Life on the High Plains

I did it! I just submitted my 32-page final portfolio project for my IT Project Management class! What's the big deal you might be asking? I'm taking the next eight-week session off!  Eight weeks with no reading, homework, or paper writing!  Sounds like heaven! I'm doing this for two reasons: 1) Irv and I are getting on a plane and traveling somewhere every weekend in May.  I thought I'd try to reduce the stress on myself so I could just relax and enjoy our travels. 2) I need to take care of my health.  Yes, I still have issues going on.  :( So I'm officially on spring break! Countdown to Alaska:  20 days!

This week we hit a milestone in Mr. Bean's life--middle school open house!  How is that possible?  How could my sweet little grandson be leaving the safety of elementary school and transitioning to middle school? We took a tour of his middle school on Tuesday night and I just have one thing to say--is it too late for me to go back to school?  Wow!  Have things ever changed in the last umm...10, 20, 30, okay 40 years? Mr. Beans is going to attend the Jack Swigert Aerospace Academy.  It's a public school, but it's more like a charter school. So who was Jack Swigert?  I googled him and he was a NASA astronaut who grew up in Denver.  He left NASA and was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1982, but he died of bone cancer at age 52 before he was ever sworn into office.  Sad.  So this school is all about space.  It was created through a partnership with the Space Foundation and the school district.  It is all about ...

I am surrounded by flowers today and it smells so wonderful! I have the best job ever. Thanks to my many bosses! (I wear a lot of hats at my job)

Last week my partner and I headed to our Monte Vista branch to install some new computers.  Of our six branches, Monte Vista is definitely in the most beautiful location. It's located in the San Luis Valley--about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Colorado Springs.  I think we're about done with computer installs for the this year.  Thank goodness!  Now we have to make trips back to the branches to install new servers then we're done for the year. Believe it or not, giving people new computers can be very stressful.  Maybe one person out of five is happy and excited to get a new computer. Everyone else just complains about having to change. Come on people, if you're not changing then you're not living!  I realize getting a new computer can be stressful, but it can also be fun and exciting. Maybe I'm just a nerd, but I like new technology.  Maybe it's because I know how to fix things that go wrong myself.  I don't have to call the he...

Dana sent out the Save the Date's last week while she was in the country.  Aren't they cute!  (She got them off of Etsy.) I've already bought mine and Irv's plane tickets.  Thanks to all my frequent flyer miles, they only cost $20.  The dress has been ordered.  I've been sworn to secrecy so I can't share even the smallest detail with you, other than to say it is beautiful, sophisticated, perfect for an Hawaiian wedding, and perfectly Dana. I have a house reserved that is 300 yards from the beach.  Here's the view from the rooftop lanai. Now all we have to do is wait for October to get there.  Please hurry...I really need a week on the beach more than anything right now. Of course I first need to enjoy our Alaskan cruise which is only 30 some days away. I am so spoiled.

Irv and I took a drive out east my work's customer appreciation dinner last Friday.  We took the back roads and trusted the GPS to get us to our final destination.  We were able to take our time and really had a chance to enjoy the drive. Do you know what one of the best things is about living on the prairie? The simple things...like the beauty of this windmill. A lone tree that is still waiting for it's new leaves to sprout. The silos, planted fields, farm equipment, cattle, etc. that represent the hard working farmers and ranchers that keep us fed. I love living in Colorado and the beauty and serenty of the eastern plains.

So what did you do this past weekend? I didn't do a darn thing that involved going outside of the house.  I did the usual weekend thing...caught up on my homework, cleaned the house, did the laundry. The one fun thing I did was to start thinking about my garden.  My goal is to get it planted around May 7th.  For my birthday this year Mary gave me some pods and seeds so I could grow my own seedlings.  It's about three weeks until I want to plant outside so I figured it was time to get things started (Hmmm, maybe I should have started a couple weeks ago.) I started by adding 10 1/2 cups of warm water to my pods. Then I waited for them to absorb the water and grow to about 1 1/2 inches high. Then it was time to add the seeds.  Now if this process works I'm going to have way more plants than I can use so I'll be looking for people to share them with. I'm hoping to give the seeds a headstart so I can harvest veggies earlier in the summer. For...

A couple years ago at a family reunion in Idaho my nephew, aka Super Pizza Boy, went fishing and caught a trout.  The guy that worked at the campground cleaned the fish and then cooked it for us over an open campfire.  Was it ever delicious! (These are my two brothers.  The guy standing, aka Yogi, is SPB's dad.  He's also the most devout blogger I know.  Barely a day goes by that he doesn't post something new.  Check out his blog at http://www.yogis-den.com/ .) I decided to try recreating that wonderful trout.  Of course I didn't go fishing and catch my own fresh trout, instead I bought the frozen variety at the grocery store. I will admit they look a little gross and I didn't enjoy handling their scaly skin. Little did I know that the day I planned to cook the trout the weather would change and it would get too stormy and windy to cook outside on my fire pit. Oh well, the oven will work just as good.  So I got the trout ready....

Something happened here today that we haven't seen in quite a while.  Here are three hints. 1.  A wet driveway. 2.  Beads of water on the hood of my car 3.  A Rainbow!! It rained here today!  Thank you Lord!  Please send more.

What do you do when you're having a "I need something sweet" moment, but you live 20 miles from the nearest grocery store and you don't have any junk food in the house because "if it's not here, you can't eat it"? You whip up a batch of the Prepared Pantry's Cinnamon Burst Snicker doodles. Maybe I burned a few calories with the effort it took to bake these cookies then clean up the mess. Yummy!

So I'm back from Arizona and even though I carried my camera with me, I only took 9 pictures and I just deleted about half of those because they were blurry.  Apparently I'm obsessed with the palm tree in Dana's backyard. We don't have palm trees in Colorado, maybe that's why.  Maybe it's because they're a symbol of warmth.  I like warm.  It was 93 degrees in Phoenix yesterdy.  I think Irv and I should retire there in 7 or 8 years because it's warm year around.  I may need to go back for a visit in July or August before I commit to that decision though. Anyway, I'm glad to be home, but I miss Dana already and I can't wait for her to move back from Australia.  (A mom likes her babies close by, not halfway around the world.)

Mary and I are leaving on a plane early in the morning from Denver to go to Phoenix and tonight we're staying in a hotel by the airport. So what do mother and daughter do in a hotel room to occupy themselves? Fix a bad color job. Mary went to my hair dresser and asked for chocolate brown hair with a "pop" of blonde highlights. Did she ever get blonde highlights! Now we're trying to fix it. Doesn't Mary realize I know nothing about hair color? That's why I pay someone to do my hair. I think we're heading for hair disaster #2. (it might be a long weekend) Let the vacation begin.

It's hard to believe that 48 hours ago it was sunny and 80 degrees. This morning there's snow, rain, sleet, but most of all WIND .  We're having 60-70 mph gusts. My patio furniture which belongs over here...             Is now on the oppposite side of the deck about to blow off the edge.   There's not much snow here, but a few miles east they're having blowing snow and all the schools have delayed...6-12 inches of snow are expected.  I know this because I called a co-worker to check the conditions out east.  My partner and I were supposed to travel to our Burlington and Limon offices today to install new computers.  We've decided to wait until tomorrow.   You know what that means?  I have to change out of my jeans and go iron some nice clothes to wear to work.    Bummer! 

I'm in week 5 of my current class, IT Project Management.  The classes I take are on an accelerated schedule and each week we have a minimum of five assignments that are due by Sunday at midnight. This means that I spend the majority of my weekends working on homework because I don't have much time during the work week. Next weekend I am going to Phoenix with Jillian and Mary to visit Dana who will be in town from Australia from a few days. "The woman trip" Do you think I want to spend my time there doing homework? NO WAY! That means I have to get it all done before I go--Motivation to get homework done before we leave on Friday.  Maybe I can use some of the skills I've already learned in this class--organization, time management, and planning. Two assignments are done, three to go and one of those assignments depends on my classmates getting their work done on time. Wish me luck!