Need to get away?

It's been 17 months since we moved into our new house, and I've yet to locate my trusty corded drill. Our almost-new cordless drill died shortly after it was used to install our new microwave oven/hood, and I found out that replacement batteries and chargers cost nearly enough to justify buying myself a brand new drill. So, for the past couple of weeks, I've been scanning the sales flyers and comparison shopping at Home Depot, Sear's, etc hoping to find a good deal. Meanwhile, 17 months worth of projects are piled up around the house just waiting for a drill to magically fall out of the sky and into my hands.

Yesterday, I had to run to Wally World to pick up some yogurt, a loaf of bread, and some bath soap. While I was scampering across literally the entire building to get from the grocery section to the toiletries and back home within 20 minutes, I ran right past the hardware section and thought "why not?"

I skidded to a stop and ended up buying a Black & Decker 18v cordless drill that came with a storage case, 2 battery packs, and a set of drill bits for about $70.
Actually, it wasn't my 1st choice, but they'd run out of the corded model I would've preferred.

This morning, I decided to check reviews of my new drill before I cut open the package, and one of the sites I came across was an online offer from Black & Decker for a free Companion Airline Ticket voucher for purchasing this very drill at this very time. I found this offer very interesting indeed especially in light of the fact that it isn't mentioned anywhere on the drill's packaging. On top of that, the dril was given good reviews by other users so score one for me!

If you're in the market for a drill or some other power tool, check out B&D's offer site first to see if you, too, may qualify for a free airline ticket voucher. Sure, I could probably find this drill cheaper on eBay, but even paying full price from Wally World, I would still end up with at least a $50 savings on the airline ticket (which everyone knows I WILL use sooner rather than later). Happy Hunting!

First Cut is NOT the deepest

Pumpkin had a little spill over the weekend. With his daddy. It was ugly too. A Daytona-like spill with the requisite rollover and everything. Daddy-o and I rushed Pumpkin inside to clean him up and realized that the injuries weren't nearly as bad as the fall had looked. On a cheerier note, Pumpkin's now reached a new milestone. This is his first time wearing "band-aids."
Fortunately, I happened to have some Cars bandages at the ready, and Pumpkin agreed to let me put them on him if I'd use one too. I got Sally on my thumb, and Pumpkin got Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen, and with that, he was a happy camper again.

Meanwhile, Daddy-o's driving permit has been temporarily suspended. >(

Just call me Cap'n Crunch

We've been scrambling to get our taxes done in time this year (for a change), but we've run into a few difficulties dealing with some business property transactions that took place last year. What a bummer. We use TaxCut so I even tried logging on to H&R Block to ask for "live help" but the dratted thing erased everything I'd input so I just gave up.

Fortunately, a good friend of mine referred me to Kim, the H&R Block consultant, who'd worked on her taxes. Even better, Kim the Tax Lady was able to squeeze me in for an appointment on the same day I called! Kim not only answered all of my questions for free, she even gave me her number in case I encountered more problems after I got back home and resumed work on my taxes. Now THAT's good service.
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Well, taxes were due at midnight today (technically, yesterday since it's well past midnight now). By 11:35pm, I had finally muddled through to the point where I felt confident enough with what I'd done to even suggest to QT that we file an extension. By my reckoning, WE WEREN'T GOING TO OWE ANY MONEY! That's right. ZIP. ZILCH. ZERO. I can hardly believe it. I'm totally stunned not to mention completely exhilarated at the prospect of keeping my house and home. Oh boy! This calls for a celebration! I think I'll have some celery. ;)

Itchy and Scratchy!

That's me after having gone into the attic to try and find this elusive pipe thing that's supposed to connect straight from the attic to the basement to make it easier to wire the house for sound, cable, etc. Dang insulation is the blow-in kind so it was impossible to tell what or where everything was. I was thinking of calling the builder's office to ask them where I would find this fabled pipe, but in going through my paperwork to figure out what the heck it's called, I can't find record of it existing at all in our house! It seems the "Design Center" detail sheet is missing from all of our paperwork!! . Coincidence? I think not!

Anyway, I'm done with that. I'm just going back to my original plan of drilling a hole from one room to another in order to run the cable extension that I want. Bah!

My Son the Jr. Super-Genius

The other night, Pumpkin and I were driving home from the store, and he says, "I can't see moon, Mommy." He enjoys looking up at the moon and stars, and he always points them out to us. Well, I made some mumbling noises in response to his statement, and then he says, "Sky cloudy. Can't see moon." Whoa, kid! Where'd you learn that? For starters, even I couldn't tell that the sky was cloudy until I got out of the car to check! Next, he's gonna be telling me what type of clouds are in the sky "Those cumulus clouds, Mommy." hehehe

The next morning, I'm changing him getting ready to head out for our daily whatever, and he starts showing me his toy cars ("That Bastian's car.") I think it's so cute the way he says his name so I ask him what my name is. I tell him I'm Mommy, but he says, "You Cristina" (Actually, it sounds more like "You Kwitina" but still, whoa! My eyeballs nearly popped out of my head when I heard that. Seriously, this is getting painful.)

Hardly anyone calls me Cristina, but I suppose he's heard my CO friends call me that. I'm dumbfounded, not only that he's apparently paying attention, but also that he remembers what he hears. I guess it really is time to start watching what I say...for the reals this time!

Pumpkin sings Wiggles. Ahoy!

Here's another video for the kids to enjoy! He's singing "Go, Captain, go! Go, Captain, go! Go, Captain Feathersword, ahoy!"

I will try and record a better copy where you can hear the music more clearly....and maybe where I don't accidentally almost cut Pumpkin's head out of the shot, hehe.

I did it!

I still haven't finished transferring all the pictures I took while in Texas, but I suppose it's time to move along anyway so here's what's new.

For his birthday, I gave QT a new XM radio that's also an MP3 player, and as usual, he wasn't too enthused about his gift. He put it away and supposedly did not think about it again until Pumpkin & I returned from Texas a couple of weeks later. When I got back from Texas, I asked QT when he was going to have his new radio installed, and he said something like, possibly maybe someday soon he might take his truck to Best Buy to get it done...maybe (hehe, I've taken a bit of artistic license here). I even offered to meet him at Best Buy after work the next day so that he could drop off his truck, and nothing.

The following weekend, I decided that if he wasn't going to get it done, I may as well give it a shot myself. I mean, I've sat alongside my brother and watched him install plenty of radios over the years. I figured it couldn't possibly be that difficult, and besides, I once installed my own radio antenna! ;)

So, I started messing around in QT's truck and somehow managed to remove the previous radio without damaging anything or cutting any wires. From there, it was easy enough to figure out how to install the new radio, and Presto Chango! I did it! (that's one of Pumpkin's favorite phrases, btw)

Here's a pic of my handiwork:
I'm so proud of myself! I think QT was too b/c he immediately set out learning how to use it and has already recorded dozens of songs on it. When he got home from work the following day, it was easy to see that he was truly happy with his new radio. And, when he told me that he LOVED his gift, I even believed him. :)

The Wiggles

I'm so far behind the times that I think I must be going in reverse! We'll start with a quick catch-up. The weekend after we returned from California, Pumpkin and I went to our 1st Wiggles concert with our Colorado buds The Oz and the the Guamian Knuckle and their girls Weevy, Coey, and Ne-ne (that's how Pumpkin pronounces their names). After his precious cousin Liss, these girls are some of Pumpkin's best buds, and well, Knuckle and Oz are 2 of mine I suppose (don't sound too excited now, Pine! hehe). Here's a pic of the dudes and a couple of Pumpkin enjoying the show.



The day after the Wiggles concert, we threw another impromptu birthday party...for QT this time in celebration of his 38th birthday (I think it's 38 anyway). We had to keep it simple since I was supposed to be preparing for our upcoming trip to Texas so no big surprise or big fandango, just a couple of friends over for some very undercooked burgers and a little Scene It. :)

The following week would've been good except for the latest zinger received from the University of Houston GSSW. As usual, they bear nothing but bad news (and apparently ill will) for me, but I'll save that rant for another day.

Where'd all the March go?

Pumpkin and I are in Texas now. We arrived 7 days ago, hit the ground running, and have been on the go since then. It's Spring Break here, you see, and Pumpkin hadn't seen his "cousins" since Christmas so there's a lot of catching up to do. We've already been to a dance recital, played at the pizza place, watched a lawn hockey "game," jumped on the trampoline by moonlight, had a picnic at the park, been to the Children's Museum, had lunch at Salsa's a gazillion times, and danced/sang/watched/listened to The Wiggles another bazillion times (per day).



Bedtime for Pumpkin is now closer to midnight than 9pm, and every nap is a huge struggle, though ultimately, he tends to just pass out after a couple of minutes of crying and fussing about not wanting to go "nite-nite" so it's not too bad except that after he's asleep, I still have to locate all Pumpkin's bottles and cups and make sure nothing stayed out in the car w/milk in it (ugh!). I also have to shower and make sure we have clean clothes for the next day, and of course, I have to charge my camera and my phone, download the pictures from the camera to leave it ready for our next big adventure, and then I still have to find time to read a few pages from my current novel!! I swear, a woman's work is never done!! ;)

Frankly, I'm wiped. Case in point: earlier tonight, when it was still Friday, we were supposed to go watch Pumpkin's godfather's mariachi band play (Shown: Godfather & Pumpkin c.12/2005).
We didn't go b/c I was just too tired. Fortunately (or unfortunately, however you see it), Godmother, who's super-preggers right now, was also too tired so we both settled for staying home instead. The older kids had all gone to a hockey game, the Aunts & Uncles were all out spending money, Grandma and Grandpoo were out drinkin' and carousing, and Pumpkin & I were home alone for the first time since our arrival. I ran out and picked up some tortas (aka: heart attack on a bun), and I even briefly entertained the notion of putting Pumpkin to bed early for a change. NOT! The gang showed up before I'd even finished chewing my torte, haha. Here are a few pictures from the past few days. In the picture of the tiny dancers, Cass is 2nd from left and Lis is at far right. Then, there's Van, Ron, Grandpoo, Grandma, the group in the trolley and in the back of Mom's Navigator (with me driving), and the last is of Pumpkin and I ostensibly getting ready for bed but really just goofing off and having a blast!

Back Home (Snowing Again)

Well, as it turned out, we didn't fare much better for the final portion of our San Diego trip than we did at the onset. I came down with the same stomach virus that felled Pumpkin and spent our last full day in San Diego lying around Joe and Ranny's house like a limp rag. Unfortunately, that meant missing out on Legoland, but at least we got to spend a lovely afternoon at Balboa Park before I got sick. Here are some of my favorite snapshots of Pumpkin from our last couple days in SD:

The 1st one was taken while we were strolling around the grounds at Paradise Point. I think he looks like a little schoolboy (so cute!). The other 2 were taken in Joe and Ranny's lush backyard while "Mommy" (me) was sick in bed. Incidentally, the guys' landscaping is absolutely stupendous, but I won't post those pics here. You'll find those and the rest of our vacation pics where I post all our pics, on the Rocky Baby Picture Show. Not now, of course, as I'm still a bit behind on that site, haha,...but eventually! I promise. Anyway, the last picture is of Pumpkin and I riding the open-air trolley at Balboa Park mere hours before I got sick.

As nice as it was visiting with Joe and Ranny, I was very glad to return to Colorado, where I could at least be sick in my own home. I gotta say, though, I LOVED the ease with which I was able to reach the bath sink to puke my guts out. Great design-planning, Guys! I'll be sure to remember that when it's time to remodel over here. ;)

Well, I'm happy to report that, though this illness lingered for a bit, both Pumpkin and I have been completely restored for over a week now. Yay! BTW, it snowed again in Colorado a few days after we returned from California. Bah! Enough of the lies!

Potty Dance

While I find the time to get on here and wrap up our trip to San Diego, here's a video clip of Pumpkin dancing to his potty chair song. Sorry, but it's sideways so you'll have to tilt your head again for this one. You won't regret it though. Check out his moves!



Here's another random thought:
My regular car is a Chrysler Pacifica mommy-mobile. When the weather's nice; however, Pumpkin and I like to tool around in my Mazda Miata 10AM. Apparently, this has convinced Pumpkin that I am a cool mommy, who only drives cool cars, because he has since labeled every single snazzy and/or convertible toy car he owns as "Mommy car." (By contrast, "Daddy" has only been given 2 toy p/u trucks and one's kind of ratty, hehe.) Wanting to preserve this in my memory forever, I recently gathered up all the "Mommy cars" I could find and took a picture of them. Ta-da!

It Never Rains in Southern California?

Our flight was scheduled to depart from Denver on Sunday, February 18th. That morning, I woke up at 4am to find Pumpkin standing next to me. He'd been doing very well sleeping alone in his own room up to this point, and apart from the 1st two nights, hadn't woken either of us up again. Well, I was dead tired still so I just picked him up and put him in bed with us, and we all fell back asleep. Two hours later, he bolted upright and threw up. The rest of the day proceeded in much the same fashion.

My poor little Pumpkin threw up on the way to the Denver airport and then again as we were approaching the airport in San Diego. Fortunately, we were going to be staying with my friend Joe for one night before heading to the resort so we were able to do a load of laundry at his house and also wash our car seat stroller since Pumpkin had already just about gone through all the clothes we'd brought for him, and we were gonna need that car seat back in play asap.

We all woke up Monday to a raging storm outside. It was raining cats and dogs, even by Houston standards. Who ever said it never rained here? Well, Pumpkin was finally able to hold down a few spoonfuls of tortilla soup for lunch on Monday so we fed him a few bites of mac-n-cheese for dinner. He didn't throw up any of his food so the next day, I gave him some soy milk and bananas for breakfast and then his favorite, rice and beans, for lunch. He still seemed ok so we walked down to the little beach at the resort to get some air. I also wanted to stay close to our room in case he was going to be sick again. It felt really good to sit out in the sunshine after being cooped up indoors for what had felt like forever back in Denver. Pumpkin and I both enjoyed ourselves immensely.


(left) Bye-bye birdies! (center) Bye-bye sand castle! (right)

On Wednesday, Joe took us to the zoo. We went on a bus tour, from which we were able to see elephants, zebras, rhinos, and many more of Pumpkin's favorite animals. Afterwards, we picked QT up and went to the harbor for lunch then we hightailed it back to the zoo for one hour before it closed.



That's me and Pumpkin on the bus, QT in front of the harbor, and QT, Pumpkin, & Joe at the zoo. And, below, is a short video of a panda bear eating bamboo.

Drat this weather and other random thoughts

I woke up this morning with thoughts of hanging out at a park, perhaps reading a book, while Pumpkin ran around happily playing with a ball or chasing birds or whatever it is toddlers like to chase. I quickly scrapped those plans once I turned on the weather channel and realized it was only 19 degrees F outside. Naturally, I realized it really was just a dream cuz when I looked out the window, I saw that there was still plenty of snow on the ground, and it's piled up even higher in those areas where few feet have trod. The sun did come out eventually and warm things up to a more acceptable 30-something, but it was approaching naptime by then so here we are at home. Bah humbug.

I find myself really missing Clear Lake this morning. I imagine driving down Bay Area Boulevard on a beautiful sunny day in my Miata (cuz the heat is not yet oppressive there at this time of year). I can almost even see the shops lining the road and wish I could stop in at Freebird's for a yummy burrito and some queso with "wac." (wac=guacamole, btw, for those of you who aren't in-the-know). Thinking of Kerbey queso, in turn, raises memories of the Kerbey Lane Cafe in Austin. Now, THERE'S a blast from the past! I've many a fond memory of the Kerbey Lane Cafe, many of them involving being drunk and having a snack in the middle of the night. (I'm talking about food, folks!) I wonder if the cafe still exists?

Speaking of nonexistent locales, I recently found out that our old college pizza hangout has been bought out by an evil developer from Houston who's planning to raze the block to build a Starbucks and other such places (figures!). That is such a total bummer! I was so happy this past summer when I found out that they'd finally reopened, and just like a figment of my imagination, they've vanished once again. Well, farewell, Flying Tomato. I hope your owners reopen somewhere else cuz it'd be a shame to let an institution like that disappear forever.

Moving on....I am happy to report that Pumpkin's slept alone in his own room in his own bed for the past 2 nights. Mind you, he didn't exactly sleep through the night having apparently woken QT up around 3am on both nights, but he also didn't ask to join us in our bed, which rates a big 'ole Yee-Haw in my book. Strangely enough, it doesn't exactly make me feel better to know that I've somehow managed to sleep through both nights without hearing him. At all. (permit me a pause while I allow a million and one possible scary scenarios of all-the-things-that-could-go-wrong-should-my-mother-sense-continue-to-fail-me-in-the-middle-of-the-night go through my mind.) So what's up with that?! Why can't I, the person who used to be able to hear him sigh from across the room even while I was in the middle of a sexy REM dream, hear him cry over the monitor or {gasp} notice him walking into our room and standing beside our bed?

Though I was shocked at first, upon 2nd blush, I'm feeling fairly tickled about it. Since we moved here and had to bring Pumpkin into our room to calm him, I don't think I've often had an undisturbed night of sleep. That is not to say that I haven't had any undisturbed nights. I slept deeply and happily when I spent my birthday weekend alone at a local resort (compliments of my darling hubby) and again during the 3-4 weeks that I slept in Pumpkin's room while recuperating from my back injury. So maybe I'm looking at this all wrong...and perhaps I'll just savor these few nights cuz they're sure not to last.

Deep Thoughts

Perhaps I really am just delirious from the accumulation of nights spent half-awake watching over my baby while he recovers from croup (silly name, that illness). In any event, I have a very honest confession to make. Since I consider blogging akin to writing in a diary (albeit one that is potentially readily available to the rest of the world), I will post my deepest thoughts here.

Lately, I've been feeling a bit nonexistent. ?? I'll offer a bit of background that may help explain. I've been re-reading A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, and I've just gotten past the part where Offred is recalling the day the government froze her assets and took away her right to work and to own property. As she lay in bed that night with her husband, she got the notion that he was happy that she was now completely his. 'Patronizing' was the word she used.

Well, I've felt this way before, but I think reading this tale is bringing my old fears back up. (Fears??) I'm afraid that I'm losing myself here in our newfound suburban domesticity. Don't get me wrong. Most days, I'm happy and I enjoy my life and my family. Hell, I even enjoy my cats! Somedays, however, I can't help feeling like I'm losing something invaluable that I can't quite remember and wouldn't be able to regain even if I did remember. I think I might be talking about my sense of self. Right now, I am somebody's mother and somebody's wife, but take away those 2 parts, and I have no idea who I am.

Alright, yeah, my vote's with delirious. G'nite!

Finally Finished!

Well, it took me 2 days, but I finally finished stuffing & addressing all those envelopes. To those of you who asked, I HAVE NOT yet even begun licking the envelopes, hehe, but I am prepared with a big mug of ice water so let the retching begin! (yech) After all is said and done, this entire exercise is probably going to end up costing me double what I paid for the damned prints. Thankfully, I'm really bad about sending pictures so this probably won't happen again anytime soon. ;)

Okay, so we are now in Day 5 of Operation House Arrest. Pumpkin didn't wake up coughing at all last night so I think he must be getting over the croup if not the cold, but dang it if it didn't snow again overnight! Just when I thought I was out....I get stuck back in!

Fortunately, the snow appears to have stopped so I don't think wild horses could stop me now...or maybe they could. Yeah, they probably could. I mean, who wants to get trampled by wild horses? Well, horses aside, I don't know if we'll make it out of the house today anyway. To start with, I think I only got about 4 hours sleep last night so I'm half-cocked already. Plus, I'm expecting the A/C repair guy this morning to make some adjustments to our laundry room (I'll explain later) and some furniture delivery guys to come by this afternoon to swap out some faulty furniture. This is kind of funny actually. We bought a living room set and a big 'ole floor lamp from Jake Jabs and a dining room table from Furniture Row. As fate would have it, both the floor lamp and the table are broken and need to be replaced. Well, both places called yesterday to let me know that they'd be here between 3-5pm today. I'm kind of jazzed. Maybe I'll get to see a rumble between the two furniture stores a la Ron Burgundy! Wouldn't that be fun? Then, I wouldn't feel so bad about staying in yet again. Tomorrow, for sure, we're heading out even if it's just to the post office!

Pumpkin's 2y/o Pics

Since I was sidelined by a back injury for most of January, I was behind in getting Pumpkin's 2nd year portraits made. (yeah, let's just go ahead and blame the back injury, shall we? ;). As soon as I was able to walk again, I took him to a new place here called Portrait Innovations. Pretty cool deal: $9.99 for a buttload of pics. 'Course, they got me with the other poses so I ended up spending ten times as much as that, but even so, I felt the place was affordable considering I now have more copies of these pics than I can shake a stick at PLUS a photo CD (cool!). Here's a sample of some of the rejects:

In the first pose, Pumpkin's saying "bear" in ASL (the photographer was holding a teddy bear). In the next, he's hugging a cat. I'm not a big fan of the "numbered blocks" they use in kids' birthday portraits, and apparently, neither is Pumpkin cuz he kept refusing to sit on the #2 block they provided. He even tried to move the block off the "stage" as you can see in this 3rd pose, hehe. I don't remember why the 4th pose was rejected-he's got an awfully cute grin (or maybe he was singing ??).

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I've had the pics for over a week now. If I'm not careful, they'll end up where all of Pumpkin's other portraits have ended up. That is, sitting in a giant envelope filed away somewhere in our office for time everlasting. Today being Sunday and not much going on, I finally decided to sit down and start addressing some envelopes and get these pics out before next Christmas.

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QT and Pumpkin retreated upstairs over an hour ago for a little afternoon nap, and I've been at this since way before that. My hands are cramped from cutting photo sheets and from writing Pumpkin's info on the backs of all the pics. There is some good news though! Going through my address book today, I've rediscovered more than one long-lost email address (and have even taken a few moments to send some quick emails in the hopes that the addresses aren't so old that the host sites don't even exist anymore). After doing that, I also decided to take another few minutes to document this momentous occasion in my blog. :)

Well, breaktime's over, and it's back to the grindstone for me.

My Reading List

I was just adding a new title to my reading list here, and I'm suddenly feeling a need to explain my reading selections so that people (aka: my feminist and/or childless buddies) don't get the idea that I've sold out to Da Man! (j.k.) While it's true that I've apparently become the thing I never thought I would, which is {gasp} a stay at home mom, I swear that I have not sold out. I'm nowhere near being a docile little housewife who spends her days cooking, cleaning, running the kid around town, and waiting for the hubby to come home. Well, okay, my days do sort of go like that, but not nearly on as Stepford a scale as you might think if you'd glanced at my reading list and found yourself wondering if I've become obsessed with all things mommy and wifey. Take cooking, for example. The frequency with which I do any actual cooking here runs akin to that of Halley's Comet's rotations around the Earth. The cooking I'm more apt to do is prepare mac-n-cheese from a box or throw a frozen entree in the microwave oven. As for cleaning, well, QT would probably tell you that I do absolutely none of that EVER, and he'd be mostly correct so, you see, I'm still the same non-comfortmist (and sloppy) me....only now I've got a new appendage in the shape of a little boy. ;)

Some friends and I recently started a book club, and our read this month was Naughty Mommy by Heidi Raykeil. We set the date a month in advance so I thought I'd warm up for the book club book by first re-reading a couple other books about being a mom and/or housewife (specifically: Mad Housewife and I Don't Know How She Does It). Both of my warm-up books are great reads, btw. I've read them both several times already and highly recommend them.

I actually first read Mad Housewife long before I had Pumpkin, and I've been (sort of) looking for it on DVD ever since. Heck I'll even take VHS, but it seems none of the big name movie rental places carry that movie. Back in Houston, I would've known exactly where to look for that movie, but being new here and not even living in Denver per se, I wouldn't know where to begin to look to find the sort of local movie house that would even carry a movie like this. Now, you're probably thinking, "shit, if her biggest concern these days is finding an old movie about housewives, she's so totally NOT the same Pine I used to know." I assure you that I am....at least I think I am. Know what, I'll have to get back to you on that. Uh, Pumpkin and I've got a playdate to attend. hehehe

Bad Mom

Oh, fuck! I think I'm teaching Pumpkin to say "fuck" because I keep saying, "oh, fuck!" It's so cute when he says it though that I just have to laugh, but it may be a tad embarassing for me if he ever says it in public. I may get some nasty looks, but only experience will tell if it'll actually bother me or not.

As soon as I knew I was gonna be a mom, I knew I didn't want to be one of those moms with hang-ups. Society will do plenty of that for me, thankyou. Besides, I don't really see what's so bad about saying shit, damn, or fuck anyway. You don't mean them literally when you use them as interjections right? Fuck, I'm a bad mom, aren't I? Damn. Poor Pumpkin, haha. Oh well.

I'd love to stay and pontificate, but I feel a need to be active today. We've been homebound for so long due to my bout with sciatica that I feel like I'm stagnating. Probably Pumpkin too so we're off to find something to do.

Bully for craigslist!

So, yesterday, QT offered to watch Pumpkin during the big game so that I could go out and enjoy myself. I ended up furniture shopping b/c QT had said he wanted new furniture, and it's just impossible to do that with Pumpkin in tow. I ended up finding something I liked so as soon as I got home last night, I started posting all our old furniture on craigslist.

Man, what an experience! I received a gazillion bazillion emails and my phone was ringing all day long with people wanting to buy my bedroom set (which is what we're selling). A bidding war erupted in the late morning, but it died away.

Nevertheless, I'm happy to report that I sold my furniture! It's already gone. Good for you, craigslist! I'm definitely using that service again.

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I just got back from the grocery store, and man am I bushwhacked. Pumpkin kept me up until 4:30am last night so I ended up with less than 4 hours of sleep. I was planning on napping with him this afternoon, but this crazy craigslist thing kept me pretty tied up until the evening.

Well, I'm off. Gotta get ready for my playdate tomorrow, finish reading my book club book by Thursday, and get some shut-eye somewhere along the way.

Family Visit

So, anyway, back to Christmas. We returned from Texas on December 25th. Accompanying us on the trip were my mom, my sister Chela, her hubby Coach, and their kids Ron and Liss. Needless to say, Pumpkin was thrilled to have them here for a whole week.

Even though I'd seen pictures of the snow, I still wasn't prepared for the road conditions in our neighborhood when we finally drove up. It felt like we were off-roading...in the colonias! It totally blew my mind, but in a cool way.

Since the state was still recovering from the blizzard, we weren't able to drive up to Breckenridge or Estes Park or pretty much anywhere outside a 20 mile radius from home, but there was more than enough snow outside our front door to keep us entertained.










That's Ron sledding in our cul-de-sac, Lis & Pumpkin on Mt.Driveway, and Chela & Ron with their MiniMan.



QT and Coach did a good job of clearing off our driveway so that we could get my car out of the garage and take in some sights (nearby of course).

Since his cousins were going to be in town on Pumpkin's actual birth date, we threw him a little impromptu birthday party. My assistants Ron and Liss helped prepare the cake, the goodie bags, and the party grub. Despite the snow, a couple of our friends managed the trek to our house to party with us, and they are so sweet that they even braved the weather to buy him gifts before coming over. Here's Pumpkin with one of his lovely gifts - a fire truck (almost life-size, hehe).

I enjoyed having my family around, and I was saddened to see them go. My heart positively broke when Pumpkin woke up from his nap after they'd gone and ran to the guest room looking for his cousins. Being a kid, he's quite resilient and recovered quickly, but he hasn't forgotten and continues to ask for them on a daily basis. Here's a typical exchange:
Q: Adda?
A: She's at school, baby.
Q: Gamma?
A: She's at work, baby.
Q: I yov you Gamma.
A: She loves you too, baby.
Ugh...my heart is still breaking.

It's snowing.

Again.

It snowed all day yesterday, and though I'm barely coming off a two-week stint of being unable to walk due to sciatica, I went out there last night to shovel the new layer of snow off the driveway before it had a chance to melt and become an ice-capades stage.

Everyone keeps telling me that this isn't normal Denver weather, but I'm starting to think that I've been punk'd. There are huge piles of snow everywhere, and it's been this way since Christmas. The sun only comes out long enough to melt the top layer of snow, but the permafrost is still there. Here are some pictures I took last week.

THESE WERE TAKEN AFTER IT SNOWED.

THIS WAS TAKEN AFTER THE SHOVELING.