Life on the High Plains

Things are bloomin around our house. My orchid that I've had for almost three years is blooming for the first time. Here it is about a month ago.     Here it is today.  Pretty exciting!  I didn't think this would ever happen.  I guess it just takes time and patience (and a home in a warm, steamy bathroom). My Christmas cactus also has some beautiful blooms. The African violets are looking pretty good too. Somebody in this house must have a green thumb.

Irv and I decided to make a trip up to the National Western Stock Show in Denver yesterday.  I had two goals for this trip: 1.  Support the Stock Show for the 4 years of tuition they paid for Jillian at CSU 2.  Find a new pair of boots. Irv bought me a new pair of boots for Christmas, but the left boot was uncomfortable and even though they were very cute, I knew they wouldn't work.  If there's one pair of shoes that has to fit perfect--it's your cowboy boots. I knew the Stock Show would have tons of vendors and lots of them would be selling boots.  Unfortunately, none of them had a pair of boots for me.  You see, when you have a specific image of the boot you want in your head, you can't settle for anything less.  No luck today, but I'll keep looking. As usual the Stock Show was packed with wall-to-wall people.  Irv gets in his "fast mode" whenever we're around tons of people.  For him, it's a goal to get up and down every aisle of ...

Life has been quite dull this week. Being sick sucks! I stayed home from work on Wednesday.  I got to watch Irv install my brand new stainless steel sink which I have been hounding him about for years.  Love it! Thursday I went into the office for a "couple hours" while the digital signage board was being installed, but it took me eight hours to get out of there and the board never got installed.   Friday I went back to work.  Luckily it was a super quiet day (because everyone is sick) so I got to spend the first full day in my office--mostly watching the Air Force planes from my window. Have I mentioned lately how much I love having a window? Today I finished off my second box of tissues... so I had to make a run to the local big blue box store to stock back up on flu/cold supplies. I did have the energy to cook my sweet hubbie some dinner tonight.  He's been bringing home fast food the la...

Sickness has hit the new building.  All but a handful of employees have gotten sick in the last 24 hours.  My fellow IT person just came from the doctor and he confirmed it's the flu, but not the flu that everyone was vaccinated for. This is the greeting I came home to.  Can't say I blame him. Now I'm going to bed to suffer through the first flu I've ever had. I need to be better by tomorrow.  Think that's possible?

  We've had some very cold weather the last few days--lows below zero and highs in the teens. I'm not cut out for the cold.  My new office building apparently doesn't like cold either.  It was uncomfortably cold in there today. I'm going to start the countdown to our retirement in Scottsdale.  Let's see Irv will be 65 in 11 years, six months, and 9 days.  That means 4,204 days to go (more or less). Ugh.

Another long day at work today.  The good news...all the computers are up and running.  The bad news...tomorrow when everyone has actual work to do they're going to realize only the 2nd floor has networked printers, there is no operational fax machine, and the phones aren't quite all working. Oh well, I'll worry about that tomorrow.  One good thing...my published phone extension isn't the phone extension that Mike our phone guy gave me.  Nobody will be able to find me. So here's my old cube.  It was about 4' x 8' in the middle of the front reception area.  Our Chief Credit Offices actually had his office in the front lobby so I'm not complaining about my little cube. Here's my new space. My command central (3 monitors) fits nicely on my new desk.  Another great thing...the IT department now has it's own work room so there won't be anymore need to have 4 or 5 computers set up on my desk at a time. Not...

Bilary Dyskenesia or Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction  *from Methodist Healthcare Basically, my common bile duct is blocked or the Sphincter of Oddi is closed too tight causing the backup of bile and pancreatic juices resulting in episodes of severe pain.  It could be either of these, but the Sphincter of Oddi is typically the problem with people who have already had their gallbladder removed, especially middle-aged women. Due to the intensity of pain that this condition experiences, the gastroenteroligist I'm seeing wanted me to go into the hospital immediately to have the treatment done.  I told him that was a bit of a problem because we're moving into our new office this weekend. Then he changed his mind and said he wanted me to go up to the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver to have a sphincter of Oddi Manometry done.  It's a more complicated procedure that requires some specialized equipment that is only available in Denver.  As I understand it, t...

Four days until the big move!  My partner and I moved some cables over to the new building in anticipation of hooking up computers on Friday.  It's getting close to being done.  I think there will be a lot of hours put in by the crew over the next few days to get all the loose ends tied up. I only have one thing to say. It's incredible!  Boardroom (did you notice the wagon wheels on the ceiling?)   Front Lobby   Reception Desk (yes, that's cowhide)   Kitchen   Workout Room (check out the mural) Etching on the front window      

Something new for dinner tonight. It's a new recipe I found called Low Country Boil. Red potatoes, celery, onions, kielbasa sausage, corn on the cob, and shrimp steamed in a mixture of water, beer, and seafood seasoning. I only make half the recipe and we could still invite 4 others over to share a meal with us.  Too bad my kids don't like seafood. Since I had not used my new mixer all week, I decided to mix up some beer bread. Yummy!

One of my best friends in the world, Vicki, who lives in Wisconsin made me these beautiful glass stars for Christmas.  She is a very skilled glass artisan who always makes beautiful and unique things for Christmas.  I am always very excited to open the package that arrives from Vicki.  Thank you so much! I'm trying to think of a way to incorporate these into the decorating plans I have for my new office.  I really don't want to wait a whole year until the Christmas tree comes out again.  Any ideas? So I have a favor to ask of anyone who happens to be reading this blog.  I've been quite public about pain I've had in my right side for the last 18 months.  I've been through a lot--gall bladder surgery, vein embolization, pain specialists, kidney infections...none of which have solved the problem.  The physical therapy I'm going through now is a result of that pain.  I favor my right side especially when sitting for extended periods of ti...