Thursday, January 31, 2013

What we do for fun

on a cold week night evening.

Caden was quite irritated that Chyann could do it and he couldn't... So he had to try again... (yes i was splattered with egg - hence the squeal) (yes I got slopped again)
 Eggs are nasty - yuck.
I kind of have an egg phobia, that goes right with my chicken phobia.



Until next time :)

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The wine


As you know I like booze. 
Beer or wine, whatever and I'm not fussy - box wine, cheep beer.

My gal Sherri and I went to a wine tasting a few weeks ago. 
A local gal opened up a coffee shop that also has a consignment area.

We sampled some fantastic wines and beer that were all locally brewed/grown in our area.
They had some delicious cheese, crackers and assorted snacks to go with the wine too

We had the best time.
Met some fun folks.

I ended up buying some wine.
Just one bottle mind you, cuz it was 15 bucks!
I've never spent that much on one bottle of wine.
(im cheap, what can I say)

BUT 
Oh LORDY LORDY is it the absolute BEST wine I've ever had!

It's Magenta by River Bend Vineyard & Winery.

Magenta.
By the end of the evening I couldn't say that word at all, kept saying Magneta and cracking up lol

Me, drinking a fantastic glass of Magenta.
Definitely going to have to get some more of it and attend the next wine tasting!





Monday, January 28, 2013

Last week and then some in review...



Yeah, I know it's been a while.

Last week was crazy cold!
Back porch thermometer read -20* on the worst day.
Glad the Hubby was home on vacation to keep the fire stoked up for me (and run the kids up to the bus stop), otherwise I'd have been booking up and down two flights of stairs all day to keep'er going - not that the exercise would have been a bad thing, but work probably would not have appreciated it much.

With the cold temps we had some amazing sun rises.

This picture just doesn't capture how brilliant the sky was and how the trees looked to be on fire.
(yes i am gonna scoop that poop soon - was just too freaking cold out)



A little more brilliant sky, then my camera quit.
Don't know if it froze up or what, but it worked fine that afternoon when I was checking it out.

Do you see the bird in the top of that tree behind Scotch?

Colton left home for the second semester of college on Saturday AM.
I think he must have learned a thing or two because the car was packed with stuff he took back with him.
From food to bedding and everything in between.

He does have a meal plan at the school - two meals any time of the day, lots of selection and however much you want - but he says the food sometimes gives him a gut ache.
He'd rather eat ramen and soup in his room.
No room mate this semester either - his went to Spain for a class or something.

And for the the other kids - two quarters down - two more to go.

Shit summer is almost here.
Speaking of summer, can you tell the difference in daylight where you live?
I sure can here.
Staying light longer in the evening now - full dark by about 530p and light enough for me to see the kids walking up to the bus stop by 720a. 

~~

Saw Krissy for the first time in I don't know how long recently.
She taught Caden some new knots for making friendship bracelets. 
(he has a wrist full of them now and so do all his friends)

~~

3 year anniversary of quitting SMOKING on the 21st!
YAY!!

Best thing I ever did just for me.

~~

Last big push for OT at work these next two weeks.
Forgot what it's like to just work 40 hours a week.

~~

 It warmed up today too - it's about 33* out.
Feels like a heat wave compared to how cold it was
and we've got another freeze coming by Thursday.

Time to make dinner.

Have a good evening, stay warm :)







Sunday, January 20, 2013

Coffee anyone?

Morning folks.

It's all quiet at my house. 
I like getting up before everyone else.
 shhhh, it's peaceful - quiet

 I am sitting here on my sore bum drinking coffee and getting caught up on my favorite blogs. 

Managed to catch the cold my children have been passing around since Colton came home from school in December. 

My poor nose is red and so chapped that I've had to lube it up with neosporin.
 This week has been filled with multiple boxes of kleenex, sudafed and advil. 
With as much as I've blown, you'd have thought I would have ran out of snot a while ago.

We had a brief warm up earlier in the week that melted even more of our snow.
Then a monster wind storm that came in with a cold front last night.
 Sustained winds were 40k with gusts 50+, really shaking and rattling the house. 

Today it's sure cold out and it's only going to get worse - the high temp tomorrow is going to be a balmy -5 and windy  BURRRR.


Hard to believe January is more than half way done.
I got a seed catalog in the mail this week.
It has me dreaming about planting my garden this summer.
Can't wait for that first tomato. 
sigh...

Funny story for the week. 
Chyann had two girls spend the night on Friday to celebrate her birthday.
She wanted to go to the movies, but didn't want me to take them (guess I would have cramped their style) so she talked Colton and his girlfriend into hauling them to town and seeing the movie with them.
Guess they didn't realize that to see an R rated movie - some haunted house spoof, that you'd need YOUR MOTHER to get you in.
They got there and got turned away LOL
HA! 
See now it wouldn't have been so bad for your Mother to have taken you after all.
Lesson learned I think.

Colton's car broke down in town earlier in the week.
He called me in a panic because there was smoke pouring out from under the hood.
I told him to call his Dad - he already had tried and couldn't get ahold of him.
My sage advise was to get the fire extinguisher out and open the hood. 
See what is going on. 
He did and thankfully there was no fire but lots of thick black smoke.
Daddy-O finally arrived and they towed it off the side of the road to a store parking lot for a closer look at what was going on. 
Apparently the transmission line failed and spewed fluid all over the hot engine - causing all that black smoke.
Easy fix for the Hubby ~ YAY!
Sure scared Colton though. 
He was worried the engine had taken a shit.
His car is getting old and tired - high miles.
Fingers crossed it holds out till summer. 


I'm actually going to have two days off this week.
Course I had to work 12 hours yesterday so I could have Sun and Mon off, but was worth it.

I feel like baking.
I feel like starting the tax info round up.
I feel like cleaning out the junk drawer.
I feel like watching some football.
hmmm.
I'm feeling a nap coming on.

Happy Sunday to ya :)








Sunday, January 13, 2013

What's been going on? and The Fabulous 15!

 Long time no post.
Same ol' same old.
Lots of OT at work and not having the will to park my ass back on the computer to blog.
Not sure how much longer I'll have to work all the OT, but I'm thinking it'll last at least another month.
Which as you know, is both good and bad.
Good for the money, but I'm getting burned out and irritable (or so "they" say- whoever "they" are).


Anywho.

Last Saturday Chyann and I did go out for a wonderful ride.
It was about 27* with a light wind.


My favorite tree. 
Sure looks different with no leaves.


We were surprised how great the horses did, having not been out that far in a while.
The loop we rode took about 2.5 hrs to complete.
I got some fancy-dancy new long johns for xmas that I tried out for the first time and they sure kept me warm.
Only thing cold when we got home was my poor toes. 


Was a bit difficult monkeying  around with taking my gloves off to use the camera, but managed a few pictures of us. 


We mostly broke our own trail in the snow, but did come across a well packed snow machine trail and followed it for a while. 


We saw a hawk and ptarmigan, but no other wildlife. 
See the deer tracks? They were everywhere. 


My lovely daughter when we got home totally conked out.

Today is her 15th Birthday.
The fabulous 15.
She has sure grown up to be a fascinating young lady.

Happy Birthday Chyann!
You are definitely FABULOUS!
xoxo


Football playoff time.
Bummer for the Packers. They sure tanked last nights game.
And the Broncos? The Ravens really got lucky there. 
Looking forward to today's games.

Have a great Sunday!






Saturday, January 5, 2013

2013 and a brief look back on 2012

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a safe and fun New Years eve.

We laid low and watched two classic Chevy Chase films with the kids - Nothing but trouble and Funny Farm.  
The kids did some fireworks and we were in bed by 1230a.
I was back up and working by 6a. 


Managed to get a corneal abrasion from a hay flake while feeding the animals last week too. 
Freaking hay is dangerous stuff I tell ya. 
My eye hurt like you wouldn't believe!

 Between  the sore eye and OT, I haven't gotten much accomplished this last week that didn't absolutely have to happen and that includes taking down the Christmas decorations and tree - they've got to come down today (or tomorrow at the latest)!

SO....

It is Saturday and I am NOT working today! 
The eye is better, temperatures are going to be in the high 20's - I'm feeling like it's a good day for a snow ride!

BUT first - 

Do you make a yearly resolution?

I don't, but I definitely have a few things on my mental list that I plan to get done/do.

Top of the list is to replace my bathroom floor.
The bathroom currently has those 12" square self adhesive vinyl tiles on it.
 They've been here since we moved in 10.5 years ago. 
With the normal wear and tear, not to mention being above the furnace and it being the hottest room in the house - the corners on a lot of them are chipping and chunking off.
Looks like shit.
I'm thinking those snap-tiles will look fantastic and be relatively easy for an amateur tile layer (me) to put in. 

Get some painting done.

Plant a lot of trees.
Come spring I'm going to dig up a bunch of two to four foot trees Chyann and I spied during our horse rides and plant them around the place.
Can't ever have enough trees.

Sounds like a pretty manageable list.
Anything else is gravy. 


2012 was a wonderful year for our family.

We've all been healthy!
(with the exception of the occasional minor illness - oh and that corneal abrasion I just had lol)

Can you believe we actually managed to go a whole 365+ days without a surgery?
Although we did have a close call with Chyann and her toxic cat scratch.


A lot of changes too with Colton going off to college - a new family balance had to be found.

Caden had been lost without Colton and had a hard time understanding why when he was home, Colton diddn't have a lot of time for him. sigh.... 
The Hubby has really stepped up and helped him through this transition. 
They are always working on a project of some kind - out in the garage, around the house - whatever.
It's nice to see them really having fun together - not that they didn't before, but now it's more somehow.

Colton in turn, has matured and shown us glimpses of what an incredible man he will continue to morph into -  with some of the dumb ass kid crap thrown in for good measure. 
His dedication to getting an education and good grades makes us very proud.
I know it had to be incredibly hard for him, the original homebody if there ever was one, to go off to school and be plunged into a whole new way of life.

Chyann continues to thrive and defy all expectations.
She holds herself to such high goals and settles for nothing less.
Her beauty, inside and out, is astounding.

These kids are the light of my life - they make me and the Hubby so proud.


Changes.
Life would be pretty boring without them.

Some changes I could do without though.
Like last night at walmart looking at glasses I just happened to really look at myself in the mirror. 
The bright lights definitely show how time is marching across my face and the gray hair!
HOLY SHIT
I might have to rethink my decision to be an au-natural gal and dye that crap - ugh.. 


Anywho..

Here is to a fantastic 2013!

Wishing you and yours Health and Happiness in abundance!