eden***
13) Eragon ***
14) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind *****
15) Evita **
16) Grave of the Fireflies *** (Warning: very hard to watch. Animated film on war, bloody and very sad).
17) Hellboy ***
18) Hellboy II: The Golden Army***
19) Highlander: The Source *
20) Howl's Moving Castle *****
21) In the Valley of Elah ****
22) Jumper ***
23) Juno *****
24) Kiki's Delivery Service *****
25) Lions for Lambs**
26) Logan's Run ***
27) Meet the Robinsons ***
28) Merry Christmas ***
29) My Neighbor Totoro *****
30) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind *****
31) Nim's Island ****
32) No Country for Old Men ***
33) Outsourced****
34) Pan's Labyrinth****
35) Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End *****
36) Porco Rosso ****
37) Princess Mononoke *****
38) Ratatouille ***
39) Rendition ***
40) Shooter ***
41) Spartacus *****
42) Spirited Away *****
43) Swimming Pool ****
44) The Cat Returns ***
45) The Darjeeling Limited ****
46) The Forbidden Kingdom ***
47) The Island****
48) The Kingdom ***
49) The Kite Runner ****
50) The Royal Tenenbaums ***
51) The Station Agent ****
52) The Wind That Shakes the Barley ****
53) Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion ****
54) Time Bandits ***
55) Total Recall ****
56) Volver ****
57) Waking Ned Devine *****
58) Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit ***

My goal is a new ass

A new ass, no not really, but I couldn't think of a better title. But, a smaller ass would be a nice plus.

My ass isn't really the problem. It is my stomach and hips. The weight crept up on me over the past six months. I've always taken my figure for granted and I haven't worked out consistently until the past few years since my late 20s.

Like nearly everyone else this time of year, I made resolutions of things that I want to work on. At the top of the list is getting myself back in shape and loosing some weight. Up until recently, I haven't been able to be get into a regular routine. Yoga class, running on the treadmill, walking the neighborhood, lifting weights--just plain no. The move in May was my excuse and when your unpacking, painting and tinkering around the house constantly--not working out seems like the easy thing to loose. Working out was just hit and miss as I've been lazy and unmotivated until now.

What changed was discovering that a few of my jeans were getting a bit uncomfortable for me to wear. Buying new jeans is not on the table unless they are smaller. So, I've been forcing myself to get moving.

I have my mother-in-law to thank as she reminded us that we can easily fit 5K volksmarches (3.106 miles) into our life. We did two 5Ks as a family while she was here and we survived. Harley even enjoyed them once we got into them and the reward was a prize and lunch after. My mother-in-law and Lynn did a 10K volksmarch (6.2 miles) at the University of Denver.

Mostly what I'm doing is walking as it is easy and quick. I haven't made peace with my treadmill and doubt that I will anytime soon. It seems like torture anymore. My goal is to mix things up, find fun and practical ways to keep myself motivated. I'm thinking about looking into other classes at my local recreation center.

1) Day 1: walked 2.4 miles.
2) Day 2: walked 2.5 miles.
3) Day 3: walked 2.864 miles. I did a second walk with Harley that afternoon/unknown miles as I could not get the program to track our progress. It was likely 4 miles that day.
4) Day 4: Yoga/lifted weights and walked 6 laps around the track.
5) Day 5: My day off.

The coolest thing is that I can track any walk or run that I do on my phone. Lynn bought this software. It tracks distance, speed and time. Which is an easy way to keep track of your workouts and progress.

My resolutions:

1) Do more day trips on the weekends. We do this occasionally, but not often enough. We find ourselves only getting out of town when family is visiting.

2) Resolve to walk the dog regularly.

3) Get my ass back into the gym and to workout and lift weights regularly.

4) Eat better.

5) Work on being more patient. Likely this is the hardest thing on the list for me as I get crazy when rules are not followed and Harley does not clean up after himself.

6) Play more with my growing 13 year old son.

7) Make time to ski.

8) Do more fun and unplanned things with the family.

9) Do volksmarches regularly as a family. (For those interested in volksmarching, click the link below). Year-round events is what we do.

American Volkssport Association and Walking Clubs and Walking Volksmarch Events

Christmas cheer, but not so much today

I used too enjoy compiling our annual Christmas letter and doing our cards. Not so much anymore, truth be told--I practically despise the job. Why, because I'm rarely organized in this area over the past few years and I insist on doing them mostly all at once. Plus, the number of cards that I send likely kills a few trees. I routinely send 50-60 cards. It is one time consuming task.

Last night, I quit at the M's at bedtime. I would have kept going, but I was buggy and I was routinely putting the pictures in backwards in my Christmas cards.

Lynn feels we should stop this altogether. But, I won't. I can't cut out the dear, old friends from our lives that only hear from us infrequently as we all lead busy lives. Keeping in touch boils down to mostly email anymore as it's quick and easy. This is the one time of the year, where everyone will get an update and pictures.

I am sitting in our office on this gorgeous, clear day enjoying the view from our window as I can see the mountains and the city today. I need to finish this job so I can enjoy my day and get myself a cup of coffee already.

My cards will be in the mail in a few minutes. 55 cards. Just nuts, I think.

Momma is cranky and tired. I hope to wrap most of the presents tomorrow just to torture Harley. I will wrap them and put them all under the tree with explicit instructions that he can't look or touch anything. He drove me batty days ago, he DEMANDED to know how many presents he was getting and was not happy when his mother got irritated with him and refused to cooperate. He is like many kids and does not understand the economic downturn and how lucky he is. I tried to explain to him that many families will not have a typical Christmas this year, but this is over his head.

My mother-in-law is coming to visit. We're excited as she's coming right after Christmas and she hasn't seen the new home yet. Hoping for warmer weather so that we can do more during her visit. If it is anything like most of this week, we will be indoors most of the time as it has been frigidly cold weather.

Enjoy the season and time spent with family and friends. I wish everyone lots of love, relaxation and a warm home. Give if you can as times are hard and many are in desperate need with charity donations way down. It all adds up and I believe in helping when and where you can.

Happy Holidays!

Take the test...Civics Quiz

I heard about this quiz a day or two ago. Elected politicians have apparently failed this quiz. I ran across the quiz tonight and took it. I wasn't surprised at most of the questions that I missed. I found it interesting and much of the quiz, I took for granted that many of us knew the answers too, but that is not a good assumption apparently.

If you like, follow the link below to take the quiz. I scored 77.7%.

Quiz link

The Big Island #2

Harley at the home we rented in Hilo

Two ki'k, guardians of the place of refuge at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau

Pu'uhonua o Honaunau


Lynn and Harley outside the Jaggar Museum with the Halema'uma'u Crater in the background.

Hawaii had such appeal that I can't properly put into words. It relaxed me in a way that surprised me. I wanted to be still and do absolutely nothing. This is something that I rarely seem to do. I realize that I could do nothing more often. My life seems too busy and stressed for me to consider being still right now and yet, I feel I should be doing just that.

I highly recommend that you browse Lynn's, (my hubby's) flickr pictures. He is slowly posting his Hawaii pictures and the quality and composition of his pictures is very good. Lynn's flickr link

Most of my Hawaii pictures have been posted to my flickr account. One Mom's Opinion flickr link Though, I haven't made the time to label them properly as this is a time-consuming process and one that I currently don't have time for.

The home that we rented for our Hilo vacation can be found by clicking on on my blog post title The Big Island #2 where you will find a detailed description of the home and pictures. The home has 4 bedrooms and was beautiful. I spoke in greater detail about the home in my previous post titled The Big Island.

I read two books. I could have easily read more, but that was all I brought. Little did I know that I would have finished a book before I even landed in Hawaii. I usually sleep the majority of the time when we fly as it's easier to pass the time and I'm less crabby when I get wherever we are going.

Our hosts outfitted their home full of suggestions and books on Hawaii, island hiking, asian homes, and all sorts of things. They had a few movies on hand and a library of books should any of their guests be interested. I read up on Hawaii and area attractions whenever I had time. I avoided the books as they were earlier Oprah selections (most of which I had previously read) and other books that didn't interest me.

We didn't race around the island sight seeing much as we wanted to take it all in and have a relaxing vacation on our first trip to Hawaii.

Most of all, I wanted to hang out on the beach watching the waves and/or surfers. Some of our most interesting stops were things that we stumbled across in the middle of no where.

A few of the many highlights in no particular order were:

1) Sitting on the dock chilling washing the waves crash against the shore and rocks at Laupahoehoe Point Co Park.

2) Our day trip to the Volcano National Park.

3) The town of Honoko'a. I thought that we would never find a town to eat lunch in. Harley and I were starving and it was a very late lunch. We walked around briefly after lunch to browse. Lynn and Harley ended up buying handmade Hawaiian shirts from a shop with an retired woman that loved to gab at $100.00 each.

4) Pu'uhonua o Honaunau. This place was very tranquil, interesting and one of the most amazing things that we saw. This place was the home of the ali'i of the Kona District on the island of Hawaii. The royal grounds were withing this area. In addition, their was a place of refuge built in 1550 that remains. The pu'uhonua was a sanctuary that provided the people with a second chance. If you made it here, no blood could be shed within the confines. Once you reached pu'uhonua, a ceremony of absolution was performed by the kauna pule (priest). The offender could then return home safely without fear of being killed for whatever offense they had committed.

5) Ka La, the Southern most trip of the United States. Pictures and more information can be found on my previous post, The Big Island. My previous post, The Big Island link

6) We want to go back and the search is on for which island to visit next, but a side trip to Hilo will be in order for at least a day on our next Hawaii trip. Why? Shopping. I missed out buying myself a really special Hawaiian dress. We didn't run across this shop until the last day after we had already been shopping for an hour. I had no idea what was so special about this place to justify $130.00 for a dress. I'm not cheap or extravagant, I regularly look for and shop sales and I'm not the kind of shopper that sees a higher price tag and buys it anyway unless it's for a rare, special occasion. Lynn and I both read about this place on the hop back to Honolulu and kicked ourselves for not having me tried one of the dresses on. The designer is well known and his only store is in Hilo. Go figure.

We visited many of the state parks and nearly all the nearby waterfalls. The biggest one, Akaka Falls was closed for renovation and we were quite disappointed. Mostly, we just wandered around and stopped at whatever interested us.

I read enough to know the price of food was higher in Hawaii, still it was shocking at how high. A two pound container of grapes was $7.99 in Safeway. The same container in my local Safeway here is $1.99 in limited supply. A container of butter that we routinely use at home was $4.29 in Hilo. I believe it's $3.00 something here. Picking up six packs or 12-packs were expensive as was wine. I expected to have enjoyed a bottle of wine at a restaurant over a nice dinner, but the prices were double what I expected, so we avoided ordering any wine with meals.

Hilo was very laid back. They have restaurants, but dining options were limited. We ate at one pricey place that none of us really enjoyed. We were drawn to the local hangouts for the most part as they were dependable and easy. If pizza wasn't on the menu, Harley wasn't happy. I need to work on this and it's starting to drive me crazy.

Since our return, I threatened to stop allowing Harley to eat out altogether our first weekend back. We had gone to Garcia's for dinner and Harley wanted a burger and fries. He thinks fries is a staple. Lynn got Harley to compromise while I was in the bathroom. He raved about his meal. Shrimp Ajo grill. It consists of shrimp, rice, and some melted cheese and all the fixings of having a fajita. My child loved it, go figure as you would have thought someone punched him in the stomach at the thought of eating something our of the norm.

Geckos are very cute or so I thought. They aren't cute when they are slurping condiment bottles in a restaurant near your table. We had just finished an early lunch in Kona when Lynn noticed a gecko. A few moments later, Lynn noticed that it was enjoying the hot sauce at an empty table. I didn't find it comforting knowing that someone was eventually going to use that hot sauce that the gecko was slurping. It made me wonder just how safe our maple syrup was that we just had with our choice of breakfast for lunch. The only condiments sitting on the tables were hot sauce and sugar.

A gecko isn't cute when it's on your kitchen counter. Our last night in Hawaii, it was pouring something fierce. I came into the kitchen to see a gecko walking around on the counter. Lynn was fetched to get the gecko and put it back outside.

Hawaii was an amazing place and I hope to return for a visit soon. If flying there wasn't so expensive, I would probably be planning another trip now.

Political Wrapup

I'm sure things will get ugly at some point, but right now it is off the table. I couldn't be any less interested. My only concern is the remaining races and digging into the particulars of how President elect Barack Obama did all of this.

I am still stunned and elated from President elect Obama's win. I find myself looking at the map over and over astonished at how many states he won and where. It truly was an amazing thing and I'm still moved days after he was elected.

North Carolina, Colorado and Virginia, and Indiana. Sweet to see those four go blue.

I realize all too well how crushed the other side must feel as I lived through it in 2000 and 2004. It was terribly painful and hard to comprehend or accept the outcome. What disturbs me the most is how hateful so many are towards President elect Obama. He was never the boogie man and they tried to make him into this weak, evil, twisted terrorist loving nut. It's over and done with, but the lengths that they went through remain in my mind.

Senator John McCain gave a human, touching concession speech and he reminded me of the man that I used to like four years ago. It's a shame he didn't show this much compassion and grace before now.

I truly wish Governor Sarah Palin well. She endured a great deal in nine weeks. I still feel she wasn't vetted properly and prepared. I feel she's getting shafted now by sleazy attacks without a face or a name apparently from the GOP. Senator McCain selected her and it's not fair now that they lost to dump all over her. Governor Palin wasn't in charge and it's not fair that she should be blamed. Senator McCain picked her and if they now feel she was a terrible pick, that's all on McCain. She was my worst nightmare. She fired up their party and scared the crap out of me. She appeared to believe everything that she was saying and her views were startling. Total opposite of mine. I started to see her differently over the past few weeks as things worsened for their campaign. She showed a toughness and a determination that I couldn't help, but admire. She's a survivor and I have no doubt that her and her family will be fine.

I'm astonished by the millions that voted, elated by the increase and wish that our country would get it together to make it easier for everyone to vote. Sick of worrying about how many votes could get lost, changed or tossed.

President Elect Barack Obama

I expected Senator Barack Obama to win, but I've been nervous most of the day. Even gave myself a headache worrying that the polls could be wrong and things could go the other way. I felt that so much was riding on Senator Obama winning and turning the tide. I feel that one of the many reasons that I was so supportive of Senator Hillary Clinton is that I initially felt that Senator Obama couldn't win the presidency.

I'll admit it, I often questioned whether our country was ready to elect an African American. I'm so proud and moved.

I feel the message that his election sends to the world and to our children is loud and clear. His election shatters a ceiling and will inspire many. Minus his bitter comments that even bothered me, I feel he ran a nearly flawless campaign.

I'm awed by how Senator Obama did all of this. He shattered records in fund raising and changed the game. He registered voters in droves, drove grass roots, small donors and showed us a new path to the White House by winning states that many thought wasn't possible. All that remains to be seen is the size of his win.

Colorado turned BLUE. Way to go.

Could there be a more gracious man? President Elect Obama is something to behold. I'm watching his acceptance speech and I'm quite moved. He gives everyone else credit for his election. His grace and humanity, I feel is his greatest strength. Calm, driven, passionate and to the point. He makes us feel part of something bigger than ourselves. He realized the stakes in this election and he drew us in and made us believe in dreams, hope and change.

Vote

If you haven't voted yet, please consider doing so. I believe that every vote should count and that we should all take voting seriously to make our voices heard.

It appears that records are going to be smashed in this election as they are predicting a record turnout. I hope that is the case as I feel the more involved we all are the better. I find it ironic that in a country that has so many freedoms that so many routinely don't bother to vote. 

Today, I'm feeling hopeful that as the ballots are counted that we can turn the page on the past 8 years. I would like to see the bitterness subside and see our country come together as one as we have a mountain of issues to solve.   I want to be proud of our president and that we picked an intelligent, thoughtful individual that takes the job seriously.  

I have faith that if Senator Barack Obama is elected, a great many things can change as his election alone would be historical.

The Big Island

Harley at Ka Lae, the southernmost tip of the United States.


Ka Lae, the most southernmost tip of the United States. It's a National Historic Landmark District.

Diane, Harley & Lynn at Ka Lae, the southernmost tip of the United States.

These are pictures stolen from the hubby. Most of my pictures aren't downloaded yet. Hawaii was amazing, though I feel we would have miserable had we stayed in a touristy area. We like our privacy and aren't into fighting crowds. We liked how laid back and relaxing Hilo was. I will post more pictures and discuss Hawaii more over the next few days when I'm more rested.

We stayed in Hilo for our entire trip. For the most part, we stayed right around Hilo for most of the trip limiting our time rambling all over the island until the past few days.

Yesterday, we hit Kona. Could have skipped that. It appeared dirty, crowded and had one shop after the other. Glad we cancelled our two day stay at the Marriott over there. Though, the pool and resort probably would have made our boy very happy as we had no access to a pool at the private house we rented. This annoyed Harley quite a bit and he complained about this oversight often.

Our trip to Kona involved humid and foggy weather. Not at all what we expecting from our day trip. We weren't impressed. We ate an early lunch and took the long way back to Hilo. Ended up being a very good thing as I feel it was a great day. We stopped at whatever caught our eye. This ended up being an unexpected and surprisingly, fun day.

One of several highlights was visiting the most southern part of the United States. I made Lynn dig out the tripod to take a few pictures of us for a family picture. I have lots of pictures and so does Lynn. I posted a bunch from the earlier days of our trip on my flickr page. I would have done more but it's a great deal of work without our laptop. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to label most of them properly. Will work on that when I have more time.

We did the volcano the day before. Very interesting. Spent almost all day there. Wished we would have planned on visiting this sooner as likely, we would have come back a few times to hike. There was so much to read and see and not enough time. We didn't visit at night and I regret that as it would have been something to have seen the red lava, but I don't know how comfortable we would have been doing that with Harley.

We didn't know what we were missing. Lynn and I have always blown off the idea of Hawaii and a hot weather destination in general. I'm not a beach girl, don't much care for the sun and my comfort level gets all out of whack when it gets too warm or humid. But, you know what--we loved a great many aspects of Hawaii. I knew within a day or two that I wanted to come back. Only I think I'd prefer to take a solo trip with the hubby the next time around.

Harley enjoyed himself, but he's always too preoccupied with what he's going to be eating or playing. I really need to get my lazy child to develop better eating habits and some kind of regular exercise routine. We walked a good bit, but nothing long or hard. Still our child complained.

We saw pictures and read all about this place before we booked this Asian home home for our vacation to The Big Island, but the pictures didn't do the place justice. It's the most serene, relaxing place I feel that we've ever stayed. At the time, my mother-in-law was coming with us on this trip and we were looking more for a retreat, park like home with plenty of room for all of us. A place where we could relax and be in a peaceful, relaxing environment.

I love our home, but this place instantly wanted me to transform our home into a home more like this one. To be fair, Lynn and I are drawn to this style generally and love the Arts/Craftsman style which fits right in with the Asian style and generally I find these homes to be a mix of both styles.

The windows, all the wood, and nearly every touch you would imagine.

Our bizarre issue is that there is a jungle outside this home. It's very peaceful and relaxing. It is generally lovely and peaceful, but it doesn't make for great sleeping. Coqui frogs and other assorted creatures make way too much noise for our tastes. Harley woke up very early on the first morning and I thought we had him going back to sleep. All the noises outside bothered him and to be fair, kept us awake much too. Then, a few minutes later a rooster starting sounding the alarm that it was time to get up. I checked my watch and it was about 4:30 am. I laughed and thought is this for real? I'm a broad that loves to sleep. Guess, what time I ended up giving up and getting up? 5:40 am which is unheard of for me on vacation or not. The three of us didn't sleep well as the coqui frogs kept waking us up and Harley was nervous about the noise in general. We got somewhat used to the noise as after a few days, we slept better.

It's humid here and very tropical. It felt somewhat odd to me to stay somewhere where you routinely leave with the windows open. We are so used to locking up our home tightly. Even Harley noticed as he was a bit preoccupied about our personal safety and whether our stuff would be safe until we got back.

The home has nearly every touch. Asian gardens, lots of windows, light, wood, antiques and so many touches that I still find the place somewhat unreal. The only features that I felt were lacking was there isn't a fire pit of any sort and the lighting at night left much to be desired. The lanterns leading up the house are all solar which is great if your in Colorado, but not great for a wet, cloudy climate that seems to be the majority of the time. Given the weather, we were lucky to come home to two working lanterns.

It rained nearly everyday that we were here. To be fair, it was usually in the early morning or while we were showering and getting ready for breakfast. The past two nights it has poured. We got a late checkout so we were able to browse and shop leisurely in Hilo before we catch our evening flight home.

Harley's reading and the hubby is napping as we are packed and ready to go. Just killing time waiting for time to head to the airport. Our Iphones kept us in touch all over most of the island. Nearly everywhere we went, we had cell service and internet access. While Lynn was driving in boring sections, I was surfing the internet looking for news or checking e-mail. It was surprising as I didn't expect such access here.

Regrouping over Fall Break

We are getting ready to head off to The Big Island over Fall Break. I haven't starting pulling together our clothes yet. I should be terribly excited about this trip, but I'm just drained and tired. My mind is in overdrive about Harley and school.

My goals for vacation is too simply regroup and relax. We will sight see, hike and such, but my goals are simple. I want to read a few books, nap and have fun. At least for a week, I won't be worried about my son and school.

Harley: Homework and constantly working to get him organized and moving in the right direction at his new school has been difficult to say the least. I don't know what the answer is anymore. I'm tired of us having to do all this work to get him the help that he needs with seemingly little to show for it. He's constantly behind and I fear it will get worse every year. I worry what will become of him if we don't get this under control soon. Our options are quite limited. We've been working with the school and hoping for the best. We could look into a private school, but I'm reluctant to do this. We had him in two different schools last year. I feel that private school is such a crap shoot considering his special needs not to mention the money that we'd have to spend to put him there.

I've been trying to get myself back into my workout routines for weight management and the stress relief. I enjoy working out in general, but my head isn't there yet. All the time that I spent house hunting, moving and settling in put me outside my comfort zone and my dedication for working out hasn't returned yet. I hate the treadmill and I'm beginning to doubt that I will make peace with it anytime soon. My mind is all over the place. My body seems to be changing and I'm not liking where the weight is starting to sit. Mostly in my belly.

I've never been big on eating tons of salads. I'm not the thinnest broad, but I never had to really worry about what I ate. I am now questioning whether I will have to give up certain foods to retain my figure or whether I'm willing to become obsessive about working out or simply accept the changes. In the scheme of things, I don't feel a few pounds is a big deal--but, the problem with women is that a few pounds never ends there at a certain point in our lives. I'm wondering if I have hit that point in my life.

Political burnout

I love politics, but I'm sick of it all. This race seems one-sided and over, but until it's official--I won't trust that Senator Obama has it won. I feel the race has turned into an ugly embarrassment. When everything else fails turn to ugly rumors, lying, race baiting and above all else--fear. I find it shameful that we reached this point and things are spiraling out of control for Senator McCain that he feels he needs to do this. I feel sorry for him as he's going to be remembered for this and his actions in the final weeks were disgraceful in his quest to turn things around.

Loosing is never easy, but I guess that's all that counts in his mind is finding a way to win. It seems to matter little how he wins. I guess his memory is short as John fell into line with George W. Bush after they wiped the floor with him for the Republican nomination in 2000 after accusing Senator McCain of having a illegitimate black child of his own vs. the truth that Cindy and John McCain adopted their daughter following a overseas visit by Cindy McCain. Cindy brought back two children from that trip and they adopted one child.

Most of all I'm sick of the intrusion into my daily life. The non-stop television and radio ads and the phone calls. I never remember receiving more than a call or two at home before this year. I've received six calls already and one political pollster of some sort. The later made me very nervous as I had never heard of them and I had no way of knowing if they were who they said they were. Nor do I even remember the name. When it became apparent that they wanted to know how I planned on voting down the line--I ended the call. I found it troubling and unsettling.

We received our mail in ballots nearly a week ago. We will vote and I will personally return our ballots. The holdup is all the amendments that are on the ballot. I've decided on most of them, but a few of them I have no idea which way I'm going to vote.

I'm still on the fence about whether to support a tax increase for Cherry Creek School District. They are a wealthy school district (recently this district became our district as we moved) and by far I'm guessing that they have twice as many resources and funds as our previous school district. The tax increase isn't the issue with me, instead it's wondering if this is wise and whether they really need these funds and what they will do with them if this passes. I need to investigate this issue further to make a more informed decision on this one.

Given the economy, I realize these could go either way.

Aurora Public Schools (APS) also has a funding request on the ballot. I would have easily supported APS had we not moved as I know firsthand that they need the money. But, it's not as easily justified when your talking about a wealthier school district that seemingly wants for little or nothing in comparison.

I skipped the final debate between Senator McCain and Senator Obama. We got our flu shots and grabbed dinner out. We came home in time for me to watch the last 10-15 minutes of the debate. I found it boring and from what I have been able to read it does not appear that I missed much.

President Bush's term is winding down and is well under 100 days. I couldn't be happier to see his term end. Who knows how he's going to be remembered decades from now nor do I care. What I will remember is what a damn mess he made of our economy, Iraq, gas prices and most of all in my mind--how we are perceived in the world for starters.

No more braces and our new home

Harley fresh from having his braces removed

The front of our new home with me and Cotton. Lynn snapped this after a recent walk.

Our front porch

I have a never ending list of things that I want to get done with our new home and everything seems quite time consuming. Who knew that replacing hangers in our master closet could be so much work? It seems like this job alone will take days to complete.

Most of the house is pulled together. I have numerous odds and ends that I want done as I discovered that the move has pushed our desire to get and remain organized. Many things suddenly have their place and it's been wonderful to see so much of the house neat, tidy and organized. The funny thing is our garage is the most organized space in the entire home. Lynn loves it out there.

Harley got his braces off last week, six months early. He was fitted for his retainers and given quite a talking too about the importance of not loosing them. This should be quite interesting as he regularly misplaces lots of things.

Hell of a week

Like almost everyone else I know, I'm starting to freak the hell out watching the world's financial markets plunge. We've lost $20,000 to date thru yesterday. Harley has lost $3,000 from his college fund.

I feel cash is king right now. It appears homes are still being bought and sold, but it's apparent that credit is tightening. If this market crash continues, I feel that a great deal of the world will be paying for all this free spending, easy credit, etc., that contributed to this financial disaster. Will anyone be held accountable? I seriously doubt it, but I can hope that someone will pay for this disaster. I worry about the retirees and those that don't have time on their side to sit around and patiently wait for the market to rebound.

Over the course of the past few weeks, I have complained to the hubby to not put a penny back into the market. He comes home yesterday proud that he got a bargain and bought our son stock. He feels that now is the time to shop for bargains and we should be buying. My reaction was reserved as I thought I was going to literally deck him.

Diane: What did I tell you?

Lynn: What? It was a bargain and it's not really money we are loosing or gaining until we are selling.

Diane: I quit talking realizing that I can't win as his thinking isn't going to change. I tell him that he now needs my permission to buy any stock ahead of time or there will be hell to pay. I'm beyond annoyed that he did this without discussing this with me.

I warned Lynn today that if he does this again without discussing it with me, I will simply make a substantial donation to charity without a peep to him as payback.

What I found the most shocking this week was reading about Iceland. Their economy is in dire straits. The banks have frozen accounts and it was startling reading last week. Click on my blog post title if you want to read more about Iceland. The article is titled Iceland teeters on the brink of bankrupcy by the Associated Press.

Russia closed their markets for a few days this week and last I heard were going to reopen yesterday.

The UK early one morning this week bought shares in their banks to prop up the banks and try and stop the downward spiral. Every world market is plunging and there is a mad scramble to do something to help stabilize them.

Is our government doing enough by comparison, I think not. What will work for the USA? I don't know, but I hope that our government gets their heads out of the sand soon as we can't afford for this to get much worse. Do I understand much of this despite much reading, not really.

VP Debate

I expected fireworks tonight between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin. My hope was for no major ass-whopping. I saw and/or read enough of the Katie Couric interview to make my head spin. I find it sad as I feel Sarah backed herself into quite a mess. Who is to blame? Don't know. Did she over prepare for these interviews, not understand or what? That is the big question. She flopped and yet somehow the media is to blame. She agreed to these interviews and you have to take responsibility for how you did.

That all being said, she has a way with the camera. I can see how her folksy way could connect with voters. She dresses too well for my taste and draws too much attention to herself. Surprised that she picked a black outfit of all colors. Her clothes don't matter, but I feel how they saw her packaged is why they picked her as I can see no other concrete reasons for her to have been selected as it wasn't her intellect or political savvy.

The odd thing is that I heard two days ago that Sarah is in Centennial on Saturday for some private fundraiser. We now live here and I cringed at the thought of her being in my neck of the woods. I'm struck by the notion that George W. Bush wasn't the smartest of the bunch and he got himself elected president twice. Now, we have Senator John McCain who was near the very bottom in his class at the Naval Academy and he could be president. Makes me stop and think about how and why we elect our presidents. I'm using "we" in general and for those that don't know--I didn't vote for President Bush either time.

I thought the debate was fairly boring. I couldn't just sit for an hour and a half to watch. I spent the entire time ironing to avoid watching their facial expressions and mannerisms all evening. I thought Joe was very much on his game. At one point, I thought he was going to turn on the Pit Bull attack and I thought oh no, but he didn't. He was engaging, full of details and cited specific examples all night long and I felt he pointed out the distinct differences in each other and their platforms.

What always strikes me about Joe is that he seems to get it. Despite his wealth, he seems to relate very well to the average working men and women and struggles that families face trying to keep the pace. I feel that's a great quality and a gift. Some politicians don't get that and just can't connect in that way. When you get away from that--you don't know what a week's groceries cost the average family or what a gallon of milk costs. You don't realize the worries that too many are having and choices that families are facing to stay afloat.

We don't have money worries. But, lately I'm noticing the price of everything. Everything is going up and I'm hearing more about those that are struggling. Families financial struggles are more common than not and I'm worried. What keeps people afloat is confidence in the market and families need loans to buy homes, cars, etc. If people are too concerned, they will start eating in everyday and will stop spending. That alone, could cause great damage to our economy.

If we face a major upheaval in the market--cash is going to be king and that will hurt the vast majority of our citizens as most people don't live on cash. Just imagine the amount of businesses that could quickly go under if things continue to spiral downward and that would put an untold number of people on the unemployment lines.

I found Sarah's debating style annoying. I thought she was trying too hard to be cute. But, at one point, I hoped that she's answer just one complete question. She went back to energy constantly and that drove me nuts. They agreed to only one debate. I found this interesting and disturbing given the high stakes with this election. She was on message all night. I found it confusing and all over the place, but she managed to always bring her message back to the discussion.

If things weren't bad enough, we now have everyone worrying and fretting about the bottom falling out of our economy. Foreclosures have hit Colorado hard. When Lynn and I were recently house hunting, we looked at quite a few short sales and foreclosed homes. I can't even begin to imagine how bad things could go if this deal goes very badly. Tons of people will loose their jobs and that I fear would only be the beginning of very bad things to come. The car industry disturbs me the most as sales are way off and financially, I can't see how much more of this the dealers and companies can take.

Mazda CX-9, my new car is suddenly popular and seemingly everywhere locally. I discovered why a few weeks ago as I noticed that this SUV is now being discounted three thousand dollars on a nearby lot. This is a far cry from the ten thousand dollar discount on most SUVs as local dealers attempt to unload these vehicles from their supply.

What did you think about the debate?

How to trash a new car

I pride myself on being a good driver and taking very good care of our vehicles. Trouble is that my new car didn't get this message. The joke in our house is that my car is now jinxed.

In the span of six months with my brand new car, I have done the following:

1) Dinged the rear end of my car during our move. I was so careful with my new Mazda CX-9 that for weeks after we moved that I parked in the driveway. This meant I had to carry my garage remote back and forth. One day, I decided to park inside and took the remote with me out of habit. I click to close my garage without realizing that I did this. I see the garage door going down and don't instantly freak as I'm used to the garage door automatically going up--when I realize it's going to hit my car as I had unloaded stuff in the back, I react. Too late. The car is more dinged up by my having the garage door go back up.

2) I drive through paint on a major road near our new home not realizing it time that wet paint has been spilled on the road. I swerved and thought that I missed it. To make things worse, it's YELLOW paint. A girlfriend and I were driving to meet each other for lunch and we BOTH DID THIS. Had I instantly gone through a car wash, it likely would have washed off. Instead, I forgot until hours later. I go home, get a bucket and attempt to wash it off. No dice the paint is here to stay. The good news is that the paint is all underneath my car and on my tires.

3) I have a few scratches on the hood and drivers side door that I have no idea how they got there.

4) I back into a spare fridge in the garage a few weeks ago after picking up Cotton from the kennel. I look and there is no damage to my car. Fridge is dented that we are having it hauled away anyway. No big deal. I'm thinking that my car is one tough cookie. Weeks later, I wash the car and notice minor scratches on the side of my bumper. Just lovely.

5) The latest is that somehow I manage to bump another drivers rear bumper at a red light. We pull over to access the damage. Seeing none, we exchange information and go on our way. She's supposed to get her vehicle checked out and said she'd call me to let me know either way.

6) My vehicle is smarter than I am. It has automatic wipers when it rains or you get your car washed. I haven't figured out how to turn this feature off despite numerous attempts to find the information. I get my car washed yesterday and my wipers go ape. I pull out of the automatic car wash and the wipers are now criss-crossed and stuck. Nice men that will be working on cleaning my interior in a moment, get it fixed. Right wiper isn't popping back into place where it should be.

I call my dealer. Told to bring it in. I do so and my right wiper needs replaced. It's bent and won't go back into the proper place. Have one on order. I now know how to turn off this automatic feature.

The paint on my car will come off. The easiest way is to wait until it's pouring or cold as it just falls off then. We discovered this early on as my girlfriend with the same paint on her car met me for coffee one morning. It was freezing and pouring. Most of her yellow paint had already fallen off.

The hard way is using a solvent that I don't recall now and crawling under my car to scrub it off. I could do this as I even bought the stuff, but it sounds time-consuming, difficult and dirty.

The funny thing is that I'm turning into a nut about my car. Constantly telling my son who hasn't done a thing to my car to be careful. Please be careful as your mother wasn't.

In the next coming weeks, I will get my dings fixed and I will hopefully take much better care of my car and show my son that his mother isn't really an idiot, just careless on occasion.

Baby Steps

Harley started walking home from school a week or so ago. I didn't think he was ready and fought it, but he had to learn as I will be working on occasion and not home before he gets out. This is normally not a big deal, but in our case it is. Our boy isn't like most kids as hitting developmental milestones was never routine and this one was more a leap of faith than anything else. One we knew he had to learn, but kept putting off.

The closest option is walking down a steep hill behind our home or walking the rear perimeter of our fence down. Problem is the hill is very steep and the perimeter has a Rottweiler near our home and our neighborhood only allows short split rail fences. Harley is scared to death of this dog. Since I can't say for certain that this dog couldn't jump the fence, we changed our plan.

He's walking about four blocks in our neighborhood to his middle school. Mornings, I've been dropping him off. It's my built in excuse to justify my coffee run and it makes our mornings less hectic as he's a slow poke in the mornings.

The kid loved the walk for the first week and now he's starting to get sick of it. Says it's a long walk and he'd like me to pick him up. I told him that it's not going to happen. We live too close to school for me to pick you up in the afternoons unless we have an appointment or a good reason. Those first few days of him walking home I thought he'd never get home.

He's having issues at school. More of the same with homework, organization and the usual issues that we've been having for the past couple of years. I find myself stressed and frustrated as I'm at a loss what to do anymore. I'm fed up and frankly sick of beating my head against the wall. This is going to affect his life and we don't have time to piss around with.

Granted this is a new school and another school district, but the issues are clear. He has a disability, is on an IEP and has records that follow him. There is no excuse for him not to get off on the right foot. They always seem ready and prepared for him before school starts. Once school starts, the disconnect is immediate. All of this despite the fact that I make the time to talk to people and bring reports and explain things.

We've been trying to get a meeting with his case manager to discuss things. His grades are suffering as he's not writing down homework and dates that he should be studying for tests. Details that for most of us comes as simple, but is far from simple for him.

Family issues

I've been quite distracted lately. My mother and step-father have legally separated and will be getting a divorce. Harley and I went back for a visit in late July not too long after I received the news.

I feel the whole thing is unfortunate. I feel my mother's accident last September contributed on some level. Instead of bringing them closer together, it seemed to have the opposite effect. Even then, I should have realized things were worse than I thought. They just did not seem to be connecting and were not talking much. I feel the accident highlighted their problems and differences.

I hoped that their divorce would proceed quickly and easily for everyone's sake, but that doesn't appear to be how this is going to play out. They have been together for over thirty years and married since 1986. Darcy is the youngest of four girls and their child together.

What I learned was how much I thought of my step-father that I didn't quite realize until my mother's accident and news of their divorce. I'm trying to be there for everyone and it's not really working. The short of it is that things are quite a mess.

My mother-in-law lives on the other side of the state and we managed to get a visit in there too. Harley and I took the Amtrak train over as renting a rental car was much more than one of our plane tickets, add in gas and my having to drive--it wasn't worth the trouble and massive expense. Taking the train was a grand total of $102.00 using my AAA discount for our tickets. My MIL spoiled us. She cooked quite a bit for us, planned family outings for us and with one of my nephews. I got to visit with a sister-in-law and Harley was able to see most of his cousins that lived nearby.

My focus since I returned has been on pulling our new home together and keeping busy. I'm trying to get our new home all pulled together and want to get back into my routine. It's been hard because I tend to over-schedule myself and I feel that I need to slow down a bit. I can't do everything and I tend to think that I'm Superwoman when it comes to what I can do. I want to spend more time at home enjoying our new home and making this place as homey as I can. Yes, I realize it sounds corny, but that's how I feel about this place.

I'd like to read more and have a cleaner home. How I'm going to keep this place clean, I still haven't figured out. The biggest issue that I've run into is that we went from a smaller home (1650 square feet) to (3206 square feet). As you can imagine, it took some getting used too and is totally different from what we had. We had hardly any carpeting in the old home and the vast majority of this place is carpeting. All this carpet isn't good for cleaning or my son's allergies.

Lynn and I have a list of things to do and we've been sifting through the easiest things first. I'm pondering whether we should move getting some hardwood flooring installed up the list at least in our son's bedroom.

Governor Sarah Palin

I was going to let this one go. But, I ran into a friend of mine who asked me specifically to blog on the subject. I attempted to keep this short, but I couldn't do it.

I've been puzzled by Senator McCain's selection of Governor Sarah Palin. Though, I admit that I was interested in his selection until I started delving into her views. Then, I was dumbfounded as to why he selected her. Sure, the right loves her, but will anyone else?

I expected the selection to be either Senator Joe Lieberman or Governor Mitt Romney. Personally, I didn't see what appeal McCain had for Lieberman. Many democrats despise Joe, so I can't expect much cross-over appeal had he picked Joe.

I don't know any woman that supports other women running for office simply because they are a woman. Sarah is a woman, a working mother and has an interesting story, but that's simply where it ends for me. She might as well be on another planet as her views couldn't be much more different as mine.

I don't see many comparisons between Governor Palin and Senator Hillary Clinton. Both are tough, strong women and working mothers, but that is the extent of what I feel they have in common. I don't see the draw for many democrats or independents to vote for this ticket if they were strong Clinton supporters like myself.

Governor Palin is the mother of five children. Five. You would think of all women, she would be more involved and concerned about these issues. She has two daughters.

Trig, her youngest son/baby has Down's. She may be one very strong and capable woman, but she was used to living in Alaska near her family that helped them a great deal. I wonder how crazy will things be should they end up in D.C. as a family without that extended support to fill in the slack.

I have differences with Senator Obama and his experience was a major concern. I find it laughable that McCain said that Governor Palin has more experience than Obama. She has too many skeletons and questions concerning her background and she's wrong on the issues. Not to mention as a woman, she's not remotely concerned with a vast majority of issues that concern most other women.

The most basic of issues that concerns a vast number of women:

Equal Pay.
Access to affordable birth control.
Family planning.
Affordable health care.
Affirmative Action.
Childcare.
Teenage Pregnancy.
Keeping abortions legal.
Rising college costs.
Education.

It's easy to say that Governor Palin walked the walk since she's Pro-Life and Bristol, her 17 year old daughter is pregnant. Bristol and Levi, (the boyfriend) and the child will have to deal with the consequences of their getting pregnant so young. Yes, I hope that their family and friends support and help them, but in the end--it's up to these kids to raise their baby. Let's not kid ourselves, they won't have an easy road ahead of them and I won't pretend otherwise.

Will Bristol and Levi have to give up college? Will they continue living in Alaska? It all matters as they made it matter. They massively showcased this couple in a way that I found quite strange and almost offensive. Your catering to the right and you highlight your 17 year old pregnant daughter and the guy that got her pregnant. That made no sense to me, but what do I know?

I remember the public outcry when Jamie Lynn Spears got pregnant. The difference in my mind was the the right was outraged. At least in the Spears case, money wasn't an issue. Money is a big issue with most teens that end up pregnant.

Here, they are trying to say that the Pro-Life thing works. Abstinence education didn't work in this case, but she's pregnant, will keep the baby and they will marry. Problem solved. Yep, if only life was that easy.

I'm for giving kids all the information to make an informed decision if and when they decide to have sex. The difference between the Palin family and mine is that in my household, the young couple would have had a real choice to make. Living in the Palin household, do you really think that for a moment they had any other choice other than keeping the baby? I can't imagine that they did. I will fight tooth and nail to keep abortion legal. No one should get to tell us that women have to have lots of children or under what circumstances we have to have them.

Times have changed, but teen pregnancy is still shocking and is still a problem. It's easy to say keep the baby, but the reality of what young parents face is still daunting. They are young, not as mature and will have to watch their friends move on in a different way than they will be. The support for teenage parents just isn't there like it should be. Money is an issue along with the fact that so many put their heads in the sand thinking that kids aren't having sex and then are shocked when kids get pregnant.

Like many of my fellow democrats and progressives alike, I have come to the conclusion that McCain picked Palin simply because she was a woman. What struck me was THIS was the best that he could come up with? Surely, there were more than a few Republican women that were far more qualified, vetted and willing to serve with McCain?

Did McCain pull this name of a hat or was he forced to choose her by a segment of the party?

Did McCain have Palin properly vetted? I'm convinced that he didn't. If he did, they would have announced and addressed all these issues surrounding Governor Palin head-on. It seems to me that she has way too much baggage for this position and from what I read, more than a few red flags should have easily dropped her out of consideration. I feel this is a massive train wreck waiting to explode.

If they are really this happy with her, then go for it. You want to show your loyal to the end, this is your chance despite the obstacles and the numerous stumbling blocks that I'm sure are going to follow Sarah.

I don't see these distractions going away from Sarah and if anything, I expect that it will worsen as I suspect more questions concerning her background will arise.

Senator McCain's focus should have been getting everyone to know Governor Palin and putting out their message/platform. Instead, all these stories surrounding her former brother in law that she appeared to try and have fired, her pregnant daughter and a host of stories. What is true and what isn't--remains to be seen. Palin will face endless questions/concern about her qualifications. She's under investigation with the State of Alaska and the timing couldn't be worse for the election. Just what was McCain thinking?

Does John really think that most women aren't smart enough to research a candidate? The internet has become invaluable. You can Google anything. We have access to instant news and information. How we got by before seems like a very distant memory. I'm a busy Mom, so I'm not spending hours reading everything on her, but I have read quite a bit.

Her values and issues totally smack with mine:

1) Abstinence Education. Sarah supports this. I'm not a supporter of abstinence education. I feel that if an individual chooses to wait on sex, they will whether they have this education or not. Abstinence education doesn't teach you how to protect yourself if your going to have sex. I've always felt this portion of abstinence education is terribly irresponsible. I feel regardless of the issue, it's always better to have all the information to make an informed decision. Ignorance is never good.

2) Teen Pregnancy. I can't help, but find Sarah's situation ironic with the unfolding story surrounding Bristol, her 17 year old daughter who is five months pregnant. I feel for Bristol and Levi and can't understand why Sarah accepted the VP offer given the situation and the spotlight it was going to unfairly cast on Bristol, Levi and their family.

3) Abortion. Sarah is against all abortions, except when the mother will loose her life. She has stated that even if her daughter was raped, she wouldn't support an abortion. I cannot relate to this thinking as I feel that women should always have a choice in the matter. I'm not an advocate for abortions, but having the choice. I can't help, but wonder if Bristol really had a choice in the matter. It's unfair yes, but I will ask it anyway. What would their parents have done had they come to them with I'm pregnant and we don't want to keep this baby. Would they have been as supportive or would they have disowned them?

4) Governor of Alaska. Sarah has been the Governor of Alaska since December 4, 2006. She has an interesting biography, but in no shape or form on any scale would I have thought she was remotely qualified for VP or President.

5) Gay Marriage. Sarah is against Gay Marriage. I feel our country is long overdue in providing gays with some type of recognition for their commitment to their partner and legal protection should something happen to their partner. I feel that eventually it will lead to gay marriages across the board. In the meantime, I would be happy to see unions approved until then.

6) I feel that Sarah's selection was ill advised. Bets are being taken that she will withdraw.

7) Senator McCain's age: There is no way for any of us to know how healthy Senator McCain really is. The fact of the matter is that he just turned 72 years old. What if he were to promptly have a heart attack or a stroke and die? How comfortable would you really be with Governor Palin taking the oath of office and becoming our President? This makes me very uncomfortable as I feel she will be a puppet to be told by others what to do and it really scares me that Sarah could easily end up the President of the United States in short order.

Links: I believe in reading for yourselves. Much is out there and I would provide more links, but I'm busy and I have a house to put back together. If you have concerns about Governor Palin, I'm sure that you can find what your looking for.

On The Issues link to Sarah Palin

State of Alaska bio on Sarah Palin

Wikepedia of Sarah Palin

One weekend, another project down

This is my side of the closet

This is my hubby's side of the closet

Our shared piece and I feel we're gonna love this

Lynn and I consider ourselves quite handy on many things, but these honey do lists seem never-ending since we moved. We spent most of last weekend ripping out a basic closet that wasted tons of space in our master closet. Every inch that can be used in our closet, we utilized.

Had one major issue, we had several missing parts that we paid for and weren't included with our packaged order. Another trip to the store after we unpacked and double-checked everything to ensure nothing else was missing to pickup our missing parts to complete our closet.

Next up, I have to clean out our closet. I had no idea that I had so many white dressy shirts. How many does one mostly non-working Mom need? Not the 8 that I have.

If anyone likes this, it's all from The Container Store. Platinum Shelving. The free standing piece in front of our windows is available there too, but the baskets and pieces are currently NOT on sale. The shelving sale is ongoing until sometime in October.

Working women...What is Fair?

I've been working on another post concerning Governor Sarah Palin for nearly a week now. I'm still not done as I have much to say.

Why did she accept the Vice President position from Senator McCain? Does she really believe she's qualified or was she so flattered that she said yes or was it simply ambition? I'm asking because her values, family issues/situations has me thinking far too much about her family and how all of this works for them.

She's a working woman juggling a husband and five children with 3 of them being young children. I've read that she gets much support from nearby relatives, but I can't see how any of this will work should McCain/Palin get elected in November.

Has she thought this far ahead? Will her entire family move with her to Washington and how does she see this working? I feel these are fair questions as her main focus will be elsewhere, replacing Dick Cheney. What a strange picture that is in my head.

Governor Palin's daughter, Bristol is 17 and is pregnant. Bristol and Levi, the father will need much support as young parents. If they remain behind in Alaska, I don't see how Bristol's Mom and Dad will be much help across the country. I have lots of questions about this one and much to say, but that's for the other post.

I realize that these questions would never come up if Governor Palin were a man, but she's not. Nor do I feel these questions are necessarily off limits. Women are always expected to do more and work harder. I feel it comes with the territory.

Women always have a tougher time as we have to juggle so much more. I feel it's why women can multitask. Men can't and it drives me crazy. Most women whether they work or not in general, run the household and are primarily responsible for the shopping and tending to the children among a host of other things that are much longer than my arm.

I have no idea how her and her husband make this work and I find it somewhat fascinating. Most families that I know that have just a few children and are living chaotic lives.

She has five children. Trig, her youngest has Down Syndrome. I have no idea what kind of issues and services her son will need, but I'm curious how all of this is going to work as her son grows and his needs/demands change. Trig was born on April 18, 2008.

On this issue, I can relate. I have a child with a disability and special needs and when he was a baby and up until 5-7 years of age, he had endless appointments to see specialists and therapy appointments. But, I have one child and not much else to compare developmental milestones too other than friends and family. With a special needs child, nothing is typical or routine. So I wonder.

A link for Down Syndrome can be found by clicking the top of this post title at Wikipedia.

Senator John McCain

If you haven't read or listened to Senator McCain's speech, I added a link from NPR to my blog. Click on the title of this post.

I watched the acceptance speech by Senator McCain. It was a painful speech for me to watch. McCain isn't an exciting speaker as I felt it was long and short on facts and substance.

Who is this man? I can't believe the crap that he said. Suddenly, he's quite interested in families economic struggles and alternative energy? Sorry, but more nuclear power plants and coal isn't going to help. We need new way of thinking about oi, energy and the environment. We need clean energy on a massive scale and soon.

Our planet and children depend on the choices and the direction that we take. We can't afford to bury our head in the sand and ignore the signs of global warming. At some point, it will be too late and everyone will pay the consequences.

Here we go again with the need for off-shore drilling. Drilling won't solve our short-term problems. Drilling is a very long-term solution. Everyone doesn't seem to understand that drilling takes years and it's a hit and miss proposition. Drilling tomorrow doesn't mean instant oil.

Never have I been so appalled with a display. You would think that we should hand Senator McCain the Presidency of the United States simply because he suffered in Vietnam and was a POW. I honor his service and suffering, but quite frankly I'm sick of it. It's unfortunate that he was a POW for all those years, but I don't feel that qualifies him. McCain has rarely spoke of being a POW before now and in the past few weeks--it's been massive overkill. He must feel this is his ace in the hole. I feel it makes him look weak.

Not to mention the fact that I feel he's all wrong on Iraq and how our country deals with suspected terrorists and torture. Here is a man that was terribly beaten and injured in Vietnam, you would expect him to think otherwise on this issue--but, he doesn't. He supports torture.

Governor Palin. I'm working up a post on this separately. His decision to pick her has me questioning his judgment more than I already do. Senator McCain is 72 years old. Granted, he could live to be 80, but you never know. Do you really want to trust his health? We only know what we're told. Governor Palin has far too red flags in her background, I feel she shouldn't have made his short list. It remains to be seen whether she will self destruct or not. I feel the media smells blood and they will keep digging.

The man has done accomplished much in his life, but where were the details other than his Navy background? He didn't rattle off what he's accomplished in his political career. The fact remains that he was near the very bottom in his class at the Naval Academy. He graduated 894 out of 899 despite being intelligent. The man has a reputation for blowing up and being a hothead. I'm more than a bit disgusted that I bothered to watch as I expected much more from his nomination speech.

John McCain Wikipedia

Please do your homework in this election.

This election should be about what we want our country to strive and fight for. Iraq, the economy, our reputation in the world, energy policies/global warming and real issues that matter.

Labor Day Recap

1) Lynn and I watched two movies that have been collecting dust for ages as we've been too busy to watch our Netflix movies. Hellboy and Swimming Pool. Enjoyed Hellboy, but we both felt that the ending was a letdown. Swimming Pool was a test of endurance. I like drama and action movies. Hubby likes almost everything. He likes artsy, foreign movies and unusual movies and this was one of those. Never knew where this movie was going until the end.

2) I helped Lynn put together Harley's basketball hoop. It took well over two hours of sweat and frustration following the directions and searching for every little part. Harley's interest today shooting hoops lasted perhaps twenty minutes with me. He kept trying to stay in the small section of the driveway that was shaded. Finally, he said it was too hot for him and he asked to quit. I'm thinking it's easier to get him walking on the treadmill.

3) Lynn put together the remaining wicker furniture for the porch.

4) Trip to The Container Sale. The annual Elfa sale continues through sometime in October. We bought all the pieces to completely redo our master closet. This should tie up most of next weekend. Hoping it's easier this time around as we've installed two previous closets at the old house ourselves.

5) Lynn primped and babied our yard. The back yard is returning to looking like a proper yard, but we still have sections of no grass. Looks like prairie grass in the wild. Going to call our lawn service for advice. Feel we need their help in resolving the remaining issues before the weather changes.

6) We should have gotten our deck shades picked out and installed before we had most of our trees and bushes removed from our back yard last week. Our deck is now blazing with sunshine.

7) Harley's books are finally unpacked and on bookshelves. No help from the boy. Hopefully, he will keep them somewhat tidy.

8) It's a good thing that we just had a weekend off last weekend in Glenwood Springs or I would really be wiped from this weekend. Part of me feels that we should start taking off every other weekend as we are scrambling to get our home in order and it's exhausting.

9) Pictures might get hung within the next six months. It will take time just to decide where we need to put them all.

My blogging will probably be light for a week or two as I need to get my lazy ass back into working out. My bowling league starts this week and I volunteered to be the president. My team mates will just love me for this as it will surely intrude on our bowling from time to time. Haven't worked out in many months due to our moving, travel and having a lazy summer with Harley. I've only managed to attend a few Yoga classes in months. My girlfriend rearranged her schedule so that she could attend one Yoga class with me every week. I now have another reason to drag myself off to class.

I'm debating whether I should get private lessons to finally learn how to swim. I can doggie paddle and swim on my back, but I really don't like the water. Harley's getting better with swimming and he makes me nervous when he ventures over his head as I know that I couldn't jump in the deep end and save him, if need be. Problem is that I'm okay with it, but I feel guilty about it. I realize that if I don't learn soon, I never will.

We have a trip to Hawaii over Fall Break and I feel if I don't get more comfortable in the water, I will be reluctant to hang out at the beach. Though, I'm unsure this matters--since Harley is preoccupied with everything in the wild coming out to eat him. We haven't camped in years as he's beyond silly about the dangers. So, I can't imagine that Lynn will easily be able to get Harley into the ocean period.

Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash 5000

Here I am in downtown Denver with Shannon (Mr. Lady of Whisky in My Sippy Cup) and Molly (Soapy Water)

It took me an hour to get downtown on the light rail. No more time than it normally does. I arrived at the Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash 45 minutes early. Bloggers were there, but no one that I knew. I got myself a beer and parked myself in the room with a television to watch the Democratic National Convention. Twenty minutes later, I met Shannon and Molly.

The funny thing was that Molly told me that they had been sitting for quite awhile near the front, but I didn't see them when I walked in despite my looking.

This was the first Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash that I attended. I went to meet two blogging friends of mine that I've been corresponding with for the past few years now, but had never met. They are with me in the above picture. They were everything that I expected them to be. Warm and wonderful people who I feel that I've known forever. Had I not had to fight the masses home on the light rail and get up early to get my child to school--I would have stayed much later.

Shannon was one of the hosts, so she was busy mingling and handing out free drink tickets. Molly and I hung out together for awhile in the television room and the pizza was quite good. Once Barack Obama's speech came on the place filled up and everyone was squeezed into every possible space to watch the big event. I met one other person there, a woman by the name of Michelle. Her name tag said her name and Party Crasher. I just assumed that was the name of her blog. It wasn't until the end of the night that Shannon told me that she literally crashed our party. Michelle was lovely to chat with.

My only regret of the night was getting trapped in the television room. Molly at some point needed to use the restroom and left. Given that I wanted to watch the speech and the place was packed, I stayed. I should have skipped the speech and stayed outside the television room to mingle, chat with Shannon and Molly more and get to know other local bloggers.

It was quite a bunch of people. More women than I expected. Though, I really didn't have any idea what to expect. Attending parties isn't really something I do with any frequency and it put me way outside of my comfort zone. I practically had anxiety about going to this party and I'm not an anxious person.

After the speech was over, I settled up my bill and went looking for Shannon and Molly. Not finding them, I decided that I had better start getting home as I expected the light rail to be very crowded and off schedule. Shannon and Molly noticed me leaving and we said our good-byes and took some pictures.

I was moved by Barack's acceptance speech. I finally have a good sense of what his supporters feel. I felt it in the downtown crowds and saw it in their eyes and on their faces at the convention. They were beyond excited and many people seemed to be downtown just to be near it all. Barack gave a great speech and I will vote for him, but I admit that I still have reservations.

He has a great story, message and all, but it's never easy putting so much into action. I don't feel his time in the Senate reflects all this action that he keeps talking about. Time will tell how he does, but he has to get himself elected first.

The police presence downtown was intimidating. I felt it was massive overkill. The sheer number of police on every street corner was staggering. The oddest thing I saw was two policemen riding motorcycles smoking a cigar.

For all the talk about Denver having such a green convention--I felt they could have taken it further. Recycling still doesn't exist downtown or hardly anywhere in our state beyond voluntarily recycling in our neighborhoods, some businesses, the airport and a few hotels that I've run across.

I was one of the lucky ones. I had a seat the whole way home on the light rail. The trains were crowded northbound and lots of people had to stand most of the time. Two Texas delegates were sitting and standing next to me, but they appeared to be exhausted. Otherwise, I would have asked them about their experience and what they thought of our city.

Senator Hillary Clinton/DNC today

Senator Clinton is one classy broad. She brought tears to my eyes even before she stopped the roll call and Senator Obama was nominated. I saw most of the roll call as I happened to be home and was watching.

Normally, I eat this stuff up and watch non-stop. But, it's Harley's first week of school and time/energy is short. By the time that I start cooking dinner, I finally remember to turn on the television.

I missed most of the speeches from today, only caught two full speeches live--Beau and Joe Biden's speeches. Joe made me smile and his speech was touching. I thought he was at his best when he talked about his mother and what she taught him growing up. I thought Joe did a decent job, but I didn't think it was a great speech. Joe is going to easily connect with people and that's a plus.

I found a short video of President Clinton's speech and will go searching for more videos if I have the time. I know many people can't stand the Clinton's and especially Bill, but the man is gifted when it comes to connecting with people and when he's speaking--he's something to behold. Saw part of Senator Kerry's speech and I thought he was quite good and passionate.

I feel this election is going to come down to simple things. Moving ahead or backwards, family budget issues, Iraq, the economy, and whether our country can and will elect a black man. I tend to feel that race and color doesn't much matter anymore, but it's naive of me. I know full well that color still plays a big part in many parts of our country. Racism is still alive and well.

I thought Beau Biden, the Attorney General of Delaware was something special. I had recently read that he was an officer and was getting shipped off to Iraq. Handsome, moving and quite a stirring speech.

Senator Obama made a surprise appearance at the convention.

I've been reading all over the internet and in the Denver Post about traffic, bus and light rail schedules associated with Obama's speech tomorrow night. My thinking is that getting to and from the blogger party downtown tomorrow night is going to be more time-consuming than I planned on.

The important thing now boils down to what will I wear to the party.

Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash 5000

Shameless plug for the Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash for my blogger friend, Mr. Lady. She's one of the hosts for this bash. I'll be there and we'll see how this thing goes. I need to be all social and talkative. I'm good in small groups, but this thing is sending me way out of my element. Which is sometimes a good thing. We will see.

They have free wireless at Trios Enoteca, so I might even take my laptop and blog while I'm mingling and such.

Democratic National Convention

I'm watching with great interest and waiting to see who Barack Obama picks as his VP. Equally of interest is seeing how Denver manages and showcases our area. Coming to the conclusion that I will be disappointed with his choice. I was hoping that Wesley Clark was going to get the nod. Since it appears he told Wes to piss off and stay away from the convention this option appears to be out. Not happy with the names that I keep reading about as the expected choices. Hoping that everyone is wrong and a brilliant choice is made.

I feel given the economy, the dislike for the Bush administration, Iraq and a whole host of pocketbook issues I feel that Barack should be way ahead of John McCain. I'm a bit disturbed that he's not. I feel in the end, I really don't have any choice, but to vote for Barack. I can't shake the fact that I don't trust him, but I distrust McCain even more. McCain isn't a real choice for me as I disagree with him on everything that's important to me and writing in anyone else's name would help McCain.

I'm anxious to see how much the Democratic National Convention handles the added traffic and how much this disrupts those of us that live here. They are actually going to close I-25 in both directions when Barack is accepting the nomination. My head understands the security concerns, but what a nightmare for anyone that works near or around downtown Denver and has to take I-25. Luckily, that doesn't include our family.

Over the past week, we've had cyanide discovered in a downtown hotel along with a dead man and this morning a questionable package was found. Turns out it was nothing. I'm hoping this is the end of things along these lines. It's not comforting knowing this is in our backyard and we could get unwelcome attention and scares like this.Coroner: Cyanide killed man found in Denver

I have a Rocky Mountain blogger party to attend on the last night of the convention in downtown Denver. I'm going to meet a few blogger friends. Parties like this isn't really my thing and I'm a bit reluctant given the expected crowd. I'm already wondering how long it's going to take to get to and from downtown on the light rail given everything that will be happening downtown.

If anyone is interested in attending this blogger party, you can register at this link.Rocky Mountain Blogger 5000

John Edwards

My head can't seem to get wrapped around this story.  I find it hard to believe that he cheated on his wife at this time in his life and under these circumstances.  I'm astonished by his behavior, but it's really none of my business.    Why should it matter really to us? What he did is ultimately between him and his wife.   I feel for Elizabeth and their family.  I can only imagine how this shattered their world.

I can't imagine any scenario that would make me cheat.   I love and adore my husband and can't imagine how my life would have been without him.   The amount of shame and pain that cheating causes should be enough reason to keep most people faithful, but somehow that never comes into their thinking until after the fact.

What bothers me the most is that someone fathered a daughter.  Until paternity is established, I don't see this story going away.  I understand the other woman's need for privacy, but she should have thought about that before she got involved with a high profile married man.    She knows who the father is, but legally and ethically--I would think she would want this question put to rest. It makes me wonder what she's hiding. I hope for everyone's sake, that she's telling the truth and John is not the father of this baby.

He's not the democratic nominee and yet I feel there is much more to this story that will unfold and I'm not seeking this story out.   I find the whole thing tawdry and I'm fed up with what and how the media decides what's important enough for the news and what remains at the top of the headlines.

Why our culture and our media feeds off of stuff like this makes me almost ill.   Yes, I know there is a video of John's side out there, but I won't watch it.  I feel that just feeds this story.

I will be thinking positively for Elizabeth and their children who will have to deal with the aftermath of John's mistake.

Technical issues

I had major issues with Yahoo and Flickr. It's all been resolved thanks to the Flickr people. Yahoo basically told me sorry, we can't help you because I couldn't answer the last question. This was all despite a great deal of effort on my part trying to prove that I was in fact who I said I was.

I assumed pointing them to my blog with years of history and my brand spanking new Yahoo account would do the trick. No such luck. Sometimes, people just don't use common sense. If it weren't for my having flickr, this would be be a disaster.

Anyhow, I'm back to the old, previous e-mail address and will be deleting the onemomsopinion1 e-mail address in a few days. Please update your e-mail boxes to reflect the change.

Home sold

We sold and closed on our old home. Hard to believe how easy closing this deal was given the real estate market and our neighborhood.

I feel our home sold quickly because we took the time and money to finish everything that we thought would help with selling it, it showed well and compared to the rest of the homes for sale in our neighborhood--I feel ours stood out.

I expected some mixed emotions, but I have none. Though, all three of still miss our patio and the lush, mature landscaping from the backyard.

Now, I can concentrate on enjoying the rest of the summer and working on our new home. We have pictures everywhere that need to be hung, clothes laying in places that need to be stored and odds and ends to do. Harley's bedroom still isn't finished as I started painting before we even moved in and realized that I had more important things to do. I have the time, but for some reason I keep putting this off.

I was going to plant a bunch of flowers in our backyard, but decided to wait until spring. I bought enough flowers yesterday to fill a pot or two to warm up the deck.

Our home has trees, flowers and landscaping, but the landscaping isn't even close to want we want to see. We will have to plan out what we want to do.

First step is reinstalling the side gate to have access into the backyard. Several trees that line our rear fence and interfere with our mountain and city views have to go.

We have time, choices and are down to just one mortgage. Life is grand.

Accountability

I'm not blogging much because I have much going on in my life right now. We moved and the new home is still somewhat of a disaster and I have a bunch of other stuff going on that is taking much of my time. Plus, I'm ticked off politically and I try not to blog when I consider myself unreasonable and won't make much sense.

Senator Barack Obama is a sore subject in my home. I couldn't put my finger on it exactly, but I felt he wasn't someone that I could easily get behind and support in the way that I supported Senator Hillary Clinton. Lynn couldn't vote for Hillary, so he was glad that she lost the nomination.

I wasn't just a Hillary supporter, I gave her money. I've never been one to do that in the past. I might have given Senator John Kerry a small donation in 2004, but that was it until Hillary ran for senator in New York State.

I not only donated to her Senate campaign, but I donated to her a few times during her run for president. I'm only saying this it make it clear that Barack was never going to earn that kind of support from me. The only thing he had to gain or loose from me was my VOTE.

I planned on reluctantly voting for the man to support my party and try to keep the GOP out of the White House. Why exactly--to protect the Supreme Court and a few other issues that are very important to me. I feel John McCain is all over the place and I can't vote for him.

But, this yes vote on FISA by Barack has me quite worked up. This is likely a deal breaker for me and he likely lost my vote, as did anyone else in my new voting district that supported this stupid ass bill. I feel the democrats caved and in an embarrassing fashion. On occasion, I would like to see them stand up for something and not cave to the will of the GOP. They look weak and stupid.

Why, because I feel the GOP regularly act like they have BALLS and even when they are wrong, they look more in control and strong even though I disagree with them on nearly every damn issue out there.

Why so many democrats agreed to retroactive immunity--I just don't understand.

I feel that in our lives to be an honorable and upstanding person we have to make difficult choices and stand for something. I'm beginning to question exactly what Barack is willing to stand for if he cannot support the Constitution. He totally went against his previous stance and I'm not at all comfortable with the moves that he's been making lately.

If he pisses off too many people, it could easily cost him the election and I feel he's too arrogant to admit or see that. People always have choices.

The way I see it we have four choices:

1) Vote for Barack.

2) Vote for John.

3) Write-in Hillary Clinton which I consider a vote against Barack.

4) Skip voting for Barack or John. I consider #3-#4 sending the same message--I'm not happy with either candidate.

This issue to me was simple--it was all about supporting the Constitution, stopping the lawbreaking Bush Administration and all these companies that went along with the stupidity and putting a stop to this mess. It's that simple for me. I read Barack's statement on this issue and it doesn't wash with me.

I'm not posting any links, as I feel that anyone that is interested in this issue--has already read up on the subject.

Sold our home?

It's been a crazy couple of days. In the past 2-3 days, we have received four offers on our home and we accepted two of the offers. The first offer fell through the next day after they verbally accepted our counter offer and then, didn't sign. I was disappointed, but that evening--we received two more offers that were better offers.

I thought twice about posting this thinking that I would somehow jinx this deal, but decided the heck with it. The deal will go through or not. My talking or not talking about it isn't going to change whatever is going to happen. Hoping that the home inspection isn't exciting and doesn't show anything major as I'd like to wrap this up and move on. I'm feeling hopeful that regardless of what happens, our home will sell shortly anyway.

A week ago--I was loosing hope as our old neighborhood has been tanking as there are far too many homeowners in our neighborhood that lost their homes and it's wrecked havoc on what homes are worth. This seems commonplace in far too many of our neighborhoods, but the extent that it hit our old neighborhood has been astonishing.

Imagine your nicely well cared 4-bedroom home full of fresh paint, tons of upgrades and major landscaping work being compared to homes that are trashed and in dire need of TLC and funds. That's what we we've been facing and fighting against.

Given that it's only been on the market for about 40 days, I feel we've been quite lucky and feel our extra efforts paid off. I'm coming to the conclusion that had we not done all we did to prepare the home to sell that we would still be waiting and wondering if and when an offer was forthcoming.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of this deal is non-eventful and everything proceeds as planned. If it does, we will close by July 30th or sooner.

Airport security...turning into a nightmare

Our government is now seizing laptops, memory drives and digital memory cards when they see fit at the airport. I found out about this because the hubby was recently out of town and when he returned he told me about reading this story. I thought he was bullshitting the wife.

This isn't funny and shouldn't be allowed in any shape or form. The extent to which the Bush Administration continues to trash our Constitution simply astonishes me. There is a right and wrong and moral way to do things and this isn't it. I'm all for catching criminals and terrorists, but you can't simply go around selecting whose rights you are going to invade. You have to have cause for a search and get a search warrant.

To read this story, click on my blog post title to read the story titled Seizing Laptops and Cameras Without Cause.

Just think for a moment.... Your on vacation in Europe or off to Hawaii for two weeks. You take your laptop to check your e-mail while your gone and so that you can download your family vacation photos. You go through security and they say they are taking your laptop, your digital camera and all your memory cards. What a freaking nightmare that would be. Now, imagine that your a reporter and they take your personal laptop. This is what this story is about. Luckily, this reporter didn't have any work on this laptop, but his life was on there. Imagine someone seizing your laptop. It makes you stop to think about it, doesn't it?

This is way over the top and it's way beyond the time for everyone to get the message. There is nothing that the Bush Administration won't do or say to get their way. This is the United States of America, this kind of crap doesn't happen here. If we don't get smart about this, we are going to turn into a police state and there won't be any going back.

Unfortunately, I don't see an easy fix. I don't expect that Congress will tackle this nor do I feel The Supreme Court will step in and tell everyone that this isn't allowed either. Our government is supposedly protecting us, but who is going to protect us from them?

Hacked?

This is to my blogger friends--if you happened to have e-mailed me within the past week or so, please shoot me another e-mail to the changed e-mail address and update your address book. I've been hacked or something and have no idea what occurred. I came back from Amsterdam and suddenly my yahoo accounts didn't work.

Hopefully, I can easily resolve this with Flickr or this is going to be a major problem.

Home

Harley at the Botanical Gardens in Amsterdam
We returned home a few days ago from spending two weeks in Amsterdam. We returned to a security system on the fritz and all of our smoke alarms going off due to dying batteries. All within about the first few minutes of us walking in the door. Welcome home, indeed.

We awoke early the next morning as it was pouring and cold. It felt too much like most of our Amsterdam weather. I always find it odd that you try and plan family vacations well and then, weather can massively throw a kink in your plans and in my case, mood. Our luck continued with a few unexpected issues that we had to quickly resolve after we got home. So much for having a few, relaxing days off to simply concentrate on working on our new home.

We've been busy the past few days and seemingly have little to show for it. We are going to rearrange our bedroom along with Harley's and we have a great deal to do to start pulling our new home together. We spent the past two days weeding and cutting the grass at the old home as the grass grew wild while we were gone as we have the keep the yard up until the puppy sells.

We need to figure out a game plan for our finished basement. Buying a pool table will have to wait until the old house sells. We need to agree on the furniture layout and are leaning towards buying a leather sectional as we don't have enough furniture to steal a piece from the living room. Lynn has a good idea on the kind of layout he wants, but we have yet to measure and he has to spell it out for the wife. The wife isn't as visual as the Engineer hubby. We're hoping that we can add a customized bar in a few years, but how and where is the question that we're asking ourselves as space is limited unless we cut into our workout room.

I'm trying to my hands on a club key so that Harley and I can make use of the neighborhood pool, club and tennis courts every chance that we get. My plans are simple for the summer. Relax, organize our new home, get myself back into shape, socialize with friends, and enjoy the all this free time with Harley.

Heading home

Lynn's packing for our return trip home while I'm sitting being lazy. I uploaded the last of my pictures to our laptop. I posted a few more pictures from the past few days on flickr. Lynn is racing around packing as we are heading to the airport in the morning as soon as we shower and get dressed. I'm trying to squeeze in more boat watching on the canal.

We had a gorgeous day yesterday. Sunny, warm and very nice. Today, was more nasty weather. We really like Amsterdam, but I don't understand how the locals deal with this wet and mostly chilly weather all the time.

I've come to the conclusion that I don't appreciate sharing just one bathroom and smaller quarters with my guys while on vacation. We've gotten quite used to renting two bedroom condos when we are on most of our vacations. This doesn't work in Europe as the rates are too expensive and two bedrooms are hard to find. Harley enjoys very idle mornings which is fine when we're at home sleeping in, but it's not ideal for vacations--especially at the end when your cramming in a few more things to do.

One of the most surprising and interesting things that we did on this trip was a visit to the Dutch Resistance Museum from this morning. Which I find ironic, since I practically dismissed it when Lynn suggested it a few days ago. It was my ignorance--as I had never heard of the Dutch Resistance before then. I was more intrigued by this than anything else that I've seen or done in Amsterdam before. It made me want to learn more and it seemed terribly personal in a similar way to my previous visit to the Anne Frank Museum, but this moved me more deeply.

It made me stop and think just how pampered and spoiled Americans are. We've never had to face these kind of long-term hardships. It hard to even comprehend the horror despite the wealth of information and specific details on the subject.

It made me wonder if we will ever learn. I fear that it will continue in some matter or another forever. A prime example is Iraq. I'm not alone in my belief that the torture that President Bush allows is wrong, immoral and illegal....yet it continues. There is no outcry or demand for him to stop.

It strikes me this evening that this is no different than what the Nazis and the Japanese did during World War II. It was horrific and cruel. There was a sense of lawlessness. It seems too similar to what the Bush Administration is doing.

I'm also struck by what people do and don't risk in times of uncertainty and grave danger. Three women were involved in the Dutch resistance. One woman was caught, confessed and was executed. I admired her spunk. The two other women involved in the resistance, who were sisters survived. They didn't survive unscathed and it made me wonder how things like this forever shape and change your life.

I couldn't help, but wonder what would I have done and would I risk my life and my families safety/freedom to do the right thing and potentially save others? I hope that I would, but I cannot know.

A link concerning the Dutch Resistance Museum is linked with the title of this post. Just click on the title to read more.

More on Amsterdam

Canal House, Amsterdam


Pedal boat, Amsterdam


Boat, Amsterdam


Harley playing around in a park, Amsterdam


Canal house, Amsterdam

I resorted to sleeping on the pullout last night. Harley slept with his dad. I've been sleeping terribly since we got here. The bed though quite romantic, colorful and wonderful in every other way--just isn't comfortable. Normally, I would suffer though, but I end up waking nearly hourly in agony. I think the bed slopes wrong or something as I've ended up with massive lower leg pain from sleeping in this bed. Our sleeping discomfort has made for a strange trip. We've been to Amsterdam before so getting up very early to sightsee wasn't the plan, but neither was getting up whenever and getting out the door late either. We've been lucky to leave the apartment between 10:00 and 11:00 am.

Harley doesn't have any major requests, but wants to eat his way through Amsterdam and so often that it's become a joke. He wants to snack about hourly. I don't know what it is with him and eating when we're on vacation.

Anyway, I posted more pictures on flickr and here are a few more. We're mostly just picking sections of town to see and finding things to do in each section. Most of our time has been spent in museums, parks and browsing. It's much walking and until today, the weather has been crappy for 3 days. This morning started off nippy and rainy and by mid-afternoon it was warm and humid.

I'm hoping that we quickly return to warmer weather. I brought shorts and capris that I hope to wear. We finally found an adapter to work with his gameboy advance yesterday afternoon. Somehow, we managed to forget ours at home and thought when the juice ran out on his gameboy that we'd have one unhappy boy. It didn't get to that.

We had an unexpectedly good dinner minus Lynn's dry chicken tonight in an area of Amsterdam full of large, outdoor cafes. It was very relaxing, but I miss Denver and our non-smoking laws already. I'm astonished every time I come to Europe just how many people smoke and how often they do it. I find myself trying to predict just which tables will fill up last to avoid the smokers to no avail.

Europe, couples & vacation

I feel we are overdue for a couples only vacation. Harley seems to be especially annoying on this trip. He thinks that we should go out of our way to find only kid friendly restaurants where only cheeseburgers and fries will do. This is hard to do in Amsterdam when you just want to find somewhere acceptable to eat.

Our anniversary was Saturday. Steak and such was what we were looking for, problem was that Lynn had already promised Harley a cheeseburger. It cost us an extra 20 minutes searching for an appropriate restaurant and an unexpected trip to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner as none of the steakhouses that we passed by had burgers. This meant eating outside with smokers and a pricey bill. Over $100.00 for two burgers, a steak and a few beers. Sticker shock has been commonplace on this trip for just about everything. I'm coming to the conclusion that as much as we love Europe, we should stay away until the dollar is better.

Love the colors and the general vibe in our apartment. It's modern and romantic. The whole place has an asian feel and the color is a bold green and warm. I forget until we are staying in Europe how frugal and limited things are compared to what most Americans are used too. Towels changed everyday isn't commonplace. Routine cleaning isn't even routine. Our place is lovely, but it's not comfortable like we are used too and the place wasn't clean when we checked in. I had to scrub the tub after we checked in as it wasn't clean. You have just enough dishes to get you through breakfast and have to run the dishwasher every morning to ensure that you have dishes for later.

Had we not had the view that we had, I would have been miserable. We literally have a canal view from our living room. Trouble is there is no screens on the windows and no AC. The first night of sleeping was horrid as it was terribly stuffy/warm and when we were nearly asleep when our drunken upstairs neighbors decided it was a good time to come home and be loud at 4:30 am.

Weather has been great until the past two days. It went from sunny and warm to rainy and cold.

As much as we've been to Europe, I always seem to forget how different it is. Americans go to the grocery store with the expectation of filling the cart, where in Amsterdam I'm guessing that one or two bags is the maximum. How will you get it home is the obvious question and where will you store it? Appliances are much smaller and more compact. Life seems easier in many ways, but I can't imagine going to the the market for groceries everyday or every other day or two. Going once a week is what I'm used too.

Though, I realize that Europeans in general consume far less than we do and are much more frugal about what they buy and consume. It makes you think do we consume too much and coming from someone that just moved--I'd have to easily say--yes we do.

How to change that mentality it another story. Consider that in Amsterdam to recycle your glass and plastic you carry it outside to a receptacle to do so. Considering that I've lived in the same neighborhood for ten years and was one of the of the few to pay $15.00 to recycle bi-weekly in bins, I don't see Americans moving to recycling in the neighborhood under their system.

Amsterdam

View from our Amsterdam apartment

View from our Amsterdam apartment

Harley, Amsterdam

Grand tree that caught our eye while having dutch pancakes.

Lynn and Harley at the fountain outside of Cafe Hotel Americain.

We're in Amsterdam and all is well. Weather is sunny and warm. Just lovely. We slept in until 2:00 pm on our first full day in Amsterdam. How, I still don't know. I didn't feel that tired. Lynn got up at 8:00 am and kept coming back to bed until Harley and I finally woke up. Sleeping in so late made for a strange day. You would have thought we would have been starving, but we weren't.

Our apartment is nice, but not as nice as we hoped. Storage always seems to be an issue in Europe. I packed light, so I'm not complaining. Harley seems to think that everything on this trip is going to involve a delicious treat. It's no wonder my son isn't skinny.

We showered, ironed and were out of the apartment by 4:00 pm. We promptly stopped for a dutch pancake each and a beer for the adults. Harley was quite pleased as he ordered chocolate pancakes. It made for a good start for our day. We just walked around a large park for a few hours, stopped for dinner and headed back. We've been sitting enjoying ourselves watching the boats pass by our apartment from our living room window. It's quite relaxing.

New home update

We're all moved in. Just don't ask me where much of anything is. I still don't know which box or pile of clothes has most of my everyday clothes. Finding bras and panties has been interesting. This was the most unorganized move ever. It couldn't be helped given the quick closing and having things up in the air. I didn't know whether the deal was going to proceed smoothly or not as things happened to make our other deals fall through or have us withdraw.

The kitchen is the only organized room in the whole home. I found my toaster a few days ago. We've discovered that things never look as good as you think they are. Painters or the sellers spilled paint on window shutters and trim in several places in the house. I was quite appalled that no one ever bothered to clean it up while it was still possible. My to do list for the summer keeps getting longer.

We both feel their appliances stink compared to what we had (even if they weren't higher end like this) and how we never noticed before now is the big question. I guess, we were too busy being thrilled over the views, space and such with this home. I can't get the cook top to boil a big pot of water. I've tried twice now with no luck. I tried to make macaroni and cheese one night for Harley and I and pierogies the next night. Lynn was out of town and I feel somewhat amused by his wife's luck with the cook top. My sweet hubby had been doing all the cooking up until then when we weren't eating non-stop take-out.

Lynn and I are going to replace our dishwasher after we close on the other home. The rest of the appliances will probably be replaced one at a time as we can afford to do so.

Getting the old house ready to sell has been a challenge. Time is short and our energy levels were dropping rapidly. All this going back and forth all the time takes a toll on your mind and body. Exhaustion had become the norm. We finished picking up the last of the remaining stuff last weekend. It was a whirlwind of many trips in both vehicles.

All my painting was going well until I hit Harley's bedroom. Dark red walls to fit a Star Wars theme and a blue trim. That's what we allowed him to choose and we painted those colors in his bedroom. They have come back to haunt us. I primed the entire room with two coats of primer. I realized that the bold colors might still shine through, so I painted one wall twice. It wasn't covering well enough.

Harley's bedroom before I started painting

I about had a meltdown last Friday night with Lynn as I realized I was sick of painting, as this wasn't working and we were quickly running out of time. Time is short because we are scrambling to get the house ready before we leave for our Amsterdam trip. He took over and asked to call a painter, he balked and I gave in. Hiring the painter was easy and considering everything, quite reasonable. The painter should be all done by sometime tomorrow. He's painting Harley's bedroom entirely again, paint the master bathroom, another bedroom and do touch up work throughout the whole house.

Sunday, I will be cleaning to turn the house over to a staging company of sorts. Someone will be living in our home, cutting the grass, paying our utilities and keeping the home ready to show. It seems too good to be true, but given the rapid decline in our old neighborhood--we feel we have no choice if we want to sell and not live sparsely in our new home with little furniture. Time will tell whether this was smart or not. We have an escape clause if things don't work out, but I'm hoping that we don't have to use it.

We had an unexpected sprinkler emergency as the sprinklers hadn't been winterized and promptly broke when Lynn turned them on. The security system has been equally trying as we had issues. It's working, but they have to come back for more work. I was hoping to easily settle in, but it seems we are going to have issues. Oh well, things should get much easier after all these things are settled.

Harley has three days of school remaining. I cannot wait for him to be done with this school. He's had many issues over the past two weeks.

This weekend is going to be something. I need to pull together the rest of our clothes that are scattered throughout the house in various places. I need to figure out what Harley and I are going to pack for Amsterdam. Weather is going to be mid 60s with a 10% chance of rain, the last that I checked. Seems perfect considering our back and forth crazy, Colorado weather. It's been pouring non-stop, warm, cold, sprinkling and everything in between.

Hubby is so excited about this trip. I'm just thinking of sleep. We went to Amsterdam in 2004 with Harley and Lynn's Mom. We had a great time and Amsterdam is a great city and an easy one to get around in. I know we will have a great time, I just hope we relax quickly and just concentrate on having fun.

New House

The front of our new home

It's official, the house is ours. Lynn is thrilled, I had some mixed feelings as I felt we should have gotten this grand home cheaper. We will have a bigger mortgage, a bigger house and the home is move in ready. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy, but the first appraisal that came in under our contract price got me all excited that we were going to get the house much cheaper. I can't help, but be a bit disappointed that the second appraisal didn't come in lower.

What appealed to us the most besides the city and mountain views was the living spaces, upgrades throughout and how easily we could move in. This home really suits the way that we live. Once we make the backyard our own, we might be even happier than we are in our fabulous yard and patio here that we spend years creating. It was one of the few homes that we were interested in that didn't have all white walls. I don't understand why so many are afraid of color.

We've been working non-stop getting our home ready to put on the market. It's all been about presentation of our home and ensuring that it was going to show well and set apart from most homes in our price range. Our neighborhood is full of foreclosures and short sales and I'm concerned how much this could impact putting our home on the market. I noticed an auction sign on a nearby home yesterday.

We bought two elegant light fixtures and I can't get over the difference they make. I joked with Lynn that they seem too nice to leave with the house. I've been painting for over a week now. Three bathrooms, two bedrooms and trim needed to be repainted. I painted the two bathrooms, the trim downstairs and I started on Harley's bedroom yesterday. His bedroom is a bold red and blue trim. The color suited his Star Wars posters and after much debate about this color, I actually grew to really like the red color. Still, we knew if we ever moved--it had to go.

We close on the new home next week and I haven't even started packing yet. I hope that we can finish up the rest of the painting this weekend, so that I can start packing.

We have to move, list this home and vacation is right around the corner. My blogging will be light for awhile.

Small Towns

I grew up in a small town. We moved all around the area of Johnstown, PA., when I was growing up. Everyone knew everyone's business and everyone seemed to know everyone. To this day, if I go somewhere when I'm visiting with my mother--it's not usual for her to run into several people in one outing that she knows.

Living in a small town wasn't for me, I needed a bigger city and more to see and do. I enlisted in the Air Force and never considered moving back. The military seemed like a good place to start.

I couldn't help, but feel annoyed when I heard Senator Obama's remarks about Pennsylvania and small towns. Small towns and areas hit hard by the ever changing economy occurs in many parts of the country. I don't feel they are bitter, clinging to God or guns.

Prices of everything is going up and you'd have to be blind not notice. These kinds of things add up and wreck havoc on family budgets.

In many parts of the country, the downturn in the job prospects is a stark reality. People are just trying to maintain their standard of living and support their families. They are trying to keep gas in their vehicles, food on the table and pay their bills.

You can't attack guns in this part of the country. It's a way of life and everyone that I knew growing up had guns and lots of them. They may agree with you on most things, but if you come between them and their guns--they aren't going to vote for you. I've had a few conversations about the need for sensible gun control and it doesn't fly where I was raised.

Really good paying jobs aren't that common in certain areas of the country and people stay in these small towns because that is where they chose to build their lives. The Johnstown area hasn't really recovered from the Steel Mills closing and this kind of loss is reflected in many parts of our country. Jobs are plentiful, but tons of really good paying jobs aren't. I don't understand the draw personally to remain in a small town, but I respect it. Many people can't imagine living anywhere, but in a small town. Where my thinking is the opposite as I need the city.

Roots go deep in small towns. They shoot trap and socialize at the sportsman clubs, they play pool, drink and hangout at the VFW and local bars. The local bars and diners take on a bigger role as everyone knows each other and they are quite social. They have a bigger sense of community and when something bad happens to someone is diagnosed with a life threatening illness--the community steps up to raise money to help with the treatment.

I don't know how this will play out in Pennsylvania, but the implications are huge as potentially, Senator Obama could have turned many off. I'd ask my family, but they aren't really politically involved. My mother is on the fence as to which democratic candidate she is going to vote for and she's already received a few calls asking who she's going to vote for.

My opinion doesn't really count on this matter. Senator Obama misspoke and then, he sort of apologized. Time will tell whether his comment hurts him in Pennsylvania or elsewhere.

Foreclosures

I went with my real estate agent this morning to see 5 homes in the vicinity of my neighborhood that she felt were good comparisons to our home that we will be putting on the market soon. Only two of them were in my neighborhood. I felt neither were really good comparisons to our home. They were about the same size, but I didn't feel any of them measured up well to our home. The bedrooms were very small, layouts were weird and not as open as ours and the backyards were small compared to what we have now. Only 1 of the 5 homes was a 4 bedroom home, which ours is, so the straight comparisons were off from the start.

The nearby neighborhood was more of the same. But, what troubles me is that the majority of recently sold homes nearby consists of short sales and foreclosed homes. I feel these homes are making the downturn even worse. I have two foreclosed homes a street over from mine and in very close proximity to our home. I'm starting to be concerned about what we can get for our home and how long it might take to sell our home. I feel the market will get much worse before it's better and we will sell as we will not rent this home. This was our home and we've been down that road before with renting our first home and it was very costly, time-consuming and very unpleasant.

Pricing is going to be key and selling it quickly will likely be what guides us even if we don't get top dollar.

Our bad timing will be our enemy yet again. The only saving grace now is interest rates are low. When Lynn and I bought our first home in Syracuse, NY--the mortgage interest rate was 10.5%. I can't imagine paying such a rate now. Then, we were young and stupid, I guess. We wanted a home and were in a hurry to get our lives started.

This could be worse, we could live in California or an area hit even harder by the economy and the shakeup in the real estate market/foreclosures.

Crazy busy

This finds me crazy busy.

My mother is doing very well. She's completely out of her hard collar. She's maxed out her workouts for weights that she can lift and sounds like she's doing great. Her doctor released her from therapy and asked her to continue working out regularly as he sees no need for her to continue therapy. She's working part-time. She returned to her old job as a private nurses aide and is working 3 days a week. In addition, she started her own side business cleaning homes. Last I heard, she had cleaned two homes. She's going to see if she can do this 3 times a week.

I haven't seen her for myself since early January, but it sounds like she couldn't be doing much better from where I sit. I still worry and I find myself telling her every weekend not to overdo it. Which she finds annoying and probably frustrating as all of her daughters have the same concerns.

We bought another home. The home and radon inspections were yesterday. It all went very well, but we don't get the radon results until tomorrow. We bought an expensive house, so much so that I tried to get Lynn to go with our second choice that was considerably cheaper than this one. He wouldn't budge as this home has mountain and city views from nearly every room in the house and he felt this home was perfect for us.

I don't disagree with his assessment of the home being very nice--just the price tag. I felt that given the downturn in the real estate market that we should have gotten a better deal. We placed an offer and they countered. Lynn told me to accept it, he didn't even want to negotiate with them as he was afraid that we'd loose this one.

The appraisal should be next week and I don't expect the home to appraise for what we settled on. I have a $5.00 bet riding on the appraisal being below our offer with my real estate agent/friend.

I'm thinking about all the work that I have to do to get us moved and settled into our new home before we leave for Amsterdam. We never got around to skiing, as we've been simply too busy. What a waste of money as we bought ski passes for Copper Mountain/Winter Park and never even went skiing once. I'm returning Harley's seasons ski package later this afternoon. Since we're going to be busy packing and moving--we decided to give up on the notion of finding the time to ski.

Harley's been on Spring Break all week and we've spent most of it at home keeping an eye on our contractor. We hired a contractor to do odd jobs around the house, install bamboo hardwood flooring in the kitchen and tile in the entryway and half bath/laundry room. His work has been good, but the work has been slow going and I never imagined that we'd end up with such a mess.

Even if I wanted to cook in my kitchen, it's not been possible for two days now. Dust is everywhere and our appliances are sitting in the dining room while the bamboo is being installed in the kitchen. Cotton, our dog has been relegated to spending endless hours outside, locked up in the office with me or trapped in her cage in the basement. It's a wonder, she hasn't gone on a chewing spree.

We have tons of leftover bamboo and tile from projects that Lynn and I did around the house. Since we're going to be selling our home, we felt we should use as much of what we have before we go. Lynn and I don't have the time or energy to finish these projects ourselves.

We're hoping that all the upgrades and work that we've done to our home sets our house apart and gets us a quick sell and the more money.

P.S. I posted most of my Colorado Avalanche game pictures to my flickr account.