Books I'm Reading.....

Ok, seriously...how is it possible that some people don't like to read? I was just pondering this the other day and came up with no good answer. I mean, no matter what your interest...there's a book that fits. And you can take them almost anywhere; handy! Ah well, I probably won't ever get that one answered. But, since the topic of books and reading was one of a very few consistent thoughts floating through my mind today, I thought I'd share the three that I'm reading right now (why limit myself to just one, right??)

The first one is actually for a womens Bible study that I'm attending this summer. We wanted something a little less labor-intensive than what we do fall and spring semester, but this has actually turned out to be great! I actually am planning to use this with Rusty when he gets older because I think it's a fantastic way to learn the basic framework of the Bible that too often gets pushed to the side.


It does a great job of going through and explaining the purpose of the different books (eg, history, prophecy, poetry, etc), timelines, locations and the main individuals associated with each section. Amazing how much more sense some things are making and I've been in church since birth! Highly recommend this one.


And because I think it's just a good plan to always have some good fiction to delve into (especially in the summer!), I'm reading "Captain Blood" by Sabatini. If you like historical fiction at all, this guy is great! This one takes place in the 1600's during the time of King James the II beginning in England and moving on to Barbados. Very well written and fun!


And finally, a more serious book of a sociological bent that I really think is an important read, especially for anyone with sons or who works with kids on a regular basis. I tend to be of the belief that there's not a big problem with admitting that boys and girls are different. Actually, I think it works out really well because I tend to think that it's harder to get everything done and enjoy life when everyone is exactly the same. Mind you, I don't think girls are inferior in any way, shape or form, but once again, I'm not freaked out by noticing that there are differences. This book looks at the "girl crisis" that some very well-funded groups are focused on solving and how that crisis not only doesn't exist, but actually ignores the "boy crisis" that is going on (eg., higher dropout rates, less aptitude in reading/writing, etc). And worse than that, is the idea that boys are seen as bad (and not simply bad, but likely future batterers and rapists) and in need of reform, just because they're boys.

Apparently the way to deal with that is to simply raise them as girls. Ummm...what?? Here's a lovely tidbit from a conference as an example: "...one of the participating teachers boasted of her success in getting boys in her kindergarten class to dress up in skirts. Another proudly reported that she makes a point of informing boys that their action figures are really dolls."

Ok, it's late and I think it might be uncomfortable to actually camp out on my soapbox, so I will wrap this up now! If ya'll decide to read any of these books, let me know what you think!:-)

Parker Days

As most of you know, we currently live in a town called Parker which is approximately 20 miles SE of Denver. It was incorporated back in 1981 and had about 260 people at that time. Now, 27 years later the population is closer to 45,000, but the town council has worked really hard to keep a "small town feel" with a lot of different town festivals and activities which are really pretty cool.

One of the town traditions that helps keep that "small town feeling" is an event held every June that is offically the "Parker Country Fair", but is actually called "Parker Days" by everyone...old habits die hard, I guess! It is a LOT of fun because it's a combination of carnival, fair, and non-stop concert events and it's held right in the middle of town just down the street from our house. Talk about convenient parking!

We had a great time this year. It started on Friday night when my friend Janice and I went to hear a U2 cover band and they were actually really good! Topped it off with a funnel cake. Friends, music and fried food...you know you just can't go wrong with that!

The next morning was the parade which, conveniently, takes place on a street approximately 30 seconds from our front door. We decided that Rusty would probably find it more entertaining this year than last and so we headed on over.

It's starting!







This is a replica of a church right down the street...so pretty!

Oh come on...a Republican donkey...I can't be the only one to get a kick out of this one;-)



The next day we walked down after church to take Rusty to the petting zoo. The baby animals were too cute:-) He gave a few goats and a llama hugs, but spent a lot of time watching the pony rides in the next pen. You know, the ones we DIDN'T pay for because we thought he'd like the petting zoo more. Can we say "grass is always greener"??;-)

And We're Off!!!

Ok, as I'm sure you have all assumed, the schnitz has recovered since my last post and is now off and running FULL SPEED AHEAD once more! And fortunately, in spite of losing quite so much of the food he did manage to eat during that time and eating almost nothing the rest of the six days he was sick, he's been eating non-stop since and has gained back whatever weight he lost. This is a very relieved mama!

So, for just a sampling of the non-stop entertainment we've enjoyed since his recovery...here goes!

Ahhh...beans...the breakfast of champions. Oh and I'll take a cup of coffee, please!

Oh no...caffeine denied!

Cartoons with Daddy make up for the lack of coffee.

Man...I'm chilly...surely Mama will never miss her slippers (what do you MEAN I should put on some britches??)

Woohoo...Mama will NEVER find me in here!

Does Louie look a little less than relaxed to you?;-)

Our lives definitely go a mile a minute when the schnitz is healthy, but he is an awful lot of fun and I'll take the chaos (and exhaustion:-) over him being sick on the couch any day of the week!

The Face of Misery

I have discovered that the only thing sadder than when I myself am sick, is watching my poor baby when he is sick. So crazy, Tuesday morning he was feeling SO good that he was an actual danger to himself just because of the way he was careening through the house. Woke up from his nap at about 3:30 that afternoon and seemed fine until about 15 minutes later when he proceeded to lose the contents of his stomach no less than 5 times before 6:00. Yikes! Took him up to urgent care because he doesn't have any weight to spare. Fortunately the doc gave us a script for phergan as it made it possible for him to keep down at least water yesterday. He didn't have a fever on Tuesday night, but by the time we took him in to see his actual pediatrician yesterday at 2:00, it was up to 101 and she diagnosed him with his first ear infection. In order to get him feeling better ASAP, she decided to give him the antibiotics via two shots instead of oral antibiotics which he just LOVED. So basically it seems that in a matter of 24 hours, he's managed to come down with a stomach virus AND ear infection! Doesn't that just seem like a bit much?

Needless to say, the day was spent on the couch yesterday alternating between sleeping on me and his pillow/blanket combo. Now, those of you who haven't spent time around him don't realize how bad this means he's feeling. My child has fallen asleep on me maybe 3 times in his life and never on the couch. He's definitely a "put me in my bed and let me sleep" kind of kid. Poor baby.

Here's hoping that today is better!

Memorial Day Fun at Red Rocks

Ok, so I've had to readjust my thinking, since living here, that Memorial Day should be spent around a pool. For some reason, no matter what the weather conditions just before or after, Memorial Day is never pool weather.

No biggie...I'm nothing if not flexible, right?;-)

And so we move on to what I did do for Memorial Day. Actually pretty cool. I agreed to have lunch with my friend Ivi and her friend Kristen up in Morrison, CO. This is a small town that is located in the foothills overlooking Denver and the home of a place called Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Now, although I have lived here for what is rapidly approaching the 6 year mark, I had never actually been out to Red Rocks and Ivilina found this fact appalling. I guess I've hit some kind of statute of limitations in such matters;-) Needless to say, lunch wasn't the only thing on the agenda...I needed a proper introduction to an important part of the Denver landscape!

Little bit of history just because I think it's cool. Red Rocks is a huge outdoor amphitheatre that plays host to any number of events from concerts to outdoor movies to Easter Sunday services (during which it always snows and thus, your's truly, will likely never be able to verify this personally:-)

Sorry for the tangent...moving on...Red Rocks was actually one of the works projects completed during the Great Depression. It began as a private venture before the depression, but was finished after being sold to the city of Denver and having the labor provided by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Work Projects Administration (WPA).

(Is it just me or are there an awful lot of amazing things that came out of the Great Depression...hmmmm....food for thought.)

According to what I've read, the theatre is bordered by two three hundred foot sandstone monoliths, has perfect acoustics and was once listed as one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Who knew?? I just know that it is really beautiful up there and I'm thinking that I'll have to go to an event out there at some point.

Hey Steph...if you ever make good on that vacation promise maybe we can catch one of the movies out there...fun!!!

And now some additional pics...just to fully share the day with all of you. Enjoy!

Now if this view doesn't make your heart happy...nothing will.

How cool is this??

Isn't it amazing when plants seem to be growing out of sheer rock?

Time to play catch-up!

Ok, things have gotten a little on the crazy side over the last couple of weeks and so I've decided to do a "catch-up" post. That's allowed, right?:-)

Well, as some of you know, I have been helping out at my old office a couple of days a week this past month and will finish up by the end of June. So, on Tuesdays and Thursdays while I'm at the office, Rusty is spending time with my friend Janice and her two children, Ashleigh and Ethan. Rusty has a great time at their house, especially playing with Ashleigh, as you can tell from the pictures!

Hmmm...seems to have a thing for blondes;-)

Last week, my parents came into town and we had a great visit with them both. Rusty, of course, loves getting to spend time with his Mimi and Papa! Mom actually watched him while I was at work last Thursday and had a great time, according to all reports:-)

Mom's excuse for this visit, in addition to getting a "Rusty fix", was actually to attend a family baby shower on Saturday morning. We had a great time getting to visit with family for a couple of hours!

Aunt Colleen, me, Jackie, Brooklyn, Stephanie, Emma, Aunt Penny, Michelle, Mom, and Bailey

Saturday night we had our good friends, Chuck and Ivilina, over for dinner and feasted on grilled steaks, courtesy of my wonderful husband, potatoes, salad and key lime pie for dessert! Yum! Chuck and Ivilina just recently returned from a trip to visit her parents in Bulgaria followed by an eight-day driving tour of Greece. How fun would that be? They very kindly brought me the following gift from their travels and I absolutely love it!

It was such a nice evening. Good food, good company, and good conversation....doesn't get much better than that!

Happy and full...note the empty plates!:-)

The rest of our time lately has been spent being VERY thankful that the weather has finally gotten nice enough to spend a good amount of time outdoors. Rusty's days are awfully relaxing (in my honest opinion) and generally start off cuddling on the couch with his blankets, leisurely enjoying his oatmeal and then moves on to hours of playing at the park, in the backyard, or with his new "scooper truck", interrupted only for a two-hour afternoon siesta! What a life, huh?

Oh yeah...big stretch!

Car blanket & oatmeal..check..

The playground is ALWAYS a hit!

Who doesn't like a scooper

truck?

Sorry Mama...just have a few calls to make!

I'm sure he's just getting my flowerbed ready for planting;-)

And just because we thought these were too cute, I feel the need to show ya'll the shoes we picked up for the schnitz this afternoon. Aren't things just so cute when they're in miniature??

Well, there is my not so short version of the terribly exciting events in our lives over the last few weeks. I hope you found this novella absolutely stimulating and if not just remember...caffeine is a most wonderful thing!!

Seven Random Bits of Info

Ok, my friend Steph posted her seven random things approximately a million years ago and tagged me to list seven random things about myself, so here goes:

1) Ok, let's start with the most random....the pinky nail on my left hand is crooked. Apparently, when I was about one, I wasn't always so good at doing what I was told and when my mom asked me to walk ahead of her through a door, I turned around and the tip of my pinky got snipped off in the door. No need for a lot of sympathy here (well, you should probably have some for my mom!), the doctor did a great job putting me back together and my memory doesn't extend back that far!:-)

2) I am completely incapable of answering the question, "where are you from?" without a five minute explanation. I'll put the shortest explanation here and see if any of you can help me out with a shorter response (map provided to help you follow along):

Born in Scottsbluff, (western) NE then left for Loveland, CO a few weeks later. Apparently, my parents had technically moved prior to me being born, but my mom didn't want to change doctors at the last minute.

Moved to San Jose, CA at 6 months, on to Henderson, CO at 1 1/2 years old and then back to Scottsbluff about 2 months later.

Moved from Scottsbluff to Mitchell, NE (just down the road) when I was five.

Moved from Mitchell to Herndon, VA at age eleven (beginning of sixth grade) and to Plano, TX at sixteen (middle of junior year).

Graduated from high school and left for Tech.

Stayed in Lubbock for two degrees/seven years then moved back to the Dallas area.

However, during those seven years, my parents had moved to Phoenix for one year and then to Richardson, TX.

Lived in Richardson for two years with my parents while finishing the 3rd degree (because I am a TOTAL glutton for punishment!) and then moved into an apartment across town. Stayed there for two years until I was thirty at which point I got married and moved to Denver....making a GIANT circle!

I'm sorry, is it just me or would that make it a difficult question for anyone to answer??:-)

3) I have something of an unnatural level of irritation revolving around the delivery of phone books. I'm sorry, but who uses an actual phone book anymore and why would anyone need one from every phone company in the area plus a local edition? Seriously, give me a choice to opt out on this one...I don't need anything else cluttering my house and even my environmental consciousness kicks in when I think of all of that wasted paper!

4) I absolutely LOVE to read, but have an almost equal loathing for writing. Thus the reason you should all be very impressed that I'm actually making an effort to keep up this blog:-) The most tormented times of my scholastic career were initiated by a teacher saying, "Take out a piece of paper and write a story". "A story about what??" "ANYTHING"!!!! Uggghhh. I am a total imagination parasite...just give me a book and test me on it...don't make me troll the wasteland which is my imagination:-)

5) The only thing I craved while I was pregnant was tomatoes. Any kind really. I would down a bag of cherry tomatoes in a day and a jar of salsa almost in a sitting. Crazy! Oddly enough, my child is a big, big fan of them too!

6) There are a couple of commercials that, without fail, make my head want to explode. The first are the Pepto commercials where they sing about a variety of bodily functions over and over and over and over. Ugghh....do they really think the entire population is made up of 13 year old boys? The other series of commercials that make me crazy are those new "Clearasil gives you confidence" ones. You know, the ones where they use Clearasil and apparently lose their zits AND all sense of socially appropriate boundaries?

Feel free to laugh at my rant about the commercials....Brad does frequently!:-)

7) My husband and I were just friends for nine years before we ever decided to date...even though everyone we knew said we would get married one day! What can I say, neither of us listen very well:-)

Ok, I'm tagging Janice and Andi...can't wait to see what you come up with!