F-Word Friday: Fresh

Well we nearly managed it again!

Team Bastard came in 2nd last night (pulling up from 5th) so go us (and we still beat Team Super Mecha Whateverthehell)! We only lost by a point, and that was only because some weirdo in Team Can't Type It Here, This Is A Family Blog knew all the kids in the Family Circus comic.

I forgive him though, merely for the fact of his awesome victory pose.

Like this but with more clothes

Since we had the spoils of several prior victories burning holes in our collective pocket, the team splurged on a few beers, some hummus, and a big spinach and garlic pizza, which was SOOOO good. D-Note makes their own crust I believe, but at the very least it's not a pre-formed sort of thing. Their pizzas are very rustic, and this one was piled with - oh Dandy, you'd just love it - whole cloves of roasted garlic!

OMG YES.

This weekend is full of stuff to do, which is alternately nice and exasperating. Nice because I don't feel like I've wasted days of time, but exasperating because OMG WE HAVE SO MUCH.

Tomorrow morning is the first day of the farmers market season in town, so we'll be getting up to get some fresh veg. I don't know what's in season, but whatever it is I'm getting some! I've really developed a taste for fresh and not shipped-from-elsewhere food.

After that it's off to the grocery store for supplies to make chocolate covered strawberries or fruit tarts (or maybe both, we'll see what's on sale) for a gathering we're attending later - maypole dancing might be involved... unless it's raining, because I'm a big baby.

Then later in the evening, we'll be off to Melissa's for her Fabulous Bacon Party!

My friend Melissa is writing a book all about bacon, and part of it is sampling some of the many, many varieties to be had in the world. She got a whole bunch of samples and we'll be fryin' em' up and chowin' down.

That was a lot of unnecessary apostrophes. I apologize.

Anyway, it should be lots of fun - I'm even going to bring wine. What wine goes with bacon? Hm.

I predict in the end, my favorite will still be your regular old, run-of-the-mill bacon. The skinny, crispy stuff. What can I say? I'm boring.

Sunday should be a lot more relaxed. We'll sleep in I think, then Rollerpunks practice and dinner afterward in some capacity or other. The Kid has a science fair project that needs finishing, but all that needs doing is to print some stuff up. Lacking a printer, this means a trip to grampas (he's so nice). Assuming we remember her flash drive, we'll probably do this on the way home Sunday.

And of course, I have to get started on a birthday present for my mom; well, WE have to get started. The Kid & I are doing it together! It's a cool one I think. Maybe lame. It doesn't involve yarn of any kind, at any rate, which means there's a fair chance it will actually be done in time for her birthday!

By the way, you'll be happy to know she's already got herself a sweet new gig at an animal hospital, and is already running the place. She's like that.

Happy Friday!

Thrilling Thursday: Pay It Forward

I really like my dentist office.

No really!

I still don't particularly like going to the dentist, mostly because I fear pain like any normal human, but if I have to go...

I started taking The Kid there when we first moved out here, since that's where her grampa goes and he liked them. They won me over by being friendly and not at all mill-ish despite having several locations, and they always remember us despite only going in twice a year. It says a lot about the employers when a medical/dental office keeps the same staff for years and years.

I chose to go with a different dentist at the time, just because their hours worked better with my then work schedule, but in the end I found that every time I went there was different staff, and never a smile or feeling of "we are here to care for you" - which really, isn't that why we go to doctors and dentists? That kind of "we don't care if you come in or not" makes it hard to trust their expertise, so a year ago I switched over to The Kid's place, and happily so! They're very comprehensive and do things like testing your taste-buds to see if your diet needs attention, a litmus test to see how acidic your saliva is, and a blood pressure check before anything to see if you're nervous, and if you are, a little Rescue Remedy to help calm your nerves.

They also set out organic truffles and cheese, keep Vitamin Water stocked and cold, offer a treasure chest for the littler kids to grab something fun after thier visit, and have *awesome* posters for old spaghetti westerns on the walls. I appreciate the little things.

This brings us around to yesterday, when I went in to have my bi-annual cleaning and "why aren't you flossing more" chat.

I have a few fillings that have been needed for awhile, but haven't been able to afford to get them done - it's hard to shove a few hundred dollars into the budget all at once, and though I had tax refund money awhile back, it was fix the car or fix my molars. The car won.

After a cleaning, the dentist that's in the office that day always comes in to see what needs doing and to chat awhile. Yesterday it was Dr. Perry, who proved himself to be not only a pleasant dentist but also a model human.

I had been discussing my lack of ability to do a payment plan with the hygienist (they require up-front payment, and rightly so, I don't blame them at all), just figuring I'd do it when I could. When Dr. Perry came in, she asked him what he thought about putting one together anyway.

"Well," he said, "why don't we just make it easy. Don't worry about paying, just come in and get it done. You do something nice for 3 people at some point in the future."

I didn't quite know what to say other than "Seriously?!", to which he replied...

"Yes. In these economic times, we all have to pull together, or we're all going to sink."

It sounds hokey, what was truly thrilling wasn't the free dental work, but the optimism, and the faith in humanity. I've always believed that people are generally good (it's just that the bad ones make better news stories), but it's lovely and inspiriing to see it in action.

I'm getting my teeth fixed, but more than that I suddenly find myself looking around a little more.

I know that I will keep that promise to "pay it forward". I don't know how, but I know it will happen.

And you know, it's the least I can do...

If you need a dentist, and live in the Longmont area, give them a try! And actually their practice is in 8 locations in northern Colorado, so even if you're not in Longmont, their methods extend to all their locations, so if you're looking for a dentist you can find their practice in Denver (3 locations), Arvada, Aurora, Greeley and Boulder.

Wednesday's Child: Washington/New York Trip Photos!

Maybe a new theme?

Wednesday's Child could be the day I tell you something delightful about The Kid. But then every day is that day, so basically a) I wanted to share trip pictures and b) "WTF Wednesday" didn't quite fit.

So! Trip photos!

As requested by The Kid, I did not delete even one of her pictures. This means there are about 600 or so, but there are some really awesome ones I thought I'd share!

Do yourself a favor and click the pictures to see them full size!

This is a nice shot from the plane:

Very clear, considering it's through a thick piece of plexiglass!

They went to the Jefferson Memorial first.

Really cool building. She took some neat perspective shots, but this one is my favorite:

This is a nice combo shot with the Washington Monument in the background:

The Kid on the steps of the monument...looking like she will when she's 18. SCARY.

Later in the evening...

The next day they went to the National Cathedral. She learned all about gargoyles at the cathedral for a report she did before the trip, so she was thrilled to get to see them in person.

It's hard to get good stained glass shots, but she managed!

And they got to go up into the Washington Monument! Awesome.

They went to the Capitol Building as well, and she took a nice shot of the inside of the dome.

Finally they went to Arlington, and she got a good closeup of a cherry blossom. At least I think that's what this is!

She didn't take many pictures in New York, since she was fearful of losing her camera, but she did take a really nice photo in Central Park! Very New Yorky.

Unfortunately they couldn't take photos everywhere, like the White House and such, but she did take those nice camera-phone photos of 30 Rock and the Statue of Liberty I showed you, so that's something!

All in all I think she had a great time; I know she'd like to see both places again and have more time. Next time I'll go with her!

Totally Random Tuesday: Flagstaff Film Festival

Okay first, let me just say that Tome Tuesday isn't dead, it's just sleeping. I'm working on a couple of good'ns right now and will post reviews soon!

I SWEAR.

So my mom knows lots of cool people.

She's met them here and there in her life, and while some were fleeting hi-how-are-ya kind of moments, some folks stuck. (For example... Bob Schneider's massage therapist. No kidding!)

One of the other cool people she's met and befriended is Meg.

Meg is running the first ever Flagstaff Film Festival, which promises to be an exciting mix of independent films all lovingly submitted and ready to run come this August!

I know what you're thinking... August? In ARIZONA?!

According to the FFF2010 website...

"Located smack-dab in the middle of the Coconino National Forest at nearly 7,000 feet in elevation, Flagstaff is one of the highest cities in the U.S. And that means that Flagstaff's summer temperatures are wonderfully moderate with daytime temperatures in the 70s and 80s."

So there ya go!

She's got a neat website set up for the festival itself, but also a blog, the fantastically named Festacular Blogmatic (and a Twitter site if you're up on how to work those things, which I'm not), which details various steps along the path towards the realization of what I can only imagine is a years-long dream of hers.

It's exciting to see someone take so much initiative... I'm super lazy, so I tend to be fairly astounded by those who can get so much done.

Good luck, Meg!

Weekend Catchup - WHAT THE HELL DUDES

So, um...

Remember how I killed those 3 spiders on Earth Day, and mentioned I might rue the day?

There was some serious ruage Friday.

Okay so I'm sitting in my easy chair, messing around on Le Mac, and I see skittering along the far wall one very creepy crawler.

Smush.

I sit back down, and glance over to see...

10 more.

4 on the ceiling on the living room ceiling, 3 on the hallway, and 2 on the wall on the far side.

COME ON NOW.

Over the course of the next hour I...

• Smashed several more spiders... I lost count after about 50
• Flinched
• Freaked out
• Prayed for a Terminix man to appear at my door
• Flinched some more
• Stared at the walls/ceiling
• Called TR and prayed he'd get my message (the phrase I NEED AN ADULT has never been truer than it was at that moment for me)
  
• Moved from room to room like I was doing some sort of FBI sweep

Thankfully TR did in fact get my panicked cry for help and came to our rescue. We packed a bag as quickly as possible and got the hell out of dodge!

Now you may think this was an over-reaction but...

But...

TR made me feel better by reminding me that there's a reason people fear spiders and other crawly things. Generally they are poisonous, and our instincts are to avoid such things.

Can't argue with that.

We didn't actually get to sleep until about 4 or 5 in the morning on Saturday (we left the house at 2AM, and needed to relax when we got down to Denver, which was readily accomplished through the clever use of Strongbow cider and Avatar), so we didn't manage to get up and moving til about 3PM Saturday.

I had planned on getting a lot more done on Saturday than sleeping and imagining my house in various Deadly Cargo/Kingdom of the Spiders scenarios, but I really did exhaust myself stressing over the eight-legged marauders.

Oh William Shatner, how I love thee

Instead, we lazed about (The Kid happily ensconced in internet-land on TR's giant monitor) and went for Thai Basil for a late lunch. The Kid hadn't had good Thai in ages so she was thrilled!

We got home about 6PM, after a quick stop at Lowes for long-cuff gloves and spider spray, and thankfully didn't see anything. We thoroughly cleaned The Kid's room (she had a lot of stuff in piles on the floor - prime hidey-hole material) and left no nook un-inspected.

Well, I say "we cleaned" but I mean "I cleaned". I made The Kid take me for ice cream after.

I stayed up late to monitor for activity, since TR had figured (and verified) that the combo of warmth, followed by 3 days of rain, followed by a cold snap had caused the critters to decide my rooms were a lot more inhabitable than the crawlspace where they normally hang out, minding their business.

Midnight came and went and I finally took my chances...

And slept.

I did not wake up, as I had feared, in a cocoon, and only saw one all morning, by the back door (which is pretty normal for this time of year).

So now, it's a couple of days later and things seem to be going well.

I'm still a bit jumpy though. Stupid creatures.

Anyway Sunday was fun! The Kid gathered her gear and about 2PM we headed down to Denver for the first Rollerpunks practice, held in the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls' training facility, which reminded me of every skate-shop I ever went to as a wayward teen. Stickers on the walls, music blaring, hair of every color...

If it's wrong to live vicariously through my kid a little, well then so be it because we are *both* having a blast!

Thankfully the lovely Rollergirls in attendance were very understanding of my lack of knowledge about the skates themselves, and helped get The Kid's in line. Next week should be a lot easier on her.

I was very pleased to find that getting to the facility only takes about 30 minutes - I really envisioned that we'd be schlepping an hour each way! Awesome.

And look how cute!

Last but not least... look what's growing in front of my house!

I didn't plant any, which just makes it cooler. Wild-growing tulips!

F-Word Friday: Four Legs Or Less

I have to apologize for my lack of Tuesday or Thursday posts this week.

I know you were all "WHY HAS SHE FORSAKEN US" but I promise it wasn't you, just a whole lot of work and rain and generally trying to get too much stuff done in a week and exhausting myself.

Also there were spiders. I f'ing hate spiders, I don't care how beneficial they are. And you know, it's cool, they can live in my house as long as they stay hidden.

I'm sure it's extra wrong that I killed 3 spiders in my house on Earth Day.

You can judge if you like, but you didn't see them.

Allie from Hyperbole And A Half drew that picture, and it's a fairly accurate depiction of what kind of spiders appear in my home during their Spring migration to terrorize the world outside my basement.

And they do that, you know. They're like evil clowns and zombies that hide in closets... they jump out at you and freak you out and make you have cooties for the rest of the night.

Frickin' spiders.

ANYWAY. That's why there was no post on Tuesday or Thursday.

Moving on.

Last night TR & I had dinner at Udi's, which I thought just made bread but who in fact are trying their hand at restaurant... er, restauranteering? Restauranting? I don't know.

Anyway it totally rocked. TR got this French onion soup that was totally delicious, plus a Cuban sandwich that despite them forgetting and putting the pickle on was possibly the best ever. The bread made it, of course, it *is* their specialty after all!

I had chicken shnitzle, which was exactly as awesome as it's name and came with what I almost substituted out - German potato salad.

I hate German potato salad, although admittedly before yesterday I had only ever had your standard-issue grocery store comes-in-a-giant-milk-carton variety, and it always looks so... mushy. And it makes that disgusting squelchy sound when you try to dish some up. And it's COLD. Who likes cold potatoes?! Gag!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW.

"Get the salad," the server insisted. "Trust me."

She totally wins.

It was this concoction of perfectly crispy-on-the-outside pieces of red potato and sweet potato, combined with some greens, lovely tangy onions and capers, all served hot and drenched in this delightfully vinegary Dijon mustard sauce.

I want more of it as soon as possible.

After dinner, we walked the 30 feet to D Note for Trivia, where we won AGAIN! We came from fifth place to first because we are an awesome team, and Mecha Panda Monkey Octopus Eaters Anonymous can just go take a hike.

That made no sense to you, and it's alright. Suffice it to say they are a rival team and we kicked their asses.

After Trivia we hung out for awhile, basking in the glory of our victory, and then I went home with my cupcakes (thanks TR!) to hang with The Kid and her creepy baby.

Oh did I not mention the creepy baby?

It BREATHES.

Thank goodness she only had it for one night. I can't imagine having this thing in my house for a whole week, just laying there, breathing and staring at me.

GAH.

Happy Friday!

WTF Wednesday - 4... 3... 2... 1...

Earth belo-o-o-w us, drifting faaaaaalling...

Oh, hi!

Sorry, I had that song stuck in my head. And now you do too! Muwahahahaha.

So TR is looking for interesting places to live. So far he's found some gorgeous places that cost billions of dollars (well no, but they might as well!), a school complex in the middle of Kansas, and...

Missile bases! Neat places, those. Check out a little history!

Hopefully these aren't still lurking...

Who knew these were even for sale!?

This one's neat...

It reminds me of The Jetsons, only with less robots and stars

It's all redone and has a cool above-ground log cabin (click the picture, it's actually quite lovely!), but the rest of them are a teeeeeensy bit creepy.

BRAAAAAAAAAAINS!

Doesn't that look like creatures will come shambling through there at any minute?! *shudder*

Your murderer will flay you now.

I think I need a tetanus shot. Also, my mommy.

But hey, maybe I just lack vision! Look at what people have done with their missile bases!

Jackson Heights High School in Kansas used to be a base, and while I would run screaming from the "before" picture, somebody definitely had imagination.

BEFORE: One, two Freddy's coming for you. RUUUUUUN!

AFTER: Um... cute! I think!

Pretty awesome... I bet those stripes were fun to paint!

No trivia tonight, I'm still recovering from the bar stools last week!

Hope you have a lovely Wednesday, up in the open air!

Weekend Catchup: I Love The Dogs, And The Dogs Love Me

After our little morning adventure on Friday, and a subsequent full day of school and work, you might imagine we were pretty tired come Friday night, and you'd be right!

I didn't get up until probably 10AM Saturday morning, and The Kid would have gone right on sleep if I hadn't gotten her up at 1:30 so she could get dressed and we could go to the birthday party at her Colorado Grampa's house which we'd been invited to attend.

As it turned out, she had a great time, and I slept some more.

As I walked into the house, I suddenly realized that there were 5 dogs in attendance.

Now I love dogs, in particular big happy ones who love scratching and treats and kisses, however I'm extremely allergic (skin-itchy allergic mostly, but occasionally ow-my-eyes allergic).

"Here, take some Benadryl," Sherri said.

"Ok," I replied.

4 hours later I awoke from my coma, had a burger, and went home (after running errands for an hour, of course).

WOOOOO PARTYYYYYYY!

Thankfully all were understanding of my plight.

(You know I petted all the dogs before I left, too.)

Sunday was a nice quiet morning. The Kid had some school work to get started on (the Science Fair looms large), and I had some housework to do, but we took the afternoon off to go see How To Train Your Dragon.

So cute, go see it! It was very pretty, and had a couple of good messages buried in all the hilarity, plus it totally backed up TR's thought that cats are descended from dragons. Toothless the Dragon was absolutely Dea in cartoon dragon form.

PS... Cool project alert! You should join in! You must have your submission to them by June 26, so allow for international shipping times.

I've always wanted to go to London, and if I can't go myself right now, at least I can send a representative.

F-Word Friday: F for Effort

This morning, I dutifully got The Kid up (despite our late night) at 6:30.

I got her to get dressed and ready for her field trip to Denver for a MESA competition, figuring that we'd better get there early for the pre-trip meeting of the minds I assumed they'd have. Besides, I needed to sign a permission slip, since I'd never seen one. We were dressed and fed and there by 7:20.

Seeing that the door she usually enters for these before-school things was propped open, we entered the building and headed for the classroom in which the MESA meetings are usually held. There, on the wall, was a packet of permission slips. I slipped a sheet from the packet and read...

"MESA Rollercoaster Competition Permission Slip. When: Friday April 16, 6:15 AM - 3:40 PM".

We missed the bus. By an hour! Do you have any idea how much I *hate* being late, much less missing stuff?!

Let me backtrack a little for you...

When leaving at 4AM last Sunday, one of The Kid's MESA instructors said "So, are we ready for the competition Friday?" I told him I hadn't seen a permission slip yet, and he let me know he'd have the other instructor email me some info. Never happened.

I couldn't think what to do, I didn't want her getting in trouble, so we went to the office to wait for someone with power to come and help us get a hold of the teacher on the trip and let us know whether or not she needed to attend or if she could just go home!

Long story short (or longer, as it were)...

I drove to Speer & Auraria at 8AM so that my kid could get out at a stoplight and join her teacher, who was waiting for her there.

And you know what? By the time I got to work an hour later, they were already done, and had nothing left to do but sit around for the rest of the day.

For this I drove all the way down there? Yeesh.

Oh well, the silver lining is that it was a good lesson for The Kid about not letting her team down.

Or something.

SO!

The abysmally hard quiz of Wednesday was all but forgotten in last night's incredible run! Our team was awesome, and it was definitely one of those group efforts that wouldn't have happened without all of us chiming in equally, which we all did, and beat everyone's asses for them.

And I won the email bonus question prize for knowing Sarah Palin likes bendy straws!

I can't believe I just put her name in my blog.

I feel dirty.

Guaranteed to increase the value of your car by 5000%!

There, that's better!

Dinner beforehand at Furr's with TR was delicious, of course (I forgot to get Salisbury steak though, dammit!), but I was seriously distracted by some awful news.

Good thoughts/prayers/presents/money towards my Mom, if you please, and taunts/daggers/blowdarts/cannonfire at her former employer.

She's trying to be positive, but as one friend so aptly put it, she was cold-cocked. That takes adjustment.

Thrilling Thursday: "She Is REALLY Big!"

Wow.

Remember how we won first place the last 2 weeks at Trivia?

Last night... 4th place. Ouch!

But you know it's just one of those things. You never know what categories will find their niche with this team or that, and last night's questions about video games and Auto-tuned music were perfectly suited for the young geeks behind us. Good for them! It's no fun if the same folks win every time, after all.

I don't know if I'll be going back to Pumphouse very often anymore, though, because they've moved where they do the trivia from the sports bar section with booths and tables to the other side of the bar, where it's just tables. It would be fine except they're those tall tables with stools, and I can't sit on those for 2 hours. I ended up having to take ibuprofen last night to take the swelling in my back down so my legs would stop hurting and I could sleep!

That's okay, though, because driving to work this morning, I received the following images via cell phone from my darling daughter:

Gorgeous, huh? And not bad for a cell phone! I like that the clouds changed so quickly. Must be a windy day today.

I responded back with "Wow!" and she replied...

"Yeah... she's REALLY big!"

I'm glad to hear it, actually. I remember seeing Mount Rushmore and wondering "Is that it?!".

Seriously, it looks so tiny! I'm sure it's huge up close but you can't get near enough to tell. Standing right at the base of Lady Liberty though?

It must be amazing.

She sent these Tuesday night:

She didn't want to carry her camera in New York, for fear of losing stuff, but I think it was just as well since she was able to be hands free.

And oh, the shopping.

So educational.

Well at least she's having fun! She's home late tonight, about 11PM at the school (thank goodness, I really didn't want to have to go to the airport, and frankly for the price of this trip they can schlep them back up).

I can't wait to see all her pictures and goodies!

I know, however, that if I go home first I will fall asleep on the couch and awake with a jerk to realize it's 5 to 11. So instead I'm trying my luck down with Trivia at D Note after dinner with TR at Furr's (mmmm, hope they have mac and cheese!). That should keep me out late enough that I'll be back in time to pick her up!

Let's hope I do better than last night!

It seems I probably won't attend the Harry Potter quiz next weekend, though... the 2PM slot has already sold out (I didn't even think to reserve a table), and they added a 5PM slot but we have to go to Denver the next afternoon, and I'm sitting The Kid's grampa's dogs, so it's probably just as well.

They'll probably do one of those again, so we'll just shoot for next time.

Why are we going to Denver the next afternoon, you ask?

Rocky Mountain Rollerpunks practice, that's why. My girl's a Derby girl. I'm so proud!!

The overhead was pretty low for this, thank goodness. I shelled out for new skates (if she gets serious they will get replaced with better ones, but these are a good start) and a helmet, and pads and a mouth guard of course.

I'm trying very hard not to get volunteeritis with this adventure.

I'm offering some Girl Scout Leader advice as far as what I've seen, and only because the ladies running this asked for input, but I'm really going to try to just consult on this one, and let the grunt work stay with the parents who don't live an hour away from the practice space.

Maybe.

I just know I'm going to get pulled in. I just KNOW it!!!

Lord help me to not say "I'll do it".

Besides, I already volunteered to run a carpool group if there are other kids from my neck of the woods.

See how it starts?

*sigh*

Happy Thursday!